MATCHES THREE WAYS.

preheat oven to 190 c

line bottom of baking tray with baking paper

to make 24....

6 sheets puff pastry thawed
raspberry jam
lemon butter
2 small bananas
600 ml thickened cream whipped
icing sugar to dust


cut 1 pastry sheet into 8 even pieces and place on the baking tray.

cover pastry with a piece of baking paper and place another baking tray on top, so it doesn't rise.

cook for 15 mins or until nicely brown.

continue with the rest of the pastry.

cool.

spread 8 pieces of pastry with the jam, 8 pieces with the lemon butter and 8 pieces with the nutella.  place slices of banana on top of the nutella.

put a couple of heaped dessertspoons of cream on top of each filling.

cover fillings with the rest of the pastry pieces.

dust with the icing sugar.

MARSHMALLOW AND RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE SANDWICH

preheat oven to 170 c

1 packet chocolate ripple biscuits
1 packet mini marshmallows
100 gm cooking chocolate
raspberry jam

place 1/2 packet chocolate ripple biscuits on a baking tray, flat side up.

place 8 mini marshmallows on each biscuit.

place in oven for 5 mins or till marshmallows are soft.

spread 3/4 teaspoon jam on each of the leftover biscuits and quickly cover each marshmallow biscuit, creating a sandwich.

melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water, stirring till smooth.

spoon chocolate over top of marshmallow sandwiches

allow to set.

NUTELLA CHOCOLATE RIPPLE TARTS

preheat oven to 170 c
1/2 rounded patty cake tin needed (pictured)

1 packet chocolate ripple buscuits
1 jar nutella
100 gm cooking chocolate
crushed hazelnuts (if desired)

place biscuits over hole of tin

place in oven till just soft about 5 mins

push biscuits into tin with your fingers creating a half round shape.

cool.

place about 1 teaspoon nutella in each biscuit.

melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water, stirring till smooth.

using a teaspoon pour chocolate over top of nutella to edges of biscuit.

sprinkle with crushed hazelnuts if desired.

allow to set.

Another Saturday night, another birthday,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Jesse.

I was all organised, I made sausage rolls, vanilla slice  and the 2 chocolate cakes for the birthday cake last night.. Babysitting again today, so I wanted to be able to take it easy a bit, relax, you know just amble along in the kitchen. No pressure.

Well,  ha de ha ha.  As usual didn't happen.

Started off reasonably well.  Ice the cakes.  The bottom just chocolate ganache and some sports ball decorations. The top, which is a half cupcake shape,  butter icing, 2 colours and more balls. All good.
What do we call the cake?  I don't know but the kid likes it.  So done.

Because I don't have enough cake...is there ever such a thing as enough?....I decide cupcakes for the kids and a spiced sponge for the adults is the go.

Make the sponges first. Made them a couple of weeks ago, not a problem.  This time one sinks a bit in the middle.. I'll just let them cool and worry about them later.

Cupcake time.  Vanilla cupcakes and I'm going to put lolly decorations on them.  I used the same recipe as I used for the malteser cupcakes minus the maltesers of course. The recipe is on here somewhere. These are reasonable quick to make and taste really yummy.And an added  bonus, I had made double the icing for the birthday cake and there's some leftover, so I'm using that.  Cool.

Lots of noise happening at the baby gate.  With a quick glance at the clock, I realise that lunchtime is nearly past.  Whoops.  Push a bit of the mess to the side and whip up a couple of vegemite sandwiches for the 2 littlies.  Making myself a cuppa,  I head off to the dining room for 5 mins while the bigger kids make their own lunches, threatening them with death if they knock anything over. (it's truly messy in there now). But seriously,  you only need a  6 inch square of bench space to make a sandwich, right?

Happy kids, coffees gone,  mess is still there, oh well, can't have everything.

Back to cup cakes,  whack some icing on them, cut up some lollies and " Voila"

Owl and turtle cupcakes.

I turn my attention back to the sponges.   I whip some cream, make more ganache and cut both sponges in half. Cream and icing hide a lot of faults.  So does the bin lol.  I throw out the sunken top and sandwich the rest together.  Looks great.  problem solved.

The man, who's been hiding outside all day, comes in looking for food.. "What was that pastry thing you were making yesterday?"  Oh I forgot about that.  Grab the vanilla slice out of the fridge and cut it into pieces.  He still doesn't know what it is.  Have to get him to help me lift it out of the tin.  Now he knows what it is, I can see the drool running out of his mouth lol.  Vanilla slice is one of his favourites.  Turned out pretty good too even if I do say so myself.

