Category Archives: baked goods

Jul 11

A tag and a bit of yummy

DSC_0023_zps74e31df4(1)

Hello there! Thank you for the love, in the yesterday’s comments especially - that card is one of my current favourites and I’m glad you like it too. There’s a little sumthin’ that I’d like to share tonight, firstly a tag inspired by the CTS#84 sketch (below).

I inked the stamp sets from Altenew, Hennah Elements (flowers coloured using Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils and a waterbrush (Aquash)) and my fav Label Love. The white dots were added with Ranger Inkessentials white opaque pen, which so far looks much more promising than the Uniball Signo pen that I’ve been using in the past. In fact, it’s been giving me a major headache and that’s why I switched. Happy now!
Here’s the sketch:



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I’m also sharing a recipe for a delicious rhubarb cake that I put a photo of on my Instagram the other day, and which yielded requests for details (wink wink, Donna and Lucy!) I wrote there that this recipe wins so far in my cookbooks and I tried quite a few recipes for the rhubarb cake in particular; it’s a sort of a Polish old-style favourite. The recipe is translated from Polish as well, so please keep it in mind when using measurements - especially cups.

Rhubarb Cake

  • 1 margarine / unsalted butter (250g), softened
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar (250ml)
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 1 cup potato flour
  • 1 packet vanilla dusting sugar, or 1 generous tbsp
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 kg rhubarb
  • extra 1 tsp flour for the rhubarb
  • icing sugar for dusting

Heat up the oven to 180°C (356°F). In a large bowl beat margarine with eggs and sugar. Add sieved flours, vanilla sugar, baking powder. Add milk, mix well. Add oil, vinegar and lemon juice.
Wash rhubarb, remove any hard fibres, cut into pieces of up to 1 cm thickness. Put in a bowl and bust with a teaspoon of flour.
Grease a big baking tray (30 x 40cm - I used 33 x 23cm and it was just fine), pour in the cake mixture and sprinkle the rhubarb over evenly. Bake 45 min to an hour, depending on the oven. Check the readiness with a wooden skewer after 45 minutes.
If you like, dust the top with icing sugar and leave to cool… or not. LOL!

It’s a lightweight, fluffy, lightly sour cake, perfect for an afternoon tea. Enjoy! xx

Feb 08

A couple of cards… and biscuits!

I’m still on a huge card kick. So much so, that I keep having something to post every day. Easily. While other stuff is waiting, like the recipe for the yummy cookies I made and photographed a week ago and finally decided to include in this post, before I forget all about it!
I blame the excitement over the again-found love for patterned papers, aided by a small but irresistibly good, fresh supply of the aforementioned, that keeps me wanting to cut, snip and paste all day long. Ahhh.
Also, the challenges. How they come handy when I need to give my card a kick start! For long weeks I’ve been barely playing any, it doesn’t seem to be the case any more either. I’m not doing heaps at a time, though, and thanks goodness. A rather good improvement in my books.
So.

I happened to make a Christmas card. Wha…??? Never before such a folly would have happened to me. But, granted that I LOVE making Christmas cards, and that a really fun challenge blog appeared on the horizon, called Festive Friday, I thought why not?

A colour combo of red, white & silver is given for their first challenge, and apart from swapping silver for platinum and adding a small slate coloured accent, that’s what I followed.

I cut a piece of Simple Stories DP for the base. The snowflake is a Hero Arts Dotted Snowflake stamp that I was actually quite giddy to use again. I did so only once, between the time I bought it and the festive season ended. Mind you, that card happened to grant me a Moxie Fab win, so I think I’ve got pretty little reason to whinge 😉
I embossed it with the Liquid Platinum EP from Ranger.

The sentiment comes from WPlus9 set, Poinsettia Patterns.

One more card, not 100% my style but nothing too disastrous I think either :)
It was fun to put together for sure. I combined Basic Grey paper/sticker from the Plumeria line, with a MME journaling card, and a heart cut with Spellbinders die. Plus a rhinestone and a staple for accents. I tried hard not to overdo this one, but I keep thinking it’s boring…

I combined here the inspiration from ric#29 and a CTS#14 sketch below.

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Now, for the biscuits. I haven’t forgotten :)
It’s not a biggie of a recipe, they’re quick and easy to make and a fantastic treat for those who watch their calories. A relatively guilt-free snack that still packs a punch with flavour.

Rock cakes

Makes 12
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup dried mixed fruit
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsps (60g) margarine (Flora Light recommended for a healthier option)
1/2 cup skim milk
2 egg whites (I added whole eggs)
cooking spray
2 tsps extra sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 200C (392F) fan forced.
Mix all dry ingredients except extra sugar. Combine together melted margarine & milk, add egg whites (eggs) and beat with fork until combined. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients, mix well. Coat baking tray with cooking spray , place large spoonfuls of mixture. Sprinkle extra sugar on top of each one. Bake for 20 minutes.

*Please note, that all measuring is given in Australian standards.
1 cup = 250ml
1 tsp = 5ml
1 tbsp = 20ml
Make sure you adjust your measures, if you use British or American standards. Thanks!

This recipe originally comes from “Symply too good to be true” book by Annette Sym.
Bon appetit and thanks for coming :)

Jan 29

Mmmm… brownies!

