Audacious, outrageous ice cream cake

Well. It's December. Summer. Season of barbeques and gatherings, complaining because it's too muggy and not the holidays yet, or complaining that it's not hot enough yet (it's always one way or the other). 

I mentioned in my email last week that it's all about ice cream for me right now - I struggle to let a day go by without at least a small dose. I'm quite enjoying sharing ice creams with the Little Monkey because although he has well and truly mastered most foods, he still always forgets about temperature so every mouthful of frozen goodness comes with an expression of complete shock. He loves it, but it's hilarious to watch. 

This cake is great for sharing, even with little people - the medley of flavours and textures make it more of a complete dessert than ice cream is on its own (I have a special set of criteria for dessert... That's not weird is it?), and it'll definitely please all ages. And even though it's pretty simple it looks flash so is perfect for taking to parties or gatherings. 

And the nature of it means you can substitute ingredients to your heart's content - anything that you think will taste good in ice cream should work. This is my personal holy grail - raspberries for flavour, maltesers for malt-factor and chocolate, marshmallows for chewiness, Turkish delight for more different chewiness, and meringues on top for crunch. But you may have a different formula. You know, I reckon chopped up Snickers bars would work pretty well in place of the Maltesers... 

I should also note that quantities are approximate, so if the odd Malteser or marshmallow accidentally falls into waiting mouths during construction the cake will be fine. I have thoroughly tested this and am confident it will stand up to the stress. ;-) 

Are you in ice cream mode yet? What's your favourite dessert to take to a BBQ or potluck at this time of year? 

Audacious, outrageous ice cream cake

1 litre vanilla ice cream

155g Maltesers

2 cups frozen raspberries + 1 cup for topping

180g marshmallows

200g chocolate covered Turkish delight (I used bars this time but the blocks also work)

2-3 meringues

Scoop the ice cream into a large bowl and allow to soften slightly. Line a 24cm cake tin with baking paper, tin foil or glad wrap. 

Using the side of a knife, partially crush the Maltesers and spread them over the bottom of the cake tin. 

Chop the marshmallows in half. Chop the Turkish delight into small chunks. 

Add the first two cups of raspberries, the marshmallows and most of the Turkish delight into the bowl with the ice cream. Mix until well combined then scoop into the cake tin and gently spread to fit the tin, taking care not to push all the Maltesers to one side. Cover and freeze for at least 6 hours. 

To serve, gently heat the remaining cup of raspberries, mashing with a spoon, until pulpy. Set aside. 

Unmold the cake by running a hot cloth around the perimeter of the tin, and then turning the cake onto a large platter. Gently crumble the meringues over the top, then sprinkle on the remaining Turkish delight, and dollop on spoonfuls of the raspberry puree. Serve immediately. 

How to select tradies

One of the key parts to a successful renovation is having the right experts on board to do the bits you can't DIY. Unfortunately, it's not easy finding the right folk. We're in the midst of finding new tradies for our bathroom (anyone in Wellington have a great tiler?) so I thought it might be a good time to share some of the things we've learned about the process.

This won't be exhaustive and we've still got a long way to go on our project, so if you have anything to add please let me know!

1. Plan in advance

Good tradies are often booked up well in advance. We had to accept our second choice plasterer in June because our first choice was (in his words) booked for the rest of the year. That's an extreme example, but especially for the key folk (builders!) it does pay to get in before you need the work done.

2. Ask for recommendations

If you have friends who've had work done recently, ask them what they thought of their tradies, and if the feedback is positive, pinch their contact details.

Ask around at work, on social media, anywhere really. The catch is you need to trust the person giving the referral - sometimes people recommend folk because they know and like them, which is not the same as having had work done by them. We had a builder recommended this way for a small job at our previous house, and it didn't end well for us - we had to repaint a wall that shouldn't have needed touching, as well as remedying some of the shoddy building work ourselves.

If you're struggling for recommendations you could try popping your job up on Builders Crack, which does have reviews - but I reckon the good ones (as a gross generalisation) don't bother with sites like that because they do well enough out of recommendations, and so the standards are a bit lower. We've used it a couple of times, and though it worked out okay for the one job we completed through it, we won't use the tradie again. The other jobs I listed didn't yield satisfactory responses so we looked elsewhere. Not fully inspiring. That said, if it's something small and simple it could work well.

