The Cake Blog is back!!! Old school Lamington Giant Donut Cake ....

Hello there lovelies ... its been a few years ... literally ... but its time to bring the blog back... look out.

Its exactly 10yrs ago right now when I was in the US in Chicago for the Wilton Cake course which I had aways wanted to do. That's where I started my first blog on the 2 x week adventure with all the Wiltonites from around the globe....  Quite funny reading back on the days and looking at the pics and have all the cake styles have changed.

Anyway as this little old blog has hit 14,397 views, I thought it might be a good idea to bring it back and see what mischief I can get up to with it. 

So lets start off with Captain Obvious ....we all know that 2020 can just sod off, however I will begin with a positive and that's with the birth of baby Beth Einstein to Elea and Kevin in July. This little ray of sunshine has literally bought us all so much love and I adore her. Totally smitten each time I get to give her a cuddle. 

None of 2020 has been easy though. There are still way to many of my colleagues out of work, and we lost a beautiful soul who was very close to many of us, to suicide. 

Am still trying to grieve and deal with losing our Ed but am just not there yet. This blog is for you Edwina who was always so positive and encouraging with my cakes and generally all aspects of life. None of us truly realised how you were feeling and the pain and for that I will always be very sorry.

You've all seen my giant donut cakes that I have developed... this is just a new take on them... the old school Lamington version... and it was super yummy if I can say so myself. Not quite up to the standard of entering it in the Royal Easer Show  up against all the CWA lot but maybe soon ... Enjoy the pics and until next time (which I promise will be not another few years away).

Big Love Fiona x 

ps: Be kind to all. We really don't know what crap people have going on behind the scenes in their lives. Life is not all about the instagram pics and facebook posts. 

Lovelies - meet Ken Wood who has changed my life. My Scottish David has bought me some incredible cooking gifts over the years but Ken Wood would hands down be the best. Ken Wood and I have been through a couple of tragedies but many many triumphs together. I was hoping he would be pink as I love the colour pink. He's obviously yellow. After our first cake together though, I got over it.

Cake mixture (vanilla sponge) in the donut moulds. And yes they do look like boobs. I have a giggle each time I make a donut cake. Real mature I know.

Not one to stick to a receipe... instead of strawberry jam, I made my own version. Here is the pre-cooked strawberry goo soaked in sugar and lemon juice....

And here is the strawberry goo cooked... they were so sweet!!! 

Donut cake out of the oven ... for the smart ones of you, you'll notice there is one cake when two cakes were placed in the oven to bake... one of my tragedies... I dropped one straight out of the oven as I was too cool to wear an ovenmit. I always learn life's lessons the hard way.

Meet Big Knife. My Cake Friend Sam told me to buy Big Knife. He's great. He loves slicing cakes. Gets very excited.

See... look how awesome he is. So smooth and even.

Whipped cream a go go. I need to meet a French Chef though to let me know when the exact moment that the cream is whipped. This is the Fiona method... hold upside down and if it doesn't move...          its ready!!!

Chocolate sauce which is the lamington specialty... which is only icing sugar, cocoa (not the cheap crap brand), milk and butter and then stir the beejeeebies out of it.

Wasn't sure how to get the chocolate sauce on so I poured it all in a roast potato baking pan and then dipped the cakes in their and then painted with a pasty brush.

Piping cream. Love doing this. Very therapeutic. And the chuck some desiccated coconut all over the top tier.

All prettied up with the cream puffs

I forgot to take a pic of the layer with the strawberry goo on it... got a bit excited. 

And here we are with Aunt Judy slicing up at a really lovely lunch at Cousin Nat's house. I don't win awards for my photography skills as you can clearly see.

Was very proud when most of us when back for seconds.

Apparently the best carrot cake recipe ever....

At this time in the world when all there seems to be is grimness, 2 weeks ago our family / group of friends received some absolutely sensational news......

Kevin and Elea are getting married. Kevin proposed and of course Elea said yes.

Everyone loves a wedding and especially when the bride and groom totally and utterly belong together and just sprout happiness and its just fabulous to have some goodness for all.

Along with all the chaos and mayhem of a wedding, of course the priorty is for the bride and groom to say I do .... however its also a chance for friends and family from all over the globe to come together and just have a bloody good time.

And when Sareybear and the family walk through the gates at Sydney Airport in November its going to be like a scene out of Love Actually .... I can safely say there will not be a dry eye in the terminal.

I digress. For Els and Kevin’s engagement party, they have requested a carrot cake … so a carrot cake it will be …. But one like no other!!!

Hence today, on a beautiful Sydney autumn arvo I have been practicing a carrot cake recipe that I have dug deep to find that has come from someones Uncle Maurice's cousins neighbour who had a grandmother that made this carrot cake for all family occasions.

I have been making carrot cakes for yonks and always try a different recipe …however this one tasks for pineapples ….pineapples????

Pineapple on its own - good.

Ice cream – good.

Pizza – no no.

Hamburgers – absolute no no... you should be banned from eating hamburgers. Totally disrespectful.

Also as I was ticking of the ingredients… there is a glaze to make… Glaze??? On a carrot cake? I have only ever made a lemon cream cheese icing… oh well, lets give it a whirl as I listen to the best of the 90's on one of the foxtel music channels .... great songs!!! Good times. 

First lot of ingredients to be mixed in together.... Notice the whipped up pecans too... not walnuts. Great addition.

