Things we do

This morning I woke up, glanced out my window, admired a glistening ocean and started smearing on the sunscreen. Ray and I rushed to the beach only to realise that thick clouds were gathering, a strong wind was blowing, and that it was definitely not beach weather! We were on the beach for a grand total of two minutes before we headed home. So this is us, our bags still packed and towels ready for the perfect beach day. 

Days are swiftly passing until my beautiful best friend gets married. This last sunny Friday I joined her for her makeup trial in Kalk-Bay and on the way home picked up a takeaway coffee from Tribeca for Ray. 

When we first started going out every week Ray would buy me treats from one of the bakeries in Kalk-Bay - brownies and hazelnut-chocolate-dipped-meringues from Olympia, cupcakes from Tribeca, scoops of ice-cream from the Italian ice cafe in crunchy sugar cones... so to get him a little coffee every now and then (especially when he still constantly buys me my favourite chocolate - said while she eats it right now!) is the very least way I can do to say thank-you :)

Something else Ray and I love to do is make pizzas - usually when we are really hungry and nothing in the fridge or cupboard tempts us - it is quick, easy and really fun! (Although the pizza dough sticks to your fingers like superglue no matter how much four you sprinkle on your hands - which is not so awesome). The kitchen is warm and smells like yeast, it helps make the wait worthwhile, while the dough rises and the pizza bakes in the oven, the cheese melting and crust becomes golden. Yum! 

The BEST chocolate cupcakes EVER!

Seriously though. These are honestly the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever eaten!! This recipe was given to me by my beautiful Sea Gypsy friend, and every single time I devour one, or two, or seven of them, I think of her (love you!) They are so good that I am actually reluctant to share them with you because I so jealously love them!  

What you need:

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cups cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of bicarbonate soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Frosting:

• 125g softened butter
• 2 1/2 cups sieved icing sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 
• 2/3 cup cocoa

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. 
2. Sieve and combine all the dry ingredients.
3. Whisk the wet ingredients together and add to the dry mixture, folding together gently.
4. Add 1 cup of boiling water (this is the ultimate secret!) The batter should be a rich dark and glossy colour and very runny. This makes the cupcakes wonderfully moist. 
5. Bake for about 15 minutes.
6. To make the frosting, just combine the ingredients and mix till smooth. (This icing is SO good, it tastes just like the pilsbury chocolate frosting, and it was basically all I ate all day long today - as well as my sisters and dad, whipping spoons in and out of the bowl!)
7. Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost and fall in love!

Thank-you Sea Gypsy!! 

Lemon poppy seed loaf

This in an old family favourtite. I remember my mother making this for us on sunny Sunday afternoons, using the lemons grown from my grandfather's lemon tree. And my older sister making it for us as we eagerly waited, listening to the rain against the windows, crowded around her in the warm kitchen. Now the kitchen smells fresh and lovely, sticky and sweet, cozy and content, as R lovingly makes it for us to devour... Lemon poppy seed loaf. And we never need a reason to make this delicious treat :)

What you need:

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of sifted white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup of milk
• The rind of 2 lemons
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup of poppy seeds

Lemon pour:

• At least 1/2 cup of lemon juice (or 2-4 fresh lemons squeezed)
• And 1/2 - 1 cup of white sugar
• Mix together and allow to dissolve (you can add the sugar slowly as you stir, but it is perfectly alright if the sugar doesn't fully dissolve - ours doesn't!)

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 160-180 C (or 325-350 F). 
2. In a large bowl mix the melted butter and sugar together.
3. Beat the eggs into the butter/sugar mixture.
4. Add the sifter flour, baking powder and salt slowly, adding the milk in between and the essence in finally.
5. Add the grated lemon rind and poppy seeds, and beat the mixture just enough to blend.
6. Pour the batter into a grease dish (loaf tin, glass dish, cake ring, muffin tray) and bake for 45-55 minutes. 
7. Cool for 10 minutes.
8. Pour the lemon/sugar syrup over the baked loaf (we usually poke little holes everywhere with a toothpick to help the syrup to soak in) and allow it to soak into the cake (anything from 10-30 minutes).
9. Ideally you should store, foil wrapped, for 1 day before slicing and serving - to enjoy the full flavours, but if you are anything like me, we still eat it while it is warm (although I will admit that having a slice in the morning with a cup of tea is pure magic too!)
10. Last quick tip: we love to mix a little lemon juice with some icing sugar and drizzle it across the loaf - yummy!

Happy baking :)

Chocolate brownies!

Is there anything more lovely on a freezing cold winter's day than eating chocolate brownies hot out of the oven? And so here is a moist, fudgy, and one of our favourite (and easy), chocolate brownie recipes:

What you need:

• 180g butter 
• 150g dark chocolate (about 2 slabs/bars)
• 1 3/4 cups of caster sugar (sticky brown or normal white sugar are also fine)
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten 
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 1tsp caramel essence (if desired)
• 3/4 cup of cake flour
• 2Tbsp self-raising flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 100g of your favourite sweet treat (see below)
• 1/3 cup of yumminess (see below)

What to do:

For me the fun has always been in the making: see it as a time to relax, no distractions, just you quietly leaving all worries outside of the kitchen door, adorable in your apron, creative genius if just for a few minutes... let yourself experiment, it is not about creating the "perfect" baked good but about trying new things, laughing, licking that chocolate drenched spoon and feeling yourself de-stress :)

1. Preheat the oven to 160C (or 325F) and grease a medium-sized baking tray. (Once I made these in a smallish tray where the mixture overflowed in the oven while baking causing the most horrible mess. I remember scraping burnt brownies for quite a while...)
2. Melt the butter (fact: butter makes everything better!) and dark chocolate until smooth. The "proper" way is to place them in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water... but the microwave works just as well (for time pressed - not lazy - bakers).
3. Add in the sugar, beaten eggs, essences, sifted flour (let's be honest - who actually sifts their flour - unless they need to impress someone special right?) and cocoa (which really should be sifted to avoid clumps) to the butter/chocolate mixture. 
4. The "awesome" part of adding in your favourite sweet treat: I usually just add in another slab of chocolate chopped up, but this is where you can make the brownies your own - white chocolate chips, raspberries, cherries, chopped nuts like hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, your favourite chocolate bar all diced up like bar one, nougat, rolo, reeses peanutbutter cups, new york peppermint patties, fudge pieces, crushed meringues, honeycomb, a dollop of creamcheese or sourcream, whatever your heart desires! (I have a rule that the "baker" is allowed to eat as much of their treat while they are adding it to the mixture - but beware of hungry family members!)  
5. Pour your delicious mixture into into the prepared tray. This is where the "yumminess" comes in: take little spoonfuls of peanutbutter, nutella or caramel treat (use your baking inspiration) place them into the mixture and swirl through with a knife. 
6. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes (I promise that it is worth the wait - said by the most impatient chocoholic in the world!) or a little bit longer for a lighter, cake-like brownie. Tip: sometimes I find my brownies getting crisp on the edges but still gooey in the middle, I then turn down the heat (or turn off the oven) and leave them in there for about 10-15 minutes until firm.
7. Final, and BEST, step is to EAT your brownies while still wonderfully warm (or like my family which demolishes them within minutes) and preferably with ice-cream. Enjoy :)

One last baking idea:

Sometimes we truly just need to eat the most decadent imaginable baked creation possible - layered brownies: the bottom layer is chocolate chip cookie dough, the middle layer is double stuffed oreo cookies topped with your favourite treat (caramel, chocolate, marshmallows), and the top layer is brownie mixture. Repeat layers as your "need" demands,  bake and serve with, of course, ice-cream!