Self icing peanut butter cupcakes and the diary of a vegan.

I have a friend. Shock horror, I know. He’s pretty cool. We work together and sometimes drink at hip new Sydney bars together. Recently, he decided to become a vegan for a month - purely for a bet. One alcohol fuelled night my friend bet his mates that he could go vegan for a whole month. Typical males. Now, he is writing a blog about it. You can follow his adventures here. During the last few weeks I have enjoyed taunting my friend, Vinnie, with emails of what I will be consuming for lunch that day, ALWAYS including a large chunk of animal product. It’s just what a good friend does.

Just last week I stumbled upon this recipe. I was fascinated by the concept of ‘self icing’ cupcakes. No mess, no extra fuss and you still get to lick the bowl clean. Umm what’s not to love? Only glitch in the plan – it’s a vegan recipe. I was all pumped up for some peanut butter cupcakes with self icing chocolate sauce but I wasn’t about to go and buy a bunch of flax seeds to quell my foodie desires. Now, don’t get me wrong. As a reformed vegetarian of eight years, I can understand the motives behind veganism. But as a result, I can now also appreciate meat. I am now that girl in the group who could actually pass for a guy with all my beer-drinking and meat lovers-pizza-eating. Oh, how times have changed.

Regardless, I went about my plans to suck down several of these cupcakes but without the ‘vegan theme hanging over my head. I reworked the recipe to feature many glorious animal products including milk and eggs. And now I present it to you. Enjoy.

Self icing peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate icing.

Adapted from My Sweet Vegan (by Hannah Kaminsky) as published on http://wingitvegan.blogspot.com/2011/04/cookbook-love-my-sweet-vegan-with.html
Makes 12 cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes:

2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup full cream milk

To make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees C and grease a 12 hole muffin pan.
Using electric mixer combine buttermilk, both sugar, eggs, peanut butter, oil and vanilla into your mixer. In a separate bowl, add the flour, bicarb soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients one spoonful at a time into the wet ingredients. Mix until there are no lumps.

To make the icing:

Using an electric mixer, or a hand whisk, combine all of the ingredients for the icing until smooth.

Assemble the cupcakes and icing:
Divide batter between the prepared muffin holes. Add a spoonful of icing into the top of each cupcake and swirl use a toothpick or squewer to swirl and spread over the entire cupcake. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Be careful if you plan on eating these straight out of the oven.. the icing is like lava and will burn a hole in your head. Perfect warmed up with a side of ice cream!

Dear Vinnie,

At the time of publishing, you still have nine days of vegan life ahead of you. Which means you can’t eat these cupcakes. Suck it, bitch! These bad boys are good and you’re missing out!
BUT, if you’re lucky, then maybe I’ll make a batch to celebrate your return to the meat eating, animal product consuming life.

Love KayBizzle.

Sydney Food Bloggers Christmas Picnic and Christmas Cupcake Toppers

Food bloggers, Assemble! Now all I need is a giant horn or seashell to blow on and the team will come a running!

The second annual Sydney Food Bloggers Christmas Picnic took place this weekend in the gorgeous Centennial Park. 50 plus foodies ventured out from behind their slr’s and macbooks with food and Kris Kringle presents in hand to celebrate the silly season together. 

Big shout out to Suze and Helen for organising the picnic. Two very proactive ladies in the blogging community, without who we probably wouldn't have so many wonderful opportunities to catch up with new and old friends. We ate, we drank and we were merry. 

I went cliche with my plate of food.. mini mudcakes with Christmas themed toppers. Let’s learn how to make them, shall we?

(Apologies for the horrific photos, my camera decided to die as I was making the toppers, so these photos are from my camera phone!). 

You will need:

Fondant - light pink, green, red and white colours.

Circle cutter (2 1/4 inch)

Piping tip (any type)

Small knife

Cornflour

Rolling pin

Veining tool (or tooth picks)

Water and paint brush

Blue gel colouring and tooth pick

Roll out your pink fondant and cut out circles for the elves and Santa faces.

For the Santa.. thinly roll out white fondant and use circle cutter to cut out rounds for Santa’s beard. Still using your circle cutter, cut away 2 thirds of the circle, keeping the smaller portion for his beard. With a little bit of water, attach the beard to the lower half of Santa’s face.

Next, roll out two small balls of white fondant for Santa’s moustache. Flatten the balls with your index finger, then pinch one side to form a teardrop shape. Repeat on second ball.

