Coconut cake with roasted pineapple and ricotta cream

Flicking through one of the issues of an Australian Vogue I came across this recipe. I was attracted to the unusual way of serving this cake, with ricotta cream. And the roasted pineapple.

The recipe is very straight forward, the cake dough gets ready in no time. You just have to wait a little bit for the pineapple but boy, it is worth it. Plus I am sure that whoever you serve a slice of this cake to will just love it. How couldn’t he/she?

150g self-raising flour ( or plain flour with 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder)

55g ground hazelnuts

275g caster sugar

110g dessicated coconut

125g melted butter, unsalted

3 eggs, separated

125ml buttermilk

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons Demerara sugar

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped roasted peeled hazelnuts

Roasted pineapple:

Pineapple, peeled and chopped diagonally in medium-small pieces

Lemon juice

Brown sugar

Ricotta cream:

½ cup ricotta

125g plain yoghurt

2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 160oC/ fan assisted oven 150oC. Grease and line the bottom of a 10cm x 21 cm loaf tin and reserve.

Combine flour, ground hazelnuts, sugar and coconut in a bowl, then add butter, egg yolks, buttermilk and lemon zest and stir until combined.

Using a mixer whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and gently fold into coconut mixture. Pour the coconut mixture into the loaf tin and sprinkle with combined Demerara sugar and chopped hazelnuts. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in tin for 30 min before turning it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For roasted pineapple increase the oven temperature to 200oC. Place pineapple pieces in an oven proof dish, drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with brown sugar. Roast for 10 minutes, then baste with the juices and place under the hot grill until the pineapple turns golden ( it is not really necessary so feel free to skip the grill bit).

For the ricotta cream just mix all the ingredients together. Serve slices of cake with roasted pineapple and ricotta cream. Yum!

plum and pistachio cake

I have a good friend, with whom I worked in the past, who is again working with me. It is truly great. She is just a really nice girl and we do get on. Not that we always agree about everything, but we respect each other’s opinion. She also loves her food and we get to talk about food as well, and we share grocery shopping. Those things that you buy to keep in the office in case you have hunger pangs, cravings.We both care about food and the quality of what we buy.

The other week I really wanted to to bake her a cake. Loads of recipes came to mind. In the end I chose a recipe of plums, so abundant at this time of the year, and pistachio nuts. If anything the beautiful colours of green and red that the main ingredients bring to mind made my mind for me.

Cakes do not necessarily have to be covered in amazing decoration. They have to be made with lovely and fresh ingredients, and taste honest. Plums are such great fruit, and go really well in cakes. I already have a recipe that is a terrible success, simple, terribly honest.This one has the extra nutty element to it.

After being initally smitten by the ingredients I went to read the recipe and then fell even more in love with this simple cake when I learnt that there would be two layers of plums. Can you imagine how moist this cake will turn out – there is also added nuts to increase the moisture.

It tasted as lovely and moist as I suspected it would. Plus it had an added zest. It tasted even nicer the day after it was baked and it kept really well for about 4 days.

The preparation was dead simple which is another plus. And I share it here:

500g plums

50g shelled pistachios

175g softened butter

175g caster sugar

3 eggs

175g self raising flour ( or normal flour plus ¾ teaspoon baking powder)

zest and juice of 1 lemon

icing sugar for dusting

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC/ 160oC fan assisted.

Butter and line the base of a 20-22cm cake tin with baking parchment. Halve and stone the plums, and then cut them in quarters.

Tip the pistachios into a food processor and finely grind. Add the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, lemon zest and juice. Process for 1-2 mins until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Spoon half the cake mix into the prepared tin and smooth it over. Scatter half the plums evenly over the cake mix, then spoon the remaining cake mix on top. Smooth over and scatter with the remaining fruit.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the cake is firm and golden brown. Cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn out and cool completely. Dust the top lightly with icing sugar for serving.

Recipe from Good Food Magazine, September 2007.

