the hungry mum

So, exciting news sports fans: Miss9’s soccer team will be playing at half-time of tonight’s Matilda’s game! For those that aren’t into soccer, the Matildas are the Australian national soccer team and they are playing Vietnam tonight at a stadium half an hour away. Miss9’s team will take to the field at half-time to play a short game. Yippee!

To keep energy levels up I have made these brown sugar cookies for the team (Miss9’s, not the Matildas!). I have made brown sugar bickies many times but they have never been as good as these.

It was my baby brother’s birthday recently and a cake was absolutely in order. By baby I meant he is nudging the upper end of his 30s but in my heart he’s still the funny little boy who used to fall asleep standing up while playing with Matchbox cars.

My mum hosted a family lunch and bought my bros an ice-cream cake – sort of as a joke, sort of because he actually requested one. Obviously a real, actual chocolate birthday would also be needed.

I found the ideal recipe in David Herbert’s Best Ever Baking Recipes and it was not only a snap to make, it turned out exactly like the photo in the book! Huzzah! It tasted rich and fudgy and decadent – a perfect birthday cake.

Gather:

100 g butter, diced, at room temperature

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

250g caster sugar

100g dark chocolate melted

280g…

Here’s a fun fact: I dislike cucumbers but love pickles. In sorta the same vein I dislike fresh cherries but love Cherry Ripes. I’m not a massive chocolate fan [it was a different story when I was a teen] but when the choc urge strikes it just HAS to be a Cherry Ripe. The makers occasionally taunt me with a ‘limited edition’ extra dark chocolate version of Cherry Ripe but once they have been discontinued I go into mourning. Every time I’m in a $2 shop I greedily search out any left-over stock but it often amounts to disappointment and heart-break.

When I found a recipe for this easy slice that contained many of the ingredients of a Cherry Ripe I was hooked. You can find it in Family Circle’s Biscuits and Slices book, which is an oldie but a goody. This is ideal for a morning tea as it…

This is a one bowl, super easy, kid-friendly chocolate cake. It isn’t glam and won’t impress baking experts but for morning tea or a fast dessert you can’t beat it. If you can turn on an oven you can make this chocolate cake, which is great served with ice cream, cream or even just a sprinkling of icing sugar on top.

Making it in a ring baking tin makes it look a little bit more fancy than using a round tin. You could fill the berries to serve if you want to up the glam factor.

It is from a book called Quick Mix Cakes by AWW.

GATHER:

125g melted butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cocoa powder [Dutch for preference]

1 cup self-raising flour

3/4 cup caster sugar

dash best vanilla

LET’S GET TO IT

Preheat oven to 170C, and grease a ring pan with non-stick cooking spray.

I wish I could be paid to spend all day trawling Pinterest for delicious things to bake. I mean, I’m good at it. I enjoy it. I can and do spend hours falling down baking-related rabbit holes. But I just don’t think anyone is going to whip out the chequebook any time soon.

Sigh.