Marble Surprise Cake

The last two recipes on this blog were inspired by a friend of mine called Lucy Z.

 This is a photo of me and Lucy

                                      

For my birthday a couple of years back she baked me some cupcakes.

At first glance this is what they looked like... Delicious. 

Then you take a bite and this is what was inside

They were all the colours of the rainbow and just as exciting.

Obviously I am not quite up to rainbow standards yet but will progressively add more colours as my culinary skills grow.

Thanks Lucy (and Donna Hay) for the inspiration. 

Ingredients 

2 ½ cups plain flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ¾ cups caster sugar

250g unsalted butter, melted

4 eggs

1 ¼ cups milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pink food colouring

¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 tbsp milk, extra

2 cups shredded coconut

For the icing

Icing sugar

Water

Pink food colouring

Preheat the oven the 160°C.

Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla in a large bowl and mix well to combine.

Divide the mixture into three equal portions.

Stir pink food colouring into the first. When using food colouring only use small amounts at a time to create a colour that will suite your taste.

Add the cocoa and extra milk to the second portion.

Leave third portion plain.

Drop alternative spoonfuls of pink, chocolate and plain cake mixture into a lightly greased 22cm round cake tin.

Gently swirl mixture with a butter knife to create a marble effect and bake for 1 ¼ hours or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Cool in tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.

To make the pink icing place icing sugar in a bowl and add small amounts of water mixing thoroughly. Add tiny drops of food colouring in until you get the desired colour.

Spread icing over cake and coat with coconut.

By Donna Hay

Marble Cupcakes with Old Fashioned Fudge Icing

 

Ingredients

225g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt, plus pinch for the egg whites

180g unsalted butter, room temperature

200g sugar

2 egg separated

80ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp cocoa powder

For old fashioned fudge frosting

300g sugar

180ml milk

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add egg yolks and beat to blend.

Alternatively add dry ingredients and milk, beating well after each addition.

Divide batter into two separate bowls.

Mix vanilla into one of the batters and cocoa into the other.

Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks.

Divide in half and gently fold into each of the batters.

Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full, 1 heaped tsp at a time, alternating batters.

They will appear not to mixed but will ‘marble’ when cooked.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean

Remove from oven and leave to cool.

To make the frosting mix sugar, milk, cocoa and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook slowly over a medium heat until mixture comes to the boil.

Continue cooking until mixture forms a soft ball when dropped into a glass of water. This make take 15 minutes.

Remove mixture from heat.

Add butter and vanilla and blend well.

Put pan in cold water and beat until mixture is of spreading consistency.

This could also take 15 minutes.

Spread on cup cakes immediately.

Keep a mug of hot water next to you while icing. The frosting may become hard before you have finished icing but if you dip your knife in the hot water between cupcakes, the hot metal makes the frosting malleable again

 By Gail Wagman from Cupcakes Galore.

Polenta Chips

Ingredients

1.25 litres water

2 tsp salt

250g polenta

75g Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Bring the water to the boil in a large, wide saucepan.

Add the salt, then sprinkle in the polenta, a handful at a time letting it fall through your fingers from a height.

Stir continuously, using a wooden spoon.

If you add the polenta too fast, it will form lumps (if this happens, fish them out because they will not break down during cooking).

Once all the polenta is added, turn the heat down low and cook, giving 3-4 good stirs every 20secounds or so, for 25 minutes.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese

Spread it out 1cm thick on a tray and leave to cool.


Once cool, cut the polenta into triangles and place on baking tray.
Drizzle over olive oil, salt and some rosemary and bake in preheated oven (220°C) until golden and crispy.

Polenta Pie with Puttanesca Sauce

Ingredients

1.25 litres water

2 tsp salt

250g polenta

75g parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

50g butter

For the Puttanesca Sauce

75ml olive oil

2 cloves garlic

2 tiny chillies

800g canned tomatoes, mashed

1 tablespoon capers, drained

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Roughly 10 black olives

Bring the water to the boil in a large, wide saucepan.

Add the salt, then sprinkle in the polenta, a handful at a time letting it fall through your fingers from a height.

Stir continuously, using a wooden spoon.

If you add the polenta too fast, it will form lumps (if this happens, fish them out because they will not break down during cooking).

Once all the polenta is added, turn the heat down low and cook, giving 3-4 good stirs every 20secounds or so, for 25 minutes.

Spread it out 1cm thick on a tray and leave to cool.

Put the olive oil in a heavy based saucepan, set it over a medium heat and drop in the garlic.

Sauté the garlic until it turns a pale biscuit colour, then stir in the chillies.

Carefully tip in the tomatoes, capers, oregano, a few large pinches of salt and black pepper.

Check the seasoning once sauce is cooked.

Bring the sauce to the boil, lower the heat and cook gently, string occasionally, for 25-30 minutes or until the tomatoes are pulpy.

Add the olives.

Cut the polenta into large diamond shapes.

