Our conversations covered many topics as we calmed our hungry bellies, but there was always one topic that came up every time – my mom’s lifelong habit of dipping her French fries into her Frosty/milkshake/ice cream and then eating them.  I found it appalling, yet somewhere deep inside, secretly, I knew exactly what she meant.  I liked to drink a big swig of my milkshake after eating a handful of fries.  But never, never, would I ever blatantly dip a French fry into my milkshake like that.  The very act was offensive, to say the least.

Back then, I had no appreciation of food.  I knew what I liked and I ate it.  I knew that my mom was dipping fried potatoes into chocolate ice cream and I did not like that at all.  Now, however, I understand that my mom liked the combination of salty and sweet.  It wasn’t just a potato being dipped in ice cream – it was the saltiness and the sweetness that she liked.

These days (and perhaps its been happing for years?) people are dipping their pretzels and bacon in melted chocolate, and adding salt to caramels and chocolates.  Perhaps they like the sweet and salty taste, or perhaps they understand that the salt can help enhance the flavors of the chocolate, or perhaps they just like trying something a bit out of the ordinary.  It certainly is a confusing treat for the senses when you eat a salty dessert – it looks sweet, it smells sweet, it tastes sweet, but yet it’s got a saltiness to it that your senses would normally expect to find in a savory dish, rather than a sweet one.  How interesting!

I’ve been wanting to create something chocolatey and salty so that I could experience this myself.  I was inspired by Lindt’s A Touch Of Sea Salt chocolate bar, which I found on special at the grocery store and impulsively snatched up a handful of.  This chocolate bar is the best I have ever tasted.  Lindt describes it, “The complexity of dark chocolate is enhanced by the addition of Fleur de Sel”.  I ate one whole bar over the course of a week, savoring each square that I broke off.  Eventually I decided that I wanted to use it in a ganache.

And this was born. Delicious, crumbly, buttery chocolate shortbread made with Green & Black’s Dutch cocoa and iced with Lindt’s fleur de sel chocolate ganache. Topped with a tiny sprinkle of pink sea salt flakes.  A delicious, luxurious not-too-sweet treat geared toward a more sophisticated palette.  Or so I described it on Flickr!

It is truly amazing, if I do say so myself.  The addition of the pink sea salt on top of the ganache lent a subtle crunch and delicate saltiness – you could definitely leave off the salt sprinkles if you’d like to make this yourself.  In fact, if you’re still too frightened of the sweet and salty combination, feel free to use regular chocolate in the ganache recipe.  I’m sure it’ll taste just as nice, but I feel that the addition of the salt adds an extra dimension to the flavor of the chocolate and I highly recommend trying it.  At least once.

Chocolate Shortbread
Adapted from Valli Little
Makes 12 slices

Ingredients
300g unsalted butter
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 1/2 cups (375g) plain flour
5 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Icing sugar, to dust

Method
Grease and line base and sides of a 18cm x 28cm lamington pan. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl with electric beaters until pale. Sift in flour, cocoa and soda and beat slowly until just combined. Spread in pan and smooth with a spatula. Prick all over with a fork. Chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Cook shortbread for 25 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool completely.

Salted Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from myself
Makes enough to frost the chocolate shortbread in the recommended size pan, as above

Ingredients
2 100g Lindt A Touch Of Sea Salt chocolate bars, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small cubes
sea salt flakes

Method
Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until just under a simmer (do not boil), then pour the cream over the chopped chocolate. Sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Add butter and stir until combined. Place bowl in refrigerator for approximately 20-30 minutes to firm up, stirring every 5-10 minutes. The ganache will need to be at just a spreadable consistency. Test it by running the back of a spoon across the top of the ganache – when the lines from the spoon remain indented in the ganache, it is ready. Use an offset spatula to smooth the ganache on top of the cooled shortbread. Let it set for about 30 minutes, or until the ganache is firm to touch. Cut the shortbread into 12 squares, wiping the knife clean after each cut to keep crumbs out of the ganache. Just before serving, sprinkle the ganache lightly with sea salt flakes.

For our third month, I’m going to try a new approach.  You will not be limited to a specific single ingredient, but instead, a memory.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

This month you will need to create a cupcake that is based on your favorite childhood memories – this could be a particular flavor, or perhaps your favorite childhood dessert.  Be creative.  If possible, it’d be great if you could share on your blog post the memory that inspired your cupcake.

I have some more amazing prize sponsors for you this month.  Here is what the winner will be receiving as their prize for the most creative childhood memory cupcake:

• Bake It Pretty; a $5 electronic gift card
• Bakerella; an autographed copy of her new book Cake Pops
• Beanilla; 2 each of 4 special varieties of vanilla beans (see below)
• Hello Hanna; a pack of Sweet Stands cupcake stands
• Miss Kitty Creations; a handmade cupcake charm of your choice
• Sweet Cuppin Cakes; a prize pack worth $25
• Tundra Books; a selection 3 very sweet children’s books (see below)

Thank you to all our prize sponsors!

Bake It Pretty, the cutest online shop for all your baking needs, will be donating a $5 electronic gift card every month for the winner of this competition.

If you haven’t heard of Bakerella then I presume that you live under a rock at the bottom of the ocean!  Bakerella is the queen of cake pops and she has just released her very first book, Cake Pops.  This cute wire-bound book contains step-by-step instructions and color photos of over 40 projects, plus many helpful tips to help you along the way.  Bakerella will be donating an autographed copy of her book to the winner of this month’s competition only.

