easy does it

It has been ages…mainly because at the moment I borrow MD’s camera to take the shots on here, so capturing my baking can become sporadic…. but I am going to make a big effort to change that. As you can see from the few pictures I posted below I have been having a lot of fun, the winter here has been truly beautiful, an awesome season of warm weeks full of sunshine mixed with rainy days perfect for growing our winter veggies!

In-between invigorating walks on the beach, putting on the gumboots to visit the sheep in the backyard and making birthday cakes I also went to my parents house and watched MM whip up a delicious sultana cake - talk about inspiring! Sometimes it’s nice to put the fondant icing away and get back to basics. I don’t know if mine will ever be as good as MM’s, she makes baking look as inherent as breathing but, here is my version of a good old classic. Thanks Mum!

INDIVIDUAL ‘AFTERNOON TEA’ SULTANA CAKES
a.k.a. ‘grab a cup of tea & a good book’

earl grey tea
400g or 1 packet of sultanas
1 tsp of baking soda
200g of unsalted butter
1 cup of white sugar
zest of 1 orange
3 free range eggs
2 cups of flour
1 ½ tsp of baking powder
pinch of salt

* pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan-bake (350°F/320°F fan-bake)
* grease & line a 12 cup muffin pan
* make a cup of earl grey tea and pour it over the sultanas, put aside to soak and cool
* sift together flour, baking powder and salt, put aside
* in a separate bowl cream butter, sugar & zest until it is light & fluffy
* beat in eggs one at a time
* add baking soda to the bowl of sultanas, mix together and then add the sultanas and the tea to the batter
* add the sifted flour and gently stir until everything is combined
* divide the cake batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups
* bake for 25-30mins

Once these tasty cakes are cool you can ice them with an orange glaze


or if you can’t wait, serve warm with butter straight away! YUM