Using a small amount of water, attached to the top of Santa’s beard.

For his nose, roll out a small amount of pink fondant and attach with water right above his moustache.

Santa’s hat.. Thinly roll out your red fondant, and using your small knife cut out triangles, I made mine two inches wide at the base, and three inches high. 

Attach the triangle so it is just above the ends of Santa’s beard. Using a toothpick, gently fold the corner of his hat over and attached a small white ball of fondant to the point.

Thinly roll out the remaining white fondant and cut small strips for the trip on Santa’s hat (no measurements sorry, I just eyeballed it).

Use the blue gel and toothpicks to give Santa a couple of eyes.

For the Elves.. very similar except for the ears and mouth. Start with the hat, same size as Santa’s but use the green fondant. Attached as previously mentioned.

Roll two small balls of pink fondant, and flatten and pinch as you did with Santa’s moustache. Finish the ears by using your veining tool or toothpick to mark shallow indents down the  middle of the ears. Attach over the hat.

Roll a small balls of pink fondant and give him a nose, then use the large end of your piping tip to imprint a smile on his face. Use the blue gel to give him some eyes, and you’re done! Leave to dry for a few hours and attach to the top of some cupcakes using some icing of your choice, or a bit of apricot jam.

Halloween Whoopie Pies and the best costume ever

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. It’s ok to be jealous. It’s pretty much the best costume ever. And so versatile. Going to a Christmas party? Dress in green, whack some big red baubles on your ears and go as Christmas Barbie in-a-box! Grandma’s 80^th birthday? Grab some comfy shoes, a cardigan and a blue rinse. Hello Grandma Barbie in-a-box. The same goes for men, just as a Ken (or Barbie if they wish. I don’t judge). Oh and the rest of the family looks pretty good too.

2010 marked the 3^rd annual KayB, JayB, MummyB and DaddyB Halloween Moonlight Screaming, where we invite all our mates around, dress up in wicked costumes and eat wicked food while watching scary movies in the backyard.

Among the many many cool costumes, there are also many many cool food options. Miss Moon always makes these awesome Halloween Cupcakes. 

I also got my hands on some real life CANDYCORN! The national candy of Halloween in America. I love this stuff. The group was divided, some loving it, others loathing it. It tastes like jersey caramels. Whats not to like?

I also got creative and used my Halloween cookie cutters to make some Bat and Ghost chips. Get some tortilla wraps, cut out the spooky shapes and pop em’ in the oven for 5-10 minutes till they crisp up. Simple.

But my big cooking project for Halloween this year was the Chocolate and Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. Ever since I spied the whoopies pies on Bakerella, I had been keen to give them a try. I also just like the name whoopie pie. While they don’t necessarily look that appealing, they taste pretty darn good.

In essence, a whoopie pie is a cross between a cookie and a muffin top with some sort of delectable filling sandwiched between the two layers. By themselves, the cookie/muffin tops were actually quite plain. Pumpkin filling, however, equaled amazing-ness!!! Ohh boy, somebody get me a spoon. Quick. Someone. SPOON. GET ME A SPO.. oh too late. I just slammed my face into the bowl and sucked up all the pumpkin filling through every orifice in my face (insert Homer Simpson gurgle here). 

Chocolate and Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder 

1 tbsp baking soda

3/4 cup butter (salted)

1 cup castor sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups whole milk

Pumpkin Filling

125g Philadelphia cream cheese

125g Butter

1/2 pure icing sugar (sifted)

1/2 cup of canned butternut pumpkin soup 

Preheat oven to 170 degrees fan forced. Sift flour, coco and baking soda into a bowl, set aside.

In an electric mixer cream sugars and butter until smooth. Add in eggs one at a time until just combined.

Add flour/coco/baking soda and milk bit by bit, alternating between the two.

Spoon onto trays lined with baking paper (desired size. They are normally very large, I made some of mine with a teaspoon size scoop, easier to fit into the mouth). Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops crack. 

Combine icing sugar, cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer until smooth. Add pumpkin soup until just combined. You may like to add more sugar as desired.

Sandwich filling in between cookie/muffin tops and decorate with orange sprinkles.

Elephant cupcakes for Baz's birthday

How do you know if an elephant has been hiding in your fridge?

..There are footprints in the butter! 

How do you know if an elephant has been messing with your cupcakes?

..There are footprints in the buttercream! 

Oh, I am hilarious! Somebody stop me! Seriously, stop me.

