Smores Slice

These bad boys have been sitting in the back of my mind for a while now. Being an Australian, I feel like I've really missed out on the "smores culture". Apparently smores is an integral part of a North American upbringing......I can totally see why. Take your kid into the wild outdoors, light a fire and fill them full of sugar. What could go wrong? Ummm.....no really, what could go wrong? My future children will not be deprived of smores. This is a cheats version that does not require a camp fire, or the great outdoors, it's probably not half as good as a real smore but for an Australian version it'll do.

Smores Slice
I used a very small baking tray for these as I reasoned that smores would be quite decadent. My reasoning was confirmed once my mouth was coated in sticky marshmallow goodness.
90g Biscuit crumbs
30g Butter
Chocolate drops - milk and dark
Large marshmallows

Combine the biscuit crumbs and the butter and press into the base of a baking tray. Bake in a 180 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and scatter the chocolate drops over the base (I used only one layer of chocolate, being new to smores I figured it was mostly about the marshmallow and less about the chocolate?) The chocolate will begin to melt on the hot base, top the melted chocolate with marshmallows and return the tray to the oven. Change the oven setting to "grill" to allow the top of the marshmallows to become brown and crisp (obviously, watch this intently). Allow to cool slightly before cutting otherwise you will end up with a (delicious) mess.

Yoghurt & Raspberry Cake

Time is flying by so quickly. My blog reflects that my kitchen has been experiencing sever neglect. In truth, I'm still operating at full swing (over swing?) in the kitchen....but also in many other areas so it's just not transposing on to here. After 3 flat out weeks at work and 3 full weekends (of more work), this cake was the perfect way to unwind with a cup of tea on Sunday afternoon.

Yoghurt & Raspberry Cake
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup frozen raspberries (slightly thawed)

In a mixer combine the eggs, sugar, yoghurt and oil. Mix until well combined then add the flour and continue to mix until combined. Gently stir in the raspberries. Then bake in a 180 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

Icing
This cake would work soooo well with a white chocolate ganche - however, none of those ingredients existed in my home so I settled for lemon icing which was still awesome! 
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon butter
cold water
1/4 teaspoon lemon essence

Melt the butter in a small microwave bowl then add the water and the lemon essence. Add the icing sugar to a mixing bowl. Spoon about 1 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon of the butter-water mixture into the icing sugar mixing well after each addition until the icing mixture is at desired consistency (as always, do this super slow - it's worth it in the end for spreadable icing that doesn't drip off the top)