Delicious almond flecked cake… filled with sweet apples… topped with a crunchy cinnamon crumble…Need I say more?

Apple and almond crumble cake(recipe by Matthew Evans found in Good Weekend magazine, The Age)

Crumble

150g butter, cold and diced

150g plain flour

80g brown sugar

40g caster sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cake

150g butter, softened

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

75g plain flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

110g ground almonds (not almond meal)

2 medium golden delicious apples

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20 centimetre (8 inch) square cake tin with non-stick baking paper.I
2. n a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour, sugars and cinnamon until you end up with a crumbly mixture (alternatively, you can use a food processor, but I like to use my hands – it takes longer, but it’s fun and there’s less washing up to do!). Place the crumble mix into the fridge while you prepare the cake.
3. For the cake, using a hand held mixer, cream the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, making sure you beat well between each addition.
5. Gently fold through the flour, baking powder and almonds (don’t overmix or the cake will be tough). Spread the cake batter into your prepared tin.
6. Core and peel the apples (you don’t have to peel them, personally I’m just not a big fan of apple skin). Cut the apples in half, then to quarters, then each piece in half again, then half one more time, ending up with 16 pieces from the one apple – hope you’re not confused). Layer the apple slices over the cake batter (try to really cover the mixture with the apple slices – if you don’t the batter may pop through the apples and the crumble mix).
7. Sprinkle the crumble mix over the apple slices and bake for approximately 45 minutes. You can test to see if the cake is ready by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake; if it comes out clean then it is ready. If there is still cake batter on your skewer, bake it a little longer.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes inside the tin. Invert the cake onto a wire cake rack and allow to cool completely before serving (but cut yourself a piece when no one is looking). Serve with double cream.

Yesterday I was meant to catch up with a friend for coffee and wanted to bring something sweet for us to share. Unfortunately, our plan to meet fell through, but it worked out in the end as I got to eat more tarts for myself! :) (don’t get me wrong, I’m not that greedy – I brought my friend a tart to her work this morning – love you Bree!)

I love eating Portuguese custard tarts and knew a chocolate variation would be almost as good. I found a recipe for Chocolate Custard Tarts in Bill Granger’s ‘Bill’s Open Kitchen’ and headed straight to the supermarket to buy some chocolate. Being a Sunday and all, I was glad that the recipe was an easy-peasy one and only took 25 minutes to prepare!

Mini Chocolate Custard Tarts

(recipe found in ‘Bill’s Open Kitchen‘ by Bill Granger)

55g caster sugar

3 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons cornflour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150g dark chocolate, grated or cut into tiny little pieces

185ml cream

2 sheets butter puff pastry* (defrosted)

icing sugar (to dust)

1. Preheat your oven to 220°C.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the egg yolks, caster sugar, vanilla extract and cornflour. Whisk until smooth. Add cream and 125ml water, mix until combined.
3. Place the saucepan over medium heat and constantly stir with a whisk until thickened (this may take between 5 to 8 minutes – you may get bored, but do not get distracted). DO NOT leave the mixture to cook without stirring as you will end up with lumpy custard and ruin it all (if this does happen, you will mostly likely cry and have to start again).
4. Dump the chocolate bits into the custard and furiously whisk until all the chocolate has melted and you end up with a smooth custard. Let it cool.
5. Place the puff pastry sheets on top of each other and tightly roll up into a log. Cut 16 even pieces from the log and roll out into a 10 centimetre disc using a rolling pin. Using two 12-hole non-stick muffin trays, line 16 of the holes with the pastry rounds, being careful to tuck in the edges and to press down firmly (you don’t have to grease the tins since the pastry is laden with butter and they’ll easily slip out).
6. Spoon the custard evenly into the 16 pastry shells (make sure the custard is cool or else the pastry will melt) and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until pastry is golden . Lick the bowl and spoon clean (this is mandatory).
7. Let them cool for a little bit, dust with icing sugar and eat them while they are still warm.

* When taking the lazy option and buying pre-made puff pastry (which I do all the time), please please please use an all-butter puff pastry – it tastes 1000 times better than the fake pastry you find in your supermarket freezer. I like to use Carême butter puff pastry – it is absolutely fantastic – it’s melt in your mouth buttery and deliciously flaky. Carême produce a vanilla bean shortcrust pastry and a sour cream flaky pastry too. Try them when you’re short of time!

I have an obsession. Okay, ‘obsession’ may be little strong to describe it, but I like to read about food, baking and all things kitchen related (and no, I don’t mean the the back of cereal boxes or tinned tuna). From cookbooks and magazines to newspapers and the Internet, I read it all. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a full blown foodie or culinary expert, I don’t eat out at fancy restaurants every week and there are particular foods that I just can’t stand but might seem normal to others (mushrooms, most cheeses and natural yoghurt). In particular, I just have a fascination with books and magazines with beautiful photography and easy to follow recipes.

