blackberry Archives - Sugar et al

Blackberry and Cardamom Sour Cream Cake

4|03|2019

It’s officially Autumn but I’m still not ready to let go of summer. I’ve spent the most part of summer overseas so I feel that I haven’t made enough treats with berries. Raspberries, being red somehow make way into a lot of my Christmas recipes and I use strawberries and blueberries round the year. Blackberries tend to be ignored! It’s sort of unfair as they impart the most beautiful and varying shades of pink/purple when cooked and used in different intensities. Ranging from light pink in a frosting to a deeper purple in cocktails, I am forever mesmerized by their addition. And how good do they look just as they are!

This cake is again a simple one layer cake but one that is very flavorful. A subtle flavour from the cardamom and a creamy sourness from the sour cream. Texture wise it is slightly denser than a regular cake but it melts in your mouth while the blackberries within the batter add a tangy burst to every bite. You could skip the buttercream and serve it like a tea-cake. It’s quite good on it’s own. Or if you’d like to experience some blackberry magic, go ahead with the frosting.

Blackberry and Cardamom Sour Cream Cake
Makes a 6 inch round cake

125 g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
300 g sour cream
1/4 cup milk (optional, if batter is too thick)
1/2 cup blackberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (140 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of a 6 inch cake pan and line the base with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer or by hand, beat the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flours and cardamom together. Fold in the dry ingredients, sour cream and milk (if using) to the butter mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Push the blackberries into the batter with your fingers. Bake in the oven for 60 – 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, leave aside for 5 mins, then turn onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Once cool, pipe or spread blackberry buttercream (recipe below). Decorate with fresh blackberries.

Blackberry Buttercream

125 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp fresh blackberry puree, strained
1 tsp vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar, little at a time beating continuously until incorporated.
Add the blackberry puree and vanilla extract and beat until buttercream is smooth and well blended.

Coconut Cake Minis With Blackberries And White Chocolate

19|03|2016

Berries are fabulous with coconut flavored desserts and so is white chocolate! I’ve been wanting to make a blackberry based cake for a long time but since I only had a small punnet of them at home, I decided to make mini cakes instead of a large one. Individually portioned desserts have their own appeal and are easier to decorate. Before I was the owner of a multitude of baking pans, my baking equipment was limited to a round cake pan, a muffin pan and a few ramekins. I got those 4 ramekins as part of a creme brule set and I put them to good use by baking miniature versions of all the bigger cakes recipes I knew at that time. So, I decided to go back in time and bake these coconut cake minis with blackberries in ramekins. They were then dipped in melted white chocolate and shredded coconut.

Another reason I like the pairing is because together they are kind of monochrome to look at. They offer a lot of textural drama to a photo which I’ve been dreaming up to create on a grey backdrop!

In other news, it has started to feel a bit like Autumn! The chill, the early sunset and the receding stone fruits. It’s certainly a relief after the soaring temperatures and humidity in March. But you know what, I would have loved Autumn a bit more if it didn’t come after summer. It marks the end of summer, the end of my favorite season. I am excited though for the people on the other side of the world. I’ll enjoy your spring and summer:-)

Coconut Cake Minis With Blackberries And White Chocolate
Makes 6

90 g butter, softened
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/3 cup shredded coconut
100 g greek yogurt
200 g blackberries
1 cup white chocolate divided, roughly chopped.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C( 160 degrees C for fan forced). Lightly grease the bottom of 6 ramekins.
Process the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and yoghurt in a food processor until smooth. Fold in blackberries and 1/3 cup white chocolate. Divide between the ramekins. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cakes are cooked through. Remove from oven. Leave aside for 2 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack.

Meanwhile, place the remaining white chocolate in a heat proof pan that is placed on a saucepan of boiling water. This is done to gently melt the white chocolate. Once melted, remove from heat. Place the shredded coconut on a plate.

Dip the tops of the blackberry cake minis first in the white chocolate (let the extra fall back in the pan) and then in the shredded coconut. Place on a wire rack to dry.

