A Red Velvet Present

It's been a hectic last couple of weeks - hence the silence from the resident bakeaholic.

I had one of those weeks where nothing I did went right. I attempted to make lemon cupcakes but it turned out to be rockcakes. So, to right the wrong I made a batch of red velvet cupcakes as a present to console myself that the week can't get any worse.

We went to the Food Show today and it was foodie heaven! I thought I'd be there for maybe 2 hours - I ended up spending 5 hours there and it almost cleared my piggy bank out BUT I did get to watch 2 demonstrations which made me really hungry and left with bags of goodies.

Before I forget - Do you like the new look of my blog?! I certainly do and it is all thanks to Myla - the Blog design whiz from Design Me Pretty. She did an awesome job and if I could send her some cupcakes I would!

Caramel Macarons

Caramel Macarons

Macaron Tower

I spent the weekend trying out a couple of different macaron recipes, I never knew macarons originally came from Italy! Did you?

The first method I experimented with was without 'cooking' the sugar and the second experiment I had used an Italian meringue recipe to make the macarons. The first method was easier but the end result was not so aesthetically pleasing and the method where I had used the Italian meringue turned out much nicer.

With the Italian Meringue method, it was a little more fiddly and time consuming but it was well worth the extra effort. The batter was smoother and not as runny so trying to get 'uniform' sized macarons were easier.

I can't wait to sink my teeth into some of these yummy macarons tomorrow when they are ready.

Italian Meringue on your left versus Uncooked Sugar on your right

Christine's Birthday!

We celebrated Christine's birthday today singing songs for a good 3 hours! I pity the souls who may have heard us sing, especially since I still have a horrible voice from the flu.

I haven't baked in 2 weeks!!! Can you believe it?! 2 weeks of no baking because I was sick with the dreaded flu!!

And since we were celebrating Christine's birthday I decided I'd get off my lazy behind and take the effort to bake her a cake.

This cake is a honey & pear cake with honey cream cheese icing.