I can’t get Rishi Tea in Australia though, so I needed a replacement. Luckily for me, there is an awesome tea shop at my local shopping center called T2 Tea, and right next door to the tea shop is the T2 Tea Teahouse which not only can make you a cup of any of their teas, but also sells a variety of delicious foods. You can get something savory made up for you, but hey, you know me, I’m more interested in the sweets and they have a tantalizing variety of those, including some beautiful cupcakes.

Well, unfortunately, on the day I went there, they didn’t have any of those cupcakes.  I decided on a chocolate chai cake instead.  Pictured above is said cake, a tall glass of iced chocolate tea, and a sample of gundpowder green tea.  All were very delicious.

I’ve been obsessing over T2 Tea for quite a while now and peruse their little tea catalog often.  A couple of my favorites that I have yet to try are Choc Chip Chai and Gorgeous Geisha teas.  Choc Chip Chai is obviously a chai tea but it has chocolate in it as well; I bet this is just decadent!  Gorgeous Geisha is a strawberry flavored green tea and a tea I’d so much like to try.  I have quite a few green tea recipes on this site, and even a strawberry green tea cupcake which is my second favorite cupcake that I’ve made (my first favorite are the pumpkin dulce de leche ones, of course).

The Choc Chip Chai tea got me thinking though a few weeks ago about a chocolate chip chai cupcake.  I was sure this would be a great combination of flavors and was looking forward to try it.

And wow, they are fantastic!  These cupcakes aren’t just flavored with ground chai spices, but actually infused with real chai tea from a T2 Tea Chai T-bag.  These cupcakes pack an immense chai flavor and the chocolate makes a brilliant match.  They tasted surprisingly similar to the chocolate chai cake I ate from T2 Tea’s Teahouse earlier this week.

Note that I would have used their Choc Chip Chai tea in these cupcakes, but I haven’t gotten any of it yet!  Long story on that actually.  If you care to hear it, I’ll try to sum it up.  I gave my mom a T2 Tea wishlist and she ordered from their online shop for my birthday.  I never got it in time for my birthday, so a week later I called T2 Tea (this was yesterday) and found out it actually had been delivered in time for my birthday – but to the wrong address!  This address was just 5 houses down from mine, so I went to ask them about it.  They had given it back to the post office since the package wasn’t in their name.  But I had already called the post office and they didn’t have my tea.  This is where I’m at in the matter right now, just waiting on the post office and T2 Tea to open to call them each again today.  I hope I am able to still get my birthday tea, which will probably include Choc Chip Chai or Gorgeous Geisha!

Back to the cupcakes now… In order to infuse the chai tea in these cupcakes, I brewed the chai T-bag with the amount of milk called for in the recipe, in this case 1/2 cup of whole milk.  This needs to come down to room temperature before using it in the recipe.  I also used a chai T-bag in infuse the ganache frosting by brewing the T-bag in the heavy cream; the ganache (which is made from Green & Black’s 70% chocolate) also has a healthy dose of cinnamon brewed into it.

Please know that you can use any brand of chai tea for these cupcakes, but T2 Tea is highly recommended!  :)

Chai Spice Mixture
Adapted from Dessert First

Ingredients
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamon

Method
Combine the spices together in a small bowl.

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes
Adapted from Dessert First
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chai spice mixture
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/2 cup whole milk
1 chai tea bag
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Method
Place 1/2 cup whole milk in a small saucepan with 1 chai tea bag. Brew, stirring occasionally, until just before it starts to simmer. Remove from heat and let cool completely to room temperature before using in the recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl. Stir in the chai spice mixture.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed until soft and creamy.

Add in egg and egg whites, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition to combine before adding the next.

Add in the flour mixture and chai milk mixture in three alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Beat just to combine each addition before adding the next. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full with batter. Bake in oven for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the cupcakes comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool in tin on a wire rack until cool before decorating.

Whipped Chocolate Cinnamon Ganache
Adapted from Dessert First
Makes just enough to frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
4 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 chai tea bag

Method
Place chocolate into a medium heatproof bowl.

Combine cream, cinnamon and chai tea bag in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Heat just until it comes to a simmer.

