Red Velvet

I have another goal to tick off my list! Technically I wrote 'buy a cake tin and bake a cake', but I realised that I don't really like cake (unless it's Mum's carrot cake, layer cake, or a gooey citrus cake... okay, I guess I just don't like cake that I'm currently capable of baking).

Anyway, instead I decided to buy a muffin tin (40% off at The Warehouse, bargain indeed) and bake cupcakes. Which are cakes and involve a baking tin so this goal is officially complete in my eyes.

I decided to use a red velvet cake recipe, because I know that flavour is alll the rage pretty much everywhere, and I've never tried it before (actually, I hardly ever eat cupcakes - the only decent ones for sale are pretty expensive and from specialty cupcake shops, and I prefer my junk food cheap and nasty rather than an... investment).

I really quite like baking. I guess this is the first time I've had a reasonably large kitchen, with lots of table and bench space to work on (I wish I had a photo of the kitchen when I lived in Lower Hutt - the sink was pretty much the size of a bathroom basin, you couldn't even submerge a dinner plate in it). It also helps that I don't have to share it with anyone (although to be fair, Charlie said he's cooking steak for dinner tonight - but that's mostly because I over-cook it every time).

Anyway, I found this recipe, bought a bunch of ingredients, and got to work. Mum asked for the recipe so I told her I'd post it here, with the NZ quantities I used (click the link above if you want the original).

Cupcake ingredients:

100g softened butter

1.5 cups sugar

2 eggs

60mL red food colouring (this is more than a standard bottle, so I used both red and pink)

2 heaped tablespoons cocoa

1 cup cultured buttermilk

2.25 cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Set your oven to bake at 180°C. Lay out your cupcake cases (this mixture made 15 for me).

Soften the butter and mix in the sugar until it's creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them in thoroughly.

In another bowl, mix the food colouring and cocoa until it's dissolved (it's pretty much a paste by then). Add it into the first bowl and beat together until all the mixture is a nice deep red.

Add the buttermilk and flour alternately, and beat thoroughly after each addition. Once the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the vanilla and baking soda.

Spoon the mixture into your cupcake cases, and stop filling at least a centimeter shy of the top. Put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes (test whether they're done with a knife after 10).

Once they're cooked, set them aside to cool.

For the icing I was originally going to use a cream cheese recipe, but I decided to stick with what the recipe told me since I hadn't even tried the cupcake flavour before.

Icing ingredients:

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butter

Blend the flour and milk together in a saucepan over low heat until it thickens and has no lumps. Set it aside to cool completely.

Cream together the softened butter, sugar, and vanilla until it's fluffy.

Once the flour and milk is cool, combine all the ingredients together until it's super fluffy.

A very helpful person on Twitter advised me you can buy piping bags with shaped nozzles from $2 stores, and sure enough I found a great set at 2 Cheap on Manners Street.

I watched this helpful video of some cupcake-icing basics, and decided to give the rose shape a go. I probably used the wrong nozzle shape with hindsight, but they're not bad for my first attempt, right? Also the icing probably wasn't stone cold because I'm impatient like that.

The verdict is that they're pretty damn good! Although incredibly rich, I'm definitely going to be eating half at a time even though I definitely have a sweet tooth.

So domestic, you guys! Have a great weekend.

Friday Feed

I made one one of my favourite dishes for dinner yesterday, so decided to photograph and blog the process. It's super-duper easy, because there's next to no actual cooking involved, but tastes really good. The amounts of ingredients listed below were enough for three Alice-meal-sized portions (two for Charlie, one for me). I like to eat it as a cold salad, while Charlie microwaves his, so go with which ever you prefer.

Also be aware most of the photos below are included because they were most aesthetically pleasing of all I took, not because I think you need illustrated instructions. And yeah, my nail polish is mega chipped. I am booked in for a manicure.

Ingredients:
1 large chicken breast (two if you prefer)
1 fat cucumber
1 red capsicum (any colour is fine)
1 packet of Singapore Noodles
1 tablespoon peanut butter (any kind. I usually use a larger quantity than this, but it was all we had left and it tasted fine)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar (rice or white vinegar is fine)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Peel the cucumber, core the capsicum, and slice both into long, thin strips.

Gently separate the Singapore Noodles, and blanch (I put them in boiling water for around 20 seconds, drain in a colander, and then run them under the cold tap briefly, but you can cook them any way you like). Set aside.

Dice the chicken breast, and fry it in a tablespoon of sesame oil (alternatively you can poach it in boiling water but I find that pretty bland). Set aside.

Spoon your peanut butter into a large bowl. Deglaze the pan from the chicken with quarter of a cup of water and the vinegar, then pour the hot liquid over the peanut butter to dissolve it and create a thick paste. Add in the rest of the sesame oil, soy sauce, and ground black pepper, then stir through the cooked chicken.

When ready to serve, add the cucumber, capsicum, and noodles into the chicken and sauce. At this point I normally stir in a handful of mung beans too, but Countdown failed to deliver them in my grocery order.

Done! Easy! Yay! I pretty much Rachael Ray-it every time and just splash in what ever ingredient quantities look right, so there's not much that can go wrong - just don't use too much vinegar is probably my only tip, and taste the sauce before adding the chicken of course.

Salmon Pizza

Salmon pizza is most definitely my favourite meal to cook when I'm feeling lazy. It's not particularly cheap, nor especially healthy, but it's d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s served with a side of lettuce and French dressing.

I buy pre-made Pam's pizza bases, because they're cheap, taste good, and mean the pizzas can be ready in less than fifteen minutes, with no worries about failed dough. Spread the bases with lite cream cheese in lieu of tomato paste. Add thinly sliced Camembert or Brie cheese, lots of shaved salmon, sliced black olives and/or caper berries. Season with freshly cracked sea salt and peppercorns, and bake in the oven at 200°C (392°F according to Google) for around ten minutes. I tend to watch them cooking like a hawk (alongside Wallace) because I'm impatient and I don't trust my oven. I prefer them when the bases are hot but still quite soft, and only have a light crust around the edge.

I made two last night, and we ate one for dinner, and I'm having some of the second one for my work lunch today. The best thing about these pizza leftovers is when they haven't been cooked for too long, they taste awesome cold the next day.

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