Delicious Rustic Carrot and Walnut Cake (with Gluten free option)

Last week I made this delicious, moist and rustic carrot and walnut cake and I thought I would share it with you all. The recipe was adapted from a Donna Hay one and if you like really moist, rustic cakes, this is for you! Plus, it has carrot and walnuts in it, so that makes it healthy enough to afford second and third helpings, right?

Ingredients

♥ 1 1/14 cups brown sugar

♥ 3/4 cup vegetable oil

♥ 3 eggs

♥ 1 1/2 cups plain flour (GF plain flour works well in this recipe)

♥ 1/4 cup almond meal

♥ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

♥ 2 1/2 cups grated carrot (about 5 carrots)

♥ 1 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting

♥ 250g cream cheese, softened

♥ 1/2 cup icing sugar

♥ 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the sugar and oil in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 2–3 minutes. Add the eggs gradually and beat well. Sift the flour and cinnamon over the wet mixture. Add the carrot and walnuts and mix until just combined. Pour into a greased 22cm-round cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 55–60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in tin.

For the cream cheese frosting, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixture in a large bowl for 1-2 minutes. Add the icing sugar and lemon juice and beat until smooth. Spread frosting on the cooled cake and decorate with nuts and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Impossible Quiche Recipe

Boy do I mss the days when mum cooked for me every night! Moving out gives you a whole new appreciation of living at home, that's for sure! I mean, I love cooking, but after a long day at work there is nothing better than coming home to dinner on the table. This week, I tried out one of my favourite easy recipes handed down from mum. Impossible quiche! One of the simplest and most delicious recipes I've ever made. Want to know how?

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 can of sweet corn
• 150g diced ham
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 small carrot
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1/3 cup of plain flour (I used gluten free for Jakey's benefit)

Method:

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and add milk, then whisk again. Add bacon, sweet corn, cheese and grated carrot and zucchini. Sift the flour over the mixture, stirring as you go. Mix everything through thoroughly and pour into a greased pie dish before baking at 200 degrees C for 30 minutes or until a knife poked into it comes out clean.

It's that simple!  And the best thing? It's so packed full of yummy stuff, it makes a wholesome, healthy meal all by itself! You don't even need to whip up a salad! Plus it tastes delicious cold, too!

Grilled Cheese Cook Off with Sam from Planet bake Life

Hello lovely readers! Today is a very special day for this little blog. You see, today is the day that Sam from Planet Bake Life has invited me to take part in an awesome Grilled Cheese Cook-Off. The idea behind it is that we each make a grilled cheese, filling it with what we think is the most delicious filling in the world, and post it on our blog. Then, next week we will test out each other's sandwiches to see for ourselves just how delicious it is!

Sam is a recent and very good blog friend of mine who was born in South Africa, lived in the UK for nine years and now resides in New Zealand where she and her dad own a takeaway shop with an artisan bakery attached. This makes her one of my geographically closest bloggy pals and we are still a whole country away! Who will win the title of Most Delicious Grilled Cheese Sandwich? Who knows?  Sam is probably at a slight advantage being a baker and all. Anyway, here is what I came up with for my sandwich. I might be biased, but I think it's going to be pretty hard to top!

 Grilled cheese sandwich with honey mustard seasoned shaved turkey, cranberry sauce (on both slices of bread) and camembert cheese! Mmmmm, melty, cheesy, sweet-yet-savoury goodness!

Now, pop on over to Sam's blog to see what she cooked up for the challenge and pop back next Monday to see what I thought of her creation!

'Eat me" easy chocolate biscuit recipe

On Wednesday, I went shopping with my best friend to use up some of the vouchers she gave me for Christmas and my birthday. One of these vouchers was for Typo, my absolute favourite stationery and knick-knack shop and I was very excited to use it, despite dreading having to narrow down my loot to just $50 worth. One of the fantastic little thingymabobbies I bought in Typo was an "eat me" cookie stamp - a purchase which fits in perfectly with my resolution to eat less packaged, preservative-riddled crap this year and do more home cooking of meals and snacks from scratch - a resolution which is no mean feat for a biscuit lover like me who just can't pass up a couple of bikkies with my daily cup of tea. 

Anyway, Thursday afternoon saw me eager to try out this nifty little purchase and thus I was on the hunt for the perfect, easy cookie recipe to try my stamp on. Originally, I planned on making sugar cookies, but the ridiculous amounts of sugar and butter that every recipe I came across called for turned me off - I didn't want to have to run to the shops to buy more sugar and butter, and besides, I was after an easy staple recipe that I could whip up any time to satisfy my biscuit cravings. Then I found this little beauty - a chocolate biscuit recipe with only a handful of ingredients in much more reasonable quantities than the sugar cookies! Satisfied with their deliciousness after testing them out with a couple of cups of tea, I decided that this little recipe, which I originally found on bestrecipes.com.au but altered to suit my tastes, was too good not to share!

