French Pear Cake

 

This is just a quick post late on a windy Sunday afternoon, to share with you a cake which is a firm favourite of mine. The soft and tender cake combined with juicy pears will leave you wanting a second slice. 

Frying Pan Lemon Tart recipe

 

My take anywhere, lovely Lemon Tart is initially cooked in a frying pan on the stovetop, and then transferred to the oven to bake for only 15 minutes. So simple to make. It's packed with delightful lemon citrus flavours and is luscious and light to eat. It reminds me of a Lemon Delicious Dessert cheesecake, without the lemon sauce. 

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.

Double Ginger Scones with Currants

 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.

Nigella's Apricot Almond Cake with Rosewater and Pistachio

There's only one Nigella Lawson, and this delicious, fragrant and beguiling cake is one of my all time favourites of her many cakes. With the apricots shining like jewels on the surface along with the chopped Pistachios, and the beautiful flavours of Rosewater and Cardamon within, this cake could proudly be served as the finishing touch to a Middle Eastern Banquet, or as an afternoon tea treat.

Chocolate Oatmeal Biscuits or Cookies

 

These Chocolate Oatmeal biscuits are everything that I love about a biscuit. When I made this latest batch with the addition of Dutch Chocolate powder, I realised they are perfect to also enjoy for breakfast, and I don't usually eat cakes or biscuits at the start of my day. 

Sultana and Apple Scones with Lemon Curd #ISW2023

 

International Scone Week 2023 is a celebration of scone making, and a shout out to all those cooks who have enjoyed baking a great scone over the years. The perfect scone is a joyeus thing.  Let's have a sconversation about scone making, over a cup of tea and a delicious scone with lemon curd, or jam and thickened cream if that's what you prefer. The perfect scone should have puffy height, a soft, tender crumb, and shouldn't flake like a biscuit. This Sultana and Apple scone ticked all of those boxes.

Pear, Walnut and Chocolate Cake

It's St. Valentine's Day today and the Mahjong girls came over to our house this afternoon for the weekly round of games, so chocolate had to be in the ingredients for the cake I chose to bake. I also had some beautiful Corella pears which had been in my refrigerator crisper for over a week, which is normally unheard of, so it had to primarily be a Pear cake. 

Middle Eastern Spiced Date, Walnut and Chocolate Loaf

Date and Walnut Loaf is quite a classic loaf cake to bake, and I've given this a subtle Middle Eastern flavour by adding Baharat spice powder instead of Mixed Spice, and I've also added a dessertspoon of cocoa to bring an added depth of flavour and colour to the loaf.

Honey Chocolate Cake, Bee Keeping in the Tropics, and our Honey Harvest

Hello to all Chocolate Cake lovers. I'm not a chocoholic, in fact I can give or take chocolate most of the time, but it is one of life's little luxuries along with honey. However, I do love a slice of Chocolate Cake. On the weekend, when I had a craving for chocolate and chocolate cake I was unaware of what was to follow. 

Raspberry, Oat and Cinnamon Muffins

 

This recipe starts out as a healthy and simple muffin mix, and transforms into something delicious with the addition of Raspberries and rolled oats, or Blueberries and oats, or dried Fig and cinnamon, or whatever you have on hand, or whatever floats your boat at the time really. 

Aussie Shearers' Pikelets on the Run

Eating freshly cooked pikelets after school, with butter dripping from them, is a fond childhood memory of mine. I made this batch of pikelets and a batch of my Aussie Damper scones early on the morning of Bee day, the day we extracted our first batch of honey from our bees, (my last story on my blog). I was  thinking that we would all need a good morning tea after the work was done, and I was right. I'm always thinking ahead with food.

Orange Yoghurt Cake, Simply Sweet

Do you feel like whipping up a delicious cake for afternoon tea today, after all it is Sunday. I always feel that if there is any day you can justify indulging in morning or afternoon tea with cake, it's today. This is a traditional kind of cake, but with the addition of yoghurt and beaten egg whites, and topped off with delicious orange flavoured icing and grated orange zest. With all of the citrus around, and oranges in my fruit bowl, my choice of cake had to be orange. The yoghurt and egg whites give this cake a very light but firm texture and it will keep fresh in your cake tin for a few days, if you can hide it that is. In my house, cake never lasts long, but it's really nice to know it is there to offer our friends who might just call in for a cuppa.




