Baked Vanilla Mochi Cake aka Crack Cake *updated recipe*

This Vanilla Mochi Cake is called "Crack Cake" in our household. Crispy flaky edges. Gooey chewy center. Heavenly vanilla. It is seriously addictive. And super easy to make. A very dangerous combination.

Sky High Fluffy Pancakes aka Greatest of All Time Pancake recipe

Happy Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Tuesday 🥞 !

This is the my GOAT pancake recipe.

Perfect incredibly fluffy and soft pancakes every time. Easy enough to whip up with a toddler insisting on “helping” out in the kitchen and an infant on one hip.  Pancake perfection.

Black bean chocolate brownies - vegan, gluten-free, paleo

I had been hankering for chocolate brownies for a while but had been feeling guilty about all the over-indulging as of late *cough* honey muffins, nutella croffins, ice cream *cough*. So a little while back when we were about to spend a week with my vegan in-laws I thought I would bake a healthy vegan chocolate brownie. Beans are a vegetable so they're practically a salad amiright?!

Cauliflower Tabouli with Fennel and Sweet corn

 

This tabouli/tabbouleh has so much going for it. It's packed with vibrant vegetables. And the flavours are phenomenal. It tastes like summer. Zingy fresh mint, sweet kernels of corn, lemony garlicky dressing, all bound together with nutty cauliflower rice.


It's quite filling on its own for a vegan meal, or add some extra protein with grilled tofu/tempeh or falafel. If you're in the paleo space, this salad is dreamy with grilled seafood (fish, prawns, calamari), chicken or pork chops - dusted with sumac spice and drizzled with olive oil.

Raw Beetroot Salad with Beet Greens and Tumeric Roasted Nuts

We are in the middle of a super hot summer down here in the Southern Hemisphere and I’ve caught myself the flu. Yes, the flu. In the middle of summer. Of all the rotten luck 🤦🏻‍♀️.

At least it's a good excuse to share my super flu fighting salad recipe that's packed with vitamins and immune boosting antioxidants 💪🏼 .

Honey & Vanilla Muffins: inspired by Ilona Andrews

Curran popped the lid off. Six perfect golden muffins. The aroma of honey and vanilla floated around the table. [...]
Curran took one muffin, passed it to me, and bit into a second one. “We came to your house last week.”
“I was out on clan business. That doesn’t count.”
I bit into the muffin and, for the five seconds it took me to chew, went to heaven.

~Magic Binds, by Ilona Andrews

I have a confession: I am hopelessly addicted to urban fantasy books.

I just love being transported to another world where there are heroes and heroines, magic is real and there is a mystery to be solved. 

One of my absolute all time favourite series is the Kate Daniels series by the urban fantasy royalty duo Ilona Andrews. A wisecracking badass heroine, magic, mystery, were-creatures, vampires and monsters - what’s not to love? I was doing a reread of the whole series because the tenth and *sob* very last book came out, when this passage stopped me in my tracks:

Six perfect golden muffins. The aroma of honey and vanilla floated around the table.

Holy honey muffins, Batman, do those sound freakin' amazing or do those sound freakin' amazing?

Grammed: Orange Almond Cake

I love me some Orange Almond Cake. 

Tender, citrusy and incredibly moist; it tastes of sunshine and summer. Delish. 

Grammed: Miso Kimchi Udon Noodles with Kale and Tofu

Kimchi miso udon noodles with fresh kale, bok choi and spring onions from our vege garden 🌱🍜 #sofresh #gardenbounty #plantsusuallydieonus

A post shared by Nessie@bakingequalslove (@bakingequalslove) on Feb 11, 2017 at 1:39pm PST

This is a super quick super yum meal we have pretty regularly on our weeknight dinner rotation.  We usually have it as a vego meal but you can add some pan fried chicken or a softly boiled egg for extra protein

Happy New Year, Happy New Things and a Nutty Quinoa & Roasted Kale Salad

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope you had a spectacularly awesome holiday period with your loved ones.

My goodness, I can't believe it is 2016 already!  Where has the time gone? Looking back it has been a couple of months since I last posted. Well, have I got lots of catching up to do with you, dear readers.

They say things in life often happen in threes.

Luckily, it was three good exciting new things that have come our way.  

Life changing, mind blowing, wondrous things.

Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes aka Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes

I've just finished an amazing rotation in obstetrics and gynaecology, one of my very last as a medical student (4 weeks to go eek!).  I was part of an incredible team of doctors, midwives, nurses, and health assistants who worked passionately and tirelessly over crazy long hours to help mums bring little bubbas into the world.

What a responsibility. What a rush. What an incredible privilege.

