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I love my new thermomix

June 11, 2011 By corrie 31 Comments

I can’t remember exactly when I first heard about a thermomix but I’m pretty sure it was on facebook or through a blog when the twins were babies. I nearly fell over when I heard the price but then when I saw everything it did. I was drawn in. And wanted one. Perhaps I even lusted after one. But that is wrong isn’t it. I mean it’s a kitchen appliance. But I tried to work out ways I could get one into the house. Then I’d see it on masterchef and wanted one even more.

I just love baking and cooking for my family so being able to make my own caster sugar and icing sugar from regular sugar, mix a cake, make sorbet, make bread, grate vegetables or cheese, weigh my ingredients and then cook them, make a juice, cook dinner, grind my spices, make peanut butter, a batch of cookies and so much more all in the one appliance. What’s not to love. I love this little demo as I love seeing chefs use them.

So I might have let out a mini squeal (OK, I did squeal) when one of the sweet school mums who lives in my street invited me to a demo. I asked her how did she know I’ve wanted one. She said you told me last week. Oh. Bad memory. The demo was such a fun night and especially when you don’t get out much like yours truly. The lovely Andrea (another school mum) made us berry sorbet, a tasty beetroot salad, hummos (I’ve now been making my own tahini in the thermomix), risotto, bread rolls and lemon creme patisseriere. Food, wine, gossip, a cute kitten to cuddle, a night away from the kids. Nice. I told retro daddy I’d be home at 9.30 and came in the door at 1am. I can’t even remember the last time I did that.

And so I had to wait patiently for a week and my lovely new baby arrived yesterday. And I wonder how I’ve lived for so long without it. And I love how your friendly salesperson comes and instals it for you and you make a recipe together so that you know how to use it. We made chocolate custard and it was just the ticket for a cold afternoon. Then I was straight out to the shops to buy lots of ingredients to get cooking over the long weekend.

cookie dough

So far it’s been here for 48 hours in my kitchen and I think you need to buy a pair of new jeans when you buy a thermomix. In that very short time I’ve made (and eaten!) vanilla custard, choc chip cookies, brioche, hummos x 2, mushroom risotto, apple porridge, apple compote, beetroot salad and lastly chicken and herb meatballs.

creaming butter & sugar in the thermomix

creamed cold butter from the fridge and sugar in no time

I won’t lie, this is one expensive gadget and the price was a bit scary. Thankfully a couple of my Nuffnang cheques for my sponsored posts paid for my Thermomix so it could come and live at my house. I also served an amazing dinner to retro daddy with a very nice bottle of pinot noir. About half way through the bottle of wine he said what are you buttering me up for. What have you done? I just kept smiling wondering how he hadn’t noticed it in the kitchen for the past few hours.When the wine was almost finished I heard this ‘ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this is the reason you’re being so nice to me’. Now it all makes sense!

So there you have it. I now get why Thermomix owners are so evangelical about their machines. Do you have one? Do you want one? What’s your favourite recipe? I hope to share a recipe a week with you here as I use it. I also need to make more of the low fat and healthy recipes or I will need to go up a jeans size.

Filed Under: baking, cookies, cooking, thermomix

step away from the macaroni cheese

June 10, 2011 By corrie 18 Comments

We LOVE macaroni cheese in this house. In fact when I ask keira what she wants for dinner it’s generally macaroni cheese. I had been making my own recipe and then decided to give PW’s a go and it’s so good. There was no turning back. More sauce and way more cheese than mine but I’ve worked it out so it’s metric with low fat milk and it still tastes good! The best thing about this recipe is the empty bowls that come back. The worst thing about this dish is that I go back for thirds. And then maybe some more when I put the leftovers away. I can’t help it.

Pioneer Woman’s Macaroni Cheese my way.

