Cinnamon & Sultana Loaf

Back again, today I decided to make this Cinnamon and Sultana loaf from The Hummingbird Bakery Recipe Book called Cake Days

This loaf is super yummy and not tooooo sweet! Also there are sultanas in it so therefore I am totally being healthy! ;) 

Serves 8-10 

Ingredients you will need

190 grams unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

190g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 

190g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

25ml soured cream

1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 used a half teaspoon of vanilla bean paste because it enhances the flavours of the cake overall

1 tbsp ground cinnamon, I only used a half tbsp because I didn't want it too overpowering

70g raisins, I used around 80g

Cinnamon sugar for dusting, I used icing sugar because I didn't have any in my cupboard

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celcius, then grease the loaf tin with butter and dust with flour 

(My loaf tin was quite big, it was about 25x10cm, I recommend using a smaller tin so the loaf is not really short, maybe a 8.5x17.5

2. Using a hand held electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

(I would say you have to mix the butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes for it to be mixed properly)

3. Break the eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are fully mixed in

4. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the egg, butter and sugar mixture in two turns mixing on a low speed so that the flour doesn't fly everywhere! Finally. mix in the sour cream and vanilla essence/paste

5. Spoon 200g of the batter into a small bowl and stir in the cinnamon. Stir the raisins into the remaining batter, then pour the raisin batter into the tin. Spoon the cinnamon batter on top and swirl the two together for a marbled effect. 

(My cake didn't turn out to be marbled but rather two layers, make sure that you use a fork and slowly mix the cake batters to create that marble effect that I didn't achieve!)

 6. Bake the loaf in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until the sponge feels firm on top and when you insert a skewer it comes out clean. 

(My oven is quite hot so I only needed to bake my loaf for about 45 minutes)

Allow the loaf to cool a little before turning it out of the tin on to a wire rack to cool completely before you serve!

Tip: This loaf would taste really nice served warm with a dollop of cream!

So there we go! A delicious, somewhat healthy (not really) cinnamon & sultana loaf! Hope you enjoy 

Love C xxxx

Ireland Trip 2015

So heres the deal, I am going into my last year of schooling this year and I start next week... A lot of people are saying that its the best year of your life and that I am going to have a whalllle of a time... But I mean, I'm not so sure about that! I have wanted to start a youtube channel for a few years now but I have found that I just don't have the time or space in my life to do it, so I decided 2 hours ago that I would start this blog. This blog is going to be my stress relief tool of 2016, when I feel stressed I will come over here and write a post! I don't have any particular theme in mind for what type of posts I will be putting up but I am sure there will be a bit of everything!

 Now storytime, there was a freak storm last night and I woke up to the lovely surprise of no wifi...brilliant... i was not happy, so what i decided to do instead was look through some of the photos from my recent trip to Ireland over my christmas break and pick a few to put up here! 

I spent the month of December in County Clare with my grandparents and uncle, it was such a great trip and although I have been to Clare a few times this year I really got to see other places around Ireland! Sooooooo here we go my first ever blog post!

On the first few days of our trip we were suuuuuuper tired because we live in Australia so we had spent about 3 days either on a plane or at an airport. However, once the jetlag started to settle dad, mum, my sister and I went on a little trip to go stay with my uncle in another County called Offaly. I looooove Birr! There are so many cute, little shops that were FULL of fun little trinkets, jewellery, candles, homewares and christmas decorations!

One night we went to Bunratty Castle to visit the Folk Village and attend a christmas themed banquet! I had so much fun that night because everything was so christmassy and cheerful! There were singers that sung heaps of christmas carols throughout the meal and the food was delicious. I loved it here because I love love love everything about christmas, as this was basically Santa's irish holiday home!

The next few photos were all taken on one of the best days we had in Ireland. We went to the Burren which was one of the strangest and most incredible things I have ever seen! Kilometers and kilometers of just rock... it was crazy! We also went to the Cliffs of Moher and it was so so so windy we struggled to stand up straight! haha

FUN FACT: in the above photo^ this is where they filmed some scenes from Harry Potter! Can you guess what film???

Galway was one of the prettiest places I have ever been, the main shopping street was so gorgeous and the way they decorated it was just incredible!

This was my first time visiting Dublin and I have to say, Grafton Street was so amazing! It reminded me of a prettier version of Bourke St in Melbourne! haha We went and looked through Trinity College and Dublin Castle which were both gorgeous as well as Kilmainham Jail which was a cool experience.

Obviously I don't enjoy shopping and I am really big into saving money!^ hehe ooops! 

 Cheeky little stop at Laduree, I wish we had a Laduree Store in Melbourne.. they are my absolute favourite treats!

We also met up with some of my family in Limerick and went ice skating and went and got some food at a place called Milano.. they had these appetisers called dough balls and OH MY GOODNESS, they were the most amazingly delicious things I had ever eaten in my whole life! If you live in Ireland, I recommend checking them out! Does anyone know where I could find them in Melbourne???

On Christmas eve, my sister and I did a bit of baking! She made some cupcakes and I decided to make some mince pies and gingerbread! I got the recipe for the mince pies from Zoellas blog and they tasted so so good! I used the Tesco mince meat and no one could tell that it was from a jar ;) 

It snowed on Christmas eve! I was so excited!

Christmas Day last year was one to remember, Santa went to town on the presents and it was so fun because usually its just mum, dad, my sister and I because no other family lives in Melbourne! I loved being able to share my most favourite day with some of my most favourite people and I will cherish the memories we made forever!

So there we go! My first ever blog post! Even if no one ever sees this, I must say I am really enjoying writing them and picking the photos! If you got to the end then heres to you my friend you are fabulous! 

Love C xxxx