Recipes

A mouthful, I know! But don’t be fooled, this one is hassle-free while playing on all your tastebuds at once. I believe that this is usually one of those cakes where you either love it, or you don’t like it at all. Please, allow her to prove you wrong!   

INGREDIENTS

CAKE
3 large eggs
375ml sugar
125ml oil
40g poppyseeds
90g coconut
250ml cake flour
5ml baking powder
5ml bicarbonate of soda
2,5ml salt
5ml vanilla essence
250ml plain/coconut yogurt
1 lemon, juice and zest
1 orange, zest

CREAM CHEESE ICING
100g butter, room temperature
300g icing sugar, sifted
15-30ml coconut milk/cream
5ml vanilla essence
pinch of salt
230g cream cheese, room temperature

METHOD

CAKE
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Prepare a bundt pan (ring shaped with hole in the middle) with non-stick spray. Do not be shy, spray enough!
3. Roast the coconut in the hot oven for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. This will add a lovely nutty flavour to the cake.
4. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. 
5. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
7. Bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to rest for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a small pallete/butter knife and demould onto a cooling rack.

CREAM CHEESE ICING
1. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the butter until light, fluffy and pale in colour (8-10 minutes). This is the most time consuming step, but will ensure the icing to melt in your mouth. 
2. Add the icing sugar, one tablespoon at a time.
3. Add the coconut milk and vanilla. Mix until well combined and smooth.
4. Add the cream cheese and pinch of salt. Mix until well combined and lump free. Do not overmix, or else the icing might split. 
5. Ice the cooled cake with your delicious icing and store in an airtight container/cake holder.

TIPS
1. If you don't have a bundt pan, use a 20cm square/round cake pan.
2. You can substitute the coconut milk/cream with cow's milk or cream.
3. When making the icing, I use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment for all the ingredients, except the cream cheese. Before adding the cream cheese, switch to the paddle attachment to ensure a smooth end result. The whisk attachment can easily overmix your icing.
4. If you want to add any toppings to the cake, repeat the ingredients that are already in the cake, such as roasted coconut/ poppyseeds/lemon zest/grilled lemon slices. Fresh flowers are also a winner, on everything!

This one is a dark horse. Everyone adds their own secret ingredients, claiming to have the best CARROT CAKE recipe. I’m not here to make any promises, but I dare you to bake my take on a carrot cake and decide for yourself. Regardless of all the varieties, she’s a real crowd pleaser!

INGREDIENTS

1 LARGE LAYERED CAKE/30 CUPCAKES
CAKE
625ml cake flour
10ml baking powder
5ml bicarbonate of soda
5ml cinnamon
5ml mixed spice
2ml salt
10ml vanilla essence
250ml sugar
300ml sunflower oil
4 large eggs
500ml grated carrots
1-2 ripe banana, mashed
220g crushed pineapple, drained (small tin)
125ml pecan nuts, chopped
220g smooth apricot jam, melted

CREAM CHEESE ICING
200g butter, room temperature
500g icing sugar
400g cream cheese
5ml vanilla essence

METHOD

CAKE
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Prepare two round cake tins with baking paper and non-stick spray.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients, except the sugar. 
4. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, whisk together the vanilla, sugar, oil and eggs until well combined. 
5. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture and whisk until just combined. 
6. Fold in the rest of the ingredients. 
7. Scrape the cake mixture into the prepared cake tins.
8. Bake in the middle of the oven for 35-45 minutes or until a cake tester/ wooden pick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake. Be careful not to over bake the cakes.
9. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before turning them out onto cooling racks. 
10. Once the cakes are cooled, you can cut each layer through the middle to create a four layered carrot cake. Finish the cake off with the cream cheese icing on top of each layer of carrot cake.
If you are not comfortable with cutting the cakes, you can settle for a two layered cake and use the extra icing to cover the sides of the cake.

CREAM CHEESE ICING
1. In a medium bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer until light, fluffy and pale. This is the most time consuming step.
2. Add the icing sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until well combined.
3. Add the vanilla essence and cream cheese. Mix until just combined.

TIPS
1. If you don't have Mixed Spice, double the amount of cinnamon. You can also make your own by combining cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and coriander. This spice combination is a real game changer!
2. Don't be shy to add a bit of the pineapple syrup to your cake mixture. This will enhance the flavour and texture of the cake, although too much liquid will make the cake dense.
3. When turning the cakes out, allow them to cool "face down" to flatten the dome of the cake. This will make the layering of the cake easier and more stable.
4. I recommend the cakes to rest in the fridge for a few hours before cutting them into layers, to minimize crumbling. 
5. The longer you whisk the butter for the icing, the lighter the texture of the icing will be at the end. Believe me, you want this icing to melt in your mouth! 
6. To ensure an even ratio of cake and icing, and prevent the cake to appear skew, use a piping bag to pipe the icing onto each cake layer.
7. Finish your cake off with roasted nuts or fresh flowers.

