My Camera Birthday Cake

When I was looking for a new camera last year, I thought it would be nice to buy a green one. Unfortunately the camera that I wanted didn’t come in green. Luckily birthdays make everything possible and wishes come true. I decided that on my birthday this year I would have a green camera. A green camera birthday cake.

Actually, I first decided on a camera cake because my camera is so constantly in use with blogging and Sylvia. Green frosting seemed like fun as well as wish fulfillment. I usually make a walnut fudge cake for my birthday but this year seemed a good one for a novelty cake. However, with the rest of the preparation for the birthday lunch, my energy was limited. I looked on the web for some ideas. It had to be fairly easy so I preferred the camera flat on its back rather than standing up.

As my own camera is a Canon PowerShot SX110IS, I decided I would make one that looked a bit like it. Though the writing on it is so small that I didn’t even attempt to get that on the cake, just a few representative symbols. While it is not perfect (I miss the viewfinder), one of my favourite features is the flash only goes off when you flip it up rather than when the camera feels like it. Blogging has taught me the beauty of photos without the flash and this camera is so good that I rarely need to use the flash. In fact, if I need to use it, it is very dark and it is not worth taking a photos. This is all very well with food, which always stays still, but less easy with people especially babies who just keep moving. For every gorgeous picture of Sylvia, I have many blurred ones. Thank goodness for digital photography. Ah, bloggers love camera talk, and if you want more discussion on photography, check out this post by Melbourne Gastronome with all the comments. But I digress. Though I rarely use my flash, I chose to have a flash up on my cake because it helps represent a camera.

It was not my finest moment in cake decoration. I was so busy thinking “mmmm… green white chocolate cream cheese frosting”, that I didn’t do much further planning for decoration. Fortunately I forgot to buy cream cheese, and had to make a quick trip to the supermarket on the morning of decorating the cake. While I was there I decided to buy a packet of liquorice allsorts.

I did think about buying fruit leathers but couldn’t see any in green (why?), though there were ones with green stripes that I could have chopped up. Later I thought, if I had been more prepared I could have bought some coloured chocolate buttons from the Victoria Market. I love how liquorice looks but am not sure it is the right taste on the cake. I could have piped icing but was not sure I had the patience while watching Sylvia chase Zinc.

As it was, the frosting was delicious and was much easier to spread than the usual plain icing sugar and water with a little butter that I often use or the ganache I recently used. I was inspired by the white chocolate ganache on Dash’s airplane cake but wanted it to be less rich. I also decided to make mud cake, because it held its shape well for Dash’s cake. However, because there would be a few kids about, I decided to make it without alcohol.

It seemed a good decision to leave out the alcohol when I gave Sylvia a wee taste. I wasn’t sure she would take to the chocolate but she is her mother’s daughter and loved it. The other kids did too although Grace was not keen on her gf cake. Susie didn’t comment on the gf cake but did say how much she loved the frosting. The frosting was fantastic - even better than the white chocolate ganache - but the recipe made far more than I needed. I still have a couple of cups of it in the freezer.

Although the cake was enjoyed by everyone, small pieces were quite sufficient and we had a lot leftover. I confess I wasn’t too upset. It was delicious and I was pleased to still have some when my actual birthday came around. Below is what I did.

How to Make a Camera Cake

What you will need:

• 1 rectangular mud cake baked in a lamington tin (20 x 30 cm)
• 1 flatter 20cm diameter round mud cake
• 1 small gluten free mud cake, optional
• about 1½ to 2 cups of white chocolate cream cheese frosting

NB: See below for recipes for these

For decoration:

• liquorice allsorts and bullets

or

• green and brown chocolate buttons

or

• green and dark purple or red fruit leathers

• yellow sparkles
  

Cover a large oven tray with foil (or use a large cake platter or tray if you have one that is large enough). Place large rectangular cake on the tray.

Here is what I did – I took a ruler and measured a photo of a camera cake and then multiplied it to be about the same size as my cake. It helped me to work out the proportions. You could even measure your camera if you wanted the cake to look like it.

Take a ruler and measure the long side. Use a sharp knife to mark the flash at the top of the camera. It should be about 8cm wide, about 4 or 5 cm long, and be about 8 cm from the right edge of the cake. Before cutting, take the round cake and place it on top of the rectangular cake so that the flash is lined up with the centre of the cake. If this looks right, cut away the flash, if not move it so it does look right.

