Baking is something that I can find time for. Mainly because you can put baby to sleep, then begin measuring, then go put baby back to sleep, do rest of measuring, then mix and put in oven. You’ve then got some blog reading, laundry folding TV watching time and if baby does wake up, that’s ok, because all you have to do is take it out of the oven (and later on, enjoy).
Still, I’ve only found the time for baking 3 times in the past while and I definitely eased myself into it, starting with “Laurence’s Fruitcake” from the awesome book Tips from your Nana. It only has 3 ingredients!
1) 1kg of mixed dried fruits (I used random pantry fruit, about 40% was prunes, so plum cake 😉
2) 2c Leftover liquid (weak tea made with a preused teabag)
3) 2-3c self-raising flour (3c plain flour 3t baking powder)
I food processed my fruit into a more cake friendly size and then left it overnight soaking in the tea. The next day I mixed in the flour, put some chopped walnuts on top and baked it. It made a *super* fruity cake. Plus, all those prunes surely keep one regular!
Next thing I made was the Edmonds‘ Banana Loaf. I had some bananas in the freezer. I don’t like bananas that are too ripe, so this is one way to make sure they get used. Plus, putting them in the freezer means I can use them when it’s convenient for me. I substituted in 1c of wholemeal flour and added 1t of ground ginger. I like adding the wholemeal flour, it gives it a bit of a nuttier taste. Next time I will add more ginger, couldn’t tell it was there. This was a tasty, not too sweet and filling loaf. Perfect for one who needs to eat quickly! I had it for breakfast and snacks until it was gone. Mum and Beau helped.
Now my baking confidence was back, I was able to do something a little more challenging, I made a gluten free chocolate cake for Muggle’s birthday. I adapted two recipes (the Edmonds “Rich Chocolate cake” and this Healthy Food Guide one). I put it in a silicon 20cm cake dish, this was a little small for the cake and it rose and cracked on top, which was fine, I just cut that off and iced the nice even shaped cake I had left. Beau and I ate the extra bits for dessert with icecream and left over icing.
Giffy’s Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
150g softened butter
3/4c brown sugar
1t vanilla essence
5 eggs, seperated
150g dark chocolate, melted
70g ground almonds (1 packet or 3/4c)
1c Rice flour
1t baking powder
1/2c cocoa
1/2c milk
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and milk. Sift and mix in almonds, flour, baking powder and cocoa. Mix in melted chocolate. In another bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold them into the chocolate mixture. Pour into your cake tin and bake at 190degC for 20min, then reduce heat to 150degC and bake for a further 35min or until firm.
Chocolate Cream cheese icing
50g butter
125g cream cheese
2c icing sugar
2T cocoa
a dash of kahlua
Mix the butter and cream cheese together first, then add everything else. This made *way* more icing than I needed. Also the kahlua didn’t make much difference, should have been a more generous *dash*.
Point of Fashion: On my own (and breastfeeding)
Current Obsession: Beau’s lent vegetarianism begins tomorrow!
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