Saturday, September 18, 2010

Past culinary adventures

Over the years I have done lots and lots of cooking. 
This post is a collection of some of the things I have made before starting the blog.
Chocolate Butterfly Cakes
These cup cakes were really fun to make. I just used a plain chocolate cup cake recipe that I like and then used butter cream icing to make butterfly cakes! Getting both 'wings' even proved to be a challenge, but one that I enjoyed immensely. I did not flavor the icing, but next time I would consider adding in some orange juice for flavor. The cakes stayed moist which was good, but they do not keep very long because of the dairy in the icing. This recipe is certainly one I plan on using again!
Bento box with Rice, Sesame chicken and Bok Choy
On a more savory note, this is a Bento box I made as a tasty school lunch. I used molds to shape the rice, which makes the box much more aesthetic! The sesame Chicken was nice and strong, but a little dry. The bok choy was really good, the vinegar in it balanced out the rich chicken nicely. I have made Bentos' with other things like flavored shredded carrot. They do take time, but are healthy and very tasty making them well worth it!
Gluten free banana bread
I have a friend who is gluten intolerant. I had never attempted to bake any gluten free food before and so I decided to give it a try using her as my test subject! The use of gluten free flour creates quite a dense bread, but using the mashed banana kept the bread moist so it ended up being really good. I added in walnuts for texture, giving the bread some interesting 'crunch' and serving to help cut through the density of the loaf. The banana also added a really nice flavor which kept the bread from being bland. The bread went down a treat with my friend and her family so I will definitely do more gluten free cooking in the future!
Carrot cake with cream cheese icing: 
decorated with sour mandarins and choc coffee beans
Carrot cake is my Dad's favorite and I really enjoy making it. So this moist cake is a win-win situation in my house! The cake has quite a rich flavor and has chopped walnuts mixed through the batter. If you ask me, carrot cake is not complete without cream cheese icing! It is best put on thick, but the cake has to be refrigerated or the cream cheese will go off.            This cake is quite rich, but not sickly sweet. I love decorating cakes and the simple pattern using the coffee beans and sour mandarin lollies turned out really well. This cake is perfect for any occasion whether it be an after-dinner dessert or an afternoon tea with friends!

So, there is just a few things I have cooked. I plan on making lots more in the future!

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