double chocolate sour cream pound cake

double chocolate sour cream pound cake

11 Jul 2024

I recently borrowed a few cookbooks from the library, including a copy of Alison Roman's book, 'Sweet Enough'. I trawled through the book and bookmarked a few recipes, including this one for her Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake.

I am not a chocolate person but my next door neighbour's daughter is. After a few weeks of fruit and citrus based cakes, I decided to make something with Minnie in mind. I had a scraping of sour cream left in the fridge, and some long forgotten chocolate chips so a chocolate sour cream pound cake it was.

I made a small loaf cake and normally I'd just halve the recipe but I would have ended up with a very tiny loaf cake so I had to tweak the proportions a little.

Here’s the recipe for you, which makes a small loaf cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and 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.

Double Chocolate Pound Cake
Ingredients
100g plain flour
45g cocoa 
¾ tsp baking powder
pinch salt 
85g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
135g sour cream or whole-milk yoghurt
112g chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bar (optional)
1 tbs raw sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 190°C, conventional. Line a small loaf pan with baking paper and put to one side.

Sift the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a medium bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer place the butter, caster sugar and vanilla and beat for 4-5 minutes or until extremely pale and fluffy. Scrape down sides. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each to incorporate. Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until mixture is smooth, fluffy and well incorporated.

With mixer on low, add about half the flour mixture, followed by the sour cream, followed by remaining flour mixture. Just before everything is incorporated, add three-quarters of the chocolate, if using.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate (if using) and the  raw sugar. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cake is puffed, considerably taller and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Due to the melted chocolate pieces in the batter, this is a difficult cake to test for 'doneness' using a skewer. Cool entirely before removing from pan.

I wasn't sure if I'd overbaked the cake due to the cake testing issues but no-one seemed to complain. As this is a sturdy cake I decided to dunk my slice into my cup of tea, something I've never done before. The hot tea melted the chocolate chunks in the cake and it was delicious.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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claire ptak marble cake

claire ptak marble cake

28 Aug 2023

Hi all, I've have been travelling all over the place the past 10 days or so. I've just been to Dungog and back to see my brother and his new puppies, hence the delay in posting today's recipe.

I whipped this cake up just before I drove to Dungog and photographed it whilst up there. The icing was a little damaged en route which you might be able to notice in one of the photos.

The recipe comes from Claire's Ptaks new book, Love is a Pink Cake. It's a simple buttery vanilla and chocolate marble cake topped with a delicious white chocolate glaze, which in my opinion makes the cake. 

Here's the recipe for you which is adapted from Claire Ptak's cookbook, Love is a Pink Cake, which makes an 8 x 4 inch loaf cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and 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.

Claire Ptak Marble Cake 
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, very soft, plus extra for greasing 
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
175g plain flour 
1 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
⅓ cup buttermilk 
50g cocoa powder 
80g boiling water 

Icing
120g icing sugar 
1½ tbs hot water
60g white chocolate, melted and cooled

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional and grease and line a small loaf tin, about 8 x4 in, with baking paper. Make sure the paper comes up the sides of the tin.

Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and cream together well, but not as fluffy as you would for a layer cake. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt  together in a large bowl. Mix in half of this flour mixture, scraping down the sides as you go, until barely combined. Keep the mixer going while you add the buttermilk. Add the remaining flour and mix until just combined, then scrape down the bowl and give it one last mix.
Spoon one third of the mixture into a bowl and set aside. Whisk together the cocoa powder and boiled water until smooth. Allow the mixture to cool a little then stir it into the reserved cake mixture until it's incorporated.

Spoon a third of the plain mixture into the base of the prepared tin, then alternate dollops of chocolate mixture and plain mixture to look like a checkerboard. Run a knife through the batters in a swirling motion to create a marble effect. Less is more here, so resist the temptation to over-swirl.

Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until springy and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin completely before icing.

To make the icing, place the sifted icing sugar, hot water and cooled melted white chocolate in a small bowl and whisk together until smooth. Remove the loaf from the tin by running a small knife around the sides of the tin, then tilting the tin on its side and coaxing the loaf out, using the baking paper as a handle. Remove the paper and turn the loaf upright on your wire rack. Drizzle over the icing and let it drip down the sides, then carefully transfer to a serving dish.

My cake barely rose and I'm not sure if that's the way the cake should be but I suspect my baking powder might have passed it's use by date. I'm going to whip up another one for my neighbours with fresh baking powder and see what happens. It was delicious anyway, barely risen or not.

See you all again some time next week with, fingers crossed, some travel photos. I have a new laptop and all new editing software, which I'm hoping I'll learn to use in the next few days. Wish me luck.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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pistachio and lime syrup cake

pistachio and lime syrup cake

16 Aug 2023

I love cookbooks but I ran out of shelf space long ago. Last year I realised I could borrow cookbooks from the library and scan the recipes that appealled to me, before returning the book for someone else to enjoy.

That's how I came upon this recipe from Belinda Jeffery which I found in her latest book, 'In Belinda’s Kitchen – Essential Recipes'. As I'm going away soon, I wanted to use pantry staples and items already in my fridge, like the 4 limes I found lurking in the vegetable drawer, so this pistachio and lime syrup cake fitted the brief. 

