Ginger Walnut Cake with Boiled frosting and caramelised peanuts



ITs been total hectic for the past few days. I have been running around like a headless chook.

Honestly, im not the party animal type of person, nor am i too social. Im the kiina person that likes every thing to be organized and pre-planned, and so the "Ill be here in 5 min" visits i dont appreciate.

Bottom line - my uncle is here from sydney and we are having guests visiting every day and so i dont even have time to scratch my head let alone update my blog (deeply sorry).

And now that the guests have eased off a bit, I'm back to doing my usual favorite (BAKING.. YAII)

There was another reason for baking a sweet yummy cake and not something not sweet because you do tend to crave sweetness after having endure days of 4-5 items of savory dishes.

Now that i have made myself clear, lets get baking :)





Walnut ginger cake (i like ginger, especially in cakes..mmm) - this cake has a very mild ginger flavor, for those of you who prefer a stronger flavor can always add more ginger. Iv had this recipe in my recipe book for quite a while now, so i dont remember where i got it from and who to give credit to. Although i did make some tiny winy changes.

Here what you are gona need for the cake -

200g/8oz self raising flour
4 - tsp ground ginger (can always add more)
1 - tsp baking powder
1/2 - tsp of salt
200g/8oz - butter
350g/ 120z - golden syrup
100g/4oz - brown sugar
4 - eggs beaten
100g/4oz - walnuts, chopped

- Preheat the oven to 180c
- Grease and line an 8inch cake tin
- Sift together the flour, ginger powder, baking powder and salt. Rub in the butter until resembles crumbs.
- Beat in the sugar, syrup, eggs and walnuts. Pour into the tin and bake until firm.



For the boiled frosting, i got the recipe from here and added a tsp of ginger powder for extra ginger flavor (you can always skip this).









- i beat mine for 7 min after adding the syrup




Caramelized peanuts -

- Cook 85g/3oz of sugar with 4 tbs of water until it forms a caramel. stir in the peanuts and cool on a baking sheet.












Assembling -

- Cut the cake in half and spread a little of the frosting on the bottom layer and top it with some crushed walnuts or peanuts.
- Cover the whole cake with the frosting, make sure to work fast as this frosting drys fairly quick.
- Top it off with the caramelized peanuts, or alternatively you can pipe some decorations like Iv done (I used butter cream and added a tsp of cocoa and tsp of ginger)



The best bit? Indulging of course ;)

















Get Frosting

Australia Day






It was Australia Day on the 26th of January. Australians celebrate by doing typical Australian stuff (going to the beach, chuckin up a barbie, catchin up with mates....and the list goes on). And also eating Australian stuff (ANZAC biscuits).

mmmm ANZAC biscuits.

What is ANZAC biscuits you ask???

well it stands for AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND ARMY CORPS and back in the days these delicious biscuits were made to send to the ANZACs serving in Gallipoli.

So, since then it has become part of Australia. These biscuits are insanely delicious.

The good bit is that it has oats in it :) i love oats... so they are good for you :D (so you can have more than one, or 2 or 3)

And so i told my family that im planning to make these biscuits. To my surprise they rejected the idea :O:O (who rejects ANZAC biscuits???)

And the Ans i get "they have a lot of calories" WHAT?? since when youz care about calories....

HUMPHH..

Anyway, i still made them :D And with a few tweaks i managed to satisfy both my family and myself.

HALLELUJA!!!!

They are still ANZAC biscuits with all the ingredients, but i have used wholemeal and substituted butter with vegetable oil. happy family! happy me!


Heres my version of ANZAC bikkies




Ingredients

  • 1 cup (150g) wholemeal flour
  • 1 cup (90g) oats
  • 1 cup (85g) desiccated coconut
  • 3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
  • 1/2 oil
  • 3 tbs golden syrup
  • 1 tbs water
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda


Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper..
  • Put the oil, golden syrup and 1 tbs water in a small saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar is and syrup is dissolved, stir in bicarbonate soda.

  • Combine the wholemeal flour, oats, dessicated coconut, now pour the liquid over the mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

  • Let cool a little until manageable with hands. Roll mixture into balls. Place on the trays a few inches apart.

  • Press a little to flatten slightly. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.

  • Set aside on the trays for a while to cool, and its ready for you to munch on. num num

If you like them chewy (I like mine chewy) dont flatten it too much and dont bake too much either. On the other hand, for a more crunchy bikkies, flatten it more and bake a little more. :)



Give it a try!! you wont regret it.



Get frosting


cakes





hello foodies,,

Since im fairly new to this whole blog thing.. i dont really know how to work things out yet and weird things have been happening to my blog.... its challenging my nerves -_-

Anyway, i dont really have recipes or interesting posts about my cakes as yet but surely planning to have plenty in the future.
As for now i want to share some of the cakes that i made in the past and took a few pictures of it, and by few i really mean few, few as in 1 picture of each cake (ridiculous i know). but then again i didnt know then that i was gona make a blog and share them with foodies all over the world:O:O it still hasnt sunk in.

But ill assure you that im gona be taking heapz of pictures of my creations from now on:D
As for now i just have my old pictures to share with yall:)



i wanted to share a few more pictures but the problem is that my stupid SD card wont cooperate -_- ( is it a sign that i shouldnt blog :O) <-- ignore that, i am not superstitious i swear, infact im the total opposite of it :)
The reason could be that my poor computer has been tolerating my abuse for over 6 years now and its decided that its enough. And so it is not listening to my command at all and so my pictures are stuck :(
I know that its time i feel sorry my computer and give it its freedom, but im afraid i cant do that. i wish i could but i cant. the thing is that i love my computer so much (not, its slow and crap), ok may be because getting a new one means spending money (which i dont have).

conclusion - i cant afford a new computer
- im stuck with this crap
- i should stop winging and try again ( i will tomorrow, need to sleep now :))

Sorry, this is all i can offer for now. i can hardly keep my eyes open... and i apologize for all the blabber ^ this is not me..its the lack of sleep :D:D

wholemeal sesame cheese puffs

These wholemeal puffs are very light and ymmuliciousss...
This recipe makes about 30. depending on the size.

Ingredients-

4 TBS wholemeal self-raising flour ( plain can be used)
pinch of salt
pinch of paprika (garlic powder can be used or any other variations)
80g butter cubed
4 TBS tasty cheese
sesame to coat the puffs


Method -

Rub the butter with the flour till they are blended well together, and no big chunks of butter is left.
Add the salt, paprika, and cheese and bring everything together into a ball.
Now make small balls, roughly the size of marbles or you can make it bigger.
Drop the balls in a bowl sesame seeds and coat well. (tooth pick can be used to roll it well and pick it up easily)
place it on a greased and lined oven tray. make sure to keep space between as the balls will spread slightly.
Bake for 10-15 minutes on 180c, depending on your oven.
When they are lightly golden, they are done.

Notes - make sure you wait till they are cooled before munching on them. They can be hard to resist.