Watermelon Cake

So yesterday was my boyfriends birthday and we had dinner at mine with his sister to celebrate. Wednesdays are massive for me i have a full day of uni and work I knew I had to preplan this cake. My original plan did not work, so I had to come up with something pretty quickly.

My original plan was a standard round layer cake nothing too crazy because I didn't have enough time to do what I would have wanted. However, for some reason my usual cake recipe didn't rise at all it was so flat and I didn't have time to make another one (I won't give the recipe until I figure out what went wrong). I decided I would cut it in half and do a layer of icing in the middle to hold it together and I would have to come up with something that was a semi circle. That is when I came up with the idea to do a watermelon cake. 

Tuesday during the day I made the cake so there was plenty of time for it to cool and then I could do the middle layer later in the day. This mean that it would stay in place because it had the right amount of time so it wouldn't move when I did the crumb coating. A crumb coating is the layer that you put on thinly before you actually decorate the cake so you don't get any crumbs in the icing. When I first started cake decorating I never knew this and it made my life so much easier when I read about this is a cake decorating magazine. 

Wednesday night just after work and about 5 minutes before they arrived I started on the crumb coating and then the icing. I started with a white crumb coating and then the 'rind' (I don't know what else to call it). I then used the green icing to do the skin of the watermelon and finally I used the red icing for the flesh. To get the seeds I used the chocolate icing I used for the filling and shaped it using a skewer. To get the darker strips in the skin I used a skewer and dipped it in green food dye and then ran it up the sides to get the desired look. 

Chocolate Icing Filling Recipe 
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence 
• 10 tablespoons icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons softened butter 
• milk (adjust to the consistency you want) 

Method   

1. Combine all ingredients to get a buttercream consistency. 

Vanilla Buttercream Icing Recipe 

Ingredients

• 50g softened butter
• 1 cup icing sugar 
• Vanilla essence (adjust to taste)   
• 1 tablespoon milk 

Method

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in the bowl until pale (this will make it easier to colour and icing whiter). 
2. Gradually add icing sugar and milk. 
3. Add vanilla essence and adjust to taste (remember it is very strong so only add a little at a time). 
4. Colour icing as you wanted prefer. 

 I have planned another cake for him for his friends and family party (keep in tune for that one). 

Avocado and Cucumber Salad

So this afternoon before work I decided I wanted something slightly different for dinner even though the Chicken Enchiladas were thawed. Only 2 of us eat meat at my dads place (my dad and I) so I on Monday nights when I cook I usually have lots of veggies and/or salad and then a little bit of meat for my dad and I. I eat more veggies than meat anyway so its not too much of a big deal. 

I looked what we had in the fridge... Wednesday is shopping day so by Monday after a weekend of friends around there isn't usually much. I found that apart from the salad veggies I had already put aside for a garden salad I had an avocado and lots of baby cucumbers. So I came up with my own little salad (which I just realised I forgot to take a photo of so please forgive me) that had been inspired by a few different recipes online. 

Ingredients

• Avocado 
• 1/8 of an onion
• 4 baby cucumbers 
• Feta 
• Lemon Juice
• El Taro Chili and Lime sauce 
• 1/12 teaspoon of garlic
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (if it needs to be thinned out) 

Method  

1. Chop onion, avocado and cucumber and combine in a bowl. 
2. Crumble some feta (adjust to your taste) between your fingers and mix into the onion, avocado and cucumber mixture. 
3. To make the dressing in a small cup combine lemon juice, chili and lime sauce and garlic an mix together. (Add apple cider vinegar if needed to thin it out). 
4. Combine the dressing and vegetable mixture together.
5. Serve immediately.

What are some salad's you enjoy?

Product Review: Phillips Air Fryer

The Phillips Air Fryer is amazing! 

We bought the Phillips Air Fryer HD9220 a few years ago to make a healthy version of chips, however since buying it we have realised that it is way more versatile than we first thought. I make wedges from scratch, coutons for a salads, cook steaks, chicken kievs', meat pies, sausage rolls, those packets of yum cha and doughnuts. Basically I have found that most things (especially things that you can put in the oven)  can be thrown in there. Apparently you can do a cake - personally I am a bit skeptical but I am willing to give ti a try.

