A few weeks ago I screenshot a recipe from a Facebook page I love - 4 ingredients, for a recipe called Sunshine Slice. It looked absolutely delicious, but I was a litle suss, as I often am when things look that easy - that they'll be average, or just not good all...
But this slice, that requires barely any ingredients or effort, is absolutely incredible! It has a yummy shortbread style base, a pineapple cheesecakey kind of middle and toasted coconut on top. Well worth the make. This will absolutely be made on repeat.
SUNSHINE SLICE (from 4 ingredients Australia)
340g packet vanilla cake mix
150g melted butter
300ml sour cream
440g can crushed pineapple (drained)
1. Preheat oven to 160C (fan forced)
2. Line and grease a slice tray
3. Mix together cake mix and butter, then spread evenly in the baking tray
4. Bake for 15 minutes
5. Mix sour cream and pineapple together
6. Spread across the warm biscuit base, then sprinkle with shredded coconut and return to oven for 15 minutes
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then store in the fridge.
Honestly, go make this. It is amazing. We are hooked!
every now and then i come across a recipe on the internet that honestly looks too good to be true, so me being me, i feel obligated to test said recipes and see if they actually are at all possible. this one 100% did not sound it, but absolutely was.
1 cup coffee (made with 2 teaspoons coffee - i used a coffee substitute of course)
1 cup self raising flour
chop dates up into a bowl
add "coffee" and stir, then leave to soak for at least 2 hours
heat oven to 160 degrees celius (fan forced)
line a loaf tin with baking paper
stir through flour until just combined
pour into tin and bake for 40-45 minutes
so it was actually amazing. we tried it hot out of the oven with lots of butter and it was delicious. i gave some to a friend that insisted it was almost as good as sticky date pudding and all it needed was a little caramel sauce. maybe next time haha. but 10/10 definitely would make it again. it's a win in my books.
you know what they say... when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! well. life has given us perth lockdown 3 for the year - and a mate has given me a giant box of lemons, so it seemed logical to start baking alllll of the lemon treats.
first up was this lemon lovers pound cake, which i had everything for other than the sour cream... but what do you know, we are in lockdown and i unlike a lot of other people don't actually leave the house until i need to, so i looked around for substitutes. ricotta it was!
it took quite a bit longer to cook, but i just kept checking it and it was so delicious when it was done, i was literally peeling the crust off the bottom and eating it hot! to be honest i don't know if i'll ever actually attempt it with sour cream cause it was that good.
Lemon lovers pound cake (translated for Australian measurements/ingredients
for future reference)
Cake:
227g butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon extract
3 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups sour cream
Icing:
1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
29g butter, softened
2-1/2 cups icing sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
Directions
In
a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add
eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in lemon juice, zest
and extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed
mixture alternately with sour cream. Beat just until combined.
Pour
into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 160°C until a toothpick inserted
near the center comes out clean, 55-60 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before
removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
For
icing, in a small bowl, beat the sour cream and butter until smooth. Gradually
add confectioners' sugar. Beat in lemon juice and zest. Drizzle over the cake.
If desired, top with additional grated lemon zest. Store in the refrigerator.
it was actually amazing. looking back at the recipe online i can see that it's obviously a lot fluffier and lighter if you use the sour cream, but i really liked the dense texture it came out with.
seriously the best. i could have eaten so much of it!
Mix 2 cups of flour and icing
sugar together. Cut in the butter. Mix well until the dough resembles pie dough
consistency. Press the dough into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
my friend lisa from the u.s. introduced me to these when she was living in perth. they are amazing. the perfect mix of sweet and tangy and oh so good. you'll be left with the above pic when you get them out of the oven, but as soon as you add the icing sugar to the top, the magic happens!
so so so worth a go. look how pretty they turn out and they taste as good as they look.
Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan forced) In a large bowl, beat
the butter with the icing sugar until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in the
lemon zest and juice, then beat in the flour and salt until just incorporated;
scrape down the side of the bowl as necessary.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls.
