Saturday 13 June 2015

May Cakeup: Retro themed cakes at Two Before Ten, Aranda

For those that hadn't heard, following the renovations at the Canberra Labor Club in the city, the popular Two before Ten was forced to relocate. Enter Chris Dennis and his fabulous idea to turn a bunch of derelict suburban shops in Aranda into a much cooler community hub with a coffee shop, a library, a bar and eventually even a pizzeria!

As it turns out, the outdoor area of the cafe turned out to be a perfect choice for our retro themed may cakeup! With the coffee theme already covered, we were forced to put our thinking caps on. Eventually we decided that retro/childhood cakes would suit the Two Before Ten atmosphere perfectly.

We had an amazing turnout of women's weekly kids cakes as well as other old school delicious treats and as usual we were very impressed with the effort all our bakers went to. 

It was a very 'blast from the past' afternoon, with an epic 'dolly varden cake', an iced vovo tart and even a typewriter! Thanks to all our bakers, guest and of course Two Before Ten for hosting us! 














Wednesday 6 May 2015

Ginny’s raspberry coconut cupcakes

Ginny is one of the very generous ladies who is raising money for Breast Cancer Network Australia by undertaking a 350km bike journey in October from Vietnam to Cambodia. 

She is "half the reason" we organised a "pink" themed cake-up in April. You would have seen all the pretty photos from our cake-up (in case you missed them, you can see them all here) so of course, it's time for the recipes! 

These are Ginny's raspberry coconut cupcakes and aren't they so photogenic?


Recipe from here.

Ingredients
  • 175g self-raising flour
  • 140g caster sugar
  • 50g desiccated coconut
  • 140g butter, softened
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 tbsp milk
  • 140g raspberries, fresh or frozen

    For the frosting
  • 280g icing sugar
  • 85g butter, softened
  • 4 tbsp raspberry coulis, from a bottle or fresh
  • a little desiccated or shredded coconut, to decorate

Method

  • Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. 
  • Line a 12-hole muffin tin with deep paper cases or a 15-hole bun tin with cake cases. 
  • Tip all the cake ingredients except the raspberries into a bowl and beat for 1-2 mins until light and fluffy. 
  • Gently fold in the raspberries.
  • Divide the mixture between the cases and bake for 18-20 mins (add a couple of extra mins for deep cases), until golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool.
  • Beat together the icing sugar, butter and raspberry coulis to make a light, fluffy icing. Spoon or pipe onto the cakes and sprinkle with coconut.

Saturday 18 April 2015

April Cakeup 2015: Pink to support Jo and Ginny!

One of the best things about Canberra is the strong sense of community. We didn't hesitate one second when Jo and Ginny emailed us asking if we could help out in their fundraising campaign by hosting a pink themed Cakeup. 

You see, Jo and Ginny (two friends and regular cakeup attendees) are doing something pretty amazing - they are raising money for Breast Cancer Network Australia by undertaking a 350km bike journey in October from Vietnam to Cambodia. They aim to fundraise at least $8000 hence why we decided to donate all profits from the vent to Breast Cancer Network! And we are proud to announce we contributed $700 towards their goal!



The lovely Erin from My Sweet Alice very generously offered her gorgeous looking vintage-style caravan, because what afternoon tea would be complete without some teas and coffees?

We couldn't have picked a better spot to host our Pink themed afternoon tea cakeup - the lovely Senate rose gardens at Old Parliament House. 




Isn't that caravan just so photogenic?

As usual, our bakers put on a spectacular show of homemade goodies, and I think it's easier to say - the photos speak for themselves!






























Thank you to all our guests for attending and contributing to fundraising for the Breast Cancer Network.

If you would like to donate please click here.





Wednesday 8 April 2015

Amy's Reese's Pieces Cheesecake



If you were lucky enough to attend our March cakeup at Smoque, you would have seen the glorious cheesecake that was Amy's Reese's pieces cake. It was decadent. It was delicious. It was divine. And lucky for us, Amy has shared the recipe! 



Reese’s Pieces Cheesecake 

(Original recipe from the Not Quite Nigella Blog: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/01/19/chocolate-peanut-butter-cup-cheesecake/ )

Crust

-280g chocolate biscuits blitzed in food processor until fine

-85 g melted butter

-50 g Cadbury Flake bar

Filling

-750g (3 blocks) cream cheese

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup caster sugar

-200g smooth peanut butter
-1/2 teaspoon plus a pinch of salt

-10 Reese's peanut butter cups plus extra to decorate

Mousse topping

-1 sheet titanium strength gelatin leaf

-1 cup thickened cream

-2 large egg yolks

-1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

-50g milk chocolate, chopped


Procedure

-Preheat the oven to 160C/320F and find a baking tray that will fit your 22cm springform tin so that you can make a water bath for the cheesecake that goes halfway up the cake. 

-For the crust, mix the butter and biscuits and press into the base and and up the sides of a 22cm springform pan. Sprinkle the crushed chocolate flake bar all over the biscuit base. Set aside in the refrigerator.

-Put a kettleful of water on the boil. In the cleaned food processor beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and the peanut butter and salt and beat until smooth but do not overbeat.

-Take out the biscuit base. Put 2 layers of foil around the tin to prevent any water from the water bath from getting in (use the wider width foil if you have it).

-Place tin in a deep baking dish and pour half the cream cheese filling into the foil lined tin.
-Submerge the Reese's peanut butter cups into the cheesecake, then top with the other half of the filling. Then pour the boiling water from the kettle around the cheesecake so that it sits in a bath being careful not to splash any on the cheesecake itself.
-Carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 1 1/4 hours although you may want to check at 1 hour. The outside should be set and the inside with a hint of wobble which will firm up in the fridge. Remove the foil and cool on a wire rack and when cold, place in the fridge overnight covered with clingfilm.

-For chocolate mousse, dissolve the gelatin in a small bowl of cold water and let stand for 5 minutes until it soft and pliable-squeeze out any excess water. In a saucepan over moderate heat, cook the cream until it bubbles around the edges. In another bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar. Pour about 1/2 cup hot cream into the egg yolks slowly while whisking vigorously. Then slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan of cream (whisking constantly) and add chocolate. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin. Place mixture into a wide bowl to allow it to cool for a bit, then chill it for just a little while not until set, but until its not so runny. Pour the mixture onto the top of the cheesecake and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight. Decorate with chopped Reese’s cups.

Thursday 12 March 2015

March Cakeup 2015 - Stars and Stripes

Who remembers the enormous pineapple cheesecake from our January Cakeup? Yes, you remember - the one with the pineapple leaves sitting on top? That was made by Grant - the owner of Smoque, Canberra who generously let us host our March Cakeup at his restaurant in Woden!

And what better theme than "stars and stripes"? We had it all, from New York Cheesecakes to Captain America decorated cakes, to coca cola brownies, to Reese's Peanut Butter cakes. As usual, our bakers went over and above with their creations. To every single one of you: you are amazing!

We'll let the photos do the talking because there is really not much else to say!

Photos are once again courtesy of Avon Dissanayake of Sparkling Wedding Photography who has been snapping photos at all our recent cakeups. Avon and Imalka just do the cakes so much justice with their amazing photography!














Thank you once again to Smoque for hosting us, Avon for the photos and of course to all of our cake clubbers!

Tickets for our April cakeup are live already and can be purchased here: it'll be a pink themed cakeup and all profits will be going to Breast Cancer Network Australia supporting Jo and Ginny on their 350km bike ride from Vietnam to Cambodia!