Mushroom-Shaped Chocolate-Orange Meringues

Whimsical party food to impress.

Froot Loop Cupcakes (USA)

Fancy dressing up your vanilla cupcakes?

Creamy Chicken Tetrazzini

Savory and creamy comfort food!

I-Disgust-Me BBQ Burgers

A burger for when you've stopped caring about fat content. The only thing missing is bacon!

Crab-Topped Deviled Eggs

Eggcelent. Yeah, I went there.

Chicken-Fried Chicken with Country Gravy Dipping Sauce

Double-coated for extra CRUNCH.

Red-Bottom Cake

Imagine if a black-bottom cupcake had a baby with a red velvet cake. Now imagine a red-bottom cake. Simply another excuse to eat cream cheese frosting.

A Rather Traditional Pavlova

Dreaming of a sunny summer day in food format?

Orange Beef Burgers

A chinese takeaway in burger form.

Mexican-Inspired: Cheesy Refried Bean Quesadillas

I beat Taco Bell to their own crushed-Dorito food hell with these babies.

Marsala Chicken Dumplings

Dumplings get a makeover.

Mochacinno Fudge

Premium coffee drink fudge!

Parmesan Chicken Risotto

Risotto for picky eaters!

Whimsical Cookery is a site for adults who prefer to eat like children, or perhaps just need to cook for some children. This site contains an aversion to vegetables, a love of fried food and cupcakes, lazy shortcuts, some disturbing creations, and an ignorance of proper culinary practices...

Monday 24 February 2014

Chicken and Chorizo Soft Tacos



This dish pulls from two different recipes, one for grilled chicken and another for chorizo tacos!  All of the flavors meld well together, and the chicken is perfectly seasoned and tasty on its own! The chorizo adds something special to this otherwise traditional tex mex style taco.

You will need:
2 lbs Skinless Chicken Tenderloins (tenders)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
---
15 oz (425g) uncooked chorizo sausage
1 1/2 cup grated cheese
         (I used a mix of Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Queso Quesadilla and Asadero Cheese)
1 cup sour cream (low fat sub is fine)
15 small white corn tortillas (or flour tortillas if you prefer)

Yield 15 small tacos

1.The first step is to cook the chorizo sausage.  To do this, remove the casing from the sausage(s).  This is easily done by squeezing the meat from the casing directly into your frying pan.

2. Cook on a medium heat until the chorizo begins browning.  Drain excess grease and press with paper towel to remove any remaining grease.  Set aside for reheating right before serving.

3. The next step is the cook the chicken.  The best way to cook this chicken is on a grill or griddle (or George Foreman)  Preheat this if necessary.

4. Clean and trim the strips of chicken.  Set aside.

5. In a medium bowl, combine oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.

6. Add strips of chicken to bowl and coat evenly.

7. Place on the grill/griddle at a medium-high heat.  Since grills and griddles vary, I am hesitant to suggest a set time.  Do ensure chicken is thoroughly cooked before serving.

8. Once all chicken is cooked, you will need to cut each tender into thin strips (see photo).  Now is a good time to reheat the chorizo if it has had a chance to cool down.

9. You can begin assembling the tacos by sliding the cut chicken on a spatula and placing it into the center of your shell.  Top with a spoonful of chorizo, cheese, and sour cream. 

Sunday 16 February 2014

Eggless Wedding Cupcakes (UK)

Tajpal Dhamu Photography

Okay, so it took me several months to get this up here!  I got married last November in a beautiful ceremony in east London.  The day before the wedding, my mum, one of my bridesmaids, and I were all baking around 140 cupcakes in a style reminiscent of Cupcake Wars.  It was great fun and the guests seemed to enjoy the cakes!

Yield: 24

You will need
480g cake flour
240g sugar
1tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup oil
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
30g vanilla bean paste

IMPORTANT NOTE: To make a batch of cake flour if you cannot buy it, substitute 2 Tbsp of corn starch (corn flour UK) for every 1 cup of standard flour used.  The best way I found to do this was to take a cup measurement, add 2 Tbsp corn starch, and then fill the remainder of the cup with flour.  You then need to sift these ingredients together.

1. Sift cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix in sugar.

2. In a small bowl, add milk and vinegar.  Mix and let sit 1 minute.

3. Add oil to milk and vinegar and whisk.

4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid into the center.  Stir until you have a paste and then begin whisking to remove lumps.

5. Line your cupcake trays and fill 2/3 full.

6. Bake at 175C/165C fan ovens for 15-17 minutes.


Vanilla Bean Frosting

225g unsalted butter (room temperature)
500g powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 Tbsp milk

1. With an electric mixer, cream the butter.

2. Add vanilla. 

3. Add powdered sugar (a bit at a time) and beat until smooth.

4. Add milk with care, only when adding the sugar starts to dry out the frosting.

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Rainbow Cupcakes


The world's cheeriest cupcakes!  Perfect for summer parties, or in pastels for easter!  These cakes are easy to make, but a bit more time consuming than typical cupcakes.  To save time, and to get truer colors, I usually use a white cake mix.

You will need:
1 box white cake mix batter prepared (or 1 recipe white cake batter)
6 small bowls
Rainbow of food colourings (Red, Yellow, Blue required)
Frosting recipe below!

Yield: 20 cupcakes

1. You will need to divide the batter into six bowls.  1 bowl should have an extra 3 Tbsp of batter (this will be the red).

2. Dye each, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.  Without being too patronising, if you do not wish to invest heavily in food dye, orange, green, and purple can be made from red, yellow, and blue. The higher quality the food dye is, the more vibrant your results will be.

3. Line a cupcake tray with 20 wrappers.

4. Begin layering, starting with purple at the bottom.  Use only enough of each color batter to cover the previous color to avoid running out.

5. When you get to the last layer, red, use a bit more as the dome shape of the top of the cake requires more of this color.

6. Bake as per recipe instructions.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

You will need:

1 cup butter (two sticks) - room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 tsp clear vanilla
1/4 cup skim milk


1. With an electric mixer, cream the butter.


2. Add milk and vanilla.

3. Add powdered sugar and beat, one cup at a time, until smooth.

4. Frost cupcakes.