FoodieChat

Every year for the Sydney Festival, I like to try one of the Fast Festival Feasts where you get a main course and a glass of wine for $25.  This year, Wildfire, at the Overseas Passenger Terminal was the choice; where we had kingfish, with one scallop tortellini and romesco sauce. Great sauce, but sadly I think the fish had seen better days and was ready before our 6pm arrival.  Nevermind, we moved onto dessert.  A very interesting looking dessert menu, we decided upon the doughnut box, and the nougatine souffle, both $18.  The donut box was in fact 6 mini donut holes, which come with 3 test tubes and pipettes of sauce – raspberry, white chocolate, and chocolate, which you squeeze and inject into the donuts!  The donuts are covered in sugar and cinnamon and set in a pretty box with a shot glass of caramel and chocolate mousse.  Not too sweet which was good.

The souffle was the chef’s choice and was a good balance of light and airy whilst actually having a bit of substance – usually I find souffles like eating a cloud of nothing.  It came with a chocolate crackle type thing on top of an ice cream segment; and the same shot glass with a chocolate cigar in it. (more…)

A brilliant way to use excess carrots, these mini bit sized cupcakes will be a perfect addition to a high tea party or to surprise supper guests or even as part of a petit four! Good for the cholesterol conscious as it uses oil not butter.

To make the icing just mix sugar, margarine and milk until almost sti ff but still mixable. Then pipe stars on top.

Here’s the recipe:  http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/carrot-cake-mini-cupcakes?autonomy_kw=carrot%20cupcake&rsc=header_9

For you homer simpsons out there who love donuts and maybe have a bit of resemblance to his figure as a result (hehehe), this is a great alternative. These donuts are not fried, but they are baked instead.  The sugar and cinnamon sticks to the outside by brushing melted butter (or low fat margarine) on the outside.  The only problem (which you may not see as a problem) is that you have to eat them straight out of the oven, they’re not good when they’re cold/leftover.  The recipe is in the August issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller Magazine, but they used an apple filling instead.

Surfing around the net for a new cake recipe to try, I found this one by Jill Dupleix (quoting someone else!).  Jill is the food writer in delicious magazine so I knew it would be reliable.  My colleagues loved it (so they tell me), as it was very light and fluffy. It takes a bit of elbow grease to cream the WHOLE BLOCK of butter with the sugar (I halved the recipe), but the result is a cake with a good crumb, not too oily and an awesome orange flavour from the rind.  I actually baked it in a kuglelhoph tin, and let the icing drizzle down the sides. I also put some orange zest through the icing also.

http://www.jilldupleix.com/recipes/rec001.php