Biscuits for a celebration.

I recently learnt how to ice biscuits beautifully by doing 
a class taught by the talented Roxanne Floquet. Her biscuits 
are beautiful to say the least, they are her art, delicate, 
intricate and exciting. I am nowhere near her level of skill, 
these biscuits take a lot of time and practice to get them 
to the level of perfection that she can achieve. 

Now that I know how to ice these biscuits, I take great joy 
in presenting them to friends as gifts in a classic Consol
jar, laced with ribbon and a label. They are loved and also
super tasty.

These biscuits in the photographs were made with lots of love
for my friend, Inez, who recently got married. 

If you are interested in ordering some fun cookies for your 
next event or even just for your home, dont hesitate to 
contact me, my husband will love to eat the leftovers   
He has dubbed them "the best zoo biscuits ever". 

The pretty photo under the heading is from the wedding, 
taken by my talented husband, Sean Kelland.

Heart cross buns

“one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns…”

I love a good woolies hot cross bun, or as my husband would call them “hot angry buns”. They are even better when they are in the shapes of hearts, lightly toasted with butter and home-made orange marmalade! yum! perfect for a winters morning snack….in bed <3

The Anatomy of a cupcake

Love this image, found it on another blog and just had to share it!

Chocolate Cheesecake

To start off the new year I shall introduce you to one of my favourite recipe books on my kitchen shelf – Neil Roake’s “Shiny Happy People.” This recipe book contains a collection of Neil’s “odd and varied” friends, their stories and their best home meals. Their stories are accompanied by some beautiful photography of their homes and kitchens. From classic Tarte Tartin to some adventurous and beautiful liquorice ice-cream, some food from an Iranian couple and even simple tasty meals the kids will love such as Ruote pasta with boerewors. This South African book uses some good local Afrikaans words such as “bakkie” instead of “tub” and makes you feel part of the family. The book is full of great quotes about food, my best being “Steak is my favourite animal.”

Neil’s friend, Catherine, from Kleinfontein in the Western Cape shared some lovely farmhouse treats – hot cross buns, buttermilk banana pancakes, a great roast chicken and my subject for today – chocolate cheesecake! I baked this cake for my mom’s birthday! And WOW! Creamy, smooth and incredible like any cheesecake…but with the richness of dark chocolate and topped with pistachio nuts.

A well written, beautifully designed, and well conceived book. Thank you Neil Roake! I have read every story from cover to cover and cant wait to try something new, perhaps the tequila lime chicken wings followed by orange chiffon cupcake. To get the recipe of the below Chocolate cheese cake, see the website here and order this amazing book for your collection!

Grapefruit Curd

 

I’ve always loved lemon curd and when I found this recipe I knew I had to try it. This recipe is very simple and the jars, once labeled nicely could make a really great gift. This Christmas all my friends and family are getting home-made preserves, and grapefruit curd will definitely be under the Christmas tree.

Enjoy making this simple, sweet and also bitter curd. My favorite way of eating it is just on a piece of toast, but its incredible spread over a simple cheesecake.

 

Grapefruit Curd

makes about 650g.

 

Rind and juice of one grapefruit.

115g butter

200g castor sugar

4 large eggs, lightly beaten.

 

Place rind, juice, butter and sugar into heatproof bowl over simmering water.

Heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Add beaten eggs, strained through a sieve.

Whisk immediately , then stir with wooden spoon over a low hear until the mixture thickens and coats spoon.

Pour into warm, sterilized jars. (Jars can be sterilized in the oven or completely cover jars and lids in boiling water until ready to use.)

 

Once the jars have cooled down, label and store in a cool, dark place like refrigerator. Use within 3 months. yum yum enjoy!!!

 

Hot Milk Layer Cake

I get these days (usually at the end of the month), where I’m desperate to bake something new. This might sound like a lovely thing, but as we all know, at the end of the month the fridge is starting to look a little bare just like our bank accounts and I cannot go buy any exciting ingredients to make the things i dream of making. Well one fine day I decided I would see what ingredients I had available and bake in my new cake tin. I have some really scary old fashioned recipe books. Ones where the pages are mostly brown and they have cucumber jellied salad and other famous dishes from the disgusting 90s. In this recipe book you come across “banana salad with peanut cream” and “lightning cream cheese pudding”. So after dodging the weird and wild combinations I found a very ordinary cake called a hot milk cake. This cake is a very simple sponge cake, but at least it satisfied my craving to bake and provided something for afternoon tea.

So here is the recipe for when u have limited ingredients, but need some baking fun!

