Thursday, September 18, 2008

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

26 comments:

The Food Librarian said...

I'm not commenting to win anything, but to sincerely wish you a happy blogday! I really enjoy reading your blog. You are usually the first one I read for TWD since you are head of my time zone!

Anonymous said...

Hi, Tammy.

Happy blog birthday!, I read your blog everyday, hang out for your blog and hate it if you don't post or go on holiday. It was reading your blog daily that has insired me to start my own, so keep on blogging.....Jan

Anonymous said...

Tammy Happy Blogday! I wanted to let you know that reading your blog has inspired me to get back into the kitchen and bake & create healthier dinners for my fiance & I, and also knowing that NZ does have enough fresh produce & wonderful ingreidents! I just wish I could decorate and ice my baking as wonderfully as you do!

Anonymous said...

I am going to shamelessly write a comment in the hope winning as I absolutely LOVE your cooking!! B/c of loyalty to my sister I am going to say that yours is my second favourite blog, but I would like to add that yours is quite often the first site I look at when I log on to the computer in the morning. I must say I am intrigued by the lime and clove flavour mix and no doubt I will hear all about it from Jenny.

Jennynz said...

I'm not blogging for a prize cos I already eat far too much of your baking than is good for me! But I will say, for the benefit of your poor readers who only get to look at the cupcakes and not taste them, that these were REALLY yummy. I'm not normally a fan of whipped cream instead of icing (gimme cream cheese icing any day!) but I did like the spiced whipped cream on these - yummo!

Fiona and Michael Brown said...

I wanted to say Happy blog Birthday to you too - yours is one of the few that I check out every day...its very cool and I love how you try to treat all the people around with gifts of love, gifts of baking.
I like the sound of these cupcakes espcially as being gluten free - anything with ground almonds seems to work better..so I could make these with gf flour and the ground almonds and i thin they would work really well - will let you know!!
xxoo
Fiona.

slush said...

Happy Blogversary to you Tammy! So glad that I 'met' you. I am inspired by every single one of your posts. You are a truly talented baker!

Here's to another year! xoxo

(and thanks for the award too. If I could hug you from here, I would.)

Anonymous said...

Congrautlations on your first year of sharing your love of food with everyone. I love looking at your blog (as you knwo) and its very inspiring.I love the new cupcakes, they look like a cloud is on top of them, very yummy.. Keep up the great work, I know I will be watching your blog for a while yet.

Anonymous said...

Happy blogiversary to you! We sgould be sending you presents - I really do enjoy your postings and photos - boy I can't wait until you unpack and un-leash your kitchenalia on us! Congrats Tammy you are a wee treat yourself! p.s. you have already sent me a present this week,thanks for lending me the cookie cutters - what would a wizard of oz party be without ruby slipper and witch hat cookies!
much kudos to you

Unknown said...

Hi Tammy - Happy Anniversary and congratulations on a great blog! Regularly reading your blog inspires me to keep trying new things - thanks you especially for your Aunts Belgium Biscuit recipe it is a winner.

Keep up the blogging, Kimberley

Deb said...

It is a great blog. Tammy. You should be proud of it. I always enjoy reading it. Happy blog day!!

I'm with you on the sharing of lives and recipes. The internet has opened up so many doors that would never have been opened otherwise. And isn't blogging fun!!!

I like the sound of these cupcakes and still have a few limes hanging around that need to be used. Might make this over the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Happy Blog Birthday Tammy.
Gosh I can't believe you have been creating your inspirational blog (and my daily fix) for a year. That is astounding. September is a great month tho. It was my birthday last week - age not required hehe - my youngest son's girlfriend was 21 this week and my eldest son is 25 on 30th. See special things do happen in Sept. Best wishes for another great blogging year. Hugs Raewyn

Anonymous said...

Well done Tammy!!! I've always enjoyed reading and must I say TRYING & BAKING. You are a wonderful kiwi icon just like "THE EDMONDS COOKBOOK" tried and true!!! Keep up the great work.Happy cooking Wendy.

Cakelaw said...

These cupcakes look great - I love lime (and citrus generally), so I think these would taste terrific. Thanks so much for the award! And happy blogiversary.

Anonymous said...

Well Tammy, this year has just rushed by as we have enjoyed your gorgeous photos and interesting posts. I am so grateful to you that you willingly share so much and have promptly answered any queries I have had.

I would love to try some wee treats so at last I can enjoy them for real and not just wanting to lick my computer screen!

Keep up the great posts and continue to enjoy what you do so well.

Shari said...

Happy Blog Birthday! The flavors in those cupcakes sound delicious together!

The Bacarella Family said...

Happy blogiversary to you! I'm in awe of your baking and you leave me drooling everytime you post :)

I sturggle to find the time to bake but after reading your post I always feel the need to bake, not that it ever gets done!! lol

Morven said...

Wow - I'm honoured. Thank you so much.

Your blog is an inspiration to me and I always look forward to seeing more of your artistic culinary creations.

Happy Blogiversary.

Unknown said...

I bake but don't make cupcakes - it has also seemed much more fiddly than making a big cake. However, since starting to read your blog I am seriously thinking about giving it a go.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

happy blog birthday-- looks like you made some tasty cupcakes to celebrate the occasion! wish i lived in NZ to have a chance at your homemade treats! thanks so much for the award :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations and happy blogiversary, Tammy, you wee treat!
I'm sure there is a cook book in the future for you - although how you find the time to achieve all you do at this stage of your life amazes me. You are a living and giving inspiration.
Stephanie X

Katrina said...

Hi Tammy

Happy Blog Day! I love your blogs and have been inspired to get back into the kitchen to bake. I have tried a number of your recipes and all were yummy. I enjoy reading posts about the delicious meals you cook too. Keep blogging!

Anonymous said...

I love reading your blog each day Tammy and I am always impressed by the goodies you make. Everything looks stunning, you are such a star at presentation. I don't know where you get all the time to make such wonderful treats - you must be one busy woman! Eagerly look forward to more posts. Danielle.

Jaime said...

happy blogiversary!

Anonymous said...

any changes coming ?

Tammy said...

Hi Anon

I paid a girl in the states 18 months ago to come up with a new blog design - she finally gave it to me in about August, but I havent heard from her since. I think I got ripped off - changes will be made at some stage, but not right now

Tammy