Nutella Whoopie Pies

To celebrate the return of Masterchef (which was about a month ago, so yes, I'm running well behind), my fellow devotees and I gathered for a ritualistic eating and watching session. Two years of this has taught us that we're addicts, and there's no point pretending otherwise.

(Have you noticed, by the by, how successfully Channel 10 has trained us in the binge-diet reality television cycle? A season of Masterchef follows The Biggest Loser, which in its turn followed Masterchef, which was preceded by The Biggest Loser, ad infinitum...)

My contribution was nutella whoopie pies. The whoopie pie seems to be a concept native to America. I know I'd never eaten one before making this recipe. They're much more cakelike than cookie, despite appearances, and they turned out much larger than I expected - just about the same size as a cupcake or a mid-ish muffin.



Nutella Whoopie Pies

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup of Nutella
2/3 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla essence (or hazelnut liqueur)
1/2 teapsoon salt

Preheat oven to 180 C.

In a large bowl, beat the nutella, butter, and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add cocoa, egg, salt, buttermilk, and essence/liqueur and mix well.

Add baking soda and flour. Mix well

Line baking sheets with paper and place 1.5 tablespoons of dough in rounds.

Bake for approximately 10-13 minutes, until cookies are set and the top appears slightly dry. Remove from oven and let cool completely.


Frosting: as it turns out, I used about half of the frosting, so you may want to reduce the quantities listed here.

2/3 cup Nutella
225 g cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon coffee-infused vodka (or hazelnut liqueur or espresso coffee)
3 cups icing sugar

With a mixer, whip cream cheese, vodka, nutella, and whipping cream.

Slowly add sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes. Adjust consistency by adding up more powdered sugar, or more whipping cream.

When cookies have cooled, place up to 1 tablespoon frosting on the bottom of one cookie, and gently press another cookie on top of the frosting, creating a sandwich.


From Twisted Kitchen

Long weekend fooding

No better way to celebrate a 5-day long weekend then a barbecue, right? Even if it was pouring outside. I made a cake and some appetisers. Others supplied delicious salad, sausages, chicken wings, bread, cookies and more cake. It was delicious.



Figs with goats cheese and proscuitto
12 ripe figs
6 slices of proscuitto, each sliced in half lengthways
120g goats cheese (or more to taste)
Rosemary sprigs to season
Olive oil
Honey

Cut the figs in quarters but only halfway down, so the segments don't separate.

Spoon in 2-3 teaspoons of cheese in the centre of each.

Wrap each fig in proscuitto and use a toothpick to secure.

Drizzle in oil and season with salt and pepper. Top with a sprig of rosemary.

Bake or grill until the cheese is soft or until it smells tasty.

Remove the rosemary sprigs, drizzle with a little honey, remove toothpicks and serve.



My cake to right. At left is a glimpse of an extremely delicious lime meringue tart.

Apple and olive oil cake with maple icing
Cake
80g sultanas
4 tbsp water
280g plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
120ml olive oil
160g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla pod
2 freerange eggs, lightly beaten
3 cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut in 1cm dice (Pink Lady, Jonathan or Granny Smith will do - Bramley was the suggested variety, but I don't think we have these in Australia)
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 freerange egg whites

Icing
100g unsalted butter at room temperature
100g light muscavado sugar (I subbed in brown sugar)
85ml maple syrup
220g cream cheese at room temperature

Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line with baking paper.

Place sultanas and water in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat until the water has been absorbed. Leave to cool.

Preheat oven to 170C. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and set aside.

Put oil and sugar into a large bowl. Slit the vanilla pod lengthways in half and, using a sharp knife, scrape the seeds into the bowl. Beat together using a whisk, then gradually add the eggs until smooth and thick.

Mix in the diced apples, sultanas and lemon zest. Then lightly fold in the dry ingredients.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl or in a stand mixer until at a soft meringue consistency. Fold into the batter, trying to lose as little air as possible.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The book suggested 90 minutes but mine took closer to 75 minutes so do watch out. The baked cake was golden brown on all surfaces.

Remove from oven and leave to cool in the tin. Once the cake is completely cold, remove it from the tin and slice horizontally with a serrated knife so you get two discs of roughly the same size. If it's very domed you may also want to slice some off the top.

For the icing, beat together the butter, sugar and maple syrup until light and airy; I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Then add the cream cheese, beating until smooth.

