The Sweet Escape, Issue Two

It’s here! Issue Two of The Sweet Escape has finally been released. So take a break from whatever it is you’re doing and take a break to flip through this new edition of the official UNSW Baking Society Magazine!

In this issue, we’ve got a collection of new recipes from this semester’s baking classes and some personal recipes from the BakeSoc executive. We’ve also got a few funny stories from members, including reviews, recounts and even a sweet surprise about edible candy wrappers! Of course, there are loads of pictures you can feast your eyes (and taste buds) on that will surely make you drool!

Tumblr’s very own Dash of Dan has also kindly contributed to this magazine with his advice on Brown Sugar! 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this magazine (we put a lot of hard work into it!) and let me know if there is something you want to see in Issue Three! Happy reading!

Issue Two can be found here: http://issuu.com/unswbakesoc/docs/sweet_escape_issue02

28 May 9 Permalink

Lattice Pear Tart

So Sydney is no longer in the middle of experiencing hot days or endless sweating. Instead, we’re coming closer towards frosty nights, walking around in warm trench coats and sitting in front of heaters with a mug of hot chocolate to warm up our hands. I don’t know about the rest of you Sydney-siders, but I’m definitely loving this weather and I just love layering jumpers and coats and anything that will keep me warm. And I especially love just getting out the pie and tart tins to get me ready for the winter baking season.

Winter is definitely the right time to not only use your oven as a second heater, but to create a whole lot of warm desserts that you can eat as soon as they come out of the oven. The best thing about winter is that I have about two months of break, which means I can bake as much as I want and still keep warm at the same time. I’m definitely looking forward to the next few weeks where I can finally go on break and get back into baking. But for now, here’s a simple Lattice Pear Tart that I whipped up for a dinner occasion I had just over the weekend. There’s nothing like a buttery, shortcrust pastry tart filled with soft, poached, cinnamon flavoured slices of pears on a cold ‘almost-winter’ night.

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Source: katcakes

20 May 14 Permalink

Lemon Meringue and Poppy Seed Cupcakes

Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend, and I wanted to make something that reflected my mum. Not to say this cupcake would be my mum if she was a cupcake (I just realised how awkward that sounds), but I wanted to take the things she likes, the way I kind of see her, and put it all in some sentimental cupcake form. So warning, this post may get a bit corny, but I deserve to write a mushy sentimental post every now and then. And my mum deserves a post dedicated to her. I know Mother’s Day is not for another two days, but I wanted to share this recipe with you and maybe give each of you some inspiration for any Mother’s Day baking you’ll have planned over the weekend. 

Just before my afternoon lecture yesterday, my friends and I somehow got into this conversation about muffins and baking, and a friend of mine mentioned how much she loved this particular Lemon/Orange and Poppy Seed muffin. So on the train ride home after Uni, I was thinking of how I can recreate this lemon and poppy seed muffin into something much more elegant and beautiful and suitable for say, a Mother’s Day tea. I decided on a cupcake using a basic sponge cake, topped with a caramelised Italian meringue and packed with loads of lemon flavour and a surprise of poppy seeds. 

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Source: katcakes

10 May 14 Permalink

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Profiteroles

Not too long ago, my sister celebrated her birthday and like the good sister I am, I decided to make her favourite dessert in the world- profiteroles. But I didn’t want to make them with a golden brown choux pastry and a vanilla creme patissiere! Nope. I wanted to make them a bit more special, and since I’m currently on a salted caramel and chocolate roll, I decided to keep up with the theme and create a salted caramel and chocolate version of these profiteroles.

I do have to add though, before I go into the details of this dessert, that because winter is coming up, natural lighting disappears more quickly than it did during the summer (no duh, Kat). I makes me sad because that means I need to bake in the morning to early afternoon if I want to get ‘natural lighting’ shots of my food. Luckily mid-year break is coming up in a few weeks, so I will be getting back to baking a bit more regularly. 

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Source: katcakes

3 May 19 Permalink

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m back! And this time I’m back with a recipe! I figured it was about time I get back into the kitchen, take out the butter, the sugar and the flour and just bake something. Lately my schedule has been really tight. If I’m not at Uni, I’m at work. And if I’m not at work, I’m usually cramming in Uni work into my free time. But I decided to take a break from all the stressing over deadlines and assignment and actually bake as I haven’t really baked since… I can’t remember (see how long ago it was!). I thought to myself, ‘I deserve some homemade cookies!’ and so I made cookies. 

