MAC Marilyn Monroe Collection

If you love the iconic bombshell Marilyn Monroe head over to MAC Cosmetics to get your hands on their new Marilyn Monroe inspired collection.  Be quick though as it's just been released and is already selling out fast!

In the meantime, here's a fantastic vid on how to apply your new Marilyn Monroe inspired makeup.

Recipe to Riches Australia

Channel Ten are currently accepting applications for a new TV reality show called "Recipe to Riches" which is scheduled to be aired sometime next year...

..."you don't need to be a gourmet cook with a broad range of skills, we simply want your ONE best dish.  Your best of the best.

It's time to share your cherished home cooked creation with Australia and put yourself on a path from Recipe to Riches.  Bring us your pies, your cakes, your spaghetti bolognese, your secret marinade, your casserole, your pav, your exotic dessert, your chocolate bar or your 'need one more' party snack, in fact bring us any single recipe you are most proud of, so long as it's delicious and original.

In return, you'll have the chance of turning your unique recipe into riches.  We will tease, taste and test your recipe and ultimately put it onto the supermarket shelves of Australia for others to enjoy.  You get a chance to win $200,000 and the joy of sharing your recipe with Australian families as it goes on sale around the country..."

Don't know about you but I've got quite a few secrets up my sleeve and will be very, very busy over the next couple of weeks.  So, come on Canberran's put your thinking caps on and get cooking as applications close on 2 September 2012.

To find out more follow this link.

Neon Chartreuse Macarons with Violet Bubblegum Ganache

 I love the gorgeous florals and neon fashion hitting the stores at the moment and decided to inject some into my latest macarons. WANT - a long sleeve chartreuse shirt!  NEED - pastel floral jeans.  Violets are blue - what about you?

To make these macarons follow the basic recipe and colour them lime green. To make the violet bubblegum ganache follow Zumbo's bubblegum ganache recipe but replace the strawberry puree with pouring cream (minimum 35% fat), use 6 pieces of Hubba Bubba instead of four or use some bubblegum tape; and add a couple of drops of violet essence.  All other ingredients remain the same.  No need to make the pop rock insert for this one. 

CUE Clothing Co. Summer 2012-13 Campaign Inspired Macaron

It's been quite some time since I wrote my last post but to all the wonderful people that visit and read my blog I thank you as I have now had over 100,000 page views! 

To celebrate this milestone but also thank CUE Clothing Co. for their generosity of sending me a gift card and "You & Cue" book because I was their 20,000th FB fan I have created an edible jewel (macaron) inspired by sneak peaks of their Summer 2012-13 campaign featuring supermodel Catherine McNeil.  The macaron jewel is coloured crimson which is more pronounced on the inside when bitten into and draped in gold metallic lustre dust.  It is filled with a white chocolate ganache and flavoured with floral notes of geranium and ylang ylang.  Here are some snippets of how these delicate edible jewels were made....

Perfect for a CUE high tea!

To find out more about Cue visit http://www.cue.cc/ 

Fash n Treasure - Autumn Trends - 5 May 2012 at Old Bus Depot Markets, Kingston Canberra

3 Macaron Flavours in One Day - Violet, Salted Caramel & Hubba Bubba Bubblegum

Tomorrow I'm driving down the coast with my 2 gorgeous girls to stay with my mum & dad  and visit our cousins for a week.  My mum often sees pictures of macarons on my blog but doesn't always get to taste them so I've been busy all day mixing, piping and baking 3 of our favourites and now have a huge container to give her.  

After my very cheeky entry in Mactweets whereby I made a Donna Hay packet mix, I also felt extremely guilty that I didn't go to a lot of effort so here we go guys I hope this makes up for it!  I still think macarons made from scratch rule compared to a packet mix and there's something satisfying about making everything yourself even though it takes forever!

I'll keep this post short as I should be in bed getting my beauty sleep but I ended up making Salted Caramel (again), Violet and Hubba Bubba Bubblegum.  Salted Caramel and Violet to go with some bubbly for the adults and bubblegum and soft drinks for the kids.  Looking forward to some Brown Brothers Cienna Rosso and Zibibbo Rosa!

unfilled shells

a bit of gold bling on the salted caramel

I think my ruffles need a bit of practice

Hubba Bubba Bubblegum

UPDATE: To make these macarons follow my basic recipe and colour them pink, purple or caramel depending on what flavour you decide to make.  

