Carrot cake for Mother’s Day
Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. I like the idea of Mother’s and Father’s Day – celebrating the people who brought us into this world and showing appreciation for everything they have done. I think I may have got it a bit from mum and my grandma who were more of believers that any day can be mother’s and father’s day. It’s the fact that you acknowledge and give thanks for what they have done for you which carries more meaning and who says that we have to wait until once a year to say this? I’m not a fan of battling through the shops (particularly the florists) while everyone goes berserk coz there is a constant reminder from the advertisments to get something special for your mother and spoiling her. By no means, I don’t say not to spoil them but don’t you think it’s a bit over-commercialised like Valentines Day? Some mothers love this, so each to their own – but if we are to spoil them, what happened to something home made instead of dining with 100 other families celebrating the same thing on the same day?
As I mentioned, mum’s not really into mother’s day but seeing as I haven’t baked her anything for awhile, I thought I should make some time to bake one of her favourite cakes – carrot cake. I have never made this cake before, so trying to find a recipe I liked took a bit of time. I decided in the end to combine a combination of three recipes. For the main cake, I used a Donna Hay recipe mixed with a recipe from www.foodnetwork.com and for the frosting from the Australian Women’s Weekly – The AWW Cooking School.
Carrot and Walnut Cake
Serves: 12 (22cm tin)
Prep: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 55 – 60 minutes depending on your oven
Ingredients:
> 1 ¼ cups brown sugar
> ¾ cup vegetable oil
> 3 eggs
> 1 ½ cups plain flour
> 1 ¾ tsp baking powder (I like mine extra fluffy)
> 1 tsp bi-carbonate soda (baking soda)
> 1 tsp ground cinnamon
> ½ tsp ground clove (clove powder)
> ½ tsp ground allspice (mixed spice)
> 2 ½ cups carrot, grated (about 2 ½ large carrots)
> 1 cup walnuts, chopped
> Lemon cream cheese frosting:
> 30g butter, softened
> 80g cream cheese, softened
> 1 tsp finely grated lemon rind (more if preferred)
> 1 ½ cups (240g) icing sugar *
> ½ cup walnuts, chopped
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160ºc fan forced**. Grease 22cm round spring form cake tin; line base with baking paper.
2. Place sugar and oil in bowl of electric mixer and beat for 3 minutes. It should be smooth and a little runny.
3. Add eggs gradually and beat well.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, bi-carb, cinnamon, clove powder and all spice over the sugar mixture.
àI sifted beforehand into another bowl and sifted that again over the sugar mixture. I found there is a significant difference in the air if you sift it over the sugar mixture then if you sift into a bowl and add the sugar mixture.
5. Add carrot and walnuts and mix until just combined with a metal spoon.
6. Pour into tin and bake for 60 minutes – test with a wooden skewer to see whether cooked, add more time if required. Once cooked, remove from oven and leave to cool in tin for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove side of tin and using baking paper, gently lift onto wire rack to cool.
7. Make lemon cream cheese frosting: Beat butter, cream cheese and lemon rind in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy; gradually beat in icing sugar.*
8. Spread frosting onto cold cake, sprinkle with chopped walnuts and serve.
Notes:
*I actually made two cakes at the time and doubled the butter, cream cheese and lemon rind in the frosting. However, I was short on icing sugar and only used 190g in the doubled mixture, this was more than enough. It may be worth tasting the frosting each time you add a bit of icing sugar to meet your tastes.
**The actual recipe calls for 180ºc which is what I used to bake my cake, however I found this to be a bit too hot as the walnuts browned very quickly and the cake was not as moist as I would have liked.
***I ran out of walnuts so did not add any walnuts on the frosting – something I will remember to do next time though.
Brunching at Atomic Café, South Perth
I have to admit, there’s still a lot of places along the South Perth foreshore strip that I am yet to discover (or anything SOR really). Most of the places I have tried have been relatively mediocre or have one or two good things going for them. NL suggested Atomic Cafe after several text messages when we were umming and ahhing over where to head to for our catch up.
