It was my 26th birthday earlier this month. I've been pretending it wasn't happening for the past year. I was quite happy being 25 forever. I just prefer being "closer to 20" rather than "on my way to 30" as I am now.
But I've gotten over it now I guess. It's just a number and I'm in the best shape and fitness of my life, so really 26 is already pretty good! Plus birthdays always mean one thing. Cake. That I get to choose AND bake myself.

 For Christmas this year we moved into a beautiful new apartment 5 minutes from the beach. Apart from the amazing holiday lifestyle and finally feeling settled with my man in a home (rather than the old bonsai sized Kings Cross apartment); it also meant that I got a brand new kitchen for me to play in! So how could I possibly resist baking everyone's Christmas presents this year?!

Whilst the kitchen is not huge by any means, it has ample storage, a gas cooktop and good oven, space for a large fridge (heaven) and a microwave - something I forgot about the convenience of. It is also just generally much more pleasant to be in and I am feeling inspired to bake and cook again...well once my body sculpting meal plan becomes a bit more flexible anyway! Nothing like eating exactly the same six meals every day made from only chicken, red meat, fish, rice vermicelli, green beans, eggs and mountains of salad, to put a stop to any creative kitchen thoughts! Still it's been fantastic for getting results and my overall health as well. BUT...I can still bake for everyone else luckily, because the holiday season seems to bring out my baking urges!

I am not normally a big fan of cheesecakes...I can never seem to steer myself away from chocolate desserts! However, this light ricotta based recipe is one that I really enjoyed...and I can't go pass citrus curd and fresh fruit.

I have been reading and exploring raw foods over the past few months and I am really starting to enjoy creating new raw dishes or mainly raw. I am not interested in being 100% raw but I certainly love the benefits and how my body feels when I eat more fresh vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds etc... but even more so because I'm eating less and less of the processed foods. One day I will perhaps try a totally raw lifestyle...who knows!

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and share these super easy and very delicious truffles...it's a bit hard to resist these little bites so make extra if you are using them for presents as I guarantee you will snack on them! A rich, decadent treat for the holiday season.

I made these delicious assortment of truffles as a present for John's sister on Christmas night. They all worked out really well and I like that the recipes aren't really particular with measurements...it's more a matter of adding a bit extra of dry or wet ingredients as needed. I admit I basically made these up as I went along so all the amounts are not 100% accurate but you should be able to get it right. These recipes are very versatile and easy to adapt in flavours as you like too...try some different combinations of nuts, spices and dried fruits etc... I wanted to do an apple pie flavoured one but ran out of time.

Each recipe makes between 20-30 truffles...I think...we ate a few on the way! Store all the truffles in the fridge to keep them fresh and the tasty.

How good is this for dessert?! High protein ice cream! I love you vegans for giving me fantastic recipe and food ideas! Super easy to whip up, and you don't even have to freeze it; try it just chilled in the fridge as a mousse...rich and creamy.
I have also made choc strawberry frozen tofu by adding melted dark chocolate and strawberry puree, and am going to be trying many more ideas too. I think most fruits will work well with this. Has anyone tried making tofu ice cream?

What a beautiful birthday weekend away, I can't think of a more lovely way to start my 25th year. (Whew...that was hard typing that out! Still feels weird being 24 years old now.)

Really though, the Bombah Eco Cottages were just so perfect. Our lovely host Rob was kind enough to show us around the entire sustainable system of water filtration to the beautiful vegetable garden. He was so authentic and passionate about it that it was a real pleasure to wander through the property. Next time we are up there I would really like to just spend more time being there.

The Myall Lakes National Parks is full of juxtapositions; from the stringy barks and gum trees, to rich green ferns, to sand dunes and aqua coloured roaring ocenas. So much natural beauty...but I will just let the photos speak for themselves I think...

Anyway, first things first! My delicious Birthday Cake which was a simple variation on another favourite cake of mine. Since I had to take everything with me to bake, I couldn't do anything too crazy...but really, bananas are my favourite so this was perfect.

I would like to present the first 'Healthy ZOMTreats' post! These will become a regular feature on ZOMTBAKES where I will be challenging other food bloggers to create delicious desserts and baked goods...but there is a catch:

A ZOMTreat should use healthier ingredients, beautiful fresh and seasonal produce, local produce, natural sugars, 'good' fats etc... just as happy a treat as possible for your body!

I would like to introduce the lovely and talented Erin from fresh365! Erin cooks up a fantastic collection of vegetarian recipes on her blog. She uses delicious seasonal, organic and local products and her dishes are beautifully photographed. Droolworthy material!

My lovely beautiful friend Pip is just so precious to me...and not just because she made me these amazingly rich and decadent triple chocolate brownies! Although it certainly gets her brownie points. Hah my puns are hilarious I know.
No but seriously, she is a kindred spirit in my life and I am truly grateful for her.

These fudgy brownies with slightly crunchy crusts are apparently much requested back in Melbourne. Well, now these will be requested in Sydney as well. I had two of these and had to remove them entirely from my apartment and deliver them to John because I swear I would have eaten the entire thing even if I died during the process. In the words of one of her favourite quotes from The Meaning of Night, Michael Cox:

"Whoever heeds the voice of reason when love whispers, softly persuasive, in the other ear..."

or in the context of this post;

"Whoever heeds the voice of reason when brownies whisper, softly persuasive, in the other ear..."

