SLIDER

lemon and ginger syrup cake

27 Aug 2018



I was in Brisbane unexpectedly last week and with some time on my hand I decided to bake a cake. I was going to make an almond cake but Dad suggested I make something a little less ambitious. I turned to an old copy of the Cook's Companion and after looking through it I made an old favourite, Angie's lemon cake. I hadn't made the cake in ages and I'd forgotten how delicious it is. By the time I left Brisbane the last piece had been eaten.



Now that I'm back home again it's time to return to my normal routine. A few weeks ago one of my long time patients, Peter, brought me some home grown lemons. With lemons in the fruit bowl and preserved stem ginger in the cupboard I planned to make Tamasin Day-Lewis's recipe for drenched ginger and lemon cake. In the end it seemed easier to adapt what I already had so with the addition of some finely chopped preserved ginger and a spoonful of the ginger syrup, I turned my lemon syrup cake into a lemon and ginger syrup cake.



You can make the entire cake in a food processor but I chose to use my hand beaters and a bowl. I first whizzed the lemon rind and sugar in the little food processor attachment that came with my stick blender. If you don't have one of these handy items or a food processor, just rub the finely grated zest through the caster sugar with your hands to release the oils. If you don't have any ginger syrup I think you could add a small piece of peeled ginger to the lemon juice and sugar while making the syrup. It would work just fine, maybe even better!



Here's the recipe for you which makes a small bundt cake. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. As always if you want to make a larger bundt cake then double all the ingredients and bake for the same amount of time.

Lemon and Ginger Syrup Cake
Ingredients 
1 lemon
90g caster sugar 
125g self-raising flour 
pinch of salt 
½ tsp baking powder 
125g softened unsalted butter 
2 large eggs 
⅓ cup natural yoghurt, buttermilk or milk
40g finely chopped crystallized or preserved ginger 

Syrup 
60g caster sugar 
The juice of 1 lemon
1tbs ginger syrup (home-made or bought) 

Method

Preheat oven to 170ºC. Grease and flour a small bundt tin and place in the freezer until needed.

Zest and juice the lemon. Pulverise the zest with sugar in a small food processor or
just rub the finely grated zest through the caster sugar with your hands to release the oils. Sift flour with salt and baking powder into a small bowl and set to one side.

In a medium size bowl cream the softened butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the flour, alternating with the yoghurt or milk until you have a nice soft batter. Gently stir through the chopped ginger before spooning the mixture into the prepared tin. Smooth the top and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and tests cooked when tested with a skewer.



While the cake is cooking, make the syrup. I
n a small saucepan, mix the sugar with the lemon juice and ginger syrup and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved. Let it simmer for a minute or two to thicken. Pour a little syrup over the base of hot cake when it comes out of the oven then let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes before turning it out onto a rack. Pour a little more of the syrup over the cake allowing it to absorb. You may not have to use all the syrup. 

Tamasin Day-Lewis serves this cake warm as a pudding with some crème fraiche and leftover syrup. Normally I allow the cake to cool completely before serving. Serve as is or if you like you can serve the cake with a dollop of cream and any remaining syrup. The candied lemon slices you see are completely optional.



I hope you all enjoyed your weekends. See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian
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apple and olive oil cake with maple cream cheese icing

20 Aug 2018



It's a bit of an Ottolenghiathon around here at the moment. A recipe for this apple and olive oil cake first appeared in Ottolenghi the cookbook, then reappeared last year in Sweet. A few years ago, I made a version for Passover week which never made it to the blog because it wasn't very good and I've been meaning to make a regular version ever since.




I made a mini version of the cake and to do so I combined the 2 versions to come up with this one. The resulting cake is very moist and probably doesn't need the cream cheese icing but everything tastes better with cream cheese icing.



The maple cream cheese icing isn't the Ottolenghi version but my own spin and one I've used before. The apple chips are also my own addition - unnecessary but fun and easy to make. I just put them on the bottom shelf of the oven while the cake baked.




Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. To make a 23 cm cake just double all the ingredients and bake for the same length of time.



Apple and olive oil cake
Ingredients
40g sultanas
150g plain flour
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
60ml olive oil
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten plus 1 extra egg white
1-2 Granny smith apples (400g)
½ tsp grated lemon rind
30mls water

Maple icing
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbs brown sugar
1 cup sifted icing sugar
40 ml maple syrup

Optional - Apple chips
1 small pink lady apple
2 tbs maple syrup

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 17cm round cake tin with baking paper. Set aside.

Place the sultanas in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and let soak for 1-2 hours or until plump. Drain the water from the sultanas and set to one side.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt together into a bowl and set aside. Peel and core the apples, then cut into 1cm dice and set aside in a separate bowl.

Place the sugar, olive oil, whole egg, vanilla extract and lemon rind in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place. Beat until the mix is light in colour, doubled in size and has thickened a little, about 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the machine and use a large spatula to fold in the flour mixture and the water.

Place the egg white in a separate clean bowl and whisk to form soft peaks. Gently but thoroughly fold the egg white into the cake mix and then gently fold in the diced apple and the drained sultanas.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin, level the top with a spatula and bake for approximately 1 hour (my cake took 1 hour and 10 minutes) or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the cake is browning too quickly you may need to cover the cake with baking paper halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin.

Maple Cream Cheese Icing
Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugars in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Add sufficient maple syrup to make a soft icing. Refrigerate the icing until ready to use.

When the cake is completely cooled, use a large serrated knife to cut it in half horizontally. Spread a third of the icing over the bottom layer of the cake, then place the other layer back on top. Spoon the remaining icing on top – leave the sides un-iced so that the icing in the middle can be seen – and serve. If desired decorate the cake with some apple chips.

