Tagged: food
FAKI SOUPA (Greek Lentil Soup)
Try and make the insides of a meat pie look good! Go on, dare ya!
You can’t can you??!
Well this is the same.
Phoodie’s Middle Eastern Eton Mess.
I love Eton Mess.
So simple. 3 ingredients. Each of them perfectly matched to each other.
I know they say don’t mess (pardon the pun) with a good thing, and it’s for that reason that I state the following:
I do NOT view this recipe as an ALTERNATIVE to the traditional Eton Mess, but rather as a different dessert all together, just sharing a part of its name, due to it’s generic make up.
Phreakish Witches Phingers – HALLOWE’EN 2011
I stayed true to my promise.
Ever since I’ve been a grown up (or perhaps since I was of ‘age’….still not sure that I am grown up) I have made sure that on the eve of October 31 the house has more sugar in it than even Willy Wonka would approve of!
This year however, despite the chaos that is my life, I decided it would be a good idea to bake for the visiting kids in the street – something yummy but also something that they would get a laugh from too!
And that is where these ‘Phreakish Witches Phingers’ stepped in!
The recipe is super simple, like most on this blog, so not only won’t these biscuits take you long to make, but if you’ve got kids then they can help you whip them up as well!
The biscuit / cookie is simply shortbread. Any old, basic shortbread recipe works here. I have used Nigella Lawson’s which you can find by clicking here. I normally use this when making “traditionally shaped” shortbread so I thought why not for my phingers! For this recipe though, I replaced the vanilla seeds with 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence. The reason for this is that I didn’t want my fingers to have little black dots all over them! You can use either.
Apart from the ingredients listed by Nigella, you will also need Blanched almonds for the fingernails and red food gel for the blood!
Below are some pics of the dough…..
Once I’ve made it, I always refridgerate for about half an hour before rolling out.
When ready to roll, (I take out only about a large handful of dough at a time to work with – this is because the dough “melts” pretty quickly, making the shaping of the fingers tougher!) take about a teaspoon and a half of dough and roll into finger shape, pinching in at the knuckles. Use a knife to cut lines in knuckle and upper part of finger. Press Almond firmly into top of biscuit as the nail.
Place biscuits on a tray and shove into a pre-heated 160 deg cel oven for about 25 mins or until shortbread is slightly golden.
As soon as you take the biscuits out of the oven, lift up the almond, squirt the red gel on the nail bed and push almond back down on top.
Cool on a cookie stand. Or a pizza tray.
Finito! EASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSY!
Oh, and just because I had HOURS of spare time on my hands (not!!) I tested out some smaller phingers (about a teaspoon of dough). Below you can see them cooling alongside the larger ones. For the record, I think the larger ones look better.
Happy Hallowe’en folks!
White Chocolate Cookies and Cream Rocky Road
Pheed me white chocolate intravenously.
All day.
Every day.
Also pheed me rocky road in the same manner.
ALSO pheed me Oreos that way.
My head……day – dreaming……la la land……..recipe pops in.
Here it is.
Weep.
Love.
Takes 3 seconds to make but will KNOCK the socks off anyone who chomps on a slab!
INGREDIENTS
750g white chocolate
2 packets white marshmallows
1 cup shredded coconut
1 packet Oreos
METHOD
1) Melt the chocolate over a bain marie
2) Toast coconut until golden.
3) Place marshmallows on plate, then chop each one into half / thirds.
4) Roughly chop Oreos into large chunks.
5) Now the chocolate should be completely melted, add the coconut to it and stir.
6) Add in the marshmallows…..it’s ok….it’s ok…. I also ate half of them prior to chucking them in!
7) Now it’s Oreo time – in they go!
8) Mix everything all together well!
9) Pour mix into lined rectangular tin – approx 20cm x 30cm – then place in fridge. This will set in 2 hours but if you can leave for 3-4 that is more ideal
10) Once set, remove from fridge and prepare to chop.
11) With a sharp knife, cut into thick 2 inch fingers.
12) Serve on pretty plate…..if there is any left at this point!!!!
ENJOY! And note – if consumed on birthday, anniversary of ANYTHING, overseas, whilst feeling sad / happy / stressed / relaxed etc – IT IS COMPLETELY FAT FREE!
