Cinnamon Tea Cake

Back in the days of yore, we had Home Ec.(onomics) classes in High School.   Remember those?  The boys got to do woodworking while we girls had to learn how to cook and sew - oh the joy!  Anyway, one of the things we had to master was the cinnamon tea cake.  I haven't made one in many a year, but I had fun making Nagi's version from her book RecipeTin Eats:Tonight.

Even though the recipe looks kinda long, it's really very easy to make, and it is bloody delicious!  Come to think of it, our tea cakes are like an American coffee cake - you have it with tea, rather than it being made with tea - just like those American coffee cakes, which are made to eat with coffee rather than a cake made with coffee flavouring of some sort, which is what we Aussies and English refer to when we say coffee cake.  Phew, have I cleared that up now? :=)

sweet, spicy and delicious

Serves 8-12:

ingredients:

For the cake:

300g./10.5 oz plain flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp sea salt or cooking salt

125g./4.5 oz butter, softened to room temp.

150g./5.3 oz caster sugar

2 large eggs, at room temp.

2 tsp vanilla paste or extract

170 mL/5.8 oz milk, at room temp.

Cinnamon Butter Swirl:

150g./5.3 oz brown sugar

1 Tbs ground cinnamon

75g./2.7 oz butter, melted

Vanilla Glaze:

125g./4.5 oz soft icing sugar, sifted (or whisked)

5-6 tsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste

cinnamon-y!

you guessed it!

vanilla paste

full-cream, cow's milk

Method:

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Grab your 23cm/9 inch springform tin, grease with butter and line with baking paper

Make the cinnamon swirl by placing the sugar, cinnamon and butter into a small mixing bowl and give it a good mix to combine

Now for the cake:

Flour, baking powder and salt combined, in a bowl

Grab another bowl, and beat the butter and sugar on medium-high for 1 minute, or till smooth and fluffy, says Nagi

In go the eggs, one at a time, and beat 'em in

And in goes the vanilla, then half the flour and half the milk

Beat a bit more with your electric beaters, until juuuust mixed in - don't worry about the lumpage, if any

And now for the other half of the flour, and the milk till lump-free, but no longer than 15 seconds! Nagi instructs us

Into the cake tin goes half the batter, which you spread evenly

Then you're going to dollop half the cinnamon butter across the batter - and swirl with a knife

And yep, you pour/spoon in the rest of the cake batter, and on goes the rest of the cinnamon butter, which you also swirl gently thru the batter

And now you bake for 40 minutes, or till the skewer in the middle of the cake comes out clean - the top will be golden and have cracks

Cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then pour over the glaze, which you have made by adding milk in increments of a teaspoon or 2 to the icing sugar, then the vanilla is stirred in

Let the cake cool for another 15 minutes in the tin, then take it out and serve warm

Nagi says you can store in the fridge (in an airtight container, I say) for 5 days

ground cinnamon (even tho it's probably really cassia)

Just a wee side note to cinnamon - we mostly see Dutch cinnamon, which is in fact cassia rather than true cinnamon.  So I bought some real cinnamon recently, and I have to say, it had less pizzazz than the pseudo stuff.  Less flavour, and less aroma, so I guess I'll stick with the Dutch cinnamon (cassia) instead.

Notes:

Notes?  Do I have any for this?  Mmm ... nope

ingredients gathered

make the cake batter

adding that swirl thru the batter

golden-brown and crackly on top

mix together the glaze

pour the glaze over the cake, and leave for 15 mins.

yep, it's disappearing fast :=)

into the hungry mouths of family and friends

Smoked Salmon, Wasabi and Radish Finger Sandwiches

Well yes, for sure, I know this is a wee bit late or a wee bit early, but here we have a recipe from Donna Hay's cookbook Christmas, for your delectation.  I love a bit of smoked salmon any time of year, don't you?  I made this for Cookbook Club in December 2023, can you believe?  And honestly, the way this year is flying by, it WILL be Christmas before I can blink.

I know I've mentioned before checking out the salmon run in Pitlochry in Scotland; we've also been to the Salmon Ponds in Tasmania.  They have salmon and trout in the ponds, and you can throw in some fish food, or check out the museum.  Or walk through the Gardens and enjoy the heritage trees.  Oops, I sound like an ad, but truly it's worth a trip to any part of Tasmania at any time of year.

Anyways, let's enjoy some fishy fingers!  Reminds me of Dr. Who.  Remember the first episode with Matt Smith?  He was voraciously eating weird foods, and then he tried (and loved) fish fingers and custard.  Mm, maybe not for me ...  Though you never know - a salty morsel with some sweet custard could be a thing :=)  

creamy, fishy, herby - what's not to like?

Makes 12 fingers:

ingredients:

225g./8 oz cream cheese, at room temp.

2 tsp wasabi paste

2-3 tsp lime zest

2 tsp lime juice  (my optional extra)

8 thick slices of white bread (or bread of your choice)

4 small radishes, thinly sliced

200g./7 oz smoked salmon   (Donna says to use 250g. but she didn't add the boiled egg mash-up)

2 large eggs, hard-boiled and mashed, with salt, pepper and mayo

your choice of herbs, to be strewn on top of the fingers - Donna says to use miso leaves but you can add chives or parsley or whatever ...

