Long time past

I have been meaning to post this for quite some weeks, as I last hosted back in September. Sorry 'bout that. In fact it's been so long that I can't remember the date...

In attendance were Princessi Eleri, Alana and Emily, and the Princessi Viv and Bek were off being fed by relatives for Jewish New Year. The home-made pizzas weren't quite ready when everyone arrived, so we started with a slice of cake... and then finished the meal with another slice. We were piggies! *oink*

The Lumberjack Cake was the only thing I remembered to get a photo of:


Here's the recipe, from The Essential Baking Cookbook, published by Murdoch Books:

Lumberjack Cake

• 200g fresh dates, pitted and chopped (or dried dates from the supermarket)
  
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 125g unsalted butter, softened (or vegan margarine)
  
• 1 cup (250g) caster sugar (or raw sugar)
  
• 1 egg (or egg replacer)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, grated (or any sort of apple)
  
• 1 cup (125g) plain flour (or wholemeal flour)
  
• 1/2 cup (60g) self-raising flour (or plain/wholemeal flour with 1 tsp baking powder)
  
• icing sugar, optional, to dust

Topping

• 75g unsalted butter (or vegan margarine)
  
• 1/2 cup (95g) soft brown sugar
• 1/3 cup (80mL) milk (or soy milk)
  
• 1 cup (60g) shredded coconut

(As you can see, I don't tend to use exact recipes, I use them more as a guide and make lots of substitutions, which are in brackets)

1. Grease a 20cm round springform cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Preheat the oven to moderate 180C.
2. Put the dates in a small saucepan with 1 cup (250mL) water and bring to the boil. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda, then remove from the heat. Set aside until just warm.
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl with electric beaters until light and fluffy (I do this by hand). Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in the date mixture and the apple, then fold in the sifted flours until just combined and almost smooth. Spoon into the tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine all the topping ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the bitter is melted and the ingredients well combined. Remove the cake from the oven and carefully spread the topping over the cake. Return to the cake to the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the cake is cooked through.
5. Remove the cake from the oven and leave the cake in the tin to cool completely (actually, loosen it before it's cooled completely, as the caramelled coconut topping will stick awfully to the tin), then turn out and place on a serving plate. The cake can be dusted with icing sugar just before serving.

Alas, it's been so long that I've also forgotten which projects we were all working on: I think Eleri did a star, Alana worked on the crochetted bumblebee, and Emily was knitting the neck of her not-mustard jumper. I was working on a quilt. But I forgot to take any photos, sorry!

Here are a few links I've been meaning to post - I don't know how to add them to the bottom of the page, so I'll let the clevererer Princessi fix that if they can...

Magic cast-on for toe up socks. It is easy (after a couple of practices) and it really is completely magic! http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATmagiccaston.html

My bread photo diary is on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10875443@N06/sets/72157602094096047/