Lightly butter a shallow oven proof dish, about 23cm in diameter, and put in a layer of slightly overlapping polenta shapes.

Pour over the sauce and sprinkle with less the half the parmesan cheese.

Form another layer of polenta shapes on the top, again slightly overlapping, and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese.

Melt the butter and drizzle a little over each peace of polenta.

The polenta pie can be prepared several hours in advance to this point. Cover with glad wrap and refrigerate, but bring to room temperature before baking.

Bake in an oven preheated to 220°C and allow the pie to heat through and brown on top (about 30 minutes)

Serve hot, with extra grated parmesan cheese.

As a side I used large helpings of spinach and broccoli.

By Julie Biuso’s Italian Cooking

Gnocci with Wild Mushroom and Rosemary Ragu

Ingredients

For gnocchi – I used pre-made gnocchi bought from the supermarket

600g floury potato

1 large egg

450g plain flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the ragu

Olive oil for frying

2 onions, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

400g canned tomaroes

500ml red wine

500ml stock

Fresh rosemary to taste

For topping

450g Portobello mushrooms

1 garlic clove

Freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve

To make the gnocchi, boil the spuds for about 40mins until soft.

Drain, and when cool enough to handle peel and mash or pass through a ricer into a bowl

Make a well in the centre of the mash, add the egg and mix in, then add the flour and seasoning.

Mix to form a dough, then knead for a few minutes until dry to the touch.

Divide the potato dough into three and roll each out into 2cm diameter ropes, then cut off at 2cm intervals.

Press one side of the gnocchi with the back of a fork to form ‘grooves’ – this will give the sauce something to stick to.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and drop the gnocchi into the water.

When they rise, scoop out and refresh with ice cold water.

Drain well, then pat dry, toss in oil and chill until needed.

You can also freeze them at this stage

To make the ragu, heat some oil in a pan and gently fry the vegetables for 5 minutes until soft.

Add the tomatoes and cook for 7-8 minutes until a rich red

Add the wine, stock and rosemary, bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 40 minutes, but preferably a hour.

When ready to serve, cut the mushrooms into chunks and fry with the garlic in oil until soft, season well.

Warm the gnocchi in the ragu, spoon onto a plate and top with mushrooms and Parmesan.

By Simon Rimmer from The Accidental Vegetarian

Chocolate Mousse Cake

I made this cake without the two different kinds of chocolate using instead 400g of the 70% cocoa chocolate.

The mousse came out fairly bitter but when it is combined with the lovely sweet base it turns into a melt in your mouth sweetly rich experience. 

Ingredients

1 cup almond meal (ground almonds)

1 2/3 cups icing sugar, sifted

½ cup plain flour, sifted

¼ cup cocoa, sifted

½ tsp baking powder, sifted

5 egg whites

200g butter

For the mousse

400g dark chocolate, chopped

100g 70% dark chocolate, chopped

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups cream, whipped

Preheat the oven to 160°.

Place the almond meal, icing sugar, flour, cocoa, and baking powder in a bowl and stir to combine.

Add the egg whites and butter and stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 22cm round springform cake tin.

Bake for 30-35minutes or until cake is springy to touch and comes away from the sides of the tin.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Line the tin with gladwrap and place the cooled cake back in the base of the tin. Set aside.

To make the chocolate mousse filling, place the chocolate and vanilla in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted and smooth.

Set aside to cool slightly.

Fold the chocolate mixture through the cream until well combined.

Spoon the mousse over the cake base.

Refrigerate for two hours or until set.

Carefully remove the tin and plastic wrap to serve.

 Donna Hay magazine the 50^th Issue Birthday 

Spicy Potatoes

This recipe is fairly malleable, I am constantly changes quantities, and ingredients (for example instead of cashew nuts I often use peanuts and leave out the raisins altogether - although they are surprisingly nice in this dish) so make this according to your tastes. If you don't like cinnamon then just dont put it in. Easy as that.

Ingredients

8 potatoes

Oil or ghee (butter) for deep frying, plus 3 tbsp oil or 2 tbsp ghee (butter)

2 large tomatoes

2 tbsp natural yogurt

1 tbsp cashew nuts

1 tbsp raisins

100ml water

½ level tsp sugar

Salt

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

For the paste

2.5cm cinnamon stick

Seeds of 2 cardamoms

3 cloves

6 black peppercorns

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp poppy seeds

1 cm piece of fresh ginger

3 garlic cloves, skinned

Par boil the potatoes in well salted water.

Heat oil or ghee in a frying pan and when hot, add the potatoes.

Cook until golden brown and crispy, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent kitchen paper.

Blend ingredients for the paste in a blender, food processor, or mortar and pestle with a little water

Heat the 3 tbsp oil or 2 tsp ghee in a large pan and fry the paste for 1-2minutes.

Add the tomato and yogurt and fry for 1 minute more, then add the cashew nuts and raisins and fry for 30 seconds.

Add potatoes to the pan with the water and cook for 3-4minutes.

Add the sugar and salt to taste.

