Armenian nutmeg cake- April Daring Bakers Challenge

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: Nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

And fragrant they were. I made both and cannot decide which one I prefer, both recipes are so scrumptious. The Nazook reminded me a little of something we call "Franzbroetchen" in Hamburg, sweet but not too sweet and something you could have for breakfast or afternoon tea. Well, even though the recipe yields 40 pieces I never got around to photograph them - they just happened to disappear too quickly. We had them for breakfast (very Italian), with coffee as morning and afternoon tea and as a snack on the road. The yeast becomes so flaky using the sour cream it's quite amazing and tastes more like puff pastry without the fat (almost diet food ;-). The filling was extremely yummy, not too sweet but with the right amount of brown sugar for that caramel taste, mmmh! Okay I cheated a bit and also added a little of a spice mix I've got from Herbies called Spice Dust.  If you can't get hold of it, it contains cocoa, cassia, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg among other things.

The tea cake also was a very delicious recipe. Easy to make and just very clever the way it uses half of the crumbly dough for the bottom and the rest for making the filling/topping. Lovely with walnuts but I am sure it will be nice with any other nut.

Because we were so busy munching the Nazooks and no one dared to cut the cake I was actually able to take photos of it. It's such a lovely cake and gorgeous with a nice cup of tea.

The perfect autumn tea cake.

Collecting autumn leaves for craft, then coming home for afternoon tea.

Armenian Nutmeg Cake

Makes one 9”/23cm cake which yields 12 servings
Ingredients

• 1 cup (240 ml) milk (I use whole, but nonfat or lowfat should be fine; non-dairy might work just fine, as well)
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
• 2 cups (480 ml) (280 gm/10 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour (I suspect pastry flour or another low-gluten flour might even work better to achieve a light, fluffy crumb)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) (10 gm) (⅓ oz) baking powder (I used single-acting, because it's aluminum-free, and it turned out fantastic)
• 2 cups (480 ml) (400 gm/14 oz) brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3/4 cup (1½ sticks) (180 ml) (170 gm/6 oz) butter, preferably unsalted, cubed
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) (55 gm/2 oz) walnut pieces, may need a little more
• 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons (5 to 7 ½ ml) (5 to 8 gm) ground nutmeg (try to grate it fresh yourself; the aroma is enchanting)
• 1 egg

Directions:
Directions - the Traditional Way (The Fast, Easy Way further down)
1. Preheat your oven to moderate 350°F/175°C/gas mark 4.
2. Mix the baking soda (not baking powder; that's for the next step) into the milk. Set it aside.
3. Sift together the flour and the baking powder into a large bowl. One sift is fine
4. Add the brown sugar. Go ahead and mix the flour and brown sugar together. Or not.
5. Toss in the cubed butter.
6. Mash the butter with a fork into the dry ingredients (you can also use your fingers if you want). You'll want to achieve a more-or-less uniform, tan-colored crumbly mixture.
 7. Take HALF of this resulting crumbly mixture into your springform (9”/23cm) pan. Press a crust out of it using your fingers and knuckles. It will be easy.
8. Crack an egg into a mixer or bowl.
9. Toss the nutmeg in with the egg.
10. Start mixing slowly with a whisk attachment and then increase to medium speed, or mix with a hand whisk if you're doing it manually. Once it's mixed well and frothy (about 1 minute using a standing mixer, or about 2-3 minutes of vigorous beating with a whisk), pour in the milk and baking soda mixture. Continue to mix until uniform.
11. Pour in the rest of the crumbly mixture. Mix that well, with either a paddle attachment, or a spatula. Or continue to use the whisk; it won't make much of a difference, since the resulting batter is very liquid.
 12. Pour the batter over the base in the springform pan.
 13. Gently sprinkle the walnut pieces over the batter.
14. Bake in a preheated moderate oven for about 30-40 minutes. You'll know it's done when the top is a golden brown, and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
15. Allow to cool in the pan, and then release. Enjoy!

