Coconut ring cake

 

Cake

110g Butter 

150g sugar

2 eggs

50g desiccated coconut

180g gluten-free self raising flour

180ml coconut cream

Cream the butter and sugar together, add eggs and coconut.

Add flour and coconut cream (both watery liquid and solid coconut cream) and beat.

Grease the ring cake tin and dust with desiccated coconut.

Oven temperature 170 degrees celsius.

Bake till the top of the cake is golden and the skewer comes out clean.

Icing

Beat cream 200ml cheese and 3 table spoon of icing sugar.

Add a scoop of solid coconut cream in and beat.

Cover the cake once it has cooled down and sprinkle with coconut.

Japanese style chiffon cake (gluten free)

5  Egg yolks

110ml water

85ml oil (light flavourless oil like grape seed oil or light olive oil)

Gluten free plain flour 125g (rice flour can be used as well)

5 Egg whites (chilled)

110g Sugar

Place egg yolks, water and oil in a bowl and mix well.

Mix flour into the mix until combined and set aside. 

Beat egg whites in a separate bowl and gradually add sugar. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

Add one third of the meringue to the egg yolk mixture and carefully mix it in.

Add another one third of the meringue and repeat.

Add the third of the meringue and repeat.

Pour into a chiffon cake tin and bake at 170 degrees celsius for 50~55 minutes.

Turn it upside down (if you have a proper chiffon tin) and let it cool.

When it is completely cool, run a knife along the edges and lift the cake out.

Run the knife along the base and the inner rim to release the cake.

You can bake this cake as a flat sheet on a baking tray as well.

For that, you need to adjust the baking time.

Gluten free Gateaux Chocolat

Preheat oven at 160 degrees centigrade.

Melt 100g of dark chocolate with 60g of butter (I use salted butter) and set aside.

Beat 3 eggs with 110g of sugar till pale and frothy.

Add 50ml of cream (or coconut cream) to the melted chocolate and mix it in with the eggs.

Shift 25g of Dutch cocoa (unsweetened) with 30g of gluten free flour and add to the bowl.

Mix well and pour into a lined cake pan.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes. (each oven is different)

The top of the cake should look crusty and when you shake the pan, the cake should not move (not runny in the middle). 

Serve with coconut yogurt and fresh raspberries.

Armenian Love Cake

 

The original recipe is from a children's book called Plum Pudding and Paper Moon, one of the books from Kingdom of Silk series by Glenda Millard, an Australian author. 

I don't have the copy of the book anymore, but I know the recipe has changed over the years.

Grating the nutmeg yourself as you are preparing the recipe is the key to the cake's beautiful flavour.

A
125g salted butter (Nutlex for non dairy people)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup almond meal
1 cup self raising flour (or gluten free flour)
1 tsp or more Nutmeg

B 
1/2 cup milk (or yogurt or plant based milk for non dairy)
1 egg

Either blitz all of A in the food processor or place all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and rub cubed butter with your fingertips in the dry ingredients until the whole thing resembles wet sand.

Line the base of a cake tin (20cm) with a sheet of baking paper and tip half of A into the tin.

Using a back of a dessert spoon, press into the base and let it come up a little bit higher around the sides.

Into the remaining bowl of A, mix B in.

You can decorate with walnuts or sliced fruit on top.

Bake in the 180 degrees celsius oven for approx 30minutes. If you use fruit, it takes longer.

Almond Florentine Slice

 

Base

1 cup of plain flour

1/4 cup of sugar

140g butter

Blitz the ingredients in a food processor.  You will get slightly damp sand like texture.

Pat it down onto a baking sheet over a slice pan. 

Bake (180 degrees celsius) for 10-15 minutes.

Filling

Cream 60g

Butter 50g

Sugar 60g

Honey 60g

Boil the above together for a couple of minutes and add 125g of sliced almonds.

Pour over the baked base and put it back in the oven for 10-15 minutes till golden brown.

Gluten free Chiffon cake

Yolk mixture

3 egg yolks

65ml water

50ml olive oil (not ex v)

Gluten free flour 75g

Meringue

3 egg whites

65g sugar

a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade.

Combine all the ingredients of the yolk mixture in a bowl.

In another bowl, beat egg whites, sugar and salt till stiff peak forms.

Put one third of the meringue into the yolk mixture to loosen.

Then add the remainder of the meringue and combine taking care not to flatten the meringue.

Pour into the chiffon cake pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the surface is light brown in colour and the mixture does not wobble.

Chiffon cake pan comes in two parts.  

You do not need grease or use baking paper for the mould. 

