Muffins, stick bread and birthday cake

Some weekends I am so busy I barely have time to prepare dinner, other weekends I seem to spend all my time covered in flour and popping things in and out of the oven. This weekend was the latter.

Friday evening I made a light dinner of coconut prawns with a crunchy salad and afterwards felt like something sweet, so threw together a coconut cake. Then Saturday morning my breakfast plans changed at the last minute (by changed I mean I read the text message wrong and was a week early), so went home and made some lovely pumpkin, blue cheese and candied walnut muffins for my friend, who I was due to spend the rest of the day with. Saturday night I was treated to some outback delights with damper cooked camping-style over an outdoor fire. I've never been a camper but really enjoyed sitting in the backyard, drinking Shiraz and eating freshly cooked (occasionally burnt) damper covered in golden syrup. Sunday I had another friend come over. It was her birthday the weekend before so wanted to treat her with something tasty and made a Caramel Mudcake, the recipe I got from a cookbook I got "free" when donating $2 at the checkout of my supermarket.

Even though I seemed to have the oven running half the weekend, I feel really refreshed and happy with my baking efforts. I even squeezed in a trip to the supermarket where I stocked up on heaps of fruit and vegies for the week, and went to a local kite festival with my three year old boy. Now it's time to kick off another week at work... and maybe another week of baking!

Something golden to brighten up a rainy day off

The last two weeks in Brisbane have been amazing. The weather has been perfect - sun shining bright and clouds no where to be seen. The temperature's been a bit on the cold side (for Brisbane), but the warm sun during the day has made being outside bliss. With the weather so lovely, I decided it was a great time to finally take some days off and relax. I really should have taken time off last week, as this week has been overcast and wet! I need to make the best out of the situation, so I invited my friend over for a play date with her two gorgeous girls. And when I invite guests over, I bake. With the weather not clearing, I thought something sweet and warming would hit the spot. I found the below recipe and knew I had to try it. The buns were delicious fresh from the oven and not too sweet (will use more golden syrup next time). Definitely worth a try next time you have friends over!