Rainbow Cake

Today on Meg's blog, she posted a fabulous picture of the Rainbow Cake she is famous for.

A while ago, I decided to try it out for myself.

It's not too hard. You make two bowls of cake mix, then split each bowl into three so that you get six bowls (one for each colour). The hardest part is fitting them all in the oven!

Then the real fun begins- assembling the cake and frosting it! When I made my cake, I decided to use orange coloured frosting because the birthday girl loved the colour orange. The recipe called for powdered sugar, but as I stood in the cooking needs section of my supermarket, looking at all the sugar products, I could not find 'powdered sugar' for the life of me!

Thank goodness for iPhones. I Googled "substitute for powdered sugar" and found that you could use plain old white sugar that had been pulverised in the blender for a little bit. So that's what I did. Except I don't think I pulverised it for long enough because even though it looked 'powdery', I could still feel the sugar granules on my tongue and it was weird.

Anyway, at this point I had that much orange frosting that there was no way I was going to throw it all out and start again. Plus, I didn't have time because guests were arriving in an hour. So I kept at it.

Amanda recommended freezing the layers in between frosting so the cake wouldn't go slip sliding all over the place. I froze mine for an hour and it was still difficult to frost! Even when I was serving it up, I found I had to keep pushing the layers back into place because they kept sliding off each other.

Maybe my freezer is inadequate.

But the cake looked good regardless. Even if it was pastel-coloured instead of brightly coloured like Meg's and Amanda's.

Toblerone Cheesecake

I first discovered this recipe a few years ago from my friend Elise, who found it on the back of a package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I've been making it ever since- it's one dessert I'm now famous for! It is so delicious I guarantee you, you can't stop at just one piece!

1 cup plain chocolate biscuit crumbs
80g butter, melted
500g block Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
200g Toblerone Milk or Dark Chocolate, melted
1/2 cup thickened cream


Combine biscuit crumbs and butter then press into the base of a lightly greased 20cm springform pan. Chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes until solid.

Beat Philly and sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the melted Toblerone and cream until well combined.

Pour onto the prepared crumb base and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours until set. If you like, you can shave remaining Toblerone and sprinkle on top.

Duffins

I took these donut-muffins to a movie night last week, where they were promptly christened "Duffins". Everyone loved them- what's not to love? A donut mixed with a muffin? Yes please.

Originally from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, these are so yummy.

Ingredients
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
⅔ cups oil
2 whole eggs
1 cup milk
1½ cups sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 sticks butter


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a different bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and shortening. Then add eggs and mix again. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.
Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

In a bowl, melt 2 sticks butter. In a separate bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon.



Dip baked muffins in butter, coating thoroughly, then coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture.



Enjoy! Look at the yumminess!

Choc Chip Brownies

I made this Choc Chip Brownies recipe from Bakerella last week and it was AMAZING!

2 3/4 cups plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. (2 cups) light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 packet milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Bakerella said the brownies came out best if mixed by hand, not electric mixer, so that's what I did!

By hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

Oh my goodness, yum!