Cool completely in the tin upside down.

Use a thin plastic spatula or a thin bladed knife and run it around the pan and lift the cake out by grabbing the middle part.  Then run the blade under the cake and the middle part to release the cake.

You can decorate the cake just with icing sugar, drizzle melted chocolate or cover with whipped cream.

You can use the same recipe to bake a chiffon roll cake.

It would only take about 15 minutes in the oven.

Tahini Chocolate Cake (GF)

 

Dark chocolate 200g

Butter 120g

Tahini 170g

Brown sugar 100g

Eggs 4

Cocoa 2tbs

Melt chocolate and butter together.  Add tahini and combine.

Add all the other ingredients and combine.

Pour into a prepared bakeware (I use a 20cm round cake tin) and bake (180 degrees celsius) for about 30 minutes or till the cake has puffed up a little.  It does not matter if the cake is still moist inside as it will settle as the cake cools down.

Berry Cheesecake Slice

                          This version in the photo has rhubarb instead of berries

I got the base recipe from a friend in Canada.  What she made was a blueberry slice and the topping had no cream cheese in it.  I thought it would be even better if the top half was a cheesecake.

Base

1.1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup sugar

200g butter (I always use salted butter)

Blitz in a food processor and tip it onto the prepared bakeware.  I use a lamington tin.

Press the sandy mixture down with a back of a spoon or similar and bake for about 20 minutes (180 degrees celsius) or until golden on top.

Cheesecake

250g Cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1tbs corn flour

2 eggs

lemon juice / vanilla

berries of your choice 

Blend everything except for berries together.

Place the berries on top of the baked base and pour the cheesecake mixture over the fruit.

Bake till the top of the cheese cake is golden.

Baked Ricotta

 

1kg ricotta

150g parmesan cheese

2 garlic cloves

4 eggs

2tbs cornflour

black pepper

a big handful of baby spinach

Mix all the ingredients together.  Add spinach last.

Decorate with some red tomatoes on top.  

Bake in any bakeware of your choice until golden on top.  180 degrees celsius.

 

Daal

 

The Indian lady who showed me how to make Daal didn't use onions and garlic as it was against her religion, but I use quite a lot of them.

Vegetables I always use:

Onion, garlic, coriander and tomato (fresh or tinned).

Other things I sometimes use if I have them in the fridge:

Celery, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, cauliflower, etc.

Cumin seeds and turmeric or premixed mild curry powder (approx 1tbs per 1 litre of daal)

The beans I use are Red lentils and Mung Dhall.  Mung Dhall is what makes my Daal its unique texture.  For 2 cups of lentils, 1 cup of mung dhall.

I cook the beans separately in plenty of water skimming foams off throughout the cooking process.

If using cumin seeds, heat the oil till quite hot.  Drop a few cumin seeds and if they instantly froth, the oil is hot enough.  Fry for a few seconds before adding the vegetables.

Add cooked beans to the vegetables including the cooking water.  

Simmer until everything is nice and tender.

Gulasch

My German mother in law gave me this recipe.  I have modified it over the years.

2 onions chopped

2 carrots 

2 sticks of celery chopped

3-6 garlic cloves

1kg beef (chuck or gravy)

1-2 red capsicum

1tsp thyme

4tbs smoked paprika (or more if you like)

1tsp cumin

2 tomatoes chopped (or a tin)

2tbs tomato paste

1tbs marmalade (for sweetness and zest)

salt to taste

2tbs balsamic vinegar (or more if it needs more acidity)

enough water to cover the ingredients

I brown the meat first, set aside and cook onion, carrots and celery for good 10 minutes in olive oil.

I add rest of the ingredients in one go and simmer for 2 hours or however long it takes in a pressure cooker.

Raspberry-misu

I made this dessert for my friends last night and posted the picture on Chat10Looks3 facebook page where many chatters asked for the recipe. I didn't measure anything, so you will just have to follow my process and the amounts are my rough guesses.

