More Cake! Two Lovely Cakes from 'Tasty Express'

Ok. Now for the second part of my cake apology. Two cake recipes from ‘Tasty Express’.

After attending a Cook Republic workshop with Sneh Roy a little while ago, it re-inspired me to getting cooking from her lovely cookbook, ‘Tasty Express’ again. I was in the mood for cake (nothing unusual about that right?!), and couldn’t decide between the lemon cake and the rose and pistachio cake. So I made both. 

Both cakes are simple to make, yet yield great tasting cakes. It is unusual for me to make cakes without some kind of icing, and though it might seem strange to leave a cake un-iced, these two cakes are quite perfect as they are. Not that the perfect-ness of these cakes should ever have been doubted. They are Sneh’s recipes after all. 

Lemon Cake 

Ingredients: 

125g butter, softened

220g caster sugar 

Finely grated zest of 2 large lemons

3 eggs 

225 g self-raising flour 

Juice of one large lemon 

125ml milk

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift in the flour, and add the lemon juice. Beat for a few seconds, then add the milk and mix until just combined. 

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and tap the tin gently to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. 

Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack. 

Serve warm or cooled. 

Original recipe from ‘Tasty Express’ by Sneh Roy (Ebury Press, 2014), p.192, or via Cook Republic blog.

Rose & Pistachio Cake with Fresh Raspberries 

Ingredients: 

125g butter, softened

220g caster sugar 

1 tbsp finely grated orange zest

1 tbsp rosewater

2 eggs

300g plain flour 

2 ½ tsp baking powder 

¼ tsp salt 

165ml milk 

70g Greek yoghurt 

60 g frozen raspberries 

65g pistachio kernels, chopped

Icing sugar, for dusting

Fresh raspberries and cream, to serve 

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, orange zest, and rosewater for 6 minutes on low speed. Mix until light and creamy. Add the eggs and beat well to combine. 

In a separate bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the butter mixture, milk and yoghurt and fold together until just combined. Gently fold through the frozen raspberries and pistachios. 

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden and cooked through. 

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Dust with icing sugar and serve with fresh raspberries and cream. 

Original recipe from ‘Tasty Express’ by Sneh Roy (Ebury Press, 2014), p.195.

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking on the link below!

A Rose Pound Cake

Many apologies for my almost month long absence from here. It’s funny (or scary, rather), how quickly time can pass you by. I have a few recipes up my sleeve to share, and they all revolve around cake. So in an attempt to make up for my absence I am presenting you with not one, but three cake recipes! All is forgiven now, right?! 

The first cake (shared in this post) is a rose pound cake, and in a separate post I will share two amazing recipes from the book ‘Tasty Express’ by Sneh Roy. If any of you follow the Sneh’s blog ‘Cook Republic’, you’ll know that these cakes will be good! 

. . .

This pound cake from Trine Hahnemann’s ‘Scandinavian Baking’ is the first thing I have made from this book. I had been wanting her book for quite a while, and once I finally got my hands on it, this rose cake jumped out at me. 

The original recipe says to ground your own almond meal from whole almonds. As I have been trying to get through my (almost) life time supply of almond meal, I just used that. But feel free to use which ever is easiest for you. I also had to use rose syrup instead of rose jelly in the icing, which I think is why my icing as particularly runny! If you don’t have any rose jelly/jam, I would suggest using a rosewater based glaze icing like the one used here. 

Ingredients: 

250g butter softened, plus extra to grease the tin

200g almond meal 

250g caster sugar 

4 eggs 

150g plain flour 

2 tsp baking powder

100ml milk 

Ingredients for the Icing: 

6 tbsp rose jelly

200g icing sugar

Pink food colouring 

Unsprayed rose petals, optional 

Method: 

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 1.5 litre loaf tin with butter, and line the base with baking paper. 

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Sift the flour and baking powder and mix with the almond meal. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture with a spatula. Add the milk and mix to combine. 

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for one hour. 

Leave to cool for 10 minutes then turn onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely. 

Make the icing by gradually adding the icing sugar to the rose jelly until the icing is smooth. Add a little pink food colouring if you want the icing to be a brighter pink. Add a little water, and whisk until the icing is smooth, and not too runny. 

