Baking

Use a clean piping and tube for each different coloured meringue. Note

Place the unused vanilla bean in a jar of caster sugar to make your own vanilla sugar. Note

Inserting the base of the springform pan upside down will make it easier to slide the cake from the base. Note

Use frangelico (hazelnut) or crème de cacao (chocolate) flavoured liqueurs. Cut cakes with a serrated knife. Note

Commercial pizza bases are available in a full range of thicknesses. For this pizza, select a thinner base so it complements rather than competes with the flavours of the topping. Note

Tender roast lamb with a fragrant herb rub and burghul salad.

You need 1 large (230g) overripe banana to get the amount of mashed banana required for this recipe. Note

Roasting the tomatoes concentrates the flavour, which goes well with pumpkin. Serve the salad warm. Note

Éclairs are best made on day of serving, but do not fill until ready to serve. Unfilled éclairs can be frozen. Note

Clarissa the cow is out in the paddock, eating the flowers and generally getting into all kinds of mischief. Note

Originally a French dish, this potato is all the better with rich and delicious caramelised onion.

We used desiree potatoes in this recipe. Season this dish carefully as the haddock and stock are already salty. Note

Dried lavender is available from gourmet food stores and cake decorating stores. Note

Ginger wine, a beverage that is 14% alcohol by volume, has the piquant taste of fresh ginger.You can substitute it with dry (white) vermouth, if you prefer. Any type or combination of glace fruit can be used in this recipe. Note

We used large, 25cm diameter, packaged pizza bases for this recipe. Note

Pink petal dust can be purchased at specialty baking or cake-decorating shops. Note

You can turn this into an ‘eggless processor fruit cake’, if you like. Omit the eggs, and increase the golden syrup by 1 tablespoon to ⅓ cup (155g). The cake doesn’t keep quite as well without eggs, about 5 days, but will freeze for 3 months. Note

Place any leftover lime leaves in a resealable plastic bag and freeze for another use. Add three or four to a curry, scrunching the leaves first to release the flavour; toss thinly sliced leaves through a tropical fruit salad; or add sliced leaves to a jug of iced water for a refreshing citrus flavour. Mango […]

You can find artificial spider’s web at novelty shops. If you can’t find it, use fairy floss or cotton wool instead. Be sure to remove spider’s web or cotton wool and skewers before cutting and serving the cake. You will need approximately 3 x 100g bars of Toblerone for this cake. Note

Sometimes called Indian blood plum, the large plum used in this recipe has a distinctive dark red to purple fibrous flesh, is extremely juicy, pleasantly sweet, and is the plum most often found canned. Canned apricots or peaches can be substituted for the plums. A delicious time-and waist-saving recipe. Note

Dried lavender is available from selected delis and spice shops. If you prefer, you can use 1 teaspoon finely grated orange or lemon rind instead. Note

Flavoured Milk Bottles can be found in packets of Allen’s Milk Bottle Mania; you will need about 3 x 170g packets. Note

The taste of this loose-crumbed pineapple and coconut cake will instantly transport you to the seventies when a piña colada was 'the' cocktail.

White icing is also known as fondant (it’s the traditional icing used on wedding cakes). It is available in packets from the supermarket and cake decorating shops. Note

Equipment you will need for this recipe, 23cm x 34cm number 4 cake pan and a 25cm x 40cm rectangular cake board. You can decorate this cake with single or multi coloured lollies. Place lollies such as Smarties on butter cream close to presentation time to prevent the colours running. Note

You need two passionfruit for this recipe. Note

More fun and delicious animal cupcakes that the whole family will love.

Tart will keep in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to three days. Note

If you don’t have a candy thermometer, boil the syrup until it’s thick with heavy bubbles. Remove from heat, let bubbles subside, then reassess the thickness of the syrup. Note

We used large (25cm diameter) packaged pizza bases for this recipe. It’s important to slice the potatoes as thinly as possible. Note

A bright, colourful and fragrant saffron vegetable tagine with cinnamon and preserved lemon.

Available at some nurseries, rose geranium is an aromatic member of the geranium family. Use the leaves to scent a madeira or butter cake, before baking, line cake pan with leaves. The tart shell is suitable to freeze. Note

You will need to make this recipe the day before. You will need about 8 passionfruit for this recipe. You can substitute canned passionfruit pulp, if you like, however to compensate for the sugar added during canning add a teaspoon or two of lime juice. This recipe can be made up to 1 week ahead, […]

Biscotti can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. Note

Garlic is easy to roast and has a more mellow taste than it does raw or fried. Make it and freeze it by the tablespoon wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Roasted garlic beaten with softened butter adds a whole new dimension of flavour to mashed potato or steamed corn cobs. Note

One-year-olds may be too young to eat the cachous, but they’ll certainly love the cake. Tiny heart-, star-, moon- and other-shaped cutters are sometimes sold as aspic cutters. Note

Pinky bunny is a small cute cake, ­just enough for a small cute person’s birthday. You’ll have ½ cup of the cake mixture left over, enough for another mini loaf. Note

A beautiful and flavour-packed sardines with preserved lemon salsa from Australian Women's Weekly.