Baking:Jaffa Cupcakes

Jaffa Cupcakes

I love the fact that cupcakes are so fast, easy to make and you can easily experiment with them. Below I made jaffa cupcakes (they would be perfect I think if they were topped each with a Jaffa, but oh well).

To make them, I used the rosewater teacake recipe, however i subtracted the rosewater from the cake recipe and added 2 tablespoons of Cointreau and 2 dessertspoons of dutched cocoa. Also to the icing i substituted a few tablespoons of water for orange juice and 2 for Cointreau (oh and I also use a little food colouring...).

Matterhorn, Wellington: Vanilla and Black Pepper Ice-cream

I went to Matterhorn in Wellington the other night and had a lovely pineapple souffle with vanilla and black pepper ice-cream. The pepper gave the sweet vanilla a nice spicy kick and I wanted to create something easy and similar.

As i couldn't be bothered with all the stirring or setting up the ice-cream machine I opted for a vanilla and black pepper creme brulee ice-cream. I used the creme brulee recipe, which I have posted on here in an earlier post, leaving out the toffee (sugar and water mixture) and raspberries and adding 3 teaspoons of freshly cracked black pepper. I then froze the mixtures after allowing them to cool in the fridge first (after cooking).


The result was surprisingly refreshing (I didn't bother to brulee the top, I just ran a knife around the container and turned it out onto a small plate!) serving it with a biscuit base, brandy snap and chopped up moro bar. 

- rest of plate explained below and in posts to come

Left: Caramelised pineapple pieces with french milk chocolate = Pineapple Lumps

Left Middle: Vanilla and Black Pepper Ice-cream with brandy snap, biscuit base and slices of moro bar = Moro Bar Medley

Right Middle: Blue Mergingue with White Chocolate, Raspberry and Gingernut Cheesecake laced with Butterscotch = Dream Bar

Right:  Dark chocolate mouse laced with Cointreau complete with Jaffa on top =Jaffas