Welcome! and Pink Marshmallow Slice!

Welcome to my new blog about my journey as an amateur baker and mumma! Last year, my  perspective on life changed when my son was born (now 5 months). From a very young age, I had been focused solely on my career and followed my dream to be a journalist, working as a reporter for a newspaper before finding out we had a bun in the oven ;) At just 24, I thought I would be keen to get back in to work as soon as possible, but I soon realised that spending time with this beautiful child was way too important. Staying at home with him has meant that I have had time to spend on my passion for baking! I have a massive sweet tooth and a love of desserts, chocolate and well...anything baked! My ultimate dream would be to one day open up a trendy cafe with my partner, while writing about food on the side! I will be updating this blog with delicious simple recipes that I have sourced from myself, friends, family, as well as in cookbooks and online that have been tried and rated for your tasting pleasure! I'll also add in some laughs on my journey as a full-time mum.

My first recipe is one that I made today for my partner, Chance. It is a special recipe, because it was something his mother made for him as a child and when I asked him what he would like me to bake, he requested it. Enjoy!

Pink marshmallow slice.

Shortcake base:

125g butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp of vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups of self-raising flour

Marshmallow

1 cup cold water
3 drops red food colouring
1 Tbsp gelatin powder
1 cup sugar
1 egg white
1 cup icing sugar

Coconut sprinkled on top (optional)

1. Heat oven to 160 C fan bake and grease a square tin. Mine was rather large so I just used half of the tin. Put butter and icing sugar in a bowl and beat together until pale and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla, then the flour.

2. Press the mixture into the base of the tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cool.

3. Place the cold water and food colouring in a saucepan and sprinkle over the gelatin powder. Add sugar then bring to the boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil gently for eight minutes, then remove from the heat to cool a little.

4. Place the egg white in a clean bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Beat in the icing sugar, and then slowly add the warm gelatin mixture. Continue beating until marshmallow is thick and fluffy. Be persistent when beating the marshmallow and allow at least 10mins to get the right consistency. I thought I had done something wrong after 2 mins but in stead of giving up, I kept beating and eventually got my marshmallow! Spread marshmallow topping over shortcake base, sprinkle with coconut and leave to set. Cut into slices when cold.

This recipe was sourced from NZ's Women's Weekly!