At Beanilla you can find 8 different types of Grade A whole vanilla beans (Grade A is the highest possible quality grade for vanilla) and a wide variety of unique vanilla products.  Beanilla will be donating a pack of their vanilla products every month for the winner of this competition; September’s winner will receive a package of:

*2 Madagascar vanilla beans
Madagascar Vanilla Beans come from the Island of Reunion (known as the Island of Bourbon), east of Madagascar. Madagascar Vanilla Beans are superior, with flavor and aromatic qualities that make these beans the most popular and sought after vanilla variety. These are well suited for many baking recipes, drinks and desserts.

*2 Mexican vanilla beans
The flavor of Mexican vanilla is very similar to Madagascar vanilla. You’ll notice that the smooth, creamy and spicy flavors of these beans are absolutely delightful. We can assure you that these are not only the best vanilla beans that we offer, but probably the best in the world! They are perfect for many baked goods, so try them in crème sauces, ice cream, and other wonderful desserts or recipes.

*2 Tahitian vanilla beans
Tahitian Vanilla beans are generally shorter, plumper, and contain a much higher oil and water content than Bourbon beans. The aroma is flowery, fruity and anisic with a smooth flavor. They are often described as smelling like licorice, cherries, or wine. Gourmet and pastry chefs love to work with the Tahitensis variety, which is perfect for many applications. Our Tahitian Beans are A-Grade and will suit all your baking needs.

*2 Tonga vanilla beans
Tonga Vanilla Beans come from The Kingdom of Tonga. The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of several island groups in the South Pacific. Palm-fringed beaches, rainforests, lagoons and warm blue water make up this beautiful paradise. Because of Tonga’s rich fertile soil, organically grown Vanilla Beans from this region are superior, with flavor and aromatic qualities that make these beans a splendid treat. Tonga vanilla beans are frequently used by gourmet chocolate makers because the flavor extremely bold, pronounced, and unique. This type of vanilla will stand up to the fullest flavored deserts. Tonga only produces 144 tons of Vanilla Beans annually. Therefore, these beans are a rare and highly sought after vanilla bean. We are proud to be the only company to offer you these one of a kind vanilla beans online.

For the perfect way to display your winning cupcakes, Hello Hanna will be donating 1 pack of their Sweet Stands cupcake stands each month to the winner of this competition.  Made from FSC-certified embossed recycled paper, these super sweet cupcake stands look great straight out of the box, or they can be easily embellished with decorations to give them your personal touch.

On my blog, I recently reviewed some cupcake charms created by Wendie of Miss Kitty Creations – I really liked them because of how realistic they look and their fantastic smell.  Wendie has happily agreed to donate one of her handmade cupcake charms to the winner of this competition each month.  The winner will be asked to choose any one cupcake available at Wendie’s website.

Some of you may be familiar with Sweet Cuppin Cakes, as this online shop was a prize sponsor for Iron Cupcake: Earth.  Sweet Cuppin Cakes will be donating a $25 prize pack of baking-related goodies every month to the winner of this competition.

Tundra Books is a Canadian-based publisher that focuses on keeping our favorite children’s books in print so they can be shared throughout generations.  You’ll find many great storybooks for young children as well as books for young adults.  Tundra Books will be donating a set selection of 3 books every month to the winner of this competition.  The books are:

* The Princess Who Had Almost Everything
Princess Alicia has everything she needs and more. A splendid castle, mountains of desserts, and loving parents who do everything possible to ensure she is happy. But even with all of that, Alicia is bored. Terribly bored. So what will it take to finally make her happy? The Princess Who Had Almost Everything is an enchanting tale that reminds readers of all ages that happiness is not always where you seek it, but instead can be found in the most unlikeliest places.

* I Love Chocolate
I love chocolates because each one can be a surprise — you have to taste them all to find out what’s inside! What’s not to like about chocolate? It smells good and tastes even better. In I Love Chocolate, readers will experience the taste, smell, and color of the world’s most beloved treat through the eyes of a child. Whether you savor this book slowly or devour it with gusto, readers will appreciate — and crave — the content in this yummy book that is perfect for children … and grown-ups, too.

* Sweet!
Through time and across continents, stories of sweets and their inventors intrigue and entertain us. Learn about primal sweets — from honey, sweet milk, and nuts to sugar candy, chocolate, and “sweet” stories of success. Sweet! The Delicious Story of Candy takes us through history from 4,000 B.C., when islanders in Papua New Guinea cut sugarcane for its sap, and 2,600 B.C., when the first-known beekeepers produced honey to embalm the dead, to 500 A.D., when the Chinese made pear and plum syrups from unripe fruit, and all the way through to the world’s first chocoholics and modern-day candy factories. From cravings to the scoop on ice cream, Ann Love and Jane Drake present a comprehensive and irresistible story of candy through the ages, complemented by a detailed timeline and playful illustrations from artist Claudia Dávila.

