Toddling along...

Well it's August already....the last month of winter is here! Today, though, you would have thought that Spring was on her way - 21 degrees and sunny blue skies!

July was somewhat uneventful - wet and cloudy alot of the time. It has been the wettest winter in SA for some time so alot of Adelaide's reservoirs have risen significantly and our grass is lovely and green!

I have managed to finish the top of the Caterpillar quilt though. Now just to quilt it! I am going to a Free Machine quilting workshop next Saturday so hopefully I am going to learn some new skills and be able to quilt in a more creative way. I am really looking forward to the workshop. I am fully expecting that I will be the youngest student there and the ladies are probably going to laugh at my Vintage machine!

After having a bit of a cooking hiatus I made some caramelised onion relish this afternoon after realising that my 10kg bag of brown onions needing using up before they all sprouted!


Caramelised Onion Relish

3/4 cup olive oil
3kg brown onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup brown sugar
500mL balsamic vinegar
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp salt.

Over a medium heat place the oil and onion in a large saucepan. Cover and cook for 40mins, stirring regularly.

Take the lid off and cook for another 30mins, again stirring regularly.

Add the sugar and the balsamic vinegar and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer uncovered for 30mins.

Stir in the salt and thyme leaves and cook for another 10mins.

The mixture should be thick and glossy when ready. You may need to simmer for longer until this happens.

Spoon mix into sterilised jars.

I can't wait to try this with some steak or sausages. It made 4 jars!

The Hungry Caterpillar

I do a bit of quilting....in no way am I an expert but I like to play around. After completing an "I-Spy" quilt for Master 4's birthday I have been waiting for the fabric for my next project to arrive. After a two month wait I was able to pick it up last week. It is Eric Carle's "The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar" by Andover fabrics. It is gorgeous and bright and depicts the scenes from the book. I loved this book as a child and I now enjoy reading it to my children.

So here is what I have managed so far. It is a fairly simple design - pretty much cut and sew - once I get a bit more confident I might attempt something a bit more complicated. For now, it is nice to indulge in a bit of sewing in between cooking, cleaning and kid rangling!

Prehistoric birthday cake

It was Master 4's birthday last month and he asked for a dinosaur cake! Thank goodness I have a stash of Donna Hay Kids mags - full of cake and party ideas. I found a design for a Stegosaurus cake and thought I would give it a bash!

I used a round cake to construct the dino - you just cut it in half to make the main body and cut the remainder to make the head, feet, tail and spikes. Then I iced with butter cream icing and darling hubby did the final sculpting and decorating (who would have thought that he would be so handy with a hot palette knife!)

The recipe for the vanilla cake is as follows -





Melt and Mix Vanilla Cake


2 1/2 cups (375g) plain flour, sifted

1 1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted

1 3/4 cups (275g) caster sugar

250g butter, melted

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups (310mL) milk

1 tsp vanilla extract





Preheat oven to 160C

Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.

Pour into a lightly greased 22cm round cake tin.

Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.




A great recipe....gotta love a one bowl cake that doesn't require the mixmaster!



And the butter cream icing.....


Butter cream Icing


250g butter, softened

2 cups (320g) icing sugar mixture, sifted

2 tblsp milk



Beat the butter with the mixmaster for 6-8 minutes or until pale and creamy.

Add the icing sugar and milk and beast for another 6 minutes or until light and creamy.

You can add colouring to the icing at this point. We used green for the dino

Mmmm....chocolate

I found a recipe whilst Googling the other day..... for a Chocolate and Port cake! Well I just HAD to give it a go...and it is great! I have made four so far....one as a test run (using Tawny port), two to sell on the weekend (using Liebich Ruby Grenache) and another for our own dessert consumption. The recipe itself is easy...I guess my only complaint is that I end up using a saucepan and two separate mixing bowls so there is a bit of washing up to do at the end. And it is easily converted to a Gluten-Free option if you use gluten-free plain flour or substitute the flour for some almond meal. The two I baked to sell on Sunday were Gluten-Free - I used gluten-free plain flour (available at the supermarket now) and they turned out really well. I cut each cake into eigths and sold each piece for $3 (so $24 for the cake). The cake will keep well for up to a week in the fridge...the port flavour will intensify. and i think this is one of those cakes that would work well no matter what alcohol you used....if port isn't your thing you could use rum, whisky, kahlua, muscat etc.