Lime, clove and macadamia biscuits

It is a lovely feeling to be able to post here again after nearly two months – I think that is about that long. I had problems with my laptop initially – drowned its keyboard in red wine in a moment of excitement; it eventually stopped working properly; went away on a business trip which was meant to be for only 2 weeks and ended up being for nearly a whole month; came back and still had no laptop for about two more weeks. Paid many visits to different laptop shops and for quite some time gave up on my purchase after being confronted by very unhelpful shopkeepers.

Enough of complaining, here I am back. It feels great to post again, and this time a lovely, simple recipe. Ideal for an afternoon tea. A biscuit recipe.

The ingredients were the reason why I chose it: lime, cloves and macadamia nuts. How unususual!! I love limes. They are plentiful and cheap back home in Brasil. In the UK where I live they can be easily found in the region where I live but they are far from being cheap. However, I never go one week without buying some. Their flavour is equal to none. Sharper than the yellow variety.There was a time in my childhood when I enjoyed sucking them. I remember pretending that they were like a nectar to me - go figure!!

Then there comes cloves. I am a bit fascinated by cloves. I remember this nanny that my brother had who used to chew cloves for a few minutes before going out. It would give her a lovely breath.Fresh. Over the last few years I have developed the habit of having a clove-chewing session every so often. Just for the sake of the taste. I then discard it.

In this recipe by Peter Gordon, a new zealander chef who lives in the UK, the limes and cloves come together in this lovey,little recipe. Plus the macadamia. I could not resist it. The page where the recipe is printed on was ear-marked for quite some time and this morning these biscuits finally came to life. In addition to the loveliness of flavours, which go very well together, not in an overpowering way at all, there is also the fact that these biscuits melt in one’s mouth. After being taken from the oven they have to be handled with care when time comes to transferring them to a cooling rack. I didn’t know that and ended up sweeping the kitchen floor which got covered in biscuit crumbs.

Lime, clove and macadamia biscuits

250g unsalted butter, at room temperature

80g icing sugar

2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

1 teaspoon freshly ground cloves

150g flour

130g cornflour

½ teaspoon baking powder

150g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

Pre-heat oven to 170oC ( 150oC fan assisted oven). Line a baking tray with baking paper and set it aside.

Cream butter, icing sugar, zest of lime and cloves until pale. Sift flours and baking powder and mix into butter, then stir in nuts. Divide mixture into 24 balls and place them on the baking tray leaving a lot of space between them – you might have to split them into at least two batches.

Lightly press mixture down with your thumb, then bake for 16-20 minutes, until they go just a little golden. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack and leave to go cold.

If stored in an airtight container will keep well for about 5 days.

Lemon polenta cake - gluten free

This cake was originally picked to take part in the Weekend Cookbook Challenge organized by Sara from I like to cook, this time round held by Ani from Foodie Chickie. The theme was cornmeal. Unfortunately I have been doing quite long hours and tiredeness got the best of me and I fell asleep before baking the cake to meet the deadline - I only found out about the event one day before the deadline. The ones of you who have visited my blog have read this before. I still have hopes that my work won’t have such impact on my life as it does. At least not by sending me too sleep just like that.
Back to the cake, as the recipe had already been selected I decided to go ahead with it. After all polenta/cornmeal cakes are such winners in my experience. Plus this one had such appeal with all the lemon juice and rind. Plus the fact that it is gluten free.
Looking back I am ever so happy that I didn’t give up on it. Shame that it didn’t manage to be included in the event. It is a very light and refreshing cake. I brought it to work - I am posting it from work, and it did not last long. Wonderful treat for an afternoon tea or even for a moment of hunger or pure indulgence. Plus all the people who need to have gluten free cake can eat this most yummy treat as well.

