hot cross buns 2012

I use this hot cross bun recipe Libby discovered years ago, and posted last year. I have always found it to be an excellent recipe but had mixed results this year, and thought I would update the recipe with a few 'critical success factors' that improved them for me. Today's batch was perfect.

So here's the revised recipe for 2012, complete with a few tips...

- Don't be too heavy-handed with the fruit; too much produces a heavier bun

- Soaking the fruit overnight or at least for half an hour makes a huge difference, they are plumped up and delicious. I cover the fruit with boiling water, and grate in the lemon and orange zest at this stage too. (I always soak dried fruit for any kind of baking...or use some of the whisky soaked raisins I always keep in the fridge for the market)

- Using the water from the soaked fruit adds a nice sweetness to the buns, and helps them colour up well while baking, I always do this.

- When leaving the dough/buns to rise it should be covered tightly with clingfilm to produce the warm, humid conditions needed. A teatowel thrown over does not suffice; the dough will dry out and form a crust on the outside, preventing it from rising.

- Making the dough at night and leaving the shaped buns to rise somewhere cool for the 8 or so hours overnight will work in a pinch, but will always be heavier. Ideally let them rise somewhere warm for 1-2 hours; it gives a much lighter result.

HOT CROSS BUNS 2012

100g raisins or sultanas

100g currants

Cover with boiling water and leave for an hour until plump, grate in the zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon.

50g flour

2 tsp dried yeast

2 tsp sugar

1/4 cup warm water                     

Combine in a small bowl leave for 10 minutes to go foamy.

500g flour

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp dutch cocoa (for depth of colour not flavour)

1 cup warm water

60g butter, cubed

Combine flour, salt, spices and 10g of the butter. Mix well and add the warm water (you can use the water from the soaked fruit). Knead for about five minutes until a smooth dough is formed. Add extra flour if needed.

Gradually add the remaining butter bit by bit, kneading it into the dough. At this stage I sometimes add a third of the drained dried fruit.

Leave to rest for 10 minutes then mix in the dried fruit and citrus zest. Add extra flour as necessary - you want the dough to be smooth and satin-y.

Cover with gladwrap and leave to rise for an hour or so.

Shape into 12 buns (weigh them if you want to be exact!) and leave to rise until doubled in size on a tray or in a shallow tin.

In the morning, make a paste with 1/4 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1tbsp oil and enough water to make a smooth paste (about 2-3 tbsp).

Using a piping bag, pipe crosses onto the buns then put them into the over for 20-25 mins at 190 degrees Celsius. While they are baking, prepare a glaze with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup of boiling water and stir until smooth - add a little orange zest or vanilla paste if you wish. When the buns are baked, place them onto a cooling rack and brush over the glaze.

Enjoy hot from the oven with real butter!

Buttermilk scones for morning tea

I bought a litre of Karikaas buttermilk with the intention of making pancakes this weekend. It didn't happen but instead I made these buttermilk scones with a lovely, tender crumb. We ate them while still warm from the oven with softly whipped cream, lemon curd and the company of my Aunty and her husband.

This recipe makes 18-20 scones which was more than I needed so in hindsight I should have halved it. I'll give the full amount and leave it up to you. It's based on a recipe from one of my most used baking books - Mix & Bake by Belinda Jeffery - though my scones looked flat and biscuit-like and not at all like Belinda's well-risen beauties. Delicious if a little compact!

4 cups self-raising flour

160g cold butter, cubed

500mls buttermilk

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 tsp salt

Place the flour and butter in the food processor bowl and pulse to "rub" in the butter (do this by hand if you prefer). Tip into a large bowl and use a whisk to incorporate sugar and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add in buttermilk. Mix until the flour is well moistened then tip out onto a floured bench and knead lightly into a 4-5cm high mound. Use a scone cutter to cut into rounds and place close together on a heavy, baking-paper lined tray.

