Tag Archives: recipe

Easy raspberry butter cake

4 May

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Once again my trusty AWW bible, Bake, has provided me with a delicious, easy, can’t-stuff-it-up cake. I present the buttery and moreish raspberry butter cake that can be made with fresh or frozen berries [I always use frozen but never defrost them before use].

Thank you to the wonderfully wonderful Anna Warr for the gorgeous photos [http://www.facebook.com/AnnaWarrPhotography]

GATHER:

125g diced butter, softened

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup raspberries

LET’S GET TO IT:

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a round 20cm cake tin.

Butter butter and sugar in bowl of electric mixer until light and fluffy and then beat in eggs one at a time.

Stir in milk and flour in two batches.

Fold in 1/4 cup raspeberries.

Spread 3/4 of cake mix into pan and sprinkle with remaining berries then spread remainder of batter over the top.

Bake for between 45-60 mins [depending on oven]. Stand cake in pan 5 minutes, turn top side up onto wire rcak.

When cold sprinkle with sifted icing sugar and decorate with a few extra berries.

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Mmmm, homemade pumpkin pie from scratch

1 May

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I adore pumpkin and love it in any incarnation. In Australia it is not really used in desserts but I know pumpkin pie is a true American tradition. Many moons ago I had pumpkin pie in Canada and loved it. I’d been wanting to make it for ages but most recipes seem to start with ‘one can of pumpkin puree’ – that’s not a thing in Australia.

The I stumbled across the magnificent book ‘Bake’ by pastry chef Alison Thompson and lo and behold – a pumpkin pie recipe. This book makes you want to stop everything and get into the kitchen to bake. Highly recommend it.

My iphone pictures do not do this delicious dessert justice. Note to self: use a better camera…

The pastry recipe is the easiest I’ve ever made [and I have a bit of a phobia about making pastry as it always seem so fragile and delicate but this is a hardy yet gorgeous pastry].

GATHER:

Sweet shortcrust pastry

225g sifted plain flour

60g sifted icing sugar

100g diced unsalted butter at room temperature

2 egg yolks

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the flour, icing sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until no lumps of butter are visible. Add the egg yolks and mix on low speed until the mixture comes together to form a dough.

Wrap dough in cling wrap place in fridge for at least two hours

Filling

1kg pumpkin, peeled and cut into small pieces

125mL pouring cream

3 eggs

60g brown sugar

60g caster sugar

½ teaspoon ground ginger

pinch of ground cloves [I didn’t have any so used nutmeg instead]

 LET’S GET TO IT

Make your dough. Leave in fridge for two hours.

Preheat oven to 170C.

Place pumpkin on baking tray, cover with foil and bake until pumpkin is very soft [Alison Thompson said around an hour, mine took about 1.5 hours. Maybe my pieces were too big].

While pumpkin is cooking take pastry out of fridge and allow it to come to room temperature.

Place sheet of baking paper on bench, unwrap pastry and using a rolling pin roll out to shape of non-stick tart tin with removable base [I used a rectangle tin approx 35cmx11cm]. Gently place in tart tin.

Place in fridge for half an hour.

Remove pumpkin carefully from oven [there may be water and steam] and place in bowl.

Increase oven temp to 180C.

Meanwhile place baking paper over pastry, fill with baking weights and bake until pastry is golden. Remove paper and weights and bake for a further 5 minutes.

Remove to bench; allow to cool for ten minutes.

Using a stick blender puree pumpkin until smooth and measure out 500ml of puree and pour into a bowl.

Whisk in cream, then the eggs, sugars and spices.

Pour into tart case, bake for 40 minutes until the filling is set.

Serve warm [or cold or eaten straight from the left over container at room temperature – it is amazing!]

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Homemade strawberry jam with super easy scones [afternoon tea is ready!]

29 Apr

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I adore a tea – be it Devonshire, high or afternoon I think it is all wonderful. I would have been right at home in the Victorian era: nibbling on dainty sandwiches, sweet morsels and pillow soft scones. Ahhh, it is all about the scones. For as much as I adore a freshly made scone I’m not too fond of the mess they make of my bench tops. I’m not a clean freak but nor am I fan of scraping remnants of dough off my countertops.

But every so often the need for scones hits and when it does this easy peasy 3-ingredient recipe is the one I reach for. It is child’s play and produces light, floaty scones with a lovely colour. The recipe has been around forever so I’m not sure who to credit for it.

