Fantasy Cake
Silent Sunday #4
Easy tray bake (with icing)
This is a very easy tray bake/birthday cake/bake sale type of cake. I made two this morning for my son’s birthday party tomorrow, but they are so easy you could easily rustle one up as a pud or a snack.
To make the cake, I preheated the oven to 160ºC and greased/lined a 20x20cm baking tin. Then I mixed together (I used kitchenaid with paddle) 110g self-raising flour, 110g caster sugar, 110g softened unsalted butter, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 large eggs and 1 tsp vanilla extract (don;t smash it on the kitchen floor like I did…). Whizz it all together and spoon into the pan. Try to level it out as best you can and get it into the corners properly. Bake for 16 minutes then turn out, top side down onto a wire rack to cool. This gives you a nice flat surface for your icing to go on.
Mario birthday cake
LATER…
Funky kitchen stuff
As much as I love cooking, I may love kitchen gadgets/cookware even more. I am a sucker for kitsch especially. With this in mind, I thought I would share with you my latest acquisitions that my sister bought me for my birthday (she knows me so well!).
The items are from Fred. The first is the Russian Doll measuring set. It measures cups, half cups etc with the bottoms and the tops in use!
The second is letter cookie cutters which allow you to bake your own ransom note! These are very cool and great to use with the kids too – spelling and baking at the same time! Ta-da!
Having totally fallen for these I foolishly googled what else Fred does and now have a wish list. First on my Fred list are the Gingerdead Men and the Ninjabread Men – if only because I do like a good pun! And biscuits…..I like biscuits too. Especially ginger ones.
Bloody Good Chips…
..OK, not rocket science, but my key to gorgeous home-made chips is cook ’em like roast potatoes.
Preheat 1-2 tbsp of oil in a hot oven (200°C).
Cut the potatoes into chunky chips (leave the skin on). I go for anything from 1-2cm thick.
Par-boil for 5-10 mins, depending on thickness, then drain, allow to ‘dry’ for a minute and sprinkle with semolina (about 1tbsp).
Gently toss, just a little bit else they’ll break up and become mashed potatoes!
Bake for about 25 mins. Serve in a stack if you’re feeling a bit Billy Bistro. If not, just chuck ’em on the plate and watch them get scoffed! I like a good grind of salt and pepper on mine and a splodge of mayo on the side, but you do it your way!