My orange cake with fresh Raspberries

Well if you liked my last blog about my orange + poppy seed cake you are going to love this other version of that cake. It is still the amazing mouth watering orange cake but with juicy fresh raspberries instead of the dinky wee poppy seeds

For this recipe you will need:

2 cups of butter

2 cups of sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup of orange zest

Juice of 1 1/2 oranges

3 cups of plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon

3/4 cup of buttermilk 

125 g of raspberries

Firstly cream your butter + sugar until pale in colour, next add in your 4 eggs one at a time what I actually like to do is beat the eggs together in a separate bowl + add that to the mixture I find its less likely for the eggs to split.

Once their all combined add the juice + zest of your oranges well. In a separate bowl sift together all your dry ingredients + by hand fold it in to your wet mixture along with the buttermilk .

Grease and flour your two loaf tins and pour in your cake mixture mankins sure their even. Lastly pop in your raspberries evenly throughout the cake mixture pushing them down slightly.

Pop in the oven for 45mins @ 160'

Once out I also drizzled these cakes with an orange simple syrup. Then when cooked I drizzled over an oozy orange drizzled which I included crushed fresh raspberries so the drizzle would take on the crazy pink colour...

An absolutely gorgeous cake to serve for any occasion

Enjoy

Rwbecca

My orange + poppy seed cake

Big things were happening this weekend in my house, the hubby was coming home from Canada for good + all I can say is there is two little girlies who were bursting with excitement. It was as mad as Christmas Eve last night. We were like the Walton's in my bed I was hanging out the side while the mini num nums were like star fish HA...

it's a given that we'll be having visitors + that also we'll be calling round to family + friends, so any excuse for mento come up with a cake recipe for the blog. And I know iv mentioned the love affair my grand dad had with all things sweet before but a real favorite for him when he and my Nanos would come stay with us down in the sticks was an orange cake I can still smell the fragrant cake that filled the kitchen. 

So I'm using this occasion to finally give an orange cake with a twist of course a go..

For this recipe you will need:

2 cups of butter

2 cups of sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup of orange zest

Zest of 1 1/2 oranges

3/4 cup of buttermilk 

3 cups of plain flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup of poppy seeds

This recipe will make two 2lb loaf cakes

Firstly cream your butter + sugar until pale in colour, next add in your 4 eggs one at a time what I actually like to do is beat the eggs together in a separate bowl + add that to the mixture I find its less likely for the eggs to split.

Once their all combined add the juice + zest of your oranges well. In a separate bowl sift together all your dry ingredients + by hand fold it in to your wet mixture along with the buttermilk .

Lastly sprinkle in the gorgeous blue, grey + black dots that are your poppy seeds into your batter and evenly combine.

Pour your cake batter into two loaf tins which you must grease and flour before hand so the yummy cakes don't stick.

Bake for 45 minutes @ 160'

Once out of the oven I trickled a simple syrup over the cakes

made from 1/2 cup of orange juice with 1/2 cup of sugar. The when the cakes were completely cooled I drizzled the cakes with an orange glaze made from 2 cups of icing sugar + just enough orange juice that it makes an oozy consistency...

Enjoy

Rebecca x

Caramelized pears with cinnamon swirls

Sometimes in life all you need is a ridiculously decadent dessert but without all that prep and major stress...well look no further below is the recipe for my swirly cinnamon cups filled with caramelised pears and toasted almonds...

For this recipe you will need:

1 roll of puff pastry

6 pears

100g of dark chocolate

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of ground almonds

1/2 cup of toasted almond flakes

Butter

Extra brown sugar 

So lets gets started firstly unroll your pastry out flat then evenly sprinkle your cinnamon, sugar + ground almond onto your pastry.

Next roll up your pastry like it was in the beginning + cut into 8 pieces. At this point you will see the cinnamony swirls beaming back at you they look divine. 

With your rolling pin or with a glass tumbler which ever comes to hand  gently flatten each swirly section like a saucer. Once their all flattened sit each of them in to a cupcake tray + pop into your preheated oven @ 160' for 20minutes or until lightly golden.

While your cinnamon swirly cups are baking away peel + roughly dice your pears then pop them in a pot with with the smallest nob of butter. Once your pears have began to bubble + soften sprinkle in 1/2 a table spoon of light brown sugar this will help caramelise the pears. Gently test the pears with a cake tester to see if they are fully cooked the last thing you want is your pears to resemble baby mush, that would be a major fail!!!

Ok so your cinnamon swirly cups are baked and out of the oven cooling on a baking tray, your pears are ready for take off. So the last things to prepare before you assemble this magical dessert are to toast the almonds on the pan + melt your plain chocolate over a double boiler.

On your dinky serving dish place out your swirly cinnamon cups, spoon in a small amount of the pears into each cup. Next drizzle over the melted chocolate + lastly sprinkle on the toasted almonds YUM!!!

This dish will get you major brownie points for really very little stress at all

Enjoy

Rebecca x

Banana bread pancakes

So your all pretty familiar with my love of pancakes by now I just think they are by far the most exciting thing to eat for breakfast( its the little things in life that do it for me). But surprisingly enough I would be very conscience of what I eat, like many of you I have a resident devil + angel living on either shoulder willing me or taunting me to eat all the food choices that come my way.

So it dawned on me if I can have my wee ones eat only brown bread why not slip a little of the whole wheat into their pancakes....soooo I did but oh I didn't stop there, bananas are a fab "accessory" to add to pancakes so I said feck it il add them in too. I then took a gander in the pantry + found honey and coconut flakes, happy days iv the making for banana bread but il stick it in their pancakes...

For this recipe you will need:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 large egg

1 cup of butter milk

1 chopped banana 

1 table spoon of coconut flakes

1 to 2 tablespoon of honey

So to start by adding both flours, baking powder, eggs and buttermilk to your bowl and mix really well untiil you get a smooth frothy texture.

