Martini zabaglione

I got the inspiration loosely from this recipe

From making the champagne cupcakes I had 6 egg yolks left over so decided I would make zabaglione. I had some double cream in the house but was wondering what to put in for the alcohol. I looked online for recipes and they said "marsala wine" and a few said "vermouth". I had no idea where I was going to get either of these things from but my husband said that Martini was vermouth (which he learned from James Bond *sigh*) and I happened to have some of that in the house. So Martini zabaglione was made. And it was AMAZING. If for what ever reason I happen to have some Martini and/or 6 egg yolks hanging round the house I'll defiantly be making it again.

INGREDIENTS:
(it made 6-just)

6 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup Martini
1 teaspoon cinnamon
splash of vanilla extract
284ml double cream (obviously doesn't need to be EXACTLY 284ml of cream but that is how big the Elmlea pots are so it's a rough guide really)

METHOD:

Half fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer.


Put the egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and Martini in a large stainless steel bowl

Put the stainless steel bowl onto to the simmering pan (the water should not be touching the bottom of the bowl) then whisk the mixture for all it's worth for a good 10 minutes making sure the water doesn't boil.

It should look like this:

Take the bowl off for the mixture to cool but stir occupationally so it doesn't stick to the bowl

Whisk the cream in a separate bowl until it's stiff

When the custard as cooled a little add 3/4 of the cream to the custard mix and stir in gently

Spoon equal amounts into glasses

Add a spoon of the left over cream to each

Put them in the fridge to cool

And wow! That's all I can say about it!!

Champagne cupcakes with champagne icing

I got the inspiration from this recipe


These were also made for my mother-in-laws birthday along with the carrot cupcakes in my first blog. I used the same brown paper cupcake cases and I bought some edible (rice paper) butterflys to decorate.


Second piece of must have equipment is some "cups". You know, the american measuring cups which make measuring   ingredients easier?! Well, get some :-) 


Before I made these I was a bit sceptical that they were going to taste of anything and I'm not a huge champagne fan but someone showed me the recipe a few months ago and I happened to have 3 bottles of champagne laying round the house (like you do) and thought it would be a nice thing to make for a special occasion. Well, they are pretty amazing if I do say so myself. The sponge was so soft and the icing was unbelievably bad for you but it is a pretty perfect cake. 

INGREDIENTS
(it says it makes 20 but with my perfect measure of one ice cream scoop per cake it made 24)


2 3/4 cups self raising flour
3 tsp. baking soda (says babking powder on the original but I used soda to make it lighter
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3/4 cup champagne (I used Veuve Edouard as it was just one of the ones I had in the house)
6 egg whites


ICING:
5 cups icing sugar
2 cups butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons champagne
(I also added pink food colouring but this is totally optional)


METHOD:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Prepare a cupcake pan with liners. 

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.

Sift flour and baking powder into the sugar and butter mix.

Add the champagne

In another large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. 

Fold 1/3 of the whites into cake mix to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites.  

Divide the mix evenly between the cupcake cases using the amazing gadget-ice cream scoop ;-)

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

For the icing:

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until soft. (beware this blows the sugar everywhere. I covered the bowel as best I could with a tea towel to avoid having a white kitchen).  

Add vanilla and champagne (and food colouring), beating on medium until blended.

Then pipe the icing on as desired.

The butterflys had to be added at the last moment before serving for the would have gone soft (this was a recommendation from the retailer)

Well they looked and tasted pretty amazing. You could defiantly taste the champagne and they left a soft, mellow champagne taste in your mouth for a while afterwards. I can actually taste it as I'm writing..mmm :-D Obviously these are NOT recommended for kids birthday parties ;-)

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing

Eeep-my first blog. Very exciting!!

I got the inspiration from this recipe

These were for my mother-in-lasw's birthday bash and I wanted to do something a bit exciting. I bought some paper muffin cases and also some super cute icing carrots to go on top. 


Also (for me) one piece of cupcake making equipment I could not do without is an ice cream scoop. I saw the tip on TV months ago and it's so good. One scoop per case so they are all the same size and no getting messy with spoons..such a fab tip!!

INGREDIENTS:
(I made 24)


350g brown caster sugar
400g self raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp of mixed spice
Zest of 2 oranges
Juice of 1 orange
4 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
400g carrots (grated)


ICING 
(This is the amount on the link which is meant to cover 12 but there is LOADS so easily covered the 24 I made)


100g soft butter
300g soft cheese (Philly kind)
100g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract


METHOD:
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4


Line 2x12-hole muffin tins with cases.


In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flour, bicarb, mixed spice and orange zest.


Whisk together the eggs oil and orange juice.


Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and add the grated carrot. 


Divide the mixture between cases using the amazing food gadget that is the ice cream scoop. Just scoop it like it was ice cream-easy!! 


Bake for 20-22 mins until a cocktail stick poked in comes out clean. 


Cool on a wire rack before icing.

For the icing:
Beat the butter until really soft.

Beat in the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla.

Then blob (very technical term) the icing onto the top of the cakes. Each took one and a half teaspoons. I then decorated with the cute little icing carrots.

They then have to be kept in the fridge because of the soft cheese. They turned out amazing. So soft and fluffy. Only thing...if I were doing them again I'd put the carrots on just before serving as they all seemed to go for a walk in the 2 days they were in the fridge and leave a snail trail of orange and green streaks in the icing -boo!! But they still tasted the same :)

Here they are on the plate showing the carrot skid marks ;) in all their glory