The perfect pavlova - Donna Hay style, and the return of MasterChef!

Did you see the first episode of MasterChef, series 2? It was amazing! The top 50 amateur chefs in the country battling it out for a coveted spot in the top 24. There was tears, cussing, sweaty arm pits and more tears. Brilliant TV.


And just when you didn’t think it could get any better, in walks the dessert queen herself - Donna Hay. Then she whips out a perfect pavlova, and I go weak at the knees.


I frickin’ love Pavlova! Gooey marshmallow goodness topped with cream and fruit - Yum yum! I’ve never even thought of making a pavlova, because every birthday without fail, a pavlova is placed in front of me with candles stuck all over it. There has never been a need for me to make one. Except for now.

(Check it out - Me and my birthday pavlova!)

I had to have a Donna Hay Pavlova. I neeeeeded it! Ok, so I wasn't going to get one made by Donna herself (obviously!), but I could give her recipe a good damn crack.

There were two attempts this weekend. The first seemed to be going well, until I pulled it out of my oven and the top cracked. Then an attempt to move it proved too difficult and the whole top collapsed! Bugger.


On to attempt number two. More successful, but still a bit off the perfect Donna Hay pavlova. The outside was crisp and crunchy, and the inside gooey and delicious! Just a little bit more time needed to refine my sugar-adding techniques and cooling method to stop the cracks. But not bad overall.. I even had one of my Kiwi friends come back in for seconds because it was that good!

Speaking of Kiwi’s, here’s a bit of history about the pavlova. If you have a New Zealander as a friend (and let’s face it, we all do because they are great to have around for an occasional verbal beat down! Usually involving sheep..), chances are you’ve debated about the origin of the pavlova. Well, turns out us Aussie’s can’t claim this glorious dessert. Research shows a New Zealand chef in Wellington created the dessert and named it after Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova during her visit to the land of the long white cloud in 1962. Shame. But that isn’t gonna stop me eating it!


Classic Pavlova


4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 teaspoons white vinegar
Cream and fruit to decorate


Pre heat your oven to 130 degrees celsius (fan forced). Line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
In an electric mixer beat egg whites to a stiff peak.
Slowly beat in sugar, one teaspoon at a time. Make sure sugar has completely dissolved. Keep beating until egg white mixture is very stiff and glossy.
Mix in cornflour and vinegar until combined.
Spoon mixture onto prepared baking tray, forming a circle shape (approx. 18cm diameter) and built up until all mixture is used.
Place in oven and turn oven down to 110 degrees celsius. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Leave pavlova in oven until completely cooled.
Serve with cream and fruit.


Tips and Tricks
 - Eggs must be a room temperature.
 - You must add sugar gradually! Ensure sugar has dissolved before adding more. The   process of adding all the sugar took me 20 plus minutes. If the sugar hasn't dissolved completely it will weigh your pavlova down and it will collapse.
 - Make sure your mixer is clean. Any trace of fats or oils will make the pavlova collapse.
 - If you cool your pavlova too quickly it will crack. Hence why you need to leave it in the oven.
 - If you have a temperamental oven, the slower the better! Cook your pavlova at a low temperature for a longer time period.

Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day!

And now for a KayB’s Public Service Announcement..



Everyone loves something for free. My favourite holiday of the calendar year is 7-Eleven day, because you get to stuff yourself stupid with slurpee upon slurpee upon slurpee..

And it seems I have discovered what I’m sure will become my second favourite holiday. Free Cone Day!

After many years, patiently waiting, Ben and Jerry’s hit our shores last year with their flagship store in Manly. Loyal Ben and Jerry’s converts have been flocking to the Scoop Store ever since to get their ice cream fix, and as a thank you our Manly shop will now be taking part in the international phenomenon that is FREE CONE DAY!

It’s a pretty simple concept. As the slogan states, you get free ice cream! Free Cone Day takes place around the end of March/beginning of April all over the world. This year’s Australian Free Cone Day is April 20th from 1pm -8pm.

If you haven’t experienced the delight that is Ben and Jerry’s, I suggest you use Free Cone Day as a fabulous excuse to get your first fix. After many hours debating with work colleagues about the most outstanding flavour, we have finally come up with two recommendations for this year’s Free Cone Day...
Chunky Monkey and Phish Food, both standout classics (and and and.. Peanut Cookie-burra Dough! Who doesn’t love food with a comical name!).

See details below, and enjoy!

Free Cone Day

Tuesday April 20th, 2010. 1pm-8pm

Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop, 25-27 South Steyne, Manly

http://www.benandjerry.com.au/

Peanut Butter and Bacon Cookies - The perfect beer food

I think boys are hard to bake for. Sure, most of them enjoy sweets – my boy goes gooey for a mud cake, for example. But generally speaking, if you put a batch of pink cupcakes with elegant fondant flowers in front of a male, there is no way you’re going to get the same ‘ooooh’ and ‘ahhhhhh’ reaction as you would from a female.

My case in point – some time ago now, while discussing the engagement cake I had made for the groom, I asked him how many pieces of the cake he had eaten. To my utmost horror he had only had one piece, declaring that cake and beer just don’t mix well. He had a point. It was then decided that I must develop the perfect desert/cake/cupcake/baked item to match with a beer.

