Baking

Chocolate Caramel Slice Recipe

chocolate caramel slice recipe

Oh yes. My chocolate caramel slice recipe.

The Boy and I have been watching Zumbo’s Just Desserts on TV3 on Monday and Tuesday nights. Despite having an epic savoury tooth I can’t help but develop intense cravings whilst watching Zumbo’s for… SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR. Enough, I thought. Time to whip up something decadent to enhance our viewing pleasure.  Frankly, I don’t think you can go past chocolate caramel slice, for me this is the ultimate treat, the king of home-baking. 

Here’s my recipe, it’s a bit of a hodge-podge of various recipes I’ve tried over the years.  

Now, don’t tell anyone… Sometimes I make it with…. Double the caramel topping.  I know.  I’m such a porker.  But try it, don’t  just shake your head in disbelief at my porkiness. (more…)

Cafe Style Carrot Cake Recipe

  • Cakes

cafe style carrot cake recipeMy mate Cam dropped off a box of carrots and kiwifruit the other day. I have no idea where he got them from and, frankly, I’m too nervous to ask:  I might get arrested. Suffice to say there were enough carrots in there that I’ve been whipping up enough carrot related dishes to the point I’m wondering if we’ll turn orange.  That happened to my little brother once when he was a toddler. Crack up. Anyway, top on the lists of carrot culinary delights was my tried and tested cafe style carrot cake recipe that I’ve made on and off over the years (more years than I care to admit, cough. Shit. I’m old).  

This is one of those recipes that’s been handed around and I love going to a mate’s house to find they’ve made it (unless it’s better than my version… Then I feel aggrieved).   So if you’ve been on the hunt for a top notch carrot cake recipe, look no further, I’ve got you sorted.

This cake is moist, packed full of flavour and texture and super-filling (I know we shouldn’t be getting full on carrot cake, but good luck with that after you’ve made this).  Yeah, it’s delicious.  It’s also super healthy because it contains vegetables. Snort. Oh, it’s also beautifully decorated, if I do say so myself. As you may know I detest decorating cakes with a passion, so this is cake decorating at its best: Get some stuff and sprinkle it on. Easy and effective. Who can resist a pretty looking cake,  especially when there is no art or skill to it?

Lastly, as with a lot of my recipes, this is definitely one where you can substitute ingredients. Don’t like walnuts? Use chopped almonds. Not a date lover? Use raisins or craisins or even diced apricots. Can’t be arsed with faffing around decorating the cake – just use shredded coconut. Or don’t decorate the cake. Let the icing shine. You get my drift.  

(more…)

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

cookies and cream cheesecake

Right.  This isn’t my recipe, let’s get that out of the way. Nope, this mega morsel of delicious-ness was the brainchild of my nine year old son (albeit with a little bit of help from his Mumma). He’s been on a cheesecake creation bender for the last month and he’s been churning out all sorts of cheesecake concoctions. This Cookies and Cream Cheesecake is the best cheesecake yet!  Being a child that was raised well (ha),  he’s happy to share his recipe.  Enjoy. 

(more…)

DIY Nut Butter Recipe

We love nut butter in this house: Peanut, cashew, almond, it’s all bloody good, but I resent paying up to NZ$15 for it, even though it’s mind-blowing delicious.  So, I had a play around making my own with my food processor and, more recently my NEW sparkly Nutribullet – and BINGO!  Easy as and I saved some money so I can put that towards the new MAC foundation I’m lusting after (Waterweight, if anyone is interested)…. I know, I’m a shocker.

Nut butter, if you haven’t tried it, is delicious in so many ways: Try it on sliced apple; On rice cakes topped with tomato or beetroot (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it! My crossfit bunny friend Lauren introduced me to this, it’s currently my favourite snack!); Or, spread on toast (Vogels, of course, sometimes it pays not to over complicate things…).

What nuts can you use? Any!  Almond, cashew, macadamia, brazil, hazelnut – you can use seeds too, sunflower are my favourite to use (I’ve done an award winning combo of sunflower and cashew butter).

nut butter (more…)

Eating Clean – Living Paleo (Cookbook review)

Clean Living Paleo review Photo from http://www.cavegirl.co.nz[/caption%5D

Do you know, I don’t think I’ve done an entire post on a book review before… I don’t think I’ve done a proper cookbook review either [shakes head]. 

I was rapt to be sent a copy of Rachael Devcich’s ‘Eating Clean – Living Paleo’ to have a good squizzy at, ahead of it’s launch this week. Suffice to say I’ve been busy in the kitchen giving it a jolly good road-test before…. I GIVE IT AWAY! I know, madness, I don’t know what’s possessed me because, I’ll cut to the chase: This cookbook is a beautiful thing and one lucky person is going to be pumped to be receiving this via my Facebook giveaway (click here for my Facebook page – The Giveaway will start on 8 August 2015).

