To welcome my pilot’s Mother & her partner to our new abode (and show off my cute cupcake ferris wheel!), I made some orange blossom cupcakes using this basic cupcake recipe here. I have to say, these were not my best cupcake effort! I have used this recipe before and they turned out perfectly, but this time around they were decidedly flat and lacklustre looking. I used some fancy butter that I have never used before, but other than that it was the same basic ingredients. Can anyone give me any idea on why they are so flat looking? Over mixing, under mixing…?
Despite their flat appearance, the cupcakes were sweet, moist and had a very subtle orange blossom flavour thanks to the teaspoon of orange blossom water that I added in. I added both vanilla bean and orange blossom water to the buttercream, which tasted good but no matter how hard I try, I am never 100% satisfied with the buttercream that I make! This one seemed too thin. Perhaps piping it would have made a difference. Does anyone have a fail safe buttercream recipe that they would like to share?
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| Cupcake cases ready for action |
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| My magnificent oven |
I love this oven, especially the light so I can peer in and check the progress of whatever is baking! I may seem over excited about a light but please note that my old oven didn’t have a light so it is all very novel to have one now…
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| Flat cupcakes – what went wrong? |
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| Cupcake Ferris Wheel! |
Once decorated (by decorated I mean sprinkling on some coconut and dried rose petals, nothing fancy!) and placed into the ferris wheel, my little cupcakes looked quite cute. They wouldn’t win any competitions for perfection, but they were certainly devoured by everyone here (and I may have had one or two as well).
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| Orange Blossom Cupcakes |
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Still novelty of having the beach so close by has still not worn off! Here I am relaxing at Trinity Beach after a morning swim. I am planning on making the most of swimming at the beach before the stinger season starts up, what a cruel joke by Mother Nature – during the hottest part of the year you can’t swim in the ocean!
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| For my kitchen |
I ordered a couple of cute things for the house from Typo when they had a sale recently and received the package today. I LOVE this metal sign – it’s going in the kitchen right above the Kitchenaid!
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| Seasonal Vegetable Stack at Caffiend, Cairns |
I met up with another new Cairns resident yesterday and we had lunch at Caffiend – I was so impressed! I had the Seasonal Vegetable Stack for $17.50, which included slow roasted pumpkin, smashed chat potatoes, roasted tomatoes and beetroot, sweet potato crisps and seasonal greens, with a balsamic vinegar reduction. It was amazing – anything with sweet potato chips will win me over! I’m not a coffee lover, so I can’t comment on their coffee (by all other accounts it is excellent) but I did enjoy my lemongrass and ginger tea.
Ooh I’m loving your new blog design! Pretty! And that sign is super cute.
Thank you! i am so happy with it. Just put the sign up above my Kitchenaid and it looks fab!
New blog design looks awesome!
Thank you! Still getting my head around WordPress though…
There’s a typo here in Cairns! I love Caffiend, should go there for their breakkie sometime.
New design looks fabulous
I have been to the Typo at DFO once, I love all of their cute little pictures and wooden letters. Tend to spend too much money there though! We will definitely have to work our way through the Caffiend menu…
There’s a few other menus I want to work through as well if you’re up to the challenge!
Definitely, we will eat our way around Cairns x
Lilypad next time? x
LOVE the new blog design! Cupcake ferris wheel is pretty spectacular too.
Thank you! You should totz buy your own ferris wheel.
Looooooove the new blog design!! Looks so fresh! Lucky you to be enjoying the beach x
Thanks, I’m glad people like it!
Love the design!! Xx
Thank you! Fairy floss has been ordered x
wow… this looks so delicious! i always get a little hungry when reading your blog…
xoxo
lilly
http://lostinseptember.blogspot.de/
Thanks Lilly! x
that vegie stack looks delicious, but the cupcake ferris wheel takes the cake, excuse the pun! i love your new design too. not sure why your cupcakes would have been flat but if theytasted good, that’s the main thing
I think I will attempt to make the vegie stack at home, probably won’t look as pretty though..