Freshly-cracked black pepper, to serve

Method:

Throw the cream cheese, (well, gently) wasabi, lime zest and juice into a small bowl and combine well with a fork or whisk

Lay out your bread onto a board or bench, then spread two thirds of the cream cheese mixture over the 8 slices of bread

The radish slices go over 4 slices of the bread, and then you place the other 4 (un-radished) bread slices over the tops, cream cheese-side down (so, resting on the radish), so now you have 4 lovely sandwiches!

So spread the other third of the cream cheese over the top of the 4 sandwiches, and then spread over the mashed egg mixture

On go the smoked salmon slices over the eggy, mayo mixture - beautiful!

Trim the crusts of your sandwiches, and then cut each into three fingers (the bread, not your own)

On go the herbs and the pepper!

Serve daintily on a pretty platter

Notes:

Donna gives slightly larger quantities of the cream cheese, radish and salmon, but I decided to add the boiled egg mixture to these fingers, to give some Swedish smörgastarta vibes

Use lemon zest and juice if you prefer

gather your ingredients

combine the cream cheese mixture

spread the egg mixture over the cream-cheesed slices of bread

and slap on the fish!

the Grinch was eyeing these off :=)

Oops, nearly forgot to mention the verdict for the Mushroom Killer trial - she was found guilty on three counts of murder, and one of attempted murder!  I feel sorry for her kids, and the fellow who survived but without his wife, sister and brother-in-law.  Very sad.

so tasty, so fishy :=)

zest and juice your lime

radish

you guessed it!

Potato Balls Ragout

Who doesn't love anything potato?  I've mentioned in previous posts that you can find over 4000 different varieties of potato in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.  Sounds brilliant to me.  Remember the purple potato craze some years ago?  Purple chips or mash?  Sure, why not? :=)  

This recipe is from A Distant Feast by Kiwi writer/historian Tony Simpson.  He tells us about the origins of New Zealand's cuisine, and provides lots of recipes including this one from Dr William Kitchener's The Cook's Oracle (1817).  Apparently, this was a best-seller back in the day!

yep, we ate these with sausage and salsa :)

Makes around 2 dozen:

ingredients:

900g./2 lb potatoes, boiled and well-mashed  see Notes

30g./2 Tbs butter   see Notes

1 cup/145g. ham + 1 mushroom or 1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped

1 large brown or red onion, finely chopped

2 large egg yolks

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 dozen grinds black pepper

1/4-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

panko breadcrumbs (tho' the recipe says to use brown)

clarified butter, or a mix of oil and butter to fry - I started off with 3 Tbs olive oil and 3 Tbs butter, but used a fair bit more butter and oil as I went along

Method:

Well, cook up your spuds and mash 'em first off

Put all the ingredients except the breadcrumbs into a large bowl, and combine well

Roll this mixture into small balls and chuck 'em into your bowl or shallow tray of breadcrumbs, to coat 

Heat up your frying medium of butter and oil, and fry away till golden-brown, turning once - I gave them 5 minutes on each side

That's it for Dr Kitchener's instructions!  He says this dish is "an agreeable vegetable relish, to be served with meat."

So serve with a protein, or a salad, or whatever you fancy

Notes:

You need tender, well-done potatoes - so you boil them, or microwave or steam them till soft - then mash 'em with gusto

NZ tablespoons were/are the same as U.S. and U.K. spoons so 15g. per tablespoon

Obvs. if you are a vego., go with the mushrooms rather than ham 

(Just FYI, the mushroom killer's trial has ended, and they are weighing up the evidence before we get a verdict.)

ingredients gathered

mashed!

chop that onion

get ready to mix, and shape into balls

covered in panko, and ready to fry off

and get Mr P. to fry 'em

and turn 'em till golden

served with sausage and salsa :=)

It's a wee bit hilarious that Dr Kitchener calls this a ragout, isn't it?  When clearly they are potato fritters.  Goodness knows what he was thinking, trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.  But they were fun to make, and pretty tasty.  Well, fry anything in butter and oil and you're set.  Deep-fried Mars bar anyone?

Rainbow Bob guarding his fritters

potatoes

baby potato says "Please don't eat me!"

brown onion

mushies

In My Kitchen - July 2025

Halfway through the year?  Pas possible!!  And moi - another year older.  Surely not possible? :=)  'Twas my birthday so time to head off for a birthday break.  So Mr P. and I headed 3 hours west to the Granite Belt.  I remember staying there one night a few years ago when it was minus 11C!  I have never been so cold - but it was brilliant.  This time it was fairly warm - around 6C at night.

Long-time readers may remember that hubby's first encounter with snow was in Central Park, New York.  Something you could never forget; and so very different to our sub-tropical lifestyle here in sunny Queensland.  Reminds me of taking our dear friends' teenagers to the snow on top of Mt. Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania a few years ago.  One's first sight of snow ...   

mum kangaroo and her joey outside our holiday cabin

In My Kitchen:

the olive oil harvest was early this year!

a few goodies from our local providore Mumbleberry

another cookbook!!

So many recipes I want to make from this one!

annual winter goodies from COCO88!

hazelnut oil from Tasmania

and a few more goodies from Mumbleberry

and a couple of chicken mugs that I bought on our break

I decanted the sauerkraut after our break - it had fermented for 3 weeks!

I bought this gorgeous tea-towel (by Kate Piekutowski Artist)

Princess Pia gave me some organic lemons from her dad's tree

the curveball - Dead Cute (the ghost bunny) by our mate Dion @holyshititsdion

c. Sherry M.

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