Lemon polenta cake – gluten free

280g butter, room temperature ( I only used 250g)
225g sugar
6 eggs separated
175g ground almonds
115g yellow cornmeal or polenta

Rind and juice of 4 lemons
Icing sugar to dust

Greased round baking tray – 25cm + line it with baking parchment

Preheat the oven – 180oC/fan assisted 160oC.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Approximately 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Then add the ground almonds, polenta/yellow cornmeal, lemon rind and juice. Mix well using a wooden spoon.
Beat the egg whites until it forms hard peaks. Using a metal spoon incorporate the egg whites to the mixture and bake for a good 50 minutes. Test inserting a skewer in the middle of it to check that the cake is cooked – it needs to come out clean. Remove from the oven and let it cool in the rack. Dust with icing sugar.

Madeleines with buckwheat flour

I was in France recently and on the way back I grabbed a magazine which had an article with a Breton chef called Olivier Bellin. He has received an award as a sort of ‘young revelation’. He has made buckwheat flour as the centre of his cuisine. Buckwheat flour, blé noir, was until the 19^th century, one of the staple foods of Brittany and Normandy. They used to make buckwheat porridge in Normandy – the flour would be soaked either in curdled skimmed milk or in plain water and then stirred in a pan over the heat. There was an article in April ‘Saveur’about Brittany crêpes, which are made with buckwheat. Olivier uses buckwheat flour not only in his crêpes, but in things such as madeleines and crème brulées.

I am fascinated by people who take ingredients to a different level. Local ingredients, most importantly. I feel that people tend to look elsewhere for the greener grass, the more interesting view. And many times there is equal beauty and value in our backyard.

As I had never, ever cooked/baked with buckwheat flour I decided to buy a bag and give it a go. Amongst many things, it is gluten free. I elected Olivier’s ‘madeleines au blé noir’. I have already made madeleines before – with rosewater and also with orange rind, but never with buckwheat. I was dead curious to give this recipe a go. The recipe has to be prepared at least 12 hours before baking (don’t try to rest it for less than 12 hours). Oh, and it is well worth the wait. I loved the madeleines. They have a sun tanned look about them and a sort of nutty flavour because of the browned butter. They taste rather special. And very, very good. I took half the recipe to work and they went just like that. I also gave another 1/3 of the recipe to a French friend who is not too keen on madeleines in general, and she just loved these. She said that she will be in the look out for buckwheat madeleines from now on.

Madeleines with buckwheat flour

65g buckwheat flour

150g icing sugar

35g almond flour

5 egg whites

150g butter – unsalted

1 teaspoon honey

Melt the butter until it turns into ‘browned butter’. Transfer it to a bowl and mix it with the honey. Let it cool. In the meantime put the flour – almond and buckwheat, together with the sugar in a big mixing bowl. Mix the egg whites lightly with a fork, until they just begin to froth. Transfer the egg whites to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix them using either a fouet or a wooden spoon. Once the butter is cool add it to the batter as well and mix it a bit more. Cover the mixture and put it in the fridge for 12 hours at least. No less than that. It works well if you leave the batter to rest overnight and bake the madeleines for breakfast.

Pre-heat the oven – 180oC/160oC fan assisted ovens. Prepare the Madeleine moulds – I used small ones and it yielded 80 madeleines. I baked them in two days. No, not because it takes ages, but because I took 40 to work and the following day I baked the other 40 as a gift to a friend. As you have noticed there is no leavening agent in the batter. It will raise as a result of the cold batter being placed in a hot oven. Only take the batter from the fridge once the oven temperature is right. Keep it in the fridge in between one load and the other. For small madeleines it took only 8 minutes to have them ready.

passion fruit cake

My good friend Patricia was the one who first told me about the event being hosted by Barbara from Winos and Foodies - 'A Taste of Yellow' in aid of the Armstrong foundation. When I heard what it was really about I decided to take part as I have lost a few people close to my heart who suffered of this terrible disease.