3. Check reviews

A quick Google is a good place to start. If they have listings on any sites which do ratings check the comments and scores of other customers; if they have their own websites hopefully they'll have some testimonials there (though obviously these will be cherry-picked). Mainly I figure anything really bad (like a Fair Go appearance) would probably show up in an online search - unlikely but worth checking for.

4. Get multiple quotes

Quotes are not just about the money. The quoting process also gives you a chance to talk to the tradie and get a feel for how they operate, and most importantly, how easy they are to communicate with. Which leads me to...

5. Ask questions

Ask as many questions as you have. If the person you're dealing with is uncomfortable answering them you don't want to be paying them to work in your home. In most jobs things will crop up during the process that need addressing - if there's not easy, clear communication things can get complicated very quickly. 

It's probably obvious, but once you have the quote make sure you're explicitly clear on what's included. 

So tell me - do you have any tips you'd add? Have you had any particularly stellar - or utterly terrible - experiences with tradies?

My four favourite pregnancy and parenting books (with a strong science bias)

When I was pregnant with the Little Monkey, since it was an all new game for us, I was keen to hunt down the best resources to inform me for the path ahead.

So I read a heap of books, some of which I hated, some of which had a few good points in them, and a few (i.e. those listed below) which I devoured, which resonated with me, and which have made me feel more comfortable and in control of my parenting. If they were real books they'd be dog-eared and weathered by now because I have referred back to them on many occasions, but I primarily read on Kindle so the wear doesn't show.

Veteran parents are probably already laughing at me, because really you can't really know it until you're in the midst of it, and "control" becomes a much looser concept when there are small people in the mix. But I respond well to data: it makes me better able to cope with the unpredictable. It's how I think. If you're also data-driven and you're getting ready to start a family (or are just interested in the science) then you might enjoy some of these books.

All these books are packed full of data on various topics, and aren't judgemental or preachy - they just lay out the info for you to make a call on what's best for your family. There are lots of different ways of going about things and there isn't necessarily a right or wrong for everything - but feeling comfortable about your method helps make the journey more relaxing.

1. Expecting Better 

Written by economist Emily Oster, this looks at data on what pregnant women should and shouldn't do, and breaks down risks, myths and old wives' tales. Rather than prescribe a course of action, Oster presents the data in a digestible way and encourages the reader to make their own informed risk assessments and decisions.

My key learnings: recommended dietary restrictions for pregnant women are often overstated, and some matter a lot more than others; alcohol in moderation is most likely fine after the first trimester; most of the things people recommend to bring on labour don't work (but a couple have reasonable evidence). I also really liked the probability charts.

2. The Science of Mom

This is my most recent read (it only launched at the end of August), and I wish I'd had it earlier. Topics start at cutting the cord and run through milk, sleep and vaccines through to introducing solids. As with Expecting Better, the data is presented for the reader to draw conclusions from, and Callaghan weaves her own parenting experiences into the data which makes the book very relatable.

My key learnings: That the benefits of delayed cord clamping are very important for the iron levels of breastfed babies; food allergies are substantially more common in kids who have the potential allergens withheld until late infanthood.

3. Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue

A great book about how gender impacts on our kids - which I reviewed in great depth here. It's split into three sections. The first discusses the effect of sorting and labelling by gender on how we think about people. The second attempts to identify what the real differences are between boys and girls - hard to pin down, due to the effects of stereotype reinforcement. The third section looks at how we can use this information become better parents.

My key learnings: Individual personality is way more important than gender for determining what children will and won't like; gendered perceptions become pervasive for children at a very young age.

