Spring Picnic

When the weather changes and the garden blooms, early weekend mornings call to me as being an excellent chance to breakfast outside on the grass...picnic style!

The Menu:

Decaf plunger coffee, apples, bananas, aged cheddar cheese and raw cashews.

The Reading Material:

Popular Mechanics for him, and Country Homes and Interiors for her.

 Check out the cool heart my bu welded for me...

I'm married to a a really talented fella!

 The bird feeders are a popular buffet style stop-in for a variety of bird species.

 The ranunculus bulbs I planted in Winter 2010 for Spring 2010 

are only blooming in Spring 2011. Go figure. 

I guess it's a lesson that things happen in their own time.

 The azalea is going loco with colour! It's super.

 The jasmine is planted close to our bedroom window.

It's such a treat when the fragrant blooms waft their scent

into the room in the early evening!

The benefit of the bougainvillea next door is shared over a dividing wall.

We get all the benefit without the pruning duties of this thorny delight.

The calamondin orange tree is doing it's thing.
Sour little oranges, but a great citrus smell!

In honour of all the Spring blooms blossoming up a storm,
I got crafty and made this flowery brooch.

Happy Spring Southern Hemisphereans!

Vanilla Spring Cupcakes (gluten-free)

HaPPy SpRiNG DaY, SA!

The weather has turned it's back on Winter, and the past few days have been beautifully sunny and warm.

Our garden is blooming, vegetables planted as seedlings in my greenhouse over Winter are ready for harvest, and I am finally over a nasty-ass respiratory tract infection that hovered for four weeks.

Man, who wouldn't be inspired to bake cupcakes on a day like today? :-)

Spring Cupcakes
(Made 18)

Ingredients for cupcakes:

• 169.5 g (1.5 US sticks) butter (room temp.)
  
• 175 ml castor sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 375 ml gluten-free cake flour (I used Nature's Choice)
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp. creme of tartar
• 125 ml sour cream
  

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs and mix well.
5. Add the flour, vanilla, bicarb, creme of tartar and sour cream all at once, and then mix together till lump-free and well-combined (don't over-mix else they won't rise properly).
6. Divide the batter into the cupcake liners using a dessert spoon (the cups should be filled roughly three-quarters full).
7. Bake until a toothpick/cake skewer comes out clean (which is around 20 minutes).
8. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost/Ice them only once fully cooled.
9. These cupcakes have an exterior which holds-its-own nicely against icing, while having a lovely moist, light interior crumb.
10. This recipe is my make-shift vanilla version of these chocolate cupcakes.
    

Ingredients for butter frosting/icing:

• 50 g butter
• 2 tsp. (10 ml) sour cream
• 100 ml castor sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence
• 1 tsp. matcha powder (or a little food colouring of your choice)

Method:

1. Cream the butter, sour cream and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Mix through the vanilla essence and matcha powder.
3. Refrigerate till your cupcakes are ready for icing!

I found these pretty sugar decorations
to make my cupcakes speak
Springlish!