Hey there kids! This is just a quick post to let you all know that i’m still alive. And eating gelato burgers.
Yes, you heard that right.
Gelato Burgers.
Hubs and I heard about Cremeria De Luca in Five Dock through Broadsheet and seriously, going there was a no brainer. Gelato and burgers are basically two of the best things ever. This place is super cute and friendly and with a limited menu, its easy to choose what you want. It was refreshing to see that the variety of flavours was in single digits with some pleasant surprises amongst old favourites. I can safely say that this summer will be devoted to attempting to re-create the delicious cinnamon flavoured gelato that I had on my burger! How is it that cinnamon gelato has not yet become a thing???
So I am a little obsessed with limes. And when they get made into delicious things like…
lime syrup cakes
can you blame me? Now if you’re feeling like you’ve got a bit of deja vu, then you wouldn’t be too far off. I did post the CWA Lime Cake way back in 2010 when I began this blog. But with the second birthday of this little blog of mine swinging round, I thought i’d bring back my old favourite but with a little delicious tweak.
I saw this recipe on the beautiful Kiki’s blog after i’d scored a bag of limes ridiculously cheaply. Apart from making a Key Lime Pie and some watermelon, lychee and lime cocktails, Lime Syrup Cake was the perfect way to use these babies up. And the Women’s Weekly recipe that Kiki used intrigued me with its addition of ricotta. What I love about the CWA recipe is the beautiful light buttery texture of the cake as well as the lovely limey syrup left at the bottom. This recipe is much more dense but infinitely soft and oh-so-lime-syrupy!
I used Greek Style Yoghurt instead of ricotta because I couldn’t get my lazy ass to the shops to buy some. Oops.
But look at the cute tea cosy behind it!
If you’re currently suffering from the chilly turn in Sydney, I’m sure this hot, fresh out of the oven cake will warm you up
The super moistness and limeness of this cake comes from a little lime in the batter but mostly the lime syrup trickled over the top while it is still warm.
I recently discovered Weis Vanilla Bean Icecream. This has to be hands down the best vanilla ice-cream i’ve had so far. A few scoops of this baby cuts through the lime if you’re not such a fan of the sour.
mmmmmmmmmmmm
and an action shot, just so you can feel jealous. But better than feeling jealous, you can go get some limes and make this freakin cake! You won’t be disappointed!
So, my lovelies, do you love limes? And what do you like to eat to keep away these winter chills that are currently invading Sydney?
Lime Syrup Cake – Adapted from The Australian Women’s Weekly
Cake Ingredients
200g butter
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
250g greek yoghurt
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
1 1/2 cups (225g) self raising flour
Syrup Ingredients
1/3 cup (80ml) lime juice
1/4 cup (60ml) water
2/3 cup caster sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 180deg (160deg if fan forced). Grease a 20cm bundt pan well with extra melted butter.
1. Beat butter, rind and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy
2. Beat in egg yolks, yoghurt and milk
3. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in sifted flour.
4. Beat egg whites in a small bowl until soft peaks form
5. Fold into batter in two batches then pour into a greased 20cm bundt pan. Bake on 160 degrees for 40-50 mins. Check regularly as mine was truly cooked by then
6. Turn cake out onto a wire rack and cool for 5 mins before covering in syrup
Lime Syrup Method
1. During the last 10 mins of the cake baking, begin making your syrup
2. Stir the lime juice, water and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil.
3. Boil uncovered for 10 mins, keeping a careful eye on it! Don’t let it caramelise! In the mean time, stab your cake all over it’s surface with a skewer to help the syrup absorb
4. When the syrup has thickened a little, take the pan off the heat and pour gently over your cake.
Oh god. I first had this dessert at a wonderful gelato bar in Crows Nest called Bravo. I admit that it is not the most elegant dessert on the face of the earth but It was so delicious that an evening trip to Bravo for some gelato has become a semi regular occurrence. But alas, sometimes I am just too tired or too plain lazy to make the drive. Therefore, it has become necessary for me to be able to recreate this dessert at home.
While Bravo make their own amazing gelato, it was more convenient to get my gelato from the another amazing store: Pure Gelato which have their factory in Croydon Park. As I was in the area, I picked up a tub of chocolate gelato. It took all my willpower not to demolish it on the drive home!
Delicious! This gelato is consistently creamy, fresh and full of flavour. I highly recommend it!
I hit a few snags when making the crepes. I’m more of a pancakes kinda girl so I don’t think i’ve ever actually made crepes before. After finding a simple recipe on taste.com I cracked the frying pan out and got to it.
mmmmmm batter…
co ordinated I am not.
