food hits and misses

Today I made a cake for cash - not a bad way to make a bit of pocket money! The recipient requested orange and poppyseed, which I decided to dress up a bit with a cream cheese frosting and some white chocolate curls. It certainly looked pretty good, as to whether or not it tasted ok, I'll have to ask the person who bought it. Fingers crossed everyone loved it and I get a few more orders!

Orange poppyseed cake

1/2 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1 cup butter
1 cup caster sugar
2 oranges, zested
4 eggs
2 cups SR flour
1/4 cup plain flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease a 23cm pan. Combine the yoghurt, juice and seeds and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar with the orange zest until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flours and mix well. Fold through the yoghurt mix. Place in prepared pan and bake until a skewer inserted comes out cleanly, reducing heat to 150 Celsius after an hour if the cake has browned but isn't ready.

I don't normally get much of a chance to visit the local farmers' markets - there are always so many other things happening on a Saturday morning. Last week, the Caulfield Farmers' Market was moved to start in the afternoon, and so I grabbed the opportunity to head over there. I managed to pick up some golden plums for a good price, and so this morning was spent making jam.

As I only got a kilo, this recipe doesn't make a lot of jam. But it's sweet and looks beautiful, and I think it's worth the effort.

Golden plum jam

1 kg plums
600 g sugar
1 tbspn lime juice

Method

Halve the plums and remove the stones. Roughly chop the flesh, and place in a large saucepan. Add the sugar, and bring to the boil. Skim any scum that forms from the top of the jam. Add the lime juice and boil until the jam reaches setting point - around 20 to 25 minutes. Begin testing for setting from 15 minutes onwards. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then bottle.