Ann Reardon

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chocolate how to cook that

Easter Creatures

If you are blessed to get lots of eggs at Easter time, have some fun and turn them into creatures. For some of these cute animals you'll need a chocolate mold but for others you can just use the eggs you got for Easter. This week I want to take a moment to say a ... »

chocolate spiral dessert recipe ann reardon

Chocolate Spiral Dessert Recipe

  So pretty yet so simple to make, the chocolate spiral takes this dessert from beautiful to stunning in just a few seconds.     Inside the dessert are layers of chocolate cake, salted caramel, caramel creme brûlée and chocolate mousse. I had to draw you a picture because they had all been eaten before ... »

Dessert Tubes

Dessert Tubes

  This is the most fun dessert you'll ever eat! Be prepared for some hilarious, almost musical, sound effects as your friends and family slurp back on the tubes. Then BOOM! A flavor hit all at once. Unless you're running a Weight Watchers meeting, guests will definitely want more than one. ... »

gold leaf on dessert reardon

Vanilla Panna Cotta Dessert Recipe

Have you ever seen such a pretty dessert. Sitting inside it's very own ice droplet is a vanilla bean panna cotta, diced compressed pineapple, mango lime sphere, isomalt sugar garnish. Thanks to the support of YouTube and Screen Australia I had the opportunity to work with a team on this video. Normally I film, ... »

rose apple tart recipe video ann reardon

Rose Apple Pie Recipe

  This dessert is a real crowd-pleaser with a delicious bouquet of gorgeous red apple roses, rich creamy custard and crisp pecan pastry. It's beautiful enough to take centre place on a Christmas dessert buffet ... but why wait when you could share it over afternoon tea with old friends. We've just returned from a ... »

macaron tart recipe How To Cook That

Extravagant Thanksgiving Dessert Recipe

  I am in the USA for a couple of weeks so I just had to make something for Thanksgiving. I searched online and it seems that pecan or apple pies are the traditional choice but as I'm from Australia let's break tradition and go with something a little more extravagant. Hopefully my ... »

ombre cake recipe

Pink Ombre Cake Recipe How To

Inspired by the ombre fashion trend this pink ombre cake is super easy and will delight your friends at your next party. You can just as easily turn it into a blue ombre cake or purple ombre cake but for my liking the rose pink is the way to go.   You will need: Three 20cm (7.87 inches) round ... »

mickey mouse cupcakes

Mickey Mouse Cupcakes with Mickey inside

 Mickey was everywhere, even honeymooners donned Mickey Mouse hats with veils. It was Disney World after all, but I still did not expect the level of devotion that the adults had for the Disney characters. These cupcakes are a tribute to our time spent at Disney World and to all those Mickey Mouse LOVERS! ... »

nougat candy recipe

Nougat Recipe

This nougat is the hard chewy variety, great for Christmas gifts. If you add lots of dried fruit and leave it a few days it will soften a little and not be such a jawbreaker. If you like hard nougat then just add nuts. You can dip it in chocolate or enjoy it just as ... »

How to Make Chocolate Bowls

How to Make Chocolate Bowls

In this post I will show you how to make seven chocolate bowls using 3 different techniques - balloons, ice and lined containers. You will need to use chocolate melts or tempered chocolate to make these, if you are not sure how to temper chocolate it is explained here.  If you use melts that contain ... »

cream cheese frosting recipe

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe Cream cheese frosting is delicious on carrot cakes and red velvet cupcakes. I find the traditional version a bit too sweet and cloying, so here is my recipe. 250g (8.82 ounces) or 1 cup cream cheese  (this should be the block cream cheese - not the spreadable cream cheese that comes in a tub) 90g (3.17 ounces) or 1/3 cupbutter 2 cups or ... »

little book of frosting recipes

My Little Book of Frosting Recipes

Frosting recipes are spread all over this blog and you can access them for free.  But for those of you who like things organized I have made 'My little book of frostings' here you will find eighteen frosting recipes in one cute little booklet. You can purchase, download the pdf, print and assemble!   Frosting Recipes included ... »

easy cookie monster cupcakes

Easy Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Cookie Monster cupcakes Cookie Monster Cupcakes will go down a treat at any little kids party and with this technique they will be done quickly without the use of any fancy equipment. You will need: Cupcakes (vanilla cake recipe at bottom of princess cake post or chocolate cake recipe) Blue Buttercream (buttercream recipes can be found here) White chocolate melts ... »

