This may look like your run of the mill Carrot Cake but don’t be deceived. This is quite possibly the best Carrot Cake I have ever eaten and yet the only Carrot Cake I have ever made.

The most surprising thing about this cake is that it even turned out.  I made it with a whisk and a metal spoon, didn’t have precisely all the right ingredients and realised during mixing that I hadn’t halved all the ingredients – I sloppily rectified this.

The brown butter gave it a richer taste and it was unbelievably moist.

This recipe makes two sponges which you can stack and ice but it was too much for two people so I froze one.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

One 8- or 9-inch (20-23cm) double layer cake

For the cake:

4 cups loosely packed grated carrots

1/2 cup sultanas (optional)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

¼ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup melted brown butter (or more oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups self-raising flour

2 cups raw sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

For the frosting:

450g cream cheese, at room temperature

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2-3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

a few drops of vanilla extract

For the cake,

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter two 8- or 9-inch (20-23cm) cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

Beat the eggs until they are pale and frothy (they need not increase dramatically in volume) with a handheld mixer. With the mixer running, drizzle in the oil and melted butter, then the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the eggs and mix carefully until just combined. The paddle will accomplish this easily but if you only have a hand held mixer you may want to just do it by hand.

Fold in the carrots and raisins, then divide the batter between the two pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes, until the surface springs back when gently touched.

Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

For the frosting,

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.

Add the powdered sugar, gradually, (do this on low speed to avoid a dust cloud) and mix until light and silky.

Add the vanilla.

Serving and Storage: This cake is best served at room temperature but will keep for a few days stored in the refrigerator.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (I used crunchy)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy in a separate bowl.

Add the sugars and beat until smooth.

Add the egg and mix well.

Add the milk and the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.

Stir in the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Roll teaspoonfuls of the dough into rounds.

Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, leaving several inches between for expansion.

Use your thumb to lightly indent the middle of each round – do not overly flatten cookies.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely or just eat them.

Chewy Oat & Choc Cookies

125g butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup choc bits

1 cup self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Combine butter, vanilla and sugar in a bowl.

Add coconut, oats, chocolate and sifted flour, mix until well combined.

Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls.

Place onto a greased oven tray about 5 cm apart. Flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake for about 8 minues or until golden brown.

Caramel Slice

1 cup self raising flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

150g butter melted

395g can sweetened Condensed milk

2 tablespoons butter, extra

1 cup milk or dark chocolate melts, melted

Preheat oven to 180ºc and line an 18cm x 28cm tin with baking paper.

Mix the flour, sugar, coconut and butter together in a bowl.

Press into the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Combine the condensed milk, golden syrup and extra butter in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until almost boiling.

Reduce to a low heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour caramel over base and bake a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Spead the Caramel Slice with the melted chocolate, refrigerate until set.

Serve cut into pieces.

I don’t really even like shortbread, but I needed something sweet and they looked easy and I had all the ingredients. Just make sure the butter is really well mixed in or they will melt.

Shortbread with Jam

1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cornflour
1 ½ cups plain flour
a pinch of salt
Raspberry (or any) jam
Icing sugar for dusting

Beat the sugar & butter together in a bowl until just combined.

Add the vanilla extract, sifted flours & salt & mix until a dough forms.

Mould into a log 6cm in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Remove the dough from the fridge & cut into 7mm slices, then cut shapes.

Reroll the excess dough & repeat the process until all the dough is used up.

Place the {insert shape} on a greased & lined baking tray & bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Spread half the biscuits with jam, top with remaining biscuits & dust with icing sugar.

‘Les Parapluies de Cherbourg’ and dessert. Life is sweet.

Puffed Apple Pancake

via Bill Granger Holiday

Serves 4-6

50g Butter

4 Green apples, peeled cored and cut into eighths

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

3/4 Cup plain flour

A pinch of salt

1 Teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 Tablespoon sugar

4 Eggs

3/4 Cup of milk

Plain yoghurt, to serve

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Melt the butter in a 25cm frying pan with an ovenproof handle.

Add the apples and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add the brown sugar, vanila and lemon juice and cook, shaking the pan occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.

Mix the flour, salt, lemon zest and sugar together in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and slowly add the eggs and milk, whisking lightly to combine.

Pour the batter evenly over the apples.

Place the pan in the oven and cook for 15 minutes until puffed and golden.

Serve immediately with yoghurt.

A fairly de-puffed pancake as we didn’t eat it immediately.

My Yaya has injuried her sholder and therefore I had to do the 2 pans of musnik (tiropita) all by myself. It didn’t look perfect but it was damn good. I’m usually very lazy and after a few minutes of kneeding the dough hand it over to her, obviously that wasn’t an option but I was also really enjoying it. And what a dough it was, elastic and soft, and incredibly easy to strench. This was partly to do with the warm weather, it’s about all it’s good for.