 Of course a steak is always better on the BBQ but sometimes that's the last thing that you want to be worrying about, so you heat it up chuck the chips and the steak it and it cooks it all in one go! 

I am going to give you guys a pros and cons list because I LOVE pros and cons lists! Also I think it helps break it down so you guys don't have to read a 7 page review that you are going to get bored reading when you really want something that makes it easy to make a decision. 

Pros

• Quick 
• Oven Baked wedges in the oven can take up to 30 minutes to get crispy from frozen but in the Air Fryer its much quicker at around 15-20 minutes depending how you like you're wedges. 
• Easy 
• Preheat to the temperature you want. Put the food in and every now and then pull it out and toss the food to ensure an even heat distribution. 
• Healthier 
• Who doesn't like fried foods? Personally after a while I get a stomach ache from too much oil. With the Phillips Air Fryer you don't need to add any oil so it makes it a much healthier alternative. 
• Easy Cleaning 
• The non-stick coating means that it is much easier to clean. Pull out the frying basket and the dish and throw it in the dishwasher. 
• If you've left it longer than you would admit to I have found if you put water and dish washing liquid in the dish and heat it for 15 - 20 minutes it takes the hard to clean stuff off. 

Cons

• The size 
• The size that we have was is great for about 3 - 4 people but any more than that and you would probably struggle.
• Because it is a bit bulky it makes it a lot harder to store. Living in an apartment with limited storage also does not help! But because we use it so often space was a sacrifice we were willing to make. 

Would I buy it again?

Yes, 100% yes. It had made cooking much easier and more convenient plus lunches are a breeze! 

Wedges Recipe (serves 2)

This is the recipe I use when I need a snack or when we have friends over and I feel like putting a bit more effort in than the standard frozen wedges. 

Ingredients

• 3 potatoes 
• Dried Oregano  
• Dried Basil 
• Seasoning Salt 
• Oil 

Method 

1. Preheat Air Fryer for 10 minutes. 
2. Chop potatoes into desired length and width.
3. Combine oil, salts and herbs in a mixing both.
4. Combine the oil mixture and the raw potato. 
5. Put in air fryer for 10 - 20 minutes tossing every now and then until desired crispiness is achieved. 

What do you cook in yours? And what do you think about it?

Lemon Curd Tart

On Saturday night we had some family friends over for dinner I made a Lemon Curd Tart and served it with some yummy vanilla bean ice cream, you could also serve it with cream, berries or a combination. I love a good lemon curd. Ever since I went to a small country town to visit family and the women of the church baked an afternoon tea, I have wanted to try lemon curd again. Nobody knows how to cook better than country women, the vanilla sponge with homemade jam and fresh cream and strawberries was amazing, however my little cousin and I loved the mini lemon curd tarts. 

I had not thinking moment when I put the pasty in the oven. I don't have pie weights so I used rice to hold the crust in shape, but I did not think to put baking paper inbetween the rice and the pastry. This meant that the pastry had hardened rice in the base of it so I had to use a spoon and scrape and scoop it out of the pastry. Luckily I had my boyfriend with me so we got a good laugh out of it and worked on it together. It left a very pretty pattern on the base of it shame I had to cover it up with the lemon curd. I was also very lucky that we got all of the rice out I wasn't 100% sure but if someone had a piece of rice in theirs they didn't say anything. 

You can add lime to make it a lemon lime curd tart or make it just a lime curd tart. Adjust it to what you have in your house and to your preferences. 

This recipe lets you make a pastry base from scratch, if you want to use a biscuit base that would work fine too. 

