Greenhouse by Joost, Pop-up restaurant - Campbells Cove

Sustainability is one of those words thrown around quite a bit in this day and age. Save water, recycle, shut off your lights are just a few terms that come to mind. So when the opportunity came along to go and check out Greenhouse by Joost; a sustainable pop-up restaurant, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.  We were so excited to go; one Friday night early in February, we took a drive to The Rocks. After half an hour of looking for parking in Campbells Cove, we were faced with a half-finished Greenhouse. Yes - someone forgot to check if it was open already. Oops. So a few weeks after on one sunny Sunday afternoon we returned - it was Joost Juice time.

Without a doubt Greenhouse by Joost occupies some of the most prestigious real estate in Sydney. With awe inspiring views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge it is well worth the trip. You would be hard pressed to find a better place to come wine & dine or just chill with a few friends. Either way everyone should come and visit and see but hurry because at the end of March it's all over. 

Before delving into the food and booze its important to take a step back and talk about the admirable ideas behind Greenhouse by Joost. At the heart of the project is sustainability and creating a functional restaurant structure with positive impact on the environment. Sustainability is one of the areas I am passionate about; partly due to my work and being green star certified but because I share the belief that we are responsible in ensuring that future generations get the chance to enjoy what many of us take for granted - our environment.

Cocktail of the Day $16 and Pip Squeak Cider $10

Greenhouse by Joost has zero waste. One of the key aspects of the project. Everything in the premises is recycled. From the t-shirts worn by the staff, conveyor belt flooring, glassware comprised of recycled jam jars and beveled glass bottles. Even the cooking oil is reused to power a generator onsite. A lot of the design elements centre around the ability to be reused. The building itself is designed to be dismantled and packed into shipping containers to be built elsewhere around the world.  An example of eco-friendly architecture that can have multiple applications. As well as being the best spot in the house, the rooftop garden is used to grow some of  ingredients in the food served downstairs. Also all organic waste is composted and used in the garden. It's simply an awesome concept that has come to fruition and such a shame that its temporary.

The Domo Birthday Cake!

I have a very obsessive streak, so much so that it is borderline massochistic.

Well thats not really the best way to start a post - but my goodness this week has been one of the busiest ever. So why on earth would I attempt to make a 3D Domo-kun cake? Well because its Demos' birthday thats why!! Happy Birthday Demos - Please join me in admiring this cake while I collapse in exhaustion!

Happy Birthday Demos!

I have been excited to share this birthday suprise with Demos, he did have an idea that I was making him a Domo cake, but he had no idea what madness I was be up to! Yes, every spare moment of this busy week has been spent baking, ganaching, and decorating this Domo cake - and here is my honest account on how I did it. Oh, did I leave out the part where I have never made anyone a Birthday cake before?

Adriano Zumbo 2010 Summer Launch - Cake-walk time!

My head is still spinning, as I write this, from a major sugar rush….an Adriano Zumbo dessert sugar rush! There is a reason for not having sweets before bedtime, so consider this post and tonights fuelled by pastries.

It started when Mrs Fridgemagnet invited me to be her plus one at the launch of Adriano Zumbo's 2010 Summer Collection at Rosebud Bar & Restaurant in Balmain The show was supposed to start at 7:30pm, so I rushed down straight from work. Knowing loyal Zumbo fans we were expecting a queue What's more, the event would be filmed for an upcoming doco about Zumbo on SBS. The wait was worth it, since we were seated by the cakewalk and got up close and personal with all of Zumbo's fabulous concoctions.

Once inside, it was pretty chaotic. People were jostling for prime position, cameras were in your face, and the Zumbo models were scatered everywhere. The organisers really should have anticipated that the die hard Zumbo fans would be out in force and hired a larger space. Each cake was "escorted" down the runway - which is fitting because Zumbo's cakes are the epitome of food fashion - its simply fitting that he had a "cake walk" and I just sat and admired the yummy cakes doing my best Nicole Richie / Rachel Zoe front row attentiveness. Thank God no models fell over..think of the cake! 

Angry Birds Cupcakes with a scared looking Piggy!

I have been so so so very excited to share these Angry Birds cupcakes here! The moment when I finished there I was like a hyperactive little child jumping up and down at home! I have had so many failures in the kitchen and I was so happy that this was not one of them. I actually pulled the idea off!

