Chocolate Bourbon Cake

How crazy is this.  I have heaps of healthy and even baby friendly recipes that I'm trying to find the time to share.  Then I come out with this.  The opposite of 99% of my cooking. Not even any hidden kale or beetroot.  Just rich, indulgent, even a bit adults only. 

What else do you make for your brother.  A thirty something single guy who couldn't possibly celebrate his Australia Day birthday without a drink in his hand.  And he’s not even much of a cake eater so let’s see if this twists his rubber arm.   Fortunately for the kids the alcohol cooks out so even they can have a special occasion taste.

Chocolate Bourbon Cake

100g almonds

¼ cup SR flour

Pinch salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

120g butter

90g brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3 tbls bourbon or whiskey of choice

5 free range eggs

• Preheat oven to 180⁰
• Place almonds in Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 9
• Add flour, cinnamon and salt and mix for 3 seconds on speed 4 then set aside
• Place chocolate roughly chopped in Thermomix bowl and chop on speed 6 for 5 seconds
• Melt for 3 minutes at 70⁰ on speed 3
• Add cubed butter and continue at 70⁰ for a further minute or until melted
• Add sugar and mix for 3 seconds on speed 3
• Let the mix cool a little while you grease and line a 23cm springform pan
• When chocolate mix has cooled to 37⁰ scrape down the sides to incorporate any chocolate stuck to the sides.   Add eggs, bourbon and vanilla and mix for 20 seconds on speed 4 or until mixture is smooth and almost mousse like
• Pour into prepared pan (enjoy licking the spoon) and bake for around 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs and is still a little moist
• Once cooled serve with cream and fresh berries.  You only need small pieces and the fresh berries complement the richness beautifully!

ps.  The outcome of the cake was everyone loved it!  But my brother couldn’t believe I baked something that didn’t have hidden veggies!

Rhubarb and Custard Cake

Sugar and spice and all things nice... that’s what little girls are made of.

Pretty cakes for pretty girls...

And what better cake to celebrate a gorgeous little girl’s first birthday (and another slightly older gorgeous lady) than a Rhubarb and Custard Cake.  Plenty  of pink fresh rhubarb, a cinnamon spiced cake with a layer of homemade custard.  Delicious.  I knew the type of flavours I wanted then came across a very pretty version on Eat LittleBird.   With the usual tweak of reducing the sugar, I also added more rhubarb, some cinnamon and in my 2^nd attempt added almond meal which added more interest to the cake component.

A layer of homemade custard....

With rhubarb still growing in abundance and custard so easy to whip up in the Thermomix how could I resist.   And most importantly it looks pretty!

Rhubarb and Custard Cake

Custard

50g  cornflour

50 raw caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 free range eggs

500g whole milk

Cake

Approx 4 stalks of rhubarb (choose pink young stalks for the top)

2 tbls rapadura sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

180g unsalted butter

100g rapadura or raw sugar (milled in Thermomix for 10 seconds on speed 8 then set aside)

2 free range eggs

1 tsp vanilla

180g SR flour

60g almond meal (made in Thermomix or store bought)

Cake

• Preheat oven to 180°
• Line a 20cm springform tin with baking paper
• Cut 8 pieces of rhubarb to fit in a star formation in your cake tin and set aside
• Chop remaining rhubarb into 1cm pieces, place in a baking dish and sprinkle with 1 tbl sugar and bake for approx 20 minutes while making the cake and custard

Custard

• Place sugar and flour in Thermomix bowl and pulverise for 10 seconds on speed 8
• Add remaining ingredients and cook for 8 minutes at 90° on speed 4
• Transfer to smaller bowl and allow to thicken on cooling (I placed in the freezer as I was continuing the cake immediately)

