Yet more cupcakes...

Mum asked me to make some cupcakes for her (male) cousin's birthday.  Cupcakes would not have been my first thought when considering what to bake for a man's birthday, but I went with it and was pretty pleased with the results.  The request was for half chocolate, half vanilla.  The vanilla cuppies were made using the usual Nigella recipe.  I have made chocolate cuppies before by substituting cocoa for some of the flour, but decided instead to make chocolate cherry cupcakes from Nigella's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'.  I haven't made these in quite some time, but they are seriously good.  I found the recipe yielded 18 rather than 12 cupcakes - no matter, more left over for us!  I used Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate, which made them very rich.  I couldn't get the stipulated morello cherry jam, so instead used dark cherry jam.

To decorate, I used Cake Mate frosting (the one that comes in a pressurised can) in chocolate fudge, cloud white and blue.  To decorate the chocolate cherry cupcakes, rather than use the star nozzle that comes with the icing, I decided instead to dispense the icing out of the can and use a piping bag and Wilton 1M tip, which I think makes really nice swirls for topping cupcakes.  Unfortunately, it also uses a lot more icing than a smaller star tip, and I found I was only able to ice 9 cupcakes with one can of icing, which made it a pretty expensive way to decorate.  I had intended to ice all the vanilla ones in blue, but was unable to get more blue icing.  I had enough in the cupboard to ice 6 of the 9 vanilla cupcakes I needed using the small star nozzle that comes with the can, and iced the remaining 3 in cloud white icing (I needed 9 vanilla and 9 chocolate cherry cupcakes to fill my cupcake stand which Mum borrowed for the occasion).  I would have preferred to ice the vanilla ones with the 1M tip too, but was unable to get more icing, so had to economise by utilising the smaller tip.  I do think the chocolate ones that were iced with the 1M tip look better though.   

The iced choc cherry cuppies looked so nice with their choc fudge swirls of icing, that I just left 3 of them as they were.  Another 3 I sprinkled with some tiny silver cachous.  The remaining 3 I sprinkled over Wilton blue sprinkles (blue coloured sugar crystals).  To decorate the blue ones, 3 were sprinkled with the silver cachous, 3 had chocolate sprinkles scattered over.  The 3 white cupcakes were decorated with the Wilton blue sprinkles.  On the whole, I thought it looked a tad classier than my mother's planned decoration of Smarties!

My elder son is having a fundraising day next week, where the year 10 students will be selling donated cupcakes to raise money for the RSPCA, so I foresee more cupcake making in my near future!

the completed cupcakes ready in the Cupcake Courier's trays

Chocolate cherry coconut slice

This is a super easy slice recipe from Janelle Bloom (published in Super Food Ideas magazine, August 2003, p72), which I used to make semi-regularly for my husband and eldest son.  I haven't made it in at least 4 years, but it has made a reappearance in our kitchen by special request from my hubby.

This is very similar to the chocolate cherry slice you can buy from some bakeries.  The food colouring is entirely optional, but I am so used to seeing the garishly pink version that you can buy, that the pallid version without colouring looks strange to me.  So I content myself with just a few drops and a pale pink result.  The recipe specified cooking chocolate (shudder) - I have used normal Cadbury eating chocolate.  Also in my notes I have written for a firmer result, to use 30g of copha in the topping instead of 60g of butter - I don't have the original recipe, but I assume this was my own change to allow the slice to survive in my son's lunchbox in humid Queensland weather a little better.  I think it tastes better with butter, and this time I have used butter.  I did toy with the idea of leaving the butter out and making it with 260g of milk chocolate instead.  I think that would work okay, but it would probably be harder to slice without the topping cracking once set, but you could use a hot dry knife. 

The slice states that it makes 24 pieces, which is what I cut it into this time, though I think I used to do 20 pieces.  24 pieces does make for quite small squares of slice, but then it is very sweet, so small servings isn't necessarily a bad thing.  But if you were wanting to slice it into pieces the size a bakery normally sells, then the yield of the recipe would be more like 16-20 pieces.

Chocolate cherry coconut slice

Makes 24 small pieces

Base:

• 150g butter, melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1.5 cups of plain flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking powder

Filling:

• 3 cups dessicated coconut
• 395g can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• few drops of pink food colouring, optional
• 200g red glace cherries, chopped

Topping:

• 60g butter, chopped
• 200g milk chocolate

Method:

1. Grease and line an 18 x 28cm slice tin.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Base: Combine butter and sugar.  Add flour and baking powder.  Mix well.  Press into pan with a metal spoon.
3. Filling: Combine coconut, milk, eggs, and colouring (if using).  Stir in cherries.  Spoon over base.  
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until light golden.  Cool.  
5. Topping: Melt butter over medium heat.  Reduce heat to low.  Add chocolate, stirring constantly until smooth.  Pour over coconut filling.
6. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to set.
7. Cut into squares to serve. (If you wipe the knife clean between each cut, the pieces will look much cleaner).

