Lemon Elderflower Cupcakes

Every little girl loves a cup cake. I'm not sure our little blossom has actually eaten very many beyond the frosting, but the decorations are always irresistible! I made these some time ago, hence the raspberry decoration; I made our own elder flower cordial this year, but the commercial stuff is available in good supermarkets. Thanks to the lovely, and very clever Jo Grams for taking the shots of the finished cup cakes! 

Lemon Elder flower Cupcakes

125g butter
2/3 cup caster sugar
zest of a lemon
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup elder flower cordial

Preheat the oven to 175deg. C. and lay out approximately small paper cupcake cases. 

Cream the softened butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Fold a third of the sifted flour and baking powder into the butter mixture, followed by a third of the elder flower cordial. Continue to fold in the remaining thirds until a soft batter is formed. 










Half fill the cup cake cases. 

Bake them for approximately 12 to 15 minutes until they are well risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool. 








Elder Flower Frosting

200g softened butter
1 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons elder flower cordial
the juice of a lemon

Beat all the ingredients using an electric beater until it is pale and fluffy. 

Use a piping bag to pipe rosettes onto each cup cake. Decorate as required. 

If our Little Miss is having buddies around I leave the frosting un-decorated and put out little dishes of Hundreds and Thousands, chocolate pieces, sweets, marshmallows and fruit so they can decorate their own. Happy faces! 

Scones with Raspberry Fool Topping

With another mob of sheep and lambs to crutch, it was my turn on the morning smoko again today. We an oversupply of raspberries in the garden I decided to top my plain sweet scones with this delicious raspberry fool. It is super simple to make and takes no time at all. As well as the scones I made BLT sliders using homemade rolls. 

Raspberry Fool

This recipe makes enough to top the below scone recipe, or serve about 4 people for pudding. You can easily double the recipe.

1 cup of cream
1 heaped tablespoon of icing sugar
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

In a medium sized bowl, add the icing sugar to the well chilled cream and beat until thick. 

In a separate bowl, mash the raspberries until mostly squished. Add the whipped cream to the fruit and gently fold together. 

Return to the fridge until needed. 

If your serving this as a dessert, then place the fool either into a serving bowl, or into individual serving glasses.  








Plain Sweet Scones - makes about 12 scones or 24 halves

3 cups plain flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
3 generous tablespoons sugar
170g butter
2 eggs
enough milk to top the eggs up to 1 1/2 cups of liquid

Preheat the oven to 220deg. C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Sift the flour and baking powder. Add the sugar.
Grate the cold butter into the flour, then rub in until the mixture resembles crumbs. 

I used a pastry cutter to speed things up. 

Measure the eggs and milk in a jug and beat until the eggs are well combined. 

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. 

Stir using a table knife until the mixture is just combined. Don't worry if the mixture is a little damp, a wet scone is a happy scone. 

Turn out onto a floured surface - I always use baking paper for easy cleanup, and press together to form a rectangle. 

Cut into 12 equal sized squares and place onto the lined baking tray. 






Bake for about 15 minutes until well risen and lightly browned. 

They should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Set aside to cool. 







Once the scones are well cooled, cut them in half and spread with raspberry jam, top with a generous dollop of raspberry fool. 

Our little blossom, out of her farm clothes, and being the wool shed hostess.
Happy baking!

Banana Cake for Morning Smoko

Providing a tasty selection of eats to employees and visitors has long been a source of pride for any typical farming household. My Grandmother was a great home cook, and my mother has always continued this tradition in the way she caters for all who visit the farm. My Grandfather often joked that 'the more you eat the better you're paid', and I know there have been many, many hundreds of contractors, shearers, shepherds, family, friends and neighbours who have appreciated the time and effort these super women have put into feeding them.

