School holidays have just ended here in Sydney and my Tupperware containers are all full of baked goods. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and Misses 8 and 10 love to bake. If we had more than an hour at home during the holidays they were asking to bake. Continue reading
School holidays + doughnuts = happy. Like most kids mine are staaaaarving when we have friends over to play, like today. Breakfast followed by a snack followed by morning tea then a snack then lunch then a snack – you get the picture. Continue reading
I found myself with a hankering to make scones on the weekend. I made a batch of traditional scones before I had a light bulb moment: tray bake. With chocolate. And dried cherries. And coconut. Continue reading
The older I get the more likely I am to say yes to a citrus cake or tart rather than chocolate. Back in the day I was a regular chocophiliac, as my dad would say, but now I much prefer the subtle zing of zest from any citrus fruit to chocolate. Continue reading
I love baking bundts! There is something very satisfying about removing a bundt cake from its tin and being greeted with the sight of a regal-looking cake. Continue reading
It has come to my attention that everybody loves chocolate. Not really a stunning insight, I hear you mutter. True, but let continue. It is a given that everyone loves choccy but whenever I post a really chocolatey recipe the crowds go wild. That is, as wild as you can be while expressing an opinion via a keyboard. Continue reading
Dulce de leche bought from the shops is good, but the stuff you make yourself is even better. This silky South American treat is made by cooking sweetened condensed milk at a very low temperature for many hours. This simple process of heating sweetened milk will change you life. You can use it as a filling between two cakes, dollop it over ice-cream, swirl it through whipped cream, eat it straight from the jar… Continue reading
This chocolate coffee cake screams ‘after dinner’. Not for the faint hearted, it contains a shock of coffee that will reinvigorate even the sleepiest dinner guest. Continue reading
I often hear people say they don’t have time to make a cake from scratch so they use a packet mix. I am here to dump all over that argument.
This super fast and simple white cake uses stuff you already have in the pantry and takes mere moments to throw together. Don’t have an electric mixer? Beat it by hand like I did. Scared it will fail? Don’t be – it is fool-proof and requires no specialist equipment or knowledge.
Unlike a packet mix you know exactly what is going into this cake – real, actual ingredients that your great-grandmother would recognise. No fake flavours or artificial colours, just the backbone of baking recipes the world over: butter, milk, sugar, flour, eggs. You could even leave the vanilla out if you didn’t have any and the end result would still be a beautiful cake that you can dress up or down. Throw some ganache over the top, make buttercream frosting, sprinkle over icing sugar or make a simple icing sugar and boiling water paste and drizzle over.
In my local supermarket a 1kg bag of self-raising flour costs 75 cents, butter $1.30 and a bag of sugar is $1. Much cheaper than some of the packet mixes on the shelves.
Just bake this delicious white cake it and promise me you will never buy a cake mix again.
GATHER:
115 grams butter at room temperature, diced
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plan flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 20cm round cake pan with non-stick baking paper.
Sift together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream together the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy – you can do this by hand or in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then add the vanilla.
Sift the flour mix over the batter and beat until combined, then add the milk and beat until all mixed together.
Pour into the pan and bake for 35 – 40 minutes / until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Sit in pan for ten minuted before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
When cold ice or decorate however you want. I used my buttercream icing / frosting: buttercream icing / frosting:
125 grams butter, diced, at room temperature
1 cup sifted icing sugar
A few tablespoons milk
Beat butter in bowl of electric mixer on high for three minutes or until pale.
Turn beater off then sift over the icing sugar. Put beaters on low and beat to combine, then add enough milk to make a spreadable consistency. Use a palette knife to evenly spread over the top of the cake.
I am totally and utterly in love with blondies. I find they are just as gooey and moist as their darker brownie cousins but with the added bonus of being more adaptable to different flavours. Continue reading
the hungry mum 