cake Archives - Page 29 of 30

Date and Carrot Cake

14|01|2014

So I finally made a cake. Though I couldn’t convince myself to loudly exclaim ‘my first dessert for 2014’! No ganache, no glaze..not even a sauce. Well, I am all about Sugar. The more the better. You know that already, don’t you! Dessert or no dessert…I leave that to you to decide. But this cake is good. So very good! Once it came out of the oven, I changed my mind about including a dessert sauce.

There are several reasons why I like this cake. First, it has a subtle caramel taste to it that comes from the dates. If you have never made a date cake before, I highly recommend it. Unlike nuts and raisins, you don’t bite into dates while eating a slice of the cake. They disintegrate and get lost in the batter adding a beautiful flavour and moisture to the cake. The cake is filled with great ingredients like carrots, seeds and nuts that not only make it filling but nutritious too. And the best one. You don’t need a mixer! You just add and stir.

The original recipe was that of a loaf. It always tasted amazing so I’ve been looking for an opportunity to turn it into a cake that can be served for any occasion. I made a few changes in the proportions and ingredients marrying a date cake to a carrot cake. And I loved it so much that I am making it again this week for friends. The first one was over before I had imagined it would.

The cake tastes best when warm. If you want to be fancy with it, you can serve butterscotch or caramel sauce alongside. Whipped cream would be great too. And if you are somewhere in this part of the world, chances are that you may want some ice-cream to go with it!

Date and Carrot Cake
Makes a 9 inch bundt cake

150g butter, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
11/4 cup chopped pitted dates
1 teaspoon mixed spice
11/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup nuts and seeds of your choice (sunflower kernels, walnuts, cashews, pepitas, raisins)
1 cup grated carrot

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160°C fan-forced). Lightly grease a 9 inch bundt cake pan.

Place butter, sugar, dates, spice and 11/2 cup cold water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until butter has melted and sugar dissolved. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Cool for 30 minutes.

Stir in eggs. Add flour, nuts and grated carrot. Stir to combine. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Spiced Orange Almond Cake

18|12|2013

I’ve been wanting to make an Orange cake this month. Though Orange is not our seasonal best at the moment, it is still abundantly available. All throughout my growing up years in India I have associated Oranges with colder months and though the seasons have been reversed now that I am in the southern hemisphere, I continue to have a soft spot for Oranges around this time. As far as my experience goes with Citrus cakes, they always taste delicious and appeal to most people. And they smell amazing too. Remember my Gluten Free Whole Orange Almond Mini Cakes…I’ve made it a number of times and I wanted to experiment with spice this time.

So I played around with a few recipes and came up with this one. I can rarely find myself baking a cake and not adding a nut meal to it. I find the texture so beautiful and nutty. But never rich. I also did not want a completely fudgy cake that would not work with my bundt pans. I made adjustments accordingly and the cake turned out just the way I wanted it to be. You can taste the orange, spices and the almonds that go so well together. Overall, it is a simple recipe with great results.

As you can see, I have used a thin glaze. I didn’t want to overload it with sweetness as it was great on its own. If you do not have the individual spices, you can replace with 1 teaspoon of all spice. This recipe makes a 8 inch bundt cake which is not too big (my cake did not reach the full height of the pan.). I wanted to test out the recipe on a smaller cake. You can double up the recipe for a 9 inch round cake.

In other random news, we will be beginning the new year in our new house. Some of you will remember that I had moved houses a while back. Well, a few things worked well..others did not. And then with children, priorities keep changing. So moving again! With bigger and more boxes. I don’t believe in 8 months I have acquired so much stuff (blame it on the blog). But I do look forward to moving right next to the harbour side. If you have visited Sydney, you would know that we have some very beautiful beaches and harbours. You know I’ve been meaning to share photographs with you but every time I intend to, I think twice. The blog has grown so much over the months and apart from my regular readers, there are a lot of people visiting the site in search of recipes who may not enjoy the additional content. I will probably figure out some other way.
I had a great time this weekend visiting a lavender farm nearby and spending the day with a wonderful elderly couple learning about different varieties of lavender and how they are grown. I hope to write about that once I develop a recipe around edible lavender.

And I had another feature on the Kitchn! So, you know why I am so critical of myself and my blog lately.

Spiced Orange Almond Cake
Makes a 8 inch bundt cake

For the Cake
125 ml (1/2 cup) freshly squeezed Orange juice
1 tbsp. finely grated orange zest
2/3 cup castor sugar
11/3 cup self-raising flour (11/3 cup plain flour + 1 tsp baking powder), sifted
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp powdered nutmeg
1/4 tsp powdered cinnamon
11/2 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
2 medium eggs
60 g unsalted butter, melted

For the Glaze
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 8 inch bundt cake pan. Place the sifted flour, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon together in a bowl and stir to mix. Keep aside.

In an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar till light and creamy. Fold in the flour mixture, ground almonds, orange juice, orange zest and melted butter until just combined and the mixture is smooth. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and edges turn golden brown. Leave in the pan for 15 minutes and then turn the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, pour over the glaze all over the cake.

To make the glaze, in a small mixing bowl whisk the sugar and orange juice together till smooth.

Golden Apple Ginger Cake

23|09|2013

In life, we meet so many different people. Some just happen to us and some are sent our way. Some of them, we meet and forget and some we create everlasting memories with. There are some who we don’t meet often yet they touch our lives in a million ways. They listen to you, inspire you, stand by you, protect you and believe in your dreams like it was their own.

