Bananas

This Banana loaf has been a regular in our house for many many years, I might have even blogged about it here before.... I cant remember!

I instagramed a picture recently and I had a few requests for the recipe - so here it is.

Banana Loaf

I use a 10 X 20 cm loaf tin - you could bake it any size or shape you like. My batter usually comes up to about an 1/2 an *inch below the top of the tin when I pour it in.

*its the quilter in me - I like using inches

Grease the cake tin with a little butter

Pre heat oven to 170c Fan forced

Ingredients & Method

3 medium very ripe bananas mashed 

1 cup raw sugar

1 tsp cinnamon powder

80g butter melted

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

2 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

mix all the above ingredients until well combined.

add in

2 1/4 cups plain flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

200g block of dark chocolate roughly chopped into big chunks 

mix until just combined

pour/ scrape into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle about a tablespoon or so of extra raw sugar onto the top of the cake batter in the tin

bake for 1 hour - checking with a wooden skewer that the middle is cooked.

Turn the cake out of the loaf tin whilst still hot and let the cake cool on a wire rack.

Yummiest eaten still warm and fresh or sliced and toasted the next day.

I also had a go at making homemade Nutella.

Funnily I cant actually remember how I made it..... 

I vaguely remember that the recipe I found called for 2 cups of roasted hazelnuts, 1 cup cocoa, 1 cup icing sugar and a little vegetable oil until you get the right consistency. All whizzed together in the food processor.

 It tasted a little lacking - I added in half a block of dark chocolate and we were in business. 

I really need to mess around a little more to get the recipe right, but definitely worth a go and something for the kids to try. 

I would have liked to add coconut oil instead of vegetable oil..... but the kids in our family aren't coconut fans (insert sad face because I LOVE coconut)and I suppose it then wouldn't be Nutella but a hazelnut chocolate & coconut spread.

Let me know how you go with the cake or any tried and tested Nutella recipes you may have

Xx Siobhan 

Cake day

 The Autumn weather makes me bake....

No one is complaining 

My latest cake of the moment is a simple pound cake, I have played around with a few recipes and this is what I have settled on.

Everyone is a little fussy in our house, some like plain and no fruit others like fruit but

only cherry.... you get the picture.

Fusspot central - all my own fault. 

Luckily this is a simple recipe and a smallish cake so making a few doesn't really bother me.

 They keep well in an airtight container and my school morning teas are sorted for the week.

left to right
Rhubarb with lime zest, Blueberry, Cherry - On top is plain

Pound cake

Ingredients for one cake

1.5 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

120g butter

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

1 cup caster sugar

2 large eggs

125ml milk

*Fruit of your choice

Pre heat oven to 160C fan forced

I like to get all my ingredients measured and in separate bowls ready to go, this helps if I am making 3/4 cakes at a time,

Beat the butter and lemon rind together in a mixer for a few minutes - you want the butter pale and creamy.

Add in the cup of sugar, beating for a few minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.

Then add the vanilla paste.

Add in the eggs one at a time and beat until the mix is pale and smooth. 

alternatively add the flour/baking powder and milk - mixing well.

Grease and line a loaf tin

pour the cake batter into the tin. 

*If you are adding fruit to the cake I pour in half of the batter and sprinkle the fruit in and then pour in the rest of the cake batter.

bake for 60 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 15 or so minutes before turning the cake out.

Let me know how you go

Xx Siobhan 

back on the tools

It feels like an age since I had my big guns camera out and taken some real photos........ I have been preoccupied with writing, family and a little teaching/ sewing.

I was at a wedding last weekend out in the country and my husband was the official photographer - he let me assist! 

The hall was beautiful and between the bride and event stylist it was filled with great photo opportunities.

The two pics below are actually from the day after the wedding when the hall was being cleaned up. Such pretty autumn light.

Take a look at Instagram for more pics.

We stayed in a beautiful house at Canowindra called Marlow House.
I will get around to posting more pictures of the house - It was beautiful!

The quilt in the picture below is from my book By The Block - which is due out any day now.

Yes I did bring some book quilts with me on my weekend away .....

