So I just uploaded the photos for these marbled brownies and realised, I make a lot of marbled things. Brownies, fudge, cheesecake.. Let's face it, marbled food is just delicious!! Just look at these guys! Soo pretty and scrumptious!

Now, I have to confess, I tried to make these awhile ago. I can't remember exactly when, but we were in the place we're living in now but before I started this blog, so sometime between September 2012 and January 2013. (This timeframe is irrelevant to the story, I just know how many unnecessary details I want when people tell me stories!) Anyway, they failed, a lot. Normally, I'd try something, the recipe would fail and I'd ditch it. For whatever reason, I kept this one. Maybe I couldn't admit I couldn't make something marbled!

At the time, I figured one of the reasons they failed was that I didn't have the right size pan. The recipe calls for an 18cmx28cm pan, and I didn't have one so I used whatever I had. (Probably a 25cmx25cm or something a lot bigger like that!) Since then, I've had a lot of recipes that called for an 18cmx28cm pan, and I've just never had one. I've vaguely looked at shops for one but never found one. Our baking trays are made up of a starter pack from Kmart we got when we first moved out, plus some random cake pans inherited from my mum and Kai's mum. I've bought a couple of different cake tins from Kmart since as well, but nothing that good. My only "good" bakeware is a flan tin I bought recently, and my springform pan that I got free with a Philadelphia promotion. But last week, I was baking for Kai's family, for a BBQ at his parents house. Kai's dad had requested brownies - without walnuts! Given brownies and walnuts are made for each other, I told him he was crazy, but then remembered this recipe. I was pretty keen to make sure the recipe was right, so to cut a long story short (!) I finally went on a search for a proper sized pan. And, found one at an absolute bargain at Harris Scarfe! Yay!

I guess I should talk about the food itself too, hey? Sorry but I'm pretty excited about my new cake tin. I would have included a photo of it but it's sitting in the fridge with a slice in it right now!

Anyway. Marbled brownies. So. Delicious. Loved them. They were a hit. As soon as Kai's dad tried one, he tried to hide the whole lot so we couldn't serve them for dessert, which is a good response I think!

However, they were a bit of a bugger to make. Mixing up the recipe itself was fine. But they just took forever to cook. Maybe it was my oven, I'm not sure! But the recipe said 35-40 minutes and I think they were in the oven for almost an hour and a half in the end! It was a bit confusing, with the new pan, and the pan actually had instructions on it saying because of how the pan was made and the metal etc, have the temperature 10 degrees lower than required and don't overcook. So I tried that at the start, and then realised that was stupid and put it back to the required temperature. But it still took ages!

This is the second recipe I've tried from Cadbury Kitchen. Anyone that came to our Grand Final BBQ last September might remember the chocolate cupcakes I made from a Cadbury Kitchen recipe. They were dry and flavourless and just really disappointing! So I must admit, I'm not totally sold on their recipes at this stage! I'm sure I'll try more of their recipes again still, but I've got so many other delicious recipes to go through from many other places it might be awhile before I try another one! Still, despite the time this one took it was amazing!!

RECIPE - makes 24
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 40-60 minutes
125g unsalted butter, chopped
125g dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
250g Philadelphia Spreadable Light Cream Cheese
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg, extra, lightly beaten

1. Combine the butter, chocolate and brown sugar in a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until the chocolate and butter have melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the eggs. Add the sifted flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Stir until well combined then pour into a greased and base lined 18cmx28cm slice pan.
2. Beat the cream cheese, caster sugar and extra egg until smooth and creamy. Spoon randomly over chocolate mixture and swirl with the tip of a non-serrated knife.
3. Bake in a moderate oven at 180 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into 24 pieces.
Source: Cadbury Kitchen

Cheesecake is notoriously difficult, or so I've heard anyway. However, this recipe (the first cheesecake I've made!) is ridiculously easy! If you've ever wanted to try to make a cheesecake, this is your place to start. And bonus, it's seriously delicious!

I will admit, I did have one difficulty with it though, and as a result I have a brilliant tip to share with you all!

This is the first time I've made this recipe; for the Girls Night In we hosted last year my co-host Liz made this. I gave exactly zero assistance and just admired her efforts, however I still feel like my moral support helped a lot.

Anyway, both times the base has been difficult. Specifically, it's stayed in the pan and the cheesecake has come away with no base. At the end of the day, that's fine because the cheesecake tastes amazing, but you still want the base right?

