This is from Marian Keyes' Saved By Cake. Delicious and very easy (if not the cheapest cake to make!)

100g dark (70%+) chocolate
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (seems a lot!)
250g caster sugar
125ml sunflower (or other non-flavoured; I used grape-seed) oil
250ml sourcream
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g (approx) frozen rasberries, defrosted

The recipe says to make 2 23cm cakes, and stick together with rasberry jam; I made one, in a bundt tin, it just needed longer to...
Continue reading ...

This recipe is from Stoked, and makes the real deal, an old-skool proper buttery, crunchy, gingery slice. moreish in the extreme, finger-lickin' good! I tweak it with the addition of a bit of semolina which gives a slightly more textured base.

Base:
115g butter
1/2 C sugar (I use caster)
3/4 C flour
2 Tbs semolina
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger

pre-heat overn to 180C, butter & baking-paper-line a 30x20cm slice tin.
cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powde...
Continue reading ...

Just look at this thing of beauty.
Adapted it slightly from the Rose Bakery recipe:

Sweet pasty (make your own or buy one)
3 egg yolks
2 eggs, 1 blended for basting the pastry (to then be used in the tart)
100g caster sugar
1 tsp natural vanilla extract,
grated zest of 3 oranges, 500g ricotta cheese
roughly 180g grated dark chocolate (70% or more)
1 tablespoon plain flour

Method
Preheat oven to 180 deg C

Pastry
Put pastry in 28cm (roughly) tart tin, chill for 30 mins, then blind bake for 10 minute...
Continue reading ...

This is a very simple tart (especially if you use a bought pastry). The recipe is a bit loose as I made it up as I went along... So interpret as you will. The tang of the little purple guavas cuts through the richness of the ricotta; I don't think it needs a lot of sugar.

Pre-heat over to 180C

Pastry
I amount of sweet pastry

Put pastry in 23cm (roughly) tart tin, chill for 30 mins, then blind bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the weights from the pasty case, and baste it thoroughly with some egg. B...
Continue reading ...

I adapted a recipe for 'Fresh Plum Cake with Yoghurt' by Amanda Laird that appeared in Viva recently (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10781284)

Serves 8-12 (1 x 24 cm cake)

500g plums (ish)
1 cup caster sugar
250g butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup yoghurt
Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1+1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup semolina
4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 24cm springform tin (if no springform...

Continue reading ...

Here's a banana nut loaf  baked good...

It is not the most beauteous thing to look at, but it is very very simple and healthy and delicious (and a good use for overripe bananas!). I used about 1/3 C sugar instead of 3/4 and it was not super sweet but still nice. It has no butter, so is an excellent dairy-free recipe. But then it is nice eaten with butter!

The recipe is from "A Second Helping: More from Ladies, a Plate" by Alexa Johnston.

Oven to 180C
grease a med-sized loaf tin, line the ...
Continue reading ...

This recipe is from the Mindfood website... I tried it, I would make it differently if I did it again. Notably, it has a strong honey flavour, so I would use less honey or perhaps a really mild one (I used white rata) and perhaps increase the amount of rosewater.... I also made it without that rice paper, but used icing sugar/cornflour to combat the slight tackiness of the crust... it's incredibly sticky. Would be hard without a stand cake-mixer!
http://www.mindfood.com/at-recipe-craisi...
Continue reading ...

Oh my these are died-and-gone-to-heaven delicious for the chocolate lover... easy peasy to make (just don't plan on cooking after mixing; read recipe to end before setting out on this adventure...). I really don't know how I lived without these in my life!
They don't spread that much so they can be placed relatively close together on the tray.
Again, another recipe from simplyrecipes.com

Continue reading ...

I made my ninjabread men (and yes, men, not women, I am informed... ) using a recipe from Simplyrecipes (with adaptations indicated). I found the dough to be quite sticky (even with a bit of extra flour) and that it worked best if frozen. in future, I would freeze the rolled cookie dough, and then cut the cookies out... ginn
Continue reading ...

Continue reading ...

I was visiting my lovely friend Kura (who has linked to bakeclub a few times from her lovely 'little library girl' blog http://sweetlittlelibrarygirl.blogspot.com/) in Hawkes Bay and she had a hankering for good ole fashioned Pecan Pie... being time short, we cheated a bit and used pastry, and then followed Nigella Lawson's 'pecan plus pie' recipe for the filling - except we went back to pure principles and just used pecans... we were a bit low on nuts, and it took quite a bit longer to ...
Continue reading ...

InTENSE! DeeVINE! AND served with masarcapone cream! This creation dates back to Ginny's indoor birthday picnic where she made about 3 different cakes!

Cake
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (179 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) white granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
3/4 cup (177 ml) red wine, any kind you like*
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (133 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2...

