Year of the Tiger Cupcakes

As well as Valentine's Day, tomorrow is Chinese New Year and the start of the Year of the Tiger. Don't you think that calls for some tiger cupcakes for the kids? I know I get carried away, but I am so excited by them - don't you love the picture!

The tiger faces are fondant, apart from the M&M eyes, with a chocolate cupcake and chocolate buttercream icing underneath. I can't wait for the reaction tomorrow. To all my readers, hope the Year of The Tiger gives you Luck, Prosperity and Longevity.




Classic Chocolate Buttercream Cupcakes
from 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connelly
225g unslated butter, softened
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbls cocoa powder
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
Icing
100g chopped plain chocolate
2 tbsp double cream
50g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar, sieved

Heat oven to 175C. Place 12 large cupcake papers into a muffin tin. Combine all ingredients in an electric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment for 2-3 minutes. Spoon the batter into cases. Bake for 20 mins. Cool in the tins for 5 mins then remove to a rack to cool completely.

For the icing, combine chocolate cream and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir gently until combined. Remove from heat and add icing sugar, stirring until the icing is smooth. Spread onto cupcakes.

Haunted House Cake for Halloween

I have been trying to declutter at least some of the excess magazines lying around the house. If anyone has a good idea on how to do this, I need your help. My current plan is grabbing a pile of mags, merrily ripping out all the recipes I am interested in and then popping them all in a great big box, which even I can see will need to be decluttered sooner rather than later. It is also clear to anyone walking into this house that I have more recipes than I will ever cook in my lifetime (even accounting for the fact that I am planning to live past 100) . So why do it?

The simple answer is that you come across treasures like this. A few weeks ago, I was attacking the Halloween issue of Martha Stewart from last year, and saw the most incredible Haunted House Cake. The younger darling daughter agreed with my ill-researched suggestion that I should make this cake for Halloween. When we were invited to join friends for a Halloween BBQ, I immediately volunteered making the afore-mentioned cake as my contribution to the festivities. All was well until Wednesday when I read the recipe for the first time. This was a serious cake. A three batches of Devil's Food Cake type of cake. And each batch big enough to fill my enormous stand mixer. And don't get me started on the icing - the recipe called for 12 cups of icing, made with 10 egg whites, 3/4 kg of chocolate and 4 blocks of butter. Oh my. And then a giant biscuit in the shape of a haunted house with toffee windows, and a pumpkin seed roof, to set it all off. Oh my again.

There was only one thing to do. Pin back my hair and go for it. I spread the cake-making out over a couple of days to make the process a little more fun. Day One was making the cakes and the icing. Each batch supposedly made one 9 inch and one 11 inch layer for the cake. I found that I had enough leftover batter from each batch to also make some chocolate cupcakes. Martha's concept was three 9 inch layers piled on three 11 inch layers. Which would be fine if you were feeding Andre the giant, but this was already an enormous cake with only two layers, so I cut myself a break and left out the third layer. The Icing was amazing, made by cooking the egg whites with the sugar before beating them hard - the first icing I have ever made that tastes like it could come from the cake shop up the road, and I mean that in a good way. Martha helpfully advises that leftover icing can be frozen, so I now have a box of it sitting in my freezer waiting for some other chcocolate cake to emerge from my oven.

Day Two I made the giant cookies for the Halloween house, as well as the tree and the spooky man and the pumpkins. Martha's original concept was for cookie grave stones to be scattered around the cake, but I knew that my superstitious husband would have a fit if he found me making a graveyard cake, so pumpkins it was. Once the cookies were cooked, it was time to make toffee for the doors and windows. At this stage I felt like I was doing the pressure test for a masterchef challenge. How many processes can one cake require? And once that was done, it was time to melt some chocolate and roof the house, before applying liquorice details to the windows and roof.

Finally on Halloween, all that was required was assembling it all, with nougat stairs, shaved chocolate to look like the ground and the assemblage of cookies. Unfortunately I overbaked the tree, so by the time it was put on top of the cake, it looked like one of those African baobab trees with nearly no branches. Problem number two was Sydney's humidity, which was not superhigh on Saturday, but was high enough to make the biscuits go soggy and eventually my house collapsed in the middle! Happily, not before its beauty was captured on film and all the kids had had a chance to enjoy the sight of it before it was demolished. You can find all of the recipes at the links above - they are a little long to reproduce here. The stand-out for me was the icing, which I will definitely make again (although not in such excessive quantities!). I really loved making this cake, and will probably make it again the year after next (next year might be too soon). I liked using a giant cookie as decoration because of the flexibility it gives you: giant Xmas trees or love hearts or animals or anything at all. Just not in the summer humidity.