Apple chips
Preheat the oven to 180°C .Thinly slice the unpeeled apple using a sharp knife or a mandolin. Remove any apple seeds. Lightly brush one side of each apple slice with maple syrup. Place on a rack and place in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes or until the apple chips are lightly golden, crisp and the edges have started to ruffle. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. The apples will continue to crisp up as they cool.



Hoping to see you all again next week,

Jillian
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take home chocolate cake

13 Aug 2018



I'm a huge Ottolenghi fan, so as soon as I heard Ottolenghi had penned a baking book called Sweet with Helen Goh, I ordered a copy. Even though I've had the book for close to a year now, I've only made a few items so far because life keeps getting in the way. A few weeks ago I decided to make something
that was quick to put together and selected the take home chocolate cake from the book. 



It's a melt and mix cake so it took no time to make, in fact measuring the ingredients took longer than preparing the cake.



I'd read a few reviews reporting the cake took less time to cook than indicated in the book (1 hour) and that the resultant cake was very crumbly and dry. My cake took about 50 minutes to bake and I took the cake into work and waited for the verdict. The cake wasn't dry but it didn't hold it's shape when cut, instead exploding into a shower of crumbs. Despite this, the cake received a big thumbs up.




Although the cake tasted great, I wasn't happy with the texture so I re-made the cake on Saturday. I'm not a huge fan of melt and mix cakes so the second time I made the cake I made it the old fashioned way creaming the butter and sugar together.



The batter made that way was much firmer than the melt and mix batter and the cake took a little longer to cook, just over an hour. However when cut, the slice came out exactly the way a piece of chocolate cake should - deliciously moist and chocolately. 



Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a 23cm cake you'll need to double all the ingredients but the bake time will stay the same. I used my own ganache recipe but the cake recipe is an adaptation of the Take Home Chocolate Cake found in Sweet by Ottolenghi and Helen Goh but made my way. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Take Home Chocolate Cake
100g 70% dark chocolate chopped into small pieces 
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature   
125g caster sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 large egg, lightly beaten 
135g self-raising flour 
15g Dutch-processed cocoa powder  
a pinch salt 
¾ tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in a little boiling water, then topped up with cold water to make cup

Topping 
90g dark chocolate chopped 
 cup double cream
2 tsp golden or maple syrup 

Method 
Heat oven to 180°C. Grease a 17-centimetre round tin with butter and line with baking paper, then set aside. Melt chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between increments until completely melted. Cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until incorporated followed by the cooled melted chocolate. Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt together into a bowl and then add the flour in batches alternating with the coffee mixture to make a soft batter. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour or until the cake is cooked and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with just a few dry crumbs attached. The top will form a crust and crack a little, but don't worry, this is expected. Leave the cake to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan, then set aside until completely cool. 

While the cake is cooling, you can make the icing

Icing 
Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in 30-second increments, or over a bowl of simmering water, stirring between increments. Remove the bowl and whisk in the cream and the golden syrup. The topping should be smooth and quite silky. If you want a thin layer to spread over the cake, it can be poured over while liquid so that you get an even, light and shiny coating. For a thicker icing with a spreading consistency, leave it for about 1/2 hour at room temperature. The icing will thicken as it cools. if it seizes,just return the mixture to the microwave for a few seconds to loosen.

Spread the topping on top of the cake using an off-set spatula. When set, peel the baking paper from the cake and discard. Place on a serving plate and refrigerate until serving time. Bring the cake to room temperature before serving. With or without the icing the cake will keep well in an airtight container for 4-5 days.

See you again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian
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sour cherry chocolate brownies

6 Aug 2018



I was looking through the Popina Book of Baking a few weeks ago and noticed a recipe for sour cherry chocolate brownies. I love sour cherries and decided to transform my chocolate brownies into sour cherry chocolate brownies. I looked in my cupboard and had all the ingredients I needed so into the kitchen I went.





Brownies take no time to make but soaking the cherries requires some forethought as they need to soak for at least an hour, preferably overnight.



I used a straight sided tin not realising it's a bit bigger than my usual brownie tin so the brownies came out looking a little too thin for my liking. I decided to top them with a simple chocolate topping because cooking is all about generosity.



They came out looking pretty fudgy and delicious. Here's the recipe for you which makes 16 brownies if you use a 7½ inch square pan. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Sour cherry chocolate brownies
30g dried sour cherries
2-3 tbs strong hot coffee
½ cup plain flour
1½ tablespoons cocoa powder
125 grams (4 oz) unsalted butter
180 grams (6 oz) dark chocolate
¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
125 gm dark chocolate, chopped
60g unsalted butter, cubed

Method
The night before making the brownies, soak the dried sour cherries in the hot coffee. Cover and leave a few hours or overnight, then drain the cherries before using.

Grease and line the base and sides of an 18 cm square tin. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Sift the flour and cocoa together with a pinch of salt into a small bowl and set aside. Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a medium sized bowl over simmering water or in the microwave. Stir in the sugar, the beaten eggs and the vanilla. Mix in the cocoa mixture and stir until well combined, then fold in the drained sour cherries.

Spoon the mixture into a greased and paper lined 7-7 ½ inch square tin. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until just cooked when tested with a skewer. The brownie crumb should come out a bit damp. Allow the brownies to cool in the tin, before turning out and removing the paper. If desired you can ice the brownies with the chocolate topping.


Topping
Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a medium sized bowl over simmering water or in the microwave. Allow the mixture to cool until it thickens before spreading over the brownies. Allow the topping to set before cutting into bars or squares. Store the brownies in an airtight tin to prevent them drying out.



These brownies are in the freezer waiting to be brought in to work in a few weeks time for a special morning tea, so until then they're a secret.


See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen

Bye for now,

Jillian
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