dino

Say g'day to Dino. I helped make him for a friend's boys' birthday party and what a lot of fun it was! You can find the step-by-step instructions for making him here but structurally, the cake basically consists of two 9-inch rounds, cut into the shapes below:



Since two 9-inch rounds probably wouldn't feed all the 45 guest who were coming, we decided to make some cupcakes as well.



Okay Dino, say cheese! (Or whatever it is that cute dinosaur cakes say when they have their picture taken).

cupcakes only a mother could love

Well, that's probably not true, I love them! Aren't they adorable?

We made these in kids club on Sunday. I should probably mention that our class is made up of five boys. I think this one is my favorite: that is one serious cupcake. Fit for a mom. Who likes black. A ninja mom.

I just love hanging out with these boys. They make me smile. Hope all you moms out there had a great mothers day!

smitten with rhubarb

If you haven't yet baked with rhubarb here's a recipe that will have you running out to get some the moment it is in season every year from here on forth. Rhubarb is only available two months out of the year, so if you're thinking of using some this year you better elbow your way down that veggie aisle as soon as you can because it'll go quick! I discovered this recipe through Pioneer Woman, who recently hosted Smitten Kitchen for a baking session on her lovely ranch where they made some of SK's Big Crumb Cake. I gave it a go and will definitely be making this again. I doubled the recipe because I didn't think 6-8 pieces would last very long and I'm glad I did as it was a huge hit.

Easter fun!

I had the best time on Saturday putting together an afternoon of decorating (...and eating!) cupcakes for Easter with the women and kids at church. What I loved the most was seeing the creativity that comes from having a bunch of people all with different ideas and talents in one room. The women got their hands dirty with some spring gardens, thanks to a great link I found on Woman's Day. The kids were wishing veggies always tasted that good!

I thought the kids would quickly get bored and eat up the cupcakes in five seconds but they got right into decorating and made the most precious Easter baskets. Thanks to a post by Bakerella I got the idea to use Sour Punch straws as the handles for the baskets which worked perfectly.

"lots of chocolate for me to eat..."

I found this delicious Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe over at Epicurious and have made it twice already in two weeks! As a chocoholic, this cake definitely meets my criteria for good chocolatey taste but the best thing about it is how easy it is to make, everything mixed in one bowl and popped in the oven. Here's the low down:

4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. Line bottom with a round of wax paper and butter paper.

2. Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth.

3. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.

4. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate. Dust cake with additional cocoa powder and serve with sorbet if desired. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, 1 week.) (Recipe courtesy of Epicurious.com)

cupcakes and pirates

-- I figured that's what it would take to keep the attention of five boisterous boys in my kids club class this morning. Never mind that this was a Sunday school and here I was encouraging them to draw their best skull and cross bones... but they didn't need much encouragement, it was a pretty gnarly line-up:
With some equally gnarly pirate grins to boot!

Of course, the best part was getting to frost and eat their checkers at the end :)

chocolate coconut clusters

I was inspired by my blogger friend at wee treats by tammy and decided to give these a try. They reminded me a lot of Romany Creams, a childhood favorite of mine in South Africa, which I have long wondered how to make, so I set to work. Once they came out the oven and surpassed an initial taste test or three, I used chocolate buttercream icing to stick some of them together. But even though my husband gave me the thumbs up it wasn't quite what I had remembered as a child. And then it dawned on me... melted chocolate, of course! That's what they used to stick the Romany Creams together. I can't wait to try that out!

Here's the recipe from Tammy's blog, which I encourage you to check out, for both baking and cooking inspiration -- she has some great easy dinner ideas which I've also been glad to find.

Chocolate Coconut Clusters (adapted from the old Edmonds cook book)

75g butter
75g sugar
1 egg
1 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c coconut
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp milk

· Cream the sugar and butter and then beat in the egg.
· Stir in the dry ingredients and lastly the milk.
· Roll into balls and flatten with a fork.
· Bake at 180c (350F) for 15 minutes.
Once cold join together with chocolate butter cream icing.