Using a palette knife or in my case a silicone spatula and a knife, spread a 0.5-1cm layer of icing over the bottom half of the cake. Carefully place the top half on top of that and then put the rest of the icing on top. Ottolenghi suggests using the palette knife to create waves or other patterns - for my own part, I was just glad to get it looking reasonably smooth and tidy!

From 'Ottolenghi: The Cookbook' by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake and Smoked Salmon Frittata

Having previously made Orange Chiffon Cake and Pandan Chiffon Cake, I turned my sights to Earl Grey Chiffon Cake, as inspired by the chiffon cakes at Azuma Patisserie.

Azuma's chiffon cakes are perfection - soooooo high and light and perfectly formed! My attempt was a little misshapen, not nearly as tall, and stuck to the sides of the tin. /o\ Nevermind. Everyone ate up their slices. The Serendipity icecream on the side probably helped though!

This is a slightly different recipe to the one I used previously, and it resulted in a much higher cake.


Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

3 tbsp high quality loose leaf Earl Gray tea. Tea bags will not work since the tea leaves have to be large and not ground up.

Dry ingredients:
256g self-raising flour
285g granulated/caster sugar (on 2nd attempt I reduced this to 180g and it was fine)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt

Wet ingredients:
5 large egg yolks
1 cup freshly brewed and cooled earl gray tea (on 2nd attempt I added 2 cups and it was better!)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

Egg whites:
8 large egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
57g granulated sugar

At least 2 hours before making the batter, brew the tea using 3 Tbsp tea leaves and 1.5-2 cups boiling water.

Let the tea sit for at least 15 minutes (up to 2 hours for darker color) before straining out the leaves. Reserve the tea and the leaves separately.

Separate 8 eggs (you need 5 yolks and 8 whites).

Preheat the oven to 165C (325 F).

Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) into a large bowl.

In another bowl, beat the wet ingredients (yolks, tea, oil, vanilla) until smooth.

Gently stir the wet ingredients into dry ingredients along with 3 tablespoons of of very well drained tea leaves. Stir until the flour streaks disappear and most of the flour lumps are gone.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed; a beater or stand mixer is best. When frothy, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat to stiff peaks.

Gently fold egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, a third or quarter at a time.

Pour into an angel cake tin or tube tin, and bake for about 60 minutes.

Cool upside-down for 90 minutes. If the cake's come up over the edge of the tin, prop the tin on the neck of a wine bottle or similar so the cake isn't crushed.

When cool, remove from the tin, still upside-down, and serve.

From Beyond Salmon.


Mine wasn't too pretty, as I said - oh well! Here's some massacred remains. You can see some unevenness in the colouring, which means I should probably have folded it a little more carefully:



Usually I'm quite good at separating eggs but this time I was rubbish at it. I must've cracked three yolks in the course of making the chiffon cake! To use up all the leftover eggs, I decided to make a frittata for dinner. The original recipe doesn't include potatoes so feel free to omit them.


Smoked Salmon, Caper and Dill Frittata

5-6 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
200g potatoes, sliced thinly (I used desiree potatoes)
100g red onion, sliced thinly
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp drained baby capers, rinsed
200g sliced smoked salmon


Pre-heat oven to 175 C. Oil a 20cm square cake tin, casserole dish or similar, and line with baking paper.

Pan-fry potatoes in olive oil until just cooked; drain on kitchen paper.

Whisk eggs, cream and rind in medium bowl.

Combine onion, dill and capers in small bowl.

Spread a third of the onion mixture in the pan, top with half the salmon, then half the potatoes. Pour half of the egg mixture on top.

Then layer again with a third of the onions, the remaining salmon and potatoes, then the remaining onions. Pour the remaining egg mixture on top.

Bake uncovered for 30-50 minutes (mine took about 50 minutes, perhaps the moisture in the pototoes?) or until frittata is set. Stand five minutes before cutting.

Frittata can be served hot or cold. I served this for dinner hot, with a side of green salad, and saved the rest for later.

Adapted from Women's Weekly: The New Classics

Honey poppy seed cakes with orange icing

Seems like all I've been doing this past weekend has been eating and shopping - wait, that sounds like every weekend. Some new places I tried on Saturday:

First I had a delicious brunch at Bruschetteria 102 at 102 Albion St, Surry Hills. Their Nutella coffee is divine and the atmosphere was really chilled and friendly; everything was cute as a button down to the individualised coffee cups and colourful placemats.



Then it was off to the Saturday markets in Glebe. But first, a stop at La Banette Patisserie (18 Glebe Point Road). Everything in their windows looked so pretty - tarts, millefeuilles, sourdough, eclairs, meringues, oh, there was so much of everything. No photos of their wares, sadly.

