punge: March 2013

eggless ridonkuchoculous cake

Happy Birthday Ross!

I love it when a colleague has a birthday, though the answer to "what sort of cake would you like?" is inevitably a bit boring, like "chocolate" or "carrot" (yep, carrot cake next week). Still, one cannot stand between a woman and her chocolate, and Ross, well, he does love chocolate cake.

He did at least make it interesting by specifying he wanted it to be choccy choccy chocolatey, which reminded me of salt, chilli and coffee used in chocolate to help bring out the chocolatiness of chocolate. Mmmmm, chilli.

And what better texture for a seriously chocolate cake but that of a gooey chocolate brownie?

As it happens, I haven't had the chance to stock up on eggs since the great creamy raspberry-coconut cake disaster of '13, so in my hour of need, made a banana substitution

So here it is, my eggless ridonkuchoculous (& chilli) chocolate cake. And it's easy. Yay!

Lydia's Eggless Chilli Chocolate Brownie Cake
Ingredients
Batter
210g (1 1/3 cup) plain flour
2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 1/3 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
2 bananas, mashed
140g (2/3 cup) soft light brown sugar
40ml (2 2/3 tbsp) hot water
1½ tsp vanilla extract
60g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter (don't be tempted to use baking margarine instead - that doesn't work for brownies!
400g (2 cups) chopped chocolate (I used 200g milk and 200g dark as that's what I had, but would have preferred all dark chocolate)

Chocolate Buttercream
150g (1½ cups, just under 1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
210g (7.4 oz confectioner's) icing sugar, sifted
20g (3 tbsp) cocoa powder
100g (3½ oz) dark chocolate (2/3 of mine was 70% chocolate and the rest semi-sweet chocolate)
½ tsp espresso powder dissolved in 2tsp water
pinch of salt

optional: chocolate sprinkles, to decorate

Method
Preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F, Gas mark 1)
Grease (using vegetable oil) and flour a 7-8 inch round pan.
Mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Mix the mashed banana, sugar, hot water and vanilla extract together well. Set aside.
Melt the chocolate and butter together and combine well with the banana mixture.
Fold in the dry ingredients and deposit into your tin.
Bake for 1 hour, then leave to cool in the tin at room temperature. Once cooled, remove from the pan and refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into two layers. It could collapse at one of these stages, don't panic, just jugsaw it back together using the buttercream.

To make the buttercream, melt the chocolate and set aside to cool a little.
Whisk the butter with the icing sugar and cocoa powder until light and fluffy.
Slowly add the chocolate to the butter while whisking.
Add the liquid ingredients and the salt, and beat to incorporate.

To assemble the cake, sandwich the layers together with some of the buttercream, smooth the rest over the top and sides, and top with sprinkles, if using.

Spicy!

blueberry-mint tarts

Sometimes you need a tart. This was one of those days. We has loads of blueberries to use up, and I thought they'd go well with mint. I was right.

Lydia's blueberry-mint tarts makes 10-12
Ingredients

Pastry (Pate Sucree)
1 egg
210g (7½ oz) bread flour
90g (3 oz) icing sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
105g (3 3/4 oz) butter
32g (1 1/8 oz) ground almonds
½ vanilla bean (optional)

Blueberry mint filling
250g (just under 9 oz) blueberries
handful fresh mint leaves
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp sugar

Pastry cream filling
240ml (1 cup) milk
65g (2 1/4) oz sugar
2tbsp cornstarch
3 small egg yolks (to weigh 55g, 2 oz)
35g (1 1/4 oz) butter

A few small mint sprigs to decorate

Method
For the pastry, sieve together the dry ingredients minus the almonds and cut in the butter either with a pastry cutter, a knife, of by pulsing in a food processor. When the mixture becomes mealy, add the egg and continue cutting in until the mix starts to come together, then cut in the almonds and vanilla. Once the dough has come together, wrap in cling film or in a sandwich bag and refrigerate for at least four hours.

Once the pastry dough is chilled, roll out thinly (~½ cm) and cut into circles (I used a 12.5 cm - 5 inch diameter bowl as a pastry cutter, to fit pastry moulds 8.5 cm - 3.5 inch in diameter - these were actually just egg rings. You can also use a cupcake pan as your pastry mould, cutting smaller circles to fit, approx 8 cm in diameter). At this stage, the rolled pastry will benefit from another 30 minutes in the fridge, this will make lining the tart pans with the pastry easier.
Once the tart pans are lined, cover with baking parchment and baking beans (or any dried beans) and bake at 175°C (350°F) for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack. It's not necessary to prick the pastry with a fork before baking, but it doesn't hurt.

You can make the fillings after the pastry has been chilling for about 3½ hours, but if they are left too long after preparation they will set before they are ready for use.

For the blueberry mint filling, mix the corn starch with the sugar and set aside. Finely chop the mint leaves and in a food processor, process with 175g (6 1/8 oz) of the blueberries till liquid. Bring to the boil in a heavy pan, then add about 1/4 of the wet mix to the dry while stirring. Once all the dry mix is incorporated, return this blend to the pan and boil while stirring for about a minute to thicken. Cut the remaining blueberries in half or quarters depending on size and gently stir into the blueberry-mint gloop. Allow to cool at room temperature until required.

