Andy's Birthday Cake - Coconut and White Chocolate Mud Cake

I have some what neglected my blog recently which I regret, but I have still been baking and have some great recipes which I'll put up shortly. I'm currently on a two week break from work over Christmas and as Andy has to work, I fear more baking shenanigans will be had.

So it's Andy's Birthday tomorrow and although he has suggested not making a Birthday cake, I did manage to get out of him that he wanted something with white chocolate and fruit, so here is my second attempt at this rather scrummy sounding recipe. My first attempt ended badly - I burnt it, but that was many months ago.

The Recipe Coconut and White Chocolate Mud Cake (Coles Christmas Mag 2009)
200g butter
180g white chocolate
3/4 cup sour cream
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Apricot filling
825g apricot halves, drained
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup caster sugar

Icing
125g butter softened
3/4 cup pure icing sugar
125g white chocolate, melted

The Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C or 140 degrees for a fan oven. Grease and line a 20cm square cake pan with non-stick baking paper. (I used a round one as I don't own a square one)
2. Heat butter, chocolate, sour cream and sugar in a saucepan, stirring until melted and well combined. Cool for 10 minutes, add the egg sand vanilla and mix well.
3. Sift both flowers into a large mixing bowl. Add coconut. Add 1/4 of the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Continue to add a 1/4 of the mixture at a time until the mixture is well combined. Fill prepared pan and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
4. Meanwhile make the apricot filling: Combine the apricots and lemon juice in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add sugar stir and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove, stir and cook for 5 minutes more. Refrigerate until cold.
5. To make the icing: Using electric beaters beat butter and icing sugar together until pale and creamy. Stir in the melted chocolate until combined.
6. Split the cake, spread a little of the icing and apricot filling over the base, sandwich the cakes together. Spread icing over the tops and sides. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

Hot and Sour Cucumber with Sticky Mushroom Noodles

I'd been staring at this recipe for a while, the mushrooms in the picture looked so tasty an knowing Andy doesn't particularly like mushrooms I couldn't not make this dish. It turned out scrummy which was a good thing as Andy refused to eat it.

The Recipe - Hot and Sour Cucumber with Sticky Mushroom Noodles from Donna Hay
60ml cup rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp dried chili flakes

1. 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

2 Lebanese cucumbers, peeled, deseeded and sliced (I use normal ones)
1 tbsp sesame oil
100g namenko mushrooms (I used a mixture of hon shimenji, button and shitake)
125ml oyster sauce
125ml chicken or vegetable stock
270g green tea soba noodles, cooked
1 cup mint leaves
3 green onions, thinly sliced

The Method

1. Place the vinegar, lime juice, chilli, sesame seeds and cucumber in a bowl and mix well to combine, set aside.
2. heat the oil in a large non stick pan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes or until soft.
3. Add the oyster sauce, stock and noodles and cook for a further 1 minute or until noodles are coated in sauce.
4. Place the noodles in a dish, top with the cucumber, mint and onions and serve.

Lamintons for Breakfast

I haven't felt much like baking this past week since having my wisdom tooth removed. It's not been  great week, but at least the weekend is now fast approaching.

As I was up at an ungodly hour and unable to go to the gym I decided to try my hand at baking some lamingtons, I have never made then before and love coconut and love cake, so this seemed like a great choice. My recipe was for lamington wedges, instead o the usual square, I think I'll make the squares next time as the wedges were difficult to keep whole.

The recipe I have used came from two different books as the book I was using for the lamingtons said to use a ready made sponge, so I had to bake one of those first.

The Recipe - Sponge Cake from Stephanie Alexander's The Kitchen Companion
5 eggs at room temperature
150g plain flour plus extra for dusting
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees, butter a 24cm cake time and dust with flour.
2. Whisk up the eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick and mousse like.
3. Sift the flour on top of the egg mixture and fold in with a large metal spoon.
4. Trickle the melted butter down the side of the pan and fold in using a large metal spoon.
5. Poor the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden and springy to touch. place on a wire rack to cool.

For The lamingtons from Chocolate Indulgence Book
40g Cocoa powder
250g icing sugar
125ml bolling water
30g unsalted butter
180g shredded coconut

Method

1. Trim the top and sides from the cake and cut into wedges.
2. Sift the flour and cocoa into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
3. Add the butter to the boiling water and stir until melted, pour mixture into icing sugar and stir until combined.
4. Spread the coconut out onto a large plate.
5. Dip the sponge into the icing, shake off any extra icing and place onto the coconut. Roll over until each side has a good coating and pace on a wire rack

For a first try these turned out really tasty, a light and springy sponge cake helped soak up the chocolate icing and gather  good helping of coconut. Not bad for a first try.

Chocolate Buns

Another recipe from my Hotel Chocolat book, there is a whole section specifically for chocolate breakfast foods so being prepared for once I made chocolate bread rolls. You need to make the dough the night before hence why being prepared is important, so Friday night as I had no plans I diligently made the dough and left it in the fridge over night. I was surprised at how hard the dough felt and was wondering if I would be having tough bread for breakfast.

The recipe states its a pre world war II recipe and looks a little like pan au chocolat but with bread instead of flakey pastry. I grated my chocolate rather than cut it and used a combination of 70% dark and Belgium white chocolate as I had no milk or low 50% dark chocolate. They turned out petty tasty and warmed up the next day still tasted fab. I think I'll be making these again soon!!

