Sugar et al

Because Life is a blend of flavours...

Beet Chocolate Cake

21|05|2018

beet and chocolate cake

One of the things I greatly look forward to in Autumn is the abundant availability of beet. To be honest, Sydney is a city where you could buy pretty much any fruit or vegetable round the year (maybe costly though), but there is something about beets that I associate with winters as a child. I loved beets since I was little. However, my kids don’t. Unless its hidden inside a beet cake or turned into a relish, served in a delicious burger. A few years ago, I wouldn’t even tell them there were beets in the cake and they would go for it as they would go for any chocolate cake. Now even though they know it, they really don’t mind. The great thing about a beet chocolate cake is that you don’t taste the beets if you use a good dutch processed cocoa powder. And the cake benefits from the texture and nutrition of the beets.

beet and chocolate cake

The Beet Chocolate Cake is very simple to put together and uses a bit of dark chocolate as well as cocoa powder to give it that chocolately taste. What I like the most is that you don’t have to melt the chocolate separately. I’m always happy with recipes that don’t need too many dishes and pans 🙂 Typically most beet cakes will have a no-brainer chocolate frosting. I wanted to do things differently so I’ve used a vanilla buttercream to frost it. Chocolate-Vanilla classic combination! I’ve used a teeny-tiny juice from my cooked beets to tint the buttercream into that gorgeous pink colour. You’re of course free to use a food colour instead if you are not sure of the beet juice.

beet and chocolate cake

beet and chocolate cake

If you’d love to explore more delicious chocolate cakes try out this Easy Chocolate Cake with Raspberries 

Beet Chocolate Cake 
Makes a 7 inch round cake 

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup castor sugar
60 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1 and 1/2 cups cooked and pureed beetroot (from 2 medium beets)
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1 and 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa

Vanilla Buttercream
125 g unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk (depending on how thick or light you want the buttercream to be.
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp beet juice or 1-2 drops pink food colour (optional)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Grease the base and sides of of a 7 inch round cake pan. Line the base with baking paper.

In a medium saucepan, warm the oil over low heat. Add the sugars and chocolate and stir gently until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and add the cooked beets and mix.
Cool the mixture slightly (about 15 minutes), then add the eggs and whisk. Pour in the flour and cocoa powder and stir to mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave in the pan for 5 mins, then turn onto a wire rack to cool till room temperature. Once cooled, frost with vanilla buttercream and decorate with sprinkles.

To make the Vanilla Buttercream, with an electric mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter in a medium bowl till smooth and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar little at a time and continue to beat until well combined. Add the milk and beat till desired consistency is reached. Add the beet juice or food colour (if using). Mix. Fill up a piping bag with a closed start tip and pipe swirls onto the cake. Alternately you could spread the frosting on the cake with a spatula. Decorate with sprinkles. Enjoy!

Baked Cardamom Ricotta Cheesecake with Western Union for Mother’s Day

13|05|2018

This post is brought to you by Western Union. All opinions expressed in this post as always are entirely my own.

Mother’s Day every year is a walk down memory lane. Precious moments from childhood, the countless times Mum put us first in her life, her persistent encouragement through all these years and the lessons that she taught us for life. Some of my fondest memories growing up were when I would watch her in the kitchen cook with deft and skill with a handful of ingredients and turn them into a delicious 5 course meal. She was (still is) a clever cook, always ready with some useful tip or trick up her sleeve. ‘Cooking doesn’t have to be cumbersome.’ she would say whilst entertaining a large number of guests every weekend who were always in awe of her. The most important culinary lesson I’ve learnt from her that I embrace all the time in my kitchen- simple ingredients and lots of colour. Today Mum is far away back in India but I feel closer to her by recreating her ‘sondesh’ with a modern touch to it for my little boys.

I’m absolutely delighted to be partnering with Western Union for this very special day. As a result of moving money across 200+ countries, Western Union’s customers are incredibly diverse-just like the world we live in and the food we eat.
One of the simplest ways that we can appreciate and express cultural diversity is by sharing food. Meals are much more than food on a plate. They are ways we can find common ground. The comfort that comes with a delicious recipe lovingly prepared by Mom is universal. Western Union believes in celebrating the little things like the food we eat, places we’ve been, our Mums or the reason why we send funds because they are important part of what makes us, who we are.

‘Sondesh’ was a popular delicacy in Bengali households when I was growing up. Three simple ingredients (chana/ricotta cheese, sugar and ground cardamom) and whoa! You have a dessert that is light and just melts in your mouth. Mum would go about garnishing them with various nuts like pistachios, dried orange peel, spices and they would look like they could give the local sweet shops a run for their money. Yes, it’s obvious I inherited my sweet tooth from her! This Cardamom Ricotta Cheesecake is inspired by my Mum’s ‘sondesh’ recipe. It has the same ingredients except that it is baked and uses eggs to set the filling. Thanks to the rise of global citizenship, we can find new ways all over the world to add a unique touch to our Mother’s traditional recipes while sharing with friends. To decorate the cheesecake, I’ve used strawberries that have been soaked in rosewater (another favourite from childhood). It’s a really simple, light-crust less cheesecake that is so refreshing to taste.

