When we were getting ready to butcher our pigs a week or so ago I wanted to have a cake prepared for snacks and maybe dessert, and this is what I came up with.
Ingredients:
4 cups self raising flour
2 cups coconut
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 can coconut cream
10 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups cold water
Mix dry ingredients, add coconut cream, olive oil and water. Mix until all combined.
Spread in a lined tin and bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven.
Check to see if it is cooked and then when cold ice with chocolate icing with coconut sprinkled on top.
This cake was delicious and moist, a little crumbly but great with cream.
ENJOY!!!
PS. This is a big recipe so you could definitely halve it if you wanted a smaller cake.
I had been given the honour, the privilege, the joy of making the birthday cake for our No 2 granddaughters first birthday and dedication day.I used my usual chocolate cake recipe.
Ingredients – THIS IS THE BASIC RECIPE BUT I DOUBLED THE AMOUNTS WHICH THEN ADDED TIME ON THE BAKING. IT TOOK ABOUT 1 HOUR TO COOK BUT I CHECKED IT AT 30 MINS AND TURNED IT AROUND AND CHECKED IT AGAIN AT 45 MINS.
3 cups self raising flour
2 cups raw sugar
pinch salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups cold water
10 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup raspberries
Mix dry ingredients, add raspberries and liquid. Mix all together and bake in a moderate oven for approximately 30 mins. Test with a skewer to see if done.
I cooled the cake and then started decorating it. No 2 daughter gave me a hand.
We iced the sides of the cake with chocolate ganache and the top we iced with green tinged white chocolate ganache. This is to give the impression of grass.
No 2 daughter cutting the icing to make pickets
We used ready to roll icing to make a picket fence and placed this all around the sides of the cake.
On the top we used ready to roll icing that we coloured with different colours. We cut out flowers and placed them on the top of the cake.
I bought some chocolate letters and used these to spell out happy birthday Miss M. In the pack there were some chocolate hearts and stars and we used them too.
We then added some silver balls to just add a bit of sparkle. Overall we thought it turned out just great.
You may see me linked up at some of these amazing blogs.
With Christmas fast approaching I’m always on the look out for different fruit cake ideas.
I usually make the normal cake in a square tin and give these as gifts, this year I’ve thought of a different idea.
Mini Fruit Cake Muffins. As I stated before I bought these really cool red mini muffin pans and they are great. Muffins come out bite size and don’t stick – excellent.
Here we go…
375 grams mixed fruit
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
125 grams butter
Place the above ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 3 minutes and then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
1/2 cup Brandy
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 tblsp apricot jam
Add the above ingredients and mix well.
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
Sift the above ingredients together and fold into the cake mixture.
Grease the muffin pan and fill with mixture. Bake in a moderate oven for 10 mins.
I topped mine with royal icing cut into star shapes and then put a silver sugar bead on top.
PS: You can make these in a normal size muffin pan – just increase the cooking time by approximately 5 minutes.
These just sound so yummy don’t they, and they actually taste great too.
Ingredients
3 cups SR flour
2 cups raw sugar
3 tblsp cocoa powder
2 cups cold water
4 tblsp olive oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
marshmallows
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
In a bowl combine, flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Soften peanut butter and add to the mixture with the olive oil and the water. Mix until combined. Half fill the muffin tins and place marshmallow in the centre and top with more mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven for approximately 10 – 15 mins. Cool on wire rack.
NOTES:
I bought these really nice muffin tins (see above) yesterday and used them. They are only small ones so this mixture made quite a few. Normally this mixture makes 24 normal sized muffins.
Because I used small muffin tins I cut the marshmallows in half. If I would have used the normal size I would leave them whole.
Just a warning, the marshmallow can come out during cooking and this can make them a bit sticky to eat, but they still taste great.
Here are some I made without the marshmallow, they tasted good too, and just the right size for a mouthful.
A couple of years ago we headed north to Mildura and brought home a heap of oranges. We ate a heap fresh, they were sweet and juicy, but we just couldn’t eat all of them, so I preserved them.
I sliced them up and put them through our Fowlers Vacola unit and bottled them without sugar. Unfortunately when they are bottled they do turn sour so you need to make them into something instead of just eating them with a heap of sugar.
The oranges look really impressive in the bottles.So I make these muffins and they are lovely and moist.
Ingredients
1 orange
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil)
2 cups flour
2 tblsp cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 180 degrees (moderate). Blend orange and sugar in the food processor, add egg, oil and milk, process.
Mix dry ingredients and blend together with wet. Place in muffin tray and bake for 12 – 15 mins in moderate oven.
I ice these with chocolate icing.
PS: you can make these muffins without the cocoa powder, and ice them with orange icing.
PPS: if you don’t have preserved oranges just use a whole orange and put that in the blender instead.
PPS: This recipe makes 1 dozen muffins, I usually double it because I have about 2 oranges per preserving jar.
This is just the best sponge cake recipe. It is light and fluffy but if you want a cake recipe that lasts, don’t try this one, because it doesn’t.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup cornflour
1 tblsp custard powder
2 tblsps hot water
pinch salt
icing sugar for dusting.
whipped cream and 1 tblsp sugar
handful of raspberries
Prepare a 20 cm round cake tin. I spray with cooking spray and then line with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Add vanilla to egg yolks.
Sift all dry ingredients, except salt and sugar twice.
No 2 daughter sifting dry ingredientsBeat egg whites and salt until stiff. Gradually add the sugar, beat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is glossy. Beat in the yolks.
Add the hot water and fold in sifted dry ingredients.
Mixture ready to go into the tin
Pour into prepared tin and bake for approx. 20 minutes or until cake shrinks from the sides of the tin. When the cake is ready it will also spring back when touched in the middle with a finger.
Cool cakes on a linen tea towel that has been sprinkled with icing sugar.
Beat cream with 2 tblsp sugar and mix in a handful of raspberries.
When cake is cooled cut in half and fill with the cream mixture, dust with icing sugar.
NOTES:
I often use an extra egg, this was something that was suggested to me years ago when making sponges, and I used duck eggs this time, but chook will do.
When folding in the flour be very gentle so you don’t knock the air out of the sponge.
Before you place the tin in the oven bang it on the bench to reduce air bubbles.
This is one of my most favourite cakes and it is so easy to make, I hope you like it.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening (I use olive oil)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk soured with a bit of vinegar
apricot halves
Sour the milk with vinegar and let sit. Mix together the flour, salt, brown sugar and shortening into crumbs. Save 1 cup of crumbs for top.
Add cinnamon to rest of the crumbs and mix. Add vanilla, soda and sour milk. Mix.
Place into greased and lined tin and place apricot halves on top of cake mixture. Place crumb over apricots and bake in moderate oven for 25 – 30 minutes.
I double this mixture and it makes a nice large cake.
You can really put any fruit on top or if you wanted you could mix it together with the cake mixture, you can also make the cake and use no fruit. I have used stewed apples and plums.
ENJOY!!!
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