Yep, I admit it, I’m an internet junkie. I use it every single day and I think I would have withdrawal symptoms without it. I use it to check the weather, pay my bills, find out the latest news, email, chat, blogs, shopping, download music or movies, catch up with friends on Facebook, read restaurant reviews, I could go on and on.

I particularly love to shop online. So many sites offer products at a cheaper price than you would find in the retail stores and even with postage, I can still end up saving lots of money. I think it’s the convenience factor which sucks me in. With a credit card and a few simple clicks, that’s it!

Two of my favourite shopping sites are eBay and Amazon. I’ve bought all kinds of things off eBay: cosmetics, books, kitchenware, DVDs and so many other random bits and bobs. One of my most favourite eBay bargains is the cake stand I’ve used in the photos for this post. It was brand new, sealed in its box and I got it for $15 with postage! :)

Amazon is my favourite for books. Although Australia stocks most internationally printed titles, the price comparison between here and the US is ridiculous. For example, Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Baking from my Home to Yours’ retails at around $80 here in specialty cookbook stores but I can buy it online at Amazon for just over $30 and with postage, I’ve still got change from $50! Since the Australian dollar is doing so well at the moment, I’ve gone a little crazy with online shopping. I’ve even got Z onto Amazon where he purchases his medical textbooks (yeah, I know, boring!)

I just love the internet. Without it, I would never be able to sit on my butt and abuse my credit card or be able to write all this gibberish and share the most kickass carrot cupcake recipe with you! :)

Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

The best thing about this recipe is that you only need two bowls, one for the cupcakes and one for the frosting. No need to use the huge mixer and spend forever cleaning it, yay!

Makes 12 perfect cupcakes.

½ cup caster sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 ½ cups grated carrots, around 4 medium carrots

¼ cup pecans, chopped

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

125g cream cheese, room temperature

30g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

¼ cup maple syrup

6 pecans, cut in half

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease or line with papers a 12-hole muffin tin.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars and oil until combined. Add the eggs one by one and mix until smooth. Add the vanilla extract.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix. Add the grated carrots and pecans.
4. Divide the batter between the muffin pans and bake for around 14 minutes or until golden brown and springy to touch. Allow to cool.
5. For the frosting, mix the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and maple syrup until smooth. Frost the cooled cupcakes and top with the pecan halves.

Back in March 2006, Australia literally went bananas without bananas. You see, banana crops in northern Queensland were destroyed as a result of Cyclone Larry (hurricanes and cyclones are the same-ish if you’re wondering). Over 95% of the crops were depleted and we went without bananas for a very long time. Once they returned, they were selling as high as $16 a kilogram! Suffice to say, no one wanted to pay $3 for a lonesome banana, so we all went without for a year.

The funniest memory during the shortage was when my dad gave my mum a bunch of bananas wrapped up in tissue paper and ribbon as part of a surprise gift. The ‘bouquet’ looked absolutely ridiculous but mum loved them as they are one of her favourite fruits. They were so expensive at the time so it probably would have cost more than a nice bunch of flowers. Good work Dad!

Anyway, the farmers have been back on their feet since then and the crops have all recovered so the fruit is being sold at the usual price of around $1 – $2 a kilogram and we can eat bananas to our heart’s content. Hooray!

In cooking, I’ve used bananas in a variety of dishes before. I’ve mushed them up in cakes (especially hummingbird cake, my favourite), in muffins, piled on top of pancakes, sliced with cereal or porridge for breakfast, caramelised and golden in a tarte tatin, but I’ve never used them for ice-cream.

