Trick or Treat?

This year's Crave Food Festival definitely bought out the 'Tricks & Treats' of October .

Renowned chefs and prominent food personalities, all lent their hand at providing the food 'tricks' - through demonstrations, workshops & masterclasses at events such as World Chef Showcase, Hands On and various local community festivals. I am definitely going to try learning a few new tricks next year, but with little time to spare in October, I opted for the latter - TREATS! For now I am blissfully content with my options: High Tea, Let's Do Brunch and my personal favourite - Sugar Hit!

These were the sweet and treats on my hit list this year.

Number One Wine Bar: Creme Caramel with Strawberry and Champagne Jelly

This is Tony Bilson's restaurant, and while I am sure as the name of the restaurant suggests,  offers a great selection of fine wines (and the food menu didn't look bad either), I was a little disappointed with our dessert. Being the first on our Sugar Hit list - we had high expectations. The texture of the creme caramel wasn't smooth and creamy, but I was I definitely intrigued with the concept of strawberry champagne jelly. Slightly bitter but  balanced well with the sweetness of the strawberries. It also probably didn't help the dessert, because our waiter recommended a black tea for us which he quote, unquote tasted like "smokey bark" and "bacon". We weren't convicted by the description but he insisted it was his favourite tea so we thought we would try it. I guess this is what people are referring to when they say "it isn't every one's cup of tea". It tasted like Chinese black herbal medicine - yuck, yuck, yuck. 

 

Bacco @ Chifleys: Chocolate Tasting Plate of Berry Chocolate Fudge, Gianduja Macaroon, & Apricot Milk Choc Ganache Tart

The Westin: Marie Antoinette High Tea
A Marie Antoniette High Tea wouldn't be complete without eye masks and fans. I even did my hair in a Carrie bun for the occasion.

On the menu was...

The Savory:
Slow cooked roast beef with creme chees stuffed baby belle peppers, avocado and shrimp tartar, bit and devilled egg finger sandwich, kiwi and orange croissant with mascarpone
The Sweet:
Lime curd meringue tart, chocolate cream with exotic fruit caramel and candied walnuts, macaroon with fresh blueberries, beetroot and cherry cupcakes
And The One that got away:
Macaroon with fresh blueberries. *Cries* - this was definitely the best dessert. What is it with me and dropping my sweets?? I'm calling this photo "the one that got away".

The Tea Room QVB: Afternoon High Tea

This is one place I've always wanted to go to for high tea, expecially since Gracie had her wedding here last year, I wanted to come back and try the high tea.

Bonus points for The Tea Room because they had my fav tea - Orange Pekoe.

Hyde Park Barracks Cafe: Brunch in the Sun!

Given the unpredictable weather of late, the day lived up to the name "Brunch in the Sun!" and it turned out to be a fairly nice day. I'd never heard of this place before, but it came very highly recommended by one of our friends.  

It was a 3-course gastronomical delight - Homemade granola, vanilla yoghurt, and poached fruit, followed by eggs three ways - egg, chorizo and roast tomato tart, feta, spinach and mushroom omelette, ham and eggs benedict, and to finish it all off - raspberry waffles, with vanilla gelato and white chocolate sauce.

Of course - that's not all we ate...

The food was absolutely delicious - each egg dish was cooked to perfection. The service was friendly but a little slow (this was something I read on another blog as well) and there were pigeons - which I am petrified of and made me uneasily while I was eating but this was my fault for wanting to sit in the sun.

The Grace Hotel: Devilish Chocolate Delight

And last but definitely not least, was the Grace Hotel's Devilish Chocolate Delight. This was one of the more popular Sugar Hit spots and luckily we managed to get a booking on the last day of Crave. We definitely saved the best for last - this little delight offered warm chocolate fondant with a self-saucing chocolate centre perched on a waffle bowl with fresh strawberries pieces, and topped with Kahlua ice cream, chocolate macaroon and chocolate fairy floss. This dessert is pure evil!

Line them up! Choc Delights all lined up in a row + Fion & I spotting the latest trend in nail polishes

Fun with fairy floss

 

Sweet Treats to Delight your Seoul

A summary of my sweet escape through Seoul...

Haagen Dazs – Brownie Ecstasy and Caramel ice cream waffles
Lotte Department Store – Red velvet cupcakes and black sesame and green tea macaron
PappaRoti – Signature bun (you can get these here as well - there’s a huge cult following for these buns)
Melon, nectarine, apple, strawberry smoothies – we made these ourselves with organic milk, yoghurt and Haagen Dazs ice cream
Doota - Korean strawberry and cream crepes
C Four – Milk tea shaved ice and red bean dessert
Good Ovening Cupcakes - English Tea Party cupcake
Hello Kitty Café - Yoghurt caramel waffles, tiramisu, Hello Kitty berry mousse sponge cake, green tea latte and sweet potato latte
Cold Stone - Cookie Doughn't You Want Some™ and Chocolatee Devotion™ ice cream
Paris Baguette – an assortment of sweet breads
Nescafe – Green Tea Frappé
Starbucks – Green Tea Frappé (I love these!) and chocolate macaron

AND FINALLY….RED VELVET CUPCAKES BAKED BY MOI!

 

RED VELVET CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Adapted from Simply Recipes. Makes 12 cupcakes.

1 1/2 cups of caster sugar sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 1/3 cups of self raising flour
2 tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of buttermilk (milk is fine as well)
1 1/2 tablespoons of red food coloring
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar (I made mine without)

FROSTING INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
1 1/2 to 2 cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat the butter & sugar in an electric mixer for 5 minutes on medium speed until light & fluffy.
2.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated. 
3. In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder & salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract & red food coloring. 
4. Add a fourth of the dry ingredients & mix, then add a third of the wet. Continue adding in a dry, wet, dry pattern, ending with the dry ingredients. 
5. Scoop into cupcake baking tin, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes of baking to ensure even baking. 
6. Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

THE FROSTING
Cream the butter & cream cheese together, about 3 minutes, until evenly combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix.Add caster sugar, continually taste to get to desired sweetness. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes & decorate as desired.