Put the bathroom scales away and pull out your kitchen scales!
Sandie Docker’s novel, The Kookaburra Creek Café is a heart-warming, multi-generational Australian saga filled with secrets, heartache and friendship, centred around a small town café.
For Hattie, the cafe has been her refuge for the last fifty years – her second chance at a happy ending after her dreams of being a star were shattered. For Alice, the cafe is her livelihood. After Hattie took her in as a teenager, Alice has slowly forged a quiet life as the cafe’s manager (and chief cupcake baker). For Becca, a teenager in trouble, the cafe could be the new start she yearns for. That is, if she can be persuaded to stop running from her secrets.
In one small town, three lost women have a lifetime of secrets but, thanks to Penguin Random House Australia, we can now share some of those secrets – five cupcake recipes from The Kookaburra Creek Café! Put the bathroom scales away and pull out your kitchen scales! What better way to enjoy the book than with a cup of tea and one (or three) of the delicious cupcakes served in the novel.
Sylvia’s Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes
Makes 24
- 1¾ cups caster sugar
- 180g butter
- 200g dark chocolate
- 2 cups self-raising flour
- ½ cup cocoa
- ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
- 3 eggs
- ²⁄³ cup water
- 24 × 1cm squares of dark chocolate
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line cupcake tins with cupcake cases.
Place 200g chocolate, sugar and butter into a heat-proof bowl. Heat in microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring between, until chocolate is melted.
Place remaining ingredients into bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low and gradually add melted chocolate mixture. Increase speed to medium and beat until combined.
Spoon into prepared cupcake tin. Push a square of dark chocolate into the centre of each cupcake.
Bake till cooked – when top of cupcake is lightly pressed and cake springs back (approx. 15 mins).
Cool.
Top with chocolate frosting, piped in a swirl.
To make the Chocolate Frosting
- 125g butter, soft
- 2½ cups icing sugar
- ½ cup cocoa
- 4 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
Place all ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until combined, fluffy and lighter in colour.
Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 20
- 1 punnet of strawberries
- 180g butter, soft
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups self-raising flour
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup grated white chocolate
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 20 × 1 cm squares of white chocolate
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
Cut strawberries up into chunks and lay on a piece of paper towel to remove excess moisture.
Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour, milk and grated white chocolate. Place strawberries in a bowl and stir together with cornflour. Fold into cake batter.
Spoon into prepared cupcake tins. Push a square of white choco-late into the centre of each cupcake.
Spoon into prepared cupcake tins. Push a square of white choco-late into the centre of each cupcake.
Bake till cooked – when top of cupcake is lightly pressed and cake springs back (approx. 15 mins).
Cool.
Top with cream cheese and berry frosting.
To make the Strawberry Coulis
- 4–5 strawberries
- ¼ cup caster sugar
Make strawberry coulis by cutting up strawberries and placing them in a cup or jar with caster sugar and set aside to macerate. Once strawberries and sugar have become liquid, blitz with hand blender.
To make the Cream Cheese and Berry Frosting
- 30g butter, soft
- 250g cream cheese
- 500g icing sugar
- strawberry coulis
¼ cup grated white chocolate
Beat butter, cream cheese and icing sugar until fluffy. Drizzle straw-berry coulis down the sides of a piping bag, then fill piping bag with cream cheese. Pipe onto cupcakes in a swirl. Sprinkle white chocolate over top.
Lemon and Rosemary Cupcakes
Makes 18
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 180g butter, soft
- 3 eggs
- 2½ cups self-raising flour
- ¾ cup milk
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
- ¼ cup lemon curd or lemon butter
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
Beat butter and sugar till fluffy and light in colour. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour and milk. Add rosemary, lemon zest and juice and mix well.
Spoon into prepared cupcake tins and bake till cooked – when top of cupcake is lightly pressed and cake springs back (approx. 18 mins).
Cool.
Using an apple corer, take out the middle of each cupcake (approx. 1½ cm deep) and fill with lemon curd/butter.
Top cupcakes with piped lemon Italian meringue.
To make the Lemon Italian Meringue
- 3 egg whites
- 1 cup of caster sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
In the meantime make sugar syrup – place sugar and water into a saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Stir often. Once sugar is dissolved, bring to boil without stirring. Boil for approx. 2 mins, or until soft ball state is reached (when a teaspoon of syrup is dropped into chilled water you can form it into a soft ball between your thumb and finger).
With beater running, add sugar syrup to egg whites in a slow stream. Add lemon zest. Continue beating till meringue is cooled. This does take some time.
Fill piping bag with meringue and pipe onto cupcakes.
Choc-Hazelnut and Frangelico Cupcakes
Makes 20
- 180g butter, soft
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 2 cups self-raising flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup hazelnut meal
- 4 tablespoons Frangelico
- 20 Ferrero Rocher chocolates
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
Place butter, vanilla, sugars, flour, eggs and water into bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy. Divide batter evenly into two bowls. Into one bowl add cocoa and mix well. Into other bowl add hazelnut meal and Frangelico and mix well.
Fill each cupcake case with half chocolate batter and half hazelnut batter. Bake till cooked – when top of cupcake is lightly pressed and cake springs back (approx. 18 mins).
Cool.
Top with whipped ganache and a Ferrero Rocher chocolate.
To make the Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache
- 400g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
- ½ cup cream
- 3 tablespoons Frangelico
Place chocolate and cream into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 20-second bursts, stirring between, until chocolate begins to melt. Remove from microwave and stir the chocolate and cream until all chocolate is melted and combined with the cream. Stir in Frangelico. Leave to cool. Once thickened, but not set, place into bowl of electric beater and beat until lighter in colour and holding its shape.
Pipe onto cupcakes and top with Ferrero Rocher.
Lime and Coconut Cupcakes
Makes 18
- 180g butter, soft
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ cup milk
- zest and juice of 4 limes
- 2 cups of toasted shredded coconut
- ¼ cup lime curd
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
To toast coconut, line a baking tray with grease-proof paper and spread coconut out evenly. Place in oven until coconut begins to turn brown. Remove and place in bowl to cool.
Beat butter, sugars and vanilla paste until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour, milk, zest and juice. Fold in 1½ cups of toasted coconut. Reserve ½ cup of coconut.
Spoon into prepared cupcake tins and bake till cooked – when top of cupcake is lightly pressed and cake springs back (approx. 18 mins).
Cool.
Using an apple corer, take out the middle of each cupcake (approx. 1½ cm deep) and fill with lime curd.
Top with lime cream cheese frosting and remaining toasted coconut.
To make the Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
- 30g butter, soft
- 250g cream cheese
- 500g icing sugar
- zest and juice of 1 lime
Beat all ingredients until light and fluffy. Pipe onto cupcakes and sprinkle toasted coconut on top.
The Kookaburra Creek Café, by Sandie Docker, is out now and available through Penguin Random House Australia and all good bookshops, RRP $32.99 trade paperback or $12.99 eBook.
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