Chocolate and Port Cake

4oz (120g) butter
½ cup port
5oz (150g) dark chocolate
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
¾ cup plain flour (substitute glutenfree flour or almond meal)


Preheat oven to 180C.
Grease and line the base of a 24cm springform pan.

Melt butter and chocolate together in small saucepan. Add wine gradually, stirring slowly until thoroughly incorporated. (If you go too fast it will split!)

Combine sugar and egg yolks in bowl and mix on medium speed until pale yellow in colour. Add melted chocolate slowly, and beat until smooth.
Add flour and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. (You can do these steps by hand if you like)

In another bowl, beat egg whites on high until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold in 1/3 of chocolate mixture into egg whites. Fold in remaining chocolate carefully.

Pour into cake pan and bake for 30 minutes.


The cake will not rise much and is quite dense and moist. Enjoy with a dollop of double cream or a scoop of ice-cream.

More little cupcakes

I just had to share a picture of these. I have been playing around with decorations for cupcakes and managed to make some cute little piggies! Amazing what you can do with some marshmallows and a few M&Ms! The kids think they are great and I made some for Liebichwein's Fortified Fest on Sunday and sold them all! I was quite pleased :)

Nigella redeems herself...

Well after my last Nigella recipe effort and failure I was hoping the Domestic Goddess would redeem herself with the next recipe that I tried...and she did!


I was looking for a biscuit recipe to use with cookie cutters - one that was easy to roll and cut and that had a decent flavour. I tried the Butter Cut-out cookies and my search was over.


My lovely neighbour J came over on Sunday to see how my wisdom tooth op went and brought me some car shaped cutters. I just had to give them a try!




I used M&M for wheels and the boys thought they were wonderful.



I also did some Australiana biscuits with Master 4 - note the M&M over SA on the map biccie!

I am really pleased with this recipe - most definately a keeper - and I will be making a double batch for the weekend!

Butter Cut-out Biscuits

175 g soft unsalted butter
200 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
400 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely. If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough. Form into 2 flat discs, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place disc of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that. Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/2 cm. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets. I find it easy to roll the dough out on some baking paper - then it doesn't stick to the board and it can be easier to remove the cutouts.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes (mine where in for 10). When they're ready expect them to be tinged a pronounced gold around the edges; they'll be softish still in the middle, but set while they cool.

Remove the biscuits with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack to cool.

You can ice the biscuits when they are cooled if you feel like it or you can add M&Ms before you bake them.

Little chocolate cupcakes

I don't know about you but I love a good cupcake! I have been looking for a good chocolate cupcake recipe for a while and stubbled upon this one in the launch issue of delicious. - I must tell you now that I have EVERY issue of delicious. I love this magazine....beautifully photographed food and recipes that I use over and over again.

Anyway the recipe for these cupcakes initially included rum (for a adults only treat) but I decided to leave that out because my children were sure to want some! They turned out well - moist and chocolatey and I iced them simply with some butter cream icing.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk ( use 1 cup of milk with a good squeeze of lemon juice if you don't have buttermilk)
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°C and place the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. Add 1/2 tsp salt and stir to combine.
Place buttermilk, egg, oil, vanilla and rum in a separate jug then mix into the dry ingredients. Beat well to combine.
Line a muffin pan with paper muffin cases and divide mixture between them. Bake for 25 minutes. Set aside to cool and then ice.

I liked this recipe too because there was no creaming of butter and sugar - just mixing of wet and dry ingredients together. Master 4 helped me with this and he was able to help sift the flour as well as crack the egg and mix the wet ingredients and of course....lick the spoon at the end!

Rainy days

We have had a few days of grey wet weather this week. The rain has been much appreciated! We have been enjoying the Queen's Birthday long weekend - so nice to have 3 days together!

On Saturday I worked in the Cellar Door at my neighbour's winery (www.liebichwein.com.au). It was such a learning experience and I am still trying to get my head around all their wines, ports and other fortifieds! I have alot to learn! But it is great to meet new people and have a chat.

