Happy Blog Day to Me! and Cupcake Hero

Happy Blog Day to me!! I am finding it hard to believe that today is 12 months since I started writing my blog. It had been a big year of baking and I have loved every minute of it! When I started my blog I had the hope that it would fulfil some of my desire to be a cook book writer – and it does! I have also become involved in some fun challenge communities – Tuesdays With Dorie and the Daring Bakers. As much as I love the sharing of recipes, I love the sharing of lives that the blogging community creates – I love that I have something in common with so many other home cooks and bakers around the world. It has definitely given me an insight and appreciation for other ways of life that I didn’t have before!

Cupcake hero is also turning one this month and to celebrate, this month’s theme was the choice of combining any two previous month’s ingredients. I have decided to post about my cupcakes on my blogiversary. The two ingredients that were featured in the two months before I joined were lime and clove, so I chose those as my ingredients for this month. I know the combination sounds a bit weird, but in one of my Peter Gordon’s books there is a recipe for clove, lime and macadamia cookies and he writes that cloves and lime have a great affiliation, so I thought I would try it!

I adapted a recipe for hazelnut citrus cakes, substituting lime zest for the orange zest and ground macadamia nuts for the ground hazelnuts. The cakes have no butter in them, but there are plenty of ground nuts to add moistness. Separating the eggs and mixing through beaten egg whites gives a lovely lightness to the cakes. I topped them with whipped cream which I flavoured with a touch of ground cloves and a little lime topper which I made from fondant and bright green sugar crystals. The cakes are delicious – kind of a different flavour, but one I think works really well!



I have also been awarded a Brilliante Blog Award by Susan from Food Baby – thanks so much Susan, I am so honoured and great timing! Part of the award is that I have to pass it on to seven other bloggers, a hard choice, but I have awarded it to those bloggers who initially inspired me to get blogging! I appreciate that you all get lots of awards and wont necessarily have the time to pass them on, but Thanks Guys!!

1. Stephanie from A Whisk and Spoon
2. Peabody from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
3. Cakelaw from Laws of the Kitchen
4. Jen from http://ilovemilkandcookies.blogspot.com/
5. Laurie from Quirky Cupcake
6. Morven from http://www.foodartandrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/
7. Helen from Tartlette

Oh, and seeing that this is a birthday, there has to be presents!! I love comments, so if you leave a comment on today’s post by Monday 22 Sep, and you live in NZ, I will randomly pick three of you to receive some wee treats by Tammy :0)



Clove, Lime and Macadamia Cupcakes (makes 6 – 7 cupcakes)

3 eggs
¾ c castor sugar
zest of 2 limes
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ c ground almonds
½ c ground macadamia nuts
½ c self raising flour

· Separate the eggs and beat the yolks with the sugar until creamy and thick
· Fold in the lime zest, cloves, vanilla, nuts and flour (the mixture will be thick and crumbly at this point)
· In a separate, clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold a couple of spoons of the egg white into the other mixture to lighten, then fold in the balance of the egg white
· Spoon mixture into cupcake liners and bake at 170c for 20-25 minutes
When cold decorate with cream whipped with 1/8th tsp of cloves and 1 dsp icing sugar