Choc Chip Cookie a' la Tweak!

(or as Boy 2 christened them: Boy 2's Miracle Cookies)

Boy 2's sole reason for baking cookies this morning was so he could have cookie dough to scoff. That probably explains why he only baked one tray and left the rest for me to deal with!

He had already trudged down to the local IGA to fetch eggs, choc chips and sugar, so when he discovered halfway in that we were 1/4 cup short of butter, he did not embrace the thought of another shopping venture.
I personally didn't either so I suggested he fill the fat-gap with peanutbutter.

Boy 2 did, and the result left my tastebuds doing the dance of "more please!'
His other tweak I only discovered later: to leave 3/4 of the required choc chips out. We only had 1 cup of chocolate chips in the first place and he kept 1/2 cup out, I am guessing, so he could scoff those on the side. But this allowed the rather subtle peanutbutter flavour to come a little more to the fore.

Below is the original recipe with Boy 2's tweaks in brackets. :)

Original Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened (3/4 cup butter and 1/4 peanutbutter)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups choc chips (1/2 a cup of choc chips)
1 cup chopped nuts (we never put nuts in!!!)

Directions :

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. (190C)
COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Gradually beat in flour mixture.
Stir in morsels and nuts.
Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Materchef's Black Forest Cake (or if you cook it my way: Michelle's Snap Crackle Pop Cake)

(disclaimer-I was superbly bummed that for this cake, I did not have my sweet lens, as it would have compensated for the indoor night-time lighting)

I nearly backed out of doing this Masterchef cake at the last minute. It all looked too hard AND expensive: asking for a ton of fresh cherries which are hard to find this season and so very dear!

How did we come to be creating the Masterchef Black Forest Cake at all? Well its Shannon's fault. The other day I asked our friend Shannon what kind of birthday cake he wanted me to make him for our small group dinner the next week. Of course I expected the usual 'anything chocolate'. But one comes to realized that you should never expect the usual with Shannon. His reply was more along the lines of: 'I have a vision. In this vision there are layers and there is creamy stuff inside.'

Solo Girl and I looked at each other and thought the same thing....the BlackForest Cake from the elimination challenge a couple weeks ago fit the bill entirely! Layers....check. Creamy stuff.....check. And the judges were looking for the satisfying crunch of a wellmade hazelnut praline mousse in a couple of the layers. So I assured Shannon we would bake him a extra special Snap Crackle Pop Cake.

And of course I barely gave it another thought till Monday night when I raced out to get the ingredients. After a cursory read through the recipe, I quickly some mental alterations to the recipe. First was the fresh cherries. Out they went and I instead bought two massive and perfectly respectable jars of cherries.

And after learning the Masterchef chocolate sponge would need a dreaded sugar thermometer, I sat down and Googled 'Easiest Chocolate sponge cake'. Well, wouldn't you?
I made all the components of the cake the night before.


These components were:

*the cakes use THIS recipe if you aren't wanting to do the hard yards!
*the marscapone cream
*the the hazelnut praline mousse
*the cherry glaze
*the candied cherries
*the cherry compote

1. The cakes turned out fantastically, probably not super spongey, but light and delicious. I got ahead of myself and siced them into 5 layers instead of 6 before checking the recipe, which actually required 6 layers...........

2. The marscapone cream was fantastic. I have never used it before. It is like the thickest cream you can imagine. Mixed with a little vanilla bean paste and icing sugar, it tasted divine!

3. The hazelnut praline mousse.....I am so proud of myself for making this. I made the hazelnut praline which was a feat in itself. I still cannot believe that sugar melts when placed dry in a saucepan over low heat. Once it was cooled I processed it till crumbled andthen thought that was it. I didn't read what else was required until a half hour before our visitors came!!!!! The chocolate custard came together perfectly though and the the finished product was to die!!!!!!!

4. The cherry processes. Did I already say that I decided not to put in real cherries? :) Well, after the cherry compote didn't thicken, I decided to combine the 3 cherry processes into one single uncomplicated process. I made a simple yet delicious cherry syrup using equal measurements of the cherry juice and plain sugar ( I had run out of caster sugar by this time!). Brought it to the boil and then let it simmer for a minute. Then I poured that glossy sticky syrup all over the entire amount of cherries (squeezed slightly to rid them of excess juice) required in the recipe.
Below is a collage of the layers as the recipe stated they be made.
You will find the recipe after!


