Week Sixteen...ANZAC Day

This weekend brings eldest son returning home to live, (even if it is just for two weeks ), youngest son still stuck in UK but due to touch down here in NZ on Wednesday afternoon, dinner with some very lovely friends and Anzac Day.

I awoke this morning wondering what on earth I would bake today, and while reading the Sunday paper Annabelle White came to the rescue with a Modern Anzac Cake.

Really interesting recipe, sour cream, apricots, coffee, coconut and cocoa and the topping has the rolled oats and golden syrup etc.

Annabelle recommends it be eaten with a really good cup of coffee.

I have chopped it up into family size pieces and delivered it around the place...anzac cake should be eaten on Anzac Day!

Week Fourteen eat your veges!

This week was going to be all about Ben. But a huge messy volcano has put an end to that! Poor ol Ben and his mates are stranded in the UK......probably having the time of their lives and I think I am the only one who is worrying about him. They were to arrive home today and the cake of his choice was to be displayed in the cake ta da. Maybe next week!

So instead, plan B, chocolate zucchini cake, recipe courtesy of Gill Cain.

John has had a large supply of zucchini growing this summer in his vege garden so it was great to use something from his harvest!

The cake is very light and lovely with no icing and best enjoyed right now.

Fourteenth Week - date anyone?

Well after a week in Auckland watching champion swimmers strut their stuff, baking a cake was the last thing on my mind!

So when the time came today, I opened the recipe book, A Treasury of New Zealand Baking, at a random page. This weeks cake is Coffee, Walnut and Date Cake. This is a superb cake, moist and rich, perfumed with coffee and studded with walnuts, and offset nicely with a lemon icing.

( I actually quoted that little description from the book! ha ha)

I reckon you should pop in this week and have a taste of this one.....

Next week my youngest cherub returns from his english adventure and he has booked his welcome home cake already! Watch this space.....

Week Thirteen...Easter

I was all set to investigate Easter cakes and on finding one I discovered traditionally they have a marzipan filling. So this put me off as I couldn't imagine anyone liking a cake full of almond icing so I went to plan B....Greg's birthday. His favourite cake according to his better half, is a banana cake with chocolate icing. Very handy as I happen to have four bananas reaching over maturity in the fruit bowl. Also handy that Greg's birthday fell at Easter as half my family are jetting all over the place and wouldn't be here to do the eating! Emma had gone to her favourite part of NZ with her man and his family, Adam took off to Auckland to the Open Swimming Champs and Ben heads off to London for two weeks today. John, 'doesn't really eat cake', and I don't need cake!

So Happy Birthday Greg, you old bugger, (I can only say that because he is 3 months older than me) hope you enjoy your cake.