Sunday baking project - Gluten free lemon glaze cake with a surprise ingredient

 

What a glorious weekend this has been so far - I just can't believe that it's still winter?  Here in Sydney it's more like spring at the moment - lovely sunny days in the low to mid 20's... I'm told it's all about to change next week but for now... I'm loving it.

I spent yesterday with my frills and hubby - it made the craziness of the past week at work almost disappear.  The formula of home+hubby+frills+baking =happy Liss.  Cooking with the frills is an added bonus - Eloise wanted to help me - and we upgraded her cooking rank from 'helper' to 'sous-chef'.  She's really coming along with things, I even let her turn on the KitchenAid now!

I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website - I was intrigued that it had mashed potato in it!  Whilst making it I realised - this isn't the first gluten free baking project I've undertaken with mash - the gluten free chocolate brownies I made last year had mashed pumpkin in them.  It can't even tell in the end result - but the role of the potato is to bind the rest of the ingredients, something flour would normally do.

Ingredients:
Cake
200g butter, at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
zest of 3 lemons
1 tsp baking powder (gluten free type if you need it to be!)
1 cup mashed potato
175gr almond meal

Glaze
3 tb caster sugar
Juice of 1 large lemon


Method:
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees c.

Line and grease cake tin of your choice.  I taught Eloise how to do it this time... this is now going to be her job (whoohoo says Mummy!)

Draw around the tin.

Freehand about 1cm around the line you traced.

Cut fringes to the inner line so it fits in neatly.

Onto the cake!  Cream butter and caster sugar together until it becomes light and fluffy.

Add eggs (Eloise cracks eggs beautifully now!) and mix.  Then add the almond meal, baking powder and mashed potato.  Mix again.

Add lemon zest and mix once more.

This is good enough to eat.... but try to resist until it's cooked OK?

Unlike Miss E who got the spatula...

Pour into your lined tin, smooth out the top.

Bake for 1 hour.

Make your glaze by popping the lemon juice and sugar in a ramekin or microwave proof bowl.  Microwave for 45 seconds on high... then stir and pour or brush onto your cake.

Sprinkle over some more lemon zest, but it's not essential.  It's absolutely gorgeous warm but still lovely when cold... it won't last long.

In the immortal words of my hubby 'Liss, this is the worst cake you've ever made, and I'm going to have to have another slice to absolutely make sure'.  Thanks hun.

Look how beautiful and moist it is!  


Are you baking today?

And the winner is.....

So I hope you were all inspired by Italy last month?  

Who won the Italian giveway?   Christie!
Who won the gluten free pasta?  Leila !

Did you not win?  Well there's this months' giveaway for an iPad2!  Enter by the end of this month - it's EASY!

Also, spread the word about the monthly newsletter by 'liking' on FB or 'tweeting' it on twitter (link to the newsletter here you can use the toolbar on the top to do it all easily) you could win a SIGNED copy of 'Planning with Kids' by Nicole Avery!

My top five things I love and hate about Twitter

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I have been on twitter for well over two years now and it's part of my every day life.  I adopted twitter well before facebook because I felt that could just float in and out as I felt, I didn't feel an obligation to do this or that and it the 140 character limit was definitely up my alley.  I'm a more of a 'get to the point' person.

I was talking to a friend last week about what I love and hate about twitter and there was a lot of nodding and laughing around it.  I want to emphasise this is not directed at anyone in particular - but I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one who feels like this on any given point -  so I thought I would share it with you and get your thoughts!

HATE:
1.  Those auto responds to follows 'Thanks for following me, check out my page/sale/site at xyz'.  That will make me unfollow every.single.time.
2.  The people who try to sell me their post/product/competition more than twice a day.
3.  The 'x amount of followers until I get to Y' tweeters.  Does it matter?  Isn't it better to have followers who engage with you?  Really want to follow you instead of following you out of sympathy/obligation?
4.  Uber taggers - those who tag everyone any everything - happens in facebook too - it happens too often to be sincere or credible.
5.  Spammers.  Enough said right?


