Some girlfriends of mine came over to do some baking on the weekend… yes I know.  When people think of me they immediately think of the culinary arts (*scoff*) but Girl’s Baking Day it was and we had a ball.  Started out with champagne before breakfast which kinda set the tone for the day.

We made a few things that I’ll get round to posting up over the next few weeks.  But my favourite recipe from the marathon bake off was the Strawberry and Rekorderlig Cider Cupcakes.  And can I just say they were absolutely delicious.  Not too sweet, just a touch of tang from the cider and the lime in the frosting and light and fluffy as all shit.  Highly recommended, big thumbs up from our house!  I am not sure where my friend got the recipe from but I have a copy so I’m going to copy it out here for safe keeping….

Cupcake Mixture
4 eggs
200 gms butter (softened)
600 gms caster sugar
750 gms self-raising flour
250 mls Rekorderlig strawberry-lime cider, about 1/2 a bottle
24 cupcake liners

Cream Frosting
500 gms cream cheese
500 gms icing sugar
1 punnet strawberries for decoration
2 limes

Cupcake mixture method:
Preheat fan-forced oven to 180C
Place butter and caster sugar into mixing bowl and mix on high speed.
Turn down to low speed and add eggs one at a time, until combined – don’t over mix.
Add flour and cider and mix on low then high speed (using spatula is needed).
Put mixture in liners and bake for 15 mins or until cupcakes are “springy” to touch.
Remove cupcakes and let cool.

Cream cheese Icing mixture method:
Place cream cheese and icing sugar into clean, dry mixing bowl.
Mix on low and then max speed until combined.
Add lime juice to taste.
Add some green food dye to get a desired colour.
Pipe onto cold cupcakes and decorate with half a strawberry.

They were absolutely delicious and I bet I’ll be making it them again before too long.  🙂

About 20 years ago, I dated this really great guy whose Dad happened to be a Five Star Chef and his Mum was also a cook!  I have to admit that even though my Mum was a pretty good cook (all things being relative in an Australian 70’s meat and three veg kinda way) I  really learned to cook from from these guys.  They gave me an awesome Spaghetti Bolognese recipe that I’ve been making ever since and I have a reputation for making the best ‘Spag Bog’ ever, so much so that when I travel interstate my friends have thrown me into the kitchen to cook for them!  Here’s the recipe that I’ve been using for the last 20 odd years, and it’s also the easiest and simplest recipe ever!  🙂

Ingredients:
1kg minced beef
1 large onion – diced
5 – 6 cloves of garlic – minced/crushed
3 – 4 rashers of short cut bacon – diced
1 can of tomato puree
1 can of tomato supreme
8 – 10 tablespoons of tomato paste
Any pasta of your choice

Serves:
8 – 10 people depending on how hungry they are!

Method:
Lightly fry onions, garlic and bacon in a heavy based pot on 3/4 heat
Cook until onions have gone clear
Add mince meat in 100gm chunks, breaking it up with a spoon as you go
Add tomato puree, tomato supreme and tomato paste BEFORE meat is fully browned
Stir continuously until meat is cooked, continuing to break up any lumps.
Reduce to a simmer for minimum 20 mins, but the longer the better.
Keep coming back to stir so it doesn’t burn to bottom of pot  🙂
Cook pasta of choice as per instructions
Serve with Mediterranean style salad if you’re feeling healthy or loads of garlic bread if you’re not!

Enjoy  🙂

PS:  Left over Bolognese sauce can double as a quick tomato based meat sauce to make a very tasty lasagne too!

I was thinking the other day that while Mr K is sick and unable to yell at anyone with any gusto, now might be a good time for a wee confession….

For several years now Mr K has been telling me that he doesn’t like brie….  or at least he thinks he doesn’t like brie.  He likes camembert well enough, but not brie.  Only the thing is… about half the ‘camembert’ cheese that gets served in our house is actually brie and has been for donkeys. I know it’s a dreadful deception, but everyone else likes brie, and he seems to consume it with plenty of enjoyment when he thinks it’s ‘camembert’,

It’s just a little white one right?

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