Beatrix Potty {Beatrix Bakehouse/cafe Review}

My name is Nicole and I am a Beatrix-addict.

I can't help myself, I drop in to pick up a little treat for afternoon tea and leave with a box full and sometimes a ciabatta for lunch!

Owner and cake magician (for that is the correct term) Nat Paull uses locally sourced, in-season produce whenever she possible can and did her apprenticeship with Maggie Beer. It doesn't get much better than that.

This is the crack cocaine of the lunch world.

I have prepared this review over a number of months. I use the term 'review' loosely, let's be honest here, this is a gush, and providing pictures of a large range of tasty treats was really just an opportunity for me to keep going back.

Happy Monday

I am not supposed to be writing this. I am supposed to be studying because I will be very mad at myself if I stuff up my exam next week.While the winemaking stuff rocks my socks off, trellising and soil types bore me to distraction (and I love me a bit of distraction). Let's keep this on track though.

Things that made me happy this week:

:: Feeling like I belong. I have been hovering around the edges of the wine industry for a few years, forcing myself to go to industry tastings for the experience and exposure to a whole bunch of wines I will never be able to afford; but hating the awkwardness of not knowing anybody and feeling like a giant (a tiny giant) goofball. Starting the WSET Diploma means I have just met a whole bunch of really cool people so when I went to an enormous, very posh, tasting on Tuesday I knew a bunch of people and I felt much less awkward. Although I did apparently ignore someone I knew because I had my wine-nerd blinkers on.

:: Wandering the streets of Melbourne. I am a bit of a broken record on this topic. My days off are when nobody else has days off and usually involve a mixture of exercise, study, getting jobs done and (ashamedly) surfing social media. Melbourne is such a beautiful city, I love wandering around absorbing the energy but do not do it often enough.

Cole Cake

My parents flew in to Melbourne the day after my birthday and seeing as I didn't have cake on my actual birthday (too busy gorging ourselves at Gazi) I decided to make one.

I always put a lot of thought into birthday cakes. I try to come up with something different, usually a fusion of a few recipes, and unique to the birthdayee. So for myself I considered my favourite things which at the moment are peanut butter & nutella and I adore a good cream cheese icing. 

Introducing the Cole* Cake- chocolate cake with whipped peanut butter filling and Nutella cream cheese icing. 

Caramel Mudcake with Dark Chocolate Ganache {Recipe}

So I made this:

It was not at all as hard as I thought it was going to be so I had to tell you about it. I generally am not into cooking with lots of ingredients and multiple steps. I have lost baking confidence as a result of 12 months in a share house without a working oven followed by 2 years in a teeny tiny flat with an even teeny tinier kitchen and a crappy oven right next to my fridge, which resulted in the fridge heating up and developing a large ice tumour due to stress. It was quite a thing. Anyway, I now have a lovely big kitchen with a fully functional (and rather nice) oven so it is time to jump back on the horse. Plus, I wanted to make a Belated Bookworm Birthday cake so that called for something a bit special.

Operation: Secret Squirrel

I don't think my Dad will ever forgive me for moving away. Most times when I speak to him on the phone he reminds me that I am not around for family events or even just random Sunday barbeques. I was feeling a bit homesick a few months ago so I hatched a plan with Mum to fly to Brisbane as a surprise combined Fathers Day/Birthday present for my Dad and so began Operation: Secret Squirrel.

Astoundingly she managed to keep it a secret, only trusting my brother and sister-in-law (SIL) with the plan after they had booked in their pup to be speyed on Dad's birthday. That was rearranged and everything went according to plan. The surprise was low-key, a couple of days before his birthday Mum picked me up from the airport and I walked in while he was watching TV. Dad was pretty chilled (which is good because the last thing I wanted to do was surprise him into a second heart attack) but had a huge smile on his face.