The Next Chapter in the Whoopie Saga

Yesterday I decided to give another batch of Whoopie Pies a go. This time the flavour of choice was Peanut Butter Whoopies. Rich Chocolate 'cookies' filled with a peanut butter buttercream.

So off I went to the kitchen and started weighing and measuring the ingrediants.

Starting with the dry ingrediants

and then the butter and sugars.
Then it was over to the mixer to cream the butter and sugars. I love this part of the recipe, the beaters going, the sound of the mixer and the physical change that takes place with the ingrediants. I think I am a baking nerd!

A couple of weeks ago I had bought a pan that was for Whoopie Pies/Macarons.

The last time I had attempted Whoopie Pies I used this pan but I wasn't very 'specialised' tray again. The recipe had suggested dropping spoonfulls of the batter on to a tray for baking so this is what I did. Into the oven they went for 10 minutes. And this is what came out

Not the most attractive 'cookie'! It was odd shaped, flat as a pancake and certainly not round. That was it, no more scooping the mix onto a tray, out came the piping bag and 'normal' cookie tray. And woohoo! I had success!

While the cookies were cooling I whipped up a batch of the Peanut Butter Buttercream then sandwiched two cookies together with this delectable salty sweet frosting.

Whoopie Pies

I have been extremely slack when it comes to posting things on this blog. So I have decided to stop being so slack and start blogging regularly to give you something to read about.

Today I have chosen Whoopie Pies. Why Whoopie Pies you might ask. Well here is the reason. I can bake almost anything and first time I do is usually a success. I decided to give Whoopie Pies a go to sell to whomever may have been interested in them. I found a recipe on Martha Stewart for Banana ones with cream cheese filling. Mmmm i thought they sound nice, so off to the kitchen I went. I followed the recipe which is something I am not famous for doing, got the batter made, piped them onto a tray and all seemed to be good in the world of Whoopie Pies.

Then I baked them and when they came out of the oven they looked like flying saucers! They tasted great so I filled them with the cream cheese filling and within 24 hours they were all gone. Everyone love them, but they did not look like Whoopie Pies. I was mortified to say the least so I have decided that the Whoopie Pie is not gong to beat me and I will whip up batches of these little cookie/cakes until I can master them.

In future I will take photos of both disasters and successes and take you on my Whoopie journey.

Hope you are all enjoying your Australia Day Celebrations.

Cake Orders

Isn't it funny that on Sunday there are no cake orders for the following week but by 9am Monday morning you have 3 cakes to finish before friday.

Two weeks out from Christmas I thought I was going to have a couple of weeks smooth sailing but I should have known better than to relax. By 9am this morning I had 3 cake orders all due the end of this week! How fantastic is that!

The best thing I have ever done for my business is start up a facebook page, it has had significant growth in the past 6 months since doing so. Not only this but I have had contact with so many other wonderful people and businesses that I would never have found if I did not have my facebook page.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Mel x

Budgets

Like most Australian families these days we live on a budget and as the budget controller I try to keep a fairly tight rain on our finances. I track our accounts daily, we have a set amount of money for every aspect of our lives and most importantly I have a fairly detailed spreadsheet that I update daily with incomings and outgoings (mostly outgoings).

So when I come across an idea that may be able to save us some money from our weekly spendings I jump right on it and give it a go. The latest idea I am trying is from a really interesting blog site I stumbled across a couple of weeks ago now. It is

http://120dollarsfoodchallenge.com

. The blog is written by a lady that quit her job and then had to live on centrelink benefits, and after paying her rent and other bills out of her fortnights benefit she only had $120 dollars to buy food for a fortnight for 4 people. The blog gives great tips on how to achieve this including where the latest best buys are and recipes with costings.

Well I decided as soon as I read this to go for it. I devised a 2 week menu plan which included 14 dinners, 3 baked items, 3 desserts and a breakfast that was not your standard cereal and milk or toast. I actually have five people in my household and 2 of us have food allergies (wheat and lactose) so I knew that it would cost us more than the $120 for the fortnight and thought I would just be happy with any savings on our $400 we spend each fortnight on food (and quite often it is a little more).