(She will hate me for butchering that!)

These are really not for mass consumption, they fall under my 'special food' category...sadly not much healthy nutrients going on here. Did I mention they are damn delicious though? Just try them once, really. You need to.

Just wanted to share some photographs from our lovely, heavenly, beautiful weekend away at the Mount View lodges, (highly recommend these.) It is hard to describe just how serene this place is, or how vast and never ending the view is.
Imagine seeing as far as the eye can see and hearing nothing but a few little birds, some leaves rustling and just....silence. It was unbelievable to fall asleep to total silence. In fact I actually woke up a few times the first night and couldn't work out why it was so QUIET. Waking in the morning to the sun rising...drifting off to sleep again...then waking and feeling refreshed and ready to meet the difficult day ahead of reading, chatting, eating and resting.

This past weekend we went away on a little holiday up to the Hunter Valley region. We stayed in the most beautiful lodges overlooking the valley as far as the eye could see. It was just amazing.

It was John's birthday on the Thursday leading up to it, so I asked what sort of Birthday Cake he would like me to make...but no cake...Lemon Puddings. I was secretly hoping for a spectacular layer cake because I never really have the chance to make them; but these little puddings were so so delicious and light that I am glad he didn't want a cake! A fluffy, warm citrus top followed by a tangy, creamy sauce as you dig deeper. It was a bit of an ordeal because I had to take my handheld electric mixer on holiday...but really I don't think anyone who knows me would be surprised it was invited too!

You know, I think I have developed a bit of a fondness for lemons. Lemon is actually the common name for Citrus Limon. Sounds nice like that I think. I like that you can use the juice, and the flesh and the zest of the Citrus Limon. I hate to waste food, especially fresh produce...so it makes me happy. Yellow makes me happy too.

This little orange & lemon torte is so wonderfully fragrant and moist. I had lots of egg yolks in the fridge that needed to be used and some beautiful oranges from BoxFresh. I brought it into work with me today and it was very tasty according to all reviews.

I want to try this with blood oranges next time. Oh and it is also gluten free which is a bonus!

I bought 1kg of apples this Saturday morning. That's about 8 apples. No, I'm not sure why I bought them...needless to say, I have eaten apples in a few different ways!
There was apple porridge which was delicious, I made amazing apple & almond strudels on Sunday evening; but by far the best apples were in this Banana Apple & Blueberry cake.

My mum was visiting me over this past weekend in Sydney which was just lovely. (I miss her already.) On Friday evening we went along to for dinner at some old family friends who we haven't seen for 7 years...of course I had to bake something to bring along!

We had been out to IKEA the day before and I had a very cool faceted cake tin that I had to use. I decided a bundt cake recipe would work best to get the forms nice, and luckily the lovely Donna Hay had a whole bundt feature in April/May (Issue 44).

I decided after much deliberation on a simple pistachio and almond cake with lemon juice & sugar. I was actually quite worried it was going to be a bit bland, but it was just divine. Why I ever doubted Donna!

This is a pretty easy and not-too-naughty dessert I whipped up during the week. You could prepare these early in the day and serve them chilled as well if you liked. The best thing is you can adjust the sweetness to your taste and this could easily work with other fruits or some pistachios in the puddings would be delicious!

I had stewed some beautifully fresh and seasonal rhubarb earlier in the day and then mixed in some frozen blueberries. It was all nice and chilled in a jar in the fridge.

This banana cake is so moist and soft. It is not dense though, and retains a beautiful light texture. Honeyed mascarpone cheese frosting, with ground almonds mixed through; finishes the flavour wonderfully - but careful not to go too overboard with the mascarpone as it will become to sweet I think. I added the pistachios to add some texture, but the flavour also compliment is and adds another dimension.

Overall, I am very happy with this banana cake. We had it on Saturday afternoon with coffee while it was pouring down with rain outside. Makes it taste even better!

Ok I lied, I baked very quickly this afternoon... just to use up some leftover pastry dough and egg yolks. Nothing special, some light and sweet ricotta prune tarts...with a drizzle of warm honey.

I had been pondering a few days what to do with some beautifully ripe red pears from Box Fresh. I was in the mood for creating a tart and sort of combined a few different recipes to make this pear and ricotta number.

Hummingbird cake is possibly one of my favourite cakes - but I have never actually made it. This was really yummy but I will change a few things next time.

1. I won't use hand cut pineapple, the crushed would be better as the flavour is then even throughout the cake. (Although the pineapple chunks were pretty nice little surprise to bite into, perhaps half of each!)
2. I would add some pecans or maybe walnuts. I LOVE nuts in cakes and this recipe didn't call for any...I only realised after I had baked it or I would have included some.
   
3. I didn't make a true cream cheese frosting (i.e. with butter) to get that beautiful fluffy look. I just wasn't in the mood for something too heavy or rich. Next time...
   
4. Does anyone know the trick to keeping the top of the cake all smooth and level while it bakes?
   

All that said, this is really fresh and delicious. Bananas are just the best to bake with.