Thursday baking - lemon yoghurt cake with orange blossom

This weeks Thursday baking is brought to us by Jessica:

This cake didn't initially leap out at me from the book. I don't think 'Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Orange Blossom' as a title really does it justice when it is packed full of such interesting flavours and textures. If I was coming up with a name for it, I'd call it something more evocative like 'Middle Eastern syrup cake', because of the distinctive use of pistachios, semolina and orange blossom water in the flavouring. I was eventually drawn to it because Susan Fleischl described it as a 'great dinner party cake', which appealed when I was looking for something to make for my Book Club- a slightly special desert cake which would still be nice the next day or so. The lemon flavour really isn't that pronounced, so I'm glad I included some orange zest in both the cake and syrup. I might even include some more if I was making it again. The cake has a pleasantly 'grainy' texture, which doesn't really sound that pleasant, but you'll have to believe me that it is. It's very moist and crumbly and refrigerates well.

Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Orange Blossom Susan Fleischl

Cake
250g butter, softened
250g caster sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
zest of 1 lemon (I also used the zest of an orange)
150ml yoghurt
250g semolina
2 tsp baking powder
200g shelled raw pistachios, ground in a food processor

Syrup
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
few drops of orange blossom water

To serve
mascarpone icing sugar (I stirred the icing sugar into the mascarpone rather than dusting the cake with it)

Preheat the oven to 165C. Grease a 22cm round cake tin and line it with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, with the zest and yoghurt and slowly beat together. Sift the semolina with the baking powder and gently fold into the mixture with the pistachio nuts. Bake for 40-50 minutes (it took an hour for me for the cake to cook) Leave to cool in the tin.To make the syrup, boil the first three ingredients together for 1 minute. I also added some lemon and orange zest. Remove from the heat and stir in a few drops of orange blossom water to taste (be careful, it has a strong flavour and can end up tasting like soap if you use too much!).Remove the cake from the tin and place on a plate. Pour the hot syrup over the cool cake and leave it to soak in. Dust with icing sugar, if desired, and serve with mascarpone. This cake will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container but is best eaten on the day it is made.

Thursday baking - fruit of passion

My parents have an abundance of passion fruit from their vine. While at home for Easter, I thought I'd turn some of them into curd. This lead to a lengthy debate re seeds in or out. I'm not adverse to passion fruit seeds when eating the fruit fresh, but sometimes I've noticed that in cooking, the seeds can separate from the juice sac that surrounds it, and rather than sliding down ones throat you often bite inot the seeds, which can be somewhat unpleasant.


However, I've strained the seeds before when making icing, and feel this has compromised the flavour. Following a discussion with Mum, a phone call to Becky and a google search, I decided on a method that would give me the best of both worlds.

I heated the passion fruit pulp in a pot (which helped to separated the seeds and juice sac), let it sit of 5 mins, then sieved the pulp to exclude the seeds. I then used this recipe to make the curd.


I divided the finished curd between several containers, and as a bit of an experiment, I added some extra fresh passionfruit (seeds and all to one batch). My conclusion is I prefer the seedless variety, as it still has a great passionfruit hit.


I used the curd on toast, mixed through cream and yoghurt and served with meringue as a desert, and as a centre for lemon yoghurt cupcakes. Delicious!

Thursday baking - chocolate hazelnut cake

Ray McVinnie has a weekly recipe feature in the Sunday magazine that comes with the Sunday Star Times. I always read his recipes, but (perhaps because his food is particularly un-photogenic) they never really appeal. A few weeks ago he had a cake feature which looked interesting, So I made this chocolate hazelnut cake. I agree with Ray that the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts go well together, but sadly, my results with this cake were disappointing. There's no raising agent in the cake, so it's very dense. Perhaps I overcooked it, but my version was very dry, and certainly needed a high ratios of cream to cake. I foolishly cooled my cake on a wire rack, which left indented lines on the top. Ray recommended serving the cake warm, which did help improve it, but not enough for my liking. Not that I'll be making it again, but it could be improved with a coffee syrup poured over it, or it would make a good base for a trifle or fudge cake. Here's the recipe... Chocolate Hazelnut Cake 6 eggs 250g caster sugar 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 50ml extra virgin olive oil 200g finely chopped New Zealand hazelnuts 150g chopped dark chocolate 175g flour whipped cream, for serving. Preheat the oven to 175C. Butter and line a 24cm cake tin with baking paper. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until pale, creamy and thick. Stir in the oil, then hazelnuts, chocolate and flour. Pour into tin and cook for 30minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely.

thursday baking - hot cross buns

These hot cross buns are based on an award-winning recipe from the Ten o'clock Cookie Bakery in Masterston. I spent the weeks between Waitangi Day and Easter 2009 perfecting these buns. I would make them at least twice a week and take them into work for morning tea. I got really obsessive about making them even-sized so would weigh the total amount of dough then divide it by 12 and weigh out the dough for each bun, making them exactly the same size!