I know I just said that Sunday is a perfect day for cake for afternoon tea, however I made this cake for last Tuesday afternoon when our weekly Mahjong "tournament" was being held at my place. We take turns in each others homes. So Chris, Marj, Jill, and Lou all arrived for Mahjong, we played a couple of games and then Mr. HRK my resident barista did his thing and made us all perfect flat white espresso coffees, with a little coffee art added as well, which went beautifully with the orange cake. Nobody wants tea when he makes coffee. Neil roasts the imported coffee beans himself at least once every week, and then using our Rancilio coffee machine, he  makes a very nice coffee. However he does say that it is really the Italian Coffee Grinder that makes the difference. I am very lucky, as each morning I am treated to a great coffee here at home. We rarely go out just for coffee here in Mackay, unless I occasionally meet a friend for a catchup. It certainly saves a lot of money and honestly I think that there are a lot of coffee shops around now serving very average coffee. Do you go out for coffee much my friends, or do you prefer to have it at home as well?




Orange Cake recipe

Ingredients:

125 g butter
1 good tablespoon grated orange rind
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs, separated
2 cups self raising flour
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup plain yoghurt

ORANGE ICING

1 1/2 cups icing sugar
30g softened butter
2 tablespoons orange juice, or a little more if needed

 Let's cook:

Grease a 14cm x 21cm loaf pan, line the base and the sides with baking paper. Grease the paper well.

Cream the butter, the orange rind and the sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. ( I have a small portable mixer just for this kind of job. My kitchen aid bowl is too large to mix this quantity. )

Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.

Meanwhile mix together the orange juice and the yoghurt in a separate small bowl.

Transfer the butter, sugar and egg mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in by hand half the sifted flour and half the orange juice and yoghurt which you have mixed together. Stir in the remaining flour and yoghurt mixture.

Beat the egg whites in a clean and dry small bowl until soft peaks form. This won't take long at all at a high speed. Fold lightly into the cake mixture in two lots.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin.

Bake in a slow oven (150 deg. C.) or (300 deg F.) for 75 minutes, and test it with a skewer to see if it is cooked.

Stand for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool. Spread the cold cake with icing.




Orange icing:

Combine the sifted icing sugar and butter in a medium sized bowl. Stir in enough juice to mix the icing to a spreadable consistency. If it is too moist, add a little more icing sugar until it is a spreadable consistency. Remember the cake must be cold before you spread the icing onto it or it will all slide off.





Have a great Sunday wherever you are.

Best wishes,

Pauline

xxx

Delectable Lime Syrup Cake

Aren't you just loving that limes are in season? I picked the limes for this cake fresh from my potted lime tree. I must tell you, our young mate Dylan who lives two doors up, came to visit just before, seemed a bit tired after a full week at school, he's in Grade 7, and obviously needed some sugar because he asked me, very politely, "Pauline have you baked anything nice this week?"...... I generally have some thing baked I can give him to try, he's a very generous critic, but unfortunately this time the pantry and the freezer were bare of sweet things.

Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue slice {gluten free}

This slice might be gluten free but nothing is missing where flavour and deliciousness is concerned. A  chewy chocolate base is blanketed with a layer of Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread, and then with a layer of light and fluffy Meringue. It is a cinch to make even though there are three layers to this slice. Using Nutella is a shortcut that I might use more often.

We have just enjoyed a weekend with family visiting and all the food that I cooked for them needed to be gluten free. So with a little bit of research and imagination this slice surfaced from taste.com.au and it really did exceed my expectations. Everyone loved it which is always satisfying. I served this for afternoon tea however it would also be brilliant served warm as a dessert. Just cut it into larger slices though or offer seconds. I hope you can find time to make this slice as I promise you will enjoy it.

Slice ingredients:

Makes 12

125g butter, melted
1 cup brown or raw sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup gluten-free self-raising flour
3/4 cup ground hazelnuts (hazelnut meal)
2 tablespoons sifted cocoa powder

3/4 cup Nutella

Meringue
2 egg whites (room temperature)
1/2 cup caster sugar

Use an 18 cm x 28 cm (base) slice pan.

Let's cook:

Preheat your oven to 180 deg. C./160 deg. fan-forced. Line the base of the slice tin with baking paper, allowing an extra 3cm at the sides.

