Nigella's Nutella Cheesecake

I contemplated many plans for this weekend but instead decided to stay and do traditional things with my darling girl.  She's certainly keeping me on my toes and requires constant attention and entertainment.

Dessert was never going to be allowed to be time consuming as the small person doesn't have a very long attention span.  She did enjoy watching the biscuits being crushed and the Nutella being combined with the cheese.

It's honestly the easiest and most impressive dessert. EVER!  Highly recommend it.  It's a busy person's dream.  I won't bore you with the instructions as they're freely available on Nigella's website.

Happy and blessed Easter to you all - Hristos Voskrese!

Recipe: Magnolia Bakery Red Velvet Cupcakes

It's surreal to think that March marked 3 years since I was in New York.  It almost seems like a life time ago and so much has happened in my life since then.  So much has changed too, including me, my life and my circumstances.  I always use trips as check points, what has happened between one trip and the next?  The last trip and now?  Have I grown, have I stuck to my gym schedule, are the same people still in my life?

I'm really itching to go back.  New York is definitely one of my favourite places in the world.  The city is so diverse and each block has a completely different vibe and is like a new world.  New York is a million things and places in one. 

I sadly wasn't really blogging much back then, but I do have a few posts that you can check out here,   here, here, here, and here

Don't think many people visit New York without a stop at Magnolia Bakery, made famous by an episode or two of SATC, where the girls drown their sorrows in cake (haven't we all been guilty of that???).  The cupcakes really are as excellent as you'd hope.

We are hosting Australia's Biggest Morning Tea in the office next week (I hope you are too!) to raise funds for Cancer Council, so I wanted to do a trial batch of cupcakes and decided on the Red Velvet, using the Magnolia Bakery recipe.  I snuck out of work early and had a great night watching the voice and playing around with red food dye and measurements.  I am really happy with how they turned out and would recommend the recipe to anyone as it's fairly straight forward.  I did tweak the recipe slightly, so I am posting my own version which in my opinion makes the cake a bit more fluffy and moist.  The original recipe is freely available on the internet.

Red Velvet Cupcakes (recipe makes 24)

3 ¼ cups plain flour (sifted)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used Lupak butter which has a bit of vegetable oil added to it)
2 ½ cups sugar
3 large eggs
6 tbsp red food coloring (about 2 bottles of dye available at Australian supermarkets)
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 teaspoon vinegar
3 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven (fan forced) to around 170C and line cupcake tray with papers.

1. Cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy
2. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until creamy
3. Combine food colouring, cocoa and vanilla extract on a bowl and then add to batter
4. Add salt and buttermilk and combine on the lowest setting
5. Add the sifted flour, again mixing on the lowest setting
6. Combine vinegar and baking soda separately and add to batter and combine the mixture well on a low setting, without overbeating
7. Spoon into cupcake papers (fill to around half to 3/4 full) and bake for 20-23 minutes
8. Cool cupcakes in the baking tray for around half an hour

The cream cheese frosting is honestly the ultimate.  You will never frost your cupcakes with anything else once you've tried this!

500g cream cheese
3/4 cup of butter, softened
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted (you will find that this is much less sugar than the original recipe, but it's honestly not necessary to use any more sugar)

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth
2. Add sugar and vanilla extract and beat on high until light, fluffy and consistent
3. Fill a piping bag and generously spread over the cupcakes.

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie - Darling Street, Balmain, Sydney

The clock on my MacBook is about to strike 8pm and I am already tucked into bed with the newest issue of US Vogue that's just arrived in my letterbox, as well as a mug of green and pear organic tea in my favourite oversized red mug that I lugged across America with me after I purchased it on my first night in NYC at the M&M's store in Times Square.  I couldn't resist - it was red and had my initial on it! 

Never mind that there are 3 loads of washing overtaking my bathroom/laundry room.  Plus a bunch of delicates that require hand washing.  No really, never mind.  I just have to write about Adriano Zumbo's Patisserie!

You may be thinking to yourself "hang on, isn't this the girl who put herself through the torture of a juice detox to kick her sugar addiction????".  Yes you're right, it's the same girl.  But the girl just couldn't help herself!