Place the cake on a serving dish and spread the icing over the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Top with unsprayed rose petals if using. 

Original recipe from ‘Scandinavian Baking’ by Trine Hahnemann (Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 2014), p.135.

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking the link below!

How to bake with Quinces

I have loved quinces for quite a while now. We always buy Maggie Beer’s quince paste to have with cheese and biscuits, but I have to admit for quite a long time, I really didn’t know what quinces were. 

When you actually see the fruit, they look nothing like you’d expect, sort of like large lumpy pears. They aren’t a fruit that is eaten raw however, slow cooking is the only way to go for quinces. 

I have attempted cooking quinces three times now. Only once successfully. The key as I have now found, to the deep and rich ruby colour is to cook the quinces with the cores, and remove them after. Apparently lots of pectin is in the cores, which helps the quinces turn that lovely ruby colour. I have also found that poaching them in the oven, is much easier than doing it on the stove.

To me, slow cooking and poaching feels like such a Winter-y thing to do. Probably because here in Australia, having the oven or stove on for hours at a time in Summer just isn’t practical! The fruits that lend themselves to such methods of cooking are also in season in the colder months. Though it seems few fruits and vegetables aren’t available almost year round. Quince is one of the rarities that only appear in green grocers or farmers markets once Autumn starts. Which to me is a very clear sign that Summer has come to an end, and it’s time to get Winter baking! 

I found this recipe for Quince Butter via Sophie Hansen of Local is Lovely, who never fails to impress me with snippets of country life and delicious recipes that can be found on her blog. When I saw the recipe, I just knew it would work much better than my last attempts. And it did. I didn’t follow the recipe to the end, just until I had poached the quinces. Though I don’t doubt that quince butter would be as tasty as it sounds! 

I used some of my poached quinces to make a frangipane tart (based on this recipe), then used some to make quince and vanilla muffins. I added four tablespoons of the poaching liquid to the muffin mixture, along with an extra quarter cup of self raising flour, one teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, topped each muffin with small pieces of poached quince and sprinkled them with raw sugar. 

I froze the muffins after they had cooled, and we are still enjoying them. The frangipane tart however, is long gone! 

Any left over poached quinces can be placed in a jar with the poaching liquid and stored in the fridge. 

Raspberry & Rose Sponge Cake + Raspberry & Elderflower Cordial

These two recipes, raspberry & rose sponge cake and raspberry & elderflower cordial, are current favourites. They are great served together, or separately, and would be lovely additions to an afternoon tea or celebration over the warmer months. 

The flavours raspberry and rose are clearly firm favourites for me, and this cake in particular showcases how well they go together. 

Hopefully, now I have baked and posted these few recipes using flavours and ingredients I particularly love, I can move on to some new or different flavours than those I have been baking with recently. I saw a post on Instagram yesterday from someone who was talking about how they wanted to get more into cooking and was considering taking some classes. They then realised that they had enough cookbooks to inspire them to cook, and probably didn’t need to spend the money on classes! They resolved to try a new recipe from each of their cookbooks during this year. I think this is a great idea. As our cookbook collection spans at least 144 books, I think I should have enough inspiration and recipes to keep me going for a while, without always falling back on the flavours I love the most. 

So, I am giving myself a ‘cookbook challenge’. I am going to try and make something new from each cookbook I own. Hopefully I will discover some new favourites, and hopefully this will challenge me to tackle to daily dilemma that is dinner with more enthusiasm.

A small selection of the cookbook collection.

How many cookbooks do you have in your collection? Do you use them often? Let me know in the comments! 

Raspberry & Rose Sponge Cake

Ingredients: 

Butter and plain flour, for greasing cake tins 

4 eggs 

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 cup cornflour 

1 tbsp custard powder 

1 tsp cream of tartar 

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1 tsp rosewater

Ingredients for Icing and Filling: 

2 cups icing sugar 

1/2 tbsp boiling water

3 tsp rosewater

pink food colouring

1 tbsp rose syrup

1 punnet raspberries 

1 cup of thickened cream 

edible flowers (fresh or dried), to decorate 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Use a little butter to grease two (20 cm) sandwich tins, then dust them with some flour. Line the base of each tin with baking paper. 