Pour cream over chocolate and let sit for a minute before stirring to combine. Stir until chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth.

Pour into a container and chill in refrigerator for an hour or until it is firm.

Place ganache in a stand mixer and whip with whisk attachment until it is light and fluffy. Do not overwhip or it will become dry and crumbly, just like overwhipped cream.

I try to feed my kids healthy foods, but there are those evenings when there’s only time for a frozen pizza, or French fries, or chicken nuggets.  And of course, if I’ve made cupcakes we’ll have those for dessert.  I always feel guilty about it, but if I look over the course of a week or so I realize that they’ve gotten plenty of other healthy lunches and dinners and I don’t feel so bad.  Besides, I’m a firm believer in having a treat every so often!

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, my kids prefer them raw.  If I’ve taken the time to cook any vegetables, they’ll usually always think it’s disgusting.  So you’ll find a lot of chopped cucumber, celery, carrots, apples, etc. in the refrigerator along with various dips such as hummus, or avocado.  Most of the time I remind myself to not waste time cooking the vegetables, but sometimes I’ll find a recipe that just looks too interesting to pass up.

If you live here in Sydney, you may have seen an ad on the TV recently sponsored by Woolworth’s.  In the ad, Annette cooks a special, quick and healthy dish for children called Orange Pasta.  Annette juliennes some carrots and cooks them with diced tomatoes and some onions and serves plates of this Orange Pasta with shredded cheese and parsley.  Apparently, her children don’t realize that the “pasta” is actually julienned carrots.

I thought it would probably be easy for my kids to distinguish between regular pasta and carrots and that they wouldn’t eat this Orange Pasta, but I thought it looked interesting and that I’d give it a try.

The preparation was quick and easy and the cooking time was next to nothing.  The hardest part is chopping the carrots into matchstick pieces, but it’s easy if you’ve got the proper tools, such as a julienne peeler.

Here are my notes from the recipe:  I found that I needed to cook the carrots a bit longer than 1 minute to cook them properly and to soften them just a bit; I used half of a red onion instead of a whole one; I used extra virgin coconut oil instead of olive oil; I used Parmesan cheese instead of cheddar cheese.

My conclusion is that this is an excellent vegetable dish.  I’d like to use it as a side dish sometime, but it would make a great main dish for a child who actually liked it.  My 4-year-old daughter took a couple of bites but decided she didn’t like it at all.  And I just didn’t even bother trying with my 2-year-old son!

Orange Pasta
Adapted from Woolworth’s
Serves 2

Ingredients
3 medium carrots
3 tbs olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
200g can diced Italian tomatoes
1 small clove garlic, chopped
salt and pepper, optional
fresh parsley, chopped to serve
shredded Parmesan cheese to serve

Method
Wash the carrots well, then peel them into long thin strips.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium-high. Add onion and garlic and allow to soften.

Add carrot strips and toss them continually for a minute or until just cooked. Stir in chopped tomatoes and season if desired.

Remove the pan from the heat and serve with a sprinkling of tasty cheese and chopped parsley.

I am very happy now to announce the winner of the $50 Bake It Pretty gift certificate.  I know that she’s going to be very, very happy and I can’t wait to see what she’ll decide to get with it.  So, congratulations…

Amanda!  You have won!  Be sure to let me know what you decide to get from Bake It Pretty!  :)

The Sweetest Kitchen hasn’t always been The Sweetest Kitchen.  I started out blogging about cupcakes in late May of 2008 at Blogspot; my blog was then called The Cupcake Review.  As I started to expand and blog about more than cupcakes I knew that I needed to switch to my own domain.  After much thought, I finally decided on the name The Sweetest Kitchen in late February of 2009, and launched the new domain on March 3.  It’s now been one year and my blogging experience has been such fun.  The Sweetest Kitchen has became more popular than I ever expected it to – I’ve almost reached 500,000 page views!

My most famous post, with at least 30,000 page views so far, was the zombie Halloween cupcake I made for Iron Cupcake: Earth and Cupcake Hero in October 2009.  However, my personal favorite of anything I have ever baked since beginning this blog is the pumpkin dulce de leche cupcake.  Everyone who has made these has raved about them, and I’m so happy about that!

