It’s not a bad life, this time of the year. The weather’s cooler which makes it that much easier to take advantage of the relaxed sleep routine (or lack thereof) of the Easter Long Weekend.
I just seem to have so much more time on my hands today, for some reason. Housework’s getting done, the laundry’s up to date and I even got around to finally setting up the right click on my apple mouse. Yet I don’t feel rushed. Maybe it’s because it’s unusually quiet in the neighbourhood this morning. The engines of the lone cars that have driven up our road this morning are an oddly conspicuous sound today in the absence of the usual morning bustle and chatter of your average day around here. Silence, or quiet, can often make time slow down for me.
But back to Easter.
I could get used to a diet of hot cross buns (plural) for both morning and afternoon teas. With a high butter to bun ratio, of course. Preferably 1:1.
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| www.asos.com |
ASOS has brought some pretty respectable spend and save codes to the table as well. Which was all the convincing I needed to get these Silver Air Max Theas today.
Between these and last year’s black Sky Hi Dunks, my autumn / winter casual footwear needs are pretty much met.
Just baked my cake to bring to the Easter egg hunt tomorrow. It’s this Cheesecake Swirl Carrot Bundt Cake. Full of spices, orange and a 3/4 cup of applesauce – it smelled like hot cross buns as I baked. And not because I was eating them as I baked….
It’s always a special moment when you’re doing your public holiday Friday baking and find that you have exactly enough plain flour to bake your cake. Because there’s nothing worse than panicking about where to find your flour when everything appears to be shut.
This carrot cake is a two mixture affair. The cake layer is all the things I love about carrot cake – carrots (a given), lots of sultanas (you can add pecans if you wish) and a good brown sugar based batter.
Here’s the cheesecake layer getting made while I get to the pot of tea I brewed as sustenance for the morning’s baking.
And then disaster struck. I realised, after half the cake batter had gone down under the cheesecake layer, that I’d completely forgotten to add the cup of oil called for in the recipe. And it was all going so well too!!
Fortunately, the 4 eggs, applesauce, rising agents and the cream cheese layer appear to have done the trick all on their own. I’m suspecting that the cake is going to be a little dry when we eat it tomorrow but that may be a good thing in the context of all the chocolate eggs that are going to be devoured as well. My friends and I have very relaxed expectations as to how well the hunt is going to go tomorrow. It always helps, though, to make sure that the parents are well catered for food and beverage wise.
I’ll be drizzling the orange glaze over the cake tomorrow before we go. I’ve also chosen to bake the cake in a large, square, loose based tin. I’ve never had much success with depanning from a bundt tin.
Have you ever had success with a cake where you’ve forgotten to add oil?
Will you be Easter egg hunting this weekend?
