Orange Cake.......

Hi there......I'm writing this post on a lazy Sunday afternoon as I know come tomorrow there will be no lazy time in sight. Due to my continuing obsession with all things baking I am sharing another recipe that we are absolutely loving at the moment. It is simple to make and reeeeally simple to scoff down. I introduce to you..........

Orange Cake..........

                                                                               

I have no idea where this recipe originally came from. I opened my extremely messy recipe book awhile back and a small piece of paper fluttered out with this recipe written on it in my mother's handwriting. I had a quick glance at it as I was shoving it back in amongst the mess  putting it back in the book and decided it deserved a 'test bake'. I'm so happy I did as it's now a definate winner around here, both for the baker and the eaters. I've changed it up just a little and added the poppy seeds.... Like to give it a whirl??............

                                                                      Orange Cake

3 ozs (90gms) butter, melted
2 eggs
Juice of 1/2 orange
Rind of 1/2 orange
Milk
1 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon poppyseeds

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees.

                                                                                   

2. Into a jug/cup (I use my trusty pyrex jug as it has the measurements on it) pour the melted butter, the eggs, the orange juice and then add enough milk to bring it all up to 1 cup. (Usually doesn't take much milk) I like to give it all a quick whisk with a fork at this stage but I'm not sure if that's actually necessary.

                                                                             

3. Now sift your flour into a bowl and add the sugar, orange rind and poppyseeds.
                                                               
4. Pour in you butter etc from the jug into the dry ingredients.

                                                                                 

5. Now grab your electric mixer and beat for hhmmmm...maybe 4  minutes?( I'm rather impatient and only have a hand held mixer so mine probably only gets a couple of minutes.)

6. Pour your lovely orangey smelling mixture into a greased/lined baking tin. I use a loaf tin that measures approx  9.5" x 5.5".

                                                                                   

7. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes then flip it out onto a cake rack.

8. At this point you could poke holes all over the top of your cake with a skew then pour over an orange syrup. I'm yet to do this so don't feel quite qualified to give you instructions!? But I will add it to this recipe once I have tried (and of course taste-tested it!!)

                                                                               

9. You can of course ice it once it's cooled off. We sometimes do and sometimes don't. When I do I just make up a normal batch of vanilla icing but add a squeeze of juice from the leftover orange half in place of some of the water.

And there you have it.....an easy delicious orange cake.

                                                                               

 
I'm off to find some dinner and pack the school lunches....any guesses what'll be in them?!.....

Have a great week........


                                             Janelle  xx                                                                              

Wishing you..................

Hello there.....

                                                                               

                                                     

 Just popping in quickly today................

                                                                                 

                                                                             
To wish you all a very...............

                                                                               

Happy weekend.....................

                                                                                 

Enjoy!!................


                                                    Janelle  xx                                                                              

Anzac Biscuits...............

Hey there....well it's Anzac day here today so it seems only fitting that we baked up a batch of delicious Anzac biscuits.....

                                                                               

And even more fitting that I should share the recipe don't you think?.......

                                                                               

                                                                       
                                                                       Anzac Biscuits
                                                                             

4 1/2 ozs (130gms) butter
1 tblspn golden syrup
1 teaspn baking soda
2 tablspn boiling water
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup sugar

1. Pre-heat your oven to about 170-180 degrees, depending on how hot your oven runs.

2. Melt the butter.

3. In a separate (large-ish) bowl put the golden syrup then add the baking soda and boiling water (just from a recently boiled kettle) and stir all together.

4. Add the melted butter to this and stir through.

5. Now fold in the flour (sifted), baking soda and sugar.

6. Grab about a teaspoon size of mixture and squish/roll into balls and place on a greased or lined baking tray. I press them down a tad too as I'm doing this.

7. Then use a fork to flatten them a little more if you want a crispier biscuit.

8. Pop in the oven for about 10 minutes. I think mine took a few more but it's always good to keep an eye on them.

9. Leave the biscuits on the baking tray to cool for a few more minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack.

                                                                                 

10. Sit back and watch your family and friends devour them!!!.....

                                                                               

                                                                                 

I love how these can be whipped up so quickly and without a beater or machine in sight.........

                                                                                 

They also seem that tad bit healthier for the kids with the oats added....they certainly love them in their lunchboxes anyway........

                                                                               

Now go forth and bake..............

And I'd love to hear how you get on.....

Have a good one...............


                                                    Janelle  xx                                                                              

Project Time.......

Hello and Good Evening!! I don't usually do the blogging at night thing, well, not the blogging posting thing anyway. The blogging browsing thing?...that's a different story.....
Anyway I thought I'd pop in quickly and share a little project I accidently completed the other day......

Step 1...Stumble across a very fab tea towel whilst cruising the supermarket isles.......

                                                                             

Step 2... Purchase fab tea towel with absolutely no intent on touching a wet dish with it but with thoughts of how lovely it will look hanging about somewhere in one's kitchen. In a simple white frame....

Step 3... Hunt down and purchase frame......

Step 4..... Politely ask handyman husband to hang framed tea towel. Take some pics of pretty flowers freshly picked from the garden whilst handyman husb taps away with his hammer...

Step 5.... Stand back and think how clever you have been and that supermarket wall art is fantastic!!?!.....

                                                                                 

And there we are....project complete and kitchen wall looking so much happier.......


                                                                                   

Now I think it's time for an evening cuppa and a spot of knitting........

Enjoy!!...........



                                        Janelle  xx

Vanilla Shortbread.................

Hello out there......feel up to a little baking today? I've been feeling like baking pretty much all day every day lately and I've decided to just go with it. My family are obviously quite happy about it all and school lunchboxes have never looked so good!! So today I thought I'd share a quick, easy and tasty recipe we love around here.......

