poppy seed Archives - Sugar et al

Honey and Poppy Seed cake

1|05|2017

Layers of Honey and Poppy seed cake with Rosewater Swiss Meringue Frosting, sprinkled with finely chopped pistachios and dried edible rose petals.

Mother’s day is around the corner and my excitement goes up by several notches at the thought of all the pink and floral creations that I will find an excuse to make. If only I could have them delivered to my own Mummy who lives in an entirely different continent. My children come up with all kinds of cute surprises with the help of their of school. Daddy of course plays a big role in all the hush hush exchanges that go on between them in that week and a customary ‘breakfast in bed’. You know, I am not at all a breakfast in bed kinda person. Yikes! I need to brush my teeth and sit down to a proper breakfast which I’ve already communicated to them in so many ways.Hopefully someone will get the message:-)

Coming to this cake, I had intended to post the recipe during Valentine’s Day but later on felt that it might be more suited to a Mother’s Day kind of occasion. Something light, aromatic, delicate and very delicious. The rosewater-pistachio-honey combination are a bomb together. Poppy seeds add an extra bit of crunch. If you are not comfortable with piping, feel free to spread the frosting between the layers.

In other news, my Collection with VIDA is up and ready. If you remember I had mentioned to you that I would be designing fashion products for this company using my own art. They are based in USA and have an amazing team of experts bringing these designs to life. I can’t even explain my excitement to you when I received my shipment. Being able to wear my work in the form of a scarf is something I had never imagined. You can check them out here. https://www.shopvida.com/collections/sonali-ghosh. It is quite basic at the moment and I will be updating more food-related designs as I go. They ship globally too which is really a great thing.

Have a great week, all of you. I have quite a few Mother’s Day recipes coming up.

Honey And Poppy Seed Cake
Makes a 3 layered 6 inch round cake

260 g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup castor sugar
125 g clear honey
4 large eggs
12/3 cups self raising flour
31/2 tbsp corn flour
3 tbsp poppy seeds
Finely chopped pistachios, to decorate
edible rose petals (slightly crushed), to decorate

Rosewater Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
1 tbsp rosewater

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (140 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease the sides and bases of 3, 6 inch pans and line with baking paper.

Beat butter, sugar and honey with a hand mixer (or an electric mixer) until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl mix together the self-raising flour, corn flour and poppy seeds. Add the dry mixture to the honey mixture and fold in gently.

Divide the batter uniformly between the 3 cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until surface is firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the middle of each layer comes out clean and dry. Remove from oven. Leave aside for 10 minutes to cool in the pans, then carefully remove, easing the sides with a palette knife. Turn cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Rosewater Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Place the egg whites and sugar in a large bowl that is placed over a saucepan of simmering water (over low heat), and whisk continuously, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the bottom of the bowl is warm to touch

Remove the bowl from the heat and whip on high speed until meringue holds stiff peaks and looks glossy. The bowl should have completely cooled by now.
Add the butter, 2 tablespoon at a time, until thick and fluffy. If it begins to look curdled, continue to whip until it comes back together, before adding in remaining butter.
When the buttercream is smooth and has come together, add the rosewater and whip gently again to blend.

To assemble: On a cake plate or stand, spread a little buttercream in the centre and place one layer of the cake (so that the cake does not move about while frosting). Using a start nozzle tip and a piping bag, pipe frosting to cover the entire layer. Sprinkle with pistachios and dried rose petals. Place the second layer. Repeat till you reach the final layer. Decorate with fresh roses. Ensure that the roses are free of pesticides or as a precaution vover the stems with baking paper (so they don’t come in contact with the buttercream).

Rosewater And Poppy Seed Cake

2|05|2016

You guys! I never thought you would love my experiments so much. When I make something I picture how much me, my family and friends would love to eat it. There are no other benchmarks for me. I barely look at trends, I don’t care a hoot for what my traffic stats should look like or what makes a post do well. I read about these things everywhere but honestly, I don’t understand much. It’s just me and my craft. And on the other side it is you, my dear readers. I like to do things that make you happy or things that will enable you to make someone else happy. So many of you have asked for the recipe of this rosewater and poppy seed cake. It came as a surprise to me. So I’ll keep it short and sweet and jump straight to the cake.