500g macaroni

50g butter

2 1/2 Tbsp plain flour

2 1/2 cups low fat milk ( I use Shape for mine)

450g light vintage cheddar/any cheese you like, grated

1 egg

2Tbs dijon mustard

salt, pepper, smoked paprika

Bring water to the boil and cook your macaroni. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and when almost melted add in your flour and stir well. It will be like a paste consistency and leave it on the heat. Once it starts to bubble you want to whisk in your milk. Whisk in mustard then heat and stir until sauce is nice and thick. Now you want to take out 1/2 cup of your milk mixture and add the beaten egg to this milk then return this egg/milk mixture to the saucepan with cheese. Whisk until cheese has melted and season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and a dash more mustard if your name is retro daddy. add to your drained pasta and serve. Then watch your family come back for seconds.

Now PW keeps some cheese aside and pours the macaroni into a greased baking dish, tops with remaining cheese and bakes. We can’t wait that long.

Filed Under: cooking, macaroni cheese, pioneer woman, recipe

pinwheel progress

June 8, 2011 By corrie 9 Comments

Well cleaning and decluttering my house has taken me away from making things. Oh and children. Yes, they do take up most of my time too. Mustn’t forget them. Anyway, I can’t get anyone in to do quotes for my kitchen until my ~~junk~~ craft room is sorted. So I’ve made that a bit of a priority BUT somehow I have managed to do a few more pinwheels.

And learnt an important lesson. You need to make sure that they all look alike. Derrrrr. Unfortunately I learnt this the hard way. After I’d made a few that didn’t match the rest of my pinwheels once I’d laid them out on the floor. But I still love them and will use the dud ones on some cushions for beds I think.

And so far this one below is my new favourite, so simple but so cute. Don’t be afraid of the pinwheels, people. They are easy. So long as you have accurate 1/4 inch seams and keep pressing as you go, you will get lovely results too. You will note that mine aren’t all perfect and haven’t all been ironed.

But I’m concentrating and taking my time with each one and thank goodness I’m doing a baby quilt. And I actually found this cute tutorial on Moda Bakeshop and love the cute little ‘flags’ that pop out of the quilt. I might just try this. I’ve also found a few amazing pinwheel quilts on my one of my latest timewasters……..pinterest! When I have a baby on my lap late at night I love searching through the images.

Filed Under: fabric, moda, pinwheels, quilting, sewing

dressing my little stud muffin

June 5, 2011 By corrie 17 Comments

One of the things I love about having children is shopping for clothes for them. Or maybe I just love shopping full stop. Thankfully when it comes to dressing my little ones, retro daddy turns a blind eye. Lucky. He’ll always comment on their outfits and how great they look but he’s not on my back about my spending. Or maybe he will be after this blog post.

But with 4 children you quickly learn an important lesson – the stuff that is well made lasts. Anything that has survived from keira has either been well made and cost me a little more or was handmade. But with 4 small children there isn’t much time to make clothes anymore and I just can’t see myself making a button down shirt for Finn. I’m just not that good on the sewing machine.

Now dressing girls is easy. In fact sewing for girls is easy. Shopping for boys requires a little more searching and persistance. Most mums of boys I speak to say they hate the cars, trucks and licensed gear that you find for little boys and I agree. 100%. I’m a bit embarrassed to tell you though that Finn does have one pair of Ben 10 PJ’s but that’s it and they are the best way to get him in and out of the bath.

So to save time I stick to 3 brands for Finn. Okaidi, Country Road (spend & save vouchers and clearance time are my best friends) and Gymboree. My favourite is definitely Okaidi, a french label that is well priced (not if you’re my husband) considering it is french, excellent quality and has a great range. Lucky for me (unlucky for retro daddy) their store is at my local shops where I do my groceries. So I HAVE to walk past it. And I picked up this little outfit for Finnie on Friday and it is just perfect for winter. He really needed something smart for church and a family wedding next month in the country. The shirt and knitted jacket will match all of his pants and jeans in his wardrobe and will last him next winter as well.

