A Few of My Favourite Things !

Before EJ, I had no idea how daunting the task of motherhood is. I don’t know how I would have survived the first three months without the support of all those mums out there so this is a visual thank you.

These look really professional but are dead easy to make. Put together the cupcake batter of your choice, fill some flat-bottomed cones two-thirds of the way up and bake as usual. Whip up a buttercream frosting and decorate with colourful sprinkles, hundreds-and-thousands and cute animal or flower motifs.

Using Nigella’s recipe for a Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake, I made these baby cakes for A’s birthday. The base was far less sponge-like than I had imagined and more like a shortcake, with a biscuity bite.

There was way too much egg white for the amount of batter I had in the paper bases butI used it all anyway. The meringue top puffed up beautifully in the oven and would have looked a treat that way however I specifically wanted to layer King Island pure cream and strawberries on top of mine. So, off the foamy meringue heads went - a good decision too because the cake is sweet enough on its own (although I have noticed that I’m not as fond of sweet things as I used to be…). They looked great with sparklers although these left tiny little black sooty bits on the pure white cream

More strawberries later on, coutesy of Edible Blooms. These were really amazingly fragrant and sweet and juicy, everything a strawberry should be. Easy to make too, if you are so inclined. Just arm yourself with a few skewers and a head of lettuce!

The scene between A and myself as we are walking down Elizabeth Street towards Flinders Street Station:

A: “So how was your day?”
Me: “Busy. I’ve been working on the catering and merchandising for the office launch”
A: “I was going over the invitation list for the launch and wondered if we should send an invitation to S. & H. What do you think?”
Me: “That sounds like a good idea but I’m not sure…..BEARD PAPA!” (stopping dead in my tracks)

I didn’t quite scream those words out but I definitely said it loudly enough for A. to freeze in his tracks and wonder who was about to attack us.

Anyway, the news is that Beard Papa has opened it’s first Victoria store on Elizabeth Street, near the Flinder Street corner. It’s just a shop front actually so it’s more difficult to hear their “IRASHAIMASE!” greeting.

Get there and get one (or twelve)!

Like most of you, I think about food a lot. What we’re going to have for lunch, for dinner, what I’m going to cook for tomorrow, for the next day, for the next week. But most of all, I think about all the desserts that I would like to bake, the biscuits that my work colleagues are going to love, the cake I would like to share with my friends. There are so many goodies that it’s always difficult for me to settle on one thing. My mind is always leaping here, there and everywhere trying to decide what to bake next.

So this month’s SHF challenge from Jennifer, to post about our most craved dessert, just about had me tearing my hair. How to choose? How can anyone be expected to choose??? ARRRGGGGGG!

To be honest, I don’t actually have one dessert that I crave with a passion above everything else. When faced with a dessert menu, I normally chicken out of having to make the final selection by pointing out about 3 choices then leaving it to my husband to order.

But I remember one cake that mum used to bake when I was in primary school that I had the greatest fun eating. An INDONESIAN LAYER CAKEthat I could savour slowly by peeling off and letting each fine layer melt in my mouth. This cake takes the baker 2 hours in front of the oven to bake so the only ones I’ve had recently are not very good store-bought ones.

It was time. I browsed through several recipes on the internet and got mum to read hers to me over the phone. Making a couple of alterations here and there, I mixed together the batter and brought a stool over to the oven in preparation. For this time-consuming cake, a spoonful of batter is ladled into the baking tin and grilled, then the next spoonful ladled on and grilled, and so on until all the batter is used up.

Based on my internet research, each layer should be grilled for 5 to 7 minutes - WRONG!!! My cake turned out completely overdone and burnt in some sections. Imagine my disappointment after spending 5 hours baking this THING! I couldn’t let it defeat me though so I tried it again the next day. This time, I listened to mum and only grilled each layer for a mere 2 minutes, taking me around 2 hours in total - PERFECTION!

The result 36 eggs and 25 layers later…

It’s not a flashy look-at-me-I’m-so-gorgeous kind of cake but it is buttery and perfect for a pick-me-up at teatime. Especially if you eat it layer by layer.

There’s an ongoing debate as to what exactly is a brownie - a cake, a cookie, a sheet cookie, a bar, a slice? But a brownie sits in a separate category all together. It should be denser than a cake and fudgier rather than light and fluffy.

I trawled through a large handful of recipes trying to decide which would produce a great brownie but most of the recipes I came across used baking powder. How could this produce a dense and fudgey brownie? Dissatisfied with the results of my search, the only solution was to create my own recipe.