Sprinkle coriander leaves on top and serve with rice.

By Tarla Dalal’s Indian Vegetarian Cookery

Cardamom Bread

This bread is very sweet. I'm not sure if it is meant to be sweet or if I just put too much caster sugar in. Anyway the point of this blurb is that don't try this if you don't like sweet bread. I also found out that the yeast I used was expired which explains why it didn't rise like it should have. May also explain why I found my mum sneaking it outside for the birds to eat... even they wouldn't eat it.

Ingredients

125ml water

75g butter

50g caster sugar, plus 1 tsp caster sugar

175ml warm water

1 ½ tsp dried yeast or 15g fresh yeast or 1x7g sachet fast-acting yeast

1 egg

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp freshly ground cardamom using the seeds from approximately 28 pods

600g plain flour, sifted

Butter or oil a baking tray.

Place the 125ml of water and butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil

Once the butter is melted, pour the mixture into a large bowl and allow to cool,

In a measuring jug, mix the teaspoon of caster sugar with 60ml of the warm water and yeast and allow to stand in a warm place for 5minutes until frothy.

Or if using fast acting yeast, they can go straight into the ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, the 50g caster sugar and the salt, then add the remaining warm water and whisk until blended

When the butter and water mixture has cooled but is still warm, add the yeast mixture, the egg mixture and the ground cardamom and stir until blended.

Add the flour and mix

Turn onto a floured surface and knead for about 10minutes until smooth and soft.

Add more flour if the dough is sticky.

Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with gladwrap or a clean tea towel and allow to rise in a warm, draught-free place for about 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Pre heat the oven to 180°C . Knock back the dough in the bowl and then turn it onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for a few seconds.

Shape the dough into a plated or plain loaf and place on the prepared baking tray.

Cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise for 20-30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the base.

Remove the load from the oven and transfer to a wire rack.

Rub loaf with some butter and dust with flour.

From Bake by Rachel Allen

Basil Roulade with Goat's Cheese and Sun-blushed Tomatoes, and Beetroot Caviar

Ingredients

65g butter plus extra for greasing

100g plain flour

425ml milk warmed

7 eggs separated

Big handful of basil leaves roughly chopped

75g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Lettuce, to serve

For the filling

250g ricotta cheese

100g goat’s cheese, crumbled

Big handful of fresh basil leaves

Sprinkle of sun blushed tomatoes

For the beetroot caviar

25ml olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

4 lime leaves, shredded

6 cooked beetroots, peal and chopped

First make the roulade. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour to make a rox.

Cook for 3 minutes, then add the milk, a little at a time, and stir until thickened.

Season well, then stir in the egg yolks.

Take off heat and leave to cool

Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gently and carefully fold into the cooled mixture, keeping in as much air as possible.

Then gently fold in basil

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Grease and line a baking tray.

Spread the mixture onto the tray, top with parmesan and cook for 15minutes until springy and risen.

Turn out onto a piece of greaseproof paper, carefully remove the lining paper and leave to cool.

To make the filling, season the ricotta cheese and spread some on the cooled roulade base, leaving a gap at each end, then sprinkle on the goat’s cheese, basil and tomatoes.

Roll the roulade up from one long side, then wrap in greaseproof paper and foil and chill overnight.

(I did not do this but realised after eating the leftovers it tastes waaaay better the next day so do prepare a day a head)

When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 200°C.

Slice the roulade, allowing two wedges per person, and heat in the oven for about 10 minutes, then finish off under a hot grill to crisp slightly.

Transfer to serving plate with lettuce

Meanwhile, make the beetroot caviar.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the shallots, garlic and lime leaves until soft, then add the beetroots and warm through.

Put into a food processor and pulse until broken down but still slightly chunky.

Serve with the roulade.

From The Accidental Vegetarian by Simon Rimmer

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

225g butter

¾ cup with sugar

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 siz-7 eggs

2 ¼ cups flour

½ tsp salt

1 level tsp baking soda

300g chocolate chips

Preheat oven to180°C

Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy

Add vanilla and eggs one at a time

Mix dry ingredients together and add, scraping down the sides to blend

Mix in the chocolate which should be cut into small chunks

Put large teaspoons onto a greased baking tray, allowing a little room for expansion

Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes.  After 5 minutes’ cooking, flatten the biscuits slightly with a fork or your fingers

The biscuits should be pale golden.  Remove to a rack to cool

From Annabel Langbein's Cookbook

Chocolate Melting Moments

Ingredients

125g butter, softened

2 tbsp icing sugar

¾ cup (110g) plain flour

2 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

¼ cup (85g) chocolate hazelnut spread (nutella)

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.  Grease oven trays; line with baking paper

Beat butter and sifted icing sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Stir in sifted dry ingredients

Roll 1 tsp mound of mixture into balls, press flat

Bake biscuits about 10 minutes.  Cool on trays

Sandwich biscuits with hazelnut spread.

From Women's Weekly Mix cakes, muffins, biscuits + puddings