My Perfect Baked Dinner with 5 Min Orange Cake

Yesterday, for the first time, i cooked a baked dinner, complete with dessert! I made roast beef with gravy, roasted potatoes & sweet potatoes, cauliflower in cheese sauce, and orange cake topped with fresh cream! Ive made roast chicken before but never roast beef. My mother-in-law cooks really good baked dinner. The beef's always cooked to perfection, very juicy in the inside, with little bits of crunchy fat on the outside, and the potatoes are always baked till really brown and crunchy! Ive tried making the roasted potatoes many many times, but it never turned out as good, it's always not soft in the inside-crunchy on the outside enough cos we're not patient enough to keep it in the oven too long, always too hungry!

I always start cooking dinner after my daily Bold & Beautiful fix that finishes at 5pm. So by the time i cook n clean, Michael would be home at 6 and we'd have dinner straight away cos we're always too lapar to wait. But yesterday, i made my 5 min orange cake earlier and got to eat half of them before dinner and Michael's playing tennis after work and would not be back till 8, so i had lotsa hours for my roast beef to cook to perfection and my tatoes to be nice and crunchy!

I LOVE desserts but im no good at baking at all! Im always amazed and envy my friends who can bake and especially those who can make their cake looked like it came out of Secret Recipe (like the Malaysian Housewife in London's dark choc cake!) The first time i tried baking my hubby's birthday cake, it turned to biscuits! That's bad! But i have this Bill Granger cookbook that i got for my wedding and it has the most mouthwatering dessert pictures in it but the recipes' always seem like too much work, u know, hafta have the right measurement - oz, cups, ayak the flour and everything...im too lazy for all that hassle. Also from time to time, id see all these cook shows from Lifestyle channel that'd make me drooooooool. Plus, it is getting colder here and u can't help the urge of wanting to eat constantly! So yesterday morning, when i heard on tv that u can make an orange cake for 5 MINUTES, i was so up for it! I don't even like citrus flavoured dessert that much. Any lime, lemon, orangy tarts or cakes does not excite me as chocolatey, berries or even plain butter or vanilla ones. But 5 minutes! It's perfect for lazy peeps like me! It's soo easy u don't even hafta peel the orange, no sifting needed, jz mix it all together! Here's the recipe, http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/recipe_070522_orangecake.

Mine doesnt look as good tho. It's not as big and fluffy. It's flat and not enticing at all, BUT, it's SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! No kidding! It's soft and moist and the orange zest is not too overpowering, jz the right taste and with a dollop of cream on top.......mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....I don't think it's my baking skills at all, it's purely the recipe! Try it! Try it!!!!! U'll be soo proud of yourself!

So yeh, it was a really satisfying dinner. When it comes to food, Michael's very easy to please. He eats EVERYTHING, as long as no anchovies..Even my cair curry wowed him to bits. But i know that as anyone would including myself, nothing beats mom's cooking rite? And yes, his mom cooks really good food and different variety of meal everytime! I love em too! And it's not that im trying to compete with her or anything, but last nite, it was pretty freaky cos i was telling myself in my head while we're eating "i wonder if my beef's better than his mom's..i think it's better, but it's my tekak, they don't use salt much, i put salt in everything" talking to myself, talking to myself, then 2 seconds later, he said to me, "dont' tell my mom, but this is just the best!" and oohs and ahhs with every bite of the meat and tatoes and vegies...how happy was i?? :) Tak larat lah of course...hehehe..but i dunno if he's too crazy bout my orange cake as much as i am cos he didnt take the leftover to work this morning. :p But that's ok, more for me!