Another Christmas filled with gingerbread.

As my last two orders for gingerbread houses left to be devoured by their owners this Christmas, I would like to take this moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season. 


I'm ready to take a well earned break, with a couple weeks off work and my holiday baking hobby finished I'm all set for a few sleep ins, catching up on some reading, preparing for my trip in January and making the most of the warm summer to get to the beach. 

Take care everyone!

Lemon bundt cake

I was testing out a recipe to make on Christmas Day. 

And it was a winner!

 I will post a link to the original recipe here but I did alter it just a little as my bundt pan is only 16cm.

The stickers on my bundt pan said it needed half quantities of recipes that are required by standard 22cm pans.

And how do you halve 3 eggs?

I rarely eat eggs unless it's French toast or in baking of course, and I really don't like throwing good food away even if it's something I won't eat. 

So below is my version of the recipe suitable for a 16cm bundt pan. Double it for your 22 cm pans or follow the original recipe I'm sure it tasted great too!

Lemon bundt cake for 16cm pans

11/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Just under 1 cup sugar
100g soft butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup milk

Lemon Glaze

1 cup icing sugar
1 tbs lemon juice

Bundt cake

• Preheat the oven to 180'C.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and the lemon zest.
• Generously grease and flour the bundt pan.
• In a second mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg, beating well.
• Add the vanilla and lemon juice and beat well again.
• Mixing on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternating with milk. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.
• Pour the batter into the bundt pan.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool the cake for a few minutes in the pan. Place your serving plate over the top of the pan and flip it upside down. Tap the pan gently until the cake releases right. Cool cake completely before glazing.

Lemon Glaze 

• Place icing sugar in a mixing bowl. Add lemon juice and whisk in. You want thick but still pourable - so it flows down the sides of the cake. 
• Glaze the cooled cake.

I will be taking 2 desserts to Christmas Day. The second I haven't tested out as one of my sisters made it recently for her friends so I know it works and tastes great (she has been asked to make it again for her friends Christmas Eve celebrations). I will post that recipe as soon as I have made it. 

I may be linked up at these parties.

So excited.......

10 minute vanilla slice

A friend of mine posted a link to this recipe via Facebook and I just needed to try it. 

Regular vanilla slice (or snot block as it is usually called around here) is just a little to rich for me. If cake shops made them with half the amount of custard I would be so happy but this is a great alternative. 

It's not an actual custard filling - it's a mix of whipped cream and vanilla pudding which makes it that bit lighter in texture. 

It all comes together very fast and just needs to be chilled until serving. It can last 4-5 days easily stored in the fridge and gets better as the days go on as the biscuit layers soften up a little. 

Ingredients

1 packet lattice biscuits

300 mls cream

1 cup of milk

1 packet instant vanilla pudding

2 cups Icing sugar

Flavour for icing- see options below or make up your own!

Method

Lay biscuits shiny side up in the base of a 22-23 cm square pan.

In a mixing bowl whip cream to soft peaks then add milk and instant pudding mix. Whip for a few minutes until thick and fluffy. Spread the vanilla cream filling on to the biscuits and top with a second layer, shiny side up.

Mix icing sugar with
1/2 tin passion fruit pulp

Or 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract and water 

to make a thick icing that is still pourable and spread over the biscuits. 

Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours

Slice before the icing is completely set to prevent cracking and return to fridge until required. 

I made 2 batches of this vanilla slice within 6 days and none went to waste. 

The second batch I didn't slice until the following day and the icing cracked, resulting in less pleasant looking slices but it still tasted great. 

The icing options are totally up to you. I like the passion fruit but friends were raised with their "snot blocks" being vanilla icing either plain white or tinted pink. 

Mix it up and try any flavour you want.  

Mmm I'm thinking chocolate.....

You may notice the boxes in the container. I didn't have a square cake tray so I used my Tupperware cake container and lined it with baking paper. To keep the edges straight I wedged some boxes from the pantry into the gaps and this worked a treat. 
I did purchase a square tray for the second batch. 

I may be linked up at these parties.