PHRIDAY PHEAST #10 – “Pot Plant” Dessert – Chocolate Mint Mousse
Chocolate.
Mint.
The Garden.
Three of my favourite things.
Ok ok…. I can hear those who know me laughing uproariously re: the garden component, and they’re right…..well kind of….. I don’t like ACTUAL gardening, but I love sitting in the garden, on a rug, sipping a cappucino…..surely that counts?!
So, inspired by my 3 (maybe 2) favourite things and also by a Womens Weekly cake that I saw which was a paddock filled with farm animals, I have put together a little dessert that only a fool would not enjoy.
Like all of the recipes on PHOODIE, it’s roooooooolly quick to make, easy on the eye and tastes damn good too!
Give ’em a go!
Note: if you like these, you’ll LOVE Phoodie’s “Hamburger” cupcakes!!!!! Click here to see those!
PHOODIE’S “POT PLANT” MINTY CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
This is Nigella’s recipe. You can’t stuff it up. It works every time. It also takes minus 1 second to make.
Click here to see it.
The only thing I change about this is that instead of Vanilla extract I use MINT extract.
Once mousse is made, divide into 4 “pots” leaving about 1/2 an inch at the top for “soil”.
CHOCOLATE ‘SOIL’
Ingredients
6 x dark chocolate Tim Tam biscuits or similar chocolate biscuit – gotta be dark chocolate though!
Method
Place biscuits in between 2 large sheets of baking paper and smash to smithereens with a rolling pin.
Sprinkle lots and lots on top of each pot of mousse.
‘PLANT’
Ingredients
4 x Mint sprigs
Method
Wash and trim.
Insert into “soil”
AND YOU’RE DONE!
These make a really cute house-warming dinner gift orrrrrrrr if you are having friends over you can place them on the window sill just prior to serving and then watch your guests think that you’ve lost the plot as you serve them your mini indoor garden for their 3rd course!
ENJOY!
Lamb Shanks w Tomato, Carrot and Risoni – Greek Style
This one is a MUST . DEFINITELY . COOK . ATLEASTONCETHISWINTER!!!!
So EASY.
So DELICIOUS.
SUCH a crown pleaser!
Click here for the recipe and a couple of other slow-cooker meal ideas!!
PHRIDAY PHEAST # 7 – Classic Pumpkin Soup
I’ve never met a person who didn’t like Pumpkin soup.
And before you write to me saying “My boyfriend hates it” or “My mother in law swears it’s the one thing she doesn’t eat” I would like you to whip up a batch of PHOODIES’ version, feed it to the aforementioned, intravenously, and THEN get back to me.
2 seconds to prep.
1 second to cook.
WHAT could be easier….or healhtier….or more delicious!?
Note: there ARE actually a billlllllllion things that are FAR more delicious in my opinion, but this soup seriously tastes damnnnnnn good, and the fact that it’s healthy should definitely tick a few other boxes on the “what dinner should be each night” list.
PHOODIE’S PHAMOUS PUMPKIN SOUP – Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
3kg Pumpkin – roughly chopped into 5cm blocks (I used Queensland pumpkins but you can use ANY that you fancy)
2 potatoes – roughly chopped into 5cm blocks
Garlic – 3 cloves crushed
1 Brown Onion – diced
2 leeks – chopped finely
Chicken stock (can use Vege stock) – just enough to sit near the top of the veges – about 3L
3 tablespoons Olive oil
1 tablespoon Butter
Salt and Pepper – to taste
1 teaspoon Curry Powder
Sour Cream / low fat creamy yoghurt – to garnish
Chives – finely chopped – to garnish
METHOD
Place the butter and olive oil into a large saucepan on medium heat.
Add garlic and onion and sweat.
Once they are transparent, add leeks…….
……….Sweat them – season with salt, pepper and the curry powder.
Next add the chopped potato and pumpkin, stir it all about.
Immediately add the stock (preferably hot but doesn’t realllllly matter). Don’t freak that it doesn’t cover the veges.
Chuck on the lid.
Every 5 mins or so turn the veges so that they all get a chance to cook under the stock.
In about 10 mins they will have shrunk so all shall be drowning by then.
