Happy Wedding Day Ottawa!

Today is day one of the Spring Wedding Show here in Ottawa, and these are the cupcakes I have on display with Jo-Ann Pullen. If you are looking for invitations, you might like to chat with Jo-Ann at Studio No 8, where she designs the most exquisite wedding and business logos and stationery (watch for change on my website, courtesy of the talented Jo-Ann shortly). She is one talented and creative lady and I am glad I know her. Here's hoping some of her talent rubs off on me!

I only made 100 cupcakes for today, so fingers crossed, if you were there, you got to sample some! These babies are vanilla cake, topped with vanilla buttercream and I made each daisy by hand with gum paste. I love tone-on-tone colour schemes - so chic. And, what's a cupcake without a little bling?

As much as this blog is about what I am creating and working on in the food arena, if you are looking for cupcakes for your wedding or special event, give me a call - weekends are filling up fast!

Spaghetti Boscaiola

One of my favourite pasta dishes of all times. I had completely forgotten about it since moving to Canada over 12 years ago, until I came across a reference to it on a menu search I was doing for inspiring ideas. I used to order this every time I went to our favourite Italian restaurant in Syndey, and I don't even really like mushrooms, but I love them in this dish.
I had never even thought the recipe could be so simple, just a handful of ingredients which I generally have on hand. We always have bacon, cream, garlic and reggiano in the fridge, and spaghetti, or some type of pasta is in the pantry. And, well, wine is just a given in our house.
Easy enough to put together, delicious flavours with some cracked black pepper and wonderfully quick for a weeknight dinner. Serve with a crisp green salad and some garlic bread.

Spaghetti Boscaiola
Serves 4, adapted from here

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 slices bacon, chopped fine (remove most of the fat)
8 mushrooms, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup reggiano parmigiano, shredded
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
Salt & pepper, to taste
Spaghetti, or linguine, your choice

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook spaghetti according to directions, drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, melt butter in large pan until foaming, add bacon and cook until beginning to brown. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant, but not coloured. Deglaze with white wine, scraping caramelised bits off bottom of pan. Add cream and reggiano and continue cooking until sauce has thickened slightly. Stir through parsley and check seasoning.
Add spaghetti to pan, and stir through to coat with sauce. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Chipotle Corn Bread

It's been a very busy couple of weeks - my brother and his girlfriend arrived from Australia on March 1st for a week, then we took the whole family down to Punta Cana for a week over March break. On March 15th, I returned to work full time - a shock to the system after being a stay-at-home mom for the past 16 months. Seriously, having to get up and be somewhere, on time, is really tough, after days where I would be still in my pyjamas at 2pm, and then decide it was too late to get dressed. I miss those days....

But, getting back into a solid routine has been good for me. I am exhausted at the end of the day, but a good exhausted, the feeling you get after you feel like you have achieved something.

So, my apologies for the lack of exciting posts in the last little while. It's April 1st today, so the beginning of a new month, and the beginning of Spring - such an amazing time to be cooking and eating.

This recipe was made with everything I already had on hand - pantry staples. It makes a wonderfully moist bread with a crisp crust, a touch of sweet from the corn and a touch of heat from the chipotles. Apart from enjoying it with chili, I think it would make a delicious wrapper to a smoked turkey salad - give it a try.

Chipotle Corn Bread

adapted from a recipe found here

Makes 1 loaf, 9"x5"

1 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

3 large eggs

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup corn kernels, pulsed with immersion blender

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chilies (about 1 1/2 chilies)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 9 x 5 x 2 1/2-inch metal loaf pan. Mix first 6 ingredients in large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, eggs and melted butter in medium bowl. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; stir until blended. Add corn kernels, green onions and chipotle chilies. Mix well. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Turn bread out onto rack; cool completely.

Enjoy! 

Spiderweb Cupcakes

Trying to please little boys with super hero themed food is fabulous. I am not a theme cake maker, nor do I profess to be one, Actually, if you call me and say "can you make a cake that looks like a shoe?", I will say no. It's not my strength, I don't enjoy doing it, so with both those combined, the cakes never turn out well. I mean, they are delicious, they are just not as perfect-looking as I would like them to be.
I like little cakes, and little hors d'oeuvres, and cute food, and hundreds of little food all looking exactly the same. I find pleasure in the details, ALL the tiny details.

