Providore Cafe and enjoying the sun in Surfers Paradise

So usually I'll do a whole post about my holiday and exactly where to eat should you be whisked off to enjoy your own getaway.

However, this particular time, I went to Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach on the Gold Coast in Queensland. And everytime I travel to the lovely, sunny theme park land I am always dismayed at the lack of trendy cafés and food-aweing restaurants. They just don't seem to exist in this part of the world. 

I know I should calm down, not everywhere can be as food-savvy as my beloved Melbourne but it would be nice to see some fresh, seasonal produce in between the bars, pizza and fish and chips.

Surfers and Broadbeach, are though, known as the go to places for young adult holidays of drinking and passing out on the beach. I should not be surprised that the streets are filled with la porchettas (which I like by the way), fish and chip shops and an endless supply of Irish pubs??? But really? Not even one trendy place???

In the four years I have stayed away from the Gold Coast for this very reason, something has changed. Someone else has felt my pain. Some amazingly, bright and very culinarily skilled person has seen a large market gap and decided to be the answer to my Gold Coast food problems. 

The answer is Providore Cafe at the Marina Mirage on Seaworld Drive in Main Beach (the road to Seaworld, next to Palazzo Versace). 

As soon as I walked in I felt at home. With the clean white walls and cute blue tables, what more could a girl want? The almond croissants on the back table, that's what!

On our first visit I ordered a fruit salad, which was a work of art! Accompanied with a macaron filled with yogurt! I was in heaven.

S ordered herself poached eggs with hollandaise that came with mushrooms and bacon. S hates mushrooms, with a passion... She ate these. The plate was almost clean! An impressive feat for the girl who hates what seems to be every food item that ever existed sometimes. I was astounded. Providore received my kudos just by making S actually finish her meal. The perfect breakfast pre-Seaworld.

On our designated sun and relaxation day we sat on our sun lounges at Jupiter's Casino hotel. As lunchtime rolled around I turned to S. "How bout we go to the fancy place for lunch?". Providore had been dubbed the Gold Coast Fancy place in our eyes. S' eyes lit up.

In the car we jumped and drive down the beach to Providore we did.

And it did not disappoint. I had the most delightful tuna steaks ever created and S enjoyed the fish and chips... The one thing I had been trying to avoid. 

On our last day all it took was one look at each other in the morning... "Providore?" We were back in the car driving toward main beach.

This morning I indulged in some quinoa porridge with cranberries and almonds. Steph splashed out and had the most delicious pancakes with cinnamon butter and banana. We were not disappointed. In any way.

If you head up that way. Do not miss a meal at Providore. Delish!!

Happy Baking.

Taylors Soups

Last month I was sent a most lovely package. One of the best packages I have received in the last year... Free soup!!! And not only was this free soup, this was free, new soup!! With free new soup flavours I had never come across before.

Taylor's soups came in the awe inspiring flavours such as sweet potato, pumpkin and pear, or spicy vegetable and red lentil and Asian style tomato and coconut. I was in love with these flavours! I couldn't wait to try every single one of them.. But this package came with a mission... To take them for a taste test at work and see what my colleagues thought.. And in one word.. Success!!!

My first soup was the sweet potato. Being an avid fan of pumpkin soup I was eager to see how these flavours pulled together. It was by far my favorite!

The spicy vegetable and lentil soup was a tad on the spicy for me, but I found that teamed with a slice or two of buttered bread I was a fan of this also.

The stand out at work was the Asian style tomato and coconut and sadly the Spinach and Asparagus didn't get much of a fan base. But all in all, these are soups I could see myself buying from the supermarket so I would say that Taylor's have out done themselves.

If you like Piña Colada... Cupcakes

Hello all,

Happy 2014!! I hope the New Year is treating you well.

New Year Fireworks Melbourne 2013-14 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I decided to mark the coming of year with a good old fashioned cocktail party with a few of my closest friends.... and what is a cocktail party without the ever so awesome, boozy cupcakes. Although, I'm less interested in the booze part and more in the cake. So I needed to think up a delicious cupcake flavour that would completely satisfy with its taste and fit my cocktail party.

And while I was dancing around my living room thinking which of my most beloved cocktail mixes should I turn into a dessert, a very familiar song came on the radio....

"I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long.
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.
And in the personals column, there was this letter I read:
If you like Piña Coladas, and getting caught in the rain..."

I love Piña Coladas... and the rain!!!! Piña Colada Cupcakes... it had been decided. Now to put it all together. 

They came out a treat. And so cute with the little pineapple lollies to decorate!! Big hit, perfect for my cocktail night, and the best part of all, if you want mock-tail cupcakes just omit the rum. No need to change anything else. Simples!!!

Piña Colada Cupcakes:

114g Butter

1 Cup Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

1/3 Cup Coconut Rum
3/4 Cup Coconut Milk
1/4 Cup Pineapple Juice
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
1 Teaspoon Bi-Carb Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Desiccated Coconut
1 Cup Crushed Pineapple Pieces

icing:
225g Cream Cheese
57g Butter
2 Cups Icing Sugar
3 Tablespoons Coconut Cream
3 Tablespoons Coconut Rum
1/2 - 1 Cup Desiccated Coconut (Add to desired consistency)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the rum, coconut milk, pineapple juice and vanilla extract.