And guess what I did with the leftover cupcakes? Upended them under some white fondant icing to make little ghosts. I think I had more fun at Halloween than the kids.

Chocolate and Strawberry Macarons

A couple of weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of selecting something to make for a shower tea. We have a new bride entering the family and we all wanted her to feel special and welcome. Because she is also a foodie, I wanted to make something completely delicious and a little out of the ordinary, and so settled on macarons.

Macarons are certainly the indulgence of the moment. Ever since Sophia Coppola featured them in all their pastel glory in Marie Antoinette, a macaron craze has been sweeping the world. Websites debate where the best macarons in Paris can be found, while magazine features show lovingly shot piles in exotic colours and flavours, or parfums as the French say. But for me, especially as a first time macaron chef, I was not considering liquorice or lychee or anything exotic. I decided to stay with strawberry and chocolate as good safe bets, especially since there would be kids at the shower.

Having watched the Masterchef macarons, and after reading various blog posts about the trials and tribulations of making macarons, I was prepared for the worst. And yes, I completely stuffed up the first batch by whipping the egg whites firm (correct), but then adding the remaining ingredients into the mixer instead of stirring in by hand (definitely not correct - the egg whites lost their stiffness and I was left with a mixture that was way too runny to pipe). So I started again.....with a little more success. I used egg whites from the supermarket (non-refrigerated as I had forgotten to leave any out overnight). I also did not leave the piped macarons to stand for 4-5 hours; instead I left them for a couple of hours. Make sure you only bake one tray at a time - when I went to swap my trays half way through the cooking all the bottom macarons were cracked, so I left the trays as they were and the top ones remained uncracked. (You can see a cracked macaron hiding in the top left of my picture). I also kept the cooked but unfilled macarons in the freezer for a couple of days with no problems.

When it came to making the chocolate macarons, I decided to try another recipe, this time from Martha Stewart. The flavour was really good - my youngest told me they tasted just like the ones from the Lindt Cafe and you don't get higher praise than that. The downside was that they were a bit thicker and not as crisp as the strawberry ones. I will keep experimenting with recipes, but in the meantime I would make both of these again. They were really really good - the Gourmet Traveller recipe lighter and crisper, Martha's chewier and denser. I guess it depends where your preferences lie : one or the other or both!

Macarons with white chocolate and strawberry ganache adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

130 gm pure icing sugar
110 gm almond meal
105 gm eggwhite (about 2), at room temperature, left out overnight
65 gm caster sugar
4-5 drops rose food colouring

White chocolate and raspberry ganache
50 ml pouring cream
100 gm white chocolate
45 gm raspberries, coarsely chopped

Process icing sugar and almond meal in a food processor until finely ground, triple-sift into a large bowl and set aside. Whisk 90gm eggwhite in an electric mixer until soft peaks form (1-2 minutes). Add caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, whisking continuously until incorporated and mixture is thick and glossy (2-3 minutes), then add food colouring. Stir in almond mixture in batches until incorporated and mixture slowly slides down sides of bowl when bowl is tilted. Add remaining eggwhite to loosen mixture, spoon into a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle, pipe 3cm-diameter rounds of mixture onto heavy baking-paper-lined oven trays, stand until a crust begins to form (4-5 hours).

Preheat oven to 140C. Bake macarons until firm but not coloured, one tray at a time (10-12 minutes), set aside, cool completely on trays.

Meanwhile, for white chocolate and strawberry ganache, bring cream just to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, add chocolate, stand until melted (5 minutes), stir until smooth and glossy. Refrigerate until firm yet still pliable (45 minutes-1 hour) then stir until smooth. Add raspberries, stir to form a ripple effect, then spoon a teaspoon of ganache onto half the macarons. Sandwich with remaining macarons and refrigerate until set. Macarons will keep for 1-2 days refrigerated in an airtight container.

Chocolate Macarons

adapted from Martha Stewart

1 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup almond flour

3 Tbl unsweetended cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, room temperature
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup castor sugar

Pulse icing sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture twice.
Preheat oven to 185 degrees. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add castor sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1cm plain round tip, and pipe 3cm rounds 3cm apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macaroons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees.

