Brush My Hair & Feed Me Grapes

"She's so sweet. I just want to feed her grapes and brush her hair." said Joey Tribbiani. That, my friends, is love. I'm kidding!

I baked this amazing grape tea cake over the weekend, and made two batches cos it's just that good. This is not the first time I tried this recipe from Steph (raspberricupcakes.com) but the last time I made it, it disappeared so fast that I couldn't get a picture! I've made it one more time since then, and the three times I attempted this recipe, I changed 1 variable in the recipe each time... with excellent results regardless!

Steph used Moscato in her recipe, a sweet dessert wine. The first time I tried it, I used Sauternes wine as I had some left over (and I kinda love that sweet scent a lot). The second time, I made it for my grandmother - who doesn't take alcohol in any form - and used store bought white grape juice. And it it's latest reincarnation in my kitchen, I used Moscato, specifically bought to bake this cake. Each change yielded slightly different results, but deliciously fresh and fruity regardless. I think my favourite so far is definitely the Sauternes wine version.

Anyway, enough dilly-dallying, let me share that recipe with you. And when you get bored, or can't sleep, or just need some sort of baking inspiration, please do check out www.raspberricupcakes.com. Steph's recipes and photography are to die for! I can only hope to one day be able to take pictures as beautifully as she does.

Grape Tea Cake with Vanilla Bean Glaze
Recipe from raspberricupcakes.com 

• 190g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 170g caster sugar
• 85g butter, room temperature
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sweet wine OR white grape juice
• 1 1/2 cup red seedless grapes

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line an 8" round baking tin with butter and parchment paper
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside
3. In the large mixing bowl of your stand mixer, beat the sugar, butter, and olive oil until fluffy. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then beat in the lemon and orange zest along with the vanilla extract
4. Add the flour in 3 additions, alternating with 1/2 cup of the wine or juice after each flour addition, and end with the flour, beating steadily after each addition
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, and scatter the grapes on top
6. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean. Remove from the oven, cool in tin for 10 minutes before moving the cake to cool completely on a wire rack

Vanilla bean glaze

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 2-3 tbsp milk

1. Mix all the ingredients (start with 1-2 tbsp of milk), stir with a spoon until a thick, pourable mixture forms
2. Pour or drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled cake  

I'm not cool

Hey you,

Let me tell you a little something about me: I'm a loner; I'm not popular, but I have a solid group of really good people I call friends. I love reading and writing fiction, and sometimes... I may have issues distinguishing between fantasy and reality. I like dorky things like my talking, prophetic Yoda doll (I call it doll, it's probably called an action figure or whatever), my Mr Potatohead, the handmade Ron Weasley amigurumi that I got from Jan, working for hours on ridiculous photomanipulation projects for my friends on SnitchSeeker, HA! Snitchseeker, and only I know how much longer that list goes on.

My idea of a well spent weekend involves sitting in my various super comfortable pajamas, reading great fantasy/sci-fi novels, watching episode after episode of whatever I may have stored on my hard-drive, and sitting next to the pool/beach/large body of water for hours on end with a glass of ice-cold Malibu/pineapple.

I don't do too well in loud, dark, crowded spaces. I never know where to put my hands, and that said, I get all light-headed when I stand for too long. When going out, I'm always more comfortable in pub-style settings, where they play good, familiar music, decent steady lighting fixtures, and I can have decent conversations with my friends that I'll remember fondly on Tuesday morning as something that may have profoundly altered the way I look at things.

I've only ever been in two proper romantic relationships in my life, both of them in my early 20s, and within 3 years. Before that I was too shy to talk to people, and since them I've been too afraid. So here I am now, a baker, a writer, a reader, a collector of nonsensical information, and a blogger. It has taken me 2 years to finally like myself again, and now that I'm actually quite happy and comfortable with myself... with knowing who I am, what I like, and what I want, I've been told it's time to drop the wall and just be happy.

Here's how I define myself: I'm comfort food.

Very much like this recipe! HAHA see what I did there?!

Quick Lemon Spaghetti 

• A normal sized pack of dried spaghetti
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped/crushed
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• A cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• The zest of 1 lemon
• Optional: Chopped chicken breast fillets for some protein
• Salt and pepper 

1. Prepare the spaghetti noodles as per instructions, when it's ready, drain the water and set aside in a small amount of leftover water (my friend Jessica told me to drop butter into the still hot pasta and let it ooze through) 
2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan until the butter has melted, then toss in the chopped/crushed garlic and cook until the delicious aroma of garlic fills the air
3. Pour the olive oil/garlic mixture over the pasta and toss with all remaining ingredients 
4. Optional chicken: You can either grill the chicken separately (season with salt and pepper, squeeze some lemon juice over it and grill on high heat), or fry the chicken in the olive oil when the garlic has softened and infused the oil

I'm starting to really have an issue with my camera, lighting, and setting area. There's a spare room in the back of the house that we use for storage, but after this recent failed attempt at taking pictures of my foodscapades I'm seriously considering turning the room into a working studio area.

First things first: Make space. Which I'll do... this weekend... maybe. Knowing my ridiculous procrastinating ways, that may take a while. Then I need to find some decent light fixtures to replace my old ones (I still mourn those lights...), an umbrella stand, new tripod cos my old one broke into three pieces, and maybe read my camera manual! LOL

Anyway, please don't let that horrible picture put you off the recipe. It really is amazing, hope you give it a shot on one of these busy weekdays. x Nabs