Cakes and Puddings Archives - Page 22 of 46

Coffee Cake

11|03|2017

Coffee is one of those things that is indispensable to me. Of course, I’m not alone. My morning begins only when I’ve taken a sip from my favourite mug. Admittedly, I have been late in joining the coffee-drinkers club (only after I moved to Australia) but the love for coffee flavoured desserts dates back to my early baking days. It started with the first time I tasted mocha truffles and grew with the discovery of the Tiramisu. But this one is different. nothing fancy. You can call it a Coffee flavoured Coffee Cake.

This is a moist, not too rich cake with a strong taste of coffee which is what I was after. Unless there’s enough coffee flavour in there, you really can’t taste it. Then I am happy drinking coffee. Why bother adding it to a cake? So after a few trials I came up with this recipe that I was finally happy with (because you don’t want it to taste bitter either). It is quite easy to put together, actually everything is mixed in one bowl. To dress it up I just piped some whipped cream (that has also been infused with coffee) and topped the cake with chocolate shards. I think there is no better pairing with Coffee than chocolate. You can also glaze the Coffee cake with chocolate ganache if you don’t feel like making the chocolate shards. It’s delicious either way.

The Chocolate shards are not difficult to make. I am sharing a video that I found on YouTube. If you are making it for the first time, use a little quantity of chocolate to just have a go. Once you get a hang of it, you’ll find it hard to stop. It is a great way of dressing up your desserts and cakes.
Have a lovely weekend guys! I am so pumped up to bake with the weather cooling down bit by bit every day.

Coffee Cake
Makes a 6 inch round cake

1 tbsp heaped instant coffee powder
1/4 cup boiling water
125 g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
11/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of a 6 inch round cake pan and line the base with baking paper. Add the coffee to the boiling water and mix till blended.

In a large bowl, whisk the butter together with the brown sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well. Add the coffee, flour, Greek yogurt and milk and mix to combine.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth the surface with the back of a spoon. Bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and leave aside for 10 minutes. Run a blunt knife around the sides of cake gradually to loosen it and turn it out on to a wire rack to cool.

Once cooled completely, decorate with sweetened whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa. Alternatively glaze the cake with chocolate ganache. Top with chocolate shards.

Chocolate Brownie Cake

4|03|2017

I was supposed to share a different recipe today but this cake turned out so good that I couldn’t wait until next week. After all, what better to make on the weekend than a good chocolate cake. When that chocolate cake is the most fudgy, outrageously delicious brownie cake you have to share it with the world, right?. A perfectly cracked top and a rich, moist interior and above all, a few simple ingredients that are mostly available at home. I’ve been under the weather this week and this cake got me all excited. I’ve made enough brownies and cakes in the last two decades to know a really good recipe. This is a keeper!

It’s Autumn over here and the light is beautiful. A subtle, diffused light that makes me want to stand outside and photograph everything I can lay my hands on. Summer is my favourite season mainly for the beautiful fresh produce it brings with it and I feel a bit sad when it ends but the first few weeks of Autumn are the best where there is an overlap. We are still enjoying plums, peaches and figs but the apples have started arriving and the weather has cooled down substantially. As for this Brownie cake, the beauty of a chocolate cake is that it defies seasons and reasons. Make it anytime, anywhere.

The initial plan was to decorate the Brownie Cake with red berries. However, it does not need a thing. A sprinkling of icing sugar was enough. The recipe requires the eggs to be separated and whites whipped first and then mixed into the batter. This is the perhaps the reason why the texture is so amazing. If you haven’t separated eggs before, go for it this time. It’s worth it and does not require any perfection as such. If you’d like to try out variations, throw in some orange zest or orange peel, or add a teaspoon of instant coffee powder for a Mocha flavour. I made mine in a 6 inch cake pan and the it had a decent height. If you don’t have a 6 inch pan, you could make it in a 7 inch pan as well. The baking time will reduce to about 45 mins but its best to keep an eye on it after 40 mins.

Chocolate Brownie Cake (adapted with variation from BBC Goodfood)
Makes a 6 inch, round cake.

175 g unsalted butter, roughly chopped
175 g dark chocolate , roughly chopped
1 cup (200 g) castor sugar
3 medium eggs, separated
1/2 cup (about 65 g ) plain flour
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts (or a nut of your choice)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Grease a 6 inch round pan (base and sides) and line the base with baking paper. Place the butter, chocolate and sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat until melted, stirring occasionally until blended. Remove from heat and leave aside to cool (about 20 minutes).

Whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture, then add the flour and nuts.

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then gently, but thoroughly, fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 50-60 mins or until crusty on top. Leave to cool, then run a knife around the sides and remove from the pan. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

6|02|2017

You are about to be let in on a life changing hack! Who would guess, the humble mayonnaise could replace the key ingredients in a cake and turn it into my favorite chocolate cake recipe. Like you, I have always put off the idea. Seriously, mayonnaise in cake? So wrong! No, actually I was wrong! I only discovered this while testing out recipes for a favorite brand of mayonnaise (Hellmann’s).

Look at this cake! So simple, yet so cool, right? Not only will this be up there with your go-to recipes in future but you just can’t have enough of this cake. I know the question that you are busting to ask me. Will it taste anything like mayonnaise? The answer is NO! It does not taste of mayonnaise if you use a good quality one. The mayonnaise is there to work it’s magic in the cake to make it extra moist and simplify things for you. If you think about it, mayonnaise is nothing but eggs, oil and vinegar. All of these ingredients are used in varieties of cakes in different ways. To rule out this possibility to a great extent, I’ve included coffee in the recipe. You know how coffee enhances the flavour in chocolate cakes.

I have used a Chocolate Fudge Frosting to frost the cake. Chocolate ganache will work as well or any other chocolate frosting that you love. The idea is to keep things simple. To decorate the cake I’ve grated a block of dark chocolate and stuck them on the sides of the cake with my hand. I hope you try the recipe. Let me know how you like it:-)

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Makes a round 6 inch cake

1 tablespoon instant coffee
11/2 cup self-raising flour
3/4 of a tsp, baking soda
3/4 cup castor sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
3/4 cup mayonnaise, (I used Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (preferably Dutch processed)
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 6 inch pan and line the base with non-stick baking paper.
Mix the instant coffee with 3/4 cups lukewarm water. Leave aside to cool completely.

Place the flour, baking soda, cocoa and sugar in a large bowl. Mix together with a large spoon. Add the mayonnaise and coffee mixture and mix till well blended. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Leave in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely, Once cool, spread frosting on the top and sides. I have used a chocolate fudge frosting (recipe below). You could use the same or your favourite chocolate frosting recipe. Decorate the sides with grated dark chocolate and top with fresh raspberries.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting (this recipe will yield more frosting than you will need for the cake. You could either half the recipe or store the extra frosting for use later on)

120 gms unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup (150 gms) unsalted butter, room temperature
11/3 cups (160 gms) icing sugar sifted
11/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy(about 1 min). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy(about 2 min). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2-3 min).

Red Velvet Bundt Cake

20|01|2017

Nordic bake-ware has its own rustic charm! I owned one of those bundt cake pans years ago but hardly ever bake with it now. Too much of design in the exterior results in the cake sticking to the sides despite greasing well and has almost always resulted in a disaster. Also, the kind of cake being baked is equally important. Moist, sponge like cakes are best to be avoided whereas butter cakes are certainly a better choice. However, finding this cake pan (the ones used for this cake) which was of a far greater quality (from Williams Sonoma) made me re-think bundt cakes. It is no secret how much I love Red Velvet Cakes so I thought about that first. But then Red Velvet Cakes are soft textured cakes so I knew that would be a challenge. After looking through a few recipes, I found this one and tweaked it slightly to get the desired results.

The cake came out perfectly. No sure if it was the pan or the cake or maybe both. The inside of the cake was still quite soft while the outside nicely held it’s shape. The flavour was there, though not as much as would be in a regular Red Velvet Cake. The cream cheese glaze was delicious and more than made up for it. Owing to the shape, most of the glaze slid down the edges but when I served it to my friends, I add an extra generous drizzle to the slices on the plate and that went down a treat with everyone.

Red Velvet Bundt Cake
Makes a 8.5 inch bundt cake

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tbsp red food coloring
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 3/4 cups castor sugar
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Cream Cheese Glaze
225 g (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
5 tbsp unsalted butter
21/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and flour bundt pan.

In stand mixer or with an electric mixer, combine oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients. Gradually add to wet ingredients (slowly at first). Beat until smooth.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven. Leave aside for 10 minutes. Slowly loosen the sides and turn onto a wire rack for 30 mins to cool completely. Once cool, spoon the cream cheese glaze on the top.

To make the cream cheese glaze, combine the butter and cream cheese in stand mixer (or with an electric mixer). Gradually add sugar and vanilla at low speed to combine, then whisk at high speed for three minutes.