Cake 29, Saucy Pud, Very Mixed Very Cheap Getting Closer

Alison Holst's, once more. Maybe she's my hero?

Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding

Lightly butter an ovenware dish, about 20cm across. Sift 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (69 cents) and 2 Tb cocoa (36 cents) into the dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar (19 cents), then add 1/2 cup milk (22.5 cents) and mix together (it's quite tough to mix, I've always wondered if it's meant to be more milk, but this is from a recipe book that's all about the budgeting...).
Spread fairly evenly over the base of the dish.
Mix together 1 Tb cocoa (18 cents) and 1/2 cup sugar (19 cents) in another bowl, then sprinkle evenly over the mixture in the dish. Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water (don't know how much it costs to boil a jug...) gently over the surface, over the back of a spoon.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the centre feels firm. Apparently this was 22cents per serve (serves 4) back in 1993.
After some careful maths, I've worked out how much it costs per serve (based on 4 servings per pud): 46 cents. That's very cheap. It seems Alison knows her stuff.
My prices are based on Homebrand products from the Foodtown website, so no special prices included.

Cake 27, Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

This is another recipe from "500 Cakes" (thanks Emma :D)

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

230g fresh rhubarb, cut into about 5mm thick pieces (I used 3 massive stalks from the plant in the garden - they weren't pink, but the cake still turned out fine)
3 Tb caster sugar
80g butter, at room temp
240g caster sugar (I only used about 2/3 of this amount, it seemed excessive...)
2 eggs
3 Tb ground almonds (I used this, then the rest of the 70g packet instead of some of the flour)
110g self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 20cm tin.
Toss the rhubarb in the first measure of sugar so that it's coated thoroughly. Arrange in the base of the tin.
Beat butter and sugar together, then beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in the almonds, then fold in the flour.
Spoon this onto the rhubarb, and spread evenly.
Bake for about 40 minutes until risen and golden.
Cool in tin for about 5mins, then cool on a wire rack.

Cake 22, Lazy Scones with Condiments

This is my lazy scone/cake attempt. They turned out okay, nice and fluffy.

Lazy Scones

250ml cream (use a 500ml bottle)
355ml (1 can) lemonade
4 tsp baking powder
4 - 4 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 220 C
Combine, roll out on a floured surface, cut into circles with a glass.
Bake for 12-15 mins.

Whip the remaining cream, and slather on scones with jam.

Cake 16, Chocolate Muffcakes

So Lauren made chocolate muffcakes (being a portmanteau word, rather than small cakes that look rude), and they were pretty delish. I'm going to pinch her baking for my blog :) She used a recipe my mum gave me, which is probably from Alison Holst. I think mum owns Alison's entire ouvre of cooking books.

12 Big Fat Chocolate Muffins
(something tells me mum calls them this, it's not a very Alison Holst title...)

Preheat oven to 180 C. Mix together:
100g melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
Add:
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour (Lauren used half wholemeal)
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Spoon into lined/greased tin, and bake for 10-15 minutes.
Lauren was going to ice these, but decided they'd be disgusting with icing on them, and it's true. They would be.

The muffcakes were strangely porous....

Cake 13, Date Loaf (veganable)

Date loaf must be one of my all time favourite cakes, it's so moist and scrumptious. Also, by using olivani (or similar non-dairy margarine) instead of butter, it becomes a vegan cake.

Date Loaf

Preheat oven to 165 C. In a large pot, combine the following:
1 cup water
55g butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 Tb golden syrup
1 cup chopped dates
Bring to the boil, while stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Add:
2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Mix, then pour into a lined loaf tin, and bake for 45-60 mins.

Cake 9, banana with chocolate icing and sprinkles

I made this cake at midnight-ish, and somewhat drunk. It was okay. I didn't ice it until the next day (well into the afternoon, I wasn't functioning until after midday), and ice it I did. Thick chocolate icing, and just enough hundred and thousands to remind me of being a kid. Nyaw. The recipe is Jo Seagar's, and it's okay. I just remembered I got an awesome cake cookbook for my birthday, I should really find that...

Moist Banana Cake

125g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
2 tsp baking soda
2 Tb hot milk
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180 C. Cream butter and sugar, and add eggs one at a time. Stir in mashed banana. Stir soda into hot milk, then add this to the mixture. Fold in flour and baking powder.
Bake 45-50 mins.