Please make this Black Forest cake at least once in your lifetime. It is EXTREMELY edible, though you will require a small posse to help you get through the whole cake, and ingesting two pieces in rapid succession may make render you unable to stand up straight for a full day. Oh and I actually preferred it after it had been in the fridge overnight, absorbing all the flavours into the cake!

Ingredients:
For the chocolate sponge:
7 eggs
250g caster sugar
200g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the candied cherries:
1/2cup semi-candied pitted cherries, ¼ cup juice reserved
1/4cup caster sugar

For the cherry compote:
1/3 cup caster sugar
600g pitted fresh cherries, halved
1 tbs brandy

For the cherry sugar syrup:
90g caster sugar
¼ cup cherry juice

For the chocolate hazelnut praline mousse:
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup hazelnuts, toasted lightly and skinned
300g chopped dark chocolate
3 egg yolks
300ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the mascarpone cream:
500g mascarpone
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 tbs icing sugar

For the dark chocolate ganache (which is absolutely divine, don't miss this part even if only for the finger-slurping bowl it will provide you afterwards. So good!) :
150ml cream
200g chopped dark chocolate
shaved chocolate
fresh cherries


Method:
1. For the chocolate sponge, preheat oven to 160°C fan forced. Grease and line 2 x 20cm springform cake pans.
2. Add eggs and sugar to a heatproof bowl of an electric mixer, and set over a saucepan of simmering water over very low heat. Whisk the mixture until 37°C. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat with an electric mixer on a medium-low speed for 5-8 minutes or until the mixture has cooled and thickened to a mousse-like consistency. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together twice. Using a large metal spoon, fold the dry mixture into the egg mixture in 3 batches until combined, adding the vanilla extract with the first dry batch.
3. Pour the mixture into the lined cake pans and smooth surface. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until sponge springs back when lightly touched. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks. Place in the blast chiller for 10-15 minutes until cake has cooled completely.
4. For the candied cherries, preheat oven to 120°C. Place cherries on a lined baking tray. Lightly dust with the sugar and place in the oven for 50-60 minutes. Remove and cool. Coat with remaining sugar. Set aside.
5. For the cherry compote, add the sugar to a non-stick saucepan and place over medium heat. Once the sugar begins to dissolve add the cherries and cook until they start to release their juices. Add the brandy and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and thickened. Strain, reserving liquor.
6. For the cherry syrup, heat 170ml water and the sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the reserved cherry juice and compote liquor. Allow to cool.
7. For the chocolate hazelnut praline mousse, line a baking sheet. In a dry heavy-based saucepan, cook sugar over medium heat, stirring, until melted. Once melted, cook without stirring, swirling pan, until lightly golden. Add hazelnuts, stirring until well coated. Immediately pour mixture onto the baking sheet and cool completely, in blast chiller for 5 minutes. Break praline into pieces. Place into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Set aside.
8. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk the egg yolks in a small heatproof bowl. Heat 250ml of the cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir through half of the hot cream into the egg yolks. Return the mixture to the saucepan over low heat and stir until thickened. Strain into a clean bowl. Stir the melted chocolate into the hot custard. Add the vanilla and allow to cool. Whisk the remaining cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the chocolate mixture with the praline, until just combined. Set aside.
9. For the mascarpone cream, beat the mascarpone, vanilla and sugar in a bowl until smooth and slightly thicker in volume.
10. For the chocolate ganache, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Set aside. Bring the cream to just below boiling point in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, then add the melted chocolate and stir until smooth. Allow to cool until thick but still pouring consistency.
11. To assemble the cake, slice both cakes into thirds. Place the base of 1 cake onto a serving plate and brush with some of the cherry syrup. Spread over half of the chocolate praline mousse.
12. Place the next layer of cake onto a board, and brush with cherry syrup. Spread over half of the mascarpone cream. Divide the cherries into two parts for two separate layers. Place cherries around the border of the cake, 5mm from its edge and scatter remaining in the middle. Carefully remove layer from the board and place on top of the first layer. Repeat each layering process on the board (you will have 1 spare slice of cake), starting with the praline mousse and ending with the cherries on the mascarpone cream.
13. Place the final layer of the cake on a wire rack sitting over a baking tray. Evenly pour the ganache over the cake, ensuring it is completely coated. When the ganache has set, place on top of the layered cake. Decorate with shaved chocolate, fresh cherries and candied cherries.

