Cookies

I've had some success with cookies lately. By success I mean I was able to bake a reasonable amount that both looked good and tasted fantastic. And by lately I mean this year. I have been slack on the blog update so this is my first one for 2011. My biggest problem is taking photographs that come out even remotely worth a look so I must endeavour to get a camera at some point.

This cute little fella is a chocolate freckle cookie, chosen by my son as the recipe of choice for one Sunday afternoon of baking. And I must concur, it was a most excellent choice. Chocolate biscuit dough base which could be cut into any shape you like. There were a few that came out shaped like dog bones. Don't ask. Then dipped in chocolate and covered in hundreds and thousands. One word, moreish.

I also made a big batch of choc chip cookies using an excellent vegan recipe. No need to have fresh eggs on hand to whip these up; marg, sugar, golden syrup and flour will do the job. Oh and choc chips of course. I thought they looked really cute all stacked in clear boxes and would be great for a market stall, bake sale or fundraiser.

100 Birthday Cupcakes

Well...technically, I made 8 dozen birthday cupcakes. But 8 dozen is 96. Which is close to 100 so I'm claiming artistic license and saying I made 100 cupcakes - for my work friend Jackie's 60th birthday party.

For Jackie's cakes I wanted:
- Great tasting cupcakes but with classic flavour, so I chose chocolate.
- I wanted great tasting, classic icing too but with a touch of colour and prettiness, so I piped a chocolate-strawberry swirl on each cake.
- And to finish off I added a dark chocolate squiggle, just for kicks. And cos I like squiggles.

The making was fairly straight forward; I basically made a lot of cakes, and then I iced a lot of cakes. I then took a lot of pictures. I also got a lot of chocolate in places I neither expected or thought it physically possible to get chocolate.

The baking and cooling of lots of cakes looked like this... ----->

<---- and my production line of boxing, icing and applying chocolate squiggle to said many cakes looked a bit like this....

There is a squiggle missing off one cake. Where is the quality control when you need it?!

And the all done, wouldn't-know-they're-vegan, in their SLACKTARTS logo boxes, finished product

That squiggle is still missing!

Very happy with myself at my first bulk order of cakes and for getting them to look and taste so consistently good. Thanks to my super friend Shylie for designing my logo and getting me stickers - I now look super profesh! Well, not so much when I'm at home in the kitchen with chocolate on my bum, but at other times.

Strawberries

I recently went strawberry picking in QLD. That's when you go to a strawberry farm and get to pick your own farm-fresh-still-warm-from-the-sun-and-on-the-vine-with-bugs-on-them strawberries.

On arriving at the farm, I sought out the foreman who was napping near the entrance to the office. I gave him a pat, got myself a bucket and proceeded to the strawberry patch.

There I was confronted by rows and rows and ROWS of strawberries! And it was hot and quiet and I thought it'd be a really nice spot to sit amongst the vines and read a book or sleep, but I am not sure that is the done thing on a strawberry farm. So I picked my fill instead, going about it leisurely so as to prolong the enjoyment.

I quickly filled my bucket which was later weighed to be 1.2 kilos of strawberries

After leaving the farm, I found a grassy spot in the shade where I sat down and ate my strawberries. I also met a nice horse.

The End.

PS. Oh yeah, this is about cakes and shit hey. Strawberries are good for decorating cakes or when dipped in chocolate make a decadent treat, like these chocolate dipped strawberries with white swirls.

You could woo your vegan lover with these too, since I discovered the invention of dairy-free white chocolate. Thanks to my cool friend Lee for taking this photo and making my chocolate strawberries look so fancy schmancy.

Why slack tarts...

I thought I should at some point explain the name of this site because to those who don't know me the 'slack tarts' idea may not be clearly apparent. To those that do know me, well, they know only too well just how slack of a tart I am. But that has nothing to do with the name of this site. I also don't make tarts. Which is further confusing.

The name became somewhat famous after a sign I painted a few years back. A sign to encourage some girlfriends who were participating in the Sydney Running Festival half marathon. For some reason this sign went down in running history as one of the best signs ever. I really just intended to provide some gentle and sportswomanlike encouragement to my running friends as they approached the finish line of what is a gruelling 21.1km out and back on Sydney's city west link blaaargh! #halfmarathoncourseofhell. I'd rather stand around in the sun all morning holding a sign! Oh wait...

Mocha

Chocolate cake with mocha icing.

And yep that's a dark chocolate coated coffee bean on top. Oh yeah.

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

I love these ones. Simple. Elegant. Vegan.

Gingerbread Cupcakes