Continuing my iPhone/Pad/Touch game theme after the fun Words with Friends Scrabble cake - its time to pay hamage to another time consuming, insanely addictive obsession - ANGRY BIRDS. Basically, the point of this puzzle game is to launch these helpless angry birds into the air, "bombing" the pigs who stole their eggs. You have to concentrate and judge distance and get past obstacles to hit these piggy targets. Oh its so very addictive! Addictive to the point that I got home one afternoon, pulled into the garage - and then sat in my car for the next 40 minutes trying to beat a level!

Words With Friends Cake

I turned into a mad woman this weekend. A mad, crazed, obsessed woman to be exact - all because of a cake. It clicked in when Demos and I were out on friday night. I mentioned that one of our friends would be back on Monday from a month long trip. "Great, going to get my ass kicked on Words with Friends (WWF) again". You see, our friend that is returning is what can only be considered a professional Words with Friends player. For those that don't know, its an absolutely addictive game on the iPhone and iPad, where you play a real time scrabble game against different users and friends.  "Danni-jack" is the girl to beat, and im sure she suffered severe WWF widthdrawals while travelling. What better way to surprise her then with a Word With Friends / Scrabble themed cake?

I was up and motivated on a Saturday morning. Forget the fact that it was Macaron Day, I was a girl on a baking mission. I should point out however, that my baking escapades should be called The Empty Pantry... and baking supplies and ingredients needed to be bought! With my long shopping list in tow, I was off!

Orchard ready to roll icing - $4 a box

Someone had told me that Spotlight sold cake decorating supplies, but as soon as I got to Town Hall (in torrential rain mind you!) I found out that the CBD store had closed. After a minor detour to Victoria's Basement and impulse cookie cutter and piping bag purchases, I then drove to Burwood to buy actual cake ingredients from Coles, luckily for me the had plenty of White Ready to Roll Icing for $4 a box (Thanks to The Dainty Baker for the tip!). Of course I bought some extra packs of flour, sugar, butter, buttermilk... but I still had no gel colouring to dye my fondant! Next stop was another Spotlight store at Birkenhead Point. They had a few tools, decorations, writing icing but no gel fondant dyes.

Creative Colour Dyes for colouring fondant - $7.95 each

I then drove to Balmain, and oh, it was so painful to drive past the Zumbo store and not want to wait in line on Macaron day! I got to say 'Hi' to Simon through my car window - and he was holding his precious Macaron haul! Thank goodness for Essential Ingredient at Rozelle - now why didn't I think of going there first! I went a bit overboard, and finally headed home - not just with my precious fondant dyes, but with a new rolling pin, cake leveller, spatula and maybe a few new cake tins as well.

Now for the baking. I decided on a Red Velvet base, with a Buttercream Frosting. I used the Red Velvet recipe from Joy of Baking as well as their Frosting recipe. I filled my 8x10 rectangular cake pan with this goes red mixture and after leaving it to cool, I iced them to smooth the surface in preparation for the fondant.

I use the extra batter for red velvet cupcakes which I set aside for my next project :)

 

I roll out the icing to cover my cake slab, which I do ever so carefully. Its harder than it looks to get a smooth layer - and up close, my cake looked like it had a bit of cellulite. Not bad though for my first attempt! I also use my gel dyes to colour the fondant, lucky for me I only needed primary colours as I wanted to keep it as close to the image of the game as possible.

You cant really see it in my photos, but I also then rolled out a light grey piece to go onto the white slab - this is the grid board. Using the straight end of a butter knife, I cut out the individual tiles. The hard part was trying to connect all the words together, folling official scrabble rules of course! I position the tiles by making marks directly on the icing, and then I draw the grid using a tube of black writing icing. I was surprised that the lines I drew were not too wonky, and I that the tiles I used were (mostly) a similar size. I had to throw in the word 'QI' as it was my friend's signature word - if it is in fact a word!

I am still very proud of my first decorating effort, and danni-jack's reaction and excitement was well worth the effort! The red velvet cake was definitely a good choice as it was not too sickeningly sweet, something i'd like to avoid with already a thick layer of icing. The end result is well worth the effort and once again, Welcome Home danni-jack! 

Stay tuned.. I have another decorating feat to share, those cupcakes needed some detail too..and I can't wait to post the end results! On a side note, my Words with Friends username is 'Gbangs' and i'm always up for a challenge! Until next time!