After the veges are cooked through, about 20 mins, turn off the heat and remove some of the liquid – DON’T CHUCK IT as you may wish to add it back in – depends on how thick you want your soup to be. It’s better to remove MORE liquid than less as you can always add back in once you’ve blitzed…..but you can’t take OUT liquid once it’s blitzed.
Blitz. Check seasoning.
Garnish with Sour Cream or Yoghurt and kilos of chives. DEMOLISH with 1000000 pieces of hot buttered sourdough toast.
ENJOY!!!!!!!!
PHRIDAY PHEAST #3 – Good Old Fashioned CHOOK PIE.
I love Pies.
Meat pies. Apple pies. Cream pies. And of course, Chook pies.
THIS Chook pie in particular is RIDICULOUSLY delicious, very, very low in fat and super simple to make too! You can up the calories (and deliciousness level) by using full fat milk and butter and lots more of it, but if you are watching your waistline and health conscious in general, then follow the exact recipe below and prepare yourself for a treat that won’t send your heart into a crazed stir!
INGREDIENTS
(This will make a large pie i.e 6 large / main course pieces or 8 small main course pieces that you might want to serve with salad. The dish I used measures 50cm x 30cm)
Olive oil
1 brown onion
4 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch spring onions
4 large chicken breasts – diced
5 large carrots
1 large leek
1 bunch parsley
10 large cup mushrooms mushrooms – diced (You can use whatever Mushrooms you like! You just want about the equivalent of 5 large carrots worth)
250g bacon / ham / pancetta – diced
Low fat butter (just get the tub out and follow directions below!! You will need a tablespoon here and a tablespoon there, plus some melted to line the pastry)
100g Plain flour
750g Skim milk
Salt
Pepper
Ground cinnamon
Mild curry powder
METHOD
Place a tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan. When the butter starts to sing to you add the onion, spring onion and garlic and fry off. You don’t want to colour the onions, just to make them transparent. Already smells amazing, right?!
Once the onions have become translucent, add in the chicken pieces and fry these off too.
Whilst the chicken is cooking, prepare your veges for the pie. Rougly chop up the carrots, leeks, mushrooms and parsley – throw them in a bowl. I say roughly because I know that the majority of my readers are time poor and by saying “chop the vegetables into EXACTLY 1cm cubes” I would stress you all out. The MAIN reason recipes ask you to chop things the same size is so that they cook perfectly in the same amount of time, but as this is a pie and I am not trying to give my veges the perfect crunch (as Donna Hay would say) it really doesn’t make too much of a difference. That said, try and GENERALLY chop things the same size but be rough about it. Does that make sense?!
Now back to the chicken. It should be about 90% cooked by now……
It’s at this point that I throw in some salt and some curry powder to season. You can use black pepper as well or instead of the curry powder, but I find the curry powder adds a different and far more tasty edge to the dish (I add in about 1 teaspoon of it).
Now it’s time to toss those veges in, so do it. With them add about 1 cup of boiled water from the kettle, this will help them to cook. Chuck the lid back on the pot.
Remove the lid after about 5 mins and give it all a good stir. Do this after about 15 mins as well.
Whilst the veges are cooking, you want to crisp up some ham or bacon or pancetta in the oven AND make your bechamel sauce.
For the ham, roughly chop it into bits about the size of a 10 cent piece. Whack it onto a piece of non-stick baking paper, place on tray and slam into 180 deg cel oven to crisp up for about 5 mins. Remove and set aside.
For the bechamel sauce (or white sauce) you will need to make a roux and then whisk in the milk. To make the roux, place 100 g of butter and 100g of flour into a saucepan.
Turn on the heat to medium and mix the flour and butter together until the butter melts and they form a ‘paste’. They must be fully combined. This is the roux. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN IT! (Avoid burning by continuously stirring.) RED ALERT RED ALERT – pic below DOES NOT SHOW a combined roux – it is about half combined…..picture of combined roux FAILED and shall not be published.
To your roux, add 750ml of milk and CONTINUOUSLY WHISK…..
……..like a crazy person
The Whisk is your most beloved friend out of every ingredient and utensil in this ENTIRE DISH.
You do not want this to burn either and you also DO NOT want lumps. WHISK WHISK WHISK. After about 5 mins of whisking, add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of curry powder or cracked black pepper.
