Orange and Pistachio Cake

Orange and Pistachio Cake

The baking ban is over thanks to being on cake duty at work for this month's birthdays. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to bake something spectacular, but it was a blessing in disguise as this cake is wonderful! It is deliciously moist, however remains light unlike other flour-less cakes. 

Spaghetti & Meatballs Cake

Ahhh novelty cakes! So much fun to make. If only I had children. Luckily my friends and brother are all big kids so they don't mind a bit of novelty factor for their birthday cakes.

This was my brother's cake.

Raw Carrot Cake

The last slice. Got a pic just in time!

I've been on a baking hiatus for a little while so what better to do than try some raw food!

This is delicious AND fairly healthy too. It still has a fair bit of sugar in it from the dried fruit, but combined with nuts, coconut and chia, it will keep you full for hours. At just over 100 calories per slice you can't complain!

Hunny Pot Cake

I think i'm improving! This cake only took me a day from start to finish and was 100% stress free.

Inside is a honey and coconut cake which was really nice. I was going to do a basic vanilla cake but at the last minute changed as I thought it would be more appropriate!

Rainbow Layer Cake

 A few weeks ago I made a rainbow checkerboard cake. Inspired by the pretty colours, I made another rainbow cake for a friend's birthday, however this time it was a layer cake.

Rainbow Checkerboard Cake

Almost forgot to take a photo!

A week ago it was my colourful, bubbly friend's birthday. So what better to do than make the brightest cake I could?

Strawberry Vacherin

Every family has a certain cake that is requested year after year on birthdays. Well for us, it's a strawberry vacherin. Now this is no basic chocolate cake and it is more a dessert rather than an afternoon tea treat. It is, however, very easy to make and very versatile. Above all it tastes delicious!

Apple, Pecan and Gingerbread Cake

As much as I love baking it's not often that I make the cake two days in a row. That was the case with this gorgeous cake from the July edition of Delicious Magazine. Honestly it is one of the nicest cakes I've eaten all year combining some of my favourite ingredients: apples, pecan nuts. ginger and cinnamon. How could it go wrong?

Black Forest Cake

Last weekend was my Pop's 90th. A pretty awesome effort to get to 90 so i thought he deserved a pretty awesome cake. Unfortunately due to other commitments I didn't have to time to create a fondant-covered cake so instead set out to make a black forest cake with black forest cupcakes.

GF Banana & Walnut Cake

Today i craved to bake. Not too unusual for me but the family definitely doesn't approve of baking when the weather warms up! I felt like banana bread but had no manky bananas so went on a bit of a hunt nearby and ended up getting old bananas for 80c/kg! Bargain! I now have a zip lock bag full of chopped up bananas in the freezer for later use. I was tempted by a tray of mangos (12) for $10 but resisted.

I turned to my failsafe GF cookbook - Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts for a banana bread recipe, only to find there wasn't one, however there was a recipe for banana nut muffins so i baked that in loaf-form instead.

Check out her blog http://mygluten-freetable.com/ for more gluten free inspiration!

You can find the recipe here

Sarah xx

Butterfly Cake

Flourless orange and almond cake

This is my latest creation. It was originally going to be a two tiered cake but sometimes things change and this was the result. I'm still really happy with it. I think it'd make a lovely wedding cake!

The cake is Planet Cake's orange and almond cake which I adapted so I could make it in the Thermomix. It then has a layer of buttercream then fondant. The butterflies are fondant + tylose and with white edible shimmer powder.

It really is a beautiful cake and makes a nice change from a mud cake. Still gives you the same sugar coma after eating!

Sarah xx

It's a Cakewich!

Peanut Butter and Jam Cakewich!

For my birthday this year my brother bought me an awesome novelty cake tin - a sandwich! It is a silicone tin made by Fred & Friends - a very cool but quirky company. You might know them as the maker of babushka measuring cups. You can find them here.


Anyway the time had come to road test this cool looking pan. On the back of the box was a pound cake recipe and a recipe for peanut butter buttercream.The recipe for the pound cake is posted on many blogs - you can find it here or just google it! I winged the buttercream recipe to suit my taste. I used 125g butter, 1/2 cup peanut butter and about 1/2 cup icing sugar all creamed up in my Kitchenaid mixer (a Thermomix would work too, or a strong arm!) 


To assemble it's easy - just cut a thin layer off the top of the cake so it looks like a slice, slice through the centre then fill with buttercream and jam. Yum!


Overall it was a huge success. My friends and I wolfed it down. I'd never had peanut butter and jam before but it was a great cake filling. I'm not sure about on toast - i'm yet to try it! The pound cake was moist and moorish. I think i'll use that recipe again in the future.


Big cake decorating job ahead on the weekend... stay tuned ;)


Sarah xx

Cake Decorating

Apart from cooking one of my favourite hobbies is cake decorating. I only do it for fun and the cakes that i make are just for friends and family. I always get excited when a big birthday comes up because it gives me the chance to decorate! I've never done any courses and most of the cakes i just make up as i go. I'll get inspiration from flickr or google images and youtube has helped along the way but most of the time it's just pure luck how it turns out! Anyway i thought i'd post some pictures of the cakes i've done in the past just to keep a record. Most of them are by all means no perfect but hey, i'm not a pro! I've got another birthday coming up in a fortnight so i'm really looking forward to decorating again soon!

Sarah xx

 Sandy's 60th music themed cake (white and dark choc mud)

 Sam's 21st Dr Pepper cake (cherry choc mud cake)

 My 21st cake (white mud with raspberry ganache)

 Dr Pepper cupcakes

Dad's 50th Thunderbird 3 (buttercake)

 Sam's 21st Burger & Fries (white choc mud with brownie 'pattie' and sugar cookie fries)

 Anna's 21st Apple (white choc mud)

 Ginny's 21st Stars (flourless orange & almond and choc mud)

Mum's 50th Chocoholic (white & dark choc mud)