Eggshell Green

Frozen Strawberry Daquiri

This is my version of a strawberry daquiri – with added cranberry.

Frozen Strawberry Daquiri

• a scoop of ice (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 large ripe strawberries
• 30ml Bacardi
• 30ml lemon cordial
• 30ml cranberry juice

As with all frozen cocktails, put the ingredients into a blender and whizz until smooth.

Pour, with the help of a spoon, into a 250ml cocktail glass and garnish with a half strawberry.

Yum yum!

Tags: bacardi, cocktail, daquiri, frozen cocktail, recipe, rum, strawberry

Black Forest Cupcakes

If you’re looking for something to bring to a Christmas lunch or dinner, here’s an idea.

I had been wanting to make black forest cupcakes for months but hadn’t gotten around to it – mainly because they have fresh cream instead of icing so it was best to wait until there was an occasion where the whole lot would be eaten in one day.

Finally I decided that our last barbecue of the year would be a great time to test these out.

Black Forest cupcakes

I based the recipe on my favourite for Scouts Cupcakes and made a few alterations. They turned out great and I will definitely make them again soon :)

Update 30 August 2009:
I’ve adjusted the flour and cocoa ratios to eliminate the need for two types of cocoa, and yet still get a rich but fluffy cupcake. The extra 1/4 cup of dry cocoa makes up for the juices in the cherries. Also, use cherry liquer in the cream if you have it.

Black Forest Cupcakes

• Break 2 eggs into a cup measure and fill to the top with fresh whipping cream.
• Pour into a large mixing bowl and beat on high with electric mixers for 1 minute.
• Add 1/4 teaspon of vanilla essence and 3/4 cup caster sugar.
• Beat for another 3 minutes.
• Stir through 1/2 cup of Morello cherries (you get these tinned or in a jar). Cut them up roughly first.
• Sift in 1 cup of standard flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.
• Sift in 1/4 cup Dutch cocoa.
• Fold to combine taking care not to over mix.
• Spoon into 12 cupcake cases.
  Usually I end up with a couple extra – if you are making a double batch, you can get 30 cupcakes.
• Bake for about 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius until a skewer comes out clean.
• Remove from tins (they can be quite fragile for a few minutes after baking) and cool on wire racks.
• Whip some fresh cream with a dash of cherry liquer or brandy and pipe onto cupcakes.
• Decorate as you please.
  I used real chocolate hail, red sprinkles, and white chocolate drops. Maraschino cherries or shaved chocolate on top woud be good too.

Tags: baking, black forest cupcake, chocolate, cupcake, recipe

Backyard Sunset

I ran out of vanilla vodka and lemon juice so couldn’t make myself a Rosebud. What I came up with instead is a pretty good substitute. It reminds me of a Golden Margarita but without the tequila taste.

Backyard Sunset

• 30ml 42 Below feijoa vodka
• 15ml cranberry juice
• 60ml pineapple juice
• 10ml passionfruit concentrate
• 10ml lime juice
• ice

Fill shaker with ice and pour in all ingredients. Shake then strain into a margarita or martini glass.

Feijoas and passionfruit – two types of fruit that are ever-present in Kiwi backyards. What better way to enjoy their flavours than in a cooling cocktail.

Backyard Sunset

Tags: cocktail, feijoa, recipe, vodka

Rosebud – My Way

After having Rosebuds at Chow, I just had to know how to make one.

The last time we went, we made sure to watch the bartender closely to see what and how much he put into it. Chow provides a list of ingredients on their online cocktail menu so that was a good start.

After close observation and a couple of attempts, I’ve come up with the following recipe. The ingredients online say ‘passionfruit’, which is probably passionfruit juice or drink of some sort. I’ve opted for passionfruit concentrate because that’s what we have in the fridge. Being so, I’ve had to increase the other juices to make up the volume that the concentrate lacks.

The concentrate has seeds but you can just strain those when pouring.