CONTINUE TO WHISK. You will notice the sauce is starting to thicken. KEEP WHISKING. Once it has completely thickened (abouttttttttttttt 8 mins) take it off the heat, allow to cool slightly.
Add bechamel to chicken mix (which should now be ready, veges soft) and stir through then add the crispy ham and stir together. Set aside to cool.
Pastry time. Brush your dish with melted butter. Then commence layering filo pastry and butter alternately until you have done 10-15 layers of each. Have a look at my Baclava recipe to see how this is done. IF you just don’t feel comfy using this amount of butter (I must say I didn’t for this pie) then only butter in between every 4th or 5th layer.
Add the slightly cooled chicken mix to the pastry base, dollop by dollop…..
Once all the mixture has been added, spread it out evenly with a spatula.
Now, repeat the layering process with another 10 sheets of filo for the top of the pie. Again, if you want, you don’t have to butter in between every layer, every 4th or so is fine. Make sure to put a generous layer of butter on the top though, as you really want it coming out nice and golden. I used my leftover pastry to cut out a heart for Husbies. You can cut whatever shape you want! Letters are always a hit!
Into the oven, 180 deg cel for aboutttttttttt 45 mins or until pie is golden and crisp on top!
And when I say golden, I mean GOLDEN!
I like to serve a really generous piece of this – the ultimate COMFORT DINNER!
I also like to make sure I scoop up all the filing that belongs to each piece when serving.
YUM!
DOUBLE YUM!
Kali Orexi!
Happy Weekend!
PHRIDAY PHEAST #2 – Phish and Phries (and YUMMY tartare sauce)
I love SO many things about this Phriday Pheast…..let me run through a few……
From beginning to end, it’s basically a 20 minute meal!
The phish is BAKED not FRIED so it’s super healthy!
The phries are shallow fried in olive oil, so they’re pretty healthy too!
Adults AND kids BOTH love it!
It’s fun to make!
It’s DAMN DELICIOUS!
DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER – it is my sister’s recipe!
My sister is a very, very good cook, and as we speak approximately 10 – 100 times a day, yes, of course, I get many a phood realted idea from her. She expressed her uh….um…..frustration? with me re: the lack of credit I have given her on my blog, so I told her I would credit her from now on, where necessary and I then invited her to be a part of Episode 2 of Phoodievision, which was the filming of the making of this week’s PHRIDAY PHEAST, her Phish and Phries. Being a little camera shy, she declined the offer to be on video, but said she would shoot it and call out pointers when required (UPDATE: We here at Phoodie are stillllllllll undergoing technical issues re: this video – we are working on those issues and HOPING that the video of this meal will be up in no time sooooo STAY TUNED!)
INGREDIENTS AND RECIPE
PHISH
FLATHEAD – skinned and boned – as many pieces as your guests will eat. (I say 1 per child and 2-3 per adult)
PLAIN FLOUR – seasoned – this means with salt and pepper tossed through it
AN EGG – whisked with a fork – you may need more eggs depending on how much fish you have, 1 egg per 5 pieces fish is about right
BREAD CRUMBS – a big pile – I always use either Panko, Japanese crumbs or homemade ones
PARMESAN CHEESE – 1/3 of the above-mentioned big pile, grated (note: the crumb mix which is made up of bread crumbs and parmesan, should = 1 part parm to 3 parts bread)
PHRIES
KIPFLER POTATOES – boiled, then cut into ‘home style chips’ – how many potatoes?! well how many chips do you want?! I think 3 potatoes per adult, 1 per child?!
OLIVE OIL – for shallow frying
SALT AND PEPPER – to season
TARTARE SAUCE
MAYO – either homemade or whole egg / full fat / extra creamy – a massive dollop
CORNICHONS – diced
SHALLOT – diced
BABY CAPERS
WHITE WINE VINEGAR – or lemon juice – a splash
Note: quantities are up to you! Go to town! Kindaaaaa like capers?? Add just a few. LOVE Shallot? Add 3000 kilos – you get the idea. Also, the sky is the limit in terms of what you can include! Sometimes I like to boil and dice an egg and chuck it in!
For the PHISH;
Turn the oven on to about 180 deg cel and allow to heat for 10 mins.