Celebration of Wool- Kingston Bus Depot Markets

The Bus Depot Markets in Kingston invited Doggy-Bag It to come and check out their Celebration of Wool event on May 16. As I read the accompanying article which touched on Australia's long history with wool, a bucket load of my earliest memories flooded back.
Funnily enough, my strongest childhood images of visits back to Australia have nothing much to do with food(well, let's not not count the McDonald's thick shakes we simply HAD to have the very second we stepped off the plane) .

What lingers in my mind are huge family get-togethers; catching up on four years worth of birthday gifts; trundling along at a snail's pace across our vast land in an old caravan; and the wonderful fun we had staying on farms along the way. There were massive orchards as well as sheep and cattle stations, and maybe a couple of grain farms also. Seeing these farms operate up-close gave rise to a swell of patriotic pride in our farming community and the hard slog they do.

My visit to the wool on Sunday show somehow reawakened that same emotion in me , something that 3 years of city life has dulled.


It always happens ....whenever I see a thing of exquisite beauty, I yearn for the skills to recreate it. So before going to the Celebration of Wool, I steeled myself to be confronted with stunning peices of knitwear and to just appreciate it and celebrate the artists' skills and gifts, with no destructive non-knitter's envy.
Ummm, once I was there it was total steel-mind FAIL. Destructive non-knitter's envy abounded!!!!

The place was packed, let me tell you; seething with people. The weather was perfect for it. My friend Tracey and I were focused on our mission;we only stopped for a pint of apple and lemon juice and that was the only food our bellies saw the entire time. (Oh, do the sample chilli toasted cashews count? They were scrumptious.)

But now, I want to introduce you to a few of the wool artists I met:

JanetteMcGuffog is an acrylic and textile artist who only in the past few months has begun creating wearable art. Imagine what she will be creating in another year!!!! She uses a combination of felt/silk/ merino wool to put her artwork onto scarves. I cannot even begin to imagine the processes Janette uses. Her work is stunning...these photos do not do it justice...

Jane Slicer Smith's swing coats, cardigans and sweaters hung in a rich range of colors. Her label is Signatur Handknits. Jane has an eye for brilliant color combinations. She sells a large range of customized knitting kits, and her book Swing Swagger Drape-Knit the Colors of Australia is just out and you can order it online.

adele designs displayed unusual scarves, bold chunks of color in hues that made me all of a sudden want a great steaming mug of hot chocolate (always with the food thoughts!!!). The scarves are created entirely from recycled wool and silk. A percentage of all proceeds goes to breast cancer research. Five minutes with Adele left me moved and inspired. She is currently fighting her own battle with breast cancer and though there are some grim days, her gifts and her beautiful spirit shine as bright as her smile.

The bold colors and varied textures of Gill's hand-dyed yarns lured us in. Such delicious colors.....looked like a candy shop!


The Spinners and Weavers group meet regularly for social spinning and weaving days. Jenny related how 35 years ago she started spinning using coarse wool straight from the sheep's back. She still can't get over how much easier it was when 3 years ago she began to spin silk/cashmere. 'Its like spinning fairy floss,' she reckons.

Claire Patterson has some stunning garments and was extremely busy while we were in her space. She is based in Sydney.

I was blown away by Kathy Geurts' handcrafted jewellery ( Wool? As jewellery? Oh yes!! just look) and objets d'art. What kind of mind comes up with woolen jewellery? We hung around her place for ages at her stall; we even ran the shop for 5 while she ducked out for a coffee! :)

It was a great morning, I really wanted to include pictures of everyone, but there were just so many amazing stalls. Next time I will be much more organized ahead of time, so that I don't accidentally leave my WALLET at home!!!