While he's inside, I rope him into vacuuming  the floor. That way I can make a quick pasta to go with our party tea of sausage rolls, store bought party pies (I was too lazy) and cocktail frankfurts.  Jesse's choice.

 It's 5.30 pm, alls done, ( not really), but the kitchen looks a tad better but I'm still in my dressing gown and ugg boots.  What a sight but easy to cook in.  One thing, wear, dirty and wash.

Clean me up, set table, everyone arrives, eat the party fare and sing happy birthday.
 Dessert is served.

Earlier in the week I had a brainwave (which doesn't happen too often) and a new creation was made.....
Chocolate truffle cheesecake slice.  Combine a chocolate ball mix, cheesecake, ganache and chocolate curls. Totally decadent. So I served it too.

I will never be thin.. But there again neither will the rest of them.  If you could see the table,  cupcakes, vanilla slice, cheesecake slice, birthday cake, sponge and the left over lollies as well. Thankfully, we are not that bad.  A lot left, which is good because the kids go back to school this coming week and they will need food for recess.

So here I sit, every ones gone home and for a change the mini food critic got bypassed and my eldest had the last word.  He took the birthday cake, altered it a bit and said."there now it looks like something"

I liked my way better.

next week.......

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CHEESECAKE SLICE

line 9 x 13 dish with baking paper

BASE

250g milk arrowroot or marie biscuits crushed
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 - (3/4) cup coconut
1 tin condensed milk

FILLING

500 gm cream cheese room temperature
1 tin condensed milk
100 gm dark cooking chocolate
100 gm milk cooking chocolate
300 ml cream
1 tablespoon gelatin
1/4 cup boiling water

TOPPING

100 gm dark cooking chocolate 
1/4 cup thickened cream
25 gm butter

BASE

mix all together and press evenly into bottom of dish (if you think its a bit too soft, add the extra coconut.

refridgerate while making filling.

FILLING

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water. cool slightly.

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth.

Beat in melted chocolate then beat in the cream.

Combine gelatine and boiling water stirring until dissolved.

Beat gelatine into cheesecake mixture.

Spoon mixture onto biscuit base and spread evenly.

refridgerate

TOPPING

melt all together in a heat proof bowl over a pot of boiling water.

cool slightly.

pour over top of cheesecake.

refridgerate

decorate with chocolate curls if desired.

TO MAKE CURLS

1 block of chocolate

holding a knife in both hands, start at top of back of chocolate block (not the squares side) and drag knife down to bottom.  continue till you have enough.

another of my own creations.

OWL AND TURTLE CUPCAKES

24 iced cupcakes 
1 pkt fruit rings
1 pkt spearmint leaves
1 pkt party mix (you need the red and green berries and licorice allsort)
choc bits

TURTLE

1 red fruit ring (shell)
1 red berry (shell)
1 green berry (head)
1 spearmint leaf (flippers)

I also used an icing pen to dot on eyes.

stand the spearmint leaf on its side and cut it in half.

then place it flat on a bench and cut it in half lengthwise. so you now have 4 flippers.

position green head then place red berry on red fruit ring (use a bit of icing to glue them together) for shell, and place next to head.

Place flippers around shell. use picture as a guide.

OWL

2 fruit rings (eyes)
2 choc bits (eyes)
1 spearmint leaf (eyebrows)
1 licorice allsort (beak)

cut spearmint leaf same as turtle, so you get 2 cakes out of 1 spearmint leaf.

place 2 rings on cake. place choc bit in centre of each.

place eyebrows.
cut licorice allsort apart, using the corner of a piece of the licorice as a beak.

use picture as a guide.

VANILLA SLICE

1 1/3 cup thickened cream
2 1/3 cups milk
1/3 cup cornflour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup custard powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
30 grams butter
2 egg yolks
2 sheets of puff pastry thawed

pre heat oven to 180 degrees.

Place 1 sheet of puff pastry on flat baking tray,  top with baking paper and a second baking tray on top to prevent pastry from puffing.

Cook pastry for 15 minutes or until nicely browned, repeat with second sheet of puff pastry.

When pastry has cooled place in square 23 cm cake tin, trimming to fit.

CUSTARD

Place milk, cream, caster sugar, custard powder, cornflour and vanilla in heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil stirring until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Add egg yolks and butter combining well.

Pour custard on puff pastry sheet in tin and top with second pastry sheet.

cool in fridge.

ice or dust with icing sugar.

cut into pieces in tin (I did 9)

refridgerate. best eaten within 1 day.

icing

2 cups icing sugar
1 dessertspoon softened butter
1 teaspoon strawberry essence (more or less to taste)
couple drops pink food colouring.
enough milk to make spreadable.

mix all together and spread over top of pastry.