lemon cake

We're deep into school holidays over here. The best bit is tomorrow we are heading out west for a few days, for a bit of walking, eating, chatting, catching up with the new baby (!) and generally relaxing. Which reminds me, I need to choose a new knit project to keep my hands busy on the drive.

Sydney has had the most torrential rain today after a lovely mild week, its testing out the new drainage project down the side of our house which was luckily finished a day ago. I'm afraid I managed to hurt my back early on in the process and wasn't allowed near the worksite, which was frustrating, but the boys had fun digging it out and filling it back in. I'm hoping to extend the garden out that way, and maybe plant some of the new dahlias I bought at the garden centre on Saturday.

I've been keeping busy in between the rest with some sewing and cooking. Yesterday I made a muslin of a new pattern with some shirting fabric from the stash. It turned out well and of course now I wish I'd used better fabric, but that's Murphy's Law isn't it? I found the pattern online, its one of those cult patterns that makes the rounds. I love the internet for finding great things. I'll share a pic once I've made a better version.

Another great internet find was this lemon cake recipe, which I saw on Pinterest and immediately put on the wish list. Its a cake batter with a cream cheese filling poured over the top and baked all at the same time. Oh its fantastic! I love a good cheesecake and its a lemon cake too - two of my favourite things rolled into one. Halfway through the cooking I looked through the oven window and saw it rise up strangely, and imagined it ruined but no, it was perfect. The only thing I will change when I make it again is to reduce the amount of sugar in the cream cheese as I prefer a less sweet cheesecake, like an Italian Ricotta Cheesecake. Find the recipe link on my pinterest food board.

We made some more pizza too the other night from that simple base recipe I shared back here. I still love it!