LOVE:
1.  Those witty and fun people who interact - entertain me or inform me. A sense of humour on twitter goes a long, long way.
2.  The community - you call, they answer.  Need a new domain host?  I called out for one and I got real answers, in seconds.  Love that.
3.  Immediate feedback.  Being that you're restricted to 140 characters, a message can be deployed and responded to very quickly..
4.  Hashtags - oh my I love hashtags - It's helped be me 'virtually' somewhere I'm not or directly plug into the brain of people who are watching/discussing/experiencing the same thing.  Love hashtags.
5.  Twitter bravado - and what I mean by that is actually having interaction with those you would never have access to ordinarily - Ask someone you admire a question and getting a response can put you on a real high!


Tell me are you on twitter?  What do you love/hate about it?

Lunchbox Legends (or afternoon tea) cheese, bacon and spring onion scones

 

Well finally yesterday I got to play with my newest kitchen toy.   Since getting my kitchenaid two years ago (I know!! 2 years has flown right?)  I've been wanting an extra bowl.   Then the glass bowl came out  late last year and I knew I would need to have it... and this week that became a reality.

Those of you who are KitchenAid users, it's bigger than the standard bowl, but it still fits perfectly.  Of course if you have a scraper blade it's not going to be perfect but it still works.  It's a really thick glass too, think pyrex x 2-3 times thickness.   Mine cost $175 - and that might seem a like a lot but to me, it's worth it - think of all the photographs right?

So to 'baptise' my new bowl I decided to make some savoury scones.  I've gone a bit off sweet stuff lately - and my girls love cheese and bacon so I figured it would do the job.  These are very easy and full of flavour, gorgeous cut in half and a dab of (real please!) butter.


Ingredients:
3 cups self raising flour
200g cold butter, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
250 g finely diced bacon - grilled or fried
1 1/2 cups grated tasty cheese
2 spring onions, finely chopped (or cheat like me and whizz them in the food processor)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg yolk


Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees c

In your mixing bowl add salt pepper and then add the butter bit by bit by either rubbing in with your fingertips or using the mixer on a low speed until it combines and resembles chunky bread crumbs.   Add the cheese and stir until spread throughout the flour.

Next add the spring onion and bacon, again mix it through well.

Lastly whilst mixing on a low add the butter milk until it comes together - it may take a little less or a little more...

It will become a soft dough.

Pour dough out onto a floured surface and shape into an oblong or square about 1.5 inches thick.

Cut the slab into squares or triangles (Oh OK you can cut them into circles if you MUST!) the idea is not to work the dough too much or your scones won't be as soft when cooked.

Place onto greased baking tray and glaze with mixture of egg yolk and some buttermilk (about half/half)

Bake for 15 minutes

Serve warm or cold (believe me they are delicious cold too!)  Freeze if you wish for up to 2 months in an airtight container or zip lock bag.

So have I inspired you to bake today..??

Who wants to win an iPad? (And a way social media addicts and bloggers can make a bit of money!)

Now, what I'm about to write is about bloggers and online influencers but I want to make it clear that this competition is open to EVERYONE -  it's not every day you get the opportunity to win something cool like this is it?  I am not being paid to write this post, but the product is sponsoring the prize and I think bloggers in particular are going to be quite interested in this and frankly I'm a bit excited to bring it to them...!

I've been working with a lovely group of people at Rocketman for a little while on a few things.  One of these things is their new product 'Rocketfuel'.  As a blogger I am not motivated by monetary success, to me it's a bonus but to many bloggers out there - especially Mums it's a valuable way they can contribute the family budget whilst being at home to parent their children.

Other bloggers earn income to subsidise their passion - which is what they share with (and entertain and inform) readers - so whether or not it's kitchen equipment or extra food to cook with if you're a food blogger or gadgets if you are a tech-blogger or travel experiences as a travel blogger - blogging can be an expensive 'hobby' at times and so a little bit of income here and there can make the world of difference.

Traditionally, bloggers have earned their income by endorsing products/ambassadorships, advertising or sponsored posts.  Rocketfuel is a new way to look at earning income - the blogger or social media influencer has a lot of choice about how they do it, where they do it and how often they do it.

So, what is RocketFuel?
RocketFuel rewards online influencers that are happy to leverage their social media presence and associate with brands they love.

