Orange and Almond Syrup Cake

I've had several requests for this recipe after I used this cake in my Cup of Tea with Me Post. So here it is, and also in it's true uncropped image. Unlike the one I had to use previously. A lesson to never turn your back, however momentarily, on a delicious looking cake when you have a peckish husband roaming around the house.

Orange and Almond Syrup Cake

Cake 

2 whole oranges

250g almond meal

250g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tspn baking powder

Syrup

60gm freshly squeezed orange juice

80gm caster sugar

80gm citrus marmalade

Place oranges into saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer very gently, with lid closed for 45 minutes. Remove and discard water. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

Once oranges have cooled, remove top and bottom of oranges, and cut into pieces.

Place all cake ingredients into food processor and process until mixture resembles a smooth batter.

Pour into tin and bake 40-45 minutes.

Once cake is out of the oven you can prepare the syrup. Place orange juice, sugar and marmalade into a small saucepan and over low heat continually stir the syrup until all of the sugar is dissolved. Using a skewer, pierce cake multiple times before pouring over syrup and allow it to absorb before serving.

Enjoy!

Oven-Baked Tuna and Tomato Risotto

With a husband away camping for a long weekend it's been just myself and the girls. I worried that the girls might have missed their Dad (he has been out of phone range, so we really haven't heard from him at all). But things have gone more smoother than I expected.

I won't say that they haven't missed him. But they have been their usual selves, playing happily together one minute and snatching toys from one another the next. All of which was a huge relief. Nothing worse than trying to calm a toddler and trying to explain the reasons why we can't call Daddy today.

So after a busy morning at the pool with friends and over tired children this afternoon, it called for a simple filling meal tonight. Our go to. One that everybody eats without complaint. 

Oven-baked Tuna and Tomato Risotto

875ml chicken stock

10g butter

2 tspns olive oil

1 medium brown onion, chopped finely

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

425g can tuna in oil, drained gently

1 cup frozen peas

250g cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tbspns lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180C, or 160C fan forced.

Bring stock to boil in medium sized saucepan. Meanwhile, melt butter with olive oil in large saucepan, cook onion and garlic, stirring, until onion softens. Add rice, stir to coat in onion mixture. Stir in hot stock and tuna.

Place risotto mixture in a large shallow baking dish, cover with foil. Bake in oven, 15 min, stirring halfway through cooking time. Uncover, bake another 20 minutes. Stir in peas, top with tomatoes, bake uncovered, about 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from oven, stir in lemon juice.

Hope yours was a relaxing weekend x

Simple Apple Loaf

If you're anything like me, than variety and trying to encourage yor children to eat different things is important to you, especially when you have a toddler who is picky about what she eats. 

Anybody would think that we had a pet monkey at home with the amount of bananas that are eaten in our house at times. It is the only reliable food that my youngest will eat some days. While it's not the end of the world, and she is of course thriving and healthy, I can't help but feel a little worried and annoyed about a diet that consists of bananas, milk, ritz crackers (which must have nothing on top), tuna, scrambled eggs, sausages, rice and porridge. Oh yes and chocolate, she can bring herself to eat that.

So I am always attempting to smuggle in any other fruit, aside from banana, or vegetable into any dish I can, in the hope that it might actually be eaten.

This loaf passed Jessie's lick test and is also enjoyed by everybody else. It has become a bit of a go to, there's nothing in the cupboard recipe. We always have the ingredients in the kitchen and it's so delicious and simple. And never dry.

Apple Loaf

2 cups self-raising flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tspn mixed spice

1/2 tspn cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/2 cup grapeseed oil

2 eggs

4 medium granny smith apples, grated with their skin still on (I've also used red apples, and it still tastes just as nice)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 14x20cm loaf tin.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, spices and salt.

In another jug or bowl, whisk together the oil and eggs.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, add in the apple and mix until just combined.

Pour mixture into the loaf tin, smooth the top, scatter over flaked almonds (optional) and bake for 50-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. (Cover with foil if getting too brown around 35 minutes).

This is a Veggie Smugglers recipe. I can't recommend Wendy's cookbooks highly enough if you're struggling with a picky toddler. I'd love to say that my girls devour their salads and vegetables, but they just don't, as much as I've tried. Her recipes are great at sneaking as many vegetables as you can into your children's diet. I know that some are anti this idea of sneaking fruit and vegetables into food. But I believe more in exposing children to different tastes and textures, and creating a love for that taste, which will hopefully lead to them being able to eat them in a less sneaky form in the future.

That's how I choose to look at it anyway!!

Enjoy x