baking – Page 8 – Baking with Gab

Mini caramel egg brownies and excitement

Is anyone else getting super excited about Easter? I am. I walk through supermarket aisles and have to physically restrain myself from buying Easter eggs.

I used to be one of those people who hated how early seasonal foods came in – “Halloween sweets out in August?!” or “Christmas stock out in October?!” – I used to be shocked at how quickly in-store merchandising would roll over. I would refrain from buying my holiday-related products until a week or so before the actual event.

Now I kind of like it, because Baking with Gab means that I have to start recipe planning before everyone else is thinking about the next holiday/event. Continue reading “Mini caramel egg brownies and excitement”

Chai chocolate fudge and acceptance

A friend of mine refuses to accept that white chocolate is chocolate. She also refuses to eat it because of its ambiguity, the fact that it masquerades as something that it isn’t.

This is fine, it’s her choice (actually it’s rather advantageous to me, more white chocolate consumption on my part), but she is definitely missing out. I never really sided with my friend until this recipe, when I actually contemplated white chocolate.

White chocolate, I’ve realised, is not really chocolatey tasting at all – it’s smooth and sweet and that’s about it…not that there’s anything wrong with this! In being so indistinct, white chocolate lends itself perfectly to other flavours, it welcomes them openly – it works perfectly with the caramel of the sweetened condensed milk, and also complements the spicy, warm notes of the chai flavouring. Continue reading “Chai chocolate fudge and acceptance”

Cake Bake and Sweets Show 2014

The last 48 hours of my life have been amazing fun. In case you missed my Instagram/Twitter/Facebook frenzy, I was at the Cake Bake and Sweets Show at Olympic Park. I’m so excited to share everything with you that I’m not even posting a recipe today!

It’s still food-related, so that counts, right?

Not only was I able to sample a million different little things, I was able to chat to people who are passionate about their food – it was just lovely. I was super strict about what I bought because I already have a ridiculous amount of baking paraphernalia, and I still had a good time. Maybe all the sugar from the free samples tainted my view…the 6 pack of macaroons I purchased probably helped too. Continue reading “Cake Bake and Sweets Show 2014”

Honey pear cake and oversupply

This post came about because of an over supply of two things.

Pears and honey.

So I created a honey pear cake.

Makes sense, right?

I was lucky enough to receive another delivery of free pears last week (I spoke about the first delivery here.) I’m currently trying to find more ways to use these babies up, because I’ve eaten about 50, poached close to a dozen, given away what seems like bagfuls, and I’m still left with a bowl of them which are threatening to go bad on me. Continue reading “Honey pear cake and oversupply”

Guinness cake and contrast

My nan used to drink Guinness. She was a tiny, white-haired sparrow of a woman, and I like to think that the occasional glass of Guinness represented her strong, independent streak. She wasn’t a big drinker. In fact, a 440ml can could last her a week or more (and was often thrown out by my mother!)I remember this vividly, because my brothers and I would vie for nan’s affections to try and win the floating widget that bobbed about inside the can. Continue reading “Guinness cake and contrast”

Coconut lime cupcakes and abundance

Does anyone else have a ridiculous amount of limes in their house at the moment? I do. A week or so ago they were ridiculously cheap so I went a little crazy. I’ve been steadily working my way through them, but there are only so many mojitos a girl can drink by herself.

So I’m baking with them!

I also happen to have way too many tea cups at the moment. It’s a delightful predicament, brought about by a loan from Cristina Re. You’ll be seeing a few of her swoon-worthy tea cups popping up in photo shoots over the next few weeks, because I’m slightly in love with them. Continue reading “Coconut lime cupcakes and abundance”

Plum frangipane tart and efficiency

If you have a friend popping over without a minute’s notice, efficiency is key. I was in a position recently where I had 45 minutes to throw makeup on and prepare something for afternoon tea when I knew that I had used up most of the flour on this cake (coconut raspberry cake.)

So I whipped up this little gem – it’s fast, easy and super impressive. Tarts are usually a pretty impressive dish to serve to people, but a frangipane tart sounds even better, it gives it an air of French sophistication. Try telling your guests that it’s “just a little plum frangipane tart I threw together” without having the smuggest face ever.

The delicious filling of this tart is gluten free, so would be perfect for celiac or gluten-sensitive friends – just make sure you find a reliable gluten free pastry. I’m in the process working out a decent gluten-free pastry, so watch this space. If you’ve got any suggestions for a GF pastry, comment below!

Plum frangipane tart:

Serves 8-10

2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry
100g butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ tsp almond essence
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
1 ½ cups almond meal
2 large plums

Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease a 35×12 cm tart tin.

Thaw your pastry until it is malleable enough to shape into your tart tin. Prick the uncooked tart shell with a fork, line with baking paper and pour baking weights in. Pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven, take away the baking weights and baking paper, then return to the oven for five minutes.

Make the filling while the tart is in the oven.

Cream together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and almond essence, then the eggs and egg yolk, mix to combine. Add in the almond meal and give it a good mix.

Allow the tart to cool slightly before filling it.

Spoon the frangipane into the tart case and smooth out with a spatula. Don’t worry about being too precise, the filling with smooth out perfectly whilst in the oven.