For dinner I went to Chef's Gallery (Regent Place, Bathurst St, Sydney). It's the latest Taiwanese-style dumpling and noodle house, quite similar to Din Tai Fung with the same open windows into the kitchen (hence the name) and quick, efficient service. At the moment it's very busy, there's always a queue to get in and many of the signature dishes seem to sell out early - but even so, it's worth a visit. I've already been twice in the past week!



While the handmade noodles are fine, and fun to watch being prepared in the front window, I'd recommend sticking to the array of dumplings, pork belly rolls, barbecue pork ribs, tofu, and pancakes with pork floss. And definitely leave room for the adorable desserts.



Finally this evening I came home and cooked a meal for the first time in days - Thai egg nets, mmm. And then my housemates roasted two whole fish with vegetables. And then we shared it all over wine. And then for dessert we had muffins. And then I was very very full. THE END.




Honey poppy seed cakes with orange icing

Cakes:
184g unsalted butter, softened
146g caster sugar
3 tablespoons honey
2 eggs
225g all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons poppy seeds

Icing:
210g icing sugar, sifted (uh, I used something closer to 80g, and it was just enough; about 100g should do it)
zest of 1 orange
1-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and butter twelve cup capacity muffin pan.

Place butter, sugar and honey in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Fold through the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds.

Spoon the mixture into prepared pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in pans on a wire rack then carefully unmold.

Make the icing: place the icing sugar in a medium bowl and mix in the zest. Gradually add the juice, mixing, until desired consistency. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cakes.

Makes 12 cakes.


From Technicolor Kitchen - whose recipes, I realise, I've been cribbing from a LOT lately. I really do read a lot more blogs than just TK, I promise! /o\ Okay, next time I will definitely look further afield.

Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake

Last night, like so many thousands of people around the nation, a group of us gathered to warm our hands at the digital fireplace and share a moment in history. In short, MASTERCHEF FINALE ZOMG YAY FOR ADAM.

To mark the occasion, I made an orange chiffon cake from a recipe by last year's runner-up and my current favourite tv cook, Poh Ling Yeow. While in her version she finishes it with cream and whatnot, I kept it simple - chiffon cakes are really just perfect on their own.

For more chiffon cake goodness, try Azuma Patisserie in Sydney CBD which has a constant array of the most gorgeous, pillowy cakes in flavours including earl grey, green tea, and chocolate. Their cakes are of a massive height too, at least twice as tall as the one I achieved!





Orange Chiffon Cake

Poh's recipe very specifically states that you need to use a NON non-stick tin, so that when you invert the cake after baking the cake will hold its shape until it's cool. I found it impossible to locate a sticky tin easily, so I just went ahead and used a non-stick tin anyway, and guess what, it stuck perfectly! In fact it stuck so well that I lost some of the top when I was decanting it. Oops.


5 egg whites (at room temperature is best)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
75g caster sugar
5 egg yolks
7 tbs coconut milk
5 tbs vegetable oil
75g caster sugar
5 tbs orange juice
1 tbs orange zest
150g self raising flour, sifted


Preheat oven at 160°C fan forced/180°C regular.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer till soft peaks. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time a beat thoroughly after each addition till you achieve stiff peaks. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with caster sugar till fluffy. Add coconut milk, vegetable oil, orange juice, zest and self raising flour and whisk until combined. Gently fold the egg whites together with the yolk mixture in three batches.

Pour into a 22cm baba cake tin or angel cake tin. I used an angel cake tin with a removable base. Do not grease the tin.

Bake 25 mins at 160°C fan forced or 30 mins at 180°C, or till skewer comes out clean. Leave oven on to roast hazelnuts.

When the cake is out of the oven, immediately invert the cake still in the tin. Place on a cooling rack and leave to cool completely (about 2 hours).


From Poh's Kitchen

Zuger Kirschtorte

After last week's Crack Pie extravanganza, I found myself with eight egg whites to dispose of. What to do, what to do? Pavlova, meringues, macarons?

A Swiss friend from work suggested this classic Swiss torte - it's basically a genoise sponge, sandwiched between two meringues and flavoured with kirsch (cherry liqueur).

I've known for a long time that presentation is my weak flank but it's particularly obvious when the original looks as gorgeous as it does. I tried! I really tried! But it wasn't to be. I NEED TO WORK ON THIS.