The cake has a great texture just as you would expect from a poppy seed cake. The rosewater is what you taste. I’ve used a little syrup to moisten the cake and make the cake more fragrant.In between the layers and outside is a lemon infused buttercream. Lastly, on the top is a white chocolate ganache in that shocking pink colour. So much happening in the cake but it tastes beautiful.

It’s meant to be a Mother’s day cake so please go ahead and decorate it with the prettiest roses you can find. Try and use flowers that have not been sprayed with insecticides or fungicides. If you can’t find any, make sure to read this post on decorating with flowers.

Rosewater And Poppy Seed Cake
Makes a 3-layered 6 inch round cake

4 tbsp poppy seed
200 g unsalted butter, melted, plus a little extra for greasing
225 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs, at room temperature
225 g castor sugar
1 tbsp rosewater

For the rosewater syrup
1/2 cup water
4 tbsp castor sugar
1 tbsp rosewater

For the Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-2 drops, pink food coloring (optional)

For the white chocolate ganache
100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped
3 tbsp heavy cream
3-4 drops pink food colour

To make the cake layers: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C ( 160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Roast the poppy seed on a pan over low heat for 2 mins. Grease and line the base of 3 round (6 inch) pans with baking paper.

Mix together the flour and baking powder, then set aside. Put the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Using electric beaters, whisk until thick, pale and foamy. Pour in the cooled butter and rosewater and briefly whisk again. Sift in the flour mix, add poppy seeds then, using a large metal spoon, carefully fold into the cake mixture until even. Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 15 mins or until golden and springy to the touch. Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack.

To make the rose syrup : Add sugar to a small saucepan. Pour in water and stir.
With the heat on medium, bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. The sugar will dissolve while the water boils.
Turn off the heat and let cool. When sugar syrup has cooled, add the rosewater.

To make the Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Place the egg whites and sugar in a large bowl that is placed over a saucepan of simmering water (over low heat), and whisk continuously, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the bottom of the bowl is warm to touch

To make the pink white chocolate ganache: Heat the white chocolate and heavy cream over low heat in a small saucepan. When cream just reaches boiling point, remove from heat and leave aside. Stir with a spoon to make a smooth mix. Add the food colour and stir to blend.

To assemble: Once the cake layers are slightly cool, brush each layer generously with rosewater syrup.
On a cake plate or stand, spread a little buttercream in the centre and place one layer of the cake (so that the cake does not move about while frosting). Spread about 1/2 a cup of lemon swiss meringue buttercream. Place the second layer. Repeat. Place the last layer upside down (so you get a flat top). Spread buttercream on the top and sides. If you want to make it look like a naked cake, a thin layer of frosting is good enough.
Stick the cake into the refrigerator for 15-20 mins.
Make the white chocolate ganache 5 minutes before you take the cake out from the fridge.Once the ganche is cool, but still flowing freely when you lift it with a spoon, spoon it onto the cake slowly. Be gentle on the edges to create the drippy effect.
Decorate with crushed meringues, silver cashous and flowers.

Banana Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

10|04|2014

If this banana cake is looking anything different to you than…well, a banana cake, let me assure you this is the same one, you and me bake in a loaf pan and slice up for breakfast or bake into muffins to put into your lunchboxes. Yeah, the same one that transforms the fate of overripe bananas and they end up with some dessert love (a lot of love in my house) than entering the dustbin.

I started out the usual, predictable way. Ignoring the bananas while they turned black and made the cupboard smell serving as a reminder each time I opened the door that it was time to use them up. I put the batter together intending to bake it in my loaf tin. But the loaf tin was nowhere in sight. And that was because it was sitting in the freezer with a semifreddo I made a few days back. I didn’t want muffins so the batter landed up in a cake pan.

