Orange Spice Cake, Breakfast Smoothie and a Review

If you know me well, you will know that I love kitchen gadgets. I have a lovely new addition to my kitchen and to christen it, I started thinking about recipes to showcase my new food processor. I remembered watching Mary Berry making an orange spice cake on the Great British Bake Off which looked really good. She used a food processor to make the recipe so I decided to give it a try. Plus it's a very spring-like cake which is perfectly seasonal.

The cake itself was really easy to make. You have to boil a whole orange until it's soft and then blitz it in the food processor. You add all the cake ingredients into the food processor and that's it. The cake itself was absolutely delicious with a strong orange flavour. The hint of spice added to the flavours and paired well with the mascarpone cheese filling. My colleague made the lemon version of this cake and that was really good too! I will have to try that next time.

I also made a smoothie with the liquidiser and it was so quick and easy. It has now become a breakfast staple which is perfect for the warmer weather. I used up fruits that were past their prime and added some milk, honey and a little scoop of ice cream. You can of course use yoghurt and the fruit variations are endless.

So what I did think of the Kenwood FP190? Well, when it first arrived I thought it was smaller than I imagined but it's really handy to have in a small kitchen. I have a lot of kitchen appliances and a lack of worktop space so this is a good space saver. It's handy having a food processor and liquidiser in one as it's so versatile. You can use both at the same time as the blades operate simultaneously when you turn it on. It's a nice, simple design with added functional details such as the suction cups at the base which keeps the unit steady when you're using it and the bracket at the back to wind up the power cord. It's light yet sturdy enough to blend, chop and blitz food, fruits and nuts. It's dishwasher safe but as I don't have one I'm pleased that it's quite easy to clean as there's no little nooks and crannies where food gets stuck which I have experienced previously. 

This little gadget is perfect for a small family but would not cope with large volumes. For example with this orange cake mix, the processor was at the maximum volume limit and it just about coped with mixing the batter. The cake turned out beautifully so it obviously did a good job but would not have coped with a larger recipe.  I've also made crumble, waffle batter and another cake mix with it and they all turned out beautifully. The whisk attachment is really handy for whipping cream or egg whites - I have to say I wasn't sure it would work looking at the attachment but it does. It whisked up my cream perfectly in less time than it takes with my KitchenAid! It's also perfect for small volumes whereas the KitchenAid or similar is better with larger volumes. 

 The Kenwood FP190 with a liquidiser and food processor and different attachments - knife blade, slicing plate, shredding plate, plate carrier, whisk, maxi-blend canopy. 

 ingredients for orange spice cake 

 boil whole orange until soft 

 blitz the whole orange 

 making the cake batter 

 adding the orange pulp to the batter 

 first layer of cake 

 completed 4 layers 

 cover with mascarpone filling 

 For breakfast smoothie - milk, banana, strawberries, kiwi, honey, ice cream 

 pour in 100mls of milk - the liquidiser jug has measurements in mls and cups on the side 

 add the other ingredients 

 and pulse for 1-2 minutes 

 smoothie to go 

Recipe for Orange Spice Cake available online 

Recipe for Breakfast smoothie
Place 100mls milk, 1 ripe banana, 1 kiwi and a few strawberries with a small scoop of ice cream (optional) and a drizzle of honey (to taste) Whizz in the liquidiser and serve.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Argos for the Kenwood FP190 used in the creation of these recipes. All opinions expressed are my own.

Kiwi and Strawberry Muffins

I usually make my own lunch for work which includes a portion of fruit. My favourite combination at the moment is strawberries and kiwis but I do alternate with strawberries and blueberries. I obviously thought about how I could convert this into a bake and decided that muffins were the best way forward. I've tried baking with kiwis before and it didn't work very well. It has quite a soft texture and can sometimes be very slightly bitter. I remember the previous cake being too wet probably because I used yoghurt so I made sure to steer clear this time. I'm pleased to report that this experiment was a huge success.  The muffins were moist but not soggy and you could clearly taste the fruit.  The spelt flour made it feel healthier and gave it a nice texture. I was surprised when one of my colleagues asked if there was cinnamon in there - clearly she has a more refined palate than mine! 

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes a monthly blogging challenge that I co-host with Caroline who is our gracious host this month. The letter is 'K' for kiwi.  There's a lovely prize up for grabs this month so do get your entries in via email. 

I'm also sending it to Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior. This recipe uses fresh ingredients so I think it fits the bill nicely. 

I'd also like to introduce you to a new blogger friend of mine. Her name is Emma and she blogs at Cakes for Dorothy. Today, one of my posts is being featured on her blog as a guest post - my cookie monster cupcakes. She has a lovely UK based blog where she shares her baking successes and failures and lessons learnt. She also has a Wednesday Wish segment featuring her baking wishlist. Please visit and show her some blogging support. 

 my usual lunch box fruits

 mix wet and dry ingredients 

 ready to go in the oven

 you can still see the fruit! 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

250g plain flour

125g spelt flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

200g brown sugar

50g honey

180g strawberries - washed, hulled and roughly chopped

4 kiwis - peeled and roughly chopped

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

juice from 1/2 orange 

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Mix the dry ingredients together and make a well in the centre of the bowl.
• Add the wet ingredients and mix well. 
• Scoop into baking cases and bake for 18-20 mins or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Save the Children Name A Day Campaign : Kiwi and Lime Bundt Cake

This is a slightly different post to normal. Yes there is still cake involved but I'd like to take the time to talk about an important issue. Cake and hunger are not two words you would normally put together but this is how I can make a difference by raising awareness and spreading the word through what I can do - baking.

Did you know that in a world with food enough for everybody, 300 children die of malnutrition every hour of every single day? 

This month's Pink Whisk Challenge is dedicated to Save the Children and the Hidden Hunger Campaign. Ruth says "I would love for you to donate a recipe. The theme for the challenge is ‘Family Favourites’, recipes you enjoy making and that you love to share, there’s nothing more to it than that – it doesn’t even have to be baking (I hope you realise how much that hurt me to write!)  All recipes gathered for the challenge will be collated and published in a Save the Children e-book which will be sold to raise awareness and funds for the campaign."

Read about Ruth's firsthand experience in Rwanda here and here.

Save the children asks that you name a day to beat hunger. They want the Prime Minister to host a world hunger summit aimed at making the global food system work for the millions of children going hungry.
All you have to do is name a day and when your day comes round, they’ll ask you to take one of five simple actions – from sending a tweet to cooking a meal – to help spread the word about this devastating crisis. I've named my day. Will you? 

This cake is not strictly a family favourite (but I'm sure it will be!) as I wanted to create my own recipe for this challenge.  My dad used to study in New Zealand which made me think of kiwis.  It's not a fruit I've ever baked with before so I thought it would be a good challenge.  It's very similar to my lemon and raspberry cake which worked well so I decided to modify it for this. I love making smoothies with lime, kiwi and honey so I thought why not make it into a cake? 

I tried to blitz the whole lime but it didn't work out so I used lime juice and lime zest instead.  There's whole kiwi fruit and pureed kiwi fruit in the batter.  It's quite a dense, moist sponge with the freshness of the fruit and the citrus tang from the limes. It was delicious with the glaze but you can have it plain if you prefer.   

 adding kiwi to the batter - I forgot to coat the kiwis in flour first so they sank to the bottom, well top as this was a bundt cake :( 

 I also added some kiwi puree

 thought it was a good time to use my new bundt tin

 love the heart shapes :) 

 add glaze... 

 delicious! you can see the kiwis at the top of the cake! 

An original recipe by me, bakingaddict

Makes 1 small bundt cake as shown

For the cake

150g yoghurt

140g caster sugar

40g honey

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

180g self raising flour

Juice and zest of 2 limes

4 kiwi fruit - peeled and chopped into 1/8

1 kiwi fruit - peeled and pureed

For the glaze

50g icing sugar

1-2 tablespoon lime juice 

• Preheat the oven to 180C
• Butter and flour your bundt pan or line normal cake tin with greaseproof paper. 
• In a large bowl, mix together the yoghurt, sugar, honey, eggs, vanilla extract and oil. 
• Add in the lime juice and zest. 
• Stir in the flour and mix well.
• Coat the chopped kiwi fruit in 1-2 tablespoons of flour then add to the batter. 
• Puree 1 kiwi fruit and stir into the batter. 
• Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack.
• To make the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. 
• Add enough lime juice to make a glaze of dripping consistency.