Skinny Olympic Torch Cupcakes

Celebrate the London Olympics by making these gorgeous Olympic Torch Cupcakes, inspired by Stasy.com. These cupcakes have been modified to be healthier versions of the original recipe but still as pretty. If you have been watching Masterchef lately, you may feel a little more confident than usual to tackle the sugar shards. Confident or not, give this trick a go because the impressive sugar shards make all the difference to create the 'fire' effect and all your friends will deem you uber-talented. Let your creativity run wild!

Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients:

•  175g of self raising flour, sieved
•  80g of light margarine
•  110g of castor sugar
•  2 eggs and 1 egg white, lightly beaten
•  1 tablespoon of lemon juice
•  grated rind of 1 lemon
•  Ice cream cones (for use after cooking)

Method:

Line a muffin tin with small bun cases. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  The old fashioned paper cupcake cases work best as they are small enough to fit in a store bought sugar cone. You can also cook the cake batter directly in the cones, and this will work equally well. However, this does mean you are getting a lot of cake for one cupcake.

Place all the ingredients in an electric mixer and blend until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the bun cases. This mixture will be the right amount for 12/13 small cases.  Place the cupcakes in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until just golden and cooked through. Leave to cool in the tin for about ten minutes, then remove and place on a wire rack.

Sugar Shards

*Note you will need a candy thermometer to make this correctly.

• 2 dessert spoons of vodka - I used gold flaked vodka for a special gold touch to the shards
• A few drops of red food colouring
• A few drops of orange food colouring
• A few drops of black food colouring, less than the red and orange
• 125ml of water
• 150g of granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons of golden syrup / corn syrup

Begin by crumpling up a large sheet of parchment paper. Then smooth out the parchment paper and place it on a large baking sheet. Drop the vodka in random spots on the parchment paper.  I applied the colouring using the back of a spoon. You could also use a silicone brush. I placed the colour in lines on the parchment paper i.e. a line of red, a line of orange. I applied the black with a toothpick as I didn’t want there to be too much black.

Heat the sugar, water and golden syrup over a medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has melted, turn the heat up and cook on a high heat. Continue to cook the sugar without stirring until it reaches 155 degrees Celsius. Use a candy thermometer to check the temperature is correct.  Carefully pour the molten sugar syrup onto the prepared parchment paper. Once it is safely on the parchment paper, you can use a toothpick to create swirls between the colours.

Leave to harden for a few hours; try placing in the freezer for an hour before cracking the hardened sugar into shards.

Lemon Butter Icing

• 6 tablespoons of Natvia sweetener
• 100 grams of low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 4 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 2/3 drops of yellow food colouring

Place the softened cream cheese in a large bowl and soften, by mixing with a wooden spoon, or beating with an electric mixer. Once you have softened the butter add the Natvia a little at time and beat well between each addition. As soon as you have combined the butter and the sweetener, add the lemon juice and colouring and beat well.

Assembly: 

When the cupcakes have fully cooled, carefully take the paper case from the bun, and place the buns firmly into ice cream cones. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a medoum sized nozzle. Pipe the icing on top of the buns.  Carefully place three sugar shards into the centre of the bun and serve.

Happy Birthday Clueless

The defining moment in my young teenage life was watching Clueless on video for the first time. Suddenly my future was clear, I needed to be exactly like Cher. An obsessive desire for a mobile phone, knee high socks and Jeep Wrangler ensued. I wrote with fluffy pens, used 'whatever!' and 'as if!' in my daily vernacular and played "I wanna be a supermodel" on rotation. I can now say with some confidence I am past my Clueless obsession, but I still have the movie poster framed in my apartment. There is just some things you can't let go... To celebrate the movie's birthday, let's look at some of the best lines from the cult film.

Cher: Miss Stoeger, I would just like to say that physical education in this school is a disgrace. I mean, standing in line for forty minutes is hardly aerobically effective. I doubt I've worked off the calories in a stick of Carefree gum. 

Mel: Do you know what time it is?
Cher: A watch doesn't really go with this outfit, daddy. 

Cher: I feel like such a heifer. I had two bowls of Special K, 3 pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, 5 peanut butter M&M's and like 3 pieces of licorice. 

Amber: Ms. Stoeger, my plastic surgeon doesn't want me doing any activity where balls fly at my nose.
Dionne: Well, there goes your social life. 

Cher: Would you call me selfish?
Dionne: No, not to your face. 

Josh: Hey, James Bond, in America we drive on the right side of the road.
Cher: I am. You try driving in platforms. 

3 easy steps to make candied rose petals

Taken from http://photos.weddingbycolor.com 

Vogue Living has a beautiful blog and spending a quiet Friday evening traipsing their site, I found this gorgeous post on how to make candied rose petals. 

As a tribute to one of America's best-known restaurants Chez Panisse on its 40th birthday, David Prior showed how to make candied rose petals, which adorns many of the restaurants beautiful desserts.

How to make candied rose petals:

1. To produce candied rose petals gently pluck the individual petals from unsprayed roses. 

2. With a soft-bristle paintbrush, carefully paint with egg whites.

3. Cover in fine organic sugar. Leave candied petals to dry on a rack.


Serve them the Panisse way, atop a Rose Geranium Pavlova.

This recipe appeared as part of ‘Organic Uprising’, a story by David Prior on pages 63 to 69 of Vogue Living Sept/Oct 2011.

Oktoberfest German apple cake recipe

My husband and me in German attire

I went to Oktoberfest with my friends, and whilst I am sure it wasn't as exciting as attending the festival in it's original birth place, we had a great time. I took home this sweet momento - although I heard from a reliable source that it tastes rather like cardboard. Click here for my low-fat gingerbread cookie recipe to make your own cookies for the season. Although, I do like this one for decoration :)

To celebrate the German holiday, here is a recipe for a delicious traditional German apple cake.










German Apple Cake - taken from All Recipes

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups apples - peeled, cored and diced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch cake pan.
2. In a mixing bowl; beat oil and eggs with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat well.
3. Combine the flour salt, baking soda, and ground cinnamon together in a bowl. Slowly add this mixture to the egg mixture and mix until combined. The batter will be very thick. Fold in the apples by hand using a wooden spoon. Spread batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until cake tests done. Let cake cool on a wire rack. Once cake is cool serve with a dusting of confectioners' sugar.

            

Marie Antoinette party themes