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

Orange & Clove Almond Cookies

I was a bit sad my parents weren't able to sample any of my brioche tart, so I decided to bake them some cookies instead!

I made two batches (next post will be the chocolate and peanut butter pillows) and I think this one was the more successful. These are quite dry and light, rather like Greek almond cookies, and go very well with a cup of tea.





230g butter, room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp orange zest
1/3 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup ground almonds/almond flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup icing sugar, plus extra, for dusting


Preheat oven to 175 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in orange zest, ground cloves, ground almonds, cornstarch and salt.

Slowly blend in the flour until all of the flour has been incorporated and the dough comes together.

Shape dough into small balls and place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges of the cookies just start to brown.

Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.

Sift 1/2 cup icing sugar onto a plate. Dip the bottom of each cookie into the sugar, then place on a wire rack. Dust tops of cookies thoroughly with remaining sugar. Or if you're me, just roll them around a bit.

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 25 cookies.


From Baking Bites

Orange, leek and watercress salad

This is an easy vegan salad I made for an Australia Day barbeque - however the fact that this dish looks like the national colours is PURELY COINCIDENTAL.


3 leeks, trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 teaspoons soy sauce
3 oranges, peeled and sliced into thin rings
400g watercress, picked over
2 tablespoons olive oil (to dress)


Slice leeks in half lengthways and rinse in cold water.

Cut leeks into 3 cm lengths and then thinly slice.

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer the leeks and cover for 10 minutes, or until soft.

Drizzle leeks with soy sauce and leave to cool.

Layer the orange slices with watercress and leeks. Dress with olive oil and serve.


From Marie Claire's Crisp