Anyway, I made so many of these that I had to take a break last Easter and didn't make a single batch. This Easter I decided to give them another go. Unfortunately I hadn't taken notes about the tweaks I made when perfecting them two Easters ago so felt like I was back to square one.

They turned out well in the end though not as perfect as I had remembered. The buns pictured below is batch number two. To my annoyance, by accident I used self-raising flour for batch one so made a second lot of dough. The self-raising flour ones were OK, just a little heavier.

If you don't feel like making these buns yourself and live in the lower North Island you can buy the actual Ten o'clock Cookie Bakery hot cross buns. Moore Wilson in Wellington sell them in the weeks leading up to Easter.

200g raisins or sultanas

100g currants

Cover with boiling water and leave for an hour until plump.

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 cup warm water

60g butter, cubed

zest of one lemon or orange

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 a teatowel 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 on a tray or in a shallow tin - overnight is good.

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 cosses 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!

Thursday baking - delicious family favourite banana cake

Today's Thursday Baking is written by Jessica, who is continuing to bake from A Treasury of New Zealand Baking.

This recipe is a very good version of the classic banana cake. In fact, my husband and I have declared this the best banana cake we've ever had, so this will be the new fall-back recipe for when I have bananas in the fruit bowl past their best for eating! I'm not sure what it is that makes it so moist and delicious- maybe the inclusion of yoghurt. We recently were given an easiyo maker and I love now always having yoghurt on hand in the fridge. Because it's so cheap to make, I don't feel bad using it in baking or in curries and save the bought more 'gourmet' style yoghurts for situations where I'll appreciate them. This cake is also very easy and quick to make (no surprise as it is by Jo Seagar) and doesn't require any creaming of butter and sugar.

I followed the recipe to the T, but I know from past experiences with banana cake it is also very nice with either chocolate or coffee icing too.

Delicious family favourite banana cake - Jo Seagar
Cake
1 cup sugar
100g butter, melted
3 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp baking soda
150ml natural or fruit yoghurt (apricot is nice)
2 cups standard flour
3 tsp baking powder

Icing
50g butter
juice and zest of a large lemon
2 cups icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 160C. Line and grease a 20-22cm springform tin. Beat the sugar , melted butter and eggs until thick and creamy. Add the mashed bananas and beat well. Heat the milk in a small bowl or a glass jug in the microwave until almost boiling (aprox 1 minute). Stir the baking soda into the milk then stir into the banana mixture. Add the yoghurt, flour and baking powder. Mix well and pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 45-50 mins, until the cake is cooked in the middle and just pulling away from the edges of the tin. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the lemon icing, place the butter, lemon juice and zest in a small microwave-proof jug or bowl. Microwave for 30-40 seconds until the butter is melted. Beat in the icing sugar and spread over the cooled cake. This cake won't keep for long, but can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days. You can also freeze the cake uniced.

thursday baking - vanna's chocolate cake

Vanna's chocolate cake - Kate Fraser, Week 34

I made this chocolate cake for dessert and was expecting great things given how involved the method was but I have to say I was disappointed. It wasn't chocolately enough - the recipe calls for 150g of dark chocolate but no cocoa, and even though I added a couple of tablespoons but it still wasn't enough.


I made a couple of other changes to the recipe. I didn't add the 1 tablespoon of marmalade as specified, mainly because I didn't have any but also because I can't imagine how a tablespoon of marmalade would add anything other than annoying chunks of citrus peel. Yuk. I also iced the cake with chocolate ganache (150g chopped dark chocolate stirred into 150mls of hot cream) rather than the icing in the recipe. This was a good idea. The ganache and the raspberries were the best part of this cake.


Although the recipe says it's suitable for both good cooks and novice bakers I have to disagree. Unless you wanted to include every possible technique in one recipe - melting chocolate, creaming butter and sugar, whipping egg whites, folding etc... it also creates enough dishes to dishearten even the most experienced of kitchenhands. The recipe also claimed this cake was quite sticky and keeps well but I didn't agree with this either - I found the texture more "chalky" that moist. Perhaps I over cooked it? But I'm not willing to try again - there are better chocolate cake recipes out there.


