Three best rated award

What a treat it was to receive this information :) They tell me it's due to web information clarity, customer feedback and reviews received, so thank you all so much. If you've eaten one of our cakes or treats, feel free to leave us a review whereever you can, Facebook, Google or similar. Thank you. You can check out the listing here on the Three Best Rated site showing the analytics they used, and see our food hygiene pass here

I'm still baking, just not blogging regularly

Hey everyone, long time no chat. I'm still here, and still baking as often as time allows.  But my job hours increased 3 or so years ago and I moved location 2 years ago, and that means less time for baking.  And the kids are growing at an alarming rate (actually, at the same rate as everyone else's children, it's just that the weeks and months seem to rush past in a blur of activity these days) and have multiple extra-curricular activities, and homework and social lives and well, you know how that season goes.

It's way faster to pop a quick photo and a few lines on Facebook than it is to write up a blog entry, so my page is up to date with the last few years activity - all neatly in albums for you to peruse at your leisure.

So thank you for your continued interest, it's very much appreciated.  Come see me over on Facebook if you have a moment, you know you want to see what I've been doing.

Anzac Slice with chocolate chips

I have been taking part in the super fun Fat Mum Slim 365 photo a day challenge for nearly 1.5 years now, where you post a photo to your Instagram account according to the theme set out for that day. You attach the relevant hashtag so other participants can find you and then you enjoy seeing everyone else's interpretation of the prompt.

You may be wondering what this has to do with my baking, but bear with me.  The lady who is Fat Mum Slim is Australian, and she recently was pleased to take part in something or other to commemorate Anzac Day today, and she also posted a recipe for and Anzac Slice with chocolate chips that sounded both tasty and easy.  So I made it.

The recipe was really easy and straightforward to follow, and before long I was at the stage of putting the slice in the oven.

As you can see from the before photos, I may not have waited quite the full 15 minutes she recommended, because some of my chocolate chips are glistening from starting to melt.  But I got it straight into the oven after this, just to be sure.

And took it out 27 minutes later - wow Becca Towers smelt great!!!   They tasted amazing straight from the oven, warm and comforting and just the right mix between crunch and chewiness.  But I left them to cool overnight, planning to take them in to colleagues the next day and by morning they had hardened up.  The Team and I had to taste test them (again) obviously, and they were still fabulous but with a more solid and thus harder to initially bite into texture.  

So next time I shall try them for only 24 minutes.  Happy Anzac Day one and all.  Lest we forget.

Mmm melting moments

We caught up with friends we hadn't seen in a while over these spring break school holidays.  I have been a little less hectic with the baking, not baking so frequently as I used to because I'd been pulling longer shifts at work, and the kids are just as busy as ever with after-school clubs and activities.  But these particular friends that were coming - well, their 13 year old was really getting into baking and I felt that I had to offer them something fresh and new as it was quite likely they'd bring along one of her treats.

I decided to keep things simple and fun, and go for small individual servings rather than a large cake that may not get fully devoured when at its best.  I chose Melting Moments - a sandwich biscuit well-loved but not often enjoyed from my youth - and even used an Australian recipe.  Well, it had to be, didn't it?!  

These beauties needed to have a particular consistency that melted in your mouth and crumbled slightly when you bit into them, but not so much that you lost all your biscuit at the first bite.  So I was a little apprehensive as I started.

Following the recipe to the letter, they rolled into what looked like small cute balls of dough.  I then flattened them with a glass and made indents with a fork.

So far, so good - they looked correct, or should I say, as I remembered.  Once out of the oven, they still looked pretty darn good but had spread a bit bigger.  I hadn't bargained on that, so made a note on the recipe for the next time.  Some were a cute 4.5cm in diameter but others were up to a centimetre larger.  So I took note to choose similar sized ones to sandwich together.

I had some classic vanilla buttercream and also some rich, decadent chocolate buttercream waiting ready to fill them.  Then I thought lemon would taste nice, so chose a lush lemon curd to add to some of the vanilla buttercream - mmm, great idea.

All the taste-testers were impressed, and I am pleased to say that this recipe tastes just like the ones I remember from cafes of my youth.  And all 3 flavours worked really well - a definite recipe to keep.