Thinly slice your plums and arrange them as you please. I slotted mine in at a slight angle so that some of the flesh was showing, giving the tart a little pop of colour and allowing the sugars in the plums to be exposed to more heat so that they’d caramelise slightly.

Pop this back in the oven for 30 minutes so that you’re whipping it out of the oven just as your guests arrive. Allow the tart to cool before serving.

(I also used the baking time to throw on a face of makeup and attempt to tame my hair!)

Coconut raspberry cake with passionfruit glaze (and a big baking prize!)

Baking with Gab has its benefits. It gives me an excuse to cook and devour ridiculous amounts of delicious baked goods, it’s introduced me to the fantastic blogging community and it’s also created an outlet for my crazy dog lady tendencies.

And then there’s free stuff. It’s not very often that I host a giveaway, so when I do, I get pretty excited about it! The delightful people from the Cake Bake and Sweets Show have offered me a one day double pass to give away to one of my fabulous readers!

The Cakes Bakes and Sweets Show will be on at the Sydney Showground, Olympic Park on March 21-23, the winner can go on whichever day they want. Chef Duff, Dan Lepard, Adriano Zumbo and Eric Lanlard will all be there – you could be too!

There will be live demonstrations, fabulous stalls to buy baked goods and baking related products, and free tastings. FREE TASTINGS.

The ticket allows you entry into the live demonstrations – there are so many options I literally cannot choose which demos I want to go to.

To celebrate my excitement about the Cake Bake and Sweets Show, I threw a little tea party, because that’s what I do best! The coconut, raspberry and passionfruit cake is sweet, moist and perfectly suited to a nice black cuppa.

Coconut and raspberry cake:

1 cup coconut cream
¾ cups caster sugar
2 eggs
1 ¾ cups self-raising flour
1 cup of desiccated coconut
½ cup frozen raspberries

Sticky passionfruit glaze:

¼ cup sugar
3 passionfruit
2 tbsp water

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease and flour a 21 cm cake tin.

Mix together the coconut cream and caster sugar until the sugar has started to dissolve. Add in the eggs, flour and then coconut and mix until combined.

Gently fold in the frozen raspberries so that their colour doesn’t bleed out too much.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and pop in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

As soon as the cake is out of the oven, pop the sugar, passionfruit and water into a small saucepan and heat over a low flame until the sugar has dissolved. Keep stirring to ensure that the mixture doesn’t burn.

When the cake has cooled slightly, run a knife around the edge of the tin to free it up, then turn it onto a cooling rack. Turn the cake the right way up, poke holes about ¾ of the way into the cake with a skewer and then spoon the passionfruit mixture over the top, spreading it as you go.

You want the cake to still be warm when you’re pouring the passionfruit glaze over so that it seeps into holes. Aside from the taste, the great thing about the passionfruit glaze is that you can cover up the holes you poked in the cake earlier.

Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.

How to win:

To win the tickets, you must like Baking with Gab on Facebook and then email bakingwithgab@gmail.com, telling me which part of the show you want to see most and why. Have a look here to see what the Cake Bake and Sweets Show has to offer.

Entry is open to anyone, but you must be able to make your own way to the show. Competition close Thursday March 13^th at 11:59pm.

Looking forward to seeing your answers!

Chocolate cardamon pear cake and Autumn

I’ve still got a crazy amount of pears to work my way through. And it’s glorious. I wrote about being given too many pears last week and I’ve not yet run out of things to bake with them!

The weather in Sydney turned pretty dismal this week, so I’ve been poaching and baking and snuggling up with Norman at every opportunity.

It’s also the first day of Autumn today! This cake is perfect for Autumn because it’s not quite heavy enough for a Winter’s pudding, but it’s not too Summery either because of the almondy hints and the caramel notes created by the brown sugar. The chocolate and cardamom mingle beautifully to create warm, rich little mouthfuls, while the pear brings a lovely moistness to the cake.

Best served sprinkled with icing sugar, as it needs very little accompaniment. If you’re feeling especially indulgent on a dreary, rainy day, serve warm, with a dollop thick cream.

Chocolate cardamon pear cake

180g butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup almond meal
1 cup self-raising flour
¼ cup milk
1 tsp ground cardamom
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 pears

Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease and line a 21cm cake tin.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until pale. Add in the eggs, followed by your almond meal. Sift in the self-raising flour and add in the milk to thin out the mixture. Mix the cardamom into the batter thoroughly, then fold the chocolate chunks in as well.

Peel and core your pears, then cut them into thin wedges. Arrange the wedges around the cake in whatever fashion you like, pressing them in slightly. I tend to organise them so that they fit neatly into slices once the cake is cooked.

Pop the cake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove when a cake inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from the tin – this cake is delicate, so needs a little extra care.

Chocolate date tray cake and cool food

I bet you read the title of this recipe and thought “blech, dates.”

Some foods just aren’t cool.

Kale is the popular kid at school at the moment. Quinoa comes a close second. Mangosteen is new on the block, but he’s got his sights set for popularity too.

Dates, unfortunately, don’t even register on the cool scale. Dates aren’t even bullied at school – they’re the food that other foods forget exist. Dates are unseen, unappreciated and probably do their homework in the library at lunch time.

Poor dates. Continue reading “Chocolate date tray cake and cool food”