Foodporn Friday: Chocolate toffee & passionfruit macarons

I’ve been baking a LOT and eating a lot in the last few weeks, but forgetting to take any pictures while doing so… its a great excuse to remake a lot of what I’ve baked recently so I can blog it. This weekend I got stuck in and made macarons in two flavours – chocolate toffee, and passionfruit – and remembered to take photos. My lovely little people (and their dad) were kind enough to let me spend the whole day baking peacefully

I used the Toblerone Macaron recipe from Hopes. Dreams. Aspirations, added a little more cocoa and instead used Caramello Chocolate in a ganache for the filling.

Macaron shells
150 g icing sugar
140 g almond meal
10g cocoa powder
110 g egg whites, split into 2 bowls of 55g each
150 g caster sugar
38 ml water
1 g meringue powder

Sift the almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa powder, set aside in a large wide bowl.

Put the first lot of egg whites into your stand mixer.

Clip the sugar thermometer according to manufacturer’s instructions to a milk saucepan, put the water and caster sugar in and dissolve the sugar over a low heat. Leave it to heat up and don’t stir it.

Cook the sugar syrup until it reaches 70°C. You should monitor your sugar thermometer, and as it reaches this temperature, add the meringue powder to the egg whites and whisk in medium speed until it becomes frothy.

Once the sugar syrup has reached 118°C (soft ball stage), take the saucepan off the heat, keep the mixer speed on medium and slowly trickle the sugar syrup in, down the side of the bowl. Increase speed to high and whisk until the bowl is warm to touch, about 8 minutes.

Add the second lot of egg whites to the almond meal mix, then add the meringue and use a large spatula to thoroughly combine it. Continue mixing the mixture to soften the meringue. Don’t be afraid to slap the mixture down to achieve “macaronnage”, but don’t over do this.

Scoop half into a piping bag. I trace circles onto paper and place beneath my baking paper to get even rounds, but freehand it if you wish. Squeeze the mixture in the centre of the rounds and as it is close to filling the circle, stop squeezing and flick the tip from three o’clock to 6 o’clock. This ensures a smooth top.

Once done hold the baking tray firmly and give it a few sharp bangs on the counter to dislodge any air bubbles in the macarons. Then leave on the counter to rest for 30 minutes while a skin forms. This will ensure your macarons have nice ‘feet’.

I bake mine at 145°C, for 13 minutes. Check after 7 minutes and judge from there – when ready the macaron should peel easily from the paper without leaving any macaron behind.

Once out of the oven, I slide the baking paper onto a cold surface. This causes a thermal shock and will make it even easier to peel off.

Filling Ingredients:
150g Caramello Chocolate
150ml cream

Instructions:
Break up chocolate into small chunks. Bring cream up to a boil in a pan, and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute before stirring. Let it cool and thicken in the fridge.

Spread a teaspoon of ganache on half of your shells and top them with the remaining half of your shells.

For the passionfruit macarons, I omitted the cocoa powder from the shells and instead added a vivid purple gel colour to the sugar mixture before adding to the egg whites. Then I filled with a buttercream that had been flavoured with passionfruit puree.

Foodporn Friday: Dairy- and Gluten-free Mediterranean Orange Cake

We have a few dairy and gluten-free people at work and every now and then when there is a birthday they get an orange cake in from Pandoro Bakery. It is always divine, moist and sweet without being overpowering (and because its ‘healthy’ I can always justify a second slice). I thought I’d try make it at home and found this recipe online. The only change I’ve made is to cook the oranges in my crockpot because watching a pot on the stove for 3 hours sounded like far too much hard work. This is definitely a keeper!

Dairy- and Gluten-free Mediterranean Orange Cake (adapted from Pandoro Bakery as printed in The New Zealand Baker)

Ingredients
For orange slush:
3 large or 4 medium oranges

For cake:
15g (1Tbl) baking powder
310g ground blanched almonds
8 eggs
310g white sugar
375g orange slush (see below)

For glaze:
1/2 cup apricot jam plus 1/3 cup water
natural flaked/slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Make orange slush the day before you’re going to make the cake, which you will then make a day before you plan to serve it.