So, tell me dear readers, what is your favourite dish cooked by your Mum? Do you make it just the way Mum did or do you have a version inspired by it? I’m really excited to know!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful Mums, Grandmums, would-be Mums and anyone who plays this role in your life!

Cardamom Ricotta Cheesecake
Makes an 8 inch round cheesecake that serves 6-8 people

750 g smooth ricotta
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 tsp powdered cardamom
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Method : Preheat oven to 170 degrees C (150 degrees C for fan-forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of an 8 inch Springform pan. With an electric mixer or a hand mixer, beat the ricotta, sugar and powdered cardamom together till smooth. Add the egg, a little at a time and continue to beat till fully blended.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth the top and tap the pan gently a few times on the bench top to get rid of air bubbles.

Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until a crust starts to form all over the cheesecake (the top will become light golden brown) and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn off oven, leave the door ajar and let cheesecake cool completely before releasing the sides.

Refrigerate until serving. When ready to serve, top with rosewater macerated strawberries. Decorate with edible flowers.

Rosewater Macerated Strawberries
1 punnet strawberries (250 g), hulled and sliced
1 tablespoon castor sugar
1 tsp rosewater

Method : Combine strawberries, castor sugar and rosewater in a medium bowl. Cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator for an hour.
Note : Powdered cardamom is available at most local supermarkets as well as Indian stores. Rosewater can be bought online as well as in Indian supermarkets.

 

Lavender, Honey and Almond Cake

3|05|2018

I have a deep love for floral flavours! As if, you didn’t know. Any special occasion and the first thing that comes to my mind is lavender  or rosewater (yes, chocolate too). Since the occasion is Mother’s Day and the best part being that my Mum is around at the moment, I really wanted to make this unique, fragrant cake for her. Food is very much a sensory experience as much as it is for nourishing our bodies. When I was little, my Mum would use a lot of lavender perfumed cosmetics at home. And it goes without saying that there was no access to culinary lavender at the time. Perhaps no one even imagined that these gorgeous flowers have more to them than just their fragrance. But aren’t we so lucky that someone has done all the hard work for us and now we can easily open up a little box and infuse the most Divine flowers into our food?

Unlike what a lot of people think, lavender is really simple to use. You could pretty much replace them in any recipe that calls for vanilla, spices or any other fragrant ingredient. The only thing to remember is  that ‘less is more’. A few dried flowers are enough to perfume a large cake or a dessert or a big jug of cordial (I’m just crazy about blueberry-lavender cordial). Culinary lavender is also used in savoury dishes to add that special touch to them.

This cake is simple and easy to make. The frosting does make it celebratory but even without it, the cake would make a fantastic tea time treat. You could skip two pans anad just make one large cake as well. The almonds in the recipe add another element of surprise to the cake. It’s got a subtle taste of honey and lavender paired with a delicious nuttiness from the almonds. Basically, a great hand made surprise for Mum. Just call her over for tea, slice up this cake and there you go. Cake and flowers together with a big warm hug whilst walking down memory lane. That’s what I did!

 

Lavender, Honey and Almond Cake
Makes a 2 layered 6 inch, round cake

180 g butter, room temperature
1/4 cup castor sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups, self raising flour
1 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup lavender flower honey (I used Bridestowe Lavender flower honey but regular honey can be used too)
1/2 tsp culinary lavender (I used Bridestowe culinary lavender)

Lavender Buttercream
1 tsp culinary lavender
2 tbsp milk
250 g unsalted butter, softened
2 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
A tiny bit of mauve food coloring gel

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease the bases and sides and line the bases of two 6 inch round baking pans with baking paper.
Using an electric or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.

Add in half the flour and almond meal, then add 1/2 the honey and milk and beat to combine. Repeat with remaining flour, almond meal, milk and honey. Stir in the culinary lavender.
Divide mixture uniformly between two pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of a cake come out clean.

Remove from oven. Leave aside for 5-10 minutes. Gently loosen the sides with a blunt knife. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, frost with lavender buttercream. Decorate with sugar flowers and/or sprinkles.

To make the lavender buttercream, Place the lavender and milk in a microwaveable cup and microwave on low until it is about to boil (do not boil). Remove and leave aside to infuse for 1-2 hours. Strain the lavender buds and reserve the milk for the buttercream.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter till pale and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, a little at a time and continue to beat till incorporated. Add the lavender infused milk and beat to combine. Add the food colour if using, and mix till fully incorporated.

 

 

Chocolate Hazelnut Friands with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

22|03|2018

I am really excited today for a multitude of reasons. First, because this post involves chocolate and I am posting a friand recipe after a long time. They are a super favourite treat of mine. And secondly because I have guest posted for the first time. I have blogged for 5 years now (where has time flown by) and  it’s nice to do something different.

Kankana from Playful Cooking is not only a talented photographer but also a busy Mum like me. Despite that she manages to come up with food that makes you want to eat your screens, week on week. Her images are a visual treat! So you can check out the guest post and the recipe for these Chocolate Hazelnut Friands  on her beautiful blog.

Hope you enjoy them and have a great weekend everyone!