Walnut Maple Syrup Cake With A Zesty Lemon Glaze

Cake Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups sour cream
2 tspns baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup & 1 1/3 cups maple sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped & toasted
2 large eggs
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
13 tblspns butter
2 tspns vanilla extract
cooking oil spray

Lemon Glaze Ingredients

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 tblspn pure maple syrup
3 tblspns sour cream
1 1/2 tspns lemon juice
1/2 tspn lemon peel, grated
1 tspn vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Pre heat your oven to 350°F/175°C and grease a 9 inch bundt pan.
  2. Combine the baking powder, flour and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the maple syrup and sour cream. In a third bowl combine the walnuts, cinnamon and 1/4 cup of maple sugar.
  3. With an electric mixer beat together 1 1/3 cups of maple sugar and the butter until fluffy. Slowly beat in the vanilla essence and eggs.
  4. Alternate adding some of the flour mix and then some of the sour cream mix until all has been included. Move 2/3 of the batter mix to the cake pan. Sprinkle the walnut mix over the top and then cover with the remaining batter.
  5. Cook for just under an hour, using a cake tester to test for the cake to be cooked. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.
  6. Whisk together 1 1/3 cups of sour cream, 1 1/3 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Blend and then leave to stand for about half an hour until thickened.
  7. Pour the glaze over the cake.

The Triple Threat Baked Meatball Recipe

This is a great recipe for meatballs that uses the three most common meats found in meatball recipes – beef, pork and lamb.

You can serve these delicious meatballs with any kind of pasta sauce – I like to go with a creamy white sauce like an Alfredo or a carbonara, but if you’re worried about the health side of things then maybe you could go with a Neapolitan or some other tomato based sauce.

I’d also highly recommend you check out this awesome meatball recipe collection I discovered – if you’re a fan of meatballs (and I know I am) this list of meatball recipes will keep you busy for a long time to come.

Ingredients

1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed
2 eggs
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tspns dried basil
1 tspn garlic powder
3 tspns dried parsley
2 tspns salt
1 cup bread crumbs, divided
1 tspn red pepper flakes

Directions

  1. Pre heat your oven to 400°F/205°C.
  2. Combine the beef, lamb, porl, Parmesan cheese, spinach, eggs, parsley, basil, garlic powder, pepper flakes and salt in a bowl along with 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs. Mix together by hand until everything is combined.
  3. Divide your meat mixture into quarters – each portion should give you around ten meatballs, giving you roughly 40 meatballs altogether. I generally freeze half of the meatballs and cook the other half immediately.
  4. Put 1/2 cup bread crumbs into a small bowl.
  5. Roll each meatball in the breadcrumbs and then place them onto a baking tray. I also sometimes use muffine trays which keep the shape of the meatball a little bitter.
  6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Gourmet Ground Beef & Pork Filled Sausage Rolls

When I was growing up I was one of the few kids who preferred a sausage roll to a meat pie. If I walked into a bakery there was never any competition between the two, no matter how ‘fancy’ the meat pies sounded (thai green chicken curry pie anyone…).

And even though I’m all grown up, I still love it when I get the chance to slather some tomato sauce on a sausage roll and dig in.

Here’s a fairly easy recipe for sausage rolls that uses a mixture of ground beef and pork, along with some other veggies and a few herbs/spices.

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 slices white sandwich bread, stale
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 tspn thyme, dried
1/2 tspn ground sage
1/4 tspn garlic powder
1/2 tspn ground white pepper
1 tblspn salt
1/2 tspn curry powder
1 egg white whisked with 1 tblspn water
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

Directions

  1. Pre heat your oven to 350°F/175°C.
  2. Break the bread into chunks and add to a food processor to create bread crumbs. Ad.d crumbs to a bowl and cover with the cream before setting aside.
  3. Pulse the ground beef in the food process until it is very well ground, almost puree like. Move the ground beef to a large bowl and pulse the pork to the same consistency. Add pork to ground beef in the bowl.
  4. Add the onion, carrots, thyme, sage, curry powder, garlic powder, bell peppers and salt to the bowl along with the cream soaked bread crumbs. Mix together well with a fork.
  5. Cut each sheet of puff pastry in half to form 4 long sheets of pastry.
  6. Separate meat mixture into quarters and roll each quarter into a tube roughly the same length as your pastry.
  7. Place each tube onto one of the pastry pieces and roll the pastry around the meat so that it is fully enclosed. Moisten the seam to seal the pastry around the meat.
  8. Cut each meat filled pastry tube into 4 pieces and place them onto a baking tray seam side down.
  9. Brush your sausage rolls with the egg wash and cook for about 40 minutes.

Deliciously Moist Carrot Cake Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups carrot puree
3 cups white sugar
1 tblspn baking soda
1 tspn salt
1 tblspn ground cinnamon
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups canola oil
1 tblspn vanilla extract
1 cup shredded coconut
2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped
8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
6 tblspns butter
8 oz cream cheese
3 cups icing sugar, sifted

Directions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Grease up two 9″ cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
  2. Sift together in a bowl all-purpose flour, white sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the vanilla, eggs and oil and beat well for roughly two minutes.
  3. Fold through the coconut, walnuts, pineapple and carrots. Split the resulting batter between the two cake pans. Place both pans on the middle tray of the oven and cook for 45 – 50 minutes. Use a cake tester to check the cake’s are cooked.
  4. Take the cakes from the oven and leave to cool for ten minutes. Turn out from  the pans and allow to cool completely. Level of one of the cakes – this will be the lower layer.
  5. When cakes are are close to being completely cooled, mix together the 6 tablespoons of butter with the 8 ounces of cream cheese. Gradually stir through the icing sugar and beat until fully mixed through.Ice the top of both cakes and set one cake on top of the other. Sprinkle the top with walnuts.