Friday, October 31, 2008

Orange Cake with Marmalade

This is from Nigel Slater's book The Kitchen Diaries

175g butter
175g golden unrefined caster sugar (have never seen this in Australia: I used plain caster sugar)
a large orange
3 large eggs
75g orange marmalade
175 SR flour
Frosting:
100g icing sugar
2tbsp orange juice

Icing:
100g icing sugar
2tbsp orange juice

Set the oven at 180 degrees. Line a loaf tin about 25x11x7cm deep. Put the butter and sugar in a cake mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Finely grate the orange zest. Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat them lightly with a fork. With the machine set at moderate speed, pour in the beaten egg a little at a time, beating thoroughly between each addition. Beat in the marmalade and the grated orange zest.

Remove the bowl and fold in the flour with a large metal spoon. Do this slowly, firmly but carefully, until there is no sign of any flour. Lastly, gently stir in the juice of half the orange. Spoon the mixture in the lined tin, lightly smoothing the top. Bake for 40 minutes, checking it after 35 with a metal skewer. (My cake took a little over an hour in the end). Leave to cool in the tin – it will sink slightly. Then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Sift the icing sugar and mix it to a smooth, slightly runny consistency with as much of the remaining orange juice as it takes – probably just under two tablespoons. Drizzle the icing sugar over the cake, letting it run down the sides, and leave to set.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Orange Pound Cake

This cake can be halved, bake it at 170C in a 21 or 22cm cake tin for 45 to 50 mins or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Source Jill Dupleix "the amazing orange cake"

Serves 10
Takes 1 hr 30 mins + cooling time

500g butter
500g castor sugar
8 x 60g eggs
1 tbsp grated orange zest
500g self-raising flour
200ml freshly squeezed orange juice

Icing: 250g icing sugar and 50ml orange juice

Heat the oven to 170C. You will need a 30 cm cake tin with removable sides, lined with non-stick silicone paper, or well-greased with butter.

Cream the butter and sugar well, until it is very pale and thick - this will take quite a while.

Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition, and the zest, if using. Add the flour all at once, and beat well, then slowly add the orange juice, until it is incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes - or until an inserted skewer comes out clean (slow is best, so don' t be afraid to cook it longer. If it starts to brown too much on the top, cover loosely with a sheet of buttered kitchen foil.)

Leave the cake in the tin on a wire rack to cool, then gently remove the sides of the tin.

To make the icing, stir the orange juice into the icing sugar until you have the right spreading consistency, and apply with a palette knife, allowing the icing to drip down the sides of the cake. Leave the icing to set before cutting the cake into wedges or storing in an airtight container.



Note: try with Seville orange juice (esp. icing) and sieve flour if using baking powder with plain flour


Thursday, April 12, 2007

Raspberry Coconut Tea Cake

150g butter
190g caster sugar
70g palm sugar, grated finely
2 x 70g eggs, lightly beaten
130g self-raising flour (1 cup)
100g plain flour
60g desiccated coconut, lightly toasted
70ml milk
130ml coconut milk
80g fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugars in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs: beat until just combined. Fold in the dry ingredients and the milks in two batches. Mix well. Pour mixture into prepared tin and top with raspberries. Bake for about 1 hour or until cooked when tested. Wait 5 minutes before tuning cake out onto a wire rack to cool. When cool dust with icing sugar

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Chocolate Cake with vinegar (2) (eggfree)

Moist Chocolate Crazy Cake

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups castor sugar
1/3 cup of cocoa (not Dutch-processed)
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
90g butter, melted (original recipe calls for 1/3 cup oil)
1 tsp vinegar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup cold water or coffee

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. In an 8- by 8- by 2-inch nonstick cake tin, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarb soda and salt. Poke three holes in ingredients with handle of a wooden spoon. Pour butter or oil into one hole. Do not mind if it overflows. Spoon vinegar into second hole and the vanilla into last. Pour cold water over the top and stir ingredients until smooth.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Place the pan on a rack to cool. Serve from the pan. Serves 8.

Chocolate Cake with vinegar (1) (eggfree)

Aunty Pam's Chocolate Cake

1 tbsp vinegar
1 cup milk plus 4 tbs milk extra
11/2 cups plain flour
pinch salt
1/2 cup cocoa
11/2 tsp bicarb soda
11/4 cups castor sugar
185g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla

Grease and line the base of two tin (18 or 20cm) or one 20cm square tin. Heat oven to 180C.

Sour the milk by adding vinegar. Stir and put aside. Sift flour, salt, cocoa, bicarb soda and sugar into a bowl.

Pour in melted butter and half of the soured milk and beat for 3 minutes with a hand-held mixer. Add vanilla, the rest of the milk and eggs and beat for 2 minutes.

Pour into tin and bake for 35 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes and turn out to cool.

Once cool put cream between the two layers and ice as desired.

My preferred icing is to melt about 1 tbs of butter, then add 1 cup icing sugar, 1 tbs of cocoa and a tiny splash of boiling water (may 1/2 tbs) - enough to make the icing spreadable but not too runny.

Nigella's Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake

This site translates the quantities into cup measurements.