An Even Easier Way...if you have a Food Processor
1. Preheat your oven to moderate 350°F/175°C/gas mark 4 .
2. Mix the baking soda (not baking powder) into the milk. Set aside.
3. Put the flour, baking powder, and the brown sugar into your food processor. Pulse until uniformly mixed.
4. Toss in the cubed butter. Pulse until uniformly mixed into tan-colored crumbs.
5. Pour HALF of the crumbs into your springform (9”/23cm) pan. Press out a crust using your fingers and knuckles.
6. Crack the egg into the food processor with the rest of the crumbs still in it.
7. Grate 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Toss that into the food processor, too. Pulse until well-incorporated.
8. Pour in the milk and baking soda mixture. Continue to mix until a slightly lumpy tan batter is formed.
9. Pour the batter over the crust in the springform pan.
10. Gently sprinkle the walnut pieces over the batter.
11. Bake in a preheated moderate oven for 30-40 minutes. It's ready when the top is golden brown, and when it passes the toothpick test (comes out clean).
12. Cool the cake in the pan, and then dig in. Yum yum!

Freezing/Storage Instructions/Tips: Nazook will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of weeks, and the Armenian nutmeg cake will keep (covered) at room temperature for 2-3 days. Both taste even better still warm from the oven.
Allow to cool completely before attempting to freeze. Nazook will freeze best if put in a freezer bag with all the air squeezed out. Armenian Nutmeg Cake will also freeze fairly well if completely sealed. Both can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Nursery Cafe in Dural

Oh so colourful.

Flower Power Lady with trendy ankle boots.

Eyeing off..

Aristocrats and ants - companions for a nursery rhyme?

Old crates to carry the pickles and jams...

Homemade Jam and honey from busy local bees.

Anzac day trip to Wisemans Ferry

Sunny but stormy.

German-style plum jam

It seems the raining season has arrived in Sydney now. After beautiful sunny autumn days which we spent mostly at the beach it's time for staying indoors and cooking jam. Plums are in abundance right now and there is a plum jam in Germany I always loved since it isn't too sweet with lots of spices and because it's cooked for so long it develops a very dense and velvety texture. There are many colloquial names for that plum jam in Germany but the most common names are Pfluemli, Powidl oder Zwetchgen- bzw Pflaumenmus. This particular plum jam is also used as a filling for the Austrian Germknoedel which you will definitely come across and love when skiing in Austria.

Recipe:

2kg sugar or blood plums, halved and pitted
1 kg sugar
6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 sprigs thyme
juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Put plums and sugar in a large saucepan. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
2. Add spices and thyme to saucepan and simmer gently over medium-low heat for 4-5 hours or until thick and syrupy. You only want to see the occasional blub while simmering.
3. Scoop out spices and put aside. Blend plums to a thick puree, add spices and lemon juice and simmer on low, stirring occasionally, for another 2 hours until very thick and dark.
4. Discard spices and fill into sterilised jam jars.

The jam is beautiful on sourdough rolls, hot cross buns or as we enjoyed it at our Easter brunch on a yeast plait with poppy seed. The recipe for the plait is here.

Food styling job for Weight Watchers

In the current Weight Watchers Issue is a food styling job I did a while ago.
Photos by Chris Chen, food prep by Tracy Rutherford and recipes by Kirrily la Rosa.
More photos here at my Behance portfolio.

Our Easter mag is online

Autumn Easter magic in the Blue Mountains with family and friends. Misty mornings, sunny warm afternoons, Easter Egg hunt and a scrumptious brunch buffet and crafty afternoon. Easter buffet recipes and craft projects. Find us also on www.smore.is

Open publication - Free publishing - More brunch



http://issuu.com/smore/docs/smore_easter

Making of our Easter mag

We shot an Easter production in the Blue Mountains recently and here are a few behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot. It was such a great production since the hosts are such wonderful and creative people (you'll find out more in our mag in a few days). The weather was a bit of an uncontrollable factor and indeed it rained through till the morning of the shoot. I tried to ignore it as best as
possible by positive thinking however it was hard as the day before the shoot looked so grey
and miserable you wouldn't believe it.