So, my Spiderman themed cupcakes turned out great - chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and then a white chocolate web placed right on top. All of those little "soldiers" (as my mum used to say), all looked exactly the same. I was in heaven.

You can order custom cupcakes right from my website at Take Another Bite. Just email me or give me a call - as long as it's not too themed, I am very happy to help out with the most delicious cupcakes you have ever tasted. I promise!
Enjoy!

Purple Pops

It was a busy weekend, I had these cake pops go out on order, as well as cupcakes. At the same time, I am entertaining my brother and his girlfriend from Australia. I feel a bit wiped out, to be honest.
The favourite colours of the recipient were purple & black, so I dipped chocolate cake balls in dark chocolate and then used the purple candy coating to make stripes, purple sugar and purple sprinkles.

I used to really dislike making cake pops, but recently they seem to have been on the top of everyone's order list, and now, after lots of practice, they seem to have grown on me. I don't mind them now that I have figured out the quirks!

Anyway, you can order these from me (in the Ottawa area) by visiting my website Take Another Bite and getting in touch with me.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Upside-Down Pancakes

I am a bit obsessed with breakfast and brunch. It's my favourite meal of the day - any day. And, if my family allowed me, there would be pancakes for dinner more often!
When I saw this recipe in the current issue (March 2012) of Bon Apetit I knew I had to try it out. I mean, Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes....just screams YUM! I like Pineapple Upside Down Cake too, so pancakes and caramelised pineapple combined in one dish - what could go wrong?
The recipe worked pretty well, the only thing I had to do was to make more syrup - there wasn't enough for me. I also topped my warm pancakes with ice cream. Delish!

Pineapple Upside-Down Pancakes
Makes 8 - 4" pancakes
adapted only so slightly from Bon Apetit Magazine, March 2012 edition

Pineapple:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large pineapple, peeled and cut into eight 1/4" rounds (you might not use the whole pineapple), cored - use a round cookie cutter to cut out the core in the middle
3/4 cup dark rum
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Pancakes:
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking sode
3/4 teaspoon salt;
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
non-stick vegetable spray

To prepare pineapple: Melt butter with cinnamon in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook until butter begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Add pineapple slices and cook until light golden brown, 4-5 minutes per side. Add rum and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat until juices are thick and syrupy. Transfer pineapple to a plate; let cool. Reserve syrup.

To make pancakes: Whisk first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add buttermilk and next 3 ingredients and mix until smooth. Heat non-stick pan over medium heat and coat lightly with non-stick spray. Working in batches, pour 1/4 cup measures into pan. Top each pancake with a pineapple slice and cook until golden brown underneath and bubbles form on top. Flip and cook pancake is golden brown. The BA recipe says to finish cooking the pancakes in the oven on a wire rack, but I found by cooking the pancake fromt he beginning with the pineapple ring on top, and over a medium heat, I could cook the pancakes all the way through in the pan, However, if you find your pancakes are not fully cooked in the middle - place them on a wire rack over a baking sheet, and finish cooking them at 325F for about 5 minutes.
Rewarm the pineapple syrup, divide pancakes among plates and drizzle (or drench, like me) with pineapple syrup.
Pure heaven if topped with ice cream :)

Enjoy!

Honey Joys!

This recipe is a definite throwback to my childhood. This is a treat that was made, in my family, for bake sales and maybe the odd thing at school where you had to bring a treat to share. I love these, and to proove it I ate four as soon as they were cool enough.
Yes, I know I am crazy - that's a lot of sugar, but they are just so delicious. Make them and you will see what I mean, I bet you won't be able to stop at one!

The original recipes says it makes 24 - yikes, 24, and I doubled the recipe, so I shold have got 48.....instead I made 12 super-sized honey joys. I do feel better saying I ate only 4 (instead of 16). 

Honey Joys
Recipe says it makes 24, but really, I used 2 1/2" cupcake liners and it made 7 super piled-high.
Taken exactly from here at bestrecipes.com (and doubled)

180g butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons honey
8 cups corn flakes

Preheat oven to 300F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake papers.
Melt butter, sugar and honey together in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat about 3 minutes until mixture is frothy.
Pour oven cornflakes in a bowl and mix well. Working quickly, spoon generaously into cupcake papers. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Enjoy!