jelly bean cupcakes

A friend asked me for a jelly bean cake for their birthday. I thought that was an awesome idea, so i did a little research and this is what i found =) i ended up making one cake and an extra batch of batter to make cupcakes to go with it. There were going to be quite a few people at this party. Look at that glorious colour popping out of those cakes!

Jelly Bean Cake or Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups miniature jelly beans, (no licorice ones, yuck!)
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 250g pkg cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 325F/160C.

Generously grease and flour 1 x 12 muffin pans or one 8" / 20cm round cake pan.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup. Level off.
In small bowl toss jelly beans with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, cream cheese and vanilla until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Blend well. Spoon 1 cup of batter evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Stir jelly beans into remaining batter.
Spoon remaining cake batter with jelly beans into the pan. Bake in a 325F/160C degree oven for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool upright in pan 10 minutes. Invert on serving plate. Cool completely. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Cooking time for cupcakes is around 30-40 minutes. Just keep an eye on them!

Original recipe found here i used larger jelly beans, which in turn sank to the bottom, but went really gooey =) the little mini jelly beans would be a lot better for regular cakes/cupcakes!

The whole cake i did in a heart shaped tin, iced it with vanilla frosting and covered it with more JELLY BEANS! =) Coloured food makes me happy!

wasabi risotto

thanks to Abstract Gourmet i was inspired to make this dish!
which as it happens turned out fabulous and delicious! thankyou! =)
i havent made many risottos but he describes it well and it was easy enough for me!
i substituted white wine for sake and couldnt find the radish....mmmm...YUM!


Wasabi Risotto with Daikon & Pickled Ginger

taken directly from Abstract Gourmet

Ingredients

•Risotto Rice (I used Vialone nano which is shorter grained than Arborio or Carnaroli)
•Sake (as part of the stock, and for the flavouring)
•Fish broth (combined with water and sake to use as the stock)
•Leek
•Onion
•Red Cabbage
•Daikon (or Chinese Radish)
•Wasabi (I didn’t have fresh wasabi, so just used some paste)
•Japanese “Kewpie” Mayonnaise
•Lemon juice
•Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

Make the risotto as you would any risotto. Feel free to check out my indepth analysis of the risotto making process in one of my other recipes. The difference in this recipe is that we’re using sake instead of white wine to start with, and we’re adding the wasabi flavour at the end.
So start of the onion and leek in some butter to soften. Then coat the rice with the mixture and let it simmer and absorb heat for a minute. Now add a cup of sake to start with and let that absorb before adding the fish stock/sake mixture a ladel full at a time as you would any risotto.

I added the cabbage mid way through the process to make sure it was nice and soft, and I added the daikon right at the end to keep a little of the crunchy texture. The wasabi flavour was then made by combining the wasabi paste, japanese mayonaisse, sake, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil together and mixing really well. The wasabi is very strong… So i wanted to keep the flavour whilst toning down the sinus clearing qualities it’s often known for.

The result was a creamy pale green wasabi flavoured couli/paste/purée/sauce (mental note: look up the proper term for various forms of sauce). It had all the flavour of the wasabi with only a little of the “oh my god, that wasn’t a piece of avocado I just ate with my sushi” pain inducing after effects.

I mixed this through the risotto just prior to finishing, which gave it a nice glossy creamy finish. Then topped with a few slices of pickled ginger, daub some of the wasabi sauce around the place, and c’est fini !