A perfect lazy Sunday – enjoying a much overdue girly catch up, soaking up some sun in the middle of autumn over some good food.
Atomic Café is situated on Mends Street, South Perth. It’s a quaint little place, but with plenty of natural sunlight. On the far side of the café, the roof actually opens up so you get a bit of a breeze coming through. The tables are small and you do have to line up to pay (cash only). NL had the latte and I opted for the cherry blossom tea – we both couldn’t go past the chicken burger with shoe-string fries (our biggest weakness – and what swayed me away from the breakfast menu).
I didn’t take a picture of my tea…not quite sure how you make tea look interesting in a simple teapot? The coffee looked nice though, nice and frothy milk 
Although not much to look at, the tea was beautiful! I’m not quite sure what brand it was…perhaps T2? It was heavenly to smell and sweet to drink. Unlike some other teas where it is beautifully fragrant, most of the time the flavour is quite subtle (not necessarily a bad thing), however this time I was quite surprised that I could actually taste a bit of a cherry-like flavour and it was more sweeter than most teas. I would definitely recommend trying the tea, however it did leave a slightly bitter aftertaste when it sat in the teapot for awhile.
Not too long after, our food came out and the burger was HUGE! I was very happy that I decided to go with this…the bread was light but doughy and well toasted on the inside. The chicken was char-grilled, chunky and very flavoursome, the salad was relatively fresh, and the avocado was cut in large chunky slices rather than mushed and spread on like butter. Not to mention, the fries were the lovely golden brown colour and crisp (I do prefer chunky chips rather than fries, but I ain’t complaining!) with a generous dollop (or more) of tomato sauce. I don’t remember what sauce/marinade was used, but I do remember it being very tasty. I was very impressed with the bread and chunky avocado slices in particular – it definitely gives Jus Burgers and Grill’d a run for their money.
I have read posts where people say they felt like they were ushered out, however we managed to spend four hours there in the corner and weren’t asked to leave by any of the staff. The café was bustling when we first got there and turnover of tables was high up until around 2.30pm. The prices are reasonable for a café, particularly in South Perth – where our burgers were about $17 each and coffee and tea varied from around $4 to $6 (okay so the drinks are a little bit more pricier). Given that you pay about $14 – $15 on average for a burger with no chips at your gourmet burger places, I didn’t think it was too bad of a deal. The breakfast menu is also reasonably priced and is in line with most cafés around Perth. I would definitely return here – great recommendation NL!
Birthday at Balthazar
I found this post written sometime last year that for some reason I never posted. A friend asked for suggestions on a nice restaurant which this is one of the first places I thought of and prompted me to post. Definitely a place I would recommend and come back to. I couldn’t quite be bothered editing too much, so much of this post was how it was written some time ago.
…
For his birthday this year, I thought we would stray away from the dego places and try Balthazar. In terms of a surprise it was great, as he was convinced that we were going to Grand Palace (good place, will need to return for photo evidence). The place is relatively obscure as the signs are not blatantly obvious or hot pink for example. Looking at the entrance with the door closed, it does not particularly scream out restaurant and bar…until you open the door, it’s like stepping into whole new world! (well sort of)
Where: Balthazar, 6 The Esplanade, Perth (No website available)
When: Saturday evening, 5 June 2010
Parking: Street parking available for free, Pay parking available nearby
Cost: Entree $15-$27; Mains $23-$36; Dessert $14 (Per yourrestaurants.com – memory unfortunately fails me here so this may not be accurate)
This place has been highly rated but for some reason I had never heard of it until Pingiepoo told me about it. I am very impressed with her extensive knowledge on wine and good places to eat, so whenever in need of inspiration of places, she is the one to see! She said this was one of her favourite places, so I was quite eager to try and we were both very impressed!
