Peach Blossom Cake

Wrapping up a week of cakes, I'm sharing with you one of my favourites!  It's called Peach Blossom, but it's not the traditional style of peach blossom that you see in show baking competitions etc.  This is from one of my mum's old-school cook books, and is one I always used to request as a birthday cake.  I tried out this giant cupcake mold I was given and it worked a treat!

Ingredients
250g butter
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1 cup milk
3 cups self-raising flour
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon raspberry essence
2 tablespoons raspberry jelly crystals

Method
Beat butter and sugar to a cream, then add eggs and essence.

Add flour and jelly crystals, then milk and beat until well combined.

Pour into prepared tin and bake in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes.

When cold, ice with pink icing and sprinkle with more jelly crystals and shredded coconut.

Hummingbird Cake

This amazingly moist & flavoursome cake got rave reviews at my Big Cake Bake earlier in the week.  It has 2 types of fruit in it, so must be healthy ;-) and nothing - NOTHING - beats cream cheese icing.  Do yourself a favour - make this cake!

Ingredients
400g can crushed pineapple - or fresh pineapple, crushed in a food processor/Thermomix
1 cup plain flour
½ cup self-raising flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup desiccated coconut
2 large over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, beaten lightly
¾ cup vegetable oil (or other oil of your choice)

Cream cheese icing
25g butter, softened
100g cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups icing sugar mixture

Method
Preheat oven to moderate. Grease and/or line a medium square/round or ring cake pan.

Drain pineapple over medium bowl, pressing with spoon to extract as much syrup as possible. Reserve ¼ cup syrup.

Sift flours, soda, spices and sugar into large bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir in drained pineapple, reserved syrup, coconut, banana, egg and oil; pour into prepared pan.

Bake cake in moderate oven about 40 mins. Stand cake in pan 5 mins before turning onto wire rack; turn cake top-side up to cool.

Spread cold cake with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Icing
Beat butter, cream cheese and extract in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, gradually beat in icing sugar.

Lime & Pistachio Cheesecake

This morning I took part in the Red Cross "Big Cake Bake".  Basically, it's an excuse to eat cake and support a great cause!  So, I got baking, had some friends around - and it was a big success.

This was the most popular cake of the day.  I'm a bit proud of it, because I made this one up all by myself and was so happy with the result!  I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as we all did today :-)

Ingredients
250g arrowroot biscuits
1/2 cup pistachios
150g butter, melted
3/4 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
300g sour cream
1 large lime, zested & juiced
4 drops green food colouring (optional)

Pistachio & Lime Brittle
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice 1 small or 1/2 large lime
1/4 cup pistachios, crushed

Method
Grease a 9 inch round springform tin.

Place pistachios in a food processor and crush until fine.  Add biscuits and process until it's a fine crumb.  Add butter and mix well.

Press mixture into the base and sides of tin.  Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and sugar in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, sour cream and zest & juice until well combined.  Add the food colouring (if using) with the egg mixture and beat well.

Preheat oven to 140 degrees celsius, fan-forced.

When the base is firm, pour the mixture over.  Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.  The top will be firm but the cheesecake might have a bit of wobble - that's okay!

Leave in the oven to cool, or at room temperature.  Refrigerate for about 3 hours.

Meantime, make brittle:
In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water, salt and lime juice over high heat.   Don't stir until it starts to bubble around the edges.  Stir to make sure sugar has dissolved.  Reduce heat slightly and boil, without stirring, for about 10 minutes, until it browns and thickens slightly.

Remove from heat, stir in pistachios and pour onto a baking tray/tin lined with baking paper.  Leave to set.

Break into pieces.  Scatter brittle over the cheesecake just before serving.

Sausage Casserole

This is a new recipe from a fabulous cookbook called "Food Before 5" by Amanda Arnold, which I highly recommend you check out!  The book is full of family-friendly, budget, easy, delicious meals which are suitable to make ahead.  She's a mum living on the Sunshine Coast and has some great recipes.  This is one of the most delicious sausage dishes I've ever had and the kids absolutely LOVED it.  I will definitely make it again!

