Recently produced by munch

Here are some pictures of what I've been making lately. Most of what I've made recently has completely escaped my camera, so this collection is just a small and relatively random sample.

Red velvet cupcakes as a wedding cake

Cold noodle salad with shrimp, marrows and spicy peanut sauce

Sweet-spicy pulled chicken tostadas with fresh tomato salsa and sour cream

Mini pita pockets with lamb koftas and tzatziki

Sweet-spicy pulled chicken salad with fresh pineapple salsa,
radishes, cornbread croutons and coriander

Black bean salad with fresh pineapple salsa, radishes,
cornbread croutons and coriander

Rosemary and garlic roasted nuts

Arancini stuffed with taleggio

Assorted cupcake box - devil's food cake with minty meringue frosting, chocolate chiffon with fresh strawberry buttercream, cinnamon with honey buttercream, vanilla with Nutella frosting, plain vanilla, vanilla stuffed with granadilla curd and topped with white chocolate ganache, lemon stuffed with lemon curd and topped with meringue frosting, and coconut with cream cheese frosting

And more assorted cupcakes

Munch Christmas specials starting soon

For Christmas this year, Munch will be making the classic French Christmas dessert, buche de Noel, to order. Otherwise known as a Yule log, a buche de Noel is a classic French Christmas dessert, shaped and decorated to resemble the logs traditionally thrown on the Yule fire. Yule logs come in as many varieties as there are bakers. The Munch version starts with a vanilla Genoese sponge cake that is spread with rich hazelnut mousse before being rolled up. The rolled cake is then frosted with dark chocolate buttercream, with the classic meringue “mushrooms” added to complete the presentation.

As well as the buche de Noel Christmas special, Munch will also be making classic cut-out Christmas cookies, cut into star shapes and decorated with piped white royal icing and edible glitter in gold. Two flavours are available – lemon and almond sugar cookies, and spicy gingerbread cookies – and can be ordered in mixed boxes, or just one of the flavours if preferred.

Both specials will be available from the first of November. To find out more about ordering, delivery and prices, e-mail me at emma@munchfoodcakes.co.za.

Springtime high tea

Recently, Munch put together a springtime high tea.

Dark chocolate cupcakes with fresh strawberry buttercream, vanilla cupcakes with
chocolate buttercream, and toasted coconut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Miniature scones with homemade strawberry preserves and double thick cream

Roasted baby tomatoes and feta on toasted baguette slices

Smoked salmon and horseradish-spiked creme fraiche on sweetcorn crumpets
with wild rocket

Vanilla angel food cake with sweetened mascarpone and fresh berries
(the cake really is there, underneath all those berries)

Rare roast beef, watercress and wholegrain mustard on baby Yorkshire puddings

Here you can see a little bit of the cake peeking out between all the berries and mascarpone

Angel food cake recipe coming soon!

Yet another salad

Sweet things are coming soon - a vanilla angel's food cake with sweetened mascarpone and fresh berries, to be exact. But in the meantime, here is another light but substantial summer salad.

From the top left corner, going clockwise, we have:

1. brown basmati rice and green lentils, simmered together slowly till tender, drained and cooled
2. half a lemon
3. beetroot, sliced thinly, tossed in olive oil and salt and roasted at 180 C for about 25 minutes
4. parmesan, shaved
5. little baby carrots, topped and tailed, tossed with olive oil and salt and roasted at 180 C for about 25 minutes
6. fresh baby spinach

Squeeze the lemon to get its juice, toss that with everything else above, and add some salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. If you're a determined carnivore, some cold roast chicken is good in this mix.

Summer salads

Cape weather is notoriously fickle, so I'm hesitant to say this, but it does seem like summer is arriving - for now, at least. When it's hot, I really don't want to keep the oven and stove on any longer than absolutely necessary, which means Andrew and I tend to eat salads for the duration of summer. Here is last night's inaugural summer salad:

It might look all innocent (and very green) in that picture, but there is a lot going on in that salad. If I'm going to eat salad for dinner, it has to be both interesting and substantial. Luckily, as I've mentioned before in this post, I tend to have lots of bits and pieces of already cooked leftover components in my fridge most of the time, so often I cobble hearty salads together using those bits and pieces.

Even if you don't have that advantage, though, it's easy enough to cook a big batch of one or more grains, chop and saute or roast a few vegetables, maybe cook some bacon or chicken over the weekend, and keep all of this in the fridge to use for salads during the week. Then it's just a matter of throwing these cooked ingredients together with fresh, raw ones in different combinations, and with different dressings.

Of course, this sometimes works out better than other times. Luckily last night's salad was a winner.

Inaugural simmer salad

about 1 cup cooked bulgur wheat
half a small head of broccoli, chopped and sauteed
5 small courgettes, sliced and sauteed
about 1 cup peas, sauteed
1/4 cup roasted cashews
3 rashers streaky bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 log garlic and herb chevin
juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
squirt of honey
salt and pepper

Everything tossed together, except the chevin, which I crumbled on top. Dinner in less than five minutes.