Sweet Tooth Experiments

Monthly Archives: February 2015

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing

As pumpkin is one of the sweetest vegetables available you can understand why sweet flavour matches like pumpkin and maple syrup work so well.

This cake is similar to a Carrot Cake flavour and texture mixed with a Pumpkin Pie, which has quickly become my favourite for a long time.

A simple, easy and moreish cake that will leave you satisfied!

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 250g butter
  • 90g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup mashed pumpkin (approx. 400g of pumpkin flesh)
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 2 cups self raising flour
  • 1 tsn ground cinnamon
  • ½ ground mixed spice
  • ½ tsn nutmeg
  • ¼ ground ginger
  • ¼ ground cloves

Icing:

  • 90g butter
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 2 tsn maple syrup
  • ¼ tsn cinnamon
  • ¼ tsn mixed spice
  • Pinch nutmeg
  • Extra:
  • 20ml maple syrup

 

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven 200c and line a 23cm-baking tray with baking paper.
  2. With electric beaters mix the butter and sugar until the mix is light and fluffy.
  3. Add eggs beating in between each addition.
  4. Add the cooled mashed pumpkin and maple syrup and beat until well combine.
  5. Sift the flour, cinnamon, mixed spice, nutmeg, ginger and cloves into a bowl together.
  6. Using a spatula carefully fold in the flour mix until only just combined
  7. Spoon the mix into the baking tin and bake for 55 minutes of until a skew inserted in the center comes out clean.
  8. Place on a cake rack to cool.
  9. To make the icing beat the butter until light and fluffy.  Sift in the icing sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg and beat with electric beaters until light and fluffy.
  10. Ice the top of the cake and decorate with a drizzle of 20ml extra of maple syrup.

 

 

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing recipe

Mashed pumpkin

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing recipe

Step 7

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing recipe

Step 8

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing recipe

Step 10

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing

 

Like this recipe? Subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake recipe

There is not much to say about this cake apart from the fact that it is super amazing, exceeded my expectations, and was impossible to stop eating.

I do like pineapple but its not one of my favorite flavors, thus it’s no surprise I have not baked recently where pineapple is the ingredient hero. As a result I decided it was about time.

After taste testing a few flavour combos with pineapple I decided that the ginger and butterscotch (I know bazaar combo) was my favorite and would be the base of a cake.

This sweet treat is easy peasy to bake that delivers a result that will impress. The texture is pudding like and the butterscotch ‘icing’ is the perfect complement on the pineapple and ginger pairing.

 

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 125g butter
  • 110g brown sugar
  • 1 tsn vanilla essence
  • 2 eggs
  • 150g flour
  • 2 tsn baking powder
  • ¼ tsn bi carbonate of soda
  • 2 + ½ tsn ground ginger
  • 80ml milk
  • 360g finely diced pineapple

Butterscotch:

  • 65g butter
  • 65g brown sugar
  • 1 tsn ground ginger

 

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 23cm baking tin with baking paper.
  2. Using electric beaters beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl for 5 minutes or until light and creamy.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between each addition.
  4. In another bowl sift the flour, baking powder, bi carb and ginger. Mix to combine.
  5. Add the drained pineapple pieces to the flour and mix until the flour coats the pineapple.
  6. Add the flour mix as well as the milk to the butter mix and beat with electric beaters unit just combine.
  7. Pour the batter into the cake tin and flatten the top with the back of a spoon.
  8. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
  9. In the interim, make the butterscotch by placing the butter, sugar, ginger and 40ml of water in a saucepan on a hot stove and stir until the sugar has melted.
  10. Allow the mix to boil on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the Butterscotch has thickened.
  11. Once the cake is cool using a skewer poke holes in the top of the cake.
  12. Pour the butterscotch and allow the cake to soak up the liquid evenly.
  13. Once the cake has cooled completely remove from the cake tin and place on a plate to serve.

