Baby shower cake

At it again today, making a baby shower cake for one of Madeline's wonderful Young Womens leaders. She is not long off having her first baby - a little boy and the girls decided to surprise her with a little Baby Shower for tonight's activity.

It was a hell of an undertaking, as it's been so hot! Nothing would stick, or set and honestly I was about to give up. But in the end, this simple semi naked vanilla cake, with tinted buttercream, rosettes and sprinkles did the trick.

And there was not a single piece left, so it was obviously good. My favourite no fail vanilla cake can be found here.

Rice Krispy Treats/ LCMs/ Rainbow lunchbox bars

Our kids are obsessed with LCMs, but they seem so expensive when I buy a pack and they all get eaten within a day or two. I have American friends who used to make them all the time (huge thing there - aka Rice Krispy Treats) and I have made them a few times over the years, but I decided with school starting up again soon, now was the time to find a decent recipe. Taste.com.au delivered...

Rainbow lunchbox bars

75g butter

250g marshmallows

6 cups rice bubbles

1/2 cup mini m&ms

1 tbsp sprinkles

1. Grease and line the base of a 20x30cm pan, allowing paper to hang over the sides

2. Combine butter and marshmallows in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir as they melt for 5 or so minutes until there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth.

3. Pour the rice bubbles, chunky sprinkles and m&m's into the marshmallow mixture and stir until all well combined. Pour into prepared pan and use the back of a metal spoon to press down, smoothing and compacting the surface. Set in fridge for a few hours, then slice into bars for serving.

They are absolutely delicious and some nice and bright fun. I have a feeling they'll be on repeat this year!

Orange and Poppyseed Cake

 

It's Ross's birthday! 

Which means it's time to make a cake other than chocolate - and it better be good cause he's a chef and may potentially judge me. haha.

This years offering was a great find on taste.com.au

ORANGE AND POPPYSEED CAKE

50g butter

1 tbsp finely grated orange rind

• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp poppyseeds
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat milk
• 
  
• Method:
• Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease and line tins
• Place butter, orange rind, sugar, eggs, flour, poppyseeds and milk in a bowl and stir to combine.
• Spoon into tins and bake for 35-40 mins. 
• Dust with icing sugar and serve - OR
• 
  
• Icing:
• 55g cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup icing sugar
• Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth, then add vanilla and icing sugar.

Amazing with the icing, we loved it! But seriously had no idea there would be no orange juice in it! Just rind?! Okay... but it was still more than orangey enough. Weird!

 Definitely a tradition I'll keep up, I am sure there are plenty of non chocolate cakes I can make it through in the years to come. 

Happy Birthday Ross!

Chicken Lasagne

There is nothing better than a good hearty meal for Sunday dinner and no matter how many years go by, I will always come back to use Pippa's chicken lasagne recipe. It is 10/10 every time. Today I had to make it a pasta bake as I discovered we had no lasagne sheets when I went to put it together, but it still hit the spot.

Pippa's Chicken Lasagne

1 white onion 

4 cloves garlic

2 chicken breasts

2 heads broccoli

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can corn kernels

300ml thickened cream

2 tablespoons dried basil

grated cheese to top

1. Dice onion and mince garlic and fry off in oil until softened

2. Dice chicken and fry until brown

3. Add chopped up broccoli, corn kernels, cream and cans of soup. Mix well

4. Allow to simmer on a low heat for 5-10 minutes.

5. Put a small amount of mixture with a little water, then spread evenly on the bottom of your lasagne dish.

6. Layer lasagne sheets and chicken mix until you have the last of your chicken mix as a top layer. Then top with grated cheese and bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for approximately 50 minutes or until browning on top and bubbling.

Serve with baked potatoes and a side salad. Delish!

Lemon Baking

I am obsessed with lemons. Everyone who knows me knows that. Baking things with lemons is my actual favourite and I am all over that every time someone sends lemons my way.

This week I made:

Easy Lemon Cookies

115 grams Butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 ¾ cup plain flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Zest of one lemon

Lemon glaze

1 cup icing sugar

3-4 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions:

1.     Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius (160 fan forced)

2.     Cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and egg and beat again until combined.

3.     Sift in flour, baking soda and salt. Add lemon juice and zest. Beat briefly until soft cookie dough forms.

4.     Roll cookie dough into balls (approx. 1 ½ tablespoons of dough each) and bake for approx. 12 mins each or until golden om the edges. Move cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

5.     To make the lemon glaze, sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time and mix with a fork. Keeping adding lemon juice until you reach your desired consistency. You want the glaze to be smooth, but thin enough to drizzle.

6.     Drizzle glaze over cookies. Leave 10-15 minutes to set.

These were amazing! I will totally be making them again. So much lemony goodness in them!

Moist Lemon Cake

1 ½ cups plain flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon lemon zest

½ teaspoon salt

125g butter

 1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup buttermilk (or 1 tablespoon vinegar in a cup, then fill with milk)

Lemon syrup

¼ cup lemon juice

3 tablespoons icing sugar

Lemon icing

1 cup icing sugar

1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon milk 

Instructions

1.      Preheat oven to 180 deg celcius (160 fan forced)

2.      In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, lemonzest and salt. Set aside.

3.      Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 5 mins. Scrape sides of bowl as needed.)