Today I’ve made some cupcakes in celebration of The Sweetest Kitchen’s 1-year anniversary.  They are actually very similar to the pumpkin dulce de leche cupcakes, but instead of the pumpkin cake, I used a chocolate cake and sprinkled the frosting with sea salt.

The great thing about this dulce de leche is that I didn’t have to make it myself.  I bought it at the store, where it was casually sitting next to cans of plain sweetened condensed milk and selling itself under the pseudonym of “Top ‘n’ Fill Caramel” from Nestle.  I found this at Coles but not Woolworth’s (in Australia), for anyone wanting specific details.  And I recommend giving the caramel a good stir with a wire whisk before using to smooth out the lumps.

If you can’t find dulce de leche, find directions for preparing it yourself in my pumpkin dulce de leche cupcake post.

Totally scrumptious!

Okay, now I’ve given you some cupcakes for my anniversary party, now what about that giveaway, you say?  Right, let’s get to it.

Bake It Pretty is one of, if not the, best places to buy your baking supplies from online.  I have made my share of purchases from this lovely store, and Amanda, the owner, is so sweet.  In fact, Bake It Pretty is where I got those zombie hands and spider toppers that made those particular cupcakes of mine so famous!

I knew I wanted to do a Bake It Pretty giveaway for my blog’s anniversary, so here it is – leave a comment on this post to receive a $50 gift certificate for Bake It Pretty!

Earn an extra entry by mentioning this giveaway and a link to this post on Twitter! Leave a comment on this post with the link to your Twitter status that mentions this giveaway.

Earn another extra entry by mentioning this giveaway and a link to this post on your blog! Leave a comment on this post with the link to your blog post that mentions this giveaway.

You have until Sunday, March 7 at 6:59PM to enter. In the meantime, click on over to Bake It Pretty to create your wishlist!  Note, the deadline is Sydney, Australia time, or Pacific Standard Time in the US on March 6, 11:59PM.

Thanks for stopping by over the past year and helping to make The Sweetest Kitchen the great little place that it is!  :)

The giveaway is now over and any comments left after 7PM on March 7, 2010 as recorded on the comment will not be counted.  The winner will be chosen tomorrow so check back then to see if you have won!

I have breastfed my babies exclusively for the first six months of their lives (and weaned at 18 months), and on their six-month birthdays I have given them their first tastes of solid foods. Yesterday, the 24th, was Miles’ six-month birthday and we had a great day.

Miles had mashed bananas as his first food.

Well, he at least tried it. Not much of it got in. But generally the entire experience was a blast for him.

We spent the morning making cupcakes for the occasion as well, of course. We went pretty simple with chocolate and vanilla, but we made them a little bit more fancy by adding dark chocolate pieces to the chocolate cake batter, and adding vanilla bean paste to the buttercream. The tiny blue sugar hearts were the finishing touch. You can find these at Little Betsy Baker.

These were so cute, and tasted great too. I used Green & Black’s organic cocoa powder to make these cupcakes, which is the first time I’ve used anything organic in my cupcakes. Honestly, I’m skeptical about higher quality cocoa making baked goods taste better. I couldn’t taste anything exceptional in these cupcakes when compared to a standard cocoa powder, such as Hershey’s.

The method of preparing this cupcake batter is similar to that of making a muffin, and for me, the resulting cupcake is more muffin-like rather than cupcake-like, if you know what I mean.

What do you think about high-quality versus average-quality cocoa powders? Does it make a difference in the taste?

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Woolworth’s Fresh magazine
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate, chopped

Method
Preheat oven to 200C (400F) .  Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Melt butter and 100g coarsely chopped dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Stir until melted and smooth.  Cool.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter and chocolate mixture, eggs, milk and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.  Pour into flour mixture along with 100g chopped dark chocolate.  Stir gently, just until combined.

Divide batter evenly into cupcake liners and bake 15-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes enough to generously frost 12-16 cupcakes

Ingredients
170g unsalted butter, room temperature
225g confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Method
Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Reduce speed to medium. Add sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating after each addition, about 5 minutes. (After every 2 additions, increase speed to high, and beat for 10 seconds, then reduce speed to medium-high). Add vanilla, and beat until buttercream is smooth. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days (bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using).

