Saturday, November 10, 2012

Passionfruit syrup cakes

I was sent this recipe* from G's aunt L (thanks L!) and tried it out today. I don't have mini loaf tins so I used friand tins instead. The recipe made 12 of them. Note: for the mini loaf size the recipe says it makes just 8.


1 cup SR flour
1 cup desiccated coconut (I had only thread)
1 cup caster sugar
125g butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
pulp of 2 passionfruit
2 Tbspns lime or lemon zest

Syrup**
1 cup water
 3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup lime or lemon juice
pulp of 4 passionfruit (I omitted this)
1 Tbspn lime or lemon zest

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease tins. Combine flour, sugar, coconut in a large bowl. Add eggs, butter, passionfruit, milk, zest. Mix lightly until combined. Pour into tins. Bake for 15-20mins. Meanwhile make syrup. Combine all ingredients in pan, stir constantly over low heat to dissolve sugar, then raise heat and bring to boil. Boil for about 5mins until becomes syrupy. Pour over hot cakes while still in tin and leave to cool for about 10 mins. Remove and cool completely on wire rack.

The verdict, very nice light cakes. If you don't like the crunch of the passionfruit seeds, sieve the pulp before using.


* Unsure of the origin of the recipe it came out of a magazine.
** NOTE - I didn't use all of the syrup over the cakes as I had too much, just a few small spoonfuls over each one is sufficient. Maybe I didn't boil it long enough to reduce down. I leave it to your judgement!

Friday, November 2, 2012

First blooms of my old fashioned rose

Flower bud just opening

Fully opened a day later
I just thought I'd share these photos. This is a bloom off my rose 'De La Grifferaie" - checking out its history it's an old fashioned rambler rose from 1845. This rose is currently growing along a wall in the veg garden - well I guess it is a potager really since I also grow flowers and herbs in amongst all the veg. Anyway, I planted this rose about a year ago and it now has quite a few blooms on it, with more to come. It has quite a good perfume, and is a lovely shade of pink.

I'd love to have a rose garden sometime in the future. There sure are plenty to chose from! What's your favourite rose?