Embarrassingly, I purchase a copy of Delicious, Gourmet Traveller and Donna Hay each month. Usually I don’t even make anything out of these magazines, I just enjoy looking at the food styling and photography and keep up to date with the latest food trends, or learn what’s in season. I like to flick through my books and magazines when I need some inspiration or want to re-visit a favourite page.

I like cookbooks… Below is part of my collection (I’m terrible I know):

I also never miss a Tuesday edition of The Age newspaper either – I love reading Epicure and discovering where new Melbourne foodie places exist.

As geeky as this sounds, I love heading down to Fitzroy and visiting Books for Cooks. This place has hundreds of books about food, often hard to find books or good quality seconds. From books solely about potatoes and eggs, Moroccan cuisine and Korean food, Pierre Herme to the Roux Brothers, this place has it all. I’d happily spend hours sitting on their comfy couch flicking through a tall pile of books and dreaming of what to bake/cook next (which I have been known to do).

Every now and then, I will randomly post bits and pieces that aren’t really baking related (for example, this one!) but they will usually be food-related and describe my adventures in exploring new foodie places in Melbourne!

Yesterday was a typical Melbourne winter’s day… it was raining, the wind was almost icy and so bloody cold! I felt like baking a batch of cookies and wanted to bake something I had never baked before. A cookie that wasn’t too heavy and sweet; a cookie that would be perfect with a cup of hot milky tea. Searching for a cookie that would be easy to prepare (I really couldn’t be bothered with a cookie dough I had to roll out and cut shapes out of) and a cookie that would satisfy my craving for white chocolate.

After flicking through a couple of cookbooks and food magazines, I found a recipe for White Chocolate and Orange Cookies. We all know dark chocolate and orange go very well together. So why not white chocolate and orange?

Luckily, all ingredients I needed were ready to go in my fridge or in my pantry, with the fruit bowl on the kitchen bench full of sweet navel oranges (my parents have had this recent interest obsession with fruit).

White Chocolate and Orange Cookies

(adapted from a recipe in ‘500 Cookies‘ by Philippa Vanstone and Susannah Blake)

125g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

Grated zest of a large orange (about 3 teaspoons)

200g plain flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

175g white chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper (it makes life so much easier! – no cleaning necessary!)
2. Cream the butter and sugar using a hand-held mixer until light and fluffy (or a wooden spoon if you’re feeling energetic – I like to take the lazy option).
3. Add the egg, vanilla essence and mix well. Add orange zest and thoroughly mix (if using a hand-held mixer, use a spoon or spatula at this stage – don’t use your mixer as the zest gets stuck in the beaters and it’s a pain in the bum to remove it all).
4. Sift all dry ingredients into the butter mixture and add the white chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.
5. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on baking tray about 4cm apart. Squash the dough balls down slightly with your hands.
6. Bake for approximately 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from baking sheet immediately and let them cool.
7. Try not to eat them all at once! :)

Makes approximately 18.

The underlying flavour of the orange zest complemented the sweet white chocolate perfectly.They were so good to munch on with my big cup of tea, sitting on the couch with a cosy blanket and reading the Saturday paper.

I ate about half a dozen. I felt sick afterwards for eating so many at once, but I don’t care. They were good!

I never thought I would be writing and sharing thoughts and ideas about baking in my very own blog, but here I am. I have been an avid follower of many different baking and food blogs over the years and have always wanted my own.

Since this blog is about me and my adventures in baking and all things sweet, here are a few points about me:

• I’m 21 and live in Melbourne, Australia.
• I used to be a chocoholic and have recently converted. I’m a vanilla girl now!
• I own almost one hundred biscuit/cookie cutters (which I hardly ever use).
• I have a degree in food science and nutrition (everyone knows 99% of what I bake is not good for the arteries or the waistline, but I can tell you why).
• I love to cook regular food too, I’m just more interested in the sweet stuff.
• I used to be a pastry chef apprentice (but only for 5 months).
• I don’t just love baking… I am also in love with a boy. Let’s call him Z :)

There’s nothing I love more but to bake. Without sounding too poetic, to me, I find it truly amazing that with a handful of simple ingredients, a bit of love and patience, you can produce something special as a cake for a birthday, biscuits to share over a cup of tea, or a delicious crumble for dessert.

Sometimes I wish I was just able to bake and make a career out of it, or even be blessed with the artistic eye as a food stylist/photographer (ooh, I wish I was a food stylist – it would be so interesting and creative, but I’m not that creative). And having been down the path as a pastry apprentice, the scale at which I would have to bake/produce and the pressure involved, it just doesn’t feel right to pursue that career. So I only bake for pleasure now. Which is fine for me! :)

This blog is simply a place where I can put my thoughts to paper (well, web-page actually). I’m not a literary marvel, nor am I an outstanding photographer. I’m just your average, everyday kind of girl who simply likes to bake (and lick the bowl). So I hope you enjoy my blog, where I will post recipes, display my lame attempts at photography and discuss Melbourne food, with the occasional rambling rant about nothing in particular :)

Welcome to butter sugar flour…

Linda xx