4. The Happy Sleeper 

Yep, a sleep training book. So I'm starting with a caveat: this is a very personal thing, and if sleep training is not for you, no worries! We worked out that it was going to be our thing when, after a long day with not much napping, I put the Little Monkey into his cot for a nap. He looked like he was drifting off... And then he started crying. I was at the end of my tether, so I took a deep breath and took the best piece of advice I got from our antenatal group: if you are pushed to your limits, leave the baby in a safe place (like the cot), close the door, and give yourself five minutes to calm down. At around four and a half minutes, just as I was about to go and get him up and cuddle him, he went to sleep. And had a lovely, long nap. Which we both needed. And woke up happy as anything.

After that we read up a little on gentle sleep training methods, and ended up using The Sleep Store's verbal reassurance, which was very effective. He learned the signals and words that meant it was time to sleep, and though there were a couple of stressful nights getting into the groove he has become a champion sleeper. I know this is partly temperamental - not all kids respond to this - but for us it was a life-saver.

So back to the book - I saw it recommended as a science based look at sleep training, and bought it without knowing what it recommended (hoping it wouldn't tell me my child would hate me forever!). It looks at the research on infant sleep but also the health of the family as a whole, which I think is very important. If the parents are exhausted and can't cope it will rub off on the kids. And then it goes on to discuss techniques that are appropriate for various ages. Though the methods don't differ much from The Sleep Store's VR, they are slightly gentler and there's more background info, which is helpful to refer back to when you're in the midst of it and questioning whether you're doing the right thing.

My key learnings: That the appearance of a long evening sleep is a strong signal that the baby's circadian rhythms are kicking in; the "soothing ladder" suggestions for young babies, that allow you to work through the least disruptive calming methods before picking up the baby.


I'd love to hear your recommendations - what did you rely on to get you through the fog? Any other great reads I should get into before the arrival of number two?

Links in this article are affiliate links so if you click through and buy a book you're supporting my blog. I only ever recommend things I happily spend my own money on though! :-) 

Almond, orange and chocolate biscotti

My baby-growing app (because it's impossible to be pregnant without one in these modern times) measures the size of the child within in terms of French pastries and desserts. This week, Baby Cake-To-Be is the size of a creme brulee. So I made some. Because yum!

The recipe I used was this one (okay, technically a very close cousin of creme brulee), which is super easy to put together, but I wanted a little extra something to go with it. Keeping with the citrus trend I went on the hunt for a zesty biscotti, and stumbled upon this Paul Hollywood recipe.

I tweaked it a little, as the original recipe calls for two or three eggs, but two was too dry and three was too sticky, and it seemed daft using 2.5 eggs. I used size 6, so if your eggs are smaller hold aside a little of the flour until you see if the dough comes together, and if you have larger eggs you can try with two, or use three and add a little more flour until the dough isn't sticky.

The other difficulty I encountered while making it was that someone, who shall remain nameless (but wasn't me!) pinched some of the chocolate from the baking shelf, so when I came to weigh out the 100 grams I needed I experienced this calamity:

13 grams short! Woe is me!

Luckily I had some fancy milk chocolate (eating chocolate, not baking chocolate - there are separate categories in this house) stashed away, so I pillaged some of that to make up the recipe. The volume of chocolate in the recipe is reasonably subtle, so I didn't want to short-change it, even by 13 grams. ;-)

Biscotti is pretty straightforward to make and suits all sorts of different flavours. It also lasts for ages, which makes it a great gift food - you can make it in advance, and the recipient need not feel obliged to scoff it immediately. This recipe has a definite festive vibe with its orange and almond flavours too.

Because it's double baked it suits a day when you're pottering around in the kitchen. It worked well interspersed with dinner prep for me - I made the dough, popped the logs into the oven, prepped dinner, took the logs out and sliced them and they went back into the oven while we ate. A rare moment of housekeeping synergy for the Cake household, made possible by the simplicity of this recipe.

Do you have a favourite biscotti flavour combo? And do little fairies ever creep into your pantry and pinch your baking ingredients?

Almond, orange and chocolate biscotti (modified from Paul Hollywood)
Ingedients
330g flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp baking powder
250g caster sugar
3 size 6 eggs, beaten
100g chocolate (milk or dark depending on your preference)
125g blanched or roasted almonds
Zest of 1 orange
½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Preheat oven to 160 C, or 140 C if fan bake. Line a baking tray with baking paper or a liner.