• Only one entry per person.
• You have until the 20th of the month to bake a cupcake based on the Mystery Box theme, CHILDHOOD MEMORIES.  Post your baking story, photos and recipes on your blog (posting your recipe is optional).
• Provide a link to the Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge information page somewhere in your post.
• Provide links to the prize sponsors for this month in your post by copying and pasting the code below into the HTML of your post (you may edit and style the code, as long as the links to the prize sponsors remain intact):

<strong>The winner of September’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:</strong>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.bakeitpretty.com">Bake It Pretty</a>; a $5 electronic gift card</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.bakerella.com">Bakerella</a>; an autographed copy of her new book <a href="http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,8831/title,Cake-Pops-by-Bakerella/">Cake Pops</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.beanilla.com">Beanilla</a>; 2 each of 4 special vanilla beans</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.hellohanna.com/">Hello Hanna</a>; a pack of <a href="http://www.hellohanna.com/prod.php?cat=sweet_stands&prod=sweet_stands">Sweet Stands</a> cupcake stands</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.misskittycreations.com/">Miss Kitty Creations</a>; a <a href="http://www.misskittycreations.com/cupcakes.html">handmade cupcake charm</a> of your choice</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.acupcakery.com">Sweet Cuppin Cakes</a>; a prize pack worth $25</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/">Tundra Books</a>; a selection 3 very sweet children’s books</strong></li></ul>

<strong>Thank you to all our prize sponsors!</strong>

• After you have done all the above, email me at mysteryboxcc@gmail.com, subject line “Mystery Box – Childhood Memories”, with the following information – be sure these details are correct as I will be using them on the voting page/poll:

* Your name or nickname
* Link to your entry post
* Name and description of your cupcake
* An attachment with one photo (or two if showing the inside) of your cupcake, no larger than 800x600px

• Read the Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge information page for full details.

That’s it!  Be sure to come back after the 21st of the month to see all the entries and vote for your favorite!  Thank you so much for your participation!

* Thank you to Lisa Orgler for the brownie sundae drawing!

Last week I picked up a new delicious. magazine; September 2010′s issue.  There was a recipe inside for spaghetti puttanesca, which is a dish I’ve been wanting to make for the past few months.  Since the recipe was now in one of my favorite magazines, I wrote down the ingredients list and immediately went out and stocked my pantry with semi-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and anchovy fillets.  These ingredients aren’t something I’d normally keep in the pantry, but the rest of the ingredient list is normal for our pantry/refrigerator.

What took longest in making this dish was the preparation.  The cooking was simply a breeze, couldn’t have been easier.  The house smelled amazing while the sauce was cooking in the frying pan; I’m sure you could have smelled it from the street had you been standing outside.  I’ve never, ever eaten anchovies (to my knowledge), so I was looking forward to trying this and wondering how they would taste.

And so was my 1-year-old son!  He wouldn’t keep his hands out of the dish as I was trying to photograph it!

The textures and flavors are many in this dish.  The flavor is tangy and salty and it’ll definitely wake up your mouth.  The olives and semi-dried tomatoes add a variation of flavor and texture with each bite, and thyme-flavored ciabatta breadcrumbs add a subtle crunch.  I know I haven’t been out much, but I can honestly tell you that this is one of the most flavorful dishes I’ve eaten in a very long time.

I would definitely recommend this if you love Italian food!

You’ll have 3/4′s of a loaf of ciabatta bread when you’re done making this dish.  Ciabatta makes an excellent garlic bread, so why not use it to make your own to accompany your spaghetti puttanesca?

Spaghetti Puttanesca
Adapted from delicious. magazine, September 2010
Serves 4 hungry people

Ingredients
1/4 olive or plain ciabatta loaf
100ml olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves, plus thyme sprigs to serve
1 large tomato
2 red onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Pinch of chilli flakes
12 anchovy fillets in oil, drained, roughly chopped
200g semi-dried tomatoes, halved
200g pitted kalamata olives
400g spaghetti

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with foil.

Place the ciabatta in a food processor and whiz to form coarse crumbs. Spread the breadcrumbs onto the lined baking tray, drizzle with 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil, scatter with chopped thyme leaves and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 10 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden and crisp, then set aside.

Meanwhile, cut a small cross in the base of the tomato. Plunge the tomato into boiling water for 30 seconds, then refresh immediately in iced water. Peel and halve the tomato, then scoop out and discard the seeds. Finely chop and set aside.

Place the remaning 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until softened but not colored. Add the chopped tomato, garlic, chilli and anchovies and cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes until the anchovies dissolve and the tomato has broken down. Add the semi-dried tomatoes and olives and stir for 1-2 minutes to warm through.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain, then add the pasta to the sauce and toss well to combine.

Divide the spaghetti and sauce among bowls, scatter with the breadcrumbs and thyme sprigs, then serve.

Our Top 5 Cupcakes are:

White Russian Cupcakes
Created by Anthony
Being as most of my friends are adults, I have made an alcoholic cupcake. So, the White Russian Cupcake was born. Looking at the drink itself it has a dark bottom and goes to white on top. So, I decided to make a dark chocolate cake with a white chocolate frosting. I chose to add Kahlua to the cake batter and vanilla vodka to the frosting. But I needed to do something to make this cupcake a little more special than that. And what can be better than biting into a cupcake and discovering a creamy center. I added dark chocolate mousse with Kahlua in it. This was just what was needed to bring this cake to life.

White Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes
Created by Séverine, of Simply S
I made a simple basic chocolate cupcake then I made a white Toblerone mousse. In each cupcake I dug a hole and I put the Toblerone mousse. The decoration is Chantilly cream with cocoa. I added a touch of acidity with a raspberry on the top ;)

Caramel Cupcakes With White Chocolate Buttercream
Created by Ryan, of Ryan’s Baking Blog

White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cupcake
Created by Olga, of Sunshine & Happiness
Inspired by Häagen-Dazs’ White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream, this delicious treat consists of a white chocolate cake with seedless raspberry jam at the bottom and a semi-sweet chocolate truffle in the center, with white chocolate whipped cream, a piece of magnolia lace cookie, and a sprinkle of raspberry sugar on top.