One piece at a time, take the fish, cover it in the seasoned flour, shake it off, dip in the egg and coat in the crumbs (combine bread crumbs with parmesan to make these crumbs).
Place on baking paper lined tray.
Repeat for all pieces of fish.
When finished, drizzle lightly in olive oil, slam in oven for about 20 mins or until cooked through and golden brown.
While this is in the oven make the PHRIES;
By heating a fry pan with some Olive oil, not too much, but not too little, basically cover the bottom of the pan.
When hot, drop in the phries.
Cook on each side until golden brown.
Season with salt and pepper and remove.
Place on paper towel to drain.
The phish will still be cooking so you have time to do your TARTARE;
This is the easiest of the lot!
Toss everything into a bowl and stir!
Taste.
Set aside!
ASSEMBLE
Take the fish out of the oven, place a couple of pieces on a plate with a generous handful of fries and a good dollop of sauce!
VOILA!
Stunning!
Kali Orexi!
ALICE IN ‘ONE’DERLAND – Bubba’s 1st Birthday Party
Welcome to (pretty much), a step by step guide on throwing an ALICE IN WONDERLAND birthday party for a kid (or adult!) of any age!
Since I was but a wee Phoodie, this was my all time FAVOURITE Disney movie (Lewis Carroll?? Who’s that?!) and it just seemed an appropriate theme for me to choose when I had to throw a little someone their very special 1st Birthday Party. To be more specific, it was actually A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party that we were throwing – so much inspiration in terms of ideas for the event!!! I was EXCITED!
I also branded it an Alice in ‘ONE’derland theme, get it?! First birthday!? ONE – derland!! I often grab ideas from the web, or from mags or from shop windows etc, and whilst I AM SURE someone somewhere in the world has thought of ‘One’derland before for a 1st bday I SWEAR THAT I THOUGHT OF IT whilst sitting alone myself and making one of the signs for the party! I was so proud of having the ideaaaaaa!! *pats self on back then shakes head at how sad that is*
Anyway….I had many a grand plan in the months and weeks leading up to the event, most of which I left nowhere near enough time to execute! In any case, I was reallllly happy with how everything turned out, but honestly, everything came together at the last minute, and hundreds of ideas just fell by the wayside. So…..before reading this, know that although many hands make light work, and I did have heapssssssss of help getting things together (THANK-YOU EVERYONEEEEEEEE!!!!!) it is all definitely very achievable for even the busiest of folk, and it’s simple and basic enough for the creatively challenged!
THE INVITES
One word. Zazzle. Google them, ok don’t bother, here’s their website http://www.zazzle.com.au – they have a HUGEEEEEE selection of Alice in Wonderland themed invites that you can customise, pay for with a credit card and organise to have delivered to your door. It’s a good idea to think about the wording on the invite too, as this will set the tone for the party and add to the absurdity of the event that is to be the Mad Hatter’s Tea get together.
Bub’s invite looked like this on the front:
On the back of the invite it read:
Please join her for a very happy 1st Un-birthday party in ONEderland!
Address:
Date:
Now don’t be late for this very important date or the Queen will see red and yell “Off with your head!”
RSVP: The White Rabbit – email: ………………………….. mobile: ……………………….
The DECORATIONS
I mean the possibilities here were ENDLESS, but on a budget and a deadline we kept it simple!
Note: AGAIN, stylist to the STARS, Aunty T – thanksthanksthanks – without her we couldnt-a dunnit!
ENTRY SIGN
I made a sign that hung at the entry of our house. It read ‘This way to Phoodie’s Baby’s Onederland’ and there were arrows pointing all over the shop! I googled Alice in Wonderland fonts and then just copied them by eye for the writing. We hung balloons around it too!
BALLOONS AND STREAMERS
We hung balloons all over the front of the house and throughout the garden at the back, where the party took place. I ordered lots of helium balloons in bright colours and also some special red heart balloons, in the spirit of the Queen of Hearts! We also hung multi coloured streamers with the baloons that flapped about and looked pretty in the wind! In general, I just wanted everything to be big, bright and cheerful.