When I saw the recipe for roasted banana ice-cream in David Lebovitz’s book, ‘The Perfect Scoop’, I’ve been itching to try it ever since. So far out of the book I have tried the gianduja gelato, the avocado ice-cream and the mojito granita. All were wonderfully delicious and I plan on testing out many more soon. Let me just say that the following recipe is just deeee-licious! I never thought roasting bananas would create such an intense flavour, but oh boy, it does. The best part of this ice-cream recipe is that there is no fiddly custard to make or even the need to whip up some cream. It’s just roasted bananas, full-cream milk, a bit of sugar, lemon juice and salt. That’s it! Give it a go and you can thank me later :)

Roasted Banana Ice-cream

3 medium ripe bananas

75g brown sugar

1.5 cups (375ml) full-cream milk

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1.5 teaspoons lemon juice

half teaspoon vanilla extract

quarter teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. In a small baking dish, chop up the bananas and toss in the brown sugar. Bake for around 40 minutes or until the bananas are cooked through, caramelised and golden. Turn them once during cooking.
3. In a blender or food processor, blitz the hot bananas, the syrup from the dish, milk, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and salt until smooth. Chill this mixture until cold in the fridge or ice bath.
4. Churn in an ice-cream machine until thick or place in a plastic container, pop it in the freezer and give it a good whip every few hours.

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve been a bit distracted as of late and I usually don’t feel like getting in the kitchen when I’m ‘not quite right’.

Meringues can be tricky things to make but it’s not as hard as it may seem. I’ve had friends call me in despair when their meringues have failed dismally (yes you Susie!) and when I posted these little mocha babies, I received quite a few emails and comments asking me for help on how to make them. Now I’m no expert on meringues, but I thought I’d write a short post with a few tips and tricks I’ve learnt over the years.

Here we go:

• Don’t use egg whites straight from the fridge. Egg whites should always be at room temperature as they are easier to whisk and more air can be incorporated.
• As a general rule, for one eggwhite, use the same amount of sugar as the weight of the egg. So, for a 60g egg, use 60g of sugar.
• The bowl in which you want to use to whip your egg whites must be spotlessly clean. It’s best to use a bowl made from either stainless steel, ceramic, glass or copper as plastic bowls can sometimes contain traces of fat and grease. Your utensils (i.e. spatula, beaters, whisk) should be spotlessly clean too.
• When adding the sugar to the egg whites, add it a tablespoon at a time whisking well in between each addition. After all the sugar is incorporated, whisk for around 3 minutes or until the mixture is super shiny, glossy and lusciously thick. At this stage the sugar should be completely dissolved. You can rub a little bit between your thumb and forefinger to check.

• Be careful not to overbeat the meringues as they will collapse whilst cooking and sugar droplets will form on the surface.
• Perfect meringues can be made using just egg whites and sugar, but it’s always nice to have a little help. The addition of cornflour helps to produce a chewy interior and the addition of white vinegar, or any other acid like lemon juice, helps to stabilise the egg whites.
• Baking time depends entirely on their size obviously, but for a general rule of thumb, bake them until they are crisp to touch. For smallish ones around 5cm in diameter, this should take around 30 minutes. For a really big pavlova, it will be around an hour and 15 minutes. Once the meringues are baked, allow them to cool in the switched-off oven until completely cold.
• As meringue mix is so light, I find that when I’m spooning or piping the mix onto the paper-lined trays, it tends to slide about and I can’t pipe properly. Quick fix: dab a little bit of sticky meringue mix onto each corner of the baking paper and affix it onto your tray. Instant glue!

Hopefully what I’ve shared with you can help if you have trouble making meringues. It just takes a little patience, care and remember the motto I follow, “go slow and low”. Always add the sugar slowly and bake them at a low temperature :)

Brown Sugar and Walnut Meringues

Adapted from a recipe found in Australian Women’s Weekly, April 2008.

4 egg whites

240g light brown sugar

1 cup (100g) walnuts, finely chopped

1 teaspoon cornflour

½ teaspoon white vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C (100°C if fan forced). Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer or freestanding mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking until sugar well in between additions. Whisk for another 3 minutes until the mix is satiny shiny and thick.
3. Gently fold through ¾ cup of the walnuts, cornflour and vinegar.
4. Using a piping bag with a large plain nozzle, pipe the meringue mixture into small rounds approximately 5cm in diameter, around 3 centimetres apart, on the prepared trays. Sprinkle the tops of the meringues with the remaining walnuts.
5. Bake for around 25 minutes or until they are crisp to touch. Turn off the oven and allow to cool completely with the door slightly ajar for several hours until completely cold.

Makes around 40.