Simple Vanilla Cupcakes

Every Monday after dinner, my family would ask me "gonna cook anything for desserts tonight?"

I don't know how or when it started but every Monday night I or one of my sisters would make something sweet for after dinner! It has become like a weekly routine and when we don't get our sugar fix, we would all be moody and a bit crazy for the rest of the week hehe

Most people dread Mondays as it marks the beginning of a new work week, perhaps too long of a work week for many people. Somehow through the many sweet and delicious desserts we have on Monday nights, the work week doesn't feel so long anymore, and the weekend is always just around the corner!!

I think I'm starting to love Mondays hehe

I made these Vanilla Cupcakes last Monday week, mmmm....they were so light and fluffy and soooooo delicious! and they are sooo easy and simple to make!!!

Here is the recipe :

For the cupcakes,
120g unsalted butter, soften
2/3 cups of caster sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 and 1/4 cups of self raising flour
1/2 cup of milk

For the icing:
1 and 1/4 cup of icing sugar
1 tsp of melted butter
1 to 2 tbsp of boiling water
sprinkles of your choice

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius (160 degrees for fan forced)
2. Put the butter, sugar and vanilla into a large bowl and beat with electric beater until mixture is pale and creamy.
3. Add one egg to the mixture at a time and beat on low until combined.
4. Sift about half the flour over the mixture, and beat on very low speed until just combined.
5. Add half the milk and beat until just combined. Repeat the process with the remaining flour and milk. Remember not to overbeat the mixture or you'll won't have light and fluffy cupcakes!
6. Evenly divide the mixture into 12 cupcake cases which are sitting inside a muffin tray (about 1/4 cup of mix per cupcake case).
7. Bake for about 15 minutes until the cupcakes are light and golden. Poke a skewer into the centre of the cupcake and if it comes out clean, it is ready! I always check the cupcakes at about 12 minutes in the oven to make sure they don't over cook, overcooked cupcakes can be very dry!!
8. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wiring rack to cool completely.
9. To make the icing, mix all the icing ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. 
10. Spread the desire amount of icing onto each cupcake and sprinkle away!!!!

Enjoy!!

Mmmmmm cupcakes...so cute and so delicious!! I don't think I have ever met anyone who doesn't like cupcakes of some kind : ) If you don't like cupcakes...well I think you're in the wrong blog!!! hehe just kidding..... : p your always welcome on my blog!!!

Happy eating!

Fat Pom Pom

Fat Pom Pom's got a new look...

Today marks an exciting change in my blogging life!

The new look for my Fat Pom Pom blog is finally here!! I absolutely love it, its everything I could ask for : D

My boyfriend designed this for me and he did an awesome job as it reflects who I am and everything I love! Thanks darling!!!

I hope you guys like it too, thank you for following my blog and I hope you guys continue to do so cause more awesome recipes and random things are coming you way
: )

Lots of Love,
Fat Pom Pom
xoxo

Emeril Lagasse's Clam Chowder!

Nothing warms the soul in winter better then a bowl of delicious home made soup!

Hi guys,

Its the middle of winter for Melbourne here brrrrrrrrrr....I find that my favourite things to eat in winter is some fresh home made soup which I know always leaves me feeling warm right to my frozen fingers and toes!!! hehe according to my boyfriend, I also have a frozen nose in winter : P

This is Emeril Lagasse's recipe for Clam Chowder. I used fresh clams instead of can clams because fresh ingredients are always better to use if it was available to you. Besides, I don't think they sell clams in a can here in Australia, correct me if I'm wrong hehe

This recipe was absolutely delicious and so tasty!!!!! First time making and eating clam chowder and its definitely one to go into my secret stash of awesome recipes hehe the soup was light and full of flavours, with just the right balance of everything!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

250g bacon, medium diced

1 cup chopped leeks

1 cup chopped yellow onions

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 carrot, peeled and diced

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 cup flour

500g potatoes, peeled and diced

4 cups clam juice (I used 2 cups of salt reduced chicken stock, and 2 cups of clam juice from cooking the fresh clams) 

2 cups thick cream

1 kilo of fresh clams (washed, and cooked in a saucepan with 1 cup of water, the water used to cook the clam will be used for the remainder 2 cups of stock)

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

Fresh crusty bread, sliced and toasted in the oven with some olive oil.

Method:

1. In a large pot, over medium-high heat, render the bacon, until crispy, about 8 minutes. Stir in the leeks, onions, celery, and carrots. Saute for about 2 minutes or until the vegetables start to wilt. 
2. Season the vegetables with pepper. Add the bay leaves and thyme. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes. Stir in the clam juice and chicken stock. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer the mixture until the potatoes are fork tender, about 12 minutes. Add the cream and bring up to simmer.
3. Remove about 70% of the cooked clams from their shell and discard shell. Roughly chop the clam  meat into smaller pieces. Leave the other 30% of clams in their shell. Add all the clams (meat and clam in shell) and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Ladle into shallow bowls and serve with crusty bread pieces.

Important tip: Don't add any salt until the very last minute and only if needed, the clam juice is already salty and you don't need to add anymore salt unless you really want to! 

