When it rains, I like nothing better than to settle down with a steaming bowl of ramen noodles with my favourite toppings: soft boiled eggs, leeks, nori, fish cakes, and mushrooms! I’m hungry for more, now that I’ve looked at this photo… *sigh*
Cappuccino Cupcakes
I love tea. As you can imagine, I can’t live without it. My teeth get stained badly because of my terrible addiction so I have to be pretty careful to keep my dental appointment or people might mistake me for a chain smoker. Yep, I’m serious… Well, almost.
It’s complicated.
I also hate coffee – as a drink. I like the smell of freshly ground coffee but I get lethargic if I drink it. And sometimes, that can lead to sleeping in the middle of the morning, afternoon – when I shouldn’t be sleeping. Naturally, I don’t miss coffee.
However, like Hilary Clinton (apparently), I love coffee flavoured desserts. And coffee makes chocolate taste better! Isn’t that marvellous? Perhaps that’s why I like coffee in desserts. But wait, there’s Nigel Slater’s coffee walnut cake which is one crazy delicious cake with no chocolate in sight. I have to concede coffee is good for some things in life.
These cappuccino cupcakes are strong in the coffee department. Seriously moreish, they’re originally for 14 mini-cupcakes, but I decided to make them standard sized and got 7, a decision I regretted after my first bite. I need more of these dusky beauties and the only way is to double the bloody recipe! Which is from a book I’ve lost track of. I didn’t take down the author’s name and title, so whoever came up with the recipe shall have my thanks. *cough* I’m serious…
I couldn’t take step-by-step photos as I used the stand mixer. It would be stuff inside the bowl and that’s boring. Anyway, anyway! Remember, if you decide to trust me, double this recipe and eat 14 standard sized muffins instead of yearning for more.
Recipe:
- 115g light brown sugar
- 115g softened butter
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 115g self-raising flour
- 4 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 4 tsp of just boiled water
- 50g dark chocolate (or white chocolate)
- 50g softened butter
- 115g icing sugar, sifted
- cocoa powder, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and then prepare the muffin cases or the muffin tray. Immediately cream together the 115g of butter with the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and if the batter curdles, add a tablespoon of flour to fix it.
Next, fold in the flour and coffee. Divide the batter among the muffin cases and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until risen and set. Cool on a wire rack.
Finally, make the frosting. Melt the chocolate and let it cool. Beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. Dump in the melted chocolate and whisk it in until incorporated. The frosting will be slightly thick and grainy so you can’t pipe it properly. You should depend on your spatula and hot water instead.
Split the cooled cupcakes in half and spread the icing, dipping the spatula in hot water occasionally to make life easier for yourself and the cupcakes. Join the cupcake halves together and dust with cocoa powder. Eat as many of them as you like and be content.
Custard Tart
Custard. It evokes memories of childhood. Jam. Milk. Marmalade. I’m getting carried away…
So yes, I made custard tart. The recipe is adapted from The Essential Dessert Cookbook - well, I say adapted, but the only thing that has to be changed is the size of the tart tin, from 8 to 9 inches, or this recipe would be a disaster with too much pastry instead of custard.
Recipe:
- 185g plain flour
- 30g custard powder
- a pinch of salt
- 125g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 125g caster sugar
- 375ml milk
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
Make the pastry: Sift flour, salt and custard powder into a bowl and rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, egg yolk and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to form a soft dough.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Lightly grease a 9 inch tart tin with a removable base. Next, roll the chilled pastry between two sheets of baking parchment.
Line the base and sides of the tart tin with the pastry. You can trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife or run the rolling pin across the tin.
Prick the base of the pastry with a fork and bake the tart shell for 15 minutes, or until the base of the shell is dry. Cover the edges with foil if the crust looks too brown.
You will probably have some excess pastry, so make cookies or cut out pretty shapes to decorate the edges of your tart.
While the baked tart shell cools on a wire rack, make the custard: Mix the eggs, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Bring the milk to the boil in a small saucepan and remove from heat. Gradually pour the milk into the egg mixture while stirring continuously.
Next, reduce the temperature of the oven to 180ºC and place the tart shell on a baking tray. Strain the custard into the shell and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the custard is just set in the centre – do not over-bake or you’ll end up with an omelette. Allow the custard tart to cool before slicing it.
Enjoy with a mug of scalding hot tea.