Sunday afternoon we went and visited a few wineries for some tasting. As you can imagine we are spoilt for choice here in the Barossa and we haven't even been to more than 10 of the wineries here. We thought we would expand our horizons a little. We visited Torbreck at Marananga first. Lovely reds and some interesting blends. We came away with some Shiraz and a GSM. Friendly and knowledgeable staff too :)

We then headed to Murdock at Light Pass. We have driven past this winery many times on the way to the Farmer's Market but always thought that it was probably a bit too exclusive and not child-friendly. How mistaken we were!! A beautiful cellar door and restaurant...and a children's alcove with toys and books!! Wine was great too. Murdock also have a vineyard in the Coonawarra so some of their wines are a blend of both the Barossa and Coonawarra. Again we failed to leave empty-handed and came away with a Shiraz, some Rose, a Shiraz/Cab Sav blend and a "dos trios" - a blend of Grenache, Temparnillo and Shiraz.

Today I have been cooking in preparation for the week....am having my wisdom tooth out on Thursday so am expecting to be a bit orally challenged in the food department! I whipped up a batch of Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic soup that I will pop in the freezer.

Also made some chocolate cupcakes from a Nigella Lawson recipe that were a disaster! All sunken and ugly....but I still got a thumbs up from the kids for taste!!

More quince paste anyone?

This is a recipe for my friend B who told me yesterday that she had a container full of quince paste that she didn't know what to do with and that it was a couple of years old. I think it should be still ok to use...the quoted shelf life is two years! This is the kind of cake that I think B would like...and I wish we lived closer so that we could share a piece with a cuppa!

Quince Paste and Olive Oil Cake

150g quince paste, diced

1 lemon, rind finely grated

150g castor sugar

225g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

125mL olive oil

3 eggs

50mL orange juice

Place the sugar into a bowl and grate the lemon straight over it. Rub the zest into the sugar to release its natural oils.

Sift together the plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar mixture until well amalgamated.

Break the eggs into a bowl and add the olive oil and orange juice. Whisk until combined and then pour into the dry ingredients.

Stir well to form a smooth batter.Butter and flour a 4 cup capacity loaf pan.

Pour in a third of the batter into the pan and top with a third of the quince paste cubes. Cover with another third of batter. Sprinkle over with another portion of quince paste cubes. Cover with the remaining batter and dot the remaining cubes over the top.

Bake in a preheated 170°Cuntil golden and cooked through - about 40 minutes. Let it rest for a 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Winter is here

Well it is June 2nd so winter is officially here! The nights are growing cooler and we are making use of our wood fire in the lounge. The countryside has been transformed by the rain we received in April....everything is green and lush now...such a contrast to when we arrived in February!

Quince Paste Cup Cakes

125g butter

1/2 cup castor sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

1 1/4 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tblsp milk

quince paste

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 9 hole muffin tray with paper cases.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and lemon zest.

Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder along with the milk.

Divide half the mixture amongst the 9 cases. Top the mix with a 1cm square of quince paste and then cover with the rest of the mix.

Bake for 25mins.

Allow to cool then ice. To make the icing melt 1 tblsp of quince paste with 2 tblsp lemon juice. Mix in 1/2 cup of icing sugar.

The quince paste I used is homemade. When my mum was here we managed to make both quince jelly and quince paste. The paste is great with a nice sharp vintage cheddar and you could use it solely for that but I thought I would try and experiment a bit with the sweet side of things!

It's been raining!

I am happy to report that it has been raining in the Barossa - finally!! We have had around 2.5 inches (65mm) in the last 4 days and it has been wonderful! The grass is already starting to grow so hopefully in a few days the landscape will have a lovely green tinge to it instead of plain old brown.

With the rain came some cooler weather and we lit the loungeroom fire for the first time. There is something very soothing about a log fire and we found that it also helped to keep that end of the house (where the bedrooms are) a little bit warmer overnight. So today we had 1.5 tonnes of Balranald Redgum delivered. Not quite sure how long that much will last us for but will keep you posted.

The cooler weather marks the start of the warm desserts. After a trip to the Farmer's Market I returned with some rhubarb to add to some stewed apple for a Rhubarb and Apple Crumble.
I have been trying to find a crumble recipe that I like and I finally found one on the weekend. It must be an Australian thing to have rolled oats in your crumble topping, but that's the way I like it.

