Di-licious

I love it when a plan comes together. I had a huge tub of sour cream sitting in the fridge needing to be used and a couple of tired lemons languishing in the fruit bowl. Inspired by the success of my one bowl,   1st Prize Chocolate Cake, I threw everything in, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The cake gods were smiling down on me. These cakelets are good in every way a lemon cake ought to be: Tangy and moist with a zingy lemon icing They’re soooooooooo easy to make. They get better with time – make them a day ahead and continue to enjoy any leftovers the day after. They'd be perfect for a Mother's Day afternoon tea, dressed up with some sugar flowers. I call them cakelets because they're small and not baked in papers. A cake release spray like Wilton’s Easy Bake is your best friend here. If you're nervous about your cakes sticking, bake them in pretty cases instead. It’s your tea party after all! RECI...

Everybody needs a good basic chocolate cake recipe and they certainly don't get any easier than this. Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix it together for 3 minutes. That’s it. No fancy baking super powers required (and certainly a lot easier than a packet mix!) Better still it tastes great, cuts like a dream, and it makes two loaf cakes so you can serve one up for morning tea and pop the other one in the freezer for a rainy day. Did I mention that it's a prize winning recipe too? This darling little cake won me first prize in the Chocolate Cake category at the 2013 Mornington Peninsula Group CWA Competition. Just sayin..... Recipe: 1st Prize Chocolate Cake Recipe adapted from Merle Parish’s two chocolate cake recipes in Merle’s Kitchen (2012) Ingredients 1¾ cups self raising flour, sifted 1¼ cups caster sugar ½ cup cocoa, sifted 2 tsp bicarbonate soda, sifted pinch salt 125g unsalted butter, softened and chopped up 2 eggs, room temperature, ...

The pirate party is over and we're finally into the swing of the Xmas season here at Di-licious HQ. On Monday, Olive had her Kinder Xmas concert.  Fifty-five children dressed up in festive colours belted out the special songs they'd been secretly rehearsing in their bedrooms for past five weeks. Olive off to the kinder Xmas concert with a plate of little Di-licious Gingerbread men. This week I thought I'd offer up a suggestion to take along to a Xmas themed morning tea.  I'm on playgroup duty tomorrow with my darling friend Lisa and we've planned some gorgeous xmas crafts.  The duty roster also means we're in charge of morning tea so today I'm keeping it simple by baking up Nigella's Christmas Morning Muffins. Orange and cranberries scented with fresh nutmeg are a fabulous flavour combination that just shout Xmas. Muffins are quick to whip up (important at this time of year) and if you measure out the dry ingredients on Xmas eve, you could...

Arrrrghhhhh! Captain Olive and her scurvy crew of pirates celebrated on the high seas this weekend with a Pirate Birthday Party to remember. Mr Di-licious and I had a lot of fun putting it all together - from making the bunting and treasure bags to constructing the 'Pirate's Den' and last but not least the food. Captain Olive The Pirate Barbie Cake Olive's birthday cake this year brought together four of her favourite things: Barbie, pirates, cake and chocolate. The vanilla buttercake was filled with blackberry jam and vanilla buttercream before being swathed in chocolate ganache and the chocolate fondant skirt. I found the Barbie pirate costume on eBay and had it shipped over from the US. So what do you feed a horde of hungry pirates? ----x---- Pirate Party Menu Fish finger boats Octopus frankfurts Pirate hat Oreo pops Buried treasure chocolate crackles Chocolate dipped [pretzel] swords Pirate Barbie cake Tropical ...

These biscuits hold a very special place in my heart.  It's the first Norwegian recipe my mother gave me. Back in the day when I was a government PR girl, I would bake a big batch and gift wrap them in cellophane bags to give to my work colleagues.  After a couple of years they guys would get expectant looks on their faces in the last week of work - yes, they are that di-licious! I like to think of these as Norway's version of the Danish butter cookie you often see in gift tins at Christmas time except its made with love and not in a factory. The dough is really simple to make - cream the butter and sugar, add the egg and sift over the flour and mix til it forms a soft dough.  And when I say soft, I mean soft.  It has to be refrigerated otherwise its unmanageable. Ideally you would whip it up the night before and bake it the next day. You might also be interested to know that you can make these cookies with a heart smart margarine like ...

December is not just about Xmas in our household - its also Olive's birthday. So aside from all my Xmas baking, I'm also thinking about birthday cakes and party food. With a birthday the week before Xmas I guess I feel like I need to make an extra fuss and plan something fabulous each year. Olive loves a party and has been actively planning this year's celebration since March! This year she's picked a pirate theme. I can't wait to see Olive and her scurvy crew running around in their costumes, climbing aboard her pirate ship sandpit and sailing the high seas to seek buried treasure. The cake is under way (and under wraps until the party).  Olive's excited because it combines three of her favourite things - you'll have to check back next month to see what they are. My interest in cake decorating really started with her first birthday cake. So for a little bit of fun, here's Olive's life in birthday cakes (and the evolution of my decorating ...

This week I’m sharing with you a recipe given to me by my one of my best friend’s mum, Maureen. I was bemoaning my lack of a tried and true mince tart recipe for the blog recently when Shelby talked up her mum’s pies – the pastry has orange zest in them which gives it a special lift.  “Just ask her – she’d love to share it with you”, she said. So I did.  And to my delight, Maureen said yes. Chatting with her a few days later, Maureen told me she’s been making these mince pies for forty years.  She found the recipe in a little four page leaflet from The Australian Dried Fruits Association that she picked up in a health food shop. It is so old it is in imperial measure so you will need to convert, she told me.  Like many recipes of its age, it’s deliberately vague about the final quantity it makes. I was able to make 20 using domed tartlet pans but I rolled the pastry out too thin.   Next time I‘ll make the pastry a little thi...