Sticky Date Cake

Mmm! This is definetely the best sticky-date cake I have ever made! Actually, it's the only sticky date cake I have ever made... anyway, just try it. You will be glad you did!

Firstly start by chopping up 250g pitted dates.

Chop them however you want- finely chopped or roughly.




You will also need bicarb-soda, 125g butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, vanilla extract, 2 eggs and self raising flour.

Place the chopped dates in a bowl and add 1 teaspoon bicarb-soda.


Pour over 1 1/2 cups boiling water

and allow to stand for about 20 mins.



Place butter in bowl and add brown sugar

and a teaspoon of vanilla. Beat until pale and creamy.

Add eggs one at a time and beat well.



Stir in the dates

and the flour.


Mix until well combined.



Pour into a greased and lined pan.

Smooth mixture down.



Bake for 40-45 mins in an 180 degree oven. Or, before you put it in the oven you can decorate the top with pecans or any other nuts. They add a nice crunch.



Here's what it looks like when it's done. So what if its got a big crack in it? You're only going to eat it after all. And you can make some yummy caramel sauce to cover it up.

Here's what you'll need for the caramel sauce: 300ml cream, 1 cup of brown sugar, vanilla and 60g butter.



Throw all the ingredients in a saucepan. You'll need 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla.



In a few minutes, this lumpy stuff will turn into a delicous caramel sauce...

nearly there....


yum! Now remove from the heat and try not to eat it all before you pour it over the cake.

Mmm, I wish I had a piece right now.

Enjoy!

The full recipe is found at taste.com.au right here.

Anzac Biccies

It's Anzac Day tomorrow so why not make some of these yummy Anzac biccies!

You will need oats, plain flour, caster sugar, golden syrup, butter and bi-carb soda.

Okay first up: the dry ingredients. To 1 1/4 cup flour add 1 cup rolled oats...

1/2 cup of sugar, and 3/4 cup desiccated coconut. I didn't have any coconut so I added and extra 1/2 cup of oats.


Mix the dry ingredients together.

Next, place 150g of butter into a saucepan, along with 2 tablespoons of golden syrup.


Stir over low heat until the butter has melted.

Meanwhile, mix 1/2 teaspoon of bi-carb soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons water, and add to the butter and golden syrup mixture.



Stir and remove from heat.

Pour mixture into dry ingredients and mix together until combined.


Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on tray, pressing down tops to flatten

Bake in 170 degree oven for 12 mins or until golden brown.


Mmm yum!

Love, Little Miss Cupcake (LMC) :)

Baked Cheesecake

This is the first cheesecake I have ever made. Next time I will make a chilled cheesecake just to see how they compare. For this baked cheesecake you will need:
For the base-
1 1/4 cup sweet biscuit crumbs
80g butter, melted
For the filling-
3x 250g Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon flour

I forgot to take pictures of the ingredients, sorry.

Ok first make your biscuit crumbs. I used a wooden spoon and a rolling pin to crumble them but you can use a food processor.

Mix the biscuit crumbs and butter together.


Press the crumbs into the base of a buttered and lined 22cm springform pan. Chill.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.

Add the eggs...

lemon juice...

and flour and beat until just combined.

Pour onto prepared crust...


smooth surface and bake in a 160 degree oven for 1 hour. If you have a fan forced oven, reduce temperature by 20 degrees.


A tip that I used was to place a small bowl of hot water at the bottom of the oven to creat a moist environment for the cheesecake. When the cheesecake is done, allow it to cool in the oven with the oven door ajar for one hour, then chill.

Have fun!

Apple Pie

Last week my dad and I made apple pies using some lovely apples a friend had given us.

I was in charge of making the pastry. These are the ingredients you will need:

Plain flour, self-raising flour, custard powder, cornflour, salt, butter, sugar and an egg, seperated.

I doubled the recipe to make two pie crusts, because we had lotsa-apples. I also managed to make a little baby pie out of the scraps!

First, sift the flours into the bowl. Being the wally that I am I forgot to add the cornflour. I am not sure what it does, but don't forget to add it like I did, because it must be in there for a reason!

Sift in the custard powder. Add in a pinch of salt.

Rub in the butter...


Until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs.

Add in the sugar and mix well.

Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolks.


Add some water...

and mix it all together.

Knead the dough lightly, then refridgerate for 1 hour.


Lightly flour your surface.

And cut the dough in half.

Roll out one half of the dough

until big enough to line your pie dish.

Trim off excess pastry from the edge of the dish. Spread base of pie with jam. The recipe said apricot, but we didn't have any so we just used raspberry. Use whatever you have!

Scoop apple onto pie.

Roll out the other half of pastry. Brush the edges of the pie with a little milk and cover with pastry.

Trim the edges of the pie.

Decorate the pie with pastry scraps, if desired. Cut a slit in the top to let the steam escape and brush pie with lightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake in moderate oven about 40 mins or until pie is golden brown.

Here's how our other pie turned out. I call it the Harry Potter pie.

And here's our Easter pie. It has a bunny on it. I used the bunny cutter I showed you before. Unfortunately I didnt get time to make bunny biccies for Easter :(

Serve with custard or ice cream. Whatever you prefer- it is your pie. But not this one. This one is mine!

Here is the recipe:

Pastry

1 1/2 cups plain flour

3/4 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup custard powder

1/3 cup cornflour

pinch salt

185g butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg yolk

3 tablespoons water (approximately)

1 egg white for glazing

extra sugar

Filling

7 large cooking apples

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons apricot jam

Pastry: Sift flours, custard powder and salt into bowl. Rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, add sugar; mix well. Make well in centre of dry ingredients, add egg yolk and water, mix to firm dough, knead lightly. Refrigerate pastry one hour.

Roll out just over half the pastry, line a 23cm pie dish. Spread base of pie with jam. Put cooled and drained apple over jam.

Roll out remaining pastry, brush edges of pie with milk and cover with pastry. Press edges together firmly, trim and decorate. Brush top with lightly beaten egg white, sprinkle with extra sugar. Cut a few slits in top.

Bake in moderately hot oven 20 minutes, reduce heat to moderate, cook further 20 to 25 minutes or until pie is golden brown.

Filling: Peel, quarter and core apples; cut each quarter in half lengthways. Put in saucepan with water, sugar and lemon rind. Cook covered, until apples are almost tender and still holding shape. Remove from heat, drain off syrup; allow apples to cool.

Enjoy!