each peach pear plum

Well, another rainy Sunday and another weekend with no scandal to report. The closest I've been to scandal recently was meeting a guy in a bar after my friend's wedding, and after talking to him for an hour, he asked for my phone number. I think I put him off when I asked if the picture of the flash-looking car as his cellphone background was his, and he embarrassingly replied "No". Aah well.

But the sun did come out this afternoon, and I had the pleasure of attending a dinner party that included multiple dinner courses, amuse-bouche, palate cleansers and multiple dessert courses. It was nothing short of incredible, and our entire flat even left with pate sandwiches on homemade bread for lunch tomorrow, to be followed by homemade biscotti. Amazing.

After a week in bed with the flu, I did have another successful stint on Good Morning on Friday, where I made Zucchini and Sweetcorn fritters with fresh mint, and my Plum and Yoghurt cake. The cake that I whipped up on the show came to work with me on Friday for afternoon tea. It was a hit, and in case you missed it, the recipe is both available here, and as follows.

Plum and Yoghurt Cake


125g butter
200g white sugar
2 eggs
1.5tsp baking powder
150g white flour
pinch of salt
50g ground almonds
220g natural yoghurt

Preheat oven to 180*C

If using fresh plums, cut in half and remove stones. Sprinkle with a little sugar. If using canned plums, drain in a sieve and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift the dry ingredients. Add yoghurt and almonds. Mix well and put mixture in the tin.

Press plums cut side up into the top of the cake mixture. Sprinkle over a little raw sugar if you're using tinned plums.

Bake for one hour, and then when you take it out of the oven, leave to cool in the tin.

My flatmates reaped the benefits of the quiet weekend. In the kitchen this weekend I treated them to Nigella's cinnamon buns to brighten up a drizzly Saturday morning. I'd seen that Laura from hungryandfrozen had made these, after I'd picked them out as a potential from my copy of Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess. They looked pretty straightforward, so un-hungover yesterday morning I got stuck into the yeasty dough, added some fresh blueberries, and we all had carb and sugar lulls for the rest of the day. It was a highly unnecessary amount of sugar for 4 people, and one flatmate had 5 - he couldn't go to the kitchen all day without leaving with another. My advice? Make if you have a big crew of people to eat them. If not, they'll all get eaten anyway. They are seriously good.

The recipe for Nigella's Norwegian Cinnamon Buns (From How to be a Domestic Goddess) is available here at hungryandfrozen. Feel free to add blueberries!

And coming up this week - back to work, and probably the weather turning crap. But, friends visiting next weekend, and then Easter. And a 5kg bag of flour in the cupboard. And recently-returned-from-overseas-friends who want to collaborate in the kitchen. And a return Asian dinner party for the friend's who last time cooked for me. It's not all doom and gloom, and in the meantime check out those buns - Nigella, the Norwegians and Laura all clearly know their stuff!