Now Adriano Zumbo's patisserie has featured in every one of Sydney's "best patisserie" lists for years and there were always 20 minute lines to sample his creations.  Since the Massive Mayham AKA Masterchef, Adriano's business has doubled in turnover.  And if you've lived under a rock or outside of Australia and you don't know what Masterchef is, well it's a reality television show that puts 24 ordinary people (this year it was majority lawyers) through the wringer to kick start their culinary career, even though these people have zero idea about what it is actually like to work in a commercial kitchen, have next to no life outside of work as you're too knackered while you're awake to do anything... Yep, they all have a passion for cooking and CANNOT wait to open their own restaurant and publish a cookbook.... or their 15 minutes of fame.  Sunday's finale was the 3rd most watched TV event in 10 years in Australia (behind a tennis and football match).  Adriano was a celebrity chef that afforded the contestants the most difficult challenges, that's for sure! 

I spent a few days in Sydney over the past week, namely for a friends wedding.  But I also wanted to enjoy some of my favourite things in Sydney - the harbour, the shopping (which I think is better than Melbourne (!!!)) and visit a few of my favourite neighbourhoods (and a particular patisserie).  Each previous time I've been to Sydney I've never had the opportunity to cross town to Balmain to visit Adriano's and try his goodies.  Things always got in the way.

So on Saturday afternoon I made my way to Darling Street, only to hit the end of the queue, which was about 60 people deep and over 2 hours long!  Sorry Adriano, I needed a stiff drink rather than a macaroon after hearing that. Surely it's not worth 200+ minutes of my life I thought.  And I left.

Since I was spending Monday in Sydney too, I thought surely the crowds would die down being a weekday and all (work, anyone?)

So I made the trek back over across Anzac Bridge and joined the queue at around lunch time.  I wasn't missing an opportunity, especially when the line this time was only 20 people deep.  I thought, I'd be done and sugared up within 15 minutes.  Boy was I wrong.  The line didn't move during the first 15 minutes in stood in it!  Which left me even more puzzled as to what the heck was taking so long and why I was standing outside a patisserie with a bunch of other lunatics in an unmoving line.

But the sweet smell whiffing out the door and through the breeze made me want to stay, as did my quest to find out why the line wasn't moving!

Once inside I was overwhelmed by the sheer tiny-ness of the place!  It is literally about 10m deep and 3m wide, no more!  If a staff member wanted to leave from behind the counter, the 7-8 people that could fit inside would have to squash up in a corner, so the staff member could slide the glass cabinet across the room and squeeze out!

At any given time, there is about 10 types of cakes and tarts for sale and they often sell out within hours with only 2 people working behind the counter serving customers!!!! (and one person is solely answering the phone!  Wielding calls about the address, which Masterchef challenge cake is for sale today, which flavour maracoon is on offer, what the closest side street is to the patisserie, what time they close... how long the queue is..................)

And the person left serving is forced to answer millions of questions about each individual creation, with everyone who was in the queue ahead of me purchasing at least one of everything - and nobody spending less than $150!  My new, sugar control self had a budget of $20.

The sweets were all such amazing pieces of art.  The tarts are known to be his specialty, so I walked out $19 poorer with 6 macaroons (the flavours of the day were the vanilla and pear & vanilla) and an "Aye Bro Chocolate Munt" which I decided to get at the last moment instead of the lemon tart.

The macaroons were absolute perfection.  Best I've ever had. The biscuits were lovely and crunchy and thin and the filling ample, yet light and absolutely delicious.

And the chocolate munt was out of this world!  I didn't really read the description while at the patisserie so I was pleasantly surprised to discover a lovely, gooey minty caramel filling.  Biting into the tart, the chocolate shortbread was thin and crunchy, while the caramel was liquid gold, it oozed down the shortbread crust, without actually spilling or dripping out.  It was magic.  The chocolate ganache was the most perfect consistency.  Smooth and perfect and just sweet enough.  I have honestly never tasted anything like it in my life.  I wish I had purchased $150 worth like the others and hoarded it in my luggage and eaten it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 3 days.  Forget the detox, you don't often get to eat something this amazing. I was left absolutely speechless by what I had just eaten.  Perfection in a pink box.  Worth a trip to Sydney alone.