Pistachio and Strawberry Rose Meringue Cake

This stunning cake is the ideal centerpiece for a girly afternoon tea in the sunshine. Serve with beautiful rose champagne, and make sure you have lots of hungry guests with a sweet tooth. The lightness of this cake is perfect for warmer weather or a wedding celebration. The pictured cake was made by my talented friend Georgie, who has a cupcake and sweet business in Brisbane called Narnies Cupcakes. She can make an array of gorgeous treats, including macarons of all colours and flavours, beautiful wedding cakes and cupcakes, and can cater to your personal preferences and occasion.
Pistachio and Strawberry Rose Meringue Cake

*Please note, I have modified this recipe slightly from the cake pictured here. Original recipe was featured in the 2013 Gourmet Traveller Magazine, 'The Baking Cookbook'. 

Ingredients:

Cake by Narnies Cupcakes

• 1 punnet of strawberries, cut into small wedges
• 3 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 200 grams of creme fraiche
• 3 tablespoons of sifted icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of rose water

Cake:

• 5 eggs, separated
• 150 grams of caster sugar
• 170 grams of plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 140 grams of pistachios, finely chopped
• 80 grams of butter, melted and cooled

Icing:

• 3 eggwhites
• 190 grams of caster sugar
• pinch of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of rose water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Whisk yolks and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (5 - 7 minutes). Transfer to a large bowl and set aside. 
2. Whisk egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form (3 - 4 minutes), fold in yolk mixture, then sieve over flour and baking powder and fold in along with pistachios and butter. 
3. Spoon into a 20-cm diameter cake tin (buttered and lined) and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Cool slightly in tin and turn out to completely cool on a wire rack.
4. Trim the top of the cake so it is flat and cut in half horizontally.
5. Combine strawberries, caster sugar, lemon juice and rose water and lightly crush with a fork, leaving ingredients to sit together to macerate for 30 minutes.
6. Strain the liquid from the strawberries to use to cover the sides of the cake. Keep the strawberries aside.
7. Whisk together the creme fraiche, icing sugar and rose water and set aside for later.
8. To make the icing, stir caster sugar and 50ml of water in a saucepan over low heat to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk the eggwhites and cream of tartar with a electric mixer until soft peaks form (2 - 3 minutes). Whisking continuously, add in sugar syrup in a thin steady stream until mixed. Increase speed of the mixer to high until the mixer is cooled - this takes up to 12 minutes, then whisk in the rose water.
9. Place one piece of the halved cake on a serving stand. Cover the top of this cake with the creme fraiche mixture and scatter over the reserved strawberries.
10. Top this first half of cake with the second half and cover with meringue icing. Smooth over the outside of the cake using a palette knife. You can serve with scattered rose petals or candied rose petals**.

*This cake is best eaten the day it is made.
**To make candied rose petal, brush unsprayed rose petals with eggwhite and rush in caster sugar. Set aside to dry on a wire rack and store in an airtight container until required.

Watermelon and Fetta Bites

The perfect party snack, these sweet little bites are refreshing and tangy making a delicious accompaniment to a crisp glass of champagne!


Watermelon and Fetta Bites

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a large seedless watermelon
• 50 grams of low-fat greek fetta cheese
• 1 teaspoon of sumac
• 6 black olives, seeded and finely sliced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaved parsley
• 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves

Method:

1. Cut the watermelon into bite-sized cubes.
2. Use a teaspoon or melon baller to scoop out the top of each watermelon cube.
3. Cut the feta into small squares (small enough to fit inside the watermelon cube!) and sit in each watermelon cube.
4. Toss the sumac, olives, parsley and thyme together and sprinkle a little on each cube.
5. Best served freshly made.
6. Makes 25 serves.

Skinny Chocolate Party Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my Dad's birthday and they were the perfect party cupcake; an ode to your youth with the lolly decorations and fairy floss icing. Dad commented they complemented his second birthday gift superbly - a bottle of grandfather port. The carnival-like icing on these cakes is probably one of the best icings I have ever made, it is dangerously irresistible. 


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1-1/2 cups sifted self-raising gluten-free flour 
• 1/2 cup of Natvia sweetener 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 80 grams of organic butter, at room temperature
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup of low-fat soy milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Icing:

• Chocolate-flavoured fairy floss (I buy the Persian brand)
• 125 grams of organic butter, at room temperature
• Your choice of lollies - I used star-shaped freckles, jelly beans and sprinkles

Directions:

In a small measuring cup, combine cocoa and boiling water. Whisk and blend until smooth, and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and Natvia together. Pour in the flour, baking soda and salt. combine flour, Splenda, baking soda and salt. Mix together until the mixture is crumbly. 

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, cocoa mixture and vanilla. Add 1/3 of this wet mixture to the mixer bowl. Beat on low speed until every thing is combined, then increase to medium speed and beat for an additional 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl, and add another 1/3 of the wet mixture to the mixer bowl. Repeat, until all of the wet mixture has been added and the batter is smooth.

Using a large spoon, scoop the batter into the cupcake tin, which you may like to line with your choice of patty cake wrappers. 

Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan onto a wire rack, and let them cool completely.

While waiting for your cupcake to cool, make the icing by electric mixing together the butter and half a packet of the fairy floss. You may like to add more fairy floss if you want to enhance the flavour - but it is very very sweet!! Ice your cakes once they are cool and top with lollies to decorate. 

