TWD - Cocoa Crunch Meringue Cookies

For Tuesday with Dorie this fortnight, I made the first alternative recipe, Cocoa Crunch Meringue Cookies.

Dorie said I should get 8 cookies - I only got 5, but that's OK.  These cookies were delicious - light, airy, crisp chocolate meringues sandwiched with luscious ganache: 

I would make these again, but may double the recipe to get a few more.

To see what the other TWD bakers made this week and what they thought about it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Chocolate, Pretzel and Marshmallow Slice - Lyndey Milan

Ever wondered what to do with odds and ends of chocolates and salty treats left over from a party?  Well, I think I have the answer for you - Lyndey Milan's Chocolate, Pretzel and Marshmallow Slice, from her recent show, Baking Secrets.   It is also called "Train Wreck Slice".

This is one of those slices that is an assembly and bake job - no special skills required.  The base recipe lends itself to using whatever nuts, salty treats and chocolate that you may have about.  The elements that you need to keep are the shortbread base and the condensed milk and marshmallows (which act as the "glue" to stick it all together).  Otherwise, the sky's the limit - just use what you have.

I adapted the recipe to what I already had.  For example, my packet of shortbread biscuits was only 200g, not 250g - this was not a problem.  I used a mixture of Reese's peanut butter chips and chopped dark chocolate instead of dark chocolate chips; I replaced the marshmallow halves with mini mallows form the baking section of the supermarket; I used dark chocolate buttons on top rather than milk chocolate buttons; I used a mixture of pecans and walnuts and probably only 100g all up instead of 250g; and I left out the white chocolate chips and finishing chocolate drizzle altogether.  The recipe is very forgiving - it is a concept that you can run with, provided that you keep the "glue" components.

The end result is what I call "crack candy" - highly addictive and moreish.  The salty and sweet flavours together are a match made in heaven.

My only tip is that  you chill the slice before cutting it, because it crumbles readily otherwise.

Enjoy!! 

Upside-Down Toffee Apple Cake for Melbourne Cake Club - "Autumn Apples"

On Thursday night, the Melbourne Cake Club met at Pause Bar in Balaclava for its April meeting.  Our theme for this month was Autumn Apples.

Here's a look at the cosy interior of Pause Bar:

I arrived during Happy Hour so was able to take advantage of Pause Bar's great happy hour rates on wine. 

In all, seven members attended April's meeting, with a diverse range of apple cakes.

First up was Abi's apple cider cake, decorated beautifully with toffee apples and grape leaves:

 

I got to take one of these gorgeous apples home and really enjoyed eating it for morning tea the next day.

Dalya made a lovely Apple Caramel Charlotte, with the recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes book:

 
The outside was light cake and the inside was a beautiful light custard, with an apple "rose" on top.

Alex made a gluten free "healthy" apple cake from one of the newspaper weekend magazines:

Lindsay, attending her second meeting, presented us with an apple loaf topped with walnuts and luscious caramel from the BBC Good Food website:

 
Sue baked a deliciously moist, gluten free chocolate apple cake from a book exclusively on apple cakes:

 
Nicole made a picture-perfect apple spice cake with caramel sauce that she found on Pinterest:

And I made an Upside-Down Toffee Apple Cake from Luis Troyano's Bake It Great, with a gorgeous spiced gooey toffee on top:

 
Here is my plate of cake from the meeting - it was all so good that I nearly ate all of it: 

And in case you were wondering what my cake looked like inside, here is a glimpse:

 

 It was another fabulous meeting of the Melbourne Cake Club.  Next month's theme is unbaked cakes.

Pause Bar

268 Carlisle St

Balaclava VIC 3183

Phone: (03) 9537 0511

EwE - Breakfast for Dinner - Black Eyed Peas, Greens, Eggs and Ham

Do you like green eggs and ham?

 

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.

Dr Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham 

This week's Eating with Ellie theme is Breakfast for Dinner, chosen by Peggy.  I selected Black Eyed Peas, Greens, Eggs and Ham from Weeknight Wonders as my dish.  I was excited to try this dish for two reasons.  First, I had never had black eyed peas before, and I was astonished to find them readily available in canned form in my local supermarket.  Second, while I realise that this is greens, eggs and ham, not green eggs and ham, I couldn't stop thinking of the book by Dr Seuss.

This is a really easy one-pan dish that you can whip up easily for breakfast or dinner.  I substituted the kale for spinach (because I hate kale and it is massively overpriced), but otherwise was faithful to the recipe, which I can tell you was delicious, hearty and filling.  A judicious splash of tabasco sauce on top, as suggested by Ellie, really helps to make the dish.

To see what the others made for this theme, visit the LYL section of the EwE website.

Simple Chocolate Fudge Cake - Lyndey Milan recipe

During a recent browse through Facebook, someone had shared a photo of Lyndey Milan's Simple Chocolate Fudge Cake.  It looked so luscious that I immediately put it on the "to bake" list.

I came good on baking this one, and here it is:

It was easy to make, though I think I'd use a smaller pan next time, because I like my cake slices a bit taller.

I didn't have white chocolate so I used dark chocolate to decorate the raspberries on top of the cake:

It works well, wouldn't you say.

I really enjoyed this lovely cake, with the moist, tangy raspberries being the perfect foil for the rich chocolate fudge cake beneath.

Breakfast at Angelo's House, Toowoomba

For Easter Sunday, my family and I went for breakfast at Angelo's House in Toowoomba. We had the place to ourselves for most of the time (we arrived early at 8am),  which made for a wonderful peaceful dining experience.

On arrival, our friendly waiter showed us to our table out on the verandah:  

I loved the menus and table numbers decorated with drawings of Australian wildflowers:

You need to get your priorities right, so I started with a flat white coffee:

It was creamy and not too hot, so it was perfect for me.

For breakfast, I ordered the potato roesti ($16.90).  This was not the grated potato cakes that come to mind from the name, but comprised lovely fluffy potato cakes topped with a runny poached egg, and sailing atop creamed green peas and creme fraiche, with baby spinach and fetta, and lemon on the side:

It was absolutely delicious, and made for a lovely  light breakfast - leaving room for Easter eggs!

From our verandah table, we had a view of Laurel Bank Park across the road:

I was also rather taken by this vase of proteas on a verandah side table:

We all enjoyed our breakfasts at Angelo's House, and would definitely repeat the experience.

Angelo's House

210 Herries St

Toowoomba QLD 4350

Ph: (07) 4659 9200

Frank Camorra's Queensland Cake

I am a patriotic Queenslander, so when I saw Frank Camorra's recipe for Queensland Cake, I was sold.  Frank calls this cake "Queensland Cake" because it contains lots of ingredients from Queensland - ginger, macadamias, brown sugar and coconut. (If I had to name a true Queensland cake, it would be the lamington, because it was invented in Queensland.)

It is a very simple cake to make, and it tastes really good for minimal effort.  The hardest part was persuading myself not to eat the glace ginger I had bought for the cake straight from the packet.

If nuts and ginger and coconut paired with a light chocolatey icing sounds like your kind of thing, go ahead and make Frank's cake for an easy and tasty weekend treat.