Ingredients:

3/4 of a cup of butter

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (you could use 1 teaspoon vanilla essence if you don't have extract)

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer on low. 
3. Add egg and vanilla and beat thoroughly.
4. Sift the cocoa and flour into the mixture and combine using your hands.
5. Once combined, remove the mixture from the bowl and place it on a rolling mat for kneading. If the dough is too sticky for kneading, add extra flour and knead until it reaches a smooth, doughy consistency that can be easily rolled with a rolling pin.
6. Roll out your dough to about 5mm thick. Use a drinking glass cookie cutter to cut out whatever shape you like. I was exciting and made circles.
7. Place the cookies on a tray lined with baking paper about 1cm apart and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven. If you have an awesome cookie stamp like me, press that into each cookie just before baking. 
8. After your cookies have cooled, make yourself a cup of tea, sit back, dunk and enjoy! 

Things I Love Tuesday v.1

I've decided that "Love From the Interwebs" doesn't really cut it as a feature, because from time to time, I may want to share other things with you all. So, after just one week, this little feature has been renamed and given a new breath of life. And on to the things...

I am LOVING the fact that Tommy Franklin, AKA Salty Rain Man, AKA Byron Bay's very own Dancing Man got into the finals of Australia's Got Talent. For years Tommy has been putting smiles on the faces of everyone who has the pleasure of seeing him dancing around Byron Bay, and I'm so glad that he is able to spread those smiles to everyone in Australia. Check out and the Splendour in the Grass ad that he was the star of here, and I dare you not to smile while you watch!

Kaelah's DIY Geometric Glitter Wall is to die for! Ever since seeing this, I go to bed at night wondering how the heck I'm going to convince Jake to let me do this one day. He has already agreed happily to make me the tea cup lights from this post, so I don't want to push my luck!

Everything about this outfit. Oh, also - the fact that I am finally feeling comfortable and confident with my personal style. Girly florals, pastels, frills and all!

Ella, the Queen of Cake, made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I am so excited to give the recipe a go!

Pastel hair. Especially this shade of pink.

Harry Potter Meme of the Week:

This one was picked out especially for Becky.

Also Loving:

♥ This open letter to Miley Cyrus by AriZona Iced Tea is absolutely freaking amaze balls.

♥ I got a cute little email today telling me that I won a 25 pound (I don't have the symbol for it on my Aussie keyboard) voucher to The Oriental Magpie in Erica's Birthday Giveaway!

♥ This is the most beautiful HONY story ever!
♥ Lipstick and nail polish - my two new obsessions thanks to blogging, and especially thanks to Ella.
♥ Oh, and only 11 more days until I get to move home!!!


Disclaimer: All links to pictures used, unless otherwise provided in this post, can be found on my pinterest.

10 Minute Chicken Laksa

Living alone on a budget, sometimes I find it a little difficult preparing a meal for myself. Often, I will make a bulk meal of something, and stick portions in the freezer for lazy days where I don't feel like cooking. That way, I at least know I'm getting my nutrients on those "I just can't be bothered" kind of days. There are days when I run out of my freezer meals, or just feel like something different, however, and it is on these days which I turn to meals that are quick and easy to prepare, while still upholding some sort of healthy sentiment. That is where this 10 minute laksa recipe comes in!

I love spicy food, and this laksa can be made to suit your taste in just 10 minutes, which is exactly why I love it! It's quick, easy, cheap and tastes amazing, while still having a bit of veg in it, which makes me feel like I'm being healthy! This is the first time I've really made up my own recipe, so I hope you like it! Of course, you could make it with any meat, or add in different types of veg, to suit what you have on hand, but my favourite laksa is chicken laksa (next to prawn laksa, of course!). The recipe serves two, but if you're like me and you live on your own, just keep the extra serve in the fridge to have for lunch the next day! So delicious!

If you want to have a go at making it, you will need:

1 pack of two-minute noodles

1 tablespoon laksa paste

½ can of coconut milk

1 chicken breast

½ a carrot

Handful of snow peas

Chilli flakes, optional and to your taste

And all you have to do is:

1.     Heat a splash of oil in a fry pan over medium heat. Put a saucepan of water on to boil at the same time. Cut your chicken breast into bite-sized pieces while you wait for your fry pan to heat up.

2.     Julienne your carrots, and chop the ends of your snow peas.

3.     Cook the chicken breast in the fry pan, until it has browned. Add the laksa paste, carrot and snow peas and stir-fry until the laksa paste is fragrant.