I used my Wilton decorating triangle to make a pattern in the chocolate.

Chocolate malteser cake

This is the cake I chose to bake for my hubby's birthday. I have made it before a few years ago, and remember thinking it was a little dry/ rubbery, but thought perhaps I had done something wrong and should give it another go. Unfortunately, I still wasn't happy with it. The flavour is great, but it does seem rubbery and not finely textured. On looking at the recipe again, I think it is because the cake doesn't have much fat added to it in the form of butter or oil, which I guess is great from a dietary point of view, but from a pure enjoyment viewpoint, it lets the side down a little. Still, the flavour is so good I am determined to try it again soon, but rework the quantities of ingredients to something closer to a Victoria sponge cake. If you like Maltesers, then you'll love the buttercream icing. Making a normal chocolate sponge cake and icing it with the choc-malt buttercream icing would be a delicious alternative to making the sponges as they are in this recipe.

I actually found it a little better the next day - whether this was because I had had time to get over my disappointment, or whether the texture did indeed improve overnight, I am not quite sure. My hubby and the boys loved it anyway, and it is a very presentable cake.

For the cake:

• 150g soft light brown sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175ml milk
• 15g butter (yes, that is correct)
• 30ml Horlicks
• 175g plain flour
• 25g cocoa, sieved
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and line two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins.

Whisk the sugars and eggs until light and frothy. Assuming you have a free standing mixer, while this is happening, heat the milk, butter and Horlicks in a saucepan until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot, but not boiling. Beat the Horlicks mixture into the eggs and sugar, then fold through the remaining dry ingredients. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake for around 25 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. Cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes before turning the cakes out of their tins.

For the icing:

• 250g icing sugar
• 1tsp cocoa
• 45g Horlicks
• 125g soft unsalted butter
• 30ml boiling water
  
• 75g Maltesers

Put the icing suagr, cocoa and Horlicks into a food processor bowl and blitz to remove any lumps (saves sifting - yay!!!). Add the butter and process again. Pour the boiling water into the funnel with the motor running until a smooth buttercream has formed.

When the cakes are cold, ice one cake with half the icing, sandwich the other cake on top and spread with the remaining icing. Decorate with the Maltesers.

Source: Feast, Nigella Lawson.

I had to include this pic as I love my Nigella loose-bottomed sandwich tins! I love that they have the dimensions printed on the side. I wish all cake tins had this.


ready to bake; freshly baked

Chocolate-pistachio cake

I made this recently for dessert for a dinner with friends of ours, to have as well as the pomegranate ice cream. I actually have not made this cake for 5 years, when I made it for the same friend's 30th birthday. I have not avoided making it since then because I didn't like the recipe, but just because I found shelling the nuts a chore. Shelled pistachios are now more readily available, so I am going to have to make this cake part of my regular repertoire, because it is seriously delicious! The recipe is from How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.

For the cake:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 150g caster sugar
  
• 150g pistachios
• 150g soft unsalted butter
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 lemon
• pinch salt

1. Grease and line a 23cm springform tin. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on medium. Leave aside to cool slightly.
   
3. Process 50g of the sugar with the nuts until they are like dust. Add the butter along with another 50g of the sugar; process until smooth. Add the yolks one at a time, pulsing after each addition. Then, with the motor running, slowly pour in the chocolate.
4. Wipe the inside of a bowl with the lemon half (I didn't bother with this step, but the bowl must be scrupulously clean and free of any fat to allow maximum aeration of the egg whites). Whisk the egg whites with the salt until peaks are starting to form. Then slowly add the remaining 50g of sugar while still beating until the egg whites form firm peaks.
5. Add a large dollop of the egg whites to the cake batter and pulse to lighten the mixture. Then add the cake batter to the whites, one third at a time, and fold in gently but firmly.
6. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 180C and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, or until cooked. The cake will be starting to come away from the sides of the tin when it is ready.
   
7. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes on a wire rack before removing from the tin. Wait until the cake is completely cooled before icing it.

The icing:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 150ml cream
• drop of orange-flower water (optional)
• 2-4 tbs coarsely chopped or slivered pistachios

Add chocolate, broken into pieces, and cream into a saucepan, along with the orange-flower water. Stir over a low heat until the chocolate is melted. Keep stirring off the heat until the ganache is thick enough to coat, then pour over the cake. Sprinkle over the pistachios.

Serve with either plain creme fraiche, or with a little orange-flower water whisked in. (When I made this for my friend's 30th, I made Turkish Delight Syllabub to serve as alongside the cake - recipe from Nigella Bites - you can view the recipe here).

pistachios and sugar; pistachio meal


adding butter and sugar


adding yolks


adding chocolate; cake batter


left: the cake once cooked - note the cake is pulling away from the sides; right: once cooled, flourless cakes like this tend to sink in the middle and are then deliciously fudgy in the centre

Double dip Mars Bar slice

Love chocolate crackles? I used to, though I am not sure I could come at them now with the copha content. So happily I found this recipe, which reminds me of chocolate crackles, but is so much better, with its gooey choc caramel flavour and good quality chocolate topping. There'd be nothing to stop you from making them in individual patty cases for a more authentic chocolate crackle experience - indeed I am thinking of doing exactly that for DS2's next birthday.

