Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes

I've heard about putting beetroot in chocolate cake, but never quite understood how or why you would. A couple of days ago I made cupcakes which may just change the way I make chocolate cupcakes henceforth.

With limited internet access on this trip, I'm becoming quite intimate with the May Issue of Recipes+ which I bought before leaving home. This issue has a recipe for Chocolate Beetroot Cake with Fudge Frosting. The recipe calls for fresh, boiled beetroot. I'm in the Pilbara, and the supermarkets I find myself relying on up here are lucky to have two different types of fresh fruit, let alone fresh beetroot so I went for the canned variety. I also substituted white self-raising flour with wholemeal because using white flour in anything makes me squeamish these days. I really have become a health conscious hippy. If I wasn't saving my last little bit of wholemeal spelt four for another batch of Breakfast Muffins, I might have even used that. Other than those two amendments, I kept the ingredient list the same as the original. The method however, I completely made up. Without an electric mixer I had to ad lib, so here is my method.

450g tin whole baby beets, drained and grated
150g butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs at room temp (or at 35C as the case was)
1 3/4 cups wholemeal SR flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/3 cup milk
100g dark chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan forced) and line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases, plus a 12 hole mini muffin tray (this mix makes a lot of cupcakes).
2. Melt butter and chocolate in small saucepan.
3. Combine sugar, flour and cocoa in a large bowl.
4. Add milk, melted butter mixture and beetroot and mix as hard as your arm allows with a wooden spoon until combined. The batter will be fairly thick, something like a brownie batter.
5. Spoon into paper cases and bake for 20-25 mins or until they spring back lightly when touched.

Fudge Icing
3 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
100g butter
80g dark chocolate
1/3 cup milk

1. Sift sugar and cocoa into a medium bowl.
2. Put butter, chocolate and milk in a small saucepan and heat gently until melted and combined.
3. Stir chocolate mixture into dry ingredients until smooth. I used a whisk to eliminate any clumping of my not-very-well-sifted icing sugar.
4. Refrigerate for half an hour or so to set a little.
5. Spread on cupcakes.

These cupcakes were so moist you could eat them without the frosting, but this frosting really is very tasty. They have a beautiful deep red/brown colour due to the beetroot and the wholemeal flour (and probably the lack of electric mixing) adds a texture that I really enjoyed. This recipe made so many that we shared some with the family camping next to us that night and they loved them too. Definitely a recipe I will make again.

Impromptu Crabs

Being on holiday makes me forget which day it is. It's only really important if I need to visit the post office and it's a Sunday, but even then it isn't REALLY important. One day last week, I'm not sure which, we camped on the beach at a place called Herald Bight, north-east of Denham. People often refer to this area as Shark Bay as it is within the Shark Bay Heritage Area. It's a beautiful part of Western Australia, and if there's any opportunity for a simple camp on the beach, I'm there.

I was just making a start on dinner, and hubby and the girls were combing the beach when they noticed a lot of crabs in the shallows. We aren't carrying any crab scoops with us, but hubby thought he'd try his luck with a pair of leather gloves. I laughed, thinking there was no way he could catch adult Blue Swimmer Crabs with his hands, but no more than 5 minutes and 10 crabs later, he was the one having the last laugh. Well we all were actually, I stopped what I was making and threw a salad together. We were having crabs!

Just in case that wasn't enough of a surprise, a film crew from 4WD Touring who happened to be camping up the beach from us saw the crab-catching and came over for a chat. They interviewed hubby about the trip and the trailer, and then took some footage of him catching the crabs with his (almost) bare hands, with Chicky on his back in the ERGO (a child carrier). It was all a bit surreal.

We boiled some salted water in a big pot, put the crabs in and let the water boil again, then pulled them out after 3 minutes on the boil. They were amazing. There really is nothing like freshly caught seafood.

