I had such an urge to bake a chocolate bundt cake this morning. I was planning to bake shortbread but some invisible force was telling me to create a cake with chocolate and rum that I thought – who am I to argue with the Jedi-minefield that is permeating my kitchen? Continue reading
Until you have tried burnt butter, either as a sweet or savoury dish, you cannot imagine how wonderful it tastes.
Simple kitchen alchemy transforms it into a creation heavenly enough to eat with a spoon – although don’t tell your cardiologist I said that.
Burning your butter is an easy peasy way to elevate baked goods into rich, decadent treats. These burnt butter brown sugar cupcakes are sophisticated enough to serve at an adult party – no sprinkles or food colouring here. Miss9 highly rated them, saying they were light and fluffy and less sweet than my usual vanilla cupcake recipe.
Serve these cupcakes au naturel, with a dusting of icing sugar, or a smothering of my all-purpose chocolate ganache – see below. This recipe was adapted from Nigella Lawson’s iconic ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess.’
GATHER:
150 grams unsalted butter, diced
1 cup self-raising flour
just over ¼ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and line a 12-hole cupcake pan with wrappers (my batch only made 11).
In a small pan over low heat stir the butter frequently until it turns dark golden – this will take some time but don’t walk away or you will end up with a ruined pan and butter that will end u p in the bin. When it starts foaming like crazy is when you when to remove it from the heat.
Place all ingredients into a food processor and whiz until combined – it is quite a thick batter.
Spoon into the pans and bake for 16 minutes / until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
In a small saucepan over low heat melt 125g dark chocolate [broken into chunks] with 1/2 cup pouring cream. Stir until melted, thick and glossy. Allow to stand 15 minutes until thick. Use knife to spread over cakes.
This blueberry pudding cake is such a moist, easy-to-bake, delicious cake that you’ll throw away all your other blueberry baking recipes.
The fact that it is an egg-free cake recipe is a bonus, especially if you buy 36 eggs at a time but plough through them so quickly you often are left with just one solitary egg in the carton. Or is that just me?
Before our chooks went to hen heaven – RIP Kaitlyn and Jakeson – we always had a stash of perfect, huge, delicious eggs at our disposal. Now, I only buy free range eggs but what with all the scandal and court cases RE certain egg producers lying about their free range status it is really hard. I often leave smaller supermarkets empty-handed if I can’t find my brands. Farmers markets are the best but that doesn’t help if it is Tuesday night and the market isn’t until Saturday!
This cake is perfect when it is just under baked so it retains a pudding-like consistency. I think lashings of custard would make a wonderful friend for this cake – try my easy recipe here: the best custard recipe from scratch
GATHER:
2 cups self-raising flour
250 grams unsalted butter, diced, softened
¾ cup caster sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup blueberries – frozen is fine, don’t defrost
1 tsp vanilla extract
LET’S GET TO IT:
Grease a 20cm by 20cm square baking pan and line with non-stick baking paper and preheat oven to 180C.
In bowl of electric mixer beat the sugar and butter until pale and creamy.
Scrape down sides with a spatula then beat in vanilla and yogurt.
Add half the milk, then half the flour, then repeat. Beat until mixed – do not overbeat.
Use a silver spoon to stir in the berries carefully – you don’t want to stain the batter blue.
Scrape into tin, level the top with offset spatula and bake in oven for around 45 minutes – insert skewer to check, you want it moist but not raw.
Leave in tin to cool, then slice into squares to serve. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.
For reasons yet to be fully understood I recently bought a huge packet of pretzels at the supermarket. I’m not a fan of pretzels at all so just chalk this purchase up to momentary madness. I don’t even think they were on sale. Every time I open the pantry they wink at me, taunt me, as if to say – now what? Continue reading
It was my BFF’s birthday recently and a celebratory picnic was in order. Families and kids were rounded up, cheese was purchased, Pimms organised, rugs placed in cars. And a cake was baked. Continue reading
This is a what I like to think of as a nana cake. I say this without malice, as I am a nana before my time. To wit: I love shopping baskets on wheels, cardigans, baking, and nana naps (not all at the same time). Continue reading
Spring has sprung! At least, it has in the southern hemisphere and today, the first day of Spring, the skies were blue, the wattle was out and all was right in the world.
To celebrate this most beloved of seasons it seemed fitting to make a dessert as sweet as the weather. Continue reading
![Chai bundt cake [The Hungry Mum]](https://thehungrymum.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/chai-bundt-cake-the-hungry-mum.jpg)
On a recent child-free weekend in Sydney the Hungry Dad and I explored the stunningly elegant Stand Arcade. We found the amazing Gewürzhaus, a teeny shop crammed with herbs, spices, salts and teas from all around the world.
After sampling some lovely mulled wine as we perused the boutique we ended up leaving with a heavy bag and lighter wallet. One of our purchases was a chai tea mix and let me tell you: this brew was the real deal. Full of orange peel, cardamom and other chunky bits of deliciousness it soon became a fav in the Hungry House. Continue reading
I have baked many, many cakes in my time but nothing has even come close to the reaction I received when I presented this piñata cake. Continue reading
the hungry mum 