Whip It Up Wednesday: Blueberry & Raspberry Sorbet (Egg Free)

Last week the first really hot weather for the season hit, and it's not even summer yet!

On Thursday it was 34 ºC and on Friday it went all the way up to 37 ºC! *phew*

(That's about 93 ºF and 98.5 ºF)

Luckily, I had this nifty little number all made up and waiting patiently in the freezer ready to cool us down!

Blueberry & Raspberry Sorbet!

Recipe adapted from Cuisinart Recipe Booklet

What You Need (makes 5 cups worth):

* 4 cups of frozen berries (thawed)

(I used 1 cup of blueberries and 3 cups of raspberries)

* 2 cups of water

* 2 cups of sugar

* A pinch of salt

What To Do:

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium to low heat. 

Cook until sugar is fully dissolved.

Add salt and berries. Blend until smooth.

At this point you can strain the mixture through a mesh strainer
to remove the seeds if you want to. We opted not to.

If you have an ice-cream maker: Refrigerate for 2-3 hours (or overnight like I did). Turn on your ice-cream maker, pour in the mixture and let it mix for around 20 minutes. 

If you don't have an ice-cream maker**: Freeze for 4-5 hours (until almost set). Break sorbet up with a metal spoon, then transfer to a food processor. Process until a smooth, icy consistency is achieved. Freeze for another 4 hours then process again, repeat this at least twice, or until the desired texture is achieved. 

(More repeats = smoother sorbet)

Transfer sorbet to an airtight container and store in the freezer between servings.

** I use an ice-cream maker, so this method is just a suggestion based on this recipe for Watermelon sorbet. Use at your own risk ;D Most non-ice-cream-maker-machine recipes suggest the addition of egg-whites for a smoother texture. Also, this website also has some great information on making sorbets and ice-creams at home.

Enjoy! <3

Whip It Up Wednesday: Vegan Cupcakes! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Nut-free & Delicious!

These cupcakes are so allergen free that they should be safe for almost anyone, and they're DELICIOUS! Their sugary goodness reminds me of meringue, yum! I made these for the engagement party to make sure that everyone could enjoy the cupcakes part of our "Cupcakes and Cocktails" theme!

I made these in two flavours, vanilla and orange and rosewater!

 The recipe for these is based on this Vanilla Cupcakes recipe from Taste.com.au, however that recipe just did NOT work for me! It rose so much that there was NO cupcake left in the cupcake liner! My version doesn't rise as much, but is still light, fluffy and yummy.

Vegan, Low-Allergen Cupcakes

1/2 cup gluten-free plain flour

1 cup gluten-free self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1/8 teaspoon salt (a.k.a a pinch of salt ;))

3/4 cup gluten-free soy milk

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tablespoon white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract OR 2 teaspoons orange extract & 2 teaspoons rosewater

I actually used this yummy, scrummy condensed milk buttercream icing and it went really really well with both flavours of these cupcakes, but if you need a non-dairy alternative, the icing contained in the original recipe works very well.

Happy Vegan and Allergen-Free Cupcake Eating! :D

Whip It Up Wednesday: Berry Lemon Cupcakes

I'll tell you this right now, these babies went down a TREAT! I took them with me to family tea and they were goners! Now that's what I like to see ;) These are definitely on the engagement party food list - which is this weekend by the way :D

I found the recipe here at Vixen Made and altered slightly - I used raw sugar, raspberry swirl yoghurt and I used canned mixed berries instead of raspberry puree. If you use canned berries, just pick out the best looking ones and mush them with a fork - you still want the same amount of "mushed berries" as you would pureed raspberry. I also modified the method slightly to use fewer bowls because I'm lazy - less washing up!

Berry Lemon Cupcakes

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup raw sugar

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp grated lemon zest

31/4 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup raspberry swirl vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup mushed berries

What To Do:

Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

In a large bowl, whisk sugar, butter, and egg. Add yogurt, berries, lemon zest and juice and beat until smooth.

Add salt and baking power and stir well. Add flour a bit at a time and beat until smooth.

I made mini cupcakes and this filled a 24 cupcake tin AND a 12 cupcake tin. 

If you make big cupcakes it probably makes 12 normal sized cupcakes.

Line your tin(s) with cupcake liners and divide the mixture evenly between the liners. 

Bake for 20 minutes (about 5 minutes longer for normal sized cupcakes).

Let cool and enjoy :D

I topped mine with cream cheese icing (my favourite! Found at the bottom of this recipe) that had 1 drop of red food colouring. Then I added cachous because they're pretty :D

Whip It Up Wednesday: Lemon Margarita & Vanilla Cupcakes

For our engagement party we've decided to do a "Cupcakes and Cocktails" theme - yum! 

