rosemary Archives - Sugar et al

Cinnamon Cake With Apple Rosemary Buttercream

8|04|2015

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. I don’t know where the 4 days vanished because there were too many things squeezed into one short break. On the other side of the break we are suddenly into winter like weather. Daylight savings came to an end and the weather aligned itself in perfect harmony.

It rained so much on Friday and Saturday that we almost doubted if the apple picking and picnic would go as planned. But the brilliant sunshine on Sunday not only made it a perfect day for the outing but everything looked so bright, neat and beautiful. Like a big blow dry after a rain wash. This year was more about chasing little kids (and their families) around the orchards for photographs than picking fruit, for me. The rain apparently had done a lot of damage to the orchards and there were more apples on the ground than on the trees. Like every year I did not miss the giant apple pie that is sold at the resident cafe. With full bellies we headed towards the picnic destination. The scenery changed as we drove on. The fall colors showing up at every bend on the road. Finally when it was too much to just sit back and admire from the car, we had to pull over and pose in front of the orange and red hued trees. How magical is nature! In Sydney, we don’t get to see these coloured trees within the city..maybe very few. So you really can’t blame us for jumping in excitement when we managed to spot them along the country side!

The picnic spread was huge. The appetites were bigger. Friends, conversations, a breath taking setting and you realize you are constantly eating. Among other things I took my famous orange poppy seed cake to share. Famous because somehow it always gets made for picnics and outings after I get the ‘don’t make rich cakes’ look from my husband the evening before. It is never planned but I end up taking it. It lacks my usual height and drama but is always a winner in the flavor department. Since I was also taking double chocolate cupcakes with piped roses I had to agree with hubby. Finally the day ended the way we hoped it would.

Sometime during the weekend we also went to the beaches. Despite the rain I took my favorite ferry ride which is all the more exciting when you sit outside in the deck with the rain on your face. Food as always was big on the agenda and I sampled many new dishes that I am all geared up to recreate. This place has been missing some savory action so you may see a few coming up soon.

Now for this cake. While it seems so perfect for this post, it was made much before when I wanted to just test out an apple buttercream recipe. I couldn’t find many on the Internet so I wanted to give it a shot. The cinnamon cake is simple and very tasty. As an afterthought, I would like to add chopped apples to the batter next time. The apple buttercream has a very slight taste of apples despite adding half a cup of applesauce. The rosemary flavor is more prominent. I did not have a ruffle cake on the blog so I turned this into one. The ruffles are far from perfect but I love the overall moreish look of the cake.

Cinnamon Cake With Apple Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Serves 8-10

175 g butter, softened
1 3/4 cups caster sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups plain flour, sifted
3/4 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sifted
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
Apple Roserary Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe below)
Apple chips (store bought) to decorate
Rosemary sprigs, to decorate

Apple Rosemary Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C fan-forced) Grease two 19 cm round cake pan. Line bases with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and orange rind together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until just combined. Stir in flours, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and milk. Divide mixture equally among prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre of cake comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Once cooled completely, frost the cake. Place one layer on a cake stand or plate. Spread about half cup of frosting (recipe below). Place the second layer and repeat. Frost the sides of the cake. To make the ruffles, crumb coat the cake first and place in the fridge for 4 hours. Using a leaf nozzle, make ruffles in your desired size.

To Make the Apple Rosemary 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 has come together, add the apple sauce and chopped rosemary and mix till smooth and well blended.

Rhubarb Cake With Pomegranate And Rosemary Buttercream

4|03|2015

Speaking of rhubarb, I think we people broadly fall into two groups. The ones who love rhubarb and the ones who are unfamiliar with rhubarb. I belonged to the second category until a couple of years ago but now I am very much in the first one. I love Rhubarb! I am always drawn to it’s beautiful colour…specifically the pink stains it leaves on baked goods and of course it’s juicy, tart flavor. When balanced out with right amount of sweetness in a recipe, it can do wonders to the dish. Fortunately, I have had success every time I’ve cooked/baked with it so I was able to dream up a three layered rhubarb cake.

