The picture is care of redfox at Flickr

Savoury muffins make a good lunchbox filler or a meal on the go and are a healthy fast food, especially if you pack them with plenty of veggies and make them with wholemeal flour. Use tasty cheese to give these plenty of flavour, or substitute feta or parmesan for a different flavour. Zucchinis have a huge amount of moisture in them so add the milk a bit at a time, you may not need the whole amount.

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I made this cake for last year’s Christmas trifle. I’ve never made it before, but it’s super easy and it has a lovely subtle flavour.

The recipe has ground almonds, which cost an absolute bomb, so I just grind some skinless almonds in the coffee grinder (that hasn’t seen coffee for a few years now!), much, much cheaper. I usually have all of the ingredients in the cupboard, so depending on how you stock your pantry, this is an easy variation to a plain butter cake that can be made at any time without fuss.

The recipe below is the original, but I made a few changes when baking it. I added a little vanilla to this recipe (can’t help myself) used one less egg, a little less butter, a little more s/r flour and a splash or two of milk to get a cake consistency. It just makes the cake a bit less heavy for the trifle and that’s the way I prefer my cake.

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This scrummy cake is a little different to the usual butter cake with icing. Use fresh peaches if they are available, or tinned. If you’re using tinned, keep the syrup to add to the cake.

I created this cake by taking a basic vanilla cake recipe, making some adjustments, and incorporating some ideas from a few other recipes.

I’ve always read that you have to be absolutely precise when baking, but I haven’t found this to be the case yet. If the mix doesn’t seem right, I add a little extra moisture or a little extra flour.

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This is a quick and easy loaf recipe that has a whole heap of flavour from the malt in the Weetbix. Vita Brits don’t have the added malt, so won’t give as good a flavour. I like to serve this with a scraping of butter, but it tastes just as good plain.

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This is an old fashioned recipe that I cooked for the first time in school when I was 8 years old. It became a favourite and has been diligently written in my personal recipe book, but one I had forgotten about until the other day.

It’s not a very sweet recipe, so not one of DH’s favourites, but a lot of the flavour comes from the warm cinnamon goodness and juicy sultanas. If I remember correctly, the original recipe had mixed dried fruit and peel, but sultanas are just enough for me. They’re not glamorous looking, but nice with a morning cuppa.

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This is a good recipe if you’re trying to use up leftover cream or sour cream. If you don’t have sour cream, substitute it with yoghurt or just milk.

Use the batter to make a single cake and cook it for around 40-50 minutes. Ice with a chocolate ganache for a real indulgence. Leave out the shot of liqueur for a kid friendly version.

Is it any cheaper to make your own cake than buying a packet cake or store bought cake? Sometimes, but not always. On the other hand, you know what’s in it. There is no egg substitute, preservatives, artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners, sodium, thickeners, stabilisers, soy products, or anti-caking agents (stops the dry mix from clumping up in store).

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I threw this quick apple crumble together the other night while I was cooking dinner, had it in the oven in 10 minutes and it was ready just after we had finished dinner. Cooking from scratch doesn’t need to take a long time or be complicated. And of course it tastes better and is healthier than the store bought alternative.

The measurements are given as a guideline but I didn’t measure as I cooked this so taste as you go and adjust to suit how you enjoy your crumble. You may need to adjust the sugar level with the apples anyway depending on what variety of apples you have and how naturally sweet they are. If you don’t have lemon leave it out, it adds an extra dimension to the flavour, but isn’t necessary, substitute the cinnamon for nutmeg or cardamom or allspice if you prefer.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Core, peel and chop the apples. In a saucepan add apples, sugar, lemon and cinnamon.
3. Simmer apples until soft or to the texture that you prefer.
4. Meanwhile combine the flour, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon and rub together with your fingers to get a ‘breadcrumb’ like consistency.
5. Pour apple mixture into greased oven dish or individual dishes, sprinkle with crumble mixture and bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden.

Variations

• Add sultanas or other dried fruit for variety
• You can use any fruit that you have on hand like berries (fresh or frozen) pears, peaches, plums etc.
• To make this dish even quicker, use tin fruit. No need to cook just drain.
• Add rolled oats or crushed nuts to the crumble mixture for more texture. You may need to add a little extra butter to get the right consistency.

This is a very moist cake. My husband, who doesn’t like bananas, loves this cakes. Mix it by hand or throw it all in the food processor. If you don’t have yoghurt try sour cream.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and grease and line your tin
2. Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl until will combined and lump free.
3. Add the banana, eggs and yogurt and stir to combine well.
4. Stir in the flour and mix until the mixture is smooth.
5. Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through.

I was going to take a photo – but it’s all gone! I tried this recipe recently and loved it. I made a few necessary adjustments: I only had 2 eggs so I subbed a banana and an extra 1/2 tsp baking soda. I didn’t have all spice so I added some nutmeg and cardamom. I thought the cinnamon was a little overpowering so I’ll use less next time. I used macadamia nut oil instead of vegetable oil, which has a lovely flavour. A lot of the moisture in the mix comes from the zucchini.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C and grease a loaf tin
2. Sift the flours, baking sodas, and spices into a large bowl. Add the sugar.
3. In a jug whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla until thick. Add to the dry ingredients along with the zucchini and mix until will combined.
4. Bake for 1 hour or until the a skewer comes out clean.

Serve with butter if desired.

Method

1. Line a pie dish or flan tin with pastry. Blind bake and cool.
2. Whisk eggs and sugar until well combined. Add cream and whisk to combine. Add lemon juice and zest. Whisk well to combine.
3. Pour into prepared pastry base. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes at 150°C.
4. Cool and serve

The bigger the tart tin, the thinner the filling, but it is a very rich and ‘tart’ tart so a little goes a long way. Using a store bought pastry case will mean that this dish will take less than 5 minutes to prepare.