Separate the eggs, and set the yolks aside. Place the whites into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until they form stiff peaks. Add the sugar and the rosewater, and beat until the mixture has become stiff and glossy. Add the yolks and beat until just combined. Sift in the dry ingredients, and gently fold into the egg mixture using a large metal spoon.

Divide the mixture between the two tins, and bake for 20 minutes. The cakes will be ready when they are golden in colour and spring back when touched lightly. 

Line two cooling racks with baking paper. Remove cakes from their tins, and allow to cool on the prepared racks. Allow to cool completely before icing or filling the cake. 

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the water and rosewater and mix to form a smooth, slightly thick icing. If the icing is too thick add more water, too runny, more sifted icing sugar. Add a small amount of pink food colouring, and mix to create a light pink icing.

Whip the cream with the rose syrup, then roughly chop the raspberries and gently fold into the cream. Spread the cream over one of the cakes (top side down). It is easiest to ice and fill the cake on the plate you will serve it on. Top with the remaining sponge cake, and ice the cake with the icing. Decorate with edible flowers. 

This cake is best served immediately after it is assembled, however, it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. 

Original Recipe found in Country Style Magazine, November 2014 Issue, pp.76-77 (article: ’never too late’, recipe originally by Bill Bevan).

Raspberry and Elderflower Cordial

Raspberry & Elderflower Cordial

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup elderflower cordial

1 cup water 

1 litre cloudy apple juice 

handful frozen raspberries

For Ice Cubes: 

ice cube tray

water

raspberries 

Method:

Prepare the ice cubes the day before. Place small whole raspberries, or roughly chopped larger raspberries, into an ice cube tray. Cover with water and allow to freeze overnight. 

For the cordial, in a 1.5 litre capacity jug, add the elderflower cordial, water and apple juice. Top with a handful of frozen raspberries. Leave in the fridge to chill, and once the frozen raspberries have started to defrost, mix the cordial so it becomes stained with the red colour of the raspberries. 

Once ready to serve, add the raspberry ice cubes to the glasses and pour over the cordial. 

This recipe was originally published via Liveability.

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking the link below!

Easy Passionfruit Loaf Cake

This recipe came about when I wanted to use up some passionfruit leftover from the sponge cake I made a little while ago. I do find it funny that whenever we have leftover or almost over ripe fruit in the house we use it to bake with! We’d probably be better off just eating it, rather than adding sugar and butter to it, but that wouldn’t be as much fun though would it? 

The base of this loaf cake is one I use often for cupcakes and whole cakes as well. It is quite versatile and has featured on the blog in the past in different forms. You can substitute the margarine for butter, the golden caster sugar for caster sugar, and the buttermilk for regular or skimmed milk. You can even use vanilla extract if you don’t have any vanilla bean paste. This loaf cake is that easy - you don’t even need to have all the right ingredients for it to be great! 

I apologise if anyone is throughly sick of seeing recipes for cake that involve passionfruit from me. Unfortunately, when there is something I like, I keep using it! And when I get an idea for a cake or recipe, I find it hard to think of anything else until the idea has been brought to life! So be prepared for a few more slightly repetitious cakes in the next little while! All of which however, can be altered to suit your tastes or what you have available. This loaf cake for example, would be just as good using lemon juice in the icing. 

On another note, the size of the loaf cake my look a little deceiving in the photos. This is because about half of it had already been eaten by the time I could take photos! 

Ingredients: 

125 g canola based margarine

3/4 cup golden caster sugar (raw caster sugar)

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 eggs 

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup buttermilk 

For the Icing: 

1 1/2 cups icing sugar 

3-4 small passionfruit  

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and line a loaf tin with baking paper. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the margarine, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. 

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add half the flour and half the buttermilk and mix. Add the remaining flour and buttermilk and mix on medium speed until well combined. 

Transfer the mixture into the loaf tin, smoothing the top. Bake for 1 hour, or until the cake springs back when touched lightly and a skewer comes out clean. 

