Eats Lately #4

This past month has been a busy one, filled with all things sweet! I think it's time to do a little round up of all that is bright and sugar related :)

Cadbury's Marvellous Creations range has always been something I thought of as extremely clever. They've marketed this range so it looks super fun. I can't help but be drawn into their little chocolate worlds whenever I see one of the ads. Their new range is even more fun if that's possible. Thanks to Holly Frendo of Red Agency for sending over a couple of samples for me to try before they hit up stores this month!

I love all things cola flavoured and I love all things chocolate but combined together? I think it was a bit too odd for me with the whole sugary candy and creamy chocolate combo.

What was more down my alley was the caramel shakes! It felt like I was eating solid caramel milkshake bits. If M&Ms had crunchy bits in it and were caramel flavoured, this would be it.

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Another company who just launched their Spring collection is Tupperware. I sure woke up bright and early to get a preview of their new range. But there's nothing better than starting an early morning with a breakfast of yogurt and fresh fruits.

The hot brekkie (though not sugar related in any way!) was simple yet went down a treat.

The Tupperware collection is super bright - much like spring! You can't help but be happy if you brought your food out in these cute containers, no? And are the bags adorable or what? I can just imagine the big smiles on the faces of the kids using these bags. Thanks Kaaran Gaffney and Vanessa Waingent from AMPR Public Relations for hosting such a lovely breakfast with fantastic views of Bondi Beach :)

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And no sweet month is complete without a visit to the Pie Tin. This adventure features THREE glorious dessert pies! Yes, I went on two different occasions. Don't judge. Can I just take a moment to relive how delicious these all were? They were so different, but respectively amazing.

Whipped lime pie, $8.50

The whipped lime pie was delightedly zesty yet creamy at the same time. Is this what the American's call key lime pie?

Oreo cookie pie, $8.50

And oh my god the oreo cookie pie... This is definitely for you diehard Oreo fans! Oreos and cream everywhere!

Tim Tam pie, $8.50

Did someone mention Tim Tam heaven? I'm not sure if any exists, but I feel like if any did, this would be it. This slice of pie was chock full of Tim Tam bits left, right and centre. So rich and chocolately. All three are not for the faint-hearted, as the cream content is very, very high. But if you are not afraid of the delicious dairy goodness that is cream, I highly recommend them all :P

And that's a wrap up of my super sweet month! Hmm, I feel the oncoming of diabetes... Better tone it down a notch with the sugar :P

Eats lately via iPhone #2

Uni has been keeping me busy lately so I've gathered snapshots of bits and bobs I've been eating!

Clockwise from top left: apple & cinnamon, lemon meringue, strawberry, black forest, carrot, hummingbird

Cupcakes from the Cupcake Bakery! Cupcakes are just so cute and there was plenty of icing - my favourite ;) I really enjoyed the apple & cinnamon, along with the lemon meringue! I was expecting something special from the hummingbird but it just tasted like plain old banana to me. Which isn't a bad thing as I love banana bread/cake/muffins!

The Cupcake Bakery
320b George St
Sydney, NSW , 2000

 

Muesli and yogurt

Top Juice in Westfield Sydney has tonnes of fresh juices but I went for something heartier. Fresh yogurt is the best and this was the super thick kind swirled with a delicious mix of oats and raisins :)

Top Juice
Level 5 Cnr Pitt St Mall And Market St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Sweet taro and red bean crushed ice, $8.00

I have a thing for taro in desserts - especially the sweet marinated kind they have at Meet Fresh! Taro and red beans is a classic Asian flavour combination which I love :)

Meet Fresh
175 Rowe Street
Eastwood, NSW, 2122

Pork roll, $4.00

I love porks rolls. This place has my favourite pork rolls! Crunchy bread? Tick! The carrots and daikon are pickled just to my liking and the sauce they use here is what I think makes this pork roll number one in my books.

