Mixed tape challenge

Ok Caketin at rabbitcrackers, being old enough to remember the love and craft that had to go into making a mix tape me Luisa and Pablos thought long and hard about our selection. We came up with this - good tunes to get you up and running on a Sunday morning. Best enjoyed with coffee, bacon and eggs...

1. The Beach Boys - Wouldn't it be nice
2. Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me
3. The Smiths – Ask
4. Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Reasons to Be Cheerful, Pt. 3
5. Kirsty Maccoll – In These Shoes
6. Juanes – La Camisa Negra
7. They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul
8. The Beatles - Good Morning Good Morning
9. The Water Boys - The Whole of the Moon
10. Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
11. Noah and the Whale - 5 years time

Who knew?

I just found out there was a conference called BlogHer Food '09 held in San Fransisco in September. My new ambition is to get the conference next year.

Guess I should start saving for the airfare now...

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Last week at work we had a cake sale to raise money for the Wear it Pink breast cancer day. I wanted to make something a bit different for the sale so I had a go at these lemon meringue cupcakes.

The original recipe had coconut in the sponge and meringue, plus you were supposed to make your own lemon curd. I decided I didn't have the patience to make the curd then wait for it to cool so I used a jar of pre-made curd instead. I left out the coconut because I wanted the cakes to taste just like the Lemon Meringue Pie my mum makes (doesn't everyone love the pie their mum makes?).

Here's my version:

Ingredients
For the cake
125g stork margarine
the rind of 2 lemons
2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1/3 (80ml) milk- I used soya milk
1 1/4 cups (185g) self-raising flour
1 jar lemon curd

For the meringue
4 egg whites
1 cup (220g) caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Beat the margarine, rind, sugar and eggs till they are light and fluffy
3. Stir in the milk, then sift in the flour. Mix till everything is even.
4. Divide among the cases. I found it best to leave 2cm from the top of the case
5. Bake the cakes for 20-25mins. Put on a wire rack to cool. Increase to the oven temperature to 220 degrees C
6. Cut the top of the cakes so they are flat then scoop a hole out in the middle of each cake with a teaspoon (I saved all these cut-offs as treats for the cook!)
7. Fill the holes with lemon curd.
8. Make the meringue by beating the egg whites till they form stiff peaks then stir in the sugar a bit at a time. ( I have to admit my meringue fell flat every time I added the sugar so any hints for better meringue are welcome. The flat meringue was ok though and made more of a marshmallow topping)
9. Arrange the cakes on a flat baking tray and pipe the meringue on top of each cake.
10. Bake in the oven for 5 mins or until the tops are just brown. (As the photo shows I overcooked my first batch)
    

First time

Inspired by my friend Caketin and her excellent blog Rabbit Crackers I've decided to have a go at this blogging lark. During a quick run through of the things I'm passionate about food kept coming up as a recurring theme...

So here it is, my blog to all things foodie and especially food to share with friends.

Let me know if you give any of the recipes a try and how they work out for you. All suggestions for new recipes welcome.