So now that I've completely rubbished this recipe I'm not going to bother writing it up but will instead leave you with some pictures. This was one of those cakes that looked better than it tasted:

thursday baking - date and orange muffins

This week's post comes courtesy of Jessica...

I quite like the trick of using whole oranges in baking. Some recipes call for the oranges to be boiled first, but here, two oranges are thrown straight into the food processor and blended up with the other ingredients.

These muffins have quite a different texture from what I usually associate with muffins. They were very moist and cakey, almost like friands. I think the inclusion of the orange skin made the muffins slightly bitter, but in a good way, so they really needed the dates as little bursts of sweetness. My husband, on the other hand, thought they could have done with more sugar, but then he has a very sweet tooth! This recipe also makes A LOT of muffins (or maybe I just made mine quite small). The recipe says it makes 24, but I got 28, and as I only have one muffin tin, this meant the whole baking process took a while as I waited for the muffins to cool before removing them and putting the next batch in the oven. It's lucky that they do freeze well!

Date & Orange Muffins - Annabelle White

2 oranges
2 large eggs
200g butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 Cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
400g natural yoghurt
a little lemon juice
3/4 Cup sugar
3 Cups standard flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Grease two 12-hole muffin pans.

Blend the whole oranges in the food processor--skin, seeds, everything! Add the eggs and melted butter. Whirl the mixture around, but do not over-process. Place it in a large bowl with the dates.

Mix the yoghurt, lemon juice and sugar together in a bowl. Sift the dry ingredients into another bowl. Add the yoghurt mixture and the dry ingredients to the orange mixture, alternating small amounts of each. Just blend with the lightest movement--do not over-mix. Place 2 tablespoons of batter in each hole of the prepared muffin pans.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the muffins comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then cool on a wire rack. The muffins keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container. These muffins also freeze well.

Thursday baking - melting moments

As we bake our way through a treasury of New Zealand Baking

For Daisy's first birthday I was delegated the task of making mini melting moments. I used the recipe from ATONZB, which I've made several times before with good success. Halfway through making these, I realised we were low on cornflour, so I made the difference up with custard powder, which worked well. These melting moments were melt-in-your mouth, and perfect in miniature, as otherwise all that butter can make one feel rather ill.

Here's the recipe (adapted to the way I made it)

Melting Moments - Alyson Gofton

Biscuits

275g butter, softened

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups standard flour

1/4 cup cornflour

1/4 cup custard powder

Lemon butter icing

100g butter

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

few drops of vanilla essence

1-2 tbsp milk

grated zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat the oven to 160C. To make biscuits beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy. Sift dry ingredients and mix into beaten ingredients. Do not over-mix. Roll small spoonfuls into balls and place on a lined baking tray. Dip a fork into four and flatten the dough balls gently. Bake for 18-20 mins until the biscuits are firm and beginning to brown a little around the edges.

To make the lemon butter icing, beat the butter until it is pale and fluffy. Sift the icing sugar and beat into the creamed butter with the vanilla and sufficient milk until you have a fluffy, light mixture. Add the lemon zest and juice to the butter icing and beat them in well. Once the biscuits are cold, join them with icing. Store in an airtight container.

Thursday baking - superb chocolate cake

As we bake our way through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking...

Today's Thursday baking is brought to us by Jessica

This recipe is a good standby when you need a quick chocolate cake. It doesn't require a lot of equipment of dishes which is a bonus too.

Superb Chocolate Cake - Robyn Martin (week 30)

Cake
125g butter
1 Cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Cup milk
2 Cups standard flour
1/4 Cup cocoa powder
4 tsp baking powder

Coffee Syrup
1/2 Cup strong black coffee
1/4 Cup sugar
25g butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper. Melt the butter in a saucepan large enough to mix all the ingredients. Mix in the sugar, then remove from the heat. Beat the eggs and milk together. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder and add to the butter mixture with the egg-milk combination. Mix to combine. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes while you prepare the coffee syrup.To make the coffee syrup, bring the coffee and sugar to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Mix in the butter until melted. Remove from the heat. Turn the cake out on to a wire rack, spoon coffee syrup over the cake and leave to cool. Store in an airtight container.

