I love a large slice of fruit cake with my cup of tea!
Here's a recipe for my new favourite, kiwi loaf.
The juicy kiwi fruit gives a lovely moist, crumbly texture to the bake and cinnamon and honey balance the acid in the fruit.
I sweetened the dough half and half with sugar and stevia* because I prefer to keep my processed sugar consumption to a minimum - there's a history of diabetes in my family and I like to watch the calories too. But some baking requires a little sugar to make the chemical reaction in the dough happen, so I find the 50/50 to be a good compromise. (Equally, you can just use sugar without the stevia.)
*Stevia is a natural sweetener. You can buy pure stevia powder or liquid in health food stores or online; supermarkets tend to sell stevia powder combined with a sugar alcohol. I used the latter here, hence the sugar/stevia substitution ratio are the same. The 100% pure stuff is much, MUCH sweeter than the cut supermarket powder, so check your product instructions carefully before adding.
Ingredients
4.5 - 5 dl flour
1 tsp cinnamon
130 g butter
3 tbsp honey
either 2.4 dl sugar, or 1.2 dl sugar and 1.2 dl stevia powder
2 eggs
6 kiwi fruit, peeled and chopped
For the topping:
200 g cream cheese
1 lime
2 tbsp sugar, or equivalent stevia
For lining the cake tin:
a bit of butter
bread crumbs / powdered almond
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160ºC.
- Grease the cake tin and coat evenly with bread crumb or powdered almond.
- Sieve the flour, then mix with baking powder, sodium bicarbonate and cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, beat.
- Stir in the kiwi.
- Stir in the flour mixture, mix until even.
- Pour into baking tin and bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Remove cake from tin and set aside to cool.
- For the topping, mix cream cheese, juice of one lime and 2 tbsp sugar or stevia, then spread onto the cooled cake.
- Decorate with lime zest or cake sprinkles and serve.
Enjoy!
IMPORTANT: This toy is intended for adult supervised play ONLY. Never leave your child to play unattended in it.
A friend of mine has one of these "sit me up" inflatable play donuts for her baby. They provide support and allow your baby to sit independently for a little while.
I loved the idea and I decided to have a go at making one myself. Baby Felix adores it! (And it gives me a chance to relax and have a cup of tea while I watch him from the sofa.)
Materials
- An inflatable swimming ring, roughly 120cm in diameter, with an approx. 40cm diameter hole in the middle
- About 4 meters of cloth to cover the ring
- About 65 x 65cm cloth and 60x60cm soft padding material to sew onto bottom "pillow" where baby will sit
- Coloured bits of cloth for decorations (old t-shirts, etc.)
- 8 x 15 cm pieces of ribbon to sew onto the sides - to hold the cover in place
- 4 x plastic bags / pieces of plastic gift wrap - these will go under the decorations and will make a crackling sound when baby touches them. (They need to be patternless or clear, so that you can throw cover in washing machine at cold temperature and no colours will run from the plastic.)
- Sewing machine, with standard cloth needle
- Coloured threads (to match your cloths)
- Cloth scissors and paper scissors
- Tape measure
- Cloth chalk
- Paper and pencil
- Pins
Instructions
IMPORTANT: Always make sure all your stitching is strong - double or triple stitching where necessary - to make this toy absolutely safe for your baby. No threads, pieces of cloth, ribbon or decorative pieces must ever come off when your baby tugs at them, as these would be a choking hazard.
1. Buy a swimming ring big enough for your baby to sit inside. You can get one from a toy store or order it online. I chose a 120cm diameter ring with a 40 cm hole. Make sure the rubber meets all current safety standard, so it is not toxic in any way - these should be printed if not on the ring itself, on the box it comes in. The ring can have any pattern - mine was a little bit of a scary looking pirate one - but it'll get covered up so it doesn't really matter.
2. Measure your swimming ring to determine its total diameter and the diameter of the hole in the middle. (The cover cloth and decoration sizes will depend on these measurements.)
3. Make a few sketches of how you'd like the ring to look, the colour and the decoration patterns, to create an idea of the look you want.