White Chocolate Passion Cupcakes
Created by Tara
White chocolate and yoghurt cupcakes filled with passion fruit curd, topped with white chocolate, yoghurt and passion fruit mousseline buttercream.

Congratulations for making it to the Top 5!

And now, the winner of the white chocolate Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge is…

Congratulations to Tara!

White Chocolate Passion Cupcakes
Created by Tara
White chocolate and yoghurt cupcakes filled with passion fruit curd, topped with white chocolate, yoghurt and passion fruit mousseline buttercream.

Tara will be receiving these prizes:

• Bake It Pretty; $5 electronic gift card
• Beanilla; 3 Indian + 3 Tahitian vanilla beans & a jar of Ground Vanilla
• CT2Designs; a cupcake ring
• Miss Kitty Creations; a cupcake charm of your choice
• Sweet Cuppin Cakes; a prize pack worth $25

Thank you to all our prize sponsors!

A new Mystery Box ingredient will be announced on September 1!

He doesn’t like pureed food.  I believe it’s because he has to be spoon-fed to eat it properly, and when he sees his older sister and brother eating with their fingers or a fork or spoon, he wants to eat like they are.  After all, spoon-feeding is for babies!

Recently I went shopping for bigger clothes for Miles with my mother-in-law and bought him a couple of outfits.  You’d think that he could just wear clothes that his 3-year-old brother had grown out of, but don’t forget that we moved to the Southern Hemisphere – the summery clothes that fit his older brother when he was 1 year old will not do in winter Down Under!  Our seasons are completely opposite and this has been a little annoying, as we’ve had to basically buy all new clothing for the baby.  Ah well, it’s not all bad though – shopping for baby clothes is so fun (and terribly addicting)!

For Miles’ first birthday celebration I planned on making a simple batch of colorful cupcakes.  I decided on chocolate-on-chocolate cupcakes with mini rainbow chocolate chip decorations.

The chocolate cake is vegan.  No, we haven’t turned vegan, or even vegetarian.  When I saw these cupcakes at Sweet Tooth I thought they looked so incredibly soft and moist that I wanted to make them straight away.  The cupcakes have no eggs and no butter in them; instead they use coconut milk and canola oil, plus a touch of almond meal.  They sounded fabulous, and they tasted amazing.  They had the most lovely soft texture and the moistness factor was extreme.  I’m seriously considering using this recipe as my go-to chocolate cupcakes.

What I also love about these cupcakes is that they stay soft when refrigerated.  The butter in cupcakes usually make them too firm when eaten straight from the refrigerator, but these vegan cupcakes, with no butter, stayed soft  (okay, well, they firmed up slightly) and tasted great straight out of the refrigerator.

And something else I love about these cupcakes – you don’t have to wait for your butter, eggs and milk to come up to room temperature to begin this recipe. You can grab the ingredients from your pantry and get straight to work.

The frosting on these cupcakes is chocolate cream cheese frosting (not vegan).  It was only so-so.  The recipe is from Martha Stewart and is simply a combination of melted chocolate, cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar.  I won’t be making it again.  I’m not really big on cream cheese, which is possibly why I didn’t like this frosting.

With the cake being so soft and the frosting being so smooth, the crunch of the rainbow chocolate chips was a welcome addition.  And they made these cupcakes very colorful!

My final word – I wholeheartedly recommend making these cupcakes (just the cake part, not the frosting!) no matter if you’re vegan, vegetarian, omnivore or even carnivore!  If you love soft-textured and moist chocolate cakes, this recipe is definitely for you.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Sweet Tooth and Love & Olive Oil
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons almond meal
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together, by hand, the coconut milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low-speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the coconut milk mixture until it is uniform and smooth (do not overmix).

Pour batter in liners, filling cups no more than 2/3 full (3 tablespoons of batter). Bake 18-20 inutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

We’ve got a record 28 entries this month, compared to last month’s 17 entries.  Thank you for helping to spread the word about the Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge!

Voting is now open to everyone. Have a look through the entries, listed below. Visit their blogs to read more about how they created their cupcake. You can choose TWO of your favorite cupcakes – the ones that you think are most creative and you would be most likely to eat and enjoy – and vote for those two in the poll in the sidebar to the right. Voting closes in 5 days, on August 26. The 5 cupcakes that receive the most votes will then go into a random draw where one winner will be chosen.

You can only vote once for your favorite two. For more about how the voting works for this competition, read this page.

Here are the cupcakes for August 2010′s Mystery Box ingredient – WHITE CHOCOLATE:

VOTING IS NOW OVER FOR THE WHITE CHOCOLATE CHALLENGE

White Chocolate Molten Lava Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ice-Cream
Created by (500) days of Boy

Lemon Surprise And White Chocolate Cupcakes
Created by Adventures In Cupcakes
White chocolate chunk cupcake with lemon pudding filling, a lemon white chocolate glaze and lemon sugar topping.

Toasted White Chocolate Cherry-Almond Cupcakes
Created by Anna, of Very Small Anna
Buttery toasted almond cake with chunks of fresh sweet cherries and a salty-sweet caramelized white chocolate ganache.

White Russian Cupcakes
Created by Anthony
Being as most of my friends are adults, I have made an alcoholic cupcake. So, the White Russian Cupcake was born. Looking at the drink itself it has a dark bottom and goes to white on top. So, I decided to make a dark chocolate cake with a white chocolate frosting. I chose to add Kahlua to the cake batter and vanilla vodka to the frosting. But I needed to do something to make this cupcake a little more special than that. And what can be better than biting into a cupcake and discovering a creamy center. I added dark chocolate mousse with Kahlua in it. This was just what was needed to bring this cake to life.