Ashfield Vietnamese Rolls
222 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield NSW 2131

Grilled Portugese chicken salad, $15.00

Decided to buy lunch at uni for once while waiting to meet a friend and went for the char-grilled chicken with piri-piri spices with coral lettuce, rocket, tomato and chilli sauce. The salad was average at best and not worth forking out the $15.00 (costs extra to sit in). Unfortunately you don't feel comfortable staying there for too long as the waiters continuously hang around and watch you like a hawk, even swooping in multiple times to try get you to leave quickly. Hard to have an enjoyable lunch when they're acting that way. I've had the baguettes here which are pretty good. Go for the lemongrass chicken!

Taste Baguette
City Rd Law Building The University Of Sydney
Sydney, NSW, 2006

Guava, biscotti & green tea froyo

Taro, biscotti, green tea & blood orange froyo

Noggi recently got renovated and they now have a lot of new flavours on rotation. Yes I know, I have a teeny tiny obsession with frozen yogurt. And Noggi has always been my go-to place for biscotti and blood orange (when they do have this flavour). I always top my frozen yogurt with mochi, coconut chips, blueberries and other fruit if I get extra toppings :D

Noggi
2/2 Albert Rd
Strathfield, NSW

Half roast pork knuckle, $28.00

Probably a bit silly of me to get half the pork knuckle when the entire thing costed just $5 extra! But I know I would not have been able to finish it without being waaay too full so I decided to skip the whole knuckle, go for half, and spend the rest on beer! I asked them to replace the mash with sauteed potato because while I do love mash, I've had it many, many times in my life and I wanted to try sauteed potatoes! The pork knuckle had such a lovely crackling, and the sourness of the sauerkraut plus sweetness of the apple compote brought out the best of the pork.

Bavarian Bier Cafe
24 York St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

French toast, $7.90 + $3.00 extra for bacon

My sister and I decided to have brekky in Newtown before class one day and we settled for a cafe next to the art store I bought some supplies from. I so badly want to say that I loved this but it was much to eggy for my liking. But yay for bacon and maple syrup!

Fringe Cafe and Restaurant
199 King St
Newtown, NSW 2042

Massaman beef curry, $6.95 during lunch

I order Massaman curry way too much, but this non-spicy Thai curry is so comforting that I can't help but be drawn to it each time. Hooray for multiple Thai restaurants in Newtown with cheap lunch specials!

Newtown Thai II
105 King St
Sydney, NSW, 2042

 

Hehe made myself a Vietnamese inspired salad for lunch at uni :)

And also breakfast in a jar so that I could transport it :D Greek yogurt, nectarine, berries, muesli and maple syrup mhmm.

Also baked some potato wedges with greek yogurt and sweet chilli sauce. Chucked in a tonne of different spices. Loved using the greek yogurt as it was just like having sour cream but less fat and higher protein :) Chobani's the best!

It was my brother's birthday recently and all good birthdays must end with cake! So a mango cheesecake was bought from Michel's Patisserie. He absolutely loved it despite the fact that he normally isn't the biggest fan of sweets so thank goodness :)

So there we have it! A little too much food everywhere haha.

Coconut cherry swirl loaf

For the rest of the year, I have really made it my goal to exercise at least 3 times a week despite all the work load that the university semester will bring. This is really a short term goal as I plan on exercising regularly from now on - it WILL be incorporated into my lifestyle! I do not really like exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach as I always feel queasy afterwards and if I eat breakfast first, I will feel the oncomings of a runner's nightmare - a stitch. So I normally go for a run mid-afternoon or at night!

My grandparents had bought an excess of cherries and once again, my dad was fretting about them going bad. As well as that 2kg tub of yogurt he bought. So once again, I was stuck with the duty to finish off all these things. I picked out the good ones to bring to uni as a snack (yay!) and this seemed like a wonderful way to use up the cherries! I decided to use this jam in a yogurt cake after the success of the lemon version.

The swirl within the cake is quite simple to do. Pour in half the cake batter, spoon on some cherry jam, pour on remaining batter, spoon on remaining jam, use a skewer and swirl!