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, by which time they will be risen and golden. Remove from oven and wrap in your best, clean teatowel. Leave to sit for five minutes then serve.

chocolate cake for Daisy

It was Daisy's birthday party on the weekend.  I had briefly contemplated the construction of a Dorothy the Dinosaur cake, but decided against it in favour of the angst-free option combining three of her favourite foods - chocolate, strawberries and marshmallows (mamos). The cake was Nigella's Chocolate Guinness cake - over the past few months this cake has cemented itself as my new favourite. Nigella describes it as damp and delicious,which covers it perfectly.

I paired it with Alice Medrich's fast fudge frosting -  this was the first time I had tried this unusual  method of making icing and I loved it.  The cocoa-based frosting can double as a chocolate sauce if melted down,and it had a beautifully glossy,  gooey texture, just as chocolaty as ganache but without the richness. The frosting recipe below makes enough to generously sandwich and ice this cake.

We ate the cake with the fresh strawberries and mamos, a spoonful of berry compote and a dollop of cream. So delicious. Served this way the cake will feed around 20ish people.  Next year = no doubt Dorothy or her 2012 equivalent as requested by a more knowing Miss D will grace the brithday table.

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake

250ml Guinness

250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa
400g caster sugar
140ml sour cream  or yoghurt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C, and butter and line a 23cm springform tin.


Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter - in spoons or slices - and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.  

Fast fudge frosting

120g unsalted butter

1.5 c sugar
1.5 c cocoa
1.5 c cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a saucepan,melt butter. Stir in the sugar and cocoa. Gradually stir in the cream. Heat over medium heat, stirring till everything is mixed well and is smooth and hot but not boiling. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and a pinch or two of salt, to taste.Set aside to cool. (I left it overnight, after which it was the perfect consistency to spread.)

Daisy made the most of her proximity to the abundance of marshmallows...

Happy Birthday Daisy x

a few of our favourite things

(Photo from artsfestival.co.nz)

Becs: It has been a week of top-notch, old-fashioned home baking for me. Daisy and I attended a new music group at a local church, where the lovely ladies of the parish baked up a storm for the morning tea that followed. We were waited on hand and foot - my cup of tea was accompanied by the most delicious scones I have ever eaten, citrus slice and hokey poky biscuits. Old-school baking at its best.

On Friday as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival we went to listen to racontuer Richard Till at 'Filling the Tins' - a reflection on the tradition and importance of home baking in NZ. Entry was by bringing a plate of your own baking to be shared afterwards, and what an array it was - including the best afghans I have tasted. Richard shared lots of amusing tales as well as a sample of his apparently immense vintage teatowel and recipe book collection. I took along some of Nigel Slater's gingerbread.

Miriam: I've never been one for crosswords (I think due to lack of success), but I have a new favourite game in the puzzle section of the Sunday Star-Times. My BF Mike and I have spent more time that I care to quantify trying to create as many words as we can with the given letters. I don't know how anyone could get more that 60+ words... I consider success as reaching the 'OK' category.

Libby: I am very loyal to the Agria potato and I rarely buy any other variety as it usually results in disappointment. Agrias are best known for being good for baking and roasting but they're also incredible when "new" - all little and knobbly with creamy, flavoursome flesh. Anyway, the spuds pictured above are actually of the Ilam Hardy variety. Being so loyal to the Agria I nearly passed these little dirt-encrusted beauties by but I'm pleased I gave them a go... boiled until tender then buttered, salted and peppered these were a delicious taste of spring! If you see them in the shops pick the smallest ones so you can boil them whole, more work to scrub but so worth the effort.

blueberry and custard scones

Ever since seeing these berry and custard-filled scones on Lesley's blog eat, etc they have been on my hit-list.  We have had builders in completing some renovations, and this was one of the baked goods that was served up for their morning tea (don't you love an excuse to bake excessively...)  I changed the original recipe from dried cranberries to blueberries, as we didn't have any craisins, plus I just love the combination of blueberry and custard.  I used frozen berries that I heated with a squeeze of lemon juice and then thickened with a little custard powder so it wouldn't be too wet a filling.