Once you have cut the flash, you should now cut the long off cuts to make a bar that is about 4 cm wide along the left side of the cake. It took me a bit of trimming the off cuts so that they all sat together uniformly.

Now check your decorations look right before you put on the icing. It took me a few goes to get mine right and is easier to do without the icing or frosting. I chopped off the green ends of liquorice allsorts but you could also use chocolate buttons or fruit leather or even pipe firm darker coloured icing. If I did it again I think I might go around the outline of the whole camera not just the flash and lens but this would have taken more planning so it depends on of you are reading this as you are about to decorate the cake or a week beforehand!

Use a pastry brush to brush away as many crumbs as possible. If desired you could sandwich the round cake onto the rectangular one with some frosting, but I don’t bother. Cover the cake with green frosting and smooth it over with a butter knife as much as you can.

Place your decorations on the cake. I used black liquorice to outline the flash and lens and then green to do swirls to represent the opening of the lens. I used yellow sparkles to fill the flash. I chopped up liquorice to make marks where there is writing on my camera. It doesn’t actually just say canon along the side but this was the easiest thing to write with liquorice. (Hey, if you want to try writing PowerShot SX110IS along the side, you are welcome – though in retrospect I think I might write SX110IS rather than a brandname.)

Finally ice and decorate your gluten free cake and place candles on it, if you are doing a gf cake. Now you are ready to display the cake to your guests.

Mud cake

330g butter, chopped
200g dark chocolate, chopped
1⅓ cup hot water
2⅔ cups sugar (I used both castor and raw sugars)
⅓ cup pomegranate juice
½ tbsp ground wattleseeds (or coffee granules)
2 cups plain flour
½ cup self raising flour
⅓ cup cocoa
3 eggs
1-2 tbsp gluten free flour and pinch of baking powder (optional)

White chocolate cream cheese frosting:
adapted from Fabulous Foods
makes about 3½ cups

750g cream cheese, at room temperature
180g white chocolate (I used Cadbury)
¼ cup butter, at room temperature
2½ cups icing sugar
food dye, optional

Grease and line a lamington tin and a 20cm round cake tin.. Preheat oven to 160ºC.

Combine butter, chocolate, water, sugar and cranberry juice in a large bowl and microwave til melted – it will be a watery speckled mixture but will be smooth once flour is in. Cool slightly. Sift in cocoa and stir in eggs.

If you would like a gluten free small cake for gf family and/or friends, take a small amount (about ¼ - ½ cup) of the mixture and place in a separate bowl. Mix in gf flour and baking powder. Pour into a small greased and lined cake tin – I use a ramekin but I have used muffin cups before. This will be the cake that the candles go on.

Now sift flours into remaining mixture. Mix til mixture is smooth but it will still be runny. Pour into prepared cake tins. The batter in the lamington tin should be twice as high as in the round tin.

Bake 40-50 minutes for the large cake and I think about 30 minutes for the round cake – mine was on a lower rack in the oven so it took a bit longer. Ditto for the small gluten free cake. Times will vary for each cake so check early to see if the middle is firming up quickly or not. Don’t worry too much if it is a little undercooked but for this cake you don’t want it sinking in the middle so test with a skewer in the middle to check it is cooked before removing from the oven. Cool for at least 30 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool or cool in the tin.

To make frosting:
Melt white chocolate in a large bowl together. Cool to lukewarm (I didn’t cool as much as I should have and had a few little lumps of white chocolate in my mixture). Rather than beat cream cheese and butter separately, I beat them with the melted white chocolate, using an electric beater. Gradually beat in icing sugar. Frosting will be quite fluffy and easy to spread.

On the Stereo:
The Love Songs of Burt Bacharach: Various Artists

A week of firsts

Life here is full of change. This past week has seemed particularly so. Within a few days I learnt of one friend becoming pregnant and the partner of a friend suddenly dying. Sylvia has a new tooth that came through yesterday. She has had a week of many firsts. It is quite a list.

I saw a quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson on my friend Jo’s blog. It summed up the relentless progress of life which we try to capture with diaries and blogs and photos.

“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.”

Cartier-Bresson might have been referring to babies or food when he wrote this. In particular, Sylvia has been making a lot of progress with eating. I am glad she is now eating bread. It opens up many possibilities. At Hellenic Republic a couple of weeks ago she had her first taste of restaurant food – some pita bread. But her favourite food is still fruit. Her little face lights up whenever I pick up a nectarine.

