This is a great recipe that simply has to be shared.  It was brought to my attention when we were having a catch up coffee with friends and this beautiful moist carrot cake was dished up.  It was still warm and I swear if I wasn’t in the company of others I would have licked my fingers and sucked every tasty morsel off the baking paper that cake was cooked on. So, many thanks to Casey for this recipe… everyone say “hi” to Casey.   I will just add that the recipe  below is the standard one.  Casey has told me that she uses more carrots, less oil, macadamia nuts and no icing on top but we all fiddle with recipes to get them to our specific liking.  I implore you reader to give this recipe a go, I certainly will.

INGREDIENTS
*1 1/2 cups (about 2 medium) coarsely grated carrots
*1/2 cup finely chopped pecan nuts
*2 eggs, lightly beaten
*1 cup caster sugar
*3/4 cup vegetable oil
*3/4 cup self raising flour
*1/2 cup plain flour
*1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
*1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

icing
*1 x 125g packet cream cheese, chopped
*25g butter, softened
*1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
*1 1/2 cups icing mixture, sifted

METHOD
Step 1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees.  Grease 15cm x 25cm loaf pan with melted butter; cover base with non stick baking paper.
Step 2. Place carrots, nuts, eggs, sugar and oil in a large bowl.  Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
Step 3. Sift flours, soda and cinnamon through a fine strainer over bowl of carrot mixture.  Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.  Pour mixture into prepared pan; put in oven.

Cook for 1 hour or until cake is lightly browned, test with a skewer.  Place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes then turn cake out of pan onto rack; peel away paper.

ICING: Place cream cheese, butter, rind and icing sugar in a small bowl; beat with an electric mixer until smooth.  Spread icing on top of cake.

I love satay sauce and this wonderful recipe uses things you would normally have in the cupboard and takes only five minutes to make.

Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup of peanut butter
* 1/2 small chicken stock cube
* 1 1/2 cups of water
* 2 tablespoons of honey
* 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
* 1 teaspoon of ginger
* 1 teaspoon of curry powder

Procedure
1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. Bring to boil then simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes or until it thickens.

Now how easy is that?  I use this sauce over mince sticks and a bed of rice.  If you happen to have any sauce left over, just freeze it.  It keeps brilliantly in the freezer!

I have just made a cake and want to share this most excellent recipe with you. I say it’s excellent because you don’t need softened butter so you need not think ahead when making this little ripper. I have to thank my grandmother for this one… “thanks Mama”… because it’s her recipe.

Fresh Cream Cake
* 1 and a 1/2 cups of S/R flour
* 1 cup of sugar
*1 cup of cream
*2 eggs

Step 1: Mix eggs & sugar until creamy
Step 2: Add cream then beat a little bit
Step 3: Fold in sifted flour
Step 4: Cook for 45 min on 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit

That’s it! Don’t forget to rub your cake tin with butter and coat in flour, or use baking parer if you prefer. I also like to use a ring cake tin (pictured above) to cut down on cooking time. Every now and then I like to add two tablespoons of sifted cocoa to turn it into a chocolate cake. It’s delicious plain but add icing if you wish or beat some fresh cream with a little sugar and vanilla essence and smother the cake with that…yum yum!

I was playing”restaurants” with my kids today and after taking my order my oldest asked if I wanted that grilled or fried. Of course I went with grilled and handed over my play money. My youngest then placed her order but chose the fried option. My oldest daughter gave her a look of disbelieve and reminded her that fried was the fatty option. Well my youngest quickly changed her order to one that was grilled and handed over her play money. I had a smile on my face after that, I was glad to see my kids (aged 5 & 7) actually know something about healthy cooking. I try to teach them about good fats and bad fats, healthy cooking techniques and good food choices. Now I know they have listened to me because it has surfaced in their playtime. Now if only I could disguise the housework as fun playtime activities I would be one VERY happy mum!