Raspberry Tart

I am not afraid to say it....I backed out. I backed fully out of the Caramel Parfait Glace with Salted Peanut Caramel and Milk Chocolate Mousse I promised I'd do this weekend. As soon as I looked the recipe over last night, and read the words 'sugar thermometer', I knew it wasn't going to happen for me. This blogger is much too lazy inexperienced to be fiddling around with the likes of a sugar thermometer!

Accordingly, Solo Girl and I settled on a back-up recipe; one that we salivated over from the moment we saw it. The Raspberry Tart they made in a Masterchef Masterclass few weeks ago

The Raspberry Tart was surprisingly easy to make and assemble, although every time a new appliance had to be pulled out and dirtied, I found myself grumbling a little under my breath. ( I am a one-pot cook at heart)

Vanilla Bean Paste was a revelation. So THAT is how fancy schmancy icecream gets the black fleck through it.

We didn't have a loose-based pie dish. I was chuffed to pick one up this morning for $12. 95 at Whisk Kitchenware....is that good?

I changed 2 things in the recipe.

1. The pastry dough still wasn't pliable after the refridgeration, so we chucked it back into the food processor with another 1/4 cup of unsalted butter. I felt it was bland and needed salt, so I added some.

2. I also used a full 600ml of cream and then just tipped 2 tsp of the vanilla bean paste into the mix instead of 1 1/2 tsp.

So here is the Masterchef Masterclass Recipe without the changes I made above:

Raspberry Tart (made by primarily by Solo Girl)
Ingredients
450ml thickened cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

¼ cup icing sugar, plus extra, to serve

3-4 punnets fresh raspberries
Sweet shortcrust pastry

2¼ cups plain flour

1/4 cup icing sugar

125g unsalted butter, softened

2 x 59g eggs

Serves 8

Method
1. For sweet shortcrust pastry, combine flour and icing sugar in food processor, process to combine. Add butter and process to fine crumbly texture. Add eggs and process until pastry comes together. Knead lightly on floured surface until base is smooth, pat the top to flatten slightly then wrap in baking paper and refrigerate 20 minutes or until firm enough to roll out.

2. Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced).

3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface, use pastry to line base and side of 3cm deep, 24cm loose-based tart tin. Trim off any excess pastry, prick the base all over with a fork, then refrigerate for 10 minutes.

4. Place sheet of baking paper over the pastry and three-quarters fill with raw rice or beans. Bake blind for 15 minutes or until edges are light golden. Remove paper and rice and bake further 10 minutes or until base is dry and pastry golden. Set aside to cool in tin. Transfer pastry case to serving plate.

Whip the cream, vanilla and icing sugar together until thick.

Spoon whipped cream into pastry case, then spread evenly. Scatter with raspberries and sprinkle with icing sugar.

It is to die! Probably totally wrong for the season (the cost of four punnets of the raspberries could have supplied a large African village with a year's food) but I don't care. Frozen (fully defrosted) raspberries probably would have done just as nicely, in hindsight.

