A delicious ending to a horrible week

This week has really not been a good one in the Sun household. First off I had a bunch of tests following some girly issues and the fact that we haven't conceived yet. You can read more about that on my other blog, should you wish to. I've been spending far too much time playing Dr. Google since, which really isn't good for me and my stress levels.
Then on Wednesday my husband gave a startled cry from Ellie's room while changing her nappy. The reason? Chicken pox. Admittedly I'm glad that she's gotten them now, although the case was mild and I doubt she developed full immunity from it. I'd thought her fever and general whineyness in the days before was because she was teething, but no, apparently not.
Then today Ellie woke up with a runny nose and a horrible cough. And, rather than running outside and ramming my head into the brickwork like I felt like doing, I decided I'd clean the house, and then bake. And that's just what I did. Hooray for distractions!

First of all, I made Julie's Lemon Diva Cupcakes from my Masterchef recipe book.

I ran out of yellow, but pink is exciting too.

 Ingredients:
100g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ⅓ cups self-raising flour
½ cup milk
zest of 3 lemons

Butter frosting:
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups icing sugar
approx 1 tablespoon milk

Grated lemon rind.

My Lady La mixing patty pans. I can't wait til we can bake together properly.

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C (160 fan-forced). Line muffin tin with paper cases.
Using electric beaters, cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Fold through the flour and milk in two alternate batches until just combined, then gently fold through lemon zest.
Divide mixture evenly between patty pans. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when gently touched in the centre.
Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to completely cool before icing.
To make the butter frosting:
Use electric beaters to beat the butter until light and creamy. Add icing sugar a little at a time while beating constantly. Add milk until desired consistency is reached. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

The finished product. Hubby was rather chuffed with them.

Next I decided to use some more lemons and make some Lemon Curd to keep, as well as a jar for my parents, and one for my elderly neighbour, who is an absolute sweetheart. I doubled the recipe to make 1 litre. This one is an arm workout and a half as there is a fair bit of whisking.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 egg yolks

¾ cup caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of 3 lemons
125g butter, chopped.

Whisking - the bane of my existence!

Method:
Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until well combined and the sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the juice and zest.

Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, but do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Allow the mixture to heat, stirring regularly, then gradually add the butter, whisking until combined before adding more. This process should take about 15 minutes until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool before adding to a wide mouthed jar.

Cooling off while I nursed an aching arm. Did I mention I hate whisking?

Sunshine in a jar!

All pretty and off to my neighbour. Her and her husband were so happy, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Sometimes it's worth making the effort to smile, no matter how awful the week has been. This was such a lovely distraction, and Ellie and I thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon baking. Here's hoping next week will be a better one.
Blessings to you all.

The start of our veggie garden and some lemony baked goodness

I'm very excited to say that my veggie garden is officially under way. It's been a long four years in the making, although most of that four years has admittedly been procrastination on my behalf. At one point last year I got excited and started to dig it, only to find half of my backyard has buried cement in it (which, according to my neighbours, was a swimming pool a few years before we moved in. Thanks for filling that in, previous owner, it's not like I would love a pool or anything!), so because of that, our only option has been raised garden beds. So on Tuesday afternoon we went and got our first garden bed. How excitement. Until we realised we'll need another modular bed to go on top of it to make it deep enough, but that's okay, because in the meantime we can leave some bunny litter on the top to rot down a little.

Hooray for our fur children for contributing!

Cairne and Ellie playing. Rei pretending to work.

Excitement!

My child, displaying her building skills! Ikea flat packs, here we come!

Now to leave this for a couple of weeks. I'm so impatient!

Strawberries! Can't wait for these. Neither can my Strawberry Monster, Ellie.

One has a pink flower. This is new and exciting to me!

Apparently Rei can't wait either.

Lending a hand by putting the tags in.

When we first moved in, my cousin and her friends got us a lemon tree as a housewarming gift. It has fruit all year round, and while pottering in the backyard, I decided it was time to harvest some. And by some I mean copious amounts. Guess who's making lots of lemon stuff!

Making lemon tea cake. Recipe here.

So the finished product doesn't look very attractive, but it was damn delicious!

On the lemon baking list this week we have the lemon cupcakes the Julie made in the first season of Masterchef and some lemon curd. Mmmm, delish! I'll be sure to share some recipes. And hey, if you need some lemons, I know someone who has a bunch, haha.