The Gruffalo likes Sweet Potato, Banana and Honey Slice!

Sounds weird but tastes delicious, I promise.

"Bake your Cake and eat it too" by Tamara Milstein was the very first cookbook I bought myself. It was all about cakes (what else!) If you see it around I definately reccomend it. It might look a little ancient as the book is broken up into regions, for example: The cakes of Europe; The cakes of Asia Pacific and so on. But there is so much to learn and gain with this book; so many techniques, so many different flavours - I myself have made the Vietnamese Mango cake, the Greek coconut and fig cake and the Indian carrot cake, to name just a few. One of my favourites from this book was a 'Sweet Potato Date Cake' (from the Middle East secton of course) I'd been thinking about that cake eversince I made the Sweet potato, chickpea and risoni salad; but I wanted to make it mine. So I ditched the dates, the walnuts, the nutmeg and the cinnamon, decided it would become a slice, adjusted the butter, sugar and flour and added some ripe banana and a wonderful Lavender honey. The result? Something that the little ones love (and my love affair with sweet potato continues...)

ingredients

1 large sweet potato, after you have peeled it you will need 300g, cubed
100g unsalted butter, cubed and softened
90g caster sugar
2 eggs
100g Self raising flour
1 mashed banana
1-2 tablespoons honey (or approx 30g - I used lavender honey by Bees in Bowties)

how to make your Sweet Potato, Banana and Honey Slice

First of all, peel your sweet potato and chop into bite size pieces. When you have 300g, pop it into a microwaveable container with 1/2 cup of water, cover loosely and microwave for 5 mins. Check that they are all cooked through. Drain off the water, mash with a fork and set aside to cool. At least 20 minutes.

Pre-heat your oven to 180C and line a slice tin with some baking paper. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer then add the sweet potato. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add the flour, the mashed banana and the honey. Mix through with a spoon then pop into your tin, levelling the mix. Bake in the oven for 30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool slightly, dust wth some icing sugar and cut into slices. Makes approx 18 squares. Yum!

If you wanted to go totally crazy (and why not!) you could top the slice with a cream cheese frosting. 500g cream cheese, softened; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 3 1/3 cups (500g) icing sugar - beat cream cheese using electric beaters until smooth. Add vanilla and beat well. Gradually add icing sugar, beating until smooth and creamy. Spoon onto slice and serve. If there were no allergies you could even sprinkle over some toasted walnuts.

Thank you Katrina for the tix to The Gruffalo show and a big HI to the girls in my mothers group who read my blog!

End of a season - Summer Strawberry Slice

You know it's the end of Summer when the price of strawberries start to rise. If you can, before this happens, when the days are still warm and only the nights remind us what is just around the corner - make this delicious slice.
There are 3 basic steps and the recipe uses very basic ingredients. It looks spectacular served for morning or afternoon tea and children love it too. It's one of those naughty but nice treats!

If you are making this dish in Summer or indeed on a warm day try and make this in the coolest part of the house, it will just make things easier. Dissolve your strawberry jelly as per packet instructions (I use Aeroplane jelly) then set aside to cool. Don't pop it in the fridge unless it is a very hot day.
Sift 1 cup of flour into a bowl and add 1/2 cup caster sugar and mix well. Rub in 60g cold butter that has been chopped. It should resemble breadcrumbs but try not to work it too much or the heat from your hands will make it stick to you. Add 1 egg that you have lightly beated. Use a spoon to mix forming a dough like consistency. Don't worry if it doesn't come together as now you will press it into a slice tin.
Grab your tin (roughly 17.5cm by 27cm)If there are no marks on your tin you can use as is but I use 2 layers of baking paper (criss cross if that makes sense) so that I can pull the whole slice out with ease. Press the dough into the tin, covering the whole bottom (using some flour on your fingers if need be) and bake at 180C for 20 mins. Take tin out and leave to cool. (This can take 30 - 40 mins)
Meanwhile wash 500grams of strawberries, take the stalks out and slice them up. I place them onto absorbant paper as I do this. When base is cool, throw on your starwberries and press down with your hands (not too hard!) then pour over your cooled jelly and chuck it in the fridge until the jelly is set. Too easy!

Makes 12 squares or 8 rectangle pieces.

If you're making this for morning tea I'd definately make it the night before. However if you were making this for afternoon tea you could start it at 9am and it would be ready to enjoy by 2pm! All you need to serve with it is a wonderful cup of tea. ahhhhh.