Orange slush:
Wash the oranges well, slice the tops and bottoms off them so they can sit flat, place in a slow cooker/crockpot covered with water and cook until soft (3/4hrs on high). Drain off excess water. Puree whole oranges (including peel) to a smooth slush in a food processor. Place in a bowl and cover. Refrigerate overnight.

Cake:
Preheat oven to 170 C (335 F) and prepare a 23-cm (10-inch) springform or other round tin by greasing and lining the bottom with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together baking powder and ground almonds.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until combined.
To egg mixture, add ground almond mixture and orange slush, and mix gently just to combine.
Pour cake batter into tin and bake for between 50 to 80 minutes until cake is golden brown and cake tester comes out clean.
Cool cake in tin overnight.
Next day remove from tin to serving plate.

Glaze:
Melt together apricot jam and water on stove or in microwave and bring just to a boil. Strain to remove any fruit lumps. While glaze is still warm, brush entire cake top and sides until glossy.
Sprinkle cake with a ring of toasted almonds around top edge to make a wreath. Serve and refrigerate any leftovers.

Foodporn Friday: Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

I didn’t have time to make chocolate mousse for my sister while she was here (despite the very best intentions) so I made it the week after she’d headed back home and sent her many, many photos. Sorry La!

On the upside, its super easy to make and tastes incredible – so she can make it herself.

The recipe makes 5 good size portions.

Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

85gr bittersweet chocolate
6 large egg yolks
85gr sugar
1 pinch salt
25gr unsweetened cocoa powder
260ml heavy cream

Directions

Finely chop chocolate; reserve. In a double boiler, whisk yolks, sugar, and salt until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, quickly whisk in chopped chocolate until melted and cocoa until smooth (mixture will be thick). Cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Whisk half of whipped cream into room-temperature chocolate mixture. Gently fold in remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula.

Divide mousse among four serving dishes. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Remove mousse from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with shaved chocolate.

Foodporn Friday: Speculaas / Cookie Butter Cheesecake

My sister and her family have spent Christmas in New Zealand with us this year and knowing how much I love to bake she brought me lots of bits and pieces for my baking cupboard. One of the things she brought was “Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread/Biscoff Spread” – its like peanut butter, only flavoured a bit like caramel-ly cinnamon ginger cookies.

Its so delicious I could happily eat it out the jar but it seemed a bit wasteful. So I grabbed one of my usual cheesecake recipes and adapted it to make a Speculoos Cheesecake with a dark chocolate base and white chocolate topping… according to my sister it’s the best cheesecake in the history of ever. High praise indeed from a cheesecake fan!

Cookie Butter (Speculaas) Cheesecake

1-1/4 cups oreo biscuit crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 pkg. (250 g each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Speculaas/Speculoos Spread
1/2 cup sugar
150gr White Chocolate, chopped, divided
1-1/2 cups whipped cream, divided
3 Speculaas cookies, divided

Mix Oreo crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate for 10 min.

Beat cream cheese, speculaas spread and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add 2 crushed speculaas cookies and mix. Whisk in 1 cup whipped cream. Spoon over crust. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Microwave remaining whipping cream and chocolate in small microwaveable bowl on high until melted. Cool slightly. Pour over cheesecake. Refrigerate until firm. When ready to serve, sprinkle with 1 crushed speculaas cookie. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; remove rim.

Enjoy!

Foodporn Friday: Coconut Caramel Slice

Before our friend Liesl deserted us to work on the Olympics and didnt come back left for the UK we used to go to a cafe called Paper Moon that did the most spectacular coconut caramel slice I have ever tried. I’m not a huge coconut fan but *this* is enough to make me change my mind. I daydream about it often and finally decided to try and make some. This recipe is originally from Australian Women’s Weekly and is pretty darn close!

Coconut Caramel Slice

Ingredients
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (45g) desiccated coconut
1/2 cup (110) caster sugar
100g butter, melted
395g can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbs golden syrup
1/4 cup (55g) brown sugar
60g butter, melted, extra
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar, extra
2 cups (180g) desiccated coconut, extra (I use threaded if I can get it – the bigger the bits the better)

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a slice pan. Line base and two opposite sides with baking paper, extending paper 5cm over edge of pan.

Combine sifted flours, coconut, caster sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Press mixture evenly over base of prepared pan. Cook for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool slightly.