Ingredients

Curd 

• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 4 lemons (zest and juice) 
• 4 large egg yolks beaten 
• 225g butter 
• 3/4 cup caster sugar 

Pastry 

• 100g butter cubed 
• 1 1/3 cups plain flour 
• 1/4 cup caster sugar 
• 1 egg beaten 

Method  

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. 
2. Grease a loose bottomed tart tin.
3. To make the pastry, use your fingers to rub the butter, flour and sugar together then add the egg yolks with a teaspoon of cold water to bind. (If you need more water add sparingly)
4. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
5. Roll dough out onto a floured surface and line the tart tin press into place and trim the edged. 
6. Prick the pastry with a fork and line with baking paper and fill with pie weights or rice. 
7. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove the baking paper filled with pie weights/rice and cook for 5-8 minutes to crisp.
8. Dissolve the cornflour in the lemon juice and put in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients.
9. Stir constantly over a medium heat to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. after about 6 or 7 minutes the mixture should begin to thicken,
10. Continue until it starts to bubble amd has thickened (it should easily coat the back of your wooden spoon) spoon it into the pastry case and level with the palette knife or the back of the wooden spoon. 
11. Leave to cool completely. I put mine in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours. 

Tip:

When rolling the pastry out if you lay baking paper or cling wrap on the bench and the flour it. It makes the transfer and clean up a lot easier. 

Also cover the top of the pastry or the rolling pin with cling wrap to prevent extra clean up. 

Enjoy!

Exciting News

So exciting news for me. I live in an apartment so I no longer have a garden which is more of an issue to my cat who used to love lying under the palm trees or by the pool in the backyard.

I always wanted to grow a vegetable garden, my Pa's love of gardening rubbed off on me however unlike him I am not at all good at it. He tried to teach me over the 18 years I had with him and I could grow weeds, sunflowers and sometimes flowers I had planted in the little garden that he had made more me. His garden however was amazing; covered in the most beautiful and the most amazing smelling roses, the best cherry tomatoes, mandarins, persimmons (I didn't eat the persimmons but my family loved them), passionfruit, pumpkin, carrots... you name it he grew it!  Not only was my green thumb not so green but with a range of cats in the neighbourhood my parents told me it would be pointless having a vegetable garden, I think that they secretly didn't actually want one they wanted the garden to look pretty instead. 

The change to an apartment with a balcony was a bit of an issue when thinking about a vegetable or herb garden. I especially wanted one of those vertical gardens that I originally saw on The Block (Yes I am a Block-a-holic or a Blockhead). However that would require drilling into the structure of the building (which is a big no-no). So unfortunately that idea didn't last and mum didn't like the idea of pots on the balcony so I came up with a new idea.  

This idea was taking the podium where there is a grass area, seating area and pool just for this apartment building to share, and put a herb garden in there so that everyone could benefit from it. Best part of this is that the gardeners would plant and maintain it and it would allow anyone to go plant what they wanted or just potter around tending to the garden. Which would also mean I wouldn't kill it! It was taken to the committee of the building last night and got approved! I was so excited. 

So now there is a lot of baking to be done with fresh herbs which I am so so happy about. There is nothing better than cooking with fresh herbs but the hardest part is maintaining it or actually putting it together. 

This is the list that I put together for the committee to approve:

• Mint 
• Parsely 
• Basil 
• Chives
• Corriander 
• Chilli 
• Oregano 
• Rosemary 
• Dill 

Do you have any other suggestions that I could add? 

If you live in an apartment complex pitch the idea to the committee, you might be surprised! I also added the cost of the plants and where to get it. 

Bathurst Weekend

So who doesn't love a hot weekend with one of the biggest car races n Australian TV? The Bathurst 1000 weekend had finally arrived. Ever since I was little my dad would put on Bathurst from Friday night right until Sunday afternoon all I heard all weekend was "shhhh!!!" and the sound of V8 supercars going past really fast. 

Brocky was a household name and someone who was admired in our house and it was inevitable when he died that the cardboard cut out would be brought from the garage into the living room each Bathurst race. Congratulations to Craig Lowndes and Steve Richo for winning such an amazing race. 

Oh and most importantly HOLDEN WON!!!

Now onto baking. Bathurst weekend has always meant easy dinners and takeout. One of my all time favourites was homemade pizza, it became a Sunday night tradition for many years of my childhood. So here is the recipe that has slowly been developed over a number of years in my household, of course pizza is done to your own taste and you can chop and change as much of this as you want. The age old debate pineapple on pizza will most likely come up. My opinion on this: how can you not have a pizza with pineapple on it!? It adds sweetness and its soooo yummy! This debate between my friends can sometimes get nasty and last time we made pizzas it was like a war was developing, we had sides and everything!