These scones are beautiful.  A sweet take on my favourite potato scone recipe, where the scone dough is richer than normal and bordering on pastry, so they have a lovely flakily crisp crust. I was unsure if I needed to ice them but it really does make them - so I suggest you do.

Next time I will try Lesley's cranberry version - I also think they would be superb with custard's best friend rhubarb.

blueberry and custard scones - makes 12

 

1 c blueberries
squeeze lemon
1 tsp custard powder mixed to a slurry with a little water
3 cups standard flour
3 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 pinch salt
200g butter, diced or grated
milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups custard (make custard following packet directions)


Preheat oven to 220°C.

Place blueberries in a saucepan, if frozen cook til defrosted, add custard powder and cook til thick. Make custard following packet directions  and leave to cool.
Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl. Rub in the butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add enough milk to form a soft, but not sticky, dough – use a palette knife to bring the mixture together. Roll dough into a large rectangle and cut in half. Brush both halves with the beaten egg.

Spread the custard over one half of the dough and dollop over the berry mix. Place the other half of the dough on top. Brush the top with beaten egg. Cut into 12 pieces, place on a lined baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes.

When cooled slightly but still warm, drizzle the scones with a thin icing -  I spiked mine with a squeeze of lemon.

                                         

Yummy Yummy Yummy

A guest post from Sarah, Daisy's Aunty 'Raree'

Being housebound with all the snow on Monday, Daisy and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to bake a batch of cookies, or "yummy yummies" as Daisy refers to them! At the word "baking" Daisy was off to haul her special step stool over to the bench. We chose to make a popular Jo Seagar recipe for chocolate chunk oat cookies. Daisy was on quality control, tasting each ingredient as it went in. She would have been quite happy to devour all the raw mixture and I had to be quick to keep little hands out of the bowl. It was lovely and cosy having the smell of baking wafting through the house as the snow fell outside (as cliched as it sounds...)



Chocolate Chunk Oat Biscuits (Jo Seagar) 

Ingredients

• 250g butter, softened
• 3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1.5 c flour
• 1.5 c rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 250g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Beat butter, condensed milk and sugar together until light and creamy.

Add flour, rolled oats, baking powder and chocolate chunks.

Flatten spoonfuls on the prepared oven trays and cook for 15-20 minutes until golden brown

Daisy tucked into her cookie as soon as it was cool(ish...) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Judging by the lack of cookies left in the jar, the rest of the family have been enjoying them too.  

           

            

 Daisy was a little unsure of the snow at first, but once she realised she could eat it she was away laughing.

thursday baking - scottish oatcakes

This is one of my all-time favourite recipes, and I think there is nothing nicer with cheese. I have tried various oatcake recipes but always come back to this one. It originally came from a cafe I used to cook at that served them on their platters.  Roll them out thinner for a crispy oatcake or a bit thicker if you like a denser crumbly texture, I like them both ways.

Scottish oatcakes - makes 2 full trays, about 30ish

1 1/2 c rolled oats
1 c flour
2 tbsp bran
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all of the above ingredients in a food processor.  Add 125g butter and mix until it forms fine crumbs.  Add 5-6 tbsp milk, or enough to bind the dough together when you pulse the machine.  Wrap in gladwrap and chill until firm enough to work with.  Roll out, cut into shapes and bake at 180c for 10-15  minutes, I flip them over halfway through baking so they brown evenly on top and bottom.

Bourke Street Bakery's chocolate and prune brownie

Chocolate and prunes are one of my favourite flavour combinations and they work so well together in this chocolate and prune brownie from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. The prunes lend a delicious, chewy richness to the brownie, which is closer to the fudgey end (as opposed to the cakey end) of the brownie spectrum.

To make the prunes extra-delicious, you soak them in brandy for three days before using. I reduced the quantity of prunes to 250g of prunes, simply because the prunes I buy come in 250g bags. Adding more wouldn't hurt but 250g seemed enough, even to a prune-lover like me. I also halved the amount of soaking-brandy to 100ml as I don't like the alcoholic burning sensation that booze-soaked dried fruit can give. A little heat is pleasant but I don't like burning! Feel free to adjust the quantities to suit your tastes.