Holy shit! These were amazing.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Caramel

via David Lebovitz

For the cookie dough

115g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 salted peanut butter

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the salted peanut caramel

1 cup thickened cream

1/2 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1/8 teaspoon salt (I added a bit more as I didn’t add the peanuts)

3/4 finely chopped roasted salted peanuts

100g chocolate (any), melted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat the butter, brown and granulated sugar until smooth.

Beat in the egg and vanilla until well mixed.

Beat in the peanut butter.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and stir until there are no patches of flour.

Scoop up tablespoon-sized portions of the dough and roll each piece between your hands so they’re as smooth as possible so they don’t crack at the edges when performing the next step.

Place them 1 1/2-inches (2 cm) apart on the baking sheets, then use the rounded end of a wooden spoon, or your thumb, to make a depression in each one. Don’t worry much if the sides crack; push them back together.

Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during cooking, until they are light-golden brown and the edges barely start to darken.

Remove from oven, and while they’re warm, press in to reinforce each depression with the end of the wooden spoon. Let them cool competely.

Warm the cream in a saucepan or microwave and set it aside.

Heat the water, 1 cup sugar, golden syrup, and salt to a caramel, gently swirling the pan only if necessary (to ensure it melt and cooks evenly) until it turns a nice golden brown.

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the hot cream in a slow, steady stream.

Cool until warm and pourable, then add the chopped peanuts.

Spoon some of the caramel into each cookie, letting it set for about an hour, if you want to drizzle them with chocolate.

NB: For best results, use regular smooth peanut butter.

Cookies will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 3 to 4 days. The unbaked dough can be rolled into rounds and stored in a heavy-duty freezer bag in the refrigerator or freezer, until ready to bake.

Disgustingly good…

I’ve never had anything like it. A light sweet bread on the bottom and a super sweet sticky ‘custardy’ layer on top which crisps up nicely on the top. I left it in the oven too long though. I kept thinking it’s going to be too runny, but obviously it firms up as it cools.  The bottom was too brown and the cake became a bit dry. It was still delicious though. Also as I’ve just moved out of a shared house I have very limited kitchen supplies.  Smitten Kitchen recommended not using metal but ceramic and the only ceramic dish I have is a pie dish. Anyway, it worked but it was a slighty awkward shape. I love having heat lights in my bathroom, I’ve got my own dough proving room.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake
via Smitten Kitchen

For the cake
3 tablespoons milk at room temperature
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling.

Make the cake dough:

Mix milk with 2 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl.

Add yeast and whisk gently until it dissolves. Mixture should foam slightly.

Cream butter, sugar and salt using an electric mixer (or wooden spoon in my case) with paddle attachment.

Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg.

Add flour and the milk mixture alternately, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Switch to a dough hook (again… the spoon) at this point to beat dough on medium speed until it formed a smooth mass and pulled away (just a little, my dough was still very soft) from sides of bowl, 7 to 10 minutes.

Press,  stretch and nudge dough into a greased 9-by 13-inch baking dish at least 2 inches deep. Cover dish with plastic wrap or clean tea towel, put in a warm place, and allow to rise until doubled, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Make the gooey topping

Heat oven to 180°C.

Whisk corn syrup with 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla in a small bowl.

Cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.

Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg.

Add flour and corn syrup mixture alternately, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Spoon topping in large dollops over risen cake and use an offset spatula to gently spread it in an even layer.

Bake for 10 to 20 minutes; cake will rise and fall in waves and have a golden brown top, but will still be liquid in center when done.

Allow to cool in pan before sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar for serving.

New kitchen

My Yaya keeps telling me and everyone she’s knows that I’m a champion at making filo. Pretty awesome really. But I’ve still got a lot to learn. The stretching is the easy part, the most important thing is getting the dough right, hand kneading 10+ cups of flour is not easy. And like making bread (though nowhere near as hard to get right) there is no exact recipe, there is a lot of variation in each batch of flour and the weather makes a huge difference on how much water the flour will absorb etc… A warm environment is ideal. I remember the bakery in the height of summer, what a nightmare. You really just need to get a feel for it. There is no comparision with store bought filo, it’s so bloody dry.

Anyway here is my first attempt at doing a lot of the process by myself, under strict supervision of course. Here is me and my Yaya making Pumpkin Musnik (Tiropita). And here she is making Cheese Musnik. She was also going to show me how to make Spinach Spanakopita which is much easier in terms of dough stretching, I feel asleep though. It was gooood.