White Chocolate And Raspberry Mud Cupcakes
Created by Catie, of Catie’s Cakes & Cookies
A moist white chocolate cupcake with raspberry surprises through out. Topped with a whipped white chocolate ganache and sprinkling of raspberries.

Snowy Mocha Cupcakes
Created by Courtney, of C&C Cakery
Espresso Cupcakes with a light White Chocolate Whipped Cream.

Enchanted Chai Cupcakes With Toblerone White Chocolate Frosting
Created by Emily, of iBAK3

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cupcakes With White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Created by Evan, of swEEts by e

Matcha And White Chocolate Cupcakes
Created by Honey, of honeyandsoy
Matcha gives a depth of flavour to creamy white chocolate, and the ganache is perfect encased within a delicate and springy vanilla sponge. The cupcakes are topped off with more matcha and white chocolate ganache and sprinkled with a hint of cocoa.

White Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes With White Chocolate Buttercream
Created by Jackie, of Galexi Cupcakes & Sweets

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
Created by Jennifer, of Monster Sweet Tooth
A light cake with white chocolate melted into the batter, as well as chopped white chocolate stirred in. It sits on top of a vanilla wafer to act as the crust and is filled with raspberry preserves. It’s topped off with a white chocolate “cheesecake” frosting; a cream cheese frosting with cheesecake flavored pudding mix and white chocolate mixed in to imitate the classic cheesecake.

The White Lime Experience Cupcakes
Created by Jessie, of My Baking Empire
The White Lime Experience combines a tender white chocolate cupcake with a lime curd filling. Topping it off is a rich white chocolate buttercream frosting. The shocking tartness of the lime curd is complimented oh-so-perfectly with the smooth and creamy taste of white chocolate, which has been infused into both the cake and the frosting. This experience is not one to be missed!

White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino Cupcakes
Created by Jocelyn, of Inside BruCrew Life

White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cupcakes
Created by Joy, of Joy’s Misadventures
A vanilla and fresh strawberry cupcake that is topped with a white chocolate ganache and a half of a strawberry.

Apricot Pecan Cupcakes With White Chocolate Buttercream
Created by Kami, of The Enchanted Forest
Apricot pecan cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream, garnished with toffee bits and caramel sauce.

White Chocolate, Nutella And Banana Cupcakes
Created by Lina, of Sourkraut Krafts
Flavorful and moist banana cake with dollops of Nutella baked right in, filled with fresh diced bananas and a refreshing white chocolate cream cheese, topped with a swirled blend of white chocolate and Nutella buttercream frosting. Utterly indulgent? Yes. Worth those extra six hours you’ll have to spend in the gym? Definitely!

Mad Layer – Raspberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes
Created by Lisa, of Chomp Cake
It is a yummy vanilla cupcake with layers and layers of melted white chocolate and raspberry sauce. I topped it off with a super fluffy white chocolate buttercream.

Coconut Cupcakes With White Chocolate Chunks
Created by Liv, of Food Detectives
A coconut cupcake base with white chocolate chunks, a coconut white chocolate glaze and toasted shredded coconut to garnish

White Chocolate And Banana Cupcakes
Created by Mel
You can have the best of both worlds, fruit and chocolate combined in one!

Wicked White Pistachio Cupcakes
Created by Missy Moodle, of Missy Moodle Cupcakes
The cupcake itself is a pistachio cupcake and the icing is a white chocolate buttercream with 2 tablespoons of pureed Pistachios. YUMMY!

White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cupcake
Created by Olga, of Sunshine & Happiness
Inspired by Häagen-Dazs’ White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream, this delicious treat consists of a white chocolate cake with seedless raspberry jam at the bottom and a semi-sweet chocolate truffle in the center, with white chocolate whipped cream, a piece of magnolia lace cookie, and a sprinkle of raspberry sugar on top.

Pirate’s Booty Cupcakes
Created by Our Lady Of Cupcakes
White chocolate chip cake, salted caramel buttercream frosting, and a buried pretzel crust with a white chocolate skull garnish.

Caramel Cupcakes With White Chocolate Buttercream
Created by Ryan, of Ryan’s Baking Blog

White Chocolate Amaretto Peach Cupcakes
Created by Sasha, of The Sweder Side Of Life
Amaretto soaked Western Peach Cupcake topped with whipped White Chocolate Ganache.

White Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes
Created by Séverine, of Simply S
I made a simple basic chocolate cupcake then I made a white Toblerone mousse. In each cupcake I dug a hole and I put the Toblerone mousse. The decoration is Chantilly cream with cocoa. I added a touch of acidity with a raspberry on the top ;)

Raspberry White Delight Cupcakes
Created by Sue and Darlene, of Project Cupcake
Our yummy cupcake is a white chocolate butter cake, which sits atop a graham cracker crust, filled with white chocolate mousse, topped with a chocolate-raspberry ganache and garnished with a cyrstallized raspberry!

White Chocolate Rhubarb Cupcakes
Created by Sugary Flower
A white chocolate & rhubarb almond cupcake, topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and sticky rhubarb.

White Chocolate Passion Cupcakes
Created by Tara
White chocolate and yoghurt cupcakes filled with passion fruit curd, topped with white chocolate, yoghurt and passion fruit mousseline buttercream.