Continue reading ...

Ginny made this wicked chocolate cake. It was the crowning glory of a Persian feast, which included several courses beforehand. She also presented this amazing selection of Middle Eastern sweets personally brought over from Iran. Look how colourful they are. From left, there's REAL nougat (with 48% pistachios), baklava, various pistachio and lemon almond sweets and delicious spun sugar, like fancy candy floss, which we called horse's hair.

The cake was incredibly rich and melt in the mouth. It...
Continue reading ...

Rich and spicy cake for any occasion!

2 21/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsb cocoa powder (more if you want it richer chocolatey)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c butter
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c water
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups soft brown sugar
2 cups apple (peeled and grated)
1 cup chocolate chips, chunks (dark!)


heat oven to 160C
cream butter and sugar in a mixer (or beating), then add eggs, then oil and water and vanilla (it''l be really liquid
sieve together: flour, cocoa, baking ...
Continue reading ...

Ginny says: I exchanged evaporated milk for the cream/milk in an attempt to make it slightly less 'give you a heart attacky'...

3 eggs
375 ml thin cream (1.5C)
375 ml milk (1.5C)
110g caster sugar (1/2C)
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 croissants
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Heat oven to 160ºC
Whisk eggs, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla
Cut croissants into small pieces and arrange half in an ovenproof dish
Sprinkle with chocolate and cover with the rest of the croissants
Pour egg mixture over...

Continue reading ...

Below is what Nigel says about this cake ... I can't find fault with him, in any way. It was delightful.

However: I bought pre-toasted hazelnuts and accidentally put a mix of nutmeg and cinnamon into the cake (because I didn't read the spice jar label... it wasn't a disaster!)
I left the cinnamon out of the icing, and I dressed it with pomegranate. Yum!!

CHOCOLATE CHIP HAZELNUT CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE CINNAMON BUTTER CREAM by Nigel Slater

I like birthday cake. I love maki...

Continue reading ...

From Lauraine Jacobs in the Listener - makes 10 muffins.

3 juicy limes
60g butter, melted
2 large eggs
200g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
100g sugar
1 cup peeled and diced feijoas

Preheat oven to 180C; line a 12 muffin tray with paper cup liners (don't decide not to, they go sticky!)
Use a zester to strip the zest of 1 lime, then juice it and the other two. reserve the zest aside for the top of the muffins.
Add the lime juice to a bowl with the butter and eggs, and whisk u...
Continue reading ...

A recipe from A Treasury of NZ Baking, this one by Ray McVinnie. If you love sweetness, cardamom, and plums, you can't go wrong...

Ingredients:
125 g butter
125 g caster sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
300 g flour
8 large plums, stoned, sliced
extra caster sugar
icing sugar to serve

First cream the butter and sugar with electric hand – held mixer or food processor to get pale mixture. Add egg and beat it well. Add the baking powder and flour and process it to ...

Continue reading ...

I felt inspired to make these soda bread biscuits with caraway, 
lemon zest and raisins for a friend who recently had a baby.
I never understand how Americans use the term 'biscuit' but this 
is more akin to a scone in process - ie you rub in the butter... 

3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you want them)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons caraway seeds*
1/2 to 1 cup of raisins*
1 1/4 cu...

Continue reading ...

I was inspired by the most delicious ones in Dizengoff, Ponsonby Rd (which they spoil by incuding sultanas!)...
I used this recipe at Taste but adapted it thus, for no particular reason other than that I wanted to use up some different ingredients:

Continue reading ...

From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

(sorry about the imperial measures, but you can figure them out!)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 oz dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
8 oz unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. ...
Continue reading ...

I have adapted this from a recipe given to me by a student in my department, it was her grandmother's, originally (the student was considerably older than me), and makes a damn fine banana cake, I think perhaps the best I have tasted. I don't like bananas, but in cake like this, that's a different story. easy, fool-proof one could say. works well in a round or a ring tin, but then bake for slightly less time. I would just say if using chocolate it probably pays to line the base of the ...
Continue reading ...

Ginny says: I would recommend NOT doubling the cornmeal, which I did not paying attention to quantities. Made it crunchier than I would have liked.

Continue reading ...

Continue reading ...

This olive oil cake from Frankies Spuntino in Brooklyn was one of the nicest things I ate in NYC...oily with a hint of orange.
I didn't have a bundt tin, so it was a bit oily in the middle, but still delicious (took longer to cook and so the edges were crusty). A lot of olive oil, but it's worth getting one that tastes nice... :

5 large eggs, at room temperature
finely grated zest of 1 1/2 oranges
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups extra-virgin olive oil (you could get away with less)
2 cups cake flo...
Continue reading ...