Cake:
200g plain flour
200g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
40g cocoa powder
175g soft butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
150ml sour cream

Icing:
75g butter
175g good quality dark chocolate, in pieces
300g icing sugar
1 tbs golden syrup
125ml sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line and butter two 20 cm cake tins.

Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.

Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins.

To make this icing, melt the chocolate and butter in a good-sized bowl either in suspended over a pan of just boiled water (but removed from the stove). While the chocolate and butter is cooling a little, sieve the icing sugar into another bowl. Add the golden syrup to the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved icing sugar.

You may need to add a little boiling water, say a teaspoon or so, or indeed some more confectioners' sugar, depending on whether you need the frosting to be thiner or thicker. It should be liquid enough to coat easily, but thick enough not to drip off.

Choose your cake stand or plate and cut 4 strips of baking parchment to form a square and sit 1 of the cakes, uppermost (i.e. slightly domed) side down. Spoon about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of the cake-half and spread with a knife until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, normal way up, pressing gently to sandwich the two together.

Spoon another 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it. Spread the sides of the cake with icing and leave a few minutes until set, then carefully pull away the paper strips.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Nigella’s Chocolate Cake with Guinness

250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa
400g castor sugar
140ml sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbs vanilla
275g flour
2 ½ tsp bicarb


Preheat oven to 180°C, butter and line 23cm tin (or 20cm if halving cake, recipe suggests springform).

Pour Guinness into a large saucepan, add coarsely chopped butter and heat until butter melted. Whisk in cocoa and sugar. Beat sour cream with egg and vanilla, mix with Guinness batter and finally whisk in flour and bicarb.

Pour into tin and bake for 45-60 minutes. Cool in tin as is quite damp.

Ice with standard chocolate icing.

Nigella's Chocolate Cake with Condensed Milk

225g SR flour
30g cocoa
200g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter
200g condensed milk
100g best quality dark chocolate
2 eggs, beaten
100ml boiling water

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Put kettle on. Butter 2 sandwich tins and line the base of each. Or use 20cm springform tin.

Sieve flour, cocoa and a pinch of salt. Put the sugar, butter, condensed milk, 100ml just boiled water and the chocolate (broken into small pieces) in a saucepan, and heat until melted and smooth. Stir this into flour mixture, then add eggs.

Pour into tins and bake for 35-45 minutes or less if sandwich tins. When it is ready the top will feel firm. Will crack on the top and skewer won't come out clean.

Icing
1 cup pure icing sugar
1 tbs boiling water
1 tsp butter
1 tbs cocoa, sifted

Pear Gingerbread

1 cup flour
1 cup S R flour
1 tbs ground ginger
½ tsp bicarb
½ cup (165g) golden syrup
3oz butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
¼ pint (140ml) milk
5oz pear halves

Sift dry ingrediants. Combine butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan, heating until dissolved. Add to dry ingrediants then add egg and milk.

Spread base of 9 inch square slab tin with 1 tbs golden syrup. Arrange pears, then pour mixture over.

Moderately slow oven 50-55 minutes

Orange Cranberry Cake

1 small orange
1 cup dried cranberries
2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
165g butter
1 ⅓ cup caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tbs Cointreau
1 tsp vanilla
⅓ cup milk

Place the orange in a saucepan, ½ filled with water and boil for 30 minutes. Cool, quarter and pulverize.

Butter and flour a 9 1/2” fluted tube (or ring tin).

Cream butter, add sugar, and slowly add eggs. Add vanilla and Cointreau. Gently stir in sifted dry ingredients with milk, orange and cranberries.

Pour into tin and bake 180°C for 60 minutes.

Suggested glaze: 1 cup icing sugar, 4 tsp boiling water, 1 tsp corn extract ½ tsp vanilla

Lazyman Cake

6oz self raising flour
4oz butter
4oz castor sugar
2 eggs
4 tbs milk
2oz castor sugar
¾ cup coconut

Cream butter and sugar, beat in egg yolks. Mix in sifted flour alternately with milk.

Turn into 6” x 9” greased pan, lined on the bottom with paper.

Whip egg whites stiffly, gradually adding last ½ cup of sugar. Stir in coconut, spread on top of cake.

Bake in moderate oven for 40-45 minutes.

Lemon Cake

4 oz butter
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

rind & juice of 1 lemon
extra 1/4 cup of sugar


Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour and milk alternately. Mix in finely chopped nuts and lemon rind.

Pour into greased, lined 9" by 5" loaf tin. Bake in moderate oven about 65 minutes.

Mix lemon juice with caster sugar over gentle heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.

When cake is cooked and still hot, pour lemon juice mixture over. Leave cake to cool in tin.

Blood Plum Cake

Cake:
150g butter, softened
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 1/3 cup flour
1 1/3 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1-2 tbs milk
1/2 cup of ground almonds
5-8 blood plums, halved and stoned

Streusel topping:
60g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 eggs

Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line the square cake tin. Sprinkle the ground almonds over the base of the cake tin.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add flour. Add eggs and milk to make a soft batter. Carefully spoon the batter over the ground almonds. Arrange the plum halves over the cake, cut side up. Pour streusel topping over and around plums.


For Streusel Topping:
Melt butter, add remaining ingredients and stir. Allow to cool slightly. Whisk eggs and stir into butter mixture


Bake 1 1/2 hours.