I'm going to say this is Cake 7

Cake 7 is an upside down cake, with pineapple rings on the top/bottom. I used a recipe from Parkvale Kindergarten Cookbook, a treasure trove of delights. I can't wait to try "Whiskey Mac" cake (kindy-appropriate?), Weetbix cake (which sounds simply awful), and there are some great drinks recipes at the back, for homemade "Kahlua" and "Baileys". I'll post the recipes for these at the end, they sound delish. Mm mm mm. Oh yeah, and "Gherkin Spread" unsurprisingly fell into the "?!" category of the cookbook. Anyhow, I used the "Wonder Cake" recipe, with a few alterations.

Wonder Cake

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
2 Tb butter, melted
2 eggs
(1/2 cup) milk (they've omitted the amount of milk required, but I think about 1/2 a cup should be right)
1 tin pineapple slices

Preheat the oven to "fairly hot" (I did mine at 190 C, but 180 would probably be okay).
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, stir in salt and sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine the butter, eggs and milk, and mix well.
Pour into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly (the recipe recommends mixing for 5 mins, but I really couldn't be bothered).
Line a cake tin with baking paper, and lay the pinapple slices in the base.
Pour over the cake mix, and bake for about 30-45 mins.

This is a pretty easy mix, and it turned out super ace. I think it's best when hot. The cake itself isn't too sweet, so the pineapple works pefectly as a super sweet topping.



"Kahlua" (Glenys Robertson)

3 cups sugar

2 cups water

6 Tb Gregg's instant coffee

1 cup cold water

2 tsp vanilla

Put sugar and 2 cups water into a saucepan and dissolve, simmer for 10 mins. Mix the coffee with the cold water and vanilla, then add to the saucepan. Let it cool and add half a bottle of vodka. [I like how this is omitted from the ingredients list] Stir well. You need to leave it for 3 weeks.

"Baileys" (Katrina Paton)

1 tin condensed milk

300ml fresh cream

2 eggs

1 Tb chocolate topping (I think she means ice cream topping)

1 tsp glycerine

1 cup scotch whiskey

coconut essence to taste

Blend all together, bottle and chill in fridge. Shake well before use.

I think what concerns me the most is that two different boozy mothers of toddlers sent these in. 

Weekend in Wellington, and only one "cake" made

Me and my lad went down to Wellington for Zinefest, which was pretty ace, but not so great for my cake baking... I did, however, manage to make cupcakes (from a bought cake mix....).

Green's Golden Butter Cake Mix

Add 2 eggs, 100ml milk and 3 Tb butter. Blend and bake as per instructions.
Since I couldn't find a cake tin, I made muffins. They weren't too bad, Green's do a pretty good (and cheap-er) cake mix.
I also rolled the iced cupcakes in grated peppermint chocolate. Yumness all round.

Cake 1, Day 1

I'll be stoked past my teeth if I can keep this cake-making habit up for a few months.

Since I'm meant to be studying for my final exam, I thought it best to start off with a cake that doesn't take too long. I've still managed to drag it out into a few hours worth of procrastination... This is my standard cake recipe, it's just so easy to make, and easy to adjust if you're missing an ingredient. It can overcome all kinds of things (sugar added at the last minute, grilling instead of baking, part rice flour instead of regular). This time I actually used half wholemeal flour, just to give the cake a heavier texture. Anyhow, here's the first recipe:

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Grease/line a large cake tin (it's quite a big mix) and preheat the oven to 190 C
Mix together the following ingredients in a large bowl:
3 cups flour (today I went half white, half wholemeal)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda (I recommend sifting this, otherwise you end up with little lumps of it all through the cake)
1 tsp salt

Next, mix the following wet ingredients in a separate bowl:
2 cups hot coffee (a great opportunity to use up those sachets of instant decaf)
2 tsp white vinegar
2/3 cup vegetable oil (use something which doesn't taste too strong, like canola or sunflower)
2 tsp vanilla

Pour the wet into the dry, and combine. Don't overmix. Pour into the tin, and bake for 20-25 minutes. I found it took a lot longer using the gas oven I have at the moment, but at any rate the cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

I thought mine turned out okay today, it's not too sweet, and the wholemeal makes it "dense and moist", according to my tasters.