In My Kitchen - May 2012

My kitchen is a little less conventional this month. This trip has been a long time in the planning, and as such my temporary kitchen has been fairly well thought out. I thoroughly enjoyed shopping for kitchen gadgets that were perfectly suited to camping. I'll just show you a few this month, as my internet access is limited, and I'll save some for the coming months. So, in my kitchen.......

...... is a set of three Scanpan knives, with sheathes.

Since buying a block of Scanpan knives for home a couple of years ago, I simply cannot do without good knives, but because all of my utensils are filed in plastic containers in the camp kitchen, I thought the risk of cutting myself on a sharp knife while diving in for a wooden spoon, was quite high. When I saw these coloured Scanpan knives with plastic sheathes, I had to have them. I didn't buy all 3 together, and when I went back for the big one the store only had red, so unfortunately they don't all match, but they are fantastic none the less.

In my kitchen is a collapsible colander.

I had been pondering over the idea of a camping colander for a while (doesn't everyone?). I had decided they were too bulky and I'd just make do by angling a saucepan lid on the pan to drain/strain. Then I saw this fantastic collapsible colander at a camping store. It was $20 which I thought wasn't bad for what it is, and it fits perfectly into of my utensil containers.

In my kitchen is an oven thermometer.

With the temperature control being a bit difficult in the gas oven, and the built in thermometer being placed at the rear of the over, I wanted a second thermometer to gauge the temperature difference between front and back. I picked up this nifty little oven thermometer for less than $10, and it hangs inside your oven on the shelf. I'm still in the experimental phase of baking in the gas oven, but this little gadget helped to make a batch of Celia's Fudge Brownies this afternoon, and then home-made pizzas for dinner. Both were devoured before I could get a photo, so I'd say that's a win for the oven and the thermometer!

In my kitchen is a stainless steel kettle.

I was NOT making a cup of tea every night with a billie, and then burning my hands while using some pliers and an oven mitt trying to pour the water which would inevitably end up all over the floor and/or me in the process. So I bought a stainless steel kettle for the gas stove, which has a flattenable (I just made up that word) plastic handle for storage, a removable lid for easy filling and a whistle, and it's just so shiny! I never drink tea in the evenings at home, but there's something about camping which makes me need a cup of tea once the kids are in bed, and this kettle makes the experience so enjoyable.

That's about all I have time for tonight. I'll bring you some more exciting camping, kitchen suprises in June. Take a look at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial to see what's happening in some other people's kitchens this month.

Big Gypsy Getaway

This post, and all posts for the next 11 or so weeks, come to you from the Big Gypsy Getaway. On Monday 30th April hubby started 12 weeks of long service leave, so we left our cosy 4 x 2 in the 'burbs and headed off for a family adventure in our home-made (and I mean completely home-made) camper trailer. Those that know my hubby will understand this. He doesn't "do" hired help, and could not justify spending ridiculous amounts of hard earned cash on a sub-optimal prefabricated camper. So what does one do in this situation? The same thing my beloved does in almost every situation, make your own! I have to give credit where it is due; it may have taken 15 months of evenings and weekends, but this baby is a work of art. It is completely tailored to our needs and the workmanship is flawless. We now realise why the commercial versions cost so much, there is so much labour involved. Here is our home on wheels fully set up, with our trusty NH Pajero, on her first night in the bush; just north of Lancelin, WA.

I should mention that the trailer has an off-road chassis, so there aren't too many challenges it isn't fit to face. In the pic below, the trailer is attached to the car, and isn't stuck or is any kind of danger, it's just "bush bashing". :)

 Those that know me, know I'm no fancy girl, but there were a few things I demanded for our new home on wheels. A decent kitchen was one. We are camping, but I didn't want this to change our eating habits. It's important to me that we continue to eat a wide range of foods, and continue with a balanced, healthy diet. The prospect of cooking on a 2-burner stove for three months was less than appealing. I researched camp ovens, and while I'm sure you can get quite adept at cooking on one, we wouldn't be able to have an open fire everywhere we stopped, and with the girls running around the thought of having a fire and piping hot container at ground level was a little scary. And then I found this!

