Carrot Cake Success

Following Sunday's disaster with my badly turned out cake, I thought "you know what, practice makes perfect so I'm go to show these carrots who the boss is!" And boy did I show them.  

So I tweaked the cooking time a little bit. Last time i had baked for 30 minutes but this time I opted to let the cake bake for 45 minutes. I then let it cool for 20 minutes before turning it out. 

Well turned out Carrot cake

I'm really proud

 I enjoyed making this bit! I found baking was almost like engineering, so it felt just like when I'm busy with a design that is going well. The cakes were like the mechanical parts I spend all day designing, making the icing bit felt like I was back in the lab working on my nano-composites. And finally, putting the cake together and icing it was like an assembly drawing :)

The base

Assembled success

 Although my icing is still not on par - I just can't seem to get my my cottage cheese to be as smooth with the butter as it is without, and by the time the icing sugar goes in things had already gone bad. All in all I'm pleased with the result. Unlike with the first attempt, the reviews were great - "I like the walnuts in there, and the balance of the spices with the carrots is beautiful". So, yes, finally "success"!!!

Side view of the iced carrot cake

Top view of the iced carrot cake

 Even if I do say so myself, this cake was absolutely moist, fragrant and delicious. Now onto another recipe when I find the time between work.....

Iced carrot cake

Don't forget to cover your cake before letting the icing set in the refrigerator.

Successful ending

Sunday Dessert

Sundays are really lazy around here. We usually only get time to eat breakfast at around 10 am, and lunch at 3 or 4 pm. And as a consequence of that, dinner ends up unmade but there is always a dessert to be had for dinner.

So last Sunday, my sister and I decided to do a bit of baking early for the Sunday dinner. She made scrumptious bran and raisin muffins which came out beautifully as you can see.

My sister's bran and raisin muffins

I decided to try my hand at baking a carrot cake. Things didn't go as well as I had planned them. Taste-wise it didn't disappoint, but i do have to say my carrot cake does fit the bill of " it tastes better than it looks". So instead of the delicious and aesthetically pleasing cake, we all tucked into a carroty-cottage cheese blob. My carrot cake mess is more accurate.

Carrot cake mess side view

Carrot cake mess top view

I shall not be defeated by carrots......

Namibian Meatballs

Living in a house with very picky eaters presents a real challenge when it comes to cooking a meal. Lukily, the picky-ness or differences in requests (read "what I can eat") for the food is only for staples such as rice, "oshithima", macaroni, spaghetti or bread, etc..
So what this means is the vegetables and sauces and meats can be generic for everyone.

For lunch  I made meatballs. These moist meatballs are made with grated potatoes instead of breadcrumbs or mashed salt crackers, grated green pepper, grated onion and fresh chilli. Of course potatoes would win, since not everyone eats bread. Another thing I've had to minimize is spice. As a consequence, this version of meatballs used coriander seeds, black pepper corns, cloves and salt.

In the end three separate dishes were served:

(1) Meatballs and Sour dough bread

Namibian Meatballs with sour dough bread

(2) Meatballs with white rice

Now the rice was just boiled, but you can steam it if you prefer it that way.

Namibian Meatballs with white rice

(3) Meatballs with Oshithima

The third dish of meatballs was served with oshithima, which is an Owambo hard porridge with Omahangu flour. It has a slightly sour taste and is really good and healthy for you.

Namibian Meatballs with Oshithima

Lastly to accompany the dishes, a salad consisting of lettuce leaves, green apples, pealed cucumber, peaches and a sweet and sour lemony dressing was made.

Salad

French Toast

Lately I’ve become interested in breakfast. Usually my breakfast would consist of a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee, which since is freshly brewed I thought was a healthy choice. In my head, the words, “fresh”, “home cooked / baked / style”, “organic”… the list is endless, but those words are synonymous to “healthy” and “good for you”. I often get fixated on something for a while and stick to it as though it is all I have. For example, if I buy a certain pair of shoe that I like, I would wear it like it was the only pair in my cupboard. And the same goes for food. If for that month I want blueberries for example, I will incorporate it into every meal, think of blueberry muffins, blueberry cheesecake, blueberry smoothies….