Baz, my father-in-law, loves elephants. He collects them. Not real ones. I'm pretty sure that's illegal without the correct accreditation. We all went to Taronga Zoo recently to see the baby elephant. Too much frickin' cute for one day. So this year for his birthday I made him elephant cupcakes (last year it was billiard balls). 

Here is what you'll need to make your own elephant cupcakes..

Fondant - grey and colour of your choice for circles.

Circle cutter 

Piping tips (two sizes for cutting)

Black gel food colouring

Toothpicks

Small paint brush and some water

Balling tool (optional)

First you wanna cut out some fondant circles for your elephants to sit on. I use a 2 1/2 inch circle cutter. Set aside to dry and harden.

For the face and ears we need three circles, one large and two smaller. I use my piping tips to cut these circles. Press the smaller circles gently with your fingertips to thin out and shape the ears. You can also use a balling tool for this.

Attach the ears to your fondant circle by brushing a little bit of water on the back. Then position the face and also attach with some water.

Next we're making the trunk. Take a small amount of grey fondant and roll it into a ball (see the top left image for the size required). Then with your pointer and thumb, pinch the ball and roll into a trunk shape, one end thicker than the other. Finally, flatten the trunk. You can curve the trunk or leave straight.

Attach the trunk with some water, and use a toothpick and some black food colouring to give your elephants eyes. You could easily add tusks with some white fondant. Then pop these bad boys on your cupcakes with a bit of buttercream or icing. 

Puppy Cupcakes & The Pedigree Adoption Drive. Help us help dogs.

Last week I received an email. I receive lots of emails, but this one grabbed my attention.  Subject line “Did you know you had the power to help a homeless dog?”

I currently have three gorgeous pups. And the thought of these beautiful creatures without a roof over their heads and without a loving family just breaks my heart. 

As I’m writing this, my eldest girl is circling around my feet. There’s a storm outside and she is (ironically) a scaredy cat! 

The email continues “Can you help spread the word in support of homeless dogs? PEDIGREE is inviting dog loving bloggers across Australia to help The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive”. I’m ashamed to say that the thought of using my blog to help support such a worthy cause has never even crossed my mind. How totally self absorbed of me.

Currently in its third year, Pedigree has again teamed with Pet Rescue for the annual Pedigree Adoption Drive, aimed at raising funds to help improve the lives of homeless dogs by seeking out new homes for those who desperately need one (in saying that, don’t all homeless dogs desperately need a home?).

Here are my babies. My pride and joy (Clockwise from Top Left). 

Lee-Roy Brown. He's such a Mummies boy. Wouldn't hurt a fly and is a total poser (obviously). 

Roxy. Very shy, but very vocal. Both Lee-Roy and Roxy were rescues from the RSPCA.

Kaiser. Only recently we had to put him to sleep. I miss him everyday. Kaiser came to our family via my late Uncle. He knew his 'master' wasn't coming home and since that horrible day his eyes were filled with an overwhelming sadness. But the joy and affection he brought us after my Uncle died is unmeasurable and indescribable. A broken heart can't always be fixed, but a face like his will help ease the pain.

Finally, Miss LuckyB. My princess. She's getting on in years, but still has the attitude of a snooty teenager. I think that's because I spoil her. She has one eye and a squashed face. I think she is the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on.

You don’t need to adopt a dog to help this worthy cause (although, that would be fantastic!). You can donate money, or simply join The Pedigree Adoption Drive facebook page. For every person that ‘likes’ the facebook page, Pedigree will donate a bowl of food to a dog shelter. And there are so many hungry mouths to feed. 

And now, the tough part. It’s easy for me to give you all this information, leave you to go about your business, and cross my fingers hoping you might join in. But will you? Will you act on it? Will you help?

I’m going to inspire you. With the only way I know how. Through cakes. Puppy cakes. 

I wouldn’t suggest you share these with your pooch, but there are plenty of dog friendly cake recipes out there. Or make up your own with things like rolled oats, apple sauce, frozen veggies or wholemeal four. 

Puppy Dog Cupcake Decorations

What you will need

Fondant, in 3 colours. Yellow, brown and white is most suitable.

Round cookie cutter (I used a 2 1/4 inch cutter)

Black paste food colouring or piping gel (gel can be bought from all major supermarkets)

2 (different sized) small circle cutters - I used my piping tips.

