I am not a fan of meringue. There, I said it. Please don’t judge me. Even as a kid I wasn’t a fan but to be Australian and to admit in public that you don’t like pavlova, the base of which is an enormous cream-covered meringue – is practically heresy. Continue reading
Winter is here! I think I am the only person in Sydney celebrating the cold snap – most of my friends look at me aghast when I tell them how much I adore the cooler weather.
Boots. Scarves. Coats – fashion is so much more chic when the temperature falls. Another thing that it is better in winter than summer – desserts. In the heat you are really limited to ice-cream, fruit or anything else that requires minimal time in the hot kitchen. Come winter and the kitchen is exactly where I want to be, making cakes, baking brownies and stirring home-made custard. And self-saucing puddings.
Self-saucing puddings are just magic – a simple pudding is topped with a sprinkle of sugar and cocoa then doused with boiling water, which results in a deep, rich sauce.
Growing up we used to make self-saucing puddings in winter all the time and we would all be adamant that we wanted equal quantities pudding and sauce.
My friends from Australian Macadamias recently sent me a massive bag of their delicious macadamias to bake with and I have been going nuts in the kitchen #heHeHe
These delicious nuts are indigenous to Australia and are full of flavour and go perfectly with chocolate. I have loved creating recipes to show off their freshness and taste.
This chocolate macadamia self-saucing pudding is full of flavour. The crunch of the nuts are a perfect foil to the soft, squishy filling of the pudding.
Just a warning – you will want seconds…
Serve with double cream or vanilla ice-cream.
GATHER:
1 cup self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
80g butter, melted, cooled
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
50 grams unsalted macadamias
Sauce:
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/4 cups boiling water
LET’S GET TO IT:
Spray a two litre size glass or ceramic dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Preheat oven to 180C and fill the kettle.
In a large bowl stir together the flour, cocoa and sugar.
In a small jug whisk together the egg, butter and milk then whisk into the dry mix. Use a silver spoon to stir together until combined then sprinkle in the macadamias.
Pour batter into dish. Boil the kettle.
Combine the susauce sugar and cocoa together then sprinkle evenly over the top of the pudding. Carefully pour the boiling water evenly over the top then place in oven.
Bake for 30-35 minutes – the top will spring back when it is cooked. Don’t use the inserted skewer trick to test this recipe as the pudding will be wet from the sauce.
Serve immediately.
If you have been playing along at home you will know that we are the proud owners of many kilograms of lemons that The Hungry Dad picked from his mum’s lemon tree. I have been busy coming up with ways to work their citrusy goodness into all manner of baking. This is not a difficult task, as I am utterly in love with lemon cakes/tarts/biscuits/cookies… Continue reading
I love coconut in all of its forms – freshly cracked, desiccated in cakes, served alongside spicy curries in a sambal, and especially coconut milk. Continue reading
My red KitchenAid is one of my very favourite possessions. The Hungry Dad bought it as a gift for me many years ago, when I was just getting into baking. Talk about full-blown addition – now if I don’t bake at least once a day I feel all jittery until I can get a hit of the baking good stuff. Continue reading
I am in love with dulce de leche! This golden, spreadable caramel sauce is made by slowly heating sweetened condensed milk over a long period. Once you have some in your possession you will want to add it to everything you bake – or it straight from the jar. Or both. Continue reading
This chocolate coffee cake screams ‘after dinner’. Not for the faint hearted, it contains a shock of coffee that will reinvigorate even the sleepiest dinner guest. Continue reading
I often hear people say they don’t have time to make a cake from scratch so they use a packet mix. I am here to dump all over that argument.
This super fast and simple white cake uses stuff you already have in the pantry and takes mere moments to throw together. Don’t have an electric mixer? Beat it by hand like I did. Scared it will fail? Don’t be – it is fool-proof and requires no specialist equipment or knowledge.
Unlike a packet mix you know exactly what is going into this cake – real, actual ingredients that your great-grandmother would recognise. No fake flavours or artificial colours, just the backbone of baking recipes the world over: butter, milk, sugar, flour, eggs. You could even leave the vanilla out if you didn’t have any and the end result would still be a beautiful cake that you can dress up or down. Throw some ganache over the top, make buttercream frosting, sprinkle over icing sugar or make a simple icing sugar and boiling water paste and drizzle over.
In my local supermarket a 1kg bag of self-raising flour costs 75 cents, butter $1.30 and a bag of sugar is $1. Much cheaper than some of the packet mixes on the shelves.
Just bake this delicious white cake it and promise me you will never buy a cake mix again.
GATHER:
115 grams butter at room temperature, diced
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plan flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 20cm round cake pan with non-stick baking paper.
Sift together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream together the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy – you can do this by hand or in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then add the vanilla.
Sift the flour mix over the batter and beat until combined, then add the milk and beat until all mixed together.
Pour into the pan and bake for 35 – 40 minutes / until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Sit in pan for ten minuted before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
When cold ice or decorate however you want. I used my buttercream icing / frosting: buttercream icing / frosting:
125 grams butter, diced, at room temperature
1 cup sifted icing sugar
A few tablespoons milk
Beat butter in bowl of electric mixer on high for three minutes or until pale.
Turn beater off then sift over the icing sugar. Put beaters on low and beat to combine, then add enough milk to make a spreadable consistency. Use a palette knife to evenly spread over the top of the cake.
I don’t have a sweet tooth, despite being a complete chocolate-lover as a kid. I really think I ate so much of the stuff back in the day that it doesn’t really do it for me any more.
What I do love is when chocolate is paired with something unexpected. The combination of chocolate and spices, for instance, is a real fav. I love the way the different tastes meld together and create a rich, interesting sensation that is a million miles from your average block of chocolate. Continue reading
Give me a holiday and I will find an appropriate dessert to bake for it. Christmas? Try my eggnog cookies (seriously, try them – they are amazing – https://thehungrymum.com/2015/12/20/christmas-eggnog-cookies/) Easter? How about some Easter brownie cookies decorated with mini chocolate eggs – https://thehungrymum.com/2014/04/16/easter-chocolate-brownie-biscuits-cookies/
And for Valentines Day, may I present the most amazing dessert that will melt the heart of the one you love: chocolate heart tarts with Baileys. So smooth. So rich. So delectable. So boozy. Continue reading
the hungry mum 