The rhubarb cake by itself is not too sweet so it makes a great pairing with buttercream. The rosemary snugly fits into the recipe lending a subtle earthy touch which is quite refreshing. When I went to my favourite fruit market looking for inspiration, I was torn between rhubarb and pomegranate. I wanted to bake cakes with both. Fresh produce markets always seem to have that effect on me. Then instead I combined the two. If you like both Rhubarb and Pomegranate, this cake is recommended. If you are a fan of one of them, then this is a must-try because you never know, you may fall in love with the other one as well. It might seem like an unusual combination but trust me, they pair well here. Colour, texture and taste!

The rhubarb cake is dense (but not heavy) like a typical sour cream cake. You will surely taste the rhubarb and the rosemary but the pomegranate flavour is not too strong. The fresh pomegranate on top does give the cake a nice crunchy bite whilst making it look like a pomegranate cake. Frost the cake the way you like. The frosting is again a Swiss meringue buttercream which is what I generally use for my cakes…light, fluffy and not overly sweet.

I’ve had a really busy week and have barely been able to keep up to my posting frequency. I hope this cake makes up for my absence:-)
So tell me dear friends, do you fall into one of those groups? Do you think there could be a third group..not liking rhubarb?

Rhubarb Cake With Pomegranate And Rosemary Buttercream
Serves 10-12

Three-Layered Rhubarb Cake
90 g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
11/2 cups self-raising flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
450 g sour cream
400 g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2 cm lengths

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Lightly grease 3, 19 cm round pans and line the bases with baking paper.

Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in sifted dry ingredients and cream in two batches. Fold in rhubarb. Divide mixture among prepared pans.

Bake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cakes come out clean. Remove cakes from pans after 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.

Pomegranate And Rosemary Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1/4 cup fresh pomegranate juice (made by running the seeds through a food processor and straining)
1 sprig rosemary
4 egg whites
1 cup castor sugar
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2 drops, pink food coloring (optional)

Over medium heat in a saucepan, simmer the pomegranate juice along with the sprig of rosemary until it is thick and reduced to approx 2 tablespoons. Remove the rosemary sprig and keep the juice aside to cool down completely.

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

When the buttercream has come together, add the reduced pomegranate-rosemary juice and mix in till smooth and well blended. Add the pink food coloring (if using) and mix till you get the desired shade.

To assemble : Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or plate. With a large round nozzle, pipe buttercream kisses all over the cake. Place the second layer and repeat. Repeat with the third layer leaving room in the centre to place fresh pomegranate seeds. Decorate with fresh sprigs of rosemary.

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.

Easy and Healthy Pumpkin and Rosemary Bread

3|11|2013

We were so busy with our Diwali celebrations this weekend that despite visits to the bakery and supermarket, we forgot to stock up on a few of our essentials. One of them was bread. That was just the perfect excuse I needed to make this pumpkin bread.

The pumpkin puree was ready sitting in my refrigerator thanks to all the work I did the last week. So all that was required of me was to throw in the ingredients into a mixing bowl, mix and bake. The smell of rosemary wafted in the air as the baking progressed reminding me of the winter that was. Before the children woke up and I could put together the rest of breakfast, the bread was ready! Yes, a great looking and smelling, delicious, healthy loaf of bread.

The best thing about this bread is that there is no waiting…proofing etc. No added fat..no eggs either…and a handful of ingredients. Who doesn’t like a simple, one bowl recipe!. If you have been visiting this space regularly, you would know that I seldom replicate a recipe. I would always add my own personal touches and little twists to make it my own. But this time I haven’t changed a thing except reducing the quantity of salt. The original recipe is just perfect the way it is with a mellow pumpkin flavour in the bread, saltiness from the parmesan, earthy notes of rosemary and the crunchiness from the pumpkin seeds.

Though we tried the bread with various dips and spreads, I thought the best accompaniment was pesto.

Pumpkin and Rosemary Bread
Adapted from Taste.com

500g butternut pumpkin, peeled, chopped OR 11/3 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
2 cups self-raising flour
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup polenta
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Pesto, to serve

Cook pumpkin in a saucepan of boiling water for 10 to 12 minutes or until tender. Drain. Return to pan. Mash until smooth. Cool. Ignore this step if using ready pumpkin puree.

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 6cm-deep, 9cm x 19cm loaf pan. Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in rosemary, polenta, parmesan and salt. Make a well in centre. Add pumpkin and milk. Stir until just combined. Spoon into prepared pan. Top with pepitas.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown and hollow when tapped on top. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve with Pesto.