Monday, May 28, 2012

High Tea at My House!

Look how beautiful our macarons turned out..

High Tea!! Its one of the most exciting things to be excited about since macarons hehe my family decided that we would have our own high tea at home! It was a really exciting day, everyone was busy taking care of their one dish to be placed on our 3 tier stand! Couldn't have been more please with everything that we made! Haha as usual, there was way too much food and everyone stuffed themselves to the point that no one could move for the rest of the night hehe

Our High Tea menu...

Our 3 tier stand filled with delicious goodies...

 Mini scones...mmmm so cute and yummy! It the background you can sort of see the marshmallows dipped in chocolate fondue and sprinkle with crushed peanuts!

 Roast Chicken & Avocado, Salmon & Cream Cheese, Egg & Mayonnaise sandwiches...with crusts removed of course hehe

 Home made Sausage Rolls, a Masterchef recipe!

 Candy Glazed Chorizo...inspire from a Jamie Oliver recipe! So yummy

 Quiches...this is a family recipe we have been making for years...mmm

 Pink and Blue French Macarons, so adorable and delicious!

Oh how could I forget tea... you can't have High Tea without tea!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch a perfect picture of our Pumpkin Soup, Deconstructed Lemon Tart and Fondue made by the boys in our family, but they were all super delicious and worthy of a special thanks for their efforts...yes boys can cook in our house!! :D

Why not do your own high tea at home with some of your family and friends? it is just as much fun, if not more then the real thing...you can even dress up and have a glass of champagne at home!!

Lots of Love,
Fat Pom Pom

Monday, May 14, 2012

Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

Hi guys!

I made some Sticky Date Pudding for desserts on Sunday Night. I must admit sticky date puddings are one of my favourites desserts to eat, well besides cheesecakes, red velvet cupcakes, carrot cakes and a whole heap of Vietnamese puddings! Haha well to be honest, I just like desserts in general :D Sticky date puddings are perfect for winter, and yes even better with ice-cream on the side!

The first time I had sticky date pudding, it was my boyfriend that made them for me. I am still using his recipe up to this day and its definitely a keeper, just like him! hehe

Anywhos, heres my simple recipe for Sticky Date Pudding:

Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup of pitted dates, chopped
1 and 1/4 cup of boiling water
1 teaspoon of baking soda
60g of butter, cubed
3/4 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of self raising flour

Butter Scotch Sauce
1 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cups of thick cream
50g of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Method:


  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
  2. Combine the dates, baking soda and boiling water in a bowl. Stand for 5 minutes, and blend or process the date mixture with butter, brown sugar until smooth.
  3.  
  4. Pour mixture into a large bowl, add the eggs and flour and mix well until just combined.
  5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until cooked through. 
  6. Stand the pudding for 10 minutes before turning out of the tin.
  7. To make butter scotch sauce, combine all ingredients for butter scotch sauce in a small pan over low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved and butter has melted.
  8. Served cake warm, drizzle with sauce and icecream on the side.
Enjoy your masterpiece hehe well actually it was quite simple but not to say that it was not delicious, cause it was, tasted even better the second day when I microwave a small portion to reheat...there's never enough desserts to go around in my house!!

Keep warm and happy eating!
Lots of Love,
Fat Pom Pom

Friday, May 11, 2012

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake



Who doesn't love cheesecakes? well you certainly ain't my friend if you don't...heheh just kidding.

Hope everyone is keeping warm as Melbourne is heading towards another cold winter. Brrrrrr. I'm please to say that my appetite for making desserts is back! YAY. I've always use to make desserts after dinner everyday, but I don't know what has happened in the past few months but I just didn't have the drive that used to be in me. Well it has finally come back and I couldn't be more happy!

Some might say "what...cheesecakes in winter...and frozen berries...you must be joking" hehe no in my house, we can eat anything for desserts, even icecreams in winter hehe

This cheesecake recipe is really simple yet the finished cheesecake tastes absolutely delicious!!! One of the best cheesecakes I have ever tasted! It surprised me because it was so easy to make. I will definitely be making this recipe again and again, next time with other seasonal fruits and berries, eg. Passionfruit, strawberry, lemon...you can be really creative and use any fruits you want!

Heres the recipe:

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

Base
1 1/4 cups shortbread biscuits, crushed
75g butter, melted

Filling
500g block cream cheese, softened (i used Philadelphia)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons gelatine dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water, cooled slightly
200g white chocolate, melted
3/4 cup thick cream, lightly whipped
1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

To garnish
200g fresh or frozen raspberries, extra
Icing sugar

Method:
Combine the biscuits and butter and press into the base of a lightly greased 22 cm spring form pan. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

























Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon rind with an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in the gelatine mixture and fold in the melted chocolate, cream and 1/2 cup of raspberries.

Pour the filling into the prepared base. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set. Garnish with extra raspberries and dust with icing sugar before serving!

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, its sure to be a crowd pleaser, tastes delicious and looks beautiful! Almosts too pretty to eat.

Keep warm and happy eating!
  
Lots of Love,




 
Fat Pom Pom