Classic Carrot and Pineapple Cake, perfect for a Springtime celebration or just anytime

 

Look carefully, as yes there is a delicious Carrot and Pineapple Cake hiding under all of the edible flowers, fruit, foliage and cream cheese icing. Let's celebrate the arrival of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere on the 1st September, with cake, dressed up in time for the Spring carnival. It seems like Spring here already, with the warmer weather, hence I am sharing this with you a few days early.

Air Fryer Pork Belly with Chinese Five Spice

Are you ready for my latest Air Fryer recipe? Crackling good Pork Belly flavoured with  Chinese Five Spice is absolutely delicious cooked in the Air Fryer. We couldn't get enough of this incredibly tasty pork with the perfect crackle, and I love the unique flavours of the Chinese five spice.

The Lemon Bar Slice

I thought about calling this a Lemon Curd slice because the lemon topping tastes just like delicious lemon curd to me. If you love the tangy and sweet flavours of lemon curd, then you will adore this slice. However, as I didn't make the lemon topping the same way that I would make a batch of lemon curd, either in the microwave or on the stovetop,  I thought it might be misleading. Despite the deliberation, here we have a beautiful lemon curd like topping on a crunchy biscuit base, all in one. What could be better?

Blueberry and Polenta Muffins

Treat yourself to some delicious and easy to bake Blueberry and Polenta muffins this weekend. You will be so pleased you did. Blueberries are the perfect fruit to add to a muffin batter because of their colour, flavour and size, and even though blueberries aren't grown around here in North Queensland, except for a few native bushes that people might grow, I used frozen ones, and they worked perfectly.

Double Ginger Scones with Currants #ISW 2025

 Dear Friends, If you think you have seen this recipe before, you just might have. I have posted it before, quite recently, and I am now submitting it for the very important International Scone Week event, #ISW 2025.

 Eaten when warm and aromatic, straight out of the oven especially on a cool morning, they are a little crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the sprinkle of raw sugar as a topping gives them a slightly discernable crunch.

Peach and Sour Cream Cake

This really is the perfect afternoon tea cake to eat with Chantilly Cream, and is also suitable as a luscious dessert served with Crème Diplomat. You could say I'm feeling peachy that I persevered and that after two baking sessions I baked this cake to my complete satisfaction. The cooking notes below will give you some explanation of what happened with the first attempt, but I was over the moon that this cake was absolutely delicious after I made a couple of changes to the original recipe. 

In My Tropical Kitchen, August 2025

As I write my monthly IMK post, which is more of a newsletter this time really, I am calmly enjoying the satisfaction of knowing that I have a large pot of my Tomato Marinara Sauce simmering away in the Slow Cooker, and a large saucepan of Scottish Red Lentil Soup bubbling away on the stovetop. It's been a productive morning, and an economical use of my time preparing both dishes at the same time.