Blueberry Cake

I am guilty... I rarely eat the fruit and vegetables essential to a healthy diet. When I do, I tend to choose produce based purely on visual appeal when I'm at the supermarket. For fruit, that usually means berries. In this instance I picked up a punnet of blueberries that looked so attractive to me.

So what to do with a punnet of berries? Well I am bad. I can't just eat them as is, or in a fruit salad, or with yogurt. That's not my style. It needs to be smothered in carbohydrates, fat and sugar.

I'd done pancakes already here, and I had run out of patty cases to make blueberry muffins. It made me think, why not a cake? I tried to make it somewhat healthy by using olive oil instead of butter... but to be honest I think I would have preferred the butter :)

BLUEBERRY CAKE

Preheat oven to 160 Celcius. Lightly grease your springform cake tin.

Into KitchenAid bowl add 1 cup light olive oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3 eggs and 3/4 cup sugar. 

Whisk to combine.

With the mixer running, alternately add 2 cups self-raising flour with 3/4 cup milk.

When smooth, pour into cake tin.

Scatter 1 punnet of blueberries onto surface of batter.

Bake for about 1 hour (until skewer comes out clean).

To serve, dust with icing sugar and dollop with whipped cream or cr­­ème fraîche

Strawberry Shortcake

I made this dish purely because it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and at about 3-4PM the light was perfect - which meant perfect light for food photography! I have a huge struggle with getting perfect light when it's not natural - all the lights in my house are yellow which end up making my food look disgusting!

Anyhow, I didn't want to miss the opportunity so I made something quick with ingredients I had.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.

Hull and quarter 2 punnets of washed strawberries.
Sprinkle with caster sugar to coat, leave at room temperature.

In a bowl combine 2 cups of self-raising flour, a pinch of salt, 4 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp baking powder.

Mixing with a spoon, gradually add 300ml cream and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until a ball is formed.

Rest for 15 minutes.

Roll out dough 2cm thick and cut out 8x8cm squares. (I managed about 6 squares)

Place squares onto a lined baking tray, brush with water and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes, cool on a rack.

Whip 300ml cream with a few tbsp of sugar until soft peaks form.

ASSEMBLY:

In a dessert dish place one shortcake and place strawberries on top.

Place a dollop of cream on top.

Place another shortcake over top and top with strawberries.

Place another dollop of cream on top.

Crêpes with Chocolate Sauce

I've mentioned before how much I love Saturday breakfast. This particular morning I started on breakfast at 9:30AM - at this time on a weekday I'm working! I wish everyday was Saturday!

CREPES

Into a bowl combine 1/2 cup plain flour and 3 tbsp caster sugar.
Mix in 100g melted butter, then beat in 2 eggs, one at a time.
Gradually add a mixture of 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water.
Cook on non-stick pan over medium heat - ensure batter is spread thinly.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE
Break up about 100g milk chocolate into a bowl.
In a saucepan heat up 1 cup thickened cream.
Whilst whisking, slowly pour hot cream onto chocolate.
Stir until chocolate is melted.

Good Friends, Good Food

We were in for a treat this past weekend. One of my good friends wanted to catch up so she suggested her and her husband come over and COOK for us! I simply had to show them where things were then sit down! Teddy was also happy with the visitors!

Tom making delicious lamb chops

Anna making crème brûlée

This is everybody's cue to leave