Sometimes when baking, everything goes to plan. And sometimes it doesn’t. This recipe was one of those doesn’t times…but that doesn’t necessarily mean disaster.

 I got this recipe for creaming soda cupcakes from a friend via the internet. ‘Ooh,’ I thought. ‘Everyone loves creaming soda. I might be able to tweak and change this recipe and make something really amazing.’ Little did I know just how much I’d have to tweak and change. But the end result? AMAZING.

What you need – CUPCAKES:

• 2 cups of Kirks brand creaming soda (ok, confession time. I didn’t use Kirk’s brand like the recipe told me to. This could have been where things went wrong, but I can’t be sure).
• 150g unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups of self raising flour
• 2 large eggs

How it’s done:

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl and put aside. Melt butter in the microwave and whisk with the eggs in a second bowl. Add the creaming soda to the butter and egg mix.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the egg/butter/creaming soda. Gently fold the mixture together. Pour into cupcake liners and bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

All good, right? Wrong. My cupcakes were more like pancakes. They didn’t rise at all. I double checked – yes, I used self raising flour. Next time, I’ll add some baking powder as well. But, how to save this batch when the cupcake cases were only 2/3 full?

Jelly. Creaming Soda flavoured jelly. Oh, yeah!

What you need:

1 packet of Aeroplane Jelly ‘Create-a-jelly’.

1 cup of boiling water

200 ml of creaming soda.

How it’s done:

Aeroplane Jelly make this awesome Create-a-jelly that can be found in the supermarket alongside the flavoured stuff. Create-a-jelly allows you to make any flavour you desire. Just add your favourite fruit juice, soft drink, iced tea, cordial…

Anyway, I just happened to have a pack in the pantry, and made up a batch according to the instructions (dissolve the Create-a-jelly with the boiling water, then add the creaming soda) in a shallow jug and popped it into the fridge for an hour, until it was about half set but still pourable. Then I topped up the flat cupcakes with the jelly mix and put them back in the fridge for another two hours.

Fairy Floss Decoration:

What you need:

1 x Betty Crocker ready-made vanilla frosting.

Pink and blue food colouring

1 x small container of blue and pink fairy floss.

…because too much sweet stuff is never enough, right? I spooned around 3 tablespoons of frosting into two separate bowls and tinted one pale pink, and one pale blue. Load up your piping bag with one teaspoon of each colour at a time – one spoon pink, one spoon blue, one spoon pink… Then pipe a simple swirl onto the top of each jellied cupcake. Carefully add a little fairy floss for decoration, trying not to handle it too much to keep that flossy look.

The end result was all round ‘WIN’ so far as my family of taste-testers went. The texture of jelly with cake and fairy floss was gorgeous. Very, very sweet – but gorgeous. I might just make this mistake again…

** A word of caution – don’t add the fairy floss until you’re just about to serve up. It tends to melt at air temperature.

With only a few weeks until Halloween, I thought this would be a good time to share some of my favourite – but kind of gruesome – recipes for your Halloween party. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting both sweet and savoury recipes of the very dark kind, along with others of the more cheerful kind (unless you have an aversion to fairgrounds and clowns, that is…)

Today we’ll kick things off with Glass Shard Cupcakes. As usual, I’ve used a few ‘cheats’ where possible.

What you need:

1 x chocolate cake mix. I used White Wings brand.

1 x Betty Crocker vanilla frosting.

1 x packet of clear Isomalt Sticks – available from any cake decorating suppliers or online.

1 x Red Queen brand ‘Writing Icing’. Comes in a pack of 4 tubes, available at the supermarket.

Black food colouring.

How it’s done:

Make up a batch of chocolate cupcakes according to the packet instructions. Allow to completely cool.

Isomalt Glass Shards:

I use the ‘Cake Play’ brand of Isomalt sticks. It’s meltable, mouldable candy. It can be coloured as well as flavoured, but for this recipe I used it straight. It’s brilliant for so many different decorating ideas, but especially candy glass. A little on the expensive side at around $15 for a packet of 12 sticks, so it’s worth trying to catch them on special or online. Using Isomalt is a bit daunting at first, but, like working with chocolate, once you get the hang of it, a whole new world of ideas is opened up to you.