And what are freshly made scones without a real, fruity strawberry jam? I’d been wanting to make strawberry jam for ages but every time I bought the required two punnets of berries my fruit bat daughters would devour the lot. So last time I saw strawberries on sale I bought three punnets, cut one up for the fruit bat daughters then set about making this jam with fruit bat daughter number one. Having never made any type of jam before I picked an easy recipe from kidspot.com.au that called for it to be made in the microwave. It tasted amazing but I don’t know that it would have been any quicker than using the stovetop recipe. It made a sticky mess of my microwave but beauty is pain…

Miss 6 loved the fact we made & labelled our own jam. A gorgeous vintage label wold have looked waaaaay better than my slapdash attempt but I’ll remember that for next time.

EASY THREE INGREDIENT SCONES:

GATHER:

325g self-raising flour

2/3 cup cold lemonade

2/3 cup thickened cream

LET’S GET TO IT:

Preheat oven to 200C and spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Sift flour into a large bowl. Combine lemonade and cream in a jug and pour to the flour bowl. Gently mix until just combined – it will be very sticky.

Tip onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until about 3cm thick. With floured scone cutters or a glass cut out scones and place side by side on the tray.

You can brush the tops with a smidge of milk if you like but it isn’t absolutely necessary.

Bake for between 12 and 15 minutes/until pale golden. Serve warm with strawberry jam

and cream.

STRAWBERRY JAM

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GATHER:

Two punnets of strawberries, washed, hulled and roughly chopped

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

LET’S DO IT:

Put a saucer in freezer [you’ll need this to test the jam later]

Put strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a very large and deep microwave-safe bowl.

Leave for 15 minutes to allow the strawberries to soften.

Place in microwave and cook on high for 4 minutes, stopping every minute to stir the jam to ensure sugar is dissolved.

Microwave a further 25-30 minutes on high, stirring every 5 minutes or until the jam reaches setting point. (To check, place a spoonful of jam on the cold saucer and place it in the freezer for two minutes. Run your finger through the jam and if it stays in two separate portions it is set.)

Leave to cool for five minutes then gently decant into a sterilised glass jar.

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One bowl lemon bundt cream cake

26 Apr

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I have probably previously mentioned my affection for bundt cakes – I believe they are so much more pleasing to the eye than your everyday normal cake shape.

This lemon cream bundt comes, as so many of the recipes on this blog do, courtesy of the fab cookery folk at the Australian Women’s Weekly. This magazine [not a weekly any more] is renowned for their triple-tested recipes and I doubt there is a kitchen in this wide brown land of us that doesn’t have an AWW recipe in its drawers or stuck to the fridge. The recipe appeared in the book called Quick Mix Cakes which I suspect is no longer in print. If you do happen upon a copy I urge you to buy it – every recipe in it is super easy and delicious.

 GATHER:

125g room-temperature butter, diced

2 eggs

1  ½ cups self-raising flour

½ cup sour cream

150g caster sugar

grated rind from two lemons

LET’S GET TO IT

Preheat oven to 170C.

Grease a bundt pan, ensuring you get into all the nooks and crannies. I use non-stick spray and find that it works quite well.

Combine all ingredients into bowl of electric mixer and beat on low until everything is combined.

Increase speed until mixture is smooth and changed in colour.

Spoon the mixture into pan, ensuring you gently push it into the crevices of the design of the pan.

Bake for 40-ish minutes/until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool in pan 10 minutes before gently removing to a wire rack.

When cold dust liberally with icing sugar.

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Easy chocolate cake recipe

24 Apr

 

simple chocolate cake

This is a one bowl, super easy, kid-friendly chocolate cake. It isn’t glam and won’t impress baking experts but for morning tea or a fast dessert you can’t beat it. If you can turn on an oven you can make this chocolate cake, which is great served with ice cream, cream or even just a sprinkling of icing sugar on top.

Making it in a ring baking tin makes it look a little bit more fancy than using a round tin. You could fill the berries to serve if you want to up the glam factor.

It is from a book called Quick Mix Cakes by AWW.

GATHER:

125g melted butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cocoa powder [Dutch for preference]

1 cup self-raising flour

3/4 cup caster sugar

dash best vanilla

Easy chocolate cake - The Hungry Mum

LET’S GET TO IT

Preheat oven to 170C, and grease a ring pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Place everything in bowl of electric mixer and beat until smooth and mixture has changed colour.

Pour into pan, bake 35-ish minutes/until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave in tin 5 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool.

Easy chocolate cake recipe -The Hungry Mum

 

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Easy passionfruit melting moments

19 Apr

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Is there a more melt-in-the-mouth creation than the melting moment? Buttery. Light. Scrumptious. Swoonworthy. These creations are always a hit and if you were to package them up in a pretty box and give to someone close to your heart they would be very appreciative, I’m sure. You can omit the passionfruit from the icing if it doesn’t float your boat and they will still be gorgeous. Continue reading →

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Chocolate ginger cupcakes with rich chocolate glaze

16 Apr

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This recipe is from a book called [take a deep breath] Green & Black’s Organic Ultimate Chocolate Recipes The New Collection. The recipe is ‘the Hummingbird Bakery’s ginger chocolate cupcakes’ and I made these for my mum at Easter, who adores choc ginger. 