You can find the recipe for Salted Caramel Filling here and for the Violet Ganache here. To make the bubblegum ganache follow Zumbo's bubblegum ganache recipe but replace the strawberry puree with pouring cream (minimum 35% fat) and use 6 pieces of Hubba Bubba instead of four.  All other ingredients remain the same.  No need to make the pop rock insert for this one.  

BTW, thanks to everyone that left comments and apologies for my belated response.  

Donna Hay Almond Macaron with Chocolate Filling

I was walking through the aisles in the supermarket the other day and something that I hadn't noticed before in the baking section caught my eye - Donna Hay's Macaron Mix. Now, I'm not normally one for packet mixes but since it was the last one left on the shelf I thought that it  must be pretty good so into my trolley it went.  I know that some bakeries also use powdered macaron mixes so a bit like Alice I was somewhat curious and curiouser to see what all the fuss was about. Could I make magnificent macarons or would they be a total disaster?  Not content with following the instructions I took the chance to add my own little twist and I was prepared for failure. I followed most of Donna's instructions on the box but added 1 tablespoon of freeze dried raspberries to the almond mix and a squirt of rose pink food colouring to the egg mix.  I also added a bit of pink bling to the shells before placing them in the oven.  To the ganache, I added 1 teaspoon of Demerara sugar and squirted in a couple of drops of rose essence.  This could go really pear shaped I thought but here's what happened.

Donna's magic mixes

Preparing the egg mix

All whipped up 

Waving my magic wand 

I just can't resist and have to pipe these little darlings - I can't plop them on with a teaspoon despite the box telling me so

Pretty little feet dancing in the oven

Preparing the ganache

Pink Raspberry & Rose Macarons - can you believe these are from a packet mix?

You've been a very bad, bad girl ladymacaron!  Instead of going to all the trouble to make macarons from scratch you've cheated for this Mactweets entry and made a packet mix!  And, if that wasn't bad enough it took you half the time to make up a normal batch - shame on you!  Well, girls I've decided that if you've got friends coming over at the last minute and you desperately want macarons then you need one of these little boxes hidden inside your cupboard.  You can whip up some gorgeous macarons at a whim and still look like the beauty queen that you are.  Next time however,  I'd cook the macarons at a lower temperature 135 to 140 degrees Celsius (fan-forced) for approx. 17 - 19 minutes and use a white chocolate ganache as I find the dark chocolate in macarons a bit too rich.  This packet mix has the thumbs up from me...  sorry for cheating, I promise I'll make macarons from scratch next time!

Pavlova

To me an Australian Christmas is about prawns, mango, cherries, berries and pavlova.  Yesterday, we headed off to the markets and bought some amazing ron cherries, a tray of calypso mangoes and the rest of our supplies ready for our big day.

Admittedly, I made our pavlova last night and left it in the oven until I was ready to whip the cream and decorate it. 

Here's what it looked like before I put it in the oven

And, here it is decorated with lashings of cream and raspberries 

PAVLOVA
Ingredients 
6 large egg whites (preferably from a 700g carton)

1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

375 ml pouring cream, whipped

400g raspberries

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

Measure out all ingredients.

Using the whisk attachment, whip the egg-whites in a kitchen aid mixer on high until stiff peaks form.  Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time whisking well in between to dissolve the sugar.  Once sugar is added whisk for a further 6 minutes.

Add the vinegar and whisk for another 2 minutes until glossy  and combined.

Place a sheet of parchment paper over a baking tray and using a spatula create a shape similar to the first photo above. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 120 degrees Celsius and bake the pavlova for 90 minutes.  Turn the oven off and allow to cool completely in the oven.  If making the pavlova the night before it's ok to leave it in the oven until you're ready to decorate it.  Decorate with lashings of whipped cream and raspberries.  

Hattie and Blythe Make Awesome Retro Sweets

I love lollies!  In fact, I love all sorts of lollies.  More importantly however, I love old fashioned lollies and when I lived in the UK I even got used to calling them sweets. This year instead of buying a ready made hamper my two gorgeous girls and I decided to make up our own and I reckon it has to be the best one yet!


This is what we have lollies. Lots of lollies. But oops.... these are really special ones and I should be corrected and call them sweets as they are the old fashioned kind from the UK.  Our new favourite sweets are from Hattie and Blythe  and oh my goodness are we looking forward to Christmas day or what! 


We have got the most enormous tub of Stellar Starr... Defenders of the Taste Planet Retro confectionery that include every fizzy sweet you could imagine.  There are flying saucers, Fizz Wiz, Swizels Fizzers, Sherbert Lemons, Gobstoppers, Black Jacks, Fruit Salad, Shrimp and Rainbow Drops.  Hidden inside the tub is also a little green plastic whistle.  The type of whistle that the kids will get hold of and blow all day just to drive me mad.  And, that's ok because I probably did that too.