Belinda writes foolproof recipes, so I knew this cake would turn out perfectly as long as I followed her instructions although I did deviate from the recipe a little. As I had to pull out the food processor to grind the pistachios, I decided to make the cake batter in there as well and it turned out just fine. Instead of using pomegranate seeds, I used dried rose petals which were already in the cupboard and of course I halved the recipe to suit my small tin.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a larger cake, the original recipe can be found here. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and 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.

Pistachio and lime syrup cake - makes a 17cm cake
Ingredients
30g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
50g pistachios, finely ground
1½ tbs finely grated zest, approximately 2 large limes 
60g almond meal 
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
110g caster sugar
2 × 60g eggs, at room temperature
1 tbs dried rose petals to decorate, optional
rich cream or thick Greek-style yoghurt, to serve

Syrup and topping
45g caster sugar
¼ cup (60ml) fresh lime juice (from about 2 large limes), strained 
45g pistachios, roughly chopped

Method
Preheat your oven to 170°C, conventional. Butter a 17cm round cake tin, line the base with buttered baking paper then dust the tin with flour. 

Tip the flour, baking powder, ground pistachios, lime zest and almond meal into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk them together with a balloon whisk for a minute or so, then set the bowl aside. 

Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand-held electric beater) and beat them on medium speed for about 4 minutes, stopping and scraping down the sides occasionally, until the mixture looks creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, allowing each egg to be absorbed before adding the next. (Don’t worry if the mixture looks a little curdled after adding the last egg – it will come together again when you add the dry ingredients.) Tip in the flour mixture and mix everything together on low speed until it is just combined – be careful not to over-mix it, or the cake may be a bit tough. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. 

Bake the cake for 45–50 minutes, or until it springs back when lightly pressed in the centre and a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer it to a wire rack and leave it to cool a little in the tin.

When the cake is lukewarm, make the syrup. To do this, put the sugar and lime juice into a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the chopped pistachios, increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil. Turn the cake out onto a serving plate and peel away the baking paper. Slowly spoon the hot pistachio and lime syrup evenly over the top, then leave the cake to cool completely. 

Just before serving, scatter the cake with dried rose petals, if using. Serve with softly whipped cream or yoghurt. 

I love pistachios, so I knew I would love this cake, and the addition of the lime syrup makes for one zesty cake.

I shared the cake with my neighbours and they loved it as well.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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glazed chocolate olive oil cake

glazed chocolate olive oil cake

3 Jul 2023

A few posts back I mentioned I was working on a chocolate pound cake recipe and here it is. I've made the cake twice now - the first time I made a loaf cake and topped it with dark chocolate ganache, which my Dad found a bit rich. This time I made a bundt cake and used some 'just about to expire' sour cream instead of yoghurt. 

I topped the cake with some old fashioned chocolate icing, only because I'd run out of cream with which to make the ganache, then added a handful of chopped toasted almonds for decoration. I'm not sure which version I prefer.

Making this cake takes no time at all. It takes way more time to prepare the tin and weigh out and measure the ingredients. Here's the recipe for you which makes a small bundt or a small loaf 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.

Glazed chocolate, olive oil cake

Cake
65g brown sugar
65g caster sugar
⅓ cup (50g) plain flour
⅓ cup (35g) cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch table salt
⅔ cup (65g) almond meal
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
⅓ cup (80g) extra-virgin olive oil
Scant ⅓ cup (75g) full fat yoghurt or sour cream

Chocolate Icing
1 tsp butter or oil
20g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup sifted icing sugar
5g (3 tsp) cocoa powder, sifted
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup (60 ml) milk

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. If making the bundt cake, grease a 5 cup bundt tin and dust with cocoa powder. If making the loaf cake then line a small loaf pan with baking paper, allowing some overhang for easy removal.

Place the sugars in a large bowl. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a small bowl. Stir through the almond meal and set to one side. Add the vanilla and eggs to the sugar mix, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Whisk until the mixture thickens. Whisk in the dry ingredients in thirds alternating with the yoghurt or sour cream and mix until the batter is smooth. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake on the centre rack for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack. Let the cake cool completely before icing.

Chocolate Icing
Melt the butter and chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir sifted icing sugar and cocoa into the chocolate. Add the vanilla extract and enough milk to make an icing of a coating consistency. Put a tray or baking sheet under the wire rack and pour the glaze over the cake, letting it run over the edges. If you like, you could decorate the top of the cake with some coarsely chopped toasted almonds and chocolate shards. The cake will keep at room temperature for 3 days.

The cake has a high cocoa content so it makes a deeply dark, moist, though not particularly sweet cake, if that's your thing. 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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sticky date and ginger cake with butterscotch cream cheese icing

sticky date and ginger cake with butterscotch cream cheese icing

12 Jun 2023

Do you remember a few months back I made some sticky date and ginger cookies? I really liked the flavour of the cookies and wondered if I could capture the flavour of the cookies in a cake. As the cookies were originally inspired by the ever popular sticky toffee pudding, I used an old sticky toffee pudding recipe as my starting point. 

