It seems like such a long time since I sat at my computer to do some blogging. The good news is that I've been knee deep in work so I just haven't had the time (totally breaking all blogging rules I know). I thought I'd share some of my cooking photos from my first Independence Day which we celebrated here last Thursday. We had a few friends over including my lovely friend Dana who I met at
Blogshop LA and who blogs at
Queen and Crumpets. We had a BBQ and I made some festive cupcakes for the occasion. I also made some coleslaw which I love to make and haven't done so in a while. Recipes below.
What you'll need
1/2 Small white cabbage | finely shredded
1/4 Small red cabbage | finely shredded
2 Medium sized carrots | peeled and grated
1 Lemon
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
5 dessert spoons of mayonnaise
How it's done
Combine all the shredded and grated veg in one large bowl
Using a fine grater, grate the lemon zest into the bowl and combine thoroughly
For the dressing, mix together the mayo, mustard, vinegar and 1 tbsp of lemon juice
Add the dressing to the veg and mix well.
I sometimes add a handful of mixed seeds (sesame, sunflower and pumpkin) or chopped walnuts but this time I kept it super easy and simple.
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| Vanilla Cupcakes |
For the cupcakes I used a good old
Delia Smith recipe for
Vanilla Cupcakes. I have converted the recipe into cups below.
What you'll need
110g | 4oz | 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened at room temperature
110g | 4oz | 1/2 cup caster sugar (I used brown cane sugar)
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
110g | 4oz | 1 cup self-raising flour
1-2 tbsp milk
How it's done
Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cases. I used silver foil ones for the occasion.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until combined into a paste. You shouldn't be able to see any lumps of butter.
Beat in the eggs a little at a time and add the vanilla extract.
Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little milk until the mixture is of dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture in the case until half full.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into one of the cakes comes out clean. Set aside to cool.
I made the first batch this way but felt that the mixture should have been doubled to suit the size of my cake cases. So for the second batch I doubled the mixture but added 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to make these into chocolate cupcakes. These needed a little longer in the oven (approx 20 mins).
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| Chocolate Cupcakes |
For the frosting I used Martha Stewart's
cream cheese frosting.
What you'll need
8oz | 2 sticks | 16 tbsp Unsalted butter at room temp
12oz cream cheese (I used two packets) at room temp
1lb | 4 cups Icing/confectionsers sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
How it's done
Beat butter and cream cheese together until combined and fluffy. I did it by hand but Martha recommends doing it with a mixer.
Add sugar 1 cup at a time and mix well.
Finally add the vanilla and mix until smooth.
For the decoration, I spooned the frosting on top of the cakes once they had cooled ensuring it had a smooth even coating.
For the vanilla cupcakes I topped them with one raspberry in the middle then blueberries around the raspberry.
For the chocolate I topped them with 3 blueberries in the centre with one on top and then raspberries all around the blueberries.
Using the double mixture was the best way to go for bigger cupcakes and although they were a little denser in texture than the vanilla, they still tasted great.