A New Signature Dish

It was in the very first week of this season’s Masterchef that they aired a challenge that raised my hackles. It is the only thing in the series that really irritated me (well, besides that lurking, persistent niggle in the bowels of my mind that queries whether the entire thing is rigged). The challenge where the contestants had to re-create a favourite dish from their childhood. We saw some of the contestants stay true to the original recipe made with love by their parent, grandparents etc; using ingredients like store-bought mayo and canned seafood to keep intact the flavours that took them back to the past and made these dishes their childhood favourite. But these poor sods didn’t stand a chance against the contestants whose Mummies regularly plated up a 55-dish feasts for dinny-dins.
And what do you know? Surprise, surprise, the contestants from the humble home-cooking origins were penalized for it. For their honest re-creation! I was outraged! And somewhere throughout this travesty, I came to a crucial decision.
I HAVE to come up with a better signature dish. A dish that imprints itself into the heart and soul of my offspring.
Why?
For the sake of my childrens’ future furtherment in the Masterchef competition. Duh! I do not want any child of mine marginalized in the Masterchef kitchen because their Mama’s signature dish contained less than 5 ingredients, 3 of which came from a tin or worse still- a packet.
Over the years, I have gone through several signature dishes I would churn out quite regularly: my Middle Eastern lamb tagine; my Mexican buffet….my marinated lamb pieces and assorted condiments in pita. But of when I think of my meals that the KIDS really adore and regularly request, none of THOSE dishes are anything special; none of them would stand a culinary chance in Masterchef’s ‘walk down memory lane’ segment.
I thought briefly of glamming up one of my old signature dishes, but you know what? Seeing as there is a wealth of new dishes to choose from already in the current Masterchef, and seeing as I got the previous season’s Masterchef cookbook for Mother’s Day….I owe it to myself, (and my children’s future Masterchef success) to experiment with a new recipe.. To see this as a chance for personal epicurean advancement……
So this Saturday, Only Daughter and I will give Caramel Parfait Glace With Salted Peanut Caramel and Milk Chocolate Mousse a red hot go. *gulp*
The Masterchef contestant had 1 hour and 45 minutes to do this dish. We are going to time ourselves from whoa to go, but not race. And we will document our culinary adventure accurately, even if it is an epic fail-ure.

(If only I could learn to make injera, so this could be my signature dish! Nothing like Ethiopian food)

Food Court Fiasco- a Spanner in the Works

I had high aspirations of keeping a classy food blog, complete with succulent photos of whatever latest exotic delicacies I have been tasting on your behalf….
Brimful of enthusiasm for another food adventure, I took Boy 2 out for afternoon tea…..In my mind I was envisaging a late lunch….seared scallops, prawns perhaps, followed by a rich creamy dessert.
At the time, I didn’t pick up on Boy 2’s initial comment ‘ Afternoon tea? Yay! McCafe has these great mini caramel slices!’ : a comment which foreshadowed the course our adventure would take.
I gently informed Boy 2 that we all have times in life where we have to sacrifice for the greater blog post good. And this, for him, was one of those times.
C’mon now, I am running a classy show here! *snort*
So Boy 2 sacrificed; although as we drove through Belconnen, he made comments like,“Well if we don’t find somewhere soon, there is always Café Injoy. They have a really good caramal slice.’
Or ‘Dunno if I ever told you Mum, but McDonald’s McCafe sells excellent caramel slice. Really cheap too!’
He even uttered the horrifying, ‘Maybe you could blog about a trip to McDonalds?’
*gasp*

None of the 6 cafes we checked out had food that we both agreed on. And we are the two easiest-pleased people in our family. Just that kind of indecisive day. It was a little frustrating.
The last café on our ‘check out’ list was Jamaica Blue, whose address placed it in Belconnen Westfield.
Note to self: when on a food blog trip with Boy 2, NEVER take a detour through a food court.
As we crossed the food court to find Jamaica Blue , Boy 2 (now ravenous) spied sushi from Sushi Sushi , and any remaining flicker of interest in assisting Momma in her pursuit of high end cuisine sputtered and went out.
So it was we ended up at Jamaica Blue (Boy 2 with a box of sushi tucked snugly under his arm)ordering a Strawberry milkshake, a latte (my first ever (I was keen to photograph some nice latte art.) , and scones with jam (I know it is strange, but Boy 2 is not partial to cream!)

Once seated, I reached for my friend’s camera to get ready to take some shots . It didn't work..Then I remembered where the memory stick was…..at home still plugged into the computer…..Arrrgggghhh!

I was done! We took the food to go…

By the time we arrived home our status quo was:
1 disillusioned food blogger
1 reasonably satisfied Boy 2
minus 1 sloppy takeaway scone: devoured whole in the car trip, along with the shake.
1 latte: tepid. Whatever latte art that HAD existed looked now more like ‘preschool art’, all smudged and distorted by a plastic lid and all the sloshing around in a car.
1 plate of sushi-which was looking better by the moment!

Prawn roll

Tempura prawn roll

Squid inari. Inari is the only tofu product I like. I love it.

And seaweed Inari

Jamaica Blue is a busy little café next to the cinemas at Belconnen. Sushi Sushi is directly opposite in the food court!