I won’t beat around the bush, this is a paleo cookbook.  Paleo, in case you aren’t familiar, is the trend in eating that’s been growing steadily overseas and in NZ and is ideal for people with food intolerances to gluten and/or dairy, or who want to cut refined sugar out of their diet.  It’s at this point I need to mention, I am NOT a paleo convert!  Don’t get me wrong, I actually love paleo food and, if you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know I’ve blogged a few paleo recipes.  My position is that I totally get the paleo philosophy. I reckon there’s some top notch fooder from the paleo bandwagon, but I’m not a, well, paleo nut.  I’m more of a “I eat everything in moderation” kind of chick. That said, I reckon sugar is fairly evil and I try to avoid refined sugar and highly processed food as much as I can (read this post) and, more recently, I’m playing around with the LCHF (low carb high fat) concept.  With that spiel out of the way, I do own a few paleo and clean eating cookbooks and, currently, these are some of my more well-read and reached for cookbooks when I need a burst of inspiration. But, I am not, I repeat, a paleo cheerleader/convert.

Anyway, Eating Clean – Living Paleo is NZ’s guide to paleo and is jam packed with over 100 gluten, grain, dairy and refined sugar free recipes.  It’s the brainchild of Cave Girl Rachael Devcich who, after changing her diet to exclude grains, dairy and refined sugar, found that her general health and energy improved so much that she’s become a massive advocate of sharing the message.  I’m slightly in awe of Rachael, not only has she pumped out a stunning cookbook with drool-worthy recipes, bugger me, she’s taken all the photos and done all her own graphic design. I thought she was superwoman (and I needed some serious up-skilling) until I discovered she was a was originally a chef turned graphic designer and photographer. Lucky her: It’s an award winning combo (I said it here first).  

What can you expect to find in this guide?  Lots of recipes from breakfast and brunch, through to desserts and sweets. There’s a wide ranging repertoire of family-friendly fodder here – including fare that even the fussiest of kids won’t turn their noses up at (I should know, one lives at my house…). (more…)

Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch sauce

sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce

There’s nothing ‘good for you’ about this pudding. It’s wicked. It’s also a crowd-pleaser, easy to make (you can whip the pudding up after your main course in ten minutes, rejoin your guests and dazzle them with your inner domestic goddessness) and you’ve probably got most of the ingredients on hand already. I do LOVE recipes where “nothing special is required”. Just distance yourself from the butterscotch pudding: It’s addictive.  

By the way, in the (unlikely) event that there’s some left, it freezes fine for the next time you want to dazzle your dinner guests. (more…)

Coconutty Bark (sugar free goodness)

SAMSUNG CSC
My version of Cave Girl’s brilliant recipe!

Way back in September I took part in Sugar Free September. The whole low/no sugar movement is gaining momentum and I thought I’d give it a whirl. The Executive Summary of that story is:  I did it, I feel great and fast forward now, We’ve stayed sugar free (mainly) because we feel GREAT.

Sure, there’s been a couple of what I call ‘Relaxing Moments’ but they aren’t biggies by any stretch of the imagination.  What am I relaxing on? Wine mostly – Pinot Gris to be precise, my tipple of choice when the weather gets warmer.  In context though, as someone who had a serious weakness for chocolate at 3pm, it’s nothing short of miraculous that I’ve eaten four squares of chocolate since late August. That’s it for the extent of my ‘sugar deviation’ not bad, right?   I’m staying sugar free because I feel amazing. But I won’t witter on about that here because I went on about it here. 

Anyhow, one of the things I enjoyed most about Sugar Free September was trying out new food and recipes and I thought it would be fun to share my favourite recipe from September. If you follow me on Facebook you’ll have seen this before as I shared the recipe for Pecan and Caramel Bark from the Cave Girl blog which, frankly,  is a recipe of pure genius.  So, with Cave Girl as my inspiration, I made up my own barky version and… YUM!  Both bark recipes are so good that, even if I fall well and truly off the sugar bandwagon, I’ll still whip this up. Now, while I shared the recipe on Facebook, those little buggers at Facebook are playing mind games with me as some of my posts on my Facebook just vanish – like POOF! Gone! I have no idea why (if anyone knows – please enlighten me as this palaver drives a woman batty). So, for prosperity, here’s the Coconutty Bark recipe I posted on Facebook here on the blog: Now it’s kept safe for us all to enjoy!  (more…)