Don't do what I did and slice into the brownie within minutes of it leaving the oven. Try and be patient and leave it to cool. It'll be much easier to slice.

Next time I bake this I'll make it in a bigger tin. I used a 16 x 26cm (rather than the 20 x 30cm stated in the recipe) so my brownies were solid, square bricks rather than slim, elegant fingers.

If you're ever in Sydney, visit the Bourke Street Bakery (in three locations) or their "little sister" Central Baking Depot. It is one of the loveliest bakeries I have ever visited - one of those places where you need take at least one friend with you so you can try lots of different things between you... and take away a wee treat with you for later on! On one (brief) trip to Sydney I visited three times so I could work my way through as many of their delightful cakes and pastries as possible!

Chocolate & prune brownie

Adapted slightly from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook

250g pitted prunes

100ml brandy (or congnac or hot tea)

55g plain flour

40g unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

300g dark chocolate

80g butter

300g caster sugar

4 eggs

100g sour cream

Place the prunes in a bowl, pour over brandy (or other liquid of choice), cover and leave for three days.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a baking dish (20cm x 30cm).

Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.

Place chocolate, butter and sugar into a stainless steel bowl and sit over a saucepan of simmering water (bot touching base of bowl) and stir until melted.

Cool chocolate mixture then get your beaters ready and add the eggs, one-at-a-time, beating after each addition. Add flour and mix to combine, then add sour cream, chocolate melts (if using) and prunes with any remaining soaking liquid.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until just set. Cool completely in the tin before turning out and slicing with a hot knife. Store at room temperature... for as long as it lasts!

Esther's gingerbread two ways

On Saturday I went to make a pear and ginger upside-down cake that I'd seen a delicious-looking recipe for in the last few weeks but I was unable to find the recipe. I trawled through blogs I might have seen it on and flicked through books and magazines I'd read recently in the hope of finding it... but it's still a mystery and I'm thinking I may have just dreamt about it.

Instead, I used "Ester's gingerbread" from Ruth Pretty with a few tweaks to create what I had in my mind. It really is THE BEST gingerbread. Lovely and moist and equally good with a chunk of creamy blue or in this case, pears, walnuts and a spoonful of softly whipped cream.

I made the full recipe (nearly half a block of butter...eeek) but distributed it into two loaf tins instead of one as per the recipe. In one (baking paper-lined) tin I spread a mixture of 25g butter and 50g brown sugar (melted gently together over a low heat), 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, and two finely-sliced, peeled and quartered buerre bosc pear.

Although the upside-down brown sugar bit went slightly toffee-ish, it made a delicious winter pudding with a little cream on the side. It was even better the next day reheated with a drizzle of golden syrup.

For the second loaf, I poured the remaining batter into the tin and dotted in a cup or so of diced pear. This made a good "tin-filler" and lasted several days as a treat to have with a cup of tea.

thursday baking - ham and pesto pinwheel scones

Something savoury today...these pinwheel scones were made on NZ's Hottest Home Baker by Catherine last week. Even the snide Dean Brettschnieder (Global Baker!) seemed rather taken with them, which is no mean feat. At any rate, we all loved them. They were definitely best eaten within an hour or two of baking while the scone and cheese was deliciously crunchy. I used Barry's Bay smoked cheese, which explains the orange hue in the picture below... These pinwheels will definitely be added to my regularly-made savoury scone repertoire, along with the all-time favourites of potato scones and best ever cheese scones.

ham and pesto pinwheel scones

3c flour
4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
50g butter
1/2 c grated cheese
1 c milk
1/2 c chopped smoked chicken/ham/bacon etc
125g cream cheese
3 tbsp pesto
1 red pepper, diced
1/3 c pinenuts or cashew pieces, toasted
1/2-1c grated cheese
milk to glaze

Preheat oven to 220c. Combine flour, bp and salt. Rub in butter, then add the cheese. Make a well in middle and pour in the milk, mixing gently with a knife. Roll out into a large rectangle on a heavily floured bench. Spread with the cream cheese, then the pesto. Top with other filling ingredients. Roll up tightly, then cut into 2cm slices with a serrated knife. (I got 16 out of mine). Brush with milk and bake for 15-20 minutes.

thursday baking - apple spice cake

This delicously spiced cake was baked by our Aunty Marg, who kindly delivered a chunk of it at morning tea yesterday, along with a copy of the recipe. What a perfect cake to bake in autumn; it will be the next thing I bake. It is quite a humble kind of cake, and would be nice served warm as a pudding with a dollop of cream, or as is with a cup of tea.