Now if you’re on a tight budget or on the look out for a bargain then don’t forget ebay, baby & kids markets in good suburbs, clearance time and friends with good taste who pass things on. I also think it’s important to know your style and colours and stick to those colours so that everything works in their wardrobe. And that is shopping advice from one big shopper, Retro Mummy! Always happy to help you spend more money and look good.

Filed Under: gymboree, shopping

the party

June 5, 2011 By corrie 20 Comments

Well Keira’s party is over for another year. I normally have her parties at home and work myself into a tizz getting ready for them. This year I decided to have a stress free one by having a gymnastics party. Gymnastics because Keira loves it so much. The party was a-mazing and almost everything was done for me. All I had to do was make the lolly bags, pay the bill and of course make the cake. The lolly bags were easy. Cute cello bags and striped ribbon from Spotlight filled with pretty white, pink and red lollies.

The cake was going to be a dolly varden. This is where things got seriously stressful. I’ve made the dolly varden before for Keira’s first birthday so I wasn’t too nervous. But my first cake turned out tiny. OK I thought well that is odd so I’ll do double the mixture of butter cake in the tin. But the second cake took forever in the oven and then turned out to be still low and wider this time. Ready to pull my hair out and cry at this point – there was nothing left to do but make it again with a simple butter cake from scratch. Third time lucky? But yet again it turned into a dense little dome of a cake. I have never experienced such failure before in my kitchen and have had to put it down to my oven.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why oh why didn’t I tick the ice cream cake option at the party venue. But at 7am and fresh out of the shower I made an early morning dash to Coles for cupcake wrappers, betty crocker vanilla cake mix and a bag of smarties. Cupcakes it was going to be. My pink frosting, marshmallow flowers from 2 marshmallows cut in half topped with a smartie, stacked on a cute cupcake stand from Target and all topped off with a littlest pet shop Blythe.

and I love Keira for telling me it was the best cake ever and she wants it every year. Phew. Meanwhile we’ll be eating butter cake for the rest of the week while I try to live down the shame of baking failure. But I felt better once I saw how pretty the replacement cakes had turned out. And once the party started I was just like ‘ Dolly Varden who?’ I was always going to make the cupcakes.

Anyway, the party was a huge success and so much fun. 15 girls jumping, swinging, climbing and laughing for one and a half hours.

then it was time for party food, cake, presents and pick up. The easiest party I’ve ever had to do and Keira has decided she wants to go there every year and that it was the best party – EVER! I must say I’m gone from someone who always wanted to do the home party to now seeing the benefit of having the party somewhere else! Another benefit was that I had left my house in a state of absolute chaos but no one would ever know.

And retro daddy has kindly ironed uniforms for tomorrow so I am going to put my feet up, have a slice of plain cake with my coffee and do some knitting. Normally it takes me a week to recover from one of keira’s parties but I think I just need a night and I’ll be back on track.

Filed Under: baking, birthdays, cake decorating, cakes, parties

Cars 2 at the movies

June 3, 2011 By corrie 10 Comments

Sponsored by Nuffnang
No arm twisting required here. Letting my little ones and all my lovely readers know all about Disney-Pixar Cars 2 which is due out in cinemas here on June 23. We are huge, read HUGE, Disney movie fans here. And nothing beats taking the whole family to the movies. The twins are just at the right age to come to the movies now. And the only movies we see as a family are Disney.

Disney-Pixar Cars 2 is the much anticipated sequel to the movie, Cars, and comes from Pixar the creators of some of the best movies for little people like Toy Story, A Bug’s Life and Ratatouille. Now my little ones actually missed out on the original Cars movie as it was released in 2006 and well that was the year Keira was born. But after watching the trailer – oh about 12 times in a row (and that was just the first day) and then the screaming match that ensued when I tried to get my computer back. Well, I think it’s fair to say that we are pumped and ready to see Disney-Pixar Cars 2 at the movies. In fact, just reviewing this post this morning and checking the links has sent Finn into a crazy jumping dance crying out ‘Cars, cars, mummy I want to watch cars’.

