Experiments in Baking

I’m afraid we’ve fallen off the wagon a little lately. Hubby and I recently found out that we are expecting our second child, and pregnancy has not been kind to me. We’re still saving money on our grocery bill, going to markets when possible and using our own laundry liquid etc. But constant nausea is not really conducive to hours in the kitchen baking, and when most of the food that you eat doesn’t stay where it’s supposed to, you tend to just buy whatever food is appealing.

As a result, we’ve slipped back into some naughty habits; buying take away and convenient snacks. Not only that, but all my Christmas planning has gone by the wayside, we actually had to buy supermarket bread because I couldn’t stand the smell of it baking, my vegetable garden is still unplanted (although it is fertilized and dug thanks to my darling hubby!) and the fabric for LL’s dress is still uncut and unsewn.

I have to be honest. We are not perfect. All of our good intentions are still there, but pregnancy has taken over my body so completely that my main focus has been to simply try and get through the basic day to day tasks of running a household and looking after a toddler.

However, a bout of gastro recently put all of this into perspective. Little Lady came down with it first and then I caught it. I have never been so sick in my life. For two days I quite honestly wanted to die. But since then, regular morning sickness doesn’t seem quite so bad. So, the time has come to “suck it up” and get back on the wagon again!

So, this week I have started baking again.

Firstly, I decided to try my hand at baking bread from scratch. As in, not using the bread maker. I found a recipe for a cob loaf on the “Taste” website. It was delicious! And actually quite a bit easier than I thought it would be. I did find it to be a bit cakey and it dried out quickly, so I prefer to eat it toasted. The only special ingredients that you need to purchase are a bag of bread flour and some yeast sachets. Should you wish to try your hand at this recipe, you can find it here http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/24208/cob+loaf

The other day I really had a craving for chocolate cake. Nice, moist chocolate cake with chocolate butter icing. I found a recipe in an old issue of The Australian Womens Weekly. This particular recipe is great because it uses cocoa instead of cooking or dark chocolate, making it nice and reasonably priced. It does call for buttermilk, but I tweaked it so that you don’t have to use it. I hate buying buttermilk. It’s not cheap and it never gets used before expiring. The cake turned out to be beautiful, exactly what I’d been craving, and I’ll definitely be making it again.

“Tweaked” Chocolate Cake recipe:

1 cup water

¼ cup vegetable oil

150g melted butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 ½ cups self raising flour

1/3 cup milk

3 eggs, beaten lightly

2 cups caster sugar

1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla exctract

1.       Pre heat oven to 180 (160 ff). Grease a 26cm square can pan and line base with baking paper.

2.       Combine water, vegetable oil, butter and cocoa in a medium saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until just boiling.

3.       Meanwhile, combine flour, milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl, stirring to combine. Whisk in hot cocoa mixture, mixing until mixture is smooth.

4.       Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 30-40 mins, or until cooked when tested. Allow to cool for 5 mins before turning cake onto a wire rack.

Choc icing:

125g of butter, softened

¼ cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup milk

3 cups sifted icing sugar

1.       Whisk all ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth. (I found an electric mixer was quicker and easier).

2.       Spread icing over cooled cake.

This cake is delicious on its own if you don’t wish to make the icing.

Enjoy!