How it works is very simple:

• A brand has irresistible content they want to share with their online target audience. This could be a fun video, games, photos, artworks, stories, competitions, blog posts, music tracks, podcasts or even just a really cool site. 
• The branded content is distributed to relevant RocketFuel Influencers who are invited to share a unique link to the content on their Facebook Page, Twitter and/or Blog. Such posts are tagged as #RocketFuelled
• RocketFuel Influencers are rewarded when links are posted on these channels and clicked.

The best part is that you can choose which campaigns you would like to participate in and which of your social media channels you would like to use. You have full creative control and you can earn revenue, just for sharing branded content on your channels.


How does a blogger become a RocketFuel Influencer?

All you need to do to register is submit an application at:
www.rocketmanmedia.com.au/RocketFuel.

• Rocketman will assess your application and if their minimum criterion is met, you will be invited to register and become a RocketFuel Influencer. 
• Once you’re registered, you can start to participate in RocketFuel Campaigns! 

How does a RocketFuel Campaign work?

The process is as follows:

• Rocketman send you an Influencer Brief with all the info you need to decide whether you want to participate
• You have 2 days to accept or decline and decide which social media platforms you opt to use
• Once the client gives us the green light, Rocketman will send you a campaign confirmation and a unique link for each platform that you use to participate so you can post away!

All that is asked is that your post:

• Is a fair opinion of the content (or catchy tweet/quick run-down-conversational note in facebook)
• Includes the campaign link 
• Is tagged #rocketfuelled.
• Has a minimum of 10 words; we think you’ll get a greater click through rate if the post is sociable and conversational

And that’s it.  NO approval process! No SEO guidelines! 
Each campaign runs for 30 days for which you get paid for posting each unique link AND every unique click on the link that you have posted

So to win a 16GB iPad2 in black: 
(omg omg omg!) enter by midnight 31st August (Australian postal addresses only)

For one entry
Leave a comment telling me: What your daily Rocket Fuel is - coffee? Tea? Favourite magazine?  Your kids?  What inspires you or turns you on?
For three entries
Enter as above plus share the competition link on your Twitter & Facebook accounts and link this post. (ensure you '@' the Frills in the Hills facebook page or Twitter handle 'frillyhills' so we can track it!)
For five entries
Leave a comment, share the competition link on Twitter & Facebook and go to the RocketFuel website and submit your RocketFuel Influencer application

Sunshine

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This morning after a busy week last week and an even busier weekend away from my frills I finally had that little lie in I've been craving for... one by one my frills came into bed with me, told me about their day (I didn't see them before bed last night) and I squeezed them so tight.  I've missed them so much.

Laura jumped in and said 'Mum, I've really been missing the hugs and kisses the most'
'Me too!' I replied: 'Come and have some with me!'

So I kissed her, pretty much smothered her in kisses clearly overwhelming her : 'Mum, that's enough kisses, maybe we should stick to some cuddles now'  I burst out laughing.

She hopped into bed, and wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled in. I breathed it all in, I felt so happy.  I looked at her adorable face, she looked so happy and almost relieved... she said "mum, can you sing to me'.  This is an unusual request because I usually sing to them when they are sick or upset - she clearly needed reassurance and comfort. So I began to sing a song that just sprang to mind, it was really what my heart was feeling.

'You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey'

I felt choked up and struggled to get through the next bit:
'You'll never know dear,
How much I love you'

By now I had tears steaming down my face. I miss my little girls so much.
'Please don't take my sunshine away'.

She smiled.  She hugged me tighter.  Clearly she was moved by the situation too.
'Mum, nice song, can you change the 'take my sunshine away bit' for 'We always have fun together?'.

This kid is a gem.  Guaranteed every day to make me laugh.  Guaranteed.

What Australian Bloggers think: Blogging platforms - What, why, pros and cons

Us bloggers have these thoughts and sometimes we'll even externalise them into a blog post, a forum post or (even!) a 'real life' discussion.  I decided to bring together a group of bloggers of different genres and experience together to understand what Australian Bloggers think as a community, of themselves and of others, their relationships with brands, PR's, blogger platforms and few other things... stay tuned each fortnight..!

