I felt it might be a little lacking in flavour as there were no extra spices or flavourings, so I added 2 teaspoons of ground ginger to the chopped pears and 1/4 cup of finally chopped ginger to the batter.

Apart from leaving the cake uncovered a little long and it over browning on one side.....I must check as my oven seems to be cooking a little unevenly.... the cake came out of the oven looking good. A large, square cake that would be great for cutting when we had our guests. It was packed in the van and not opened for another two days.

Every evening there was a three hour concert in a huge marquee, so I decided to take the cake with knife, napkins  etc and have it at half time. I opened the cake container and was somewhat perplexed as the cake seemed to have shrunk both in height and width!

Wondering if I was just thinking it was larger than it really was, I cut into the cake and found it was really moist, in fact... completely soggy in the middle. It was cooked - that wasn't the problem. But it was just almost too soggy to handle. I dished out from around the edges as those pieces while moist were able to be handled..... and everyone loved the flavour.

Pear and Ginger are a lovely combination. On pondering the strange cake behaviour I came to the conclusion that the juice from so many cooked pears had run out since the cake had sat for two days before cutting, which in turn created the very soggy, shrunken cake.

I would recommend the Pear and Ginger Cake recipe, but also suggest it needs eating straight away and is not a cake to keep.....OR you could use less pears.

It would be a lovely dessert cake with some whipped cream or a dollop of Greek Yoghurt and is certainly a great way to use up all those pears if you have a tree.

There are several recipes on www.cakefare.com that are excellent for children starting to bake. You may need to supervise if they are using a food processor or pot on the stove. Let them try the Easy Banana Cake Recipe or the Easy Banana Bread. If they don't like banana so much perhaps the Eggless Chocolate Cake  or Favourite Fruit Cake.

These are all easy, and they have a good chance of producing a yummy cake to share with the family.Once they get used to reading recipes and how to measure the various ingredients, how to prepare the cake pans and what to do and not do once the baking is in the oven, they can progress to more challenging recipes.

I am always surprised at adults who say they can't bake......even those who cook perfectly well with savoury dishes . Most just lack confidence because they didn't learn to bake when they were young and maybe tried and had a disaster. Like most things, it is learning the skills and practice. So do encourage your children to do some baking.......and it will fill in some holiday time and your cake tins as well.

With several occasions where I have to take something delicious, I have this week been doing some baking so it isn't a last minute rush. I mentioned my little tarts in a previous post and have been making pastry cases so all I have to do is fill them.

I have already made one batch to take to an after wedding party. I made a delicious lime curd and topped this with a mascarpone and lime curd swirl with my piping bag.

Last weekend I made a filling with mascarpone, cream and vanilla. I brushed on a melted chocolate coating on the inside of the pastry shells, filled with the mascarpone filling and a chunk of fresh strawberry...mmmm this was very yummy too.

I want to try a few other combos next time.

I always make my own fruit mince which will be going into some pastry cases. I usually fill the cases after I take them out of the freezer, just before baking. I don't put a pastry lid on, but prefer to do a merinque topping or leave open for a dob of cream or brandy icing just before serving.

Having made two batches of lime curd I have a lot of egg whites to use. Today I made some meringues with some fruit mince filling swirled through. Carefully stored in an airtight container they should be good for a treat to take to my section practice for my choir. I plan to make another batch of merinques with chopped chocolate and almonds.

Pavlova is of course the favourite for many to use their egg whites, but we are not so keen on pavlova in our house. I quite like making individual portions as it is easier for serving as finger food - thus the mini tarts and meringues. I'll provide a bowl of whipped cream to dip the meringues in!

Another baking effort today were two different savoury biscuits to go on cheese boards. One was oat, blue cheese and thyme, the other parmesan, rosemary and paprika. These are so easy to whip up in the food processor. They are now rolled into logs, sitting in the fridge wrapped in cling wrap until I need to bake them. These biscuits would be great for gifts.

I don't make Christmas Cake any more.... but look out for my Ginger Ale Christmas Cake Recipe which is coming soon! I made it for years.

They are a finger bananas and I am unsure what breed exactly. Many people are surprised we can grow and eat our own bananas in Auckland being a temperate rather than a tropical climate. We have had bananas in a precious garden not far away but they never ripened as well as these do. These are fat little finger bananas with a lovely flavour.

I made the Seriously Good Banana and Walnut Cake to satisfy husband I was using his treasures. It took about 12 bananas for this recipe , but there are still a heap more to be used up. At the moment we are giving them away when we can.

My dilemma....what to take to eat. This would be a meal for some. I decided on a Smoked Chicken Quiche, but decided it would be easier for people to handle small individual tarts. I had all the ingredients except the pastry. I must confess I was tempted to jump in the car and head to the supermarket .....but realized it would be quicker and more painless to actually whip up a batch in the kitchen whizz, and it would certainly taste better too.

Flour, butter and water with a pinch of salt . Not too much in the way of ingredients. The main trick with pastry is not to over handle it, and it needs to be cold before it goes in the oven. Using iced water also helps.

I am a lazy cook when it comes to pastry. I haaaaate having to roll it out. So I don't!
I press the soft pastry into the individual pans.....or even a big pan if I was making say a quiche or tart. Then I put the whole tray in the fridge while I mix up the filling.

It turns out beautifully every time.

It is really handy to keep an airtight container full of pastry shells. The second event where I needed a plate of something nice to eat, we were invited to a neighbours for dinner and to watch the rugby. While we were told just bring the wine......the several bottles we got to take home from the Wine Tasting a couple of nights earlier, I know our neighbour loves to have a dessert. He is an amazing cook but doesn't usually do the sweet course.

Again a dilemma. I was feeling a little lazy and had limited time. Aaaahhhhh......I know. I had some  sweet chocolate mini pastry shells I had made several months prior. Would they still be edible? Well.....not only were they edible, they were as tasty and delicious  as the day they were made.

Because they were chocolate flavoured,  I filled them with marscapone flavoured with orange rind and juice, and cointreau for a little kick. Using my favourite cake icing nozzle I filled each mini case, topped with a chip of dark chocolate and they looked great. They tasted pretty good too! I don't usually add sugar, but would have added a tablespoon of castor sugar  if a sweeter filling was required.

Sweet short pastry is just as easy to make in your kitchen whizz and  as I have said can be stored for some time. So keep a little stash in your cupboard for emergencies! You can fill them with any number of fillings.

Another really delicious filling is marscapone mixed with a good lemon curd. It  is quick, easy, and really delicious......especially with some berries on top!

Till next time , Gail

PS I'll put some pastry recipes up in the next few days

So I was really disappointed when they barely rose at all. I made sure not to over mix the batter. They  were in the middle of the oven and I didn't open the door until they were cooked, so I am wondering if the baking powder may be off despite being in a screw top sealed container, but only a  few teaspoons left .

They were very tasty and everyone really liked them despite their rather small size. Definitely ladylike!

I will try them again soon with a new batch of baking powder to see what happens.

Ah well.....too late now. I duly served up a portion each with a small scoop of vanilla icecream for  dessert. This Roasted Rhubarb Shortcake was sooooooo delicious. It just melted in the mouth. It was rich and tangy from the fruit and quite a soft texture.

But ....I thought I should make another with the correct amount of flour for my readers! This was also very delicious but quite a different texture and of course not as rich. The base was thinner and not soft, while the topping was crisp.

It is a bit of a luxury to use so much butter for the mistake version as you don't get a shortcake that is as large as the correct recipe. But for a real treat I can recommend it!