Hi baby

Babies are the best, so far ours is only the size of a spaghetti squash but we already love her and she is beginning to develop her own little personality, we can't wait to meet her! she also really likes to eat nutella and fries lately.

Mini cupcake heaven

Yesterday my 11 year old friend Poppy came over to do some baking, she had her heart set on cupcakes and had even bought her box of baking goodies with her. She also happens to be a major sweet tooth so her favourite part was making (and trying) the icing. We used a recipe from my 'Ladies, a plate' cookbook and had such a fun morning creating these delicious mouthfuls.

FOR THE CAKES

4 oz butter

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM ICING

2 cups icing sugar

4 oz butter

2 tbsn milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

GETTING READY

Preheat oven to 180C and put paper cases into 24 cupcake tins. Soften butter. Bring eggs to room temperature.

MIXING AND BAKING

1. Cream butter until smooth, add the sugar gradually and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for at least a minute after each addition.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the mixture alternately with the milk and vanilla.

4. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on rack.

FINISHING

1. Make the icing by combining half the sifted icing sugar with the softened butter, milk and vanilla and beating until smooth.

2. Add the remaining icing sugar gradually, mixing until the icing is a good spreading consistency. Tint with food colourings and as the cookbook says "embelish your creations as your fancy takes you". (we divided the mixture in half and put natural pink food colouring in one half and lemon juice and zest in the other... the lemon were my favourite. We also used a piping bag to ice them.)

You can make regular size or mini, mini are a bit cuter X

Inspire me please

Sometimes i get so stuck in my own ideas and thoughts, i love it when i see things that inspire me and make me want to do something myself. My friend Eldrid has the most beautiful blog, it's so good when people share ideas, it gives me motivation. I especially love her pictures on her blog of frames in her house. We are moving soon (6 weeks to be exact!) and i am really excited about decorating our new house already. I think i am going to have a wall with beautiful frames, some with photos, words, mirrors, and just blank frames. I think i'll start working on them now...

Banana chocolate chunk muffins

Ingredients:

3 big or 4 small very ripe bananas, mashed

3 tbsn honey

100g butter, melted

1 egg

2 tbsp organic milk

1½ cups stoneground organic white flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup chocolate - broken up into chunks

What to do:

1. Heat oven to 190°C (170°C fan bake). Grease a 12-hole standard muffin pan or line with paper cases, mine only made enough for 10.

2. In a bowl, place mashed bananas, honey, melted butter, egg and milk and stir to combine.

3. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda onto banana mixture and stir to just combine. Stir in chocolate bits.

4. Spoon mixture into muffin tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they look perfect and delicious.

These are GOOOOD! x

Classic sponge sandwich - with cream and fresh plums

You know how sometimes you get given a present that you really wanted.. it's the best feeling, and it shows that the person who gave it to you really knows you. My beautiful friend Naomi and her family gave me a cook book for my birthday called 'Ladies, a plate'. I saw this book when i was on honeymoon on Waiheke Island and have desperately wanted it ever since. While we were staying with Naomi's family at their farm a couple of weeks ago i used it for the first time and made a plum and cream filled sponge cake. We picked the plums from the tree outside the house, i love using ingredients from home.

Here's the recipe:

FOR THE CAKE

3 large eggs

6 oz caster sugar

4 oz flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp butter

4 tbsp boiling water

FOR THE FILLING

1 cup cream

2-3 tbsp jam (we didn't have any, i used plums instead, but you could use both)

getting ready:

preheat oven to 190C. Grease two 20cm round sandwich tins and line bases with circles of baking paper. Bring eggs to room temperature. Sift together flour and baking powder.

mixing and baking:

1. Beat the eggs and caster sugar fro 10 mins with an electric beater. They should be very fluffy and pale yellow and the mixture should fall in ribbons from the beaters and remain on the surface for a few seconds before sinking.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder again onto the top of the egg mixture and fold carefully through, using a large shallow metal spoon. Cut through with the edge of the spoon, gently lifting the mixture and turning the bowl as you go.

3. Lastly add the butter, melted in the boiling water, and fold through gently and thoroughly.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tins. Bake the sponges for about 20 minutes. It's better not to try and rotate the tins as they might sink.

5. Remove from the oven and after a few minutes, turn the cakes onto a cooling rack.

FINISHING

Put one sponge upside down on a pretty plate, spread it with your best jam and then a generous layer of whipped cream, sweetened or not as you wish*. Put the other sponge on top, right side up, and sift over a little icing sugar. (You could sift the icing sugar through a stencil or paper doily if you like that idea.)

*I put the plums on here, you could use berries too.