4.     While stir-frying the chicken, etc. cook your two-minute noodles in the pot of boiling water.

5.     Once the stir-fry is done, turn off the heat to the fry pan. Drain your two-minute noodles, keeping just enough water in the pot to cover them, put back on the heat, add the flavor sachet and stir.

6.      Add the mix in the fry pan to the saucepan along with the coconut milk and chilli flakes, and toss it all around. Cook for a further minute or two, and then you’re done!

Cheery Orange Icing Recipe

I don't know about you, but I love to bake. When I'm sad, I bake. When I'm happy, I bake. When I'm broke and hungry, I bake because cake ingredients are incredibly cheap and honestly, what could you possibly want more when you're sad, happy or hungry than cake?

Although I bake often, I'm not very creative when it comes to recipes. I usually just stick to the tried and tested, or use a cake mix for a quick and guaranteed-to-be-good result. I do like to get a little creative with decorations, however and I especially love trying different flavours of icing.

This icing recipe is one of my all time favourites. It's sweet and tangy at the same time, comes out the perfect, cheery shade of yellow, reminds me of summer and makes a delicious pair with a fluffy butter cake. It's also super easy! Want to know how to make it? Of course you do!

Ingredients:
Icing sugar (1 cup usually does about 12 cupcakes)
Finely grated rind of one orange
Juice of one orange

The How To:
Combine icing sugar and orange rind in a large bowl. Add orange juice bit by bit, stirring as you go to get rid of lumps, until the mixture is smooth and spreadable. If the mixture gets too runny, you can always add in a little extra icing sugar and give it another good stir.

See? Easy, peasy! Now you're ready to bake your own delicious, fluffy cup cakes. I promise you the tangy-sweet citrus taste will transport you to summer with every bite!

Creamy Pasta Sauce Recipe

Lately I have been really good and have been cooking nice, wholesome meals with plenty of veg in them. I've been really proud of myself and have actually really enjoyed cooking over this past week or so, too but sometimes you just need a break. You just need a quick, easy dinner and that is where I turn to the pre-made tortellini you find in the cold section of the supermarket. While this packet pasta might be a little more expensive than beans on toast, it is my absolute favourite easy meal because with the right sauce it tastes just like a proper meal! Usually I just use a home brand tomato based pasta sauce for this tortellini and stir it through the pasta after draining, but last week I didn't feel like a tomato based sauce, I felt like something cheesy and creamy, and so I whipped up this little gem:

Home Made Creamy Pasta Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/4 of a brown onion 

1 teaspoon of minced garlic (I use the stuff out of the jar)

A splash of cooking oil

2 1/2 cups of milk

1 1/2 cups of grated cheese

2 teaspoons of corn flour

2 mushrooms

salt and pepper (to taste)

The How To:

1. Finely chop onions and mushrooms while warming a splash of oil in a large fry pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and garlic to the oil and cook until the onions start turning transparent. Keep the onions and garlic moving around the pan as you cook to prevent the garlic burning.
3. Add the mushrooms to the fry pan and cook until brown, continuing to move the ingredients around the pan as you go.
4. Add milk to the fry pan and heat gently. While the milk is heating, put the cornflour into a cup, add a small amount of milk and stir until a thick paste is formed. Add a little more milk (just a touch) and stir it through the paste, making it a little runnier.
5. Add the cornflour to the pan gradually, stirring as you go. Continue stirring and begin to add cheese, little by little, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan so it doesn't stick.
6. Turn the heat up a little, add salt and pepper and stir some more. The sauce will begin to thicken at this point. If it doesn't start thickening in a few minutes, you can add a little more cornflour using the method above. Be careful of doing this though - you don't want it to turn too thick when it finally starts!
7. Once the sauce has thickened to just less than what you like it, turn the heat back down, add the cooked pasta to the sauce and gently stir it through.
8. Grab a bowl and serve yourself a generous carb-a-licious serving. Pasta is the best comfort food!

I know it seems like there is a lot involved in this recipe, but there really isn't - you've just got to keep stirring as you add things. It doesn't take too long to cook (only about 5-10 minutes) and the recipe is really versatile, allowing you to add veggies or even bacon (! why did I not think of this when I was making it?) to change up the flavour a little or make it a wee bit healthier. I was really proud of myself for "just winging it" in the kitchen the other night and coming up with this - it turned out delicious! Let me know if you try this at home, or share your own pasta sauce recipe with me below. Pasta is a favourite of mine and I'm always on the look out for new ways to cook it. :)

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

For all you northern hemispherians out there who are coming into the colder months - here is my hot chocolate mix recipe. The hot chocolate that you make with this turns out deliciously chocolatey and aromatic, and topped with marshmallows it's a real treat!
Even though it's summer here in Australia, I have still been enjoying this hot chocolate mix, and I sent some to Sheryl in the Gift Exchange. I'm yet to see if it works for iced chocolate but I'm sure it won't be long til I try!


