Recipe 34, 35, 36 - Friendship Cake

It gets to a stage where simple cookies and slices from the supermarket just does not cut it when you want to something special for your friends. On Friday I was invited over to a friends place, who always puts on a spread for me and others when we are over. I feel bad when I show up there empty handed all the time and so decided on Thursday night that I would bring something to her instead (Also helps when I am a few recipes behind in the blog as well!).

So here is Recipe 34, 35 and 36. Friendship Cake, Mock cream and White icing. My friendship cake is based very loosely off the lemon madiera cake - this is my own recipe!
(I deem this my "Friendship cake" as I had no idea how this would turn out and only a friend would eat it- regardless of how bad it was. But in truth it came out very well!)

Friendship Cake

Friendship Cake 1st Stage - cooked!

200g butter softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon rind
2 tsp lemon juice
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp Baking powder


METHOD

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in lemon rind.
2. In a separate bowl beat eggs until thick 
3. Sift flour and baking powder together
4. Add the flour mixture and egg mixture into the creamed mixture alternately. Just as you are about to add the final amount of egg, also add the lemon juice.
5. Stir to mix.
6. Spoon the mixture into a greased lined 20 cm square cake tin. Bake at 180c for 40 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched (sometimes depending on the oven this may take a bit longer - mine takes closer to 50 minutes)
7. Take out of oven and leave in its tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

After the cake has cooled for a couple of hours, slice into two horizontally and add the mock cream

Mock Cream

100g butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla essence (or 1 tsp grated lemon rind)

METHOD

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
2. Add milk and vanilla (or lemon rind)
3. With an electric beater beat until thick and pale like cream (this took close to 10 minutes to get the right thickness)

After the mock cream has been made, spread evenly over the bottom half of the cake and with care, place the top back on the cake. It is now ready to have the final touches!

White Icing

2 cups icing sugar
1/4 tsp butter, softened
2 tbsp water (approx)
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

METHOD

1. Sift icing sugar into a bowl. Add butter.
2. Add sufficient water to mix into a spreadable consistency. Flavour with vanilla essence.

This icing comes out white, so you can add any food colouring to it to get a pretty colour. I used yellow for my cake. This recipe for icing is so basic you can just replace the vanialla essence and add something else to get different flavours. e.g. cocoa for chocolate icing, instant coffee (dissolved in the water) to get coffee flavour, orange rind, the list goes on.

Finally to add to the look of the cake, I used marshmallows and yellow M&M's to creat flowers. By cutting one marshmallow horizontally 4 times (once in half and then those halves in half again) you get beautiful petal shapes. Then add a yellow M&M in the middle and Voila! You get the first and completed image :)
 

Recipe 24: Lemon Meringue Pie

Recipe 24- a favourite in our household, although the first time I made this the lemon's I used was so sweet (or sour) that literally, you had to let the slice of pie to "air" before eating, otherwise your face would suck in! So a note- if you do decide to make this, make sure you taste your lemons and if they are exceptionally sour, don't use the full amount stated in the ingredients, instead replace it with a bit more water e.g. instead use 1/4 cup of lemon juice and a cup of water.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Base: 
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry (previous recipe)

Filling:
1/4 cup cornflour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup of water
3 egg yolks (put the egg whites in a separate bowl for the topping)
1 tbsp butter


Topping:
3 egg whites
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla essence


METHOD

1. On a lightly floured board roll out the pastry (if not already done so) to a 6mm thickness. Use to line  20cm flan ring. Trim off any extra pastry
2. Bake blind (see techniques) at 190c for 20 minutes.During this time do steps 4,5,6. after 20 minutes proceed to 3 (then go to 7).
3. Remove the bake blind material and return to the oven for 1 minute to dry out pastry base. While pastry is cooking make the filling.
4. Filling: Blend cornflour, sugar, lemon rind and juice together until smooth. Add water then cook ovr medium heat until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly.
5. Remove from heat stir in yolks and butter.
6. To make the topping: Beat eggs whites until stiff but not dry, beat in sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until very thick and glossy. Stir in vanilla. You know when the meringue is ready when pulling out the beater it forms peaks that do not fall over.
7. When the 1 minute is up, add the lemon filling and pile on top the meringue.
8. Return to the oven and bake again for 10 minutes or until golden.

Recipe 21 & 22: Greek Salad with Lemon dressing

I love summer, nothing like vitamin D, a tan and summer fruit and vegetables. I also seem to be ok with dealing with greens.

Recipe number twenty one, (187 to go!) is one of the quickest salads ever and still is quite filling, so can be used as a main. Although Jamie Oliver deems it "Greek Salad"  I don't believe its exactly kosher.... it has Greek feta and olives- that's about it.

I have made this now twice and slightly different both times. Word of warning though, do not make it 1hr advance of your dinner party, otherwise it turns everything soggy :(

Avocado and Feta Salad

2 tomatoes
1 avocado
1 spanish onion
1 tsp dried oregano
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Handful of pitted olives
1 lemon
about 200g Feta Cheese
Lettuce mix (or Cos lettuce)
1/4 Ciabatta loaf *optional see step 5*

METHOD

1. Peel, stone and avocado. Cut into wedges and place in a bowl with squeezed half of a lemon. Cut the tomatoes erratically into 1cm shapes, finely dice the shallot.
2. Put the tomatoes, shallot, oregano with the avocado, splash with vinegar, a glug of olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside for 5 minutes
3. Rinse the lettuce mix and either put on separate plates or on one platter. Sprinkle the pitted olives onto the salad, spoon the avocado and tomato mix on, crumb feta cheese over. Toss the salad lightly.
4. Just prior to serving, drizzle the vinegar mix over the salad and with the second half of the lemon spritz the salad. Or alternatively serve with the lemon dressing (recipe 22)
5. *To add a little bit of carbs, grill slices of ciabatta with olive oil and either serve on the side or, wait till cool and then crumb over the salad (if you decide to crumb the bread, I would recommend preparing it just after step 1.)