Prepare a flat surface with a large sheet of baking paper.

For this recipe, I used 6 Isomalt sticks. Snap each stick into 2 or 3 pieces, and add to a microwave safe container. I use a coffee mug because it has a handle and this stuff gets HOT. *Don’t even think about sticking your finger in there!*

In increments of about 10 seconds at a time, melt your Isomalt in the microwave, until it’s completely liquefied and bubbling. Since each microwave is different, the time could vary. Give it a good, quick stir with a metal spoon. Working very quickly – Isomalt hardens again fast – pour the candy mixture onto your baking paper and smooth out as thin and smoothly as possible in large pieces. Don’t panic if you get a few lumps or bumps. If you find the candy in your cup has hardened too quickly, just zap it back in the microwave for a few seconds.

Your ‘sheets’ of melted Isomalt will be completely hard again in about 5 or 10 minutes (depending on room temp). Place another sheet of baking paper over the hardened candy, and with the heel of your hand, press down and crush carefully. It’s the best way to get bigger pieces. Lift from your baking paper and put aside in a bowl.

*Isomalt clean up is with hot water and elbow grease.

Decorating:

Ice your cooled cupcakes with the pre-made vanilla frosting. This stuff saves a crazy amount of time and is DELICIOUS. Then, stick shards of candy glass into the cakes, making sure you use some smaller pieces as well as large ones. Try not to make this bit too even – a more haphazard style works better here.

To make up the ‘blood’, I squeezed about half a tube of the red ‘Writing Icing’ into a tiny shot glass. It’s too thick to use directly (we want the blood to drip and ooze) so I added a few drops of warm water. Unfortunately, this made the colour too bright – easy fixed with a single drop of black food colouring. The end result was a colour and texture very close to the real thing. I used a chop stick to both mix the ‘blood’ and also to drizzle it over the glass, as well as a few well-placed drops on the plate for effect.

(aka The Lasagne Saga)

So, one thing I’ve learned since writing up these recipes for Escape Club is that you guys tend to like the super rich and decadent chocolately ones the best. So when a friend suggested over Facebook (*waves to Deb*) that I give Chocolate Lasagne a go – who was I to refuse? There’s heaps of recipes out there online, but I decided to go with my own invention. The only tip I stole was to use instant pudding for some of the layers… read on and you’ll see how that went!

So hopefully, with all my trial and error, I’ve saved you the drama, and even though this is a time consuming dessert to make (that time is chilling between layers, not actual work), it’s really simple when broken down into steps.

Preparation:

Grease and line a tin with baking paper. Be careful with this step, and make sure you’ve lined the tin well. I used a cake tin measuring 22cm x 28cm and 7cm deep. You don’t need to make yours as mammoth as mine, but do make sure your tin is deep enough for all the different layers.

1^st Layer is Dark Chocolate Fudge:

Melt 50g of butter with a 395g tin of condensed milk. Stir constantly over a low heat – you can’t leave it or you’ll burn the pot. Once the butter and condensed milk are combined, add 400g of finely chopped dark chocolate. Continue stirring until all combined and thick. Then carefully spoon the mixture into the bottom of your prepared pan, making it as level as possible. I added sliced ‘Chomp’ chocolate bars sprinkled on top for texture. Chill in fridge while you prepare the next layer.

2^nd Layer:

Is marshmallow! Add 2 tablespoons of gelatine to 1 ½ cups of boiling water. Stir until combined. Place 3 cups of sugar in a large mixing bowl, and add the dissolved gelatine mix. Mix with an electric beater for at least 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add a couple of drops of vanilla essence, and mix for another couple of seconds. If you wanted to add some colour, now is the time to do that, too. Spread carefully over the top of your chilled chocolate fudge and chill again. You’ll most likely have waaay too much marshmallow, so use your leftovers by spooning into a greased cake tin (you’ll use it another layer).

3^rd  Layer:

Is caramel. Now, I’d planned to cheat here and use the tinned version, but didn’t have enough. So I made my own like this: Add 200g of butter to 200g of brown sugar in a small saucepan. Heat slowly and stir constantly until they combine to a smooth paste. Then, add a 395g tin of condensed milk and keep stirring for about 5 minutes, but don’t allow the mix to bubble. Cool at room temperature for about half an hour (or if you’re impatient like, me – 10 mins in the fridge). It’s important your caramel is cool so it doesn’t melt the marshmallow when you spread it over the top.

