Monthly Archives: November 2012

Nov 15 2012
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baking, dessert

Devil’s Food Cake (Or: a birthday must always equal cake)

This here blog might be a little quiet over the coming weeks as half the New Fat Ladies team is off on an adventure.

In S-J’s absence I will do my best (even though she might join us from parts unknown if she has the time/internet) to entertain you for the interim!

A 30th birthday has occurred and this means cake, that is one thing I know is true in my universe. I sadly missed the cake on the party day (I went to Perth and ate wedding cake instead – which was very excellent!) so I made a little cake for the birthday lady for the day of her birth!

She likes chocolate, because she’s pretty smart. I didn’t have any of my cookbooks with me as I wasn’t in my own kitchen, but luckily I had NFL supplies on hand. So, I pulled out a book of S-J’s for this recipe, the CWA one that I am holding in our “promo shots” in fact. This recipe was for a Devil’s Food Cake but honestly I have changed it so much that it is not even close to recognisable anymore. But inspiration is important, so it gets a shout out!

You can make it more simple by using storebought jam for the filling or subbing out the frosting for your favourite go-to icing. I leave that up to you. But just make cake, and then eat it. It’s the best plan.

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Nov 08 2012
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bread, chicken, sandwich

Coq Aux Vins Sandwich (Or: yes, we did actually use two wines and then nerded it up grammar style.)

And then there came a day unlike any other* when I decided it would be a good idea to take all the delicious elements of Coq Au Vin and put them in a sandwich.

It was a good day.

I was having leftover Coq Au Vin for lunch one day and mopping up all the deliciousness with a nice piece of bread and had a moment. I will now recreate that moment through a short playscript.

INT. KITCHEN. LUNCHTIME.

Me: THIS IS SO DELICIOUS.

My Brain: We should make this into a sandwich.

Me: Holy smokes! How would we create such a devilish treat?

My Brain: Let’s get Katie in on this.

Me: Good thinking, Brain. *texts Katie*

Katie: *is the ideas person*

And so this sandwich was born. Was it a labour of love? Yes. Did it take longer than your usual lunchtime repast? Yes. Was it worth it? HELLZ YES.

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Nov 04 2012
1 Comment
baking, cinnamon, dessert, fruit

Apple Strudel (Or: I really like apples)

In a lovely coincidence, I happened to make Apple Strudel the same week that the lovely lads and ladies on the Great British Bake Off had a strudel challenge. It’s like it was meant to be. It probably had more to do with the 1kg of apples I had picked up at the market the week before that were judging me from their fancy fruitbowl. Whatever the reason, strudel was made and I carted it off to a dinner party/games night at a lovely friend’s home and it was a tasty to ending to a deliciously autumnal meal (yes, spring is here, no, I don’t accept it, AUTUMN FOR PRESIDENT).

Disclaimer: We are a cooking blog, but we are people too. I find that I have things in my life that I prefer to do that don’t involve the multi-hour process to create butter puff pastry, so I tend to buy the fanciest brand I can afford from the frozen section and call it a day. If you can actually tell the difference, you impress me, because I’ve made many kinds and I really can’t. It is just not worth it to me for a casual meal, and if you can play with store-bought and get it to do what you want, I say take that extra time you have to drink a cider, eat some good cheese and pat yourself on the back for your excellent time management choices.

One day we’ll probably do puff pastry and I’ll be all “IT’S SO WONDERFUL I DON’T KNOW WHY I DON’T MAKE IT ALL THE TIME”, and you can point me back to this post and heckle me if you like, I won’t care though, because no matter what, in the end, I’ll have a belly full of pastry!

So, back to the strudel. I have a fear of runny liquid insides ruining my strudel, so these apples are cooked twice before they are rolled inside pastry for the final filling. This means that it is a very soft filling once cooked for the second time. All the apples collapse into the raisins and disappear into your tummy in seconds.

I made two, and the four of us ate it all.

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