Gluten-free chocolate tart

This gluten free pastry holds together well and the chocolate tart is delicious and looks very impressive! I used 3 of the leftover egg whites to make this raspberry vacherin.

Melting moments chocolate cake

This is my husband’s very favourite cake. It’s the cake his mum Rina used to make for him when he was young (and still does when he goes back home to South Africa). It’s a bit decadent with a bar of chocolate in the cake and another bar of hazelnut chocolate melted and poured over the top. I must admit, I haven’t made it before, but it was his birthday so he deserved a delicious cake to mark the occasion! If you are in NZ, don’t use Whittakers chocolate over the top – it doesn’t work.

Notes:

• I melted the butter, chocolate and sugar in the microwave. Use a very low heat and stir vigorously every 30 seconds to a minute. You can do the same for the melted chocolate topping – again use a very low heat or the chocolate will seize.
• If you are in New Zealand, DO NOT USE WHITTAKERS chocolate for the topping – it doesn’t melt and will seize up. I think Cadbury’s chocolate works, but I haven’t tried it. I used 150 grams of dark chocolate melts and added 50 grams of hazelnuts.
• I used a smaller tin – about 21cm wide by 9cm deep, which was fine. You do need a deep ring tin though – the cake does rise quite a bit and will spill over if you use a shallow tin.
• I wrapped some foil over the bottom of the cake tin, just in case there was any leaking. It didn’t leak, but you may want to do the same just in case your tin does leak, especially as you pour the sugar syrup over the cake while it is still in the tin.
• I’d consider using a bit less sugar syrup over the cake – maybe a quarter less.
• In my excitement to eat this, I forgot to take a photo (again!). I’ll just have to make another one…

Chocolate yoghurt cake

The chocolate yoghurt icing on this cake makes it taste really rich and decadent, as the recipe says. The tang of the yoghurt and the richness of the chocolate work really well together.

Notes:

• This cake mixture is more of a soft dough than a batter when you put it into the tin. I found it slightly dry (not sure whether it would make any difference that I used full fat Greek yoghurt, although I would have thought it would be better). Next time, I would consider adding a quarter cup of milk, although I’m often reluctant to mess with the ingredients in a cake as they are so finely balanced.
• I turned it upside down and iced the bottom, which was smoother than the top.
• Don’t wait for the icing to be too cool before you ice, it worked well as a runny consistency. The icing sets quite quickly when you put it onto the cake, so pour it on and spread it quickly – the more I spread and tried to get it perfect with the knife, the less perfect it became!

Walnut cake

This cake was tasty and looked impressive. I thought it was a little on the dry side though and would consider adding more cream in the middle.

Notes: Consider adding more cream in the filling.

When I turned it out onto the rack, the rack made lines on the top of the cake, so if you can, put it top side up on the cooling rack.

Lemon and almond tart

I do love lemon tart. This one is very similar to the Highgate Bridge’s Lemon Tart, but it’s pastry is made from scratch. The base was quite hard, with a shortbread taste. If you can use a very sour lemon for the filling it is best.

 

 

 

 

 

Mini cupcakes

This is a basic recipe for 24 mini cupcakes, which can be adapted depending on what ingredients you have. I like to make lemon poppyseed cupcakes.

Basic cupcake recipe 

80 g butter softened

½ cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 cup self-raising flour, sifted

1/3 cup milk

Basic method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees and line a 24 mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake papers

2. In a medium sized bowl, use an electric mixer on high speed to cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well.

3. Add the flour, milk and zest and beat with electric mixer on medium until well combined.

4. Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until well risen and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Allow to cool fully before icing.

Icing: Basic

80 gr butter – soft

1 cup icing sugar – sifted

1 tsp. vanilla essence

Decorations

1. Beat the butter and essence on high speed until light and fluffy

2. Gradually add in the icing sugar until all combine, continue beating until light and fluffy about 1 minute

3. Pipe onto cupcakes using a star nozzle.

Note: I found this was not quite enough icing to put a lot of icing on each cupcake so just do a little swirl or star in the middle of each cake.

 

Lemon poppyseed mini cupcakes

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp poppy seeds

Topping

1 ½ cups icing sugar

2 Tbl lemon juice

Mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to form a smooth paste. Spread evenly over each cupcake. OR dollop a spoon of lemon curd on the top

Note: I found I needed to add a little more lemon juice to the icing. Add only a teaspoon full at a time as it goes runny quickly. This is a good option if you only have a bit of butter left in the house!

Vanilla cupcakes

Just add ½ tsp vanilla essence to basic recipe

Chocolate

Add 1 – 2 Tbl sifted cocoa powder. You can add ½ cup white or dark choc chips.

 

 

Lemon Curd

This is Nigella Lawson’s recipe. I feel just a little bit like a domestic goddess when I make it! I like this recipe because it makes exactly the right amount for one jam jar. It’s delicious with on bagels with cream cheese or use it to fill a cake or cupcakes. I don’t like the texture of the lemon rind so I just leave it out.

Ingredients:

75g unsalted butter

3 large eggs

75g caster sugar

125ml lemon juice (or lime juice)

zest of 1 lemon (or lime)

Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add all the other ingredients and whisk to a custard over a gentle heat. Let cool before filling a jar – or a cake – with it. Keep in the fridge. Makes 350ml.

Notes:

I prefer to sterilise the bottle and pour in the hot lemon curd straight away.

Healthy Food Guide Brownies

This week I was lucky to get a bottle of apple sauce from Di Celliers who runs Community Fruit Harvesting. This is an awesome group that picks unwanted fruit from neighbourhood gardens and gives it to charity. It reminded me of a recipe I got at a Healthy Food Guide demo for healthy brownies. I’m not sure any brownies are really healthy but these use apple sauce instead of butter so they are definitely healthier!

Here’s a photo of my brownies. Yum, Friday night dessert!

Microwave pear sponge pudding

I adapted a microwave pudding I found online by adding pears and the result is delicious. It’s perfect for after dinner when you feel like a sweet treat. This serves 4 so there’s enough for the next day too. Of course, you can try it with any other fruit too.

50g (2 oz) butter

50g caster sugar

50g self raising flour

1 medium egg, beaten

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons of jam or syrup

2 pears, peeled and cut into slices 1 teaspoon cognac or fruit liquer (optional)

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Mix in the egg and milk gradually, so as not to curdle the butter.
3. Sift in the flour, and fold in gently.
4. Place pears and syrup or jam and cognac or liquer into the bottom of a microwaveable dish. Spread batter on top.
5. Cover, and cook for 3 1/2 minutes on full powder, or until the pudding appears set when gently jiggled, and the top is sticky. Serve hot with custard or ice cream.

Notes:

I had to cook this for slightly longer than 3 1/2 minutes (I think it was an extra minute or minute and a half), possibly due to the addition of the pear.

Highgate Bridge’s Lemon Tart

This is another simple to make, tasty recipe. If you prefer to make your own pastry, try this recipe: Lemon and almond tart.

500g sweet short pastry

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 large eggs

3/4 cup cream

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.
2. Roll out the pastry and line the base and sides of a 20cm flan pan. Leave the excess pastry overlapping the rim. Chill for 15 minutes.
3. Blind-bake the flan until it is golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly. Trim the pastry if preferred.
4. Combine the icing sugar, lemon juice, eggs and cream until the mixture is smooth. Pour into the flan.
5. Bake at 125 degrees C for about 1 1/4 hours, until the lemon filling has just set. Cool and remove from the pan.

Serves 6-8.