RSPCA Cupcake Day 2011

Today was a pretty special day, not only was it the 2011 RSPCA Cupcake Day which meant a big morning tea at work to raise money....but it was also the day that the craft group at work were decorating cupcakes for their craft activity and donating the proceeds to the RSPCA. You know, raising the money for the RSPCA gives me that wamr fuzzy feeling but watching the craft group decorating their cupcakes this morning just took that to a whole new level....see for yourself...

And everyone was so proud of their creations....



And just goes to show....you're never too old to lick the spoon!!


I still haven't stopped smiling, definitely one of the best things I've been involved in....put smiles on people's faces and raised money for a good cause :)

Happy Cupcake Day!!

Em x

What a week.....

Well this week has been an interesting one....

There have been big things going on at work and I have been baking for at least 2-3 hours a night to clear my head at the end of some very long days....

But let's not dwell on that....let me show you what has been good this week....

OH brought me some gorgeous flowers :)


Mum and Dad cooked us this very tasty baked brie in a white wine sauce and served with fresh crusty bread :)


And my book arrived!!! For my one year blogging anniversary I decided to buy myself a book....and not just any old book, but my book! I used www.blog2print.com to turn my blog into a hardcover book and it finally arrived yesterday morning and as soon as the post lady was out of ear shot there was lots of singing and dancing and squealing! It's so much cooler then I could have imagined and a great record of not only the last 12 months of my life but all my recipes etc....did I mention it's really really cool? I just like the idea that even though I have the only copy, it's a printed version of my blog, my recipes and my life that I can sit on the book shelf and pass onto my kids one day :) It's definitely something I'm going to do every year as a little treat for myself :)


It's now Sunday afternoon and I am exhausted. On Friday night I went out to dinner with some ladies from work to a restaurant called Me-Wah that does fantastic chinese food....I was so impressed I'm taking OH and his Mother back tonight!

Then yesterday OH and I went for a ride on the bikes, it's been a few weeks since I have taken my bike out so I was abit concerned I would have forgotten everything but we decided it was about time I hit the road for real so I rode all by myself up and around the roads in our area with cars and everything! It was the first time I had ridden on a proper road and it was very exciting and more dancing, squealing and general excitement ensued when we got home! Then we went to visit OH's grandfather, had an awesome ham salad roll for lunch and went to watch some of OH's friends play footy. It was bloody cold but I was rugged up to the eye balls and for the first time in a long time, I even had a can of beam....I mean we were at the footy so it was only fair! Then OH and I went and got some pizza (I was really lashing out today huh!) and went home to curl up and watch a movie.

This morning we had a leisurely sleep in and brekkie in bed and that was pretty much where the relaxating ended! Tomorrow is the actual RSPCA Cupcake Day so I had to make some food for a fundraiser morning tea at work...sounds easy hey? Well for this I did some mini cupcakes, some lemon tarts, some mini quiches and some home made chocolates....simple....but I also had to make 120 cupcakes for the craft group at work. I work in an organisation that does community care for the elderly and disabled and we also have a day centre where there are music groups and craft groups and all sorts of activities for people to come and enjoy. Tomorrow there is a craft group and because it's Cupcake Day they are going to decorate cupcakes for their activity. So I am providing the cupcakes, the frosting and the decorations and they are donating the proceeds from the group to the RSPCA which is fantastic :) It meant a hell of alot of baking today and right now I feel slightly unwell, exhausted and like I never want to bake ever again, but it's so worth it :)

Anyway, I better be off, have to straighten my hair / get the cupcake batter out of it, before we go out for dinner! I'll post photos of the morning tea and the craft group decorating their cupcakes tomorrow!!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend :)

Em x

The Week So Far.....

OH and I have been struck down with a bug this week which has left us both exhausted and feeling very sorry for ourselves. Hopefully now we are nearing the end of it as we had planned a night out for dinner tomorrow night (and I know OH has his heart set on a 3 tier seafood and steak extravaganza!) and a nice relaxing and much needed sleep in on Saturday.

Cupcake orders have been coming in thick and fast this week and I am pleased to say that we surpassed the $200 mark today! Yay!! I really am so thankful to everyone that has donated so far, it's such a fantastic effort and we are only two weeks in! But all these donations mean cupcakes galore - today alone I delivered 60! Everyone seems to automatically default to chocolate when I ask them what flavour cupcakes they want, so to make it slightly more exciting, I made some different frostings....the photo below is a selection of the ones that went out today...


