Breakfast Cakes

I don't know that pumpkin cakes are necessarily 'Easter' related..

But they are what I felt like making and eating for breakfast on Easter Sunday.

Maybe it's because they contain pumpkin.. Which means they're totally healthy and therefore I could justify my mass Chocolate consumption later in the day?!?

Yup - works for me!

Spiced Pumpkin Cakes

½ cup pureed pumpkin

¾ cup almond flour

¼ cup canned coconut milk

2 tablespoon maple syrup

2 eggs, whisked

⅛ teaspoon baking soda

⅛ teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1.      In a medium sized bowl, mix together coconut milk, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla.

3.     Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and pumpkin and mix together. Add a bit more coconut milk, if needed. 

4.    Sppon into individual patty pans. 

5.     Bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes or until golden. 

xx

Easter Treat

It is fair to say that I have eaten farrrr too much over this Easter Break.

These little bites of heaven were irresistible.

GLUTEN FREE HOT CROSS BUNS

3 cups ground almonds

pinch sea salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

1/4 cup macadamia nut oil

2 tablespoons honey

zest from 1 orange

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

2 eggs

pinch cinnamon

80g dried cranberries

50g dark chocolate + extra for crosses.

Preheat oven to 160C.

Combine all the ingredients and mix well, this includes the dried cherries and dark chocolate.

Spoon out small portions onto a baking tray – I shaped mine into little squares.

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until golden.

Remove and cool.

Drizzle dark chocolate crosses on top if you like.

Enjoy.

xx

Afternoon Tea with Miss KB

I finally got to see the SFC over Easter!
(And then sadly got too slack to post about it before now!)

Even though Miss KB insists that there's still sooo much work to do, the place is ah-mazing and I am truly jealous!

Miss Emmy was invited to the afternoon tea because she won't be welcome after the arrival of Chuck Bass - understandable, because Emmy is practically from Brooklyn and Mr Bass has high standards....!

The afternoon tea was delicious (I think I ate my body weight in mini quiches) and it was wonderful to catch up with KB but my petulant teenager of a dog, clearly dissatisfied with being confined to the courtyard, gave us all a heart attack mid-afternoon, by successfully escaped and disappeared up the street.

Luckily KB noticed she was missing before she could venture too far so she spent the remainder of the afternoon inside with us.

I took this opportunity to engage her chair modelling skills.....

Hmmm... She really needs a haircut!!

xx

Easter Snapshot

Due to moving house last weekend, I didn't really make any exciting plans for the Easter Weekend but in the end my four day break disappeared in the blink of an eye in a blur of more unpacking, quality Emmy-time, catch up with friends, several visits to my poor nan in hospital and far too much chocolate. There wasn't even any baking!!

I did manage to take a few quick snaps throughout the weekend.

Allow me to share them with you --

Miss Emmy chilling in one of her fave new spots in the house

The pile of chocolate, which disappeared much faster than I am willing to admit

Chad Michael Murray made a return to One Tree Hill -
I may have squealed when he appeared on my tv...
(and then I scrambled for the remote so I could pause and take a photo!)

Miss Emmy and I went for a walk at the beach -
BTW.. this is not me trying to be abstract , this is Emmy pulling on the lead around my wrist as I took the photo!!

Good Friday dinner. Delish!

I felt this way after the long weekend too...

Planning on doing more of the same this weekend. But with less chocolate!!!

xx

Bunny Convention

Moss Bunnies courtesy of Tynte St Flowers

Happy Easter Everyone.

I hope you are all enjoying the 5 day break with family and friends.

xx

Does Easter Bunny Like Carrot and Walnut Cake?

Easter Break. 5 days off. The perfect time to do some baking.

Today Mum made me an offer - She would cook me a roast dinner if I baked dessert. DEAL.

It only seemed fitting to bake a Carrot Cake for Easter. And after all the chocolate eggs I've eaten today, I just couldn't face anything else made from chocolate.

The trouble with baking in a foreign kitchen is that the entire process seems to take twice as long. I was playing an impromptu game of 'Hide and Seek' - Me versus various kitchen utensils and ingredients. (The quarter cup measuring cup wins... I never found it and had to guess 3/4 cups of oil).

As I was at mum's house, I didn't have any of my trusty recipe books to rely on. Instead, I put all my faith in Google and ended up using a recipe from Best Recipes.

Ingredients

2 carrots

1 cup self-raising flour

1/2 cup plain flour

1tsp bi-carb soda

1/2tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup oil

1/2 cup golden syrup

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

3/4 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 170

Sift the flours, bi-carb soda and cinnamon into a large bowl

Whisk brown sugar, oil, golden syrup, eggs and vanilla in separate bowl

Pour oil mixture into dry ingredients and combined gently

Add carrots and walnuts; mix

Pour into greased cake tin and cook for 1 hour

Now here's the embarassing part where I confess that as a kid I thought that when I grew up, I would have my own cooking show. I used to comentate as I baked, as if there was a camera filming my every measurement. Even now I talk out loud when I'm in the kitchen. But that's because Emmy my Miniature Schnauzer is usually at my feet and she is a huge fan of MasterChef...

Anyway... I took quite a few photos with my iphone as I measured and mixed, but so that you all don't fall asleep infront of the computer, here are a few summary snaps --

All the ingrediants required.
(Finding them in mum's pantry was probably the most time consuming step in the entire baking process.)

Combining the wet ingrediants with the dry.
(Everybody loves a good 'action' shot.)

2 grated carrots.

Ta-Dahh. The End Result.

Delicious

The icing was a cream cheese icing made with 125g philly cheese, 50g unsalted butter and 300g icing sugar. I also mixed in some lemon juice and a pinch of vanilla sugar.

And the best part ?? It's CARROT cake, which means it's totally healthy. 

I'll be leaving some out for the Easter Bunny tonight, but if he doesn't eat it, I will be eating carrot cake for breakfast tomorrow. YUM.

Anyone else getting their bake on this Easter ?

xx