laurasaur

I’ve been so slack at updating, my blog WAS broken but it’s miraculously fixed itself tonight finally. I’ve also developed a mean sewing addiction which is soaking up any spare time I have !

Apple and feijoa crumble pie and a fabric covered letter for Charlotte’s room. xxx

My gorgeous Aunty Robyn gave me this cake tin tonight, and to celebrate my pimping new oven straight from the 80s I baked this amazing cake. It’s amazing because it involves nothing fancier than a normal cake but comes out looking so fancy pants!

Check it out! This oven was in my parents house when they bought it over 24 years ago!! It has fanbake! And a lower oven! Haha. This is a pretty exciting day for me let me tell you…

The cake is Alison Holst’s lemon yogurt cake which you can make it the food processor in less than 5 minutes. Nice and easy, even when you have a crying baby strapped to you in a sling and a toddler demanding your attention

The baby made me do it?! I’ve been clearing out our cupboards and came across my canned pumpkin stash. I LOVE canned pumpkin. When I was 8 or 9 my mum took me to her colleagues house for a thanksgiving meal (thanksgiving isn’t normally celebrated in New Zealand) and I had some delicious pumpkin pie, and we came home with a can of pumpkin. The can sat in the cupboard for a couple of years until I think we made something from it (worst memory ever!). Either that or it got old and my mum threw it out haha.

Anyway I’ve loved pumpkin pie ever since then and made it a couple of times with normal pumpkins – until I arrived in London and discovered our local Waitrose often stocks canned pumpkin!

This is a whole lot more delicious than pumpkin pie if you love cheesecake like I do! Excuse the cracked top, I made this in a serious hurry and messed up with opening the oven a bunch of times and forgetting our oven is realllly hot.

Pumpkin Pie adapted from [Paula Deen]

Crust:

• 150g biscuits
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) / 640g packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) / 425g can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1 Cup Almond Butter
3/4 Cup Pumpkin Puree (homemade or canned)
2 eggs
1/3 Cup Honey
1 tsp baking soda
50g of 90% cocoa dark chocolate

Beat Almond butter and eggs together. Add remaining ingredients and beat until everything is mixed in.
Bake in a 180 degree celcius oven for 10-15 minutes until puffed and a knife comes out clean.

Lick the bowl.

*Yeah, honey is disputably not paleo. And these certainly wont be paleo if you add cream cheese, more like delicious.

I don’t think this can rightfully be called a Clafoutis as Wikipedia tells me that a Clafoutis is a baked cherry dish.

I’ve no doubt this would be delicious with cherries. The best variant I’ve made has been lemon and blueberry. Personally I think any traditional fruit combo would work here. Rum and raisin anyone?

your fruit of choice, enough to scatter over your baking dish
4 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c milk
1/2 c cream

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 T lemon zest
3/4 c all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Place the berries in the bottom of an oven proof dish. I used a 24cm flan dish but you can make it in anything, your baking time will differ though.

Whisk eggs and sugar together until pale. Add milk, cream, lemon zest and juice and whisk together.
Add the flour and salt and whisk together gently.

Pour over the berries/fruit. Place in the oven and bake until the middle is golden and just bounces back when pressed, about 25 minutes.

I like this warm and still enjoy it the next day.

You can see why we only have half a layer of berries in our clafoutis….