First, the cupcakes.

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup margarine
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs

Method
-Preheat oven to 180C and line a pan with cupcake liners.
-Fold the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mix-master bowl.
-When all dry ingredients are mixed, add the margarine, milk, vanilla and eggs and beat until it is all blended through, then turn the mix master up high for a minute or so.
-Spoon mixture into the paper liners. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. The cakes will turn golden brown when cooked. Leave the cakes to cool.

And now the ridiculously cute toppings:

Ingredients:
For the icing:
1/2 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
100g cooking chocolate (half a block)

Method
-Blend the margarine and sugar together in a mix master till creamed, add the milk and mix well. Melt the chocolate and mix in till fully blended.

Ingredients for decorations
-Chocolate buttons
-Oreos
-M&Ms

Method
-Ice the cupcakes, halve the oreos and put the cream sides roughly in the middle for eyes, add chocolate buttons for pupils.
-Add an M&M as a nose and two bits of the left over oreos as eyebrows (see picture)

Ingredients
-One box of meringues
-Two punnets of strawberries or any other berries you want
-One large punnet of thickened cream for whipping
-One-two tablespoons of sugar
-A few drops of vanilla
-Glasses to serve

Method
-Wash and slice the strawberries or other berries. Set aside.
-Whip the cream. Add a few drops of vanilla essence and one to two tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you like it.
-Crush the meringues until they are a mix of crumbs and chunks (you don’t want them too small or fine).
-Mix the berries, cream and meringue together, spoon into glasses and serve immediately.

NOTE: If you mix the components of this dish too soon, the meringue goes soggy and you lose the crunch. See below for variations.

VARIATIONS:

-Mix one container marscarpone with three tablespoons brandy/rum and swirl through the mix before serving to add some booziness.
-Strawberry Coulis; make a simple strawberry sauce to drizzle on top or even swirl through. Make the coulis by putting half a punnet of strawberries in a saucepan with two to three tablespoons of sugar, a few tablespoons of water and one tablespoon of vin cotto or thick balsamic. Boil down until the berries are all broken down, then pass through a sieve to remove the pips. Allow to cool before using.

Ingredients
-3 chocolate-chip muffins or cupcakes
-200 g dark chocolate (at least 75 per cent cocoa solids)
-680 g jar pitted morello cherries
-75 ml rum port
-2 level tablespoons cherry jam
-250g mascarpone
-400g custard
-275 ml whipping cream
-1 chocolate flake for garnish

Method
-Soak the cherries in the rum port overnight (you can get rum port from the Safeway – it’s only around $10 a bottle and a cheaper alternative to using straight rum, but it has the additional dimension of a port flavour I really like.)
-Slice up the muffins, and spread each slice with some of the jam. We were lucky to have some of Master Radish’s homemade cherry jam to use.
-Layer around the base of the dish you’re going to use, then use a skewer or a fork to make holes all over. Strain the cherries, retaining the rum port they’ve been soaking in, then sprinkle the rum port over the top and scatter the cherries on top of the spongy base.
-Next, break up your chocolate into squares and heat very gently in a saucepan sitting over some barely simmering water. Alternatively melt it cgently in the microwave. Stir well and the leave for 2 minutes.
-While the chocolate is sitting, beat the mascarpone in a bowl to soften, add the custard and whisk together. Then add the chocolate and whisk that through, then pour the whole creamy mixture on top of the cherries and muffins.
-Next, whip your cream, but make sure it’s not too stiff and retains some of its floppiness. Then spread it over the mascarpone layer.
-Crumble the flake with your fingers and sprinkle on top as a garnish. These will keep in the fridge until required, but make sure to let them sit for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Ingredients
-80g icing sugar
-100g butter
-3 egg whites (at room temperature)
-100g plain flour
-1 tsp vanilla essence (can use almond essence instead for a marzipan flavour)
-1 tsp lemon zest (optional)

Method
-Preheat oven to 200C.
-Use electric beaters to cream the butter and icing sugar until pale and creamy, then add the vanilla essence and lemon zest.
-Beat in whites, one at a time. (The whites are NOT stiffened first. They are just plain, normal, straight out of the shell egg-whites).
-Sift in the flour and fold to combine.
-Pipe onto lined pans using a plain nozzle and be aware – they do spread. If you don’t have a piping bag, get a freezer bag, put all the batter into the bag and snip off the corner. Works absolutely beautifully.
-Bake for around 10 minutes, or until the edges are a golden brown colour. Keep a close eye on them because once they start to cook, they can finish up incredibly quickly, so it’s easy to burn them.
-Remove from oven and cool on wire racks immediately.
-These can be stored in airtight container, but slip in some moisture-absorbing sachets to retain their crunch.