I had to add this photo. Boy 3 who has grown up seeing me take pictures, composed his own food pic after I had gone. He had me come out and capture it. :)

LOOK!!!!

Doggy-Bag It has been invited to cover A Celebration of Wool at the Old Bus Depot Markets. this even will showcase Austalian wool products from around the country. Wool art, winter ranges of knitwear both traditional and uber contemporary will be on display. Come out if you are a local, grab an unique item for winter and support our wool industry!

Event information:

What: A Celebration of Wool
Where: Old Bus Depot Markets, Wentworth Ave Kingston
When: Sunday 16 May
Time: 10am – 4.00pm
Cost: FREE entry
Web: http://www.obdm.com.au/

Hall Markets or In Which Cupcakes Catch Me Unawares

Hall Markets was definitely Plan B today. We were only there last month, and I kind of had my heart set on the Collector Village Pumpkin Festival- mainly ‘cause I wanted to learn stuff like ‘101 ways to cook your winter pumpkin’. Another big draw card was getting to taste both the Pomegranate flavoured ice-cream from The Chameleon Ice Creamery and to eat quail (BBQed) for the first time.
But once I realized the driving time alone would not fit into the space I had free, I pouted for a millisecond before I remembered, ‘oh well, I can get some Kettle Corn at Hall Markets!’
Once we got a park (Hall Markets is chock full all day and the parking system they have set up is a well oiled machine!) I was on the look out for food, as this is a blog about food. The fact that Boy 3 turns 5 next Sunday meant I was also unofficially seeking out some birthday delights. Solo Girl came along, barefoot I might add! HER goal, of course, was to coax me into buying a puppy. *sigh* There is a great deal of coaxing in my life.

I didn’t realize how big the Hall Markets are….we must have only gone around one loop last time. There is a whole ‘nother section up the back. This time we blazed a trail that direction. Nearly immediately we stumbled upon Boy 3’s first present. Check out these awesome bird call whistles! There are ones that are just little warbling birds, there is an owl caller, a duck caller, a chook caller and others that I cannot recall. 2 for $6 or 4 for $10. We got an assortment of 4 for Boy 3; just up his alley! The people with the whistles also sell fantastic bubble maker machines.

We steered clear of the crusty breads ….My tastebuds craved something exotic .

The Dutch Pancakes wooed us, but they weren’t actually served with the ripe juicy strawberries that are in the advertisement on their cart. Plus I make pretty darned good pancakes myself.

We skirted round the steak and sausage sandwich stalls, past the sourdoughs, and then ……we struck pure gold. A Moment on Your Lips appeared like a mirage.

There is just something rapturous about cupcakes done well. I am a savoury person for the most part, with only a couple of things that really tempt me to sugar (those being Kettle corn, cheesecake and bannofee pie) but now I have to add cupcakes to the list; cupcakes done- well that isl. On 2 different occasions I’ve decided that making cupcakes is going to be my big new thing; but I have realized I am much better at tasting than making them.

Perfect cupcakes take skill. For one thing, a cupcake (done-well) needs to be firm. Firm enough to withstand vigorous decorating. Although these cupcakes looked delicate, they were firm and rich and buttery.

I love love LOVE the lacy black cupcake holder thingy…(technical term there) Don’t you? They come in 14 different flavours. I think you can see the lime and coconut type below in the green cases. I would have gone for the more unusual flavours that the cupcake crafter Emily made: pine coconut, rocky road, lemon meringue (I want one of those right NOW!!) But I am not supposed to eat sugar, so I bought practically for the chilblains: the 3 vanillas that were left (they were going like hotcakes) and 1 sticky date pudding cupcake that Only girl chose for herself.

After we got them home and I sampled (just a sliver) from each flavour, I was kicking myself for not getting one of each. What kind of self respecting food blogger am I to waste the moolah on 3 of the same flavour? It is a steep learning curve for me……..
( Emily and her CUPCAKES are at Hall Markets the first Sunday of each month! Her website is under construction, but she does outside orders. I did not ask her if I could put her email details here so I won't but if you want to contact her, let me know)