Baking for your life

I have a confession to make. I am an addict. A masterchef addict! It is the highlight of my day. Things just feel all wrong unless dinner is being devoured to the glorious sights and sounds of Gary, George and Matt stamping, yelling plate up, discussing worlds of pain and scrutinizing the dishes of amateur chefs with their highly trained palates. Many of my friends claim that "life starts at 7:30". When asked by a peer at work the other day whether I ever get angry I claimed one of my pet peeves to be "people talking whilst masterchef is on!" (seriously it gets up my goat!). Anyway, I could honestly endlessly discuss my adoration of a show that encourages a competition about cooking tasty food and showcases amazing culinary masters but what I want to talk about is a particular episode about baking.


Last Wednesday the team challenge was a bake off! Amazing I know, being an avid baker I was salivating at the thought of the contestants road tripping out to a beautiful farm and creating iconic treats such as Lamingtons, Jam, Fruit and Neopolitan cakes and scones for the royalty that is the Country Women's association. But, what should have been an episode that took off like a kite, soaring to the highest heights, what I witnessed was a flop worse than a sunken souffle!

These contestants being the Top Ten clearly have talent! So much skill and passion is evident in the way they have cooked with their heart and soul from Sydney to Melbourne, London to Paris and back again. But, seeing the cooking catastrophe the calamity of cakes on Wednesday was a shock to my system and their own I am sure! Of the dishes put up, there were clear cut winner for 3 of the five baked goods, whilst two were deemed unjudgeable! Overall, the CWA and the judges commended the contestants on their efforts, citing the intimate relationship between a baker and an oven (absent due to the foreigness of the competitors to their appliance) as being the achilles heel in this challenge. Despite this difficulty, I still found the episode painful to watch as the contestants, in their hurried desperation to have the food ready for those lovely country ladies, left me underwhelmed by their demonstration of baking skills. Anyone who has ever made a cake knows the importance of beating, whipping, folding and mixing at the right time, intensity and duration. Forgo this and suffer the consequences, as our amateur chefs did.



At one point in this episode one of the contestants wisely declared that perhaps they should have brushed up on their baking skills before entering the competition! Well spoken. I watch the show almost every night and am utterly baffled at the level expected in the cookery, but even more dumbfounded at the expertise demonstrated in performing often at such a high standard. I would love nothing more than to be a contender on MasterChef, however with my limited cooking ability this is a distant dream. But my love for food shall not die, and I do declare myself to be an up & coming bakestar! Which, by the way leads me to confess a new goal - to be a member of the Country Women's association. What a wonderful world - baking and tasting and attending events :) There is nothing I love more than baking. Whether it be a distraction on a day full of tasks and work to complete, or an indulgence whilst on holidays with oodles of time to spare. Baking for me means love. It means I get to bump around to bossa nova beats and like this like this and soulful swing like this whilst creating something to make my family and friends smile. Baking means I get to lick the batter, and be the first to scold my mouth on fresh and hot goods from the oven. So with that I showcase some of my latest and greatest bake offs that I would be proud to have judged by the CWA!

Vanilla Rose Buttermilk Cupcakes

I baked these beautiful babies in May in honour of the woman who gave me a wonderful life, and continues to sustain my wonderful life through her amazing cooking. Yes, that’s right, I baked these cupcakes for Mother’s Day, although I do believe you don’t need a Hallmark Holiday to bake for the ones you love! I chose this recipe from my little pink pal: Anthony Carrol’s publication, Cupcakes and Muffins after we finally found some rosewater syrup at Harris Farm. I love using buttermilk in cupcake mixtures because it is just to die for.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup caster sugar
• ½ cup milk
• 1 ½ cups plain flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• topping
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon rose water
• musk sticks

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Line your cupcake pans with patty pans (cupcake papers)
2. In a medium sized bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add butter and sugar, then mix until light and fluffy.
3. Add milk, flour and vanilla, and stir to combine. Beat with a hand mixer* for 2 minutes, until light and creamy
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the cake papers. Use a scraper to get more out of your bowl. Also of extreme importance: make sure you lick up any remaining batter J happy days
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and firm to touch
6. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack

