Vanilla Pound Cake

Yes, you are right.
Yet another post about cake.
I baked way too many cakes this past month.
The problem is not really with baking them.
It is with eating them.

In search of cake ideas for Heidi's fairy themed party, I found a pound cake recipe by Donna Hay. It was in her annual kids issue which I downloaded and read via Zinio. The same one with the fairy party ideas.

It is a very basic recipe and that is why it appealed to me. Of course I modified it slightly by adding pink food colouring to the batter and decorating it with buttercream icing.

The cake itself is quite dense but that is exactly what I expect from a pound cake.
Delicious!

Here is the Donna Hay recipe:

250g butter, softened
250g caster sugar (superfine)
1tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
250g plain (all purpose) flour, sifted
60ml milk

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Place butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 8 - 10 minutes until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the flour and beat well to combine.
Fold through the milk and spoon into a lightly greased 20cm round cake tin lined with non-stick baking powder (which I forgot to do but luckily the tin was grease enough so it came out easily).
Bake for 55 - 60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer (I ended up adding 10 minutes to the baking time...). Allow to cool.

Decorate as you like!
I used butter cream icing on my cake :-)

Butterfly Treats

In the Netherlands it is a tradition for children to give a treat at school when celebrating a birthday. Nothing too big or too fancy, and the school prefers 'healthy' treats if possible.
Right, like that's going to happen.

I found a good compromise in these little butterfly treats.
Marshmallows and grapes.
Easy to put together and something that my daughter could get involved in.

I found the idea on this site.

Here is my step by step guide:

A Lovely Gift

Yesterday we had friends over for lunch.

Sunday morning spent in the kitchen cooking up a storm. 

My kind of Sunday.

It was great to catch up while the kids played and made a mess.

Catherine is very creative and has been experimenting with fabric.

She brought me a gift and made my day!

It belongs in a white frame and will get a place in my kitchen soon.

I'm waiting for her to open an Etsy shop because I love all her creations!

Have a great week everyone :-)

DWZI - Winter

It was a cold week...

It was also a busy week at work.

Learning new processes and figuring out what is expected of me.

This morning I dropped the kids off at a babysitter and drove straight to the spa.

There I spent four glorious hours of me time.

Highly recommended.

This was the view on my way to the Spa Sereen:

Hope you have good weekend ahead!

You can find all the DWZI participants here.

Cupcakes for a Fairy Party

Yes, I really went all out in terms of baking this past month.

These cupcakes by Donna Hay were lovely.

I ate two of them myself and wanted more...

I found the recipe in the Donna Hay annual kids magazine. She had a whole spread for a fairy party which I found very inspiring.

Here is a copy of the recipe. Definitely worth making again!

Cupcake Ingredients (makes 12):
125g butter, softened
165g caster sugar (superfine)
1tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
185g plain (all purpose) flour, sifted
1tsp baking powder, sifted
125ml milk
1 x 500g store bought ready to roll fondant icing
pink food colouring

Vanilla Butter Icing:
125g butter
160g icing, sifted
1tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Place butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 8 - 10 min until pale and creamy.
Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition until combined.
Add the flour, baking powder and milk and beat until just combined.
Spoon mixture into a muffin tray lined with paper cases and bake for 20 - 25 min (I baked it for about 30 minutes in the end).
Allow to cool.

To make the vanilla icing, place the butter in an electric mixer and beat for 5 minutes until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat for another 10 - 15 min until pale and creamy.
Spread the icing on the cupcakes.

Divide the fondant into two equal portions.
Add a few drops food colouring to the one portion and knead until the colour is even and the icing smooth.

Roll the fondant out between two sheets of baking paper until about 2mm thickness. Cut about 12 x 7 cm rounds to cover the cupcakes, Cut little 1cm rounds to place on top of the big rounds.

Orange Chicken

I had chicken breasts, fennel, onions, mushrooms and some oranges.

What to make, what to make.

Luckily the Internet is full of ideas. 

I love the Internet.

I stumbled across a recipe that matched my ingredients on this website. It turned out to be rather good and very easy (bonus!). It calls for 'herbs de provence' which of course I did not have lying around but that did not stop me from just adding whatever I felt like in terms of herbs and spices. 

Long live improvisation!

Here is a link to the original recipe.

Here is my improvised version.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon butter

1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 bulb of fennel (top, bottom and outer leaves removed), sliced thinly

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoons herbs (coriander seeds, basil, cayenne pepper, etc.)

salt and pepper

Juice of 2 oranges

Method:

Melt the butter in a deep skillet on medium heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook, turning occasionally, until browned and just cooked through (about 15 minutes, but depends on the thickness of the poultry).

Meanwhile prepare the mushrooms, fennel and onion.

Remove the chicken from the pan and add the olive oil, heating it for about 1 minute. Add the sliced onions, mushrooms, and fennel. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

Return the chicken to the skillet with the vegetables, then sprinkle with the herbs, and salt and pepper. Pour the orange juice on top and adjust the heat so that the liquid is just barely bubbling.

Simmer for 10 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on top of rice.

Weekly Menu

Snow.

Apparently snow is on the weather menu this week.

It causes lots of traffic and train delays.

Sigh.

As for our menu... well it is a vegetarian week.

Wraps with tofu.

Vegetarian pasta.

Vegetable soup.

Vegetarian burgers.

Here's wishing you a warm week ahead!