For the pastry cream, place the milk and 1-2 tsp of the sugar in a heavy saucepan and bring to the boil over a low-medium heat.
While waiting for the milk to boil, mix the remaining sugar with the cornstarch and stir in the egg yolks to make a paste.
Once the milk has boiled, add 1/4 of it to the egg mixture slowly, while stirring, then return this to the saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring continuously.
Boil for 2 minutes, stirring throughout, then remove from the heat, stir in the butter until melted, transfer to a clean bowl and cover with cling film (saran wrap, rest it directly on the pastry cream) to prevent a skin from forming and keep at room temperature until use.

Once the pastry cases are cooled smooth just over a tablespoon of the blueberry-mint filling over the base. Top with the pastry cream and smooth with the back of a spoon. Allow to set in the fridge before serving, with a sprig of mint to garnish.

creamy raspberry & coconut

Happy Mother's Day!
And a stunningly happy birthday to mum for yesterday :)
Also, I'm gonna be an aunty again! Yay! (or, more correctly, "I'm gonna be a 10th person's aunty! yay!")

We had a wonderful family gathering at my parent's last night, and of course there was cake. I meant to make the raspberry-almond petit-four cake that I loved so much last time I made it, but found I was missing some key ingredients. Like the almonds. And marzipan. And raspberry jam. And one of the eggs.

Cue substitutions of the likes of dessicated coconut, more buttercream, strawberry and nectarine jam, and a 3/4 amount of batter recipe. I didn't let the ganache cool enough before pouring it on, and so when the big reveal came, it was suitably messy. Between mouthfuls of not-at-all piss-taking "oh wow, looks... lovely" from my delectable siblings, and the beautifully sincere yet clenched-jaw-sounding "mmmmmmm, delicious!" from dad, there was enough material to taunt me with, but as it happens, it was delicious, and the family mentioned I should upload a photo anyway ("looks real home-made!").

So here it is, another variation on the pistachio petit-four cake, and a slightly simpler one at that,

Lydia's creamy raspberry-coconut cake
Ingredients
Batter
170g (6 oz, 3/4 cup) butter
110g (½ cup) caster sugar
3 eggs
225g (1½ cups) plain flour
75g (3/4 cup) dessicated coconut
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp almond extract or essence

Buttercream
100g (3.6oz) butter, at room temperature
200g (generous 2 cup confectioner's) icing sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ganache
220g (7½ oz) white chocolate
145ml (2/3 cup) heavy cream (I used Elmlea double light)

Bits and Bobs
scant 1 cup frozen raspberries - sorry, I don't know the grammage, about 1½ good handfulls!
6 tbsp red fruit jam (I had strawberry and nectarine jam, but any mild-tasting red-fruit jam will work well, e.g. raspberry, strawberry)
Icing sugar, edible sprinkles/sparkles/glitter, to dust (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (300-325°F, Gas mark 2-3), line or grease (with butter) and flour an 8 inch cake pan.
Mix together the flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set to one side.
Break up the eggs lightly and set aside.
Beat together the butter and the sugar.
Add the eggs in two goes, alternating with the flour / almond mixture, and mix until everything is fully incorporated.
Finally add the almond essence, give one final mix, and transfer to your patiently waiting cake tin.
Bake for 1hr and 10-15 minutes. If your cake starts to burn, decrease the heat a little (about 10-20°C) and place on a lower shelf. Bake until golden brown, the middle is firm and springy (certainly not wobbly), and you can hear a fizzing sound. To be sure, you can stick a sharp knife / knitting needle / thermometer probe in the centre - if it comes out not covered in gloop then your cake is baked.
Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool, upside-down.

Once cooled, cut into 2 layers. When you rebuild the cake, the top piece will be that which was the bottom of the cake when it was the oven, with the crust side facing up.

While the cake is baking you can make the buttercream and ganache.

For the buttercream, ensure your butter is soft - if not, cut unto small chunks and beat. Once softened, add the sugar and mix on slow, or with a fork or spoon, until incorporated, then beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed and slowly add the water and vanilla extract. Beat until just incorporated. Set aside, but don't refrigerate.

Make the ganache by chopping the chocolate and melt in a bain marie (or a heat-proof bowl over simmering water, just make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water).

Heat the cream until it's just simmering, and stir into the melted chocolate until combined. If you make the ganache while the cake is baking then leave it at room temperature to thicken up. If you make it while the cake is cooling, put the ganache in the fridge.

To assemble the cake, spread a layer of buttercream over the bottom layer of cake, chop up the raspberries and place them on top of that layer, reserving a small handful for the very top of the cake, and pour a little (no more than about 1/4 cup) of the ganache over the top.
Spread the jam on the underside of the top layer and place on the raspberries so that the middle of your cake has buttercream-raspberies-ganache-jam going from the bottom up.
Cover the top of the cake, and smooth the edges (Particularly any gap between the layers) with buttercream, you'll get raspberry juice and ganache seeping down the sides, don't worry about this.
Finish by pouring on your slightly thickened ganache (hoping it's not still so thin that you lose all of it off the bottom of the cake!), and allow it to run down the sides.
Top with your reserved raspberries, and optionally sprinkle on some edible sparkles or icing sugar to serve.

Hopefully it'll look better than mine!

Also, because I love it so much and I'm in the mood for it, here's some Turkey Dubstep for you:

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eggless ridonkuchoculous cake

blueberry-mint tarts

creamy raspberry & coconut