Next dollop small portions of your pancake batter onto your pre heated pan that you've splashed with a teeny bit of oil. I usually dollop four pancakes at a time unless of course you are looking to make a bigger pancake.

Once your pancakes are on gingerly place your sliced banana pieces onto the pancakes, before you turn the pancakes sprinkle a small amount of your coconut flakes over each of them then turn. 

Next add a small teaspoon of the honey to the base of each pancake. keep a close eye on the pan, there is a fine line between toasted coconut + burnt honey with cremated coconut the latter ain't so good... 

And that's all she wrote these little babies are so good with the tangy taste from the buttermilk + the wholesomeness of the flour all combined with the totally tropical extras your onto a winner 

Enjoy

Rebecca xx 

Lillie-B is one

How cute is this little birthday cake I made for my youngest Lillie-B

Toasting marshmallows with a twist

I have such funny happy memories as child camping in my best friend Kate's kitchen in a makeshift tent made out of umbrellas, chairs + bed sheets...

Part of the camping experience would involve toasting marshmallows held by forks over a tea light. saying that we'd basically try to toast anything we got our hands on, already toasted bread along with the cooked sausages that came with them HA....

So to pass on my heart warming nostalgia to my wee ones we decided after our BBQ this evening we would toast some gigantic marshmallows over the flames + delight Lottie-daisy with the gooey rainbow sprinkled blob on a skewer...

For this messy adventure you will need:

Gigantic marshmallows{1 per person}

BBQ skewers

Rainbow sprinkles

This is a super quick process with big rewards. Firstly place your marshmallows on their skewers, next hold them over the flames + watch them scorch in a matter of moments. Keep turning the skewer every few seconds so it's sizzly all over.

What I like to do next once I'm finished toasting them is to literally pull off the scorched skin to unveil the gooey marshmallow underneath + straight away dunk it in my bowl of rainbow sprinkles...FAB

This will be a winner with adults + children after your BBQ, sit back + enjoy..

Enjoy 

Rebecca xx

Something funny for you..Worlds biggest BBQ's

http://www.calorgas.ie/biggest-bbqs-on-earth

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The hubby's shortbread cookies

As long as I can remember when christmas came around in our house so did the tins of shortbread cookies sprinkled with sugar in all different shapes, they were my dads all time favourites + now it turns out its the hubby's all time fave cookie all year round not just christmas, at christmas the dosage just goes up in shocking quantities!!!!

So christmas gone I decided I was going to make food hampers for everyone instead of buying something for the sake of buying it.... One of the hamper fillers was these shortbread cookies + they were a complete success . So now that we are in Canada + the Hubby is working all hours I said it would be the perfect treat for him when he came home this evening...

For this recipe you will need:

180g of real butter

70g of icing sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

180g of flour

70g of corn flour

Firstly pop the oven on @ 160'

Make sure your butter is really soft so it is easy to cream with your icing sugar. Next add the flour, corn flour + baking powder together, then slowly mix all the ingredients together. The consistency will be quite crumbly but thats good that is the nature of the cookie.

Once it has almost come together dust your countertop with flour and topple out your dough + knead for a moment or two. Next wrap the dough in cling film + pop in your fridge for 1/2 hour.

So  1/2 hour is up unwrap the dough + pull off approximately 23 little dough balls + place on your baking trays. Lastly get a fork + squash down onto the dough. Pop these in the oven for no more than 12 mins. they will come out light in colour but I guarantee they will be fully cooked....

Be prepared to eat 1/3 of the cookies once they come out of the oven as they are to irresistible!!!!

Porridge 3 ways

This is just a quick blog about breakfast time in my house we seem to be like the three little bears. We all have porridge but everyone has it in their own differnt way. Lillie-B been the youngest just has her porridge simply with a splash milk. Next there is Lottie-D the unofficial picky eater she has her porridge with strawberry yogurt swirled in. Then lastly there is me + I love my porridge with a blog of local honey YUM.....

Just goes to show porridge can be had at any age + for any taste

ENJOY XX

Super easy brown soda bread

Brown soda bread is just one of those things that is a must on any irish families kitchen table. It only has a hand full of ingredients all of which are good for you, low in fat + full of yumminess.

In a past blog I have shared a brown soda bread with you all but this new one is even easier for you to make + most importantly is fool proof, perfect for any novice out there.It takes no time at all to prepare + you'll be eating this bad boy with in the hour.

For this recipe you will need:
2 cups of white flour
2 cups of 100% wholewheat flour
1 cup of jumbo oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 pint of buttermilk

Firstly pre heat your oven @200'

Start by adding all the dry ingredients in a bowl and combine together well. Next pour in most of your buttermilk + mix well, once its almost combined pour in the last of buttermilk. Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl you'll always have a few scragglers left behind.

Next on your counter top sprinkle some wholemeal flour out, then flour your hands + plonk out the bread mixture. Here you are going to spend a few minutes kneading the brown bread, adding wholemeal flour to the countertop + hands as needed. There is no doubt that you will need to scrape some dough off your hands and the countertop so don't let this fluster you. In the end you want the finish product to be even + oval in shape.

Dust your baking tray with wholewheat flour place the dough on it, then with a knife cut a cross on the top of the dough this allows the bread to expand. Sprinkle some those jumbo oats over the top before you pop it in the oven for 40 mins.

3/4 way through the baking time i like to turn the brown bread around so as to give an even browning. Once your timer beeps open the over turn the bread upside down + give the underneath a wee tap it should sound hollow... bobs your uncle your brown bread is baked...

this brown bread is perfect for freezing thats if you have the discipline not to eat it all

ENJOY XX