{Carrot Cake}

I was craving carrot cake the other day and I have to say this was such a delicious recipe. I have doubled the spices here as I was after a 'spiced cake' type taste. I often like more ginger than recipes call for too.



Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil (or other tasteless oil i.e. not olive oil)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon ground
1 tsp ground ginger
2 1/2 cups grated carrot (I just grated 3 carrots)
1/2 chopped pecans (walnuts would also work - can be omitted for allergy purposes)
1/2 cup sultanas (I omitted these by choice)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 180'C
2. Place sugar and oil in bowl of an electric mixer for a few minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.
4. Sift the flours, powders and spices over the sugar mixture. Add the carrots and nuts and stir until just combined.
5. Pour your mixture into a greased cake tin. I used a silicon loaf 'tin'.
6. Bake for about 50 mins or until cooked when using the 'skewer test'.
7. Serve warm or cool completely before adding cream cheese icing.


I left the cake covered overnight and I had some for morning tea the next day. This was so moist, full of taste. It didn't need the cream cheese icing, it was delicious as a spiced loaf on its own.
SO good, just like my grandma used to make!

Lauren x

Dessert Plate - Lemon/ Lime Tartlets with Red Wine Jelly with Raspberries

The dessert plate (sorry about the picture ... I took it VERY quickly on my phone before serving).

Recently I posted about a homemade pizza bar I used for a dinner party with 2 friends of ours. Well to follow that dinner, we reclined and then I served up a dessert plate which had a lemon and lime tartlet and a red wine jelly with berries. It was a lovely balance of flavours. Here are the recipes for the different componants.


Recipe for the Red Wine Jelly from taste.com.au
* I used a red wine I had in the house and not the specific one in the recipe.
* I used raspberries instead of blueberries.


Recipe for the Lemon / Lime tartlets (thanks to Donnay Hay - Modern Classics 2)

PASRTY
Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
3 tbls caster sugar
150g cold butter, chopped
2-3 tbls iced water

Method:
1. Process flour, sugar and butter in a food processor until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. While the motor is running add the water so it forms a smooth dough and process till just combined.
3. Knead lightly and wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins.
4. Roll out between baking paper or on lightly floured bench untill about 2-3mm thick.
5. Line the tart tins and gently prink base with fork and pop into freezer for 15 mins.
6. Blind bake for 10 mins on 180'C (with rice/ weights) and then without for a further 10 mins.


FILLING
Ingredients:
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 single pouring cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:
1. Reduce oven to 140'C.
2. Place lemon & sugar in heat proof bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Add cream and eggs and stir continuously for 5 mins.
4. Pass filling through strainer (VERY important).
5. Bake the tart for 20-25 mins or until the filling is just set. Cool completely and serve.


Enjoy :)
Lauren x

Quite Simply - CUTE AS A BUTTON!

I had an oddly productive morning recently. I decided to make biscuits with josh. I started with a basic biscuit recipe (see below) and adapted it to make three types of bikkies out of the same batch.

1. HIGH-FIVE COOKIE: After dough had chilled I rolled it out and got Joshua to do a handprint in the dough and cut it out. Its a bit fragile to transfer to another sheet of baking paper, so just bake it on that sheet. This cookie looks darker cause i made sure i left it in a little longer so it wouldnt snap too easily. 2. BUTTON COOKIE: Once rolled out, find two different sized glasses or circle cutters. Press one in all the way through the dough to form first circle. Press second glass/ cutter only a little way in to form the border. Using a chopstick (or similar) press the 4 circles in the middle. 3. RAINBOW COOKIE: Then hand mix in some sprinkles to the rest of the mixture and form by hand.

RECIPE:
185g butter
1 cup castor sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract (add 1 tsp if using essence)
2.5 cups of pl flour
1 egg + 1 egg yolk extra
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180'C. Process butter and sugar in food processor till smooth. Add flour, egg, and egg yolk and process again to form a smooth dough. Knead lightly and refridgerate for 30 mins. Roll out the dough between sheets of baking powder. Cut into shapes (see above) and bake for 10-12 mins. Cool on wire rack. ENJOY!!!

** I wanted to ice the "High 5" bikkies but they were eaten too quickly....good sign i suppose**

These are a few of my favourite things....

One of my little pleasures in life is collecting cook books. I hope to expand this collection when I move into our new place later in the year and have more space to put them. I love flipping through cookbooks with a good cuppa tea and dreaming about what will grace the dining table in the upcoming week, or planning a dinner party! They are fascinating, you can tell SO much about a time period and a culture by cookbooks. Some of my absolute essentials are by the one and only Donna Hay with her "Modern Classics" 2 volume series and "off the shelf". So easy and everything has always worked out that i have tried!
Stay tuned for some interesting cookbooks that will sure inspire you to makeover your dinner repertoire.