Filling The Cake Tins . . .

I still talk about cake tins but in reality, it is all Tupperware these days. Today I made Feijoa cake and Spice biscuits. With the feijoas now starting to drop I have to be creative to use them. Although Bruce usually takes a handful each day in his lunch during feijoa season. After feeding the animals, I picked up another few feijoas. When Bruce hinted that the cake tins were getting a bit empty, feijoa cake seemed to be a good idea. He also really likes our spice biscuits. They keep really well - if they last long enough to store. Also freeze really well.

Spice biscuits are incredibly easy to make and are pretty much fool proof. They are great for children to make. It is a dough that can be rerolled many times without altering the texture of the biscuits and they can be cut into any shape you desire. At Christmas I make stars and drizzle melted chocolate over them. They are lovely sandwiched together with jam and iced on the top. Joined together with icing or in Bruce's case eaten just as they are. He doesn't like icing in any form. The most important part of the recipe is creaming the butter and sugar, it needs to be light and fluffy. This enables the other ingredients to be incorporated quickly to form the dough. This recipe can either be halved if you don't want too many biscuits, or doubled if you want a big batch for Christmas etc.

    

Next, I made the feijoa cake. For this I have adapted my banana cake recipe. The hardest part is collecting the feijoas lol. If the fruit isn't soft enough to mash, 1 to 2 minutes in the microwave is all that is required to mash with a fork. I like to use silicone pans now, but if you just have metal pans, grease and flour them before using.

I used to make my cakes in regular cake tins, however, Swiss roll pans take half the time to cook. This cake freezes well if you want to take advantage of using feijoas up. 

Bruce was on hand to give both the biscuits and cake the all important taste test.

The eggshells will be crushed when they are dry and sprinkled around my brassica (cabbage) seedlings. Slugs and snails don't like crawling over them.

Spice Biscuit Recipe . . .

250g butter - room temperature soft

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp mixed spice

2 tsp cinnamon

2tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup cornflour

2 cups flour

Method:

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, add eggs and beat well.

Add sifted dry ingredients and mix till a dough forms. 

Roll out thin and cut into shapes, rerolling as required until all dough is used. 

Bake at 160° for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, 

When cold drizzle with melted chocolate, join with jam or ice.

Feijoa Cake Recipe . . .

125g butter - room temperature soft

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup feijoas - mashed

1 tsp baking soda

2 Tblsp milk - warm 

½ tsp baking powder

1½ cups flour

Method:

Cream butter and sugar, add egg, mashed feijoas and baking soda dissolved in milk. Beat together, then add sifted dry ingredients.

Bake at 180° for 20 minutes in a Swiss roll tin or 45-55 minutes in a ring cake tin.

When cool, dust with icing sugar or ice.

Note: It is delicious with a cream cheese icing, unless you are called Bruce lol. 

Cream Cheese Icing Recipe . . .

Combine 225g of cream cheese, 110g of softened butter, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. 

Gradually mix in 2 cups sifted icing sugar until smooth and creamy.

#Biscuits #Cookies #SpicedBiscuitRecipe #FeijoaCake #Cake #CreamCheeseIcing #CreamCheeseFrosting #Feijoas #Eggshells #CrushedEggshells

 

18th May 2024