Strawberry Cake from Stacey Snacks ...via Martha

I've mentioned Stacey from Stacey Snacks before and just how wonderful her recipes are

Now the latest I've tried is her Strawberry Cake

It's a lovely and easy recipe...she used strawberries because they were in season in the US...I've used cherries, because I had them in the cupboard (the jarred variety).

Recipes are changeable things aren't they? I mean, you can always come up with something or substitute an ingredient if you haven't got exactly what the particular recipe calls for...at least that's what I do. It makes my cooking a bit of a challenge sometimes...and it always keeps MONT on his toes.

Here's the recipe......

1-1/2 cups plain flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 punnets strawberries, hulled and halved - (or other fruit like cherries or blueberries)
2 tablespoons raw sugar (for the top)

In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, baking powder & salt. In a large bowl, cream the sugar together with the egg and the butter. Gradually mix in your flour and add the milk, zest and extracts, mixing until a nice thick yellow batter turns out.
Pour your batter into a greased 9" pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut-sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle raw sugar over the top.

Bake at 325F (about 160c) for about 45 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch.

Instead of strawberries, I used some cherries I had in the cupboard and some frozen raspberries. I mixed a few of the cherries through the cake, then dotted the top of it with the raspberries. It was delish

This is not a light and fluffy cake, or at least mine wasn't...it's a little more dense and crumbly...and very nice with a cup of coffee.

It's that easy really. Hope you like it. I'm having some for my breakfast with a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Yummo

Pineapple Fruit Cake

This is a scrumptious cake that's so simple to make it's crazy! You see, if you can boil water, you can make this cake!

I haven't made it in ages, but was inspired by Brismod at Fun & VJ's, who's had a thing for pineapple lately...

It's my Pineapple Fruit Cake and here's what you do:

In a saucepan, place:
1 can crushed pineapple (440gr)
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon mixed spice
125 gr butter
375 gr mixed dried fruit
& 1 teaspoon bicarb soda

Bring to boil, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes, then set aside to cool completely.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees and line a 20 cm (8 inch) cake tin with baking paper.

Sift together 1 cup of plain flour and 1 cup of self raising flour with a pinch of salt.
When the fruit mix is cool, stir in two beaten eggs and the flour and bake for approx 1 hour.

That's it.
Easy huh?

Alison Thompson's new book "BAKE" also has a version of a boiled pineapple fruit cake and it's very similar to this one.

Baking - Carrot Cake

It's been a long time between drinks...or recipes, but I'm here and I'm cookin'!

This carrot cake recipe is easier than I thought it would be. I'm used to making my tried and tested banana cake, but I think this is even better.

Here's what you'll need
---------------------------

 3 Eggs
 1 Cup White Sugar (or half white & half brown)
 ¾ Cup Cooking Oil (Virgin Olive Oil)
 1 1/3 Cups Of Flour
 ½ Teaspoon salt
 1 1/3 teaspoons Bicarb Soda
 1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder
 1 1/3 teaspoons cinnamon
 2 cups grated raw carrot
 ½ cup nuts (I used half walnuts and half pecans)
 1 teaspoon vanilla


Here's what you do
----------------------
 
Grease a square 8” tin. (I used a round one)
Heat oven to 300 Deg F (150 Deg C).

Beat eggs and sugar until frothy.
Add oil, stir in sifted dry ingredients then fold in carrot, nuts and vanilla.
Bake for  55mins to 1 hour.

When cool, ice with a cream cheese frosting

Frosting
----------

 4oz cream cheese
 250g (½ lb) icing sugar
 a few drops of lemon juice

It really is that simple....and it's great with a cuppa....which is what I'm about to have right now.

The photos aren't that good as they were taken on my mobile phone...hopefully I'll have a new camera soon.

A cake by any other name.....

William Shakespeare once wrote:  "What's in a name? that which we call a rose  By any other name would smell as sweet"

In other words, it doesn't matter what something is called, it's what it is (and how it tastes) that's important...and so I apply that to this little cake.

This is a SPICED BUTTERMILK PRUNE CAKE that I found on Taste.com.au some time ago and have made it a lot, because, well, because I like prunes. I mean, they're just dried plums aren't they?

I've never known why people have an aversion to prunes....they're just the sugary equivalent of sun dried tomatoes, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone turn up their noses at them.

So anyway, here's the recipe, which I have "tweaked" to suit me and my tastes.

1 cup pitted prunes, chopped finely
1 cup buttermilk
125grams softened butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2 cups self raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
large dollop plain yogurt

Crumble Topping
1/3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
50 grams butter, chopped.