Crumble Topping

1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
100g butter, softened.

Using your hands, rub together the oats, brown sugar, flour and butter to make a crumbly topping. Sprinkle over fruit of your choice - could be stewed apple, stewed rhubarb, mixed berries, tinned peaches....whatever takes your fancy - and bake for 30min at 180C or until golden. Serve with icecream, cream, custard or yoghurt.

Now if you want to use less butter then you can...I used 50g and it was fine!

Lest We Forget

As tomorrow is Anzac Day I thought I would get into the kitchen and make a batch of Anzac biscuits. These are a favourite in our house at any time of the year but are all the more special when made for this occasion. There are many variations to the recipe, with some using more sugar or golden syrup and I have even seen a recipe that uses Almond meal! This is the recipe that I use.

ANZAC Biscuits

125g butter

1 tblsp golden syrup

1 cup plain flour

1 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup coconut (dessicated or shredded)

2 tblsp boiling water

1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

Preheat the oven to 160C.

In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, rolled oats and coconut.

In a small saucepan melt the butter and golden syrup.

Mix together the water and the bicarb of soda and add to the melted butter and syrup.

Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well. Roll mix into balls and place on a lined baking tray leaving room for spreading. Flatten slightly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing on a baking rack.

Mystery solved...

So the mystery eucalypt is....

EUCALYPTUS LEHMANNII or the BUSHY YATE

Thank goodness for the library and Eucalypts Vol 1 by Stan Kelly! And the weird thing is...when I opened the book it fell open at that exact page....spooky.

Anyway the Bushy Yate is actually native to WA but seems to do very well here...probably because it is also drought and frost resistant. It is a really interesting looking plant and the seed pods are hard and spiky...not at all fun to tread on...just ask Ben!

Identifying Eucalypts

Found this flower on a Eucalypt in the garden. am intrigued as to what it is as I haven't seen this species before. The flowers are large and grouped together...the flower ball is about the size of a tennis ball! The closest I can get to an identification is Eucalptus Annulata....but to me the flowers and nuts are too big to be Annulata....the google search continues.....

Still doing the figgy thing

As the fig season is almost at it's end I have been busily trying to get the most out of the fruit that is left. I have done several batches of crystallised figs now and have another batch to do tomorrow. The quality is a bit hit and miss - sometimes too toffeed, sometimes nice and soft. I am aiming for the nice and soft as they are easier on the teeth and are much better when you chocolate dip them! I have had some success with the chocolate dipping. I am choosing to use 63% dark chocolate for the dipping which is very yummy. I managed to sell a dozen bags of choc dipped figs next door at the Winery over Easter. Am contemplating whether to do more or not. They are quite labour intense in parts and hubby is enjoying the undipped ones too much.

I successfully ovendried some figs too (thanks Stephanie Alexander!). They are quite dry though - more like fig chips than the storebought dried ones.

Through the crystallising process I am left with the crystallising liquid which is a gorgeous pink colour. I had been freezing it to use later to marinate pork or something. After a bit of thought I decided to see if I could make a Fig Jelly out of it and.....it worked! Very nice on your morning toast or on a cheese platter.

Lastly....Fig and Lemon Preserve!

I like this recipe because the jam doesn't end up as sweet and the lemon gives it a bit of zing!

1.6kg ripe figs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 tblsp lemon zest
1 cup water

Cut the figs into quarters.

Place into a saucepan with the other ingredients. Bring slowly to a simmer and simmer for 15mins or until the figs are soft.

Break any large pieces of fig and keep cooking slowly for another 10mins or so until thick.

Bottle into sterilised jars immediately.

Time is flying....

I can't believe that it is the middle of April already!



We have been busy these past few weeks with visitors. Hubby's parents came down to see us before Easter and then we had friends from Sydney visit over Easter. Lovely times.



The Barossa Vintage Festival has been on too - a week of Food, Wine and Festivities. The festival is only held every 2 years so we feel very fortunate to be here at the right time. We went to Carnival at Seppeltsfield



as well as the Lyndoch Family day and the Yalumba Harvest Market.
There were lots of things to do at the local wineries too.

I helped my neighbours with their Tapas day last Thursday. Lots of food preparation but lots of fun too

A little bit nutty...

Pistachio nuts that is!

