Reinventing the classics - Raspberry Apple muffin takes lessons from Dior!

This weekend started as most should, with a NBM meeting and a muffin.

Happy River Cafe is situated right next door to the Footscray Community Arts Centre.

We arrived in the gorgeous morning sunlight to find the outside tables packed! Kids were playing on the grass with the supplied toys while their parents sipped coffee at the make shift tables.

There was plenty of room indoors though and we were served super quickly.  

Coffee was good and the muffin was BIG.

Raspberry Apple

This muffin had my definition of the perfect muffin top!

Crunchy around the edges and cracking under pressure to reveal a soft. Moist, still warm inside.  My first bite was filled with warm raspberry, just tart enough apple and the texture of cocnut – perfection!

It took me at least 5 bites to get through the muffin top and every bite was as good as the last!

Fruit to flour ration was fantastic, they are packing in the fruit here and it was all too soon gone!

No points for originality of flavours but they win the points back with perfecting a classic!  

I couldn't help but compare this muffin to this Spring 2014 Dior dress:

Raspberry and Apple green, instantly appealing, classic but interesting.

Gorgeous neck detail but maintaining the interest down below.....

I could go on!  But back to the muffin...

This may be the new yardstick!  

All things considered:

Presentation ('cause we all judge a muffin by it's top...) - 4.5/5

First bite - 4.5/5

Flavour: Flour Ratio - 4/5

Inspired architecture of Flavour - 2.5/5

Overall muffin scoffing experience - 3.5/5

Service with a Smile? - 4/5

Bang for Buck$ - 3.5/5

Its a 3.95/5!

Upon finishing our muffin the fun was not over for NBM.  Not only were we treated to some impromptu Hip Hop dancing and performances but we were also allowed to have first jump on the jumping castle!

If only every weekend could start like this!

See whats happening at Footscray Arts Centre this weekend .... 

Dior optional but possibly not conducive to castle jumping.

45 Moreland Street Footscray.

Happy muffin scoffing!

Jess and Suz

Peanut and Peanut butter; The muffin equivalent of double denim?

Speakeasy continues to kill it on the muffin front.

The fact that I have to walk past this cafe 4 days a week pretty much guarantees that I will sample at least 4 muffins, all of which will be blog worthy!  

And the fact that I am yet to double up on flavours is equal parts disappointing (as some of them have been amazing!) and awe inspiring (surely it will happen soon?)!

Of particular note this week was the Peanut and Peanut Butter concoction pictured above.

Though not a particular fan of either flavour I had to give it a try and was blown away!

If I was to say anything negative at all about this muffin it would be that it was a little on the large size.... 

Usually this is hardly a problem but my muffin tummy is currently slightly compromised by a growing baby and as I am still unable to leave a morsel of muffin uneaten it did make for an uncomfortable afternoon at my desk.

All completely worth it!

Texturally this muffin was a gorgeous mix of crunchy raw peanuts, tacky peanut butter and what in other cases I would call dry muffin batter.  For some reason all of these elements worked in its favour!

All things considered:

Presentation ('cause we all judge a muffin by its top....) - 3/5

First bite - 3.5/5

Flour: Flavour ratio - 4/5

Inspired Architecture of Flavour - 4.5/5

Overall muffin scoffing Atmosphere - 4/5

Service with a Smile - 5/5

Bang for buck$ - 5/5

It's a 4/5!!!!

Lessons learnt:

Though I originally would have likened this muffin to the flavour equivalent of double-denim, Speakeasy, like Chloe (below)...rocks it!

You can find the crew at speakeasy and their hipster muffins, 

Monday - Sunday

359 Chapel street, Prahran

Happy New Year

Nothin' but Muffin would like to wish all our followers a Happy New Year. A quick recap of some of the muffin adventures we had in 2013:

• NBM favourite - Alice Nivens - Orange and Fig
•  Penny Farthing - Cranberry, Coconut and Lemon
• Storm in a Teacup - Amaretto Crumble
• Chew Chew - Chocolate Hazelnut
• The Auction Rooms - Trail mix, Coconut and Chocolate
• Group Muffin Date - Peal Oyster - Apple, Zucchini and Walnut

NBM is looking forward to new muffin adventures in 2014. If you have any muffins in the Melbourne area that you think that we most try please feel free to comment on this post or via our facebook page here.

May your year be full of (delicious) muffins.

Penny Farthing - Cranberry, Coconut and Lemon

Im a sucker for an original flavour and Northcote's Penny Farthing have done me proud with their offering of the Cranberry, coconut and lemon.

Although sounding quite summery it was a beautiful accompaniment to a winters coffee date.

Presentation was elegant and simple – some things just don’t need to be over complicated and clearly the staff here know and have faith in their muffins.

Muffin top was perfectly crunchy despite no signs of browning – how do they do that?!!! 

Fruit to flavour ratio was good with fruit evenly distributed. 

They were generous on the cranberry while holding back for just a hint with the lemon.

The use of dry vs fresh fruit made the muffin a little dry for my taste but it was generous in size and not too sickly sweet.

Scores a good solid 3.9/5

In addition there is a fabulous wine list, great coffee and awesome people watching.

If you are looking for tattoospiration you should find some here.