So what better way to thank these amazing human beings/super heroes than with some scrummy thank you baking: Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes. Like a Ferrero Rocher in a cupcake.

Baked Cinnamon Apple Mini Doughnuts

As you ramble on through life, Brother,
Whatever be your goal,
Keep your eye upon the doughnut,
And not upon the hole
~ Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

Hello everyone!

Very sorry it has been such a long time between posts. I'd taken my eye off the doughnut for a little while, concentrating on getting through my last year of medical school, but am hopefully getting my baking mojo back!

I thought I'd come back with a bang with these Baked Cinnamon Apple Mini Doughnuts (a.k.a. doughnut holes or cake doughnuts).  I am a doughnut fiend and these wee delights are actually one of my favourite recipes I have ever baked.

Big call I know, but they just hit the spot. There is really nothing like the smell of cinnamon sugar doughnuts at a rugby game or fair.  It's like a siren's call.  And now you can recreate it at home and as a healthyish baked version too! Baking dream fulfilled.

Banana Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Loaf

Hazelnuts are such an underrated nut.

Sure Nutella is all the rage but whole hazelnuts are often forgotten behind it's more popular nutty cousins.

A quick look on Pinterest (yea yea who am I kidding right, who ever goes on Pinterest for only a quick look??) will tell you that the peanut butter craze is still going strong, followed closely by all things pecans or pistachio. There is the odd walnut creation but alas the humble hazelnut doesn't often make a show.

We will remember them: Anzac Crumble Ginger Muffins

We do not gather together to glorify war - but rather to remember the men and women who served their country, and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
 ~Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General of New Zealand.

Today, 25 April 2015, marks the 100 year anniversary of the Anzacs landing in Gallipoli in the Great War.

We huddled this morning with our fellow Wellingtonians at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in the dark before dawn and contemplated all the brave souls who lay down their lives for us a century ago and in the conflicts in-between, those away today, those who didn't make it home, and those who come home forever changed. 

It was particularly special for us: both my husband's great grandads served in World War I, his maternal grandad was a prisoner of war in WWII and our friend Curt lost both his legs in Afghanistan 3 years ago while serving for the Australian Army.  

We remember and honour them not to glorify war but with gratitude that their sacrifice means that we may never need to know the atrocities of the battlefield.

In the Governer-General's address, he spoke of "mateship" and camaraderie as enduring ideals we should aspire to. Wonderfully positive, don't you think? And boy was it in full force today.  Forty thousand strong at Pukeahu Memorial Park alone and hundreds of thousands more kiwis and aussies banding together across both countries and in Turkey.  So incredibly moving.

We carried on the mateship theme with the rest of the day by having a good goss and photo-nerding sesh with the very gorgeous Katie over copious cups of tea and these Anzac Crumble Ginger Muffins. 

Hot Cross Muffins for Easter

Would you like some warm Spring pie?
Then, take a cup of clear blue sky.
Stir in buzzes from a bee,
Add the laughter of a tree.

A dash of sunlight should suffice
To give the dew a hint of spice.
Mix with berries, plump and sweet.
Top with fluffy clouds, and eat!
~ Paul F. Kortepeter, Holly Pond Hill: A Child's Book of Easter 

Happy Easter everyone!

I just love Easter and all the chocolate eggs and bunnies, hot cross buns and simnel cakes laced with rich spices and fruit. Chocolate and baking AND a holiday, what a more could a girl ask for??

I also love that Easter is all about new beginnings, restarting and recharging. I don't know about you but by the time we get to April I sure am ready for a bit of holiday!

This year in particular, Easter for me has been a bit of time for reflection. I am coming to the end of a long journey from lawyer to doctor. Starting from scratch again as a student, slogging it out for five years of study and now in the process of applying for my very first job as a doctor. A resurrection of my own.  It's both exciting and terrifying and to be honest in the last little bit I've been a bit overwhelmed by it all. But with nice sleep in and a long weekend ahead I feel refreshed, rejuvenated and with renewed energy for the months to come. Bring it! 

{friturdays are the best}

So in my happy place right now with a hot cross bun and cuppa in the sun listening to Ed Sheeran and wishing you all a relaxing and refreshing Easter break too!  And if you are feeling like getting your bake on this Easter try out these Hot Cross Muffins - a quick and easy cakey cousin to the hot cross bun.

Walnut and Coconut Bourbon Salted Caramel Slice

We've come home recently from the most amazing camping trip in the Hawkes Bay. Gorgeous sunny weather, hours of tramping in breathtaking scenery, lots of clean green living.  Got home relaxed, refreshed, rejuvenated and feeling super fit and super motivated to be healthier.

