Entries Tagged 'Cake' ↓

Sad to say its the last day of holiday for me today, but its true.  So to celebrate, or grieve, I baked cappuccino muffins for breakfast.  I used the ready mixed type because I was too lazy to make my own.

Here’s what the packet looks like…

And here’s the end product…

The first batch turned out a bit darker, the packet instructs the baking time as 20minutes which seemed a little too long judging by the colour & texture.  I took the second batch out after 12minutes, when they were cooked through.  Not sure if it has something to do with my oven, but the 12minute batch was tastier.

For a quick treat, this is ideal!   If you like cappuccino flavour, you should definitely give this a try!

Since I was little I wished that I could have a pool party for my birthday. Since its in the middle of winter, it’s a bit unpractical, and over the years I’ve learned to accept that I’d never have a summer party unless I moved to the Northern hemisphere (Which I did for a year and LOVED). This year the weather in the Southern hemisphere was no exception when my birthday dawned, and Mother Nature dished up the coldest day of this winter so far. The max temperature was about 15 degrees Celsius, accompanied by wind and rain. Good for me I didn’t even go outside on my birthday, and just stuck around the warmth of my heated home. There are still a lot of fun things that you can do in winter, I keep telling myself. Like staying indoors, snuggling up with a blanket, some hot chocolate and a good book. However, on my birthday, I decided to cook & bake since I had some guests over in the evening.
I bought a cake mix because I didn’t want to spend my whole day in the kitchen. My big mistake however, was when I decided on baking cupcakes instead of the usual cake. Cupcakes are really fantastic! Most reason people tend to like them more? I’ve witnessed this weird phenomenon a couple of times. With my husband’s birthday I used the same cake mix, and baked cupcakes until I ran out of time, and then used the left over batter to bake a cake. At the birthday party the cupcakes were finished before anyone had even touched the cake, and people were rather reluctant to try the cake.
The problem with cupcakes is that they take you about ten times longer to bake. I only have ONE muffin tray, and ONE oven rack… And since the batter made SEVENTY cupcakes I had to go through the baking process six times, where a cake would’ve been done in one round. Now I’m not sure I’ll be baking cupcakes anytime soon – regardless of whether my guests prefer them. I suddenly have much more respect for people who buy cupcakes instead.
Anyway, what I was actually getting at. The reason why I stayed indoors on my birthday wasn’t merely the weather. I picked up a bad case of flu somewhere between Pick ‘n Pay and home, and I’ve been battling to get rid of it. At first I thought I could manage to scare it away with some Vitamin C and pain killers, but when my voice started sounding like that of a goose, I decided to give up and visit the doctor.
I got a whole paper bag full of medicine, which – wonder above wonder – seems to be working. I got antibiotics, which I usually HATE, because even though they relieve the problem at hand, they seem to break another hundred things. My voice is still not 100%… I try to sing along to songs on the radio, and I sound like a bad mix between Bonnie Tyler and Jimmy Hendrix. Good news is that my throat is not as sore anymore, and I don’t cough too much anymore. Also, I’ve been shunned to a life indoors, and I’m not even allowed to stick my head out the door after four in the afternoon (which is probably not a bad thing, since that’s when the icy cold settles over Pretoria).
For now, I am resting since the doc booked me off till tomorrow, plus my meds make me extremely drowsy. I’m sipping my hot chocolate while sitting in bed, and enjoying the warmth of my bean bag by my feet… Reading when I’m not sleeping, and sometimes finding myself drooling on my magazines from pure exhaustion

I found such a cool recipe for rainbow cake on Omnomicon, and just had to post about it. It seems pretty easy to make. Two boxes of vanilla cake mix, some gel food colouring, jelly (American Jello), and Sprite Zero (instead of eggs, oil and water apparently!)
However, for those of you who do not use the same cake mix, and like me, are scared that the Sprite Zero might mess up the recipe, you can follow the instructions of the cake mix packet. Depending on the number of gel colours you have, divide the batter into equal parts.

 

Drop the colours, one by one, into the middle of the pan, in neat concentric-ish gobs. Remember the cake is going to be sliced in the side there, so mixing it around on top isn’t going to make your slices any more psychedelic (trust me, I did the three-dimensional thinking for you already).

When you’re three colours in, start doing the reverse with the other pan. Since I’m going in rainbow order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, I got from red to yellow in the first pan, then purple, blue, green in the second. This is so that your two pans are equal if your measurements aren’t exact (and they’re not likely to be).

Tips From Aleta

For the frosting recipe, see Omnomicon or buy ready to use frosting – I LOVED the Devil’s Food frosting which is available in England – absolutely delicious, but I’m sure traditional frosting will be just as tasty.

Its Friday, and ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!! Cool eh? . Friday birthdays are extra nice, but limited. I had a Friday-Birthday in 1984, 1990, 2001, today in 2007, and the next one will be in 2012. What is your favourite day to have your birthday on?

My day has been good so far though I am at work – I’m looking forward to tonight too – the family is coming over, and I have to still get a few snacks! If I had the time I’d have baked a cake like this one in the picture, isn’t it STUNNING?