Ingredients
6-8 sausages
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 cup beef stock
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons mixed herbs

Method
In a large saucepan, add sausages and cover with water.  Bring to the boil then reduce to medium heat and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove sausages from water & whilst still hot, peel off sausage skin.  Slice thickly and place in slow cooker.

Add all remaining ingredients and stir.  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours.  Serve with rice, mashed potato and/or vegetables.

OR

Cook in a large saucepan over medium heat for 25 minutes.

Fire Truck Cake

My gorgeous little man turns 2 this week - how did that happen?!  Seriously, it feels like he was just born the other day!

He is a stereotypical little boy through and through - he loves anything with wheels.  Cars, trucks, tractors, motorbikes, planes...you name it!  So for his 2nd birthday, he requested a fire truck cake.

There's no fire truck in the good old Women's Weekly Kids' Cake Book, so I turned to the internet for inspiration.  I gathered ideas from here and there, and was really happy with the end result.

It's certainly not as professional as many you see (namely, the fondant ones!) - but my heart lies with butter cream icing, so that was my weapon of choice!

I baked the cake and made the icing the day before, so when I came to actually create the fire truck, it only took me just over an hour.  It was pretty straightforward really, so I'll take you through it step by step!

Start with a slab cake.  I used Women's Weekly Butter Cake (triple recipe) - I used my deep roasting pan which is about 40cm x 30cm.

Level the top, then cut into half length-ways, to have two long rectangles.

Place one on a cake board.  Cut the other into halves, then one of those into halves again.  Arrange into fire truck shape, as below (use a bit of icing in between each part to help it stick in place).

Make a double batch of buttercream.  Tint two thirds red (I used pillar box red).  Split the rest in half, keep one part white and tint the other part grey (using black food colouring).

Ice as shown.

Decorate as desired.  I used chocolate biscuits, red & orange jelly lollies, licorice rolls, smarties and white buttercream.

Put in the candles and enjoy!

The happiest little birthday boy you'll ever see :-)

Banana Oat Biscuits (& photoshoot sneak peak!)

 This recipe is courtesy of Maria, my workmate's wife, who saved the day last week.

The radio station I work for, 96five, is doing a giveaway for the duration of the Ekka, of a "Mums In the Kitchen Showbag".  It includes an apron, oven mit, tea towel, shopping list, radio and Romeo the Radio Dog toy - pretty cool!  So, we had a photo shoot last week to showcase the showbag.

We were doing the shots with the oven...but had an empty tray!  Thankfully, Maria had sent her husband to work with some freshly-baked biscuits, so we were able to use them for the shoot :-)  They also taste great!

Tune in to 96five for your chance to win a Mums in the Kitchen Showbag!



Ingredients
150g butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking trays.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and mashed banana, then stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves; stir into the banana mixture. Mix in rolled oats and walnuts. 

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared trays. Leave room for spreading. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Shortbread Slice

I had some leftover passionfruit butter from my entry at the Pine Rivers Show and didn't want it to go to waste, so I made it into this delightful shortbread slice. I've kept the recipe as lemon butter, but I used the passionfruit alternative, which is divine. It's easy to make and a perfect mix of textures & flavour - you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients
150g butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups plain flour

250g jar lemon or passionfruit butter/curd (home-made recipe here - or if you have a Thermomix, it is simple amazing, check out this recipe)

Lemons & passionfruit courtesy of Charlie's :-)

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Mix in the flour in two parts, until incorporated.  Press into a 20cm x 20cm line tin, or standard slice tin.

With a fork, prick the dough all over.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and the top is pale golden.

Remove from the oven, and lower temperature to 140 degrees Celsius.

Spread the lemon butter on top and return to the oven for about 15 minutes.

