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Best ever gingerbread men

Christmas is my favourite time of the year!! One of my favourite pre-christmas rituals is getting together with friends for a gingerbread baking party! All you need is a few good friends, this amazing gingerbread recipe, your favourite cookie cutters and toppings, and ample amounts of wine

It’s even more fun wrapping them up and giving them to people once they’re finished!! Remember that acts of kindness are also good for our wellbeing!!

I’ve used this recipe from Taste for several years now and everyone seems to love it, even people who insist they don’t like gingerbread!! The cookies are quite crunchy, not like the soft and soggy gingerbread you often encounter.

Ingredients:

125g butter, at room temperature
125g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
1 egg, separated
375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Plain flour, to dust
Decorations of your choice – I used smarties and ‘choc-minis’ from woolworths, and some little silver things (no idea what they’re called, but you can see them below). You could also ice with a piping bag if you’d prefer!

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper
Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out until about 4mm thick. Use a gingerbread man cutter to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.
Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.

When they’re cooled down, you can wrap them in cellophane party bags, and tie with bakers twine for the perfect Christmas gift.

So so delicious!! I accidentally ate quite a few….I’ve packaged the rest up in an attempt to stop eating them!!! Would you try a gingerbread party with your pals?

Chocolate Espresso Funfetti Bundt Cake

Nothing spells fun like sprinkles!! Today I purchased a Bundt cake pan….which is basically a regular cake pan, with some cool shapes in it, and a hole in the middle!!! Best $20 I ever spent… this cake is the bomb!! It’s Lachy’s birthday, so chocolate cake was called for!! This cake was so good that I’m currently trying to find people to visit and eat it, so that we don’t eat the whole thing!!

I used this recipe from Joy the Baker – but made a couple of small tweaks…I made a simpler ganache (because I was too lazy to add additional ingredients), and brushed the cake with a wash of orange juice and castor sugar before icing, for added moisture!!

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon brewed coffee
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoon canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups, plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted

For the Ganache:

1 pack dark chocolate melts
1/2 cup of thickened cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
Grease a 10 inch Bundt Cake Pan
To make the cake batter: Put brewed coffee and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat and let come to room temperature.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs and egg yolk on low speed for about 1 minute.
Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract and mix on low again for another minute.
Add the flour and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
The batter will be very loose (it’s super liquidy, but don’t worry, it will work!!). Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely in the pan and then invert onto a cooling rack.
Make the ganache, by placing your chocolate and cream into a heat proof bowl. Place the heat proof bowl above a simmering saucepan of water, making sure your bowl does not touch the water!! Stir regularly, until mixture is runny and glossy. Ice cake quickly before your ganache goes hard!!

Add sprinkles!!

This made a great birthday cake for Lachy…and was enjoyed by all…especially Dash, who has now learned how to ask for “more cake!”

The texture of this cake is amazing…this is my new favourite chocolate cake…and the coffee flavour makes it even better. Have you made a bundt cake before? I can’t wait to make some other delicious bundt cake flavours!!

Little Lemon Tarts

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted a lemon flavoured baked good on the blog….far too long I say!!

I’ve finally finished uni for the semester and what better way to celebrate with the baking and eating of (too many of) these babies!!

I looked at a few different recipes, and wanted to have a go at making the pastry myself….and this recipe was simple to follow and turned out beautifully!!

Recipe from Butter Baking

Ingredients:

For the tart pastry:

180g unsalted butter (6 oz)
6 tbsp water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups flour (300g, 10 oz)

For the lemon filling:

¼ cup plain flour (35g, 1¼ oz)
1 cup sugar (220g, ½ pound)
½ cup lemon juice (125ml, 4 oz, about 3 lemons)
zest from 1 lemon, grated
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt

Method

To make the tart pastry, preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F) and get out two mini muffin pans.
Place the butter, water, oil, sugar and salt in an overproof bowl.
Put the bowl in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the butter is melted, bubbling, and just beginning to brown around the edges.
Carefully remove the bowl from the oven and dump in the flour. Stir quickly, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the dish.
Put a teaspoon of dough into one mini muffin hole, and press it into the base and up the sides using your fingers. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
Prick the dough with a fork once or twice.
Bake for 8 – 12 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown all over.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
To make the tart filling, reduce the oven to 150 C (300 F).
Combine the flour and sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix to dissolve the sugar.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and the egg yolk with salt.
Add the eggs into the lemon and sugar mixture and whisk until well combined.
Pour the filling into each pastry case
Bake for 5 – 10 minutes, until the centers are just set

They’re lemony, they’re delicious…what more could you want!! Serve with a cup of tea!!