After it happened the first time, when I made it last week I decided to bake the base on its own first. (Not generally considered necessary for that kind of base, but worth a try!) The same thing happened. I then googled, and found this tip - flip the bottom of your springform pan.

That's it. That's the big tip. And it is brilliant!

Notice how the base of your springform pan has a lip (picture 2)? That's why the base gets stuck. Flip that baby over, clip it into your pan, and voila! Problem solved!

I've linked below the website where I got this tip from; some other useful tips from this website that I can really recommend are:
* Soften your cream cheese to room temperature before use (goes for every recipe with cream cheese, not just cheesecake!)
* Whip until you have a "satiny" batter - you will probably go over the time the recipe recommends to make sure it's nice and smooth!

So, once you've got the base of your pan all flipped over nice, you can get your biscuit base going.

I find it very surprising just how delicious crushed biscuits and melted butter can smell. Seriously, can someone make that aroma into an air freshener or something?

Another tip (courtesy of a colleague from work) - you can swap out the butter for sweetened condensed milk. I'm thinking I have to try that soon, because that sounds so deliciously decadent and just.. yummm.

Then comes the fun part - mixing!

Note that this recipe does call for a food processor, however I think you could get away with a blender (for the base) and a stand mixer for the rest. It might just take a bit longer to get your base nicely crushed.

For me though, this was a chance to use my brand-spankling-new food processor! Look at it there, isn't it beautiful?

I was making this cheesecake for my boyfriend's mother's birthday, and as she and my boyfriend's dad gave me my processor for Christmas, it worked out pretty well that one of the first recipes I made with it was for her birthday!

Unfortunately I didn't get a great "final" photo - but I think you can still get the gist of how it turned out from this one. And if you can't, I can summarise in one word - amazing. We took some leftovers home and finished them on Saturday. As soon as we finished them, I seriously considered baking a whole new cheesecake. I then realised that was slightly over the top. Then remembered I had to bake something for Friday this week - so it'll probably be this again!

It's been great sharing this one with you guys - let me know what you think! And I'd love to hear how you go if you try baking this!

RECIPE
250g packet Choco Ripple biscuits, broken
80g butter, melted
2 x 250g packets Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature, chopped
300ml cream
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
200g milk chocolate, melted, cooled slightly
200g white chocolate, melted, cooled slightly

Note: As mentioned, the recipe calls for a food processor, but you could get away with a blender and a stand mixer.

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Lightly grease a 22cm (base measurement) springform tin and line base with baking paper. Stand tin on an oven tray.
2. Place biscuits in food processor and mix until roughly crushed. Mix in butter. Spread over base of prepared tin, pressing firmly with a glass to even the surface. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Do not overcook. Allow to cool in the tin.
3. Mix cream, cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla in food processor until smooth. Take out half the mixture and set aside. Add milk chocolate to mixture left in the mixer and process briefly until combined.
4. Use a wire whisk to stir white chocolate in to the remaining mixture. Pour mixtures over biscuit base, alternating about a quarter at a time. Use a non-serrated knife to swirl the mixtures together. Bake for 1 hour. Cheesecake will be set at the edges but still wobbly in the middle. Cool in the tin, then refrigerate overnight. Run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake before releasing sides of the tin.

Source: Coles Easter magazine
Source for tips: http://www.thekitchn.com/the-perfect-cheesecake-5-tips-and-tricks-168056

Everyone, I'm so sorry for my delay in posting! So much for my new year's resolution of posting more often! I've just been crazy busy and exhausted this week, and haven't had the motivation to post.

I'm still a bit behind on my Christmas baking, so there's a few more blog posts in store for you all in the next few weeks. Make sure you check out the "Recipes" section of this site as well, I've been adding in some recipes I've made in the past but haven't blogged about for whatever reason - there's some great stuff there!

Today's recipe is another one from one of my favourite cookbooks, the Kraft Philadelphia cookbook. I don't like bread and butter pudding as a general rule, but with dark chocolate - wow!

I made this pudding for Christmas dinner with my parents, and again for belated Christmas lunch with the in-laws. Second time around it worked just as well - the sauce was slightly thinner the next time but otherwise it was pretty consistent!

If you really don't like raisins you could probably replace raisin bread with normal bread. You could also substitute Italian Panettone as well.