Otherwise, I think it was a success. It's a reasonably light cake, with just enough sweetness in the cream and flavour from the kirsch. The texture of the meringues was great, quite soft and chewy - it reminded me very much of the base of a particular variety of chocolate cream and sponge cake you can get in Chinatown bakeries. And that was a long sentence leading nowhere in particular.

We ate this while watching Master Chef - Iron Chef Sakai was guest judge! - and drinking tea. Nice.




Zuger Kirschtorte

This cake will require a long run-up time because of the meringues - you need to allow at least 4 hours for them to cool in your oven, and during this time of course you can't really start on the genoise sponge cake. I ended up making this over two days: I baked the meringues and genoise cake on day 1, sealed them in an airtight container overnight, then did the cream, syrup, and assembly on day 2.


ALMOND MERINGUE
4 egg whites
120g confectioners' sugar
20g corn starch
100g almond meal/ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/320ºF. Draw two 25cm (10in) circles in a large piece of parchment/baking paper, on a baking sheet. Generously butter the insides of each circle.

Sift the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl, add the corn starch and almond meal; set aside.

Beat the egg whites until stiff; remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, delicately fold the reserved ingredients into the egg whites.

Spread the mixture inside the circles, leaving 0.5cm of the edges free of meringue – it will spread.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the meringue is golden. Turn off the oven and allow meringue to cool inside, for at least 4 hours (can be made overnight).


GENOISE
3 eggs, egg whites and yolks separated
3 tablespoons hot water
80g confectioners' sugar, sifted
10g caster sugar
50g all purpose flour
50g corn starch
pinch of baking powder


Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF; butter a 25cm (10in) springform round cake pan (I used one with a removable bottom), line the bottom with baking paper and butter the paper as well.

Using a mixer, beat the egg yolks with the water until thick and light. Add the confectioners’ sugar gradually and beat well. Set aside. (I beat the yolks by hand, due to a shortage of bowls/equipment, and saved the stand mixer for the egg whites which are so much harder to beat.)

Beat the egg whites until stiff; add the caster sugar and beat well. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the yolk cream to the egg whites. Sift the flour, corn starch and baking powder over the mixture and fold in carefully with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through – the cake will pull apart from the sides of the pan when baked. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.


BUTTERCREAM
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
150g confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk
50g currant jam – I used black cherry jam which gave the cream quite a rich colour

Beat the butter until light and creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar gradually, beating well. Add the egg yolk and jam, beat well until smooth.


SYRUP
4 tablespoons water
20g caster sugar
120ml kirsch - this can be hard to obtain, you may have to look around at a few liquor stores. It's also VERY strong, so I ended up halving this part of the recipe.

In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar over medium-high heat until it starts boiling. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Add the kirsch and mix well. Set aside.


TOPPING
100g almonds, toasted and chopped
70g confectioners' sugar


ASSEMBLY

Very carefully, peel the meringue disks off the baking paper and place one of them on a serving plate. Spread 1/3 of the buttercream over the meringue. Place the cake on top of it and brush it generously with the syrup. (As above - I didn't use all the syrup because kirsch is so strong in taste.)

Carefully spread 1/3 of the buttercream over the cake. Cover with the other meringue disk. (As I found it hard to spread the cream without damaging the cake, I spread the cream on the bottom of the top meringue disk and then put that on top.)

Spread the remaining buttercream on the sides of the cake and "stick" the chopped almonds on the cream. (This is hard! VERY VERY HARD. I have no advice except perhaps don't chop the almonds too finely.)

Using a sieve, sprinkle the top of the cake with the confectioners' sugar. Draw a criss-cross pattern on the sugar using the back of a knife.

Keep it refrigerated, but serve it at room temperature – the cake gets hard in the fridge.


From Technicolor Kitchen

Apple and Pecan Cake

I made this cake using my NEW STAND MIXER. :DDD

It's a birthday gift from my awesome friends and I can't waaaait to take the dough hook on a test run. I hope this will result in bread for all! Loaves in your face!

It was so fun using this for the first time and this was a good recipe to try it out on. Creaming the butter and sugar was a cinch, and this stiff batter would have been a pain to mix by hand.

In short, I approve.



Apple pecan coffee cake with cinnamon sugar topping

Like Technicolor Kitchen before me, I halved the ingredients and baked the cake in a 20cm tin with a removable base. Overall it came out a bit heavier than I expected, and I think I overdid the brown sugar.