Mix flour, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs, then gradually add to the dry ingredients, ensuring that the egg is fully incorporated between each addition. Continue until you have a firm dough. The dough shouldn't be sticky, so if you are using large eggs either start with just two and see if it's enough, or add more flour until the dough is firm.

Melt half the chocolate, then cool until tepid. Add the melted chocolate to the biscotti dough and stir until evenly incorporated. Bring the mixture together to form a firm dough. Chop the remaining chocolate roughly, then add to the dough along with almonds, orange zest and vanilla extract. Mix these ingredients in with your hands until well combined.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide in half. Form each half into a long log, roughly 4cm diameter.

Place on the baking tray, ensuring there is at least 5cm between them as they will sink and spread as they cook. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Leave the logs to cool on the tray for 10 minutes to allow the dough to firm up slightly, then transfer to a board and cut into slices about 2cm thick.

Lay the slices on the baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn over and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until they are dry. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

Roots Restaurant

While in Christchurch last week we had the opportunity to sneak off for a night out, a rare occurrence for us now that we have the Little Monkey in our midst. Since it is such an unusual treat for us we decided to apply a strategy of Go Big or Go Home, and booked ourselves in for the 12 course degustation at Roots Restaurant in Lyttelton.

Roots was the Cuisine magazine restaurant of the year this year, so came highly recommended, and has a simple, honest food ethic. Ingredients are either straight out of their own garden, or from local providers (foraged or sustainably farmed). Because everything is seasonal the menu is constantly changing, and there is no a la carte menu - you can choose between five, eight or 12 courses (and they will cater to dietary requirements), but what you are served is at the whim of the chef.

Because we went for 12 courses and detailing all of them would be pretty dull, I thought I'd just talk about a few highlights.

The first was the stellar view we had over Lyttelton Harbour. To fit 12 courses into our evening we started at 6pm, which was just as well because it took a full four hours. This gave us an ever changing scenic view, through twilight and into darkness with lights twinkling around the bay (and the port still busy beavering away).

The second was the lovely artwork - beautiful prints featuring native birds (and some slightly more quirky ones). I quite like the pair of huias but they're a bit out of our budget right now... Maybe there'll be an art budget when we've finished renovating (probably not. We'll probably keep spending all our spare money on delicious food).



And then there was the food. It was excellent, as you'd expect at this level of establishment; immaculately presented, delicate, interesting, varied. I especially liked that some of the dishes were vegetable centric - if you're having this many courses they don't all need to be meat.

Mr Cake's favourite course was quail egg with celeriac mash and spring onion (top centre). My top pick is hard to define - they were all pretty good, but pregnant lady hormones lead me to heavily favour the bread, which was fantastic (and came served with duck fat, happy days). The course served with bread was a duck egg yolk on a bed of beetroot and grains, which was great but (preggo problems) my egg got fully cooked due to my "delicate condition," and I was more than a little jealous of Mr Cake's oozy yolk (don't get me wrong - their attention to detail was awesome here... I'm just looking forward to the return of unrestricted eating).

The cheese course was also fantastic, with the house-made biscotti of particular note. I also appreciated the crockery of this course, since I grew up with this style of Temuka Pottery - family members will have enjoyed many a sausage roll off Mum's platters at Sunday Tea over the years.

And of course I have to give a nod to the three dessert courses. The last was my fave, and included a cookie (though soft enough to be spoonable) with milk wafers, which Mr Cake immediately likened to freeze-dried ice-cream. I haven't tasted the ice-cream in question, but I feel like this was probably better. (Unrelated: apparently, freeze-dried ice-cream, a.k.a. Astronaut Ice Cream, has only been used on one space mission, whereas regular ice-cream has been taken on several)

I'm not entirely convinced that 12 courses is the best option - there were two other couples near us having the eight course menu, and it seemed that the dishes they missed were the ones we liked least. It's also optional to add the cheese course to the eight course menu - so then there are only three courses you miss.

