Gold & Black Themed Wedding Cake

Last week, I had the pleasure of creating a wedding cake for a beautiful new bride. 

The top tier was cookies and cream, the second tier was lemon and poppy seed, the third was carrot, and the bottom tier was chocolate and cherry cake.

 

Congratulations once again Alisia & Charles on your new chapter in life xx

Eggless & Oil free Banana Bread

This is the best eggless banana bread that I have ever made! Exactly how a banana bread should be: moist tender crumb, not too sweet and not overly dense. You won't believe there are no eggs or oil in here! 

I stumbled across this recipe on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Check out the original recipe that I adapted here.

Ingredientsof 

3 large over-ripe bananas

2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup soymilk or apple sauce
1/3 cup agave nectar 

2 cups flour white or wholemeal 

1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of desiccated coconut (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Spray or wipe a loaf pan with oil.

2. Mix the soymilk with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and let stand until it curdles. (If using apple sauce, skip this step and add the lemon juice to the bananas.)

3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add the remaining lemon juice, soymilk, and agave nectar. Stir well to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. 

5. Add the dry ingredients along with the coconut to the banana mixture, and stir just until the mixture is well-combined.

6. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes. 

Serve hot with a nice cuppa! 

And try not to eat the whole loaf at once, hehe :)

Kim xx

Basketball Cake

When it comes to cakes for boys/men, lets just say I don't have millions of ideas rushing through! However I was happy to get some direction for this special ten year old's bday cake! "Anything to do with basketball or rugby". Here I present my basketball cake

The inside is a moist chocolate and vanilla marble cake filled with chocolate cream cheese icing! Smells sooo good xx

My First (successful) Fondant Cake!

A few weeks back I completed a cake decorating workshop. My aim was to be able to cover a cake in fondant, I think achieved that hehe.

Enjoy my Pink Peony Cake xx

Amaze Dessert Boutique is Vegan and Allergy Friendly :)

My Special Apple Crumble Recipe

We have been celebrating our anniversary this week, so in celebration I decided to make an Apple Crumble. This is one of Jake's fav desserts of all time and I am pleased to say still is!

This crumble brings fond memories of my childhood talking to myself/pretending to host my own 'cooking show' (only child here). I have been making this pie since I was kid and it has never failed to please my loved ones. This is a simple but delish recipe, if I could make it when I was ten I am sure you will have no problems!

Kim's Apple Crumble 

Ingredients

Base
1 sheet of Edmond's Sweet Short Pastry.
I have been using this same pastry for years, I know it's not homemade but I have made homemade a few times and this is just as good. It can be cheaper to buy the block version of it and roll it out, but this is way easier. If you are game make your own pastry here.

Filling
4 apples peeled and diced
enough water to cover the apples in saucepan
1 teaspoon of cinnamon or mixed spice
2 tablespoons of brown sugar

1-2 tablespoons of cornflour mixed with water to make a paste

Crumble
1 cup plain baking flour
1 cup of oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 g soften butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Pull out a sheet of pastry and place on your pie dish to defrost. 
2. Filling: Boil apples on a medium heat with water, cinnamon and sugar for 10-15 mins or until soft.
3. While the the apples are cooking push your defrosted pastry into your dish and blind bake for 10-15 mins. Cool while finishing off the apple filling.
4. Add your cornflour paste into your apple filling and rapidly boil for 1 min while stirring. It should be nice and thick like lemon curd. If it is not thick enough make more cornflour paste. 
5. Leave filling and pastry to cool while making the crumble. 
6. Crumble: Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl,  rub butter into flour with your fingertips, or process in a food processor to looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar.
7. Add apple filling into your pastry, then sprinkle crumble mix on top.
8. Bake at 180°C for 20-30 minutes or until crumble is golden.

Serve warm with custard or vanilla ice cream! 

Enjoy,

I am,

Kim :)

Sweet Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Here is the recipe for my sweet pumpkin pie. You can use either Fresh Pumkin Puree or Libby's Pumpkin Puree, works either way. If you live in Auckland, you can get Libby's from Martha's Backyard.

Sweet Pumpkin Pie 

Ingredients

Filling 

2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree (see how to here) or 1 can (425g) Libbys Pumpkin Puree from Marthas Backyard
1 large egg
3 egg yolks
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Unbaked Pie Crust*

Sweet short pastry
You can make your own or buy pre-made pastry (I would use edmonds)

*You don't need to blind bake your pie crust as it is in the oven for a longtime and will cook through. I learnt this the hard way (burnt crust).

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220 C. Pie crust: Place the pastry in a pie dish. If it does not completely reach the sides, add more pastry to cover the sides to make a good 'wall'.

2. Whisk together the pumpkin puree, egg yolks, and egg in a bowl until smooth. Add condensed milk, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and whisk until mixed well.

3. Now pour in your pumpkin mixture in to the prepared unbaked pie crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 220C. Reduce heat to 175C and bake until just set in the middle for 30 to 40 minutes. When you think its ready poke a knife in it, and if it comes our clean its ready! 

Allow to cool completely before serving.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy xx