Here's an idea that combines the two!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Margarita Icing

This uses an adapted version of  this icing and this strawberry stuffed vanilla cupcake recipe, without the strawberries. I did intend to use strawberries but I'm FAR too lazy to cut a cone out of each cupcake after they're baked so I can shove a strawberry in. I should've at least put the strawberries on top, but alas, the strawberries were eaten long before I reached that stage... I'm rather fond of strawberries.

I did experiment with baking a strawberry inside a couple of cupcakes, but it's really not that impressive. For the sake of sharing from experience, this is what it looks like:

And the texture of the strawberry is squishy :-/ Perhaps more appropriate for creepy Halloween cupcakes ;)

Anyway! I used the exact vanilla cupcake recipe that the Food Network used, and here is my adapted icing recipe (original here) - my version is lemony instead of limey. It's also quite strong but very tasty!

What You Need:

* Rind and juice from 1 large lemon

* 1/2 cup room temperature unsalted butter

* 1 cup of caster sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 2 tablespoons tequila

* 1/4 tablespoon milk

* A few drops of green food colouring

What To Do:

Put butter in a big mixing bowl and cut it into small pieces. Add vanilla, lemon juice and rind and tequila. Mix with the electric beater until combined. Gradually add sugar and milk. Add food colouring and keep mixing until everything is evenly combined.

Now you can ice your vanilla cupcakes! Top with a strawberry or glace cherry for an extra punch of colour!

Enjoy!

Whip It Up Wednesday: Nutella Cupcakes!

I've been addicted to Pinterest lately, a lot of the time I've spent has been pinning yummy foods that we can have at our engagement party - whoo! In my hunting, I found a recipe for Nutella Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing - can anyone say YUM?? I absolutely LOVE Nutella, I could eat it all day!

Now, I will openly admit that I've only just started cooking in the last few months (the shame of it all..!) and so these are the very first cupcakes I have ever cooked in my entire life! And they are YUMMY!

Can you believe I actually cooked and decorated that?
On my own?
Without any help at all?

I take no credit for the recipe of course, you have to go and visit Tartelette for that! Helene's version is gluten free but I made the flour version - mine were a bit heavy because I misread the instructions and included cornflour when I shouldn't have. Boo! They were still yummy though!

Here are the ingredients you need for the plain flour version (note the lack of cornflour ;)):

Cupcake Batter:

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground coffee

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 cup Nutella

2 large eggs

200g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

Cream Cheese Icing:

(This icing is diviiiiiine! I love cream cheese based icings!)

250g cream cheese

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar

60g Nutella

Instructions:

Go and visit Tartelette!

It's only fair that she get credit for her awesome recipe!

Please ignore the cupcake in the top-right corner - I stuffed the icing up on that big time!!

I made some little tiny cupcakes that I cooked for only 15 minutes, and big ones that I cooked for 25 minutes. I think both sets could have come out a bit earlier though.

Update: At my fiancé's request (wow, I have a fiancé now!) I made these again - without the cornflour and they were PERFECT. I only made mini ones and 15 minutes of baking was spot on. Of course, it may vary depending on your oven!

Happy cooking!

Whip It Up Wednesday: Black Forest Cupcakes

Last week I shared a yummy recipe for Chai flavoured cupcakes and promised I'd share the other nommy cupcake recipe shown here:

So without further delay, here's the delicious recipe from our Complete Cupcakes book for Black Forest Cupcakes - yum! These are my man's favourites, and he's the cook in our house so they must be good ;)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

* 1/3 cup butter, softened

* 1/2 cup caster sugar

* 1 egg

* 1 cup sifted self-raising flour

* 1/4 cup milk

* 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

* 1/4 cup morello cherries, drained and chopped

Topping:

* 1 cup whipped cream

* Morello cherries, drained - one for each cupcake

Optional - grated dark chocolate to decorate

What To Do:

1) Pre-heat oven to 160 C (320 F)

2) Use an electric mixer on high speed to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3) Add egg and mix well.

4) Add flour, milk and cocoa powder and beat with an electric mixer on medium until well combined. 

5) Stir in cherries.

6) Divide mixture evenly between 12 cupcake papers in a cupcake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes.

For mini cupcakes, use 24 mini cupcake papers and bake for 10-15 minutes.

You can tell the cupcakes are done when they are risen and firm to the touch. Allow to cool fully before icing.

Top each cupcake with whipped cream and a Morello cherry and enjoy!!