In the picture I actually made my own dough however usually we buy the pre-made bases from Coles or Woolies or just use the wraps that are in the house. 

Toppings 

• Tomato sauce/pizza sauce 
• Cheese (grated)
• Tomato (sliced)
• Pineapple (chucks)
• Onion (sliced)
• Capsicum (sliced)
• Ham (sliced)
• Bacon (small pieces) 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. 
2. Place the base on a baking tray covered in baking paper.
3. Spread over sauce (you can use; tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, pizza sauce, sweet chilli sauce, etc). 
4. Sprinkle a light layer of cheese over the sauce layer.
5. Add desired toppings. 
6. Bacon: you can either pre-cook the bacon in a fry pan on the stove or you can just throw it on the pizza and let the oven do the work. 
7. Final layer of cheese. 
8. Place in oven for 15 to 20 minutes (keep an eye on this because depending what you have on your pizza it may take longer or shorter). 
9. Enjoy! 

There is my quick, easy, yummy and healthy dinner that everyone will love!

Creme Brulee Cheesecake

A few years ago I made a friend a creme brulee cheesecake for her birthday. She doesn't really like cake (yes I always tease her because of this) but loves cheesecake and I wanted to do something different rather than your standard cheesecake. I generally don't like doing things that are the norm or standard I like putting my own twist on things. 

From memory I used a standard cheesecake recipe but instead of putting a berry coulis on the top I did a layer of brown sugar and used my blow torch to get the toffee top on it. That was a great idea, The toffee layer gave it a crunch and a sweetness that isn't usually expected. I'm personally not a massive fan of cheesecake but I did enjoy this one. 

Whilst I don't remember what exact recipe I used back then I have recently used a Martha Stewart cheesecake recipe which is amazing! I mean what Martha Stewart recipe isn't?!

Here is the link for it 

http://www.marthastewart.com/858246/no-bake-cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2 packs of biscuits (Arnott's or Graham Crackers)
• 1 3/8 stick of unsalted butter 
• 2 tablespoons of sugar 
• 454 g cream cheese at room temperature (I use Philadelphia)
• 1 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk   
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

I use this one because it uses simple quality ingredients that makes for an easy but complex tasting cheesecake. It also is a no bake so you shove it in the fridge however that does mean you need to plan to do it at least the night before so it has time to set. 

In Australia we don't have Graham Crackers so instead I usually use whatever Arnott's plain biscuits that I can find in the house. My theory is if you buy the good biscuits that you enjoy you are going to enjoy the crust as well. The crust can make or break a slice, cheesecake or anything that has a biscuit base. 

Enjoy with a side of fruit, cream or ice cream or all of them. 

Dessert Ideas for Summer

So whilst it is only Spring, it feels like summer for a long weekend. Today it is going to be 35 degrees and tomorrow 37 degrees! Perfect weather for a long weekend by the pool with a few friends and a BBQ (which is exactly what I am doing Sunday and Monday). 

I haven't done any baking this week because first week back at uni after a two week break has been a little hectic! So I thought I would post some of my favourite ideas that won't melt for a quick BBQ that started out of no where. 

One of the worst things that can happen here, you spend all this time on a fabulous dessert only to have it melt right before your eyes. Or you have a whole group of people turn up for an impromptu BBQ and you need a dessert but have no clue what to make or whats in the house. 

Here are some of my favourite dessert ideas 

• Lamingtons
• Pavlova 
• Eton Mess 
• Apple Berry Crumble with Ice Cream (Just don't take the ice cream out of the freezer too soon other wise your crumble will be swimming in a sea of creamy, frothy cold milk)
• Upside Down Cake 
• Fruit Platter 
• Lemon Tart 
• Ice Cream Cake (you know those ones from Coles that you used to have at Maccas Birthday Parties?) 
• Raspberry Ice with Cream or Ice Cream
• Ice Cream Sandwiches 
• Lemon Meringue Pie 
• Lemon Meringue Ice Creame (My favourite) 
• Sara Lee shove in the oven dessert

Here is the Eton Mess that I made for a BBQ

What is your favourite dessert for summer?