One other minor grumble - as is often the case non-alcoholic drinks were a bit lacking. I'm always aware of this because I'm not a big drinker at the best of times, though I'll usually have a glass of wine with a meal like this. There were only three non-boozy options on the menu, and I chose a freshly squeezed juice, but it was citrus and ended up overpowering the food a bit. Something a bit less powerful would have worked better with the delicate food. A small quibble but I would love if restaurants would provide better upmarket soft drinks.

It was a great meal though, fantastic service, a lovely view and I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a fine dining experience in Christchurch.

Where was your most recent notable meal? Have you been to Roots?


Roots Restaurant is located at 8 London Street, Lyttelton, phone 03 328 7658, www.rootsrestaurant.co.nz

Hacking My Food Bag

My Food Bag is old hat these days, positively mainstream (well, in the corporate world anyway). When it arrived in Wellington we were pretty interested (I'd watched the fanfare when it launched in Auckland) and signed up immediately.

It is pretty pricey, but depending on your circumstances can still be beneficial. I thought I'd share my tips on how to get the best out of it, because although the concept is great I reckon there are a few things you can do to maximise the benefits.

1. Give it a try before deciding you're in it for the long term

There is no minimum term so you can try it once and never touch it again. It is largely cooking from scratch and not everyone has time for that (especially during the working week) so don't stress if it's not you. The flip side is that giving it a go once is pretty doable, so there's not much to lose.

2. Don't assume you have to get the bag "designed" for your family

Do what suits you! When we first got it there were just the two of us, but we chose the Classic bag, which is designed to serve 4-5 people. We had it delivered fortnightly, which allowed us to continue our well-established habit of only cooking every second day, and having leftovers in between - and it's cheaper. I recommend you look at all the options and if you're not sure, try a couple of different ones. 

3. Make notes on the recipes you like - and throw out the ones you don't

In my mind, expanding your cooking repertoire is one of the biggest benefits of My Food Bag. You could just buy a new recipe book, but if you're like me you'll make one or two of the recipes and then stash it away. My Food Bag essentially forces you to try lots of new recipes - but that doesn't mean you'll love them all. 

We found the flavours and quantities of the recipes great, but sometimes there's room to simplify the process. Example: anytime kebab sticks are used we ignore that step altogether. Quicker to prep, easier to cook and easier to eat (unrelated: does anyone have alternative uses for kebab sticks? We seem to have accumulated quite a few). 

There's also sometimes a level of luxury that we don't need for everyday dinners, e.g. an extra drizzle sauce or sour cream for serving - so I'll make a note that it's optional if I intend to make the dish again. 

4. Use it for a while, then stop

I reckon My Food Bag is most beneficial when used for seasons in life. If you're looking for a menu reset it might make sense. If you're trying to break a takeaway habit it'll probably save you money and get you eating more healthily. If you are working too many hours it can save you the thinking time on what to have for dinner. But the benefits start to abate after a while. 

Partly this is because cooking new recipes all the time is more difficult than having a regular rotation. And partly because once you form new cooking habits they become more automatic, and maybe you don't need the magical ingredient delivery anymore. 

I recommend thinking about how long you might do it for (e.g. 3 months, 6 months, a year) and then re-evaluating at the end of that time. Have a break and see how much you miss it. And when you're not reaping the benefits anymore, stop. 

Life after My Food Bag

We got the Classic bag fortnightly for about a year. These days we get a veggie box delivered, and then plan our dinner menu using My Food Bag recipes (we have a few old favourites that sneak in as well). I flick through the current season's recipes in the folder and flag the ones that work with the week's produce, then write a shopping list for the ingredients we don't have on hand. It works pretty well for us, and doesn't take that long to plan and shop (maybe 15 minutes or so to pick the meals, and a few extra minutes in the supermarket or on the Countdown website). 

I'm pretty sure that the veggie content of our meals has increased, so we're eating better, and we definitely have a lot more variety in our menu now. The Little Monkey eats pretty much everything, though occasionally we'll add some yoghurt to spicier meals to suit his palate - but there's no need for separate cooking.

I'd definitely get the deliveries again - maybe when our new family member arrives and we're getting new routines sorted - but for now we're good with our hacked solution.


Have you tried My Food Bag or any similar services? How did you find it?