In another first for me I got to use fresh pistachios in some baking this week. My neighbour J has a pistachio tree and picked some pistachios for me. They have a beautiful pink husk when ripe that is easy to remove revealing the shell and pistachio nut beneath. The fresh nut is more milkly than the dried nut - a bit like pistachio icecream. I decided to make a cake with the pistachios but you could also dry roast them in the oven and just eat them!

Yogurt and Pistachio Cake

1 cup Pistachio Nuts
1 cup plain Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
6 Medium Eggs -- separated
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Remove as much skin from the pistachios as possible then grind the nuts finely in a food processor.

Butter and flour a 26cm springform tin inch.

Sift flour with baking soda and baking powder.

Beat egg yolks with half the sugar until pale and very thick. Mix in the yogurt and then the olive oil. Fold in the flour and nuts.

Beat egg whites to form soft peaks. Add remaining sugar and beat to firm peaks. White should look shiny and not dry and granular. Gently fold egg whites into the batter.

Pour into the pan and bake 55 minutes or until done. Cool on a rack.

This week it's been figs...

This past week I have been busy doing things with figs. We have a very old fig tree down near the creek that has been bearing some fruit. The crop is fairly sparse tho as the tree has been without water (the creek is dry). So I have been picking half a dozen every other day. T loves them and eats them straight off the try. Have yet to get B to try any....
My neighbour J has 2 fig trees that are very well cared for (unlike mine) and she gave me a bucket full of beautiful figs last week. A bucketful is way too many to eat fresh so I went thru the cookbooks again and came up with...

Crystallised Figs

J let me try some that she had done last year and they were yum. She tells me that they are divine when dipped in chocolate so I thought I would give it a go.

500g fresh figs

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup water

2tblsp vinegar

Cut the ends off the figs and prick them all over with a fork.

Bring the sugar, water and vinegar to the boil. Place the figs in the boiling syrup and boil gently for 3 hours

Take the figs out of the syrup and place on a wire tray and allow to stand for 2 days in an airy place. Turn the figs over every 24 hours.

Pop in the oven on the lowest temperature setting (mine was 80 degrees) to help dry them out. Check every 6 hours or so. It may take 24 hours or more for them to be dry enough.

Store in an airtight container.

I have yet to dip them in chocolate but will do it on the weekend and let you know the results.

As well as crystallising the figs I thought I would give a chutney a go. I was after something a bit more savoury rather than sweet like jam and the addition of ginger into the mix helped that. This chutney goes really nicely with cheese, especially a sharp cheddar....

I have frozen the syrup, which was the most beautiful rose colour, to use later in the year as a marinade for pork or ham.

Gingered Fig Chutney

4lbs ripe figs

2 lemons

3lbs sugar

3 cups of water

5 tblsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

3 cinnamon sticks

Trim the stems on the figs and cut a small cross in the base of each one.

Slice the lemons thinly.

Simmer the figs in the water and spices for 5 minutes, add the sugar and simmer over a low heat until the figs become glassy and the syrup thickens. This is will take about an hour. Bottle into jars immediately.

R and I actually tried some of the syrup poured over ice-cream and it was wonderful!

If all of this is too labour intense you can always cut the figs in half, sprinkle with brown sugar and roast in the oven for around 20mins at 200 degrees. The sugar will caramelise and the figs will soften. Yum...

It's harvest time

It is harvest time in the Barossa and this morning we watched our neighbour machine pick four rows of Petit Verdot. The picking is staggered depending on the readiness of the grapes and they can either be machine picked or picked by hand.

Our neighbours have 28ha of vines and many different varieties. They also have 27 varieties of table grapes which we have been lucky enough to try.

I feel lucky to be able to see the workings of a vineyard...now I just need the wine education!

What to do with fruit from the branch...

I got some lovely fruit from a friend in the Adelaide Hills last week - fresh from her garden. Beautiful peaches that taste like they SHOULD taste. The way they used to taste when mum would buy them from the local orchard when we were kids. It has been YEARS since I have tasted such wonderful peaches. It seems that nowadays things are grown to look good and last a long time in the supermarket rather than for taste. The older peach varieties are not much to look at but they make up for it in taste. They also don't keep as long as the newer varieties so you either need to eat them up quickly or stew them. We ate some and I stewed the last few up. This is very easy!

