Quite a while ago (before I was feeling ultra over-indulgent and overweight, with child) I made a carrot and walnut cake. There’s something about a carrot cake – with a yummy, thick icing – that is so, so yummy. And it must be healthy if it’s carrot….right?

I simply got onto Taste.com and found this recipe, which seemed easy enough to make. I also scrolled down the bottom of the recipe page to read the reviews (which I often do now as I find them very helpful) and made a little change to the recipe.

– All ingredients in the bowl…too easy! -

– All mixed in doesn’t look great, but I assure you it will be -

– Into greased, lined tin and flatten out -

– After one hour and fifteen minutes in the moderate oven -

– I think the icing makes a carrot cake -

– A view from the side -

– Oh so moist -

I was really happy with how this turned out and one day (when I’m able to run 10kms the day before so I know I can get away with it) I’ll definitely make this recipe again.

Do you have a carrot cake recipe? What are your thoughts on the old carrot cake? Do you have good or bad carrot cake memories? Do you read the reviews of recipes to see whether they work or not? And whether there are additional steps that will make the recipe better?

Technically not a baking post, but still a yummy sweet treat all the same. Sorry to all those who are trying to lose weight, but I made these just before Christmas and I just love this easy peasy recipe, so I wanted to share.

Ingredients

1 packet Marie Biscuits

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 Peppermint Crisps (add another for a more intense minty flavour)

3 tbs Cocoa Powder

– FOUR simple ingredients -

Method

1. Put the Marie Biscuits and Peppermint Crisp bars into a food processor and process until very fine.

2. Mix all the ingredients into a large bowl.

– All ingredients in…too easy -

– If it’s not moist enough, you can add a little milk -

3. Place the mixture onto a large piece of Glad Wrap and roll into a long, thin log-shape.

– You’ll need a large piece of Glad Wrap…the bigger, the better -

– Roll it to your desired thickness -

4. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until the log is firm.

5. Cut into discs.

As you can see, this slice is SO easy and SO yummy. I took it to a pre-Christmas picnic lately, and it was a real WINNER!

Have you got a classic Marie Biscuit/ Sweetened Condensed Milk recipe? Or just an EASY recipe you love to make?

This time of year always brings our house an abundance of stone fruit thanks to Husband’s regular visits to the wholesale markets as part of his job. As we had many nectarines and I also had my new cupcake stand, I decided to do what I love most and bake some nectarine cupcakes. Something different. Something out of the ordinary. I did a web search and discovered the amazing Martha Stewart website had a reasonably simple and straightforward recipe for nectarine cupcakes. And by the way, if you love baking, interior design, arts and crafts and the like, you have to check out the Martha Stewart website – it’s a whole world of amazing!

Back to my cupcakes.

They are really simple cupcake recipe, with the point of difference being that you spoon some batter in each cupcake pan, then a layer of chopped, fresh nectarines, and then another scoop of batter. It was actually a really lovely vanilla cupcake recipe and I’ll be using this one in future (minus the nectarines, of course).

– A simple cupcake with a layer of chopped nectarine in the middle -

The next phase was the fun part, as I really wanted to make my cupcakes look great and taste great. So I made a simple butter cream icing – I got the recipe here. Instead of adding the moisture of the milk, I slowly added some strained nectarine puree. This added that extra nectarine flavour that into the entire cupcake tasting experience. YUM!

– There’s a lot of butter in buttercream icing….funny about that huh? -

– After a good puree, I passed it through a sieve to ensure it was very smooth -

– The buttercream should be a lovely, light and fluffy consistency -

– Best and least-messiest way to fill your piping bag is to fold it over a tall, skinny tub -

– A classic pipe pattern…I couldn’t resist -

– On the new stand they look impressive -

– An arty shot…couldn’t help myself -

I had so much fun making these and I’ve been told (by my dad) that they are the best cakes he’s ever tasted. Husband, on the other hand, was far more brutal and reassured me that I’ve made better. This didn’t stop him from devouring two at a time for the days following.

Have you made cupcakes that are both beautiful and delicious? What cup cake flavour ideas do you have to share?

When we were on our beautiful holiday (which feels like a distant memory now) we often treated ourselves to a morning or afternoon tea. When in Kiama – on NSW South coast, we discovered a lovely little cafe that served this yummy, scrumptious, delicious cake. We loved it so much that we even went back the following day and ordered the same cake. So, being the baker that I am, I attempted to make it….with GREAT success.

I googled the recipe, and found it here. This website seems to be affiliated with a store on QLD’s Sunshine Coast and has heaps of yummy recipes – bonus!

So, here’s the photo gallery to tempt you all to challenge yourselves in the baking arena.

