Christmas and the holidays – wonderful for catching up with friends and family, taking time out to remember the things that really matter, eating and drinking yourself into a stupor and much all round laughter and merriment. Bad for… well, your waistline, your clean eating regime and in my case, your blogging existence.  Sorry… what.. you blog?  Well exactly.  Anyway, I’m not one to dwell, New Year, new beginnings and all that except who really wants or needs butter rich baked goods in January.  The month of crawling back onto the wagon, cold turkey (the other kind) and a general holier than thou attitude.  Fortunately (for who I’m still not quite sure) this week, we are celebrating a very belated happy birthday to my dear friend over at The D’Vine, everyone’s favourite fashionista, the gorgeous Divia H.  Div’s Birthday you say? This calls for baked goods for sure, and chocolate, plenty of it, preferably culminating in some decadent and delicious dessert.  Momofuku Milk Bar’s Chocolate Chocolate Cookies.  Need I say more? Nail.Head.Hit.  (it’s practically February right?)

This is not to say I haven’t baked in months.  Quite the contrary I’ve been baking like a banshee.  Let’s see, the beginning of December I did a big order for baby Indira’s 100 day banquet.  Strawberry filled vanilla cupcakes, strawberry cream cheese frosting topped off with a personalised ‘Indira’ love heart – very pretty in pink!  The following week I whipped up a wedding order of cupcakes in not one but two flavours.  The bride’s favourite was chocolate so she got a double chocolate cupcake topped with valrhona ganache while the groom wanted his favourite, a key lime pie filled vanilla cupcake, topped with lime cream cheese frosting.  A beautiful cupcake pairing for a lovely couple!  We were then truly well into the Christmas season and I set out in pursuit of the perfect mince pie – 3 pastry recipes and hundreds of mince pies later I believe I got pretty close and knocked up a few more dozen of those. You just can’t beat a homemade mince pie – even the bad ones knock the socks of those cardboard store bought wannabes!! As for the Scottish contingent, I wasn’t content with just opening up a tin of M&S shortbread, delightful as it it, I had to make my own.  Quite an experience and I will definitely be doing this again next Christmas.

The downside to all this baking (aside from the aforementioned waistline) was there was little time, or in fact daylight, to even manage to snap a few photos of any of my December creations let alone post on the blog and for that I am disappointed. I’m not even counting the whiskey laden fruit cakes, rich ricotta pound cakes and scrummy scones that also came shooting out the oven for the visiting tribes and of course the flourless chocolate cupcakes that my newly gluten intolerant cousin Danny just LOVED! I suppose I would be more disappointed however if I had stayed home all those exciting action packed afternoons and evenings out, to blog. Oh and did I mention my McBook died on me too!  In any case, I’m here now and surely that’s all that matters and might I take this opportunity to wish you all a belated but no less heart felt Happy 2013 – May it bring you all that you wish for and more!

OK back to business – Momofuku Milk Bar’s Chocolate Chocolate Cookies.  They’re awesome.  They’re dark, rich and chocolately, sweet but not cloyingly so, with a healthy dose of salt to balance it all out.  Christina Tosi describes them as a bit of a brownie tribute but I think they’re far better than that.  And, as far as Milk bar recipes go, they’re not too laborious (see momofuku compost cookies) or maybe I’m just getting more forgiving in my old age.   Prep then bake the chocolate crumb, fix the cookie dough, combine, scoop, mature – bake. First of Feb, get into the kitchen and make these, there’s no better way of saying; “hello 2013, I’m back!”

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies – Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar

Cookie Dough

• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) (225g)  butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
• 1/4 cup (100g) glucose
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2oz (60g) 55% chocolate, melted
• 1 1/4 (200g) cups flour
• 3/4 (100g) cup cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona
• ¾ tsp baking powder 3/4 teaspoon
• ¼ tsp baking soda 1/4 teaspoon
• 1¾ tsp kosher/sea salt 1 3/4 teaspoons (I used Maldon)
• 1/2 recipe Chocolate Crumb (see below)

• Cream the butter, sugar and glucose together in stand mixer for 2 to 3 minutes.

• Scrape down the bowl then add the egg, vanilla and cooled melted chocolate – stir to combine

• Now BEAT for 8 MINUTES

• Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  With the mixer on the lowest speed stir until just combined (30 to 60 sec) – DO NOT OVER MIX.

• Scrape down the bowl with a spatula

• With the mixer still on low speed, add the chocolate crumbs.  Stir until combined (another 30 sec)

• Using a standard ice-cream scoop, portion out the dough while it is still soft into a large plastic container (ie. tupperware) lined with greaseproof paper.

• When you have filled the layer, add another piece of greaseproof and as you do slightly flatten the tops of the cookies beneath.  Add another layer of scooped cookie dough balls and continue until you have finished. Alternatively place in a few containers.

• Put lid on container and place in fridge for at least 24hour but up to a week.  I leave mine 3 days minimum.

• DO NOT COOK COOKIES THAT HAVE NOT SET IN THE FRIDGE.  THEY WON’T WORK.

TO BAKE

• Preheat oven 190°C/375°F – Prepare 2 large lined baking trays

• Arrange the chilled dough on your lined baking trays.  Don’t crowd.  I only placed 6 cookies per tray as they were big and spread quite considerably.

• Bake for 18 minutes.  The Cookies should have spread, raised and cracked.  In my fan over, 18 min was just a touch too long as some of the cookies browned slightly round the edges.  17mins was perfect.

• Cool on baking tray for at least 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a cooling rack.  The cookies are quite large and heavy and are quite fragile until completely cooled.

Chocolate Crumb

• 2/3 cup (105g) flour
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 2/ 3 cup (65g) cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona
• 1 teaspoon kosher/sea salt (I used Maldon)
• 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, melted

• Preheat oven 150°C/300°F – Prepare a lined baking tray

• Mix the flour, cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt on low in stand mixer until combines.

• Add melted butter and continue to stir on low until mixture comes together.

• Spread the crumbs on a lines baking sheet and bake for 20mins.

• Let the crumbs cool completely before using.  Break up and extra large pieces.

I love baking, but I guess you’ve figured that one out already, and I bake more often than not for the sheer indulgence of it.  Creamy Butter, rich and yolky free range eggs, heavy cream, crème fraiche, valrhona chocolate, silky ganache, more cream, more butter… you get the picture.  Don’t get me wrong, I know what healthful is.  I religiously have my green juice every morning, eat plenty of lean protein and veggies, sprinkle LSA on salads and in smoothies and lately have been scattering chia seeds on anything that hangs around long enough!  But I believe baking and baked goods are the flip side of that 80/20 coin and shouldn’t be meddled with.  On the other hand if I had a penny for every time my mother has asked for a bran and cranberry loaf, wheat free low sugar muffin or more recently a half fat half chia seed (!!) cake I’d probably be richer than those thomas keller brownies!

I do however make exceptions, obviously, for people with allergies and intolerances.  There’s nothing worse than seeing a celiac friend stare longingly at a beautiful cupcake, or a pile of scones.  So when I was asked to make gluten free (GF) cupcakes for my friend’s sister’s 30th birthday I wholeheartedly took on the challenge.  I have made GF cupcakes before (for Christmas one year, and a v.cute baby shower) and although the heavier cake has never really bothered me, the texture always has.  They’ve often been grainy and almost gritty, I think due to the variety of flours used.  Oh and can I mention complicated – 1 cup sorghum flour or brown rice flour, another cup almond or hazelnut flour, 3 tablespoons of tapioca or potato  starch, 1 teaspoon xanthan gum,  ¼ cup each of sweet rice flour and coconut flour and the list goes on – your mind boggling yet? (umm.. what’s sorghum?).  Don’t get me wrong, if you bake GF all the time and have these things on hand to whip up the worlds best GF cupcakes, go for it, but for people like myself who maybe bake GF once or twice a year I needed something simpler!

And oh boy did I find it!

Can I just cut in with an aside here?  I have a couple of rules when it comes to cooking and baking and with this recipe I broke two.  The 1^st , Don’t make cakes from weird healthy stuff (no matter how much your mother pleads) and the 2^nd, Never reveal creepy unpalatable ingredients that may put people off (just smile sweetly and claim it’s a secret).  Either this recipe is just simply a ‘must share at any cost’ or I’m just getting old and soft – you decide.

Not only is this cake one of the most straightforward recipes ever, it actually tastes delicious.  Great chocolately taste, nice moist crumb and they look gorgeous, unfrosted, cracks n’all! I did frost them obviously; they were birthday cakes after all! But forgot to take pics, so here’s a recipe for what I think are the most effortless, palatable and delightful gluten free chocolate cupcakes you’ll ever come across.  Oh and for the record, they’re my mum’s new favourite cakes!

Delicious & Effortless – Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

• 15 oz (425g) can of chickpeas – there! I’ve told you! l’ingrédient mystere!
• 1/3 cup almond milk (any liquid would work)
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• ½  cup decent dutch processed cocoa powder (although I imagine regular would work fine – just make sure it’s good quality)
• 1 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar (although I reckon you could try ½ a cup)

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F – Line 1 x 12 muffin tin cups.

• Rinse and drain your chickpeas and place in a blender.  I used my Vitamix TNC, as the smoother you blend it the better.  A regular food processor would also do the job.

• Add the almond milk and puree until silky smooth.

• Add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

• Add the coconut oil, cocoa, baking powder and sugar and blend until very smooth.

• Spoon into muffin tin filling liners until almost full.

• Bake for 25 – 30 min until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Note on blending – if using a regular blender or food processor, follow this step-by-step method.  If however using something as powerful as a Vitamix or Blendtec an all-one-method should be fine.  I actually found the 2^nd time I made these with the Vitamix, that the all-in-one method worked better.

I’ve put this post off for a while.  Mostly because I was rather traumatized by the epic fail of it all; and obviously as a result had no desire to relive the disappointment.   I mean what could go wrong; stunning short crust pastry, amber salted caramel, silky valrhona ganache and a sprinkling of fluer de sel? Well apparently, everything.