Ingredients:

¾ cup caster sugar
½ cup cocoa
½ cup milk chocolate chips
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Method:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Put in jar until ready to serve.

To serve:
Warm milk on the stove or in the microwave. Add 2-3 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix to each mug and stir. Top with marshmallows.

Recipe Book!

On Tuesday I spent a wonderful day with my good friend, Ellie. We hung out in Byron Bay in the morning and went shopping/swimming and in the afternoon we made some A4 recipe books to take with us when we move out of home.

As you can see, my recipe book is quite simpe on the outside, with just a wooden frame from Spotlight bordering the word "recipes" which I typed on the computer. The books themselves are mont marte sketch books, the only plainly covered, hardcover book we could find with no lines on the pages. The pages are wonderfully thick and yellowish, which I love, and we have decided to sort of scrapbook our recipes into this book, adding decorative paper and other embellishments to the recipes we put in there.

Ellie made her book a lot more colourful on the outside than mine, covering it with bright pink cherry fabric, and adding sparkly cardboard letters to form the word "recipes" on the front. The books are a real reflection of our personal styles, I think. It's a shame I dont have a picture of Ellie's book to show you!

We also made some muffins this weekend (gluten free of course) that turned out delicious! They are incredibly healthy as well, so we were both glad to scoff some down for brekky the next day and are keen to alter the recipe a little to make the muffins a little sweeter and stickier!

Berry Iced Tea Recipe

With summer fast approaching, there is nothing I love more than laying in the sun with a good book, whilst sipping iced tea. Here is a quick and simple recipe for a mixed berry iced tea which is absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, black currants)

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

6 cups tea, brewed (hot)

 

 

Method:

1. Simmer berries with 3/4 cup water and sugar until berries break apart.
2. Add hot tea; steep until cool. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, pressing only lightly on the solids to keep the liquid clear.
3. Serve in a tall glass with ice cubes.

 

This recipe is to serve 6, but you can easily adjust itfor smaller or larger portions. Usually, if I am making it just for me, I just guess the amounts of berries and sugar to use :)

Recipe: Decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake

Hello lovelies, so in follow up to my gluten-free bread making post last week, here is a recipe for a decadent flourless chocolate cake which will send you straght to heaven in one bite! It is incredibly rich and incredibly delicious. Can be served cold by itself (or with a cup of tea) or hot with ice cream. If you're not much of a fan of overly rich things, I would suggest serving it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to break up the chocolatey-ness a little bit. I have tried it both wasy and absolutely love this cake!

 

 

 

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 1-ounce squares coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• For Glaze:
• 2 1-ounce squares coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate squares
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon milk OR light coconut milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Agave syrup OR honey
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F

Spray a 7-inch tart pan with removable bottom with cooking spray. If you don't have a tart pan, use a 6 to 7-inch springform pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray the paper.

1. Melt 6 ounces of chopped chocolate and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth.
2. Add sugar and salt and reduce heat to low. Cook while stirring for about one minute, until sugar starts to dissolve.
3. Remove pan from heat. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. The mixture will look smooth and glossy.
4. Use a mesh hand sieve to sift cocoa into mixture. This prevents lumps. Whisk until the cake batter is smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes. The center of the cake should be just firm to the touch, but be careful to not overbake the cake or it will be dry.
6. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert the cake on a plate.
7. To prepare the glaze, melt 2 ounces of chopped chocolate and 1 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the same saucepan you used to make the cake. When melted and smooth, remove the pan from heat. Add milk and Agave syrup OR honey and vanilla and stir until smooth and glossy. Let the glaze cool for about 3 minutes before pouring it on the cake.
8. Pour all of the glaze in the middle of the cake. Use a silicone or rubber spatula to spread the glaze evenly over the cake, allowing the glaze to evenly run down the sides of the cake.
   
   Recipe source 

The original recipe says that it serves 6, but let me tell you, if you've used dark chocolate for this one as I did, there is no way one person could eat 1/6 of this cake in one sitting! It is just too rich! I have been cutting myself slices about 1 inch wide and that is certainly enough for me! (The image of someone trying to eat a whole 1/6 of this cake brings to mind one of one of my favourite childhood movies, Matila where Bruce Bogtrotter is made by Miss Trunchbull to eat that whole cake! Haha)