Aren’t they cute?  They’re not cupcakes at all.  It’s meringue baked into cupcake papers.  The meringue rises and mounds up while baking, making it look like fluffy white vanilla frosting on top.  Mixed into the meringue are chopped hazelnuts and dark chocolate pieces.  On top is melted chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.

Although I can barely the remember the picture accompanying the recipe in the AWW magazine, I believe that the meringue itself was supposed to be chocolaty-brown, making it look like chocolate cake.  The recipe didn’t say to melt down the chocolate before mixing it in, it just said to chop it and then stir into the  mixture, but next time, if I make these again, I might try to melt the chocolate and stir it in to see if it would make the meringue chocolaty-brown (and it most definitely would, I’m sure!).

Just FYI, I didn’t make this meringue from scratch – the recipe asked for a prepared pavlova mix (Pavlova Magic), which comes as a powder that you add water and sugar to, mix then bake.  The meringues came out crunchy on the outside and marshmallowy on the inside.  They tasted really nice, but I’m not a biiig fan of meringues.  I would, however, like to try these again with the chocolate melted and combined into the pavlova mixture.

If you’d like to make these and Pavlova Magic is unavailable where you are, you could try using a basic pavlova recipe then follow the directions in the recipe below – obviously omitting the Pavlova Magic and caster sugar.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Meringues
Adapted from Australian Women’s Weekly Magazine, February 2010
Makes 12

Ingredients
3/4 cup (100 g) roasted hazelnuts
125g Pavlova Magic dessert mix
130g caster sugar
175g dark eating chocolate

Method
Preheat oven to 140C ( 120C fanforced). Line 12 hole muffin pan with paper muffin cases.

Reserve 12 hazelnuts. Chop remaining hazelnuts coarsely. Finely chop 100g of the chocolate, reserve remaining chocolate.

Prepare the dessert mix with lukewarm water and the caster sugar, according to the manufacturers directions. Fold chopped hazelnuts and chopped chocolate into the meringue.

Divide muffin mixture among muffin cases. Bake for 50 mins or until dry to touch. Cool in oven with door ajar.

Melt remaining chocolate. Spread tops of meringues with melted chocolate, top with reserved hazelnuts. Stand until set.

I’ve made scones before.  They were easy and turned out quite nice.  So when I saw the recipe for scones with jam and cream in Issue #3 of MasterChef Australia magazine – the same recipes they used on the show for the Country Women’s Association challenge – I was sure I could make all three components quite easily.

I started with the jam.  Okay, correction, this is actually called a “conserve”.  It is a strawberry and apple conserve.  But I keep it calling it jam!  On the MasterChef episode, there were two teams in the Country Women’s Association challenge.  Each team made the same dishes.  When it came time to judge the jams, one team had done very well with the conserve, and the other team did not (it was too watery).  My jam came out perfectly.  I had to cook it about 10 minutes longer than the recipe says, but it turned out marvelous and so delicious.  I have never had any sort of fruit spread that was so fresh – I always buy jars of it at the store – so I was really impressed with the fresh, strong taste of the strawberries.  The recipe also includes vanilla bean paste, but as I don’t currently have any, I scraped the seeds from a Madagascan vanilla bean and used that instead.  I love the little black specks of vanilla seeds in the jam, it makes appear that it’s super-gourmet!

The jam will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month, so no worries if you have leftovers (and trust me, you will have plenty).

Next, I started on the scones.  Of course, you’re not supposed to overwork the dough or the end result will be a hard, tough scone.  The less you work it, the lighter it will be.  I had to keep this in mind.  However, for some reason, I couldn’t get the mix of dry and wet ingredients to come together!  So I had to work it a bit longer than I planned… the end result of my scones were edible, but they were hard.  Major disappointment!  But totally my fault.  On the MasterChef episode, neither teams’ scones were perfect.

While the scones were turning into rocks in my oven, I made the cream.  This is a really delicious cream.  It is made with cream, of course, as well as honey and mascarpone.  It couldn’t possibly be a better match with the strawberry and apple conserve.  My only problem with this is that it made soooo much!  The scones were long gone and I still had so much cream leftover.  Cream doesn’t keep as well as jam does in the refrigerator, so despite the fact that I tried to put it on as many other foods as I could, I had to throw most of it out after a few days.

If I were to be judged by the MasterChef judges on my scones, cream and conserve, I might have just scraped through to the next challenge.  They would have been very disgusted with my scones, but I’m positive that my conserve would have won them over.  :)

PS – my daughter decided that the dandelions she collected from the garden would make good props for the photo!

Buttermilk Scones With Honey Cream
Adapted from MasterChef Australia magazine, Issue #3
Makes 12

Ingredients
450g (3 cups) self-raising flour
75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
150g unsalted butter, chopped, softened
125ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk, plus extra to brush
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey
300ml pouring cream
200g mascarpone
Strawberry and apple conserve (recipe follows), to serve

Method
Preheat oven to 220C. Sift flour with sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a large bowl. Add butter and, using your fingertips, rub into flour mixture until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk and egg until combined, then pour into flour mixture. Using a knife, stir until mixture just comes together; the less you work the mixture, the lighter the scones will be.

Turn out dough onto a well-floured work surface and, using your hands, pat until 2.5cm thick. To cut out rounds, using a 5cm pastry cutter dusted with flour, press cutter straight down and pull straight up without twisting. Repeat to make 12 rounds, reflouring cutter each time you cut. Place scones 3cm apart on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Brush the tops with a little extra buttermilk and bake on top shelf of the oven for 12 minutes or until risen and dark golden.

