BODY FREEDOM FOR THE PERFECT PREGNANCY MASSAGE

For my most recent birthday, I was lucky enough to receive a voucher to use at Body Freedom Urban Spa Retreat, South Melbourne.  I am not typically a massage person, but, my goodness, the massages and beauty treatments have certainly been a welcome treat during my pregnancy!  If you are ever uncertain about what to buy as a gift for a pregnant lady, don’t underestimate the gift of pampering. 

I have just returned from what is likely to be my final treatment at Body Freedom before I give birth.  The pregnancy massages are ahhh-maaazing.  Particularly when you are in the final stages of pregnancy.  

The best thing about the pregnancy massages is that they are carried out on a futon on the floor, rather than on a table.  Later in pregnancy it is not recommended that you lie on your back and it is not possible to lie on your front!  Therefore a massage on the futon is perfect!  I also thoroughly enjoyed the Pregnancy Foot and Leg Pamper, which is particularly good if you have swelling in your feet and/or ankles. 

 I can’t recommend Body Freedom highly enough for indulging in a treatment while pregnant (or perhaps you already have regular massages and want to continue these while pregnant).  Body Freedom provides a calm, relaxing environment and the staff and practitioners are all lovely, always taking the time to ask you how you are going before commencing the treatment. 

The only down side about these treatments is when they come to an end…

Oh, and don’t forget that you might be eligible for a rebate on your health insurance for some of the treatments.  Always worth looking into!

BEST CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES EVER!

These really are the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever made and they are really very easy.  I made them for our baby shower recently and the feedback was so positive I thought I had better share the recipe!

This recipe is very similar to a cake recipe I was given almost 20 years ago and, at the time, I was told it was a ‘top secret’ recipe!  What makes it unique is the coffee and the oil.  I found this particular recipe (although I have slightly varied it) on a blog called “Add a Pinch”.  However, I used a different icing recipe.

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes. Try making them; I promise you will not be disappointed and nor will the people you share them with!  Also, don’t be concerned about the coffee, you can’t taste it at all once the cakes are cooked.

What you need

Cakes

1 cup plain flour

1 cup white sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup black coffee (boiling – make it just before you need to add it). If you do not have an espresso coffee machine, just substitute the coffee with 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder and ½ cup of boiling water.

Vanilla buttercream icing

115 grams unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cup icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 tablespoon milk

How to make them

The Cakes

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Place all dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and combine.  

Add milk, oil, egg and vanilla essence to the dry ingredients and stir roughly.  Add your hot coffee and roughly combine.  Mix on medium speed until all combined.

The mixture will seem very runny.  This is how it should be.

To pour the mixture into the cupcake cases, I tip the mixture into a jug because I find it is much easier to transfer to the cake cases.  Fill each cupcake case to about ¾ full.

Bake in oven for 20 – 25mins.  Test with a skewer before taking them out of the oven.  Depending on the size of the cupcake cases you use, you may find you need to give the cakes a bit more time for larger/taller cases For example, in the picture you will see I used taller pink cases and more shallow silver cases. The pink spot cases required an extra 5 minutes in the oven than the silver cases.

When cooked, set aside on a cooling rack until completely cool.

The Icing

To make the icing, place the butter in a bowl and mix until light and creamy.  Gradually add the icing sugar, vanilla essence and milk.  Mix until well combined.  If you need to, you may need a bit more icing sugar.  Just check that the icing is thick enough.

Place the icing in a piping bag with a large nozzle attached and pipe icing onto cakes.  If you don’t have a piping bag, just use a butter knife to spread the icing onto the cakes. 

Tip: You can buy disposable piping bags from the supermarket and they come with a selection of fittings. 

Enjoy!

Coconut and Red Velvet Truffles

This is mostly a Donna Hay recipe from the December  2013 Donna Hay Magazine, but I adapted it because I didn’t want my truffles to have alcohol in them.  If you do want them to have alcohol in them, simply substitute the cream cheese for ½ a cup of coconut flavoured liqueur.  These truffles were a huge success and they look beautiful too.  Great for a party, baby shower, afternoon tea, after dinner treat or just have them handy for when people pop by! 

I found that the trickiest part of this recipe  was coating the truffles in the chocolate so hopefully the detailed description I have included will help you with this!

What you need

150g unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup (165g) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1¼ cups (185g) self-raising flour, sifted

¼ cup cocoa, sifted

½ cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons red food colouring

¼ cup (20g) desiccated coconut

225g cream cheese

300g white chocolate, chopped

3 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 cups shredded coconut

How to make them

Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).  Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until pale and creamy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the mixture is combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the flour, cocoa, buttermilk and food colouring and beat on low until just combined.  

Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased, lined cake tin.  I used a 26cm round tin but, if you have one, you can use a 20cm x 30cm tin.  Smooth the top of the cake with a palette knife.  

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes if until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Remove cake from oven and allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Break the cake into pieces into either a food processor or the bowl of an electric mixer.  Add the desiccated coconut and cream cheese and combine.

Roll the mixture into balls that are the size of a walnut or larger if you wish.  I prefer to make them in bite-size rather than too big.

Place the balls on a lined baking try and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes until they are set.

When the balls are set, prepare your chocolate.  Place the chocolate and oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  Make sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl.  Stir until smooth.

This is the tricky part…  I started coating the truffles by trying to use two forks to dip and coat the truffles, I then tried spoons… In the end I decided that sticking a skewer into the truffle and then coating it chocolate was easier. 

Roll the chocolate-coated truffle in the shredded coconut while it is still on the skewer and then carefully remove the skewer, placing the truffle on a lined baking tray.

When all the truffles are coated and covered in coconut, place them in the fridge to set completely (at least for an hour, overnight is good too).

Serve and enjoy!

Tip:  Be careful when heating the chocolate that you don’t overheat it.  If you do, the chocolate will begin to become lumpy and once this has happened, you really need to start again.  For this reason, it is always good to have a spare quantity of chocolate at hand in case!