Tis the Week of Christmas.....

After a hot and busy social weekend, I have left the baking of this weeks cake to the cooler temperature of last evening.

Nigella in her 'Nigella Christmas' book, makes a stunning looking cake for Christmas that looks like a bunch of Christmas trees lightly covered in fresh powdered snow. The secret is the fir tree shaped bundt cake tin she uses. I have scoured the countries kitchen shops looking for a tin like this, I even emailed her supplier in England and they are currently out of stock! So I popped down to the Homestore in Merivale and found a bundt tin that looks more like a cathedral dome than a bunch of trees!

The cake is a spruced up vanilla cake. It is rich in ingredients.....quite a bit of butter, 6 eggs, and a good cup of yoghurt go together to make a lovely light textured cake.

I will take it with me this morning to Look Good Feel Better and shout for the Cancer society staff.

Over the past three months, I have been making a variety of Christmas cakes that I have given to friends for Christmas. I will blog about them next and let you know how they turned out and how they tasted.

So Merry Christmas, relax and stay cool in these days leading to the big day. Remember to take 5 minutes among the hecticness of these days to breathe, and reflect on the reason for this fun festive season.

Friends Christmas Dinner

It happens once a year...the Friends Family Christmas Dinner...this year was our turn to host, and it was a lot of fun. The home that hosts, provides the Carnivorous bits, another brings nibbles, another veges and another the desserts. Even though I was on the meat side of the dinner, I just had to make a cake.

Enter 'Nigellas Christmas', a fabulous book we bought a couple of years ago and it is full of Christmas recipes according the domestic goddess, Nigella Lawson. I spied a recipe titled Incredibly Easy Chocolate Fruit Cake. It has the most delicious of ingredients, including 350g of prunes (!) muscovado sugar, Tia Maria, ground almonds, to name just a few. Cooking time was just under 2 hours and she suggested to sit it wrapped tightly in foil for four days before eating. That was handy, as I made it last Wednesday so it was all matured and ready to go yesterday.

Everyone was pretty much satiated by the time the cake made an appearance, so we have plenty to share with work collegues and friends popping in.

So, until next week, stay cool, take time to relax amongst the hecticness that can just happen without intention, and leave room in your tum for cake.

Its Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2nd Sunday of Advent means only three weeks until Christmas. This weeks blog should really be about Christmas cakes. My lovely friend Carole, had a family Christmas at her place this weekend so I gave her a Christmas cake to share with her family.

Way back in October, I started to make a collection of Christmas cakes using all different recipes from many of my favourite cake recipe books. The one I chose for Carole was a cake from The Wooden Cakebox Co. Established in 2001 A.D in New Zealand. The cake is made in a wooden box made from Kahikatea (white pine). Apparently the original wooden cakebox was made over 50 years ago and is still in use today!

The recipe is wonderful. The usual spices, fruit, alcohol, eggs and nuts ( and a surprise ingredient of curry powder!) combine to produce a lovely smell in the kitchen, and it cooks for 4 hours. I really hope it tastes good and the recipients of the cakes at Christmas enjoy them.

It was also my youngest fans' birthday in the weekend. Georgia turned 19 and has been whisked away for a weekend of fun and frivolity and returns tonight. Her request was for a carrot cake, so I threw one together yesterday and smothered it in cream cheese icing this morning and will be at her house today awaiting her return.

P.S Had a text from Carole last night re the Christmas cake tasting!!! I quote..."Well have just had some of your cake and must tell you that it was absolutely delicious!!! Moist and truly flavoursome! I think I can even taste that hint of curry powder! Thank you very much.."

Phew! What a relief that it tasted ok, otherwise what is one to do with 6 failed Christmas cakes..ha ha

Anyone for Tennis???

Every year about this time, our friends the Clymas have a tennis tournament. This year the theme was the U.S Tennis Open. We all rocked up in our stars and stripes, there was a gridiron player with his own chairleader, a U.S Marshall, McEnroe made an appearance and Uncle Sam with his patriotic better half. Mickey and Minnie Mouse came too and the U.S flag was wrapped around our newly single female. We all adopted American names, there was a Randy and Chip, Patty and Betty, Candy and Chuck, Larry and Nancy, to name a few.

There were hotdogs, hamburgers, deep fried donuts, lots of barbequed meat and salads, and cake.

The cake was a 'tennis cake' straight out of the Edmonds cook book.

It was really quite nice, with a dash of vanilla and almond essence, raisins and glace cherries.

