I think it is terminal...

My mixmaster hiding on the right
I was trying to make butter cream icing today and I was having problems getting my beaters to click into my mixmaster. It worked okay last night when I made the cupcakes but for some reason today was not my day.

I wrestled a few times, getting more and more frustrated and eventually decided that they just were not going to click in! I finished off the icing on one beater but it was nowhere near as fluffy or full as usual and I ran out of icing - usually I have too much!

The mixmaster was inherited from a family member. I think it belonged to my grandmother but possibly it was my Aunt's. It has seen a good innings and if C cannot fix it then I shall have to replace it with something new and shiny and that will hopefully last just as long!

New food processor

I finally committed myself to a new food processor! I am very excited. It will replace Mum's Breville Beast that I have been borrowing for the last few years.

What I am getting is a black Kitchenaid Food Processor. It comes with three different sized bowls and a few different blades. I think that there will be more than enough to keep me occupied and out of trouble for a while!!

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Pastry weights

My sister is such a sweetheart. She bought me these pastry weights. No excuses now for me to make bad pastry, and I can throw away the soup mix that I have been using!

Any suggestions for a tart E?

All the tools for pretty cupcakes!

E and I had a wander around Fremantle today. I always like to poke my nose into the Home Provedore, and especially the section dedicated to cupcakes and cake decorating. Every time I go in there it seems like they have added more and more interesting items related to cake decorating and cupcakes. Possibly it is because I never noticed previously, rather than there being new products...

Today I noticed that along with a great range of cupcake wrappers, they also have silicone moulds for flowers and a variety of ready made icings and decorations. The next special occasion that calls for cupcakes I plan to head into Freo and buy some icing flowers for decoration.

If I get keen and want to make my own, then the following website could be of use.
Hints and moulds Lynart
More moulds and tips at Earl Craft 'n' Cake

here

Baking beads

The first time that I blind baked pastry, I used some brown rice that was hanging around in my pantry and well past its best before date. I kept that rice to be used again for baking, and it was. The down side of the rice was that I kept spilling it into my pastry when I removed the baking paper and having to pick out the small grains.

It all came to a head one day when I made pastry and managed to drop quite a few grains into the hot pastry. Instead of picking it out I thought I would be smart and tip out the rice.

Of course gravity defeated me and I ended up with pieces of pastry on my stove top! Luckily my filling held the cooked tart shell together however I was most unhappy and in a fit of pique I threw the rice away, vowing to buy some ceramic baking beads.

This was all very well and good, however the next time I made pastry I still had not bought beads and so I resorted to using the remaing soup mix that was in the pantry. You can see the result above. Unfortunately there was not enough leftover soup mix and it does not do much at all to weigh down the pastry!

So I see that my options are to buy some ceramic weights, or to invest in another packet of soup mix. The ones below are $22.95 a packet, so I may just buy half a kilo of brown rice...

Pie weights by Wheel & Barrow

Tagine - new territory!

My future sister-in-law gave us a tagine and cook book as an engagement present. We have still to give using the tagine a go! I was a little worried after reading the cook book that she gave us, it warns that some tagines are good for using directly on the stove top, whereas others are purely decorative and you use them only to serve!

Online research has only confused me, as some web sites that I have read also say that you should use a heat diffuser. I am a little worried about using it as I would hate for it to crack at the first go. Unfortunately there were no instructions in the box it came in...

I have also learnt that you should season a tagine before you use it; here are some instructions.

Birthday spoils

I have been very spoiled this week with some excellent food themed gifts. This collection promises to provide hours of entertainment in the cupcake decorating stakes!

Food processors

I am after a new food processor for my kitchen. I am currently using my mother's Breville, vintage unknown, but I suspect it is around 25 years old! It works, but only just. I am afraid every time that I switch it on that I will blow up the motor! It is very limited in its power and capability. I mainly use it for pastry, making scones, and grating food, and have to be careful as to how much I fill it!

Case in point, I attempted to make Nigella Lawson's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake after watching her breeze through it on the television. It did not look complicated at all - put everything in the food processor, turn it on, and then decant into two tins. At any rate, I had to get my trusty Sunbeam MixMaster out of the pantry to finish off the job, before I finished off the food processor! I am not sure of the vintage of that machine either, but I think that it belonged to my Grandma. It doesn't seem to want to die either, however since it is more than capable of the job that it is designed for I have no need to replace it.

Ah well, a new processor is on my wish list! More research is required before I spend my money... stay tuned.