To ensure a good balance of content, we’re moving onto this sophisticated lady,
THE CHEESECAKE!
I went on quite a journey to discover and create the perfect cheesecake. I specifically played around with the ingredients and baking time to finally achieve this masterpiece.
She’s uncomplicated and speaks for herself.

INGREDIENTS

CRUST
125g butter, room temperature
50g castor sugar
1 egg
175g cake flour
2ml baking powder
2ml salt

CHEESECAKE
900g creamcheese
250ml castor sugar
45ml cake flour
3 eggs, 1 egg yolk
15ml lemon/lime juice
Zest of one lemon/lime
2ml salt
5ml vanilla essence
250ml sour cream/ plain yogurt

METHOD

CRUST
1. Prepare a springform cake tin with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, cream the butter and castor sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and mix until well combined.
3. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a seperate bowl.
4. Add the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time, to the butter mixture until well combined. 
5. Spread the mixture onto the base and sides of the prepared cake tin and put in the fridge for 1 hour. 

CHEESECAKE
1. Preheat the oven to 230°C. 
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the creamcheese until light and fluffy (about 5-10 minutes).
3. Add the castor sugar and flour and mix well, for another 3 minutes.
4. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after every addition.
5. Add the lemon/lime juice and zest, salt, vanilla and sour cream.
6. Mix well and pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at 230°C. Reduce the heat to 110°C and bake for another 25-35 minutes (depending on the size of your cake tin). 
8. Put the oven off and allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven, without opening the door (this will help to prevent the cake from cracking in the middle). 
9. Once the oven is cool to the touch, remove the cheesecake, cover with plastic wrap and allow to set in the fridge overnight.
10. The next day you can remove the cheesecake from the cake tin and serve at room temperature. 

TIPS
1. If you are short on time, you can make a cookie crust as well. 
2. You are more than welcome to swirl in any additional ingredients such as caramel, chocolate, fruit compotes or even a coffee cream. These ingredients can also be used to top the baked and cooled cheesecake.
3. I swirled Dalgona Coffee cream through the cheesecake and baked it for 5 minutes longer.
I topped it with homemade caramel popcorn to produce a birthday cake. Although, I usually believe that less is more with cheesecakes.

I couldn’t resist starting with this childhood favourite! This is one of the first treats I made by myself and also the first recipe I wrote down in my little cookbook.
Unattractive but absolutely delicious, hence the variety in names, but let’s be safe and go with CHOCOLATE, OATS AND COCONUT COOKIES.

INGREDIENTS

20-25 Cookies

125g butter
500ml sugar
125ml cacao
125ml milk
2,5ml salt
5ml vanilla essense
750ml oats
250ml dessicated coconut

METHOD

1. Prepare a baking tray with non-stick spray and set aside.
2. Add the butter, sugar, cacao, milk and salt to a medium pot. 
3. Heat this mixture until it starts to boil. Boil for about 1 minute.
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the vanilla, oats and coconut. 
5. Quickly stir in the dry ingredients and start forming the cookies onto the baking tray, before the mixture starts to cool and set. 
6. Allow the cookies to cool completely and transfer to an airtight container. 

TIPS
1. The longer you boil the mixture (before adding the vanilla, oats and coconut), the harder your cookies will dry out. 
2. I use two spoons to form the cookies. Spoon the mixture with one spoon and scrape it off onto the baking tray with the other spoon.

A very warm welcome!

I’m that Afrikaans, countryside girl who loves the kitchen. Actually, I might be a bit obsessed. This is where I work and play at the same time. Where I explore as much about baking as I do about myself.

Sometimes I listen to loud music in the kitchen, having a dance move or two while the mixer does its thing. Other times I enjoy the peace and quietness that allows me to just be. And sometimes nothing goes according to plan.

We, as bakers, spend hours in the kitchen for a reward that lasts only seconds.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful!”

“What a masterpiece!”

“It’s so delicious and moist.”

“How did you make this?”

“You need to share this recipe with me.”

“You truly have a gift.”

“THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

I repeat, only seconds. But still, we do it wholeheartedly!

“Why do you enjoy it so much?”

The motivation for my baking obsession used to be that I had nothing else to keep myself busy with over holidays (due to the lack of entertainment in the Karoo). But I recently discovered that passions and talents are no mistake. Baking is my love language through which I express myself to family and friends. It’s how I serve. So that’s my why, Love!

I believe that it’s time to share what I’ve been exploring, testing and creating. You are invited to join in and share on this platform. I would love to learn from you as well. Let’s go!