Raspberry Coconut Cupcakes

So I’m raspberry baked good addict now!! For those of you that saw my raspberry tea cake recipe, I’ve shaken up my usual lemon and more lemon flavour pattern to introduce the humble raspberry, king of the berries!! To make these cupcakes even better, comes the addition of delicious coconut, resulting in a truly delectable morning tea treat!!

Even better? The recipe says “put all ingredients in a bowl and mix.” You can have a batch of these babies in the oven in five minutes. Yes, yes and yes. Too easy….too delicious!!!

I used this recipe from BBC Food network:

Ingredients

175g self-raising flour
140g caster sugar
50g desiccated coconut
140g butter, softened
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
4 tbsp milk
140g raspberries, fresh or frozen

Method

Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with deep paper cases or a 15-hole bun tin with cake cases. Tip all the cake ingredients except the raspberries into a bowl and beat for 1-2 mins until light and fluffy. Gently fold in the raspberries.
Divide the mixture between the cases and bake for 18-20 mins (add a couple of extra mins for deep cases), until golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool

Are you a raspberry lover? Do you have any raspberry recipes you’d like to share?

Raspberry Tea Cake

So about 90% of the recipes on this blog seem to be lemon flavoured….lemon bars, lemon yoghurt cake, coconut lemon cake, lemon cupcakes etc etc etc 🙂 If we haven’t already established this, I do enjoy a lemon flavoured baked good!!

Today I was contemplating what other delicious cake I could attempt to bake, when I realise I had neglected the most wonderful fruit of all, the humble raspberry! (p.s, although, at $8 a tub, I used frozen raspberries instead!!)

I did a search and couldn’t seem to find many raspberry cake recipes out there!! I found this one, on the BBC food network, and gave it a whirl!! The only tweak I will make next time is….more raspberries!! I will definitely be adding a second layer of raspberries to the top of the cake before baking next time I attempt this one.

Here is the recipe (you can see above that I’ve already eaten a very large slice of this baby!!

Ingredients

140g almond meal
140g butter, softened
140g golden caster sugar
140g self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g raspberries
2 tbsp flaked almonds
icing sugar, to serve

Method

Heat oven to 180Cand base-line and grease a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. mix the almond meal, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract in a food processor until well combined. I don’t have a food processor, and used a hand mixer instead, and it was fine.
Spread half the mix over the cake tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the raspberries over, then dollop the remaining cake mixture on top and roughly spread – you might find this easier to do with your fingers. Scatter with flaked almonds and bake for 50 mins until golden. Cool, remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.

This only took about 10 mins to prepare – you can mix it all in the one bowl (woohoo, less washing up!!)

Serve with…..raspberries and cream!! Yum!! Do you enjoy a good raspberry!?

Little Lemon Cakes

Just when you thought I couldn’t possibly post another lemon flavoured baked good recipe, I go and prove you wrong!! BAM!!! These lemon cakes are zesty, buttery and delicious!!!

They are quick and easy to make, and great for sharing (or for a rough day where you need to eat a lot of cupcakes).

If you’re looking for a healthier lemon cake, try this lemon yoghurt cake. Or for a dairy free option, try the lemon friands!!

I used this recipe from BBC Good Food, but decided not to ice them. They’re sweet enough without icing, but you can try a butter cream, or a lemon glaze if you want to jazz them up a bit more.

Ingredients

125g of softened butter
125g of caster sugar
2 medium eggs
100g of self raising flour
2 tbsp of milk
2 lemons (zested)

Method

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Using a whisk, beat together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, flour (sifted), milk and the zest of the two lemons and a little squeeze of juice.
Mix everything until it is a smooth mixture.
Spoon one and a half tea spoons of the mix into the cake cases.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown