Category: baking

Easy Whole orange (rind and all) and mint cake

This easy whole orange cake (rind and all) recipe is perfect for lazy bakers like me!

You just boil a couple of whole oranges for a long time, then chop and process them in a food processor, along with 4 other ingredients and pop in the oven for an hour or so!

Place a flat bowl or plate on top of the oranges to keep them submerged.

I was too lazy to swop out the water too many times, so I just boiled the oranges for half an hour, with a flat bowl placed on top, to keep the oranges submerged. Then I did it once more for another half an hour. This process removes the bitterness from the rind so is important, but doesn’t require much attention or effort.

Slice the oranges and allow to completely cool

I love using a food processor to make this cake, as it really is a one bowl cake with little washing up and no fussing. Definitely a very easy cake to make!

Whizz the cooled chopped oranges until a smoothish purée forms

Turned out my fan forced oven is probably a bit hotter than others so next time I’d probably heat it to 150 degrees Celsius and cook it for about an hour an ten minutes so it doesn’t get as dark on top. Mind you it still tasted great the way it turned out!

The resulting moist cake full of orange flavours and a slight hint of mint is delicious! I made this and took it to work today and it disappeared in a jiffy. Orders for more have already been placed.

I used this great recipe from Recipe Tin Eats but added a small handful of very finely diced up fresh mint leaves to the batter right at the end to add the minty zest. Totally optional though.

Thanks Recipe Tin Eats for the very easy and delicious recipe!

February 6, 2023

ShanthiniLeave a comment

Happy New Year #2022 #NY2022 #cheesecake

Happy new year from Sydney and thank you all for following and supporting freespiritfood.net since I started my blog so many years ago.

Mini baked cheesecake with hints of ginger

How the world has changed in the last two years? Rather than being able to travel the world, or even go to restaurants and places in Australia, I have been relying on my foodie memories and experiences to inspire my cooking at home.

I hope you have enjoyed my attempts to try new recipes and create different dishes. As with the rest of life, some ideas have worked better than others!

To finish the year for desert tonight I created these mini baked cheesecakes, made in a muffin tin, with a ginger biscuit base and shavings of uncrystallised ginger on top. Made in just 3 hours from start to finish, they have been given a tick of approval by our family.

I will post the full recipe but wanted to share a small foodie experience with you from the last day of 2021!!

Jimmy Buffett might say “there’s a little bit of fruitcake in all of us”, but I prefer “a little bit of this cheesecake”!! 😀

December 31, 2021

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#Puff Pastry #Pissaladiere #goatscheese #onionjam #anchovies #olives

Through this week, it came to our attention that we had an over abundance of soft goats cheese.

This brought on visions of onion and goats cheese tarts, and memories of the traditional French Pissaladiere which we had first enjoyed in Nice. Decided they would be great with goats cheese as well.

The original Pissaladiere: a much more structured version without goats cheese like the ones we enjoyed in Nice, France

Rummaged through our very well stocked holiday home pantry and found olives and a tin of Ortiz anchovies! Bingo!

Made 2 versions …both a lot more “unstructured” …both first smothered in store bought good quality onion jam. One version just onion jam and goats cheese, one with anchovies and olives. Both sprinkled with fresh rosemary and thyme. Both delicious with some fresh rocket.

These would be great to take on a picnic too once cooled to room temperature. We enjoyed them with our leftover couscous salad and some bbq sausages for a relaxed summer lunch.

Prep time: 30 minutes incl defrosting pastry cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

3-4 sheets puff pastry
1 egg beaten
Small can anchovies
6 pitted green or black olives
4 tablespoons soft goats cheese
6 tablespoons onion jam
Black pepper
Fresh thyme and/or Rosemary

Method

1. Defrost puff pastry according to packet instructions

2.Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius

3. Cut pastry into half to make 6-8 lengths, crimp edges to form shallow rectangular cases

4. Brush bottoms and edges with beaten egg

5. Prick bottoms of cases with a fork to stop them puffing up.

6. Spread onion jam across the base of each case, then add anchovies and olives to half the cases. Crumble goats cheese on all the cases, then sprinkle thyme and/or rosemary and black pepper.