Meanwhile, to make honey cream, combine honey and cream in a bowl. Add mascarpone and whisk to soft peaks.

Serve scones warm with honey cream, and strawberry and apple conserve.

Strawberry And Apple Conserve
Adapted from MasterChef Australia magazine, Issue #3
Makes 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients
1 green apple, peeled and finely chopped
2 250g punnets strawberries, halved
330g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 lemon, juiced

Method
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and stand for 2 hours. Place mixture over medium heat, stir until sugar dissolves, then simmer for 20 minutes or until thick. Cool. Transfer to a sterilized jar*. Keeps in refrigerator for up to 1 month.

* To sterilize jar – preheat oven to 120C. Wash jar and lid in soapy, warm water, rinse, then dry well. Place jar and non-plastic lid on an oven tray and place tray in oven for 20 minutes. Remove and fill while still hot.

The recipe I’m about to share with you was one of those that I didn’t like one day, but fell in love with the next day – dark chocolate cookies with pistachios and milk chocolate chunks.  It comes from the August 2010 issue of delicious. magazine, and was created by Bill Granger.

I’ve never been keen on pistachios, which is why I originally skipped over the recipe.  Sure, the picture of the cookies in the magazine looked droolworthy, but when I read that there were pistachios I just turned the page.  But the next time I looked at the magazine, these cookies basically screamed out at me to make them immediately.  I had everything on hand already, except the pistachios.  I chose a bag of pistachios that were already shelled so that I wouldn’t have to waste time in shelling them myself.

To achieve a really dark brown color in these cookies and the ultimate chocolate flavor, I recommend using Dutch-processed cocoa (the recipe simply says to use “good quality cocoa”).  This is rather hard to come by in Sydney, it seems, so I used Cadbury Bournville cocoa powder, available at any grocery store here.  I would have used Green & Black’s cocoa powder, which is Dutch-processed and available at the gourmet grocery store, but I couldn’t quite afford it at this time.  My cookies did turn out quite dark anyhow, so I was very pleased.

For my milk chocolate chunks, I used Green & Black’s milk chocolate.  This is by far my new favorite milk chocolate (originally, Cadbury’s was my favorite).  And for the dark chocolate zig zags on top of the cookies I used Lindt 50% chocolate.  These cookies took out a lot of my chocolate stash, which I have built up slowly whenever the best quality chocolate bars have been on special on the store, but it was well worth it.

They are one of the best cookies I have ever tasted.  In fact, they just may be my new ultimate favorite – chocolate chip cookies are so yesterday anyway!  Okay, so I still love the old chocolate chip cookie, but wow.  You have got to try these cookies.  Empty your wallet for the best quality chocolates and you’ll be rewarded with these scrumptious gems.

The cookies bake up nice and thick.  They’re chewy, not crunchy at all.  With the exception of the nuts, of course.  The combination of different chocolates is a real pleasure to eat.  The pistachios lend a totally different flavor and is a perfect switch from the average nuts you’d find in cookies – walnuts, peanuts, etc.  I’m sure that if you don’t like pistachios you could add any other sort of nut, or if you don’t like nuts at all or are allergic, then I am more than positive that these cookies would still taste amazing without any nuts at all.

As with any cookie, be extremely careful not to over-bake them.  Cookies are so easy to over-bake, which completely (or very nearly) ruins them.  If you’re unsure, err on the side of under-baked.  Also remember, that with most cookies, if they look done while still in the oven, then they are over-baked – take them out before they look done.

Look at how dark they are!  Amazing!  And the best thing about this recipe, besides the fact that I loved it, is that I got about a dozen more cookies than what the recipe said it would make.  Awesome – the more the better!

Why are you even still reading this?  You should have printed out the recipe and made these cookies already!  Enjoy!  :)

Dark Chocolate Cookies With Pistachios And Milk Chocolate Chunks
Adapted from delicious. magazine, August 2010
Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients
185g unsalted butter, softened
275g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups (185g) plain flour
2/3 cup (70g) good-quality cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g milk chocolate, cut into chunks
110g pistachio kernels
100g dark chocolate, melted

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until well combined. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and a pinch of salt into the butter mixture and beat slowly until well combined. Stir in the milk chocolate and pistachios.

Dollop heaped tablespoons of the mixture onto prepared trays. Flatten the dough slightly using damp hands, then bake for 12-15 minutes until cooked through. Cool on trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, drizzle the cookies with melted chocolate, then allow chocolate to set.

Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

While outside, I wandered about and ended up standing outside of our neighbor’s house.  Our neighbor, who was a lovely, generous lady, had passed away some time earlier and her son was then living there on his own.  Every other weekend or so, his 3 sons would come to stay with him.  His sons were there on this particular day, and as I hadn’t seen them in a while (we used to play together all the time as children), I thought I’d just quickly stop in to say hi.

The visit with these guys didn’t end up being so quick… we played some Nintendo (I believe it might have been Nintendo 64) – Super Mario Kart – and chatted a bit about what we were up to these days.  They had planned on going to see the movie In & Out that night and invited me to come with them.  I called my mom from their house and she said it was fine if I wanted to go with them.  I was relieved I wouldn’t have to pretend to be all cheerful and polite with my mom’s friends!