Combine 260g chopped Mars Bars with 125g chopped butter in a saucepan. Stir over low heat to melt.

I find the nougat is surprisingly resistant to melting, but then eventually it gives in, and the mixture becomes slightly foamy as it yields to the heat and melts, and then the mixture becomes smooth.

Once it is all smoothly melted together, stir the mixture into 4 cups of rice bubbles and then press into a greased and lined 19-20cm square cake tin. Place into the fridge to chill for about 3 hours or until set. I found it didn't need this long. 30 mins is adequate if you are eager to get the topping on so you can sample a piece ;) .

Melt together 200g good quality milk chocolate and 30g butter. I do this in the microwave on medium, but it could be done in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. I have made this recipe 3 times, using different methods - in the microwave, in a bowl over simmering water, melting them together, melting the butter and chocolate separately and then combining them - each time the result has been the chocolate seizes a bit when combined with the melted butter, and is then quite thick when I spread it over the rice bubble mixture. I suspect I may need to let the butter cool a bit before adding it to the chocolate, though next time I think I might just up the chocolate to 250g and dispense with the butter, though that would mean the topping will be a lot firmer when set - which could have its advantages, but would probably be easier to slice it it before the chocolate is fully hard.

Here you can see how thick the melted chocolate and butter mixture was because it had seized slightly. It tasted fine; it wasn't grainy, but it probably wasn't as glossy as it could have been. I decided to take advantage of the thick chocolate and butter mixture this time to make a pattern in the top using my Wilton decorating triangle.

Place in fridge again to allow the topping to set before slicing. Use a hot dry knife to slice into approx. 20-24 squares.

These are so much yummier than chocolate crackles, which tend to either be rock hard when they have just come out of the fridge, or else soft and melted and falling apart. This slice on the other hand is firm if eaten straight from the fridge (but not hard), or slightly gooey (in a scrumptious way - like soft caramel) if left to warm a little at room temperature. It also doesn't leave you with the unpleasant aftertaste that the copha in traditional chocolate crackles leaves. Very very moreish!

Source of recipe : Biscuit & Slice Bible by Virginia Heywood (2007).

Chocolate, marmalade and hazelnut cake

For fans of jaffa cakes or those needing a gluten-free cake... This is another recipe from 'Bake' (Rachel Allen). I myself don't need to avoid gluten, but I love cakes that have ground nuts instead of flour. The texture and flavour is always amazing. Because this cake has no flour, and no raising agent apart from beaten egg whites, it rises while baking, then sinks on cooling. This is quite normal for a flourless cake, so don't be concerned by its deflated appearance.

The recipe

Preheat oven to 190ºC. Grease and line a 22cm loose-bottomed pan (I used a springform tin and lined the sides as well).
Melt together 175g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa) and 175g of butter - I do this in the microwave.
Grind 150g of hazelnuts, with skins on, in a food processor. Separate 5 eggs. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 175g of caster sugar until mousse-like in texture. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Add 200g finely-cut marmalade, grated zest of one orange and the ground nuts to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Add the beaten egg whites, one third at a time, folding gently through.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 170ºC. Bake for a further 35-40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake (the skewer test wasn't helpful for me - see further down). Cool for 20 mins before removing the cake from the tin and leaving to cool completely on a rack.

When completely cool, make the topping. Melt together 75g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa), 75ml cream and grated zest of one orange. Spread over the cake with a spatula and leave to set for 30 mins - 1hr (note from my photo that I didn't let it set - too eager to tuck in!).

Serves 12

I loved the 5 egg yolks making a flower in the bottom of my KitchenAid mixer bowl :)

I used the KitchenAid for the yolks and sugar, so I decided to crack out the Dualit to beat the egg whites. This is her maiden voyage. Looooove my Dualit! She doesn't just look purty, she does a fantastic job too. And as much as I love my KitchenAid mixer, sometimes I can end up feeling a bit detached from the process. I turn the mixer on and let her do her stuff. The Dualit lets me be a bit more involved in the process.

I am always fascinated by the transformation that takes place when you beat egg whites. Going from this...

to this...

Before, during, after...


Adding the ground nuts, marmalade and zest to the melted chocolate and butter.


ready to bake

On the left, the cake after baking; on the right, the cake after cooling - you can see it sank a bit in the middle, which is normal for flourless cakes. Although the recipe states to cook until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake, I baked the cake for about 15 mins longer, at which point it felt firm in the centre, but there were still moist crumbs on the skewer. I pulled it out to cool at this point as it was firm enough and was starting to get quite dark around the outside.

You can see here how incredibly moist this cake is (and why the skewer test wasn't a helpful guide). It is very very rich - I couldn't manage a second helping, which is unusual!