A couple of months on however, now that the sweat has dried and the tears are all but a distant disagreeable memory I can look back with a touch more objectivity. Surely after all that work something good had to have come of it!  After all, it was a disaster of circumstance rather than of formula, performance or method and the much anticipated, overly planned salted caramel tart was just not meant to be.

You see, it was the height of summer with temperatures soaring, sun blazing in through kitchen windows and humidity off the charts.  It was also in fact a frantic aside to the main event of this particular Saturday, the Hoppy Birthday Cake.  Basically, right recipes, wrong time, wrong temperature.  Moral of the story?  However much you want it, however great you think your AC system is, however much you think you can defy Mother Nature, you can’t, and some recipes are just best left to chilly winter months (in which I will most definitely attempting the awesomeness which is a salted caramel chocolate tart!)

At this point you’re probably wondering if you’re actually going to get a recipe out of me or is this just a self-indulgent sob story.  Well good news people, despite all of the odds being against me, what I can now share with you is one of the most beautiful short crust pastry recipes I have ever come across.  Whether you call it short crust, tart, quiche or flan pastry or by its French title pâte à foncer, there is no denying that this recipe by my new hero, Michael Roux is amazing… and ridiculously simple.  It’s delightfully buttery and very delicious and though less delicate than a traditional pâte á sucre, no less light or crisp.   Leave your pastry apprehension and angst at the door and get ready to find your inner pâtissier!

Pâte à Foncer

Makes about 480g dough
Keeps in the fridge for a week / Keeps in freezer for up to a month.
Suitable for sweet or savoury tart shells (flans)

• 250g plain flour
• 125g butter cut into cubes
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. caster sugar
• ½ tsp. salt (fine)
• 40ml cold water

The recipe calls to mix the pastry on a work surface.  Although a stone or marble worktop would be suitable (in terms of temperature) and obviously a more traditional method I opted for something different.  I have a large wide stainless steel mixing bowl and due to searing summer temperatures, I placed the bowl in the freezer for ½ an hour then proceeded to mix and work in that.  It worked very well (and limited clean up too!)

MAKING THE PASTRY

• Pour flour into chilled bowl.  Make a well and add the butter, egg, sugar and salt.

• Mix and cream the ingredients with your fingertips (I was hesitant this was something only experts would be able to do confidently but actually it was as easy as it sounds)

• Slowly draw the flour into the mix, again with your fingertips.  The texture will be somewhat grainy.  Now add the cold water and continue to mix until the dough comes together.   NOTE – The amount of liquid a pastry needs to come together is dependent on numerous factors such as moisture content of flour and weather i.e. humidity.

• Once this happens, knead the dough gently by pushing with the palm of your hand a few times.  You should notice the texture of the dough become smoother.

• Roll into a ball, cover with cling wrap and put in the fridge.  I actually roll into 2 balls or whatever size I’m intending to work with.  That way the remainder can stay in the fridge.  Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the gluten to relax.

ROLLING AND LINING

• Lightly grease flan ring, tart pan or pie tin.  Loose base is probably most stress free.  Flour a clean work surface/pastry mat and rolling pin and keep them LIGHTLY floured throughout.

• Begin rolling the ball of dough. Start in the middle and roll upwards and then from the middle again, downwards.  The aim is to keep the thickness of the dough as even as possible while not rolling it too thin.  Approx. 3mm is a good general guide.  The more you make pastry the easier it will be to gauge the suitable thickness.

• If aiming for a circle turn the ball of pastry a quarter every few rolls.  When the desired thickness is reached, drape the sheet of pastry over the rolling pin, this allows the fragile pastry to be moved in one piece, and cover over tin. If you prefer, or for individual tart cases, use a plate or something just larger than your pan as a guide to cut out a circle of pastry that will fit more neatly.

• Gently fit the pastry into the tin.  Be sure to get it into the corners and up the sides but don’t poke with finger tips.

• Place back into the fridge to rest and chill for another 20 mins or up to 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F - Use a blunt knife of pallette knife to trim the excess pastry.  Prick the base of the pastry with a fork before placing in hot oven.

BAKING TIMES

• Large Flan (approx. 20-23cm) / 20 mins blind / remove beans bake for 15 more min.

• 6 Individual (approx. 10-12cm) / 10 mins blind / Remove beans bake for 5 more min.

Baking Blind - Cut squares of greaseproof paper just bigger that your tart – I just leave them as squares.  Place baking beans/pastry weights in the tart shell on the paper (I have a bag of dried chick peas I use) and bake for the required time.  Take the shells out, remove baking beans and bake for the rest of the time.

When cooked, the pastry cases should be cooled on wire rack then can be used straight away or can be wrapped carefully in cling wrap and stored in freezer for up to 2 weeks – remove 30 minutes before needed, remove cling wrap.  These versatile yet delightful pastry cases can be filled with any number of fillings from caramel, crème patisserie and fresh fruit or poached fruit to mascarpone, ricotta and even ganache.  Also equally delicious with savoury fillings.  The possibilities are endless and trying different combinations can be a lot of fun. Give it a go, you won’t be sorry!

As you well know, I’m a purist when it comes to scones and was delighted to be able to share my family recipe with you a few months back.  I have nevertheless been keen to try something different and new and seeing as scones are probably one of the speediest and straightforward items you could bake I figured I should give it a go.  I love sultanas in baked goods (though hundreds don’t), I am particularly partial to cinnamon and heck, shouldn’t everyone be including more whole grains in their diets?  This definitely seemed like the recipe for me!

For a wholewheat recipe, I couldn’t have been happier with the results (I wouldn’t expect anything less from Delia’s tried and tested recipes) – beautifully tall scones that were almost gingerbread brown in colour.  The cinnamon is particularly prominent despite only a nominal amount being added and personally when I make them next I would probably double the amount of sugar to better balance that cinnamon flavour. My afternoon tea taste testers however felt that this would be unnecessary and thought they were quite fine the way they were!

Although scones really are quite simple (you can have them prepped and baked in less than 30 mins) it has taken me a number of years to get it just right. After much instruction and advice from my mum (master scone maker) I thought I should share some top tips so you too can have perfect scones in a jiffy!

Top Tips for Scone Making & Baking

Handle the dough as little as you can – it says roll but actually it’s more like a roll then a pat.

Make sure your flour is fresh (you need your raising agents at their best!)

Don’t roll/pat the dough out too thin.  The greedy in you wants to cut more scones but the sensible in you says quality not quantity.  Always an inch or more thick.

Don’t cut giant scones (unless you really really want to) – small are better because they look even taller (desirable) and people can help themselves to another!

Two words – HOT OVEN – I’ll say that again HOT OVEN.

Always bake on the day of serving – for best results preferably from oven to table… to tummy!

Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones

• 150g (6oz) wholewheat flour
• 150g (6oz) self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 50g (2oz) brown sugar
• 50g (2oz) butter
• 100g (4oz) sultanas
• 2 eggs
• 80ml (1/3 cup) milk

• Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F (this is as hot as my oven goes!) and line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper/silpat etc.

• Beat the eggs with the milk.

• Sift the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar into a large mixing bowl – throw any bran still in the sieve back in the bowl.

• Rub in the butter – this feels strange and a little grainy/sticky as butter is usually rubbed in before the sugar is added but it is fine.  Mix in the sultanas.

• Add the egg and milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix into smooth dough with a palette knife.  Add more milk if still dry.  You may have to actually knead the ball a couple of times with your hands – obviously wholewheat dough will never be as smooth as that made with just plain flour.

• Dust rolling pin and surfaces and roll dough out the thickness of approx. 2.5cm/1inch or just thicker.

• Cut scones out.  I always cut plain scones round and fruit scones fluted – family tradition I guess.  These fluted cutters were such a great buy – round too!  No twisting.

• Knead the trimmings back into a ball and roll again, continue to cut until all the dough has been used.

• Dust with a little flour and bake on a high shelf for 15 – 20 min.  They should be tall, brown and tap like a drum when done.

Serve these rustic beauties warm, with lashings of good quality butter and marmalade or honey.

Tagged: 2012, afternoon tea, cakebook, cinnamon, Delia Smith, food, fruity, hong kong, marmalade, quick, scones, spiced, sultanas, top tips, wholewheat ]]> http://cakeb00k.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/wholewheat-cinnamon-sultana-scones/feed/ 5 ladymaalaaregrets 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones - baked 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones cakebook 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones - mixing 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones - mixing 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones - cutting 10.23 - Wholewheat Cinnamon Sultana Scones - baked http://cakeb00k.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/dories-chocolate-chocolate-cupcakes/ http://cakeb00k.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/dories-chocolate-chocolate-cupcakes/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 02:27:10 +0000 vic@cakebook http://cakeb00k.wordpress.com/?p=1930 ]]>

I think I was a little late to the table when it came to appreciating who Dorie Greenspan was. Over the years I’d seen her name on lots of websites and blogs and sort of knew that there was a blog dedicated to followers of her cookbook (Tuesdays with Dorie), but it wasn’t until quite recently that I recognised the extent of her reputation and celebrity.  It was only after I had baked my new favourite raspberry and ricotta muffins, the ones that just get better and better and never go wrong, tens of times and then realised that my other favourite lemon poppy seed muffin was also from her that I wanted to know more.  It was then that I started to investigate who she was and discovered that she has been a cookbook writer for over 20 years, publishing ten cookbooks, winning a host of prestigious awards and having the privilege of working with the likes of ground-breaking American TV chef Julia Child and Master French Pâtissier Pierre Hermé! Wow, shame on me for not finding out who she was sooner!

