Mudhoney dessert pizza

This is heaven in the form of a dessert pizza! There is a pizza takeaway/restaurant place in the hills of Perth known as Little Caesar's; they are actually considerably renowned now, as they have won many a competition world-wide for the delectable pizzas they continue to make. They have also opened up another restaurant in Leederville, Western Australia. My family have always been huge fans of Little Caesar's, so naturally we purchased the book, Theo Kalogeracos, published in 2008. The book contains the recipes for all the fantastic pizzas they make at Little Caesar's, including the recipe for the Mudhoney dessert pizza, which is (to say the least) incredible. To find out more about the book, follow this link.

WHAT YOU NEED:
Pizza dough:
- 3 cups of plain flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- 3 teaspoons of yeast
- 2/3 cup of water (or as much as you feel necessary; the dough shouldn't be sticky at all)
Chocolate sauce:
- 1/4 cup of chocolate melts
- 100 mL of whipping cream
Cake base:
- 2/3 cup of caster sugar
- 2/3 cup of self-raising flour
- 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1 tablespoon of cocoa
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup of chocolate melts
Pizza topping:
- Chocolate melts (white, milk, dark, you decide - put as much or as little on as you wish to)
- 1 tablespoon chocolate sauce
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- Icing sugar for dusting
- Vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream (optional - the dessert is still incredibly rich without either of these, as you may have guessed)

HOW TO DO IT:
Pizza dough:
1. Combine all ingredients, and knead until combined and not too dry, not too sticky.
2. Place in a bowl and cover with cling wrap or a tea towel, to prevent air from entering. Leave to sit for half an hour or so, while you make the other components of the pizza.
Chocolate sauce:
1. Boil a pot of water on the stove. Turn the heat down to a simmer when the water begins to boil and place a heat-proof bowl filled with chocolate pieces over the water, so they begin to melt.
2. As the chocolate melts, add the cream slowly, and ensure that the chocolate and cream combine well and the consistency becomes thicker.
3. Refrigerate the sauce.
Cake base:
1. Preheat oven to 250°C/482°F.
2. Sift caster sugar, self-raising flour, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl. Soften the butter to a point where you are able to rub it into the dry mixture, then do so until it is crumbly.
3. Break the eggs into a separate bowl, and give them a quick whisk to combine the whites and the yolks until they are light and fluffy. Break up some chocolate melts and add them to the egg mix.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry mix and add the wet ingredients in. This makes a cake mix that is not like the usual sort; it will be stiff, but spreadable.
5. Split the dough into two balls and roll each one out into a circle. Put them on pizza trays and spread the cake mixture over the top, leaving a small space for a crust on the edge of each pizza.
6. Bake for approximately 8 minutes, or until the pizza puffs up slightly.
Pizza topping:
1. Remove the pizza from the oven when cooked, and cover in the toppings listed above. Put the chocolate on first, then follow with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and honey, and then the icing sugar.

This should taste fantastic... I hope! Everyone should be entitled to this little piece of lovely. x

* please note; this is not the exact recipe for Little Caesar's original Mudhoney pizza, but my pizza was extremely similar to the recipe from the book.

Chocolate and blueberry cake

Rich chocolate cake topped with blueberries. Slightly unusual; you would expect chocolate cake to be teamed with strawberries, but blueberries fare well.

WHAT YOU NEED:
- 1 cup of self-raising flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup of milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup chocolate melts
- Blueberries to top
- Icing sugar to dust


HOW TO DO IT:
1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/356°F.
2. Add all ingredients to one mixing bowl, and stir until combined.
3. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is fairly runny and contains no lumps.
4. Prepare your cake tin (square, round, rectangle, whatever - i found that square worked perfectly well for me, though) by coating the inside with butter and then cornflour or cocoa. Pour the mixture in.
5. Bake the cake for about 35 - 40 minutes. When the cake has risen fairly well, check to see if it is cooked by poking the middle with a skewer. You know the old trick; if the skewer comes out clean, the cake is baked.
6. Leave the cake to sit for a few minutes, then move it to a serving plate. I can guarantee you it will not stick to the tin.
7. Dust the cake with icing sugar as you please, and add the blueberries to the middle. Alternatively, you could find a recipe for chocolate icing. I definitely recommend this one.

I made this cake for my cousin's birthday, and it went down a treat. Give it a go! x


credit.
* please note: i did take the body of the recipe on the website linked, but i also added my own modifications to it to dress it up a bit, as you will see.

Matchsticks

Simplicity at its best; possibly the easiest dessert that was ever fabricated by anyone. These babies look a million bucks and ever-so-intricate, but are indeed the opposite.

WHAT YOU NEED:
- 6 sheets of puff pastry (tends to be easier with frozen puff pastry, as it is not so pliable)
- 300 mL whipping cream
- A jar of strawberry jam (or whatever jam takes your fancy)
- 3 teaspoons icing/confectioners sugar, and extra for dusting

HOW TO DO IT:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/392°F.
2. Cut your sheets of puff pastry into eighths. Lay them out on an ordinary baking tray (aluminium foil may or may not be necessary to prevent the puff pastry from sticking, it depends on the state of the tray you are using). You should end up with an even amount of pastry slices.
3. Bake slices of puff pastry for approximately 7 minutes, or until they are a light golden colour. Leave to cool for a minute.
4. While the slices are cooling, empty your whipping cream into a mixing bowl, and add the 3 teaspoons of icing/confectioners sugar. Beat the cream with an electric beater until it is combined and well whipped.
5. Take two pieces of puff pastry. On the underside of one piece, spread your chosen jam, and on the other, a fair amount of whipped cream. Stick the two layers together, and follow through with the other pieces.
6. Dust with icing sugar for aesthetic value.

With 6 sheets of pastry divided into 8, this should make about 24 matchsticks. Enjoy! x

Hello, and welcome.

First blog posts are always awkward, I hate writing them. I guess to begin with: hi! My name is Jasmine, and in basic terms, I am extremely passionate about cooking, more specifically baking and creating desserts. I have made this blog purely for my own purpose; I want to document all the dishes I happen to cook, but also put them out here in case anyone happens to stumble across this and likes the look of it!
That's it, really.
x