But then, lucky for us and my positive thinking ;-) it stopped raining just before everyone arrived
and so we were able to shoot mostly in the beautiful garden and woods.

Kylie Kwong in Vital magazine

A feature I wrote a while ago about Australian super chef Kylie Kwong got published recently in the German Vital magazine. The food editor had the great idea to publish a series of women who are passionate about food and also business women. I think Kylie with her undeniable passion for sharing the pleasures of food and provenance whilst supporting sustainable thinking is a perfect match. Kylie Kwong is still selling her famous Chinese pancakes and dumplings at the Eveleigh Market on Saturday to a growing number of fans. If you don't feel like getting up early (although I think it's the perfect start into the weekend), Kylie also now has a new Yum Cha menu on the weekend.

Zwetschgendatschi mit Streuseln- German sugar plum cake

Did I mention how much I love plums? All sorts of plums. Sugar plums are my absolute favourite, they look so beautiful and somehow taste less sour but aren't as sweet either, if that makes sense? Sugar plums (Zwetschgen) in Germany are used to make Zwetschgendatschi which even for me as a German sounds funny and I started to research its old-fashioned name.

Unfortunately but also quite often with old terms there are different explanation about the orign
of the name. One of these is that the word is derived from the old dialect term “Datsche” –
the country house in which these cakes were mainly baked in earlier times. The other traces it
back to the South German dialect word “detschen, datschen” (to press flat).
Unfortunately, nowadays no one knows for certain what the actual origin of the word is.

The good thing is, it is still served and eaten every year by almost every German at the beginning of Autumn after their harvest. Every bakery will offer them baked on a tray on a yeast dough sprinkled with cinnamon streusel. It's a very basic cake - no "schnick-schnack", that is best eaten still slightly warm with a generous dollop of whipped cream - it's so good!
 
I still remember last time I was in Germany around that time in Cologne to visit my good friend Katha. We went to a very old-fashioned cafe, which is called Konditorei Wahlen where we had our afternoon tea or "Kaffee and Kuchen", as we say in German. I am usually not a big fan of whipped cream but it's a must with Zwetschgendatschi. I loved that afternoon and I am always thinking of it when I make my plum cake at home.

Recipe for Zwetschgendatchi (German sugar plum cake with streusel)

(This recipe makes enough for an oven tray or two round pizza trays)

500 g plain flour
a pinch salt
80 g sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 (7 g) sachet dried yeast
125 ml lukewarm milk
100 g butter, softened
2 eggs

Topping:
1,2 kg sugar plums, halved lengthwise and pitted

Streusel:
150 g plain flour
80 g brown sugar
80 g melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground

1. Sieve flour in a large bowl. Add salt, sugar and lemon zest and mix together. Make a well in the centre and add yeast and lukewarm milk and stir with a little of the flour. Cover with a clean tea towel and let sit in a warm place until bubbles appear.
2. Add butter and eggs and with the dough hook knead the dough until smooth and elastic.
3. Cover and rest in the bowl in a warm place for an hour or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Roll dough out with a rolling pin and place on baking or pizza tray. Top with sugar plums starting along the edges and moving inwards, plums slightly overlapping.
5. To make the streusel, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands until it just comes together. Sprinkle over the plums.
6 Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Serve still slightly warm with dollops of whipped cream. 

Daring Bakers February challenge

 The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

I loved the challenge even though it wasn't really a challenge but it is such a versatile basic recipe that leaves room for your own additions. I added bananas and chocolate, yum, that was very scrumptious!

