show us your pink lady cake

Sunday morning and a diversion from the ever important weekly horoscope reading, and a diversion from the tasty brunch and rather good coffee we were consuming at Grey Lynn's Monterey Coffee Lounge, saw the Sunday magazine thrust at me across the table open at the recipes. I'm rarely inspired by what graces the pages, but something about the simplicity of this cake, and the casual request for me to please make it, meant that all of a sudden my Sunday afternoon was planned. I first and foremost watched the Mystics win, before embracing the kitchen.

Not that I hadn't been embracing the kitchen in the days preceding; quite the opposite. After a boozy and deliciously fun dinner at Coco's Cantina on Thursday, I had all of Friday in the kitchen. It involved butterfly shaped chocolate cakes with strawberry icing, amongst other treats, for the delightful Sadie's third birthday party (look out for the upcoming post: How I Spent My Saturday Morning). As well as generally faffing about in the kitchen and continuing my hunt for Auckland's best coffee, I also spent a fair chunk of the day at Farro Fresh in Grey Lynn - verdict: wonderful.

But the cake! A simplistic thing of beauty, and just what Lou wanted. So I borrowed a ring tin, used natural food colouring, and once it was done smeared offcuts of cake around the icing bowl until it was spotless. The mix of good quality vanilla with the cream cheese, combined with the coconut, is a dream. An easy, impressive, dream.    

Pink Lady Cake
(Ray McVinnie, 20 May 2012 Sunday Magazine)

CAKE
225g butter
1.5 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 cups desiccated coconut (I went 1 cup desiccated, 1/2 cup fancy shred. And what?)
2 cups flour
1 cup milk, combined with a few drops of red food colouring

Preheat oven to 170C and butter a 22cm ring tin.

Beat butter and caster sugar until very thick, pale and fluffy (note! this takes aaaaages. I used a cake mixer and had it going a good 15 minutes, but it is worth it.)

Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Quickly stir in the coconut and baking powder then gently fold in the flour and milk alternately, taking care not to over-mix.

Transfer the mixture to the cake tin, distributing evenly. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean (mine needed about an extra 5 minutes). Remove from the oven, cool, then ice with the following.

ICING
130g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence (use the good stuff: equagold or heilala)
2 1/4 cups icing sugar

Mix all ingredients together with a fork until smooth. Add a few drops of milk if necessary to ensure it spreads on smoothly and doesn't lift the surface of the cake as it goes on.

A few things of note: my cakes tend to crack a bit on top as they rise, and I wonder if it's because I use pans that are a little small? This one I was cutting down to get a smooth top anyway so it didn't matter at all (see aforementioned offcut-icing smearing reference. SO GOOD).

Secondly, it's only been reasonably recently that I've acquired the patience to let my baked goods cool before icing them. It really makes a difference. I may or may not have embarrassed myself on national television last year on my birthday when not heeding such advice. Dribbly melting white ganache is not becoming on anything!

Last but not least, there's nothing like fresh flowers to brighten up your baked goods.

Make someone's day! Make them pink lady cake.

the best brunch

I've mused before about my undying love for that perfect meal mashup of breakfast and lunch. Whether it's hungover laughing with friends in a cafe over copious coffees and shakes and juice, or whether it's at home cooking perfect scrambled eggs for someone you quite fancy, followed by some sweet music and plunger coffee in the sun on the couch, I just really really love brunch.

In Wellington last weekend, me and my friend, seedier than I was, went on a brunch excursion. I wanted something totally delicious, and having had my fair share of under poached eggs and packet hash browns, I knew exactly the place: Cafe Polo in Miramar.

Out there we trekked, and after a very well executed flat white we made the wise move to a more open table given the neighbouring unruly children's squawking was worsening my friend's hangover by the second. Just as we re-settled in, two plates of glory arrived: friend's vege feast with no artichokes and avocado instead, as well as creamy mushrooms, and spinach, and mine probably the best brunch ever. Homemade sourdough, two perfectly poached eggs, certainly the best cafe hash browns I've ever had, ripe avocado and Polo smoked salmon.

I was inappropriately groaning with delight at every mouthful, and my friend was too overwhelmed to speak, such was the hangover-curing qualities of what was on the plate. We let it settle with more good coffee and left extremely satisfied indeed.

Cafe Polo, which I've had dinner, and lunch at before.


82-84 Rotherham Terrace, Miramar, Wellington. Phone (04) 380 7273. An important word of warning: they are not open Sundays! 

bathe in feijoas, bathe in glory

A quick post while I bathe in Tuesday Night Netball glory (came back from a 10 point deficit to win by 1, holla!) and share with you more feijoa loving, before I flee to Wellington at an ungodly hour in the morning.

As explained earlier, the neighbours up the road offloaded some beauties the other day, and into the baby loaf pans they went. I've altered next Monday's Good Morning segments so I can share these with you now instead. I suppose you could make it into a big loaf, and likewise these would probably work in muffin pans. Get creative! They're delicious. Hot out of the oven, particularly good, but the next day slathered in leftover caramel ginger cream cheese icing? Off the freaking chain.

Baby Feijoa Loaves

adapted from here 

1 cup of chopped feijoas

1 cup boiling water

1 cup soft brown sugar

50g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

Place feijoas, butter, sugar, water and vanilla in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Softly boil for about 5 minutes then allow to cool.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Carefully add feijoa mixture and combine gently with a wooden spoon.

Grease an 8-cup mini loaf pan with butter or cooking spray. Spoon mixture into each cavity, filling to just over half way.

Bake at 180C for 30 minutes until golden.

These are great served warm just with butter, or dusted with icing sugar. 

They’re simply the best though iced with a ginger cream cheese icing (an adaptation of Lucy's caramel cream cheese icing, found here) once they’re cool (beat 200g room temperature cream cheese with 50g soft butter, 1 tsp ground ginger, about half a cup of brown sugar and a bit of golden or maple syrup.) Enjoy them while you still can, especially as this weather cools down, and if you've just dominated a game of netball it's totally legit to indulge.