It's a Companion Portable Gas Oven and Cooktop. I didn't even know such a thing existed until I saw a similar unit in our local camping store. It was love at first sight. I had to have one. With both the girls and myself having birthdays while we're on the road, I couldn't not make cakes. It had its first test run today with roast veges which we had with pork medallions and boiled broccoli (I forgot to bring a steamer) for dinner. And I've just pulled a batch of Breakfast Muffins out, sans cinnamon because hey, I couldn't remember to pack everything. Temperature regulation is something that will take a while to get a handle on I think. The built-in thermometer seems to be the back of the oven, and I bought an oven thermometer which you can see hanging inside the door at the front. The two units read quite different temperatures (up to 100C at one point this afternoon!) so I'm cooking by intuition at the moment. It's looking very promising though.

WA has a spectacular coastline, and I am extremely lucky to be viewing most of it this month. I've always lived in Perth, but in 4 days I've already seen multiple stretches of coast that I've never seen before. I went for a very liberating barefoot beach run around Lucky Bay yesterday morning, and today we spent lots of the day riding around Kalbarri (with 4 flat tyres thrown in for spice). The photo above was taken at a place called Pot Alley, which we hurtled down a huge hill on our bikes to see. Fortunately the magnificent view was worth the return trip up the hill. Kalbarri is lovely, although the persistent mosquitoes have taken the shine off a little. Not much, just a little. I have plans for a lot more running and a little on-the-go herb garden. I also have lots of interesting camping accessories in my kitchen that I'll showcase in the next In My Kitchen post in the next few days, I promise. 

Best Ever Caramel Slice

Ok, so that's a big call, but one I think is well deserved. Since finding this recipe, it is the only caramel slice I will make. The flavour is rich, the caramel is thick, the base crunchy and I really could eat this until I vomit. My complete lack of self control means I come close, everytime I allow this beautifully indulgent treat to make it into my kitchen.

So where does one find a recipe for the Best Ever Caramel Slice? On the back of a Nestle Plaistowe Premium Milk cooking chocolate packet. I love giving "back-of-a-packet" recipes a go. Well, I love giving any recipe a go but there's an element of excitement involved when you're creating the dish that sold you the product right? Ok, maybe I am the only one who gets kicks out of that, but if you give this one a go I'm sure you'll be singing its praise.

Base
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa (I used Dutched)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
125g butter, melted
Filling
395g can sweetened condensed milk (I used the skimmed version)
2 tbsp golden syrup
60g butter
Topping
200g milk chocolate (that's where the packet comes in, but now I have the recipe I normally use Callebaut 34%)

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a slice pan (the recipe specified 26cm x 16cm but I only have a 20cm x 20cm).
2. Combine sifted flour, sifted cocoa, sugar, coconut and melted butter in a mixing bowl. When combined, press into the base of the pan. Bake for 15 mins or until lightly browned.
3. Combine filling ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium heat for 10 minutes or until butter has melted and caramel is smooth. Pour over base and return to oven for 10-12 minutes. Watch it to make sure the caramel doesn't burn. Refrigerate 3-4hrs (I've gotten away with 2hrs before).
4. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, being sure not to let the bowl touch the water. (The original recipe combined 50g melted Copha to the chocolate. It makes the slice easier to cut as the chocolate doesn't set so hard, but I detest Copha and never use it. You could add a dash of vegetable oil for similar effect, but I just deal with hard chocolate, or heat a knife for cutting.) Refrigerate 1 hr or until set. Cut into squares.

You can see from the pictures what happens when the Copha is omitted: the cold chocolate cracks when you cut it. For me, that's a small price to pay, and I have never had anyone complain their chocolate was cracked. It's not show-worthy, but it's pretty damn good.

The only reason I could justify making this, is that I'm running 28kms in the morning, taking this week's total to around 55kms. Still not enough to burn off the whole slice, but enough to allow me a couple of pieces. This slice is divine, but it is evil, and is best made for sharing. Even better is if you can take it somewhere (birthday or a morning tea for example), have a piece or two yourself, then leave the rest there!

