Spiced Almond and Fig Cake

Browsing through the online newspapers, I found a recipe for Spiced Almond and Fig Cake by Jordan Rondel, New Zealand's The Caker.   I love almonds and figs and spices, so this seemed like the perfect cake for me.

Here is a look at the undecorated cake - not a work of art but it smelled devine:

Interestingly, I didn't love the taste of this cake, but when I took it to work, I received a number of compliments.  Someone even said that I had outdone myself.  It just goes to show that taste is a very subjective thing.

Here is a shot of a slice of cake in profile view: 

I have now changed jobs, and the nature of my new role is such that there are likely to be less cakes here.  However, I will continue to bake when I can, including for Tuesdays with Dorie.

EwE - Shrimp Fra Diavlo with Spinach - I'll Have The Shrimp!

For Eating with Ellie this week, Kayte chose the theme of I'll Have The Shrimp!  In Australia, "shrimp" are "prawns", and these delicious but smelly little fellas are immortalised in the idiom, "Don't come the raw prawn with me" (ie don't try to fool me). 

I chose Ellie's Shrimp Fra Diavlo (Shrimp "Brother Devil") with Spinach from So Easy, a recipe featuring pasta, shrimp and a spicy sauce, with wilted spinach added.  The pasta was supposed to be spaghetti, but I used macaroni instead because that is what I had in the pantry.

I really enjoyed this tasty dish - I made a half recipe, and ate half for dinner one night and half for lunch the next day.  This is definitely a repeat dish.

To see what everyone else had for Ellie's shrimp dishes, visit the LYL section of the Eating with Ellie website.

Sweet Miso Steak with Noodles

I am always on the look out for easy, quick and tasty dinner ideas.  One that caught my eye recently was a recipe for Sweet Miso Steak with Noodles that I found in The Courier Mail.

This is a light, slightly nutty tasting steak dish.  There is also an abundance of snow peas, mushrooms and spring onions.

It is quick to prepare and certainly is very tasty.  If you enjoy Asian flavours, this dish is definitely worth a try.

Pecan Sour Cream Cake

I recently spied a recipe for a pecan sour cream bundt cake in a magazine of my mother's.  I could swear that I took a copy of it, but alas, I could not find the recipe.  I had already bought the pecans and the sour cream, so I found this recipe for Pecan Sour Cream Cake on Food to Love and made it instead:

It smelt wonderful when it came out of the oven - rich, buttery and spicy.  It is also an easy cake to eat, with the soft, buttery cake punctuated by a ribbon of spiced pecans.

Wayne had ESP and made a Mary Berry tray bake with pecans and orange zest on the same day.  I actually liked Wayne's better, but only because of the orange zest which gave his a flavour kick.  My cake was perfectly lovely, and I would give it a go again.

EwE - Korean Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry - Asian Inspirations

I chose this week's Eating with Ellie theme, which is Asian Inspirations.  I had been eyeing off the Korean Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry in Weeknight Wonders for some time, but couldn't find kimchi anywhere.  However, enlightenment eventually came to my supermarket, which is finally stocking kimchi.

This is a terrific and easy stir fry - beef, broccoli, kimchi, onion and chicken broth all contribute to make a flavourful, healthy dish that is perfect for a mid-week meal in a hurry.  I served mine with brown rice to mop up the delicious sauce.

To see what the other Ellie cooks made this week, visit the LYL section of the EwE website.

Koko Black, Royal Arcade, Melbourne

Recently, Wayne, Greg, Swee and I visited Koko Black in The Royal Arcade for coffee and cake.  Koko Black is a chocolate shop that also serves meals and desserts.  There is seating outside and upstairs, and we chose the upstairs section for the view in the photo at the top of this post.

Wayne ordered the Chocolate Alchemy Gateau ($10.50) - chocolate cake with dark chocolate mousse, chocolate crème and chocolate caramel:

This cake was delish - Wayne allowed Swee and I to try a little bit.

Greg ordered the Florentines ($4.00):

I ordered the Vanilla and Salted Caramel Spectacular ($9.50) - vanilla bean icecream, cashew nut brittle, warm salted caramel sauce:

It was as spectacular as it looks!  The salted caramel sauce comes in a jug on the side, which I dumped in its entirety on top of the dessert.  You can never have enough salted caramel!

Swee ordered the chocolate and salted caramel tart ($8.90):

We accompanied our sweets with coffee, and had a brilliant time admiring the view and chatting.

Downstairs, Koko Black sells a wide array of house made individual and block chocolates.  If you are a chocolate fan, I highly recommend a visit to Koko Black.

Koko Black

Shop 4 Royal Arcade
335 Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Phone:  03 9639 8911

Mandarin and Matcha Bundt Cake

From a recent Tuesdays with Dorie project, I have a small tin of matcha powder sitting on my shelf.  If you are familiar with matcha powder, you will know that it is very, very expensive.  This means that I have no intentions of letting my matcha powder gather dust on the shelf before finally having to be thrown away.

In the July 2016 edition of Taste magazine, I was pleased to spot a recipe for Mandarin and Matcha Bundt Cake - both seasonal and containing 5 teaspoons of precious matcha powder, so a match made in heaven for me.

This is the completed cake:

From the top of the post, you can see that this cake is suitably swirly inside with both green bits (from the matcha) and white bits (without matcha).

This cake was buttery and delicious, and the mandarin (zest in the cake, juice in the icing) added just the right flavour note to cut through the sweetness.

To make this cake, you will need:

340g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250g butter
3 mandarins (juiced and zested)
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 eggs
55g almond meal
225ml buttermilk
5 teaspoons matcha powder

For the icing:

210g sifted icing sugar
grated rind and juice of mandarin (I just used leftover juice from the other 3 mandarins and left out the rind)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a large bundt pan with oil or butter.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder together in a bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, mandarin zest, ginger and vanilla essence until pale and creamy.  Beat in 1 egg  and 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture.  Beat in the remaining eggs, one by one, alternately with tablespoons of the flour mixture.  Beat in the almond meal, half of the remaining flour mixture, half of the buttermilk and 1 1/2 tablespoons mandarin juice.  Add the remaining flour and buttermilk and a further 1 1/2 tablespoons mandarin juice and beat until just combined.

Divide the batter into two equal portions in 2 separate bowls.  Stir the matcha through the batter in one bowl.  Spoon the coloured and white batters alternately into the bundt tin, then swirl lightly with a knife.

Bake the cake for 45 minutes or until cooked through..  Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 15minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 Whisk the icing sugar and mandarin juice and zest together in a bowl until smooth  and drizzle over the cooled cake.

Slice and serve.