The Last Five Months in Baking.

I have been SO slack!!

My last post was over 5 months ago, and I feel terrible for that! Life has been pretty busy lately, finishing my second last semester of Uni forever! 

However, I am back to write a small post about some of the sweet treats I have baked lately. 

Mini Blueberry Pies

As some of you may know, I adore blueberries! So after a trip to the blueberry farm, I dedicated much of my cooking to these little beauties!! These pies had a crisp, shortcut pastry, and a delicious cinnamon filling. Perfect for a cold, wintry day!  

Vanilla Cupcake with a Caramel Centre and Salted-Chocolate Frosting

In the middle of my busy uni semester, I found the perfect time to procrastinate, and make these super sweet but super tasty treats! Rather than following a recipe, I made it up as I went! The salted-chocolate frosting balanced out the sweetness of the caramel, and was pretty delectable! 

Rosette Piping

I purchased a rose tip a few weeks ago, and have since become obsessed with the product! I absolutely love the look of rosette piping, as it makes everything look so pretty! 

Eton Mess

My Dad requested something 'lemony' for his birthday dessert, and I was so excited to come up with something a little bit different! Mini meringues, lemon curd, vanilla bean cream, ice cream and bits of homegrown strawberries created a taste sensation! Plus, presentation is so much easier when you can be messy! 

Mini Lamingtons

Never again do I want to attempt these! Whilst they were completely and utterly delicious,  the sheer pain of dipping and coating the cake in chocolate mixture and coconut is something which I have learnt to hate! 

Raspberry and Custard Tarts

These little treats were the perfect finish to a summer's picnic in the park! Together with a shortcrust pastry, the vanilla bean custard and tangy raspberries created a simple yet tasty dessert! 

Vanilla Bean Macarons with Nutella and White Chocolate Ganache 

I was approached by a lovely lady asking me to make black and white macarons for a kitchen tea party. Whilst at first I  was apprehensive, as I still lacked confidence when making macarons, I took on the challenge. My first batch were a mega failure! They looked like they belonged on the moon. My struggle came from the fact that they had to be black, and too much food colouring in macaron mixture leads to...well...let's just say...extremely unattractive macarons. However, after substituting colouring for some black gel, they turned out exactly as planned. These are my proudest moment to date in my baking journey!

Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

These last few months have been jam packed full of weddings/wedding related events, which in turn results in me baking...a lot! These scrummy treats were for a very special couple's engagement party, and were a very big hit! Due to their tiny, bite-sized nature, they were the ideal snack for an afternoon tea party. And for me, they were simply an excuse to use my new blowtorch..which by the way, is SO much fun to use! 

Mini Banoffee Tarts

Yes...there is a pattern emerging here. I love making 'mini' things. They look nicer and are much easier to eat, resulting in much less wastage. Every month, myself and the girls meet up at someones house for a night of talk and super sweet treats. When hosting, I created a miniature version of a banoffee pie. This is a recipe I hold close to my heart, as it was one of the first desserts I learnt to make from my beautiful Aunty. One issue I come across when making this is that the bananas go brown. I hate brown banana. So, to avoid this, i decided to slice up the banana, and coat it in dark chocolate. The girls were intrigued, and they looked pretty cute too! 

Vanilla Slice

My family love custard, so this was a bit of a no-brainer when we had a ton of eggs to use. I was actually pretty impressed at how well this particular custard set, as generally it will ooze out the sides and look prettttttty unattractive! 

Chocolate Meringue Mousse Cake

 This cake fascinates me. Whilst there are technically only two layers to this cake, upon baking it, three layers are created. A rich, dense mud cake at the bottom, a moussey layer in the middle, and a crisp meringue on top. At Easter, I make nothing other than chocolate desserts, so when I saw this gracing the cover of Donna Hay's Autumn magazine, I could not resist. Neither could each of our guests upon it's presentation at the table! 

Ok, so that ended up being a lot longer than I first thought. I guess I have actually missed writing about my baking!

Next week I will be attempting a three-tiered cake for my Nan and Pop's 60th Wedding Anniversary. Wish me luck!  

Stay tuned for a post in the coming weeks about that cake, as well as a few other layered cakes I have made lately!

Until next time, happy baking.

xx