Arrange the balls 1 inch apart on 2 baking sheets and, using your fingers,
gently flatten each cookie. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cookies are
lightly browned on the bottom and just firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking
sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely
Meanwhile, make the Glaze: In a bowl, whisk the
confectioners' sugar with the lemon juice and butter until smooth. Spread the lemon glaze on the cooled cookies and garnish
with finely grated lemon zest. Let stand until the glaze is set, about 15
minutes.
these looked delicious so i wasn't going to pass up the opportunity, although i admit i did cheat, as i used the glaze from the pound cake to ice them. worked a treat! they were great too! next time i'll try them with the glaze they recommended.
i made up two boxes - one for the friend who gave me the lemons and another friend who recently had a baby and looooves any form of treats then did a doorstep drop. totally worth it for the sweet messages i received not long after.
last but not least - sliced lemons in the freezer for madeline's pink lemonade at her birthday party which will hopefully be going ahead in a few weeks. fingers crossed!
and i still have a buttload of lemons. guess i'll be baking for weeks to come.
when life gives you lockdown, use alllll the lemons! ❤
my friend elena had her birthday today so i told her i was baking her a treat. when i asked her what she wanted, her response was "surprise me" so i did...
with options.
first up, i made triple choc brownies. when i worked at chippers before madeline was born, one of the guys wives used to make these epic brownies like once a year. spoiler alert: it was the best day of the year. they were so good that i asked him if he could get me the recipe and he did!! amazingly madeline is now nine and this is the first time i have made them, only now i wonder why the heck i waited so long... this could be dangerous. they are just as good as i remember.
triple choc brownies
125g cold butter chopped
200g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups (185g) plain flour
150g white chocolate, chopped
100g milk chocolate, chopped
grease deep 19cm square cake pan. line base and sides with baking paper.
preheat oven to 160 deg celcius (fan forced)
combine butter and dark chocolate in medium pan, stir over low heat until melted. cool 10 minutes. stir in sugar and eggs, then sifted flour, mix in remaining chocolate. spread mixture into prepared pan.
bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes, or until mixture is firm to touch. cool in pan. sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.
100% the best brownies i've ever had
next up, lemon pie bars. my friend lisa from america made these once and we were all obsessed with them afterwards... i love everything lemon and these are a winner! i've made them loads of times and they always deliver.
lemon pie bars
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
225g softened butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
preheat oven to 160 deg celcius fan forced
mix 2 cups of flour and icing sugar together. cut in the butter. mix well until the dough resembles pie dough consistency. press the dough into a 9x13" baking pan
bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown
beat together eggs, sugar, remaining flour, lemon juice and lemon rind for at least one minute. pour the mixture over the baked crust.
bake the bars another 20 minutes, or until the lemon topping has set. sprinkle with icing sugar when cool
topped it off with a batch of caramel fudge and sliced away...
caramel fudge
125g chopped butter
395g can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (110g) white chocolate chips
grease and line 20x30cm metal dish
in a saucepan, stir butter, condensed milk, golden syrup and sugar together over a very low heat until simmering and sugar is completely melted. stir constantly for 10 minutes until slightly thickened and golden brown
remove from heat, add white choc chips and until mixture is smooth and the chocolate is completely melted
pour into dish and refrigerate until set. slice with a hot knife into small squares.
it was quite the bake up and she was stoked... so it was all worth it!
my whole life mum has made a gorgeous apple shortcake for the family on many an occasion. her recipe is great and there have been many variations of it, apple and lemon, apricot, mulberry...
i'm ashamed to admit it, but today was the first time i actually attempted making one myself! i have had a bunch of mulberries in the bottom of my freezer for ages and whipped one up with a small can of apples.
apple shortcake by barbara goodlet
125gms softened butter (needs to be real butter!)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup self raising flour
440gm tin pie apple
lemon zest from half a lemon
cream butter and sugar
add egg and beat together
add the flour and beat until it all comes together
make into a cylinder shape and cut into two rounds
grease and line a 20cm cake tin with paper
press half the mixture into the tin, bringing it a little up the sides
mix lemon zest and apples together and spread over pastry
roll out the pastry for the lid on a piece of paper to fit tin, then flip it over and drop it in
press edges together to seal the fruit in and then sprinkle top with a little sugar
back at 170 deg celcius for around 30 mins
leave in tin for 5 minutes, run a knife around the edge and remove to cool on a wire rack
i am please to report that i got it right and it was great! storing that one away for future use. so lucky to have mum and all her awesome recipes available to me. seriously so blessed.
