Doodge's Israeli Yoghurt Cake

My friend Doodge (Lisa is her proper name) made this cake for me years ago and as soon as I tasted it I HAD to have the recipe.  She very kindly shared it with me and I have been happily making this cake ever since. It's delicious! It's not what I call an 'in your face cake', it's subtle, understated and very very moreish. It's best eaten warm with a big dollop of vanilla yoghurt on top. It's got a lot of yoghurt in it and layers of cinnamon, brown sugar and pecan nuts in-between. This time round all the pecans slid into the middle of the cake for some reason and were not as evenly distributed as I would have liked, but it was still very yummy!

My friend, Doodge and I live very far away from each other now, the last time I saw her was over 2 years ago! I miss her friendship everyday and feel like she's in the kitchen with me whenever I make this cake.

Pre oven...

Post oven...

Pecan Nut Pies

My second lot of baking this December is for my work colleagues. I am very privileged to work at an amazing school here in Perth. It's one of the best private schools in the state and I have learned so much since I began working there two years ago. Some of it has been really challenging but most of it has been great!

I am lucky to work with such wonderful people, they are inspiring and supportive and I feel valued by them. So at the end of the year I like to give them a little tasty morsel to nibble on whilst reading my Thank You/Christmas card. I had been thinking about what to make for quite some time but just couldn't decide so I hopped onto a few baking blogs for some ideas. While I was reading one of my favourite blogs, Bakerella I saw that she had been baking Pecan Pies, this inspired me and I decided that I would make some of these babies for my work friends. So here are my very own versions...

Plum Tray Bake with White Chocolate Custard

So I'm am filled with the joys of Christmas, it is my favourite time of year! The weather has warmed up, but it's not too hot, school is almost done with and a wonderful 8 week holiday awaits me. Oh what I shall do with those weeks! 

So I have been putting all my happiness into decorating our little house, dabbling in a little present buying and baking (of course!). 

Putting it all into Perspective

So I had a call from a church to ask if I wouldn't mind baking for their Breast Cancer Fundraiser. The church is the one my sister and her husband attended before they moved to KL and I had baked something for their morning tea fundraiser last year. My aunt lost her battle with Leukaemia in June 2005 and so I feel a personal connection with anything cancer-realated and am more than happy to contribute towards the cause when I can.

So this year instead of a tea party the church was having a fashion show/ cocktail party. I decided that whatever I baked had to be small, preferably bite-sized and delicious... cake pops came to mind. Now these little guys seem to have taken the baking world by storm, they are just about everywhere! I have never made them, but have heard a lot about them and have watched numerous tutorials on YouTube. So I had some idea of what they involved. I decided I'd make cake pops. 

My first mistake was not doing a trial run, I thought "how hard can this be, it's just smooshed up cake", WRONG, there is some technique involved and I should have done a trial before the actual day! Second of all I "winged" the recipe and used chocolate ganache icing with one batch and buttercream with the other. I would not use ganache again, it doesn't refrigerate hard enough like butter cream does, so the pop stick pushed through the other side of the ball. Third mistake was my dipping chocolate consistency. Mine was too thick and I was unsure as to how much shortening I could add without ruining the chocolate.

The pictures below speak for themselves...

Everything going just fine at this point....

Things begin to go horribly wrong, my stress levels begin to rise...

Some worked (buttercream ones) and others failed dismally. At this point I took a step back and thought that I should just give up, I was thinking "How do I always seem to get myself into these situations?" I then remembered why I was doing this, to raise funds for cancer research. I got to thinking  about my Aunt, and how, she being a great baker, would have given anything on this earth to be baking failing cake pops at that very moment, maybe with one of her grandchildren. But she can't, and never will.

 It put things in perspective for me and spurred me on. I was not going to give up, I had to make a Plan B! This is where I think my training as an Early Learning teacher came in, as there always needs to be a Plan B, C, D and sometimes E with small children! So I gathered up my failed cake balls, melted more chocolate, re-dipped the balls and made them into cake bites. I sprinkled them with glitter and tidied them up. 

 On my way to the church to drop them off I witnessed a beautiful sunset. It made me so grateful for my life, for the blessings I have, it put things into a bigger perspective for me, I am one small person who had a bad day in the kitchen! How hard is my life, if that is the worst of my problems? Not hard at all me thinks! 

The cake pops and bites went down well, I had positive feedback from the guests. I also learned quite a few lessons that day!

Wedding Bells a'ringing

Its been a busy few weeks of baking, I have had this job planned for ages, my friend's wedding cakes. I love baking for special people, especially on an important day like a wedding day. But it certainly puts the pressure on and by the time it comes to the final set up on the stand I am exhausted and stressed to the max. I guess it's because I want everything to be just perfect and it never seems to be the case! I have learned that things rarely go to plan and there is always a last minute detail that I have neglected to attend to or forgotten. This time round it was the fresh flowers for the cake and the table! Thankfully my dear hubby was there to save the day!

I made three flavours; Raspberry and White chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Orange and finally Black Bottom. In hind-sight I think I should have left out the Black Bottom. They were a new discovery on my trip to England this year and I have not yet perfected them. I was not very confident and regretted making them for such an important occasion.

It was also the first time I had made cakes for a non-family member and attended the event, not sure that I would do that again! Watching all those strangers eating the cupcakes right in front of me was excruciating! I was imagining all their thoughts and comments and just wanted to run and hide!

But all in all everything went fine and I was reasonably happy with how it all turned out.
Phew!

When Life Throws You Lemons!

I was given a wonderful big bag of home grown lemons from one of my students last week. I love these sorts of gifts, they instantly make me feel happy and the first thing I think about is what I can make with them.


I received an order from a colleague over the weekend for these cupcakes and some Friands. To be honest I have had a pretty rough past few weeks at work and was looking forward to a relaxed weekend, free from demands and deadlines, so when I received the order I was not that excited at first. But once I got my trusty Kenwood out from her home and started measuring and mixing I started to relax and really enjoy myself. I was immediately in my happy place! I think part of my enjoyment was using my new mini cupcake pan for the first time! I have been meaning to get one for some time now and finally just went off and got one. I LOVE IT! These tiny babies are mouthfuls of golden delicious lemony-ness! Perfect for tea time with the ladies. I can see myself using this pan often! After beginning not being that keen on having to do anything for anyone, I actually had so much fun and feel excited about the week ahead (not sure if that is more because holidays await me at the end of it!!) 


So now I'm off to make myself a cup of tea......

Peach and Buttermilk Heaven

This cake was bit of a surprise! It was a recipe my aunt found and wanted to try out. I went to stay with her and my uncle for a long weekend and we decided to give it a go! And boy am I glad we did! It was truly scrumptious! I love trying new recipes, it's the thrill of not really knowing how it's going to turn out! It's great when it all comes together and you end up with a great new recipe to add to the collection.

 It was also the first time using my fancy new camera I had recently got for my birthday. The photos are not as good as Hannah's but I am learning and hoping to get a lot better!