It is busy days here. I return to work in a week so I expect my blogging to be less frequent but I hope to still post regularly. I am already struggling to read all the blogs in my blogreader so apologies if my commenting is also less frequent. (It is also an appropriate time to apologise that my formatting is not great lately as I am having some hiccups with posting.) I have a few nice recipes to post but it all seems slow going. Here is her list of firsts from the last week. Having firsts isn’t limited to babies so I have given E and me a list each at the end of this.

Sylvia’s firsts:

• First swim in a pool – if you can call standing in a corner poking gum leaves in the air vents swimming. I have booked her into swimming lessons this year, which should be fun.
• First missing button on her top – don’t know where or when it disappeared – just hope we might find it before she does.
• First piece of cake – she asked for it and surprisingly ate a few small chunks. Her dad was pleased it was a little neofolk – a vegan plum and walnut cake with a little buckwheat (recipe to come soon).
• First time eating peas whole – she is fascinated by the little green orbs – no doubt she loves green like her mum – she loves to pick them up, study them and put them in her mouth but about half fall out.
• First tomato – hard to know if she has swallowed – so many fall out but I think a few have landed in her roly poly tummy.
• First piece of pineapple – a new love – she gobbles up pieces of fresh pineapple – we have never eaten so much of it before in our house.
• First discovery of how to open the bin - so much fascinating stuff in there for a baby!
  
• First taste of sourdough bread – not a success – she spat it out. She is still not keen on sour tastes but we will keep trying.
• First time standing up without immediately falling on the nearest wall or piece of furniture for support.
• First taste of lime juice – see below
• First instance of eating from my plate – I have usually stopped the little hands that are eager to dig into my dinner but when she was really upset I did it to keep her calm (oh dear she is already emotionally eating) and because it was a rice and vegetable dish with a squeeze of lime juice so nothing that she couldn’t eat. Much of what she took ended up on the floor. But she felt like a grown up.
• First tofu scramble – I was so happy that she was eating the sort of food we eat. I served it with less seasoning than ours and some of the above rice and vegetables. She wouldn’t eat it from a spoon but picked bits and ate it when I used my fingers. Much of this landed on the floor too but she seemed to like tofu with a bit of tamari. Ours was delicious and great on toast the next morning.
• First taste of tamari – didn’t make a fuss but I suspect a bit of pineapple made it more palatable in the tofu scramble.
• First taste of cow’s milk in her cereal – a complete disaster. She has now given up eating cereal. Some subterfuge might be required. Maybe she just wants to be a vegan. She is not keen on cheese either.
• First play with her new squirters in the bath - who doesn't want an alien squirter in their bath!
  
• First attempt to climb out of the bath – I put a halt to that as it is not the place for such shenanigans.
• First butter on toast - went down quite well. Of course you can guess which sides ends up on the floor when it gets thrown over the side of the high chair.
  
• First promite on toast - it was only the tiniest scrape but was not quite as welcome as the butter.
  
• First time in her new playpen - to save our sanity - especially when she is chasing Zinc.
  
• First pikelets – she was starving as I cooked the baby pancakes and her little teeth kept biting at my jeans. Once the pikelets were cooked she ate a few mouthfuls greedily. Then suddenly she wouldn’t eat a bit of them. Why it is desirable one moment and not in the next is a mystery but probably has some relation to how desperately hungry she is.
  

My firsts:

• First macaron – having read about them often on blogs, I finally brought a macaron at Browns. Now I understand the excitement. I might even try baking them some time if I feel really brave.
• First visit to the local outdoor swimming pool – I went with Sylvia and some of her little friends. Reminded me of my childhood swimming in an unheated pool. Reminded me of why I usually go to the indoor pool.
• First experience of taking back an unopened packet of brown rice infested with weevils to get my money back from the supermarket - now I have some suspicions of why I occasionally discover weevils in my pantry - most displeased!
  
• First attempt at making eggless pikelets/pancakes – not bad – see below.
• First glimpse of digital tv at home – our first viewing was Torchwood. Love the program but have missed many episodes since it filmed on analogue.
• First trip to the Australian Open to watch tennis – more about this in another post.
  