As I guess baking’s sort of what I do, my first logical Greenspan purchase would be Dorie’s celebrated volume, BAKING From my home to yours.  Not available from my local bookstores I asked a friend who was going to New York if she would mind picking it up for me.  What I didn’t realize was that the heaving volume published in 2006 (told you I was a bit late) holds over 300 recipes, is almost 12 inches tall and weighs a whopping 5 pounds – Kudos to DiviaH for lugging that thing 8000miles – I owe you darling!

To celebrate my new acquisition I figured I should bake.  But what?  They all looked so very delicious and bake worthy.  So I decided to be practical, always on the lookout for ideas for a new project, my next mission (for an occasion in December) is to find a luscious new chocolate cupcake.  Something rich, decadent and grown up so when I spotted Dorie’s Chocolate Chocolate cupcake I thought I was on the right track.  What resulted was a dark, rich cupcake that was almost crumbly in texture.  It tasted similar to a molten chocolate pudding, probably due to melted chocolate and the top was crackled and firmer than the soft tender insides. I topped it with my usual crème fraîche Ganache (although this time I tried plain old sour cream – turned out great!) and it made for a lovely afternoon treat.

Dorie’s Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

– adapted (barely) from BAKING From my home to yours

Makes 24 cupcakes

• 2 cups (250g) flour
• ½ cup (60g) cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (225g) butter
• 1 ½ cups (300g) sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup (250ml) yogurt (original recipe calls for buttermilk)
• 4oz (100g) dark chocolate – melted and cooled

• Ganache Recipe Here

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F – Line 2 x 12 muffin tin cups.

• Sift the dry ingredients, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside.

• Using a stand mixer, begin to cream the butter, add the sugar steadily and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated, smooth and airy.  Scrape down the bowl as necessary.

• Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition.  Add the vanilla.

• On the lowest speed, stir in half the dry ingredients until just mixed.  Mix in the yogurt and then the rest of the dry ingredients again, just mixing until incorporated.

• Finally add the cooled melted chocolate and give it a good stir with a rubber spatula.

• Divide between 24 muffin cups.  Bake for 22 – 25 mins until the tops are springy and a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Moon cakes.  It’s either love or hate in my experience.  Traditionally, a brown, shiny, sugar and lard based pastry wrapped around a hunk of lotus seed paste concealing the pièce de résistance, a couple of whole salted duck egg yolks – Are we having fun yet? No I didn’t think so and as you might have guessed I’m not really a enthusiast.  As a result, over the years, I’ve taken to producing alternative ‘moon cakes’ for us to enjoy while moon gazing at Mid-Autumn Festival.  I once created my own ridiculously symbolic interpretation of the mOOn cake (don’t you just hate it when an idea runs away with itself) but generally the criteria is simply, yellow-ish and ‘round like the moon’ – not really too hard for a cake is it?  There have been numerous lemon tarts and a few dragées but this year I wanted something different.  To be honest I wanted something simple, it was just a small family dinner and as I was serving food that was quite rich and a bit spicy I thought something modest and unassuming would be a nice compliment to that.  How I got to ricotta pound cake, I’m not really so sure but, it was yellow-ish, round like the moon and as it turned out, a perfect accompaniment to moon gazing!

What came from this friendly and straightforward recipe was an elegant cake that was both delicious and lovely looking.  I tend to associate pound cakes with being solid and firm but this was quite different.  It had a dark buttery exterior; almost like a crust and what lay inside was a tender, soft and buttery crumb.  It was a wonderful balance of rich butter, tangy ricotta and sweet vanilla.

The beauty of this cake is it is perfect served, as is but pairs nicely with fruit, ice cream or crème fraîche.  I actually offered all of those but ended up liking it with Greek yogurt the best, a lower fat more healthful option I had also served.  The cake is on the sweet side and so for me I really enjoyed the contrast of the unsweetened Greek yogurt.  Another plus point is I can imagine it being easily added to in terms of a couple of teaspoons of lemon, lime or orange zest!

Ricotta Pound Cake

adapted from ‘Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen’ by Gina DePalma

The original recipe called for a 9” loaf pan, but a rectangle is hardly ‘round like the moon’, so I opted to 1 ½ the recipe and use 2 8” round pans.

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour*
• 1 tablespoon + 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 1/4 cups ricotta**
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla (I used Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste)

*I can’t buy cake flour here so I invariably make my own.  There are lots of ‘recipes’ out there but I find Joy the Baker’s explanation the most straightforward.

** The original recipe calls for full fat but I used 1/3 full fat and 2/3 skim and it turned out fine.

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F – Grease and Line 2 8-inch cake tins.

• Sift the dry ingredients, cake flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

• Using a stand mixer, begin to cream the butter.  Add the sugar steadily and finally the ricotta.  Mix on medium speed until all fully incorporated, smooth and airy.

• Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure to scrape down the bowl a few times.  Finally add the vanilla bean paste.

• Stir in the dry ingredients, on lowest speed, to combine them then beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.

• Divide batter evenly (I use scales) into prepared pans and smooth flat.  Tap pans gently on work surface to release any air bubbles.

• Bake cakes for 15 minutes side by side.    Swap sides (to ensure even browning) then lower the temperature to 160°C/325°F.

• Continue cooking until cakes have cooked ie. Sides of cake have started to come away from pan; the cake springs back when pressed and when a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Mine took another 50 minutes.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then carefully transfer to a cooling rack.

I served my cakes upside down because I thought they looked more attractive that way and then dusted them with icing sugar.  Again, I would strongly suggest trying it with Greek Yogurt.  Should keep in an airtight container for 3 days.

Oh and if any of you observant eagle eyes were wondering… OH YES I DID!!

Lets get one thing straight here.  I’m not a professional; I bake purely for the fun of it or sometimes for the challenge and although I have done literally a handful of orders for cash the majority of them I do out of love (or obligation, or guilt, or is that quite another story?)

At the beginning of the summer I was asked to do a bulk order of graduation cupcakes.  No probs, easy job, wasn’t worried.  Until I realised that I had got my dates a little mixed up and the day preceding the graduation order was in fact the day I was to deliver the wedding cakes that I had been preparing for, for weeks (white cupcakes) and weeks (vanilla cupcakes)!  I panicked for the best part of a day and then thought I can do this it’s just going to require me to be extremely organized.  That’s the thing with perishable cupcakes, you can’t whip ‘em out a week before and hope they’ll hold out – people will TASTE the difference!  To me, baking anything more than a day before they are due to be served is 2^nd rate and unacceptable but what it also means is that you’re pretty much guaranteed a very hectic 24hour stint (especially if you’ve been at work all day!).  Fortunately in this instance the weeding-grad whammy fell on a long weekend!)

What being in this situation made me appreciate however was that all the years I have been doing this, all the experience, all the mistakes and failures that have come my way have actually given me an almost baking sixth sense.  It comes so naturally to me now that I can predict what could and can go wrong and so hopefully avert disaster.   What I wished however was that I hadn’t had to have learned these lessons first hand and that someone had made me a list of top tips when I had started out.  So here I present cakebook’s top tips for bulk baking.  It’s not something I do particularly often but it probably is the baking scenario that can induce the most stress.  I have included everything that I could possible think of from MY experiences and if it helps you avert even one micro-disaster in your kitchen then it will have done its job.  I am not claiming these tips will be to everyone’s style or that the advice is by any means all-inclusive and encompassing but they have worked for me time and time again and I hope they can for you too. If you have any top tips for bulk baking, please, add them in the comments – THIS is the stuff that makes us better bakers!!

Just a note on the structure of the tips – I have ‘timelined’ them AKA Delia’s and Nigella’s Christmas dinners.  Mainly because sometimes a couple of hours after work for a few days is all I have to knock out 100 cupcakes for a charity bake sale or a friends big birthday bash.  Take and use what you will.

Up to 2 weeks before

Test your recipe before hand – a must.

Make sure you have enough wrappers – and then some (see next point)

If you are trying new wrappers with an old recipe or vice versa test that too  – My fairytale wedding cakes failed miserably at T-minus12hours – The ‘new specially bought for the wedding’ stiffer wrappers started to peel away from the soft delicate cupcake and at 10pm the night before the reception, I was left 50 wedding cupcakes down – back to the kitchen I trudged (after a midnight butter run to the store!!)

Measure out batches of dry ingredients in advance, keep in ziplock bags – This saves TONNES of time and really can be done whenever you have a spare hour or so!

Sieve the icing sugar – do you know how much icing sugar you need to frost 150 baby shower cupcakes!!

Up to 2 days before

If you are pressed for time then make the frosting before hand.  I often do because I find making frosting in bulk quite time consuming and very messy (that icing sugar gets EVERYWHERE).  Butter cream, fudge frosting, cream cheese frosting are all fine to do this.  Ganache and marshmallow frosting however, have to be made on the day.

On the day – baking

CONCENTRATE – I can’t stress this enough (I’ve been there and its hard to stay focused at 11pm on a friday night after a long work at week!) Silly things I’ve done when I’m all cupcaked out and my concentration starts wavering? Start the kitchen Aid without securing the bowl, forgotten the baking powder, lemon zest, vanilla extract, pinch of cinnamon, SUGAR!! , fill in blank with anything else you can think of, melted the butter when it’s a creamed recipe, creamed the butter with the sugar when it’s a melted recipe, not checked the correct oven temperature, had the grill on instead of the over , overdone/underdone cupcakes, dropped a whole tray of cupcakes sunny side down out of the hot oven, burnt my arm, hand, wrists – you get the picture – CONCENTRATE.

STANDARDIZE – use a cup, ice-cream scoop or batter dispenser, depending on the consistency of your batter.  ALSO test the quantity, ie. ½ filled, ¾ filled so you know exactly how they’re going to look, domed, flat etc. I’ve just recently bought this dispenser from Cuisipro for my runnier batters and although not perfect, takes a lot of the frustration out of bulk baking and speeds things up considerably.

Plan for a little more that you need – ie. If you need 100 cupcakes, make 5 batches of 24 (see any of the above fails if you need a reason)

On the day – frosting & decorating

Making frosting on the day – if you do, try and make it while cupcakes are in the oven.  This saves a bit of time as for every batch of cupcakes baked, you should get a batch of frosting done.

