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.

Seriously Addictive Chinese Chilli Oil

Floral fragrant Sichuan peppercorns, dried chill flakes, garlic and fermented black beans slowly toasted in oil. This chilli oil might not be much to look at but it packs a massive punch of flavour and nostalgia. You will find chilli oil like this in pretty much any side street noodle shop or dumpling joint in Hong Kong. There are a million different versions, each region will have some different take on it, every restaurant will have their own special twist on this classic condiment.

Cheesy Creamy Shin Ramyun Korean Spicy Noodles

I saw a post pop up on my Facebook feed talking about ramen with milk and cheese and it was just one of those trainwreck dishes that sounds terrible but you can’t stop thinking about.  So bad it must be amazing right?? Ramen + spicy Korean chilli kick + creamy cheesy sauce. Like an asian style spicy mac and cheese amiright? And in the aftermath of the horribleness our little old NZ had been through over the weekend, I am all about comfort eating.

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?!

Lychee and Summer Berry Jellies - vegan, gluten-free, plant-based

 

This is the ultimate summer dessert. Cool and refreshing. Beautiful to look at and it's  healthy too!


This is one of those ridiculously easy but super impressive looking desserts. What a winner!

It’s so pretty to look at - ruby red raspberries and sapphire blueberries encased in crystal, like little jewels on the plate... it’s almost too pretty to eat. Almost.  

 

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. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding

We only moved from Wellington just over a year ago but my gosh it seems like a lifetime ago.  We were pre-baby, living right next to town with a magnificent view overlooking the beautiful harbour.   We used to just stroll on down to the centre of town and go to one of the many amazing eateries right at our door step. Life is most definitely very different now with a little 10 month old to chase around!!

One of our 'locals' was this funky American-style diner at the bottom of our road that did the most ah-mazing Reese's peanut butter chocolate milkshakes.

I've been feeling rather nostalgic recently and missing our Wellingtonian mates and local haunts so I thought I might recreate a little piece of our windy city life by making Chocolate Peanut Chia Puddings as a healthified homage to our Welly life.

Christmas Gingerbread Bundt Cake

It has been 9 months since my last post but it might as well have been a lifetime ago! Since my last post we have welcomed our gorgeous little girl into the world and the months have just flown by. Life is so full and hectic and magical with a little one. It has been the most incredible experience watching her grow and become a little person. And now all of a sudden Christmas is here!

Christmas is a million times more fun with a kid isn't it? For our first Christmas as a family of three we decided to go with a living Christmas tree! The idea is that we will get to watch the tree and our little girl grow up together.  New traditions for our brand spanking new family.

Speckled Easter Egg Cake: Chocolate cake with whipped vanilla buttercream frosting

Happy Easter everyone!

My goodness, looking back it has really been a wee while since I last posted.  To be honest the last couple of months have been a bit of a blur. I was working silly hours at the hospital and not getting time to do much else - no baking, no prepping for baby related things, barely any sleeping.

Then it all came to a screeching halt when I started having a tricky time with my pregnancy.  It was pretty scary and things have been touch and go for the last little bit, but now we are finally on the home stretch! I've stopped work and have been doing lots of resting interspersed with scrambling to get our house and lives ready for our little one's arrival.

And I had some time to finally do some baking ... this Speckled Easter Egg Cake for the Baking for Hospice Easter Round.

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.