Disney-Pixar Cars 2 takes us around the world as the cars travel to the first ever World Grand Prix to see who is the fastest car in the world. You’ll find your favourite characters, Lightening McQueen and Mater, as well as a whole new cast of car characters to love. I think British superspy Finn McMissile (voice of Michael Caine) will be popular with our family since we have our own resident Finn. Not to mention the fun of travelling to Japan and through Europe during the movie.

Now the hard part – especially if you’re a 2 ½ year old boy – waiting until June 23. Oh yes and walking through the stores with all the Cars 2 merchandise that just sends my lot into tantrums and rolling around the floor. Tell me I’m not the only one who has children who do this. And if you are ready to relinquish your laptop for a while – just go here to www.disney.com.au and enter the Disney-Pixar Cars 2 site. Social media nuts can find the latest on facebook and twitter.

And before I go, I don’t have to tell you that taking the whole family to the movies these days isn’t cheap. And I should know. And that’s before you’ve even bought the popcorn and choc tops. So Disney and Nuffnang are running a cool promotion. If you live in Australia then you write a blog post about Cars 2 for your readers and receive a family pass to Disney-Pixar Cars 2 in return. Now that is what I call a good family friendly promotion. Thanks Disney. Just go here to find out more and here for the T&C.

Filed Under: cars the movie, disney

my new kitchen

June 3, 2011 By corrie 15 Comments

You’ve been asking me what has happened to our country plans. And I can report that we’re staying. The reality of spending weeknights away from retro daddy and if his job changed and he was no longer interstate during the week, leaving friends, changing schools and other long term considerations mean we are staying. My family and friends are happy. Even my hairdresser said she was glad I wasn’t going!

I love this one as it’s large and would definitely be the heart of the home!

but don’t think retro daddy got off lightly. Oh no! I have been clear that I need to do some of the work on this house to keep me happy. And after getting disappointed that I couldn’t find someone to give me my dream kitchen. I found it. This is it. A company in Sydney whose portfolio is exactly what I’m looking for. Exactly. So I see this kitchen below with more cupboards extending to the left of the picture. This really sums up where I would be happy to cook. And it suits the layout we are working with.

OK well it will actually require the removal of 2 walls and an ensuite but will give us a space to cook, eat, hang out, watch tv – all while looking out over the pool. This is what we envisaged when we bought the house and we have decided we need to make those visions come true. If someone wants to come and buy the house because it looks so amazingly spectacular after the kitchen goes in then so be it. Now the fun of getting quotes and seeing if we can make it happen.

images from here

Filed Under: homes, kitchen

gone crafting

June 1, 2011 By corrie Leave a Comment

I have quite a few sponsored posts at the moment so just to let you know that I’m still here. And since I get a few days break from writing blog posts, I’m hoping to use my time to make a quilt, finish a scarf and make more recipes. And if I could magically cure a teething baby then I might actually do some of those things.

If you miss me too much you’ll always find me chatting on my facebook page! And this is Keira’s latest Littlest Pet Shop Blythe. Next time I’ll brush her hair!

Filed Under: craft, knitting, quilting

picnic fairgrounds

May 31, 2011 By corrie Leave a Comment

Well I’ve been sleeping a little easier lately. Why? Not because my children are sleeping through the night. Apparently I sleep through everyone waking up and don’t even hear retro daddy telling me that someone is awake. And I thought only he had selective hearing.

No it’s not that. I now have a metre of each the australian prints of Denyse Schmidt’s Picnic Fairgrounds range. Firstly I bought a little fat quarter pack which I thought would keep me happy. Then I realised how much I loved it and what beautiful quilts I could make so I went and bought a one yard pack of the US prints.

then I heard they were coming to australia and there were 10 unique prints to australia so I decided I had to have them. I can’t tell you the joy that comes from buying Denyse Schmidt at my local Spotlight. And how nice were the ladies there who rang me to let me know the fabric had arrived and that it would be put out the next morning. Nice.