Let macaroons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (If macaroons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macaroons.)
Sandwich 2 same-size macaroons with ganache (recipe below). Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Chocolate Ganache

Makes 3/4 cup ganache
1/2 cup pouring cream
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped (preferably 70 percent cacao)
15g unsalted butter, softened

Pour cream over chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let stand for 2 minutes. Add butter, then whisk mixture until smooth. Let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

A Chinese Supper For Cook The Books

This month's choice for the Cook The Books Club is "The Last Chinese Chef" by Nicole Mones. "The Last Chinese Chef" introduces the reader to the intricacies of Chinese life and Chinese cuisine through the eyes of Maggie, the outsider journalist from the US, who is recovering from personal tragedy. Maggie arrives in China with two missions: to conduct an interview with chef Sam Liang and to resolve a paternity claim against her husband's estate. Her stay becomes an education (for the reader as well) as she follows Sam's preparations for a competition banquet held in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics. He shares with her thoughts on everything from achieving the right intensity of taste in a dish, to balancing the textures of a meal and even the importance of making allusions to history and literature (in particular poetry) with dishes. Sam's cooking is Chinese food at haute cuisine level - and, as he points out, it bears no resemblance to the western dishes like spring rolls, lemon chicken or sweet and sour pork that are the only Chinese dishes many people have tried.

I found myself completely swept away by this book, so much so that I somehow forgot that it was fiction on the way through. By the time I got to the end and read the author's notes, I was really sad to have these people (who had become so real to me) firmly sent back to the world of fiction. You see I wanted Maggie and Sam to fall in love, commit to each other and run the restaurant together. I wanted them to hire Gao Lan as a waitress and have Shuying as a permanent part of their lives. I wanted Sam to reach enormous professional heights and for his mother to come from the US and see all he had achieved, and for his father and he to discover a closeness as adults that they had never previously had. I even wanted to read the fictional reference materials, quoted in each chapter. Maybe even eat at their restaurant one day......

For me, the cultural reference points were particularly interesting. Some of my family are Chinese, although not from China, but there are clearly many similarities and connections (guanxi!). Certainly the Chinese concern with food and flavour and texture, rang true with me, as did the importance of restaurants in daily life. I felt that much of what Maggie learnt along the way, are also things that I have learnt. I also felt that the ongoing tension between western and eastern perspectives, as personified by Sam who straddles both, was very illustrative. I will certainly be handing this book on to family that I know will love it as much as I did.

So when it came to choosing a meal to cook inspired by this book, I had lots of thoughts on what I wanted to achieve:
- I wanted to illustrate "guanxi" or relationships and connectedness because I was cooking for my family.
- I decided to make the poached chicken that Sam makes for Maggie early in the book. When Sam made this chicken, he reached across the usual journalist / subject divide and paved the way for their friendship to develop, as well as setting her on the path to healing. Maggie says "It was as soft as velvet, chicken times three, shot through with ginger and the note of onion....I may never have tasted anything so good." I had to have a go at it!
- I wanted vegetable dishes to complement the chicken. I chose braised soya beans which were in Kylie Kwong's book "My China" as a Beijing dish, and are therefore hopefully true to the sort of thing that Sam would make. Soya beans are also symbolic of the continuance of society (more guanxi). The snowpea and garlic stir fry introduces the colour of jade to the table, while snowpeas are a Chinese symbol of unity, and garlic symbolizes luck and health.
- I wanted to make a reference to a Chinese fable, as many of the book's dinners referred metaphorically to literature as well, and so I chose the story of the Moon Lady, Chang Er. We ended the meal with ginger cookies in the shape of a moon with a little speck of candied ginger to represent Chang Er sitting on the moon.

While everything was good, I particularly enjoyed the chicken and will definitely use this technique to poach chicken in the future. It was so tender that I could have nearly carved with a chopstick, while the chilli, ginger and coriander dressing gave it a very powerful kick. The cookies were also good - not too gingery, just sweet and crisp with a slightly warm aftertaste. All in all, a great meal that capped off a wonderful story, and which was enjoyed by all of us. In the next few weeks, I will make another meal to take advantage of some of Nicole Mone's recipes - sadly I had already planned my dinner before I discovered that treasure trove.


White Cooked Chicken
from "Recipes and Stories" by Kylie Kwong

1.6 kg free range chicken
6 litres water
3 cups shao hsing wine
6 green shallots, trimmed
12 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped ginger
4 tbls sea salt

Place all ingredients except chicken in a large stock pot, bring to the boil then simmer for 15 mins to infuse flavours.

