I know I have mentioned in a previous post that I cannot do without carbs and thus I would do very badly at Banting*.  But what I didn’t mention is that I have a fabulous Bread recipe. You don’t even need a fancy-smanchy electronical bread maker.

*In short, it is an eating plan that you cut out all carbs and is very popular in South Africa

So for those of you that publicly or even secretly love a fresh slice of bread with melted butter, this is the recipe to start with. It is easy, reasonably quick and tastes divine!!!

This cake is the starting point for my “Sandwich Cake” that I will be sharing in the future. I know, I know…you thinking “What the heck!! This woman had a problem with cake. Now she is even making one like a sandwich!”.  Haha….and you are total correct. So, don’t miss my instalment on it when it comes out!

Back to the bread!!

I have learnt that the trick in making bread. Lots of love and oh, making sure that the dough rises properly.

2 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
6-6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, softened

Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl and stir in the yeast and sugar. (If you are going to use an electric mixer, start off in the electric mixer bowl). Let sit for 5 minutes, until it looks foamy.  If the yeast doesn’t do anything, toss it out and buy fresh yeast.

Add the rest of the water and about half of the flour. Stir until well blended. Add the rest of the flour, the salt and butter and stir with the dough hook (or by hand if not using a mixer) until well combined and shaggy. Continue to knead until it’s smooth and elastic. I do it for about  10 minutes with the dough hook. If you are doing it by hand you will have to do it somewhat longer.  If you were using the electric mixer, you will need to turn the dough out onto the counter top and knead a few times to make sure it’s evenly smooth.

Shape it into a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it sit for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, until it’s doubled in size. Grease the pans that you want to use. I sometimes use loaf pans or as seen on the pictures I have made round breads that do not go into a pan. Once the dough has risen, divide it into the amount of breads you want to make.

 Place the dough into the pans, cover with a tea towel and let it rise for another hour or so. They will rise right out of the pan……ready to be baked.

Preheat the oven to 180°C and put the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are brown. Immediately turn the loaves out of their pans and onto a rack to cool.

Mmmmm…..just looking at it makes me hungry!!

My boys LOVE eating the fresh hot bread with melted butter on it. It never lasts long enough to go off!

So, go practice so that you are ready for my Sandwich Cake!

When I mentioned the statement above some ladies I was having tea with yesterday (waiting for kids on an outing), one lady said that instead of her making the bread, maybe they should all come over to my house so I can teach them. How insanely clever…..maybe I will have to start some classes in the future. Sharing is caring (and not ONLY Barney the dinosaur says that!!)

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Guess what, today you getting some real traditional cake from me. Yip, no alternatives today, because sometimes the real deal is all you need! We had a friend’s birthday to celebrate this past weekend and I decided to bless her with some cake. “Cause it’s all about the cake, ’bout the cake, OH TROUBLE!”

I cannot remember exactly when I started baking this cake, but it was definitely when I was in High School which means is more than 20 years ago. It is my Aunt on my Dad’s side’s recipe and I am pretty sure she got it from some other trusted source. Over the years I have adapted it to make it my own. It has now become “The Cake” I get asked to produce for my in-law family get-togethers and also my go-two recipe when I want to make something nice – Welcome to my “Almost Famous” Totally Real, Awesome Chocolate Mousse Cake!

Mmmm…might have just given you an incentive to have me over? 

I doubled the recipe for the sponges below as I wanted to have a 3 tier cake. 

While the cakes are cooling down I make the mousse. I use a ‘package pudding’ to make up my mousse as it gives it the right consistency. To make sure that my mousse is thick enough I just reduced the amount of milk that is normally used to make up the pudding.

Once the pudding is chilled I started the assembly of the cake. Putting some mousse in between every layer of the cake and then covering the whole cake with it. Put the cake into the fridge to chill and set.

For the final piece of the cake (mind the pun) I melt some milk chocolates and added some milk to make it more runny. Before all the pieces of chocolate has totally melted I pour the chocolate mixture over the moussed cake (removed from the fridge). As soon as it is done, the cake goes back into the fridge.

An Voilà, you have my My Totally Real, Awesome Chocolate Mousse Cake!!

Tips:

• As there will be a tier left over, you can use it to make some smaller cakes or just serve it cut up into blocks
• Make sure to taste as you go along, as life is too short to just look at your cake and not have it!

GET CREATIVE AND MAKE A TOPPING OF YOUR OWN!

I think this cake deserves to be branded as “FAMOUS”, but it will have to be shared and made to be made famous, SO PLEASE SHARE!

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It is really easy to make! Everyone eats it AND you can put it back into to the freezer if there is any chance it isn’t finished on the first offering!

I have made this cake for kids and adult parties and they are always a hit! So here goes my EASY PEASY ICE CREAM CAKE!

What you need:

• Flip form pan
• 2 tubs of 2l ice creams in any flavour you like
• Cookies, biscuits or even chocolate pieces

How to make it:

1. Take the ice cream out of the freezer and let it stand for a few minutes. It mustn’t be runny, just soft and still cold.
2. Layer the bottom of the flip form pan with a layer of wax (this will help when you take the bottom off). If you don’t have wax paper you can make it without it (see hints below).
3. Press the first tubs ice cream into the bottom half of the pan. You can use some kitchen gloves, but I would just persevere as it doesn’t take too long. Tip: Your fingers should be freezing when doing this! Mine normally feel like they are about to fall off. That means that the ice cream is still cold and semi frozen.
4. Now you can sprinkle a layer of cookies, biscuits, Astros or whatever your hear desires as a middle layer.
5. Immediately proceed to tip the second tub of ice cream into the pan and press into the pan.
6. Try and get the top even and cover the whole pan with cling film.
7. Leave in the freezer. You can make the cake a day or so before your party.

How to get it ready to serve

1. I usually take it out of the pan an hour or so before I am ready to serve it. Remove the cling film and rub a warmed cloth around the outside of the tin. You will see it start to melt slightly and it will make it easier to remove the sides of the flip form pan.
2. One you have it out tip it over onto the serving plate and remove the top of the pan
3. Decorate and serve!

Hints (These are proven hints…..my non-pintrest moments)

• If you are not using the wax on the bottom of the pan, you can also leave the cake on the bottom and serve
• If you don’t have a flip form pan you can always use a deep baking pan. Once you are ready to get the ice cream cake out of the pan you can use the same method as I did with a warm cloth or you can use your hairdryer on a low setting to loosen the cake from the sides . Not too warm or it will melt the whole cake!!!

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