4^th Layer:

So, this is where my problems started. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say I tried using instant chocolate pudding. It was a disaster and I had to scrape it off the caramel (which I’d allowed to set well, thank goodness) and start again. I started with about a cup and a half of leftover marshmallow, to 2 tablespoons of butter. Melt together in a medium saucepan over low heat. Once combined, add 2 tablespoons of cocoa and continue stirring. Pour mixture over 4 cups of Coco-pops, and mix really well until the Coco-pops are covered. Press firmly into your tin with the back of a spoon, over the top of the caramel layer. Then, just because too much chocolate is never enough, I sprinkled white chocolate buds over the top.

5^th Layer:

Now, when I make this again, I’ll probably leave this layer out, but it’s up to you how much is enough, or how rich you like your decadent desserts. I added a thin layer of milk chocolate ganache by mixing 250g of milk chocolate with 3 tablespoons of cream and heating over a low heat until the chocolate is melted and combined.

6^th and Final Layer:

Is the same as the first! Yes, more dark chocolate fudge, and more sliced Chomp Bars for decoration. Allow your finished Chocolate Lasagne to set for a couple of hours before turning out of the tin (VERY carefully – and this is where you thank me for reminding you to line that tin well). You might need to give it a bit of a tap on the bottom, to coax it out, but be patient. Slice with a very sharp knife. You could serve this with whipped cream – but honestly, you probably won’t need it!

Now… time to go for a run. Or do some sit-ups. Or something. 

Okay, so we all know Kale has been named the new uber-food. It has just about everything good vitamin and mineral known to man crammed into those weird-looking curly leaves. But, let’s face it, it’s kind of bitter just boiled up on the side of your plate. And just how many green smoothies can you drink? Kale chips are huge at my place. Everyone – and I mean everyone – loves them. And they couldn’t be easier to make.

You need:

*A bunch or good handful of kale leaves. I grew my own this year (yes! That’s my real veggie patch in the pic!) and I’ve just been trimming leaves off as I need them. But it is also readily available in the local supermarket or green grocer’s.

*A tablespoon of olive oil.

*Sea salt.

*Lemon.

*A tablespoon of white vinegar (optional)

*Pepper or other spices, eg: garlic powder, chilli, paprika (optional)

How it’s done:

Wash and pat dry your kale leaves. Using scissors, cut any thick white stem out, just leaving the greenery. Trim to bite-size. In a large bowl, toss the kale with the olive oil and salt to taste. This is where I like to add the vinegar and some cracked pepper. Salt and vinegar chips, anyone?

On a lined baking tray, place the kale pieces flat, without overlapping each other. Cook in a low oven (120 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Be really careful, because they WILL burn quickly. You’ll be amazed at how crispy a vegetable can be in such a short time. Serve with a drizzle of lemon juice and more pepper, if desired. 

I made this wicked chocolate fudge for the first time over the weekend. To be honest, I’m almost wishing it wasn’t so easy – because it’s seriously smooth, creamy and very, very decadent.

What you need:

A 385ml can of condensed milk.

50 grams of butter, chopped into cubes

400 grams of dark chocolate, cut finely.

How it’s done:

Grease and line a slice tin – I used an 18cm x 18cm square tin. Over a LOW heat, combine butter and condensed milk in a medium saucepan. Stir continuously to stop it burning and sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Once the butter has melted, add your chocolate and keep stirring until it’s melted. It does get quite thick at this point, so bring your muscles!

Pour into the prepared tin, smooth the top, refrigerate for one to two hours and cut into serving size squares. And THAT’S IT! It will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container – if it doesn’t get eaten before then.

** I did find this recipe to be a little on the rich side (but it could be just perfect for you!) so next time I might try using milk chocolate. Or white chocolate. Or maybe using one of those fancy flavoured chocolates, like salt or chilli. I might try mixing in some nuts and marshmallows for rocky road, or some jelly lollies or, or…

Let me know if you come up with any more ideas!