Spring Time Strawberry Cake

I was getting ready to visit a good friend of mine for the long weekend. I always like to take something so I decided that I’d bake a cake. I’m not particularly good at baking so it’s been a mission of mine to learn how to bake. I’ve had a couple of successes with a rhubarb crumble cake.

The original idea was to bake a caramel apple tea cake but when I went to Woolies to buy the apples I saw beautiful strawberries on sale at a ridiculous price. It’s very rare that strawberries become quite this cheap and I totally want to take advantage of it.

It was so pretty before I baked it,  but it was totally worth baking it.  The recipe is so good and easy to make.  Especially with the lemon cake mixed with the gooey, jammy strawberries.

Ingredients

• 125g  unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the cake tin
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 300g strawberries, hulled and halved
• zest of a lemon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Butter a spring form cake tin. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
2. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla and lemon zest.
3. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to cake tin. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
4. Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 170 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

This cake is great for an afternoon tea party!!!!

Quickest Laksa Ever

I love laksa it is one of my staple comfort foods. I particularly love the combination of hot, sour & salty in food. I like being able to work my way through a bowl of spicy soupy noodles. YUM!  I think the best place to buy a laksa in Canberra is the Dickson Noodle House.  They have the best soup and the best quality soup ingredients.

I’m going to post about the Laksa I make at home it’s super quick and easy and you can customise it to the your taste and that of  your guests.

Chicken Laksa

3 tbsp oil

1 Onion diced

3 tsp crushed garlic

1 jar of prepared laksa paste (I generally use an Asian brand as it usually gives a better flavour)

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar or palm sugar

2 bird’s eye chillies (optional if you like your soup hot)

1 can of coconut cream

1.5L of water

2 small Chicken breasts chopped

1 bunch of  baby bok choy

1 pkt of fried tofu

1 cup bean sprouts

2 cup chopped coriander leaves

2 Cups Cooked Egg Noodles
2 Cups Cooked Rice Noodles

2 Limes

1) Heat oil in a big heavy based stock pot.  Add onion, garlic, laksa paste and chilli and stir fry until the paste has browned all over.

2) Add chicken and stir until cooked through.  Add the coconut cream and water and bring to the boil.  Add fish sauce, brown sugar and lime juice.  Turn off heat.

3) Cut up Bok Choy, Coriander leaves, cut up Fried Tofu. Cook noodles and set aside.

4)  In individual bowls divide up the noodles, bok choy and tofu,  pour over soup and chicken top with coriander and bean sprouts.  Serve with a wedge of lime

Serves 5 for dinner

Chicken Soup – Cures all that ails ya

I’ma back! I know I have been away for a while! Life gets in the way of things. I have had some very exciting food expeditions lately and I’m so sad that I didn’t capture it all so that I could blog it . But I’m back and I’m planning on sticking around for a while so that all my foodie adventures are documented here.

Recently we had a progressive dinner at my house with the common ingredient being star anise. My friend C made kangaroo fillets crusted with star anise and other spices on a bed of mash with a blueberry sauce – It was amazing. I made a Chinese Roast Pork with Star Anise, Sauteed Asian Greens and a Thai Noodle Salad. S, another friend of ours who is whiz with dessert made a Chocolate and Star Anise pudding. It was a highly successful dinner and I really regret not taking photos or noting any of the recipes. However, we are planning to do these dinners more regularly so stay tuned for some awesome recipes.

I went to Rubicon on Friday, and it was amazing! I’m definitely planning on do it again and taking pictures. I highly recommend it for anyone who is planning a special occasion. The staff are very attentive and the food is really good.

Any way now on to the Chicken Soup! Most All of my housemates are sick at the moment. So I have offered to make them soup for their colds. This is one of those recipes that never fails to satsify!

I tend not to use chicken bones and make stock because I never have the time. I think that stock cubes work just as well. I don’t like the flavour of the “real stock” that you can buy in the supermarkets so I always stick with stock cubes or vegeta.

Chicken Soup

1 large onion finely diced
1 Leek finely sliced
3 cloves of garlic (purely for the medicinal properties that garlic has)
2 carrots diced
1 large potato diced
1/2 celery sliced
1/2 C red lentils
1 free range chicken breast slice
2L water
3 vegetable or chicken stock cubes
1/2 bunch parsley finely chopped
2 tsbp oil
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric powder

1) Heat oil in a large heavy based 2L pot, saute onions, garlic and leeks.
2) Add potatoes, carrots, celery and saute for a about 2 mins.
3) Add chicken and stir through until cooked.
4) Add water and stock powder, turmeric and cumin powder and lentils. Allow to simmer for 1 hour.
5) Add chopped parsley and stir through.
6) Serve with crusty bread

Serves 6 for dinner