Suze's lemon yoghurt drizzle cake

My friend Suze and I did a recipe swap recently and she sent her tried-and-tested lemon cake, which was the first thing she baked for her boyfriend Kasun.

'I baked it for him at his place one weekend,' she recalls. 'When I was there the next weekend, I opened the oven to bake him something else and found what was left of the cake covered in foil. I said "Oh my god, you still have this! Throw it out," and he grabbed it saying, "No! It's still good, don't you dare."'

Suze and Kasun now share a home in Newcastle and have even climbed Mount Everest together. Suze posts all of her baked goods on Instagram under the cute hashtag #suzebakes.

I can totally vouch for this cake, I made it after work one night for some friends who were coming to stay that weekend. We ate it at midnight and it was so light and fluffy that we nicknamed it lemon pancake-cake.

Suze's lemon yoghurt drizzle cake

You'll need:

3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp lemon rind
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup Greek yoghurt
1 3/4 fine caster sugar
2 cups self raising flour

For the frosting
1 cup fine caster sugar
1 tbs lemon juice

Here's how:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Whisk the oil, eggs, lemon rind, lemon juice, yoghurt and sugar until combined - if you use a mixer the cake will come out light and spongey which I loved. Sift in flour and whisk again. Pour into a greased and floured bundt tin and bake for 50 minutes.

To make the icing, mix the sugar and the lemon juice until it looks like wet sand and drizzle over the cake while still warm.

And just a tip:

I forgot to ice mine while it was still warm, so I mixed 100g of icing sugar with 2 tbsp of lemon juice and drizzled that over the top.

More sentimental cakes here, including Jemma's childhood birthday cake and my sister-in-law's apple crumble.

Happy weekend

Hello, it's suddenly freezing in Wagga Wagga, which means it's time to retire these shoes for another season. I hope you've had a good week, we've had so many nice things left on our doorstep these last few days, from homemade cakes to gorgeous flowers, cookbooks and even a fancy fish dinner.

Here are a few links for the weekend, have a lovely one :)

Yum - easy black bean nachos with blue cheese and lime. Emphasis on blue cheese and easy.

A not-too-scary introduction to decluttering and minimalism at home.

These photos are amazing - the Tibetan couple whose wedding photos went viral in China.

I really liked these illustrations of everyday love. I made Tony look at them too.

The worrier's guide to life.

A fun podcast - music and time slowed down.

And from my friend Sophie, empathy cards for serious illness.

Colourful packed lunch

With a tiny bit of planning, I ended up packing a really good lunchbox the other day. It contained:

A zucchini muffin. I make a batch every fortnight or so for emergency snacks, they freeze really well. A friend at work likes to poke fun at me because I need to eat every two hours and tend to dig into my lunch right on noon. Don't substitute the spelt flour in this recipe, it makes the muffins moist.

This cookbook reintroduced me to shaker fries. Basically, you cut up a sweet potato (potato or eggplant) into little strips, chuck the fries into a zip lock bag and add salt and pepper, paprika, olive oil and a few cloves of garlic. Shake well before tipping the fries onto a baking tray. Roast at 180 degrees celsius until they smell done. 

My friend Sophie served some Sunburst cherry tomatoes the other week at lunch and now I'm obsessed. They're Fanta coloured and sweet.

And not pictured is the iced chocolate beetroot brownie that I ate before lunch, it was meant to be my lunch dessert. 

P.S I love this lunchbox interview series, this one is my favourite, although it makes me desperately want a segmented lunchbox to take to work. 

A simple gift wrapping trick

Lately I've been ditching envelopes and sticking greeting cards straight onto presents. It's super simple and makes presents look more festive, especially if you use glitter tape too. It could look lovely for Mother's Day :)

I love wrapping presents and have just stocked up on some supplies from the city, mainly wrapping paper from Kiki K (reversible yay!) and cards from Rifle Paper Co. I really love how Catherine of Little Glowing Lights wraps her pressies, they're always colourful and inviting.

Weekend links

Lately it's been lovely to be outside. In the mornings and at night the coolness bites into my skin and it's a sensation that reminds me that I am very much alive, something I am particularly grateful for in a week that's been marked by tragic loss.

I have a few things to share this week, like this this beautiful cookbook, which I leafed through at a friend's house and bought the very next day.

Friends forever - a group of girlfriends photographed over 30 years, starting from when they were 16.

Why French women don't contour.

A fascinating insight into what it takes to change someone's mind.

I love a classic apple crumble and this week we sent some love to Sydney in the form of a plum and hazelnut crumble. This recipe could be a goer.

And I know it's the wrong season but I'd love to have a window flower box like this one.

Have a lovely weekend.

Real Girl Wardrobes - Sophie Joyce

In any given week Sophie Joyce travels back in time, pulling together picture perfect outfits from decades past. She does futurisitic too. The 23-year-old photographer, artist and part-time op shop assistant puts a lot of effort into how she looks, and what she wears is informed by her identity, her politics and never by practicality.

Emma's apple crumble

Last year when I was living in Sydney for work and missing Tony who stayed behind in Wagga Wagga, my sister would have me round for dinner on a Friday night. She'd make my favourite foods - spaghetti bolognese followed by apple crumble for dessert - and it was the best.

As far as comfort food goes, apple crumble is right up there. It's quick to make and easy to eat in front of the telly, accompanied by  a melty blob of ice cream :)

This recipe comes from my sister-in-law Emma, who is famous for crumble on Tony's side of the family. She also managed to save a disaster crumble I made one Easter, which didn't brown and had tiny crumbs! I reckon this is the only apple crumble recipe you'll ever need.

Emma's apple crumble

You'll need:

5 green apples

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup water

For the crumble

3/4 self raising flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

80g butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Here's how:

Peel and slice the apple, and place in a saucepan on medium heat with sugar and water. Cook until soft. To make the crumble, place the flour, sugar and cinnamon into a medium bowl, add the butter and rub it into the mix until it resembles rough breadcrumbs. Grease a baking dish (I skipped this step and it came out fine), add the apple and place the crumble on top. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees celsius. 

And just a tip: 

Tony made some coconut ice cream from Diner to go with the crumble and it was delicious! His mum recommends adding crushed nuts to the crumble mix, macadamias are her favourite.

P.S - You might also like Jemma's chocolate birthday cake.