Nice finish to a fun filled, sunny, great day.

Thank you to Crispin and his lady Di. ( or should I say Mack and Betty )

Happy Birthday Julie

Another birthday is upon us again this week. I am making the weekly cake a few days early as our friend Julie turns 50 tomorrow. After receiving the invitation for bubbles tonight, I thought that a cake could go down well with her throng of visitors.

Her Hubby recommended I make a moist chocolate type mud cake. So I consulted the Treasure of New Zealand Baking (again!) and found one I hadn't made yet called Vanna's Chocolate Cake. 'A family recipe that has been made by boys, girls, men and women, good cooks and novice bakers. It is quite sticky and keeps well.' says Kate Fraser. Sounds perfect.

I find with a lot of these cakes, their seems to be some strange ingredient that you can't always taste, but without it the cake wouldn't be quite right. In this cake we have a tablespoon of marmalade. Ground almonds too, so the taste will be interesting.

The icing is always a difficult one to get right. I have always iced my cakes with icing sugar, cocoa and small amount of butter mixed with just the right amount of hot water. This cake icing is melted chocolate, water, cream and butter......resulting in a runny texture that will fall off the cake. As I write this, I am watching the icing in the bowl and hoping it will miraculously thicken before my eyes! May have to help it along with either more chocolate or some icing sugar.

So, I contacted my cooking friend who I just knew would have the right advise and she suggested I melt more chocolate and add it to the runny mixture and then wait until it cools, as it will thicken upon cooling.

All fixed, the cake looks good and heres hoping it tastes good too.

Well what a weekend it has been already and its only mid Sunday!

Hubby and daughter joined forces with friend and commonwealth swim champion from a few years ago, Mel, to do the South Island Half Marathon in Lake Hood on Saturday. They did extremely well coming in second in the mixed team category, calling themselves 'Two girls and a cyclist'. Our other male friends, Ant, Greg, Clarky, Marty and Richie also did the event as individuals and they were just awesome, achieving individual life goals.

Today, we are meeting up with a family cousin from America. Hubbys father Cor, is calling her, his cousin, but we are not so sure....we think it could be his cousins daughter.....what do you call your cousins daughter? We have decided that she should be called just that. Cousins daughter.

Anyway, we are all having dinner at sister-in-laws place tonight and I thought that we should really have a kiwi type of cake on offer for dessert. Enter, the Treasury of New Zealand Baking again and on page 118 a recipe by Lauraine Jacobs, Hazelnut Meringue Cake with Kiwifruit.

The cake is very similar to a pavalova but no soft marshmellow. It crumbles when cut but the taste is exquisite with a lovely hazelnut crunch.

Barbara the 'cousins daughter', absolutely loved the dinner and dessert and she is off on the Trans Alpine to Greymouth today and the Trans scenic to Picton and beyond, tomorrow.

This is the type of dessert that is so easy and quick to make and bake. Will certainly be made again!

Show Weekend 2010

Show Day on Friday and the day after, has been the best weather that I can remember for a Show weekend in a long time. The pool got a wonderful work out, looking lovely and clean and at a temperature of 27 degrees!!! The BBQ was thrashed on both evenings as we entertained our nearest and dearest friends. Ping pong competition and sitting around the outside gas fire till the early hours. It is lovely to have an overcast Sunday to relax and bake a cake.

Sunday is our friend David's birthday. He is on his way home from the Sounds as his birthday cake cooks. Dave normal requests banana cake but I have no ripe bananas so I am making him something very different.

In the Foodtown magazine, they have a section called 'you asked for it'. Readers write in and ask for the recipes of their favourite food they have at cafe's around the country. The Old Vicarage shared their Citrus Slice, Cafe Metro in Kilmore St shared their Chocolate Cookies. I chose to make the Grindz Cafe's Coffee, Apple and Walnut Cake. Grindz Cafe is in Tauranga, owners Steve and Lindsay Graham. (there is a bit of useless information for you!)

This really does sound like a very delicious cake. Sour cream and the grated apple adds plenty of moisture and the coffee and walnuts will add lovely flavour and texture.

(Warning David, this cake contains nuts, so don't share it with Nick!)

Recipe reckons it serves 10, so it is a good size.

Happy Birthday Dave, now you have a cake to share at work tomorrow.

Dawn French in todays Sunday Star times said this about cake.....

'Its not really just the cake. Its all about the warmth of it, the smell of it and the fact that everyone comes together to eat it. Its a very useful tool, cake.'

I have to agree with her.