Frosting made in advance – take it out a couple of hours before you need to use it.  You want to take the chill off, not overheat it so keep it away from the oven or kitchen or anywhere where it might be too warm.  Put it back in the mixer for a minute or two to regain its just made consistency

Have a clean large space available – ie dining table or somewhere you can sit.  You’ve just been on your feet baking for 3 hours+, you’ll be grateful of the chair!

Have all decorations ready before you begin – counted out if necessary or at least guestimated, small cups or bowl make them easy to see and access.

Do a few test pipes (if you haven’t already) – so you know what style you want and how much frosting you’ll need – sometimes what you plan isn’t quite what looks best.

Frost in batches – otherwise when you come back to sprinkle the nonpareils on cupcakezero, the frosting might have crusted already!

Keep batches on large trays – this enables cakes to be easily moved around and accessed – nothing more painful than moving individual cupcakes one by one again and again.

Storing and packaging

Airtight – Most card cupcake boxes are not airtight – If you need to store over night airtight is best.  Its more hygienic and there’s no chance of cakes drying out.

Packing – If you have boxes of 12, 18 or even 24 try and get a larger box to transport them.  There’s nothing more nerve wracking than carrying 3 stacked boxes of 24 cupcakes!

And to finish…

Enlist the help of a friend or relative – obviously someone to help wash up is going to make a huge difference to your workload but sometimes even just having someone to chat with or throw ideas around with can be sanity saving (especially if you’re up burning the midnight oil).  Cups of tea are also much appreciated!

Wear Comfy Shoes – Sounds ridiculous but can make a difference if you’re on your feet for hours.

EAT – it’s easy to forget when you’re up to your eyeballs in cake batter and frosting, but low blood sugar leads to poor concentration and we all know what can happen then!

Enjoy yourself – If you’re not having fun then question if this is something you should be doing for next time.  You may be completely cream crackered at the end of a monster bulk baking session but you should also be thrilled with the results and feel that all the hard work was well worth the effort!

I had been looking for the perfect vanilla cake recipe to use for an impending wedding order, and as the weeks past, the hunt continued. I had scoured the Internet, taken out practically every cookbook I owned and quite frankly, with two weeks to go, was starting to panic.  Months earlier I had been in a similar situation, granted in less of a panic, to find a decent chocolate birthday cake and  had turned to the book ‘What to cook & How to cook it’ written by the well-respected BBC food writer Jane Hornby.  I love the book in terms of its structure and the great procedural photos but for someone who cooks as much as I do it always just seemed a bit ‘basic’.  However, I had been proven wrong with the success of the Chocolate Truffle Cake and once again in a last ditch attempt I flicked through.  What I found was a recipe for ‘frosted cupcakes’ that contained yogurt and almonds.  The yogurt seemed like it could be an interesting addition but I swapped out the almonds for plain flour and proceeded to give the recipe a try.

For starters, this has got to be one of the easiest cake batters I’ve ever made.  There’s no mixing or creaming or combining in additions.  It is literally mix wet ingredients – pour onto dry ingredients – bake.  And what a beautiful little cupcake it makes.  It’s yellow, with quite a dense yet tender sponge, topped with a beautifully rounded golden dome.  It cracks slightly but this can easily be covered with frosting.  They tasted very vanilla and cakey with just a slight tang from the yogurt, which definitely lifted and lightened the flavour.  I was extremely happy with these cakes and decided almost immediately I would be using them for my wedding order in a fortnight’s time – hooray success! However,  for the batch at hand, to jazz things up a bit I decided to go with a blueberry theme.  I filled the cupcakes with blueberry jam, folded the same jam into the buttercream and topped them off with a fresh blueberry.

A note on the buttercream.  If you’re wondering, this is the best buttercream I have come across.  It is a simple formula that basically combines butter and icing sugar so the key here is to buy the best butter you can find (and are happy to pay for) and in my experience that means the shortest list of ingredients.  If you’re unsure of what type of butter you’re buying, this link might help.  The butter I buy comes from Belgium and consists of just pasteurized cream, it’s creamy, pale and pure and really elevates this simple and really quite humble buttercream.

Very Vanilla Cupcakes

adapted from ‘What to cook & How to cook it’

• 6oz (175g) unsalted butter – melted and cooled
• ½ (150ml) cup plain (natural) yogurt (at room temperature)
• 4 medium eggs (at room temperature)
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
• 6oz (175g) caster sugar
• 5oz (150g) self-raising flour
• 3.5oz (100g) plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp sea salt

• BEST BUTTERCREAM – see recipe below

• Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F – Line 12 muffin tin cups.

• Whisk the eggs in a measuring jug and set aside.

• In a medium bowl combine the cooled melted butter and the yogurt.

• Add the vanilla and whisk by hand.

• In a large bowl whisk the sugar, flours, and baking powder and then make a well in the centre.

• Using a spatula, gently yet thoroughly mix the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until incorporated.  DON’T OVERMIX.

• Use an ice cream scoop to fill the cases just over ¾ full.

• Bake for 20 minutes or until the cakes are golden domes then remove from the oven and leave them to cool for in the tin for 5 minutes.

To Fill the Cakes

• Use a cake corer to remove the middles or alternatively use a small sharp knife to cut out a cone shape from the top of the cupcake.

• Fill with blueberry jam or the filling of your choice

• Stir in approximately 2 tablespoons of the same blueberry jam into the buttercream (see below)

• Pipe on top of cupcakes, making sure to cover jam filled hole.

• Top with blueberry!

BEST Buttercream Recipe

• 4oz (115g) butter (room temperature)
• 8oz (260g) icing sugar (thoroughly sifted)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract)

• Beat the butter in the mixer until smooth and pale (less than a minute)

• Beat in the icing sugar in 2 or 3 additions

• Add vanilla and milk – beat until fully incorporated and fluffy

I’ve been making these a lot this summer.  It’s hot and humid here but on a clear day the sky is a bright blue and the sun almost scorches your skin.  I love it and it makes you forget what the rest of the week was like, humid, hazy, soggy and sweaty with probably a thunderstorm or two to boot.  Welcome to the unpredictability of a Hong Kong Summer.  To cool off and ‘chill’ there’s the option, assuming you’ve reserved well enough in advance, to take to the seas on a junk – the government officially classes them as ‘pleasure vessels’ and for once I’d have to agree with them.  Everyone brings beers, cocktails and a potluck dish for lunch and it’s usually an amazing day of fun and frolics.  By 5 o’clock however, heading back to harbour after a day of sun, sea and swimming, you’re kind of craving something cakey and sweet and that’s where my teatime treat comes in.  I’ve brought Nautical but Nice Cupcakes and Crow’s Nest & Cutlass Cupcakes – and yes everyone loves a cupcake but carrying 3-dozen of them in one hand with your full to the brim cool box in the other is a tall order!  I’m also not a fan of leaving the frosted cupcakes on a hot boat for hours, as even the sturdiest of buttercreams tends to start shimmering.  So this summer I switched to muffins and though not a crowd WOW-er like their rock star cousins, they most definitely are still a crowd pleaser.

To be honest, I’ve been looking for a decent muffin recipe for yonks and they always seemed to just turn out like sweet cake – with berries in them.  This however is what I consider to be a good muffin. It shouldn’t be too sweet, as I just said; it’s not a cake.  It should be moist (not wet) rather than dry and crumbly.  It should be light and lively yet still be substantial.  It should be generously filled with fruit or other such ingredients, THROUGHOUT, not just sprinkled on top for show.  And finally it should have an awesome muffin top, something I haven’t quite mastered but am working on, nice and crisp, perhaps with a bit of crunch, to contrast its tender heart.

Raspberry Ricotta Muffins

(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Recipe – Makes approx. 24 muffins )

• 1½ cup ricotta, preferably at room temperature
• 4 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/3 cup sugar (I used half brown half white – but all white is fine too)
• Finely grated zest of 2 limes
• 4 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½  teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 ½  cups raspberries (I used frozen)

  

• Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F – Line 24 muffin tin cups.

• In a large bowl rub the lime zest into the sugar with your fingers – I do this stage in the mixer as I find it works almost as well (and preserves my manicure) – then set aside

• Add the eggs to an empty mixer bowl and beat for a moment.  Add the vanilla and ricotta and mix until combined

• Stir in the cooled, melted butter.

• In a large bowl, whisk the sugar into the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

  Pour the ricotta and egg mixture on top of the dry ingredients and gently fold in with a rubber spatula.  The batter will be heavy and thick, this is normal.  If it seems too stiff it probably means your ingredients are too cold.

• Toss the raspberries in a tablespoon of flour.  This prevents them sinking to the bottom of the muffin.  Fold the raspberries into the mixture.

• Using an ice cream scoop, measure the batter into the cases.  If you want a decent muffin top, they should be filled almost to the top (don’t be stingy).

• Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes until cake tester inserted into the muffin comes out clean.  The tops should be golden.

• They are best served on the day they are baked.  Apparently they can be frozen and reheated in a warm oven, but mine never last that long!

These muffins are awesome for all the said reasons and some folks have even said they’re almost cheesecake-esque, not surprising considering the addition of ricotta – yum!  The rubbing of zest into the sugar is Dorie’s top tip, it’s completely genius (works even better with lemon!) and since discovering this method a few years ago I now do it with nearly all recipes that call for a citrus zest.  The lime here however is very subtle and really just complements the raspberry and adds another layer of flavour, I mean, they’re not called lime muffins are they.  So, if you haven’t yet got a favourite muffin recipe or even if you have, give these beauties a try – you won’t regret it!