7. Bake in hot oven for 10 minutes or until pastry is golden and crisp.

8. Slice as you like and serve hot or at room temperature.

December 25, 2021December 28, 2021

ShanthiniLeave a comment

#Christmas #pavlova

In my book, the best pavlova has a crispy, crunchy outer and a pillowy soft marshmallows centre.

Our Christmas Pavlova this year ticked all those boxes and more with delicious ripe mango, berries, juicy passionfruit, and a topping made of sweet whipped cream and marscapone .

Absolutely delicious, thank you Ashley!

Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside:Christmas Pavlova

December 25, 2021

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#Poached Side of #Salmon with asparagus salad #christmaseve

We thought a light dinner on a Christmas Eve would be nice ahead of a day of planned feasting today.

I have never actually poached a whole side of Salmon before but I certainly will be in future.

I bought this 1.5kg side from Peninsula Seafood’s Processing Plant outlet in Dromana on our way down to the Mornington Peninsula last Monday. They cryovacced the salmon for me which meant I could keep it in the fridge rather than have to freeze it and defrost it.

The recipe I used is based on Mary Berry’s Poached Salmon with shrimps and asparagus which looks delicious, but I really wanted to keep dinner simple so we had it with asparagus a d feta salad in the side.

Ingredients:

Side of salmon – 1.5kg
Butter
Foil
1/4 cup white wine
Juice of 1 lemon
Dill – 2-3 stalks
Salt and pepper
Asparagus – 2 bunches
Feta to crumble over asparagus
Baby spinach leaves
Salt and pepper
Foil

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. Lay 2 long foil sheets across a large roasting pan, fold over does in middle to join together into one sheet, grease foil with butter.

3. Lay dill in middle of sheet. Season salmon with salt and pepper on the cut side and place face down (skin side up) on the dill. Put a few dabs of butter across top of salmon for good measure.

4. Pour wine and lemon juice around the salmon and fold over long edges of foil to create a packet, then fold over short edges, rolling and scrunching to seal.

5. Bake salmon for 25 minutes. While salmon is baking, blanch asparagus until bright green and tender.

6 remove salmon from from oven, undo package and remove skin which will easily peel off. Using a teaspoon or palette knife, gently scrape off the grey coloured meat/fatty layer under the skin to reveal the pink layer of flesh.

7. Carefully flip salmon and juices onto a serving platter, surround with Baby spinach, asparagus, sprinkle with feta. Dress salad with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

8. Serve with other salads or roast potatoes. We had a tomato, basil, bocconcini salad which went well with it too.

Poached side of salmon with asparagus, baby spinach and feta salad

December 24, 2021

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Walnut Banana Loaf #coconutflour

This is a very more-some banana loaf with a crunchy maple syrup walnut crust.

Banana walnut coconut flour cake with walnut crust

Organic Coconut Flour is a delicious, low carbohydrate, high-fibre, grain-free alternative to wheat flour. It is made from fresh organic coconut flesh. This cake also uses the natural sugar of maple syrup rather than sugar. So you can enjoy it almost guilt free!

It just involves a bit of hand whisking and mixing so is fuss-free and doesn’t require beaters or mixers.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup and another 2 tablespoons for walnut crust
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1tsp vanilla essence
2 large or 3 smaller overripe bananas mashed
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1.5 cups coconut flour
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts (1/2 for cake mixture and 1/2 for crust)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius

2. Coat a loaf pan (22cm long) with oil, then line with baking powder. The oil sticks the paper to the pan.

3. In one large bowl whisk eggs, oil and maple syrup until well combined.

4. In another bowl mash bananas with vanilla essence. then add to egg mixture and mix well.

5. In a third large bowl, mix together dry ingredients: coconut flour, desiccated coconut, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder, salt, 1;2 the chopped walnuts, baking soda and baking powder.

6.Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour egg mixture into the centre, mix well until combined. It will have the consistency of a thick dough almost.