I was lucky enough to score a huge basket of figs from a friends farm - thank you farmers Mel & Percy! 

I used all the very squishy ones straight away and made some burnt fig and vanilla jam, the medium very ripe ones I made a cake and the ones that had a few days in them I shared with my baking friend 

The fig jam was easy-ish

I had 2kgs figs with 1kg white sugar and one vanilla bean.

I cooked them on a high heat, stirring until it reached 104c and put it into sterilised jars. The 2kgs made around 5 jars.

The cake was a bit of an experiment that thankfully was yum and worked!

Fig, almond and maple Syrup cake

perfect for this coming Easter weekend

I used a 24cm/9.5 inch spring form tin

  

Ingredients

   2 cups skin on almonds 

4 eggs - separated

    1 cup caster sugar 

1 tsp Vanilla paste  

1/4 cup vegetable oil   

1 teaspoon baking powder   

1/4 cup maple syrup, and more to sprinkle on top   

2 1/2 cups mashed ripe soft fresh figs*

1/2 cup plain flour  

pinch teaspoon salt 

 5 - 8 figs sliced for the top

*trim the top off the fig and mash up with a fork in a bowl

Method

Line your spring form tin with baking paper on the bottom and sides and set aside till needed.

Roast the almonds in a hot oven until they begin to colour- usually around 5-10 minutes(be careful not to burn them)

Put the warm almonds in a food processor and pulse till its a course mix - not fine like almond meal, I like my almond mix to still have almond chunks in the cake and give it a nutty texture.

Turn your oven down to 180c fan forced

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy, add in the vanilla paste, oil, maple syrup and mashed figs - mix until just combined.

Using a clean bowl whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form.

add all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and almonds) to the wet ingredients. Gently fold with a spatula.

Add a third of the stiff egg whites to the cake batter and fold through carefully - Then add the rest.

Spoon the cake batter into your prepared lined tin, tap the tin on the bench to let the cake batter settle. Arrange your sliced figs on top of the cake batter and bake for 90 minutes - check your cake after 40 minutes to double check its doing ok.All ovens can be a little different.

The cake will be very dark on the outside but not burnt when it is cooked, and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Whilst the cake is still warm pour on some extra maple syrup. Let the cake cool completely in the tin before you remove it.

 Served with some double cream and 

a pot of tea = Heaven

Let me know if you bake it and how you go

Xx Siobhan Rogers

Flourless Chocolate Brownies - Gluten Free

This is an oldie but a goodie - from a post in 2011

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie

(gluten free)

380g Dark eating chocolate

180g Butter

1cup Brown Sugar

3eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

150g Hazelnut meal

1tsp Baking powder

Heat the oven to 180C fan forced, and line a 

20 X 30cm tin with baking paper.

Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl, leave for ten minutes to cool. Beat sugar and eggs until pale in colour and creamy, fold through the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture add vanilla and mix through hazelnuts. 

Add in hazelnut meal and baking powder mix gently. 

pour into tin and bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes. Its ready when the skewer comes out moist but not wet. Leave the brownie to cool completely in the tin (it will continue to cook once out of oven), then cut into squares and sift icing sugar over the top.

The Carrot Cake experiment........

I've been home working in the shed and on the computer - the usual I cant show you what I'm working on business...............

Not showing people what I'm up to is a bit tricky for me - I'm not great at keeping quiet.

Anyway I can show you what I baked today!

The cool autumn weather has gotten me very bake-y (I know thats not a word)

The other day I discovered much to my horror that my children didn't know what a carrot cake was!? I'm talking about teenagers..... not toddlers.

Today I was on a mission to show them what they had missed - moist yummy sweet carrot cake with cream cheese icing - My favourite as a kid. My Nana baked it all the time.

Its one of those nice and easy throw everything together and bake cakes. 

 Serves 12
530 Calories/ 2217KJ per serve (including icing)

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of bicarb of soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 & 1/2 cups raw sugar (any sugars fine)
4 eggs
200ml vegetable oil
400g crushed canned pineapple drained
3 cups grated carrot (I used 7 small carrots)
1/2 cup almond meal

23cm or 9 inch round springform cake tin greased and lined.