All mixed up and ready to go in. 

First up was the muffins... and please take note of the cake tester. When life sometimes gets all a bit overwhelming just be grateful that someone invented something so simple and even had to write what is on it to remind us all.

Next up were the icing ingredients ... I grew the lemon too just quietly. And that gorgeous looking knife??? That belongs in a set of 5 which was a xmas present from David which has changed the way I look at knives forever. I have never owned proper knives before .... they are superb. Sharp and superb. 

Lemon cream cheese frosting all good go to. 

Here is the glaze making its celebrity appearance ... Still wasn't convinced at this stage.

Glaze poured all over the cake and ready to be turned around 3 x times and put back in the oven ... one of my little superstitions... 

Note to self and all. Do not touch the glaze when it comes straight out of the oven. Its really hot.
Let the cake tester do its job.

Here is the carrot cake shared with fabulous dear friends upside down ... sorry I can't work out how to turn it around ... 

Cam's going in ... would love to say that little Sammy and Gus loved the cake, however they were more interested in the chocolate and lollies that I bought over for them ... oh well ... Cam, Jo and Gerbs made up for it. And I wish we had daylight in the background ... behind us is the most spectacular view of Curl Curl. Just bliss. 

Because its a Monday ... I thought I would try making a pinata cake.....

Its been a while since I have written my blog and I have missed it, but its been busy 12 months, however you need to make time for what you love to do ... so thought as its a Monday and I had some time, I would attempt (attempt should be written in CAPITALS) a piñata cake ... also known as a smash cake as you literally smash into the chocolate to get to the lollies ...

The pics for this blog literally tells the story ... what the pictures do not show is the moment the balloon which had just been dunked in chocolate - popped. Big time popped ..... and the chocolate you can imagine has gone everywhere .... I even just looked up to the ceiling to take a moment and sure enough there is sprinkle polka dots of chocolate splattered on the roof too .... Whoopsies ...

So here we go ....

In theory, and all the youtube clips I have watched, they said to melt chocolate in a bowl and then dip the balloon in the bowl, let it set, then pop the balloon and whammo ... you are meant to have a chocolate dome ... YEAH BLOODY RIGHT!!!! They neglect mention how many attempts it took them!!! 

Glass bowl ... check. Specialist Helicopter balloon (we have them readily on supply if anyone needs any balloons just quietly) ... check. Big big saucepan check.

Chocolate buttons melting away ...

You never actually get tired of the melted chocolate smell ... or stirring it it around the bowl.

Look out ... here we go ... 1 x balloon going into the chocolate to make my dome .... 

Here is me giving gravity a bit of helping hand .... and stand by for the explosion of chocolate. EVERYWHERE I TELL YOU!!!

Never fear ... I don't give up and love a challenge ... out comes the cake tin.

Ohhh look at me with my ideas ...

Very therapeutic. Straight to the new fridge freezer which is just the highlight of our lives at the moment for David and I. It even crunches ice. 

Makes up for my disaster before .... lovely and smooth.

Time to prep the lollies ....

And this is the end result ... lovely and colourful and how I going to withhold myself by not smashing into it as there are lollies are the dome too .... time will tell.

Happy Belated Long Weekend

Hello ... this blog is a week late as we have all been a touch busy of late in the land of Television working on the cycling, HOWEVER its never too late to say 'Happy long long weekend'... please note to all everyone who doesn't live in Australia ... but Australia Day fell on a Tuesday this year so of course 99.9% of Aussies took the liberty of taking the Monday off too, hence the use of the double long long ....

Anyway everyone loves a lamington so this is what I have made for this week.... Can't play by the rules though so this one is a combo of reeipes to make my own. There is a special secret ingredient inside too which everyone at work tomorrow will get to try.

Enjoy the pictures and hopefully tummy rumbles.

ps: I should note that this blog should be sponsored by Woolworths ... I seem to spend half my life in there buying fresh ingredients all the time. Either that or I should take out shares in an IGA store. Imagine that, I could go back to my roots as a checkout chick who scanned 14 items a minute. Yes, yes I did. Held the record for a little while too with that speediness.

Here I am trying to squeeze the juice out whilst taking a picture. PLEASE NOTE THAT I GREW THIS LEMON!!! 1 year ago I bought a lemon and lime tree from Bunnings and now I have fruit. Miracle. I put it down to the bees doing their job well.

This punnett of raspberries was only $3.90 ... BARGAIN. Got get some. And while you are there, blueberries were only a touch more (that's a rarity).

Simmering away for 10 mins. My kitchen smelt divine.

Sifting the flour ... not once, not twice but 3 times.

Adding the Dutch cocoa (again sifted 3 x times) ... and if someone can explain the difference to me about why you have to use Dutch cocoa and not any other nation ... that would be super great.

The mixture as you are stirring it ... still amazes me. 

Pour the mixture in the tins, twist them around 3 x times and then place in the oven (that's just one of my quirky things to do). 

 See amazing ... soft mixture goes in and cake comes out.

This was the awesome part ... the raspberry jam I made, cream and melted chocolate!!!

 The spatula gets a good work out today ...

 Prepped for the fridge ...

The therapy part .... pouring the chocolate and coconut over the lamington cakes

All messed up going to the fridge to set....

And we have the Fiona version of tripple choc raspberry lamingtons ... Enjoy.