from past to present

While on my daily peruse through the internet, involving the checking of several popular food blogs, I suddenly realised that I hadn't actually posted any of my individual cakes and baking adventures. So here we go.

These are banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from one of my morning cooking classes. I have them every Wednesday for two hours, starting from 7.30 when my eye lids barely open to 9.30 which is considered my 2nd session. I dread the mornings; the biting cold and terrible sleep deprivation, but in the end it was worth it. I got to make many different meals ranging from meat pies to sponge cakes and its been so much more enjoyable than I'd anticipated.
My mother does not prefer the cakes and sweet treats I like to make and bring home, but out of all my school creations this is her favourite. I consider that to be quite a job well done.


This is a carrot cake made on the 17th of June from my need of a major baking project. And the whole process was going smoothly until I put it into the oven, and it came out 2 and a half hours later. Now I've most definitely learnt that when a recipe asks for several shallow pans I must not chose the lazy way out and use one deep pan. Though the actual cake turned out rich and slightly moist, just the way I like it.


Well as you can see, I kinda like cupcakes. Actually I love them much more than I'm expressing right now so I guess this isn't the best example.
I apologise for the quality of the photos again; I always happen to take pictures under the dull yellow light of my kitchen. This occurs mostly in a hurry and right before I take a massive bite out of it.
I've tried several different cupcake recipes and they've all been delectable, but I've yet to find a staple recipe that I can alter and still be reassured that it will turn out okay. I don't suppose anyone out there has anything they'd like to recommend to me? :)


And to finish the journey through my short and inexperienced (but hopefully improving) baking life we have a snapshot of a plain sponge cake with cream, jam and some melted sugar which was a toffee shard in a previous lifetime. On the way home from cooking class the poor box container took quite an unnecessary bump and I was lucky that the half-cake still stood upright.

of walks, rain and bread

Today was a special day and for that my family went out for lunch at a chinese restaurant. We were celebrating my sister's 20th birthday even though it isn't until another few days and so the importance of the outing was lessened, however it turned out to be quite a productive day.

I haven't been sure exactly what I should be putting in this blog, and now I've decided that I'll at least share some food news from the bakeries and shops in my area. Mind you, I do not live in a very populated state and there are few stores that I know of, but I'm doing my best to find them all and report them here.

One of the things that I found strangely interesting was one of the restaurant's desserts: This was sago with coconut milk and watermelon on strawberry and lime flavoured jelly. I must admit, this kept me busy for a while just playing with the mixed colours.

And it was quite yummy at the same time.

After lunch we went strolling around the city and visited a small oriental bakery named Regent Cakes. I wanted to look inside the Corica shop (where the most heavenly apple strudels are made) but they had already closed by midday. Here are some pictures of the breads and cakes they sell there:

From left to right: a crumbly pineapple custard bun, a soft cream bun and a glazed custard butter bun. The pineapple flavour wasn't very strong however the cream was very nice, while the butter bread tasted true to its name. I would have to say that the cream bun won the competition this time, but overall they were quite good selections.

I believe this is a wild berry cake slice, which is my favourite from that bakery so far, and a sweet Holland tart, which was quite average.

I love opening their doors and walking close to their kitchen where the warmth and the aroma of fresh buns reaches your nose...

I asked specifically to go to the local spice shop in order to find some cocoa nibs for my sister's birthday cookies. She's hasn't much of a sweet tooth (sometimes I wonder why we're related) but figured that if anything a chocolate recipe with authentic cocoa beans would be best. Personally I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 'nib', but I went along with it anyway.

We searched, high and low and everywhere in between-- but they didn't have it, and we didn't know any other spice store in the city. Unfortunately I had to scratch that particular cocoa nib cookie recipe and opt for her second preference; a chocolate-y hedgehog slice. I purchased some dutch cocoa powder for this even though my mother is convinced that it will make no difference. I wouldn't know either but its got to be better than supermarket cocoa powder right?

More on the promised hedgehog slice, my sister's upcoming birthday and some pictures of my past baking experiences (gulp) in the next post~

Hello everyone

I don't expect many people to find this, but if they do I'd like to give them a warm welcome to this blog. My name is Natalie and I'm just an average teenage girl living in quiet Western Australia. Now I'm not much of a Blogger at all, usually I'm on my journal but I decided that I'd try new things and so here I am.

Now as you've mostly likely guessed, this blog is a food blog. And yes, you are correct. Except there is a major difference from my idle ramblings to the professional standards of Bakerella. I can bake relatively well, but I don't attend culinary school or have had any professional experience with baking or cooking. By all means I love baking and every single aspect of it that when I do manage to make a cake I'll be very satisfied for at least a week. And so I thought that I'd share my strange cooking behaviours, occasional recipes and experiments and general ramblings about food and life with the rest of you. Now how about that?

I'll leave you with a picture of a past creation of mine.

It was not very complicated; just chocolate cake, melted chocolate and ripe strawberries placed on top. Despite the simplicity my mouth still waters every time I look at it. This was a collaborative result of my sister and I, however the idea was mine and frankly, I ended up managing most of it even though it was her cake to give to her friend. But anyway I'll cut the rambling now. Hope you all have a good weekend and I'll see you later~ :)