Wedding cupcakes – always a stressful time because it’s the bride and groom’s one special day, and everything’s supposed to be perfect (or close enough).  That includes the cake(s) of which the cutting is a bit of a Kodak moment and you’ve only got one chance to get it right, just so… and take a breath.  To be perfectly honest the stress of wedding cakes doesn’t really sit well with me and although I’ve done a few weddings I only really say yes to family and friends.  Just recently I was asked to do a small number of wedding cupcakes where the lovely bride asked for simple and elegant yet tasty. I thought, great, a nice classic, I’ll just do something like plain vanilla until I realised… hold up – I don’t have a plain vanilla recipe!

Well that’s not entirely true, I’ve done Victoria Sandwich Sponge cupcakes probably more times than I can remember but to be honest I don’t think they bake up that well in muffin pans (a couple always decide to overflow and you end up with a cupcake that looks more like a toadstool!).  I think also for a while I used the magnolia vanilla cake recipe but if it’s that unmemorable then maybe its better left that way.  So in preparation to finding a suitable plain cake for my wedding order I realized that I was in fact on a quest to find the (near) perfect vanilla cupcake!

While perusing the pages of adhoc at home for my über indulgent brownies I excitedly came across this recipe for white cupcakes.  My enthusiasm was born I think from the fact that not coming from the States or North America, I had no idea what a white cake actually was.  All I knew was it sounded good and I was desperate to try them and finally here was my chance.

White Cupcakes – Thomas Keller, adhoc at home

Makes approx. 24 cupcakes

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ¾ tsp. sea salt
• 6 ounces butter (room temperature)
• 2 ¾ cups caster sugar (1 ½ cups + 1 ¼ cups)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• ¾ cup egg whites (approx 6 eggs – room temperature)

Dark Chocolate Crème Fraîche Ganache Recipe here.

White Chocolate Crème Fraîche Ganache Recipe here.

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F – Line 24 muffin tin cups.

• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

• Cream the butter in the stand mixer and then gradually add the 1-½ cups of sugar

• Beat until the mixture is pale and thick, probably around 5 minutes.  You will need to scrape down the bowl a couple of times.

• Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, each time followed by ½ the milk and vanilla.

• When incorporated, transfer the thick batter to a large clean bowl.

• Wash the mixer bowl thoroughly and add the egg whites.  Whisk on medium until they begin to foam.

• Increase the speed to medium/high and slowly add the remaining 1-¼ cups sugar.

• Beat on high until the whites are glossy and thick, not quite stiff peaks.

• Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and finally fold in the rest.

• Using an ice cream scoop or a 1/3 measuring cup, scoop the batter into the cases.

• Bake in oven for 20 minutes until cake tester inserted into the sponge comes out clean.

So was I pleased with my newfound recipe? In a way yes, they baked up perfectly.  The crumb is small and close and the cake is well, white.  They rose to a lovely little dome and I left them to brown until golden.  Not sure if that was why the dome was slightly like a crust randomly dotted with air bubbles.  And did I mention the cake inside was white?  When they say white cake that’s really what they mean, the colour had me slightly captivated.  The recipe was simple and successful but to be honest a little basic for a wedding.  As for the taste that was also plain.  I love a buttery yellow cake but it took baking and tasting a white cake to realise that.  The texture was what made it for me; it was soft, delicate and tender and reminded me a lot of a red velvet cupcake (not in taste or colour obviously).  To dress up these simple cupcakes, I went with a rich and decadent dark chocolate crème fraîche ganache, which was probably too much for this modest cake, though I didn’t hear anyone complaining.

If you asked me I would say I didn’t make big cakes but really I do, just occasionally, for family and close friends.  Usually they’re pink and girly for baby’s first birthday , or just cute, chocolatey and covered in bears. So with a very special 2^nd birthday party coming up it was time to start thinking.  The problem was my mind was elsewhere, obsessing over perfecting a fleur de sel caramel tart to be precise, rather than what might tickle a sweet little 2 year old’s fancy!  Fortunately for the birthday girl I chanced upon the cutest most adorable handmade bunny chocolates I had ever seen and almost in an instant I had my idea.

• Triple layer chocolate cake – because lets face it , everyone loves chocolate cake.
• White chocolate crème fraîche ganache – filled and frosted (its girly and sweet and yes this would finally be the end of my Valrhona stash)
• Pink strawberry flavoured chocolate buttons – Sitting in jars at the back of the pantry just WAITING for a party like this!
• White chocolate pearls – tiny toddler fingers just love picking at these little bad boys good girls.
• Adorable rice crispy coated handmade white chocolate bunnies! – done and DONE!

I don’t often say this but I was particularly pleased with this cake.  It all came together perfectly (despite the searing temperatures).  After the success of last month’s dark chocolate ganache in the chocolate truffle cake, I really wanted to see if it would work as well with white and it did.  After my white chocolate ganache wedding cupcake extravaganza back in October I didn’t think I would be able to face any more for at least another year.  But this technically isn’t a true ganache, the crème fraîche lightens and brightens it while the icing sugar stabilises it.  That said I would NOT advise making this frosting in the middle of summer.  It’s still very delicate and would not last outside of the air con for more than 10 to 15 minutes.  While we were transporting this cake (in an air-conditioned 10 minute car ride) one of the bunnies already started to slip.  That said it really is a delicious and decadent frosting so if you want something fancy, light (in colour) and the weather’s a bit cooler, please give this a try.

White Chocolate Crème Fraîche Ganache

This cake was pretty big.  3 layers of your favourite chocolate cake filled and then completely frosted with the ganache.  It seems like a ridiculous amount of ingredients but it frosted this cake generously with only a tiny bit spare.

• 800g (28oz) white chocolate (I used half Valrhona – yes! it’s finished -  & half Lindt)
• 200g (7oz) unsalted butter
• 400g (14oz) icing sugar (WELL SIFTED)
• 1000ml (4¼ cups) Crème Fraîche (this should also work with sour cream or heavy cream)

1. Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl – make sure there are NO LUMPS.

2. Place another large (preferably glass) bowl over a pan of just simmering water. Make sure the bowl is not touching the water.

3. Break the white chocolate up and place into the bowl.   Add the butter.  Leave it to melt for 2 or 3 minutes – stirring every now and then.

4. Don’t take your eyes off it; white chocolate has the tendency to go grainy if over heated.  You’re looking for smooth and glossy.

5. Pour the hot melted chocolate and the crème fraîche over the icing sugar in the large bowl and stir or whisk until fully incorporated.

6. As it cools the mixture will thicken.

It is the height of summer here right now so I had to put it in the fridge for a couple of hours until it thickened up to spreading consistency.

Zomg call me naïve but this recipe is extreme!  What cookie contains 20 different ingredients? What cookie calls for a ‘Graham Crust’ to be specially prepared, just to then be mixed into the final dough!  Umm.. what cookie has crisps in it?! Yes Potato Chips! Pretzels in a cookie? I was captivated. If you’re from the States then more than likely you’ll have heard of compost cookies, also named kitchen sink cookies or even garbage cookies! But I had never heard of anything like them, which was why I was so fascinated and intrigued when I came across Christina Tosi’s Momofuku Milk Bar’s Recipe for Compost cookies.

The irony here however is that this style of cookie seems to have originated from the necessity to use up all the snacky odds and ends in your pantry.  You know all those leftover chips, pretzels and crackers you have lying around – Yeah right!?  I had to go out and purchase everything for this recipe, which initially made me feel a little ridiculous.  I sort of compared it (perhaps stereotypically) to Joe Normal, somewhere in the depths of SE Asia, going out and buying everything they might need to whip up a batch of bubble and squeak!  But once I had this recipe in my mind I just couldn’t shake it.  It was however a long 6 or 8 weeks until I was able to make my compost cookies as I had trouble getting my hands on a few of the ingredients (again the irony).  A bottle of liquid glucose?  Come again? A friend managed to track some down in this out of the way baking supply shop but what the heck even is that? (from what I could gather, the glucose inhibits sugar crystal formation and should make for a softer moister baked good?) Butterscotch chips? I had to look them up too and then decided I was glad they weren’t readily available here as their first ingredient was sugar followed by palm oil and then a host of artificial colours and flavours(!) and so substituted white chocolate chunks instead (surprise-surprise).

Once I had corralled all my so-called pantry staples, this cookie batter alone took me almost 2 hours to prepare (I’m not selling this am I), although it may have had something to do with me having to first make the graham cracker crust, and then chop up the chocolate chips, white and dark as well.  At one stage in the recipe, the batter calls for 7 to 8 minutes of beating!  I sat and sweated as 8 minutes slowly ticked by and I even googled “why do these cookies need to be beaten so long” but came up empty (believe it has something to do with breaking down the sugar crystals and obviously incorporating air which apparently leads to a ‘chewier’ cookie with superior texture?)  And as I finally scooped the last bit of cookie dough into a giant 1/3-cup ball (which I was convinced by this point was WAY too big) I was ready to concede to my theory and that perhaps harder doesn’t actually mean better.

3 days later however, after the New York Times cookie recipe, I can’t not leave my cookie dough to rest and ‘mature ’ for at least 72 hours, I was gladly proven wrong (or is that right) as the most glorious golden cookies were pulled out the oven.  Were they pretty? Yes, it that ‘only a mother could love’ kinda way, and boy were they tasty!  Most certainly worth all the hassle, special shopping, graham crust making and all the rest!  Although I won’t be making these ‘loaded’ cookies on a regular basis (just from a calorific standpoint) I will be making them again in the near future… and again… and am now keen (read desperate) to try some of Tosi’s other cookie recipes – Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies anyone?

Compost Cookies – Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar

 Cookie Dough

• 225 grams (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
• 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 150 grams (2⁄3 cup, tightly packed) light brown sugar
• 50 grams (2 Tbsp.) glucose
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp.vanilla extract
• 225 grams (1 1/3 cups) flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp.baking soda
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 150 grams (3/4 cup) 70% chocolate chunks (I used Lindt)
• 100 grams (1/2 cup) white chocolate chunks (I used Valrhona)
• 1/4 recipe Graham Crust (85 grams or 1/2 cup) (see recipe below)
• 40 grams (1/3 cup) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 1/2 tsp. ground coffee* (I used lavazza)
• 50 grams (2 cups) potato chips – definitely use kettle or something equally as sturdy – I used kettle ready salted.
• 50 grams (1 cup) mini pretzels

• Cream the butter, sugars and liquid glucose in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for up to 3 minutes.

• Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and vanilla.  Beat for 7 to 8 minutes.

• Combine the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add to the mixture and on low speed stir until it just comes together.  DON’T OVERMIX.  Scrape down the bowl again.

• Add the chips/chunks, graham crust, oats and coffee and again slowly mix until just incorporated.

• At this point my bowl got very full (due to the double batch) and I tipped the mixture out into a big bowl and added the crisps/potato chips and pretzels and mixed by hand.  This way lots of crisps and pretzels remained whole.

• I used a 1⁄3-cup ice-cream scoop to then portion out the dough.  You could go a little smaller here but not much – these cookies were born to be BIG.  Line a large plastic container with greaseproof paper and store your ‘scoops’ in here in the fridge while they ‘mature’.

• Technically you could bake after an hour of cooling time but I baked the majority of the batch 3 days later and  left the last 4 cookies a week in the fridge.  ‘Just baked’ whenever you want!

To Bake

• Preheat oven 190°C/375°F – Prepare 2 large lined baking trays

• Arrange the chilled dough on your lined baking trays.  Don’t crowd.  I only placed 4 cookies per tray as they are big and spread quite considerably.

• Bake for 18 minutes until the centres are golden and the edges browned.

• Cool on baking tray at least 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a cooling rack.  These cookies are large and heavy and are quite fragile until completely cooled.

• Eat fresh that day.  If you store them in an airtight container they will soften overnight and lose their chew.  I preferred storing them in the fridge.

Graham Cracker Crust

• 190 grams (1 1/2 cups) graham cracker crumbs
• 20 grams (1/4 cup) milk powder
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 3/4 tsp. sea salt
• 55 grams ( 1/2 stick) butter, melted, or as needed
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

• Toss the graham crumbs, milk powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.

• Whisk the butter and heavy cream together.

• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until mixed

I appreciate that some of you may never have heard of a lamington before and to be honest I’m not sure I had even tasted one before I made these, but this well-loved Australian icon has had more than its fair share of interest and intrigue over the years!  Lamingtons have probably been on my ‘to bake’ list for a while now, so when a colleague of mine was marrying an Aussie bloke it seemed like the time.  Take a cube of dense buttery cake, dunk it in a well of chocolatey icing and finally toss it in some desiccated coconut, and that my friends, if you were wondering, is a lamington.

Their disputed origin has been the topic of much discussion and it seems even now, over 100 years after their conception, Australians, are still unclear as to where or how they were conceived.  Actually that’s not true, all evidence points to Queensland, Australia and most likely the capital of the state, the City of Brisbane.  The ‘how’, however is something else. The most popular explanation dates back to the turn of the 20th century when the maid of the then Governor of Brisbane, Lord Lamington, dropped a sponge cake into a bowl of chocolate (hate it when that happens) and then tried to rectify her mistake, by rolling the cake in desiccated coconut in order to make it easier to handle.  Some even say it was Lord Lamington’s idea to roll it in the coconut although I find it hard to believe that a man, never mind a Governor, was hanging out in the scullery circa 1903!

Another less publicised, but slightly more believable version was that Lord and Lady Lamington hired a French chef who then presented the treat for afternoon tea.  The idea caught on and next thing you know all the well-to-do ladies of Brisbane were requesting the lamington.

More recently, in an attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery, journalists and researchers have delved deeper into historic records, newspaper clipping and recipe files and now say maybe Amy Schauer, a cooking teacher at the Brisbane Central Technical College around the turn of the century was perhaps the inventor of the illusive lamington.  Schauer worked at the college for over 30 years and was said to name the cake after the schools patroness, Lady Lamington!

Whatever the story, I don’t pretend to be an expert on Australian history or culture.  I was just intrigued by the tale and was curious when almost every website I visited had a different version to tell (although the maid in the scullery seems to be the most loved).  All sources also agree that in a hot and dry climate like Australia; sponge cake dries out quick, coating it in chocolate icing seals in the moisture and desiccated coconut keeps the messy chocolate from getting everywhere.  Good enough reasons for most people I’d say.  (I actually love the logic)

Lamingtons

You can use your favourite butter cake (for a denser lamington) or sponge recipe for something lighter.  Here’s the recipe I used that was sent to me by my Australian lamington ‘consultant’ for a nice heavy buttery cake and of course the icing. (I made a double batch which is why you see 4 eggs in the picture!

Cake

• 1/2 cup (125g) butter
• ¾ cup (170g) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups (670g) Self Raising flour
• ½ (125ml) cup of milk

Icing

• 1lb (500g) icing sugar
• 4 tablespoon cocoa
• ½ cup (125ml) boiling water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups (160g) desiccated coconut

• Preheat oven 180°C/350°F – Prepare an 8 inch (22cm) square baking pan w/ grease proof paper.

• Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually and beat until light and airy.

• Slowly add the egg until it is all incorporated.

• Fold in the flour, and then the milk and vanilla in 2 additions.

• Beat well for 1 minute.

• Spread into prepared tin and bake for approx. 30 mins.

• Cake should be well risen and a cake tester should come out clean.

• Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then carefully turn out onto a cooling rack.

Icing the Lamingtons

It is best to use cake that is a day old for this recipe or at least been in the fridge or freezer for a few hours prior to icing.

• Cut the cake into cubes

• Sift icing sugar and cocoa together.

• Whisk with boiling water and vanilla.

• Add the butter and whisk until smooth.

• The mixture should be thin, if it starts to thicken up, add another tablespoon of boiling water.

• Place the squares into the icing in batches.

• Using a fork or chopsticks drop into the desiccated coconut and toss

• Place the lamington on greaseproof paper to set.

• Lamingtons are thought best if they are left to ‘mature’ for at least a few hours before serving. Keep well sealed.

If you like coconut you’re really going to like these, they’re unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before (bar maybe a bounty).  I’m glad I made them quite small so they weren’t too overbearing and the cake to chocolate to coconut ratio worked out pretty nicely.  Now that I have given it a go and know that it is easier to do then I was expecting, I might try a lighter sponge recipe next time as I reckon the chocolate might seep even further into a cake that was more airy.  Although the purist in me shudders, lamingtons, or ‘lammos’ if we’re striving for authenticity, are also available these days filled with jam or cream or even with different flavour icings.  Carrot cake lammo anyone?  I’m very pleased I gave these a whirl and will definitely be making them again – any of you fancy trying these this summer? – National Lamington day is the 21st of July!

So in my predicament I turned to a simple but comprehensive cook book filled with step by step photographs and clear instructions and found what I hoped would be the birthday cake to end all birthday cakes – chocolate truffle cake.  I’ll have to admit I was a little dubious at first due to the fact it was of the ‘all-in-one’ variety.  I’m not proud to admit this but I’m a bit of a glutton for punishment when it comes to challenging recipes most probably originating from the Asian persuasion of harder must be better.   But time was running short and this was the best I had come across, the photograph looked amazing and it was also one of the few I had found that included a decent amount of actual chocolate in the recipe – it fit the bill so off I went.

Chocolate Truffle cake with Crème Fraîche Ganache

Adapted from ‘What to Cook and How to Cook it’ by Jane Hornby
(Makes 3 thin cakes (layers) or 2 regular)

Chocolate Truffle Cake

• 200g (7oz) dark chocolate (70%) - melted
• 200g (7oz) unsalted butter (room temperature) - cut into pieces
• 200g (7oz) caster sugar
• 100g (4oz) brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 150ml (2/3 cup) natural yogurt or buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150g (5oz) self-raising flour
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 25g (1oz) cocoa powder - sifted

• Preheat oven 160°C/325°F – Prepare three 8 inch round baking pans w/ grease proof paper.

• Melt the chocolate (see ganache instructions below).

• In your mixer bowl place, unsalted butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, self-raising flour, salt, cocoa powder (sifted), yogurt, vanilla and 4 eggs.

• Beat everything together until fully incorporated (don’t overbeat).

• Pour in the melted chocolate and beat again until smooth and glossy.

• Divide the mixture between the three pans – I always use scales, as it’s a quick and reliable way of making sure all pans have equal amounts of mixture.

• Bake for 35-40 minutes.

• Cakes should be well risen and a cake tester should come out clean.

• Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then carefully turn out onto a cooling rack.

Crème Fraîche Ganache

• 200g (7oz) dark chocolate (70%)
• 50g (2oz) unsalted butter
• 100g (4oz) icing sugar (WELL SIFTED)
• 300ml Crème Fraîche (you could also use sour cream or heavy cream)

• Place a large (preferably glass) bowl over a pan of just simmering water. Make sure the bowl is not touching the water.

• Break the chocolate up and place into the bowl.

• Leave the chocolate to melt for about 5 minutes – stirring every now and then.

• Place the butter into the bowl and stir until melted.  The mixture should be smooth and glossy.

• Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl – make sure there are NO LUMPS.

• Pour in the hot melted chocolate and the crème fraîche and stir until fully incorporated.

• As it cools the mixture will thicken.

• Using a palette knife spread a decent amount of ganache between each layer of cake and then cover the cake with the rest.

• Decorate with whatever you fancy; I went with white chocolate crunchy pearls, which contrasted nicely with the rich, flat and dark ganache.

The ganache was an undisputed success.  I love ganache but it can sometimes be a little OTT , is often awash with performance anxiety and  plagued with longer than expected waits for it to reach the desired consistency.  With this ganache however, after fighting the natural urge NOT to pour icing sugar into molten chocolate, you actually find yourself with a bowl full of wonderful, perfectly workable frosting within the space of 10 or so minutes.  I’ve made this both with cream and crème fraîche and think I found the latter to be easier and speedier with the bonus of a delightful tang.  If traditional ganache has always give you the F.E.A.R. (Future Events Already Ruined) then this is for you.  It was almost effortless and extremely delicious – a definite winner,  and has been added to my growing arsenal of no-fail frostings!