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Chip Cookies to be exact! No, these aren’t thumbprint cookies, although they look a lot like them. These cookies are super soft and chunky, hinted with a salted caramel flavour and packed with excessive milk chocolate chips. Oh salted caramel and chocolate, how I love thee. 

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Source: katcakes

26 April 35 Permalink

High Tea at The Gardener’s Lodge

Ever since my little collaboration with Groupon, I’ve been visiting the site regularly to see what restaurant deals I can find and what places and food I can try for my own personal enjoyment. Just recently, our Baking Society Executive found this awesome contemporary high tea deal and decided it would be the perfect way to have a meeting while enjoying delicious food and complementary tea and coffee. And, guess where we found this deal? On Groupon!

For me, high tea screams petit fours, scones with jam and cream and finger sandwiches with the crust cut off, all served on a three-tiered platter. Since I’ve never had the opportunity to have a high tea experience, I’ve always had this image wedged in my mind, until the day I set foot in The Gardener’s Lodge. 

The Gardener’s Lodge is a beautiful cafe located in Victoria Park, Camperdown. The amazing thing about The Gardener’s Lodge is that this stone-wall cottage stands as a heritage-listed building, transformed into a modern cafe for the enjoyment of having a cup of coffee after a stroll in the nine-hectare park. People can come in and read of the cottage’s history on plaques set up across the walls or enjoy treats using some of Australia’s native ingredients such as warrigal greens and wattle seed.

The inside of the cafe is beautifully decorated with white walls, light wooden tables with chairs with intricate designs. On a sunny day, the outside setting would be perfect to indulge in treats and overlook the garden in the park. 

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Source: katcakes

15 April 7 Permalink

Theobroma Chocolate Lounge

There is nothing like spending your 20th birthday sitting in a chocolate cafe and indulging in one too many chocolates (especially after Easter!). Yesterday marked the day when my teenage-hood officially ended. No longer does my age end with a ‘teen’. And no, this is not an April Fool’s joke. It really was my birthday. Last year I spent my birthday in a patisserie and so I decided to do the same again this year with a few awesome friends to share this chocolate experience. 

Theobroma Chocolate Lounge was a place I would usually pass by every time I visited Rouse Hill. I would peep inside and try to have a look at what made this chocolate lounge so different to others around Sydney. I never had the chance to walk in because it was always so full of people, so I told myself I would visit it one day and see what all the fuss was about. My 20th birthday seemed like a good idea.

The interior is like any other chocolate cafe- chocolate brown walls, dark wooden tables with matching leather seats and shelves holding merchandise of boxes of chocolates, mugs and other gifts. Walking into the cafe feels like you really are walking into a cafe, with the cool atmosphere and the smell of Belgian chocolate in the air. 

Orders are placed at the front rather than being seated and having someone come to your table to take your order. The counter is surrounded with glass cabinets of sweet and savoury goods, perfect for the sweet tooth and the savoury tastebuds. 

Many of the cakes and pastries range from about $3.50-$6.50 so it’s quite reasonably priced. As you can see there are so many cheesecakes, pies, tarts, muffins, breads and cake! The choices are overwhelming since there are so many things you want to try but can’t because you need to save a bit of your appetite for your birthday dinner.  Choosing an item from the glass window took me longer than I expected. 

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Source: katcakes

2 April 8 Permalink

Mini Monkey Bread

Hey everyone, how are you all doing? I have a random question to ask which probably has nothing to with this post, but I’m currently addicted to a certain game that I recently downloaded on my phone. Is anyone playing Candy Crush? If you are and you’re playing on an Android… how do you get past level 35 without asking for lives from friends on Facebook or paying 99 cents? PLEASE TELL ME BECAUSE I NEED TO KEEP PLAYING!!!

Anyways, so the weather hasn’t been too bad lately, although it has been unusually hot for typical autumn weather. On the plus side, the heat lets me make breads and food with yeast and cinnamon, which I absolutely love. That explains why I voted ‘cinnamon’ for our next weekly BakeSoc meeting theme. Cinnamon is a beautiful ingredient… when it’s not being used as an Internet challenge. 

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Source: katcakes

30 March 19 Permalink