Apple Spice Cake


2 cooking apples
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c flour
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 c sticky raisins (soak in boiling water while you mix the other ingredients)
4 oz butter (113g)
1/2 c walnuts



Peel, core and dice apples, sprinkle with sugar. In a large bowl melt the butter and beat egg into it, then add the apples. Sift in the dy ingredients and stir well. Finally stir in the raisins and walnuts. Pour into a lined tin and bake at 180c for 50-60 minutes*. Leave to cool before removing from the tin. Dust with icing sugar to serve.




* I have since made this cake, I baked it in a 20cm square cake tin and found it cooked in just 35-40 minutes on fanbake.

thursday baking - rhubarb and custard

We seem to be going through a muffin renaissance at our place at the moment. I know the muffin is not cool. They had their day in the nineties, where too-big, too-tough and too-stale mega muffins dominated cafe counters and muffin cookbooks (Mmmmmmuffins...) dominated the bestseller list. But I think a well executed muffin has a lot going for it. Provided they are not the size of a small child's head (ie. less is more), are freshly made (ie. that day) and are generously flavoured (ie.don't be stingy with the blueberries), muffins are quick to make and bake and lovely to eat for morning or afternoon tea.

Today's muffins are jam donut muffins we saw over at Pod and Three Peas. Ours have a filling of rhubarb compote and vanilla bean custard, which I had leftover from the market last weekend and needed to use up. Any good jam would be delicious though. This little pocket of filling tucked in the middle, combined with the crunchy topping made by brushing the cooked tops with a little butter, before dunking them into cinnamon sugar makes for a seriously good muffin. Definitely best warm from the oven, and perfect wet weather baking.

Check out the recipe here.

thursday baking - sultana, apple + bran muffins

When Dame Alison Holst prefixes a recipe with the statement 'don't worry about the appearance of these muffins' you know they aren't going to be pretty. True, they don't rise much and look a bit boring, but as she encourages don't let that put you off, as poshed up with the sultanas, apple and walnuts they are really delicious as well as a healthier baking option. (Which despite the cliche is I think appreciated at this time of year?!)


Having said that the glob of butter is by no means necessary as they are very moist anyway, but is rather nice melting into the warm muffin...I love a good bran muffin for morning or afternoon tea. Nice and filling and a healthy hit of fibre. I put the sugar down from 3/4 to 1/2c as find with the apple and sultanas they are sweet enough. They freeze well, so a freezer stash is super handy for weekday work/school lunches.



Sultana, apple and bran muffins - Alison Holst



1 c sultanas
1 egg
1/2 c yoghurt
1/2 c canola oil
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 large apple, grated



1/2 c brown sugar
1 c bran
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped


Heat oven to 200c. Measure sultanas into a small bowl cover with boiling water and leave to stand. Put the egg and the next 5 ingredients into a large bowl, beat with a fork to mix, then add the apple.


Drain sultanas, then add to the apple mix. Add the dry ingredients, making sure there are no lumps in the baking soda. Combine gently until the dry ingredients are just dampened. Spoon into sprayed muffin tins (I use cupcake cases too) and bake 12-15 minutes or until tops spring back when pressed lightly.

a sweet and salty treat

Please make these! Salty Salada crackers, sweet crunchy butter caramel, dark semi-bitter chocolate. The texture and flavour combination is amazing. Adaptations of this recipe seems to be doing the rounds of late, and for good reason. It is very quick to make, and very easy to eat. The sweet/salty combination makes it especially moreish. I know the crackers sound a bit odd, but it really works, with their crunch and salty flavour. As it cooks in the oven the caramel coats the crackers so they end up in the middle of the slice.