I even started on the cardiology run as a trainee intern, which one would think would provide you with plenty of incentive to be good for a while.

{sunset at lake waikaremoana. no filter needed.}

But alas, a few weeks back and I've already slid into a trash food rebound. I'm talking curly fries, fried chicken, peanut butter pie and weekday merlots kinda rebound. The best kind.

So since I was following team cardio this weekend I thought I'd share the love - and the calories - with this gorgeous Walnut and Coconut Bourbon Salted Caramel Slice.  Might as well fall off the bandwagon in style I say.

Happy Valentines Day! Raspberry Chia Pudding

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

We are heading off for a 2 week camping trip in the beautiful Hawkes Bay today woop! Super exciting but this means we are packing and on the road for most of Valentines Day.  Not the most romantic date ever so we celebrated instead with a Valentine's themed brekkie: a super healthy, oh so pretty in pink, totally swoon-worthy Raspberry Chia Pudding.

Coz nothing says I love you better than chia pudding.

Lol jokes, we all know chocolate = love. But this is pretty darn delicious and a healthy breakfast in your belly is sure to put a little love in your heart.

But first, cake: Cheat's Orange Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

Before I launch in to my HK foodie musings, I wanted to share with you this amazingly quick and incredibly easy cake recipe. 

I'll warn you straight up that this recipe uses boxed cake mix. I know baking purists out there are horrified right now but a box of cake mix can be a total life saver in baking emergencies.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making things from scratch. There's a certain meditative quality to measuring out your flour, butter, eggs but every once in a while you need to produce baking in a bind and tout suite and for those situations I always keep a couple of boxed cake mixes in the pantry.  

Think of cake mix as a baking emergency kit. You have a bare bones pantry, a friend is popping round in an hour, what do you do???

Last minute Christmas noms: Super Easy Gingerbread Men

I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the carols, the festive cheer, the celebrating with friends and family and of course the baking. Christmas has the best baking.

However, Christmas can also be a rather stressful time of year. Fun good stress but hectic non-the less. Multiple family dos fit in. Dishes to make for said-family dos that feed a crowd and caters for the vegetarian + vegan + dairy-intolerant + gluten-free+ only-eats-meat guests. The yearly internal struggle of wanting to go to midnight mass but it being way past your bed time. The age old present buying dilemma of what to get for the work-colleage-who-you’ve-never-talked-to-but-got-as-a-secret santa / person-who-has-everything / distant-relative-who’s-come-visiting / surprise-last-minute-RSVP-to-xmas??

The answer to all of the above is of course 42 sweets/chocolate/baked goodies!

So any Christmas baking that is quick and easy and stress-free is my kind of Christmas baking.

These Super Easy Gingerbread Men have been my godsend this Christmas. They are indeed dead easy/ fool proof / fail-safe. You get maximum wow points for minimal effort. I mean, you don’t even need a rolling pin. They are also completely addictively delicious. Plus just look at them. Adorbs.

Black forest chia chocolate pudding and a favour

First, I'd like to ask you a favour.

10 years ago today, my dad turned 48.
For his birthday, he cooked us dinner.  Even though he was really sick.
That's the kinda person he was, always putting others before himself. Always putting us first.

That was the last birthday we got to celebrate with him.  He passed away five months later.

The older I get, the more I appreciate the things he did for us and the person he was.  There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not thinking about him, missing him, and wanting to be more like him.

So today I'm celebrating his memory with you all: those of you who knew him, those of you who loved him, those of you who he never even met - because he was too good a person not to share.

And my favour is this: Let's all do something nice for someone today. Even if it is only a little thing, the world would be a little bit of a better place today, because of you, because of my dad.

Happy birthday Dad.

Every year on Dad's birthday, I try to make something black forest because that was his favourite type of cake. So this year, since I'm on a bit of a health buzz, I made Black Forest Chia Chocolate Pudding. Even though I know Dad would've scrunched his nose at all the hippy stuff.

Forgotten cookies / Chocolate & pistachio meringue cookies

These are Chocolate and Pistachio Meringue Cookies also known as "Forgotten Cookies"
 
These gorgeous bite size morsels are lovely delicate meringue cookies that are jam packed with pistachio nuts and chunks of dark chocolate.

Forgotten by name but unforgettable by nature.

This is the perfect recipe to let you know that I haven't forgotten you all!

The "forgotten" part alludes to the ridiculously low maintenance way of cooking them - as soon as you get your cookies in the oven, you can turn off the heat and forget about them until the next day.

Yip, just leave them in the oven.  All on their lonesome. And they will just hang out, getting light and crispy and airy.

They are so delicate and light but absolutely packed with flavour.

New favourite cookie.