Lovely little cakes from J'aime les Macarons

I've long been a fan of J'aime les Macarons - they definitely win at macarons. I'm yet to have any other macarons as good in New Zealand - and I have tried plenty. They featured on our wedding dessert table, and we try to make them appear at as many special occasions as we can (especially as a few family members can't have gluten, and macarons are gluten free). They're not limited to Cantabrians, either - they have stockists around the country, including Kirkcaldie & Stains in Wellington.

A few years ago they expanded their repertoire to include exquisite little cakes, and I'd be lying if I claimed this was the first time I'd tried them but just for you guys (ha!) we went there over the weekend (while in Christchurch for a wedding) to pick up a few to review (unfortunately these ones are only available in Christchurch).

From left; strawberry and vanilla layer cake; chocolate caramel tart; peach dome;
chocolate caramel layer cake; rhubarb, raspberry and pistachio Alaska

The chocolate caramel tart took my heart - it's incredibly rich so if that's not you then maybe go for one of the fruitier options. But if gooey caramel and rich, dark chocolate topped with crunchy chocolate pearls sounds appealing then we are kindred spirits and you should pop down to The Colombo at your earliest convenience and try one.

The mini baked Alaska is also pretty awesome, with flavourfully fruity raspberry mousseline and rhubarb compote hidden inside. I am a fan of all things textural, so I am always pleased to dig into a treat like this and discover layers of differing deliciousness inside.

They were all delicious, but the Alaska cake and the two chocolatey ones were definitely my picks of the five we tried. The range is changing all the time, but those three seem to be part of the core range, so maybe the classics trump the seasonal offerings... Or maybe my bias for chocolate is getting in the way of the sweet summer cakes. At any rate, none will disappoint.

Have you had any amazing cakes recently? And have you tried J'aime les Macarons' treats? 

J'aime les Macarons is located in The Colombo, 363 Colombo Street, Christchurch. Macarons are available from a number of other stockists throughout New Zealand and to order online from the website, www.jaimelesmacarons.co.nz. 

Perfect pear and chocolate cake

I've been eyeing up this recipe for a while, and we keep getting pears in our fruit and vege box (I guess we're not quite into summer fruit season yet) so with the awful weather yesterday I finally got around to giving it a whirl.

I spied it over on Not Quite Nigella, where the lovely Lorraine has been sharing great recipes for a blogland eternity - since 2007. I've been following her since not long after she started, and love her quirky recipes and ideas, though as ever I am mainly drawn to her cakes.

This cake sounded delicious, pretty easy, and perfect to use up the pears in the fruit bowl. And as it turned out it is all of those things (except that the fruit bowl is empty now).

The batter is very simple to put together - chopping up the fruit was the trickiest bit and that wasn't arduous. There's enough fruit to make the batter go a long way, and as a result the cake feels less rich - though the addition of chocolate helps to boost the decadence level back up into the acceptable zone.

Though it's a pear cake I used both pears and apples, as they are reasonably interchangeable in baking. This will alter the flavour of the cake slightly but unless you happen to hate one or the other (or have an allergy) that's unlikely to be polarising. The main thing is that the fruit makes the cake dense and moist.

It was billed as a breakfast cake, and although I will confess to having eaten cake for breakfast on the odd occasion, I still think this qualifies as dessert, not really breakfast food (if you choose to have dessert for breakfast that's your call, but you've got to own it!).

It's especially awesome served warm with a generous scoop of good quality chocolate ice-cream, but is good cold too.

Perfect pear and chocolate cake (adapted from Not Quite Nigella)
100ml vegetable oil (canola or sunflower)
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g flour
2 tsps baking powder
75ml milk
5 pears (or apples, or a mixture)
125g chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a 23cm round springform cake tin.

Chop two of the pears into small cubes (1cm or less). Halve and core the other three, then carefully score along the outside.

Beat together oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until double in volume.

Add half the flour, baking powder and milk and fold until just combined. Add the remaining half and fold again, then add the chopped pears and chocolate and fold in. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and top with the scored pears.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer comes out  clean. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with lashings of chocolate ice-cream or cream. Serves 8 for dessert.