adriano zumbo cookbook review

Adriano Zumbo Cook Book & Dessert Train Review

The Adriano Zumbo cookbook 'Zumbo' is filled with all the sweetest things that you could imagine from 'salted butter popcorn zumabrons' (macarons) to 'gibbo & zumb's australian adventure' - my rendition is pictured above.  But is ithis cookbook too complicated to be of value to most home cooks? In my opinion this book definitely has not ... »

amazing buttercream roses leaves and daisy tutorial cupcakes

How to Pipe Butter Cream Flowers Using Only a Ziplock Bag

Believe it or not, you can make these buttercream cupcake frosting flowers using only a ziplock bag. They are super easy and quick, making them ideal if you need to frost a large number of cupcakes with buttercream. I wanted to develop a way of piping flowers without the need for specialty nozzles and piping bags. ... »

cake artist pirate cake

Pirates Band of Misfits 3D Fondant Cake

"Your flight has been delayed..."  " Your flight has been cancelled. Please collect your baggage". Not the words you want to hear when you have a cake to make! I usually plan ahead sufficiently to ensure that I do not have a very late night before a kids party. I need energy for the party. ... »

fondant cake decorations first birthday cake ideas monkey teddy elephant

1st Birthday Cake

As my youngest son's first birthday is rapidly approaching I realized that I have never posted the 1st birthday cakes for my other two boys. So here is a pic of the first fondant covered cake I ever made. I used a book from the library, yes it was back in the ... »

how to cook that ann reardon best food blog 2012 award

Never-Fail Cheesecake Recipe

Make you next dinner party stress free by planning ahead.   Cheesecakes can be prepared weeks ahead and left in the freezer.  Pull them out the morning that you need them, decorate and defrost in the fridge.  You can even make individual sized ones using fancy cupcake wrappers in a muffin tin. Just defrost one for ... »

seized chocoalte

How to fix seized chocolate

Water is to chocolate what kryptonite is to superman.  Just a tiny drop and melted chocolate seizes and becomes thick and grainy. So how do you fix seized chocolate? You add more liquid - while adding more kryptonite might kill superman, it will fix chocolate. Try adding some hot cream and the chocolate will smooth out again ... »

how to temper chocolate microwave 2

How to temper chocolate in the microwave

Why Temper Chocolate Have you ever melted chocolate to make decorations only to find once it sets it is soft, dull and bends over when it is not in the fridge?  That is because it is not tempered. Chocolate manufacturers use equipment to precisely control the temperature of the chocolate during processing to cause the fat molecules ... »

chocolate pavalova easy gourmet dessert recipe how to cook that best cooking blog

Chocolate Pavlova easy dessert recipe

To quote a friend... "I HAVE to get the recipe off you for that pavlova...I think I am having withdrawls this week and can still taste how divine it was!"  If you've never had it, then imagine chocolate mousse encased in a crisp meringue shell, topped with cream, chocolate and strawberries. Yummm! And the ... »

how to cook that ann reardon best food blog 2012

How to Train Your Dragon Birthday Cake

  As we walked to the party venue carrying this cake my eldest remarked "Mum everyone is staring at us".  I reassured him that they were looking at the cake not us.    Step 1: Make your fondant details up to 4 weeks ahead of time (fondant basics tutorial) and allow them to dry hard.  For this cake ... »

easy entertaining – make your own pizza

Before guests arrive prepare an array of toppings - you will need the basics for the kids like ham, cheese and pineapple.  For the adults try some chicken, prawns, bacon, cabanossi, sun dried tomatoes, chilli, terryaki sauce, olives, red and green capsicum, baby spinach, haloumi cheese and baby bocconcini. You will of course also need pizza ... »

molecular-gastronomy-spherical-custard-dessert-recipe

Molecular Gastronomy: Custard Ravioli Spherical Recipe

Custard Spherical Recipe Alginate bath: 5g (0.18 ounces) Sodium alginate molecular gastronomy kits available here 25g (0.88 ounces) or 2 Tbsp sugar 1 litre (0.26 gallons) distilled water Mix together the sugar and sodium alginate (this helps to stop it clumping). Put half the water in a blender and sprinkle the surface with a little of the sodium alginate mixture - blend 10 secs, repeat until ... »

chcolate spherical served with raspberry agar gel, vanilla air and chocolate brownie

Molecular Gastronomy / Cooking: Chocolate Spherical Recipe

The kids loved these sphericals, although I think they may have enjoyed playing with them on their hands even more than eating them. So how do you make them? Well put simply you add sodium alginate to a container of water and then add calcium salts to the liquid that you want to make into a ... »

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