FoodieChat

A brilliant way to use excess carrots, these mini bit sized cupcakes will be a perfect addition to a high tea party or to surprise supper guests or even as part of a petit four! Good for the cholesterol conscious as it uses oil not butter.

 To make the icing just mix sugar, margarine and milk until almost sti ff but still mixable. Then pipe stars on top.

Here’s the recipe:  http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/carrot-cake-mini-cupcakes?autonomy_kw=carrot%20cupcake&rsc=header_9

For you homer simpsons out there who love donuts and maybe have a bit of resemblance to his figure as a result (hehehe), this is a great alternative. These donuts are not fried, but they are baked instead.  The sugar and cinnamon sticks to the outside by brushing melted butter (or low fat margarine) on the outside.  The only problem (which you may not see as a problem) is that you have to eat them straight out of the oven, they’re not good when they’re cold/leftover.  The recipe is in the August issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller Magazine, but they used an apple filling instead.

Surfing around the net for a new cake recipe to try, I found this one by Jill Dupleix (quoting someone else!).  Jill is the food writer in delicious magazine so I knew it would be reliable.  My colleagues loved it (so they tell me), as it was very light and fluffy. It takes a bit of elbow grease to cream the WHOLE BLOCK of butter with the sugar (I halved the recipe), but the result is a cake with a good crumb, not too oily and an awesome orange flavour from the rind.  I actually baked it in a kuglelhoph tin, and let the icing drizzle down the sides. I also put some orange zest through the icing also.

http://www.jilldupleix.com/recipes/rec001.php

Now it’s not often that Nigella Lawson, domestic goddess, creates a low fat version of something. Not that she called this lower fat, but I certainly think it is, by virtue of being based on condensed milk, rather than cream, as most fudge sauces are. And it can’t be any easier:

1. 200g condensed milk (I even used skim)
2. 100g chocolate
3. 100g peanut butter (Again I used lite).

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan, and warm gently until melted together into a lusciously viscous rich sauce.  Add a couple of tablespoons of water to prevent from setting too hard.

Pour over ice cream, sprinkle with chopped nuts, and enjoy - blissful in the knowledge that it’s not as bad as it could have been for you!

I made this cupcake “cake” for my sister Ashley’s birthday using 21 cupcakes (Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a domestic Goddess” recipe).  I stood my 13-cupcake Wilton holder on top of a foil covered pizza tray, with 13 on the stand and 9 on the bottom in alternating colours: lime green with silver cachous, and pink icing with glass-like sprinkles.  The white roses are my first (and potentially last) attempt at sugar paste flowers; and I used some rose leaves wound around the cupcake holder to fill up the gap.  To ice the cupcakes, I used a star shaped nozzle and twirled it around - and careful to sprinkle on the decorations before it dries.  I then carried the cupcakes to the venue inside the muffin tray they were baked in.  And finally - decorate with candles.  Happy birthday Ashley (and Chris!).