Makes around 5 one-cup servings.

Ingredients

- 600ml coconut milk (you can use light  if you want something healthier)
-1 cup of milk
- 6 tbsp. icing sugar
- 1 cup big pearl tapioca
- 2 mangoes, roughly cut up
- 8-10 mint leaves or strawberries to garnish
-1/3 cup malibu or clear rum (optional)

Method
-Put the milk, coconut milk and sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the tapioca and simmer together, stirring to prevent burning on the bottom. It is cooked when the tapioca is clear, after around 15 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.
-Put the mango in the bottom of your glasses – I just use normal glasses and it looks pretty neat.
-Pour the cooled sago mixture over the top and put in the fridge.
-Take the puddings out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you serve them to take some of the cool edge off, and garnish with a sliced strawberry or sprig of mint.

NOTE: It would be easy to replace the mango in this recipe with other fruits, including strawberries or kiwi or anything else with a reasonably robust flavour.

Ingredients
-Three sweet potato
-Half a pumpkin (can be any, including Japanese, butternut or kent)
-Three tablespoons olive oil
-50g butter
-Zest and juice of half an orange
-Handful of sage leaves torn up or roughly chopped
-Salt & pepper

-Preheat your oven to around 200 degrees.
-Peel your sweet potatoes and pumpkin. Cut into large, 3-cm pieces and place in a baking tray line with baking paper.
-Melt your butter and combine in a bowl with your oil, orange zest and orange juice.
-Season your prepared potatoes and pour liquid over the top. Toss to combine. Add your sage and toss again.
-Place in the oven and cook for around an hour, tossing after half that time. Cooking time depends on the size of the chunks, so keep an eye on them and be flexible.
-Remove and omnomnom. Away you go.

There are two phases of cooking an awesome Turkey. The first is the brining. The second is the baking. This recipe is based on the use of a 3.5kg turkey.

The bird must be defrosted by placing in the fridge around two days before you plan to start brining. The brining should be around 24 hours, or at least overnight.

Also, at the end I’ve included a recipe for gravy.

Brining ingredients

-14 cups of water water
-3/4 cups coarse salt
-4 bay leaves
-1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
-1.5 tbsp whole black peppercorns
-1 tbsp fennel seeds
-1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
-1/2 bottle dry white wine
-1 medium onion sliced
-4 garlic cloves, crushed
-1/2 bunch fresh thyme

-Place the white wine and three cups of the water in a saucepan with the salt and spices, that is everything on the list except the wine, onion, garlic and thyme. Boil until the salt is dissolved.
-Get a large bucket and line it with a large, clear plastic bag. Fill the bag with the remaining water and add the salt mixture and the remaining ingredients.
-Place the bird in the water, breast side down, adding water to cover. Tie the bag and weigh down the bird with a plate, if need be, to be fully immersed.
-Put in the fridge or a cool esky for 24 hours or at least overnight.
-Remove the bird from the brine mix, pat dry.

Ingredients for baking
-Stuffing (look here for some inspiration)
-White wine (you can use the half an unused bottle from the brining)
-200g butter

-Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
-Sprinkle some salt and pepper in the turkey cavity, then stuff your turkey, stick wingtips underneath and tie legs together. Do not overstuff the bird – loosely packed stuffing is preferable, as it will expand during cooking.
-Melt the butter and add the white wine and combine. Take piece of cheesecloth, soak it in the butter/wine mixture. -Put the turkey on a rack, in a baking dish.  Squeeze the cheesecloth gently and lay over the breast of the bird, covering only the breast meat, not the legs. Baste the whole bird with butter/wine mixture. Add half a cup of water to the bottom of the pan, then place the bird in the oven.
-Every half an hour, baste the bird, including the cheesecloth, with the white wine and butter mixture and add half a cup of water to the bottom of the pan (to avoid the turkey juices from burning, because you want to use them for gravy). Two hours in, remove the cheesecloth and baste again, and keep cooking. In total it should take around three hours for the bird to cook. Lower the temperature if you think it’s cooking to quickly.
-Use a meat thermometer to test the stuffing, which should be at around 160 degrees, while the thickest part of the leg meat should be at 180 degrees.
-Remove and rest for at least half an hour before carving.