THE MAIN TABLE AND THE GARDEN
I wanted the big, long, tea table from the movie (and the book ofcourse) to be replicated, so we put 2 long tables together and covered them in bright yellow cloths and oversized white doilies. All of the food went on this table. We set the table, again like the film, as though 30 people were coming to sit down and have tea, when in reality we knew no one would actually sit at the table, but rather be running all over the garden and talking in small groups…..BUT as I said, it was moe for the ‘look and feel’ for when guests arrived.
We lined the table with lots of white chairs and hung balloons off the back of each chair.
All of the plates, serviettes and bowls were brightly coloured to match the balloons.
Thanks to Husbies, the garden looked beautiful. He’d spent a lot of time making everything look perfect! He even mowed funny patterns into the lawn AND scattered letters from her name on the grass too!!!! SOOOOO CLEVER!! Mwah!
LOLLY BAGS
The lolly bags were green polka dotted cardboard cartons that I stuffed with all of my favourite sweeties to eat – Freddo frogs, Crunchies, Red Skins, Fantales and more! They were so pretty, I actually wanted them to be on display for the party, but I didn’t want kids rummaging through them before the day was over! So……I grouped them in bundles, packed them in baskets and decorated with white glitter carrots (obviously belonging to the white rabbit) and they were kept on a table on the verrandah where everyone could see them, but it was pretty clear that they were for later, not for now!
Just before everyone left, I moved the baskets filled with lolly bags and carrots down to the lawn near the gate that everyone was walking out of.
ENTERTAINMENT
We had a great clown / magician / face painter / animal balloon entertainer!!! EVERYONE adored her! She even pulled a REAL rabbit out of a hat!
THE FOOD
Being a tea party, I wanted everything to be cute and sorta small, or bite sized if you like. I know myself that when I see a table PACKED with food I become instantly overwhlemed as my eyes say GIMME 10 OF EVERYTHING, but my stomach knows that I can probably not fit that much in! So, the concept of mini foods was a good one, because 1) it fitted in with the tea-party look and 2) it allowed guests to literally eat everything and not be sick-full….just full! Again, seriously, I had a millllllllllion ideas at the start, but with so little time it just was not going to be possible to make everything……soooooooooooooooo here is the abridged version! There was SO much left over that each person exited the event with breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week!
HONEY JOYS
An oldie but a goodie!
MINI JAM DOUGHNUTS
Probably everyone’s favourite!
MINI CHOCOLATE AND MINI VANILLA CUPCAKES
Decorated with sugared hearts in line with the Queen of Hearts theme!
MINI QUICHE
Hmmmm posssssssssibly my fave of the day!
MINI PIES
Nothing beats a delicious meat pie!
Except perhaps…..
GOURMET CHICKEN SANDWICHES
I CANNOT believe I forgot to take a photo of these! Actually I can, because I stuffed so many into my mouth before I even contemplated snapping anything! But FYI, these were just traditional chicken, celery, mayo on wholegrain – gosh that doesn’t do them justice! Everyone makes these chicken sambos but NO ONE makes them like my Yaya!
TEA / COFFEE CUP SWEETS
Cute, didn’t think anyone would eat them, but rather just admire. BUT PEOPLE ATE THEM. Lots of people! Marshmallow cups with lifesaver handles sitting on Jam pillow biscuits with a freckle of ‘cappuccino froth’ on top!
TEAPOT, HEART AND CROWN CHILDREN’S SAMBOS – Vegemite, Ham and Cheese and Cream Cheese
BROWNIES
Who can resist a triple choc fudge brownie!?
WHITE MERINGUES AND WHITE RABBIT
A centrepiece to end all centrepieces!
Until the REAL centrepiece arrived……
THE CAKE
Although of course, this IS food, it comes under it’s own category for many a reason. Firstly, it took more time to make this than ALL of the other food put together. Secondly, I was more nervous about making this then I have been about making anything in my life. Thirdly, I am proud. So there. 🙂
I also took more pics of this that anything else as lots of the feedback I get from readers is that they like seeing stuff step by step and this was the only item that I took step by step pics for!! 🙂 Although in the rush, and the stress of it all, I missed a few steps along the way, so please forgive!
ANYWAY……………
In summary, the cake = 6 white chocolate mud cakes, sandwiched together with multi-coloured vanilla buttercream icing, then totally covered in fondant and coated with green vanilla buttercream icing, then DOUSED and I literally mean DOUSED with edible green gliter!