Instead of topping the cake with toffee sauce, I made some butterscotch flavoured cream cheese icing then drizzled the cake with the leftover butterscotch sauce. If you didn't want to go down the cream cheese icing route then whipped cream topped with lashings of butterscotch sauce would go down a treat. As both the icing and sauce are sweet, the cake itself is barely sweet so if you made the cake without the icing I would increase the sugar to 150g.

I've made the cake twice now and I can report it works with either vegetable oil or butter. Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17 cm layer cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and 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. If you'd like to make a 23cm cake, double the ingredients and the baking time should remain the same.

Sticky date, ginger and pecan cake with butterscotch cream cheese icing - makes a 17cm cake

Cake
100g chopped dried dates 
½ tsp bicarb soda
100 mls boiling water
40g dried dates
40g toasted pecans 
40g glace or crystallised ginger
1 tbs plain flour
75g room temperature unsalted butter or vegetable oil
100g soft light brown sugar
2½ tsp golden or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, at room temperature 
150g self-raising flour
½ tsp flaked sea salt 
1½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Icing 
30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter
30 g (1 oz) brown sugar
30 mls cream
2 tsp golden syrup
Pinch salt flakes
50 g full-fat cream cheese, room temperature soft
40g unsalted butter, room temperature soft
150g soft icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm tin with baking paper, then set to one side.

Combine the 100g chopped dates and the 100 mls boiling water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add the baking soda which will froth and bubble, and leave to cool.  When cool, puree the dates with a stick blender or in a food processor. Set to one side. Coarsely chop the remaining dates, the pecans and glace ginger. Place into a small bowl and combine with the 1 tbs plain flour.

Place the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until incorporated. Sift the flour, salt and spices into a bowl then add a third of the flour to the batter, followed by a third of the date puree and continue this sequence until fully incorporated. You should have a nice smooth batter. Finally, stir in the chopped dates, pecans and glace ginger. If you're using oil, follow the same instructions but you won't need a stand mixer as the batter can be made in a bowl and mixed with a wooden spoon.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes at 180°C conventional,  or until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Place on a wire rack and cool completely before unmoulding the cake.

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Icing
To make the butterscotch, combine the butter, brown sugar, cream, and the golden syrup in a small saucepan. Cook over a low heat until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Cook for a minute or two until the mixture thickens then add a pinch of salt and set aside to cool. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, combine the cream cheese, the butter, icing sugar, the vanilla, a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of the cooled butterscotch. Beat on low speed for 10 minutes until soft and fluffy. 

Generously top the cake with the cream cheese icing and just before serving drizzle over the remaining cooled butterscotch. Can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator but is best served at room temperature.

I shared the cake with my neighbours and it received rave reviews. You can't ask for more than that,

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apple ricotta and almond cake

apple ricotta and almond cake

29 Apr 2023

Last week I had a few social engagaments and I offered to bring along the dessert. I had so many recipe options whirring through my brain I had trouble sleeping. Should I bring a tart; should I bring a cake; should I make a pavlova? I'd planned on making a completely different cake for work but when the time came, I was short of one ingredient and I wasn't feeling it. I looked through the fridge and I had a little ricotta cheese left over and a few apples in the fruit bowl so I decided to adapt Julia Busuttil Nishimura's plum ricotta and almond cake recipe to make an apple ricotta and almond cake.

I made a few tiny tweaks to the recipe and as I was meeting friends for lunch that day, I was a bit time poor. I made the cake batter in the food processor and once all the ingredients were measured, it all came together very quickly. Slicing the apples and arranging them over the cake batter was probably the most time consuming part of the process.

I really think nut based cakes taste better the day after they're made. You end up with a lovely cake with a soft texture that's full of flavour. That being said, I had my piece on the day and it tasted mighty fine.

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

Apple, ricotta and almond cake
Ingredients
75g unsalted butter, softened
75g fresh full-fat ricotta
80g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1½ tsp lemon rind
2 eggs
112g ground almonds
50g self-raising flour
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Topping
1 small apple
1 tsp melted butter
3 tsp sugar
⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tbs flaked almonds
Double cream, to serve

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

Place the butter, ricotta, sugar, vanilla and lemon rind in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until pale and fluffy. Alternatively cream in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Gently stir through the ground almonds, flour, salt and baking powder by hand and mix until just combined. Spoon into the prepared tin and smooth the top of the batter.

Peel and core the apple and slice thinly. Arrange the apple slices on top of the batter then drizzle the melted butter over the apple slices. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl then sprinkle over the apple slices, avoiding the very edge of the cake as the sugar tends to burn as the cake cooks. Scatter the almond flakes around the edge of the cake, then place the cake on the centre rack of the preheated oven. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when tested and the apple slices have softened. Slide a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it then let it cool for 10 minutes in the tin before turning out. Allow the cake to finish cooling on a wire rack before serving. Serve with double cream.

Another nice simple cake to add to your repertoire.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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