So was it the birthday cake of MY dreams? No not really in the cakey crumby sense that I was looking for – it was however, dense and fudgy with almost a ‘flour-less’ chocolate cake texture.  But let’s not forget, it wasn’t my birthday.  Did the birthday girl and everyone else love it? Absolutely.  It is a beautiful cake, robust, compact, full bodied yet delicate, what I would call more of an ‘adult’ cake – though the kid’s chocolate covered hands and faces told me otherwise.  And let’s not forget how very straightforward it was to put together.  In terms of ‘effort OUT, reward IN’ this cake is a huge win.

Need Fancy Cake Fast? Look no further.

Whether you’re a royalist or not, what better way to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee than with classic scones, cream and jam?  Considering we are 6000 miles away from Blighty, I was in fact invited to 3 jubilee get-togethers last week, all fortunately good excuses to indulge in a spot of British grub and don a bit of red white and blue!  In addition to a scrumptious coronation chicken recipe I discovered, I also managed to knock out about 100 scones in the week, much to everyone’s delight.  Years ago on a trip to the west country, I was lucky enough to have had the ‘real deal’ and sampled both Cornish cream teas and Devonshire cream teas although I can’t remember there being a whole lot of debate about the way they were served!  Either way, with heavenly clotted cream and homemade jam, these were to die for. Unfortunately I couldn’t get my hands on any clotted cream this time so had to settle for a thick whipped cream, which is still lovely. I have also been known, in a less traditional moment, to serve crème fraîche for a (slightly) lighter version.

For added royal flavour I managed to get hold of some of this beautiful organic self-raising flour from Duchy Originals, a UK company committed to providing high quality, sustainable British organic produce, that was founded by Prince Charles in the early nineties.  These scones were probably the best I have made and since the only thing different to usual was the flour, I’m putting it down to that.  Even if you can’t find this flour, for all baking, but especially for scones I urge you to get the best and freshest flour you can find as it really makes a difference.  I also appreciate that if you are from some parts of the world, notably north America, you may never have heard of self raising flour – don’t fret, you can substitute, and although I’ve never tried it, its worth a try!

So here, I hope, is a straightforward step by step of how to bake stunningly simple scones:

Nan’s Plain Scones

• 450g (1lb) self-raising flour (plus extra for rolling/dusting)
• 100g (4oz) unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons caster sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 300ml (1 ¼ cup) milk

• Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F and line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.

• Sieve your flour

• Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs.

• Stir through the sugar and salt.

• Using a metal spoon or pallet knife, gradually stir in the milk.  Use only as much as you need to form a ball of dough.

• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and very gently and briefly knead.  The LESS  you ‘handle’ the dough, the better it will be.

• Roll dough in one direction, just enough, to a thickness of 2cm (3/4 inch).  Any thinner and your scones will be flat.  If unsure, go thicker.

• Using a floured 2″ plain pastry cutter cut out the scones.  Be sure not to twist the cutter to release the dough as this will result in very lop sided scones.

• Knead the trimmings back into a ball and roll again, continue to cut until all the dough has been used.

• DON’T OVERWORK THE DOUGH.

• Dust with a little flour and bake in a hot over for approx 14 mins.

• Scones are ready when both the tops and bottoms are golden and they sound hollow when tapped.

• Best served warm or within a few hours of baking. (can also be frozen)

• Split in half and enjoy with butter and jam or clotted/whipped cream and jam or all three!

Scones are a tradition in my family, I remember my Nan making these delicious scones and my Mum still makes them so I feel very proud to have finally become an accomplished scone maker!  Scones can be as modest or as decadent as you choose which makes them perfect for any occasion.  They also take very little time to knock up and require hardly any specialist equipment.   If you love scones but have never thought to make them yourself, or have never tried making them, give this recipe a whirl – You won’t be disappointed! Oh and for the record, I pronounce it scone, rhymes with gone, not bone.

Congratulations on your Diamond Jubilee, Your Majesty.

Now that’s a bit of a mouthful!

Last weekend, I found myself going through my baking cupboards, taking stock of what was in there and (as usual) finding things I bought months and months ago and had forgotten about!

You see the problem is I’m a bit of a hoarder/buyer and I often buy bits and pieces when I see them, not necessarily for a specific reason but in case I may need them some day. I won’t bore you with all the things that I have now brought to the front of the cupboard, into the ‘use soon’ section, but what I will tell you is that I found a kilo slab (2.2lbs) of Valrhona Ivoire – white chocolate – that needs using a.s.a.p.

As some of you might remember, back in October last year I made some beautiful wedding cupcakes that I topped with white chocolate ganache and a fresh carnation.  Although the bride and groom were thrilled with the cakes, as were I, by the end of October, numerous test batches and trials, 150 actual wedding cupcakes and 5 kgs (11lbs) of white chocolate later, I was so sick of the stuff I never wanted to see it again! I wrapped it up, shoved it in the back of the cupboard and here we now are.

But I was torn – to me white chocolate always adorns and enhances quite decadent treats, like topping a champagne raspberry coulis filled cupcake or snuggling with macadamia nuts in an incredible cookie!  But it was a rainy Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t meeting anyone or going anywhere fancy and so felt a bit stuck for ideas.  That was until I stopped thinking spectacular and started thinking sensible and decided that the only real option was muffins.  Muffins are wonderful for times like those because they are no fuss, (usually) one bowl and don’t require any primping or preening once out of the oven. So muffins it was.

But first, my chunks.  I had to cut; slice and chop the 200g section in all sorts of directions and ways and managed to whittle the block down into some impressive hunks.  I love rough chunks like this and more often then not use them in my baking. This particular recipe called for 1 ½ cups of white chocolate and as luck would have it 200g chops up to just about 1 ½ cups. Result!

Valrhona White Chocolate Chunk                                      Buttermilk Chocolate Muffins

(adapted from taste of home)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (you know what I used!)

1. Preheat oven to 190°C/400°F – Line at least 18 muffin tin cups

2. Mix the flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large bowl using a whisk.

3. Mix the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract in another bowl.  Use the same whisk to whisk them together.

4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just mixed.

5. Fold in the white chocolate chunks.

6. Fill the muffin cups until almost full (if you want them to achieve a proper muffin top)

7. Bake in oven for 14-18 minutes until cake tester inserted into the muffin comes out clean.

8. Cool for 5-10 minutes in pans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I’ve made these a couple of times now and I have to confess that I kept the first batch in for 18 or 19 minutes and they were slightly dry.  Another minute or two more and they would have been scorched.  So keep your eye on them.  Aside from that slight mishap, the muffins turned out nicely.  My favourite element is the fact they rise beautifully into a great muffin top dome, essential I believe in a decent muffin (how many times have I been disappointed by a halfhearted muffin that barely rose above the wrapper!).  The buttermilk provided a nice soft crumb although next time I make them I may up the butter to 2/3 of a cup as I think they could go a bit richer.   At the end of the day I was happy that I made good use of the white chocolate in a nice, simple and straightforward recipe.

Now only 800g (1¾ lbs) to go!

Brownies – everyone loves brownies right?  Or do they? It’s not something I make very often, for the most part because I don’t think they’re worth it.  What I mean is, I believe that the Butter/Chocolate (Mmmm) vs. Enjoyment ratio just isn’t high enough on your standard brownie. Why would I cook with and then consume enough saturated fats to make Dr. Oz see red for a treat that is just on the right side of tasty? I know, I know for plenty of people that ratio IS high enough but just not for me.  And don’t even get me started on store/café bought brownies that have hardly any butter or chocolate in them and are basically bulked out with copious amounts of sugar! TASTE-LESS

But enough of badmouthing brownies – I just had to share with you how I felt about them so you can fully comprehend the magnitude of what I’m about to say.  These adhoc brownies will blow your mind.   No kidding.  They’ve got more butter in them than I’d ever dream of saying was worth it and yet their deliciousness wins through.

I know Thomas Keller has been in the bad books this last month for comments he made on sustainability/carbon foot prints etc in the New York Times, but disagreeing with his politics and loving his brownie recipe are two separate issues, of which I’m only going to go into one today.

I only bought ‘adhoc at home’ about a year ago but really should have made these brownies sooner.  Its packed with some great recipes and it really is a beautiful book (although it’s BIG and HEAVY and the funny squarishness of it makes is stick out the bookcase much farther than the rest!)

Here’s a quick step by step of how I whipped them up.  If you think it seems like a lot of ingredients, I doubled the recipe – I don’t do much by halves.

Ad Hoc Brownies 

(barely adapted from ‘Adhoc at Home‘ – makes 2 pans)

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 2 cups unsweetened cocoa
• 2 tsp kosher salt – I used fleur de sel
• 3 cups of decent chocolate (approx 3oog) cut into chips
• 2 cups of walnuts – chopped as small as you like
• 6 sticks of unsalted butter (750g)
• 6 large eggs
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• icing sugar for dusting

• Preheat oven 180°C/350°F – Prepare two 8 inch square baking pans w/ grease proof paper (sides as well)

• Sift the flour and cocoa then add the salt.

• The recipe called for 61% – 64% chocolate chips-  I used half 85% and half milk – both Lindt.  I also added walnuts because to me a brownie isn’t a brownie without walnuts – nuts give that much needed balance.

• Cut the butter up into cubes.  Place 1/2 the butter in a saucepan and the other 1/2 in a heatproof bowl.  When melted pour one over the other.  Stir to melt and leave to cool.  There should still be small pieces of butter visible.

• Using a stand mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar.  Continue for at least 3 minutes until mixture has thickened.  It will be pale and creamy – stir in the vanilla.

