Smiles.

After an incredibly hectic first week back at school, I was more than happy to spend today baking up a storm. A day in the kitchen is simply the perfect way to relax. However, relaxation was not, in fact, my main reason for today's 'session'.  Tomorrow afternoon, I will be taking a cupcake decorating workshop with a group of 12-year old girls.  One of my colleagues runs a wonderful program called GirlLife.  In a nutshell, GirlLife gives these girls an opportunity to broaden their world view by seeing that there is so much more for them in life than they may have experienced.  I simply cannot wait to show you some of their creations which we intend to enjoy in a lovely high tea. 

In order to conduct such a workshop, of course, I have to prepare the cupcakes for the girls to decorate.  So I was busy, busy, busy.  Naturally, when I found that I had some extra cupcakes, I couldn't resist having a mess around with some of the yummy toppers that I had prepared for tomorrow! I baked my Mum's Chocolate Cake recipe before topping with Vanilla Buttercream and a sweet chuck of liquorice allsort. Both my chocolate cake and buttercream recipes are tried and true.  How could you not look at these and smile?

F. x

Tea Time Tempter

I have found the perfect tea time cake.  Now, I understand that this sounds like quite a claim but it's completely true!  In fact, I have made this cake twice this week.  Initially, the desire to make this cake came from the gorgeous fresh oranges that were taking over my fruit bowl and filling my house with the scent of citrus.  I took it along to a morning tea with my ladies, warm from the oven and all agreed that it was perfection.  It could be described as a dense cake, delightfully moist and yet at the same time, it is not at all heavy.  It's not overly sweet at all and a big, fat wedge goes down a treat with a freshly brewed pot of English Breakfast. 

As I said, the first time I baked this cake, I served it warm from the oven with a sweet drizzle of orange juice and caster sugar.  My husband was very pleased that some cake actually made it home from our morning tea, so I decided to make another one for him to take with his lunch.  This time though, I wanted to finish the cake with a thick swirl of light buttercream and some finely grated rind.  It just looks so delightfully homely - I adore it and just couldn't help but 'test' my creation straight away.  I just know that this cake is going to become a firm favourite.  Perhaps, it already has.  My dear friend, Emma, is today baking this cake and intends to whip up an orange cream cheese frosting to finish it off. 

I just can't help but sing the praises of this darling cake and have missed the biggest positive of all - it is all blitzed together in five minutes with the food processor.  Could it be any more fantastic?  No, it could not.  This recipe comes from the beautiful Janelle Bloom and can be found on her amazing web site, along with a myriad of other quick, fabulous recipes.

Whole Orange Cake

220g chopped navel oranges (this was 1 and a half oranges for me)

185g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups S R Flour

Pulse the chopped orange 3 - 4 times in the bowl of a food processor.  Add butter, sugar and extract before pulsing until combined.  At this stage, the mixture may look curdled but is fine.  Pop the eggs into the bowl and pulse before adding flour.  It is important just to pulse until flour is incorporated and not over mix.  Pour the batter into a prepared 23cm springform tin and cook in a 170 degree oven (lower for fan-forced) for 60 - 70 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Whipped Orange Buttercream

145g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Beat butter for 5 minutes until colour lightens.  Mix in 1 cup of icing sugar well before adding the orange juice.  Beat for a minute.  Add last cup of icing sugar and beat with an electric mixer on high for 8-10 minutes.  Buttercream should be light in colour and texture.  You can add more icing sugar or orange juice until it reaches your desired consistency.

F. x

Orange you lovely?

This week, my Mr. and I made the long drive to Rockhampton.  Every time I make this drive I make a mental note to stop in the town of Westwood where there is a property with gorgeous rows of citrus trees and a little wooden stall out the front.  On this trip, this is exactly what we did.  Away we came with two enormous bags - one of mandarins and one of navel oranges, all picked that morning.  This is just the best way to buy produce and easily, the cheapest.  Oh, don't they look cheery sitting in the fruit bowl, filling the house with colour and the aromas of the freshed of fruit.

Now, you and I both know that there is but one thing to do with an overload of beautiful, ripe fruit...bake with it!  Funnily enough, our little tummy bug is the size of a navel orange this week, so how appropriate that I should be cooking with them.  If you were in my house right now, your sense of smell would be overwhelmed with the sweet, sharp scent of the Whole Orange Cake that I currently have in the oven.  Just wait until you see pictures of it...you won't be able to help but want to make it yourself.