With Mum busy in the yards it was my turn to make the morning smoko for Kevin the mobile crutching (for the non-farmers out there, that's trimming the wool from around the sheep's bottom) contractor and all the family working in the yards to keep the sheep moving.  To go with the cake I made Garden Brushetta with sourdough, and traditional Cheese Scones. I got the Banana Cake recipe from the ever reliable Edmond's Cookbook.

Banana Cake

125g butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 to 3 very ripe bananas
2 tablespoons hot milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180deg. C. and line a 20- 22cm baking tin with baking paper. 

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. 

Beat the eggs in one at a time until well combined. 

Mash the bananas, and using a spatula or wooden spoon stir them into the butter mix. 

Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk and stir into the mixture. 

Lastly, fold the sifted flour and baking powder into the mixture. 

Place the mixture into the baking tin and smooth over the top. 

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Allow to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes before transferring to a baking rack. Allow to cool completely before attempting to remove the baking paper as the cake is quite delicate, but also really delicious, when warm.






For a simple and quick Lemon Icing, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. Add as much icing sugar as is required to make a smooth spreadable icing. Spread over the cake once it is cool. 

Little Miss had a great time helping chase the sheep up in the yards. 

Date, Orange and Cinnamon Scones at Tailing Time

There is nothing more delicious than a freshly made scone. Here is another variation of the date scone. Just for a little change, this one has cinnamon and orange zest and juice. I made these for afternoon tea to take 'down the paddock' to the tailing party.

Date, Orange and Cinnamon Scones

1 cup dates
juice and zest of an orange
1 egg, topped up with milk to 200ml of liquid 

2 1/2 cups plain flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
100g butter

Preheat the oven to 200deg. C.

Place the dates, orange zest and juice into a small pot and using a medium heat stir until the dates start to break up and the mixture thickens. Set aside to cool.










Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour. 


Measure out the egg and milk and add it to the dates and mix well.

Make a well in the centre of the rubbed in flour and butter, and pour in the egg, milk and date mixture. 

Gently stir to combine, then turn out onto a floured board. 

Coat with a thin layer of flour and gently press out into a rectangular shape. 

Using a floured knife, cut into squares. 


Place onto a floured baking tray and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden and risen. 

The scones should sound hollow when tapped on their bottoms. 

Serve warm with butter. For all the really hard core date scone fans, here is another version I have made previously.

I also made these open sandwiches by mashing hard boiled eggs with a little melted butter and seasoning, then spreading it onto a sliced walnut loaf. I topped it with a simple tomato, capsicum and onion salsa dressed with a simple vinaigrette style dressing.

A perfect, tasty afternoon tea for the hungry tailing party.

Scones with Clotted Cream and Jam

It's always interesting what you stumble across when you go to an unfamiliar supermarket. In my case it was a small pottle of Clearwater Clotted cream gathered off the shelves at New World Ilam. What a great excuse for a batch of scones.

As per usual I had my chief kitchen hand near by. Luckily this time she was preoccupied with helping Nana feeding the lambs and arrived back just in time for tea wagon duty.

Sweet Scones with Clotted Cream and Jam

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
100g butter
1 egg
milk to top the egg up to 3/4 cup of liquid

Clotted cream
Apricot Jam

Preheat the oven to 200deg. C 

Sift the flour, baking powder and icing sugar together into a large bowl.

Cut the butter into cubes, then rub it into the flour mixture until the whole thing looks like crumbs.

Whisk the egg and milk together. 

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk and egg mixture. 

Mix together using a table knife until a soft dough is formed. Don't over mix or the scones wont rise.

Turn the mixture out onto the floured bench and gently form into a square that is about 4 cm thick. Use a floured knife to cut into 9 scones.

Place onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown and well risen. The bases of the scones should sound hollow when tapped.

Pull up the tea wagon, round up the troops and break out the home made apricot jam, morning tea is served.

Not-So-Secret Admirer Morning Tea

Oh the last day of the school term. The excitement, the exhaustion, the anticipation, the unfinished to-do list, the last minute jobs.