Combine sweetened condensed milk, golden syrup, brown sugar and extra butter in a medium bowl. Spread mixture evenly over base.

Combine eggs, extra sugar and extra coconut in a medium bowl and sprinkle evenly over filling. Cook for further 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool in pan. Cut slice into squares or triangles to serve.

Foodporn Friday: Geek Cake

Last week was a colleague’s 40th birthday and because he is a bit of a geek (aren’t we all?) we decided to make him a geeky birthday cake. I started with a red velvet cake made with oil instead of butter so that it keeps longer, topped with cream cheese frosting. And also chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache. The fun bit was writing “happy birthday” across the top in binary code and making transformers, pac men and lego pieces from fondant to top the cake and cupcakes. I was thrilled with how they turned out!

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1-2 oz. liquid red food coloring OR two heaped teaspoons gel colouring
• 1 teaspoon of white vinegar
• ½ cup of strong coffee

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
4. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring until combined.
5. Stir in the coffee and white vinegar.
6. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients a little at time, mixing after each addition, just until combined.
7. Generously grease and flour two round cake pans.
8. Pour the batter evenly into each pan.
9. Bake in the middle rack for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake as cake will continue to cook as it cools.
10. Let cool on a cooling rack until the pan are warm to the touch.
11. Slide a knife or offset spatula around the inside of the pans to loosen the cake from the pan.
12. Remove the cakes from the pan and let them cool.
13. Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting when the cakes have cooled completely.

Foodporn Friday: German Chocolate Cake

First, a disclaimer… I’ve no idea why this is called German Chocolate Cake. I saw a cake with that name, thought the toasted coconut & pecan sounded good and thats where the similarity ends.

It was a friend’s birthday last weekend and I was wanting to try something a little different – so I made my usual standard chocolate cake but in a square tins, made the toasted coconut & pecan praline topping which I put in between the cake layers as well as over the top and then drenched the lot in hot chocolate fudge sauce. Killer!

The remaining chocolate fudge sauce was enjoyed over ice-cream (and leftovers sent home with a friend and her new boyfriend – do not ask, it may scar you for life!).

Simple Chocolate Cake

Beat for at least 5 minutes:

• 300g sugar (1.5 cups)
• 4 eggs
• half tsp vanilla

Mix well:

• 30g cocoa (3 heaped dessert spoons)
• 3/4 cup boiling water

Add the following to egg & sugar mixture and beat well:

• 1 and 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

Then add hot cocoa and beat well. Bake for around 25 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.

Hot Chocolate Fudge Sauce

• 225 g butter
• 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 600 g white sugar
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 5 ml vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine butter, cocoa, sugar and evaporated milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and boil for 7 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Carefully pour hot mixture into a blender and blend for 2 to 4 minutes.

Coconut Pecan Praline

• 140 grams toasted pecans, chopped
• 160 grams shredded coconut
• 100 grams brown sugar
• 115 grams butter
• 215 grams evaporated milk (whole fat)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 large egg yolks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. On a foil lined baking sheet place 2/3 of the coconut and all the pecans. Toast until coconut starts to turn color and nuts are fragrant, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
2. In a large saucepan combine the brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk, vanilla and eggs with a whisk. Cook over medium heat until mixture is bubbling and thick. Use a whisk and then switch to a heat proof spatula or wooden spoon. Cook until thick and then, using the foil as a funnel pour the toasted nuts and coconut into the pan. Add the additional untoasted coconut. Stir thoroughly. Cool until room temperature.
3. Spread half the mixture over one layer of cake. Add some fudge sauce. Place other layer on top and use the rest of the frosting for the top of the cake. Pour on as much fudge sauce as your nerves can handle. Enjoy!

Foodporn Friday: Pecan Shortbread Slice

I had a rough day at work this week. Got home and DH could tell from my face that I needed some time alone in the kitchen so cleared out right sharpish. I whipped up a hot shortbread base and then topped it with a pecan pie filling then put it back in the oven until the topping was brown and bubbling. It turned out perfectly! I think I’m getting a reputation as a sugar pusher at work – it had barely hit my desk before it had disappeared…

Pecan Shortbread Slice

Ingredients:

For crust:
225gr unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon

For topping:
115gr unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line a 9×13-inch pan with foil, leaving enough for a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

First make the crust by creaming together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add in the flour, cinnamon and salt and mix until crumbly.