GATHER:

100g plain flour

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

140g caster sugar

20g cocoa powder, sifted

40g butter at room temperature

100mL full at milk

1 egg

1 heaped teaspoon powdered ginger 

LET’S GET TO IT:

Preheat oven to 170C and line cupcake pan with wrappers. I used a muffin pan and made larger sized cakes.

In an electric mixer combine butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, ginger and cocoa until all mixed together.

Combine milk and egg in a jug, whisk and add to the mixture in two lots. Mix until everything is combined.

Fill wrappers two thirds full and bake for 15-ish mins [for small sized cupcakes] to 20-ish [muffin size].

Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

The book had a choc/ginger icing combination but I used my go to, fool-proof Donna Hay chocolate glaze recipe: mix 1/2 cup of cream with 150g dark chocolate in a small pan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; allow to stand 10 mins until thickened. Pour over a well chiled ckae and tap to remove air bubbles. I usually have a container of this in the fridge and use it for ice cream topping [a few seconds in the microwave makes it gooey and warm], icing for cakes and slices, and eaten by the spoonful…  it is good just to have on hand…

I decorated mine with little edible silver balls because they are pretty. Ginger crystals would have been the logical decoration. 

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Nigella Lawson easy salted caramel sauce

10 Apr

This recipe is The Bomb. It is quick, requires a handful of ingredients, will rock your world and impress everyone who is lucky enough to sample even a drop of it. This sauce requires real, lux salt, not the nasty table salt that you can buy in massive pantry packs. Nigella has shown us again why she is the queen of all things decadent and divine with this recipe. Serve this with vanilla ice cream for a show stopper dessert. Add the salt in increments & taste as you go.

With thanks to Anna Warr [http://www.facebook.com/AnnaWarrPhotography] for her delish snaps.

GATHER:

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:

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.

Pour into serving jug and watch your guests drool.

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Easy individual warm chocolate pavlovas

31 Mar

At the the risk of alienating myself from, well, everyone, I am not a fan of pavlova. I find it too sweet and it is my least fav dessert. Sadly for me but luckily for the rest of the country, it is a staple at barbecues and parties everywhere. I’ve been known to make pavs when we’re having a do and it is always pounced upon before every other sweet.

This choc version of the aforementioned sweet is designed to be served warm with a chocolate custard sauce. I made the sauce but it didn’t make it into the photo as it is, well, super ugly. It serves 4. The recipe comes from my bible, The Australian Women’s Weekly ‘Bake’, a behemoth of a book that never lets me down. And thanks to photographer Anna Warr [www.facebook.com/AnnaWarrPhotography] for these lovely photos. Aren’t they great?

ImageGATHER:

2 egg whites at room temperature

1 1/3 cups icing sugar [sifted]

1/3 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon cocoa powder [sifted]

LET’S DO IT:

Preheat oven to 180C and line a large oven tray with baking powder.

Beat egg whites, icing sugar and water in bowl of electric mixer for about 10 minutes or until firm peaks form. Fold in cocoa.

Drop four equal amounts of mix onto tray leaving considerable space between each.

Bake 25-ish minutes or until firm to the touch. Serve immediately with ice cream and dusted with extra cocoa.

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Easy peasy egg-free coconut and lime mini loaves [perfect for kids to cook]

17 Mar

This recipe is, as Miss 4 would say, easy peasy lemon squeezy. The original recipe, which I’ve tweaked, is from my primary school’s fundraising cookbook, along with taste sensations such as fish finger kebabs and prunes & bacon [subtitled, and I kid you not, ‘a delicious combination] from *many* moons ago. Fear not, this cake is super yum and so super easy that kids can make it without much help. The original makes a very small loaf but I decided to use my mini pan this time & the results were great. It made 4 mini loaves which is ideal if you don’t want to be a guts and eat all the cake  are just having one friend over for a cuppa.

This is such a versatile recipe: it can de doubled and if you don’t like lime use orange or lemon zest. Or omit the zest and just add mixed spice or vanilla.

And what about these amazing photos by Anna Warr? Don’t they make you want to lick the screen? Or is that just me? Check out more of her amazing work at annawarr.com.

GATHER:

1 cup self-raising flour

1 cup coconut [dessicated]

1/4 cup caster sugar

slightly more than 1/2 cup milk

zest from 2 small or one large lime

LET’S DO IT:

Preheat oven to 170C and grease 4 holes from a mini loaf tin.

Place everything in bowl and stir until combined. It will be a stiff batter.

Pour into 4 holes, bake 20-25ish minutes/until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool five minutes before removing to a wire rack.

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