Make sure you let the Philly soften well before you use it or you'll end up with clumps in your sauce. If you're using it straight from the fridge, I'd recommend chopping it up and microwaving it for 30 seconds before you start.

The recipe suggests that the pudding is served immediately; both times however I cooked it the day before, then refrigerated it overnight and warmed it up in the oven prior to serving. It was still delicious, and I think leaving it overnight probably helped the chocolate sauce to soak in better!

RECIPE - serves 6-8
2 1/2 cups milk
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
125g Philadelphia Block Cream Cheese, softened
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon caster sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
8 slices raisin bread

icing sugar, for dusting
pure cream, to serve

1. Combine the milk, chocolate, Philly, cocoa and sugar in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Allow to cool then whisk in the eggs.
2. Cut each bread slice in half diagonally. Arrange bread slices in a greased 2 litre capacity shallow baking dish. Pour over chocolate mixture and stand for 10 minutes.
3. Bake in a moderately slow oven 160 C for 35-40 minutes or until set. Allow to cool slightly. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream. Serve immediately.

Source: Philadelphia Simply Heaven, pg 141

Yum! This is such a delicious recipe, and so easy!

I volunteered to bake for a cake sale at work this week, with money being raised to support Deadly Sista Girlz. I didn't have a heap of time and wanted to make something that would sell well, so I went for these amazing red velvet cupcakes!

These are so delicious and moist, and not too chocolately either. I don't normally take photos of cupcakes pre-icing (they're a bit sad, like store mannequins that aren't dressed!) but I was so proud of myself this time - I wanted them to turn out pretty for the bake sale, so I was really careful to not overfill the cups, and look at them! They look great!

Any cakes leftover from the sale were brought into the office today, and when I went down I was proud to see that there were no red velvet cupcakes left - I choose to believe this means they all sold!

I think my piping skills are improving too - this is a photo of the worst one we had, and it still looks nice!

How were they? I don't know! :( I saved two, one for me and one for Kai, but we haven't tried them yet. I'm waiting semi-patiently as I write this blog for him to come home from cricket so we can eat them. Hurry up Kai!

RECIPE - makes 24
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
 1 cup buttermilk
200g unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 tbs white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
red food colouring to suit
2 x 250g pkts cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups pure icing sugar
120g butter, extra, softened
1 tsp vanilla essence, extra

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line twenty four muffin pans with paper cases.
2. Sift flour, cocoa powder and bicarb soda into a bowl. Stir through the sugar.
3. Whisk the buttermilk, butter, eggs, vinegar and vanilla in a large jug until combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in the food colouring.
 4. Divide the mixture among the lined pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when pressed in the centre. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, extra butter and extra vanilla until smooth. Spread or pipe over cupcakes.

Source: Taste.com.au

Today's recipe is amazing! This slice is so delicious, and really rich! I made this for Fathers Day, and it didn't last long with my family at all!

This is another of the recipes I tried when my friend Olivia came to visit last Sunday, which is why the photos are so much better than my normal efforts! Unfortunately for Olivia, this took awhile to make as it had to set in the fridge, so she didn't get to try any!

One of the most difficult parts of this recipe for me was crushing the biscuits - I don't have a food processor so I find this a tough one. However I've finally worked out the best way to do this. Pop a small number of biscuits (maybe 5 at a time) into the blender, broken up a fair bit (at least into quarters, but preferably a bit more) and blend. You'll probably have some chunks left; sift the biscuit crumbs using a large holed sifter and pop the chunks back into the blender with another 5 biscuits. Repeat until you've crushed enough biscuits.

We actually made a bit of a mistake with this recipe. Actually, I'll be honest. I made a mistake in this recipe - Olivia was in no way at fault! This recipe called for a block and a half of Philly, while the Strawberry and Cream Cheese Friands we made after this slice called for half a block. I even commented on this, "Oh good, I won't have any cream cheese going to waste, that's two blocks!" However I realised once I got to the friands that I had half a block of cream cheese left. Oops! I was a bit nervous the slice wasn't going to turn out - but it was still really good! It was a bit lumpier than it should have been, which was not good, but didn't taste too cream cheesey, which  was good as I was serving this to people who didn't like cheese cake.

Overall, loved this recipe! So delicious, and really nice looking to take to a dinner or something! Show up with this at your next family dinner and everyone will be thanking you!!