It ended up that night, before the movie, that one of those 3 sons, Jimmy, the oldest who was my age and who had seemingly had a crush on me for years when we were children, asked me if I wanted to go out with him.  He had a bit of help and encouragement from his dad though, because like me, he was dreadfully shy.  We sat next to each other at the movie, but can you believe we didn’t say a word to each other, or hold hands, or anything that might show that we were newly dating?  I’m sure it was on both of our minds, we were just too shy to act on our feelings.

Once back at home, I said goodbye to the rest of the boys and Jimmy walked me home (our house was just next door) like he always to do when we were children.  We just simply said goodbye when we got to my house, then he walked back home.  I was elated though, walking in the door of my house.  My mom’s friends were gone by then, thank goodness, and I had a tiny piece of leftover cake while I was checking my email.  I had so many butterflies in my stomach from that night that I couldn’t even eat all of the cake.

Despite how happy I had ended up that night, it is now one of the biggest regrets of my life…..

Because I had always had a crush on Jimmy too.  The reason I went to my neighbor’s house that night was to ask out Jimmy myself.  But it didn’t work out perfectly, with Jimmy’s dad basically doing all the work!  How embarrassing!  That’s not why I regret that night though.  The reason I regret it is that that night was the last time I was at their house and the last time I spoke to Jimmy.  I saw him and his brothers while driving past their house every once in a while.  Maybe I did talk to him or his brothers again, briefly, but if I did, I don’t remember doing so.  I didn’t know his phone number at his other house where he lived with his mom, so I couldn’t call him; the phone book didn’t help because he has the second most common last name in the US, so I didn’t know which of the listings in the phone book was his mom’s.

I regret it because if I felt so strongly for him, I should have done something about it to let him know that I really was interested in keeping him as a boyfriend.  And I didn’t do anything at all to let him know that.

Who knows if my life would have been different had Jimmy and I dated.  Or maybe it was supposed to have happened that way, if you believe in that sort of thing.  I’ve spent the last 5 years or so searching for Jimmy and his brothers.  On the very day before we left the US in November 2009, I finally found out where their dad was working and I called him at his work.  It was great to speak to him again, and to hear that his two younger sons had married and had children of their own.  But the news he told me about Jimmy was not what I wanted to hear.  He told me that Jimmy had been in a car accident and his back was broken, leaving him “completely disabled”.  I was speechless and in shock.  How horrible.  I couldn’t even ask anything more about Jimmy, about whether he was doing okay, or if he has children; all that I wanted to ask about Jimmy had been forgotten in a single moment.  Minutes later, after the phone conversation with Jimmy’s dad, it began to really sink in.  It’s hard to believe that someone I had so much fun with as children, someone who I had struggled to ask out on a particular night, was now paralyzed.  I can only hope now that he has someone close to him who is looking out for him and helping him.

This is the story that comes to my mind every time I ask someone to come over for morning tea, or lunch, or afternoon tea.  Can you believe that?  I wish the story had ended on a happier note, and not only for your benefit, but for mine and Jimmy’s as well.

I want to put that aside for now though, because I’d like to introduce to you a perfect treat for morning or afternoon tea when you are entertaining guests.  This recipe for banana bread with honeyed ricotta comes from Issue #3 of MasterChef Australia magazine and is a masterpiece from Curtis Stone.  I’m not a huge fan of Curtis Stone’s, but this particular recipe has made me change my mind about him.

The recipe yields a very odd-sized loaf of bread – 8cm x 11cm x 30cm (3-inches x 4-inches x 12-inches).  It was so odd, in fact, that I had to just use an 8-inch x 8-inch square cake tin with high sides because I couldn’t find such an odd-sized loaf pan anywhere.  The preparation method for this banana bread is slightly different that most quick bread recipes, and I encourage you to have a read over the recipe below.  The end result is fantastic.  The bread/cake from my cake tin was moist and baked perfectly (it sunk in the middle slightly, but it was still baked through).  Its appearance was beautiful and rustic, with walnuts scattered on top of the golden brown bread.  It tasted amazing on its own…

But drizzle some warm honey on top of a slice of the bread and spread on a dollop of honeyed ricotta – it is perfect.  Never in my life would I have thought to spread ricotta on a piece of banana bread.  The addition of honey sweetens the ricotta, and a sprinkling of cinnamon warms it up.  It is a perfect pairing of flavors.  I will never eat banana bread any other way again.

Serve this banana bread with warm honey and honeyed ricotta, along with a cup of tea (I enjoyed Earl Gray with mine), and you’ll have guests knocking on your door, begging you to let them in for afternoon tea.  It is just that amazing.

Banana Bread With Honeyed Ricotta
Adapted from Curtis Stone, MasterChef Australia magazine, Issue 3
Makes 1 8cm x 11cm x 30cm loaf
Serves 8, approximately

Ingredients
250g (1 2/3 cups) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
2 large eggs
275g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
3 overripe bananas, mashed (1 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons Greek-style yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
150g (1 1/2 cups) walnuts, roasted, halved
150g ricotta
180g (1/2 cup) honey, divided

Method
Preheat oven to 150C. Grease and line the base and sides of an 8cm x 11cm x 30cm (6-cup) loaf pan with baking paper. Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until thick and pale. Reduce speed to low-medium and gradually add oil in a thin, steady stream. Add bananas, yogurt and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add flour mixture and three-quarters of the walnuts and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and scatter with remaining walnuts. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, combine ricotta and 2 tablespoons of the honey in a bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Place remaining 4 tablespoons honey in a small pan and warm slightly.

To serve, drizzle banana bread with warm honey. Thickly slice and serve with honeyed ricotta.