Mojito Genoise

I love a good Mojito, who doesn't? But I love cake even more. So when I saw Lorraine Pascale's recipe for Mojito Genoise Sponge... well. I just had to try it. Result? It looked exactly like in her cookbook Baking Made Easy . Tastewise I'll make a few changes next time. I didn't use all of the sugar syrup and it meant the cake was a bit dry. I was just worried it would be too sweet. I was wrong. Here's a link to the recipe.

Gingerbread greetings

We made this just before Christmas and it's been gracing the windowsill in the kitchen throughout the holidays. I used a traditional Swedish recipe for gingerbread biscuits which is crisp and buttery with lots of Christmassy flavour. Recipe to come.

The baked gingerbread.






Decorated and ready for assembly.




It was easier than it looks.

Review: Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

This is Lorraine Pascale's third cookbook and although you'd think there wouldn't be much more to write with such a quick succession of books, you couldn't be more wrong.

This is even better than Baking Made Easy. The recipes are fun, colourful, look tasty and  - best of all they actually are. She is the queen of baking and the dessert and baking recipes do not dissapoint either.



Among many we trialled the incredibly tasty Gingerbread pancakes for breakfast and the utterly divine Doorstop Vanilla cheesecake.




I can't wait to try the Watermelon Jello Shots this summer.

Doorstop Vanilla Cheesecake

I love unbaked cheesecake and this recipe from Lorraine Pascale is my new favourite. It is incredibly dense and rich, but at the same time it is quite light and not too cloying. It also makes one massive cheesecake. I think it could definitely feed 20 people. The slices really are like a doorstop so smaller is better. Can't wait to play around with this recipe. It's begging to be made into a strawberry version.
 

VANILLA DOORSTOP CHEESECAKE
75g butter
250g digestive biscuits
2 tbs light soft brown sugar
800g full fat Philadelphia cream cheese
1 lemon
1 vanilla pod (or vanilla essence)
800 ml fridge cold double cream
75g icing sugar

1. You will need a 23 cm springform that is at least 8 cm deep. Melt butter slowly. Place digestive biscuits in foodprocessor and blitz to smitherenss. Tip biscuit crumbs into butter and then press into the base of the  springform tin. Place in the fridge to chill while you work on topping.

2. Put the cream cheese in a large bowl and finely grate zest over. Halve the vanilla pod, scrape out seeds and add them or vanilla extract too. Mix together well to loosen mixture slightly.

3. Pour the double cream into a large bowl and sift in icing sugar. Whisk it, by hand to almost the same consistency as the cream cheese just a little looser.

4. Tip the cream into cream cheese mixture and mix everything gently with as few stirs as possible. Tip onto biscuit base and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.Or set in fridge for 4 hours.

5. Cover with cling film and put in freezer for about 30 minutes until just set.

Happy Melbourne Cup Day!

Pressed for time I started on this baby after rushing home from uni last night. Now you might say that 9 'o clock at night is not the best time of the day to start a cake. You'd be right.

But I had promised my collegaues a cake for Melbourne Cup day and I hate breaking my promises.

The base for this cake is the Lavender cake I have made a gazillion times. But that didn't help. The base didn't seem right, the white chocolate mousse wouldn't set and even with some help from gelatine oozed out on the sides. Not to mention that I used too much white choc mousse on two layers and was left with only a smear on the last one. Sigh.

The one thing that did work was the fantastic Swiss Meringue Buttercream from Sweetapolita. Beautiful consistency and not too buttery. A new favourite!

Better photos and recipe to come soon. In the meantime, Happy Punting! 

The Birthday Cake

Mr N is partial to anything with chocolate, and particularly Black Forest Cake. For his birthday this year I attempted (again) to bake him "the ultimate chocolate and cherry cake". It's been a six year process, but I think I might have finally cracked it.

This Dark Chocolate Cherry cake is stunning. Yummy, densely chocolately and with a hint of cherries. It tastes even better the next day. I couldn't find any fresh cherries so I decorated with white choc dipped strawberries which I think worked really well. If there's one criticism... I might cut back on the cinnamon next time as it was a bit too strong. And the base is very delicate. I cut the bottom layer too thin meaning breakage. That said, nothing a bit of ganache won't fix!




Recipe from Swedish cooking magazine Allt om Mat:



Dark Chocolate Cake with Cherries

175 g butter, softened
300 ml sugar
4 eggs
200 ml full fat milk
200 ml plain flour
100 ml cocoa powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Chocolate filling
400 g dark chocolate (70%)
250 g butter
100 ml icing sugar
200 ml cherry jam

Method:

1. Turn the oven to 175 degrees. Using a 24 cm springform attach baking paper to bottom, butter sides.

2. Beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Separate eggs and put eggwhites in separate bowl. Add egg yolks one at a time to butter and sugar mixtures and then milk. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients then add to batter.

3. Whip eggwhites until stiff peaks form. Fold carefully into batter.

4. Pour into prepared tin. Bake in lower part of oven for 50 minutes. Let cake cool in pan.


Filling:

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan. Sift icing sugar into mixture and stir until dissolved. Put aside 300 ml of filling to ice the cake. Let cool to room temperature.

