Lemon-Passion Fruit Meringue Slice

Recipe and Images by Yasmin

As evident in the design and focus of this blog, I love citrus fruits and have decided to turn my favourite citrus dessert (lemon meringue pie) into a slice form. The results are scrumptious.

Ingredients:
For base:

• 175g butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• zest of 1 lemon
• 250g flour

For filling:

• 350g can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 egg yolks
• pulp of 2 passion fruits
• juice of 2 lemons
• zest of 1 lemon

For meringue:

• 3-5 egg whites, room temperature (depending on the size of the slice tray)
• 3/4 cup sugar

Method:

For base, beat butter, sugar, zest, and salt until pale and fluffy. On low speed, gradually add flour and beat until mixture starts to come together. Press mixture evenly over base of slice tray (baking paper is covering base and sides of tray). Bake for 25 minutes at 180'C or until golden. Cool for 10 minutes. 

For filling, combine condensed milk, egg yolks, passion fruit, lemon juice, and zest in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Pour into precooked base and cook for 25 minutes or until liquid is set and doesn't wobble in the tray too much. 

For meringue, beat egg whites in bowl until soft peaks form. With motor running, gradually add sugar until thoroughly mixed and stiff peaks form. Spoon meringue into piping bag and pipe onto the slice in rows (as seen in the images). Cook at 150'C for 15 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Cool. Cut into slices of desired size. Store in air tight container in fridge.

Mini Pavlovas

Recipe and Images by Yasmin

I am a complete cream-addict. I love anything with lathers of whipped cream. Naturally, I am fond of pavlovas and, as such, decided to bake mini pavlovas for no apparent reason apart from eating them. I didn't use any strict recipe quantities when making this dessert, so I have only listed the ingredients required below. My favourite part of making pavlovas, apart from eating them, is decorating it with the fruit on the top, so I decided to make multiple decoration styles for fun - the results are shown in the images below. You can't tell from the angle of the images, but the mini pavlovas were baked in mini love heart cake tins.

Ingredients:

• egg whites, room temperature
• sugar
• thickened cream, whipped
• fruit, to decorate

Method:

Beat egg whites in bowl until soft peaks form. With motor running, gradually add the sugar until thoroughly mixed and soft peaks form. Spoon meringue into muffin patty pans or individual mini cake tins (or some other cake tray or pan that holds small quantities). Bake in oven at 100'C until meringue has stiffened and is hard to touch. They key is to cook meringue at a low temperature for a long amount of time so that it is cooked through but isn't burnt or too crispy. Remove, and leave to cool. Lather whipped cream onto each meringue and decorate with sliced fruit. Serve with ice-cream. 

Pear and Strawberry Crumble Cake

Recipe modified from Taste.com.au
Images by Yasmin

I recently bought a tray of 15 strawberry punnets and decided that in addition to eating them whole, I would bake some. In the fruit bowl was a ripe pear so I decided to combine the two fruits in a crumble cake; the result was delicious. This was definitely a job of procrasta-baking at work, but I couldn't resist! The only downside to this recipe is that the cake takes an hour to cook, but at least it works up an appetite!

Ingredients:
Cake:

• 200g butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup self raising flour
• 1 cup plain flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 pear, peeled and thinly sliced
• 200g strawberries, washed, hulled, halved

Crumble Topping:

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 50g chilled butter, chopped
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray with Canola Oil a spring-form pan and line the base with non-stick baking paper. Place the prepared pan on a baking tray.

Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Use a large metal spoon to fold in the combined flour and the milk until well combined.

Spoon into the prepared pan. Use the back of the spoon to smooth the surface. Arrange the pear and strawberries on top.

To make the crumble topping, place the flour and butter in a bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over the pear and strawberry. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

Pink Butterfly Cupcakes

Recipe and Images by Yasmin

I made these cupcakes for a baby girl's christening and it turned out to be a wonderful success; everyone loved them! It is just a basic vanilla cupcake recipe with piped butter icing (pink and white) with butterfly sprinkles on top - a very simple idea but a beautiful result. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
For Cupcakes:

• 2 tblsp butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla flavouring
• 2 eggs

For Butter Icing:

• 125g butter
• 1 1/3 cup icing sugar
• 1-2 tblsp milk
• pink food colouring

Method:

For cupcakes, beat all ingredients together until smooth in a large bowl. Spoon mixture into a cupcake tray with patty pan cases. Cook in moderated oven for 10-13 minutes. Remove, and place on wire racks to cool.

