I know everyone loves chocolate but in my home caramel is always – and I mean ALWAYS – the flavour of choice. Milkshakes/puddings/ cakes… if they are given an option they always choose caramel.
Tag Archives: baking
Easy chocolate cream cheese cupcakes
1 Aug
If like me, you are a baking addict, you are usually called upon to bring baked goods when attending barbeques, parties and picnics.
That suits me just fine. Ask me to make a salad, and if I can’t outsource it to Miss 11 – who makes THE best Greek salad – I will, albeit reluctantly. Request a fruit platter from me and I will groan internally while asking the Hungry Dad to chop up the many kilos of fruit required.
However, ask me to bring something sweet and I am your gal! In fact, ask me to bring A cake – as in one – and chances are I will bring you a cake, plus cupcakes, plus a slice and maybe a tart recipe I am working on.
These easy chocolate cream cheese cupcakes are on high rotation when I am on dessert duty at BBQS as they taste amazing, are easy to make, and require no cutting or plating up. They are a more sophisticated take on cupcakes and require no icing – score!
Use the best quality dark chocolate you can get your paws on as the taste of the finished product will depend on your choc of choice. And make sure you leave the chocolate in decent size chunks!
GATHER:
1 package cream cheese, softened, diced
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
100 grams dark chocolate cut into chunks
¾ cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup canola oil
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and line 20 cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
In the bowl of an electric mixer use paddle attachment to beat cream cheese, egg and sugar until combined.
Stir in choc chunks and set aside.
In another bowl stir together remaining ingredients to make the cake mixture, then fill cupcake wrappers ¾ full with this cake mix.
Drop large spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on top and use a butter knife to gently swirl through the cake.
Bake for between 20-25 minutes.
Cool in pans until completely cool.
Gingerbread doughnuts
9 Jul
On a recent girls weekend away to the Blue Mountains my friends and I discovered an amazing shop dedicated to all things gingerbread. Continue reading
Banana coconut bundt cake
30 Jun
Bananas. I feel they should come with a warning – in three days this green, unripe piece of fruit will be a bruised, brown banana that no-one will want to eat.
At least, that’s how it is in my house.
Miss6, the fussy one, will actually eat bananas without complaint. So I buy them. Then her BFF at school will have apples at fruit break & she too insists on apples. Le sigh.
Hence today’s bake is a banana coconut bundt – thankfully I love baking with bananas. Both Miss6 & 8 had a hand in making this cake which gives you some impression of the degree of difficulty [ie – none. Super easy].
I found the recipe for this lovely, moist cake in my well-thumbed copy of AWW’S Quick Mix Cakes bake. The original used wholemeal flour but I used plain self-raising. I also reduced the sugar – this recipe uses the reduced amount.
GATHER:
125g butter at room temperature, diced
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
½ cup brown sugar
3 eggs
two large, over-ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 cup icing sugar
hot water
shredded coconut, extra, to serve
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and spray a bundt tin with non-stick cooking spray.
Place all ingredients except banana into bowl of electric mixer and beat on low until combined. Increase speed to medium until mix changes colour. Scrape down sides, add banana and mix briefly on low until incorporated.
Scrape into tin, place in oven and bake for 35 minutes / until a skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool completely.
When cold make a simple icing by sifting icing sugar into a bowl an adding just enough hot water until you have a thick paste. Drizzle over the top of cake and sprinkle with the extra coconut. Serve.
Easy one bowl orange cake with Cointreau
26 Jun
I love baking, I love citrus cakes and I love boozy cakes so imagine my satisfaction when I created this delicious one bowl orange cake with Cointreau. Continue reading
One bowl vegan cookies and cream cake
3 Jun
Are Oreos a hit in your house? They are at Casa Hungry with the under 12 set but the here adults find them sickly and bland. As they are often on sale in the supermarket I usually buy a few packets with the intention of adding them to baked goods, but usually find I am piped at the post by Misses 9 and 11 who love taking them to school. Continue reading
Easy melt-and-mix chocolate berry cake
15 May
If you are looking for an easy, delicious, one bowl, melt and mix chocolate cake you have come to the right place! I love melt and mix cakes for their simplicity and speed. By melting the butter and adding it to the cake mixture you are saving time without sacrificing any of the taste. Continue reading
Mixed berry and apple crumble
6 May
You know the cold weather has arrived when I start making apple crumble for dessert. Sydney has FINALLY got some cold weather and I couldn’t be happier. I know I am alone in my feelings about cold weather – everyone I know is absolutely Team Summer. Continue reading
Lime coconut cheesecake squares
2 May
I have a bit of a fixation with cream cheese of late. I just cannot get enough of baking recipes that use this creamy, unctuous ingredient. I also love pairing cream cheese with savoury ingredients – I am looking at you, smoked salmon – but when there is a block of cream cheese within arm`s reach I WILL turn it into a sweet treat. Continue reading
Easy sticky date pudding with salted caramel sauce
28 Apr
In another lifetime I worked as a waiter in an olde-worlde, ancient English pub. This gorgeous pub was in a teeny tiny country village and people travelled the skinny, windy roads from villages all around to eat there.
It was here that I first tried one of the most popular deserts on the menu – sticky toffee pudding. Now it is a household name of a dessert but back then it was just getting its name out there, at least in Australia. Many was the time that I would just have this delicious, warming dessert for dinner after a busy waitressing shift at the pub. Ahhh, youth…
This most English of desserts gets its caramel-y taste from the addition of pitted dates and brown sugar. When baked it creates a moist, golden, melt-in-the-mouth pudding that is the perfect way to end a wintry night.
Back at the pub they served the pudding with its traditional caramel sauce, which I have updated by making it salted caramel sauce. The salt cuts through the sweetness and provides a nice contrast to the sugar.
Whenever I make this dessert even the non-sweet eaters cannot resist a wedge. Served warm, drizzled with the salted caramel sauce, and maybe a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on the side, it is such a luxurious cold weather dessert that couldn’t be easier to make.
It is a great dessert for feeding a crowd – as it is quite rich a small square goes a long way.
GATHER:
250g pitted dates, snipped with scissors into chunks
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 cups boiling water
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
Salted caramel sauce
50g brown sugar
50g caster sugar
50mL golden syrup
125mL double cream
75g unsalted butter, cubed
half to one-and-a-half teaspoons best quality salt [I use pink Murray River salt]
Let`s get to it:
Put dates and bicarbonate of soda in a small bowl then pour over boiling water. Set aside for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180°C and spray a 20cm square cake tin with non-stick spray and line base with baking paper.
In bowl of electric stand mixer with paddle attachment beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale then beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat until incorporated before adding the next egg.
Fold in the flour and date mixture with a silver spoon and stir until incorporated.
Pour batter into pan and bake for 35 minutes. Set aside while you make the sauce.
Salted caramel sauce:
Melt butter, sugars and syrup in a small heavy pan and simmer for two to three minutes. Swirl, don’t stir, occasionally.
Slowly pour in cream and half a teaspoon of the salt and stir before tasting. Add a little more salt at a time if you desire.
To serve: Cut pudding into squares, place in serving bowl, then drown in salted caramel sauce. Best eaten warm.
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