4.      With mixer on low speed, add eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla and lemon. Beat on medium high until combined.

5.      Mixing again on low, add a third of the flour mix, and mix until combined, repeat with half of the buttermilk, then another third of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk and the rest of the flour. Mix until all combined.

6.      Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 mins until cake is golden brown and a tester comes out with minimal moist crumbs.

7.      Let cake cool for about 15 minutes in the pan. Combine the lemon juice and icing sugar to make syrup. Remove cake from tin and transfer to a cooling rack, the brush syrup on the cake while it’s still warm. Allow to cool completely.

8.      When cake is cool, combine all the icing ingredients, start with 1 tbsp of lemon juice and milk and add remaining lemon juice as needed. Icing should be thick and not runny. Ice cake and let dry before serving.

This was also really yummy! Give me all the lemons. I'll bake until the cows come home.  

Spaghetti soup

I am very well known with the kids for making things up as I go along when I am cooking. Every recipe I use, I generally substitute things, so it very rarely ends up how it is "meant" to be. But I love seeing what I can come up with.

This week I made spaghetti for dinner - then really had a hankering for soup, so I made up something on the fly that I then referred to as "spaghetti soup." I was blown away when I gave it to the kids in a thermos for school, thinking they would come home and be like, whyyyyy did you give us soup? waaaaaaaa. Instead, both of them raved and asked to have it for dinner that night too! Shocked to my core. Spaghetti soup was born when I poured the leftover spaghetti from earlier that week into the vegetable soup I made up. Easy!

Basically it was:

Chopped leek

Diced brown onion

Diced zucchini

Diced carrot

Diced celery

Can of tomatoes

Can of tomato soup

85g of tomato paste

Diced potato or sweet potato

Chicken stock - or water

But I have made it a few times since and basically you can add anything you want and it works. Plus it's actually delicious. I threw in my left over spaghetti the first time, but after that, half a packet of whatever pasta you have on hand does the trick.

It's our new family fave!

Feijoa crunch muffins

Feijoas are a fruit loved by New Zealanders and very misunderstood by the rest of the world. They are described by some as a pineapple guava, which makes sense once you've had one. I have never decided if I'm actually a fan or not, I think they are an acquired taste. However our kiwi friends had their baby blessed today and I managed to get some cheap feijoas on clearance at a local fruit and veg shop (still no idea why, there was nothing wrong with them) so I baked with them! I love Just a Mum, who is a New Zealand baking pro. She always has the best recipes and is my go to when I need something. She of course had a recipe for Feijoa muffins, which I got to work with.

FEIJOA CRUNCH MUFFINS

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups White Sugar

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

3 Cups Flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Bi-carb Soda

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

3 Cups Feijoa flesh (scooped out of overripe feijoas)

Topping:

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

Instructions:

Preheat Oven to 175C

Prepare muffin trays with liners. Scoop the Feijoa flesh out of overripe Feijoas until you have approx 3 cups (lightly mash with a fork leaving some larger chunks.) Set aside.

In a mixer add the sugar and oil and cream the mixture until smooth and creamy, approx 3 minutes, add the eggs and vanilla and incorporate well for a further 2 minutes.

Add to this the Flour, Salt, Bi-carb Soda and Cinnamon and mix until just combined.

Add the lightly mashed Feijoa and stir well, this is a very thick mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins to 3/4 full

Sprinkle with brown sugar over the tops of the muffins, approximately 1 teaspoon per muffin

Bake for 18-23 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes then transfer the muffins to a tray to cool. These are delicious warm from the oven!

They were good, that's for sure. I was a little worried that they didn't take feijoa-y enough, but my husband who ate them all the time as a child assured me they were great. Good news! The only thing I wasn't 100% keen on was the topping. It was good, but I feel like it could have been better! Next time I make them, I will use the crumble from the tops of the blueberry muffins I made on the regular. I feel like that would make them next level!

Chocolate chip banana muffins

After my baking spree at Jen's over the weekend, I also inherited a bag of giant dark chocolate chunks that she wasn't going to use... so I found another random recipe online from inspired taste and got to work with some more manky bananas from my fruit bowl. I swear there is no in between with my kids. It's either eat them all, or eat none of them. It's fine with me if I keep getting to bake with them all the time!

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

70 grams butter - melted

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bi-carb soda

¼ tsp sea salt

3 ripe bananas mashed

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup chocolate chips

 

Heat oven to 160°C (fan forced). Line muffin cups with paper liners. Makes 12.

Whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, bi-carb soda, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, mashed banana, egg, and vanilla until blended.

Add the banana mixture to the bowl with dry ingredients, then combine. Do not overmix.

Stir in choc chips. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 20 - 25 mins.

 

Can confirm, they were delicious! Especially the chunks. Another recipe for the banks.