Pecans:
1 cup (110g) pecans, coarsely chopped
2 ½ tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, slightly softened

Cake:
3 ½ cups peeled, cored and diced (1/3in) apples
1/3 cup (58g) packed light brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups (420g) all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
generous ½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (174g) plain yogurt
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and prepare a baking tin.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a medium bowl, stir together the pecans, brown sugar, corn syrup and butter until the pecans are coated. Spread the pecan mixture on the foil liked sheet and toast, stirring occasionally, for 9 to 14 minutes or until nicely browned. Let cool completely then chop into ¼ in bits – the pecans will keep, stored airtight, at room temperature for several days.

In a large bowl thoroughly stir together the apples, brown sugar and cinnamon. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and granulated sugar until lightened and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes.

On low speed, beat in half the dry ingredients just until thoroughly incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the yogurt and vanilla, beating just until evenly incorporated. Beating on low, add the remaining dry ingredients, then beat in medium speed until evenly blended – batter will be stiff.

Spoon half the batter into the pan, spreading it evenly to the edges with a buttered palette knife, the layer will be thin. Using a slotted spoon and shaking off any excess juice, distribute the apple mixture over the batter. Sprinkle with the pecans then spoon the remaining batter over the apples and pecans, spreading it to the edges – the batter will seem skimpy. Mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle over the cake.

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the top is well browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely.

The cake will keep, stored airtight in a cool place, for up to 2 days, or refrigerated for 2-3 days or longer – let it come to room temperature before serving.


From Technicolor Kitchen

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cake

More gluten-free! Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by my two-cake foray into gluten-free baking. The sad faces of my coeliac acquaintances as they ate their store-bought riceflour muffins had convinced me that gluten-free = not tasty. This is completely untrue.

This cake is awesome - the dark chocolate and the coconut go so well together. Like the carrot cake from the previous post, this too was deliciously moist and tasty.

Ideally, this is how you should eat it:

Start with a leisurely breakfast at Bangbang and then wander through Surry Hills markets. Walking at a gentle pace, swing by Frames for some takeaway coffees (their coffee is so underrated! they are much better than the more-hyped Sideplate) and then go back to your house. Have a slice in the kitchen while chatting to Jess and Tina.

Easy, right?

No photos this time because a) I'm lazy and b) it looks like a brown cake.


Coconut Chocolate Chip Cake

3 large free-range organic eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup coconut milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups organic light brown sugar
2 cups gluten free flour
A pinch of baking powder
1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup dark chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a 9-inch cake pan.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs till pale yellow. Add in the oil and beat to combine. Add the coconut milk and flavor extracts. Beat in the sugar till smooth. Add the flour mix a little at a time and beat until the batter is smooth.

Stir in the coconut and chocolate chips by hand.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the center of a pre-heated oven, until the cake is set in the center. The cake should spring back to light touch.

The recipe suggested 30 to 35 minutes. Mine took closer to 45 minutes, but I have a temperamental oven so use your own judgement. The end result was evenly brown on top.

Cool the cake on a wire rack. Delicious slightly warm, almost as good the next day too.


Adapted from Gluten Free Goddess


*

Elsewhere:

Chengy baked an amazing Croquembouche for May's Daring Baker Challenge. It was impressive AND delicious! P.S. Those are my fingers in the photo.

Judith has a brilliant review post on 'Howl' and 'Exit Through The Gift Shop', both screening at the Sydney Film Festival. I think she's pretty much spot on - though my immediate reaction to Exit was less thoughtful and more of a straight-up "I HATE THIS STUPID MOVIE AND BANKSY'S STUPID FACE."

And Robbie has another ridiculous blog. OK I admit it - I lol'd.

Carrot cake with coconut and pecans

I haven't baked gluten-free before and was dreading the process of mixing my own gluten-free flour mix.

"Xantham gum?!" I cried to myself, tearing at my hair. "I have never even seen such a thing in the stores (though admittedly I have never looked)! And in Australia we do not have this quote unquote Pamela's Ultimate Baking Mix thing that all these American recipes talk about. I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE THIS CAKE AND THE EVENING WILL BE RUINED."

"Oh for the love of-!" said a colleague exasperatedly. "There's pre-mixed gluten-free flour in the supermarket. It's in the health food aisle."

And she was right.