For pictures of the process check out Nessie's blog, in the meantime here's my version of the recipe....

salted butter caramel crunch

250g salted butter
1 c brown sugar
1 pkt Salada crackers (they come with 2 pkts per box)
1 kingsize block (250g) Whittakers dark ghana chocolate, roughly chopped
Flaky seasalt to sprinkle - I used Pacific Flaky



Preheat oven to 180c. Line a swiss roll tin with baking paper. Lay out the Salada crackers over the tray to evenly cover the base, a few cracks here and there won't matter. Melt butter and brown sugar together, bring to the boil, and boil hard for 3 minutes. Pour over the crackers, and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Remove from oven, scatter the chopped chocolate over, and leave to sit for a minute. Use a heatproof spatula to evenly spread the melting chocolate over the caramel. Sprinkle with salt, crushing larger flakes between your fingers. Leave overnight to set then use your hands to snap into pieces, like peanut brittle. Store in an airtight container somewhere cool.

banana bread

I have been thrashing this banana bread recipe lately, and seem to be making it once every other week. It is so, so easy to put together, only using one bowl, and as a bonus it makes 2 loaves, so you can fill a tin and the freezer...I sliced up one of the loaves above to freeze for lunches. The recipe is adapted from the feijoa and coconut bread recipe in The NZ Treasury of Baking. While delicious warm from the oven, I prefer the texture of this banana bread the next day, when it becomes damper and slightly sticky. Yum.

One bowl banana bread

3 eggs

400g sugar

300ml rice bran oil

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c yoghurt

1 1/2 c mashed banana (about 4 large bananas)

Combine the above ingredients in a large bowl (I use the Kenwood mixer). Add the ingredients below, and mix until just combined.

1 c desiccated coconut

460g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Divide mix between 2 loaf tins that have been lined with baking paper. Bake at 170c for 40 minutes or so. They smell so good cooking in the oven!

afternoon tea for Daisy

It was Daisy's first birthday recently, a very special occasion, so we celebrated with afternoon tea. The menu was...

Asparagus rolls with fresh mint and citrus butter

Chicken, almond and rocket sandwiches

Club sammies with egg, ham and herb mayo

Lemon meringue tarts

Mum's famous date and caramello slice

Miriam's lovely wee melting moments

Little chocolate eclairs

Thanks to everyone for making it such a special day for us xx

old school baking

Some recent baking with a retro theme...classic ginger crunch from Chloe's blog, and an old favourite, St Mary's chocolate cake from our school days. The ginger crunch is a recipe for GC purists with the requisite thin biscuity base, rather than the substantial slabs more often seen in cafes these days. Delicious. Although I do also love the oaty version made famous by Takaha's Wholemeal Cafe.

The chocolate cake recipe was the one provided for the baking competition at our primary school flower shows, and is a perfect tin filler - whipped up in a flash with one bowl, and reliably good without being too rich or fancy. The incredible chocolate icing makes it a bit more special, this is truly the BEST way to top an (everyday sort of) chocolate cake. Although sometimes we used to cut the cake in half, sandwich it together with mock cream and dust the top with icing sugar. How's that for nostalgic...


I made a coffee cake too, with walnuts in it, something else we used to make a lot as kids. The recipe is over at pod and three peas, and the cake provides more retro deliciousness.



St Mary's Chocolate Cake


1 c milk
4 eggs
150 melted butter
2 tsp vanilla
4 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp cocoa
2 c sugar
2 c flour


Combine wet ingredients in a bowl and beat well. Add dry ingredients and mix to combine. Bake at 180c for 1-1 1/2 hours.

communication cookies

At work, I teach a couple of group sessions on communication skills, with a focus on developing skills of negotiation and assertive communication. As a bit of fun, I put people into pairs, give one person 3 biscuits and the other none, then let them negotiate how the biscuits will be shared.