Since it's currently quiet warm and humid our bananas ripen as soon as I take them out of my shopping basket, duh. No one in the house really likes overripe bananas but they are great in cakes.
That makes them obviously less healthy but at least I don't have to throw them out- recycling!

Here is the basic recipe for:
Basic Quick Bread
Makes one 9” x 5” (23×13 cm) loaf
Recipe from Sara Schewe
2 cups (480 ml) (250 gm/9 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm/8 oz) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) fine sea salt or table salt
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk or soured milk*
1 large egg
1/4 cup (60 ml) mild- or non-flavored oil, like canola
1 teaspoon (5 ml) flavored extract, such as vanilla or almond
for the glaze
1/3 cup (80 ml) (35 gm/1-1/3 oz) confectioners’ (icing) sugar
1-2 teaspoons (5-10 ml) milk
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4. Grease a 9×5 inch (23×13 centimeter) loaf pan with butter and line with parchment paper cut to fit the length and width of the pan, with enough overhang to allow easy removal after baking. Grease the top sheet of parchment.
2. In large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt to combine. Make a well in the center and set aside.
3. Lightly whisk (butter)milk, egg, oil, and extract to combine. Pour into well and stir until just mixed into a batter. The batter will be lumpy and may still show a few streaks of flour.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely before slicing. Drizzle with glaze, if desired.
5. For the glaze: Slowly whisk confectioners’ (icing) sugar and half of the milk, adding more milk as needed to thin the glaze to the desired consistency.

Note: To make soured milk, combine 1 cup milk (240 ml) with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vinegar or lemon juice and let sit for 10 minutes.


And that is my recipe for the banana and chocolate little cakes:
Makes 12 little cakes or muffins.


2 cups (480 ml) (250 gm/9 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm/8 oz) brown sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) fine sea salt or table salt
50 g milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup (240 ml) milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup (60 ml) mild- or non-flavored oil, like canola
1 teaspoon (5 ml) flavored extract, such as vanilla or almond
2 very ripe bananas
icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4. Spray a muffin tin or little bundt cake tin with oil.
2. In large bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and chopped chocolate to combine. Make a well in the center and set aside.
3. Lightly whisk milk, egg, oil, and extract to combine. Peel bananas and mash with a fork. Stir through the milk-egg mixture.
4. Pour wet mixture into well (dry mixture) and stir until just mixed into a batter. The batter will be lumpy and may still show a few streaks of flour.
5. Pour batter into prepared tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in tin on wire rack for 5 minutes, then tip over and cool little cakes on rack (or eat them still warm). 
6. Clean tin and spray with oil to bake the remaining batter.   
7. Dust with icing sugar before serving, if desired.

Reuben Hills cafe in Surry Hills

Admittedly it took me so long to write this blog post that the cafe I am talking about Reuben Hills is not really the new cafe on the block any more (at least not by Surry Hills standards).
Nevertheless it's sill worth mentioning. It's so effortless trendy and cool as you would expect a haunt like this in Surry Hills.

Its menu has a Central American take, offering Baleada – a Honduran tortilla, empanadas and ceviche while also venturing North for its namesake, Reuben sandwich. If you like sweet and salty, order a ‘Dogg’s breakfast’ an ice-cream sandwich with salted caramel. The shakes sound very interesting too: salted caramel, black sesame, and espresso with wattle seed.

It's quite a narrow space showing off a sleek and clean design. Natural light comes in from the front entrance as well as the rolled-up roller door at the rear (Melbourne style). A semi-circular cutaway in the ceiling reveals the upper level which houses the roastery and cupping workshops for coffee nerds.

My friend actually thought it was a waste of beautiful space that should belong to the customers too.

Surry Hills neighbourhood.

Reuben Hills Cafe.

This is it!

Plum cake with streusel

To be honest I am still confused sometimes with what is in season when. Plums are already turning up at the grocery stores and I thought it's still summer.