I would describe this cake as a good 'everyday' sort of a cake, rather than a 'special occasion' sort. It's not particularly rich or decadent due to the use of cocoa instead of chocolate. The coffee syrup adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the chocolate, rather than actually tasting that much like coffee. The taste intensified when left overnight, but didn't keep the cake as moist as I would have expected it to. This is probably because most of the syrup ran off the cake rather than being absorbed in. I would recommend serving it with a good dollop of whipped cream to add some moistness.

thursday baking - date scones

I had a sudden urge to make date scones while home sick one day last week so used this scone recipe with the suggested addition of dates. They were so good I've made them again since. They keep really well in the freezer - perhaps the addition of an egg helps? - so I've been taking them to work one-at-a-time for morning tea.

I used a generous cup of dates because I love them and also added a sprinkle of demerara sugar on top before baking because it looks pretty and gives a lovely, sugary crunch.

As we bake our way through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking...

Scones - Lesley Christensen-Yule (week 29)

3 cups self-raising flour

1 tb icing sugar

1/4 tsp salt

50g cold butter, chopped

1 large egg, beaten

1 1/2 cup buttermilk or 1c yoghurt plus 1/2 c milk

3/4 cup dates

milk to brush

Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius fanbake or 250 degrees Celsius regular bake.

Chop 3/4 cup of dates and soak in boiling water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Put sugar, flour and salt into processor, add butter and pulse until combined, tip into mixing bowl.

Drain dates and add to flour/butter mix.

Mix egg and buttermilk or yoghurt &milk, add to dry mix and mix to form a sticky dough.

Cut into 12-16 squares (depending on the size you're after) and place closely together on a baking tray.

Bake 10-20 mins, or until golden on the outside and cooked in the middle. My oven took nearly half an hour!

thursday baking - courgette slice

As we bake our way through A Treasury of NZ Baking

I have been meaning to try this recipe for ages, in fact had photocopied it from the Zarbo Cookbook where it first appeared years ago. It is similar to the Hello Rosie slice baked a few weeks ago, but instead of condensed milk uses a rather huge amount of brown sugar and eggs.

I am still undecided on this slice. As predicted it is VERY sweet, and cloyingly so for my taste. I was tempted to reduce the sugar but stuck to the recipe. I used half a block of Whittakers dark chocolate (50% cocoa) as made with milk chocolate this would be incredibly sweet. The filling is crunchy on top and slightly gooey inside, even more so on the middle of the tray, as the outer edges were a bit more crispy. I will try it again tomorrow when I have a coffee to see what I think of it then!

It makes a huge trayful, so I suggest making it for a crowd, as with the courgette in it I don't think it will be a great keeper.

Courgette Slice - Mark McDonough - Week 28

Base

125g butter

1/2 c sugar

1/2 egg (!... I just used a few tbsp of milk)

200g flour

Topping

5 eggs
3 c brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

pinch salt
3 tbsp flour

100g sliced almonds

2 1/4 c long thread coconut

1 c chocolate chips

2 1/4 c grated courgette (grate just prior to mixing)

Preheat oven to 180c. Line a 20x30cm slice tin with baking paper.

To make the base beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until creamy. Add the egg, then the flour, stirring to combine. Press into prepared tin in a thin layer. Bake for approx 15 mins until golden brown.

To make the topping combine eggs, brown sugar, vanilla and salt and mix well. Mix in the flour, coconut and chocolate. Grate the courgette and mix this in too. Spread topping over the prepared base and bake at 180c for approx 30-40 minutes. The cooking time will vary according to the amount of moisture in the courgettes. The slice should be firm to touch but soft on the inside.

Cool then cut into slices.

thursday baking - lemon, lime and poppyseed syrup cake

I love the Meyer lemons that are around at the moment - lovely and juicy with bright yellow zest - the perfect lemon for baking with. They were on special at the supermaket last week so I bought a bowlful (I don't have my own lemon tree, sadly) and made these loaves. The recipe says to use a ring tin but I made these cute wee loaves. I had intentions of freezing some but they were so yummy they all got eaten before they made it to the freezer.

The addition of lime made these little loaves especially tangy - I'm going to try using a mix of lemon and lime next time I make my favourite lemon yoghurt cake (Alison Holst's recipe) as although delicious, this recipe didn't have the keeping qualities of the Alison Holst recipe. This surprised me as I expected drowning the little loaves in syrup would have kept them moist but instead they were showing their age after a couple of days.

