Hot Cross Buns

Other than a song we all learn to play on the recorder in primary school, hot cross buns are a staple on almost every Easter breakfast table. It's basically raisin toast in bun form, with a flour paste cross on top! They're pretty easy to make if you have a couple of hours, and you must have them hot with butter. They are called HOT cross buns after all! Have a happy Easter!

HOT CROSS BUNS

Place the dry ingredients into your mixer:

- 3 cups plain flour
- 1 cup raisins
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg and all-spice
Slowly mix in 50g melted butter, 1 cup of warm milk and 1 beaten egg
Knead for 10 minutes

Place the dough in a greased bowl, covered in cling wrap

Leave in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour

Knead again, then shape into equal sized buns - I made about 10

Place dough balls onto a greased baking tray and cover in cling wrap

Leave in a warm place to rise for about half an hour

Pipe crosses onto the buns with a paste of 1/3 cup flour and enough water to make a paste

Bake at 190C for 20 minutes

To make the glaze bring 1/4 cup sugar in 1/4 cup water to the boil

Brush over the buns fresh from the oven

My Cousin's Baby Shower

What a gorgeous day this was - albeit a hot one! I've only been to a few baby showers, so I'm no expert, but this one was simply beautiful. It was a Pinterest dream come to fruition! To coordinate with the day's palette (and to celebrate a little man on his way), I created baby blue, chocolate brown, and white macarons.

Candid capture of me doing what I do best!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I always have almond meal in my pantry - mainly for making macarons. As you know, almond meal isn't the cheapest ingredient, so I tend to buy more if it's on sale!

When used in cakes, almond meal gives you the most beautiful, moist, chewy texture. I've even forgotten about the time and been late to check on an almond meal cake in the oven, to find that it still turned out beautifully juicy inside. Because it doesn't behave like flour, the secret to achieving airy lightness is all in the eggs.

I was so fortunate to acquire 2 extra mixing bowls for my KitchenAid at my last birthday. They have certainly been so useful for cakes such as these which need different components whipped (such as egg yolks and whites).

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

In a medium saucepan add 200g chopped butter, 200g chopped dark chocolate and 1/4 cup strong black coffee.
Stir constantly over low heat until melted then immediately transfer to a bowl to cool.

Do not be tempted to turn the heat up, and make sure you keep the mixture moving, to prevent the chocolate splitting.

In a large mixing bowl, whip 4 egg yolks with 1 cup caster sugar until thick and glossy.

Fold 2 cups of almond meal and your cooled chocolate mix into the egg yolks.

In another mixing bowl, whip 4 egg whites to stiff peaks.
Fold in 1/4 of the whites to the chocolate-yolk mix to "loosen" it.

Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, being extremely careful not to knock out all those precious air pockets.

Gently transfer to a springform cake tin and bake at 160 C for about 45 minutes.