No one will argue with that.
But I am a fast learner!
soon I had a nice stack of crepes
(ok the one on the top was really thick but as we have already established, I am pretty lazy and this was the last bit of batter)
then all you need to do is wrap the mars bars in the crepes
times two
snug as a bug in a rug!
Then you just need to nuke them in the microwave for about 40 seconds (make sure you put the heat on medium or 50%) to make the mars bars nice and melty
Then scoop yo icecream and cover in chocolate sauce!
I used Hersheys topping
mmmmmm gooey caramel
I have to admit that before settling on this dish, I had a bit of idea overload for his blog hop. Death By Chocolate should be so easy but everything I thought of was either not chocolatey enough, or so chocolatey that I would never be able to eat it without developing diabetes right there and then. But this baby is just on the right side of decadent to make it actually eatable. Although you may fall into a sugar coma. You have been warned!
Mars Bar Crepes with Chocolate Gelato Recipe
Ingredients
2 crepes
2 normal sized mars bars
1 scoop chocolate icecream/gelato
Chocolate Sauce
Crepe Recipe
Crepe recipe from taste.com can be found here you only need two good crepes for each serving, and they don’t need to be huge, just big enough to wrap your mars bars in
Assembly
1. Wrap each mars bar in a crepe making sure that they are fully wrapped
2. Nuke them in the microwave for roughly 40 seconds at medium heat (or 50%)
3. Scoop out one scoop of icecream and place on top
4. Cover liberally with chocolate sauce
This post was part of the Death By Chocolate Sweet Adventures Blog Hop kindly hosted by The Hungry Australian
Time passes. We get older, and this year saw me approaching the grand old age of 25. However, with the impending arrival of this number I have been hearing increasingly about an interesting phenomenon. Ever since I read about the concept of the ‘Quarter Life Crisis’ I have thought about my 25th birthday with a curious combination of concern and excitement. As far as I can gauge, the Quarter Life Crisis is a result of Gen Y’s predilection for indecision and general faffing around before getting down to business. Apparently after spending years studying at university we get out into the workforce and realise that we hate our jobs and in fact want to go back and study something entirely different. We then have a bit of a melt down while realising that we have to take a significant pay cut and either have to move back home or continue living at home while we redirect our lives. This is often accompanied by a major relationship meltdown/marriage crisis/body clock crisis and a slow realisation that we will never again fit into the clothes that we fit into in our teens. Depressed yet?
Well, I hate to be the optimist but my 25th birthday earlier this week was accompanied by none of the above. Instead, I feel quietly content in my career, my relationships and, well, I am a little flabby but only because i’ve been eating so much amazing food over the past few weeks. So on that note, let me share with you some of the lovely happy things that happened on my birthday.
First, the cake.
Amazing creation bought from a bakery in Five Dock by my co workers.
Not only does it look amazing and say my name, but inside it is cake and icecream! Hooray!
Second, the cake.
Hang on, rewind, ANOTHER cake? You bet!
This one purchased by my mum from the Pure Gelato shop in Croydon Park. Another ice cream cake, this one was chocolate and hazelnut and absolutely delicious! Well worth the flab.
Then there were some chocolate cupcakes. As in, chocolates in the shape of cupcakes! Also delicious. I was also given a box of the most delicious chocolates in the world, Haighs’ Violet Creams which silly me didn’t take a photo of. Oops.
I received many beautiful gifts, although I only took photos of the food related ones to post here. The boyfriend gave me a beautiful set of mis-matched tea cups and saucers and hostess apron which should all get their own post soon(ish). His family gave me some lovely serving dishes and the Country Show Cookbook pictured above. Lucky we recently bought a new bookshelf to house the ever growing collection of cook books! My mum also gave me (among other things) the two other cook books above, The Birthday Cake Book and Zumbo by Adriano Zumbo. The former has given me many ideas for future cakes while the latter have given me much food for thought but has left me in abject terror at the prospect of actually attempting to make one of these magnificent creations. Watch this space!
Which leads me to my last picture which is pretty cool…
Mr Adriano Zumbo himself! Who I met at The Lakes while watching the Australian Open Golf Tournament. One of my idols and all time favourite chefs Who would have thought it? I almost fell off my chair in surprise! Just as charming as he is on tv, he was very gracious and lovely to talk to. Although I didn’t really do much talking.
I was a little bit star struck.
So, all in all, it was a pretty damn good birthday but i’m still stuck on what I should be doing for my quarter life crisis? I feel like I shouldn’t let this opportunity for legitimate drama pass me by. Do you have any suggestions my lovelies?