Using a few of the recipes as a rough template, I reduced the amount of flour and sugar and left out the baking powder altogether. The chocolate and butter was melted over simmering water and the rest of the ingredients mixed in with a wooden spoon. By not beating the eggs, sugar and butter, I managed to avoid aerating the batter and this resulted in a dense, fudgey, amazing brownie…oops, blondie. I forgot to mention that I mainly used white chocolate instead of milk or dark.

It was great straight out of the oven and we’ll find out tomorrow how it tastes after sitting overnight.

Cin’s Blondie

200g white chocolate, roughly chopped
150g butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups pl flour
1/4 tsp salt
50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

1) Melt 1/2 white chocolate & butter in bowl over simmering water. Remove from heat.
2) Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla essence
3) Mix in flour&salt mixture
4) Fold in rest of chocolate and almond pieces
5) Bake in 20cm square tin at 160C until skewer comes out clean but with crumbs. Don’t overbake.

Of course, you can’t enjoy brownies or blondies on your own so I have to share this recipe with the rest of the Brownie Babes over at Myriam’s place.

I promised, in my previous post, that I would write about some chocolate desserts that I recently made so here they are. I’m also hoping that these two recipes will prompt some of you to buy a ticket for the $100 koko Black voucher that I’m offering as part of the Menu for Hope campaign. As Neil has urged in a recent post, we should support the companies that have generously donated their products to help make this event a success. To date, we have already exceeded last year’s efforts by more than US$4,000 and still have almost a week to go. Isn’t that fantastic? Anyway, who wouldn’t want to make a dessert that looks this beautiful? Especially with the berries that we have in season at the moment.

I bought Alice Medrich’s ‘Bittersweet‘ cookbook at least 6 or 9 months ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf instead of my kitchen bench. I was reminded of its existence at the opening of the new DFO at the renamed Southern Cross station. The bookshop had it on sale for measly $25.00! And I had paid $75 for it at Borders - don’t you hate that! Having tried out a couple of recipes now, I can tell you that it’s worth the price because these desserts will knock your socks off.

This roulade consists of a a thin layer of flourless chocolate souffle rolled up like a jam roll and simply filled with whipped cream, shavings of white and dark chocolate, and fresh raspberries. The recipe for the souffle sheet calls for a 70% bittersweet chocolate so I visited Koko Black to get their 74% house dark chocolate. As you will see from the recipe below, the souffle sheet is easy to make and don’t worry about the cracking as you roll it up. This produces the most pleasing effect, especially when dusted with some icing sugar and surrounded by the most luscious-looking selection of summer berries. The Koko Black chocolate was absolutely perfect for creating a dessert that was big on chocolate flavour but not overly sweet due to the high percentage of cocoa solids.

Bittersweet Roulade

185g Koko Black 74% chocolate, coarsely chopped, 1/3 cup freshly brewed espresso, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 6 large eggs, separated, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Melt chocolate with water in a bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring frequently until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradulally sprinkle in sugar and beat at high speed until whites are stiff but not dry.
3. Whisk egg yolks into melted chocolate then fold 1/4 of egg whites completely into chocolate mixture to lighten it. Add the remaning egg whites and fold in gently but completely.
4. Spread batter evenly into lined jam roll tin and bake at 190C for 8 to 10 minutes until cake springs back when pressed lightly with fingertips and skewer comes out moist but not gooey. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.
5. Unmould cake by inverting pan onto a piece of foil dusted with cocoa powder and peeling off baking paper.
6. The recipe suggests using a cocoa bean cream or whipped chocolate ganache in place of cream but I thought this would be too rich. Instead, I filled it with whipped cream and shavings of 74% Koko Black chocolate (just to add a little more chocolatiness, sprinkled with fresh raspberries then drizzled swirls of melted white chocolate because I like the combination of white chocolate and raspberry. Using the foil to help, start rolling up the cake from one long edge. The cake will crack but, don’t worry, this decreases as the roll gets fatter. Place seam side down on platter, dust with icing sugar and surround with fresh summer berries of your choice.

This is the sort of cake to make for friends you love. It looks great and has just the right level of bittersweet flavour to not be overpowering.

I had enough of the Koko Blakc chocolate to try my hand at the Bittersweet Decadence Cookies as well and am I glad that I did (and more importantly, so is A.). As described in the book, these are ‘ultrachocolatey…crunchy on the outside with a divinely soft center…irresistable.’ I have tried to capture the gooeiness of the chocolate chunks inside but the photo probably doesn’t do it justice. Of course, this means that you will just have to try it out yourself!

