DP9

After attending a cake making class by Julie Le Clerc at the fabulous Sabato, I decided to test drive her book by getting it out of the library...

Strongly contemplating giving the mandarin cake a go first, even tho it has 6 eggs, and I've been brought up never to make cakes that require numerous eggs. Perhaps if I halve the recipe and make mini cakes in a muffin pan instead...
The turkish delight cheesecake (on the cover) also looks a-maz-ing.

Update: Underwhelmed by the mandarin cake. Gave the rosewater chocolate cake a go, took half of it in to work on Monday and got excellent kudos. Go me!! Was contemplating trying out the upside down caramelised banana nutmeg cake this evening (for work tomorrow) but decided I couldn't be arsed. Running out of days...

Update 2. Giving the Arabian Date Cake a go today, while doing a zillion other things. Didn't look like there was enough mixture for the cake pan, and I am using the size specified in the recipe. Hmm. And it seemed cooked well before it was supposed to be, but I think that was my stupid oven running hot. I had the oven thermometer in there, and kept having to adjust the temp down and down... anyhow, I can't imagine how my cake is going to be as deep as the one pictured in the book appears. It smells pretty good tho. (note, just the one egg in this one)

Update 3. The testing team were impressed with the arabian date cake, and the super-foodie of the group asked for the recipe. Yes!
Meanwhile, the final test is the Strawberry Coconut Ice cupcakes. Thumbs up from me! The mouth-feel is a bit startling to start with, as I use quite coarse coconut as a matter of course, but the flavour is good, and once I got used to the texture it was totally yummy.

Verdict. Buying the book. There are too many tantalising recipes in the book to only have the book for a month from the library, and even if I don't make loads of cakes the pictures are beautiful.