Rinse chicken and cut away any excess fat. Lower chicken, breast side down into simmering stock ensuring it is fully submerged. Poach gently for exactly 14 mins (reduce the temperature so that there is nothing more than the occassional ripple breaking the surface). Remove pot immediately from stove and allow chicken to steep in stock for 3 hours at room temperature.

Gently remove chicken from stock, being careful not to tear breast skin (I lifted it out with y hands). Place chicken on a tray to drain and cool. Cut the chicken chinese style (bone in with a cleaver). Serve drizzled with soy chilli and coriander dressing below.

Soy Chilli Dressing
1/4 cup mushroom soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 finely julienned large red chilli
1 tbl ginger julienne
1/2 tsp white sugar
2 1/2 tsps peanut oil
1/3 cup corander sprigs
Pinch of szechuan pepper

In a bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli, ginger and sugar. Drizzle over chicken. In a small pot heat peanut oil to smoking point then pour over the chicken. Garnish with coriander and pepper.

Red Braised Soy Beans with Star Anise and Vinegar
from "My China" by Kylie Kwong

1 cup dried soy beans
1/2 cup shao hsing wine
5 cm pice of ginger peeled and finely sliced
1 spring onion trimmed and cut into 5 cm lengths
3 star anise
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup water
2 tbls brown rice vinegar

Soak beans overnight in cold water, then rinse and tip into a heavy based saucepan. Cover generously with cold water, bring to the boil then simmer, adding more water as necessary, for 1-1 1/2 hours or until tender. Drain and set aside.

Sauce: Place shao hsing wine, ginger, star anise and spring onion in a wok. bring to the boil and simmer for 2 mins. Add suagr, soy sauce and sesame oil and simmer for a further minute. Add chickpeas and water and simmer briskly for 10 mins. Stir in vinegar and serve.

Stirfried Snow Peas With Garlic
from "Recipes and Stories" by Kylie Kwong

2 tbl vegetable oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
250g snow peas
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 garlic clove finely diced
1/4 tsp white sugar
1/2 cup chicken stock (I used the stock from poaching the chicken)
1/4 tsp sesame oil

Heat vegetable oil in a hot wok until it shimmers. Add salt and snow peas and stir fry for two minutes. Add garlic and stir fry for 1 min. Add sugar and stir fry for 10 secs. Pour in stock and sim mer for 2 mins or until snow peas are tender. Lastly add sesame oil and serve immediately.

Ginger Moons
from "China Moon Cookbook" by Barbara Tropp

125g cold unsalted butter chopped
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tbl minced fresh ginger
1 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tbl plain flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup finely diced crystallized ginger

Cream butter and sugar for about 3 mins until smooth. Add both gingers, vanilla, flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until the dough just comes together. Turn out the dough, gather into a ball and flatten slightly.

Dust some parchment paper on a tray with some flour. Place the dough in the centre and roll out to an even thickness of about 2-3 mm. Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm (abt 1 hour). Preheat the oven to 175C, and line baking sheets with parchment. Using a cookie cutter, cut crescent moons, and place 1 cm apart on baking sheets. Press a pie of ginger near the tapered end of each biscuit. Bake until the biscuits are golden, 10-12 mins. Cool on wire racks.

Birthday Competition and A Super-Rich No-Bake Chocolate Cake

I can't believe it is a year since I started writing this blog. It is my hope that you can tell how much I am really loving it, and for that I am indebted to my 12 yr old. About a year ago, we were all talking in the car about things that we would like to do at some point in our lives, and I mentioned that I would like to have a blog one day. Of course, I thought that I was discussing it in a completely theoretical way, and it was something I might tackle in 5 years or so (I really hate to rush). About half an hour later we were home, and she was calling out to me that she had set up the blog and what did I want to call it? So here we are.




To celebrate this milestone I would like to give one lucky winner a 1 year subscription to their choice of one of the following magazines:
- Vogue Entertaining and Travel
- Gourmet Traveller
- Delicious
- Donna Hay
Undoubtedly, we are spoiled in Australia with some very wonderful food mags - so here is your chance to add to your collection. All you have to do is tell me what you would cook for a milestone birthday. The most creative answer wins. This competition is open to both Australian and International readers - all these magazines do overseas delivery. To enter, just leave a comment on the end of this post (or any post before August 30th), or email me at munchandnibble@gmail.com .