And that is why I can sleep at night. I have the entire range here and when I’m ready I’m going to cut into it and make something lovely.

Filed Under: denyse schmidt, fabrics, picnic fairgrounds, quilting

How clean is your shower?

May 31, 2011 By corrie 6 Comments

Sponsored by Nuffnang &Viva

Ahhhhh, cleaning. One of the many home duties I am supposed to be on top of. But anyone with children at home knows how busy they keep you. Or how many distractions you can find before you get to the cleaning. And if you’d asked me a few weeks ago how clean my shower was? Well I would have told you it was lovely as I have a cleaning lady, thank you very much. But she is gone and I am the cleaning lady. Mind you, retro daddy tends to do the shower and gets right in there with the bleach, super strong cleaners and elbow grease. He’s good like that. When you remind him.

And apparently we spend an average of 8 hours every year cleaning the shower screen. Yawn. Imagine that time spent doing craft, reading a magazine, shopping. Other interesting findings from a survey of 1000 people included the preference of cleaning the toilet rather than the shower (really?), feeling the need to clean the shower while you are in it (been there) and half those surveyed use the time in the shower to escape other things – ummmmm small children, husbands, the only place you can get some peace and quiet and wash your hair. I also loved this gem – 43% of people felt guilty that their shower screen was dirty and that they were bad at housekeeping. People! You need more children. Trust me you won’t feel bad at housekeeping with 4 children under 5. They are your excuse. For everything.

Anyway, being the busy mummy that I am I received some Viva Shower Fast Wipes to try – but part of the deal is showing you my shower. Before. So I can show you the before and after. Yikes, now that is getting a bit personal. People might judge me. I even had second thoughts on whether I wanted to show you my shower. Could I google dirty showers? ;Soap scum build up shower screen?’ But lucky for me I have 3 bathrooms which each have a shower so I had a bit of choice in the matter. But then I faced a small moral dilemma – do I show you the shower screen in the bathroom we never use which is nice and clean. Do I show you the kid’s bathroom where no one ever has a shower but is kind of middle of the road.

Or do I show you our bathroom, where plenty of long showers are taken by one mummy? But what I didn’t realise was that the hardest part of showing you my shower screen is not which shower screen but how to get a good photo of it. I really struggled and after about 20 photos I got this one below. And I can’t believe I’m showing it to you all.

Nice big smear of my shampoo or conditioner on there. And come back later for the glamour shower shot where I show you one perfectly clean shower screen after I used the Viva Shower Fast Wipes. And I have to tell you, they really worked! And were too easy!

Filed Under: everything else

my first pinwheel

May 30, 2011 By corrie 12 Comments

Well my housework has been neglected for a few days and the washing pile is out of control – pile because the basket is overflowing and it’s raining so I have to work with how fast my dryer can do a load. Oh and you can hardly enter my craft room either since it’s full of market stuff. So it’s the perfect time to avoid the more pressing issues of the household to try pinwheels. Turned out to be more like twenty minutes because someone is teething and needed cuddles on the couch.

This is my first ever pinwheel and I followed this super easy tutorial on youtube.

Easy. Except when you sew 2 coloured charm squares to one white charm square. Honestly. Must be because I’m really blonde after the hairdresser on Saturday. We’ve all done something like that. Sewed a right side with a wrong side together, sewed up a pair of shorts or pants so you can’t get a leg in and so on. I’m sure that’s why unpickers were invented.