Sure, there have been a few trials and close contenders. Take the Luther burger, for example. Although I’m yet to come across any of my friends who have actually attempted this monstrosity! But finally, I think I may have found it.

Behold, the peanut butter and bacon cookie.

I recently went through the delightful process of having my wisdom teeth removed. I won’t glam it up for those of you potentially in line for this surgical procedure. It sucks. The worst. Ever. Tell your dentist to shove it. No, don’t do that! I’m sure he/she wont appreciate that. But on the plus side I now have these two gaping holes in the back of my mouth where I can easily store leftover food for later consumption. Ewww gross.

Anyway, after two weeks on the lounge feeling very sorry for myself, and very anxious from a lack of baking, I decided to ease back into it with this very simple recipe. And I thought they would be a delightful treat for my little bro, my partner in crime, JayB, to say thanks for taking care of me/getting me slupees/feeding me mashed potato and gravy, while I was withering away on the lounge.

Peanut Butter and Bacon Cookie

Makes 6 to 8 large cookies

½ cup good quality crunchy peanut butter

½ cup sugar (1/4 brown sugar & ¼ granulated sugar)

½ egg

2 rashers of bacon, diced.

½ teaspoon baking powder

*Optional - ¼ cup wholemeal flour*

Preheat fan forced oven to 175 degrees C.

Slice bacon into small cubes. Fry to your liking and drain well.

Using an electric mixer combine sugar and peanut butter, then slowly add in egg and baking powder (add flour at this stage if using). Mix for approximately 1-2 minutes, or until well combined.

Stir in bacon. Roll mixture into balls and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Press down on ball with your thumb or fork to flatten slightly.

Bake for 10 minutes. Leave to cool on tray for at least 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack or plate.

NOTE: Drain bacon VERY well on paper towel after frying. The combination of bacon and peanut butter means these cookies can become very oily when mixing. These are not typically crunchy cookies, they are more like a soft ‘subway’ cookie. If you prefer more crunch then add flour, increase amount to your liking.

If you haven’t eaten them all straight out of the oven, then I suggest storing these in the fridge if you plan to make ahead of time. Zap in the microwave for a few seconds before serving.

Just incase you were wondering, JayB loved the cookies. And he is a very hard man to please, he doesn't really like sweets (crazy, I know! Pretty sure he must be adopted).

...And just a little something for all of those lined up to have their wisdom teeth out anytime soon.

This photo pretty much sums up the whole experience. "F**k you world, I have a frozen sanitary pad around my balloon size face and I don't want to talk about it." Good luck to y'all!

Happy birthday, Wild Thing!!

It’s my party and I’ll make cake if I want too.

And make cake I did! I’m lucky enough to share my birthday with one of my best friends, Moon. She is exactly one year older than me, and therefore one year wiser than me. She is the most supportive, inspirational person I know. She is constantly bringing out the best in people and always puts others before herself. But as wise and gracious as Moon is, she is also a kid at heart. I’ve lost count of how many times she has seen the Where The Wild Things Are movie. It's one of her favourite children's books. She even made herself a super rad Max costume for Halloween last year.

See, super rad!

So, a Max cake it was! When it comes to cake decorating, I’ve decided to go back to the basics. I made a simple butter cake with a buttercream filling and icing (note: this is probably toooooo much butter for one cake). But the idea was to get the buttercream icing as smooth and even as possible, and practice my piping techniques.

I piped the Max outline in black royal icing the week before our birthday. After the outline had dried I used a flooding technique (using thinned/watered down royal icing to ‘flood’ the outlines with colour).

I put two layers of blue buttercream icing on the cake, a thin crumb coat on the Friday afternoon and a second, thicker layer Friday evening after the crumb coat had hardened in the fridge for 3 hours (ideally you should leave the icing to harden over night).

Saturday morning I added the final touches. A green pearl border and the classic line from Where the Wild Things Are, “LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!”. I practiced the text piping a few times before piping freehand on the cake. I was then able to place Max gently on the cake (his tail did snap off, but considering I was very concerned he might actually snap into several pieces, this didn't upset me one bit. I just tucked the tail underneath!).

Happy birthday to my gorgeous Moon. May the wild rumpus continue for many, many more years to come!

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.

MummyB's Butterfly Birthday Cake - Inspired by Peggy Porschen and her Romantic Cakes

A new year already. How quickly 12 months have flown by! For Christmas this year I was treated with an array of cooking books; Bourke Street Bakery, Max Brenner and Cake Wrecks, just to name a few.

But I also treated myself with a new addition to my cooking library. Peggy Porschen is an incredibly creative woman, and her cakes are absolutely divine. For some inspiration in 2010 I bought myself her book 'Romantic Cakes'.

And what perfect timing, it arrived on my doorstep at the beginning of January. Just in time for my Mother's birthday.

So here is the inspiration for MummyB’s birthday cake.

All of her cakes are just stunning and for inspiration, look no further than a Peggy Porschen designed cake. I just love the blue and brown colour scheme and Peggy provides some fantastic tips and tricks to make decorating super simple.