Well, the weather has been more on the autumn side anyway so I guess it makes sense in a way to have plums now. I love plums and although there is a wide variety available here in Sydney I do miss what we call "Zwetschge" in Germany. It translates into damson plum and I have seen it at some farmers markets but only rarely. The damson (fruit) is identified by its dark blue skin, oval shape (though slightly pointed at one end) and smooth-textured yellow flesh.
In Germany we use it to make the very popular Zwetschgendatschi (plum cake with yeast dough)
and Pflaumenmus (very dark plum jam) which then gets used in Germknoedel (steamed sweet dumplings). I'll definetely be on the hunt for damsons plums next time I go to the market.

Never mind, I love them all and made my first plum cake for this season on the weekend.
To give it a bit of a twist I added thyme to it and that goes very well together. Streusel are
a must on a German-style cake and so good paired with sour plums.

From this...

to this!

Recipe for plum cake:

850 g plums
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon picked thyme leaves
100 g sugar

200 g butter, softened
200 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150 g wholemeal flour
100 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Streusel:
100 g brown sugar
150 g plain flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
80 g butter, melted

1. Cut plums into small wedges. Place plums, lemon juice, thyme and sugar in a saucepan and let sit for 20 minutes. Over medium-low heat cook plums for 20 minutes until plums are soft and sauce has slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile make cake batter. Whisk butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Mix together both flours and baking powder and add to butter-sugar mix. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
3.  For the streusel, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add melted butter in a thin stream then use a fork to clump batter together.
4. Line a deep baking tray (32 x 25 cm) with baking paper and spread batter evenly. Pour plum sauce over and spread evenly.
5. Sprinkle with streusel and bake in preheated oven for 45 min or until cooked and the streusel are lightly golden.
Let cool a little before slicing into pieces. Serve with whipped cream or Greek-style yoghurt.

Pink marshmallows for Valentine's Day

Aww, Valentine's Day. I am never quite sure if I really like it or not. What I do like is getting flowers (hint to my hubby), but who doesn't like flower? However, I found flowers are quite pricey in Sydney and they don't last very long especially roses always dye on me very quickly, very annoying. It's probably the humidity or my lack of a green thumb.

That's why I rather make something that will not necessarily last longer but at least has some added value to it :-) Pink marshmallows!

This recipe is from Karen Martini and are made using real raspberries which is a bit more time consuming but the flavour is divine. They are still not healthy given all the sugar that goes in to make them but I think it's okay as a treat.

Recipe for raspberry marshmallows:

300 g frozen raspberries, thawed, pureed and strained
10 leaves gold-strength gelatine
550 g caster sugar
80 g egg whites (about 3 eggs)
desiccated coconut

1. Puree raspberry in a blender and strain. Discard the pits.
2. Lightly grease and line a 20cm square pan with baking paper.
3. Soak gelatine in water in a separate bowl and set aside.
4. Put caster sugar and 150 ml water in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat to medium and cook for ca. 10 minutes until syrup thickens and reaches 125degrees Celsius on a sugar thermometer (or drop a tiny amount into a saucer of water; if syrup hardens immediately, it's ready).
5. Remove from heat. Squeeze out any excess moisture from gelatine leaves. Add gelatine and raspberry juice to sugar syrup and stir to dissolve.
6. Using and electric mixer, beat egg whites and a pinch of salt until soft peaks forms. Gradually add hot raspberry mixture, beating continuously on a medium speed until mixture doubled in size.
7. Pour into prepared tin and smooth top. Stand at room temperature for at least 4 hours or until firm.
8. Tip over tin onto a tray with desiccated coconut then cut marshmallow into squares and roll in desiccated coconut until evenly coated.

Beautiful Scones - Daring Baker January Challenge

This month's challenge came from Audax from Audax Artifex, a fellow daring baker and also from Sydney. We had to bake scones and they turned out beautifully (well, except the first batch). I love scones but don't make them very often. But, since this is such a nice and simple recipe I made four batches of it. The first batch came out okay but because the oven hadn't been hot enough and because I had pressed the dough out too thin the scones came out a bit too flat.