4. For the cloth you intend to use for the cover, make sure you leave enough space for the swimming ring diameter, plus a 5cm border all round.
(For example, my swimming ring measured 120cm in diameter, so I needed two 130 x 130cm pieces - or one 260x130cm piece folded in two.)
5. Before inflating it, place the swimming ring on the cloth. Use this to draw the pattern on the cloth. Then measure a 5cm border around the ring, and inside the hole - using a ruler or tape measure is better so the border is even.
Pin the two pieces together, then cut out the cover, the top and bottom pieces together, along the border lines. Also cut out the holes.
6. Save the two round pieces from the hole, and using one of them as a guide, cut out two more round pieces. You will use these four round pieces of cloth to sew your decorative patterns on, later to be attached to the cover.
7. If you haven't already, it's now time to design your four decorations for the sides. Draw the patterns on paper first, making sure they fit comfortably onto the round pieces of cloth you cut out from the holes. I chose a ladybug, a lion, a turtle and a butterfly, but you can do anything you want.
(If you want symmetrical shapes,
fold the pattern paper in two and only draw half the on one side, eg.
half a heart. Cut it out while the paper is still folded
and when you open it you'll have a nice symmetrical shape.)
8. Using your paper patterns, cut your decoration pieces out.
9. First use normal stitching to attach the decoration pieces onto the round patches of cover material (the ones you cut out from the "donut holes".)
Using zigzag stitch, seal all the edges so they won't unravel. You may want to do some additional decorative stitching, like on the bug's antennas on the right, or the lion's smile and eyes on the left.
10. Now move onto the covers. Just before you start, you should know that the edges of the holes in the middle will be sewn together. The outer edges will stay open so the cover can be placed over the ring. And the outer edges will have eight sets of ribbons to tie the cover into place.
But first, the outer edges need to be folded in and sewed, so as to create a firm border that doesn't ravel. I did this by folding the 5cm border over twice and then sewing it around twice, with two parallel lines of stitching about 1cm apart.
Make sure your stitching is sturdy - your baby will pull on the cover, so your stitching needs to be strong and no pieces must ever come off, this could be dangerous for your baby.
11. Next attach the ribbon. The eight sets of ribbon will need to be attached at equal and matching distances, both on the upper side and the lower side of the cover.
Again, make sure that the ribbons are sturdily attached so the cover cannot come off, or the ribbons rip from the cover, when your baby pulls on it.
12. Once the outer borders are done and the ribbons are in place, is time to figure out where to attach your decorations.
Now is the time to do a "first fitting" of the cover, to see how it sits on the ring. Pin the middle hole together and inflate the swimming ring. Dress your donut carefully - don't puncture it with one of the needles that is holding the inside border together.
Once the cover is in place, place the decorations where you want them. I put them slightly on the inner side of the ring, instead of right on top, so that Felix sees and touches them easily.
Pin the decoration patches onto the cover - again, take care not to puncture the ring.
13. Sew the decoration patches onto the cover, going around and sewing around the circular patch, from 12 o'clock to 9 o'clock, leaving a quarter gap. Now stuff a plastic bag or some wrapping plastic underneath the decorative patch. Sew the remaining gap. Thanks to the plastic, the decorative patch will now be slightly raised and make a fun sound when your baby touches it.
14. When the decorations are all on the ring, it's time to sew the inside border together, i.e. the border around the hole in the middle.
15. Finally, make the cushioned bottom. Depending on the size of your donut, cut out a square piece of soft padding - I used 60x60cm. Cut out some cloth to cover it, leaving a border - I used 65x65cm. Sew your cloth square on three sides, then stuff in the cushioning, and close the remaining side, thus making a square, thin "pillow" your baby will sit on.
Once again, dress the donut, fitting the cover on snugly and tying the ribbons firmly. Now carefully pin the square cushion on the bottom of the ring. Once again, take care not to puncture the swimming ring. Then take the cover off and sew your bottom cushion onto the bottom of the cover.
And voilá, you have a baby play nest.
If you do decide to make this for your baba, I'd love to hear back from you and see photos of your final result.
Happy play times!
