Elephant Pancakes anyone???

I thought I would share with you one of the more interesting name places we ate at during our Melb/Tasmanian holiday! This place was called "Mount Elephant Pancakes" (see http://www.mount-elephant-pancakes.com.au/ for more details) - and the restaurant is in this old cottage.

The name of this place is very catchy and makes it sound like you went to a really weird/different place! I was thinking if only they had real elephants in their gardens, now how cool would that be!!! But I checked - no elephants in sight at all!!!

We actually ate pancakes that were more like crepes! Very yummy and fairly big portions. It was a very nice holiday feel to it, as the cottage was surrounded by greenery.



This was their mixed berry (strawberry + raspberry) and banana pancake, with cream and ice cream on the side.


This was their chocolate and banana pancake - this is one of the best combinations when baking cakes or muffins - yummo!



A very homely feel to it - a very comfortable place to have breakfast at! We went to the original one - which was on the east coast of Tasmania - they have another branch in the city of Launceston.


By the time we left the place about 10.30/11am, many more cars were pulling up into the carpark and the place started getting packed out! Visit this place if you're in the area next time! *wink*

The Cupcake Craze has started.....

Yes it has started! I was determined to start this, after studying, analysing and reading and flipping my cupcake book that I received for Christmas! So many lovely cupcakes, so many yummy toppings, so which should I choose?!

Sitting on my kitchen top right now are 12 "Blueberry, Almond and Yoghurt Cupcakes" - but the title of it was "No fuss" cupcakes - which is so true. No mixer needed, just mix. I always have my doubts when recipes seem too easy - I doubt its result. It's cooling in my very cute, pastel coloured cupcake cases at the moment. I went crazy and bought so many cupcake cases - I couldnt decide which ones, so I bought them all, and since it is hard to get hold of pretty cases, I figured it was a "long term investment" :P

These cases are Robert Gordon cases that I bought from "Let's Cook" in Melbourne, the equivalent of the "House" cooking shop in Perth.

I got home at about 10.30pm and started in the kitchen, and it was in the oven by about 11pm. And I used minimal equipment - so it really is "no fuss". Original recipe asked for Raspberry but I used Blueberry instead - raspberries are often too sour!

I'm going to have a quick taste now, so I can let you know what it tastes like!!! :)


Verdict: YUM!!! Super moist and I love the delicate, subtle grainy texture of the almond meal in the mixture. Each cupcake was bursting with blueberries as well, and the yoghurt enhanced it's smooth and moist texture. I am starting to believe in these "no fuss" recipes!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy & Blessed New Year to you!!! :) Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, feasting and enjoying great family moments and also a great New Year's - with new resolutions or perhaps rolled over resolutions! :)

I was away in Melbourne and Tasmania over the Christmas Break - so didnt get a chance to do a full Christmas Feast but we did have a small one in our serviced apartment which was nice! I love the Christmas period - it's such a happy period and I have to say, I LOVE the decorations, the hundreds of cooking and baking Christmas ideas! I need two christmases in a year!!! I felt Christmas came WAY too fast this year - I still want to do a full roast, pudding and everything!

Anyway, a group of us organised a very nice, civilised and proper Christmas dinner (big thanks to the host and everyone who was there! It was so nice!) - and I brought dessert. After thinking literally for probably a couple of weeks at least, I decided on a Christmas Truffle bouquet. This was inspired by Su Yin from "The Journal of a Girl who loves to cook" - check out her fantastic blog at http://www.cookingismypassion.blogspot.com/.



After lots of curling of ribbon, twirling of chocolate, rolling of truffle balls, drizzling of chocolate to make designs, rolling in crushed hazelnut... this was the result...!!!



To my surprise, if you actually google truffles, there are lots of recipes out there but basically this one was biscuits of your choice + cream cheese - and basically blend. Su actually demonstrates it very well in her blog, so do check it out there! I made the following flavours:

• Mint Slice
• Double chocolate Tim Tam with a hint of Rum
  
• Hazelnut biscuits with a whole hazelnut in the truffle

I had so much fun doing this eatible bouquet arrangement!!! Thanks so much to Adrian who helped me out lots with this! My friends loved it, which made it all worth it!!! :)

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and may your year be extra special and blessed!!! :)

Stay tuned for more yummy photos - I am SO inspired to bake and cook and decorate even more this year!!! :)