Rosebud cocktail

Rosebud (my way)

• 30ml Absolute Vanilla Vodka
• 45ml cranberry juice
• 45ml pineapple juice
• 15ml passionfruit concentrate
• 5ml lemon juice
• ice

Put everything into a shaker. Shake really well and strain into a champagne flute. It’s prettier if some froth sits on top so add some from the shaker if it’s all just sitting there.

Not exactly the same as Chow’s but still delicious and very easy to drink – so be careful!
Update: Please see Kula’s comment below for the ‘real’ version. Cheers!

Tags: chow, cocktail, recipe, rosebud, rosebud cocktail, vanilla vodka

Jack Frooze

I was wanting a lychee daquiri but couldn’t find any tins of lychees in my pantry. Instead, there was a tin of jack fruit, and I decided to conjure up a cocktail with that instead. The results were quite pleasant.

If you haven’t had jack fruit before, I guess the taste could be described as a cross between mango and pawpaw. Jack fruit is not as strong or sweet in flavour as those, but does have a refreshing taste and beautiful fragrance.

A guy I work with says in India there are a couple of varieties, one of which they use unripe in curries as the ripe fruit is no good for eating. I haven’t had fresh jack fruit but the tinned stuff is pretty good.

The recipe is for two frozen cocktails.

Jack Frooze

• 2 scoops of ice (up to the level of about 3 cups in the blender jug)
• 4 pieces of tinned jack fruit
• 60ml Absolute vanilla vodka
• 60 ml of syrup from the tin
• 45 ml passionfruit syrup
• juice of half a lemon

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into pina colada glasses (or other 250ml cocktail glass).

Enjoy!

Jack Frooze

Tags: cocktail, daquiri, frozen cocktail, jack fruit, recipe, vanilla vodka

Tea Party Essentials

Tea Party Essentials

Eeee! Look at all my pretty things. Not just good to look at, but will be most useful at every tea party.

From top right going clockwise:

1. Cupcakes! The recipe I swear by is one for “Scout’s Cupcakes”. It’s a gorgeous recipe that’s so simple and makes really fluffy cupcakes – the best I’ve found. I make them chocolate sometimes.
   The orginal recipe is available from Taste.com.au but here is my version modified with some clarifications and suggestions:
   Scouts Cupcakes
   • Break 2 eggs into a cup measure and fill to the top with fresh cream. (In New Zealand we only have one type of cream but overseas make sure you buy the thick stuff that can be whipped.)
   • Pour into a large mixing bowl and beat on high with electric mixers for 1 minute.
   • Add 1/4 teaspon of vanilla essence and 3/4 cup caster sugar.
   • Beat for another 3 minutes.
   • Sift in 1 cup of self raising flour (I normally use standard flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt).
   • Fold to combine taking care not to over mix.
   • Spoon into 12 cupcake cases (or more if you have extra batter) and bake for about 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees celcius until golden and springy to the touch.
   • Remove from tins straight after baking and cool on wire racks before icing.
2. 3-tier cake stand to display all your goodies. This was a score from Ikea in London. I hadn’t been able to find any decent ones at home and any that I did find were hideous or really expensive. This is eagerly awaiting use!
3. Pretty teacups and plates. I fell in love with these when I saw them at Farmers – they were footed, red and with polka dots! And they remind me of Alice in Wonderland. I haven’t yet used these either because I only bought them a few days ago.
4. Sprinkles, and lots of them.
5. A large teapot so all your guests can fill up.
6. A simple, elegant and sturdy cakestand (it’s underneath the teapot in the picture) to display more cupcakes, or maybe a mega cupcake…
7. The middle picture is actually an ice cream bowl, but it has cupcakes painted on it and so pretty that it can’t be left out at a tea party. I see it more as a lolly dish, maybe to put some decandent truffles into?
8. Under the ice cream bowl/lolly dish is a wooden Lazy Susan. I purchased this with cake decorating in mind. This was another bargain from Ikea as cake turntables aren’t so cheap here in New Zealand.

I can’t wait for my next tea party where all these pretty powers can combine!

Tags: baking, cake, cupcake, recipe, scout's cupcakes, scouts cupcake