Happy half-birthday to my little boy, I look forward to many more!

My take?  I wouldn’t pass up a slice of cake made from a box, but when it comes to making a cake, I’d rather do it from scratch.  I also think that it doesn’t take much longer to make a cake from scratch than it does from a box, so if you’ve got the ingredients to make a cake from scratch, do it!

There’s something therapeutic and calming for me when making a cake from scratch (when my kids are not “helping” me, that is!) and I just can’t get that same feeling with a box cake mix.  That said though, I do love box brownie mixes!

Anyway, last week I stopped in a relatively new shop called Thomas Dux, which sells a lot of organic and gourmet products.  The main aisle I was interested in was the baking aisle, and there I found a range of Donna Hay box mixes – cupcakes, cookies and brownies.  What intrigued me about these mixes is that instead of the usual oil, eggs and water that you’d find in an average box mix, the Donna Hay box mixes required butter, eggs and milk.  I picked up the chocolate cupcake box!

Inside is a packet of cupcake mix, of icing mix and 12 stylish cupcake liners (I actually got 13).

The process of making the batter was a combination of doing it from scratch and from a box mix; first you cream the butter, then add all the dry mix, the eggs and milk and beat until smooth.

I found that I could fill the liners pretty full to get exactly 12 cupcakes.  They puffed up nicely in the oven, but when I took them out the tops flattened out, much to my dismay (I like domed tops).

The icing was very easy to make as well, just beat everything together until smooth and creamy.  However, my frosting ended up much lighter in color than what was pictured on the box.  The picture on the box looked like the icing was dark and fudgey, but mine was light and creamy.  This was disappointing, but it still tasted nice.

The moment of tasting – they are very good!  Definitely not a box mix taste to be had.  They are heavy, a little dense and so moist.  They were also very easy to crumble.  I preferred the taste of these straight out of the refrigerator as they tasted just like a mud cake this way!

The most peculiar thing about these cupcakes that I experienced is that the liners pulled away from the cupcakes soon after baking.  While I didn’t mind much since they were just for me and my family, this surely would not have impressed guests as it looked like we had unwrapped all the cupcakes!  I have no idea why they did this.

This box mix is considerably more expensive than your average Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines mixes at up to $15.95 for 12 cupcakes.  If you are after quality and taste however, I would definitely recommend Donna Hay’s cupcake kits.  I plan on trying all of her kits eventually.  I do believe these kits are only available in Australia, unfortunate for my international readers, but lucky for my fellow Aussies!

You can find Donna Hay’s cupcake, cookie and brownie mixes at Thomas Dux grocery stores (for $13.95),  Little Betsy Baker (for $14.95) and Donna Hay’s website (for $15.95).  If you try, or have tried, any of her mixes, please leave a comment and let me know!

They are now taking submissions until March 12, 2010.  Voting begins immediately afterwards and continues until March 19.  The rules require that the photo you submit must be taken by you, however the cupcake itself does not need to be yours.

The prize is a giant cupcake baking set, which will make you a cupcake that is 25x bigger than average cupcake size!  Read more about the set at Food2.

So get cracking and submit a photo of your or a friend’s cupcake into the competition for a chance to win!  For more entry and contest details, read here, and be sure to check out the photos that have already been entered!

I am a huge fan of Bake It Pretty and have placed quite a few orders from there.  However, I moved back to Australia in November, and even though Amanda ships internationally, it is quite a hefty shipping fee.  So I didn’t expect to ever be able to find anything like the stuff at Bake It Pretty in Australia.

Well, I was at Thomas Dux today, which I think is sort of like an Australian version of Wholefoods, and they were selling a very cute Donna Hay cupcake kit (expect a review of her chocolate cupcake kit here soon!).  When I got home I looked for any existing reviews of the kit online.  I found mixed reviews, but it generally seemed that people liked the end result of the cupcake mixes.