The Recipe - Sue Lawrence's Chocolate Bread Rolls
625g strong plain flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast
30g butter, cut into cubes
30g caster sugar
340ml skimmed milk, warmed, plus extra to glaze
110-140g dark chocolate (50-60% cocoa) or good quality mil chocolate

The Method

1. Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Rub in the butter, then stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre.
2. Add enough warm milk to mix into a fairly firm dough. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for 10 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl, cover tightly and refrigerate over night to prove.
3. The next morning, knock back the dough with your fists, then divide into 10 pieces. Roll each piece into a 10x15cm rectangle.
4. place the chopped chocolate in the centre of the rectangle  and roll up like a Swiss roll.
5. Place on a greased baking tray, cover loosely and leave to rise in a warm place for 30-40minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees and bake fro 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cook on a wire rack for 5 minutes and then eat whilst warm.

Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce

Another recipe which has been calling me from the pages o a beautiful Donna Hay magazine. I was never a fan of dates until I moved to Australia and find them a good substitute in cakes with little sugar. This recipe both easy to make and delicious worked well and would be perfect on  cold gloomy day (not that I get many of those in Perth!).


Deliciously moist and light this sponge with it's sweet dates and creamy butterscotch sauce was heaven on the lips!!

The Recipe - Donna Hay's Sticky Date Pudding wit Toffee Sauce
210g chopped fresh dates (i used dried ones)
250ml boiling water
1 ts bicarb of soda
100g butter, chopped
130g brown sugar (i used 100g)
2 eggs
150g self raising flour, sifted
icing sugar for dusting
for the sauce
150g butter, chopped
250ml single cream
260g brown sugar

The Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the dates, boiling water and bicarb in a bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.
2. Place the date mixture, butter and sugar in owl and beat until well combined. Add the egg and flour and beat until just combined.
3. Pour the mixture into 6 lightly greased ramekins. bake for 25 minutes or until cooked.
4. For the sauce, place the butter, cream and sugar in a pan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boiled and cook for 8-10 minutes or until slightly thickened.
5. Dust the puddings with icing sugar and serve with the toffee sauce.

Absolutely scrummy, can't wait to cook this again :)

Chocolate Cinnamon Kisses

After having a long week of baking everything from my Donna Hay recipe's I decided it was time to stray back to my normal sweet tooth goodies. This one from a chocolate bought for me from the lovely girls at work for my Birthday!! 


The recipe is pretty easy to follow, I had a minor disaster when piping my biscuits, my bag split and I had to empty all the contents and use a different bag which was very VERY messy. Plus the baking time in my minute oven was much less than the recipe stated, but perhaps that's because as per usual I got a little over excited and missed the step where you are supposed to put the biscuits in the fridge for 20 minutes!! Ho hum, didn't do them any harm, only cooked them quicker.

The Recipe - Cinnamon Chocolate Kisses
250g unsalted butter, softened
85g icing sugar
155g plain flour
40g cornflour
30g unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
for the chocolate ganache
80ml (whipping) cream
120g dark chocolate, finely chopped

The Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Line two baking trays with baking powder.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a medium sized bowl using electric beaters until pale and fluffy.
3. Sift in the flour, cornflour, cocoa and cinnamon and beat until just combined. Spoon the mixture into a pipping bag fitted with 1cm nozzle. Pipe 3cm stars, about 2cm apart onto the papered trays. Place the trays in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
4. Bake swapping the trays halfway through cooking for 20 minutes, or until just cooked through. Allow the biscuits to cool on the trays.
5. Meanwhile make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan until almost simmering.
6. Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and pour onto the hot cream. Stand for 1 minute and then stir until the chocolate has melted. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until the ganache is a thick spreadable consistency.
7. Spread the base of half of the base of the biscuits and sandwich together with the remaining biscuits.
8. These kisses will keep, stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Cinnamon Brioche Scrolls

I've always wondered how you make brioche and then in the Spring edition of Donna Hay as this base recipe and a series of options to turn the dough into cinnamon scrolls, muffins, chocolate swirl or tarts. So here was my first attempt, and it as a lesson to remind me to read the recipe before I start to make it. This recipe requires 2-3 hours of initial rising time followed by 1 further hour. it was safe to say as I made this after work one day that I didn't have enough time for it to rise sufficiently - so to help it along its way i ended up putting the dough in a glass bowl covered with cling wrap and putting it on my belly under my top whilst i watched a  movie.

The Recipe - Donna hay's brioche
1 x 8g sachet dried yeast
1 tbsp luke warm water
55g caster sugar
3/4 tsp sea salt flakes
2 tbsp lukewarm milk
250g double OO flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225g butter, chopped and softened
1 egg extra, lightly beaten
for the scrolls
55g caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
11/2 tbsp demerara sugar

The Method

1. place the yeast and water in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubble appear on the surface.
2. Combine the sugar salt and milk in a separate bowl.Place the flour, yeast mixture and egg in a bowl of an electric mixer and using a dough hook beat on slow for 1 minute. Increase speed to high add the milk mixture and beat on high for 10 minutes or until the dough comes away fro the sides of the bowl.
3. With the motor running gradually add the butter and beat for 6-7 minutes or until glossy and elastic.
4. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm pace for 2-3 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. this forms the basic brioche dough.
5. place the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and mix well to combine.
6. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle 45cm x 25cm. sprinkle with the sugar mixture ad starting from the longest edge, roll to enclose filling.
7. using a sharp knife, trim the edges and cut into 14 pieces. Places the scrolls side by side in a lightly greased 20cm springform cake tin. Cove with a clean damp cloth and set aside for 1 hour. (i did this part in the oven do didn't get a very good rise)
8. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, brush the dough with the egg and sprinkle with demerera sugar. Bake for 15 minutes, loosely cover with aluminium foil and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until golden. Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

this recipe turned out well, think I will try the chocolate version next time though and make it on the weekend when I have plenty of time to let it rise properly!!