MUM'S CRAZY CARROT CAKE

This recipe is super easy and super fast to make. In fact the most prep time is spent peeling the carrots!

Prep Time: 10 min

Baking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups flour
• 2t baking powder
• 2t bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1t cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 4 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1 ½ cups sunflower oil
• 1t vanilla essence
• 3 cups grated carrots (about 7 medium carrots)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180^o Celsius.
2. In a large bowl, sieve together the dry ingredients
3. Add the eggs, oil & vanilla essence. Mix well.
4. Stir in the grated carrots.
5. Grease a 22cm square cake tin. (it is worthwhile lining the tin with greaseproof paper cut to size).
6. Pour in the batter. It will be quite thick and sticky.
7. Put into the oven and bake for 1 hour. Remember that all ovens are different, so start checking the cake after about 50 minutes.
8. You know the cake is cooked when you poke a skewer into the cake and it comes out clean.
9. Take the cake out the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes before turning it out of the tin.

You can eat the cake plain or pile on the kilojoules with cream cheese icing:

For the icing:

• 250g plain cream cheese (1 tub)
• 125g butter (1/4 of a 500g brick) at room temperature
• 4 cups icing sugar (Or one 500g packet)
• 1t vanilla essence

Method:

1. Check that you have plain cream cheese. Trust me, black pepper flavor just doesn’t do the trick!
2. Mix all the icing ingredients together and put in the fridge to thicken.
3. Ice the cake once the cake has cooled completely.

OLD FASHIONED BANANA BREAD

So you have some bananas sitting in the fruit bowl getting old and no-one wants to eat them because the skin is turning black? Perfect for making this simple old-fashioned recipe thats sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
 
Ingredients:

• 125g butter or margarine
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 t vanilla essence
• 1 t bicarbonate of soda
• Big pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons soured milk (normal milk works just fine)
• All your overripe bananas (at least 3, but more is fine), mashed up

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180^O Celcius.
2. With an electric beater, mix together the butter and sugar till a nice creamy consistency.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and milk, then the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Lastly mix in the banana.
5. Spoon the mixture (its quite thick) into a loaf pan (although you could use any baking tin you have - who says it has to be a loaf?)
6. Bake for one hour. A skewer inserted into the loaf should come out clean.
7. Turn it out onto a rack to cool for a few minutes.
8. Best eaten hot with lashings of butter!

 

 

HEAVENLY (AND EASY) CHOCOLATE CAKE

This really is the easiest, most heavenly tasting rich chocolate cake. It turns out perfectly every time. In our house it gets polished off within a day. You can ice it with chocolate frosting or pour over some melted chocolate. Its also wonderful eaten plain with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. The trick to its sucess is making sure the egg whites are well beaten with an electric beater till stiff.

(Oh, and to make sure credit is given where it is due, this recipe comes from the back of a Nestle Cocoa Tin)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• ½ cup hot water
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3 Eggs (separated)
• 1 cup Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 205^o Celsius.
2. Grease one 22cm (9 inch) cake tin with some oil or margerine. The springform ones work well.
3. Mix cocoa and hot water together and allow to cool.
4. Separate the eggs. The easiest way to do this is to crack them into a saucer and put a small cup or glass over the yolk and pour off the egg white into a bowl.
5. Whip the egg whites till stiff.
6. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
7. In another bowl, mix together the egg yolk, oil, sugar, vanilla and cocoa mixture. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix well.
8. With a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the rest of the mixture (fold just means stir it in gently by hand).
9.  Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
10.  Check if it is done by sticking a skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out dry, the cake is done.
11. Don’t forget to lick the mixing bowl. The batter tastes divinely chocolaty.

SNICKERDOODLES

This recipe comes from recipes.com. According to their instructions it makes 25 cookies, but we made 60 biscuits. It all depends on how big you want them to be. It a really nice easy recipe, but oh, so unhealthy (which makes them taste all the better).

Prep Time: 15 min

Cooking Time: 10 min

Ingredients:

·         1 cup margarine
·         1 ½ cup sugar
·         2 eggs

·         2 ¾cup self-rising flour

·         2 teaspoons cream of tartar

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         ¼teaspoon salt

 

Coating:

 

·        2 tablespoons sugar

·        2 teaspoons cinnamon

 

Directions:

 

1.     Mix the cinnamon with the sugar in a bowl and set aside.

2.     Mix the margarine, sugar and eggs.

3.     Add the dry ingredients and form small balls.

4.     Roll the balls in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

5.     Place on a baking sheet 5 centimeters apart (they spread as they bake).

6.    Bake for 8-10 minutes at 190^o Celsius (375^o Farenheit) till they are just turning    golden brown. Some ovens may take a bit longer, but you need to watch carefully.

7.     Remove from the tray immediately with a spatula and put on a rack to cool.

ENJOY!

SUNDAY NIGHT PIZZA

Sunday nights at our house are always pizza night. We all get involved. I get to help make and roll out the dough. Here's the recipe:

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

 

For the dough:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 15g Packet (3 t) instant yeast
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of sugar
• Warm water

 Method:

1. Put all the ingredients together in a big bowl with enough warm water to make it all stick together.
2. Play with it for a bit, then leave it to rise - normally this is the time for mummy to have a glass of wine. When her wine is finished, the dough is ready!

For the tomato sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 tin peeled tomatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 desertspoon of olive oil
• Garlic if you like it
• Some herbs (fresh is best, but the dried italian herbs work just as well).

Method:

1. Throw it all in a pot. Switch the stove to medium heat - the middle of off and high and leave to bubble for about ten minutes. Use the magimix machine to make it all smooth and leave to cool.

 

When you are ready to put your pizza together, turn the oven to 200 degrees celcius.

Roll out your dough as thick or thin as you like. (Leftover dough freezes really well ready for the next pizza night). Spoon on some tomato sauce (and freeze the rest). Then put on your favourite toppings. We keep it simple with some mushrooms and onion and green pepper). Cover it all with grated cheese and bake for 30 minutes. Its really good folks.

EASIEST SPONGE CAKE RECIPE EVER

This recipe is from spoonful.com. It really is fabulous and comes out perfect every time. To make a change, you can always stir in the juice of one orange and some grated orange zest (peel) before pouring into the baking pan.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2-1/2 cups      flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350° F/ 180°C. I like to use two round 22cm spring form cake pans and grease them with cooking oil. Or use a 30cm square tin to make one cake and line it with wax paper and grease the paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan(s).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool completely before covering with frosting, if desired.