cake slice bakers: cranberry cake

The first fresh cranberry I ever ate wasn't ripe. I did not know this. In my defence I'd never seen a fresh cranberry in the flesh let alone eaten one. Needless to say I was not impressed. My mouth went dry, my face must've puckered and I quickly surmised that cranberries were obviously like rhubarb in that they're inedible fresh and can only be eaten dried or cooked! Disappointed but not about to waste anything, I threw my bag of cranberries into the fridge and promptly forgot about them. About a month later they resurfaced (now ripe) and I was brave enough to discover the true taste of a ripe cranberry.

mystery box cupcake: chocolate licorice peach cupcakes

Last New Year, my flatmate, Fran,  and her equally competitive sister challenged each other to go without chocolate for a whole year. I can understand the sibling rivalry/dare thing (I've got a date with my little brother to see who can eat a tub of ice cream the fastest) but chocolate? A whole year? It did not compute. Thankfully they had a clause in their contract* whereby they could eat chocolate if it was covering licorice.

daring cooks: oeuffs en meurette

Blog-checking lines: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

How I wish I could say that through this challenge I perfected the technique of poaching an egg but... not even close!

Oeuffs en meurette is basically just poached eggs in a red wine sauce but Anne Willan's recipe (which we Daring Cooks followed) gave instructions to poach the eggs in the red wine.

avocado and strawberry ice cream

I wanted to combine the words ice cream and avocado to make a super word but all I could come up with was avice cream. Granted I only spent 15 seconds thinking about it but there's no way I'm using a word that when traced back to its origins means 'failing or defect'. Because there is nothing defective about this ice cream.

pumpkin ice cream and chunky praline

I made a cinnamon pudding cake a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't help but think it looked a little sad sitting on my plate all on its lonesome. But who to keep Miss Cinnamon Cake company? Why, Mr Pumpkin of course! It's common knowledge that they’ve been in luurve forever and I just didn’t have the heart to keep them apart. I thought Mr Praline might be in with a shot for the love of Miss Cinnamon but, as evidenced in my photos, Mr Pumpkin dealt to his competition pretty quick smart and pulverized him. (Note to self: Do not mess with Mr Pumpkin).

toasted walnuts

pumpkin whoopie pies

Got any pumpkin puree lying around? After making two pumpkin cakes I still did! I love whoopie pies and, with their soft, moist cakeness and a beautiful squidge of lemme-eat-it-on-its-own filling in every bite, who wouldn't...

Here are my tips for making sure your whoopies come out whooptastic: