Thursday night Liz, Laura and I ventured in to the QVB for dinner. Every Thursday evening until June 16th,  you can enjoy a complimentary main meal with every main meal purchased when you dine on Level 1 or 2 of QVB.

We decided on Cellini’s Bar and Restaurant, which is perched under the glass atrium on Level Two. The QVB is a pretty amazing building. Have passed through there many times, but never  had a chance to sit and really check it all out. From our table we had a great view to take in the building in all it’s glory as well as some great people watching.

For entre, we shared some garlic bread and Bruschetta.

It was late, and it had been a long day…when it came to picking mains there were too many choices! So I went with a safe favourite, chicken schnitzel. It was simple, but great..nearly as good as my own
Rah had the Ravioli, and Liz went with the cheeseburger.

And of course, the best is left for last. We were a little full, so decided to share some dessert.

The ginormous Lemon Meringue Pie had called us from the cake cabinet all night, so that was a must. We also has some chocolate crepes. Rah went all out and had a Max Brenner’s Suckao (any excuse to pay with her food I reckon)

All in all, a fab meal with even better company. The service was lovely, friendly and fast. The menu was well priced. Cellini’s is a great spot for lunch or dinner.

Cellini’s Bar and Restaurant

Level 2, Shop 46-48, QVB Sydney
Phone: 92644671

Operating Hours
Monday – Friday: 9am to 9pm
Saturday & Sunday: 9am to 7pm

Disclaimer: We dined as guests of Cellini’s thanks to QVB and Lucy at One Green Bean.

It’s been 12mths since I have baked ANYTHING. Busy with work, trauma from the last time, and I really can’t be trusted…every time I do, I seem to put on 2kg.

But last weekend I got the urge, and a craving for cream cheese frosting. So went in search of something to bake to hold the frosting. Magnolia Bakery’s Red Velvet cupcakes it was!

First batch turned out great, everyone loved them. But they weren’t quite red velvet red, despite what I thought was a hella lot of Wilton red colouring paste.

Always wanted to have a go at cupcakes in a jar, and after seeing some inspiration on Pinterest this week, I thought I’d give them another go.

Had trouble finding small preserving jars that didn’t cost a fortune, but managed to find these jars for a $1 at the cheapy shop. They worked great! But because they had all the bits I couldn’t actually bake in the jar, but my size cupcakes fit in there perfectly, so it worked out well.

The bigger jar has 2 full cupcakes in it, squished and layered with the frosting. I let them sit for 24hrs to “marinate” in the jar before I cracked one open for afternoon tea at work yesterday.

O…M…G Best cupcake ever, it was awesome! So super moist and the flavours were amazing. They were definitely much better han the regular ones. And the added bonus of being in jars is they are super portable. Chuck it in your bag and off you go.

Downside, you can’t get your tongue in there to lick all the frosting out

They still weren’t exactly the red I was after and I used just regular red liquid colour this time. After seeing the crazy amount I had to put in the…I would ditch the colour all together.

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Magnolia Bakery’s Red Velvet Cupcakes

Now this says it makes 24 cupcakes. They must be making ginormous cupcakes, as both times I have made this I have had over 40 cupcakes, not that I am complaining

• 3 ½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 ½ tsp cider vinegar
• 6 tbsp red food colouring
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

I forgot to buy Buttermilk, so I mixed in a tablespoon and a bit of white vinegar with my milk and set it aside for 5min. Worked just as well as the real thing.

Cream Cheese Frosting  
• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups (640g) icing sugar, sifted

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175°c.
2. To make the batter: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 mins. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
3. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and bake the cupcakes, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 mins, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack before icing. To ice, mound about 1/4 cup of frosting on top of each cupcake and use an icing spatula to make a swirl on top. Decorate with red sanding sugar.[/box]