• Combine prunes with half a cup of buttermilk in a bowl and let sit for about about 2 hours
• Make crumble topping: combine the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs
• Preheat Oven to 180 C. Line the base and sides of a loaf pan with baking paper
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy then add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each one
• Sift the flour and spices over the butter mix and fold it in with a large metal spoon, along with the prunes and the remaining half cup of buttermilk.
• Spoon it into the prepared cake pan, sprinkle the crumble mix over the top and place it in the oven for around 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
• Let it sit in the tin for about 10 minutes to let it settle, then put it onto a wire rack to cool

I had a little bit of mix left over so I made a couple of cupcakes....That's it...enjoy it with cream or a cuppa or whatever you like...it really is lovely.



Upside Down Apple Cake

MONT's heading off to the country to work this coming week...so I thought I'd bake him a cake to take.

This is a variation on the cherry and raspberry cake I made recently.

The cake batter recipe is basically the same, but instead of raspberries and cherries, I peeled and sliced 2 apples and layered the slices on the bottom of a sugared, lined baking tin. I then peeled and diced another granny smith and folded that into the cake mix.

This is what it looked like when I turned it out of the tin....

...and this is the final result...

Luscious!

Recipe

--------

125 grams butter, softened
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup almond meal
large dollop of yogurt
3 granny smith apples

2 tbls brown sugar

cream, custard or ice cream to serve

Preheat oven to 180*c. Grease a 20cm, round cake pan and line it with baking paper
Cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each one
Sprinkle the brown sugar onto the bottom of the lined cake tin and peel and slice two apples and place the slices in the bottom on top of the sugar

Add the flour and almond meal to the cake mixture and fold through, then add a large dollop of yogurt and fold it through. Peel and dice the third granny smith apple and fold it through the cake mix then spoon it over the apples and bake for 35 to 40 minutes....
....or until a skewer inserted into the middle, comes out clean

You need to let this sit in the tin for about 5 minutes to let it settle before turning out onto a wire rack or plate. You also need to insert a spatula or knife down the sides of the cake to help ease it away from the sides of the tin, otherwise you'll end up with a broken mess when turning it out onto the plate.

Upside Down Cherry and Raspberry Pudding

This is a recipe I found on Taste.com when I was looking for something easy to make and easy to carry to a dinner party we were going to recently.

I tweaked it a little though...adding some raspberries and yogurt to the mix.

It's a cake but also a pudding and delicious served with cream, custard or ice-cream...also scrumptious cold with a coffee in the afternoon.

You'll need:
-------------
1 680gr jar pitted cherries
1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries
125 grams butter, softened
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup almond meal
large dollop of yogurt
cream, custard or ice cream to serve

Preheat oven to 180*c. Grease a 20cm, round cake pan and line it with baking paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each one.

Drain the cherries

Place them and the raspberries in the bottom of the cake tin


Add the flour and almond meal to the cake mixture and fold through, then add a large dollop of yogurt and fold it through.


Carefully spoon the cake mix over the berries and bake for 35 to 40 minutes....

....or until a skewer inserted into the middle, comes out clean.

Now, a word of warning. You need to let this sit in the tin for about 5 minutes to let it settle before turning out onto a wire rack or plate. You also need to insert a spatula or knife down the sides of the cake to help ease it away from the sides of the tin, otherwise you'll end up with a broken mess when turning it out onto the plate.

That's it...eat and enjoy!

Banana Cake

I've been making Banana Cakes for so many years I forget when I first started. In fact it's got to a stage now that I do it by "feel" rather than measure and weigh all the ingredients.

So I thought I'd post the original recipe, because that's where I started.

As you can see though, even after all these years, I'm still a bit of a messy cook

So here's the original recipe from the Frankston Lions Ladies Club

4 oz butter
4 oz castor sugar
2 beaten eggs
3 or 4 mashed bananas.
3 oz plain flour
3 oz of SR flour
a large dollop of yogurt
1 teaspoon of bi-carb of soda
2 tablespoons of milk

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and mix, if it curdles a little, don't worry, just add a spoonful of flour and mix it up. Add the mashed bananas and mix, then add the flour to the wet ingredients and fold through. At this stage I also added a half cup of All-Bran that had been mixed with a large dollop of yogurt.

Put the bi-carb soda in a bowl (I use the jug I mashed the bananas in) add the milk and the yogurt and mix. It will look like it's expanding and bubbling a little. Pour it into the cake mix and fold through. The final mix should be reasonably moist but not runny.

Pour it into a greased and lined cake tin, then bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre, comes out clean.

I used a loaf tin this time because MONT was taking it on his fishing trip and it was easier to pack in his gear

It's a beautifully moist and delicious cake which is very forgiving if you want to play around with the ingredients. Over the years I've added chocolate, coffee, walnuts, pecans, sultanas, dried apples, dried apricots and fresh apples but not all at once of course.

...and you can also ice it with a cream cheese frosting, or lemon glaze. Yumm!