E’s firsts:

• First week in a secondment at work
• First opportunity to play with the new set top box for digital tv – he loves having yet another remote control – so does Sylvia!
• First time preparing Sylvia’s breakfast – he has fed her breakfast before but not prepared. However when I am back at work he will have a day at home with her and will need to take more responsibility.
• First time peeling a banana – I can’t verify this but he had to have some guidance when he prepared Sylvia’s breakfast this morning. He looked at the banana in bemusement. I asked when was the last time he had one. He guessed that it might have been 1973. So I guess his mother might have peeled it for him. He has learnt an important life skill.
  

So many shiny new experiences in our house. So much change. I can guarantee there will be more. I want to try tweaking the pikelet recipe and want to try making pizza for Sylvia (Aodhan liked it so she might too).

Meanwhile here is what I did with the pikelets. I have called them eggless because I used cow’s milk but I am sure they would be easily veganised with non-dairy milk. They are still a bit of work in progress. I added some baking powder because I like my pancakes fluffy rather than flat. These were a bit gooey inside but I still enjoyed them with promite on the plain ones and cream cheese and jam on the banana ricotta variation. Well someone had to eat them!

Eggless Pikelets
Adapted from Somthing about Penguins

1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1¼ cup milk
¼ cup apple puree

Banana and Ricotta variation
1 banana, mashed
2 dessertspoons of ricotta

Mix flour, baking powder, milk and apple puree (and banana and ricotta if you choose to add these). Drop dessertspoonfuls on a buttered or oiled frypan over medium high heat. Cook til bubbling and then turn over and cook for another minute or two or until golden brown spots appear on the underside. Eat warm or cold on the day you make them.

On the Stereo:
On the Rocks: Part 1: Various Artists

Tetris, the Foolish Hedgehog and Brunch

I don’t like change. When I find a mesmerizing computer game, I am loyal (or addicted). When I set up the furniture in a room, I am happy for it to stay that way forever. When I have the hedgehog recipe that my mum has been making for me since I was a small, I believe it is the one. Babies, heat and a curiosity in new recipes are all great catalysts for change.

Since Sylvia has arrived, we have now rearranged furniture in all our rooms. The most recent configuration happened on this weekend when my dad, brother, Paul, sister, Fran and her partner, John all came over to help. Paul and John were amazing in moving a sofa bed with great ease. Dad helped to put a baby gate to the bathroom where Zinc’s food and cat litter is kept. They all helped with moving our bed and putting up a new cot for Sylvia.

This is major change. Sylvia now has her own bedroom. We have lost a study and gained a bigger, more crowded bedroom. Our place is so small that for us to move anything, required another piece of furniture to go elsewhere. Both Fran and Paul entered the house on Sunday morning and said it is like Tetris.

Ah, Tetris takes me back to the first computer I ever owned. An Apple Mac Classic II. It was small and clunky and grey compared to the bright, streamlined computers of today. But it got me through a Masters thesis as well as many other tasks. Being a student, I spent a lot of my time procrastinating in front of tetris, watching the little blocks fall from the sky to click together if I could run around (figuratively speaking as it was actually my mouse racing around) to organise it. This weekend, it felt like the computer game had become my reality, though fortunately I didn’t do any of the heavy lifting.

More change is yet to come before things settle, as our loungeroom is currently in upheaval with a new sofa added to the mix. Luckily I am used to a bit of a mess in our house. Here is a photo from the bedroom after the move.

I avoided all the tidying up needed for such a move and put my mind to the important matters: what to feed everyone? It was agreed that the early morning – before the heat – suited everyone so I decided to make a brunch dish. Potatoes, sausages (vegetarian of course) and tomatoes are a classic breakfast combination. I had thought about making everything the night before but we were doing all the last moment shifting stuff about so I didn’t have the energy.

When I rose the next morning I knew what I needed to do. I used this aloo jeera recipe for guidance in cooking the potatoes on the stovetop, which seemed quicker in the morning than roasting. One they were done, I could leave this dish to slowly cook on the stovetop as we ran around with measuring tapes and shifting more stuff. Once the potatoes had cooked, I just needed to stir it all occasionally.

‘Does anyone want something to eat,’ I asked. No, I’m fine, came the reply from everyone. Paul decided he would have a bit and enjoyed it. E loved it and so did I. Although not many of our workers needed feeding, it was a great dish to have on a day when I didn’t feel like preparing meals. It served us for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Of course, when they all said they didn’t need brunch, I wasn’t about to take no for an answer. If they didn’t want the potato and sausages, then I suggested they might want some hedgehog or fruit salad that I had made the day before.