Vanilla Shortbread.............

                                                                               

                                                                                     
I happened upon this recipe years ago. It was on a packet of icing sugar. Not too sure why I was standing about reading packets of icing sugar but I'm so glad I did. These biscuits are alot like the good old yo-yo biscuits but obviously without joining them together with icing which, as much as I love a good yo-yo, I do find it slightly frustrating that once you join the two biscuits together and stand back to look at your lovely baking you only have about 3 biscuits (slight exaggeration?) left. Anyway..............onto the recipe yes?.........

                                                                                   

         

                                                                        Vanilla Shortbread


180g Butter
1 teaspn Vanilla extract
1/2 cup Icing sugar
1 cup Self Raising flour
1/2 cup Plain flour
1/2 cup Custard powder

1. Preheat your oven to about 150 degrees (my oven is rather hot so you may have to work out whats best)

2. Soften the butter in a bowl. Beat together with the icing sugar and vanilla until it looks all pale and light and  lovely.

3. Sift in your dry ingredients and stir through with a wooden spoon, spatula, whatever you have on hand?! It may seem a little dry and crumbly but it will come together. (and you can always give it a bit of a squish together with your hands when you are rolling them out which you're about to do.......now......)

4. Roll out the mixture with your hands into little balls and place on a greased or lined baking tray. I always sprinkle a little flour on my hands first so the mix doesn't stick.

5. Once you have them all rolled and sitting on their trays grab a fork and push gently down on them to slightly flatten them and give them a pretty little pattern on top! (It's a good idea to dip your fork in some flour too so it won't stick in the biscuits and mess up all your hard work!)

                                                                                 

6. Okay...time to pop them in the oven and bake for approx 12-14 minutes. Once they are cooked take them out and leave on the tray for another few minutes to cool and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool off completely.

7. Boil the kettle, stick your feet up and ENJOY.

                                                                                   

I really hope you give these a go, they are truly so easy and very tasty! I'm off to bake up an orange cake for the kids' afternoon tea...will let you know how that goes!

Happy Friday folks.....................

                                                                                 

 ............................      

                                                   Janelle  xx                                                                                                                                                        

More Autumn Love....................

Hello and Happy Thursday to you...............

                                                                                 

Just enjoying the colours that Autumn has so kindly brought us...................

                                                                                 

Pretty nice yes..............

                                                                               

Just the weather to sit back, grab a cuppa,  ignore the pile up of housework and enjoy...............

                                                                                 

Go on.....off you go................

See you tomorrow.......hopefully with a recipe.......fingers crossed................



                                       Janelle  xx


                                                                                                                            

Just White.....................

Hey there.....today I thought AWhiteFarm might go.....well......white...........

                                                                                 

 I am nothing if not imaginative..................

                                                                                 

I've given the shelves in the kitchen a little overhaul......if you call swapping around a few coloured accessories with a few white accessories an overhaul that is.......I do happen to................

                                                                                   

Had to add a smidge of colour though and what better way to do this than with some good old fashioned 100s and 1000s...........the smooching fish love them.................

                                                                                   

   
I love these little white tin pots......I'm wanting to shove some sort of plant in them.....I love the look of some fresh green amongst the white.......herbs perhaps??.................

                                                                                   

 

And a little tarnished vintage silver is always appreciated too yes?....................

                                                                                 

Right....I'm off to re-arrange a few more things and try in vain  to organise this house......

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday.................


                                         Janelle  xx                                                                    

The Great Outdoors....?!......

Hello there and Good Evening!.......ready  to head to the great outdoors?......well, the great Australian backyard at least??..........we enjoyed this little guy's company at breakfast this morning.............cute yes?!...........

                                                                                   

                                                                                   

A lone rose in my desperate-for-rain garden............

                                                                                 

 We have made good use of the sunshine over the school holiday though........loooong walks.............love that sky..............

                                                                                 

                                                                               
And just hanging about home................

                                                                               

It's back to the crazy routine of school term next week for us but in the meantime................

                                                                           

 

Have a fab weekend.................


                                         Janelle  xx                                                                              

I've been up to.....................

Hey there..... today I thought I'd be super lazy  share some of my pics from the past week that I've posted on instagram..............

                                                                               

                                                             

And of course that always has to include cake......even better if it's delicious-and-super-easy-to-bake chocolate cake.......I think I feel a recipe post coming on...............

                                                                                 

A little apple collection......in stolen from the back of my parents shed must-have vintage basket...............

                                                                                   

I'm still having fun with my new found crochet skills..............am busy making a zillion or so squares to join together for a cosy throw rug for winter.........hopefully that will be THIS winter...............

                                                                                   

And speaking of winter...........

                                                                                   

 

And that is it from me today..............hope you enjoyed my little instagram trip down memory lane, well, the past week or so anyway.................

                                                                                   

 
Stay happy and smiling..................


                                                Janelle  xx                                                                              

Tomatoe love..............

Morning.....fancy a little tomatoe picking??.................

                                                                                 

Well the picking part has already  kind of been done.....these little lovelies were plucked from their vine to be thrown in last night's dinner........

                                                                                   

But of course somehow ended up in a photo session all of their own before being massaged with a little olive oil and seasoning and thrown in the oven...........

                                                                                   

The vine didn't escape either................

                                                                                 

 

A little enamel love................

                                                                               

And the scraps ended up on the kitchen mantle to impersonate a flower arrangement...............

                                                                                 

 

Have a lovely Monday folks..........

In fact have a lovely week if you can..................


                           
                                                              Janelle  xx