marmalade almond cake

Here is the recipe for the marmalade almond cake that we all scoffed last Friday. It is based on a french yogurt cake recipe that I have been making a lot of lately and trying out different versions. The basic yogurt cake is:

1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
zest 1 lemon/orange (depending on what flavour you want)
fruit of your choice eg. raspberries, pears, peaches, apples, dried fruit etc.

whisk together yogurt, sugar and vanilla
add oil in steady stream while whisking
add eggs one at a time still whisking
fold in flour etc. and stir in zest.

The fruit can either go on the top or the bottom of the cake.
For the marmalade almond one I placed about 1/3 cup of flaked almonds on the base of the tin (lined with baking paper) then I placed spoonfuls of marmalade on top of the almonds,  about 1/3 of a cup of Christine's extra delicious home made marmalade! Then pour in the cake batter and cook in 180 C oven for about 30-40 mins. Leave in tin for about 15 mins after cooking for the Jam to cool down and set a bit before turning out.

August in Christine's garden

My time for vegie group again seemed to roll around really fast. The weather didn't look promising although the rain held off with the sun even peeking out around lunchtime!

Here are a few pics of what we got up to at my place yesterday:

Hard at work clearing the  beds in preparation for spring planting

The Footwear

Clearing out potatoes and digging over soil to receive summer crops in the coming weeks

Chitted potatoes from last year's harvests being planted out

Nice work, girls!

Waffles
2 cups plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tbs raw sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
2 tbs natural yoghurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the wet ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Allow to stand if there is time, around 10-20 minutes is fine. If not, don't worry. Cook in preheated waffle maker according to your maker's directions.
To re-heat later, toast on low setting and serve warm with your favourite topping/sauce.

Brownie recipe originally from HERE


Thanks for your help, ladies. As always it was a pleasure to have you here!

Recipes for treats served at Susan's House for vegie club, July 2011

FLOURLESS ORANGE CAKE

Preparation Time

15 minutes

Cooking Time

100 minutes

Ingredients

Melted butter, to grease

2 oranges

3 eggs

215g (1 cup) caster sugar

300g (3 cups) almond meal

1 tsp gluten-free baking powder

Orange Syrup

1 orange

155g (3/4 cup) caster sugar

Method

1.      Preheat oven to 170°C. Brush a round 22cm (base measurement) springform pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line base with non-stick baking paper.

2.      Place the oranges in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Return to pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes (this will reduce the bitterness of the peel). Refresh under cold water. Drain. Coarsely chop oranges. Remove and discard any seeds.

3.      Place the orange in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.

4.      Use an electric beater to whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale. Add the orange, almond meal and baking powder and gently fold until just combined. Pour into prepared pan.

5.      Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool.

6.      Meanwhile, to make the orange syrup, use a zester to remove the rind from the orange. (Alternatively, use a vegetable peeler to peel the rind from orange. Use a small sharp knife to remove white pith. Cut rind into thin strips.) Juice orange.

7.      Place rind in a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Drain. Return to pan with orange juice and sugar. Place over low heat and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens.

8.      Turn cake onto a serving plate. Use a skewer to gently prick the top. Spoon over syrup. Cut into wedges to serve.





SALTED SPICE CARAMEL SLICE (thanks Karen Martini!!)

Prep Time: 15min

Cooking Time: 30 min plus 4hrs chilling time

BASE

¾ cup plain flour

½ cup brown sugar

120g unsalted butter, chopped

½ tsp ground cinnamon

FILLING                                                                                   

50g unsalted butter, chopped

¼ cup golden syrup

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 stick cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

1 Earl Grey tea bag

395g can condensed milk

TOPPING

220g dark chocolate

30g unsalted butter

1 tsp good-quality salt flakes

STEP 1 Preheat oven to 160’C. Line base of a 20cm springform tin with baking paper

STEP 2 Put flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon in a food processor and process until combined. Press mixture evenly into prepared pan. Smooth surface and bake for 14-16min or until lightly golden

STEP 3 To make filling, put butter, golden syrup, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and tea bag in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until butter has melted. Gradually bring to the boil and cook for 1min. Remove and discard tea bag.

STEP 4  Add condensed milk to pan and cook, stirring, for 2-3min or until mixture has thickened and slightly darkened. Remove cinnamon from pan and discard. Pour mixture over base. Bake for 8-10min or until bubbling and lightly golden. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool until caramel is firm.

STEP 5 To make topping, put chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and heat until almost melted. Remove from heat, then stir until smooth. Spoon topping over filling, smoothing surface with back of spoon.

STEP 6 Sprinkle salt flakes over topping, then refrigerate for at least 4hrs or until set

STEP 7 Cut slice into thin wedges and serve

Recipes

Lise's Fennel and Orange Salad

Here is the Fennel and Orange salad recipe which was requested after we had our end of term lunch at Catherine's house last Friday.

Ingredients:

fennel   fine shredded
cabbage  fine shredded
rocket
green capsicum
cucumber
orange zest
spring onion
parsley
mint
roasted hazelnuts


Dressing ingredients:

olive oil
sesame oil
salt
orange zest
balsamic vinegar
Dijon mustard
orange juice

This recipe has no exact measurements and is open to messing about with. Basically everything is finely shredded or chopped and then combined. The dressing is the basic two parts oil one part vinegar/juice and add everything else to taste. You could also add garlic and/or ginger to make it a bit more Asian. Have fun!