Lemon, lime and poppyseed syrup cake - Catherine Bell -Week 27

Cake

125g butter, softened

2 tsp finely grated lime zest

2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

250g castor sugar

3 eggs

200g flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp poppy seeds

100ml natural yoghurt

Syrup

3 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp castor sugar

Preheat oven to 180c. Place butter, lime and lemon zest in bowl of cake mixer and blend well until light and creamy. Add sugar gradually, beating well after every addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Combine the flour, bp and seeds and fold into the butter, alternating with the yoghurt. Spoon into a greased and lined 4-cup capacity ring (or bundt) tin. Bake 30-35 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow cake to stand in tin for 5 mins, then turn onto a rack.

To make the syrup combine all ingredients in a small pan, simmer, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved, then boil for 3 minutes without stirring. Poke holes all over cake with a skewer or fork, and pour syrup over the hot cake. Serve warm or cold with dollops of yoghurt.

thursday baking - chocolate, raspberry & coconut slice

As we bake our way through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking

This post comes from our newest Thursday Baker - Jessica.

As a long-time fan of Louise Cake, I was keen to try this version of the traditional slice which has the addition of cocoa in the shortcake base, and grated chocolate in the meringue mixture. Unlike Miriam, I am also a lover of all things coconutty, especially when paired with chocolate (I've been known to eat a disgustingly-large amount of Whittakers coconut rough in one sitting) so was interested to see if this was a baking revelation.

I found the lay-out of this recipe a little confusing and almost misread it and put an entire cup of sugar in the base mixture. I have amended it below to have sugar listed twice, with the first measure to be added to the base and the second to the meringue topping. The original recipe also suggested using 3/4 of a cup of raspberry jam. I thought this sounded a little excessive given the sweetness of the other parts of the slice and so reduced it to 1/2 cup, which I thought was more than ample, and in fact would probably reduce it even further in future.

Chocolate, Raspberry & Coconut Slice, Fiona Smith Week 27
125g butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs separated

1 1/2 cups standard flour

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup raspberry jam

1/2 cup sugar

100g chocolate, grated

1/2 cup long-thread coconut (I toasted this in a pan first as I always think it makes it taste nicer, especially if it's been in your cupboard for a while)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Grease an 18 x 28cm tin and line with baking paper. Cream the butter and first measure of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together and mix into the creamed mixture. Spread into a prepared tin. Top with raspberry jam.Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, then slowly beat in the second measure of sugar and then beat until stiff. Fold in the grated chocolate and coconut. Spread this mixture over the jam. Bake for 30minutes, or until the meringue is golden and firm. Cool and slice in the tin. Store in an airtight container for 3 days.

I decided to compare this recipe to my trusty old Louise Cake recipe, courtesy of the Edmonds cookbook. The basic recipe was actually identical other than having 1/2 a cup more flour in the base and 3/4 of a cup more coconut in the meringue. I think if I was to make this recipe again I would use the Edmonds quantities of flour and coconut, as I think this would have resulted in a less crumbly base and a more prominent coconut flavour. Also, I'm not sure the additional hassle of grating chocolate for the meringue was worth the effort, however I did like the chocolatey taste of the base. All in all, I'm not sure I'm a convert to this new recipe. Although quite delicious, I think I'll be sticking to the traditional Louise Cake in the future.

thursday baking - cheese muffins

This was the second time I made these little muffins. The first time I made them in a hurry to take as a plate to Playcentre, where, it would be fair to say, they didn't exactly bring the house down. I thought it might be nice to have something savoury for a change, but they were well and truly trumped by the chocolate weet-bix slice that someone else brought along. I ate quite a few to make a dent in them, so as not to have to take home an embarrassingly large tinful!

Anyway, despite their humble appearance they are tasty little muffins. Light and soft in the middle, with a crunchy, cheesy crust, and not as rich as my usual cheese muffin recipe. I left half plain, with just cheese, and to the other half of the batter added a tablespoon of basil pesto and tomato chilli jam. These would be delicious made as larger muffins to serve with soup.

