quick dessert – Baking with Gab

Cashew, Cobs & caramel fudge and texture

If you haven’t noticed already, I get kind of excited about food. I love putting unexpected flavours together (basil and chocolate, anyone?), I love putting a twist into classic recipes, and I’m really loving playing around with textures to avoid the sameness that can creep into an indulgence like fudge.

Don’t get me wrong, I ADORE simple, speedy fudge. I would have eaten my Nutella fudge all by myself if my siblings hadn’t found out about it. And the peanut butter fudge? I basically did eat that all by myself!

But this fudge is different. It’s kind of grown up. I’d venture so far as to say that it’s a little bit classy!

The smoothness of the chocolate fudge is gorgeous. It’s rich and suave. If this fudge was a person, it would probably be Richard Branson.

The addition of the jersey caramels, Cobs popcorn and the cashews. Make it brilliant, crunchy and a little bit nuts.

Probably still like Richard Branson…

I was a little worried about posting this recipe, because I thought that it was kind of ugly. It’s bumpy and chunky and not as pretty as the recipes I usually post. But the response to the preview photo I posted yesterday on Facebook was fabulous. I love that you guys see beauty in this chunky little delight.

Personally, I think that the alliteration of these three additives (as well as the taste) makes them the best. No matter what combination of ingredients is in the bite that you take, I promise it will be glorious.

Cobbs, cashew and caramel fudge

400g dark chocolate
395g tin sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp thickened cream
½ cup cashews
¾ cup jersey caramels, roughly chopped
1 cup Cobs salted caramel popcorn

Grease a 20cm square tin and line it with baking paper. You only need to grease it very lightly, just so that the baking paper has something to adhere to.

Chop up your caramels. Try not to chop them too finely, they’re beautiful when they’re big and chunky. Leave your cashews and salted caramel popcorn whole. Set these to one side.

Pop your chocolate and sweetened condense milk into a saucepan over a low heat. Stir constantly until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Don’t worry if you can’t get the mixture completely smooth, a few little chunks of chocolate won’t make any difference to the finished product. Add in the thickened cream to give it a glossy sheen.

Take the chocolate mixture off the heat and stir in your caramels, cashews and Cobbs popcorn. Working as quickly as you can, distribute them evenly throughout the mixture, making sure everything is covered in the chocolate fudge. Pour into your prepared pan and smooth it down as best you can. Don’t bother making it perfect, there’s something to be said for delicious, ugly imperfection. refrigerate for at least an hour.

That’s it! Sit back and snack on any popcorn or caramels that you’ve got left over.

Remove from the fridge ten minutes before you want to serve it and slice into small squares. It’s super rich, so you only need a mouthful or two!

The great thing is, you can substitute the additives with anything – make a marshmallow, choc-popcorn and walnut fudge. Or M&M, jaffa and white choc chip fudge. There are so many great possibilities.

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!)

Mango macadamia icecream and freedom

I’ve been very lucky these past two weeks. I was given a ridiculous amount of pears last week and my dad was given a whole bag full of mangoes. The pears were delightful – they’re so versatile and perfectly ripe right now.

Commandeering my dad’s mango bag, however, was an entirely different kind of wonderful. Mangoes are Summer, Christmas and deliciousness bundled into a little oval shape present. They’re sweet and messy and dripping with gorgeous nectar.

I’m not usually allowed to experiment with cooking mangoes because people want to eat them (greedy, right?!) and they don’t often last more than 48 hours in this house. Having the bag of them allowed me a little freedom.

Tasty, tasty freedom.

Mangoes need very little improvement, so I didn’t want to tinker with them too much. I just added sugar (a classic Baking with Gab move), macadamias and ice cream. This is like a home-made version of those moreish Weis bars.

Caramelising the mangoes intensifies the flavours because the mango flavour seeps into the brown sugar and the mango flesh becomes slightly mushier. This is a perfect dessert

Mango macadamia icecream topping

¼ cup macadamias, roughly chopped
1 mango
¼ cup brown sugar
4 scoops ice cream

Place a non-stick frying pan over a high heat to warm up. Plop your macadamias straight into the pan and stir for five minutes so that they start to brown. While the macadamias are roasting, slice the cheeks off the mango and away from the seed, then cube the flesh and discard the skin.

Keep stirring the macadamias as you’re cutting the mango, you don’t want the macadamias to burn.

When the macadamias are browned, remove them from the pan and wipe it out. Return the pan to the heat and cover the cooking surface with a piece of baking paper. Measure out the brown sugar onto a dinner plate and pour the pieces of mango onto the sugar. Toss to give them a good, coating.

Pour the entire contents of the dinner plate onto the baking paper in the frying pan and let them cook for 5-8 minutes. Turn the mango pieces with tongs occasionally and give the caramelising sugar a stir so it doesn’t bubble up too much.

Take the gorgeous, golden mixture off the heat, quickly serve up four scoops of ice cream and scoop the mango over the top. Toss a few macadamias over the top and serve before the ice cream is completely melted.

This dessert is super easy and it’s so delicious that guests won’t believe how easy it is to throw together. You only need one pan and 12 minutes to whip this dessert up…and the baking paper means that you don’t even need to scrub the frying pan!

On a slightly funny mango-related note, the big mango which usually lives in Bowen, North Queensland has been stolen. Hopefully it’s returned, uneaten soon!