I lost a very, very dear friend to breast cancer a few years back. We were house mates and I was with her from the beginning. She was a fighter and survived for 5 years. Andrea would have loved this cake. She loved trying new recipes. Barbara is a fighter and a surviver and this cake is also for her.I chose to bake a Brazilian version of passion fruit cake. We love passion fruit cake in Brazil and there are different versions of it. This one recipe I got from a wonderful Brazilian story teller called Sonia Novaes. The cake is lovely, slightly tangy. I like having a lovely cup of coffee with it.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar (360g)
2 cups plain flour (250g)

1 cup of passion fruit juice, no seeds

60g butter
1 tablespoon baking powder

5 eggs separated

Preheat the oven to 180oC – 160oC if you have a fan assisted oven. Grease and flour a bundt pan or a 31 cm x 22 cm baking tin (approximate measurement).

Beat the sugar, butter and egg yolks until the mixture is creamy and paler – about five minutes. Then intercalate the addition of flour and passion fruit juice, always mixing it with a wooden spoon. Once the two ingredients are fully incorporated add the baking powder followed by the egg whites. When you add the egg whites put 1/3 of it first, mix gently to incorporate and only then add the rest. Pour the mixture into the reserved baking tin and put it in the oven. Bake it for approximately 30 min.

When the cake is ready let it cool for 5 minutes in the tin before transferring it to a rack. Proceed to prepare the passion fruit syrup:

Pour 1 cup of passion fruit juice – seeds and all, in a pan followed by 1 cup of sugar and a few drops of lemon juice. Stir it until the sugar is dissolved. When it starts to boil remove it from the fire and drizzle the cake with it.

Cardamon sour-cream cake

When I saw this recipe I thought to myself: I have to make that. One of the reasons was that I really like cardamom. The other reason was that I had never had a cardamom cake in my whole life. According to Rachel Allen’s notes this was meant to be one of the most delicious cakes ever. Enough for me to give it a go.

I had no ground cardamom in the house but I decided to use my cardamom pods and grind them in my coffee grinder. Great. It was all sorted. Whilst grinding the cardamom and getting the batter ready I could always smell the cardamom – that beautiful smell. I expected that once I took the cake from the oven the whole kitchen would be invaded by its wonderful aroma. I have to admit that I did get disappointed smell wise as the cake came out of the oven and I did not feel inebriated at all. It made me doubt the cake immediately. After all it had ‘let me down’ (in my mind).

Despite that I decided that I should finish it off as I would have in case I wanted to eat it – even though I did not anymore. I used a hexagonal cutter and cut the cake into little hexagonal cakes. I did regret not having baked it into a square tin as it would have facilitated my cutting. I prepared the icing and ‘dressed’ it pretty. I used a wee bit (and I really mean tiny, tiny) of ground cardamom just so that the icing didn’t look bare. I then decided that I had to have a bite since I had baked it. The moment I had my bite I realized that I had been wrong about the cake, my doubts were unfounded. The cake tasted very elegant. The cardamom flavour was just right but certainly noticeable. I so loved it. If you like cardamom I recommend this cake. It is lovely!!

Ingredients:

1 egg

200ml tub sour cream or crème fraiche ( reserve 1 tbsp for icing)

175g caster sugar

225g plain flour, sifted

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

1tsp ground cardamom seeds

For the icing:

125g icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp sour cream or crème fraîche

Preheat the oven to 180oC (gas mark 4 – 350oF). Grease the sides of a 20cm (8in)round cake tin and dust with flour;line the base with greaseproof paper.

Whisk the egg in a large bowl. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the sour cream or crème fraîche and the sugar and whisk to combine. Add the sifted flour and bicarbonate of soda, then the salt and the ground cardamom. Fold the mixture to combine, do not over-mix. Transfer into the tin and place in the oven. Cook for about 35 minutes until the top of the cake just feels firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and transferring it to a cooling rack.

Make the icing just by mixing all the ingredients listed above and pouring it over the cake once it has cooled.