And while it’s not perfect I’m very happy with it as a first one. I think I’d like to do a quilt for elodie’s cot – not too ambitious and very doable. This pinwheel though I’ll use for a mug rug which I’ve been hanging out to try.

p.s some of you have been asking to buy fabric from me after my market. I’m not ignoring you and will reply when I get some peace and quiet and pull out the fabrics to see what is left. I have loads of everything so don’t worry. I just really need some catch up time first. I’m also making bundles which will be listed later on with patterns and other accessories in there. I desperately need to make room in my craft room.

p.p.s Westfield just wanted to let you know that their first ever Give Ability day raised $137,572 from all of their centres around Australia. You can read more here! A great result for a first day!

Filed Under: moda, pinwheels, quilting, sewing

i love markets

May 29, 2011 By corrie 10 Comments

I really love doing markets. I never love them at 10.36pm the night before when a baby doesn’t want to sleep or dishes need to be done, clothes need to be laid out, instructions need to be written, tablecloths aren’t out or I think I need to take more fabric. It seems like I’ll never be ready. But I always make it. I just stress myself out in the process. But I could never do markets without my retro daddy. He loads up the car and gets me to my market in no time and can unload the car in under 10 minutes. It would take me about half an hour. Or more. He is good. I think all of us who do markets with a big strong man are pretty grateful for their services.

Today I was loving my new layout of an L shape. This will sound silly to some of you but each market you are given a different spot and you kind of have to work with whatever you get. So I created my L and Liss had her L so we had a giant horseshoe that was very open and really worked!

And I had lots of fun today. I set up with Elodie in her ergo on me and we kept each other warmies and I could have kept her on me all day. Meanwhile grandma betty was totally spoiling the kids with breakfast in bed (don’t get used to that, kids), picnics and making beds. Apparently it’s really fun when grandma betty shows them how!!! It’s kind of cute because grandma betty would teach my sister and I how to make beds when we were little too!

And so it was a great market for me and my little stall. Thank you to everyone who popped by. I love seeing customers and friends come back to see me and all the new customers who find my stall. Plus there are always lovely ladies who buy fabric and tell me they can’t sew. Sometimes starting with pretty fabric is the best way to get started!

And another reason I love markets is grabbing 5 minutes to check out new stores. The reality is coming home with nothing for Keira is a big market no no. And today was easy as I was so in love with this cute cookie stall. Then Sarah told us it was her sister. Let me tell you that I was the best mummy ever when I presented Keira with a selection of cute cookies……………..to share with her brother and sister, of course!

But markets are always exhausting and so I like to finish market day with some thai takeaway and a quiet night on the couch. Unfortunately being sunday there are shirts to be ironed and a school bag to pack but I will get there. You know my motto, I’ll get there……………………eventually.

Filed Under: markets

cream cheese sponge cake

May 28, 2011 By corrie 14 Comments

Another day, another cake. I had a packet of cream cheese in the fridge that was crying out to be baked into something. Or maybe the truth was that I was feeling a little grumpy with a cold and had nothing for morning tea. I searched the internet for a sponge cake baked with cream cheese. And I found lots of american recipes for Cream cheese pound cake which is baked in a ring tin. Unfortunately I don’t have a ring tin or bundt pan. So I decided to make the recipe lighter with self raising flour and bake in a large flat tin

And despite taking that gamble it was a lovely cake. Lighter than the pound cake would have been, cooked in less time and absolutely delicious. Now don’t freak out over the quantities of….ahem……fats in the recipe aka butter and cream cheese. There is a lot of cake to go around with this recipe and it tastes so light you’d never know.375g butter, softened

250g cream cheese, softened
3 cups caster sugar
2 cups self raising flour, sifted
1 cup plain flour, sifted
6 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla paste (or extract/essence)

Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth then gradually add in sugar and beat until light and fluffy. This doesn’t take long but you do need to scrape down the bowl once or twice. Now add in your eggs two at a time. Beat gently after each addition. Add in vanilla and beat a couple of seconds. Add the flour one cup at at time and beat after each addition.

