Scrumptious Saturdays-Ultimate Chocolate Cake

 Just looking at it makes me hungry!

For this Scrumptious Saturdays I'm posting a super delicious chocolate layer cake! This was the first time I've ever made a layer cake, and the recipe is super easy and delicious! It looks way more time consuming than it actually is! It's the perfect special occasion or treat yourself decadent cake! The sparklers are optional, but who doesn't like sparkly cake?

Chocolate, Strawberry Layer Cake

Adapted from Chocolate Layer Cake in Junior Masterchef

Serves: 10

For the Cake:
75g Cocoa Powder
225g Self-Raising Flour
60g Plain Flour
185g Softened Unsalted Butter, Chopped
400g Caster Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
4 Eggs
180ml Water
80g Chocolate
250g Punnet Strawberries, Sliced.

For the Icing:
200g Chocolate
200g Pure Cream

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line the bases of two 20cm round cake pans (I just reused the same pan).

Sift the cocoa powder, self-raising flour and plain flour into a large bowl. Add the butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs and water and beat on low for about 1 minute or until roughly mixed. Increase speed to medium and beat until the mix is just combined- it should be thick and pale.

Pour about half the mixture into one pan and the other half in the other pan, then smooth the tops (as we'll be stacking the cakes, you want them to be as smooth as possible). Bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Once the cake are baked press down lightly on the tops of the cakes to flatten them out- this should prevent you having to cut the tops of the cakes later. Cool the cakes in their pans for about five minutes and then move onto a wire rack to cool.

Cool the cakes completely (for about two hours) before decorating.

Place the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it just reaches boiling point and then pour over the chocolate. Stir gently to make sure all of the chocolate is covered by the cream and allow it to sit for a minute. Stir until smooth.

To assemble the cake, place one cake right way up on a plate. Cover with about 1/3 of the chocolate ganache over the cake and cover with strawberries. Place the second cake on top and pour the remaining chocolate ganache over the cake- don't worry if it drips down the sides, it's all part of the effect. Place the remaining strawberries on the cake and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Serve straight away :) Or with sparklers!

Don't rain on my parade- Coo Izakaya Restaurant

It's amazing how you can start off doing one thing only to end in a completely different place at the end of the night! Yesterday C, A and I got together to see This Means War at Dendy Cinemas. After much planning we left at 6.50 to see the 7 pm session. Unfortunately for us my movie app on my phone was wrong and the movie had started half an hour ago! 

So instead of crying over spilt popcorn, we decided to head out to the wild world of Canberra Dining. Our adventure was cut short when a huge storm hit, with hailstones and buckets of rain! Given the wet weather we all agreed all we wanted to do was fine somewhere nice and dry as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for our stomachs, we are not the most decisive people around!

After many comments of 'I don't want Japanese' and 'I'm not really hungry', we settled on Coo Izakaya (15 East Row, Canberra City 2602, (02) 6257 2233) sister of the droolworthy Iori (41 East Row Canberra City 2602, (02) 6257 2334). Unassumingly hidden behind a newspaper covered window and a screen, the room was cosily lit with red lanterns. The staff were all really friendly and seated us at a table in the corner next to the bar as the restaurant was filling up.

Despite the small restaurant size, the menu is huge! Coo has a massive range of sushi (both nori rolls and sashimi), noodles and rice dishes. After much deliberating C and I settled on the Made for 2 Platter to share and a plate of gyoza with a glass of lemon, lime and bitters on the side. A was feeling particularly hungry and craving steak so she ordered Wagyu beef and a plate of salmon hand rolls.

Wagyu Beef cooked to perfection

Made for 2 Platter $39.90 <3 Absolutely delicious! 

 Made for 2 Platter's salmon nori roll.

 Required Artsy shots!

 My favourite piece of the night- unagi nori roll!

Gyoza $8.80

Haha memo to myself as Cruella De Vill would say, don't play around with camera effects when trying to get good shots of food!

 Lemon Meingue Pie with icecream $7.50

 After that scrumptious experience we went to the much raved about Essen Cafe (5/6 Garema Place, Canberra ACT 2600, (02) 6248 9300 ‎) for dessert! And boy did it live up to the hype! We got a slice of Lemon Meringue pie with ice cream to share, and for $7.50 it was great value more than enough for the three of us. The lemon was perfectly citrusie and the meringue was just enough to complement the lemon without overburdening the taste.

Happy Late Valentines Day!

Anything on a stick is instantly cuter!

 I have a confession. I love valentines day. The whole idea of having a day dedicated to giving gifts to those you love is just so romantic <3 Being a citizen of singledom however, means that I don't have a significant other to shower with sugary goodness. Luckily, my friends are always willing!

These cookie pops make the cutest valentines gift for your loved ones or yourself! While I think they look even cuter with sticks in the bottom, the cookie recipe works just as well without them :)

Valentines on a stick

Makes aprox 50 cookies
Cookie recipe adapted from  Smitten Kitchen

For the cookies:

375 grams flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
225 grams unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa powder

For the icing:

Pink ready to roll icing

White ready to roll icing

Raspberry jam

Tools of the trade:

Two heart shaped cookie cutters- different sizes.

Rolling Pin

Mix sifted flour and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa with a mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for two hours.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter and cut into hearts. To make cookie pops place one hand on top of the cookie, and using your other hand, slowly insert the end of the stick into the bottom of the cookie, using a slow, turning motion. Once the stick is inserted gently lift the cookie pop of the counter, flip it over and place it on the baking tray. If there is cracks in the dough take some of the leftover dough and place it on top of the crack and gently press down. It doesn’t matter if it looks a bit dodgey because we will be covering it in icing later J

Bake for approx. 9 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Once the cookies have cooled you can begin icing. Roll out the icing according to the directions on the packet. You want some pink icing for the smaller hearts and white icing for the larger hearts. Once the icing has reached its desired consistency and thickness- similar to pie dough- you can start to cut them out.

To put the cookies together spred a small amount of raspberry jam on to the cookie pop, layer a large white heart on top, layer a smaller amount of jam on top of that and then place one of the small pink hearts on top of that and voila J