The second batch was much better and I couldn't stop making them. I only kneaded them until the dough came just together and then pressed and layered the dough into a rectangle. I like them to be round in shape so I used a cookie cutter but the downside is you have to re-roll the dough and if you overwork the dough they won't rise as much. I simply layered the dough thicker the second time so they would rise to almost the same height as the previous ones. If you can't be bothered, cut the rectangle in squares and that's it, no leftover dough. I like a crusty top on my scones and therefore cooled them on a wire rack. If you want softies, wrap them in a tea towel and the steam will keep the whole scone soft.

My daughter got lured into the kitchen by the smell wafting through our house and wanted to make them too. However, of course, she wanted them sweet. So we added dried sour cherries to the dough and that goes fantastic with the fluffy and buttery little scones, especially when they're still warm. It's so delicious.

I went up to the Blue Mountains that day to see friends and we had them for afternoon tea with eggplant relish and the bacon and onion jam I made - life was really good that day.

I will definitely make this recipe again and again and again as it is a very good basic scones recipe. Thank you Audax for the challenge and for sharing your recipe. I love it!

The basic scone.

This was the fourth batch with dried sour cherries added to the dough.

Scones with dried sour cherries.

Basic scone recipe by Audax from Audax Artifex:


Basic Scones (a.k.a. Basic Biscuits)
Servings: about eight 2-inch (5 cm) scones or five 3-inch (7½ cm) scones
Recipe can be doubled
Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (10 gm) (⅓ oz) fresh baking powder
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt
2 tablespoons (30 gm/1 oz) frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)
approximately ½ cup (120 ml) cold milk
optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
3. Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.
4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

Happy Australia Day

Today is Australia Day and usually we would be doing a picnic or BBQ or both. Unfortunately the weather has been rather wet and so we only had a small more improvised picnic (not very German I know :-). We went for a walk in the afternoon when the rain finally stopped and started with a late lunch at a Thai place on King St in Newtown. Then off to the park for a walk and munching on the  Lamingtons along the way.

Australia Day  is the official national anniversary celebrated annually on 26 January. The date commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the Eastern seaboard of New Holland.
There are a lot of activities around the city but I think most families prefer to gather in parks and on the beach for a barbie or picnic with friends.


I found a very funny drawing for colouring in about what people do on Australia Day.

Okay, I admit it, we didn't do any of those activities above but instead I made the traditional and
very Australian Lamingtons to show my patriotism for Australia as a good baking immigrant.

Lamingtons for the Australia Day picnic.

So Australian!

Recipe for Lamingtons:

6 free-range eggs
150 g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
150 g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
70 g cornflour
2 tablespoons boiling water

Icing:
250 g desiccated coconut
500 g icing sugar mixture
50 g Dutch cocoa powder, sifted
250 ml boiling water
20 g butter

1. Preheat oven to 180degrees Celsius. Grease a 3cm deep, 20 x 30 cm (base) lamington pan.
Line with baking paper.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl on high speed for 8-10 min or until thick and pale and sugar has dissolved.
3. Using a large spoon, fold in sifted flours. Fold in boiling water. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
Bake for 20-25 min or until centre springs back when lightly touched.
4. Line a baking rack with baking paper. Cool sponge in pan for 5 min then tip over onto prepared rack. Cover with a clean tea towel and set aside overnight.
5. For the icing, combine icing sugar mixture, cocoa powder, boiling water and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and, stirring, bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 min or until sauce thickens slightly. Set aside to cool for 2 min.
6. Meanwhile cut cake into 12 pieces and put coconut a bowl or shallow dish.
7. Using two forks, dip 1 piece of cake in icing, let excess drip off, then toss in coconut. Place on a wire rack to dry. Repeat with remaining cake, icing and coconut.