Bittersweet Decadence Cookies

1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1.4 tsp salt, 250g semisweet chocolate, 30g unsalted butter, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 cups pecans (chopped), 185g 74% Koko Black chocolate (chopped into chunks)

1. Melt semisweet chocolate and butter together over a pot of simmering water, stirring frequently until just melted and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla well together and set bowl over pot of simmering water. Stir mixture until lukewarm to the touch. Stir eggs into the warm (not hot) chocolate.
3. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and stir into the chocolate mixture. Add nuts and Koko Black chocolate chunks.
4. Spoon rounded tablespoons of batter onto baking tray and bake at 175D for 12 to 14 minutes until surface of cookie looks dry and set but center is still gooey. Cool on rack.

Way back mid-last year, a Paper Chef entry caught my eye and this recipe has been sitting in my ‘to try’ folder for some time. I love banana bread and would normally use mum’s recipe but buttermilk just conjured up such cosy feelings and images for me that I had to try this recipe out…with a few modifications of course!

I used one mashed banana and about 4 dried ones, all chopped up into little pieces, and also added not just dried dates but apricots and sultanas as well. With the additiional dried fruit, I really should have cut out the sugar entirely as it turned out to be just a tad too sweet for my tastes. What a great loaf otherwise though - moist with a good crumb.

Btw, A. loved the sound of buttermilk so much that he considered having it on his cereal but upon tasting a little, found that it not to be rich and creamy as he had imagined, but thin and sour instead!

Buttermilk-Honey Banana Bread

2 eggs, ¾ cup sugar, 1 mashed banana, 1/3 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 ¾ cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt, 30 g butter, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup chopped dates, 1/3 cup chopped dried bananas, 1/4 cup dried apricots and sultanas, 1/4 cup walnuts

1. Beat the eggs with the sugar for about 5 min until thick and light.
2. Add mashed bananas, buttermilk, walnuts, honey, dried fruit, oil, butter and vanilla.
3. Add sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Pour batter into loaf tin and bake at 170C for 60 min until top is golden brown.

I’ve just discovered these at Victoria Market this season and love peeling off the soft pink-green outer shell to reveal the harder shell of the nut that we normally associate with pistachios. The same colours are reflected on the inside, with the paper-thin pink skin covering up a bright green kernel.

I just realised, as I’m typing this recipe out, that I completely left out the 1/2 cup of EVOO that shold have been mixed in together with the yoghurt! Trust me to get a recipe wrong, but hey maybe it was actually right this time because the cake turned out to be light, fluffy and moist. It reminds mw of a chiffon cake. I think I may just leave out the olive oil again next time :-p I didn’t grind the pistachios so finely that it was like using pistachio meal, so it was lovely to get the crunch of some pistachio pieces as you eat the cakes.

1. Roast pistachios at 150C for 10-15 min then rub in the folds of a clean tea towel to remove the outer skins (like Gina, I didn’t go out of my way to get all the skin off and it didn’t seem to pose any problems). Increase oven to 175C.
2. Grind finely in a food processor then add flour, salt and baking powder and process briefly to mix.
3. Beat egg whites with 3/4 cup sugar to form stiff peaks. Remove to another bowl.
4. Beat egg whites with rest of the sugar until pale yellow. Add yoghurt then mix in pistachio-flour mix with a spatula.
5. Gently fold egg whites into batter and pour into lined cake tin. I used most of the batter in a 20″ round tin and the rest into my new silicone mini muffin tray.
6. Bake for 40 - 50 min until skewer comes out clean. With the babycakes, I baked for around 15 min.

Mum is a wonderful cook, excelling in both savoury and sweet dishes. However, in the days before I had developed any interest in food, I did not have a real appreciation of this. I ate her food everyday so it just seemed normal to me and, in fact, my brother and I use to beg for the meat-and-3-veg dishes that all our friends had for dinner or, horror of horrors, even McDonalds! (I can’t even remember the last time I had burgers from there)

I had my first white Christmas experience this year! Although there was some snowfall when we were visiting New York last year, that was nothing compared to the beautiful snowfall we had in Europe this year! The showflakes were just drifting down gently to greet us. I couldn’t help but stick my tongue out to catch the flakes as we were walking around. Hmmm, do you think people would have been looking at me funny?

Anyway, one of the loveliest sweets we had was in Prague - a honey cake. It was moist, with spongy layers of cake layered with coffee-flavoured cream. It’s pictured here with almond toast.