Now for those who attended Blogopolis on the weekend this was a little bit of a hot topic - I'm sure I wasn't the only blogger-using-blogger in the room who felt a little 'snubbed' (I'm a big girl, don't worry I'm over it!) Seriously though, there does seem to be a little bit of elite-ism over the WordPress platform, and whilst I have not used it enough to form an informed view I'm not sure if it's warranted. I do know it gets under a lot of non-wordpress users' skin.

With the commenting and outage issues in blogger of late I am unsurprised by the massive migration over to WordPress.  I was considering a move, but am told Blogger will be releasing some fabulous and much improved functionality with the upcoming release of 'Google Blogs'.   Blogger, please redeem yourself soon!


Today I have a dozen bloggers who tell me what blogging platforms they are on, and why and the Pros and cons of their platform:

Platform: Wordpress

Why? I was originally on Blogger, but when I bought my domain name I moved to Wordpress because it seemed to be the easier option for self hosting.

Pros: I love that it is so customisable and that almost anything you want to do you can achieve by plugin. I also love that it can be utilised as a content management system, not just as blogging software. I much prefer the commenting system on Wordpress.

Cons: It does take awhile to wrap your head around and I have spent hours trying to tweak some small thing and playing around with the css to do something that would probably take a designer or coder all of about 5 seconds. It lacks the community that Blogger has and that's a real shame.

Zoey, Good Goog [personal, parenting] [2 years blogging]

Platform: Blogger
Why? Google search funnily enough! Then I discovered the bloggers I loved used Blogger so I knew I was onto something OK
Pros: Easy to use, using blogpress I can blog anywhere
Cons: Can't reply to comments individually

Amelia, Wedding, babies Everything [family] [9 months blogging]

Platform: Wordpress

Why? Started OHB on Blogger because it is free and it grew and grew. Swapped over to WP and our own domain about 2 -3 years ago.  It is much more flexible, easy to use, regular updates, great interface, fast and easy to use AND, not clunky! Cradle - WP

Pros: Everything - flexible, light,  easy to use, reliable, great developer community

Cons: None really

Frank - Our Hiking Blog,[outdoors/hiking] and Cradle Mountain [tourism] [8 years blogging]                                                                                                           

Platform: Blogger

Why? It was easy to use and I set up a blog in under an hour when I was a week overdue with keira. 

Pros:  It's easy to use and I tried self hosted wordpress but found it trickier. I'm not good at the IT stuff. 

Cons: I'd probably like more gadgets that I could add to my blog and change my layout a bit more so it looked less 'bloggy' and more 'websitey'. They are real words btw.

Corrie - Retro Mummy [craft, family] [5 years blogging]

Platform: Typepad
Why? Pure luck, most blogs I visited were Typepad or blogger - I just decided to go potluck with Typepad
Pros: Simple to navigate and straight forward for posting and loading photos onto. Typepad is just that.
Cons: Actually I'm very happy with Typepad!
 Melissa, One Crafty Mumma  [craft,family] [5 years blogging] 

Platform: Blogger
Why? I choose Blogger simply because it is very user friendly. You don’t need to know any coding etc to be able to use it.
Pros: As above I love that it is so user friendly.
Cons: I dislike that there have been problems some user being unable to comment of late. Other than that I have no real critisms, but I would like a reply feature in the comments section but I am under the impression that they are working on that.
Amy, MahliMoo  [craft, parenting] [6 months blogging]

Platform: WordPress

Why? I did a blog training course in 2007 with a very successful blogging entrepreneur. He suggested if I wanted to take blogging seriously…there was not a choice. Wordpress is the industry standard according to him.

Pros: Ease of use, customisable, ample plugins for extra features.

Cons: To be honest I can’t really think about anything. Only possible issue is most web designers/tech guys I know think the code is awful and all the extra plugins can easily cause coding issues.

James - Aussie Green Thumb  [gardening] [9 months blogging]

Platform: Blogger

Why? It's easy to follow and connect with via google - whether it be fellow Blogspot bloggers, or those with a gmail account

Pros: I originally started on Tumblr, but realised I couldn't participate in the Aussie blogging community as easily as Blogger allows.

Cons: I've not had any issues with it thus far.