RECIPE - Yields 15 slices
Prep time - 20 minutes
Refrigeration - 3 hours+

350g Oreo cookies
80g butter, melted
375g Philly Cream Cheese block, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cream
3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
200g white chocolate, melted, cooled slightly
strawberries, for decoration
extra Oreo cookies, broken, for decoration

1. Place 250g of the Oreo biscuits into a food processor and process into fine crumbs. Add the butter and process to combine. Press the mixture into a greased and lined 18cm x 28cm slice pan and chill.
2. Beat the Philly, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, then beat in the cream. Stir through the gelatine and white chocolate.
3. Roughly chop the remaining cookies and stir through the filling, then pour over the Oreo cookie base. Refrigerate 3 hours or until set. Cut into triangles and decorate with strawberries and extra cookies. Serve immediately.

Source: Simply Heaven Volume 1 - 75 Philadelphia Cream Cheese Recipes

Thanks to everyone who voted in my poll of what to make next! As you can tell by the title of this post, the winner is - Tim Tam Balls!

This actually turned out really well because I was keen to make these - they sounded delicious, it was an excuse to use my new mixer (more on that later), and most importantly, I wanted to make something to give my lovely friend Liz as part of her birthday present!

It's not Liz's birthday till Monday but she had her birthday dinner last night (Friday). I'd already bought her a present but I wanted to add in something homemade. Tim Tam Balls were perfect because they were somewhat quick and easy (not quite as quick and easy as I'd expected though!) and transportable. I actually made a whole batch intending to give them all to Liz (none even made it to work - sorry team!), and I was planning to buy a cute noodle box and pack them in there. Unfortunately due to how busy I was this week, I didn't get a chance to buy one and ended up sending Kai to the supermarket when I rushed in the door at 6.45 Friday night to find something to put the balls in, plus a card, plus tissue paper, plus a gift bag. All of which had to be pink. As you can imagine, Kai was delighted with this request. Meanwhile I ran around the house frantically stressing about how late I was. Kai ended up getting some super cute little pink and white boxes which I could fit 2 balls in only, so Liz ended up with 4 balls instead of about 20. But, they looked adorable in their boxes!

As I mentioned, these were somewhat quick and easy, but not as much as I thought. However, this was probably more my fault that the recipe's! Since I started this blog, I've been using a hand mixer Kai "borrowed" from his mum months ago. I've been trying to "borrow" my mum's stand mixer for about two years but she won't let me leave the house with it - I think she knows it won't make it back, and given it's 20 years old and still working perfectly she's refusing to give it up! So all the recipes I published are mixed with a hand mixer - which is fine, just means it takes a bit longer and my arm gets tired. But I've been wanting a stand mixer for ages, and I've had one from Breville picked out to save up for me. I came home on Tuesday to find that Kai had bought the mixer for me as a surprise - apparently he'd been saving up for it for awhile! I am so, so spoilt. I was super excited to use the mixer Thursday night, and had too much fun playing with the settings. I was just meant to mix the ingredients and ended up creaming them, so I had to leave the mixture to settle for about an hour before I could use it! Whoopsie.

The hardest thing about these was covering them in chocolate! I found the balls were melting when I was trying to coat them in chocolate and they ended up looking really messy. You can get a bit of an idea of how clumpy the chocolate looks by the photos above - and they were the good ones! I've since googled some tips on how to avoid the clumps and found a few ideas:
* Freeze the balls you're coating first
* Put the chocolate in a mug or something easy to dip into
* Make sure the chocolate isn't too hot
* Put the balls on skewers or something similar and dip into the chocolate
* Don't be concerned about the coating being too thin, just go back for a second coating
Some great tips to remember (and the same applies to cake pops as well!)

Overall I think these went really well - they're very rich so you can't eat many at a time but very delicious - and most importantly I think Liz liked them so a good birthday present :)

RECIPE - Yields about 20 balls
1 packet Tim Tams
250g packet Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
375g packet chocolate bits, for coating

1. Crush the Tim Tams; I pop them in the blender but you could also hand crush or use a mixer.
2. Mix the crushed Tim Tams and the softened philly in your mixer for a few minutes, until mixed well.
3. Roll mixture into balls. Freeze.
4. Melt the chocolate bits in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring thoroughly between. Once fully melted, allow to cool.
5. Once chocolate is cool, remove balls from the freezer and coat with chocolate.
6. Refrigerate until chocolate is set.

Source: Facebook