I might have hinted on Facebook yesterday, that I’ll be sharing another recipe with you…
I made a double batch of brownie cake over the long weekend, wanting to take a portion over to mum & dad’s but that unfortunately didn’t work out, so we’re left with double the happiness right about now!
(well actually, not so much double any more, ’cause most of the first tray is gone… lol)

There are tons of brownie recipes out there, many of them equally mouth-watering and delish. As much as I like to experiment, when it comes to tried, quick and wonderfully scrummy treats, I’m signing up both hands. Such is this cake - super easy & impossible to fail with. Rich & moist, and just heavenly. A chocolate lover’s treat :)


Brownie cake

140g (4.9 oz) dark chocolate (70%)
250g (8.8 oz) caster sugar
140g flour, sifted
4 eggs
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g (7 oz) walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)

Melt chocolate in a dish placed on top of the pan of boiling water. Set aside until it’s warm, but not hot any more. Mix butter, add chocolate, then eggs, sugar, flour. Blend until the ingredients combine. Fold in chopped walnuts with a spoon.
(note: I usually don’t add them, since I like the chocolate taste uninterrupted, but you’re most welcome to!)
Pour into the rectangle dish 25cm x 35cm (9.8″ x 13.8″) or similar. Put into the heated oven (190 C, 374 F) for 20 minutes.
Set aside to cool down for half an hour, cut into squares.

Bon appetit!

Dec 24

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Christmas Eve arrived in Australia… Soon there will be hustling & bustling in the kitchen, enjoying the heavenly smells, table-decorating and carol-singing.
For me as a Pole, Eve was always the most important day of Christmas, with its great traditions, and more importantly the air of love and excitement that I always look forward to.
This year will be even more special. My mum & dad are here and it’s going to be the first Christmas spent together in the foreign land and also in my domain, my house. Each side of the family will hopefully experience something new and precious, when the cultures and traditions meet. I wish there was snow, but having both parents in for a Polish-style Eve is well enough to make up for the soaring temperatures :)

Certainly, food is always a staple in today’s routine and it’s the more awaited, since these delicacies come only once a year. We’ll have ‘Greek fish’ (ryba po grecku — nothing Greek about it, though); beetroot soup (borsch, barszcz); sauerkraut & wild mushrooms dumplings (pierogi), just to name a few.
Apart from a cheesecake and poppy seed cake that will make it to our table this year, I usually make a walnut & honey cake which is a favourite with everyone. Mazurek, as it’s called, is traditionally made for Easter but with its earthy, rich flavour it fits Christmas just as well.


Walnut cake

Base
200g (7 oz) unsalted butter
3 cup flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
2 tbsp natural honey
1 egg + 1 yolk

Knead briskly together, layer the bottom of 28 cm (11″) tin. Slight variations in size are fine.

Coating
250g unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
30g (1 oz) walnuts
2 - 3 tbsp natural honey

Preheat the oven to 180C (356F). Melt butter in saucepan, add sugar, honey and walnuts (broken into med-sized pieces). Stir on medium heat for 5-7 minutes. When the mixture starts bubbling, pour it on top of the base. Bake for 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

*Please note, that all measuring is given in Australian standards.
1 cup = 250ml
1 tsp = 5ml
1 tbsp = 20ml
Make sure you adjust your measures, if you use British or American standards. Thanks!

Wishing you all a VERY MERRY Christmas :)

Dec 20

The season of giving (and reflection)

Tomorrow my girl is going to family daycare for the last time, before the Christmas break. She’s got the most wonderful carer, the kind of a person who does so much more than she’s asked for, because for her it’s a work of heart, not a chore. I appreciate her so very much and always try to remember to let her know that, by giving her a little gift.
I baked her one of my favourite cakes today, a simple but SO yummy banana cake. It’s impossible to fail on this one, and I swear it smells like fresh bananas.


Banana cake

125g (4.4 oz) sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 cup milk

Melt butter, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan, remove from heat. Add mashed bananas and egg. Stir in flour and milk. Pour the mixture into a loaf tin, bake in 170C (338F) for 40 minutes.

*Please note, that all measuring is given in Australian standards.
1 cup = 250ml
1 tsp = 5ml
1 tbsp = 20ml
Make sure you adjust your measures, if you use British or American standards. Thanks!

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It’s one of these quick and great last-minute gifts, handy when there’s not much time to spare. From baking to cooling and wrapping, it took me about two and a half hours.

For the wrapping, I used some tissue paper, thin kraft cardstock (cut from a Bazzill 12×12″ sheet), a length of burlap, baker’s twine and a ready-made Cosmo Cricket tag, on which I stamped the sentiment from a PTI set (Big & Bold Wishes).

Now, I’ve got a question for you, my dear readers. Again it’s the time that I’ve been re-evaluating the importance of my blog, trying to focus on things that suit me and make me most happy. My life is changing; not only I’m pregnant with our second girl (due on the 30th of April), my days are fuller now with my parents around and I guess my priorities shifted somewhat as well. I think I’m nesting… *wink*

You probably noticed how I’ve been dropping one commitment after another, TCM being the last Team I said farewell to a week or two ago. I’m leaving only a couple of lightweight responsibilities, on top of my dear CASE Study. Being in the centre of things was fun and satisfying, but I can’t go on like this. More importantly, I want to try and focus more on stuff I neglected in the past due to lack of time, craft-wise as well. Do more purely for my enjoyment, and for the ones I care about.

I also feel the need of making my blog more personal and slow-paced. More tasteful and less hurried. Give more of myself, not just of my card-making side, because there’s so much to my life than this.
So, the question is, would you be willing to take on this slightly new journey with me? Where apart from the staple of my blog - cards, there would be more of other paper-crafting related posts, loose thoughts, photography, baking, etc.? More of myself?

Frankly, I’m not sure yet how exactly things will turn out, but I know that if I don’t give this creative outlet some new definition, I’ll burn out and it would be no fun at all.
Who’s with me? :)

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