MADE IT: Pret a Manger Carrot Cake

I've got to think in my sheer moments of kindness I am actually quite a nice girlfriend. Having made Jamie Oliver's Sexy Swedish Buns from his latest book, and the outcome being well pretty flat and disasterous, I fobbed them off on my boyfriend to take into work. He works as a security guard in a nightclub and cinema complex, so many cold tiring nights and hey what hungry tired security worker wouldn't like some manky old bun to chew on at 3am?

The failed bun making at home turned into joy for my boyfriend's work mates, when I decided to pass off the flat bun explosions onto him to take into work (craftly sliced into soldiers....who would guess they evolved from disaster?) To my utter amazement, they loved them, god knows why, and have since gingerly requested more cakes from me every Friday, and with a compliment on my cooking I was swayed.

A request went in for carrot cake and I mooched about in my cookbooks, settling with Pret a Manger's Carrot Cake from Food on the Mood. Sadly from my little Amazon post to the left I can see it's pretty out of date this book and a massive $307!!! But let me assure you it was some good cake.

Hands held high I've never been the biggest fan of carrot cake. I've only ever had stodgey supermarket versions or was given it as one of my nan's very favourite cake stock ups from her kitchen, and something about it just didn't do it for me!

This cake was something else. As well as the obligatory carrot, this cake was packed with extras; coconut, pecans, pineapple, you name it and it was in there. God was this cake too good to be true?

Whisking the eggs until double volume

Various goodies for the mix!

Looking slightly sickly...

The un-iced baked cake

MADE IT: Bang Bang Chicken Salad

For some salads are a curse. A nasty diet requirement. Rabbit food. Tasteless. For me salads excite me to what some might think is an unhealthy level! So when it came to a tiring Friday afternoon and I wanted something light this salad got my tastebuds banging!

A big bowl of Asian salady delights

A simple Bang Bang chicken salad satisfied my buds and was nothing but easy to make. I found the recipe in a magazine or book. To be fair this house is laden with folders full of recipes, books, you name it any cuisine, any obscure ingredient and we would have a recipe for it.

 Bang Bang Chicken Salad

From what my foodie mind can recall the tasty dressing was a concotion of crunchy peanut butter, hot chilli sauce, garlic, soy and veg stock. All whisked together and drizzled over a crunchy mix of iceberg lettuce, raw carrot and a few bits of celery. Topped off with a sliced cold roasted chicken breast, this made a refreshing treat for a Friday evening.

The only downside? Always resourceful, I stored my excess salad for lunch at work the next day, transporting an individual Tupperware pot of dressing to drizzle over. Sadly the dressing doesn't refridgerate well, so unless you want a Peanut and chilli yoghurt to accompany your salad the next day, keep your dressing outside of your fridge!