And now for the cake. No birthday would be complete without a cake, and this cake is especially rich and decadent. Perfect with coffee for adults, it is probably a little intense for kids. The recipe comes from last month's Vogue Enertaining and is simplicity itself. Just three ingredients: dark chocolate, cream and vanilla, and no baking. My only small quibble is that my cake cracked a little when I was cutting it - you definitely need to let it sit outside the fridge for a little while before you cut into it. Don't be greedy - a very very small slice is plenty.



Deep Chocolate Vanilla Torte


from Vogue Entertaining + Travel (June/July 09)

500g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
550 ml thickened cream
Scraped seeds of one vanilla bean
2 tsps vanilla extract

Grease an 18cm spring form tin, then line with cling wrap. Melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over gently simmering water. Stir occassionally until it has all melted.


Place 1/3 cup cream and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan over low heat until warm (not boiling) to infuse the cream with the vanilla flavour. Tip into a mixing bowl with the remaining cream and vanilla extract, and whisk to soft peaks. Stir in half the melted chocolate, then fold in the rest of the chocolate. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, then smooth the top into waves.

Refrigerate overnight until firm. To serve, remove from the fridge about 30 mins before serving to soften slightly. Slice into small wedges and serve with cream.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

I am not writing about this recipe because I think there is nothing nicer in the world than a fresh homemade cake (although that is exactly what I think). I am not writing about this recipe because this is exactly the sort of cake that is impossible to purchase (although that is true, at least around here). This recipe deserves wide acclaim because it is so good that your guests will sneak off to the kitchen to cut themselves an extra morsel or two, when you are not paying attention, so that the cake seems to miraculously disappear before your eyes (or at least my guests did). And in my opinion, that is an endorsement and a half. The cake is not too sweet to have as dessert after a heavy meal, but certainly indulgent enough, especially with some cream. It is also lovely plain for morning tea or afternoon tea.

No surprise that this recipe comes from the uber-baking book, Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours", which I find myself referring to constantly when a super-scrumptious dessert is required. Dorie has built up an enormous following of devoted bakers who are working their way through her book. I love watching out on Tuesday as each week's challenge pops up on blogs from around the world.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: from My Home to Yours

For the Crumbs:

5 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the Cake:

2 cups blueberries (preferably fresh, or frozen, not thawed)

2 cups plus 2 tsp all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

2/3 cup sugar

grated zest of 1/2 lemon or 1/4 orange

180g unsalted butter at room temp

2 large eggs, at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 175C. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the nuts in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed. Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in the nuts and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate until needed. (Covered well the crumb mix can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)To make the cake:

Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 tsp of the flour together in a small bowl just to coat the berries; set aside. Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar with the butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for about 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled — it will soon smooth out. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, the flour in 3 parts and the buttermilk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients.) You will have a thick, creamy batter.

With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top gently with the spatula. Pull the crumb mix from the fridge and, with your fingertips, break it into pieces. There’s no need to try to get even pieces — these are crumbs, they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy and every shape and size. Scatter the crumbs over the batter, pressing them down ever so slightly. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool just until it is warm or until it reaches room temperature.

Hollywood Red Carpet Cake

The Hollywood Party for the 10 year old has been and gone (a big phew from all of us). Here is the cake Miss 10 saw on the web and asked me to make. The girl is made out of white chocolate dyed for the dress and the skin (a fondant girl being way beyond my abilities at this point). I made her a week before the party, and she lived on top of a tupperware lid in the fridge. Unfortunately she had a couple of accidents - I hear that many starlets have the same problem -and wound up being pieced back together with more and more chocolate at the back. Regardless, she made the appropriate grand entrance on the day and was then taken to pieces by hungry 10 yr olds.

Bubble Bath Birthday Cake

I have been looking on enviously at all the beautiful cakes that appear on the web, feeling somewhat intimidated by the artful fondant decorations... However a recent family birthday seemed a great time to try my hand. I had the cake I wanted to make in mind: a girl in a bubble bath. This meant no carving of the cake into intricate shapes - I could just use a loaf tin. I then iced the cake in butter cream, and the fondant icing went on over the top. I also used fondant icing for the tiled squares under the bath, the taps, and for the little girl and her feet. Sugar pearls gave me the bubbles, and a rubber duckie candle finished it off. I know there is enormous room for improvement, but I am excited enough to keep trying. And, if like me you feel a bit nervous, it actually was a bit like playing with play-doh for grown-ups: a little frustrating when the shapes you wanted weren't coming together right, but mostly good fun. And a big thank you to Chris from Mele Cotte for her advice!