Toothpicks, or thin tip brush

Rolling pin

Cornflour

Sprinkle your bench with cornflower. Also coat your rolling pin in cornflower. This will stop it sticking and wont stain the fondant like icing sugar will.

Take your base colour (yellow) and roll out to just a few millimeters thick. Cut out circles with the round cookie cutter and set aside to dry and harden.

Next roll out your brown fondant, nice and thin. Cut out two brown circles using the larger of your two circle cutters. These two circles will be your puppy’s ears.

Slightly pinch one end of the circle between your thumb and your index finger to creat a teardrop shape. Repeat with the second circle.

Using the smaller circle cutter, cut out another brown circle. This will be the patch on the puppy’s eye.

Next, roll out the white fondant, again nice and thin. Cut out one circle using the larger of the two circle cutters. This circle will become the base for the puppy’s mouth.

Using the same circle cutter, cut two small sections out of the top half of your circle. Make sure you leave a thin gap between the cuts, so you create the outline of the mouth (and keep the off cuts).

To finish the mouth paint on a smile with your black food colouring and toothpick/brush. Leave aside to dry.

Grab your white off cuts from the base of the mouth. Cut one of the off cuts in half, roll into small balls and flatten with your index finger. These are now the puppy’s eyes.

Take the second off cut and roll into another ball and paint it black. This is now the puppy’s nose.

Grab your paint brush and a cup of water. Arrange all the parts of the puppy’s face first, so you have them in the correct position. Now glue them onto the large yellow circle with a little bit of water (the water dissolves the sugar in the fondant and makes the two surfaces stick together). Paint on any extra details, like black dots for the eyes.

Once your puppy has dried, smother your cupcakes in some buttercream or frosting and stick the puppy on top. Enjoy. Again (and I can’t stress enough) please ensure any cupcakes you make are pet friendly before feeding them to your dog (absolutely no chocolate!). And remove the fondant puppy, all that sugar will cause an upset stomach! 

Realistically, some of us can’t house a dog. A small apartment with no balcony isn’t always a suitable option for a puppy. But you can easily bring a dozen or so of these cupcake puppies into your home without any complaints about barking from the neighbours. 

I will admit though, they are not quite as fun as the real thing. You can't cuddle on the lounge with them. Or take them out for walkies. They also won't fetch when you throw a tennis ball down the backyard. Or jump up and down and do a cute little dance when they know its almost dinner time. And they definitely wont try to climb up into your top pocket when you are sad and need cheering up. Real puppies have a knack for sensing when you need a good cuddle. 

I’ve shown you my gorgeous puppies. I’ve shown you how to make cute puppy cupcakes. But is that enough to get your support? Well, how about this. The cold, hard fact is that over 100,000 dogs are put down each year in Australia, because they don’t have a home. It's heartbreaking. But I can attest, based on my own experience, that the love and affection you receive from a pet will go a long way in helping to mend that broken heart.

At the time of publishing this post, The Pedigree Adoption Drive has found homes for 907 dogs. I only hope this number continues to steadily increase over the next few weeks, and that you all jump online and do what you can to help support this worthy cause.

For more information about The Pedigree Adoption Drive and how you can help, please go to 

http://www.pedigreeadoptiondrive.com.au/

You can also support via their Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/thepedigreeadoptiondriveaustralia

Valentines Day - Chocolate, strawberry and cupcake bouquet

Valentines day. Commercial construction or genuine celebration of love? Well, both are wrong. Valentines day, or February 14th, is simply the eve of my birthday. Mwahahaha.. (cake to come).

Ok, but seriously, I have the most amazing boyfriend in the whole world. Don’t even try and argue with me, I’m sure your boyfriend is quite lovely too. But mine is better. The best. Ever.

Unlike my amazing boyfriend, I unfortunately do not have a romantic bone in my body. My idea of romance is spending the night in some seedy pub with a beer in one hand, while my other hand is giving either the finger or devil horns to a local indie/rock band.

But this year I thought I’d attempt to bring the cheese (you know, a classically romantic gesture that is so cliche it has actually become too cheesy for words!). And what better way to bring the cheese than with a home made gift.

An interesting alternative to the classic bouquet of flowers is the now popular chocolate bouquet. You can also get fresh fruit bouquets. Some specialty businesses (mostly in the USA) offer cupcake bouquets. How about we combine all three of these...

Complete with nutella cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate hearts. Yummo! Super easy and cheap to make. I think it makes a great alternative to flowers, and a fantastic option for a present to give a male. Handmade with love for my baby. Xxx.