chili – Sweet Tooth Experiments

Sago Bread Spiced Chocolate Pudding Cake

Posted on November 6, 2016 Posted in Cakes, Pudding .

Sago Bread Spiced Chocolate Pudding Cake

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For a long long time I have been experimenting with Sago but until today all attempts to bake with this ingredient have been fails, really really big fails.

Inspired by my own past breadcrumb based cake I again opted for breadcrumbs to ensure the foundation of the cake was moist and stable.

By using breadcrumbs made from gluten free bread, this cake is easily gluten friendly. By using the dates as a natural sweetener this allowed for a minimal amount of sugar required for the cake.

The cinnamon and chili add complementary flavor layers to the chocolate, pushing it to the next level in taste.

A super easy, low sugar and low fat cake that is perfect to for a dessert or special treat. I was super impressed with how decadent this cake actually tasted.

Ingredients:

30g sago
250ml milk
30ml butter
175g dates
50g brown sugar
70g breadcrumbs
1/4 tsn cinnamon
Pinch chili powder
30g cocoa powder
1 tsn bicarb of soda
1 egg

Extra:

150ml cream

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 175c degrees and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Place the sago in a bowl with the milk and leave for 4 hours in the fridge.
Place the dates and melted butter in a food processor and blitz until smooth.
Add the sugar, breadcrumbs, cinnamon, chilli powder and cocoa and blitz until well combine.
Place mix into a bowl with the sago milk mix and egg and whisk with a hand whisk until well combined.
Pour the mix into the cake tin.
Place the tin into a roasting tray and add enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the tray.
Place a piece of aluminum foil on the top of the cake or a glass lid.
Bake in the oven for 60 minutes of unit a skewer inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
Place on a cooling rack until cold.
Sprinkle with icing sugar and drizzle with cream or custard.

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Carrot Chai Chocolate Mix Cake

Posted on June 5, 2016 Posted in Cakes .

Carrot Chai Chocolate Mix Cake

The purpose of this cake was originally to utilise 2 cake mix’s and make a really quick and unique cake that took no effort and could be applied to any cake mix flavor’s.

After deciding that I would use carrot as my base I then opted for vanilla so I could add a few flavor profiles to the mix without letting them overpower the carrot base.

I needed complementary flavors to the carrot, not a flavor takeover! A little cocoa and chai powder seemed like the perfect match and just to put a spin on this I added a hit of chili.

I figured cocoa and chili go well and chai chocolate would be just like spiced chocolate. Carrot cake tends to have lots of spices thus the chai should work.

The chocolate and carrot combo…that was a risk, but a risk that paid off.

Ingredients:

470g carrot cake mix
340g vanilla mix
70g chai powder
35g cocoa powder
¼ tsn chili powder
Eggs
Oil
Milk

Icing:

140g cake mix icing powder
70g chai powder
1/8^th tsn chili powder
150g butter

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 180c degrees and line 2 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper.
Prepare the carrot cake according to the cake mix instructions (adding the egg, oil and water. Stir with a hand whisk until well combine etc).
Pour the batter into a cake tin.
Prepare the choc chai cake by adding the vanilla mix into a bowl through a sieve.
Remove 100g of the vanilla mix and add the chai powder, cocoa powder and chili powder through a sieve, stir well.
Continue the choc chai cake by preparing the cake mix according to the cake mix instructions (adding the egg and milk. Stir with a hand whisk until well combine etc).
Pour the batter into the second cake tin.
Place both cakes in the oven and bake according to box instructions (45 minutes) or until a skewer inserted in the cakes comes out clean.
Place the cakes onto a cooling rack until cold.
Meanwhile to prepare the icing place the icing mixes, chai powder, chili powder and butter (at room temperature) to a bowl and beat with electric beaters.
Cut the tops off both cakes to ensure flat cakes.
Cut both cakes into 2 horizontally.
Place a carrot cake layer on a plate and spread with 100g of the icing.
Add a chai cake on top and spread 100g of the icing.
Add the last carrot cake layer and spread with 100g of icing.
Top with the last chai cake layer and top with the remaining 100g of icing.

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Millet Chocolate Chili and Cinnamon Cupcakes

Posted on February 1, 2016 Posted in Cupcakes .

Millet Chocolate Chili and Cinnamon Cupcakes

This was quite an interesting experiment for me as I have never ever cooked with millet. In fact before I read a little on this grain online I never knew it existed. How I came to baking with this ingredient?

I had a grain salad while out for lunch recently and one of the ingredients was Freekeh, which I have had before but never knew what it was. I really liked the way the Freekeh was cooked and tasted in the salad and as I have dabbled with grain baking in the past (Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake as an example) I decided I wanted to experiment with this ingredients.

As I was doing my research into the Freekeh grain I came across the millet grain which is quite similar to couscous, which I have baked a cake with before.

