Fire Truck Cake

It was our son's birthday recently and for his party he requested a Fire Truck cake..
Oh boy, did I not know what I was getting myself into!

After a few dramas with the actual baking of the cake, it was time to decorate it.. I didn't have too much time, so the white fondant is not as smooth as I would have liked it to be, but some rolling trimming, cutting, painting and licorice rolling later, this is what emerged:

Luckily my son was happy with it :) But no more cake making for me for the next little while!

Tomatoes

We've had a vegie patch for a few years now - it always seems to die off a little during winter, but when spring comes, things just 'pop up' in it...

I've had the most success with tomatoes - each year I end up throwing the 'worm munched on' ones on the ground and miraculously the following year they turn into new bushes!


Here's some of the first ripe ones from this year - I'm not exactly sure what variety they are (it's been a few years since I planted the original ones from seedlings we made) but they are a small 'cherry tomato' type... And it looks like we're going to get quite a few of them... Last year we had so many that I ended up spending days drying them, so that we could freeze them and use them throughout the year... they were great for making soups!

Last year the bushes grew so tall that I ended up trimming the tops.. But this year we headed off to Garden World on Springvale Rd, and they had this little hot house set up with tomatoes hanging everywhere!! (They also had a set up like this for cucumbers - so cool!) So this year instead of trimming the bushes, I'm training them, tying them up with countless ties, hoping that they will make a cubby house like shelter, like the one I found at Garden World:

And on the topic of tomatoes - came across this idea in my internet travels - isn't it great?
(If anyone knows who originally posted this, please let me know so I can link to it).

Apple Pancakes

We were coming back from a drive today and wondered about what we should eat when we get home, without having to go to the shops to buy extra ingredients. The idea of apple pancakes came up and I'd like to share with you the recipe that I came up with for them. I must say I was quite surprised with how tasty they ended up! Also, these are quite filling, so the amount I made would be enough I think for about four people..

Ingredients I used for pancakes:

about 750ml milk

4 eggs

organic unbleached plain flour

3 apples (we had red ones, I think they were the pink lady ones)

Cream:

Thickened cream (I used about 300 ml)

Vanilla extract

1. Using an electric mixer, mix the thickened cream and about a teaspoon of vanilla extract until it thickens nicely. 

2. Peel, core and dice the apples into small pieces.

3. Pour the milk into a separate bowl, add in the 4 eggs and add in the flour as you mix with the electric mixer. If you like, you could probably add some vanilla extract or essence into this mixture. Also, some people like to add a little bit of lemon juice (I think it's meant to make the pancakes a bit crispier), but I didn't have any on hand. 

Keep mixing and adding the flour until the mixture becomes quite thick and it slowly pours off the spoon. I found that when adding the flour I pointed the mixer handles towards myself (opposite to what's in the picture) the flour stayed more contained in the bowl.

4. Add the chopped apples and mix with a spoon.

5. Heat oil in a pan (on low to medium heat), then pour on some of the mixture. These pancakes will not be perfectly round (bit hard to shape them with the apple pieces) and they'll be quite thick.

6. When the edges become brown, flip the pancakes over, pat them down a little and fry the other side until brown.

7. Once fried, place the pancakes on some paper towel to absorb some of the oil. I recommend taking them off the pan before they get too dark, like the one below!

8. Serve with cream and jam. You should be able to see pieces of apples, which should still be a little crunchy.

Let me know if you make these - or how you alter the recipe!