Anyway, I digress. Although the post is titled French toast, the thing I am addicted to right now is syrup. So when yesterday I wanted a breakfast, well French toast to be exact I knew I had to have it. Since, I don’t think of an entirely sweet dish as a meal in its entirety, I knew I had to add something in the salt category. So a sweet and salty breakfast was in order –  (1) Cinnamon French toast with syrup, (2) Banana with, of course, syrup and, (3) coriander French toast with polony.

Cinnamon French toast:

Just take one egg and beat it together with a pinch of ground cinnamon. Then dip one slice of whatever type of bread you like in the egg mixture. Heat up a pan and add about one teaspoon of butter and fry your dipped egg. Serve with a drizzle of syrup (again your choice).

Banana

I realise that this might seem like I’m going to make a banana! But, for people who can’t be bothered to cook a banana, such as myself, and besides the fact that fruit is best eaten raw – just peel, half length-wise and drizzle with syrup. Spot the syrup overload.

Coriander French toast with Polony

For this, it couldn’t get any simpler. You just take a teaspoon of coriander pesto and beat it, along with one egg. Dip one slice of bread in the mixture and fry. Next cut up or fold a slice or two of polony or any cold meat of your choice. If it is not salty enough for you, you can add a pinch to your toast.

And that is it – Thursday breakfast complete. Enjoy!

Oh for the drink I had water and a cup of tea, rooibos of course. 

Masala Chai Tea

On cold rainy days I find myself craving this delicious chai tea which I learned from a great Indian friend of mine.

All you need is:

• 1/2 tsp Black pepper corns
• 2cm Dried Ginger
• 6 Cloves 
• 1/2 Star Anise
• 2 Mace
• 9 Cardamom pods
• 1/2 tbsp Tea leaves
• 1 cup Water
• 1 cup Milk (full cream)
• Sugar, to your taste

The Masala
Grind the black pepper corns, dried ginger, cloves, star anise, mace, and cardamom pods to a powder and store in a tightly closed jar in a cool and dark place.

The Tea
To a sauce pan, pour the milk and water. Add 1 table spoon of the masala (made above) and bring to a boil. once it boils, add the tea leaves, stir and simmer for 2 minutes. Add sugar to taste. Strain and serve.

This tea goes very well with chocolate cookies, ginger cookies, brownies, chocolate cakes....well, basically anything you like.

My Breakfast

What do you have the morning following a night of delicious food? 

That was my predicament the morning after I had had a Russian themed evening. When you've slaved away in a kitchen a mere hours earlier, you do not want to repeat the same thing just for a plate of food. 

So I did the next best thing and had some of my leftovers for breakfast: 

• Since  I wasn't going to bother with cooking, I just scoope out some blue cheese from the refrigerator. I love cheese and you have to make sure you get the best cheese you can afford.
• Instead of egg and toast I just put some melon marmalade onto a slice of health loaf. And just because I can, I decided to have caviar for breakfast :). The caviar is  from last night - i like to eat it without adding anything just to preserve the taste and texture of it.
• Then I remembered once of the reasons I slaved the previous night was soup, which I still had over, so broccoli soup from the night before, whose recipe I'll add later on for you guys to try out, was also added.I just warmed this in the microwave
• And lastly because my breakfast is never done without my cup of tea, I made a cup of rooibos.

"Mint Tea" and "Ginger Mint Tea"

I must admit, for the last two years I've been so busy with completing my degree that I haven't cooked, baked, let alone make a cup of tea from scratch!

I apoligise to the only person that has been reading my blog. So, what type of tea have I been drinking in the last two years?
When I was a student, and now still, Woolworths has been my best friend. Woollies stocks the best chai tea blend (the one infused with vanilla is devine). Their mint tea and chamomille tea is also delicious.

Last night I thought, "new year, and its time for me to go back to the old me - the better me". So I searched around in my spice cupboard and used some of the herbs to try out a mint tea.

You will need:

1 part Marjoram
2 parts Mint
1 part Sage
1 part Woodruff

Boil cold, fresh water. Place all the ingredients in the water once it has reached a boil. Remove from the heat. Let the tea seep for 5 minutes and strain.

Ginger Mint Tea

This morning I decided to add 1 and a half ginger root, which i had crushed to two teaspoons of mint. the procedure is exactly the same for the Mint tea