L-R - Vanilla, Cookies and Cream, Coconut Rough, Choc Mint, Strawberry, Penuche (Brown Sugar Frosting) and Choc Fudge!

In other non-cupcake related news (are we sick of the cupcakes yet!?) my Nan cleared out all her old cookbooks over the weekend and was nice enough to offer them to me. I picked them up today and she had also given me her old round loaf tins, I remember these from when I was little and they always use to fascinate me, I can't wait to test them out! There are so many cookbooks there, but the best part is Nan's handwritten recipe books. At Christmas time, my Mum gave me a book of her handwritten recipes, which I was really excited about, so having my Nan's as well will be very special. I can't wait to have a look through them all - in fact I'm off to make myself a cup of tea and start doing so right now!!


Em x

The cupcakes have returned!!

Yep, it's that time of year again, RSPCA Cupcake Day is fast approaching and this will be my 4th year baking my lil heart out (hold on, don't I do that all the time anyway?!) for those cute lil critters! This year I am doing pretty much the same as last year, every donation of $10 or more receives a batch of cupcakes as thanks and there will be a Cupcake Morning Tea at my work on August 15th as well. I am very excited because it’s only Day 5 and I’ve already raised $85.

If you are interested in donating then you can do so via my fundraising page http://www.fundraise.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/emily_balmforth_4


This was the first batch to go out this year, some decadent Double Chocolate Cupcakes and some heavenly Sticky Date Cupcakes.

And here is how it's done :)

Sticky Date Cupcakes (This made 18 normal sized cupcakes)

You will need:

250g pitted dates
1 cup water
1 tspn bicarb
60g butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1.5 cups self raising flour

Pre-heat oven to 180C and line your cupcake pans.

Place the water and dates in a deep dish (believe me you will thank me for this later) in the microwave on medium high for around 4-5 mins. They should be nice and mushy by the time you get them out.

Add the bicarb and stir to combine (see aren’t you glad you used the deep dish?!)

Melt the butter and sugar together in the microwave (or on the stove if you prefer) and stir into the mixture. Add eggs and flour. Stir to combine.

Now you may want to sit down and eat the whole bowl of mixture right now....believe me I know...but be strong and spoon it into your cupcake pans and bake for 15-18 mins (for normal size ones) or 12-15 mins (for cute lil mini ones)

For the frosting I used some pre-made vanilla frosting and mixed some maple syrup through it. I was contemplating making some toffee shards or something to go with them as well but I kind of believe that if you get too fancy and start adding too many layers on then it can take away from the cupcake itself. Fair enough if you have a plain vanilla or plain chocolate cake, layer it up with all you like, but when it comes to something like a sticky date cupcake, I think a hint of maple in the frosting is all you need to set the flavours off because a) I think the less is more approach is the way to go when it comes to cupcake decorating and b)there is nothing worse than going to a cupcake shop and they look so delicious but underneath that tower of creamy frosting is a very average cake, it should be about the two coming together to make something spectacular you know?! Ok rant over, moving on!

Chocolate Cupcakes (I got 9 normal size + 14 mini cupcakes out of this recipe so I’d say 15 normal sized?)

This recipe is from a book my Mum gave me and the first time I made it I was very hesitant as the mixture is quite thick, but my god does it make some good cupcakes!!

You will need:

125g butter
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1.25 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup milk
3 tbspns cocoa

Pre-heat oven to 160C and line your cupcake trays.

Melt the butter and sugar together in the microwave.

Using an electric mixer, add eggs, milk and cocoa and beat until well combined.

Add flour and beat for 2-3 mins until everything is mixed in.

The mixture looks a bit like mousse at this stage :) which actually makes it a hell of alot easier to spoon into your cupcake pans! Fill the pans about ¾ and bake for around 15 mins or until cupcakes bounce back when poked.

I frosted these ones with a pre-made chocolate frosting and topped them with a mini oreo just to make them look cute.

And while we are on a cupcake theme, check out my new Cupcake Locket!


And look at all those gorgeous people in it :)



And did I mention I have something very special in the works for you on Thursday?? Stay tuned!!

Happy Baking everyone xx

Em

The Breadmaking Revolution!!

Well on Thurs night I was happily sitting back thinking I had a free and easy weekend ahead of me....wasn't that a stupid thing to do! On Thurs night I received 3 orders for cupcakes so my quiet weekend was starting to disappear but that puts my total fundraising over $200 for the RSPCA so far and we haven't even had the actual Cupcake Day yet!