5. In another bowl combine the flour, bi-carb and salt.

6. Alternately add the liquid mixture followed by the flour mixture to the butter and mix until smooth.

7. On a low speed, add the desiccated coconut and the pineapple.

8. Divide into cupcake liners (fill about 2/3 full). Bake in oven for 20-25 mins, until a skewer comes out with slight crumbs stuck to it. Leave cupcakes to cool in the tray until the tray is at room temperature then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

9. For the icing; Mix together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar gradually until combined. Add the coconut cream and the rum. On a low speed add desiccated coconut to the desired consistency. 

10. Spread icing on cupcakes and top with cute little pineapple lollies. 

Happy Baking!!!!

Mini Choc Mint Cupcakes

I made the most delicious mini cupcake for a friend's birthday party this week. They taste just like peppermint chocolate chip ice-cream. No joke.

The funniest part is that it all started with an aim to make a lovely triple tiered peppermint chocolate chip cake. Which failed... miserably. The third tier didn't bode well. Once the tin had completely cooled I opened it to place it onto the rack. The entire thing crumbled into pieces. It just fell apart in my hands. I blame the horrid vindictive oven! Then my icing wasn't right. It set. Hard.

So I channelled my hatred into tiny, cute mini cupcakes. And they were delicious! Yummy little bite sized treats that everybody loved.

Try them for yourself!

Mini Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes:

9 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
180g Plain Flour
3 Tablespoons Corn Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Bi-Carb Soda
115g Butter
300g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Coffee (I used a long black setting on my Nespresso Machine, but instant coffee is fine)
1/2 Cup Milk

Icing:
280g Butter
500g Icing Sugar
2 Teaspoons Peppermint Essence
150g Chocolate Flake
Green Food Coloring

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line two mini muffin trays with mini cupcake liners

2. Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.

3. Sift together dry ingredients.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together coffee and milk.

5. Add eggs to the butter mix, one at a time, and beat until well incorporated.

6. Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mix, followed by half of the milk mixture. Repeat and mix until smooth.

7. Divide mixture evenly between cupcake liners, so they are filled approx halfway.

8. Bake for 10-15 minutes until skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tray until at room temp then transfer to a wire rack.

9. For the icing; Beat the butter until smooth, add icing sugar 1 cup at a time until smooth. Add the essence and coloring to desired color. Gradually mix through the flake pieces.

10. Pipe icing onto cupcakes. Voila!

Happy Baking!!!

Chewy Coconut Biscuits

Beware... These cookies are addictive. I took them to a picnic with my girlfriends and they were devoured!

Nice and chewy on top, a little bit crunchy on the bottom and melted chocolate on top. So so good!

Enjoy these... If your friends don't eat them all before you get to try them!!

Chewy Coconut Cookies:

1 1/4 cups Caster Sugar
4 Egg Whites
1 Teaspoon Honey
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
200g Desiccated Coconut
100g Plain Flour
Melted Chocolate to drizzle on top if desired

1. Half fill a large saucepan with water. Bring to the boil.

2. In a heatproof bowl, over the boiling water; whisk together the sugar, egg whites, honey, vanilla and salt until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture lightens in color.

3. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the coconut and flour.

4. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours.

5. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

6. Spoon tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheet then flatten slightly with the back of the spoon.

7. Bake for 5 minutes, turn the tray, then bake for another 5 minutes until the edges of the biscuits are golden brown.

8. Allow to cool completely on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.

9. Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired.

Happy Baking!!!!

Noodle Night Market

On Friday night the little sis and I ventured down to the noodle night market at the Alexandra Gardens in Melbourne to indulge in some Asian food by twilight. 

The set up of bars with lounges to sit on and all the food tents set up was pretty good... Until everyone wanted dinner and then the lines were so mammoth they all intertwined with each other. 

The little sis is a big fan of Pad Thai since I dragged her to Thailand early this year so, Rekorderlig's in hand, we were headed straight for the tent with the Pad Thai. 

This was accompanied by some delicious pork buns and prawn and chive dumplings and before we knew it... We were stuffed!

Was very busy as it was a Friday night, the market would have benefitted from being a bit more spread out to allow for lines to vendors etc. but all in all a very satisfying Friday evening dinner!

Night noodle market is on in Alexandra Gardens until 30/11... If you want to head down there... And happy baking!!!!

Cinnamon Donut Cupcakes

"Oh no!" I thought "Bad craving for a cinnamon donut!"... Unfortunately it was 6pm and there are no open donut shops at this time around my area, because we are not in the USA, And I don't know about you but supermarket donuts just don't cut it for me.

But all was not lost, because while I don't like to fry my desserts at home (purely because I can then physically see all the oil that covers it) I was sure I could make a cupcake that, with my eyes closed, could fool me into thinking I was eating a cinnamon donut. And it paid off!

My only regret... I should have made them into tiny bite sized cupcakes rather than regular sized. But there is always next time. Try these beauties out for yourself! Let me know how you went!

Cinnamon Donut Cupcakes:

60g butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

100g caster sugar 

73g brown sugar

340g plain flour

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon bi-carb soda

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Glaze:

40g melted butter

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons hot water

128g icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners.

2. Beat together butter, oil and sugars until smooth.

3. Add eggs one at a time and mix on low until well combined. 

4. Add baking powder, bi-carb, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla.

5. Add the flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour.

6. Scoop into cupcake liners and bake 15-20 mins until bouncy when pressed slightly. 

For glaze 

7. In a bowl, whisk butter, sugar, vanilla and water until smooth.

8. Spoon a small amount of glaze into each cupcake and allow to set before serving.