Squidgy pineapple and allspice cakes

The Waitrose has a bi-monthly magazine called Seasons which is free. I picked the March/April one up and saw so many opportunities for some of the recipes. This is a good thing about Easter in my opinion. Bakers have a really good excuse – not that we need one, to go mad and bake loads.

One of the temptations was this recipe of ‘Squidgy pineapple and allspice cakes’. They looked so cute, mini-loaves shaped. I took a look at some of the ingredients and decided straight away that it was going to the top of the list. Have you seen anything more delicious than pineapples? Well, in fact I have, but they are awesome after undergoing some heat. They are only behind bananas (all time favourite) and apples.

The cakes are ever so easy to prepare. The only thing I would tell you to be careful about is the melting of butter together with treacle and sugar. The temperature has to be really low and it has to be done really gently. Otherwise, if it gets too hot when you add the egg you will end up with scrambled eggs. Yes, it did happen to me. I had to prepare another batch. Ah, nearly forgot: the original recipe calls for slightly salted butter. First of all I don’t remember seeing ‘slightly salted’ butter anywhere where I shop so I decided to use unsalted butter. Very pleased that I did so.

This recipe yields 8 cakes – using 150ml mini-loaf tins.

All you need is:

75g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

250g of pineapple cut into little pieces

200g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground allspice

100g caster sugar

100g black treacke

6 tablespoons milk in room temperature

1 egg, lightly beaten

Now just follow these easy steps:

1. pre-heat the oven – 180oC ( 160oC if fan assisted) and grease & line the baking tins. It will facilitate the removal of the cakes later as they will be terribly soft. Reserve.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and allspice into a bowl,. Reserve. Put the sugar, treacle & butter in a saucepan and heat ever so gently until the sugar is dissolved and butter has melted. Remove form the heat and pour milk into it, followed by the egg. Mix well.
3. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed. Add nearly ¾ pineapples to the batter and mix it all. Divide equally amongst the tins and scatter the surface of the cakes with the remaining pineapple pieces.
4. Bake for 25 minutes until the cakes have risen and are just firm to touch. Remove from the oven and gently lift them from the tins, and leave them to cool on a rack.
5. Drizze the cakes with the icing below. Let it to dry and serve. Oh, it will be hard to eat only one. Trust me.

Icing:

100g icing sugar + 2 tablespoon water for icing . Mix it together and drizzle the little cakes with it when ready

Passion fruit yoghurt cake with passion fruit syrup

I have been a very big fan of Julie Le Clerk since I made the first recipe from one of her books. Well, truth is that the book made me a big fan of hers. As I walked my way through it – believe me, I baked/cooked an awful lot from that publication, I just consolidated my admiration. One day browsing through Amazon I learnt that she had a book on small cakes. I LOVE small cakes so I ordered that. The other week I decided to bake this little cake recipe with passion fruit yoghurt in it. Boy, I had a hard time looking for passion fruit in the supermarkets. No idea why that was so. Up to a month ago – or at least that‘s how I remember it, I could find passion fruit yoghurt all the time. Now what I can find is a mixture of passion fruit and peach. Across all brands I come across. Do these people sign some sort of agreement where it says what flavours they should all go for? Like a Daring Bakers of the yoghurt world?

I finally found some passion fruit yoghurt and went to bake this pretty little treat.Sorry? Why didn’t I change the yoghurt to a different flavour? Well, I love passion fruit you see. And I really wanted to use that. Obviously I would have used a different flavour had I struggled for a few more days. I was so pleased that I chose to stick to the original flavour in the end. The final cake all soaked in syrup is just deliciously tangy, and tastes heaps nicer the following day. I baked them for a friend and I shall be baking some more soon. I might try strawberries next time. I don’t think that I will be exciting with a non-tangy fruit as peach – as much as peach is delicious.