1. Throw half a packet of frozen raspberries (approx 250g) into a pan with 150ml of water and 70g of sugar. Heat until bubbling and squash the fruit in the process and put it through a sieve into a shallow container with a flat bottom. 
2. Quickly coat the sponge biscuits one by one as you place them into the glass bowl. I did the sides first then some on the bottom. I used about 24 biscuits. Some are hidden in the middle. 
3. Soak 3 gelatine leaves (half size ones) Return the pulpy seeds back into the saucepan, added some hot water, mixed it up and sieved it back in with the remaining syrup. Mix the gelatine leaves in. If the syrup is not hot enogh to dissolve, heat it gently until all the gelatine is dissolved. Put the jelly into a container and refrigerate. 
4. Beat 4 egg yolks with 40g of sugar over a simmering saucepan until pale and fluffy. I added some brandy. This is optional. 
5. Make sugar syrup with 60g of sugar to make Italian meringue with 4 egg whites. 
6. Mix a tab of mascarpone in a bowl and mix with the egg yolk mixture. Then mix with the meringue. 
7. Pour the mascarpone mix into the glass bowl pushing the extra biscuits in the middle. 
8. Cut the jelly into cubes and scatter with fresh berries and chopped pistachio. 

Persian Love Cake

Persian Love Cake is probably the plainest looking cake I bake, but is a favourite of many friends and family.
This cake has a tart like base and a moist cake on top.
It is also gluten free.


3 cups Almond meal
1 cup Brown sugar
1 tbs cornflour
120g butter
2 eggs
150~200ml greek yogurt
1 tsp cardamon powder
2 tsp rosewater
slivered pistachios

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Line a 20cm cake tin.

In a large bowl, combine almond, sugar, cardamon powder and cornflour.
Put cubed butter pieces into the bowl.
With tips of your fingers, squash butter into the mix until most of the butter pieces are invisible and it looking like damp sand.  You can do this in a food processor, but I find this process therapeutic and enjoyable.

Scoop half of the above into the cake tin.
Squash the mixture down into the base with the edges slightly raised.
This part will become like a tart base.

Put eggs and rosewater into the bowl with the remaining almond mixture.
Add half the yogurt and mix in well.
You want the mixture to look wet enough, but not too runny.
Adjust the texture of the batter with the remainder of yogurt.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin.
Sprinkle some slivered pistachios over the top and bake for 20~40 minutes.

The length of baking time will depend on the oven.

It is done when the top is golden.

Vanilla Kipfel

For the last 10 years or so, I have been baking vanilla kipfel in December.  These biscuits are very buttery and almondy.  They crumble and melt in your mouth.

Plain flour 180g
Almond powder 90G
Icing sugar 50g
Salted Butter 150g

Set the oven temperature to 150 degrees celsius.

Process all the ingredients in a food processor for 30 seconds or so.
The dough is not dough like.  It resembles damp sand.

Take about a golf ball size powdery dough in your hand and hold it until the butter melts enough so you can shape the dough into a crescent.  Repeat till all the dough is used up.

Bake for 15~18 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, shift plenty of icing sugar over them.

Fudge Brownies marbled with Peanut Butter

Of all the sweets I bake, I am asked for the recipe for my nutty fudge brownies the most.

Instead of mixing nuts (usually macadamia) in, I marbled this batch with peanut butter in attempt to use up the unloved jar in the pantry.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Melt 100g butter and 200g dark chocolate together.
Mix in 1 cup of brown sugar followed by two eggs.
Add 1/3 cup of sour cream.
Fold in 1/4 cup of cocoa and 1/4 cup of flour.  (it can be wheat flour, GF flour, or almond meal)
Fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

Line a brownies tin with baking paper and pour in the batter.
Dot the surface with as much peanut butter as you like.
Using a knife, draw lines through the peanut butter for marbled effect.

Baking time really depends on your oven.
20 to 30 minutes or until the batter doesn't wobble when you shake the tin.

I can usually tell by the smell and the way it looks.

Enjoy.

Chat 10 Looks 3's Crack

I made Crack for my book club on the weekend and several people asked for the recipe.  This post is dedicated to my beloved book club members.

I joined a Facebook group called Chat 10 Look 3 a couple of months ago when a recommendation popped up on my Facebook feed.  It had a picture of Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb.  It caught my attention straight away as I had watched their "When I get a minute" on ABC iview a while ago and absolutely loved it.  It also said "If you liked Helen Garner and Yotam Ottolenghi, this was a group for you."
As it happens, I was reading Helen Garner's "Everywhere I look" at the time and have been a fan of Yotam for a couple of years.  I thought, I obviously qualify to join this group.

So, I joined and immediately realised that I have found "my people".
There are over 26,000 members and they are constantly posting their book recommendations and showing off what they have baked.

These were also post after posts of Crack.  It seemed making Crack was a kind of initiation to become a true Chatter.  So, I downloaded the recipe and have baked it.  I loved it so much, I have made it may be about 5 times since.