Anyway, on Friday Mum called into work and gave me a huge pile of her old recipe books, seafood, chicken, vegetarian, crackles, slices, biscuits, christmas, you name it, it was there, so as soon as I am finished writing this I am going to make a cup of tea and start flicking through them.

She also brought me these fantastic lil tomatoes that are red and ripe...but don't leak so you can make your sandwiches without them going all soggy - what will they think of next! Mum also dropped off her breadmaker as OH and I had mentioned we had a craving for fresh bread and Mum thought that would be easier so we could wake up to fresh bread in the morning (she does look after me!). So after work I went and brought some bread flour and some fresh strawberry jam....mmmmm....and went home to get baking!

First on the list though was some Cookies and Cream Cupcakes...and seeing as the person who ordered them wanted them decorated with Carlton AFL flags I decided to put the oreos in the cupcake mix rather then in the icing. I had no idea how they were going to turn out, but I made a simple Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcake recipe and then added some crushed oreos and when they came out of the oven they looked spectacular! I had some mix left over so I made some super lil baby ones for OH and he had eaten most of them before they had cooled down! So here are the before and after decoration shots!


Now onto the bread, I know bread makers have been around for years and years but this was the first time OH and I had made bread and we had big plans for it! So before going to bed on Fri night we chucked everything in and set the timer for 7am Sat morning. At 5am we both woke up to the smell of baking bread and even though it was a Saturday, by 7am we were both wide awake and hovering around the kitchen waiting for that magical beeping noise that meant we could dive right in. And when it was ready it was perfect, a gorgeous white loaf of crusty bread, that very top slice nice and soft and doughy and we sat there eating it smothered in butter and strawberry jam still piping hot. It was just mind numbingly delicious....so we sat there plotting and scheming and came up with even bigger plans for the remainder of the loaf!

It was a miserable day and so we decided to laze around in our pjs and play twister and monopoly for the morning. There were several twister related injuries and a few monopoly inspired tantrums, but then all of a sudden it was 2pm and that fresh bread was calling us again. We made ourselves up a huge platter of shaved ham, season shaved chicken, tomatoes - and yes they really were non-juicy! - cucumber, brie, vintage cheddar, cream cheese and normal cheese and the rest of the bread warmed up in the microwave. An hour later we had demolished the lot and even though our bellies were at bursting point we were very very happy and satisfied. Coming to the conclusion that there is nothing like fresh bread and we may just need to invest in a bread maker of our own! Even now it is Sunday afternoon and the house still smells like fresh bread. Sorry there are no photos of the bread...we were too busy drooling over it and really that does not make for an attractive picture!

Last night we went out for dinner with some friends and we both ordered the pan-friend barramundi with a mango salsa and some winter vegetables which was delicious (although neither of us ate much after all that bread!). Then we all went bowling and it was a great night. It was nice to have a night out with great company and do something different. OH and I used to go bowling all the time when I worked at the bowling alley but we haven't been for ages, I had forgotten how much fun it was!

I spent most of today baking red velvet cupcakes to be delivered tomorrow and making Lattice Slice for OH's lunches so this afternoon we went up into the back paddock with our new football (purchased yesterday) and had a kick around. I can't believe how much fun it was! I was exhausted and worn out and we were only out there for half hour but it was great, doing something fun together, out in the fresh air and being active, we even thought we might do some stuff like kick the footy or the soccer ball or have a game of basketball instead of going for a walk some evenings and I'm really looking forward to it : )

So what recipes do I have for you today?

I'm going with this dead easy Lattice Slice:

1 pkt lattice biscuits
250g philadelphia cream cheese
250g cooking butter
1/2 c caster sugar
1 tbspn vanilla essence
2 tbspn lemon juice
1 tspn gelatine

Line a slice tin with baking paper and lay 8 lattice biscuits, shiny side down in the tray.
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Add sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and gelatine dissolved in 1/4 c boiling water.
Spread over biscuits in tray and then top with 8 more.
Refrigerate overnight and once set you can cut into squares (as per the biscuits) and serve.

Ok and one more!

Cookies and Cream Buttermilk Cupcakes - Makes 12

80g Butter
1 cup Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tbspn Vanilla Essence
1.5 cups Plain Flour
2 tspn Baking Powder
Pinch Salt
1 cup Buttermilk
8 Oreo biscuits crushed

Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla
Combine flour and baking powder. Add to butter mix
Add salt, buttermilk and crushed biscuits.

Bake at 160C (fan forced) for 20 mins or until they spring back when touched.
You could top these with any flavour frosting and either mix some oreos through that or simply sprinkle them over the top, delicious!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend

Em xx