Although it's a new group each time, I always like to bake something different. There's a big pack of macadamia nuts burning a hole in my freezer at the moment, so I made some old favourites; white chocolate & macadamia nut cookies. I think this is another recipe that I got from Becs way back in our high school days, when this combination was all the rage (we'd probably scoff them after having a smoked chicken, cranberry and brie panini). I still love the texture of the macadamias and the richness of the brown sugar and golden syrup all combined with white chocolate and buttery goodness. An oldie but a goodie!

White chocolate and macadamia cookies

200g butter
1 3/4 cups of brown sugar
1 heaped tbsp golden syrup
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup macadamia nuts
king sized block white chocolate, chopped

Cream butter and sugar. Add golden syrup. Mix in dry ingredients, chocolate, vanilla and nuts. Roll into balls and lightly flatten. Bake for around 12 minutes at 180C. Makes approximately 2 trays.

Here are the biscuits all packaged up and ready to be negotiated for!

Thursday baking - rhubarb and strawberry shortcake

The other week I had a random selection of toppings left over from my porridge stall at the farmers market, roasted rhubarb, raspberry coulis, apple and blackcurrant compote and some blueberry compote. I wanted to make something for pudding, and crumble was the obvious choice, but I have crumble fatigue at the moment, having made so many to sell at the market. So it was the perfect opportunity to try Lois Daish's shortcake recipe, using my mishmash of leftover fruit. I didn't measure the fruit at all, and probably used quite a bit more than the recipe called for.

This was a lovely pudding, but we also enjoyed it the next day, cut into wedges and served cold from the fridge. Next time instead of making it in a round cake tin as advised I might use a square one and then cut it into squares to serve as a slice. Either way, it worked. In summer I will try it with strawberries, as they are such a perfect partner to rhubarb, but we loved the flavour of the mixed berryfruit with the tart rhubarb and granny smiths.

My adapted recipe below is in extreme shorthand, apologies but my earthquake-obsessed-sleep-deprived brain just doesn't have the energy or desire to quote Lois word for word (fellow food bloggers is there anything more tedious than transcribing other people's recipes verbatim onto said blogs?!) Thankfully Daisy and I are about to depart to more stable and sunny climes, and Miriam will be joining us shortly, so LWD may be a little quiet for the next wee while...

rhubarb and strawberry shortcake - Lois Daish (Week 24)

3-ish cups of cooked fruit

125g butter

125g sugar

1 egg

225g flour

25g cornflour

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180c. Line the bottom of a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Cream soft butter and sugar, add egg, sift in dry ingredients. Spread 2/3 of this mix into the cake tin, pressing it evenly over base and up sides. Top with prepped fruit, and crumble the remaining shortcake over this. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy

Thursday baking - gingerbread loaf

As we bake our way through A Treasury of NZ Baking...

I love gingerbread, and this simple loaf looked worth trying. It was easy to put together, and spread with a little butter it has been an understated, but perfect morning tea morsel lately to enjoy with my daily coffee. Substantial and sweet without being too OTT or treaty. My loaf was a fraction dry - I suspect I overcooked it a little - but it was lovely all the same. I upped the amount of ground ginger, which I think it definitely needed. I don't usually go for crystallised ginger, but was so glad I included it, as this and the sultanas really made it. This loaf kept well for over a week (I think I was the only one eating it as we have had a surplus of baking in the house lately!)

gingerbread loaf - Tui Flower (Week 20)

125g butter

3/4 c brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 c treacle

2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp ground ginger (I added 2 tsp and it still wasn't overly gingery, just nicely spiced)

1/4c crystallised ginger, chopped

1/4c candied peel, chopped (I added orange zest instead)

1/4 c sultanas

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp milk

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and treacle and mix well. Sift in dry ingredients and mix in thoroughly. Add dried fruit. Dissolve baking soda in milk and add that.

Spoon into a lined 19x7cm deep loaf tin. Bake at 160c for 1 - 1 1/4 hours. (Next time I think one hour would be plenty in my oven).