A geometric tiled backsplash

One of the things we were busy with last month (resulting in a bit of silence here on the blog) was tiling our kitchen backsplash.

Choosing tiles was the first obstacle, and slowed us down quite a bit. We started with a vision of colour, thinking we could incorporate some vibrancy into our kitchen that way. Unfortunately the range of coloured tiles that are (easily) available is fairly limited, and we couldn't find any that looked right. Since colour was off the table we shifted our focus to texture - and pretty quickly discovered the cool 3D tiles we ended up using.


The tiles are hexagonal, and moulded so that they appear cuboid. This gives an almost Escher-est effect when combined, and together with a dark grout to emphasise the outline gave us a finish we're really happy with.

There are two drawbacks to these fantastic tiles; first is the price - retail is $4.10 per tile. Definitely negotiate, though - we were offered a 15% discount without even asking, and then when we saw them cheaper (but out of stock) elsewhere we went back and asked if they could reduce the price further, so they did - not only matching but beating the other store's special price.

The second drawback is that they're tricky to cut - and because they're not square there's a lot of cutting needed. Due to their raised shape we were advised to use an angle grinder rather than a tile cutter, which worked fine but is a bit more labour intensive.

Prep work - making sure the power points are perfectly aligned

Dad made a nifty little cutting template which held the tiles neatly in place for cutting, and precision in the cutting department was exceptional as a result. There was also excellent efficiency in using offcuts to fill opposing gaps, which meant there was very little waste. We had been told to allow an extra 15% in our tile calculations but we were able to return a full box and still keep a dozen or so spares in case of future breakage.

In terms of how to tile - as ever, online instruction video is the name of the game. Mr Mitre 10 sorted us out this time (well, Dad had done it before but we wanted to educate ourselves a bit too). To get a nice symmetrical finish we started in the middle and worked out. We used 3mm spacers, again to ensure we had a good bold outline of grout, and cut the tiles around the rangehood (the shape of the tiles meant we didn't have the choice to tile behind it as it wouldn't be able to sit flush).

The most time consuming (and frustrating) part was working around the power points - the 3D tiles don't really mesh well with fiddly areas. I think we ended up with a decent finish, but this is definitely the least awesome part of the job, and we might still touch them up later. Luckily the toaster lives in front of one set and the jug in front of the other! We debated whether we would have put them elsewhere if we'd chosen our tiles earlier in the process, but the layout of our kitchen doesn't really give us any other sensible options, so that result was inevitable.

It took about a day and a half to finish - not a quick job - but it looks fantastic, and it's so nice to have the kitchen another big step closer to completion.



Left on the kitchen to-do list is:

• Plaster around the built in cupboards 
• Paint built in cupboards and top coat the rest of the room
• Final coat on the floor 
• Replace the glass in the overhead cupboards (I inadvertently ordered frosted instead of clear)

It might be the New Year before it's 100% complete, depending on when our plasterer can slot us in (we've decided to outsource that bit), but we are getting tantalisingly close. 

Meanwhile we're starting to finalise the design for our downstairs bathroom, and having some tiling skills is likely to be useful there (note that the building code requires using a professional for wet areas though, so if we tile the shower we won't be able to DIY that). There's just one rule: no 3D tiles!

My top 5 essential baking tools

This list was harder to compile than I expected it to be. We like to think we're towards the minimalist end of the scale, in that we prefer to keep things as clutter-free as possible... But I love baking and that brings with it a bunch of tools which, while not all essential, definitely help things along - and that means the kitchen is not really sticking with the clutter-free theme.

There are a few things that get more use than everything else, though, so here are my top five baking must-haves.

1. A bowl with a splashguard 

Mine is Tupperware and so was stupidly expensive (maybe $85?). So useful for mixing without spattering batter all over the room, or sending clouds of icing sugar through the atmosphere. Stand mixers often come with these but I haven't seen them elsewhere, which is unfortunate because it's so useful! Anyone in the bowl manufacturing business who could produce these for mass market?

