Trust me, once you try Lyle’s golden syrup, you’ll never go back to the stuff in the squeezy bottle, it’s amazing; sort of deeper and darker and more treacly in flavour. If you’re not into golden syrup though (but honestly why?), then you could always make this a honey cake or maple syrup cake, those would be good too.
And yes we’re Aussie, not British, but golden syrup is a bit of an institution here so I think it’s appropriate.
Baking with so much sugary syrup is tricky; this cake goes a very dark golden and sank in the middle just a bit when it came out of the oven (I opened the door and checked the cake a bit too soon and also, in retrospect, using a light coloured tin would be better). But the flavour and texture is so wonderful (dark, sweet and soft, a bit like gingerbread) and anyway, I just piled over some icing to hide the not-so-perfect top.



So in the interests of being healthy this January due to some questionable food choices recently, I made a pot of lentil soup!



This tastes just like sushi! I have no hope of being able to make actual sushi, although I love it, so thought this would be an easier option.

I made some sweet little orange loaf cakes at the end of winter, using whole oranges. So not surprisingly, they’re Intensely orange flavoured, bitter/sweet and super soft. I added a bit of almond essence for a stronger almond flavour but if you’re not into that, leave it out or add vanilla instead.