Sweet Potato Cake

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened
3 eggs, separated
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cold mashed sweet potato
190g self-raising flour, sifted
1/3 cup yoghurt
zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp cocoa powder

• Grease and line a 14cm x 21cm loaf pan.
• Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg yolks, lemon zest and vanilla extract until combined.
• Beat egg whites until firm peaks form.
• Stir in mashed sweet potato with 1/3 of the sifted flour and half of the yoghurt.  Then stir in remaining flour and yoghurt.  
• Fold in beaten egg whites.  
• Spoon 1/3 of the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in cocoa powder.  Combine well.
• Place the cake mixtures into the prepared pan by alternating layers of the vanilla batter with the chocolate batter.
• Bake for about 40 minutes or until cake is done.

Eggless Apple-Raisin Cake

Finally, I found a recipe for an egg-free cake which tastes (surprisingly) delicious and moist.  This is for you, Maddy - the adorable little girl who is  allergic to eggs.  Hope you will enjoy this Apple-Raisin Cake.

(Makes 16 cupcakes)
Ingredients:

125g butter

90g brown sugar

1 cup cooked apple puree *

1/2 cup natural yoghurt

300g self-raising flour

1/2 cup chopped raisins

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp all-spice

• Preheat oven at 160 degrees C.  Line muffin pans with patty cases.
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in all the ingredients and mix well.
• Spoon batter into patty cases.
• Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or until a skewer inserted into cake comes out clean and dry.

*  Apple puree:  

2 Granny Smith apples (about 400g)
60g raw sugar
200ml water

• Core and slice apples. 
• Place apples, sugar, water and strip of lemon rind  into a saucepan.  Bring to the boil and cook gently until tender (about 10 minutes)
• Cool.  
• Mash with a fork. 

Choc Chip Cookies

Whilst these cookies are not the healthiest of snack, they taste absolutely fantastic - crunchy around the edge and gooey and 'chocolatey' in the centre.... so, what's not to love?

Ingredients:

200g butter, softened
200g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
340g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
220g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks
150g walnuts, toasted and chopped

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celcius.
• Line two baking trays with baking paper.  
• Beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time.  Beat until well combined.  Add in vanilla extract.
• Fold in sifted flour, baking powder and baking soda. Then, gently mix in chocolate chunks and nuts and stir until well combined.
• Take tablespoons of the dough and roll into balls. Place them onto the baking tray, making sure you leave enough space in between to allow the cookies to spread.
• Bake for about 11 - 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden but still very soft (they will firm up upon cooling). 
• Cool the cookies on the tray for about 3 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store cookies in an airtight container.

Notes:

These are best eaten when they are warm out of the oven.
If you want cookies to be crunchy, extend the baking time.