* Peel the peaches and halve to remove the seeds(this will be easy if the peaches are freestone varieties. If they are clingstones you will need to cut around the seed). Pop into a saucepan with a little bit of water and some sugar if you like. Cook slowly and simmer until the fruit is soft. Cool and store in the fridge. It will last for about a week. *

Then you can enjoy your stewed fruit with yoghurt for brekky or warmed with custard and icecream for dessert!

I also was lucky enough to get some blood plums from my friend's garden too. Beautiful and juicy but too many to eat all at once! As I had already stewed the peaches I went looking for something slightly different to do with the plums and came up with this recipe.

Poached Plums

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup of port (or red wine)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick cinnamon
750g plums, halved

In a saucepan place all the ingredients except the plums. Over low heat bring to a simmer, stirring as you go to dissolve the sugar. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the plums gently and simmer for 10 minutes then remove from the heat and allow to cool in the liquid. Pop in a container and keep in the fridge for a week.

Divine with icecream!

So our desserts are sorted for the week. I froze a batch of the plums for later. I think they will be great on a cold winter's night!

Baking for the Tanunda Show - Part 2

Date and Walnut Rolls

I like this recipe because it's a bit old fashioned and you need a nutroll tin to do it. You can still buy these tins new but I think the old ones that you pick up at the op shop are better!

This recipe makes 2 rolls so it helps to have tw0 tins! You could also use a loaf pan if you like.

1 cup (160g) chopped dates
1 cup (200g) brown sugar
1 cup water
60g butter
2 cups (300g) SR flour, sifted
1/2 cup (60g) chopped walnuts
1 egg lightly beaten
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease 2 nut roll tins with lids.

Combine the dates, sugar, water and butter in a small saucepan. Stir on low heat for 1-2 minutes, without boiling, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Stir flour, walnuts, eggs and bicarb into the date mixture. Mix well. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins, filling only half full.

Replace the lids and bake, standing upright for 30-35 minutes. Stand for 10minutes before removing from the tins.

I received a 2nd placing for this cake in the Show!

Baking for the Tanunda Show

Have had a busy couple of days baking cakes and biscuits to enter in the local Tanunda Show. I decided to enter 4 categories: Cooking with Grapes (sweet), Fruit and Nut Roll, Machine baked bread and Anzac biscuits.

Cooking with Grapes (sweet) - GRAPE CAKE

This is a recipe that is based on one from a Barossa recipe book called Riches from the Vine. Maggie Beer also has a version too.

3 eggs

150g castor sugar

1/3 cup olive oil (extra virgin)

60g melted unsalted butter

75ml milk

200g SR flour

finely grated zest of 3 lemons

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

3 cups of seedless grapes (a mix of red and white is attractive)

2 tblsp demerara sugar.

Preheat oven to 180C (fan forced)

Grease and line a deep 20 0r 22cm springform cake tin with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar together until they are pale and thick. Add the butter, oil and milk and mix together well.

Sift the flour and stir in the zest and nutmeg.

Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir to combine. Add 2/3 of the grapes and stir just to combine. Pour into the prepped tin and bake for 15minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining grapes and the demerara sugar. Return the cake to the oven and bake for another 40minutes. The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Release the springform and leave the cake to cool.

This is very nice warm too and would go very nicely served with a dollop of cream!

Am very happy to say that I received 2nd placing in the Cooking with Grapes category with this cake. The prize was $30!

Well here we are!

As the title suggests we are in Rowland Flat for a year, having relocated from the Riverina in NSW. This is just going to be a bit of a ramble really - a sharing of experiences and recipes! I do like to bake and will be sharing recipes as the year goes on.

So far it's been 3 weeks in the new house. I shouldn't really refer to her as new though I guess as the original part of the house was built in 1847, with a second building attached in 1900. So she is old! It is taking me a while to warm to her. I loved her in the beginning...romanticised what life with her would be like before we moved in. The reality is a little different! Lots of dust, lots of cracks and holes and .......creepy crawlies!!! I had conveniently forgotten what living in the country was like!

But after hubby has plugged alot of cracks and we have unpacked more of our stuff I am slowly starting to feel better. It's going to be an interesting 12 months!