So my first fortnight began and I spent only $360 not $380 or more, and we are halfway through and not another trip to the super market. I have fed my family the yummiest meals, desserts, baking and breakfasts and there has been food left over for both weekday work lunches for my husband and I and lunches for the whole family over the weekend also. I have to say I am impressed so far.

I will post something fortnightly about my little experiment (how much we are spending and more importantly how much we are saving) I think this fortnight so far we have saved $40. Not a lot you say, but that is 2 music lessons for my kids a week. Or gym fees for both my husband and I or just simply $40 dollars more in the bank this fortnight.

I say that is great and I recommend anyone give it a go.

My Sons 3rd Birthday

Oh my gosh!! I can't believe he is 3!! And what a little man he is. That's right my little boy turned 3.

Trains and cars have become JMR's thing over the past few months. He is obsessed by them. Everywhere we go he seeks all of the cars and trains out so he can get down on the ground and push them around on their miniture wheels till the cows come home. So when his birthday was fast approaching I decided on trains as a theme for his morning tea with a few friends and family.

Well what a job I had finding little things to decorate his morning tea table with. Who would have thought that train decorations (I did not want Thomas the Tank Engine)were so hard to find. It took several trips to different craft and scrapbooking stores but I managed to achieve what I wanted and therefore made my first themed dessert/morning tea table.

Jungle Fever

Jungle Fever was the theme for this week in my cake world.

A couple of months ago I was approached by a mum who wanted a cake for her sons 4th birhtday. The theme was the jungle. Eliza had a picture of a cake from a magazine that she wanted for her little boy. I knew immediately that I would have fun making this cake and putting my own little touch to it.




The original cake did not have the sugar Frog, Lion and Monkey on it. I was given a book by a dear friend on sugar animals and desperately wanted to have a play so saw this cake as the perfect opportunity.

So after a shopping trip to hunt down all of the lollies and plastic lizards and frogs I sat down to play with icing and see what I could create to put on the Jungle cake. I started with the monkey, natural choice for a jungle I thought. Next was the lion and last the green tree frog for on top of the trees. They were so much fun to make and looked adorable on the finished product.

Hope you all think it is as adorable as I do. Thanks Eliza for the priviledge of making your sons 4th birthday Jungle Cake.

Citrus Juicer Knife Block

As a Chef good storage and care of my knives is essential, however I also like things to look good and evena little quirky. My ideal for knife storage is magnets as there is nothing for the blades to rub against, as they are being put into a block, and becoming blunt or damaged.

So I asked IR if we could have a magnetic strip attached to the wall above the stove. He was not happy with this idea as it had to be screwed into the tiles. He was worried the tile would break during the drilling process or we would want to move the magnetic strip and be left with ghastly holes in our wall that could not be repaired.

The internet then became my best friend as I became rather obsessed with finding a magnetic knife block that would stand on the bench and be just that little bit different. There were a few options that were basically just wooden blocks with magnetic plates covering them. I was starting to think I was going to have a run of the mill knife block. What a tragedy!

But then I stumbled across the oddest looking thing. Was it a giant citrus juicer or was it at knife block? Well of course it was a knife block and it was so different I had to have it. Then I discovered the price. I was gob smacked, it was a rather extravagant and didn't even include knives! When I told IR I'm sure he was only seconds away from fainting. However as I said I just had to have it, but the problem was the site I was looking at was not Australian.

After a little more research I found a place in Brisbane that stocked my much sought after knife block. IR still was not convinced as he thinks it is rather hideous, but off I went to Layby it.

6 weeks later and it was mine. It has taken pride of place on my kitchen bench for a few months now and I could not be happier about how my knives are stored. As far as I am concerned it is practical, safe for my knives and rather quirky.