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White Chocolate And Raspberry Cake With Orange Buttercream

19|12|2014

I am pretty sure the question that is on most of our minds is “Where did this year go?’ And where is time flying now when there is so much left to do before it actually ends. Let me tell you where my year went. It went in breaking a few hundred eggs, melting a suitcase worth of chocolate (that’s right if I packed all the chocolate I melted this year in a suitcase, I wouldn’t be able to close it even if I sat on it. Err..is it only me or do you sit or half-stand on over-packed suitcases?) whisking, measuring cups of nut meals, layering, spreading, licking bowlfuls of sweet batter, sprinkling, drizzling, pouring and torching, cutting, slicing, eating and day dreaming of cakes and desserts. If I missed out on anything of pastry relevance, please feel free to add them because I have no doubt I would have done them all.

Did I do anything else? Apart from gaining those frightful calories? Yes, I brought myself a treadmill, ran a bit around the waterside near my previous house, ate salads and soups (other than cakes) and found people to eat my cakes. About 4 months in this year, I had family with me so I went on a cake baking/making spree. I could hear my cake pans weeping when they left.

Now since this was a year filled with cakes, the last one had to be a celebratory one…what do you think?

The cake is a simple moist, layer cake with an Orange Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. It has got a lovely flavour on account on the tart raspberries alongside sweet white chocolate. The citrus notes are the best as they tie the whole cake together. You can bake them in two pans as well..you will get two broader layers and you will need to adjust the baking time a bit (it will take longer to bake). Don’t worry about being neat with the frosting. The whole idea is to play around with the cake and flowers. I adapted the recipe for the cake from Good Food. The original recipe was for a two layered cake. I adjusted the measurements for the ingredients to make a cake with 3 layers. You can get the recipe for the Orange Swiss Meringue Butter Cream here.

White Chocolate And Raspberry Cake with Orange Butter Cream

Serves 8-10

300 g butter, chopped into small cubes, plus extra for greasing
150 g white chocolate, broken into pieces
6 large eggs
300 g caster sugar
300 g self-raising flour
175 g raspberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 180 degree C (160 degree fan-forced). Grease and line the bases of 3 x 18 cm round cake tins. Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof mixing bowl, set over a pan of barely simmering water and allow to melt slowly, stirring occasionally.

When the butter and chocolate have melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool for 1-2 mins, then beat in the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk. Fold in the flour and raspberries.

Gently pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 20-25 mins or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack. Once cooled, place a layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread 1/3 of the frosting. Repeat with remaining layers and frosting. Spread frosting on the sides and top. Decorate with fresh flowers, berries or chocolate shavings. Frosting recipe here

Orange, Honey, Rosemary and Chia Seed Friands/Financiers

24|11|2014

After a lovely little vacation in Melbourne, I am back to the precious confines of my home. Though to be honest, I did not miss cooking and baking, I was very excited at the sight of my kitchen when I came back. Melbourne is a colourful city. That was one of the first things that caught my eyes. The buildings can exist in any colour you dream of. Amongst the grey, brown walls or the striking blue waterbodies all over the city, there would be a yellow wall somewhere, red staircase, an orange coloured bridge…some blue boats floating around. It makes a lovely sight. My camera has been working overtime in the last few days..the birthday pictures of my twins, then Melbourne and the beautiful Victorian countryside. So much to share but I guess I will stick to food photos here. You can see my travel photos on Instagram.

So before I left for Melbourne, I made a birthday cake for my twins and we had an advance celebration at home. It was a big cake and we were happy to come back to it after a vacation of plentiful eating outside. It made a delicious dinner for me last night when I barely had the zeal to put a meal together. I also had these friands in my freezer that made a happy breakfast for all of us. My regular readers would know my love for friands…the lovechild of egg whites and almond meal, both of which I am totally obsessed with. I added some more love to it in the form of orange, honey, rosemary and chia seeds. It sounds like a lot of things happening in these friands but really, you can taste each one of those flavours. They are a treat.

The rosemary leaves add a subtle depth and paired with orange and honey, they elevates the sweet citrus notes to a different level. The chia seeds were a last minute addition because I was introduced to them recently and have been looking for ways to add them to recipes. They provide a crunch to these gorgeous little afternoon tea treats. The great thing about the recipe is that it is totally flexible. Use any nut meal, substitute orange with lemon or lime, use golden syrup or maple syrup instead of honey, poppy seeds in place of chia seed. There is so much you can do to it to make it your own. As you can see, I baked the friands in my mini bundt cake pan which was almost forgotten for a year. Friands can be baked in any shape and size so you can use muffin pans, friand molds or ramekins.

Here are a few photos of the birthday cake. It was a double chocolate cake with a swiss meringue buttercream.

Orange, Honey, Rosemary and Chia Seed Friands/Financiers
Makes 10

1 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
1 1/3 cups icing sugar, sifted
3/4 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
5 eggwhites
125g butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
Finely grated Zest of 1 large orange
1 tbsp rosemary leaves (fresh or dried), finely chopped
1 tbsp chia seeds

Orange Syrup
Juice of 1 orange
1 tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 12- capacity muffin pan or mini bundt cake pan. Place the almond meal, icing sugar, flour, baking powder, eggwhites, butter, honey , orange zest, rosemary and chia seeds in a bowl and whisk until combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 20–25 minutes or until the friands are golden and cooked through. Remove from oven and release friands immediately. Drizzle with orange syrup .Cool on a wire racK.

