Food Glorious Food - The Hunt is on!

So last week the cafe launched our new delicious cheesecakes, in Berry, Passionfruit and Peppermint Crisp and sold out pretty quickly once we announced it!

Our Cafe is now undergoing it's Make Over and we need your help!!!

If you are a home baker, you will know that nothing quite taste as good as home made and that is what we want to bring to you and were are hoping you will bring to us!

As we slowly move into making our own food, we actually want it to be your food too. We are looking for your favorite recipes so that people all over Christchurch can taste something that well - tastes likes home.

More than anything we want the The Make Cafe to be a community place, a place to come together to chat, craft and enjoy the little things - like your gran's famous cherry loaf!

These cheesecakes will always remind me of our dear friend Gary in the UK, once he got this recipe he went wild adding all sorts of flavours, including a couple of entire slabs of Cadbury's chocolate even to the base, it was fine the first night - but impossible to cut the next day!

So if there is something you are always wishing you could enjoy in a cafe, or if it's time to honor someone special then send me an email or leave a comment below. Who knows you could be surprised to find your recipe on our menu!

We will need your first name for credit in the cafe so please label your recipe accordingly and let us know the history, why you love it or what it reminds you of!

Make - Tea Bread

In a scramble to fill the school lunchbox with something yummy last night, I decided to make something new.

If you are anything like me I buy loads of mincemeat at Christmas time, worried the shops will run out and thinking I will be baking everyday - non of which actually occurs! So this is the perfect recipe for that left over jar!

This is a super simple recipe and it just tastes delicious even with coffee as Mr Hosking text'd this morning. I personally like a little butter spread on top, but it is lovely and moist all on it's own!

Tea Bread

200g self raising flour
100g cold butter, cut into pieces
85g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
300g mincemeat (I used the Anathoth's one and mine had slightly more than 300g but what was that going to hurt?)
Icing sugar for dusting

• Preheat oven to 180 or 160 for fan assist (like mine)
• Line your loaf tin (I use a silicon one works like a dream - no lining necessary)
• Put your flour and cubed butter into a bowl and mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs or use your food processor or mixer
• Stir in the sugar
• In another bowl lighlty whisk your eggs and add your mincemeat
• Using a wooden spoon stir into the flour mixture and pour into your loaf tin
• Bake for 1 hour (cover the top with foil once it's brown to stop it burning) check that a skewer comes out clean
• When it's hot out your oven dust with icing sugar, leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes and then turn out to a wire rack to cool completely

Delicious on it's own or add some nuts on top, you could even try experimenting with some spices inside if you wish, but I love it just like this! So get making this Monday!