Recipe (slightly altered by me)

One packet of Salada (there are two packets in a box)
200g butter (salted)
1 cup brown sugar
200g dark chocolate
nuts, dried cranberries, freeze dried raspberries, salt flakes

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
Place single layer of salada crackers on the tray.
Heat butter and brown sugar in a saucepan.  Let it boil and whisk until emulsified.
Pour over the crackers and smooth all over with a spatula.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.  Bake for approximately 15 minutes taking care not to burn the caramel.

Whilst the caramel is still hot, sprinkle chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate all over the caramel and leave to melt for a couple of minutes.  Use a spatula to smooth the chocolate all over.
Sprinkle nutes and dried fruit of your choice and a good pinch of salt flakes.

Gingerbread Man Biscuits

We usually spend Christmas with my husband's parents, but we are not able to travel to the Barossa Valley and they can not travel to us in the Mountains this year.  Thus a request for my Gingerbread Man came from my mother in law.
She brings her traditional German touch to our Christmas celebration each year and we shall miss it this Christmas.

125g butter (salted)
100g brown sugar
125ml golden syrup
1 egg yolk
400ml plain flour
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice

If the dough feels a little sticky, dust plenty of flour when rolling it out.
bake in 170 degrees celsius oven until golden brown.

Rocky Road

I meant to post this before we for Far North Queensland, things got rather hectic..
So, finally I am home in time for your to make it for Christmas.

Ingredients
200g  Dark Chocolate
100g Butter (I used cultured butter and added half a teaspoon of salt)
1 cup  Rice bubbles
Half to three quarter of a packet of Marshmallow
1 pannet Raspberries or a cup of pitted cherries or both
Nuts of your choice (almonds work well)

Melt chocolate and butter together.  You can put them in a bowl over a pan of simmering water or stick it in the microwave like I do.

Then put the rest of ingredients and give it a quick mix.
Pour over a prepared tray lined with baking paper or cling wrap.

Chill in the fridge until set.

Enjoy!

Moist Fruitcake

Today I was very proud to be asked for no less than 3 recipes at my Choir's Christmas lunch.

After abandoning this blog for a long time, I decided to resurrect it as a method of sharing my recipes  with my English speaking (reading) friends.

1. Moist fruitcake (this post)
2. Decadent rocky road (next post)
3. Chocolate cake (I realised that I have already posted this one.  It's the one before this post)


'
I discovered this recipe over 10 years ago in my American Cake book.
As I do with most recipes, I make all kinds of alterations and by the time I am satisfied with it, it hardly resembles the original.

A
Mixed dried fruit 500g
Dried apricots  100g
Marmalade  100g
Water 300ml
Cultured butter 180g
Salt 1tsp
Raw sugar 300g

B
90ml brandy or rum
3 eggs

C
Plain flour 375g
Baking powder 1tsp

Nuts for decoration

Put all ingredients A in a medium sized saucepan and put on medium heat.
Once everything dissolves and it begins to boil, turn down to heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Put it aside and let it cool down a little.

In a large bowl, put B and half of A together and whisk.
Add C into the bowl and mix till smooth.  Add the rest of A and mix again.

Pour into a prepared cake tin and decorate with pecan nuts or walnuts.
I usually divide it into two or three smaller tins.

Bake at 170C until for approximately 40 minutes.
Depending on the size of your tins or your oven, the baking time differs.
Always check with a skewer to see if the cake is cooked through.


I wish you Blue Mountains ladies a nice cool baking day between now and Christmas.

My Best Chocolate Cake

I have tried a great number of different chocolate cake recipes over the years.
Since I started baking when I was about 10 years old, that's a lot of chocolate cakes.
Of all the cakes I experimented with, this is the best one.

It was originally a stout beer chocolate cake recipe.
The original recipe was perfectly good, but it went through several metamorphosis and has settled into what it is today a few years back.

It no longer uses stout beer at all, but molasses, which to my mind has similar dark and somewhat bitter quality.   It also uses less sugar.


1 tbs molasses
110ml hot water
125g butter
35g good quality cocoa (unsweetened)
150g brown sugar
70ml sourcream
1 egg
140g self raising flour


Combine molasses, hot water, butter, cocoa and brown sugar in a saucepan and stir over low to medium heat till butter has melted and cocoa dissolved.

Add sour cream and stir.  When it has cooled down a little, add an egg and stir.

Mix 1/3 of the liquid with the flour, then mix the rest in.  You need to do it this way as the batter is very runny.

Bake in a 20cm cake tin in a moderate oven.  How long it takes to bake depends on the oven.  Anything between 20~50 minutes really.  Shake the cake tin and if it does not wobble on top, insert a bamboo stick and see if it comes out clean.