Welcome to Bake Club, Sarah! Sarah bought this round for our cuppa catch up. It was very moreish. The brown sugar really adds that caramel taste. Sarah says this recipe is from an Australian friend of her mother's, Barbara Fisher. Thanks Barbara!

125g butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup chopped dried fruit (I used raisins, but sultanas, dates also fine)
chopped walnuts (no amount given in orig recipe, I used about 1/2 cup)
1 cup SR flour (don't have, so used std, with tsp bp)

Melt butter in...
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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 ...
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Mmm. Nice sweet-savoury snack to take down to Party Central tonight to see the All Blacks beat Les Bleus! (Postscript: NZ 37: France 17 woo ha!) See the full post on Heidi Swanson's site, www.101cookbooks.com. She just uses walnuts but I used walnuts, almonds, hazels and brazils.

1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g brown sugar or natural cane sugar
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary leaves
1/4 cup / 1 oz / 30g sesame seeds
2 large egg whites
1 lb / ~4 cups shelled walnut halves
1/...

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Pumpkin and chocolate chip - who woulda thunk it!

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1.   Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking s...

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Welcome to Bake Club, Pirzad! Great to have another male baker on our books. We also know you are a fine cake decorator, so we look forward to seeing some of your creations!

Thanks for sharing your chocolate balls with us. Here's the recipe:

First make a chocolate cake

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Spelt is one of my favourite grains to make bread with and I often use Alessandra Zecchini’s recipe from her book, Savour.

400 ml warm water
2 ½ tsp active yeast granules
¼ tsp sugar
250g spelt flour
250g white flour
pinch salt

Place warm water in bowl, add yeast and sugar and set aside for 5 mins until the yeast starts to bubble. Add flour and salt and mix with your hand then turn out onto a floured board and knead for 7-8 mins. Roll into ball, but back in the bowl,...

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Aaaah…freelancing. In my world, it means more time to bake! I hadn’t made bread with gluten for a while so I thought I’d use up some spelt that I have at the back of the pantry. And if you’re going to make one batch you might as well double it and do two – one sweet and one savoury.

2 c warm water
4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp butter or vegetable spread
2 tsp salt
6 c flour (I used 2 plain white and 4 wholemeal spelt)

savoury filling:
2 Tbs butter,...

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I adapted this recipe from Miyuki McGuffie, the vegan baker on the Good blog. I made mine extra indulgent by using espresso coffee.

1 cup strong espresso
1 ¼ cup rice flour
1/4 cup muscovado sugar
½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup cocoa powder (I used fair trade cocoa but Valrhona from Sabato is excellent)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (you can get them at New World and Pak 'N Save but I used...

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Don’t get me wrong – I’ve got nothing against Annabel Langbein’s recipes as featured on her TV programme The Free Range Cook. I just wish this obviously bright and successful woman could add a few more adjectives to her vocabulary! Her superfluous gushing of ‘so good’, ‘so delicious’, ‘so easy’ and ‘so yum’ send me into a groaning fit. On the other side of the culinary coin, Nigella finds ways to promote food porn unlike any other TV chef: everythin...

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Carrot cake ain't carrot cake without cream cheese icing!

2 eggs
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 oil
1 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)
1 1/2 c grated carrots

For icing, mix together:
100g cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 c icing sugar
enough lemon juice to taste

Beat eggs and sugar until creamy. Add oil, then fold in dry ingredients. Pour into greased ring tin or loaf tin. Bake at 150C for 3/4 hour.
Wait till cool to sp...
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Why does a 'coffee cake' not contain any coffee? Does anyone else find this an annoying misnomer? Anyway, this recipe comes from Mama Chan's first homemade recipe book that my older sister Karen typed out more than 30 years ago! That's why the measurements are imperial. She's probably used the same ring tin since then too. Indeed, this streusel coffee cake goes well with any warming beverage at any time of the day.

1/ 1/2 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
2 oz butter
1 egg
1/2 c mil...
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Rich, dense morsels of chocolately goodness!

1 C unsweetened apple puree/sauce
1/3 C cocoa
¾ C flour/gluten free baking mix
½ tsp baking soda
½ C sugar
½ tsp salt
½ C dark chocolate chips ( or ¾ C of raspberries instead of choc chips & walnuts)
¾  C chopped walnuts

1.       Heat oven to 175C

2.       Place puree in medium bowl. Sift in cocoa, flour/baking mix & baking soda. Add sugar and salt. Mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate & nuts or fruit.

3.       Transfer...

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Ruth brought these tasty little numbers into work - what a treat. AND she personally shelled the walnuts herself!

2/3 cup of sugar
½ cup of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of grated orange peel (I change ingredients depending on what’s available – favourites are dates,
walnuts, almonds, apricots)
1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla
2 medium eggs
2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ...

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