My dad went the healthy route and had some fruit salad while John’s sweet tooth prevailed and he had the hedgehog. So there was something for everyone. And no one went away empty handed. I packaged up little tubs of hedgehog for all of them to take home. The feedback was that it was very pleasing.

Meanwhile at our place, E told me it was the best hedgehog I had ever made. Blasphemer! Doesn’t he know it is not the one that I have grown up on! However, I have to admit this was a very good hedgehog. I was first tempted to make it when I saw Steph post the recipe. Then Lisa brought some along to the vegan pot luck picnic and I was smitten.

But there was another reason I was tempted to make this recipe. It was an excellent way to use up some choc chips because it was forecast to be a scorching 41 C on Monday. On our last horribly hot day, one of our good blocks of chocolate was ruined. So this time I was taking no chances. I particularly wanted a recipe that did not require me to turn on the oven because the weather was already hot enough.

Steph’s hedgehog is a richer, veganised version of my mum’s. It was a lot more gooey and made more pieces than the one I know and love but tasted surprisingly similar. I found the mixture so soft that I added more biscuits and some coconut. Rather than leave it out of the fridge once set, as I usually do, I found I had to leave it in the fridge. Even the fridge could not detract from its utter utter deliciousness.

I thought that Sylvia might like to help with crushing the biscuits for the hedgehog. But she just played with her little rolling pin and wanted my big one too. I thought this photo is a good illustration of how much of a hoarder I am. I was crushing the biscuits in a paper bag I bought souvenirs in when visiting New Zealand almost 5 years ago. The paper bag resurfaced during a recent clean up.

Unfortunately, it cannot all be marvelous successes in my kitchen (I have had two failures today so I can confidently say this). When I made the fruit salad I had discovered a punnet of gooseberries that I had bought to sate my curiosity about gooseberry fool. I tried a version with yoghurt rather than cream and found it was only good as sauce for the hedgehog. The work-in-progress recipe is below and I hope I will refine it at a later stage.

So covered with gooseberry fool, I had a rather foolish hedgehog. However foolish or not, this is a delicious slice that is a great indulgence in hot weather and a wonderful way to say thank you for hard tetris work. It just proves that even my favourite recipes can cope with change.

Potato, Sausage and Tomato Brunch
serves about 6 people

2 red onions, thinly sliced
7-8 medium potatoes (I used red skinned ones such as desiree), diced
12 vegetarian sausages (I used Sanitarium)
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp seeded mustard
generous dash of smoked paprika
generous pinch of salt
dash of cayenne pepper
3 chopped tomatoes and chopped chives to serve

Fry onions in 2 tbsp oil in a large frypan over low heat for about 5 minutes and then remove to medium frypan to cook slowly. Turn up heat to medium and add potatoes to large frypan. Fry, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add couple of spoons of water and cook with a lid over them for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile grill (or broil) sausages so they are well browned. I brown them each side and then turn off the heat and shut the grill for about 5 or so minutes so they brwn evenly. When they are done, cut into 1cm slices.

Stir in onions, sausages and remaining ingredients. Tip in a little water. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes without lifting the lid. Then lower the heat and gently cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve topped with a few spoons of freshly chopped tomatoes and a sprinkle of chives.

Steph’s Vegan Hedgehog
adapted from Vegan about Town

200 grams dark choc chips
200 grams Nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)
½ cup of raw sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 teaspoon golden syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
3 soup spoons of apple sauce
250 grams Nice biscuits (I used Marie biscuits which are not vegan)
1 cup of pecans, chopped
½ cup of dried cranberries

½ cup desiccated coconut

Melt the chocolate in a large bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then add margarine, sugar, cocoa, golden syrup and vanilla. Microwave for a minute or two until everything is melted. Stir in apple sauce.

Place biscuits in a paper bag and bang and crush with rolling pin til in small pieces. Add to chocolate mixture with the pecans and cranberries. Mix well.

Spoon into a lined slice tray (18 x 28cm) and flatten with the back of your spoon. Refrigerate for at least a few hours before cutting into small squares. Keep in fridge.

Gooseberry Fool (work in progress)
adapted from Albion Cooks
Makes a small quantity – for about 2 people?

125g gooseberries
water
2 dessertspoons sugar (more?)
2 tsp honey (less?)
¼ cup thick Greek yoghurt (?)