Cool in the pan, then refrigerate for 30 minutes before cutting into squares.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Clown Cupcakes & Ekka Results

It's Ekka time again - one of my favourite times of the year!  For those not in Brisbane, it's the Royal Queensland Show.  I love going to the show and getting in the spirit of it!  Nothing can keep me away from the Ekka - not even 2 years ago when I was 39 weeks pregnant!

We had an Ekka theme at our Mainly Music group this week, and I had some cupcakes leftover from the Pine Rivers Show, so I decided to make them into these cute clowns!  I just used plain buttercream icing on top, and secured the ice cream cones upside down.  I tinted the leftover buttercream red, yellow & blue and just piped on the faces and hat decorations.  They were very popular with the kids!

And as revealed on my Facebook page, I entered two categories in the Ekka baking competition this year - carrot cake and red velvet cupcakes.  Here they are, ready to submit:

And the exciting news is, I came 2nd in the red velvet cupcakes!  Hooray!  It was very exciting to go and check them out :-)

It's one better than the 3rd place I got for carrot cake 2 years ago, so next year, I'll be pushing for a first!

Also, here's the link to my Ekka treats from last year (Strawberry Icecream Cupcakes) - they were a super popular post, so check it out!

Hope you're having a great day in the Kitchen!

Leek & Bacon Risotto

I don't usually make risotto, mainly because it's often so high in calories.  Until I came across this Martha Stewart recipe!  It's only 254 calories per serve, it's creamy and delicious and you can pop in whatever veges are your family's favourite (I used corn instead of peas)  I'd made some chicken stock after roasting a chicken the other day, so the flavour was rich and delicious.  It's a bit time-consuming (use a Thermomix if you can!) but a great result at the end.

Thanks Charlie's for the always fresh and delicious veges!

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 leek, white and light-green parts only
6 cups chicken stock
2 slices bacon, cut crosswise into strips
1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup frozen peas (optional)
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Method

Halve leek lengthwise; rinse thoroughly. Pat dry; thinly slice. In a saucepan, bring broth to a simmer over medium. 

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy pan, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring, until lightly browned but not crisp, about 5 minutes. 

Add leeks; cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add rice and cook, stirring, until translucent around edges, about 1 minute.

Add wine and stir until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup stock. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, until broth is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Repeat process, gradually adding stock, until rice is al dente and risotto is creamy (you may not need all the stock), about 25 minutes. Stir in peas (if using) after the final addition of broth.

Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan. Cover and let stand 2 minutes. Season risotto with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve with extra Parmesan.

Raspberry Jam

Gorgeous detail on the jars!  The raspberry is the 2nd from the right :-)

 As I've previously shared, my resolve for this year has been to only make, and not buy, all of my jams, relishes & chutneys. It's been great fun trying new flavours, and making new things out of seasonal produce. But of course, an essential part of making preserves, is what to put them in.

I came across these delightful preserving jars at www.kitchenwaredirect.com.au. They came in a kit with both large and small jars, super cute chalkboard labels, a recipe/instruction booklet, and perhaps my favourite part - a special jar funnel. No more drips down the sides of the jars! They are on an amazing special at the moment, so if you're in the hunt for some jars, make sure you check them out :-)

So, back to my jam-making. My supply was getting a bit low over winter, as my favourite fruits to use in jams are strawberry and apricot, and neither were in season, so they were too expensive to buy. Then I came across this recipe. It's for the Thermomix, which I borrowed from my neighbour, and it was the easiest thing ever! Two ingredients, about 1 minute to prep and then walk away. It came out at a perfect consistency. I'd gotten the raspberries on special for $4, and it made 750mL of jam - great value!

If you don't have a Thermomix, I found this link, which looks easy too. It's great to know I can do delicious home-made raspberry jam any time of the year!

Ingredients
500g frozen raspberries
300g raw sugar

Method
Put the raspberries and the sugar into the TM

Cook for 20 mins at 100 degrees on speed 2.

For a thicker jam - cook for a further 5 mins at varoma speed on speed 2.

Pour the jam into a clean jar and leave to cool.

Another use for the preserving jars!