Icing

1. Combine all the topping ingredients except musk stick pieces in a small bowl, mix with a wooden spoon until well combined, then whisk until light and fluffy
2. To top cupcakes either place mixture into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle and pipe onto cupcakes or use a knife to generously spread the mixture on for a smooth finish.
3. Chop the musk stick pieces into small bits (they should look like little stars) and top the cupcakes with these beauties

*I prefer using a hand mixer to electric mixers as you can really control the consistency and get a mini workout

Chocolate Honeycomb Cupcakes

These chocolate bombs were baked to mark the birthday of a family friend, Maddy whom I nanny for. The recipe was also from Anthony Carrol’s publication, Cupcakes and Muffins and was selected in response to Maddy’s request for a chocolate treat, and was inspired after watching a recent episode of Masterchef in which Gary taught the contestants how to make honeycomb. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any glucose syrup so I followed another recipe for honeycomb, using golden syrup, honey, water and sugar. I boiled these ingredients on the stove and when they were dissolved poured them into a bowl, quickly adding bicarb soda. However, whilst the mixture did rise as predicted, it never hardened and remained very sticky and gloopy, like the toffees one makes for a school cake stall. Next time I’m trying Gary’s recipe for honeycomb. In lieu of decent homemade honeycomb I went for the next best thing. Chopped violet crumble pieces instead adorned the smooth ganache like icing of these devilish delights.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup caster sugar
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 ½ cups flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup chocolate drops

Topping

• ½ cup chocolate drops
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup thickened cream
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup pre-made honeycomb pieces, crumbled

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a 12 cupcake pan with patty pans (cupcake papers).
2. In a medium sized bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add butter and sugar, then mix until light and fluffy
3. Add buttermilk, flour and vanilla, and stir to combine. Beat with a hand mixer for 2 minutes until light and creamy
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the cake papers. Use a scraper to get more out of your bowl. Also of extreme importance: make sure you lick up any remaining batter J happy days
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and firm to touch
6. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack

Topping

1. Combine the chocolate and half of the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat. As the mixture begins to melt, reduce heat to low, stirring constantly, until melted.
2. Remove from heat, add cream and stir. Rest for 10 minutes: the mixture will be firm and velvety in consistency
3. Combine remaining butter, icing sugar, and vanilla extract, and stir until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate mixture, and stir to combine.
4. Apply icing to each cupcake with a knife. Top each cupcake with a cluster of crumbled honeycomb.

Sponge Sandwich

I baked this cake back in March upon a passionate request of my charming boyfriend, Peter, for his 21^st Birthday celebration. This recipe is a classic from my mum’s favourite kitchen guide: The Commonsense Cookery Book. The book, endorsed by the NSW Cookery Teacher’s scholarship Fund, has been a companion to my mum’s preparation and cooking for as long as I can remember. Before baking the final product mum mentored me in a trial run, citing the importance of keeping the dry and wet ingredients separate, and the dry ingredients sifted seamlessly to ensure a light, fluffy, moist sponge. The only error I found was that my choice to use baking paper to line the pan resulted in an interestingly shaped, but overall tasty cake.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons water
• Jam
• Icing Sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Grease two 18cm x 4cm shallow cake pans and dust with flour
3. Separate egg whites from yolks
4. Beat whites until stiff; add sugar slowly and beat well
5. Add yolks and beat until thick
6. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder
7. Add water; stir lightly and quickly
8. Pour into pans
9. Bake in a moderate oven, 180-190C, for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes
10. Turn onto a cake cooler or paper sprinkled with icing sugar
11. When cool, place a generous dollop of jam onto the middle of one of the cakes, and spread it only slightly. Do this same process for the cream on top of the jam.
12. Gently place the other cake on top of this jam and cream cake (with the lovely golden top facing upwards) and slowly push down so the jam and cream ooze slowly towards the edge of the cake.
13. Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy :)

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