• On low speed add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients – follow by 1/3 of the butter.  Continue in two further additions.  Add the chocolate and walnuts and stir well.

• Spread the batter in the pan and bake for 50 to 60 min.  Brownies are cooked when cake tester come out almost clean.  Mine took 60 minutes but I started testing at 45min.  I won’t next time.  If you use a 9 inch pan you probably want to check at 45min though.

• Cool in pan  (for at least an hour then carefully transfer to cutting board).  I refrigerated for a couple of hours in order to get a clean cut.

As always the question is, will I be making these again? Definitely.  They’re rich and fudgy with a strong chocolatey flavour.  If chewy is what you’re looking for then these probably aren’t for you.  They’re not sickly sweet and have almost a caramel after taste (probably from those random mini pockets of butter!)  When taken from the fridge you can cut them with a sharp knife into beautifully neat squares or rectangles (if you’re like me) and I cut 24 small pieces from 1 pan.

Theses brownies come back to room temperature very well and even though they are absolutely perfect as they are, they would be luscious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some crème fraîche.  So tell me, was I the only person who wasn’t a brownie fan before these adhoc brownies?

I hope you lovely mums out there had an enjoyable mother’s day.  I know we did.

My mum loves cakes and desserts but her and I actually have quite different tastes when it comes sweets and treats.  As it was mother’s day I really wanted to bake something suited to her tastes and decided The Hummingbird Bakery -  Cake Days was probably where I was going to find it.

I haven’t had much luck with cupcake cookbooks and as a rule I generally stay well away – think I’ve been ‘burned’ one too many times by those mass-produced generic ‘beauties’ that everyone thinks you’ll love.  But I digress, what I wanted to say was an old friend from Uni came over from the UK in March and brought me the book for a present.  As I flicked through the pages I saw recipe after recipe that I knew my mum would love.  It must have been the British-ness of it all (custard, cream, crumble etc).  So after much deliberation I went for the ‘rhubarb and almond loaf’, except I made quite a few changes.

I’ll fill you in on what I did differently and then I’ll give you my take on the recipe.

Oo-errr – never done that before!

cake pan / quantity – I considered a loaf tin as the original recipe called for one but then as always thought cupcakes would be prettier and so much more appealing – I also doubled the recipe (thank goodness) and ended up with 26 large cupcakes.

rhubarb – rhu-what? You try finding rhubarb in Hong Kong in May (or ever for that matter).    I did find one pack covered in fuzzy mould and just as I thought I would have to choose another recipe I found tinned/canned!   The recipe calls for stewed so I figured it would be fine and to be fair the taste and the texture were adequate.  My problem however lay in the COLOUR.  It looked like I had opened a can of ‘heart of palms’ (whatever they are) or artichokes.  They were achromatic!! I was deeply disappointed – half of the appeal of freshly stewed rhubarb is that beautiful Parisian pink it turns!

Confession time!  These days if something can’t be coloured naturally then I’m not really interested in food colouring – it’s artificial and garish and leaves a horrible taste in the mouth and an unattractive hue on the tongue.  But it was late, there was no time to bake something else and I panicked – I cheated.  I grabbed some pink food colouring and tipped a bit in to the bowl of canned rhubarb.  In my panic I probably put a touch more than I should have but suddenly it was all like it should be (or sort of).  I also doubled the quantity of fruit , its not called slightly rhubarb cake after all.

almonds -  Mum loves almonds (she’s a marzipan fiend) so the more the better.  I didn’t mess with the quantity of ground almonds in the actual cake but I used 3 times the amount of flaked called for in the original recipe to sprinkle on top.

Verdict? ‘marzipan’ Mum loved them (job done!) but I would have to say this is definitely an almond lovers cake.  The texture was dense and slightly crumbly due to the ground almonds with a moist tang from the rhubarb.  The extra flaked almonds on top were a welcome addition and overall a nice teatime cake.  They do need to go in the fridge eventually, due to the ‘wetness’ of the cooked fruit but I must say they tasted just as good chilled.   My natural impulse however is to swap out my ‘colourless and impossible to get’ rhubarb and replace it with cubed plums, baked in from raw. I think that would give this the kick and natural vibrancy that I’m probably looking for. (raspberries would work a treat too!)

Rhubarb & Almond Cupcakes

adapted from the cookbook The Hummingbird Bakery -  Cake Days

24/26 large cupcakes – halve if you only need a dozen (sorry only metric today)

• 380g unsalted butter (room temp.)
• 280g plain flour
• 380g sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 2tsp baking powder
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger (I used grated fresh)
• 50ml milk (I used skimmed)
• approx. 350g stewed rhubarb (I used canned but that would be about 16 sticks fresh and stewed)
• 100g flaked almonds

1. Preheat oven 170°C/325°F – Prepare cupcake wrappers.
2. Using stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Break eggs into jug and lightly beat.  With mixer running at medium speed add egg mixture slowly, waiting for each addition to be incorporated before adding more.  Scrape down bowl half way to ensure everything is evenly mixed.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together plain flour, baking powder, ground almonds, ground cinnamon and ground ginger.
5. Add half of the dry mixture to the wet and and mix with half the milk.  Add the rest of the dry mixture followed by the rest of the milk.  Scrape down sides to incorporate.
6. Fill cupcake wrappers to just over half full.
7. Add a heaping teaspoon and a half of rhubarb on top of the batter.  Push down gently and try to fold in slightly.  Generously sprinkle with flaked almonds.
8. Bake in oven for 50/60 minutes until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the sponge comes out clean.  If your oven runs hot, it may take less time than this.

(clicking the titles will take you directly to the original smitten kitchen post)

lemon yogurt anything cake

I went through a phase of making this wonder cake all the time.  It probably coincided with me buying an EasiYo yoghurt maker, which meant there was always yoghurt in the house that needed using up.   It’s great for using up lemons or blueberries or in fact any citrus fruits or berries that you have in the back of the fridge!  I turned it into cupcakes (surprise surprise) and to be honest this photo just doesn’t do this cake justice.  It’s tart and tangy, yet sweet and moist all at the same time.

black – bottom cupcakes

This was more of a novelty find than anything else. I had never heard of them, but once I tried these little bad-boys I was hooked and it led to a whole host of black-bottom / white-bottom (see below) variations.  If you want cheesecake in a cupcake, look no further!

blueberry boy bait

I fell in love with this cake years ago.  It’s buttery and crumbly with a cinnamon brown sugar topping and loaded with blueberries (I double the amount Deb uses).  I’ve made cakes and cupcakes and filled many a loaf and sheet pan with the stuff – I’ve also probably done just as many raspberry boy baits as I have blueberry.  This was also my first encounter with the American coffee cake… what the…?

chocolate pudding pie

After seeing this combination I couldn’t not bake it; butter rich short crust pastry, soothing chocolatey custard (a.k.a homemade pudding) topped off with whipped fresh cream – what’s not to love?

jacked up banana bread

This is my GO-TO banana bread.  I love it because you don’t have to use the kitchen aid as it can all be mixed in one bowl by hand.    It’s so versatile you can literally add ANYTHING to it.  I’ve done loaves, mini loaves, muffins, cupcakes, plain, raisins, sultanas, cranberries, dates, chocolate chips, cocoa, rum, scotch, bourbon, southern comfort (!), oats, rye flakes, flax seeds, marmalade, honey, carrots, pineapple and apple chunks.  You name it I’ve tried it and it always turns out perfect.  If you haven’t got a favourite no-fail banana bread recipe you do now!

dimply plum cake

Another coffee cake. Yes I must like them and this one is good.  It’s rich and buttery with a hint of spice and nestled within the brown sugar cake lies half a baked plum (or apricot) – ingenious!  But what I love most is how it looks especially where the purple from the skin bleeds into pink all around the edge.  Some of the half plums in the cupcakes even look a bit like hearts, it’s just too cute and clever.

carrot cake with maple-cream cheese frosting

( I use a different frosting)

Here I go saving the best till last.  If you think you already have the best carrot cake recipe out there (I did) then think again – try this I beg you.  This is the cake that I have been asked to make more times than I can remember.  This is the cake that after trying it every baker asks you for the recipe.  This is the cake that turns non-cake lovers into carrot cake lovers (I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes).  I sort of feel like I’m giving a secret away but seeing as it was never my secret in the first place it gives me great pleasure in sharing this knowing how much pleasure you’re going to get from it.  Pay it forward and all that.

So there it is, my SMITTEN KITCHEN HALL OF FAME.  I feel like a small weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  For years I’ve been using recipes from Deb’s site that have been great success stories and become part of my regular baking repertoire but never been able to thank her.  So thank you Deb, from smitten kitchen, for always inspiring, informing and delighting me.

The one blogger that has not only kept me coming back, in this fickle and ever-changing realm that is the blogosphere, but amused, entertained, informed as well as providing me with a wealth of recipes (that actually work! – beautifully!) is Deb from smitten kitchen.  She’s awesome.  She’s probably known as a super blogger or über blogger or something because not only does she blog like a boss, she takes gorgeous photos and also has about a zillion fans – oh dear… does that make me a bloupie?

This month also marks the launch of her first cookbook (woohoo! on pre order here) so I thought I would celebrate with a bit of a tribute post of sorts, that I will now have to split in two and continue tomorrow as it has grown to be a ridiculouslylonganddrawnout post!  How dramatic. Deb commemorated her 5 year anniversary of smitten kitchen with this red wine chocolate cake and as I had a quarter bottle of pinot noir (don’t ask) that needed using, I thought it perfect.

This is the second time I have made this cake and if I’m to be honest it is a touch dry for me though it seems plenty love it.  To compensate and balance however I like to serve it with lashings of crème fraîche and find raspberries complement the dark vino fruity richness of the cake almost too well.

So on with the applause – stay tuned as tomorrow I’ll be posting my all time smitten kitchen favourites in cakebook’s very own… drum roll please… Smitten Kitchen Hall Of Fame – See you then!