More to come later...
F. x

Bun in the Oven

While I have missed 'literally' baking and cooking terribly over the past couple of weeks, ironically, I have never really stopped.  My Mr and I are very excited to be baking up our very own 'bun'!  At 14 weeks along, I am back, causing a stir,  in the kitchen after the exhaustion and morning sickness of my first trimester.  Due on the 4th January 2013, I look forward to sharing my sweetest recipe yet with you in the form of a beautiful little baby!


F. x

Sweet Perfection

Well, hasn't it been a while between posts?  Unfortunately, I have been a touch under the weather.  Fortunately, I have a very good reason for feeling so.  It's not that I've been completely off the baking bandwagon - just a little cooking here and there.  And I have missed it!

I thought that I simply must share this fabulous dessert with you.  It's been a favourite of mine for quite a few years but I made it most recently, last week.  The event was the lovely baby shower of one of my gorgeous teaching partners.  Mel's little "wombat" is due on the first of August and I just cannot wait to squeeze (his) cubby cheeks!  This wonderful gathering required a pregnancy friendly dessert and so I chose this beautiful White Chocolate and Strawberry Tart. 

This tart is perfect in it's simplicity.  Essentially, it is a sweet shortcrust, filled with a white chocolate custard, which is baked and topped with fresh strawberries.  It is perfection on a plate.  The filling is light, smooth and creamy all at once.  Needless to say, I took a clean cake stand home at the conclusion of the shower!  I have also made this when strawberries were out of season and made a sweet, fresh raspberry coulis to serve.  It was just as delightful.  I'm sure there is so much more you could do to modify this recipe but I haven't looked too much into it.  It's pretty darn good as it is!

Sweet Shortcrust

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1/4 cup icing sugar

125g cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 egg, lightly beaten

Place flour, sugar and butter into the food processor.  Pulse until the mixture has a fine crumb consistency.  Add the egg and process again in short bursts until the mixture starts to come together.  Turn the mixture onto a work surface and press dough together into a thick disk.  Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for thirty minutes.

Roll dough out between two sheets of baking paper.  Line your greased flan tin, easing (not stretching) the dough into the corners.  Refrigerate for another thirty minutes and preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Blind bake the pastry case with weights for 15 minutes, then remove weights and bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden.  Allow the case to cool completely.

White Chocolate Custard

225g white chocolate, chopped

375mL pouring (single) cream

3 egg yolks

Place chocolate and cream into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until melted together and smooth.  Remove from heat and whisk through the egg yolks.  Pour mixture into the pastry case and bake for 35-40 minutes.  It should be just set.  Allow to cool in tin and then refrigerate.

The Tart

To assemble the tart, top the filling with 500g of hulled strawberries and dust with icing sugar.

Too lovely!

F. x

For the love of cake.

Last week marked yet another wonderful Wednesday at Blackwater North State School.  Apparently the intrigue began as early as 8am as to what was 'inside' the cake that lay on the table. 

Mud cake?
No.
Carrot cake?
No.
White chocolate cake?
No.

It was Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake: the smooth, moist centre in stunning contrast to the sweet cream cheese outer.  As soon as this beautiful cake was cut, it was a fight as to who could get a piece before it ran out and it was completely and utterly worth the fight.  This cake is impressive to say the least, and yet a one pot wonder (yes, I did say pot).  All of the ingredients are combined and whipped up in a large saucepan before entering the oven.  It's certainly minimum effort for maximum effect.  I recommend that this be the next wonder to come out of your oven.

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake

250ml Guinness

250g unsalted butter

75g cocoa

400g caster sugar

1 x 142ml pot sour cream

2 eggs

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2 1/2teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line the bottom of a 23cm springform tin with baking paper.

In a large saucepan, place your guinness and butter and stir over a low heat.  When the butter has melted into the guinness, add the sugar and cocoa.  Separately beat the eggs, sour cream and vanilla together before whisking into the dark guinness liquid.  Finally you can stir in the plain flour and bicarb until combined.  Pour the batter in the cake tin and bake for an hour. 

I literally baked this cake twice within a week.  It freezes beautifully if you want to slice it up, as I have, for my lovely husband to take in his lunch; it is simply sublime with custard or icecream as a dessert; or you can frost it, as I have here, with my divine Cream Cheese Frosting and adding some chocolate coated strawberries.

F. x



Who's a clever girl?



Isn't this a magnificent thing of beauty?  Look out, because this weekend I will be sharing the recipe for this amazing Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake.  Yum! Yum, indeed!

F. x