– It’s basically a simple cake batter as the base -

– Peeling and slicing the apples is the most annoying part of this recipe…which is why I got Mumma to do it -

– Soaking the apple in the lemon juice -

– Cake batter and layered apples into the springform cake pan, then top with the sultanas, nuts… -

– …and sugar and cinnamon mix -

– Fresh out of the oven -

– Yum, almost too good to eat -

– Serving with whipped cream is a MUST! -

As stated earlier, this was super yummy and as I type this I’m thinking I may just have to make this again soon.

Have you ever had anything like this cake?

Mini sausage rolls are so great for finger food entertaining. I made this recipe way back on Fathers Day as part of my lunch menu on the day. This was one of the yummiest things that I served and as I also had an abundance of parsley in the garden, I served it with a quinoa tabbouleh (this is a post  for another day). I sifted through the recipes on Taste.com and came across this one as it looked the tastiest.

– The raw filling is a bit sticky and messy and gross -

– There’s a skill to rolling it into a neat line so it can be folded over evenly -

– Maybe too much in that one? -

– Baking away in the oven -

– Straight out of the oven -

– Served with the quinoa tabbouleh -

– Also served with my beautiful sister-in-law’s YUMMY potato salad -

Do you have a tried and tested tasty mini sausage roll recipe?

Technically not a bake item, but a yummy dip.

I am inspired to write about avocados today following a lunch time conversation with a colleague and good friend, Rachel. She informed me, just yesterday, that she is not a fan of avocados. She says it’s a ‘texture thing’. I was quite shocked. Who doesn’t like avocados???

Have you ever made something, without a recipe, that you felt was totally original and you thought was so yummy and so amazing? Then you realise that it’s something that everyone makes and there’s a million (different) recipes out there that are similar?

This is MY own guacamole recipe that I have been making since I was a teenager. I love it and writing about it now makes me hungry and makes me want to eat it right now.

Al’s Guacamole

1 ripe Avocado, mashed with a fork

2 or 3 Roma tomatoes, cut into very small pieces

1/2 Red Onion sliced very finely

1 lime, juiced

Pita chips, Doritos or freshly chopped veggies.

METHOD

I put the lime juice on the chopped onion to soften their flavour a little while I chop, mash and mix the remainder of the ingredients. Then I put the  onion and lime juice with the rest of the ingredients. Then I devour it. YUM!

– Avocados…love it when they’re on special -

– The final dip -

– Where’s those pita chips? -

Do you make your own version of guacamole? How is it similar? How is it different?

It has been a lovely, relaxing, restful and very enjoyable two-week holiday with my little family as we travelled up and down Australia’s South East Coast. I hope to share some of our experiences and adventures from these beautiful parts of the world over the next few weeks. I don’t want to bore anyone, so I’ll mix it up with other things that I know you all love to read about.

I’ll kick off with a baking idea that I highly recommend you all try once in your life – a true vanilla sponge cake. You may recall I had wanted to make a sponge for Husband’s birthday cake, but I ended up cheating and buying a packet mix. So when Evie’s birthday rolled around in the first week of our ‘Holiday of the Year Adventure’, I jumped at the opportunity to mess up my mum’s kitchen and use all of her pantry ingredients to create the yummiest birthday sponge EVER! Making a sponge from scratch has been on my to-do list for some time, so I was over the moon when my very first attempt turned out so well.

This is how I did it…

– I had to find the most old-school recipe book I could…this is IT! -

– A photo of the recipe page that has been loved and even has samples -

– The recipe -

– Separating the yolks from the whites -

– A sponge is all about the fluffy egg whites, so a good beating is in order -

– Beat until stiff peaks form -

The trick here is to mix the doubly-sifted flours into the stiff egg whites carefully, so as not to knock out all the lovely, fluffy air bubbles.

– Into a lined, greased cake tin (I made two cakes so I could make layers) -

– Fresh out of the oven -

– The two baked sponges just cooling off -

I cut the two sponges into two layers each (creating four levels) and layered the first one with the yummy Pasticciera Cream (Italian pastry cream) and then the next layer with strawberry jam and whipped cream, then the Italian pastry cream again.

– Yummy. The final masterpiece -

– We had a little Dorothy garden party -

– Yummy teacups for Dorothy’s Garden Party -

– Dorothy’s rosy tea was a must at the garden party -

– And of course…fairy bread -

– Blowing out the candles -

– Evie had such a great birthday party -

– The cake was the centrepiece of Dorothy’s Garden Party -

I was REALLY happy with the result and will definitely be attempting more sponges for future birthdays.

Have you ever made a real sponge? What do you know about the sponge?