Marshmallow Crunch Brownies

Marshmallows aren't really my kind of thing, but when it's sandwiched between a brownie and apeanutty chocolate crakle....that's a completely different story!

You can probably tell from the recipes I post, that I have a bit of a sweet tooth and whilst most of the time I do turn to chocolate when I'm craving something sweet, I also do find that something with a biscuit or wafer is a little more satisfying, perhaps because having to bite through something rather than it melting away makes me feel like I'm actually eating something.

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Dumplings Taipei, Baulkham Hills

The are restaurants and cafes which I visit after reading about it online, and there are restaurants I visit out of curiosity just because they are there. Dumplings Taipei fits into the latter category, a small Taiwanese eatery sitting on the junction of Windsor and Old Northern Roads, a junction where the light is pretty much always red- which gives me plenty of time to survey the area and and check out how busy the restaurant can get during the day- always the first sign of a good restaurant!

Given that the next closest place I can get a decent Taiwan beef noodle fix is some 30 or so minutes away in Eastwood, the idea of having one so local was exciting so instead of spending half the day cooking lunch on a lazy Saturday arvo, we took a quick drive to check out this place.

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Red Velvet Cake

I can't really say that I like red velvet cake- to be honest I really don't understand the hype about a plain cake that is coloured bright red- but each to their own! Most of the cakes I make aren't really for myself, so given how popular it is, I it was only a matter of time before a request would come up, so I needed a good recipe to have under my belt.

Whilst most recipes are a similar formulation made up of your usual cake candidates- flour, eggs, sugar, butter and of course red food colouring- I have settled for an oil based recipe rather than a butter one..... because a whole block of butter for the buttercream icing is really way more saturated fat than one needs in a serving (those who have followed this blog for a while will know I'm not particularly fond of working with too much butter!).

I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to 'dump everything in a bowl and mix' recipes as I haven't had huge success with these recipes in the past, but I'm pleased to report this one worked a treat. It was a simple five minute job to whip up, the addition of yoghurt makes for a nice, moist texture and the cake went down well with the family, who also aren't red velvet fans either! I've added a bit of cocoa to the recipe to give it a bit of flavour, but leaving out the cocoa will give you brighter shade of red, if that's what you're after.

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