Balthazar is a restaurant/bar which is quite dimly lit and music is pumping away a bit louder than your usual fine dining restaurant. The waitresses are very friendly and there is one waiter or manager who reminds me of Count von Count on Sesame Street (e.g. One- haha – Two – haha) which is always amusing. The servings here are small (it’s fine dining after all!), so you may have to order side dishes or additional dishes if you have a large appetite.
I should have taken a photo of the menu as I can’t seem to remember a lot of what was in here except that it was good! We started off with the tasting plate for two. It consisted of four little ‘tasters’. From memory there was crayfish/crab (?), duck in spring rolls, feta in filo pastry and…some green thing which I obviously don’t remember what it was.
There was a bit of an extensive wait after the entrée. At this point we were starving so he couldn’t wait to get started and hurry up the photo taking process. He had the pork with soft shell crab. He did enjoy this dish a lot and was devoured rather quickly.
I had the confit chicken with gnocchi in a tomato based sauce. The chicken was tasty, although it was not as delicate as I would have expected for a confit cooked dish, but still moist nonetheless. The ‘soup’ was tomato based and rather unique, it was quite pleasant but still lacking a little something – perhaps it wasn’t quite what I was expecting it to to taste like.
We ordered a cheese platter to share. I cannot recall the name of this cheese but it had a raisin crust and may have been goat’s cheese. When I first had a taste, I actually did not like it. It’s very pungent and the ‘crust’ of the raisins was quite crunchy with the raisin seeds. He seemed to quite enjoy it, so I thought I would keep ploughing away. I still didn’t really like the raisin bit but the cheese eventually grew on me, the taste was quite smoky and it went well with the crispbread and sliced pear.
I have no idea if ther is a proper term for the bread accompanying the cheese, but it was oh so tasty. There was toasted fig bread (or raisin) which he happily demolished and the other was wafer thin crispbread with sesame and black poppy seeds. It’s almost like (maybe it is) the crusty bit of the bread being sliced up. It was very light and crispy! 
For dessert we both ordered the poached pear tart. The tart was tasty, it had a nice sweetess and the pear was nicely poached. The crust of the tart was excellent and the warm tart went beautifully with the cold vanilla ice cream. It probably wasn’t the best tart yet, but it was still one of the better ones I’ve had so far.
Had we not had the extra cheese platter, we might have made a trip to Maccas on the way home due to the small portion servings. However, after all those dishes we were pretty satisfied and not over stuffed as normal (which is a nice feeling). The service was friendly but the gap between dishes and to get the dessert menu was quite slow. There were quite a few groups that night and the fact that we were starving probably didn’t help. Having said that, we would come back to try the rest of the menu.
Service: 3 chips out of 5
Food: 4 chips out of 5
Spiral Spud Stick
I can’t go for very long without posting something related to the humble potato. December 2010 hosted the Subi Street Festival and I believe the first time that food stalls were introduced. Rokeby Road was closed up as a large number of stalls set up shop. Most stalls sold homemade arts and crafts, clothing and accessories. The food section was quite small, taking up a small laneway, there were only 5 food stalls from memory. The lines were long and my friend and I thought we would wander up and down the street a bit more before we decided on what to get. That was until I saw this stall. I believe the stall is also called Spiral Spud Stick (though I’m not sure if there are several businesses or just the one), and it literally was a single spud cut into spirals on a stick and then deep fried!
The line for this stall was also long, but I had seen pictures of this before and there was no way I could miss out – and boy was it good! I was told by the guy who was serving us that they are usually present at any festivals (Eat Drink Perth 2011 apparently – quite bummed I missed out), some of the markets and other special events.
The potatoes were cut thinly and pierced through with a stick, then lightly battered (I’m thinking with potato flour for extra crunch but I could be wrong). The outside was crisp and closer to the stick it was soft and fluffy. There are four flavours you can get: tomato sauce, chicken salt, chilli salt, sea salt. My friend and I opted for chilli. For me, this was pure heaven on a stick. Personally I would have liked the chilli to be a little bit spicier for an added kick but I suppose they must cater to others who like chilli but are not able to handle something too spicy (I was in that boat once too!). I think a handful of people came up to us at various times during the festival as we walked around asking us where we got it from.
