Get your orders in for a cake this Mothers Day!
Because Mums' like to think of themselves as dainty wee things, I will be making dainty wee cakes. Choose from Lemon, Black Grape & Lavender OR Rhubarb, Raspberry & Rosewater.
Cakes are 18cm, two layered, and feed 6-8 people. $30 each.
Orders in no later than 5pm Thursday the 9th.
Monday Funday, Anzac Day, Theatre outings, Sibling dates, Glorious Market Mornings.
And, as always,
cake
cake
cake.
This was my week.
Earlier this week I asked you to tell me your ultimate Kiwi Cake, to help me out with a bit of inspiration for this Thursdays Anzac Day market. You certainly are a creative lot! My word we do have some fabulous sweeties and yum yums here in the homeland which in my opinion, were born to live on cake.
Go to my facebook page to check out the epic list of suggestions.
**DRUM ROLL PLEASE**
After much deliberating between me, myself and I, we have a winner. Well, actually...a few winners! If I were an octopus with wooden spoons on each limb I would MAKE THEM ALL!
I loved the lolly cake, griffins biscuits, golden syrupy anzac bikey hokey pokey ideas... and I will be including these in some way on Thursdays cake menu.
Runner up goes to Genevieve Brandts Giesen for 'The Roast', which I will be making with beetroot, parsnip, pumpkin and carrot and kumura, topped with an Anzac Biscuit Crumble topping. Girl, you can come and see me Thursday for a box of cake!
Congrats to our winner, Cassandra Hawke...l loved your suggestion of a 'Flat White' Cake, as coffee and cake is the ultimate NZ past time and no one makes a flat white like a babe'n kiwi barrister! I'll be using locally roasted coffee to make this cake, topped with a fluffy icing and crowned with some of our favourite kiwi biscuits, to compliment our afternoon tea treat! I'll be in touch with Cassandra to sort her out with some cake.
Thursdays cakes are going to be off the chain, and I anticipate a quick sell out so don't dilly dally!
It has been a great week to be cooped up in the kitchen. Hi winter, nice to have you on board. Another eventful week has flown by, with a drizzly Saturday making for a quiet market day - thank god for hot coffee and scrumptious Posh Porridge to keep the belly warm and spirits high! New Regent Street officially opened on Saturday, and I am excited to announce that cakes By Anna will be available on the daily at Shop Eight, a delightful little cafe run by Liz Phelan. Rekindle have found their way into this space, and the addition of their beautiful furniture and upstairs work shop help create a very special, one-of-a-kind coffee shop. Liz has kept things simple, offering great coffee, cake, and a small breakfast and lunch menu. Open seven days, this is definitely going to become my daily hang out (until they get sick of me and issue a restraining order.) I suggest you pop along and check it out for yourself, quick smart! Of course, cakes were also made this week. Girl's gotta eat!
This week's cake is an absolute revelation. I can't take credit for this recipe - it was this baking superstar who introduced me to the marvelous marriage of avocado and chocolate, in cake form. This cake has featured at the Christchurch Farmers Market on occasion, and I love how it challenges people to be a little more adventurous in trying unusual, unexpected flavour combinations. The avocado flavour in the cake itself is subtle, so I love to top things off with a lovely green avocado icing. Make sure your avocados are ripe and the flesh is free of brown spots. A Chocolate Avocado Cake
3 cups flour
6 tbsp cocoa
pinch of salt
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1⁄4 cup oil
1 small avocado
2 cups water
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla
Avocado Icing
1 avocado, pureed
approx 400g icing sugar
juice of half a lemon
50g dairy free spread (I use Olivani)
Turn your oven on to 160 degrees, and prepare two 24cm cake tins by greasing the sides, and lining the bases with baking paper.
Scoop the flesh from the avocado, and puree till completely smooth. Combine with water, vanilla, vinegar, oil, and sugar. Mix the remaining dry ingredients, and add to avocado mixture, gently mixing to form a smooth batter. Divide evenly between the two tins and bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until cakes spring bake when gently pressed in the centre.
Remove from tins and cool completely before icing.
To make the avocado icing, whizz together the avocado, lemon, and dairy free spread, then add the icing sugar, a cup at a time, to make a fluffy spreadable icing. The amount of icing sugar required will depend on the size of your avocado and the amount of lemon juice added, so you will just have to use your common sense on this one!
Layer and top the cake with this icing, and scatter with roughly chopped dark chocolate. You don't have to worry about the icing turning brown - the lemon juice helps you out here!
Autumn is here, and along with it comes a bountiful supply of scrumptious fruit and vege, just calling out to be featured in a cake! I will be making a few changes to the cake menu...think rhubarb, figs, and punpkin, to name a few!
Here are some snaps from this weeks cake antics.
Don't forget to follow cakesbyanna on instagram to stay update with daily cake happenings.
Each Friday, during the next six weeks, my cake-loving friends at Roughan Chiropractic will be accompanied by one of my cakes, as part of their Food Focus Project. Together, we have come up with an exciting cake menu, that involves lots of fresh produce, low fat and sugar options, and vegan and gluten free cakes. You are very welcome to pop by their clinic at 316 Riccarton Road and grab a slice. Over the next six weeks I will upload the recipes here so you can dabble in some cake making of your own.
This first one is a goodie. It is one of my most versatile recipes - originally a vegan carrot cake recipe, I change the vege and fruits to whatever is on hand - think apples, courgettes, pear, parsnip, kumara, beetroot. This is one of my favourite combinations...
 A Beetroot Parsnip Apple Cake with fresh Ginger
420g wholemeal flour
200g brown sugar
200g white sugar
1⁄2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
3⁄4 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
4 cups grated beetroot, apple, parsnip
A chunk of fresh ginger, grated (very airy-fairy instructions here - amount depends on your taste!)
1 1⁄4 cup canola or soya bean oil
3⁄4 cup fresh orange juice
3⁄4 cup coconut (optional)
Turn your oven on to 160 degrees, and prepare two 24cm cake tins by greasing the sides, and lining the bases with baking paper.
Combine the grated fruit and veg with the oil, orange juice, ginger, coconut, and sugars. Combine the remaining dry ingredients, and add to wet mixture, which will be a lovely pink colour (probably matching your beet-stained hands. Woo!) Mix well, and divide between the two tins. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, although time will vary depending on your oven, so you will have to use your common sense on this one!
When the cakes are cool, I like to layer and top them with a lemon ginger icing. If you add fresh lemon juice and rind, and fresh ginger to your standard butter icing, you're away laughing. I use a dairy free spread in lieu of butter to keep this cake suitable for vegan diets. Beetroot juice is a fab natural food colouring, and just a few drops will turn your icing a lovely shade of pink!
Top with chopped dried fruits, toasted nuts, coconut, lime or lemon zest.. whatever you fancy.
Happy days!
I'm probably going to suffer from marshmallow egg withdrawal symptoms this week. Occupational hazards!
Here is a visual week in the life of a cake maker, in and out of the kitchen - the easter edition! For more of this on a daily basis, follow cakesbyanna on instagram
Order one of these bad boys for Easter. $45 - feeds 12 people very generously.
Go to my 'order' page to place your order.
The boxed egg is so 2012. It's all about the cake this Easter.
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