For butter icing, beat butter until smooth and fluffy. Add icing sugar and milk and beat until combined and smooth. Divide icing into two bowls. In one of the bowls add pink food colouring and beat until thoroughly mixed. Prepare two piping bags (or two zip lock bags with the tips cut off). Place the pink icing in one bag and the white icing in another bag. Pipe swirls (as seen in the picture) onto the cupcakes. Decorate with butterfly sprinkles. 

Jam Doughnut Muffins

Recipe from 'I love sugar' by Love Food
Images by Yasmin

I was craving something sweet to eat this afternoon but could not find anything, as per usual. Then I opened up the recipe book to find this delicious recipe which combines two of my favourite sweets; jam doughnuts and muffins! What I love about this recipe, a part from tasting amazing, is that it doesn't require any fancy ingredients, just the basics that are always in the pantry. I would definitely encourage you to give this one a try!

Ingredients:
For muffins
- 280g plain flour
- 1 tblsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 115g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 200ml milk
- 85g butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- raspberry jam

For topping
- 115g butter
- 150g sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200'C fan-forced. Grease a 12-cup muffin tray or line with 12 paper muffin cases.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the caster sugar.

In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs in a large jug or bowl then beat in the milk, oil and vanilla extract. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined; do not over mix.

Spoon half of the mixture into the prepared muffin tin. Add a teaspoon of jam to the centre of each, then spoon in the remaining mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until well risen, golden brown and firm at the touch.

Meanwhile, prepare the topping. Melt the butter. Spread the sugar in a wide, shallow bowl. When the muffins are baked, leave in the tin for 5 minutes. Dip the tops of the muffins in the melted butter then roll in the sugar. Serve warm, or transfer to the wire rack and leave to cool.

Anna's Birthday Cake

Recipe and Images by Yasmin

I baked and iced this birthday cake for a very good friend of mine who loves bright colours, specifically pink. So I designed a cake that was mostly white on the top, coated with sprinkles on the sides, and when she cut the cake it was completely pink inside! It was such a pleasant surprise for her and she was very excited! She loves music, so I designed the first letter of her name to represent a treble clef, which she loved. Overall, this cake was a huge success and extremely delicious. Everyone believed it to be the highlight of the night. It is extremely simple to make, so I'm sure you will have just as much fun baking it too!

Ingredients:
For cake:
- 2 tblsp butter, melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup self raising flour
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- pink food colouring

For Butter icing:
- 125g butter
- 1 1/3 cups icing sugar
- 1 tblsp milk

To decorate:
- 100s and 1000s sprinkles
- purple food colouring
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- approx. 1 tsp milk, just enough to make icing

Method:
For cake, combine all ingredients in a large bowl, adding as much pink food colouring as desired (to get the right shade of pink for you). Prepare a round cake tin and pour in cake mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes in oven at 180'C fan-forced, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and place, upturned, on cake rake to cool.

For butter icing, beat butter until it is smooth. Beat in the icing sugar and milk in gradual amounts until completely combined. When the cake is cool, place it on the serving platter and begin to ice the cake (don't forget the sides as well!). When icing it helps to frequently dip the knife in a glass of water to make sure it doesn't stick to the icing and spreads well. Immediately after icing, cover the sides of the cake with sprinkles - be sure not to get any on the top of the cake!

To decorate, make the second lot of icing for the cake in a small bowl, i.e. using a knife, combine the icing sugar, milk and food colouring until smooth (make sure it isn't too runny - if it is, add more icing sugar). Cut the tip off a zip-lock bag corner to use as a piping bag. Place the purple icing in the bag and begin to decorate the top of the cake as desired for the occasion. Place the decorated cake in the fridge to set (do not cover with cling-wrap as it will ruin the icing). Serve in good company.

Tea Party

Various Assortments of Sweets for a Perfect Tea Party!

The other day I realised that I haven't yet used my new cupcake 3 tiered stand that I received for my birthday last year! So I decided to host a tea party to put the stand on display. It was a lot of fun preparing and organising this tea party as I decided to go all out with sweet food (and on healthy fruit platter to balance) and delicious pink tea. I baked Honey Bee Cupcakes, Meringue Cupcakes, Sour Cream Apple Slice and Gingerbread Biscuits. It was such a lovely tea party and the food was delicious!

Honey Bee Cupcakes

Meringue Cupcakes

Sour Cream Apple Slice

Gingerbread Biscuits