Combine the first seven slice ingredients in a medium sized bowl (butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, ground hazelnuts, and cocoa powder).  Pour into the lined slice tin and spread evenly over the base with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 25 minutes until the top is just firm to the touch. It may shrink away from the sides slightly. While still hot, spread with Nutella. Set aside to cool in the tin.

Increase the oven temperature to 220 deg.C or 200 deg. fan forced.
To make the meringue, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
Gradually add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and keep beating until the sugar is dissolved.
Spoon the meringue onto the Nutella and spread over. Swirl the meringue mixture forming small peaks with a spatula.

Bake for 5 minutes or until firm and golden.

Cool in the tin and them cut into squares.



I stored mine in a container in the refrigerator as I was concerned the meringue might separate from the nutella layer during the day as the weather is warming up. The slice was perfect to serve after being refrigerated.

Life should start returning to normal now I hope. I had a wonderful two weeks in Perth with my son and little Grandson, but have been recovering from a head cold ever since. The Mediterranean Winters in Perth can be very cold and very wet, and then before they know it the hot summers have arrived. Needless to say I am enjoying the milder Winter of the Tropical North once again, and feeling much better.

I hope your week is going well.

Best wishes

Pauline

Apple and Sour Cream Cake Slice

I had a busy day planned and I needed a slice on the table for morning tea. I've been wanting to make this one ever since Mr. HRK's sister Suzanne, who lives in Toowoomba baked it for afternoon tea for us. We stayed for a couple of nights with Sue on our way through at the beginning of our long road trip, only a few months ago. It was so delicious, not overly sweet, and very much appreciated after a long drive that day, so I wrote down the recipe for when we came home. I'll admit that I had to call Sue when I decided to make it to clarify a few finer details, and voila, here it is.

I don't take many shortcuts with cooking now, however using a bought cake mix for the biscuit base does the trick here. Sue used a gluten free one for hers which made no difference to the result. I was quite intrigued by this recipe because of the stages involved.

When Julie and Dave arrived we ate it warm from the oven after leaving it to sit for 15 minutes for the topping to firm up, so it was slightly messier to slice, which doesn't matter at all. It still tasted great.  However the following day after sitting in the frig overnight, the biscuit base had stayed crisp, and it was very easy to slice. Mr. HRK loves it.

This could also be eaten as an easy and warm dessert for the family.

Just have faith, and follow this recipe and I assure you it will work a treat.

Let's Cook:

Turn on your oven to moderate or 180 deg.

Base Ingredients:

1 packet vanilla cake mix (gluten free if necessary) I used a White Wings packet mix. (Disregard cooking instructions on the cake mix box, and follow this recipe adding coconut and butter to the dry cake mix.)
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup or 4 tablespoons melted butter

Topping Ingredients:

250 g or 245 ml from a (400-440 ml) tub sour cream depending on brand (you might need a bit more so that the apples are covered)
385-400 g can of pie apple fruit slices
nutmeg

Method:

Mix together the ingredients for the base in a bowl.
Spread into a well greased rectangular non-stick slice tin and press it into the tin. I often use a bottle to smooth it out by rolling the bottle along the cake base.

Bake for 20 minutes in a moderate oven.

Remove tray from the oven and leave the oven turned on.
Mix the sour cream with the pie apple in another bowl, and spread onto the biscuit base.



Sprinkle with nutmeg, and I add some flaked almonds for some crunch and texture, however this isn't essential. Remember your tray will still be warm when you pick it up to place it back in the oven.

Bake for another 20 minutes at 180 deg. C or in a moderate oven.

You know, whilst I try to cook mostly from scratch, I realise it just isn't feasible for a lot of people. I really started thinking seriously about this when we were travelling and staying with our family and friends along the way. How do families with both adults or parents working manage to get a good meal on the table each night, or produce something special on the weekend without resorting to taking short cuts occasionally? I know I did when I was working. I think that including fast foods too much in our diet  is where the real danger lies to our health. So I am pursuing inventive and delicious ways of including fruit and vegetables into our diets and those of our children and grandchildren, and perhaps some partners and husbands LOL:) Watch this space. Any ideas?

I hope you can try this slice and I would love to hear from you as to how it goes.

Hoping you all have a fabulous week.

Best wishes

Pauline