Skinny spelt flower power cupcakes

The texture of these cakes is brilliant, just really lovely and crumbly. This rich texture is complemented beautifully with a vanilla glaze adorned with gorgeous little marshmallow flowers. While not officially gluten-free, spelt flour is easier to digest than regular flour and can be a great alternative to those who can be sensitive to gluten but are not celiac or have Crohn's disease. Made with light olive oil, rice milk and Natvia, these cupcakes do not have any saturated fat, dairy and are reduced in sugar. The sweet flowers made with sliced marshmallows and Smarties were first made by my mother for my 4th birthday party cake, courtesy from The Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book. These a super fun to make and will be popular with all. Perfect for Mother's Day, a girly bridal shower or a homemade high tea - minus the food guilt!

Skinny spelt flower power cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of organic spelt flour
• 4 teaspoons of baking powder
• 4 tablespoons of rice milk
• 1 tablespoon of good-quality vanilla extract + 1 teaspoon
• 1 teaspoon of coconut essence + 1/2 teaspoon
• 4 tablespoons of light olive oil
• 2 whole eggs and 1 egg white
• 3 tablespoons of Natvia 
• 3/4 cup of pure icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of hot water
• pink and white marshmallows
• sprinkles
• Smarties

Method:

1. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
2. In a seperate small bowl, mix together oil, vanilla, coconut essence and rice milk.
3. With an electric mixer, beat the eggs together until fluffy (3 minutes should suffice).
4. Add the sugar to the eggs and continue to mix for 5 minutes until frothy.
5. Pour half the flour mix into the egg mixtures and lightly fold flour in.
6. Add the rice and oil mixture and fold this in carefully.
7. Add the remainder of the flour and lightly mix in until ingredients are combined.
8. Divide the mixture between lined muffin tins (I made small cupcakes, which equated to 16 cupcakes).
9. Bake in a moderate oven for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown and slightly risen.
10. Transfer to a wire rack.

To make flowers:

• Using a sharp knife, cut each marshmallow into four pieces lengthways.
• Dip each piece carefully in sprinkles and arrange into petals. Add a Smartie into the centre of the flower. 
• Repeat until you have made enough for each cake.
• When putting these flowers on the cupcakes (after icing is on), carefully transfer onto the cake and lightly press Smartie into the cake to secure flower.

To make icing:

• Sift icing sugar into a small bowl, add water, vanilla and coconut essence.
• Mix together with a spoon until all is combined.
• It should be of a consistency that is thin enough to drizzle on the cakes but thick enough to stay on the cakes. Play around with this consistency to what suits you. If too thick, add a drop of water at a time until you have reached desired consistency. If too thin, sift in a tablespoon at a time of icing sugar until you have created the right icing mix. 

Fancy ice cubes

Berry Ice Cubes

This is an easy way to fancy up any drink.

Ingredients (hardly complex!):

* mixed berries
* filtered water

Fill up an ice cube tray with water
Drop a berry into each compartment in the tray
Freeze and add berry cubes to water, lemonade or punch.

Try a myriad of fruits, including grapes, chunks of kiwi fruit or passionfruit ice cubes (omit the water for these).

I also like rose petals or baby rose blooms frozen in cubes. I found baby rose blooms at a speciality store near my house, I will take a picture and add it to this post on the weekend. If you buy rose petal to use, make sure they are organic as they won't have pesticide spray on them.

Rosetini

Roses and vodka combined? Well I think that certainly equates to the ultimate feminine cocktail.


Rose Martini

Ingredients:

* Ice
* 3 ounces vodka
* 1 ounce rose syrup
* Dash of Angostura bitters
* Organic rose petals

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the vodka, rose syrup and bitters and shake well. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with rose petals.

Pink rice krispy treats

Sweet, sticky and party friendly, these marshmallow krispy treats are a true skinny treat. Whilst high in sugar, the treat is low in fat and satisfies your sweet cravings. Just stick to the one treat only rule!



6 cups of rice bubbles

1 packet of marshmallows in pink and white

2 tablespoons of low-fat margarine

I small block of milk chocolate



Melt the marshmallows and margarine is a bowl using the microwave; this won't take long. Mix in rice bubbles until all combined. Press mixture into a greased baking tin and refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into squares using an oiled knife or cut out shapes using oiled cookie cutters. Decorate with melted chocolate drizzles, pearly drops or sprinkles.

coloured birthday cake candles

Do you love these coloured candles?! I found them for my birthday cake last year and they looked so fun on my heart-shaped vanilla cake. Yummy!

pavlova - the perfect skinny sweet

Use low-fat yoghurt instead of cream and top with fresh rasberries and grated dark chocolate.

Engagement Cakes

Rasberry cake with buttercream icing and white chocolate

Ok so no, this is not a skinny cake, but I think for special occasions, it is okay to indulge in some buttery icing! This beautiful cake was from Jocelyn's Provisions in Brisbane. It tasted as gorgeous as it looks.... I still have a piece in my freezer :) I think it looks particularly nice with the pink roses on top.

Bethenny's Margarita

Cocktails can be packed with calories and once you have downed a couple, you have consumed the equivalent of one whole meal. That is why it is a good idea to look for low-calorie options to cut down on the sugar content of your drink.



Try Bethenny's Skinnygirl Margarita



What you'll need:





* 2 oz of Clear Premium Tequila (count 1, 2 while you pour, no need for measuring)



* Tiny splash of Orange Liquor



* Juice of four Fresh Lime Wedges



* A splash of Grand Marnier or BOLS Triple Sec





Combine all ingredients over a glass of ice and garnish with a lime wedge.



Makes one serving.