 

Notes:

  • 1 x 845g can of pineapple pieces in juice will easily cover the amount of pineapple you will need for this cake.
  • I have decorated the cake by placing the left over pineapple in the oven on low for an hour to dry them out as well as a dust of icing sugar.

 

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake recipe

Ingredients

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake recipe

Step 3

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake recipe

Step 7

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake recipe

Step 10

Ginger and Pineapple Butterscotch Cake recipe

 

Like this recipe? Subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

Kahlua Nutella and Chocolate Cake

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Kahlua Nutella and Chocolate Cake

Kahlua Nutella and Chocolate Cake recipe

It’s been a while since I have baked with alcoholic spirits. As I had party coming up I though now was  a good time as any to make a decadent alcoholic cake.  It had to be something sweet that would complement typical cake flavors as this cake was for an event and not just for me (not everyone is quick to jump at my unusual baking style 🙂 ).

Decisions, decision. It was down to Frangelico (hazelnut) or Kahlua (coffee).  As I have made a Frangelico cake in the past (it’s not on this blog as it just didn’t quite make the cut), I decided Kahlua it is.

What goes with the flavour of coffee? Well chocolate and hazelnut of course!

All I can say for this recipe is decadent, amazingness, flavour explosion and a must to try!

Kahlua Nutella and Chocolate Cake recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

  • 125g butter
  • 160g brown sugar
  • 1 tsn vanilla essence
  • 2 eggs
  • 330g plain flour
  • 4 tsn baking powder
  • ½ tsn bi carbonate of soda
  • ½ tsn mixed spice
  • 2 tsn instant coffee
  • 90ml Kahlua, 10ml extra

Nutella frosting:

  • 60g butter
  • 75g thickened cream
  • 225g Nutella

Chocolate frosting:

  • 75g thickened cream
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 25g cocoa powder

 

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160c degrees and line a 23cm baking tin with baking paper.
  2. Using electric beaters beat the butter and sugar for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
  3. Add the vanilla and eggs, beating in each addition.
  4. In another bowl sift the flour, mixed spice, baking powder and soda then add to the butter mix.
  5. Add the instant coffee to ¼ cup of warm water and whisk until the coffee is dissolved.
  6. Add 90ml of Kahlua to the coffee mix and pour into the butter mix.
  7. Mix the ingredients with a spoon then whisk with electric beaters until just combine.
  8. Spoon the mix into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
  9. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes than place on a cooling rack until the cake is cold.
  10. To make the Nutella frosting beat the cream until soft peaks.
  11. Whip the butter for 2 minutes until creamy.
  12. Add the nutella and cream to the butter and beat with electric beaters for 1 minute. Place the frosting in the fridge.
  13. To make the chocolate frosting beat the cream until soft peaks, sift in the cocoa and icing sugar and beat for a further 30 seconds until combine. Set mix aside.
  14. Once the cake is cooled cut in half horizontally and brush both cut sides with the extra 10ml of Kahlua.
  15. Place the bottom cake layer on a plate, spread with the chocolate frosting.
  16. Place the second cake on top of the chocolate frosting then spread the Nutella frosting over the top of the cake and sides.
  17. Decorate with hazelnuts and shaved chocolate.

 

Kahlua Nutella and Chocolate Cake recipe

Step 7

Kahlua Nutella and Chocolate Cake recipe

Step 9

Kahlua Nutella and Chocolate Cake recipe

Step 15

Like this recipe? Subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

Email, RSS Follow
Print

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts

Posted on Posted in Doughnuts .

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

For a long long time I have been wanting to make doughnuts but have been a bit put off my the frying step, not being an expert in dough and how to recreate this very common (even worldwide) baking treat making it improved not inferior.

Now there are thousands and thousands of doughnut recipe versions that appear in recipe books and the internet so how do you analyze and investigate to not only find the best one but the best one and make it better.

Step 1. Find the best doughnut dough recipe. This was actually quite interesting as I then became exposed to a few ‘baked’ doughnut recipe versions. This then made me keen to do a fried v baked experiment.