Spread into lined large rectangular cake tin. Now I think I had a few air bubbles in there so smooth out the mixture in the tray and tap tray gently on your bench if you want to remove any air bubbles. Bake in 160 degree oven for about 50-60 minutes until the top of your cake is a nice golden colour and a knife comes out clean. Lift out by baking paper and cool on rack. Cut and serve. I think this would be delicious with a serve of berries or a dollop of cream. Or both.

And just remember to forget the amount of butter! OK?

Filed Under: baking, cakes, recipe

Mathilda’s Market this Sunday

May 27, 2011 By corrie 14 Comments

Well it’s friday afternoon so if you’re planning your weekend make sure you put Mathilda’s market in your schedule. Sick children were not part of my plans for this week but somehow (don’t even ask me how) I got a few things done this week and have pulled out my market stock and am packed. Of course there are lots of little jobs to do as there always are before a market. I have a nice assortment of new fabrics to show off this Sunday including some really cute cosmo fabrics. Sherbet Pips charm squares and fat quarters anyone? I have plenty as I did a reorder.

And a new delivery of charm squares arrived this afternoon including some white charm squares to start making pinwheels. They are really easy to make if you have one pack of patterned charm squares and one pack of white charm squares. I hope to make a few sample blocks to bring with me on sunday! Or maybe not as we have a busy weekend with family things on and my grandma here. Honestly, I don’t know why I say stuff like that because I never get around to it. Oh well. This is fabric photographed one minute after the box has been opened. I am hanging out to get stuck into these.

I’ve decided to just sell my fabrics at markets from now on as I just can’t do the whole open 24/7 online store and post off orders thing. It has just about killed me and I love to meet my customers so it’s win win. Plus four mathilda’s markets a year is much more doable even if they do sneak up on me.

love this one! going to make a great quilt!

I also love this venue as it is a dream to unload and there is plenty of free parking in the school grounds. You’ll find me on the right wall (next to my buddy Liss) and I hope to see you there!

Filed Under: japanese fabrics, retro mummy store

simple party cakes

May 27, 2011 By corrie 13 Comments

After sending keira off to school with 22 cupcakes, I realised that I didn’t have enough butter left to make another cake for the family that night! Mini crisis! Elodie was overtired and crying, the twins still hadn’t had lunch, I couldn’t face a quick trip to the shops for butter and there really was no butter left in the fridge. Oh no wait! What do I see? I found 50g butter wrapped up in glad wrap from earlier in the week.

And so I went to old faithful, my CWA cookbook, and found 1 minute cake. Yipee it only needed 1 Tbsp of melted butter. So I tweaked the recipe to make it fancier and use what I did have. And I’ve got to say SUCCESS! You might like to call this ‘I just have enough butter to make a cake’ cake or ‘mummy has saved the day’ cake. Or how about ‘save yourself a trip to the supermarket’ cake.

simple party cakes
1 cup self raising flour

3/4 cup caster sugar

50g butter melted

3 eggs

3 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla paste (or extract or essence but I like the little vanilla bits in the paste)

Sift flour into mixing bowl and add sugar, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla. Beat for 30 seconds or so until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl with spatula then beat for another 2 minutes on medium. Divide between 12 cupcake wrappers. Bake for 15 -20 minutes in 180 degree oven then cool on cooling rack. These are lovely, light and moist and I don’t think you’ll need to use a fancy cupcake recipe or a packet mix again!!!! Try not to eat them straight away or you’ll find the edges of your cake stick to your paper wrapping. Let them cool first.

my very easy and delicious frosting

90g butter, softened

90g cream cheese, softened

500g icing mixture

1-2Tbsps milk

Beat butter and cream cheese for a minute or two until paler in colour then add in icing sugar gradually and the milk. Keep adding icing sugar until frosting is thick and creamy. I also add a drop of colouring when my icing is the right consistency as my kitchenaid distributes the colour better than I do with a spatula.

Filed Under: baking, cakes, parties, recipe