Cake # 5 - Coconut & Lime Cake

Well it's been five weeks since we got back from Thailand and the tan has well and truly faded. Winter has hit us hard this week with a real cold snap and I'm wishing I was back in the sunshine of Phuket!
Well, if I can't be in Phuket then I'll just have to bake a cake with a tropical theme to make up for it....so here it is - The Coconut & Lime Cake.

I had a lovely morning with some good friends who popped by for coffee .... and cake.
Thanks girls it was so much fun - come again soon!!

Coconut & Lime Cake.


1 1/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 cup shredded coconut
150g butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
125ml fresh lime juice
1T grated lime rind


Cream together butter (softened) and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add lime juice and grated lime rind. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add sour cream and mix.
Pour into a 20cm lined and greased cake tin and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 50 minutes or until cooked through (skewer inserted comes out clean).
Transfer to a cooling rack and ice with cream cheese icing.


Sprinkle cake with shredded coconut and lime rind.

Cake # Four - Chilli Chocolate Cake

What kind of cake could warm you up on a cold morning more than a Chilli Chocolate Cake. We bought a Chilli plant last week and it inspired me to search for a cake recipe that used chillis. I'm a bit of a fan of hot chocolate with chilli from Patagonia in Queenstown, so naturally this cake appealed to me.
After a quick and chilly trip out on the farm to catch the early morning light it was great to thaw out inside again and get down to a wee bit of baking.

 It was SO cold out there this morning that I was actually looking forward to getting back inside to start baking - who would have thought I'd ever look forward to baking!!

 Last week I brushed off my Gran's silver cake forks, so this week it's a wee tribute to my Grandi who used to make all sorts of things out of wood.....when we got married he gave us the utensils, the utensil container and the egg holder. It's so special to me to have treasures in my home that my loved ones have made for me.

 
    From this...... to this.... I know which one I'd rather be nibbling on.

    Just a wee peek at my little corner of the world as it looks in the middle of winter.
    Loving that moody sky

Have a great weekend everyone and keep warm.  See you all next week for Cake # FIVE!!

Lisa xox

Phuket - Holiday Perfection.

We counted down to our holiday in Phuket for weeks, okay maybe it was months, but here we are, home again and it's all just a distant memory. But what a great memory it is to store away. We holidayed with my cousins and their families. There is only six months between us and growing up we always had such a lot of fun whenever we got together and this was no exception. It was so great to see our kids having the same kind of fun together that we used to have and building family memories that will last another generation.
Phuket was an amazing place to visit. I was a little apprehensive about what it would be like, maybe I read too many travel guides. I was expecting to be struck down by all kinds of nasty travellers bugs, bitten by mossies, snakes, dogs and monkeys, not to mention having to dodge locals trying to scam foreigners like us. But, what do you now, all that worrying was for nothing (the story of my life) and we had the best ever time. The resort where we stayed was just perfect - The Centara Grand in Karon Beach had everything you could possibly need and more. The kids had a ball with all the swimming pools, water slides and their very own lazy river - in fact we hardly saw them. We took a trip out to Phi Phi Islands for some swimming and snorkelling and to visit Maya Bay where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. Such amazing scenery! We shopped, had massages, manicures, pedicures and rode elephants..... a perfect holiday!! Special thanks to my lovely cousins for organising the whole thing.

Cake # Three

Well here we are again....Baking Day. This week has just sped by and I've had to leave the housework today in favour of baking cake number three. For those of you new to my blog, I have set myself a wee challenge, each week I am baking a cake in the hope that my baking abilities will improve.
Three weeks and three cakes into the challenge and today's cake is a Coffee Cake!!
And in honour of it being my third cake I have dusted off my Gran's lovely old cake forks. Who knows, I might get the polish out and have them all shiny for you next week.

So.....afternoon tea is at 4pm if you're in the mood for some COFFEE CAKE.

See you all next week for Cake # Four .... now what kind of cake will it be?


RECIPE - COFFEE CAKE

3t instant coffee
1T boiling water
75g butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t vanilla essence
3 eggs, separated
1c flour
3T cornflour
1t baking powder
3T milk

Dissolve coffee in boiling water. Cream butter, sugar, coffee mixture and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Sift flour, cornflour and baking powder together. Add sifted ingreadients to creamed mixture alternately with the egg whites. Stir in mil. Pour cake moxture into two greased and lined 20cm sponge sandwich tins. Bake at 190 degrees celcius for 20-25 minutes or until cakes springs back when lightly touched. Leave in tin to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Fill with mock cream and ice with coffee icing. Decorate with walnut pieces.

Mock Cream.

50g butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1/4 t vanilla essence or 1t grated lemon rind.
Put all ingredients in a bowl and beat until thick.

Coffee Icing

2 cups icing sugar
1/4 t butter
2t instant coffee dissolved in 1T hot water
1T hot water
1/4 t vanilla essence

Sift icing sugar into a bowl, add butter, add coffee mixture, water and vanilla and mix until smooth.

Recipe from Edmunds Cook Book.

Cake # 2

On with the cake baking challenge...with loads of support from my family.
This week's cake is a Carrot Cake, sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries.
No Teacher Only Day today, so a bit short of little helpers in the kitchen. Sure they'll be close by when it's time to cut the cake. Not to worry, I battled through on my own and here is the finished result...
Tune in again next week to see Cake # 3.
Happy Friday everyone.

RECIPE - CARROT CAKE.



4 cups grated raw carrot
2 1/4 cups brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
2t vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
5t cinnamon
2t baking soda
1t salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix together carrots, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Add all dry ingredients, mix gently until just mixed. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into greased and lined cake tin and bake at 180 degrees celcius or until skewer comes out of cake clean. Cool cake completely and ice with cream cheese icing - I used the recipe from the good old Edmunds Cook Book. This recipe makes one large or two small cakes.
I also sprinkled the iced cake pumpkin seeds and chopped dried cranberries.

Cream Cheese Icing

2T butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 t grated lemon rind

Beat butter and cream cheese together until creamy. Mix in icing sugar and lemon rind, beating well to combine.

A Very Royal High Tea

This weekend our neighbours hosted a Royal High Tea in honour of the Queen's birthday. We all dressed up in our finery, put on our poshest accents and played at being royal for the afternoon.
Eight good friends and lots of laughs - so, so much fun dahlings!!