Ever since I saw the Fairy Bread cake on Raspberri Cupcakes, I knew I had to make it, and I knew it would be the perfect birthday cake for one of girls at work. If only her birthday would hurry up!
I used the butter cake recipe from the AWW Birthday Cake book, which is frankly the best butter cake recipe ever and iced it with a white chocolate butter cream.
I baked the butter cake in a square cake pan and then cut into smaller triangles, to more accurately represent fairy bread quarters. 🙂
Winning cake all round.
#thissundaylife is #fairybread cake because frankly it is darn smart way to eat fairy bread when in double digits.
I made a rainbow cake, not the style of rainbow cake I had planned to make a year or so ago but an easier one both to make and to consume. I used the butter cake recipe from *that birthday cake book*, doubled it, split it in to a number of bowls, added a liberal amount of food dye to each bowl, stirred that food dye in very well, dolloped it into a bundt pan, baked it, covered it in yummy chocolate ganache (the secret to shiny ganache is a little dollop of a plain veggie oil) and then sprinkled gold sugar over the top.
It was well, it was smile material.
In progress shot.
One of the girls at work is a day younger than me, so to celebrate our birthdays we made each other a cake. Oh it was a day of cake last Monday at work.
This is the oh so so so yummy double layer chocolate cake she made me.
I’ve thought about staying up till TC Yasi crosses the coast watching the twitter feeds but at the end of the day there is nothing I can do down here yet and I do have work tomorrow and the braces come off tomorrow as well. The people I know up north are all prepared as they can be so all we can do is sit and wait for the train wreck to happen.
I made the Iced VoVo cake from Raspberri Cupcake last night/this morning for an afternoon tea at work today and it went down quite well. I used the strawberry jam I made before Christmas on the cake as well 🙂
I will once again say I had no intention of 11 days passing between posts. Oh well. Photos, we all like photos.
Curtains!! 226/365
Yep, at last I’ve finished my curtains and they are up. I went to Ikea between Christmas and New Years. Amongst the things I picked up was this fabric, I had planned to purchase a more “demure” fabric but there was no way I could say no the slightly kitsch, slightly folksy fabric that is Annamoa Fabric … I picked up lining at Spotlight a week or two later… Then the wait happened whilst I tried to find curtain eyelets, eventually I found curtain eyelet tape at Lincraft. I made one curtain at my house on a Saturday. Yeah, let me tell you it was quite an adventure using the kitchen floor as a cutting table. The next day I headed over to Mums and borrowed the kitchen table (such bliss for cutting fabric) and some of her advice. I didn’t quite get the other two curtains finished that day but did the rest of the sewing the following Sunday when I was next over.
They make my room feel so cheery! And oh for lining as well now my room isn’t so bright in the morning and slightly warmer at night.
Yay for new curtains!
Patterned Legs, 227/365
There a few fashion rules I have for myself, one of these is no tights/stockings in Spring and Summer. Really because unless they are 8 denier or less it is just too damm hot to wear stockings in Brisbane during those months. I picked this pair up from Coles over the New Year for a very nice sum of $3.something!
Romatherapy Tomatoes???? 228/365
Yeah this is what Woolies calls baby Roma tomatoes…
Peach Upside Down Cake, 229/365
At what point did it seem like a good idea to make an upside down cake in a spring form pan….. Common sense did question it but no I was going to be good and follow the recipe. Let’s just say I had a ball cleaning a black sugary mess in the oven…. Upside down cake + spring form pan = mess!
Other than it was quite a success. The recipe is off Taste and here is the link Peach Upside Down Cake. I had almonds on hand but really didn’t feel like breaking out the blender to make almond meal so used hazelnut meal I had on hand instead and I think it made the cake even nicer. Had a slightly nutty flavour. One thing to note though is that I made this cake Thursday night to take to work on Friday. For morning tea, the cake was fantastic, just the right amount of moistness. When it came to divying up the last few slices for afternoon tea the cake was a bit dry.
Looking Up, 230/365
I saw The Blind Side on Friday night – man oh man what a movie. I was happy to see Sandra Bullock win the Oscar, man oh man that dress was gorgeous and the hair!
I was kicking back on my bed when I got home with a million thoughts going through my mind and I was struck to a degree by the way the posters look from below.
A single flower, 231/365
A single flower, a single plant. This dahlia is the only thing in the front garden at Mums currently.
Sore Toe, 232/365
A change from photos of metal adorned teeth… For the last week or so the tip of the toe next to my big toe has been quite sore. I thought my toenail was digging in but trimming the nail didn’t help it all. I just tried to ignore it, thinking that yeah it will get better. It’s no longer sore but when I decided to change my toenail polish on Sunday I discovered why it had been so sore! Check out that bruise! Four days after taking this photo, I can tell you it is a bit darker as well.