I have heard it said that there is no dilemma in life that can't be softened by a good custard square. Although flippant, this speaks to the feelings of togetherness and emotional and physical restoration that the sharing of food brings to people and their communities.

One of the lovely rituals of the last week of term 1 is a round of Secret Admirer: names are drawn, and admirers smuggle gifts and tokens of appreciation to their recipients. Having missed the deadline for putting our names forward, three of us decided to be everyones' not-so-secret admirer by providing a delicious homemade morning tea to our lovely colleagues. 

We all made a few favourite recipes that altogether made for an impressive spread. Sarah made Lemon Cupcakes, Salted Caramel slice and Chocolate Brownie. Rebecca made Citrus slice, Angels on Horseback, Sesame Lavosh with blue cheese, and Hummus with french bread. I made Sausage Rolls, Sticky Lemon Slice, Date Scones, gluten-free Rice Bubble Cake, and Carrot Cake. Follow the high lighted links to go directly to the previously blogged recipes.

Some of you have requested the Sausage Roll recipe. This one is always popular with our friends and family. It has a couple of extra ingredients that make them extra special.

Prudence's Sausage Rolls

1 finely sliced onion
4 thick slices of white bread - made into fresh bread crumbs using the kitchen whizz
3 Tablespoons tomato sauce
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
2 eggs
2 x 450g tubes of sausage meat

6 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
12 rashers rind less streaky bacon
250g tomato relish - I used Barkers Sun dried tomato and olive

1 beaten egg for glazing

Mix the onion, bread crumbs, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, seasoning, eggs and sausage meat until thoroughly blended together.
Put the sausage meat mixture into the fridge while you prepare the pastry.

Cut each pastry square in half and separate the bacon rashers. Leave the plastic sheet attached to the pastry as it will help you to shape the sausage rolls.
Lay the pastry sheets out over the bench; Spoon an even amount of sausage meat along each pastry sheet. It should be about 2cm in diameter.

Top each sausage meat row with a strip of bacon and spoon some relish along side the meat. Roll the pastry over the meat and leave with the seam facing down. Again, leave the plastic sheet on the pastry until your ready to bake the sausage rolls. They can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours or freezer for later use.

When your ready, cut each roll into evenly sized portions.  Glaze with the lightly beaten egg and bake at 200deg. C for about 25 minutes. They should be golden brown and crispy once cooked.

 The not-so-secret-admirers - thanks ladies for making this a morning tea to remember when we all needed an end of term pick me up.

Delicious Afghan Biscuits

There is no more of a treat than a good old fashioned Afghan to nibble on with your afternoon cup of tea. With a busy week ahead, projects to mark and Faculty Meeting to arrange, I need a mass stash of nibbles to call on.

This recipe is from the old Edmond's Cookbook. In the new edition, some of the recipes have been changed in the name of reduced fat and sugar, so an old version is definitely worth hanging on to if you value the 'old fashioned' taste. I have converted the recipe to metric measurements. The following recipe can be successfully doubled:

Afghans

175g butter
75g caster sugar
150g flour
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa
50g cornflakes

Preheat the oven to 175deg. C
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Fold in the sifted flour and cocoa.
Stir in the cornflakes - I crush them first.
Either roll into small balls or pipe onto a lined oven tray.
Flatten a little and bake for 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool completely before topping with chocolate icing and a walnut.

I am always too impatient and time poor to roll the biscuits into balls, so always resort to piping the biscuits onto the trays.
Just make sure you crush the cornflakes or they get stuck in the end of the piping bag.

 Once you have piped them out, press each biscuit down a little. Use wet hands or the mixture will stick.

For the icing combine:
50g soft butter
approximately 1 cup icing sugar
1 heaped tablespoon cocoa
enough water to combine to a spreadable mix

Spread on each biscuit and top with a walnut.

 And now my friends, the day is done; time for a cup of tea, a sweet treat and a lie down.