One week - two races

Running post alert!

With the gypsy lifestyle fast approaching (more on that matter another time), I have been getting in as much running and racing as I can before we leave civilisation as we know it. Last week was a busy one with two races 6 days apart.


Monday 9th April was the Mt Helena 40 Miler and Relay. Forty miles is 64km, and this off-road race is run on a heritage trail that used to be train line, beginning about 35km east of Perth. I half joked to my running buddy a few months ago that we could do this in a team of two, so 32km each. Neither of us had run that distance before, but the jokes got a little more serious and we eventually agreed to register. About a week before the race my partner injured her leg and was unable to run. I was disappointed at not being able to do this race, but not as disappointed as she was at not being able to run at all. Some more half joking took place with an old friend who also runs, and after a bit of deliberation he agreed to run with me! So off we trekked at 5am through thick fog to the Mt Helena Tavern - the start and finish point to the race.

To ease the pain of 32km, we broke the race up into relay legs, each running a 14km and two 9km legs. My friend started with the first 14km, which he ran in excellent time. My first leg was a very shallow uphill 9km. It was still early and the sun wasn't too hot, so I went out pretty hard. Maybe a little too hard for what was still ahead of me, finishing the 9kms with a 4:50min/km average. I felt great, like I could run another 23km (phew!). I got in the car, drove to the next transition point and waited. My next leg was 14kms, a slight downhill out and a slight uphill back. Downhill was good and I ran fast, but things were certainly heating up. The forecast was 31C and it was getting up there. The uphill return was painful. I slowed right down and began to question how I would make it through the last leg, but told myself "just one more to go" and made it to the top of the hill, handed over our relay wrist band and sucked some electrolyte life back into me.

By this point Hubby and the munchkins had arrived to cheer us on. The babes played "running races" in the bush and hunted for bugs while I got ready for my last 9km. It was now after 11 and the sun was very high and getting hot. We drove to the start point and waited. I knew this leg would be the slowest. We were hot and tiring, but just wanted to finish! My friend arrived and I took off. My legs made it known that they were tired, but off they went until they found a rhythm, albeit a slower one that the first 9km. This leg was a mental challenge more than a physical one. My injured running buddy recently shared a quote she found in a running book: "your mind is weaker than your body". This is definitely true. It was my mind that made my legs stop running with 3km to go. Thanks goodness my mind also realised that was a silly mistake and 10 or so seconds and a good mouthful of water later, I started running again. I even managed to pick up the pace a little in the last km, and we finished a 64km race in 5hrs 24mins. That put out average pace at just over 5min/kms and we both ran at almost the exact same pace overall! I can't thank my friend enough for agreeing to run with me. It was one of my biggest running achievements so far.


So.......over the course of the week it became clear that my injured running buddy wouldn't be ready to do the 10km run of the inaugural Shoalwater Classic Olympic Distance triathlon on 15th April, that she had entered with two of her friends. Although not quite as fast as her, I took her place. I have been a club member for the organising club for the last 2 years, so running with (or against) my friends would be fun. Ten km may sound like a long way, but it's the kind of distance that you have to run really fast to be competitive. I find running fast very satisfying, but not very enjoyable. I hadn't run a 10km race since November, and I've come a long way since then so really wanted to give it a good shot. I thought I might be able to run sub 45mins (or 4:30min/km pace). The morning was perfect, the course was familiar (I run it several times a week) and the atmosphere at the race was great. It was really exciting. Our swimmer and rider both did great, and then it was my turn. I started off really strong. That first km was fast, and I was a little worried it was too fast to sustain. Of course it was, but it had given me a good start toward that 45 min goal. The course ran 2 5km laps, and by the end of the first I was hot and starting to doubt if I could finish strong (that evil mind again). My splits were all over the place but by about the 7km mark I tried to pick it up and keep it there. It turned out someone had moved the turn around cone sometime between setup and the start of the race, so the total distance fell a bit short of the 10kms, but I managed to run an average pace of 4:27min/km and ran the 5th fastest female time. Woohoo! Keep in mind some of the phenomenal athletes that ran faster than me had also just completed a 1.5km swim and a 40km bike ride (which I had not), so while I was super proud of my time there were some pretty spectacular people out there. It wasn't fun, it hurt physically and mentally, but I'd run the fastest (almost) 10km I'd ever run. Crossing the line with lots of familiar faces and familiar voices cheering was so uplifting. It definitely made the pain worth it, and I hope I did my running buddy proud.