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

When I first saw the recipes for this month's double-header bonus for the Barefoot Bloggers, I was thrilled to have a cake to make. Not only do I love chocolate and orange as a flavour combination, I had the perfect opportunity to serve it up, with a gorgeous old friend coming from the country for morning tea.

Lisa from Lime in the Coconut had chosen mini-chocolate chunk cakes as her reward for designing our very pretty Barefoot avatar (well done Lisa). Unfortunately, I felt that a platter with a few mini-cakes would look odd at morning tea (even for me, although my friend has known me long enough not to worry), so I decided to revert to the original recipe in "Barefoot Contessa: Parties" for a large bundt cake. There was a bit of work involved and a lot of washing up (a total of about 12 pans, bowls and measuring cups), however this cake will be revisited because it has a great flavour, is lovely and moist, and the ganache is so shiny and beautiful. (Trap for young players - if you are chopping up your own chocolate to make the chunks, make sure you chop it into relatively small pieces, as too large a chunk is definitely too much of a good thing).

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

from "Barefoot Contessa Parties" by Ina Garten

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1/4 cup grated orange zest (3-4 large oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tbls
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups good semisweet chocolate chunks
For the syrup:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
For the ganache:
4 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp instant coffee granules

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour a large bundt pan. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the orange zest.

Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tbls flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pans, put them on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cakes.

Chocolate Cakes and Other Acts of Love

When I saw that Not Quite Nigella was holding The Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge, I knew that I would not be able to resist entering. I also knew exactly which cake I would make. I had girlfriends coming over, it was Halloween, and because this cake needed substantial fridge time before serving, I could make it a day ahead, no worries, leaving me free to supervise trick or treating.

So why did I pick this chocolate cake out of all the chocolate cakes out there? This chocolate cake is the ultimate chocolate cake in my opinion. It is every bit as rich and indulgent as the name suggests, with four layers of chocolate (genoise cake, dark mousse and white mousse and icing). It is also the sort of cake that you only make for people you love. There is no possible way that you could consider making it for anyone you just met or were not very fond of, because it takes a lot of work. Definitely not a one-bowl wonder. But despite the effort required, it is a cake I keep coming back to, because it is so delicious it knocks people sidewards. I have been making this cake for a long time (it pains me to say that I think I first made it in the late 80s - wince wince). I adore it, and it actually improves over a day or two in the fridge, so the leftovers are fought over fiercely. And there will be leftovers - it is far too rich to eat anything more than a dainty slice in a sitting.

Mark Armstrong's Light and Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake

from Vogue Wine & Food Cookbook "Home Truths: What The Foodies Cook For Themselves"

Chocolate Genoise:

250g egg (after shelling)

125g sugar

100g flour

35g cornflour

25g cocoa

50g melted butter

Beat the eggs with an electric beater in a steel bowl, and gradually add the sugar. Put the bowl over a pot of simmering water and continue to beat until the mixture is thick. (I don't have a hand held electric beater, so I used a whisk). Remove bowl from the heat and fold in the flour, cornflour and cocoa which have been sifted together. Carefully fold in the butter and pour mixture into a buttered and floured 25cm spring form tin. Bake at 180C for 30 mins or until cake has pulled away from the edges and is firm in the centre. Turn out onto a rack and allow to cool.

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

280g dark chocolate

5 eggs, separated

150 ml thickened cream

Melt chocolate over hot water. Do not let water boil or touch the bowl containing the chocolate. Stir well. Beat the egg yolks until they are thick and creamy, and pour onto the warm chocolate. Beat well to smooth the mixture. Cool. Beat cream until it holds soft peaks, then fold into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the egg whites whipped until they hold stiff peaks.

White Chocolate Mousse:

125g white chocolate

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups thickened cream

2 tbls coarsely grated white chocolate

Place the 125g white chocolate in a steel bowl over hot water until it is half melted. Add the sugar then stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove form the heat and stir in the vanilla. Cool to room temperature. Whip cream until it forms soft peaks. Fold chocolate mixture and grated chocolate into the cream.

To assemble the cake:

Return the genoise cake to the springform cake tin. Pour in the dark chocolate mousse and set it in the fridge while you make the white mousse. Pour the white mousse on top and allow to set in the fridge for 24 hours. Release the springform and ice the mousse cake with the rich chocolate icing. Refrigerate until serving and store in the fridge.