Carrot Cake

1/2 cup light vegetable oil
1 cup organic light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup plain yogurt (or coconut yogurt)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey (or agave)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mix of nutmeg, clove and allspice
2 cups gluten-free baking flour mix (I bought a White Wings pre-mix)
Pinch of baking powder
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (I used 2 large carrots)
1/2 cup golden raisins or currants
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease a 9-inch springform cake pan.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, add the oil and beat, then add the brown sugar and beat until smooth.

Beat in the yogurt, vanilla, honey, cinnamon and spice.

Add baking flour mix and beat until combined.

Add coconut, carrots, raisins and nuts. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.

Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan and place the pan in the center of a preheated oven.

Bake until the cake is firm, and a wooden pick inserted into the center emerges clean. Mine took about 1 hour but it could take less - the original recipe suggested 45 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack before frosting with cream cheese icing. Sprinkle with coconut, if desired. (I didn't.)


Cream Cheese Icing

120g softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste
1-2 cups icing sugar
A squeeze or two lemon (or other citrus) to taste

In a mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla.

Add in the sugar, 1 cup at a time. The original recipe calls for 3 cups (!) but I found 1 to 1.5 cups more than sufficient. Also, I cheated, because I ran out of icing sugar, and supplemented it with caster sugar. Ha.

Squeeze a little lemon or other citrus juice into the frosting and beat till smooth. Add more sugar, if needed, to thicken, or add more juice to thin.


Adapted from Gluten Free Goddess


*

Oh hey. My Coconut Bread recipe was transformed by Bryn into a most awesome comic strip for the latest issue of Beef Knuckles. There is even a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reference! :DDDD So you should totally pick up a copy if you get a chance. Also because the zine is actually good.

Coconut Bread

This made the whole house smell heavenly as it was baking and was a hit with the housemates. However, it crumbled a bit too much when sliced, so next time I might try less coconut, or more flour.





2 large eggs
300 ml (1 1⁄4 cups) milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/2 cups flour, more for dusting pan (I used wholemeal flour)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup castor (superfine) sugar
150g (1 1⁄2 cups) shredded coconut
75g (2 1⁄2 oz) butter, melted


Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

In a small bowl, lightly whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add sugar and coconut, and stir to mix.

Make a well in the center, and pour in egg mixture. Gradually mix with dry ingredients, until just combined.

Add melted butter, and stir until smooth. Do not overmix.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 8 1/2-by-4-inch loaf pan. Bake for about 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Leave to cool in pan for 5 minutes, remove bread from pan, and finish cooling on a rack.


Adapted from Bill Granger's Simply Bill, via bakebakebake

Spiced Apple Cake

This was an easy cake that goes very well with tea or coffee. I baked it for 80-90 minutes but it was still very soft in the centre. It could probably have stood another 10 minutes of baking.



3 medium apples
1 (8oz/250g) cup granulated sugar
1/2 (4oz/125g) cup buttter, melted
1 egg
1 1/4 (6 1/2oz/200g) cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 (3oz/90g) golden raisins
2 tbsp granulated sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon
Powdered sugar for dusting


Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C). Butter an 8-inch (20-cm) round cake pan. Core and thinly slice apples, leaving skin intact.

Whisk granulated sugar, butter, and egg together in a bowl. Stir in two-thirds of the apple slices.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg together. Add to egg mixture along with raisins, stirring until just blended.

Pour into prepared pan and smooth top. Arrange remaining apple slices in a pattern on top, pressing them gently into batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake until golden and springy to touch, 50 to 90 minutes depending on your oven.

Let cake stand in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Dust with powdered sugar and cut into wedges and serve.

Note: You can use any type of apples in season. The cake will taste slightly different each time but is always moist, as well as easy to prepare. Store cake in a covered containter in refrigerator for up to 4 days.


From Williams-Sonoma, via bakebakebake

Olive Oil, Grape and Polenta Cake

I'm going to try documenting some of the recipes I've tried over the past year or so, as well as the ones I try in future. Winter's coming on and I anticipate BAKING.

This is a simple and effective recipe. The polenta gives it a really nice texture, and the flavour of the cake is mild and goes excellently with coffee or tea.


1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal/polenta
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp olive oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk (low fat is ok)
1 1/2 cups red grapes


Preheat the oven to 350F (about 180 C). Lightly grease a 9-inch round springform pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in flour mixture, mixing just until no streaks of flour remain visible in the batter. Stir in about half of the grapes.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even lay with a spatula. Sprinkle remaining grapes over the top of the cake.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Cool cake for at least an hour before removing from pan and serving. Let cool completely before slicing if you do not intend to serve the cake while slightly warm.

Serves 10


From Baking Bites