I put this in the oven as I went for my run.

I don't know if it was because I knew that this was waiting for me when I got home, but I swear I ran extra fast today!

And what greeted me after that long and strenuous run was this.

This loaf was moist and not too sweet - definitely the perfect post workout snack. Especially when fresh from the oven!

Mmm, look at that wonderful crumb from the yogurt. The top browned quite quickly despite the middle of the cake not being cooked yet. I would probably lower the temperature to 160C next time and cook it for longer, maybe 75 minutes?


Coconut cherry swirl loaf
an original recipe by Crystal Noir

Coconut cake
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup whole milk plain unsweetened natural yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Cherry jam
2 cups pitted cherries, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon corn flour
1 tablespoon caster  sugar

Method
1. You can either prepare the cherry jam or just use about 3/4-1 cup jam of choice. Add pitted cherries, sugar and corn flour into a food processor. Process until it is chunky or to a texture of your liking.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the sides of a 23x12cm loaf pan with oil and line the bottom and sides with baking paper.

3. Spread coconut on a separate tray and toast until golden brown. Remove from oven.

4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil and sugar. Beat the 3 eggs in a separate bowl and pour into the large mixing bowl, whisking until combined. Stir in toasted coconut until combined.

5. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over the yogurt mix and stir with a spoon until just combined (make sure not to overmix!)

6. Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan and spoon on cherry jam. Pour on the remaining batter and top with the remaining cherry jam. Swirl the jam with a skewer - be careful not to overswirl! Bake for 60 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cover loaf with foil if it browns before it is completely cooked.

7. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let it stand for 10 minutes. Transfer the cake onto a plate. When cool, cut and serve. Yum!

Lemon yogurt cake

Sometimes, you don't need a special occassion to make cake. This yogurt cake is definitely an everyday cake that you cake imagine eating whilst drinking coffee and reading the newspaper (or these days, reading food blogs online on your computer!).

I first learned about yogurt cakes over a couple of years ago as I first ventured into the world of baking, where I would cut out recipes from the weekend newspaper. This idea of using yogurt in cakes immediately caught my eye and I dove head first into it. But it was not meant to be. I wasn't sure whether it was because I was still a horrible baker, or whether the recipe just wasn't up to standard, but I ended up with a cake that was very sticky, had the consistency of a rock and definitely was not pleasant in the mouth! My ever so loving family ate them with gusto and told me that I had done a wonderful job (I know they didn't want to hurt my feelings, bless their souls). I however, knew of my failure and have avoided cake recipes with yogurt in it like the plague.

It wasn't until I stumbled across Smitten Kitchen's version that my interest with this particular ingredient once again peaked. Not to mention that my dad had bought a 2kg tub of natural yogurt from the weekend farmer's market because he didn't know that we already had 1kg of yogurt sitting in the fridge! As yogurt goes off quickly, I decided to once again have a go at making yogurt cakes. And the result? A wonderfully light, soft and springy cake with hints of lemon coming through. Of course, you could always add a glaze or some lemon icing but it definitely is not needed. I think my faith in yogurt cakes has been renewed.

This cake is absolutely lovely, the citrus flavours reminiscent of Spring and definitely brightens up this bleak Winter weather. Eat it for breakfast with some more yogurt. Dust some powdered sugar on top and drink with some freshly brewed tea as an afternoon snack. And you have no excuse not to make it as it is such a simple cake to bake!

Lemon yogurt cake
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk plain unsweetened natural yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice (juice of one lemon)
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the sides of a 23x12cm loaf pan with oil and line the bottom with baking paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Beat the 2 eggs in a separate bowl and pour into the large mixing bowl, whisking until combined.

3. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over the yogurt mix and stir with a spoon until just combined (make sure not to overmix!)

4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Flip the cake onto a plate. When cool, cut and serve. Eat and feel yourself float around in a heavenly lemon daze.