Chocolate Icing:

200g dark chocolate

40g butter

160 ml cream, warmed

Chocolate coated coffee beans

Melt chocolate and butter over warm water until the chocolate is just dissolved. Ad the cream and mix quickly to get a glossy and smooth mixture. Allow to cool and thicken to a spreadable consistency. Decorate the cake with chocolate coated coffee beans.

The last slice......

Goats Cheese Souffles - Or How To Wow Without Too Much Trouble

The mere mention of the word "souffle" can make even the most competent chef feel a bit anxious, let alone the untrained masses who are creating meals every day. Many people steer away from even trying to make a souffle for this reason. The positive of this is that if you deliver a good souffle to the table, people are amazed and impressed, and their response will make you feel like you should be taking a bow on the stage of the Opera House. This recipe is easy, although there are quite a few steps, but the real joy of it is that the souffles are cooked ahead of time and then reheated just before serving. There is no need to feel any pressure about whether or not they will fall, (and you can also get away with owning only half a dozen moulds but cooking for a much larger group by doing the baking in batches). It also looks and tastes elegant, an adjective that applies all too rarely to my cooking! In other words, it is a fantastic dinner party dish.



I made these souffles during the week because I was planning to enter the Foodie Blog Roll Joust. Each month, three ingredients are selected and it is up to the entrants to create a meal that marries the three. This month, the ingredients are fennel, dairy and parsley, and I immediately thought of making a fennel and goats cheese souffle, with either a parsley emulsion or parsley crackers (hadn't really worked that bit out). Having made the souffles, I was looking at the entries for the joust so far, and found (to my horror!!!!) that someone had entered a fennel and goats cheese souffle the day before. Check out Foodycat's beautiful souffle here. While I haven't been watching these jousts for long, I am pretty sure that entering the same meal as someone else would be a little against the spirit of the competition. So here is my non-competition fennel and goats cheese souffle. If you don't like fennel, substitute onion to infuse the milk (although the fennel is a very mild flavour in this souffle).




Fennel and Goats Cheese Souffles (Makes 4)
adapted from "Feedback" by Michele Scamps

150 ml milk
1 fennel bulb chopped, plus reserve the leafy fronds and finely chop
40g butter
40g flour
200g goats cheese, chopped
3 eggs, separated, whites stiffly beaten
2 tbls shallots (green onions chopped)
100ml cream
50g parmesan

Preheat oven to 220C. Butter the moulds well. Place the milk and chopped fennel bulb in a small saucepan and heat gently for 10 mins. Melt the butter in another saucepan and add the flour, stir until it is a smooth paste and cook for 1 minute. Take off the heat, then strain the milk mixture into the butter and flour, and discard the fennel. Whisk quickly to get rid of lumps - the consistency you want is smooth and thick. Once it is smooth, add the goats cheese and stir in well. Add the yolks, shallots, chopped fennel fronds and season to taste. Allow the mixture to cool, then add the stiffly beaten egg whites, folding them in as gently as possible.

Spoon the mixture into moulds, filling them up to about 3/4 full. Place the moulds in a baking dish, then pour hot water into the baking dish to make a bain marie. Place carefully in the oven. Bake for 15-20 mins - until the souffles feel puffed and golden. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool a little. Once the moulds are cool enough to be handled, run a knife around the edge of each souffle and gently ease them out of their moulds onto a tray. If the bottom stays stuck in the mould, scoop it out with a spoon and pop it back on top. The souffles can be made to this point a day ahead, and kept in the fridge in an airtight container.

To serve, heat the oven to 220C. Spoon a little cream over each souffle and sprinkle with some parmesan. Cook for 10 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve immediately.

In the picture I have served it on some sauteed fennel and parsley. (Slice two large fennel bulbs thinly, then sautee in 2 tbls olive oil for 15 minutes over medium heat until soft and starting to go golden at the edges. Stir in 2 tbls chopped continental parsely and serve).

Judy's Glazed Ham For A Party

Glazed hams conjur up many memories for me: Christmas, 21st birthday parties and especially my Aunty Judy, who was the official keeper of the family recipe. Every year, Judy would present the most beautiful glazed ham at Christmas, enormous and golden and that perfect balance between the sweet glaze and the slightly salty flavour of the ham. And at the end of Christmas lunch, we would all line up to get a care package of leftover ham to take home. Unfortunately, Judy's eyesight failed her and, eventually, she had to stop cooking. And so, the recipe was passed to me, and I am now the official keeper of the ham. (My mother remains the official keeper of the turkey).

