These are the cupcakes I made for my daughter’s birthday party. My kids have a very sweet tooth (they took this after their daddy! ;-P), so cupcakes are a must for their birthday parties. I love making them as I have great fun, especially deciding on the decorations and colours. I was not very adventurous…
PEPPA PIG CAKE
My little Georgia is in the Peppa Pig phase… she adores it and would watch it all day long on TV if I let her… So choosing a theme for her 3rd birthday party was quite easy! I immediately decided to make a fondant cake with an image of Peppa Pig on the top. I…
GEORGIA’S 3RD BIRTHDAY
On the 1st my youngest daughter turned 3 and I have been quite busy organising her birthday party. This was also the first time that her nonni were physically present for her birthday, so it was even more exciting for everyone! Yes! My parents are visiting us from Italy and we are having a great…
PIZZETTE
Today I am going to share with you another piece of my childhood. I don’t remember ever attending a birthday party as a child where there was no focaccia and/or pizzette as part of the buffet. Usually you can buy these little pizze (pizzette actually means “little pizze”) at any bakery and kids love them. …
FOCACCIA AL POMODORO – CHERRY TOMATO FOCACCIA
After sharing with you the Basic Focaccia recipe, the recipe for Focaccia with Olives and the one for Onion Focaccia, today I am going to post the recipe for another one of my favourites: Focaccia al pomodoro (aka cherry tomato focaccia)! I remember as a child going to the baker right after school and buying a piece…
MINI CHEESECAKE CUPCAKES
I love cheesecake… who doesn’t? I have made my share of no-bake cheesecakes, but to tell you the truth, I still have to make a baked cheesecake at home. Don’t ask me why, but baking a cheesecake always intimidated me. After making these little gems though, I think I am going to have to bake myself…
CHOCOLATE AND VANILLA SHARK MINI CUPCAKES
I made these mini cupcakes for Victoria’s 5th birthday party. The theme was The Little Mermaid and the sea, so I decided to make the icing blue, like the sea. I decorated them with some shark fins made out of chocolate. As I had already made many sweets for the party, I kept the flavours of…
SWEET SUSHI
I have been wanting to make sweet sushi for a while now! I always thought that it looked great. My daughter’s birthday party was the perfect occasion as it was a “sea themed” party. I have to say that this was probably the most successful dish of the buffet as it did look quite real and impressive,…
SEA MARSHMALLOW POPS
Organising a little girl’s birthday party can be lots of fun… but it also requires a bit of research. Especially when the little one has a clear idea of what she wants (and she’s only 5!). The theme HAD to be The Little Mermaid. So I started looking around the web for ideas (thank you…
THE LITTLE MERMAID FONDANT CAKE
As I am sure you have noticed, my eldest daughter loves The Little Mermaid so she requested an “Ariel cake” for her 5th birthday party. I must admit, I was a bit worried about it as making a human form out of fondant is not as easy as making an animal… in fact, it could…
VICTORIA’S 5TH BIRTHDAY
On the 16th my eldest daughter turned 5 and I have been quite busy organising her birthday parties. She celebrated in school with her friends on the 16th itself and I made her a Little Mermaid Yogurt Cake to take along and some Flounder Shortbread Cookie Pops to give as party favors. When she came…
THE LITTLE MERMAID YOGURT CAKE
Today is my eldest daughter’s 5th birthday. I cannot believe it’s already been 5 years since I first held her in my arms… she was so small! And now she’s growing to be a beautiful and sweet girl. I will be very busy in the next few days as we will be celebrating her birthday…
FAIRY BREAD
The first time I ever heard about “fairy bread” I was at a play-date with 2 other mums. When they explained to me what it was I found it hard to believe that someone could really go crazy for something like “that”. But let me tell you that I completely changed my mind the first…
ONION FOCACCIA
After sharing with you the Basic Focaccia recipe and the recipe for Focaccia with Olives, today I am going to post the recipe for my absolute favourite: Onion Focaccia! I love the taste of soft Focaccia topped with sweet onions… mmmm… I am getting hungry just by writing about it! The recipe is the one…
EASY MERINGUE PIE – MERINGATA VELOCE
Yesterday was my birthday! YAY! Well… usually my husband buys me a chocolate cake from my favourite patisserie in town, but this year he was working in the other side of town and there was no way he could get there in time. So, I made myself a very quick but delicious birthday cake as…
SUPER BOWL OR FOOTY NIGHT SUGGESTIONS
I must admit I am no football lover. In fact, the only football I like is soccer… I am Italian after all. After reading quite a bit about the upcoming Super Bowl though, I started thinking that the most fun part about the event would be watching it with friends and family while sharing some…
1 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY AND A GIVEAWAY
I cannot believe a full year has passed since I started blogging. It is so true when they say “time flies when you are having fun”! 1 year has indeed gone by and I find myself celebrating the first blogiversary of Manu’s Menu. People often ask me why I started blogging. I guess there are…
CHEESE TWISTS AND PILLOWS
These are great both for parties and for appetizers. I made these for Georgia’s birthday party but have also served them with a chilled glass of white wine before a more formal dinner. At first I wanted to make only the basic cheese twists, but then decided to spice them up a bit and make…
GEORGIA’S 2ND BIRTHDAY
As some of you already know, these last few days have been quite hectic for me as I have been organising my youngest daughter’s birthday. Georgia turned 2 today (on December 1st) and we had a nice, quite family day as we had a little birthday party for her last Sunday with some of our…
MINI SANDWICHES WITH CHÈVRE AND SUN-DRIED TOMATOES
I made these for my daughter Georgia’s 2nd birthday party. They are very easy to make and taste delicious. The filling can be used as a dip or as a spread for bread or crackers. I love the orange colour too!
GORGONZOLA AND MASCARPONE FILLED DATES
I love cheese… I am almost as addicted to cheese as I am to chocolate and coffee!!! And gorgonzola is my all time favourite cheese. This is a very easy “recipe” for an elegant appetiser that is perfect for Christmas or New Year’s Eve or any other special occasion. The contrast between gorgonzola and the…
BLUEBERRY CURD
I think I might have said this already, but growing up I never liked berries. The berries you find in Italy are often too sour for my taste buds, so I never enjoyed eating them (well, apart from the times I would actually pick them on the mountains… but that’s another story!). So I was…
