citrus cheesecake

The wonderful people that publish Australian Women's Weekly's cookery books, have produced a book on cakes, cookies and cheesecakes. We were having friends for dinner last week and I had two pots of Philadelphia cream cheese in the fridge. It was meant to be. I made citrus cheesecake topped with blue berries. Absolutely awesome first cheesecake attempt. ever.

buttery orange cake >> cup cakes

I had some clementines that were just awful to peel. Decided the best plan was to juice them into a cake. Australian Women's Weekly have an excellent book titled "Best Food", and in there is a great recipe for Buttery Orange Cake. I made it into cupcakes. The only downside is the cooking time: 45 minutes until they're golden. Anyway, they're delicious so it's worth the while

quiche lorraine from charlotte

My dear friend Charlotte is a baking whizz and recently shared her fabulously light and tasty Quiche Lorraine recipe with me. It is scrumptious and takes about an hour in total to produce. It uses a mere 50g of gruyere which flavours the quiche entirely without overwhelming it. It is not stodgy or heavy. Really a most excellent creation.

melktert/ milktart

Milktart or "melktert" as it is colloquially known is a rich, custard tart usually in a soft pastry shell (not biscuit). It's served slightly warm or cold. The commercial offerings are usually about an inch high and cream coloured. My product was at least 2 1/2 inches high and a rich eggy yellow. You dust it with cinnamon before serving. I produced 2 of them (using 7 eggs in all) - one for (what I thought was...) International Book Week at Calvin's nursery, and the other went to the office with HRH. All devoured.