Admittedly my butterflies were not as professionally executed at Peggy’s (my piping bag was, and still is, MIA). But I think the colours work perfectly together and I’m sure I will be making plenty more of these butterflies.

Happy Birthday MummyB!

KayB's foodie guide to New Zealand

New Zealand is a ridiculously gorgeous country. Everywhere you look there is something new and beautiful to gaze upon.

Late November this year the boyfriend and I set off to spend two and a half glorious weeks driving around New Zealand. Both of our parents had ventured off to the land of the long white cloud at some stage during 2009 so we had plenty of first hand advice to run with. One fact my parents had brought back with them was that food in New Zealand was expensive and horrible. Bugger! How was I going to satisfy my inner foodie for the next two and a half weeks?

It seems my parents were very wrong (possibly aided by the fact that they only ate in pubs during their entire trip!). The Boy and I ate like royalty. Not to say we didn't have a couple of crappy meals, but the good experiences far out weighed the bad. And here are our tips for travelers heading to New Zealand.

Christchurch.

The Bicycle Thief.

If you didn’t look hard enough you would trip over this place. Dark, wooden interior bathed only in candle light shelters this place from prying eyes. But once you are inside the darkness is cosy and comfortable.

I am a huge fan of polenta. I think it is terribly under rated but unfortunately I cant spread the love of polenta because I cant cook it!

(Polenta fries $10.50 NZ)

The Bicycle Thief however can cook polenta. The best polenta chips I’ve ever eaten. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. And the boy loved them so much as well, he was actually trying to fit another day into Christchurch just so we could go back for more.

(Coppa Pizza - coppa salami, rosemary, walnut, ricotta, rocket. $30 NZ)

Reviews of The Bicycle Thief praise their gourmet pizzas which aided my choice for dinner that night, while the boy opted for a chicken main.

The pizza was gorgeous, with an amazing freshness added by the peppery rocket. My only comment would be that it was a tad on the salty side with the combination of the salami and ricotta.

(Pollo di Molla - chicken, pistachio, silverbeet ballotine on goats cheese & shallot potatoes with white truffle oil. $28 NZ)

The chicken was perfectly cooked (the waitress even explained to us how you can tell by the colour of the meat as to whether it is cooked correctly) and matched perfectly with the shallot potatoes and goats cheese.

Queenstown.

Aggy's Shack - Fish and Chips

Locals will tell you that Queenstown is the last place in the world to be bored. There is far too much to do. And eat. Fish and Chips in New Zealand are supposed to be the best in the world. I was skeptical but keen to test this theory. I only ate fish and chips once in New Zealand and yes, it was the best fish and chips I’ve ever eaten.

(Seafood basket for two $30 NZ)

On a beautiful corner of the lake stands a tiny yellow and black shack that sells fish and chips to locals and tourists alike. We go for the ultimate in fish and chip dinning by order a seafood basket for two. Now, I’m not one for shell fish.. prawns, mussels, lobsters, balmain bugs etc. I know, I know, call me crazy, but I will now bite my tongue because these prawns are the best I’ve ever eaten. I sucked all these bad boys down before the boy even got a look in! But he got to eat all the mussels, exclaiming ‘They taste like the sea! That’s how you know they’re fresh.’

By the time you get through all the seafood on the top, the chips at the bottom are soggy. But if you’ve eaten all that seafood, chances are you wont have any room left to eat the chips. They are purely there for ascetic purposes.

Or maybe you could feed them to the very friendly locals who are more than willing to take the food right out of your hands.

Wine Tastes - Central Otago Wine Experience.

A fun way to get the night started in Queenstown is to hit up the Wine Tastes - Central Otago Wine Experience. The place is filled with shag rugs and big leather arm chairs. But incase the decor doesn’t set the mood for you, Billy Holiday is playing softly in the background.

(Salami platter)

Head to the counter and grab a wine card, order a cheese platter then head straight to the nearest tasting bar to fill up your glass.

You insert your card into the machine and select the size of the taste you would like. The charge is added to you card which you pay at the end. The majority of wines on offer are New Zealand and the selection changes daily.

Fergburger.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera handy for this experience. It was an impulse stop and one which I highly recommend to anyone heading to New Zealand. Cheap food, cheap beer and the best hamburger I’ve ever eaten. We both opt for a classic Fergburger with prime New Zealand beef patty, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli and tomato relish. This is not a burger for the faint hearted. Its the kind of burger you eat with two hands and slather all over your face. You’ll also end up with lock jaw from trying to get your mouth around the entire burger!

Other fun options on the menu include the ‘Bun Laden’ falafel burger, ‘The Codfather’ fresh cod fish burger and the ‘Sweet Bambi’ with wild New Zealand deer and plum chutney.

Locations.

The Bicycle Thief

21 Latimer Square, Christchurch NZ

www.thebicyclethief.co.nz

Aggy's Shack - Fish and Chips

Cnr Marine Parade and Church Street, Queenstown

Wine Tastes - Central Otago Wine Experience.

14 Beach Street, Queenstown NZ

www.winetastes.co.nz

Fergburger

42 Shotover st, Queenstown NZ

www.fergburger.com