I flagged the melted brie bit, but guess it would be nice if eating them with drinks, although I am not a huge fan of melted brie, finding it a bit greasy. Daisy very happily munched her way through one for morning tea, taking an impossibly long time to eat one mini muffin but enjoying it all the same! Next time I make them I will add some grated veges and freeze them for her snacks.

cheese muffins with melted brie - Kathy Paterson - Week 26

2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 c grated tasty cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c oil (I used rice bran)
1 1/2 c milk
200g Camembert or brie, cut into even sized pieces

Preheat oven to 220c. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cheese. In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients, and add to dry, mixing just enough to combine. Spoon into greased mini muffin tins. bake for 10-12 minutes. If using the brie, make a small split and place a piece of brie in it. Bake till cheese has melted and serve hot.

Thursday baking...and the winner is

Jessica! Congratulations. Please email us at the address below so we can arrange delivery of your new book & you can start baking.


We were astonished by the number and quality of responses from those of you eager to join the LWD baking family. And we're keen to take advantage of your enthusiasm!

We are always thrilled to have special guest posts. So, we've made a list of all the recipes we are yet to bake from ATONZB. If something takes your fancy and you'd like to post it for Thursday baking, then please send us an email at lovelyweedays@gmail.com. We'll provide you with the recipe, which you can then bake, photograph, write up and email to us to be published one Thursday. Here's the list of treats still to be baked - we look forward to hearing from you!

All-in-one Pavlova
Almond, Cherry & Cranberry Cookies
Almond Sponge with Citrus Yoghurt Cream and Summer Berries
Baked French Chocolate Tart
Caramel Meringue Slice
Caramel Pecan Slice
Carob Espresso Brownie Slice
Carrot Cake
Cheese Muffins with Melted Brie
Chocolate & Hazelnut Biscotti
Chocolate Custard and Fruit Pastries
Chocolate Date Crumble Slice
Chocolate Raspberry & Coconut Slice
Coconut Meringue Cake
Courgette Slice
Courgette Walnut Loaf
Cranberry & White Chocolate Shortcake
Dark Ale Fruit Cake
Date & Orange Muffins
Delicious Family Favourite Banana Cake
Dream Kisses
Eccles Cakes
Fay's Mumbles
Fig & Aniseed Plaited Scone Loaf
Forgotten Cookies
Fresh Peach Cake
Fresh Plum Cake with Spicy Plum Sauce
Fruity ANZAC Biscuits
Ginger Shortbread
Greek Yoghurt & Honey Cake
Hazelnut Meringue Cake with Grapes
Jewel Nut Cake
Jilly's Chocolate Cake
Lemon Cream Cheese Cake
Lemon, Lime & Almond Cakes
Lemon, Lime & Poppyseed Syrup Cake
Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Orange Blossom
Lolly-Scramble Cupcakes
Louise Cake
Macaroon Dessert Cake
Madeira Cake
Madeleines
Manuka Honey Ginger Snaps
Margaret Price's Ginger Gems
Melting Moments
19th Century American Spiced Apple Cake
No-Bake Ginger & Coconut Chocolate Slice
Oat & Barley Scones
Olive Oil Cake
Orange & Hazelnut Cakes
Orange Blossom Water Madeleines
Orange Muesli Slice
Orange Sponge Cake
Panforte
Pineapple Cake
Plum and Cardamom Shortcake
Rhubarb Cake
Rhubarb Friands
Rich Christmas Cake
Rose Petal Shortbread
Scones
Spiced Date Cake
Summer Berry Baked Cheesecake
Superb Chocolate Cake
Sweet Orange Angel Food Cake
Tamarillo Friands
Upside-down Blueberry Polenta Sponge
Vanna's Chocolate Cake
Viennese Pineapple Cake
Walnut & Orange Passover Cake
Walnut, Prune & Apricot Slice
Wee Choc Almond Cupcakes
Weekend Cake

thursday baking - want to help?

We are now a quarter of the way through our challenge to bake our way through A Treasury of NZ Baking...and are looking for a new recruit to join us! If you are keen to take part - baking one Treasury recipe a month to feature on Lovely Wee Days - please leave us a comment under this post. We have a brand new copy of the Treasury sitting here to send to the winner, who will be announced next Thursday.

Thursday baking - 'Hello Rosie' slice

As we bake our way through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking

This is a special guest post, brought to us by Rosie!

When I was round at Miriam’s for a lovely dinner a couple of weeks back I was flicking through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking when I came across Hello Rosie Slice. When the girls suggested I should try and bake it for the blog, although hesitant to test my amateur baking skills, I agreed thinking that the short list of ingredients, and short instructions, meant it was a safe bet.

As Miriam is not a huge fan of coconut, and this ended up being the main ingredient, I made up the topping mixture without the coconut and put aside some before adding the coconut for the rest of the slice.

