Eggshell Green

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!

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

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