But what is it that has me so excited?  When I was searching for Donna Hay’s cupcake kits online, I came across Little Betsy Baker (although they are currently out of Donna Hay’s chocolate cupcake kit, FYI). Wow, this is like an Australian version of Bake It Pretty!  There are tons of beautiful things here!  Here are some of my favorites:

• Oven thermometer
• Mini Spotty Dotty kids’ apron
• Donna Hay baking cups
• Paper Eskimo baking cups
• Donna Hay brownie mix
• Cherry blossom sugar decorations
• I Love Chocolate twist ties

Just to name a few!

I can’t wait to place my first order!  If you’re a member of Little Betsy Baker you get 10% off your orders and exclusive member deals.  You can also find Little Betsy Baker on Twitter and Facebook.

Note that I have not been paid from or asked by Little Betsy Baker to write this post, I just wanted to share my excitement with others!

It tastes amazing!  We used apples to dip into it, but it would taste great with bananas and strawberries as well.

This is my bonus World Nutella Day recipe for all you Nutella-lovers!

Nutella Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
Adapted from In Mama’s Kitchen
Print this recipe via Tasty Kitchen
Makes approx. 1/2 cup

Ingredients
3 tablespoons Nutella
3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
pinch of salt
1/4 cup milk

Method
Thoroughly mix Nutella, cream cheese and salt until no streaks of cream cheese remain.  Mixture may be a little grainy-looking.  Slowly add milk a bit at a time and stir until milk is thoroughly mixed in.  You should end up with a nice smooth, creamy dip for your fruit.  Store in refrigerator.  To soften up the dip after removing from the refrigerator, just stick it in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds.

While in France I did find some, and purchased it to bring home.  The funny thing is, after I tasted it, I didn’t like it!  I also thought it was strange to put chocolate on bread.  So I don’t think I even finished the small jar of it that I had brought home.

Years later, and I do mean years later, after I moved to Australia, I noticed that Nutella was plentiful in all the grocery stores.  I decided to try it again, because it sure did look nice, so maybe my tastes had changed over the years.  Luckily for my tastebuds, I loved it!  Unlucky for my waistline, however!  Nutella has nearly been a staple in our household since then.

I’ve tried plenty of my own Nutella creations in the past, including my popular peanut butter and Nutella swirl cookies, and Nutella-coffee frosting.

This is my second year submitting to World Nutella Day; this year I made a variation of the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich.

It’s a fried Nutella and banana sandwich with a cinnamon-sugar crust.  This has already had mixed reactions.  Some love the idea, some hate the idea and think it’s disgusting.  Someone even suggested that instead of frying the bread, to toast it in the toaster.

If I’m going to eat a banana with Nutella, I usually just spread a layer of Nutella on a naked banana, slice it into rounds, then eat it.  I’ve even eaten a plain un-fried Nutella and banana sandwich.  But, as I thought with the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, the extra step of frying it brings a new depth to the taste.

Now, I wouldn’t go and make one of these sandwiches every day, but it does make a nice treat once in a while!

The recipe is below, but please note that I just estimated the amounts of what I used.  This is a recipe where you can use however much (or less) of anything that you like!

Nutella & Banana Sandwich With Cinnamon-Sugar Crust
serves 1

Ingredients
2 slices wholemeal bread, or bread of your choice
Approximately 1/2 teaspoon butter
Cinnamon-sugar, you can buy this at the store or make it yourself
1 ripe banana
Approximately 1 tablespoon Nutella, or similar

Directions
Heat a skillet over low-medium heat.  Meanwhile,  spread a thin layer of butter on one side of each slice of bread.  Sprinkle a good amount of cinnamon-sugar on the buttered side of each slice.

Slice the banana into enough rounds so that you can layer the unbuttered side of one slice of bread with the rounds.  Spread Nutella on the unbuttered side of the other slice of bread.

Carefully place the bread with the bananas, buttered side down, into the skillet.  Immediately place the other slice of bread, Nutella side down, right on top of the bananas.

Fry until golden brown, then flip the sandwich over and fry until golden brown.  Keep your eye on it, it can burn easily!

Let cool, slice diagonally if you like, and enjoy!

So what are you waiting for? Go celebrate World Nutella Day!

See Ms Adventures In Italy, Bleeding Espresso and World Nutella Day for more information.