small kitchen tales

......To enjoy a yummy hot chocolate with the littlies after an exhausting shopping expedition.. It's very easy to make, just add about a handful of good chocolate (pieces or bits) to about a cup of milk, heat it up in a saucepan, then pour into your favourite cup (makes it more special). Pour some whipping cream, about 1/4 of a cup into a bowl with a teaspoon of icing sugar & whisk till it slightly thickens. Then pour over your hot chocolate & sprinkle on some cocoa powder if you like. Yum...:) Head on over to see who else can't wait! ✗Cathie

Giraffe Cupcakes are featured on Tastespotting.com ✗Cathie

We were invited to celebrate a special little boys 1st Birthday and we made him these cute little giraffe cupcakes. The giraffe was made out of white fondant & chocolate fondant and the cupcakes were lemon with a lemon butter icing. I thought I'd add a few pics of how to make them just in case someone needs to make them for their special little birthday boy or girl. Lemon Cupcakes 225g butter 225g caster sugar 225g self-raising flour 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla essence zest of one lemon Lemon Butter Icing 250g butter 1 cup icing sugar zest of one lemon Preheat oven to 175 ℃ Place all cupcake ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth and pale, about 2-3 minutes. Spoon the batter into cases. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove and cool on rack. For butter icing, whisk ingredients until smooth and pale and pipe onto cool cupcakes. For the fondant giraffes, r oll out fondant and cut out shapes. Glue shapes together with a lit...

✗ Cathie

Ok ladies, we promised a recipe and here is one we made today. I have noted the requests sent and will be on each one in the coming weeks. Today we decided on another cookie recipe...a double chocolate chip one. Now as I didn't have white chocolate at home I just used milk chocolate. You can use chocolate chips or broken chocolate bits if you like. First of all, we put on our gorgeous new apron from the lovely Ms Curlypops and then we got started. Double Chocolate Cookies 250g butter, softened 1 cup brown sugar ¾ cup sugar 3 eggs 2 ¼ cup plain flour, sifted ½ cup cocoa powder, sifted 1 tsp baking powder 140g dark chocolate chips or pieces 140g white chocolate chips or pieces ( we used milk chocolate chips this time) Preheat oven to 150 Celsius. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 min or until light and creamy. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder and chocolate and mix well. Roll tablespoons of...

Are my children sabotaging the road outside of our driveway??!! Yesterday I mentioned that they were finishing off the roadworks, yet last night the road start leaking water again so the roadworks are back for another day. Now...are my children behind this? Well, since they are 3 and nearly 2.....I kind of doubt it, but this indeed is like a dream come true for them. Amelie wasn't very impressed yesterday but today seems more excited about it. Aidan wanted to put his earmuffs on as it was very noisy. Good boy, need to protect your little ears :) The nice construction guys even asked if they wanted a photo inside the digger but they were a little shy & scared so declined the kind offer. Ok, I promise no more roadworks stories...I hope :) I think a recipe is called for! Anyone have any cravings they would like me to post a recipe for?

......For the road works to finish in front of our driveway. The road has needed repair since the burst water main incident and today they are finally finishing it. It's been a great day for my almost 2 year old, how many different kinds of trucks can he see in front of his house in one day. Lucky boy!!

Yes it was another one of those fantastic Melbourne days when you wish you were somewhere else having a nice hot cup of tea instead of standing outside in the wind and the potential for rain. Despite the cold and lack of clientele, I had a great day with the other girls, Miss Pepperberry , Curlypops , Finki , Polly Pratt as well as a few visitors. I managed to forget to take a single photo of my stall, just got a pic of the leftovers at home, but have some of the great stalls of the other ladies. I was very happy to meet the lovely Nikki and also Jen aka Jasperboy and to see Nikki & her gorgeous wee one again. Curlypops Finki ...

As you may have read on little Miss Pebberberry's & Curlypops' blog there is a bit of commotion happening in Northcote as part of Northern Exposure 09 . So if you're in the area and want some fantastic craftiness pop by the Uniting Church , 251 High St, the above mentioned girls will be there as well as Finki . And if you get hungry, I will be there with some muffins, bread, cupcakes and of course gingerbread men! Pop by and say hi, the market is on from 10am - 4 pm Saturday the 20th June.