Whip It Up Wednesday: Chai Flavoured Cupcakes

A few weeks ago it was my man's birthday, and so he had to take birthday cake to work. Since he'd been bragging about how awesome his cupcakes were, his work mates insisted that he bring some. 

Yuuuuuummmm!

He made two types, today I'll share the recipe for his Chai Flavoured Cupcakes! Next week I'll share the other. I loooove these! The recipe comes from Complete Cupcakes, we take no credit for it, but it is delicious!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

* 1/4 cup chai mixture (Indian spiced tea)

* 1/4 cup hot water

* 3 eggs

* 1 cup butter, softened

* 1 cup caster sugar

* 1/4 cup milk

* 1.5 cups sifted self raising flour

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

* 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:

* 1/4 cup raw sugar

* 2 tablespoons warm water

* cinnamon sugar

You could decorate with star anises too, but we didn't.

What To Do:

1) Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F)

2) In a small bowl, add hot water to the spiced tea mixture and leave for 15 minutes. Strain and set aside. Actually, we use 3-4 chai teabags and steep them in the 1/4 cup hot water for a while and it works out great.

3) In a medium-sized bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add butter and sugar, and mix until light and fluffy.

4) Add milk and flour and stir to combine. 

5) Add remaining ingredients and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until light and creamy.

6) Add chai tea mix and stir through.

7) Divide mixture evenly between 12 cupcake papers in a cupcake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes.

For mini cupcakes, use 24 mini cupcake papers and bake for 10-15 minutes.

You can tell the cupcakes are done when they are risen and firm to the touch. Allow to cool fully before icing.

To make the topping - combine raw sugar and 2 tablespoons of warm water in a small bowl and mix. Spoon onto cupcakes then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

YUM!

Linking it up to the Month Long Cupcake Party!

A whole month of cupcakes? Sounds too good to be true! 

 

Guest Post! Chocolate Chip Half & Half Cookies by Brycie from Reenie Jae Creations

Today the gorgeous Bry from Reenie Jae Creations is guest posting for us! 
Thank you so much! <3

I'm in the mood for COOKIES! So here is one of my new favorite recipes!

Chocolate Chip Half & Halfs

Half regular chocolate chip, half chocolate chocolate chip!

YUMMY!

So let's get baking shall we.....

let's do this in SECTIONS...

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 to 2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Step 1: Cream all these together in mixer..... 

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking SODA

1/2 tsp salt

Step 2: Sift together & add to the creamed mixture.....

MIX WELL

1 1/2 to 2 cup chocolate chips

Mix into dough

Now comes the HALF & HALF part.....

From your mixing bowl REMOVE HALF of the dough.

Now to the dough IN the BOWL add 1 to 2 tablespoons COCOA powder

(I like to use GHIRARDELLI Cocoa powder)

Mix!

Now take a little of  both doughs and roll them together into a BALL.

Place each ball onto an UNgreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 9 minutes and still soft in the center.

And there you GO! A nice little cookie that's a good mix!

Enjoy!

Oh wow, these look delicious! Thank you for sharing this yummy recipe today!
Bry's blog Reenie Jae Creations is another of my favourites, Bry is just too fun! I adore her style, and she even has an Etsy shop full of gorgeous goodies! Head over and say hi from me!

Guest Post! Mexican Spiced Hot Chocolate by Ricki Jill from Art @ Home

Hello, y'all!  My name is Ricki Jill, and my blog is called Art @ Home.  I am so excited to write a guest post for Rissa because she was one of my very first "bloggy friends."  I have always wanted to visit Australia, and in honor of Rissa, I thought I would share my fantastic Mexican Spiced Hot Chocolate recipe since it is the beginning of winter Down Under.

  Mexican Spiced Hot Chocolate 

 2 oz. (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate 

1/3 cup sugar

4 cups milk 

pinch salt 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

Garnish: 

1 teaspoon chipotle chili pepper 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

whipped cream 

 Mix chocolate, sugar, milk, and salt in a two quart sauce pan over medium low heat until the chocolate is melted and the ingredients are well blended.  Add vanilla.  Pour hot chocolate into mugs. 

 Garnish each with two or three tablespoons whipped cream, and two pinches each of chipotle chili pepper and ground cinnamon. 

 Recipe serves four.

  Enjoy! 

 Blessings! 

Ricki Jill

Yum!! That sounds amazing Ricki Jill! I'm so happy to have you posting here today! 

Art @ Home is another of my favourite blogs, Ricki Jill's Happy Lists always brighten my day! Art and book lovers especially should pop over for a visit! <3