Oven set at 170C (not fan forced)
or 330F on an electric oven

Using two bowls
put all the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl (inc carrot). Mixing the wet ingredients.
Place the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl and with a wooden spoon stir to combine.

Pour the stiff mixture into your greased and lined cake tin, tap it on the bench a few times to get the mixture flat.

Bake for 50/ 60 minutes - test with a wooden skewer, its ready when the skewer comes out clean.


leave to cool in tin

Lime Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients 

250grams Cream Cheese

1 cup icing sugar mixture

1 Lime rind finely grated and juice

Beat the cream cheese until soft. Add the rind/ juice of the one lime and 1 cup of icing sugar mixture. Beat until smooth.

When the cake has cooled completely spread the icing on top of the cake.

The verdict

My husband and I loved it - It was beautiful moist and the cream cheese zesty icing.... Heaven 

BUT

The kids weren't convinced .....

Looks like I should have introduced it at an earlier age. 

Well I am off 

Let me know what you think of carrot cake?!

Xx Siobhan 

Winter Days

Cold I don't mind BUT constant rain ....... 

especially when you have a small house and lots of children.

on the plus side it means lots of lazing around and not feeling guilty about it.

I picked up the latest Donna Hay magazine yesterday whilst standing in a very long queue at the shops - apparently when its raining on a Saturday everyone decides to go grocery shopping. Remind me not to do that again.Ever.

Anyway the magazine had some scroll recipes in it and Voila - Scrolls for morning tea today.

I made the dark chocolate and coffee version.

Super easy and even easier than it should have been because I made my dough in my bread machine. The dough turned out perfectly. 

Now I'm off to tidy the mess I made :-/

Xx Siobhan 

Seasonal Cooking - Fig Tart

On arrival back home after nearly three weeks away on our Summer Holiday up North I set off to do some grocery shopping and came home with copious amounts of Fruit.

In summer the kids basically live in the pool and feast on Mangoes,Bananas,Watermelon & lots of stone fruits. 

To my surprise the fruit shop also had lots of locally grown boxes of Figs at a great price, I tend to think of Figs as an Autumn fruit... I looked it up and I was very surprised to see Figs had two seasons of produce a year. 

One in Autumn and one in late Summer.

You learn something new every day...

anyway

I love figs

Savoury or sweet and they always photograph beautifully!

We have been living off them (40 in the box)and the last of the figs started to ripen quickly.

Sydney has been a strange one in the last few days or so with its weather.

 Our second day home (Friday) saw the hottest recorded weather in Sydney's history!

The inside of our house was 40c at one stage.

Thankfully that evening a lovely cool southerly change came through.

which meant come saturday I could bake and use up the last of the ripening figs.

Fig Tart Recipe 

Set a fan forced oven at 170c

Short Crust pastry

I have used a very high quality store bought shortcrust pastry that I try to always have in my freezer. In this tart I used a combination of two flavours.

1 sheet of Dark Chocolate short crust pastry

1/2 a sheet of Vanilla bean sweet short crust pastry

prepare and cook the pastry shell to store bought (or your own recipe) instructions.

I used the dark chocolate short crust on the base and the vanilla short crust on the sides (refer to picture below)

Tart Filling

1 cup hazelnut meal

300g double thick cream

1/2 cup plain flour

6 table spoons brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla paste

3 teaspoons *fig Vino Cotto

mix all the above ingredients together in a bowl until it forms a paste. Spoon into the prepared tart shell and spread out evenly.

*instead of Vino Cotto you could use any liquids from water to a liquor such as Frangelico.

13 Figs

wash and cut the figs in half and place on top of tart filling, pushing down slightly.

Bake in a fan forced oven at 170c for 45 minutes or until the filling is set and browned (make sure to turn the tart for even browning). Take the tart out of the oven and let it cool before serving.

Serve with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream 

I unfortunately didn't get a chance to take a proper picture of the finished result as the tart was taken straight from the oven to a friends house :)

here is my average Instagram photo below.

Happy Baking 

Xx Siobhan