Roast Pumpkin & Feta Quinoa Salad

A deliciously healthy weeknight meal - I really loved this (unfortunately, my kids did not!)  The flavours balance perfectly and it's really simple to put together.  Best of all, it comes in at just 330 calories per serve!

Ingredients (serves 4)
800g pumpkin, peeled & cubed
4 baby beetroot, peeled & chopped
olive oil spray
1 leek, sliced
150g quinoa
25g baby spinach
100g feta, cubed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius.

Place pumpkin and beetroot on a baking tray and spray with oil.  Roast for 10 minutes.  Add leek and roast for another 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, place quinoa in a saucepan with 2 cups water.  Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, until "tails" have appeared and quinoa is cooked through.

Toss quinoa with vegetables and baby spinach.  Top with combined vinegar and sugar, then sprinkle with feta to serve.

Pine Rivers Show Results

The Pine Rivers Show has come & gone, and I'm pretty happy with the results!

Unfortunately no first prizes (gotta get my marble cake back into top spot!), but there were two 2nds and five 3rds.

Here's the breakdown:
Marble Cake: 2nd
Patty Cakes: 2nd
Lemon Butter: 3rd
Passionfruit Butter: 3rd
Mango Chutney: 3rd
Fudge: 3rd
Raspberry Jam: 3rd

So I'm thrilled that in my first year entering any jarred items, I got placings for 4 out of the 6 I entered.  I'm a bit nervous about not placing for carrot cake, since I'm entering that in the Ekka tomorrow (the big league!) - but I do feel I've made a better one today, than the Pine Rivers one.

All in all, lots of fun!  I've vowed not to get so carried away next year and definitely do LESS entries.  It's just so fun to be a part of!

In other news, my husband Dean, in his show baking debut, came 3rd in the pikelets - a stellar effort and I'm super proud of him!

Also, my mum did really well - she got three 1st prizes!  One was for fruit cake, which is a highly-regarded category, so I'm very impressed!  She also entered sweet chilli sauce - it was the first time she made it - and she won!

So, as I mentioned, Ekka entries are due tomorrow - I had to pre-register my entries back in May, and went with Carrot Cake and Red Velvet Cupcakes.  I'm really happy with both, so fingers crossed!  Stay tuned for the results :-)  I'll leave you with a few recipes from my show entries:

Marble Cake
Carrot Cake
Tomato Relish
Cupcakes

Rainbow Pasta

I was recently at a deli with the family and Miss 3 was quite fascinated by some colourful pasta we saw.  But it was super expensive, and of course I told her I could make it for MUCH cheaper than that. So I did!

Now first of all, I have to put out a disclaimer that this is a Thermomix recipe.  I have been lucky enough to borrow my neighbour's machine a bit recently, and WOW!  I'm super impressed!  Things like breads and doughs are so easy, I've also loved making soups, batters, jams and so much more, this thing really is amazing.

Anyway, pasta dough was soooo easy in the thermo.  And it was really easy to blend up the colours with it.  Of course, you could always do it by hand or in a food processor.

I found the actual rolling out of the dough fairly time consuming, and I wished I had another pair of hands (and the kids lost interest pretty fast!)  I borrowed my mum's pasta maker, and the rollers are just not very sharp, so I had a bit of trouble trying to separate my strands.  But despite those technical issues, I loved the result!

I love that it was coloured with vegetables, with no added nasties, and I kept it super simple, just mixing through a home-made pasta sauce (in the Thermomix of course!) and sprinkling with parmesan cheese to serve.

It was a big hit, and this recipe made HEAPS!  If I was to make pasta again, I'd do it on the weekend, when I have more time and/or some help, because it would make the process a whole lot easier.

Anyway, the kids love it - give it a go!