Find them at: 206 High street, Northcote 

Amaretto Crumble - Storm in a teacup

Amaretto is a sweet, almond-flavoured, Italian liqueur. It is made from a base of apricot pits or almonds, sometimes both (wikipedia) *It is amazing in cakes!

Storm in a teacup needs no real introduction. 

http://www.storminateacup.com.au 

It has been hugely popular in melbourne since its inception and draws a loyal and a curious crown in equal measures.  On the day of our visit the bar was packed and the communal table was occupied by two women reading books opposite each other – not talking. Amazing. I dont know why i found this so amusing but it did distract me from the wait for my muffin.

OK, so the staff clearly called this a cake but according to Baking 911 this may just be due to the method used in baking as it certainly ticks off all of the other muffin characteristics.  

In addition it was clearly muffin like in appearance opposed to the other cakes in the cabinet which were served in slices. 

So this MUFFIN:

An old but great trick to distinguish your muffin from the crowd – go with a crumble topping!  Im a sucker for it and SIATC do it well.  Not sure how they didnt manage to burn the surface but the crumble was crispy without any signs of browning.  The muffin body itself was also cooked to perfection and contained generous amounts and sizeable chunks of pear -  5/5 on the fruit to flavour ratio!

I must confess I had to google amaretto – * hence the wiki quote above which I may have added to. 

I had heard the name but could not recall the specifics.  

One of the staff was happy to inform us that they made a variety of winter amaretto cakes in addition to the pear there is also a rhubarb variety that is thrown in throughout winter.  I should have asked about the summer version but will plan a trip back to find out!

As a perfect accompaniment the teas were beautifully and individually presented in their own unique glasses and serving tools.

Service was fantastic and staff had fabulous product knowledge!  It was also a bonus that we got to see them cook the goodies right in front of us! I recommend a bench/bar seat!  

So they also sell food – as in meals which I am yet to try.  Actually I imagine I never will as I will always be wooed by the cakes upon entry!

Overall scrore of 4.9 on the NBM  muffin scale. 

Mainly due to promoting it as a cake not the muffin that it is!

You can samlpe these muffins at:

  48A Smith Street

  Collingwood, Vic. 3066

But be quick – I dont think anything that good will last long!

Hazlenut Chocolate - Chew Chew

Chew Chew is located conveniently over the road from the Moonee Ponds Train Station 

(see what they did there?).

And again I am presented with the single muffin option – chocolate!  At least the muffins look good, baked in house they are served in their individual paper muffin cups with a sifting of icing sugar on top.

Initially I was disappointed with the size but after eating i was glad it was not bigger!

Muffin top was consistently crunchy all the way around and revealed whole dark chocolate melts.  The nuts must have been ground or I wasn’t lucky enough to get any and I would have loved them to add to the consistency.  Good flour to flavour ratio however the big chocolate bits tended to clump together making parts of the muffin too intense in chocolaty stickiness and other areas of the muffin left to sit and look blandly on.

Over all a 3.5 – good average muffin! I would be interested in a return visit to taste muffin variations and the area certainly has enough to tempt me to another half day trip.  Though the people watching wasn’t great and the crowd tended to be a bit older in the cafe – over the road was a different story with a very colourful display of local language to entertain us on the trip to BSL.

Puckle st is definitely worth a wander:  Highlights for me were the Chew Chew chandelier  and the BSL over the road J

Find Chew Chew opposite the train station at: 
7/9-11 Norwood Crescent, Moonee Ponds

Brotherhood of St Laurence: 24 Margaret Street, Moonee Ponds

Speakeasy - Chocolate, Peanut and Cinnamon Sugar

One great thing about starting a new job is finding your morning coffee haunt.  It took me 3 locations to settle on Speakeasy, a new addition to the Chapel street cafe belt.  

http://speakeasybar.com.au

Coffee is covered with the use of Dukes beans and the muffins which are always timed perfectly to arrive fresh out of the oven in front of me every visit, are a revelation!  

Not only are they cooked in house and are oven fresh but they have the most fabulous flavour combinations!  I could not resist the Chocolate, Peanut and cinnamon sugar offering of yesterday and despite having just eaten breakfast decided to purchase it and take it away for later consumption.  It was $2.50!?  

With any coffee purchase these generously sized muffins will only set you back $2.50!  I have no reason to go anywhere else!

Despite the wait time between purchase and devouring the muffin, retained the fresh baked feel.  Perfect consistency that was more cakey than I usually like but saved by the marbled brown and white colours and flecked with chopped up peanuts.  The peanuts were small in size and the perfect amount so as to add a welcomed texture contrast with crunc but not enough to overwhelm the subtle (perfect!) choc – or more cocoa and cinnamon flavours.  YUUUUUUUMMMM!

The muffin top was beautifully crunchy and broke away easily in the hands for on the go consumption.  This is close to being my perfect muffin!

Score 4.85!!!

So today I had to go back!  I have recruited the other half of NBM for a lunch muffin date and wanted to get a sneak peak of the flavour combo.  Not to be outdone by previous offerings todays is Pear, Kiwi, Almond and Caramel.  I cant wait!

You can find Speakeasy at 359 Chapel Street, Prahran, South Yarra.  Go! Now!