Lemon Dressing

1 Lemon

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

METHOD

1. squeeze a whole lemon into a jug and then add olive oil - double that of what was squeezed from the lemon. e.g. if you squeeze 50ml of lemon juice, use 100ml of olive oil.
2. Taste and then add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Note: it will separate after a few hours, just shake before serving.

Recipe 14: Lemon Sour Cream Cake

I readily admit that sometimes I give blondes a bad name and  today might be one of those days. For the past fortnight I have been wondering why my husband has been sitting there saying that perhaps I should only do one recipe a week, other than the fact that he is one who dreads coming home to see what concoction I have come up with that day. I seem to be okay at making sweets and cakes, but the main dishes are failing me - something I clearly need to work on.

So what do I do for recipe number 14? I go back to a tried and true cake recipe I use numerous times, because a) it lasts in the fridge for weeks as well as freezes beautifully and b) its citrus so my husband actually eats it.

This is another adaptation from the Edmonds Cookbook  I add more sour cream than the original recipe, as well as use the whole lemon (original recipe calls for only 2 tsps of lemon rind), as I hate wastage.

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

125g softened butter

1 lemon

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup sour cream (approx 250ml)

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 160c (I use 140-150c on bake, as I find that my cakes tend to get a burnt bottom when left for a while to cook at greater temperatures, no matter how high I put the cake in the oven!)
2. Grate half the lemon finely, beat butter, lemon rind, sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy. 
3. Squeeze all of the lemon into the egg mixture stirring quickly to avoid any curdling.
4. Sift baking powder and flour together and fold the ingredients into the egg mixture alternately with the sour cream so you get a nice smooth mixture.
5. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 20cm round cake tin. Bake at 160c for 45 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.
6. Leave in tin for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

The cookbook recommends for this cake to just be dusted with icing sugar, but I like to ice it with Cream Cheese Icing (Recipe for that can be found on the 3rd of January).

Now I should really start focusing on Main dishes again, as much as my husband dreads it, I really need to learn how to cook!

Recipe 11 & 12: Citrus baked Fish with Mint salsa

Another Citrus recipe (perhaps I should try and do 208 citrus recipes!), which is a staple meal in our household. Although a grassroot recipe, it tastes fabulous and makes me look like a pro! I use Hoki  or blue cod fish fillets, as it is my favourite tasting fish but you could use any white fish fillets. This recipe is good at home or if your out camping. Whenever we go out bush,  I always make sure I have a few Oranges and Lemons handy for any fish we may catch.

Citrus Fish

1 Orange
1 Lemon
2 tblsp Oil
Tin foil
2 Fish fillets

METHOD

1. Half the Orange and Lemon, Zest one half of the lemon and orange and add to a small bowl with the oil. On the tin foil place the 2 fish fillets, pour the citrus marinade over the fillets.
2. With the remaining halves of orange and lemon, cut into segments and place on top of the fish fillets.
3. Wrap the fish fillets, with the marinade and orange in the tin foil. Leave for 30 minutes, then put into the oven (or bbq) and bake at 120c until cooked.

Can be served with rice, or salad, but generally I serve with recipe 12- Mint Salsa and a simple green salad.

Mint Salsa

1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped.
1 Spring Onion finely chopped.
4 tsp of lemon (if I am making both of these recipes at once- I use the remaining lemon after the 4 tsp in the baking of the fish, so its not wasted.)
4 tblsp Olive oil
1 cup shredded mint leaves
1 Orange segment (again saved from the above recipe) for garnish

METHOD

1. After chopping everything, gently toss altogether (except the orange).chop the orange segment into smaller segments.
2. Place salsa on plate and garnish with the orange segments.

Recipe 1: Orange and Sesame Salad

First Recipe of 2011 and what better than a nice summer salad- It is also one thing I seem to be OK at. Unfortunately no photo of this one, I am sure I will make it again soon, so perhaps I can update it at a later date.

This is one of the husbands favourites, due to him being a complete citrus freak!I have a feeling there will be a few citrus recipes in this blog... but who knows, perhaps there will be another common denominator. I am excited about this challenge, although I am not sure whether I am going to be able to knock off 208 recipes this year. It's almost impossible, considering I will be back full time at work in less than 3 months and when at home will have my son to look after. All I can do is see how it pans out.

Orange and Sesame Salad 

serves approximately 6 depending on the amount of lettuce

Salad:

2 Lebanese Cucumbers

200g Snow Peas (ends removed and blanched)

200g Capsicum

2 Spring onions

1/2 Red Onion

2 Oranges

20 Black Olives, pitted.

Lettuce

1 tblsp Sesame seeds, toasted

Dressing

2 tblsp virgin Olive oil

2 tsp crushed Ginger 

1 tsp crushed Garlic

Zest and juice of 1 Orange

METHOD 

1. Chop Capsicum, Red and Spring Onion, Cucumber and Snow peas. Toss all items in to bowl with lettuce and olives. Peel and segment two Oranges and add these to the bowl lightly toss again. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top.
2. Combine the ingredients of the Dressing together, mix well

Add the dressing to the salad just prior to serving. 

When I am just making this for me and my husband I use the same amount in the dressing, but I half the salad ingredients.