Cool in the tin for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack, leaving the baking paper underneath the cake (this will prevent the cake from sticking to the rack, and catch any runaway icing later). 

Once the loaf has cooled completely, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the pulp of 3-4 passionfruit gradually, mixing after each addition. Stop adding pulp when the icing is a nice smooth consistency. Drizzle the icing over the cake, allowing it to fall down the sides. Leave for 2-3 hours to allow the icing to dry before storing in an airtight container, or eat straight away!

All baking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.

Lamingtons

For those who don’t live in Australia, a lamington is made using sponge cake and coating it in chocolate icing and coconut. I think they came about at some point to use up day old sponge. They are definitely worth a try! Sometimes they are sold with a layer of jam and/or cream in the middle as well. I like my lamingtons simple, with no cream or jam. Just made with good ingredients, and probably fresh sponge! Day old sponge is great to use, I just find fresh sponge easier to work with when coating them in the icing. 

This particular recipe comes from my favourite Aussie cook, Bill Granger. I have made them a couple of times before and they have been very popular. I have altered the quantities of chocolate in the icing recipe, as I like the combination of milk and dark chocolate together better than just dark chocolate on its own. You can use whatever you like or have at home, just keep the total chocolate quantity the same. 

Any type of coconut can be used to cover the lamingtons. I really like using coconut chips, however if you can’t find them just use shredded, desiccated or flaked coconut. Also, make sure you have more coconut ready than the recipe indicates. I always find I am grabbing more handfuls of it out the bag when I am decorating the lamingtons. It’s probably just because it’s quite messy and I end up with lots of coconut all over the bench! 

I try to work quite fast when decorating the lamingtons, as the chocolate will start to set before you have used it all up. You also need to get the coconut on each one straight after it has been coated in chocolate so it will stick. Keep stirring the icing to prevent it from setting, and if you need to thin it out a little to make it more liquid, you could a little more milk or some hot water (1 tsp at a time). The icing should be a little thick however, as it will coat the lamington better than a thin icing. 

 Ingredients for the Sponge Cake: 

6 eggs 

150 g caster sugar 

200 g self-raising flour 

30 g unsalted butter, melted

3 tbsp hot water

Ingredients for the Icing: 

500 g icing sugar

100 g dark chocolate melts 

100 g milk chocolate melts 

15 g unsalted butter

125 ml milk 

375 g coconut chips 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a lamington tin (rectangle tin with dimensions approx. 18 x 28 cm and about 4 cm deep). 

Beat the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed for about 5 minutes. The eggs should become light and fluffy in this time. Gradually add the sugar and beat until the mixture is thick and the sugar has dissolved.

Sift in the flour and gently fold into the egg mixture with a metal spoon. Add the melted butter and hot water and gently stir to combine. 

Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and bake for 30 mins, or until the sponge is golden and springs back when lightly touched. 

Once cooked, turn the sponge out onto a baking paper lined cooling rack, and allow to cool completely. 

Once the sponge has cooled, cut into squares (about 15-16). Place the coconut in a large shallow bowl, and have four forks ready. You will also need another baking paper lined cooling rack to place the freshly iced lamingtons on to dry. 

To make the icing, heat a sauce pan with a little water until it is simmering. Place all the icing ingredients (not the coconut), in to a heatproof bowl or saucepan that will fit on top of the saucepan of simmering water. Place the bowl with the ingredients over the simmering water and stir continuously until all the ingredients have melted and combined to form a smooth thick icing. Do not allow the simmering water below to touch the base of the bowl above, as the chocolate may burn. 

Remove the icing from the heat. Using two of the forks, dip one of the sponge squares into the icing. Using the remaining two forks, toss the chocolate coated sponge in the coconut, and place on the prepared rack to set. Continue with the remaining sponge squares, stirring the icing occasionally to stop it setting. 

Leave the lamingtons on the baking paper lined rack until the icing dries. They are best eaten the same day they have been made, however will store in an airtight container for a couple of days (in the fridge if the weather is particularly humid or hot). 

Recipe originally from Bill Granger ‘Everyday’  (Murdoch Books, 2006), p.192.