Step 2. To fairly compare which makes the better doughnut fried or baked I ensured the method’s steps were identical (apart from the crucial 3 steps). These steps entailed frying the doughnuts before rolling in the cinnamon sugar or baking in the oven.

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

The key reviews (friends/family/me in a blind taste test) of the comparison are:

  • The fried version is much darker in colour and more evenly coloured.
  • The baked version is slightly bigger for some reason.
  • Both are extremely spongy and take to the sugar crumb well.

Outcome = the baked version, which was unexpected. Which leads to the questions – If baking doughnuts produce a better results then why do we bake them? Tradition? Also the baked version is so so so much more healthier why would you fry when you can bake? And baking is much easier than frying…

Regardless I still needed to put my twist on this and decided that instead of just a plain jam filling I would turn the doughnut into a ‘cheesecake’ by making a low fat ricotta and jam filling for a more fulfilling and satisfying doughnut.

Just putting it out there, I love this recipe and can guarantee you if I make doughnuts again I will for sure be baking them!

Ingredients:

  • Oil for frying

Dough:

  • 5g dried yeast
  • 225g flour
  • ½ tsn salt
  • 40g sugar
  • 120ml milk
  • 30g butter
  • 1 egg

Filling:

  • 180g ricotta cheese
  • 75g raspberry jam

Sugar crumb:

  • 190g sugar
  • 1 tsn cinnamon

 

Method:

  1. Stir the yeast with 40ml of warm water and set aside for 7 minutes or until foamy.
  2. Dust a bench with flour.
  3. Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl and make a well in the middle of the bowl.
  4. Place the sugar and cinnamon into a large bowl for dusting later, set side.
  5. In a small bowl microwave the milk until it is luke warm, add the butter, whisk and place in the well.
  6. Add the egg yolk to the well.
  7. Using your hand massage the ingredients together until a sticky dough has formed and the mix is well combine.
  8. Transfer the dough to the pre-floured bench and knead adding flour as you require until the dough is elastic and smooth (approx. 7 minutes).
  9. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover with cling wrap for 1 – 1 ½ hours or until the dough is doubled in size.
  10. Flour the bench again and transfer the dough to the bench.
  11. Lightly give the dough a little knead then roll the dough out with a rolling pin lightly. to 1.5cm in height.
  12. Using a cookie cutter around 7cm in radius cut out doughnuts.
  13. Place the doughnuts onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and cover with cling wrap for 40-45 minutes of until doubled in size again.
  14. Meanwhile to make the filling beat the cheese and jam until smooth and place in the fridge for later.
  15. Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and bake the doughnuts in the oven for 12 minutes until golden brown.
  16. Brush cooked doughnuts with butter then toss in the bowl of sugar&cinnamon.
  17. Place the doughnut onto a cooling rack to completely cool.
  18. Using a long tube piping nozzle pierce each doughnut, ensuring a hole through the doughnuts.
  19. Once the doughnut is cooled spoon the cheese mix into a piping bag fitted with a long tube nozzle.
  20. Pipe each doughnut with the cheese in the pre pierced hole until the doughnut starts to swell slightly, repeat until all doughnuts are filled.

 

FRYING METHOD (replace steps 15-17 with the below):

  • 15. Heat oil in a saucepan until the temperature hits 170c degrees.
  • 16. Add the doughnuts 3 at a time to the oil and fry for approx. 4 mins, turning the doughnut after a few minutes to ensure the doughnut gets fully cooked and golden.
  • 17. Once completely golden in colour place the doughnut into the sugar&cinnamon bowl, toss and place the doughnut onto a cooling rack to completely cool.

 

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

Step 7

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

Step 9

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

Step 12

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe.

Step 13

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

Step 13

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

Step 14

Jam Cheesecake Baked Doughnuts recipe

Step 15

 

Like this recipe? Subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

Email, RSS Follow
Print