Kaffir Lime Panna Cotta

11|03|2013

I wanted to let you in on a little secret.
I have this ridiculous urge to look at everything with pastry eyes! What I mean by that is quite often when I come across a food item or ingredient..herbs, spices, vegetables, fruits..anything. I start to imagine how it would turn out mixed with sugar, whisked with eggs, added to cream, baked, frozen, torched, candied and so on. Until lately I thought this was weird. And people around me thought I was ‘stressed out’ and ‘needed a break’.

A Thai lunch and I was all about Kaffir Lime. Not that this was the first time Kaffir Lime had caught my attention. Before this I was probably paying more attention to something else..Lemongrass I think. I enjoyed the dish I was eating but I enjoyed thinking about the little experiments that I was going to carry out more.

‘This is so good’ one of my friends remarked between mouthfuls of Thai curry.

Oh yes, it is..imagine pairing it with mango…I smiled at myself.

‘I had something similar in ABC restaurant but this one is better’ another one spoke out.

It will be great in a Panna Cotta. And blackberries..lovely…white, yellow, black…i was already planning.

I looked at the watch. 1.10 pm…just enough time to go back home, get the kids to nap and run to the Asian Market to get hold of Kaffir Lime leaves and create something.

That is exactly what I did. Kaffir lime…I had to get some…I NEED Kaffir lime, I told myself. This word ‘NEED’ is more than familiar to me at the moment. Apparently, it has assumed a place of great significance in my little boy’s life and vocabulary (the older twin..to be precise 38 seconds older). He does not ‘like’ or ‘want’ things. He NEEDS them. How well I can trace it back to his genes.

I spent the afternoon at the market and later in my kitchen. The Panna Cotta was exactly the way I had imagined it to be. Light, refreshing, fragrant with a distinct taste of Kaffir Lime. While they were setting up, i made the candied lime leaves.

All this while I have questioned my sanity, my thrill at spending hours at a fruit market, the ability to bake a cake at 2 am after a tiring day with two preschoolers, my obsession with food. But not anymore. I am not alone. Ever since I started this little blog, I am coming across people every day who eat, sleep and breathe ingredients..who live flavours..rejoice and celebrate food. This is my place…this is my world. This is where I belong…where I have always belonged. I no longer do things that I have to do..but things that bring me joy. It is all making perfect sense to me now..I feel liberated. Every day is exciting…every moment is beautiful.

This is my world…bright, brilliant, beautiful…of Sugar…et al..

Kaffir Lime Panna Cotta with Mango and Blackberries
Yields 4-5

11/2 cups Single cream
11/2 Cups Milk
1/2 cup castor sugar
6 kaffir lime leaves finely shredded
2 tsp powdered gelatine
2 tablespoon warm water.
1 mango, sliced
1/2 cup blackberries

Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatine. Set aside till it blooms i.e absorbed all the water. Heat the cream over medium heat in a saucepan and add the lime leaves. Bring it to a boil and then remove from heat. Let infuse for 30 minutes. Strain the mixture to remove the leaves. Put the infused cream, milk and sugar back in the saucepan and heat gently. Add the gelatine and stir to dissolve.

Remove from heat once the mixture begins to boil and let cool to room temperature. Pour into serving glasses and refrigerate till set. About 4-5 hours. Before serving top with sliced mangoes and blackberries. I mascerated the sliced mangoes in 1 tsp sugar to release its juices.

Candied Kaffir Lime leaves
1 egg white
1/2 cup castor sugar
5-6 Kaffir lime leaves

Whisk the egg white till frothy. Place the sugar on a plate. Line a baking tray or plate with baking paper. Dip each leaf into the egg white and hold it by the tip till the excess falls out. Dip it again into the sugar till it is evenly coated. Dust off excess sugar. Place the leaves on the parchment paper to dry. About 2 hours later turn the leaves around for the other side (the one which was not exposed)to dry. They become hard when dried.