I will definitely be looking out for this stall the next I am out and about. If this is the same place as where I got the spud stick from, the website is: http://www.spiralspudstick.com.au/index.html. There is also a list of locations where they have previously been. If you see this around next time, this is definitely worth a try and the wait in line. I’m craving one of these right now…
A little high tea-ed out
Over the past year, the craze of high tea seems to have sky rocketed. What was one of the reasons why I started this blog, has now made my stomach groan in protest. Don’t get me wrong, I love it! – nothing better then great company and great food on a lazy Sunday arvo, but I think my stomach and the rest of me is suffering a bit from the richness. Having said that, a friend will be doing a home-made version next month which I’m looking forward to, and I think there are more savouries this time round…mmmm savouries
KT stumbled across a post made by libertineeats where Origins was hosting a March special for Eat Drink Perth. High tea was great value at $30 a person.
Where: Origins, Pan Pacific Hotel (previously known as Sheraton)
When: Sunday afternoon, 24 March 2011
Parking: Free street parking, Wilson is attached to the hotel
Cost: $30pp
The food was great, dare I say, better than most I have been to. We started with the chicken and avocado wrap – not quite what I expected at high tea, but this was good! The chicken was chunky and the avocado was generously lathered on. Usually I like cucumber sandwiches with cucumber thinly sliced and a generous but not thick layer of cream cheese. In this instance, I found the cucumber to be a bit thicker than normal (but it was crunchy which shows it seems fresher than most places) and the cream cheese, although good, was overly generous (not that most would see this as a bad thing!). I found the cream cheese to overpower the sandwich a little, and the only reminder there was cucumber is the little crunch with each bite. As usual, I saved the salmon sandwich for last…my fav! The salmon was lovely and pink and was devoured so quick that I didn’t really get to experience the flavours, but I finished it with a happy grin on my face.
Apologies for photo quality, were were in the middle of the room where natural light was a little difficult and I prefer not to turn on flash where possible.
Most of us then skipped to scones, deciding to leave the sweets until last. The scones were cute, mini scones but a lot taller than normal. In this regard they seemed a little bit doughy and not the best scones I had. I was however quite excited by the single serves of jam/conserve and cream – it has irked me how some places provide such a small serving of jam and cream to ration amongst your friends. Here I could spread to my hearts content without having to worry whether the next person would be able to spread enough on their scones. The cream was light and airy but did not have much flavour, that would probably be due to the sweetness of the jam/conserve. I say conserve as the consistency was much thicker than your usual jams, it could just have been a particular brand that came in a large container so that they could roll the jam/conserve rather than dollop it on the little serving bowls. The quiche is worth mentioning…although simple to look at, it tasted very good. The egg and cheese were not overpowering and the consistency was light and fluffy. The pastry crumbled at each bite.
Lastly, the sweets! At this point I was thoroughly regretting having a small lunch prior to and I was starting to feel like my clothes were not big enough even though I was wearing a buffet dress. Unfortunately I did not get to try the ‘reindeer’ brownie but have been told that the vanilla cream and brownie was divine. I did manage to finish the coffee and cream shots, which were so soft, rich and creamy. As described by some of the girls, the consistency was similar to that of the ‘Yogo’ dessert and made each bite so easy. Before my body stopped in protest, I managed to squeeze in one quarter of the passionfruit meringue. The meringue was crisp on the outside but marshmallowy on the inside and the passionfruit worked perfectly in cutting through the sweetness.
I was a little disappointed the tea offered was the Twinings tea bag, as I had been expecting the loose leaf teas. However, they have a large selection on offer (although unfortunately 1/4 was unavailable that day) and you are able to get more pots without charge.
Service here was fantastic. The food was great and atmosphere was great. If they continue to offer afternoon tea here, I will definitely go back again in future.