 

The BEST rocky road

This weekend has been full of baking at the besties house. I've made loaf after loaf of banana bread and then started on rocky road. It was a free for all in the kitchen, with me being told, "use whatever you want." So I did.

Which led to me making what I honestly believe is the best rocky road I have ever made.

Easter Rocky Road

Melted Cadbury Crunchie easter eggs/ bunnies

Broken Tick Tock biscuits

Chopped mixed Natural Confectionary Company lollies

Broken pretzels

Chopped pink and white marshmallows

Sprinkles

Combine all ingredients with melted chocolate and place in dish. 

Top with sprinkles and refrigerate to set. Cut into chunks and enjoy.

10/10. Highly recommend.

 

Chocolate chip peanut butter muffins

I am a member of a few excellent Facebook recipe groups and I am the worst for screenshotting recipes and/or saving them to make later. This one was a "make straight away" recipe though and everyone loved them! I know peanut allergies are a very real and scary thing as we have a lot of friends with them, so I thank my lucky stars each and every day that no one in our house has any allergies.

Chocolate chip peanut butter muffins

courtesy of  The View from Great Island

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups plain flour

1 1/4 cup mini choc chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160C and line 24 muffin cups with liners

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, peanut butter, brown sugar and eggs until smooth. 

3. Add the milk and the vanilla essence and whisk together.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold together.

5. Finally fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the cups.

7. Bake for about 25 minutes, until puffed up and starting to turn golden brown on top. 

Chocolate mug cake

This old friend has gotten an absolute workout while we have been in isolation. We have been craving sweet treats and had to go with whatever we had in the house... until a friend dropped off icecream and boom. It was mug cake up in here, all day, every day!

It's as easy as... 1

2...

and 3 minutes in the microwave.

It's that easy!

Chocolate Mug Cake

Ingredients

4 tablespoons SR flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

A small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug 

(Use a bowl! The mug will not be big enough. Take it from me. I have made this cake enough times to know.)

Method

Add all ingredients to mug and mix well

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for three minutes at 1000 watts.

Serve and add icecream or fresh cream.

Macarons

I have always wanted to try making Macarons. I know they are fiddly as anything and a pain in the bum to make, but a few weeks ago I saved a recipe that actually looked reasonably easy, so I decided it was time to actually attempt them.

I have had this kit sitting in the pantry for so long that I can't even remember if it was from one of besties throweverythingihaveaway cleanouts, or if it was a gift at some stage, either way, I am glad I kept it as it made things so much easier.

The included silicone tray had a template for the piping of the shells and it really helped a lot. They certainly were not perfect, but it was a fairly decent first attempt, as I got 8 pairs from it that were clean and edible.

Filled with the leftover chocolate cream cheese icing from Jonas's birthday cake last weekend, they were pretty flipping tasty and I was very, very proud of myself. Take that Barbara who mocked and asked me I was crazy when I decided to attempt them. Boom. Not bad at all.

Big thanks to Preppy Kitchen for your very simple and easy to follow recipe. Please find below, with conversions for Aussie bakers like myself.

MACARONS 

Ingredients 

For the Cookie: 

100 g egg whites room temperature (3 large eggs)

140 g almond flour (1 1/2 cups)

90 g white sugar (just under 1/2 cup)

130g icing sugar (1 cup)

1 tsp vanilla (5mL)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

 

For the Buttercream: 

226g  unsalted butter softened 226g

5 egg yolks

100g white sugar (1/2 cup)

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp water (30mL)

1 pinch salt

 

Instructions: 

For the Macarons:

Sift the icing sugar and almond flour into a bowl.

Add the room temperature egg whites into a very clean bowl.

Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites. Once they begin to foam add the cream of tartar and then SLOWLY add the sugar.

Add the food colouring (if desired) and vanilla then mix in. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

Begin folding in the 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

Be careful to add the remaining dry ingredients and fold gently.

The final mixture should look like flowing lava, and be able to fall into a figure eight without breaking. Spoon into a piping bag with a medium round piping tip and you’re ready to start piping.

Pipe one inch dollops onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper (this should be glued down with dabs of batter). Tap on counter several times to release air bubbles. Allow to sit for about 40 minutes before placing in oven. 

Bake at 150C for 12-15 minutes, rotate tray after 7 minutes. Allow to cool completely before removing from baking sheet. 

 For the French Buttercream Filling:

Combine sugar and water in medium saucepan. Heat over low heat while stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium- high and bring to a boil

Put egg yolks in a stand-mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat until thick and foamy.

Cook the sugar and water syrup until it reaches 115C degrees. Immediately remove from heat. With mixer running, SLOWLY drizzle hot syrup into bowl with yolks.

Continue mixing until the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch and the yolk mixture has cooled to room temperature.

Add in butter one cube at a time allowing each piece to incorporate before adding the next. Add vanilla and salt. Continue mixing until buttercream is smooth and creamy. (About 5-6 minutes.) Add food colouring if desired.

 For Assembly:

Pipe your filling onto the back of half the shells. Form a sandwich and repeat. Macarons should be aged in the fridge for 1-3 days for best results. This allows the filling to soften the shells inside.