Remember Devon Aoki? Last week I found myself in balmy Umhlanga pretending that I was a sassy retiree with nothing better to do than eat pastries and swim in the Indian Ocean. I highly recommend this kind of behaviour. But next thing I knew it was March and all that idling away the days seemed to be a middle finger to my dreams for 2014. Productivity kinda takes a dive when you eat a cronut for breakfast... Anyway, I'm back. Working part-time kinda makes people hate you, quite a lot actually. It's all lols for me though. I mean, working "overtime" for me means clocking out at 2.30pm. Big lols. But, it also means that I have to decide how to spend my time in a way that serves me best. I might not have to do anything but I certainly want to. Sometimes, like today, I bake and bake and then I bake some more. My hair starts to smell like cake and I have probably washed the dishes about five times but in those hours I am meditating. Do anything that you love for long enough and it becomes meditation. I also watched The Fixer but that doesn't count... Oh Livvie. Happy Monday and all that good stuff. I just watched Lupita's acceptance speech, how great?
My homie Daleah has created a cosy and delicious spot to rival the very best in a little street that is so great that we call it a whole suburb: Braamfontein.
Miss insert-long-Greek-surname, may or may not have inadvertedly sponsored this post since I first emailed her one December afternoon whinging that I could bake and that I needed money (in nicer words of course)and she kindly obliged and so far this year I've baked close to 70 peanutbutter chocolate cakes for this fine establishment.
So friends, hoes and that guy in Ukraine who all read this blog; please pop in, order my cake (of course) and be merry.
Whoo, I just remembered this classic scene from Life... That's a high school throwback right there. Anyway, I baked this last night and it came out pretty damn tasty.
Recipe (adapted from Recipes From The Royal Kitchen): 2.5 cups of cake flour 1 tablespoon of baking power A pinch of salt 3/4 cups sugar 125 grams melted butter 2 extra large eggs 1 tub of full fat cream cheese 3/4 condensed milk 1. Sift all the dry ingredients and add the sugar and melted butter 2. Whisk eggs and condensed milk together and add flour mixture and then mix well. 3. Turn out into a greased loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes. Note: If the edges get too brown but the middle isn't cooked, cover the tin with tinfoil and stick it back in the oven. P.S. This recipe book was free with this month's Food & Home magazine. Yup, I'm basically a suburban mom.
Baking for Tommy is my equivalent of making it rain on him. This recipe is my own creation and it was quite moreish. However, it was unforgivably short on the chocolate front and thus the catchy name. This weekend Vanilla Chocolate Cheesecake 2.0 will be born and it will be a good day.
I have heard about this conspiracy to name and shame muffins for what they really are: cake! No man. Muffins are different, distant cousins of cake really. The fact that some muffins can be somewhat healthy (stretch of the word) is proof that muffins are not like their icing-laden friends. These muffins are yummy, healthy (there it is again) and easy to make and I added shredded coconut just because. Happy Monday y'all!
Like olives, coconuts tend to divide all people into two camps. Me? I love all things coconut. The smell of The Body Shop coconut body butter is enough to send me on a drug-like high. Bounty bars, coconut ice-cream and even Tennis biscuits; basically I love it all.
This cheesecake recipe is my own, born out of a love for trying to fit all of my favourite things into one cake. So naturally that means that there is Nutella in there too..
Previously the food editor for British Vogue, Annie Bell is now a food writer andblogger. Her new baking book is on my list of books to paw over at Exclusive while ordering countless almond squares.. And her recipe for pistachio brownies (from her blog) is on my ever-growing to bake list. The search for the perfect brownies is never ending! Aluta continua!
I love most decadent desserts because they promise a heady elixir of guilt and delight.
This cheesecake is worthy of all that calorie-induced guilt and then some.
Baking cheesecake is ridiculous since it must cool in the fridge overnight, basically forcing me to eat it for breakfast and then for a 'snack' and then just because I might as well since I've already eaten two slices and it's not even 1pm..
P.S. Check out this (http://call-me-cupcake.blogspot.com/) amazing Swedish food blog, the snaps are diabetes-inducing and delicious and, well, it's Swedish..
Before I begin, my somewhat non-existent photography skills must be noted. I have reduced a yummy, moreish pudding to a half-eaten (more like inhaled) disaster... But my tummy didn't mind my lack of presentation, it was delicious! I didn't make any friends as the recipe promised because I simply didn't share, but this recipe will certainly be repeated until my jeans don't fit, then I'll buy some jeggings and bake up some more (it's that good). By the way, I found this recipe in the FebruaryGlamour issue.
Studying all day is a recipe for depression, so I decided to take a break and Google bread recipes instead. The recipe kinda flopped, but maybe that's because I stopped reading after it said 'knead' (I don't do that) and added Jungle Oats for good measure instead. It came out surprisingly well (if a hybrid between cake and bread is your thing). Carbs are always, always my thing so I'm easily satisfied. Plus the smell of bread baking is so comforting. P.S. Early Egyptian writings urged mothers to send their children to school with plenty of bread and beer for their lunch.
First of all, I love pecan pie! My dearest bestie Tumelo (shout out!) introduced me to this tasty ambrosia and now I feel that it's time to upgrade myself from the Woolworths version. I've made it a new years resolution to master the art of pie-making (best resolution ever). I'm going to start with this Martha Stewart recipe, but I'm going to replace the corn syrup with either honey or golden syrup. I'm gonna name my pie àla Waitress, I-hate-studying-so-I-bake pie... Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle. Baby don't be blue, gonna make for you, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle. Gonna make a pie from heaven above, gonna be filled with strawberry love. Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, and hold you forever in the middle of my heart.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Posts