Welcome Lights, 233/365
On the same trip to Ikea as the one when I got the curtain fabric I also picked up these Welcome Lights/Christmas Candolier from Ikea for something like $3 after Christmas. I love them! I’m keeping these out all year! A much more modern version than the set my parents brought out from Iceland with them.
Melbourne snow dome, 234/365
I picked up this snowdome for next to nothing at Borders one day. I was going through photos the other day and finally found the perfect photo. In saying that, I’m still trying to decide what photo to put on the other side!
This hat, 235/365
I’ve posted photos of this hat before but I love it too much not to share more. I’ve moved it from hanging on the curtain rod to a hook on my door. Now it greets me when ever I walk into my room! I do wish my head was a few cm smaller so it did fit me.
Yeah, that is a whipper snipper, 236/365
Our lawn had a hair cut today or really it got a buzz cut. I’ld call it a number 4. Before it could be mown they “trimmed” the lawn with a whipper snipper!
It’s hard to believe that I am 236 days into my 365 day quest! When I tried in 2008 I lasted 75 days. I’m just about two thirds of the way through now, really happy with that. 😀
This is the cake that I made last week for birthday at work. A very simple cake to make but oh so very rewarding. I remember the first time I made an orange and almond cake. It was a total disaster. This time though I had a cake that was moist, slightly light (thanks to the whipped egg whites) and gloriously fragrant. This recipe has two slight variations from the Claudia Roden recipe for this cake that made it famous round the world in the form of the orange blossom water and the separated eggs. I could just about have this cake every day with a cup of tea for afternoon tea.
Orange and Almond Cake
2 large oranges
220g almond meal
220g white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
6 eggs, separated
a dash of orange blossom water if needed
Simmer the oranges in water to cover for 1 1/2-2hrs, longer is better as it means the oranges will be softer. Drain the oranges and allow to cool. Cut open, remove the seeds and pith. Puree the oranges in a blender. Heat oven to 180°C. Beat egg yolks and sugar until pale, beat in the orange puree, almond meal and baking powder. Whip the egg whites till you have soft peaks and fold gently into the cake mixture. Pour into a spring form cake pan, at least 20cm, 23cm is better. Bake until the cake has started to pull away from the edges of the pan and is firm to touch – it should take an hour, it may take longer. If the cake starts browning too much, cover with foil. Cool and then dust with icing sugar. Serve with cream if you are feeling decadent or Greek yoghurt if more restrained. If you are faced with oranges that are not very fragrant, add a little orange blossom water.
To make the pattern with the icing sugar, I arranged strips of paper over the cake top and dusted over the paper.
For my birthday at work I had a few requests for the cheesecake I had made before for other birthdays. Yes I am blogging about my birthday oh almost a month after it. Oh it was so delightful.
This is the photo of the wind. I had the photo all planned out in my head. My cake stand on an upturned vase covered by a scarf. It all looked so good through the lens and then as I pressed my finger on the shutter, the wind lifted up the scarf and the cake stand went over the balcony, the cake went onto the table and I just sighed. After nipping down stairs to pick up the broken cake stand, I took the photo again in a slightly more simple manner.
The recipe is almost exactly the same as the cheesecake recipe I have posted before but I added a tin of caramel (either Top’n’Fill or Caramel or a tin of condensed milk converted to caramel)
Caramel Chocolate Baked Cheesecake Crumb Base
1 250g packet scotch fingers
bit of all spice
50g butter/marg
50g copha
2 tbsps or so of cocoa if desired
Melt the butter/marg and copha together.
Crumb scotch fingers till they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Stir through the all spice and cocoa if using. Stir in the melted fat mixture. The mixture of dairy and vegetable fat is used to give a better “crumb” and how it holds together. Press in to the bottom (and sides if desired) of a greased 20cm spring form pan (line the bottom with foil) and chill in the fridge whilst making the filling.
Filling
500g cream cheese
1 x 380g tin caramel
bit of lemon juice
bit of vanilla
4 eggs
2/3C sugar
Cream the cream cheese and caramel till smooth. Add in the vanilla and lemon juice. Beat in the sugar till smooth and then beat in eggs one at a time till mixture is smooth. Pour on top of the base and cook in 160deg oven for 40 mins or until cooked. Run knife round edge of spring form pan and cool overnight.
Topping idea very loved from Smitten Kitchen
50g butter
100g+ chocolate – dark or Cadbury Energy or Lindt 70% etc – Mix it up with a few different chocolates, increase the flavour or use up those half used blocks…
2 tsp honey
You could also very easily add some flavours here such as peppermint extract, mmmm.
Melt all ingredients together in a bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Pour over top of cooled cheesecake and place in fridge for 30mins to set the chocolate topping.
When cutting this cake (due to the chocolate topping) if you want a clean cut you must dip the knife in a glass of hot water after each and every cut.