Cake

• Place sugar and butter in Thermomix bowl and cream for 20 seconds on speed 5 (no need to wash bowl between)
• Add 2 eggs and vanilla and continue for another 20 seconds on speed 4
• Add flour, ½ tsp cinnamon and almond meal and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4 scraping down if required and repeat for another 5 seconds
•   Spoon ½ mixture into prepared baking tin, sprinkle over cooked rhubard then pour over cooled custard (keep a small bowl or two aside for the kids and they’ll be happy while you continue cooking)
• Carefully spoon remaining cake mix over custard.  This is a little tricky as it’s quite a thick cake mixture but rest assured it will rise and fill the gaps on cooking
• Arrange longer rhubarb pieces into a star formation on top and sprinkle with a mix of remaining 1 tbls rapadura sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon
• Bake for approx 1 hr or until cooked (it’s a little tricky to tell when it’s cooked as an inserted skewer will be moist from the custard but it will be browned and coming away from the edges)

 

Delicious served warm but also great cooled if you can wait that long

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Any excuse for a cake or two! 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s Grandma’s birthday tomorrow and she’ll be spending her fun filled day with the kids while I head off to work.  Of course we need a cake to sing happy birthday as soon as she walks in the door, probably multiple times throughout the day, then again for a family dinner. 

The kids at the park with Grandma

 Another reason to celebrate is about half of the people at work completed the Run Geelong like I did on the weekend.  Run Geelong was a huge success with 11,792 Participants and over $500, 000 raised for the children’s ward at the Geelong Hospital. 

The quickly devoured cake at work - most of it gone by 11am!

 So I think everyone deserves cake!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

 I decided on carrot cake as Grandma is not really a sweet tooth and this is the type of cake I don’t mind the kids sharing.  In fact for the 2 cakes I had Summer count out 10 carrots which adds plenty of fibre and vitamins not to mention moisture and taste.  I put all those carrots straight into the Thermomix and in just a few seconds I had a bowl full of bright orange goodness. I chopped the pecans and mixed the icing for both cakes at once also and just made the rest of the cakes separately (only because the mix is quiet large).

This cake is actually a Donna Hay recipe with my predictable variations of much less sugar, a little honey and some nutmeg.  Very easy but a real crowd pleaser!

 Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

60g pecans
5 carrots (preferably organic)
110g rapadura (or raw) sugar
60g local honey
180g grapesed or other neutral flavoured oil
3 eggs
100g wholemeal flour
125g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
80g sultanas

250g cream cheese
100g icing sugar (I milled raw sugar)
1 tbls lemon juice

• Preheat oven to 180°C and grease or line a 20cm baking tin (square or round) with baking paper
• Place pecans in Thermomix bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 6 then set aside
• Place carrots in bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 6 then set aside
• Place sugar, honey and oil in bowl and mix for 1 minute on speed 6 (no need to clean bowl between)
• Add eggs and mix for another 20 seconds on speed 6
• Add flours and spices and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5
• Add carrots, pecans and sultanas and mix for 10 seconds, speed 2 on Reverse
• Pour into baking tin and bake for 55 – 60 minutes or until inserted skewer comes out clean
• Allow to cool before removing
• For the icing, in a clean Thermomix bowl mill raw sugar to icing sugar (30 seconds speed 9)
• Add cream cheese and icing sugar and mix about 30 seconds speed 6
• Refrigerate a little while cake is cooling then simply pour over.

This cake is best stored in the refrigerator due to the cream cheese frosting  

Enjoy!

120 cookies on pretty plates

What could be prettier than decorated butterfly cookies on gorgeous china?  Especially when that china is a family heirloom...

You may have read about my recent venture to the nearby Mill Markets in the search for pretty plates for my baking.  It was a great adventure but got me thinking that many were similar to those in my mum’s crystal cupboard which have been handed down by grandmothers and great aunties.  So there the adventure continued.  Off to mum’s to open those long unopened cupboards and see what we could find. 

And wasn’t I a happy shopper (or borrower)... A gorgeous Royal Albert tea set with matching cake plate in a vintage Rose Garden pattern.  Along with a beautiful gold trimmed floral plate I simply couldn’t leave them in the cupboard any longer.  They needed to be adorned with baking. You wouldn’t believe the care that was taken in wrapping them, transporting them home, then hiding them far from little fingers of my hurricane children.

Then today I needed to bake some cookies for a birthday so I decided to use the well worn recipe of 120 cookies which has been converted by Retromummy.   As the name states the mixture is quite large for the 2L Thermomix bowl and I tend to mix it in batches for a thorough mix.  I usually break it down into a few flavours and often freeze part of the dough for later use.