Trim the tops and tails from gooseberries and discard. Place trimmed gooseberries in a small saucepan and cover with water. Add the sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes (I did 5). Here the recipe says to drain off half the liquid. I didn’t do this and regretted it. Strain gooseberry mixture through a sieve. Taste and add sugar if too tart – I added honey but the flavour was quite dominant so next time might just add sugar. Cool. Fold yoghurt into mixture and serve in parfait glasses or ramekins. Or pour over hedgehog if it looks just like sauce.

On the Stereo:
Scott sings songs from his tv series: Scott Walker

Potluck in Prinny Park

Ah blogging! Isn't it wonderful! Not only do I meet lovely people through blogs but last week I got to share food with them and when I was too late to know who made what, I was able to find out later by reading Steph's post on the vegan potluck picnic. I will tell you about the quiches and truffles I made but I recommend you check out Steph's gorgeous foodie photos if you want to know about the full meal.



Cindy kindly invited me and I was happy when I was able to go. It was to start at 6 or 7pm which was when we would be feeding and bathing Sylvia, plus E had a cold, so I went alone. Although I have met with bloggers on a few other occasions, this was my first experience of cooking for other bloggers, and it had to be vegan. It felt a little scary but I have read enough to know food bloggers are forgiving people who make great food and the odd mistake. Besides, I make plenty of vegan food.



However, I will readily admit to being one of the food bloggers who makes the occasionally mistake. We all know that when cooking for others, we should stick to recipes we know are failproof. But where is the fun in that?



I chanced upon a recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen for Mini Crustless Tofu Quiches. It is one I have wanted to make for ages because I thought it might be a good idea for my sister with celiac disease. They might also suit those on a low-carb diet.



I was hopelessly disorganised. The day before the potluck I went to the local health food store because I had run out of nutritional yeast flakes but they were closed for the Boxing Day holiday. Fortunately I had also fancied trying Ricki's Egg-Free Quiche with Millet Crust (luckily I had bookmarked it because I couldn't find it on her index - must be the one that got away!).



So I created the quiches with inspiration from these two recipes. I suspect I might have had better luck following either recipe closely because mine were a little more moist than I had planned. You can see above that half of them stuck to the silicone moulds. They tasted good but next time I would like them firmer. Perhaps more cornflour, less milk or firmer tofu might help. I did like the cute little cherry tomato slices on top. I have written what I did below but it is a work in progress recipe.



Concerned about these mini quiches, I decided I needed another dish. Fate directed me to Kristy's Almond Fudge (she is formerly of Kblog but now at a new home called In the Mood for Noodles). Dates and almond butter rolled into truffle-like balls, these were a cross between Ricki's Chocolate Cashew Truffles and her Cocoa Nibbles. I then saw the dates should soak overnight in soy milk. Bah to that on the morning of the picnic! I decided to gently heat my dates in cranberry juice and add some dried cranberries. I was tempted to also add some orange zest and cinnamon but didn't have the time for hard decisions on flavourings.



These cranberry almond truffles were excellent. Lots of chocolate flavour, a little fruity and lots of coconut and nut texture, they were like a grown-up vegan gluten-free version of grubs. I can give no higher praise. I took some leftovers to Geelong the next day and my mum and sister Chris loved them but they were quite rich for my sister Susie and for E, so you have been warned.



Cindy had suggested the starting time was between 6 and 7pm. To me that means I can leave at 7. Sylvia decided to be on a late schedule and slept at 5pm. I had tried to get her to sleep earlier but it took me, E and Zinc all sleeping on the bed with her (and a bit of guitar and feeding) to get her down. When I rose I decided we were so low on bread I should make scones and that I needed to make a quick pumpkin and lentil puree for Sylvia.



I wanted a quick scone recipe with oats. The one I found said to soak the oats for 30 minutes but I only did it for about 15 minutes and the scones were a tad heavy. Sylvia cried when we tried to feed her the puree so I might as well have skipped the scones and puree and got there earlier but you can only try.



By the time I arrived at the picnic it was after 7 and the feasting had already been going for some time because most people had started eating at 6pm.When I arrived, Cindy kindly served me some of her amazing combination of savoury avocado and tomato icecream with corn chips (nacho sundaes?). I enjoyed sampling Bec's nutty filled vol au vents, Toby's sushi and polished off Kristy's amazing chickpea and smoked tofu pate. By then desserts were calling me. Lisa's hedgehog, Danni's version of these oreo truffles, Kristy's cheesecake truffles and Tahn's chocolate banana bread filled me with chocolate happiness. I was grateful for Tahn's fruit platter to give my arteries a breather. Sadly, I didn't even get to the drinks and the corner with Carla and Vicki's food. Never let anyone tell you that vegans can't eat well!