My first step was to bake the 6 mudcakes. That’s right, SIX MUDCAKES before the work has even begun! As I know how to bake mudcake with my eyes closed (I always use Donna Hay’s recipe,) and as I knew the real work was in the REST of the cake, i.e forming it, coating it, doing the fondant work and icing it, I decided to be a cheat and use packet mix. Yes, yes I know. But the point of this entire mad hatter cake recipe was never the mud cake. And let me tell you I’m not so sure that making 6 packet mix mudcakes was really that much quicker than doing 6 of my usual Donna Hay ones but anyway…….
Once the mudcakes were done, I covered each one with a layer of plain white fondant icing and drizzled the tops in a basic chocolate ganache (cream and chocolate mixed together). This helped the next coat of multicloured icing to stick, hence providing the cake with more stability as the layers went up! I then set the cooled, fondant/ganache covered mudcakes to the side and got out my cake board.
For the rim of the hat cake, I used an ACTUAL hat! Cheap, easy, and gave the perfect up turned curve that I required.
The next thing I did was to cut the top off the hat and glue the rim to the cake board – keeping in mind my final product. Did I want the cake set to the side of the board so I could decorate and write a birthday message on there too? Did I want the cake centred? Did I want it to the front of the board? to the back? I made my deciison first and then I stuck the rim down.
Once the rim was glued to the board I was ready to start building the mud cake tower. I had baked 8 inch mudcakes and so the hole in the centre of my hat that I cut out also needed to be 8 inches! Once the hole was cut, I was ready to insert my first mudcake into the hole and push it right down so it wa flush against the board. I then iced it with my first colour – PINK!
I then grabbed another mud cake, with white fondant and a drizzle of ganache on top, and placed it DIRECTLY on top of the pink iced mudcake, pushing down firmly. I chose to ice this one BLUE.
Did it again – iced the top YELLOW.
Did it AGAIN – iced the top ORANGE.
Did it, yep, again – iced the top PURPLE!
The 6th cake was then placed on top of this purple icing and pushed down firmly, but not tooooo firmly! The biggest risk throughout all of this – at this stage – is the cake collapsing! The icing is semi-fluid and causes the cakes to move a bit so it’s VERY IMPORTANT that every time you add a cake you PUSH down and ensure it is centred!
Now came the fondant. UNFORTUNATELY I only took 2 pics of this as I was panicking a bit and shouting orders at my poor mother and sister who were helping out! Both pics are TOTALLY UGLY and not worthy of featuring in this post.
In summary, the ENTIRE outer layer of the cake was coated with plain white vanilla fondant. I rolled it out to about a 4mm thickness and then vertically applied it to the cylinder of the hat as well as the top and the hat rim. I pushed down with all of my fingers to ensure that the fondant would hug the ‘curves’ of the cake to give the hat an old, vintage, crinkled look – I DEFINITELY didn’t want a smooth hat with straight sides!!!
My sister, yes MY SISTER (there you go sister, CREDIT) then painted the hat with a pastry brush, with green buttercream icing! She was VERY CAREFUL not to apply it too thick.
And THEN it was GLITTER TIME! We threw it, we dropped it, we splashed it, we did everything and anything with it! The aim was to ABSOLUTELY completely cover the whole thing with bright green edible glitter! The mess?! You’ve never seen anything like it!
Oh it was sparkly!
I then got my edible red glitter sugar pen and wrote my happy birthday message on the board, next to the cake. I cut out a piece of cardboard to write the traditional 10/6 size tag for the hat, but I made it 10/3 as her bday is March 10th!
The cake looked so awesome sitting out there in the Mad Tea Party arena! It was a hit with the adults and kids alike!!
The time finally came to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY which was lovely! A moment I will never forget! Then it was cake cutting time – PLEASE DON’T COLLAPSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND IT DIDN’T!
Considering the cake was 30 stories high, most people just wanted half a piece! which was still equivalent to 3 pieces of cake!
So, here I am , FINALLY at the end of the post! I hope it gives you readers wanting to throw your own Mad Tea Party a few ideas! We had an excellent day, the birthday girl really enjoyed herself and Mummy and Daddy were very proud of her! 1! All grown up!
PHOODIE 