This dainty little cake with all my favourite things in it, is to celebrate a birthday…a dear sister, a friend, a woman with a heart of gold. Just 9 days apart (so you know my birthday is coming up too), but at least 900 times wiser, stronger and affectionate. I held on to this recipe for a long time so I could post it today when it is seemed so apt to do so.

Here’s a little tip for my readers. If you are baking a cake for a special occasion but like me, you are not too fond of the frosted ones, just replace the sugar with brown sugar, treacle or golden syrup. It adds an amazing intensity to the cake. The flavour is more like caramel, actually better. Pairing it with spice makes it go up by several notches. This is also one of those cakes that require minimal effort…the ones where you just put everything in one bowl. But the results are amazing. The syrup is essential to give it that wow factor and to keep the cake moist, so no skipping it.

Happy Birthday to my Golden Girl!
I know you will be amongst the first to read this. Like always!

Golden Apple Ginger Cake
Makes an 8 inch round cake (minimally adapted from Sweet Food)

For the cake
250g (2 cups) self-raising flour
21/2 tsp ground ginger
165g (3/4 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
1 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped into cubes
3 eggs lightly beaten
125 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk
125g unsalted butter, melted

For the apple topping
175 g (1/2 cup) golden syrup
2 apples, cored and thinly sliced into wedges
25 g unsalted butter
1 tbsp glace ginger/crystallised ginger, roughly chopped
2 tbsp roasted almonds, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 8 inch round cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Pour half the golden syrup over the base of the tin, spreading evenly with a metal spoon which has been run under hot water. Arrange the apple slices over the golden syrup in a circle, overlapping slightly.

Sift the flour and ground ginger into a bowl. Add the sugar and chopped apple, then the egg, buttermilk and melted butter. Stir until just combined and batter is smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes, or a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 mins, then carefully invert onto serving plate.

Heat the remaining golden syrup and 25 g butter in a saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted. Spoon the sauce evenly over the cake. Sprinkle with glace ginger and chopped almonds. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Gluten Free Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Torte

3|09|2013

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Some of you on the other side of the hemisphere had a long one. I wish ours was as long but nevertheless it was a fantastic one. We celebrated Father’s day here in Australia on Sunday. Since my little ones are getting better at keeping secrets we had quite a few surprises planned for Daddy this time. And I was relieved that none of them were given away, innocently.. like the previous years. Between a fancy home cooked breakfast and dinner we planned lunch outside so I wouldn’t end up spending the entire day in the kitchen. But the highlight of the day was this Gluten Free Torte.

My husband is not too much into desserts but a chocolate indulgence here and there doesn’t hurt. So I was not surprised when he chose this Torte out of the options I gave him. Well, if you ask me ANYBODY would. A flourless, butterless cake with bits and chunks of bittersweet chocolate and pecans with the perfect moist gooey texture. It takes a lot on your part to resist the temptation of eating spoonfuls of batter before it goes into the oven and even worse when the Torte is cooling down. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best thing I have ever baked in my life. My family loved it.

The Torte is actually quite light despite the chocolate overload in it. Needless to say, a good quality chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter ( I used Lindt 70% Cocoa) makes all the difference in this recipe. This is such a beautiful dessert whether you are serving it for a dinner party or for a special celebration. Taste aside, what I love the most about this Torte is the way it looks. So rustic…with specs of dark chocolate held together be a delicious meringue. And this is why you don’t need any fancy decoration to go with it even for a birthday party. Whipped cream contrasts the bittersweet flavour perfectly so a dollop of it or simply some swirls on the Torte is enough. Dust a little cocoa powder and there you have it.

Chocolate indulgence..the guilt free way (that’s what the best ‘Daddy’ in the world likes to call it)!

Linking up with the September Chocolate Party.
Bring your favorite chocolate dessert to Roxana’s home baking #chocolateparty and win amazing prizes from OXO, Calphalon, Keurig, Imperial Sugar, Honey Ridge Farms and Land O Lakes® Butter

Gluten Free Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk and Pecan Torte (adapted with variation from Fine Cooking)
Serves 8-10

100 g (about 1 cup) pecans/walnuts, or any nut of your choice (I used pecans and walnuts. As I was running short of the exact amount of pecans, I added some walnuts)
125 g (about 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp ) sugar
250 g good quality bittersweet chocolate (70% to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
Finely grated zest of 1 medium orange (optional)
1/8 tsp. salt
7 egg whites (from large eggs), about 1 cup
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 180 degree C. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 8-inch springform pan.

Pulse the pecans/walnuts with 1 Tbsp of the sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Scrape the nuts into another bowl. Use a paper towel to wipe excess oil from the sides of the processor bowl, add the chocolate with 1 Tbsp. sugar, and pulse until it forms crumbs ranging in size from coarse meal to 1/4-inch bits. Add the chocolate to the nuts, along with the orange zest, if using, and salt, and stir to combine. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large clean, dry bowl at medium speed until the egg whites are creamy white and soft peaks are formed when the beaters are lifted. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating at medium-high speed until the egg whites are glossy and stiff but not dry.

Pour half of the chocolate mixture over the egg whites and fold in with a large rubber spatula until nearly incorporated. Repeat with the remaining chocolate mixture, folding just until evenly incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the Torte is puffed and golden brown on top and springs back when gently pressed with your fingers; a toothpick inserted in the center should come out moist and possibly stained with melted chocolate, but not coated with raw batter. Set the pan on a rack to cool. Slide a thin knife or a small metal spatula around the sides of the Torte to release it from the pan. Remove the pan sides and transfer the cake to a serving platter.

Serve slices with a dollop or swirl of whipped cream.