I must say it was better with the coconut although Miriam may disagree. This slice is very sweet so cutting it into small pieces is ideal, although I found this difficult to do due to its sticky and chunky consistency. The slice was enjoyed over a cup of tea at Miriam’s on Sunday and the remaining by my colleagues on Monday morning. Overall Hello Rosie proved to be a success, even for an amateur baker.

I would bake this again but with the addition of other dried fruit or nuts (whatever you have handy). To save time I would probably not bother toasting the walnuts first as this didn’t seem to noticeably change the outcome.

'Hello Rosie' Slice - Mark McDonough - Week 25

Base

100g butter

250g malt biscuits, crushed

Topping

2 cups walnut pieces, roughly chopped and lightly toasted

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate buttons, chopped

1 cup sultanas

2 cups long-thread coconut

500g sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 20x30 cm slice tin and line with baking paper. Mix the butter and biscuit crumbs together and press into the prepared tin. Mix the topping ingredients together and roughly press them over the base. Bake for 30 mins, or until browned. Do not overcook. If the slice starts to brown too quickly during the cooking time, cover with baking paper until the time is up. The finished product should be slightly moist and sticky. Cool in the tin and cut into pieces when cold.

This slice can be kept in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

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 - cappuccino date slice

Thursday baking this week was made by Mum, who has been making this yummy slice for years. It's like a coffee (flavoured) cake with dates in it, and being a melt and mix, one bowl recipe it is very quick and easy to put together. The dates tend to sink to the bottom; I'm not sure how to avoid this, as flouring the dates first tends to result in pesky bits of uncooked flour getting trapped in their crevices, not so nice! Maybe we could try chopping them a bit smaller. It's quite sweet so is nice cut into smallish pieces, Mum took it to a morning tea so this batch was bite size.

Cappuccino date slice - Jo Seagar - Week 23

Slice

2 eggs
1 c brown sugar
180g butter, melted
1/2 c milk
2 tbsp coffee and chicory essence (avail in the coffee section of supermarkets)
1 c dates, chopped
1 1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder

Coffee Icing

2 c icing sugar
1 tbsp coffee essence
25g butter, melted
boiling water

Preheat oven to 150c. Line a 20 x 30cm slice tray with baking paper.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl or cake mixer, add the other ingredients and mix well to combine. Spread into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes until firm in the centre. Cool in the tin.

To make the icing beat all ingredients together with enough boiling water to form a smooth, glossy icing. When cold cut into 30 slices. This can also be frozen.

Thursday baking - carrot loaf

As we bake our way through A Treasury of New Zealand Baking

This carrot loaf is so so much more delicious than it looks so don't be put off by its dull, brown exterior. And don't be put off by the fact that it's gluten-free - I promise you can't tell the difference. It's a great recipe that everyone can eat regardless whether they can eat gluten or not but particularly for anyone that can't eat gluten, this recipe is a keeper. It is a great base-recipe that could be adapted to suit - you could add sultanas or walnuts, swap the grated carrot for grated pumpkin or courgette, or double the recipe, bake it in a round tin, ice with cream cheese icing and call it carrot cake.

This recipe had a couple of typos - one funny and one that was just plain annoying. The funny one was that is said to "sprinkle with extra grated cheese" after pouring the mixture into a loaf tin. There was no mention of cheese in the ingredient list and cheese-topped carrot loaf sounds revolting so I'm pretty confident this was a typo - but a pretty major one to slip through the editor. The second was the amount of salt - the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of salt, which sounded a lot but I thought perhaps it was necessary because of the gluten-free rice flours, I reduced the salt to 3/4 teaspoon but it was still too much and you could just taste it. Next time I will only use 1/4 teaspoon. I've written up the recipe as I think it should be made - minus the grated cheese, using less salt and with the zest of an orange rather than a lemon.

Carrot loaf - Sean Armstrong (week 20)

150g brown sugar
150g caster sugar
150g oil (I used rice-bran)
Zest of one lemon or orange
100g white rice flour
100g brown rice flour
10g tapioca flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
150g grated carrot (about 2 medium sized carrots)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease/line a large loaf tin.

Mix the two sugars with the oil, eggs and zest. Mix well with a whisk, then fold in all the dry ingredients using a spatula. Fold in the grated carrot.

Pour into prepared loaf tin and bake for one hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Slice and serve. I tried a slice spread with a little cream cheese and it was delicious!