I don’t know about you but I feel there is a lot of pressure to bake the right thing during this lock down. For starters there are only so many treats one can realistically eat in a day so whatever you make can’t go stale overnight. Then there is the question of finite pantry resources and the effort to reward ratio involved with going out to get supplies and the strip off shower routine upon return. Lastly while I joke about finite pantry resources, flour shortages are becoming a real thing. Not as in a real real thing - there is still the same amount of flour being milled it’s just that literally everyone is baking hot cross buns right now so getting your hot little hands on a bag is near impossible. So whatever flour you do have you want the gratification at the end of be worthy.
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Dulce De Leche Ice Cream
Last September I thought it would be a great idea to run around South America for a bit. It was.
The other day Mum mentioned that it had looked like I was back to my pre-trip weight. Double edged compliment right there. To be fair though I am not surprised I packed it on in the three weeks I was away. My diet consisted of white bread, meat, dulce de leche and cachaca. Oh and ice cream! All the dulce de leche ice cream I could find. It was glorious, man it seemed in each town or city the ice cream was better than the last.
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Milhojas (Thousand Layer Cake)
Due to the heavy European influence in South America, delicate and delicious pastries are things Chileans do well. I stumbled across this little shop called Casa Dulce and was immediately drawn in my this mesmerizing meringue and dulce de leche creation in the window. Turns out this was a milhojas, or a thousand layer cake. Layers upon layers of flaky pastry filled with dulce de leche. There are quite a few versions of this cake but the one I tried had custard alternating the delicious caramel and as well as being smothered all over in meringue. It was love at first bite.
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Caramel Popcorn Cake
I found some good caramel popcorn on the cheap a while back. It had been sitting in my cupboard for a month or so and I really wanted to make use of it. Clear Sophie logic meant that the best way to use this popcorn would to be make an entire four layer cake to act as a serving platter for this meagre bag of popcorn. Seriously, that is what went through my head a few weeks ago.
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Salted Caramel Hummingbird Cake
So since being back in the country and starting my job, I have been buzzing on this high of life-winning. My recipes for Tasti went live and I have just started writing proper restaurant reviews for Concrete Playground. All this winning luckily gave me a bit of a shield as having McHottie give me the flick the day after I got back didn't put that much of a damper on this buzz.
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Upside-down Caramel Apple Cake with a good dollop of FOMO
Everyone else’s lives always seem to be so much better than mine. Everyone is travelling and off doing cool things, working cool jobs and just generally having an excellent time. This is of course according to social media.
After talking to a number of close girl friends about this sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) that I suffer, I came to the realization that I am not alone. Far from it. All of my friends are experiencing the same thing. Each week that passes it seems like another one of their friends is off on a great big new OE or adventure somewhere. It also seems like everyone is getting married and having babies (uhh gross no thanks).
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ANZAC Caramel Slice
Instagram is full of #ANZACbiscuit posts today. For those of you not currently in New Zealand or Australia or for those who live in pineapples under the sea, today is ANZAC day. The day in which we remember those who have served and sacrificed for our country.
I have already posted about ANZAC biscuits and ANZAC biscuit cupcakes so I decided to do something a little different and try out an ANZAC caramel slice.
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Caramel Coconut Slice
Finding physical evidence that I ever made this slice in my flat is hard to come by. It seems to disappear as quickly as it comes out of the oven. I hid portions of the first batch I made in the freezer but they were soon discovered and devoured by sugar craving flatmates.
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