Stacey, Veggie Mama [food, parenting] [18 months blogging]

Platform: WordPress.com                                          
Why? I had worked with wordpress doing some marketing for a small business and they were using it as a backend for their website. I also just knew it as a free blogging platform
 Pros: find it very easy to use, it's pretty intuitive and it lets you preview what your blog will look like when it is published
Cons: because it is wordpress.com and not .ORG there are a few different widgets that work on one and not the other. Wordpress.com does not allow java script to be used either so this can be a problem if you are trying to add a badge or image that someone has provided for you.
Caitlin - Chasing Cait [Fashion, Beauty] [9 months blogging] 

Platform: Blogger

Why? Was familiar with it from a lot of other blogs I read, was ill informed of others

Pros:  Don't have to be an IT expert to start a blog, sure helps if you know a bit, but it can all be learn't as you go. 

Cons: Outages

Mandy, A little space like home [personal, parenting] [6 months blogging]

Platform: WordPress

Why? My first developer steered me in that direction - best accidental business decision I ever made!

Pros: The ease of adding and removing different apps or plugins that mean I can make changes and enhancements without the need to learn too much HTML or CSS editing.

Cons: Nothing - love WordPress

Nikki, Styling You [Fashion, beauty] [3 years blogging]

Platform: Blogger

Why?  am squarely in the technically challenged camp, and Blogger seemed to be the easiest one to get started on straight away.

Pros: It remains easy to use.

Cons: Ah, let me count the ways.  My chief dislikes would be:

Little choice in templates, Templates don’t have the same fresh, clean professional look as Wordpress, Fewer plug-ins than Wordpress

Jenny, Let the Children Play [Education] [21 months blogging]

What do you think about particular blogging platforms?  Are you passionate one or the other?  If you're a reader do you care?  Would you consider moving your blog to another platform?  What would make you choose to?

If you are interested in taking part in this series as a blogger in either the technology, travel or sports arenas or a PR please don't hesitate to email me!

On your baking list: Cherry struesel cake

Hello Monday... how did you get here so quickly?  I'm looking down the barrel of a busy week here and I'll be so looking forward to Wednesday this week for a few reasons:

1.  It's my day off work.  My frills love that I can take them school, be home when they get home.  I love that too (I miss it!)

2.  It's my day off work. (Did I say that already?)

3.  I can cook.  Seriously, last week I found immense joy in just chopping vegetables because I missed being in my kitchen so much.  Is that sad? (Actually don't answer that!)

4.  My lovely newsletter comes out on Wednesday, I look forward to sending it out each month - we're all about 'staying organised and coping with busy times' this month.

4.  I'll be announcing a FABULOUS giveaway, and I KNOW you'll all want it! (I want it!)

I hope you'll all love and make this recipe - it's perfect for morning or afternoon tea if you are hosting or meeting someone.  Lovely with a cup of tea or coffee.  The streusel-ly top gives it a lovely soft crunch and the inside is soft with those cherries that just 'pop' with flavour.   My guest who had this with me last week for afternoon tea took two extra slices home..... if that's not an endorsement....?

The recipe is inspired from one of Rachel Allen's (too many changes to call it adapted!) - I love and adore her and I know she's not everyone's cup of tea but I love her approach to baking - it's simple, it's got strong elements of tradition and it's delicious - not much to dislike if you ask me!

Ingredients:

Cake

2 1/2 cups self raising flour

2/3 cup caster sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

2 eggs

200 g melted butter

1 400g tin cherries, drained

Streusel

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

50 g cold butter

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees c

Melt your butter and when it has cooled for about 5 minutes or so, add the eggs, and stir well.

Place your flour, sugar and cinnamon into a bowl, and mix well until well combined.

It's not hard to do, but it may take a little arm work!

Drain your cherries, and gently distribute them through your dough.

Grease and paper your baking tin, transfer the dough in and smooth out the top.

Mix your streusel ingredients either with the tiops of your fingers or with a food processor, it should be wet sand consistency. Sprinkle over the top of your cake batter.

Bake for 45-55 minutes.

Remember, a cup of tea (or coffee) is perfect for this cake, but the kids will love it too!

Enjoy your Monday - what are you looking forward to this week?