Gravy ingredients
-Neck from the turkey and 500ml water or just 500ml chicken stock.
-One small onion
-2 sticks of celery
-Two peeled carrots
-One small leek, trimmed
-Half a handful of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
-1/2 cup Madeira or Rum Port or Port
-Two tbsp cornflour, dissolved in half a cup of cold water

-Put the neck in 500ml of water and bring to the boil, otherwise do the same with your stock.
-Add your vegetables (not the rosemary) and boil for at least an hour, preferably 2, covered. Strain out the vegetables and return to the pan.
-When the turkey is cooked and resting, pour its pan juices into your saucepan of stock and bring to a simmer, throwing in your rosemary and stirring in your alcohol. Reduce until the flavour is at desired strength, then season accordingly.
-Stir your cornflour mixture thoroughly to ensure all the flour is dissolved (it can clump if left to stand), then while your stock is is boiling, get a whisk and start whisking, slowly drizzing in about a quarter of your cornflour mixture. Keep whisking until it is fully incorporated, then allow to boil and thicken. Repeat this process until the gravy is at the desired thickness, then turn of the heat, but leave on the stove to reheat when you are ready to serve you turkey.

Ingredients
-However many potatoes you want, I prefer red-skinned desirees
-However much water it takes to boil them
-A handful of fresh rosemary
-A handful of whole garlic cloves, separated but still in skins
-A dollop of olive oil
-Salt and pepper

-Peel potatoes and cut into halves or quarters if they’re very large.
-Boil a pot of water. Add potatoes and boil for around six minutes or until the outside of the potatoes can be scraped with a fork and leave a mark.
-Drain the potatoes and turn to the pan. Cover and vigorously shake the pan to ‘fluff’ the potatoes. That is, you’re trying to roughen them up. Alternatively, scrape each one with a fork.
-Get your roasting pan and put it over a flame on the stovetop, holding it carefully with a good oven mitt. Add your olive oil and heat it up, then add the potatoes and shake them around to coat – they should be sizzling a little bit.
-Throw the rosemary and garlic in, tossing them through, and season with salt and pepper.
-Put in the oven at about 200 degrees. They should take around an hour and a half to roast. They’re ready when they’re golden brown. Perfect.

Rhubarb plants need plenty of feeding and mine has done well this year so I had enough to preserve.  Combining the rhubarb with some nectarines that had been picked too early resulted in a velvety red jam with a touch of tartness.

Ingredients

-750 grams nectarines (choose fruit that is not too ripe)
-2 50 grams rhubarb
-1 kg sugar
-About half a cup of lemon juice

Method

-Put a plate in the freezer for a few hours beforehand (preferably the night before) so it is ready when you want to test for setting point.
-Sterilise your jars and metal lids by heating them in the oven at 120 degrees for about 20 minutes.  I usually have them in the oven and turn it on when I am about to start cooking the jam so they have at least half an hour in the heat.
-You will need tongs and a jug or jam funnel to pour and handle the jam and jars.
-Chop nectarines and rhubarb and add to a large saucepan with warmed sugar and lemon juice.
-Boil until the jam is thick and syrupy, when you can then start to test for setting point.  The timing varies on the fruit but I found it took about half an hour.  During cooking, remove with a slotted spoon any white froth that forms on the top.
-To test for setting point, take the plate from the freezer, tip a dessert spoon of jam onto it and return it to the freezer for 30 seconds.  The jam will be ready when you can push your finger through without the liquid immediately flowing into the gap you have made.
-Pour into the sterilised jars.

Ingredients
-1 cup water
-3/4 cup caster sugar
-2 star anise
-2 peppercorns
-1/2 a vanilla bean
-1 large strip of orange rind
-700g fresh cherries, pitted
-250ml port (you can get it from the supermarket and it isn’t expensive)

Method
-Wash and carefully pour boiling water over a one-litre preserving jar. Drain.
-Put all ingredients except the port and cherries in a saucepan and cook until the sugar is dissolved.
-Bring to the boil and add the cherries, then simmer until the cherries are slightly soft.
-Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cherries and the spices to the preserving jar.
-Bring the syrup to the boil and cook at a high heat until the syrup is thick. Then add the port. Pour the syrup over the cherries in the preserving jar and seal tightly.
-Turn your jars upside down for 2 minutes and then set aside to cool. Label and store in the fridge for up to a month.