You know I have a weakness for round cakey objects. I feel the urge to spice it up or add nuts or anything that would go with the cake.And frost and decorate and just do something to it. So, before it hit the cake pan I added some poppy seeds to the batter. I frosted it with a quick cream cheese frosting which I’ve been meaning to try out in a while. This one uses whipped cream instead of butter along with the cream cheese so it is lighter and naturally uses far less sugar to get a piping consistency. The frosting can be easily spread on top of the cake if you are not comfortable with piping bags. A drizzle of caramel sauce (store bought) finished the cake. Both the recipe for the cake and the frosting have been separately adapted with some variation from Joy Of Baking

The flavours are lovely together. I was amazed how good the poppy seeds tasted in a banana cake. I think this is by the far the easiest cakes I have made despite having a dressed up look.

Banana Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Serves 6-8

For the Banana Poppy Seed Cake
13/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
1 tsp vanilla essence
Cream Cheese Frosting, to frost
3-4 tbsp. thick caramel sauce, to drizzle (I used store bought)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting
125g cream cheese, room temparature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/3 cup cold whipping cream or heavy cream.

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Grease and line the base of a 19 cm round cake tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and poppy seeds.
In a medium sized bowl combine the mashed banana, eggs, melted butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon. Lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. Take care not to over mix the batter or it might result in a rubbery cake. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre come out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and keep aside for 5 minutes. Carefully turn the cake onto a wire rack and cool till room temperature. Once cooled, pipe or dollop cream cheese frosting onto the cake. Drizzle with caramel sauce.

To make the cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency. In case you are using a brand of heavy cream that does not whip easily, then whip the cream separately to stiff peaks and fold it gradually into the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate till needed.

Breakfast Poppy Seed Crepes with Strawberries and Yogurt

9|01|2014

Week 2 of our stay in the new neighbourhood has maintained that we are spoilt rotten to our very existence. The waterfront has been calling out to us ever so often that we find it hard to stay indoors. To add to that our sunny skies have been hiding behind a huge cloud cover making it the perfect weather to sit late at the roadside cafes sipping a cup of hot chocolate or sharing a gooey macadamia brownie as we watch the sun dip into the horizon typically around 8.30 pm.

Talking about brownies, did I tell you I have not made a single dessert in the New Year! Okay…just a quick something which did not qualify as a dessert in my eyes. That was the quickest Tiramisu ever that still managed a few compliments. There is barely room for error when you are dealing Savoiardi biscuits, Mascarpone and Kahlua. Don’t ask me for the recipe though. Or even if I tell you just THROW in (I love that word. In most quick recipes I come across, you THROW everything in) the components into serving glasses, don’t follow my recipe. At least don’t make them in walking shoes and most importantly don’t mix with the back of a strainer when your cutlery is yet to be retrieved from cartons. See what I mean when I say the water is calling out to me!

I’m sure we’ve all had dessert crepes. But this one has yoghurt in it. So it has earned itself a place in the healthy breakfast category. Well, this again is a very THROW-able recipe. Stir, cook, throw, repeat! What are the poppy seeds doing here? They don’t really have a major role to play other than the speckled look and a teeny-weeny crunch. I ‘threw’ them in the last-minute trying to make things a little different. There is not much to talk about the filling either…you can be as creative as you wish to be. For a healthier take, skip the preserve altogether or add a dash of honey to the yoghurt. Or you can straight away use low-fat flavoured yoghurt as a filling.

In this context, I’d love to share a story of a cookie baking session when I asked my pre-schooler to THROW ingredients together. But you would have already guessed:-)

Breakfast Poppy Seed Crepes with Strawberries and Yoghurt
Serves 6

1 cup plain flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
11/2 cups milk
11/2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
1 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp. raspberry preserves (or any preserve/jam of your choice)
Fresh strawberries or raspberries, to serve

Place flour into a bowl. Whisk milk and eggs together in a jug. Add milk mixture to flour. Add the melted butter and whisk until well combined. Fold in the poppy seeds. Let the batter for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile place the yoghurt and raspberry preserve in a mixing bowl. Gently mix the two together to create a swirl effect.

Place a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Pour 2 1/2 tablespoons batter into the pan. Swirl to cover base. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until light golden. Turn over and cook for 1 minute. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter.

Place 2 tablespoons of yoghurt mixture in the centre of a crepe. Fold into triangles to enclose the filling. Repeat with the remaining mixture and crepes. Divide among serving plates. Decorate with fresh sliced strawberries.