Ginger sponge cake with strawberries & cream

Today I went to a bbq at a friends house and I wanted to take something with me. Something pretty. I remembered seeing a cake in the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook that I thought was stunning, so I flipped it open and found what it was - a ginger sponge cake (it was meant to be filled with apple sauce, but I decided cream and strawberries was the way to go.)

Oooh so puuuurrrrdy!! So it's 2 layers of sponge, with strawberries and cream in the middle, cream and strawberries on top and sprinkled with ginger nut biscuit crumbs and then surrouneded with sponge finger biscuits. It's SO easy to make, and looks good too!!

Ginger Sponge Cake (from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook):

1/3 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup cornflour
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa
5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat oven to 190. Grease two 20cm round cake tins (although I only used one and then cut the cake in half cause I only have one).

Combinthe flour, spices and coca and sift together three times.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating after each addition until the sugar is dissolved. Add the egg yolks and golden syrup and beat until well combined.

Using a slotted metal spoon, fold the sifted flour mixture in to the egg mixure until just combined. Be careful not to overbeat otherwise all the lovely air will go out of the mixture!!

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the sponge has come away from the side of the tin.

Decorate it however you like!! I loved the pink ribbon around it, and I loved the strawberries and cream instead of the apple sauce filling, it worked deliciously!!

Fresh, homemade pasta!!

I <3 Pasta. I really do. I think I should have been Italian. Give me pasta and bread and I'm happy!!

Today, I decided I wanted pasta for dinner. But not just store bought pasta. Fresh, homemade pasta. I have had a pasta maker for god knows how long, and I've never used it. Tonight was the night to pick it up off it's shelf, dust it off and use that bad boy!!

The dough, after much kneading - my arms are so tired!! 

When I first started rolling it, it was all crumbly.....I think I didn't let it sit long enough. I'm pretty impatient. 

Fettucine!! 

Extra sharp parmesan cheese.....omnomnom

Served with garlic bread. My life is complete. 

So making this pasta was actually easier than I thought it would be. 

ingredients:

2 1/2 cups plain flour

pinch of salt

4 eggs

Sift your flour and salt on to a clean, dry surface. Make a well in the middle and crack in your eggs. This bit proved to be the most difficult for me, because apparently, my well wasn't big enough. And the eggs kinda leaked a bit. My hands came in handy (who would have though!!) for that bit. 

Slowly mix the flour in to the eggs with your fingertips (fingertips were used not so much, but rather my whole hands). Knead the dough for about 10 minutes......seriously tiring work people. Your end result should be smooth and elastic. 

Divide the dough in to 4 even parts and cover with a damp cloth (to stop it from drying out) and let it sit for about 20 minutes (this helps to make the pasta more pliable because it gives the gluten a chance to work its magic baby). 

Once it's sat for 20 minutes, take a portion and flatten it in to a rectangle and roll it through your pasta machine and cut in to fettucine. 

It's seriously that easy. Enjoy it with your favourite pasta sauce - a bit fave in my household is creamy, but healthy!! I know right, bit of a contradiction there - secret is carnation light milk. It's SO good, tastes like cream and has a trillion (not really, 95% or something like that) less fat than cream.