Press the crust into the foil-lined pan and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

While the crust bakes, prepare the filling by combining the butter, brown sugar, honey and heavy cream in a saucepan and stirring it over medium heat. Simmer the mixture for 1 minute, then stir in the chopped pecans.

Remove the crust from the oven and immediately pour the pecan filling over the hot crust spreading it to cover the entire surface.

Return the pan to the oven and bake an additional 20 minutes.

Remove the pan and allow the bars to fully cool in the pan.

Use the foil overhang to lift out the bars and transfer them to a cutting board. Peel off the foil, slice into bars and serve.

Recipe adapted from Gourmet.

Foodporn Friday: Lemony cupcakes

Last weekend we took a trip out to the Clevedon Market where we gorged on all sorts of fantastic food (including some outstanding Macarons). We also came home with a large jar of lemon curd. It seemed like a waste to use it up on boring old toast so instead I made up some vanilla cupcakes which I cored and filled with a generous dollop of the lemon curd and then frosted with some lemony cream cheese frosting.

They’re exactly what I was after!

I bake every week, usually only one thing but sometimes more and the leftovers get taken in to work and shared with colleagues. One colleague remarked not too long ago that all the baking must get expensive and it got me thinking… it would be interesting to see what each recipe costs. So I am going to try work a few of them out – more out of interest than anything else. Prices will be in New Zealand dollars at the time I baked/checked so don’t hold me to them

Conversion calculator here

Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe by Glorious Treats
Yields 30 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups cake flour ($0.96)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder ($0.09)
1 teaspoon baking soda ($0.05)
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs ($4.35 – free range)
1 1/2 cups sugar ($0.61)
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract ($0.50)
1 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil) ($0.79)
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk plus 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice) ($1.50)

Directions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together with whisk, and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds.  Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds.  Add vanilla and oil, beat.
Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture.  Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk.  Beat until just combined.  Scrap down the side of the bowl.
The batter will be thin.   Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners.  Fill liners about 2/3 full.
Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-16 minutes.
Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Lemon Curd
Buy a jar. Or, make your own using this recipe here. ($6)

Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting
250gr Cream Cheese ($3.29)
50gr Butter ($0.34)
Zest from 1 lemon ($0.79)
Juice of half a lemon
Icing sugar ($1.40)

Beat the cream cheese & butter till creamy. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Add icing sugar until it reaches the consistency you prefer – I used 4 cups icing sugar.

Once cupcakes are cool, use a paring knife to cut a circular core out of each cupcake. Put a teaspoon of lemon curd into each cupcake, level off the cored piece and replace. Then use a piping bag to frost with the lemony cream cheese frosting. Enjoy!

Total cost: $19.27 (or 64 cents each)

Foodporn Friday: Sour cream chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting

I couldn’t let my dad & stepmom head back to SA without sampling at least a little baking. I’d seen a divine cake on Smitten Kitchen’s blog and had some leftover salted caramel in the freezer so I thought I’d adapt it slightly to suit. I’ll try the original recipe sometime too. Its simple but beautiful and sinfully rich!

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting and Chocolate Glaze
Adapted only barely, from Smitten Kitchen’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of baking paper and grease the paper.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. (note: These cakes are very, very soft. I following Smitten Kitchen’s notes and firmed them up in the freezer for 30 minutes before frosting. You’ll be glad you did this, trust me.)

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup of the Salted Caramel Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. (Note 1: Making a crumb coat of frosting–a thin layer that binds the dark crumbs to the cake so they don’t show up in the final outer frosting layer–is a great idea for this cake, or any with a dark cake and lighter-colored frosting. Once you “mask” your cake, let it chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating. Note 2: Once the cake is fully frosted, it helps to chill it again and let it firm up. The cooler and more set the frosting is, the better drip effect you’ll get from the Chocolate Glaze.)

5. To decorate with the Chocolate Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving.

Salted Caramel Frosting
Makes about 5 cups

285gr cream cheese, at room temperature
115gr unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
2/3 cup salted caramel (leftovers from this recipe here)

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the salted caramel and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate Glaze
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

225gr semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of a double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.