Where to from here? The Perth 32km, the last race before life as I know it changes for a while. I'm still undecided whether to run the 32km distance or try to get that sub 45min 10km, another distance option for the same race. I'm sure whichever I choose, it'll be a great last race for a while, and I might even treat myself to a massage once it's done.

Muesli Bars and Easter Chocolates

My girls love muesli bars. They love everything about them: oats, seeds, any type of dried fruit, nuts, you name it. I sometimes buy commercial muesli bars just so I have some on hand, but I am trying to minimise the amount of processed food we all eat so I've been more disciplined in making my own muesli bars lately. Apologies for blowing my own trumpet, my muesli bars taste pretty damn good, but as a result hubby and I tend to eat a little more than we should. Never the less, I would prefer we were all eating homemade snacks rather than shop-bought ones so I'll have to work a little harder on that self-control.

My good friend Amber at Feather on a Breeze gave me her recipe one day when we were both complaining about not being able make muesli bars that held together as well as commercial ones. I took her recipe and changed it to suit our tastes. While the ingredients sometimes vary, depending on what I have on hand, this is the most common combination:

125g butter

2 tbsp golden syrup

1/3 cup raw sugar

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

1/3 cup sunflower kernel and pepita mix
1/3 cup currants

2/3 cup wholemeal self raising flour

1. Preheat oven to 130C (fan forced).
   
2. Melt butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat until butter is melted and sugar is just about dissolved (it isn't imperative that the sugar is completely dissolved, and you can do this step in the microwave if you're short of time).
3. Combine butter mixture with all other ingredients and mix to combine.
4. Turn mixture out into a lined 20cm x 20cm cake tin and press down to flatten. Wetting your hands a little helps with this.
   
5. Bake for up to an hour, until golden brown on the top. (I've never been game enough to leave it in for the full hour but it does hold together better the longer it's baked, just be careful not to let the top burn.)
6. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting.
   

A batch rarely lasts more than a couple of days in this house, but it will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

I wanted to make some chocolates for easter this year, but didn't get organised and couldn't find any easter moulds in time. I really should order some online now just so I have them for next year. I did however find some cute silicone ice cube trays for next to nothing in Big W. I've used silicone trays to make chocolates before and they work really well so I splurged and bought 3 (for the grand total of $3.50).

This afternoon I melted down 200g of Callebaut 811 dark (54%) callets and 200g of Callebaut 823 milk (34%) callets. I find this combination doesn't offend those not in love with dark chocolate, but is a little more grown up than a plain milk chocolate. I poured a little of the melted chocolate into both the star and the heart moulds, then in the centre of each star I placed a whole hazelnut. In the centre of each heart I placed a whole macadamia nut and then poured some more chocolate in the moulds to cover the nuts. To the remaining melted chocolate I mixed slivered almonds, then filled each cross mould. These didn't take too long to set in the fridge and the results, while not particularly eastery, are cute and delicious (I have sampled one of each so can vouch for all of them).


I haven't been game enough to give chocolate tempering a try yet, so you'll have to forgive my chocolates for their not so glossy finish. In saying that, the stars still reflect a bit of light. We're having an egg (or star, heart and cross) hunt with the littlies on Sunday. I'm sure they won't judge me for my lack of tempering skills.


I hope everyone has a happy and safe easter. Try not to eat too much chocolate!