Kid's party treats - a sweet and affordable idea!

Banana-Choc Icebergs

The original recipe from littlies.co.nz can be found over here, but my method is cheaper and just as tasty!

Chop a banana into 1 - 2 inch long rounds. Into the base of each, push an iceblock stick** (don't poke all the way thru!). Lay on a foil-covered tray (You can also use an empty icecream container), not touching, and freeze for 15 mins.

Make butter-free chocolate frosting (I'll bring you the recipe in a few days - basically, it's icing sugar, cocoa and a little hot water.) You *can* use butter icing if you prefer here, but it's not necessary, and the creaminess in the taste is lost in the freezing, so it's a good opportunity to save a few pennies!

Dip each semifrozen banana in the icing, and top with hundreds and thousands. Pop a chocolate button or similar on at least one side of the icing - this is to "rest" on on the tray so the icing doesn't get smooshed!

Place back on the tray, button-side down, and pop back in the freezer, still not touching.

They'll store for a week nicely in the freezer, and once they are frozen, you can lift them off the tray and pop them in a container in the freezer - as long as they're frozen, they wont stick to each other.

**TOP TIP: When we were little, my mum used to use skewers for this. It meant she didn't have to go out and buy single-use iceblock sticks specially!

Great Lunchbox Recipe - Creme de Menthe Cake (Arsenic Cake!)

Creme de Menthe cake (or Arsenic Cake, which is what we affectionately called this tasty treat :)) was one of my favourite childhood recipes - and simple enough to make that it was one of the first cakes I learned to bake alone.

Basically, it's a chocolate peppermint cake - a plain cake, flavoured with peppermint and tinted with green food colouring; and iced with rich chocolate icing (frosting). It tastes wonderful, and it's startling colour makes it a lunchbox or party favourite - as well as making it perfect for birthday cakes, St Patrick's Day or halloween!

Creme De Menthe Cake

4 oz (115g) butter
6 oz (170g) caster sugar (Don't buy it specially if you don't have it to hand: use plain white!)
2 eggs
6 oz (170g) flour
1/4 c milk
1/2 baking soda
1 t cream of tartar*
1 t peppermint essence
1 t green food colouring (optional of course)**

Cream the butter and sugar (Check out a post later in the week for directions if you're not sure what this means!) Add the eggs and stir gently. NOTE: Never beat a cake mix, unless the recipe specifically calls for it. Stir gently :)

Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Add it alternately with your remaining dry ingredients (flour, cream of tartar). NOTE: this means, stir in some of the dry ingredients, then an equivalent proportion of milk, and repeat until all have been added. It's to help you achieve a smooth cake batter :)

Your cake batter should be a nice gold, and reasonably thick. add your peppermint essence and green colour, and stir through until mixed. The batter will turn a pale grass green - don't get it too bright, it always looks brighter when it's cooked!

Grease your cake pan, or line it with baking paper, and pour in your cake batter. I prefer to make this cake in a square pan, so as to have lovely squares with four green sides when it's cut, but use your favorite cake pan for the occasion. Round is usually better for birthdays!

Bake the cake at 180 deg C (350F) until done - it takes around 40 minutes in a standard oven. A fan oven will be faster.

The edges of the cake will brown, but when you cut it you'll find the cake is quite a virulent green. if it's for a birthday or St Patrick's Day, you might like to trim the edges off to make a nice bright green edge - you can serve these offcuts as desserts with icecream.

Ice with your favorite chocolate icing/frosting recipe - I'll bring you mine tomorrow, but this cake will take your own favorite.

*Unfortunately, there's not really a good substitute for cream of tartar, if you don't happen to have it. You could try popping in a teaspoon of baking powder instead. You'll find recommendations to leave out the baking soda if you do that, but I wouldn't recommend that course for this particular recipe.

Serving suggestions

• This cake is a lunchbox favorite - very tasty, and great looking!
• Un-iced, sliced thinly and topped with chocolate sauce as a dessert
• Birthday party - either as the birthday cake or sliced into fingers
• St Patrick's Day or Hallowe'en party fare
  

**TOP TIP: If you are making a "grown up" cake, add 1/2 cup of cocoa to the mix, and another few drops of peppermint essence. This will give you a real chocolate peppermint cake, with a night light fluffy texture.

Top dessert/lunchbox recipe: Honey Loaf

Honey Loaf is a sweet-tasting, cake-like loaf, perfect as morning or afternoon tea, as a lunch-box filler, or as a dessert.

And best of all, it's very very simple to make and uses a selection of relatively cheap ingredients.

Also, it is dairy free, egg free and nut free!

We make this at home all the time - it's a family favorite!

Honey Loaf

Note: These recipes use NZ measurements. 1 c = 1 cup = 250 ml. 1 T = 1 tablespoon = 15 ml. 1 D = 2 teaspoons. 1 t = 1 teaspoon = 5ml. If you're in the US, you may find you need a little extra baking powder in recipes that use it.

8oz (225g) flour
4oz (110g) sugar
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
300ml water, boiling
2 T honey

Mix flour, sugar and baking powder. Slowly, add the boiling water with honey and soda dissolved in it. Stir well.

When I make it, I hand-stir. I find the food-processor over-mixes, but it may work for you.

The batter is quite liquid when made, about the consistency of yoghurt or perhaps a little thicker.

Pour into greased loaf tin and bake at 180C (350F) for 1 hour.

Serving Suggestions

The loaf is an attractive golden colour when cooked, and just very slightly sticky (thanks to the honey!) to touch. It rises nicely to a loaf-shape, and when cool, holds its shape well and is easy to slice.

As a dessert:

• Serve warm, cut into chunks with vanilla icecream or your favorite fresh or tinned fruit
• Serve warm or cold to taste with fresh fruit and custard
• Slice into squares and serve cold, topped with sliced berries or other fruit as dessert "nibbles" or "tapas"

As a snack:

• Serve cold, sliced and buttered
• You could spread it with jam, too, but I find that a little too sweet, myself
  
• Top with icing sugar and drizzle with lemon juice and slice into fingers
• Cut like a cake, either topped with icing sugar or iced with lemon or vanilla icing

In the lunchbox, wrap in clingwrap or lunchwrap and the slight stickiness will not be a problem. Kids wont end up with it all over their clothing, faces etc :)