(You know you'll vegetables will be fresh & bright for that natural colour if you get them from Charlie's)

Ingredients (serves 6-8)
150g pumpkin, roasted
100g frozen spinach, thawed, with excess water squeezed out OR fresh spinach, steamed & drained
4 baby beetroots, roasted & peeled
3 eggs
300g baker's flour, plus about 200g extra
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method
Place the pumpkin in the thermomix bowl with 1 egg.  Mix for 10 seconds/speed 8.  Scrape down the sides, and mix for a further 5 seconds/speed 8.

Add 100g of the flour, along with 1/3 of the oil and mix 15 seconds/speed 5.  Check the consistency - because of the added vegetables, you'll probably need to add more flour.  You don't want the dough too sticky, so don't be shy about adding more flour.  It shouldn't be sticky to touch.  Knead for 2 minutes (use the kneading function).  Remove from bowl and wrap in cling wrap.

Wash the bowl and repeat the process with the spinach, then with the beetroot.

Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes (or you can leave it in the fridge for a few days).

Divide each colour into 4 balls.  Pass through a pasta machine until thin, then through the spaghetti or fettuccine function.  Again, add more flour if necessary - sticky pasta will go gluggy.  As you can see in the photo below, I put a broom between two chairs and hang the pasta over as I go.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil.  Drop in the pasta, in batches (stick to one colour at a time so it doesn't run).  Cook for about 2 minutes or until al dente (fresh pasta doesn't need long!)

Drain and toss together when it's all cooked.  Stir through a pasta sauce, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.

Showtime!

I love this time of year!  The weather is stunning, excitement's building and there's a buzz in the air - it's show time!  I've carved out a bit of a tradition in the past few years, to enter both the local Pine Rivers Show, as well as the main event, The Royal Queensland Show, known as the Ekka.  Show baking is in my blood - my great-grandfather was the president of the inaugural Coonalpyn Show (a tiny town 2 hours from Adelaide), my grandma went to that show (and entered plenty of categories) every year for 50 years!  My mum has been entering the Pine Rivers Show for years, and my sisters also bake for their local shows in Dimboola and Bangalow.

Here's my entries from 2011 and the results, my only ever Ekka prize,  and how I fared last year.

So this year, I was super excited to enter again...and I admit, I got a bit carried away.  I was only going to enter a few categories...but as you can see above, I ended up with 12 entries!  I'm turning into my mother!!!

Here's what I made, from left to right: lemon butter, strawberry jam, passionfruit butter, raspberry jam, cupcakes, marble cake, chocolate fudge, carrot cake, ginger nut biscuits, chocolate cake, tomato relish and peach chutney.

Part of the reason is because of this amazing device in the photo above (right).  Yes, it is a Thermomix. No, unfortunately it's not mine.  It belongs to my wonderful friend/neighbour Nikki, who encourages me to borrow it when she's at work.  Well, thanks to this incredible machine, I was able to pump out lots of baking with very little effort!

It was also the first year that I've entered any jams/relishes/chutneys, as this is something I only started doing late last year.  Some of my entries were already sitting in my pantry (that's the beauty of preserves!), so required no extra effort at all!

I'm also very proud to say that the show entries became a family affair this year.  Last year, my husband Dean made a remark about entering his pikelets in the show.  Now, a little known fact about Dean is that he is The Pikelet Master.  Seriously, he makes the best pikelets ever!  They are always light, fluffy, perfectly browned, they never stick, and taste delicious (especially with my home-made jam!)  So, he stuck to his word and made his first ever show entry.  Fingers crossed he gets a prize - I think they look pretty good!

I also decided it was time for Hope (3.5) and Jed (nearly 2), to make their show entry debuts.  The Pine Rivers Show has a special category for kids below school age - the decorated arrowroot.  So we got busy and here's the finished result:

I know!  They're pretty talented! :-) (Hope's is on the right and it's a sad face - couldn't you tell?!?  She told me it's a girl who's sad because she wants to wear her Angelina Ballerina tutu but she can't because it's on the line.  Pretty much art imitating life!)

Here's the kids dropping off their entries yesterday.  You can see my mum standing at the table (on the right), putting in her 11 entries.  Exciting times!  I'll let you know the results on Monday :-)