I figured that as I had a Sunday free I would buy both ingredients and make Freekeh based cupcakes and Millet based cupcakes. Now they both have completely different textures and flavor profiles so the flavor pairings and base cupcake ingredients were different but the results were interesting.

The freekeh chocolate and peanut cupcakes were ok but I noticed over time the freekeh lost its softness and was too hard in the mix (maybe my fault for under cooking??).

The Millet cupcakes were vanilla and macadamia nut to enhance the millets nutty flavor…this was not an exciting cupcake to rave about. I then decided to use the millet as a texture not as a flavor profile and added chilli, chocolate and cinnamon to the mix. The outcome of this was great, the texture of the millet is really soft and light and adds a texture pop to the treat. As for the Freekeh…it may just be a lost cause but I’m sure I will try again in the near future.

Ingredients:

Millet:

180g millet
360g water
30g butter

Cake:

1 egg
100g sugar
90ml buttermilk
90ml canola oil
30g cocoa powder
1 tsn ground cinnamon
160g flour
½ tsn baking powder
¼ tsn bicarbonate of soda
Pinch salt
¼ tsn chili powder

Frosting:

200g icing sugar
30g cocoa powder
100g butter
¼ tsn chili powder
½ tsn ground cinnamon

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 175c degrees and line a 12 capacity cupcake tin with patties.
Place the millet in a frying pan on high and stir until the millet is slightly golden.
Add 360ml water to the pan and turn the heat to a simmer stirring.
Add the butter, stir and leave the millet to 90% absorb the water.
Take the millet off the heat and leave aside to cool and absorb the liquid fully.
Place the egg and sugar in a bowl and using electric beaters whisk until pale and fluffy.
Add the oil and buttermilk and whisk for 1 minute.
Add the remaining ingredients (the dry ingredients), stir with a spoon until just combine.
Beat with the electric beaters until smooth and silky.
Add the cooked millet and beat until combine.
Pour the mix into the patties and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Set the cooked cupcakes aside to cool.
To make the frosting place all the ingredients into a bowl and using electric beaters whisk until fluffy and combine.
Once the cupcakes are cooled using a piping bag and a star piping nozzle frost the cupcakes.
Enjoy.

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Spiced Chocolate Mousse Cake

Posted on December 22, 2014 Posted in Cakes .

Spiced Chocolate Mousse Cake

Ever noticed how chocolate mousse cakes completely melt and fall apart when out of the fridge for longer than 10 minutes? How annoying! And you try to cut the cake and it either sticks to the knife or turns into a mousse mess? Well I have come up with a spicy chocolate mousse recipe that won’t melt or collapse when you cut it and will keep its shape once sliced.

Additionally to this, the recipe is ever so tasty and has a pleasant hit of complementary spices.

This one definitely exceeded expectations and is a must keep recipe.

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 eggwhites
165g sugar
1 tsn vanilla essence
150g almond meal
35g plain flour
1 tsn lemon zest

Mousse:

400ml-thickened cream
220g dark chocolate
4 + 1/2 tsn gelatine
1 + ¼ tsn cinnamon
1 + ½ tsn ground fennel
1 + ¼ tsn ground cloves
1 + ¼ tsn cardamom
¼ tsn chili powder
Pinch salt and pepper

Extra:

200ml-thickened cream
1 tbsn cocoa powder
2 tsn icing sugar

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c and line 2 x 23cm spring form baking tins with baking paper.
Using electric beaters beat the eggwhites until soft peaks form.
Gradually add in the sugar until stiff glossy peaks form (about 5 mins).
Carefully fold in the vanilla, almond meal, flour and zest until well combine.
Divide the mix between the 2 tins and using a spoon spread out the mix and smooth out the tops.
Bake for 18 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden and soft to touch.
Leave the cakes in the tins until completely cool, and then remove from tins.
Place the cinnamon, fennel, cloves, cardamom, chili, salt & pepper in a saucepan and stir on high for a minute or until you can smell the spices in the air.
Place 1 cup of the cream in a second saucepan and heat on medium until the cream just starts to boil, remove off heat.
Whisk the 4 + 1/2 tsn gelatine into the boiling hot cream until smooth and well combined.
Add the chocolate into the cream mix and allow it to sit for a minute then whisk the cream mix until the chocolate is silky smooth.
Add the spices to the chocolate and whisk to combine. Place aside to cool.
Using electric beaters beat 150g of thickened cream until peaks form.
Fold the cream into the chocolate mix until well combined.
Place one cake on plastic wrap then places the cake with wrap in the cake tin used to cook the cake.
Now spread in the chocolate mix and top with the 2^nd cake.
Fold the plastic wrap on top of the cake and place in the fridge for 3 hours to set.
Once set remove from the wrap and carefully place on a plate.
Whip the remaining 200ml cream until peaks form and spread over the sides of the cake.
Dust the icing sugar on the top of the cake.
Hold the plate on a slight angle and dust the cocoa around the sides of the cake, serve.

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