I try not to leave ham only to the festive season. In my opinion, it is the perfect thing to serve at the end of a drinks party, when people are still a bit hungry but don't want a meal. Just slice up some baguette, pull out a couple of different mustards and chutneys, and let everyone tuck in. You will be amazed at how much people enjoy it, and the leftovers are great. Stored properly, still on the bone, ham will last a couple of weeks in the fridge, or you can freeze it in small bundles to be pulled out for sandwiches, quiches or whatever takes your fancy. I love it all the more at other times of year because it is unexpected.

Judy's Ham

1 leg of ham (Your butcher will be able to advise on what size you will need depending on how many people you are feeding).

3/4 cup apricot jam

1 1/2 tbl white vinegar

1 tbl honey

1/2 tsp ground ginger

whole cloves to garnish

If your ham still has a skin on it, very carefully peel up a small corner, without pulling off the fat, and work the skin off, by slowly sliding your hands underneath, edging further and further. Try to keep the skin in one piece as it is useful to cover the ham during storage, to stop it drying out.

With a sharp knife, carefully and lightly score the fat of the ham in a diamond pattern. Don not cut all the way through the fat to the meat. You can then insert a clove into each corner, if you are that way inclined.

Combine apricot jam, vinegar, ginger and honey in a small pot. Heat gently for five minutes, until the jam has melted. If the jam has pieces of apricot in it, sieve them out - you want a nice smooth glaze. Brush over ham. Bake ham in a 200C oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C and bake for a further 1 1/2 hours. Baste with the glaze every 20 minutes. If the pot of glaze gets too thick, heat gently. Serve with bread, or a crunchy green salad.

An Eye-Popping Birthday Cake

Birthday time for the lovely Ms Martine! I promised a cake, but then came the agonising choice of what to make. Martine is French, and her partner cooks beautifully, so I felt that the best strategy was to aim for something less European / more new world, but what?

I ultimately decided to make the Hummingbird Cake that I first saw in an old edition of Martha Stewart Living. I have made this cake before and it always provokes a lot of oohs and aahs. In fact, when I stopped at a cafe to grab a coffee (with the cake in a carrier), the proprietor took it into the kitchen to show the chef. Very festive indeed. The cake itself is moist, and has lots of fruit and nuts, so if you try, you could nearly convince yourself that it was quite low on the "sinfulness scale".

Have a look at the beautiful picture on Martha's website to see how really amazing this cake could look. I like my pineapple really crisp for the textural contrast with the cake, so my pineappple looks a little less yellow and less perfect. It also takes a couple of hours instead of one hour to dry the pineapple out to my preferred level of crispiness, but the good news is it keeps well, so you can dry the pineapple the day before you make the cake. If you want the pineapple to cup like Martha's I suggest laying the slices in a lined muffin tin, as mine were as flat as the tray I dried them on.

Hummingbird Cake adapted from Martha Stewart Living
3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe banana, about 3 large
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup desiccated coconut

Preheat oven to 180C. Butter two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans, and flour the sides. Line the bottoms of the pans with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and then set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat oil, vanilla, and sugar until combined, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each thoroughly before adding the next. Beat at medium speed until mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Mix together banana, pineapple, walnuts, and coconut. Add to egg mixture; stir until well combined. Add flour mixture; blend well, but do not overwork.

Divide batter between pans. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Transfer pans to a greased wire rack. Let cool 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges to loosen. Invert onto racks; reinvert, top side up, and leave to cool completely. Assemble cake, or wrap each layer well and freeze (thaw before using).

With a serrated knife, trim and discard rounded top off one layer. Place layer on serving platter. Spread top of layer with 1/4 inch of icing. Top with untrimmed layer. Frost sides and top of cake with remaining icing. Decorate with pineapple flowers. Serve at room temperature. (Cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days.)

Cream Cheese Icing (I halved the recipe and still had leftovers)

24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
375g unsalted butter, room temperature
6 cups icing sugar, sifted

With electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add butter, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until smooth. Reduce speed to low and then add icing sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until fully incorporated. Chill before spreading.

Dried Pineapple

1 large pineapple

Preheat oven to 110C. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Peel pineapples. Using a small melon baller, remove and discard "eyes." Slice pineapple very thinly; place slices on baking sheets. Cook until tops look dried, about 30 minutes. Flip slices; cook until completely dried, 25 to 30 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days.