Have I told you about the amazing book Lily Vanilli’s Sweet Tooth? Subtitled ‘recipes and tips from a modern artisan bakery’ it is an incredible collection of fantastical baked goods with gorgeous photos to match. I was sent a review copy in my day job as a journalist and I couldn’t wait to get this book into my kitchen to try out the recipes. If you have a loved one who is into baking, buy them this book. Continue reading
Our rosemary bush is a beast of a thing – large, unwieldy but capable of producing the most fragrant and delicious tasting leaves. No matter how much we use or give away there is always more, more, more taking over our herb garden.
Looking for another way to use it I stumbled across the mistress of original cooking concepts, Nigella Lawson. My well-thumbed copy of ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess’ provided the answer with this luscious cake.
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If you are trying to watch your waistline or worried about the soaring costs of dental care avert your eyes. For this treat be both fat-and-sugar laden *but* it is super delicious and a cinch to make. Continue reading
I was going to start this post by writing everyone loves banana cake but that’s so not true. My mum abhors bananas in any way, shape or form. The poor woman often peers hopefully into my cake tin when she comes over, only to firmly replace the lid when she discovers the baked good is banana cake/bread/muffin. Continue reading
You may already know I worship at the shrine of Donna Hay. My bible is Modern Classics Book 2 and it is a well-thumbed book. When a lovely friend at work announced she was leaving for an amazing job opportunity I knew a choc cake was in order. Continue reading
When I saw the post for iced VoVo tarts by the wonderfully named Frocks & Frou Frou blog I knew I would be making it sooner rather than later. Iced VoVos are an iconic Australian biscuit made by Arnotts: a shortbready biscuit base topped with raspberry jam, marshmallow & dessicated coconut. So sweet. So yum. So want one now…
Lilli from Frocks & Frou Frou made everything from scratch. I didn’t [except the strawberry jam which I had the fridge] but I imagine the homemade pastry would have added to the taste.
She also made the marshmallow topping from scratch but I was just too lazy. One day I will try her full recipe as her tarts looked so cute. If you want to check it out here it is: http://frocksandfroufrou.com/2012/04/iced-iced-vovo/
These are tiny but super, doper sweet. I could manage just one but my sugar junkie Miss 4 loved them as did her little friends. So maybe try these for a kid’s party – they will love them. Continue reading
I have probably previously mentioned my affection for bundt cakes – I believe they are so much more pleasing to the eye than your everyday normal cake shape.
This lemon cream bundt comes, as so many of the recipes on this blog do, courtesy of the fab cookery folk at the Australian Women’s Weekly. This magazine [not a weekly any more] is renowned for their triple-tested recipes and I doubt there is a kitchen in this wide brown land of us that doesn’t have an AWW recipe in its drawers or stuck to the fridge. The recipe appeared in the book called Quick Mix Cakes which I suspect is no longer in print. If you do happen upon a copy I urge you to buy it – every recipe in it is super easy and delicious.
GATHER:
125g room-temperature butter, diced
2 eggs
1 ½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup sour cream
150g caster sugar
grated rind from two lemons
LET’S GET TO IT
Preheat oven to 170C.
Grease a bundt pan, ensuring you get into all the nooks and crannies. I use non-stick spray and find that it works quite well.
Combine all ingredients into bowl of electric mixer and beat on low until everything is combined.
Increase speed until mixture is smooth and changed in colour.
Spoon the mixture into pan, ensuring you gently push it into the crevices of the design of the pan.
Bake for 40-ish minutes/until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool in pan 10 minutes before gently removing to a wire rack.
When cold dust liberally with icing sugar.
Chocolate marsala cake, listed in the book ’50 Fabulous Chooclate Cakes’ as ‘never fail chocolate cake’ is my go recipe that I have made countless times. Each year I make it for my daughter’s birthdays, I’ve made it it for friends grieving and for friends celebrating. Continue reading
Markets make me happy. Craft markets in old-fashioned CWA halls make me want to dance with excitement. Finding the charming Stanwell Park Village Market today during a Sunday drive was sheer luck. This was one of the smallest markets I’ve ever visited but it was absolutely a case of quality over quantity. Stalls were inside and out the hall proper which was complete with a 1950s-era portrait of Her Majesty and beautiful red velvet drapes on the stage.
We met the lovely Louise from Northern Illawarra Organics, who was justifably proud of her fresh crops. She does the markets circuit as well as home delivery. A selection of her glorious produce is in the large photo below. We were cashless but managed to scrape together enough coin to buy one exceptionally fresh looking corn on the cob which I can’t wait to try!
Sharing the hall were other craft stalls as well as delicious looking morsels courtesy of Katie’s Kitchen including muffins and vegetarian filo pastries.
The gals loved looking at all the lovely hand-crafted treasures and we vowed to return another day with cash.
Do you enjoy browsing markets?
the hungry mum 