2. Cut cake in three. Spread chocolate filling on one cake. Put second cake on top and spread with cherry jam. Put third cake on top and pour the preserved icing on top and onto sides.

3. Decorate with cherries or chocolate dipped strawberries.

4. Chill the cake for at least 30 minutes. Let it stand in room temperature for 15 minutes before serving. 

Classic Swedish Cinnamon Buns

It's the most popular and well known variety of Swedish baked goods, and I've been meaning to write about them for a while now. But whether I make these or not always depends on two things. Time... and fresh yeast. A few days ago I found myself with both so here goes. Lets talk about Cinnamon Buns.

You may have had some some kind of Australian sweet bun with icing (and more often than not sultanas). You've probably heard of or had American sticky cinnamon buns.
Swedish Cinnamon Buns my friends are none of these.They're no nonsense, soft sweet bread buns that have been filled with butter, sugar and cinnamon, often topped with pearl sugar. Of course you can use other fillings, but I´m talking the classic version here.

The buns are usually presented in scrolls, knots or vega style. Today I present you with the knotted version.

If you can't get your mitts on fresh yeast don't ask me how to subsitute it, because I really don't know.

Here's how you make them:

Classic Swedish Cinnamon Buns

Makes 48
130 g butter (salted or unsalted doesn't matter)
500 ml milk
50 g fresh yeast
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
100 ml sugar
2tsp cardamom seeds, ground in mortar and pestle
About 875 g plain flour

Fillling
100 g butter, softened
75 ml sugar
2 tbsp good quality strong cinnamon (cassia)

1. Melt butter in a saucepan on the stove. Add milk and warm  until luke warm (37 degrees). You'll know it's lukewarm if you dip your little finger into the mixture and it is the same temperature as your finger.

2. In a bowl crumble the yeast and add the milk and butter mixture. Stir until dissolved with a wooden spoon.

3. Add sugar, salt, cardamom and almost all of the flour. Add the flour bit by bit until the dough is plyable but not overworked. Save some flour for later.

4. Let the dough rest in the bowl under a clean towel (away from drafts and aircon) for 30 minutes until doubled in size. 

5. Turn the oven  (conventional) to 225-250 degrees celsius. Mix softened butter, cinnamon and sugar to a paste.

6. Sprinkle some of the flour on a clean table or baking table. Knead the dough very gently and then divide in 2.
  7. Using a rolling pin, lightly shape the dough into two 25x50 cm slabs.

8. Spread half the filling over one half of a slab and then repeat with the other slab.





9. Fold each slab together.



10. Cut your two slabs into into 2cm strips. Twist each strip.




11. Make  each strip into a knot and place on a large baking sheet covered with baking paper. Leave the buns to leaven under a clean cloth for 30 minutes.



12. Lightly whisk 1 egg and baste each bun with eggwash. Sprinkle pearl sugar on top of each bun.

13. Bake for 5-8 minutes in the middle of the oven.

14. Let cool under dry clean teatowels. Don't leave them out for too long!

15. Enjoy with a glass of milk. Best eaten within a day of making or freeze as soon as buns have cooled.

The case of the Cinnamon imposter

"Do you know the difference between Cinnamon and Cassia"?

The question from the shop assistant takes me a bit by surprise. It shakes me out of my reverie amongst the spice shelves at Herbies in Rozelle, the one stop shop for all things spicy.

"Eh... Yes", I mutter, wanting to add a droll "doh".

Of course I know the difference between Cassia and Cinnamon. I'm pretty sure Cassia is like a Cinnamon imposter. A fake, less fragrant stepsister of Cinnamon.

How wrong I am.

I soon find out that in Europe most Cinnamon sold is actually Cassia. In Sweden Mexican and Indian cinnamon is also common. It's no wonder it's confusing.

Swedish journo Lisa Förare Winbladh writes that there are about 50 cinnamon related species of trees in the world but only one true type cinnamon - Ceylon Cinnamon. Discovered by the Dutch in Sri Lanka it is very delicate and mild. I sniff it at Herbies and to me the fancy cinnamon is the one that smells like the imposter. Delicate indeed. More like barely smells like anything at all.

At Herbies they tell me that it's not really suitable for baking and can be ruined by cooking. I later find out it is best suited in desserts or perchance with an apple compote.

Lisa Förare Winbladh writes that what we actually know and love as Cinnamon is almost always the stronger, more robust Cassia or other cinnamon varieties.
Growing up in Sweden I have fond memories of this lovely spice. Sprinkled over rice porridge for Christmas, in gingerbread, cakes and last but not least the Swedish Classic Cinnamon Buns.

I leave Herbies with a bag of Bakers Cassia and some high quality Cardamom seeds. When I try the cinnamon out a bit later I conclude that it's some of the best "Cinnamon" aka Cassia I've ever used.

 If you're a fan of this subtle and comforting spice I highly recommend Lisa Förare Winblad's article about cinnamon and cassia . You can read it in Swedish on her blog.