The ever resourceful Ginny made these with the leftover egg whites from her pumpkin pie (see below).
She says: 'Easiest thing ever, and oh so delicious. Sometimes I put melted chocolate (dark), this time I couldn't be bothered. Either is good.'

2 cups coconut
2 egg whites
1/3 cup caster sugar

heat oven to 180C
mix ingredients together
put into 2-3 tsp-sized mounds on a sheet of paper
bake for 10-12 minutes (til they're a bit golden)
remove from oven.
cool.
eat.

recipe from Donna Hay Modern Classics 2

Continue reading ...

This looks like a beauty, Ginny - dark, smooth and most certainly tasty.

Ingredients
Continue reading ...

I had some bananas that needed to be cooked with. These sounded healthy and they were surprisingly moreish and delicious. I could have eaten about 6 in one go.

1.5 cups bran
0.75 cup boiling water
0.25 cup brown sugar
0.75 cup plain yogurt
1 egg, beaten
0.25 cup oil
2 bananas, mashed
1.25 cups flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
(approx 1 c frozen blueberries)

makes 12 'standard' muffins... grease a muffin tin
oven to 190C
mix bran with boiling water and leave to cool.
add yogurt, egg, oil and banana to br...
Continue reading ...

Ginny admits: "I just used a bought puff pastry which is cheating, but hey, who as the time... it was still nice. and I only made half the filling. left over as custard it was really good! nice and lemony..."

filling:
2 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp cornflour
4 egg yolks
1/2c caster sugar
2 strips of lemon rind (thick)

whisk 1/4 c milk, flours and egg yolks until smooth
combine sugar, lemon rind and 1/4 c of water in a pan and sir over low heat til sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil....
Continue reading ...

Ginny writes: "This is from 'My Bread' - by Jim Lahey, founder of Sullivan St Bakery in Manhattan, which makes the most incredible olive bread. Bakery is a bit of a mission, but worth a trip if you're in NYC. Go hungry.
He claims a revolutionary method. There's no kneading, and it rises for about 18 hours. It's very simple, but there are lots of steps.
Here's one I made. This loaf was nice and moist, not quite as delightful as his."

Continue reading ...

8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 ounces icing sugar
9 ounces plain flour
14 ounces granulated sugar
4 medium eggs, beaten together
4 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Grated zest 2 lemons
6 tablespoons lemon juice, strained
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

1 Put the softened butte...
Continue reading ...

Our first official Bake Club tea was held on Sunday 19 Sep 2010 at Frances's house. What a great spread! All the recipes are below. As well as baked goodness Nic also brought her homemade homegrown broad bean dip and Frances made hummus. Can't wait for the next one. Perhaps the guys might like to take up the baking challenge?...

Continue reading ...

A cake from Chile with German origins which involves drenching apples in cream. Yeah!
Ginny also provided clotted cream for this drunken affair.

Filling
1lb 7oz tart apples, prepared weight (about 5)
2¾ oz/generous ⅓ cup granulated sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
3½ fl oz/½ cup heavy cream
(I added half a nutmeg, grated)

Cake
10½ oz/2 cups all-purpose flour
2½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt (heaping, for me)
5½ oz/scant 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs, lightly beaten
5 tbsp ...
Continue reading ...

Continue reading ...

Ginny made these for a work do. But she let us taste one from her neat stack.

1 tsp cardamom seeds
8 white peppercorns
250g butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup cornflour
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup cashews, roasted and finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 150C. Put the cardamom and peppercorns into a mortar and pestle or an electric spice grinder and grind until fine.

2. Cream the butter and icing sugar until pale. Sift the cornflour and flour together and add to the creamed mixture with...

Continue reading ...

What a lovely afternoon of endless scones with whipped cream AND clotted cream and different kinds of berry jam.

500g/1lb 2oz self-raising flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
100g/3½oz butter, softened, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
large pinch salt
40g/1½oz caster sugar
300ml/10½fl oz full-fat milk, plus extra for glazing

To serve

butter, fresh clotted cream, good quality strawberry jam

1. In a large mixing bowl, rub the flour and butter together, using your fingerti...

Continue reading ...

1 cup of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons of heavy cream or yoghurt
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
3/4 cup of cocoa nibs
Zest of one large lime

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the butter and sugars together for about two minutes at me...

Continue reading ...

necatrines (or other fruit, tamarillos are really good; pears are good too; cherries [and plums] are traditional)
2 eggs
1/3 C caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C flour
3/4 C milk

oven to 180C

cut up fruit into large pieces

beat eggs and caster sugar, add vanilla, beat, whisk in flour and then the milk to form an aerated batter.

butter dish, arrange fruit, pour over batter, and bake 45-55 minutes...

sprinkle over icing sugar if that's your thing... serve hot (but good co...
Continue reading ...