It was great to meet the people behind the blogs I love to read. I find a large group overwhelming and didn't manage to talk to everyone but I had some good conversations and felt very welcome. Even Lisa's cute little dog Kimba came over for a snuggle. It was a lovely balmy summer's evening for meeting up in Princes Park, my old stomping ground. I managed to leave my sunglasses behind, almost destroyed Toby's ipod speakers and left with a few mozzie bites but I really enjoyed spending time with fellow foodies and bloggers.



Almond, Date and Cranberry Truffles

adapted from In the Mood for Noodles

makes lots (at least 30)



½ cup dates

¼ cup dried cranberries

½ cup cranberry juice

250g jar of almond butter

½ cup cocoa

1 cup dessicated coconut

extra coconut for coating truffles



Finely chop dates and cranberries. Place in small saucepan with cranberry juice and bring to boil. Simmer gently for about 3 minutes or til fruit is softening and most but not all juice is absorbed. Cool slightly if you have time. Stir in almond butter, cocoa and coconut to make a stiff mixture. Roll into balls about the size of walnuts and toss in extra coconut.



Mini Tofu Crustless Quiches

inspired by Diet, Dessert and Dogs and FatFree Vegan Kitchen

makes 12-20 depending on size



1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

kernels of 1 corn cob

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

100g baby spinach, finely chopped

300g silken tofu

10 sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp tahini

2 tsp white miso (though 1 might be enough)

1 tsp tamari or soy sauce

¼ tsp smoked paprika

dash of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp cornflour

3 tbsp soy milk

sliced cherry tomatoes, for decoration



Heat oil in a frypan and fry onion on low heat for about 10 minutes. Add garlic, corn and thyme and fry for another 10 minutes. Add spinach and cook another 2 minutes or until it is just wilted.



Meanwhile blend tofu, sun dried tomatoes, tahini, white miso, tamari, smoked paprika and cayenne in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Taste to check seasoning and adjust if necessary. Tip into a large mixing bowl.



In a small bowl or mug dissolve cornflour in soy milk.



Add vegetable mixture and cornflour mixture to the tofu mixture and stir to combine. Spoon into mini muffin trays. I made about 20 but you can make them a bit bigger and have less. My mini muffin trays are silicone so I didn't grease but as they stuck to one tray I wonder if I should have lined them with paper cups. Push a cherry tomato slice into the top of each quiche so the sides of the slice are submerged in the mixture and only the top can be seen.



Bake for about 30 minutes at 190 C. You can eat them hot but they will need to sit for 10-20 minutes and even then will be very soft. I put mine in the fridge overnight and found they held together a bit better that way. We ate them cold but I think they could be rewarmed in the oven.



Oat and Barley Scones

from Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder (also in Cuisine 26/2/2007, Fiona Smith, Issue 121)

makes 16



½ cup pearl barley

½ cup rolled oats

200ml milk plus a little extra if needed

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

75g butter



NOTE: I didn't have time to soak barley so I used another ½ cup rolled oats but would like to try this with pearl barley. Instead I used ½ cup barley flour instead of the wholemeal flour. I also used margarine and soy milk (getting in the vegan potluck vibe). I only soaked the oats 15 minutes and the scones were a bit heavy but will report back if I get to try these again.



Soak barley in a bowl of cold water overnight. Before making scones, drain barley and rinse with cold water. Then place soaked and drained barley in a bowl with oats and milk for 30 minutes.



Preheat the oven to 200°C. Sift together the flours, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (this can be done in a food processor). Using a knife, gently mix in the barley mixture to form a ball of dough (add a little more milk if the dough doesn’t come together easily).



The less this dough is handled the better. Turn out on to a floured board and gently roll out to a 1.5cm thickness. Cut out circles using a 6cm scone cutter. Gently knead the off-cuts together and roll out again to cut more scones until you have used all the dough.



Place on a floured baking tray (I greased mine). Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked. Cool on a wire rack.



Serving suggestion: Serve with creamy blue cheese and raspberry jam.



On the Stereo:

From the Witchwood: the Strawbs