Today I stuck with vanilla for the butterflies and chocolate for the freezer but in the past we’ve had great success with hundreds and thousands, sultana and orange, cinnamon and choc chip varieties.  I’ve changed the original recipe a little by adding a teaspoon of vanilla and ½ cup custard powder for a tastier and smoother biscuit.

120 Cookies

1 cup raw sugar

500g butter at room temperature (cubed)
1 tsp vanilla

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 ½ - 5 cups self raising flour

½ cup custard powder

• Place sugar in your Thermomix bowl and mill for 9-10 seconds on speed 9

• Add butter and vanilla to now icing sugar and cream for about 30 seconds on speed 4 (you may need a little longer depending on how soft your butter is)

• Scrape down bowl and add condensed milk (licking the spoon optional) and flours and mix for 40 seconds on speed 3.  Start with 4 ½ cups of the flour and add the extra if needed to form a dough.

• If you’re making various flavours, remove half the dough then add other ingredients, eg 1 tbls cocoa and mix for a few more seconds.

• Knead dough by hand into a disc shape, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or freeze for later use

• When you’re ready to create biscuits either roll into small balls and flatten or roll out dough to about 5mm thick for using cookie cutter.  I like to roll the dough between my Thermomat sheets of baking paper.  Dip your cookie cutter in a little flour to prevent sticking and easier removal especially for delicate shapes like butterflies!
• Place on a non stick or baking paper lined tray and bake for about 10 minutes at 180 or until golden.
• Decorate or just eat them up and enjoy!

Stay tuned for decorating tips and more pretty plate ideas!

Children's Birthday Cakes

This is a retrospective post, and not about the healthiest of family food, but one I simply must share.  While the creative flair of motherhood has taken many journeys from sewing, knitting and even scrapbook paper types of decorating, I never thought I’d try cake decorating.   I guess until it came to my own kids birthdays.

 

I wasn’t until Summer’s 3^rd birthday that I gave it a real go.  She wanted a fairy garden party and a cake to match.  After what seemed hours of internet searching and creative visualisation I came up with the plan.  A green garden filled with colourful flowers, butterflies, ladybirds, leaves, toadstools and of course a pretty fairy on top.

 

The cake itself was Summer’s requested chocolate cake and the icing was buttercream with fondant decorations.  I found a fantastic buttercream recipe for the Thermomix at Gastronomy which includes copha so it holds well in warm weather and is great for piping, etc.  I’m a little reluctant to use food colouring so the colours are quite light on this cake (but watch this progress in subsequent cakes!)

Summer was delighted in her cake and the requests for further cakes rolled on from here….

 

The next cake was my niece Layla’s 3^rd birthday.  She was having a ballerina party so I had the perfect cake in mind.  A more formal design something like I remembered from the old Women’s Weekly Children’s Cakebook.  Pale pink with dainty ballerinas.  It was a basic buttercake inside made as always in the Thermomix but my favourite part was the layers inside.  Three layers filled with pink buttercream so it looked really pretty when sliced.

 

My assistant in the kitchen Miss Summer!

 Again, another happy little customer….

 

 

The third cake was more Finn’s 1^st birthday and we went with a theme that suited him and his name.  A beach scene with a dolphin in the waves and a retro surfboard on the beach.  And this cake was my favourite.  An Orange and Chocolate Almond cake.  Quite rich yet not too heavy but just devine in taste.  And the colours of the chocolate was set off well by the blue icing (and notice my depth of colour getting a bit heavier!)

 

From here the latest creation was from a friend’s little girl Alexis’s 3^rd birthday.  Her request was a Dora cake with a strawberry and cream filling.  I could envisage the design immediately.  Bright, bold colours (way heavier on the food colouring than I’ve ever dared to go!), with flowers and colourful dots for Dora to explore through, with Map of course.  My biggest worry was the strawberries and cream inside and would it stay fresh if I made the cake the day before.  With some trusty internet searching my fears subsided and the outcome was just fine. 

Another happy birthday girl!