Friday’s French Martini
Posted: August 16, 2013 Filed under: From the Kitchen, General, Getting Married, News | Tags: cocktails, french martini, spring, Spring is only around the corner! Why not get in early and try our delicious French Martini featured in this month's In Style magazine. Leave a commentIt’s Friday and Spring is just around the corner! Why not celebrate with Katering’s French Martini as featured in this month’s In Style magazine.
French Martini
serves 8
11/2 cups vodka
100ml Chambord (black raspberry liqueur)
2 cups pineapple juice
1 twist lemon peel
ice cubes
Place vodka, Chambord, pineapple juice and lemon peel in a large cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well until combined. Pour into champagne glasses.
An afternoon tea In Style
Posted: August 12, 2013 Filed under: Getting Married | Tags: afternoon tea, cake, champagne, In Style, katering, martini Leave a commentWhen Ellie Aitken, the designer behind the luxurious label Aitken & Co, hosted an afternoon tea for seven of her closest friends, she turned to our own Kate White to create something beautifully modern in a relaxed setting.
Featured in this month’s In Style magazine, Kate put together a menu that was fresh and seasonal yet exuded a feel that was both homely and personal.
Held at Ellie’s beautiful home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, guests were served champagne, French martinis and canapés that included salmon gravlax, mushroom tarts and a delicious Hummingbird cake.
Why not spend an afternoon baking with Katering’s traditional Hummingbird cake receipe below.
Hummingbird cake
3 x 20cm. round cake tins are needed for this recipe
375g plain flour
500g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bi-carbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon or garam masala
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 x 225g can crushed pineapple, undrained
2 cups (about 4 large) mashed ripe bananas
fresh flowers, to decorate, optional
Cream cheese icing
125g soft butter, chopped
250g cream cheese, chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g icing sugar
Heat oven to 180C.
For cake, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs and vegetable oil, stirring until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat. Stir in vanilla, crushed pineapple and bananas.
Spoon the cake batter evenly between 3 x 20cm. well greased and floured cake tins. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a cake skewer comes out clean. Rest cakes in the tins for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool.
For icing, beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla together. Gradually beat in icing sugar (adding a little milk if necessary). Alternatively, process butter, cream cheese and vanilla briefly in a food processor. Add icing sugar and process briefly until combined.
Spread a thin layer of icing on tops of two cakes and place one on top of the other. Top with remaining cake and spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.
Decorate with fresh flowers, if desired.
Serves 8-10
An afternoon with Kate and Lucy
Posted: August 7, 2013 Filed under: Getting Married | Tags: home cooking, katering, lucy leonardi, photography, wedding Leave a commentLucy Leonardi is a Sydney based wedding photojournalist and author of the blog Who Does The Dishes. She is one of our favourite wedding photographer’s at Katering and I recently met her whilst producing my wedding book.
We had a beautiful afternoon together at my house cooking one of my favourite family dinners for her blog, a roast rack of veal with mushroom ragu. I love her for her particular passion for food and photography!
Her blog celebrates the many types of wonderful cuisine from every culture that has called Australia home. You can view our afternoon of cooking here and take her journey exploring what everyone loves to cook at home.
Photos by Lucy Leonardi