Wouldn't it be good to see the world through a child's eyes :)

Sad but true, I am looking forward to the finale tonight. I know there has been ALOT of Gordon Ramsay hype of late, all pretty bad I guess, but he does make for good viewing and as they say "There is no such thing as bad publicity". Gordon Ramsay happened to go for lunch at Mr m.e's work last week when the Good Food & Wine Show was on and he did not swear or send food back or draw any attention to himself other than the fact that he had a few security on stand by. So, why does he cause this comotion whenever he opens his mouth? Like him or not, he does make for "interesting" viewing. Who else can't wait for Tuesday .

There once were 3 little chickens called Maisy, Lulu and Pepper. They lived with a family who absolutely loved them and they had lots of adventures together. Every morning they waited by the back door for the little children to come and visit them and give them some yummy left overs. In return for this yummy food, Maisy, Lulu and Pepper left the children some beautiful free range eggs which the children loved to eat as they knew that they were presents from their friends the chickens.

Check out Tastespotting to see my featured Carrot Cupcakes...Yay!

We had a cake order to do for tomorrow so I thought I'd make some carrot cupcakes while I was at it...any excuse to bake & take photos I guess. carrot cupcakes 1¼ cups (220g) brown sugar ¾ cup (185ml) vegetable oil 3 eggs 1½ cups (225g) plain (all-purpose) flour 1½ teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking powder) 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground ginger 2½ cups grated carrot (about 5 carrots) ½ cup (60g) chopped walnuts ½ cup (80g) sultanas sour cream frosting 115g butter, softened 250g icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted 50ml sour cream Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Place the sugar and oil in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 2–3 minutes. Add the eggs gradually and beat well. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger over the sugar mixture. Add the carrot, walnuts and sultanas and mix until just combined. Pour into a greased 22cm-round cake tin lined with non-stick bak...

Theme today at Meet Me at Mikes is Sweet. I thought I'd play along as my beautiful children picked these little daisies for me today on our walk. They're a little wilted but sweet nonetheless.

I popped over to Curlypops for my morning read and realised I had won her beautiful brooch in the Sewn Giveaway . Yay me, so It's Tuesday and I can't wait for my gorgeous brooch to adorn my ever staple black wears! Thanks Curlypops .

Ok, so I promised the kids we could bake some cookies today together, so I basically got the simplest and yummiest recipe I could think of and voila, here it is. Now again it's very easy to do, even a 3 yr old can do it , except for the hot bit of course. Oat Biscuits Makes about 28. 1 cup rolled oats 1cup plain flour 2/3 cup sugar ¾ cup desiccated coconut 2 tablespoons golden syrup 125g butter 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 2 tablespoons hot water Preheat the oven to 160C. Mix the oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl. Place the golden syrup and butter in a saucepan over low heat and melt. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter mixture. Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon tablespoons of the mixture onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper and flatten to about 7cm in diameter, leaving s...

Bundoora Market is over for the day and now I need to get back to basics, cleaning our house! I do enjoy the good bits about baking and going to markets, but the never ending dirty baking trays, bowls, utensils and FLOUR everywhere I could live without. We've had a big baking week and I feel like my sink and I have become somewhat of an inseparable pair. Anyway, what am I still doing sitting here blogging when I should be getting back to cleaning. ......My 3 yr old has just asked if we can make little biscuits...."nooooooooooo..... maybe tomorrow sweety :)"

Hard day baking for Saturday's B undoora Farmer's Market . All that "roll, roll, roll" wore the little fella out. . If you're in the area and wanting some fresh produce from local producers stop on by and say hello. Have a great long weekend :)

We love rainy days! Since yesterday was a rainy day, the kids decided to play dressups. Our dressups really only include "girlie" things so Aidan looked very handsome in his sparkly pink skirt and red fluffy slippers.

Ever since printmaking at TAFE I have not really got back to it until....a tutorial came along from Two Cheese Please , to refresh & re-inspire. I had my first attempt last night for a simple, yet cute Cupcake. Looking forward to some more free time tonight to try some more.