Here's what they look like....

Planet Retro  

We also have space lassoos...

Space Lassoos

And, an enormous candy cane...

 And, gobstoppers...

Mmmmm, these will come in very handy indeed when there's too much whistling!


Anyway, so much for me thinking that we were going to open these on Christmas day, the kids got a tad too excited and we could no longer stand the suspense so we absolutely had to conduct a very serious taste test to determine whether they were up to our very high standards!  But I'm sorry I cannot report any more as our mouths are full and they're just soooooo yummy that we will need to test them again just to make sure.  Hattie and Blythe's website is still under construction but we absolutely can't wait for them to open their online store!   Retrolicious!

Mastering 1920s Style Jelly Making Skills

Inspired by Under Belly Razor and "The Great Gatsby" (2012 film) starring Leonardo Di Caprio, I decided to have another go at making a 1920s style jelly using an Australian brand that has been around for generations "Aeroplane Jelly".  I chose to make a ribbon jelly in red and blue and the flavours were Berry Blue & Bubblegum. No rocket science involved with making this type of jelly, I followed the directions on the box but instead of adding 200ml cold water, I added 100ml and poured the first layer into my porcelain "Carlton" art deco mould.  I then let it set before I poured in the second.  To remove the jelly, I followed the exact same procedure as before but made the water hotter, dipped it in for about 30 seconds (once only) then gently pried the jelly away from the edges and voila, one AWESOME, MAGNIFICENT, SPECTACULAR jewel-like art deco jelly emerged.  It was almost like the vintage mould gave birth to a new generation of jelly in the 21st Century but only with cooler flavours.  It seemed that the jelly was so excited to be freed that it sat there quivering with glee for at least a few seconds. And, I was so proud of my 1920s jelly making skills that I strutted around the house like a very posh waitress doing a balancing act with the plate... I'm proud as punch or should I say JELLY at the moment:)

Salted Vanilla Caramel Macarons

Unfilled Shells

SALTED VANILLA CARAMEL MACARONS 
Ingredients
125g Fresh Pouring Cream (min 35% fat)
175g caster sugar
5g Fleur de Sel (or substitute Maldon sea salt)
175g unsalted butter (chopped into small cubes)
1 vanilla bean (seeds removed)

Step 1. MAKE THE CARAMEL: Melt the sugar over low heat until it caramelises. Heat the cream and vanilla seeds in a separate saucepan until it reaches boiling point then slowly pour it into the melted sugar.  Blend with a whisk and allow the caramel to cool.  When it reaches 45 degrees celsius add the butter and whisk until well combined. Pour into a shallow stainless steel tray, place cling wrap on the top, to prevent a skin from forming, then cool in the fridge. When set, remove from the fridge, bring back to room temperature, sprinkle the salt on top and hand whisk again until the colour changes and it becomes glossy.

Step 2. MAKE THE MACARONS: Follow the basic recipe and make 1 quantity of macarons coloured caramel.

Step 3. FILL YOUR MACARONS

This is also my entry for Mactweets.  Salted Caramel Macarons are a favourite in our household and I think I would have been in lots of trouble had I not made them during the holidays so here they are with a vanilla twist.  The colour reminds me of autumn but the saltiness reminds me of an Australian summer at the beach! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all at Mactweets.

Crystallized Rose Petals

Organic Roses from my garden

Preparing the sugar syrup 

Place the sugar syrup into a bowl of ice to cool

Delicate rose petals dipped in sugar syrup then rolled in caster sugar

Crystallized Rose Petals
1 cup organic rose petals
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1-2 drops of rose pink food coloring
A few drops of rosewater
Caster sugar for dusting

Wash the rose petals and dry with a paper towel.
Trim the base of the rose petal to remove the bitter part.
Place sugar, water, rosewater and food colouring into a saucepan and heat until it reaches 112 degrees Celsius.  
Remove from stove and place the saucepan into a bowl of ice.  Allow to cool.
Using tweezers dip each rose petal into the syrup then place on parchment paper.
Roll each petal in caster sugar, allow to dry then store in an airtight container.
Enjoy on top of cupcakes, scones, ice-cream, trifle or a lovely pudding... or simply eat one straight from the container!

Tip: for an extra special touch tint the caster sugar for dusting with 1-2 drops of rose pink food colouring.