Gluten-Free Granola with Dried Berries

Recipe from “The 20/20 Diet Cookbook” – made from all natural and gluten-free ingredients!  Delicious breakfast (and also to snack on!)

 

Caramel Parfait Glace with Salted Peanut Caramel and Milk Chocolate Mousse

As seen on MasterChef Australia

After watching this being created on MasterChef during the celebrity chef challenge, I just knew that I had to attempt to make this stunning dessert myself.  I can definitely say that this is by far the most complicated and time-consuming dish I have ever made.  I honestly started it yesterday afternoon, got to step 5 after almost two hours and then worked on it for another hour and a bit tonight.  I’m putting some of the longer cooking time down to lack of bench space and pots as I was constantly stopping to clean utensils before I could move on. 
I really enjoyed the challenge of making this though and the flavours and giddy-feeling felt when finally eating it made it all worth the effort.  Seriously, if you’re considering making this, definitely give it a try but my tips are to be patient, follow the recipe exactly and expect to take longer than the 90 or so minutes that they’re allocated on the show.
Please excuse the slightly sloped appearance of my mousse and chocolate on top but I think considering this was my first time ever making something this complex, I did a pretty good job (if I do say so myself!).

Find the recipe at the MasterChef site: http://www.masterchef.com.au/caramel-parfait-glace-with-salted-peanut-caramel-and-milk-chocolate-mousse.htm

Pavlova – Donna Hay (As seen on Masterchef)

Fluffy White Pavlova

As seen on Masterchef Australia – Created by Donna Hay

Poppit –  
We are loving Masterchef Australia at the moment!  As we were already on a roll with our cooking adventures in the kitchen, the newly started 2010 series is great to catch new ideas and fresh inspiration.  Something I have always wanted to try but just never have is the all-time Australian classic, the Pavlova!
Last week, Donna Hay was a guest on the show and this favourite dessert was used in the pressure test.  It looked glossy-white and was perfectly shaped.  After making my own, I now know what people mean about pav’s cracking and sinking but seriously, with a bit of patience, this can be quite a simple dessert to make.

My tips:
– Make sure the egg whites are forming peaks before adding the sugar.
– Very slowly add the sugar to the egg mixture while beating.
– When assembling on the tray, don’t flatten or pat the mixture down (as I learnt!).  My Women’s Weekly recipe book gives more detailed instructions than the Masterchef one and says that you should shape the mixture up and in towards the centre, like a mound and to make furrows up side of meringue using spatula.

Otherwise, that’s about it!  As you can see from my photos, it didn’t turn out perfect but I have definitely learnt that you have to shape it up and higher for next time.  It tasted just fine though and was a huge hit with our family.  Have a delicious filling prepared for when your Pavlova has fully cooled in the oven and is ready to serve.  I chose fresh strawberries, kiwifruit, passion fruit and whipped cream.  Yumm!!

Recipe found at: http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipe-donna-hay-pavlova.htm

 

 

 

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes with Ferrero Rocher

If you haven’t already had a chocolate seizure/meltdown from the title alone of these cupcakes, you may have to sit down when actually eating them… they are just devine!
I wanted to make something which resembled all things easter…. chocolate, chocolate, more chocolate… and my favourite chocolate of all, Ferrero Rocher.

I designed this cupcake using a few various recipes and some of my own ideas.

For the actual cupcake recipe, I used the Triple Choc Muffins from the Women’s Weekly ‘Easy Baking’ book (page. 62).
Very simple to follow with delicious results!  If you don’t own this recipe book, I would highly recommend it.  It’s full of very tempting ideas and baking treats!  Otherwise, any basic chocolate muffin/cupcake recipe would work fine but the more chocolatey, the better!

The next step, I inserted a chocolate mousse filling into the middle of each cupcake using a piping tool.  The long piping piece is easy to push into the cupcake, then you just insert as much as you’d like.  I sqeezed in the mousse until the cupcake was visibly moving outward, full of chocolatey-mousse goodness!
The recipe was found at: http://www.epicurean.com/featured/chocolate-mousse-cupcakes-recipe.html

The topping is also from this website and is actually used to make the mousse. 
Finish off by sprinkling with Flake and adding a Ferrero Rocher to the top.
The outcome is a very delectable looking cupcake, perfect for family and friends… and maybe a couple for yourself!

 

Vanilla Butter Cakes – Decorated a little ‘fishy’

As mentioned in our first post, we don’t often get the chance to bake anything fancy due to the lack of a proper oven… but one thing we can bake is cupcakes as our little “oven” can fit two trays of six (just!).
Here’s some cupcakes that we made using some very cute fish lollies.  The actual cupcakes are just basic vanilla butter cakes but were still simply delicious!

Vanilla Butter Cakes
Thank you to the Women’s Weekly ‘Cupcakes by Colour’

Ingredients:
– 1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
– 90g butter (softened)
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
– 2 eggs
– 2 tablespoons milk

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (160 degrees for fan forced)
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cases (can use muffin tray but will make less, plus we can’t fit one of these in our oven!)
3.  Sift flour into small bowl, add butter, extract, sugar, eggs and milk; beat with electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are combined.  Increase speed to medium; beat until mixture is changed to a paler colour.
4.  Drop 1/4 cup of mixture into cases.  Bake about 20 minutes.
5.  Stand cakes 5 minutes before turning top-side up onto wire rack to cool.
6.  Decorate in any way you want!

Our cupcakes here have the classic topping of butter cream.  Very easy to make!
-125g butter (softened)
– 1  1/2 cups (240g) icing sugar
–  2 tablespoons milk
Beat butter in small bowl with electric mixer until as white as possible; beat in sifted icing sugar and milk, in two batches.  Add colouring if required and mix.