2. Kitchen scales 

These are essential! Although the next item contradicts this a little, I prefer to weigh ingredients where I can: it's more accurate and reduces washing up. Digital definitely wins on precision, and they've got to be easy to clean. My set is a few years old and I can't see them on sale anywhere anymore, but these look good.

3. Measuring cups and spoons

For when you don't have weight measurements, or for liquids a good set of cups and spoons are pretty key.

My favourite measuring cups are this awesome Joseph Joseph set (includes a large bowl and a couple of other bits as well) - though I use pyrex jugs for larger liquid measures.

When it comes to measuring spoons, I have three sets, but the best are these basic plastic ones; they're easy to use and can be kept on the ring or separated very easily. 

4. A really good spatula 

My favourite for the last five years was a Tupperware one, but it's just given up the ghost so I've switched to another well-designed Joseph Joseph product, which works just as well but seems a bit hardier. I especially like that the Joseph Joseph one is strong enough to use to stir as well as scraping down the edges.

5. Electric beater

I don't have a stand mixer, but my handheld electric beater is very well used. Mine is a Breville similar to this (again, mine is quite old so the model I have is no longer made) and after nearly six years of thrashing the motor is beginning to sound a little sick, so I've been eyeing up snazzy new ones (maybe a coloured one? Or maybe I should get a stand mixer when it finally gives up?).


So tell me - what are your most used tools? And how do you keep kitchen clutter at bay?

Some links are via affiliate programmes, which means I may get a small commission if you purchase one of these products. I don't recommend products I don't use and love, though! 

Sticky gingerbread loaf

Sorry things have been a bit quiet around here. Most of October turned out to be required for rest and relaxation - in between manic bouts of DIY that is. ;-)

I've got plenty of posts lined up so the lull is over - starting with this comforting spiced gingerbread, which would have seemed very out of place over the weekend, but suddenly there's a chill in the air again and warm baked goods seem just the thing.

This recipe is one that I've made over and over again since I discovered it. It has all the trademarks of a classic: it's easy to throw together; we typically have all the ingredients on hand; it tastes (and smells) amazing; and people rave about it.

Even better, the recipe makes two loaves, so you can either give one away and make someone else's day, or pop one in the freezer for later (I refuse to entertain the concept of making half the recipe but I guess if you'd prefer you could go with that option too).

It uses golden syrup and treacle, and because they last forever in the pantry I do usually have both on hand, but the recipe will survive using all golden syrup if you don't have treacle. It will be a bit lighter; less depth of flavour and a bit sweeter - but I have done it and it still tastes delicious.

The batter is very runny - don't be alarmed, it will still cook up into a lovely, moist loaf.

After making this a couple of times I amped up the spices. I'm not so much a subtle-hint-of-spice kind of person - I want every mouthful to be amazing and fantastic and full of oomph (technical term).

As well as being simple to make, it is a win on the dishes front, too; my dirty dish tally for this recipe is one saucepan; one measuring teaspoon; one measuring cup (I measure in the milk then add eggs and beat to combine in the cup); one measuring shot glass (measures the water then I add the baking soda and combine in the cup); and one spatula. If you line the loaf tins well even they won't need washing.

It tastes best warm, but is still amazing cold, plain or buttered, or pop a slice in a bowl, microwave for 20 seconds, and top with vanilla ice-cream. And don't blame me when you go back for seconds!

The dishes factor means that this and my favourite chocolate brownie are my two go-to recipes if I need to whip something up in a hurry - do you have any great one bowl/pot recipes?

Nigella's Sticky Gingerbread (adapted from Nigella Christmas)
150g butter
125g dark muscovado sugar (regular brown sugar works if you don't have muscovado)
200g golden syrup
200g treacle or molasses (or extra golden syrup)
3 tsp grated or crushed ginger
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
250ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp baking soda, dissolved in 2 Tbsp/30ml warm water
300g flour

Preheat oven to 170c. Line two loaf tins with baking paper.

In a saucepan, melt together butter, sugar, syrup, treacle, ginger and spices. Remove from heat and add milk, eggs and dissolved baking soda. Fold in flour.

Divide between the two loaf tins and bake for 30-40 minutes, until firm when gently pressed.