   

Sprinkle on more fresh parsley to serve! Enjoy!!!

Keep warm my dear readers!! Itl be a while before we will be eating ice-cream again hehe though the cold weather has never stopped me from having ice-cream before hehe 

Happy eating!!!

Fat Pom Pom

Cupcake Central

Feast your eyes on some deliciously sweet and fluffy cupcakes!!!!

Hehe I didn't make these of course, my sister bought them from Cupcake Central in Melbourne Central! They are as yummy as they look, mmmm the Red Velvet Cupcake was pure melt in your mouth deliciousness  hehe I can feel my obsession for cupcakes are growing......

 Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

This is a short and sweet post for all the cupcake lovers out there!!! : D

Happy eating!

Fat Pom Pom

Peking Duck!

Mmmmmm.....Peking Duck : ) one of my favourite things to eat!!!!!! I love the crispy duck skin, sweet sauce, the soft pancake and the perfect amount of cucumber and spring onions to balance out all the flavours!!!

I felt inspired (and was seriously craving Peking Duck) after watching Masterchef! I am a big fan of Master Chef, especially the Master Class on Friday nights hehe on one Friday class, Frank Shek of China Doll in Sydney, showed us how to prepare Peking Duck, and being the Peking Duck fan that I am, I decided it was time I made them myself : )

This is how mine turned out....

Heres how to prepare the Peking Duck

Ingredients:
½ Chinese Roast Duck
1 packet duck pancakes (in the freezer section of your Asian grocer)
1 Lebanese cucumber, deseeded, cut into 6cm batons
1 bunch spring onions, washed

Sauce
200g hoisin sauce
40g castor sugar
5 tablespoons hot water
1½ teaspoons sesame oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180'C. Cut the roots off the spring onions. Cut 2 inches up from the bottom white part.

2. For sauce dissolve the sugar in the hot water. Add the hoisin and combine. Gradually combine the sesame oil until fully incorporated.

3. Warm up the duck in the oven at 180'C for 10 mins on a rack. Leave until cool enough to handle.

4. Set up a bamboo steamer for the pancakes with a small piece of baking paper in the bottom. Steam the pancakes for 1-2 minutes until soft and warm. If you don't have a bamboo steamer like I do, pop the pancakes in the microwave as per the instructions.

5. Using a sharp knife, carve shards of skin with a little meat from half the duck about 4cm by 8cm.

6. Serve the pancakes with the pieces of skin, sauce, cucumber and shallots.

Enjoy!!!

They are as delicious as they look hehe

Happy eating!
Fat Pom Pom

The Fluffiest Scones ever!!!

Hi guys,

Hope everyone is well!!!

Scones, they are so simple to make, yet so delicious especially when served hot with freshly whipped cream and home made jam!!! I think everyone needs to know how to make scones...at least some time during their life!! Scones brings me back to my childhood, where I first learnt how to make scones in primary school hehe and with the recipe in mind, me and my sisters and have made scones about a thousand times now, with many good and bad variations of the original recipe hehe scones are so easy to make, with only a few basic pantry ingredients, yet to master the fluffliest and lightest scones requires a few too many tries and alot of patiences!!! I must admit that I have made a few bad scones in the past : P

Here I have my simple recipe for scones, they are so fluffy and light and are super delicious served straight from the oven, with some butter, jam and whipped cream!!! : ) mmmmm....

Scones
Ingredients:
3 cups of self raising flour, sifted
80g of unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 and 1/3 cup of milk
pinch of salt
Jam
freshly whipped cream (just beat 2 cups of thick cream on high setting using an egg beater until the cream thickens to your desire consistency, about 10minutes)
extra butter to serve

Method:

1. Place flour, butter and pinch of salt in a large bowl. Using your fingertips only, rub the butter into the flour until you can no longer see the butter anymore, and the flour becomes a pale yellow colour.

2. Make a well in the middle of the flour and gently stir in the milk with your fingers, add 1 cup of milk first, mixing the dough gently and adding the rest of the milk as required. I used all the 1 and 1/3 cups of milk.

3. Empty the content of the bowl onto a clean kitchen bench top, and knead gently to make sure the flour and milk are well combine. Remember the secret to fluffy scones is to use as less force as possible and stop as soon as the dough looks combined.

 

4. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin to about 2cm thick. Using a round cooking cutter about 5 cm in diameter, cut out as many scones as you can with the dough. Don't forget to reshape the left overs cuts of dough and make more scones!! I think I made about 20 or so.

5. Lightly grease a baking tray with butter, place the scones on the tray about 1 cm apart and dust them   lightly with some flour.

6. Bake in a 200 degree C oven for about 15-20 minutes until well risen and slightly golden on top.
Transfer to a wiring rack and serve immediately with butter, jam and whipped cream!!! Enjoy : )

"Is that how easy it is to make scones..." "Yes it is!!" I know thats what you guys are thinking hehe

I hope you enjoy my recipe and one day master your own scones!!! I am yet to make my own jam but I will one day, its something I always wanted to do : )

Happy reading!
Fat Pom Pom