Hot Milk Layer Cake

250ml milk (1 cup)

30ml sunflower oil (2T)

300g castor sugar (1 1/2 cup)

4 extra large eggs

275g cake flour (2cups)

15ml baking powder (1T)

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease two layer cake tins. I used 18cm tins, and line the base of the tins with waxed paper.

Heat the milk to boil and add oil.Beat the caster sugar and eggs thoroughly until light and thick. Sift the cake flour and baking powder together, fold lightly into sugar mix. Add the hot milk mixture, folding in lightly too.

Pour the batter into the 2 tins. bake the cake layers for about 30min until golden brown and done. Remove to Cool. Fill and ice the cake as you like

Espresso Streusel Cake

Yum, this cake is slowly becoming a new favorite. i’ve had so much spiced apple cake, but then i found this beauty. Apples, espresso, chocolate ganache, giant peanuts…this cake is a circus of fun ingredients all put together. The giant peanuts on top add a ice little crunch to the soft apple chocolate centre, all with a hint of fresh espresso. Perfect with some whipped coffee flavored cream, and of course…some wine.

Market day

2 weeks ago I was asked to partake in a small market that a friend was organising. She had seen my blog and envisioned a small tea garden with a few sweet treats that would draw people to the market and create an environment that all ladies would love…cake, coffee, tea and more cake So after much planning, late nights of baking (which I loved) and a few too many dirty dishes the market day arrived. With my mom beside me for help and moral support, we carefully packed the car with all our treats.

The drive to Kenilworth was filled with my mom’s lovely voice, sharing memories of her ouma and how she was a master baker. She shared stories of a house smelling of cakes, boxes and boxes of flowers made with icing. This great-Ouma of mine was the best baker in town and any wedding demanded her baking attention if they wanted the best cake. So after the inspirational family history we eventually arrived at the venue, unpacked the cakes and began to sell them, piece by piece.

The vibe was lovely, people sat drinking wine and eating strawberry cake. The espresso streusel cake sold out first and many bags of fennel and lemon cookies were taken home for the hubbies. I loved every minute, serving my cakes, receiving compliments and encouragement. It feels good to do something you love.

Thank you to everyone who showed their faces and bought my cake. You have fed the dream and I look forward to seeing you all again with new cakes and inspiration.

Strawberry Cake

I recently found this recipe and immediately loved the way it looked. This cake is pink inside, tastes of strawberries, and is decorated with cream cheese frosting and  sweet strawberry pieces…what more could one ask for? While reading through the recipe I was a little perturbed by the fact that the main ingredient was a box cake mix. Now I have nothing against box cakes or biscuits and I realize it is convenient and easy for the average person who does not have time to bake. But for me, I find my joy in the baking process,  measuring the dry ingredients with my cute measuring cups, getting my hands covered in the raw mixture, buying the ingredients and knowing that i didn’t just add water and “tadaa”,  a cake appeared!

I tried it anyway, because along with the box cake mix there was pink jelly, chopped strawberries and a few other things. To tell the truth I was quite intrigued by the jelly in the cake.  This cake is really moist and tasty with its strawberry flavour and colour. It was easy to put together and the cream cheese frosting complimented the sweet strawberry taste.

This cake mixture will also make for great strawberry cupcakes and the fact that it is pink inside makes it perfect for any little girls tea party. I have two nieces and I would love to bake this for them on a summers day. We will enjoy it in the garden with some tea for all the stuffed toys and some strawberry cake for ourselves. I want to pick flowers for our table and tell them I think all cakes should be colourful, and maybe after our cake we can paint…with pink of course.

Cherry Cakes

When I was about 8 my mom had a friend who I loved to visit, just as much as my mother did. This friend loved bears, she took us on adventures and blew lots of bubbles. She told the best stories and had all these amazing little treasures in her house. I used to love looking at all her bears…wooden ones, fluffy ones, teeny tiny ones, massive ones, pictures of bears, books and lots of little things to keep any child’s imagination fed.

One thing I always looked forward to were sleepovers at Meg’s house. My brother, sister and I would  watch old or animated movies with Meg and explore her collection. I remember  Meg’s love for tea, her giant mugs and her ability to make yummy potato soup. But what I remember most and have taken with me into adulthood is Meg’s incredible Cherry Cakes.  Every cherry in these cakes is  a little surprise, a sweet treat in the vanilla cake. These Cakes have no need for frills such as icing sugar, but prove to be perfect accompanied with a giant mug of tea and great company.

photos by my talented husband Sean Kelland