1 cup (240ml) canola oil (I tend to use groundnut oil)
1 ½ cups sugar (I measure 180g per cup)
2 eggs – large
1 cup (the same 240ml one as above) passion fruit yoghurt
Juice and rind of 2 lemons
2 cups (I measure 125g per cup) self-raising flour or 2 cups normal flour plus 2 teaspoons baking flour


Heat the oven to 160oC – 140oC if fan assisted. Grease 12 muffin tins or one 20cm round baking pan.

Beat the sugar and oil until well mixed. Low the speed and add the eggs, one at a time, then beat until creamy. Add the yoghurt, lemon juice and rind and mix it all with a wooden spoon. Incorporate the sieved flour taking care not to over mix it – unless you like heavy and stodgy cakes, in which case go ahead. Divide the mixture between the cases and bake for approximately 20 min. When ready let it cool in the tin for approximately 5 minutes before transferring it to a rack. Prepare the syrup and pour it over the little cakes whilst still hot.

Syrup:
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup water
1 cup sugar (180g)
½ cup of passion fruit pulp with seeds and all

Put all the ingredients in a small pan and heat it up until the sugar is completely dissolved. Never stop stirring – boring but worth it in the end.

Despite the last minute rush, a beautiful recipe

I made this cake in my head so many times. I had already made it for real once a few years ago, using the recipe in the first Magnolia cook book. My first attraction to it was because of its bright red colour, contrasting with the icing. When I joined the Daring Bakers group I got quite happy about the challenge of the month as I thought that it would be my chance to redeem myself and ice my cake really well. Plus make it well in advance.

As it turned out it did not happen quite like that and I am here just fighting against the clock, just waiting for the cake to cool so that I can post it. What a poor start. I am disappointed with myself. I had an unexpected visit from a friend on Saturday and ended up spending the whole day with him and another couple of friends. That was meant to be my baking day as on Sunday I had engagements.

I chose the recipe that Peabody used. I wanted to try something different from my original post. The icing is also Peabody’s recipe and I just loved it – couldn’t stop picking on it. The pecans just make it a delicious icing. Yum!!

Since I started the post there have been developments:

Cake has been iced, pictures have been taken and I have eaten a generous slice of it. I really liked the cake texture and the contrast with the crunchy and sweet icing. I did have to drink a big glass of water afterwards but it does not take away the yummy factor. I can see this cake being a big crowd pleaser. I have enjoyed this last minute stress though and even though I did not prepare a cake as gorgeous as I wanted I have just about managed to do it.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this experience – even though I am the very last person to post.

Peabody's recipe - which has been adpated from Mrs. Wilkes’ Boardinghouse Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from Her Savannah Table by Selma Wilkes:

Red Velvet Cake

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar (270g)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp white vinegar ( I ended up using cider vinegar )

2 1/2 cups cake flour ( 315g)
1 tsp baking soda
2 to 3 TBSP cocoa powder
1 cup buttermilk ( 240ml)

1 tsp vanilla
5/8 ounce bottle red food coloring ( I had a bit less )

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cream the eggs, sugar, oil and vinegar. Sift the cake flour, baking soda, and cocoa together. Add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients while beating.
Slowly add the buttermilk. While still beating, add the vanilla and the food coloring.

Pour into three 8-inch layer pans and bake for about 25 minutes. Press lightly;if the layers are spongy, then the cake is done. Frost the cooled layers, assemble and frost the top and sides.

Serves 12 to 14.

Red Velvet Cake Frosting

1(8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter
1 (1 pound) box confectioners sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the cream cheese and butter and melt over very low heat. Add the sugar, pecans and vanilla and mix well. If the frosting becomes too thick, add a little milk. Frost one 8-inch or 9-inch layer cake.

Source: Adapted from Mrs. Wilkes’ Boardinghouse Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from Her Savannah Table by Selma Wilkes

Check out the other Daring Bakers - and by far more organized:

Peabody, Quellia, Mary, Ivonne, Elle, Morven, Hester, Brilynn, Lisa, Tanna, Helen, Jen,

Mary(Bread Chick), Veronica and Freya.