To make the syrup : Place the orange juice and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove as soon as it comes to a boil and blends together.

Orange Almond Self Saucing Pudding

22|09|2014

The whole of last week, I thought I was craving pie. A good Aussie meat pie with chunks of meat in a rich gravy encased in buttery flaky pastry. I saw it somewhere and then somewhere else and then I craved it. Several times during the week at dinner and even breakfast I told my husband ‘I wish I was having pie, instead’. Yet when I stood in the bakery facing the most fabulous choices of pies, my eyes travelled to the cakes, muffins and tarts on the shelves next to them. ‘Carrot cake’ I told the lady at the counter , much to my husband’s surprise. In my mind, I told myself ‘Carrot cake with cream cheese icing and toasted walnuts…YUM! Sometimes for me, the line between what I think I want to eat and what I really want to it can get a little blurry. Possibly the little side-effects that come with dealing with food all the time. Possibly I am eating too much with my eyes lately.

But there are some things that I know will never fail to satisfy my innermost cravings and those that I can eat with my eyes, mouth and heart wide open. Like the curries of my childhood (heady with the smell of ginger, garlic and Garam masala), heavily buttered toast, cupcakes over muffins (any day) loaded with sprinkles, chocolate chips (instead of pepitas or cranberries) on my oatmeal, at least half a cup of parmesan cheese on my pasta and gooey warm puddings that hide sauces underneath. Agreed that I have to shed of some of (okay, a lot of) the winter weight I have gained but it’s Spring, it’s still cold and puddings are very much on.

This pudding excites me over any other pudding I have ever made because it has almond milk in it. Regular milk will work just as fine but if you have almond milk at home or planning to get some, try this pudding. It is every bit citrus-y as much as it is nutty and livened with a gorgeous sauce beneath. I was already a big fan of the orange-almond combo and could have loved the cake alone. The thick sauce is an added bonus. Comfort food at it’s best!
It is quite an easy pudding to make. The only thing you need to take care of is to not to over-cook the pudding or you will not have enough sauce left. A tad bit undercooked is better than making a cake out of the pudding. The basic pudding recipe was adapted from here. When I made it the first time, I thought it could do with more sauce which is the true essence of a self-saucing pudding. So I made some adjustments to the recipe, experimented with almond milk and it turned out the way I wanted it to be. I baked the pudding in two baking dishes as I did not have a large one. In that case, you may need to reduce the baking time by 10 minutes.

Orange Almond Self-Saucing Pudding
Serves 6

Melted butter, to grease
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup almond meal
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
3/4 cup almond milk
1 egg
50g butter, melted, cooled
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 cup castor sugar, extra
2 cups fresh orange juice
1 tbsp. Cointreau (or any other orange liqueur, optional)
Icing sugar, to dust

Preheat oven to 180 degree C (fan-forced 160 degrees C) Brush a 1.5L (6-cup) capacity oven-proof dish with melted butter. Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, almond meal and orange rind.

Whisk the almond milk, egg and butter in a jug until combined. Add to the flour mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir until smooth and combined. Pour into the prepared dish. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface.

Combine cornflour and extra sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle over the pudding mixture. Place orange juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to the boil. Remove from heat and add the Cointreau (if using). Gradually pour over the back of a spoon onto the mixture.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a cake-like top forms and a skewer inserted halfway into the centre of the pudding comes out clean.

Set aside for 5 minutes to stand. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot with custard or vanilla ice cream.

Orange+Almond+Oats+Coconut (Anzac) Biscuits

30|04|2014

A few days ago, I was reading an article in Good Housekeeping (via the Kitchn) about ’10 foods that make you sleepy and 10 that keep you up’. Since I frequently deal with sleep problems, I thought it was quite appropriate for me. Incidentally, a batch of these were baking in the oven as I was reading through. Topping the list of things that help one sleep better were oats and almonds, both of which were present in these biscuits. I almost found myself wishing that all that was written in the article were true and I could eat biscuits and go to bed. How does that sound?

To be honest, these have nothing to do with sleep. Partly true. That is if you are not dreaming of them. They are deliciously addictive biscuits with a gorgeous caramel like flavour, accompanied by a slight chew from the coconut, a nutty bite from the almonds and a mild flavour and fragrance from the orange. Too many good things happening there.

We enjoyed two long weekends this month..first Easter and then Anzac Day. And that is precisely why I made these in the first place. These are perhaps biscuits that are held in the highest regard in Australia. I made 3 different versions of the traditional Anzac biscuits and we ate them all though the weekend.

Did I sleep better?
I did. Whether it has any connection with the ingredients at all or not, I had plenty of activity, winter shopping, cooking and eating to get my mind tired.

Orange Almond Anzac Biscuits (adapted with variation from Taste.com)
Makes 20 biscuits

1 cup plain flour
1 cup whole rolled oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup almond slivers
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (I used a Navel Orange)
125g butter (use Earth Balance for lactose free)
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Combine the flour, oats, coconut, almonds, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl. Stir the butter, golden syrup and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth.

Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Add to the oat mixture and stir until well combined.

Roll level tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place, about 5cm apart, on the lined trays. (If you find the mixture too crumbly to roll, place the mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes.) Flatten until about 1cm thick. Bake, swapping trays to upper and lower oven shelves halfway through cooking, for 18 minutes or until light golden.

Set aside for 10 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.