honey – Page 2 – Sweet Tooth Experiments

Steamed Rice Ginger Citrus Cantaloupe Pudding

Posted on May 27, 2017 Posted in Pudding .

Steamed Rice Ginger Citrus Cantaloupe Pudding

Ok so this recipe sounds boring and bland but i’ll tell you what, the taste and texture blew my mind.

The texture was so interesting and addictive, unlike any cake that I have had before. So delicate and melt in your mouth with the beautiful cantaloupe flavour. For a while I have been trying to product a cake that heroes cantaloupe and not until now have I make up a recipe where the cantaloupe flavour was not over powered and really sung.

Honey, citrus, ginger and cantaloupe = a delicious flavour combo.

Ingredients:

Cake:

145g sugar
160g rice flour
1 tsn vanilla essence
240g cantaloupe flesh, diced
60g honey
½ tsn ground ginger
1/8 salt
1 tsn lemon and lime zest

Syrup:

120g cantaloupe flesh, diced
20ml honey
½ tsn lime and lemon zest
1/8 tsn ground ginger
30ml water
50g palm sugar

Method:

Spray 4 x 200ml cake moulds with oil spray.
Pre-heat the oven to 170c degrees and place water into a roasting pan until it reaches 1/3 up the side of the pan (waterbath technique).
Place the sugar, rice flour, vanilla, cantaloupe, honey, ginger, salt and citrus zest in a food processor and blitz until smooth and well combine.
Pour the cake batter into the 4 ramekin moulds, 150ml in each.
Place all the ramekin moulds into the baking dish, ensuring no water gets into the moulds and the water is just over half way up the side of the tray.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle just comes out clean. Do not over cook, the top should only just be set.
Meanwhile to make the syrup, place all the syrup ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth and well combine.
Pour the syrup into a saucepan and stir on a high heat, allowing the mix to boil for 1 minute.
Pass the syrup through a sieve and leave aside to cool.
Leave the ramekins moulds on a cooling tray for 10 minutes before inverting onto a plate.
Place some additional pieces of cantaloupe over each pudding and pour the cooled syrup over the top, enjoy!

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Dried Date Fig and Honey Bread

Posted on April 1, 2017 Posted in Bread .

Dried Date Fig and Honey Bread

After having some dried figs left over from my Fig and Grape Syrup cake and dates from my Date Spiced Syrup Doughnuts I decided to come up with a recipe that would utilize these two ingredients.

After doing quite a bit of baking with dried fruit in cakes, puddings and pies recently I wanted to step away and bake with dried fruit in a different way.

I have also been baking a lot with dough in the past few weeks and though not an expert I felt I had the confidence to take on bread making.

My favorite bread is raisin toast so I thought I would put my spin on fruit bread and make a gourmet fig and date version.

This bread warmed, with a spread of butter is pure magic tasting!

Ingredients:

400g white bread flour
½ tsn yeast
2 tbsn honey
100g dried figs
100g dried dates
1 tsn salt
½ tsn cinnamon
20g almonds
1 tbsn olive oil
Pinch of ground ginger

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200c degrees and line a baking tray with oiled baking paper.
Dice up the dates, figs and almonds.
Mix the flour, yeast, honey, salt, cinnamon, almonds, dried dates and figs in a bowl.
Place the olive oil and 280ml warm water in a separate bowl.
Mix the water in the dry ingredient bowl and once combine knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Oil the bowl and place the dough back in the bowl, covering with cling wrap to prove for 1-2 hours or until the dough doubles in size.
Push-back the dough by kneading for 2 minutes, shape into a load shape and allow to prove again for 1 hour on the tray covered with cling wrap.
Once proved slash a cross on the top of the loaf and dust with a pinch of flour and ground ginger.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
Allow to cool then slice and spread with butter, enjoy!

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Chamomile Floral Spice Cake

Posted on March 18, 2017 Posted in Cakes .

Chamomile Floral Cake recipe

Tea is a common flavor enhancer I use in my baking, Jasmine, Early Grey, Melbourne Breakfast and Green have been featured in my past recipes to name a few.

However, chamomile has only been in 1 of my recipes and not as a feature ingredient (check out my amazing Hazelnut Cake with Spiced Syrup recipe) so when I came up with the idea of doing a floral cake this was the perfect opportunity to use the lovely flower as they hero ingredient.

By combining rose, orange blossom, chamomile and lavender I created a beautifully fragrance-kissed cake that by no means taste like soap! The inclusion of spices compliments the chamomile and offsets the floral sweetness.

Ingredients:

Cake:

450g honey
2 tsn grated orange zest
1 tsn grated lemon zest
3 chamomile tea bags
450g self-raising flour
½ tsn salt
2 tsn ground cinnamon
½ tsn ground mixed spice
½ tsn ground nutmeg
½ tsn ground ginger
160g brown sugar
180ml cooking oil
1 tsn rosewater essence
1 + 1/2 tsn orange blossom water
4 eggs

Syrup:

25g butter
40g sugar
100ml water

Icing:

500g cream cheese
140g icing sugar
1 tsn grated lemon zest
Pinch ground lavender (optional)

Extra:

Chamomile dried flowers

Method:

Place the honey and zest into a saucepan and stir on a high heat until boiling.
Add the tea bags to the honey mix and stir.
Leave the mix aside for 30 minutes, stirring each few minutes. Remove the tea bags.
Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line 2 x 25cm cake tins with baking paper.
Sift the flour, spices and sugar into a bowl and stir to combine.
Add the oil to the honey mix and stir.
Pour the honey mix into the flour mix and using a hand whisk beat until well combined.
Add the eggs, essence and blossom water and beat with the hand whisk until well combined.
Pour the mix evenly between both cake tins and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Invert the cakes onto a cooling rack until cooled.
Place the icing ingredients into a bowl and using electric beaters whisk for 5 minutes or until fluffy and light.
Cut the cooled cakes in half.
Meanwhile to make the syrup place the butter, water and sugar into a pan and heat on high stirring continuously until the mix is bubbling and slightly thickens.
Take the syrup off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Using a pastry brush brush the top of 3 cakes on cut side with the syrup leaving the best non cut side layer aside.
Place one cake on a plate and top with ¼ of the icing, repeat with all layers and top with the remaining ¼ icing,
Dirty ice the cake by going around the sides and removing any extra icing.
Top with edible rose pedals and chamomile flowers.


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Honey and Almond Brittle Cake

Posted on December 18, 2016 Posted in Cakes .

Honey and Almond Brittle Cake

Ok so this cake isn’t based on a ground breaking unusual flavor or texture combo, however it is a must to post as it will become your favorite cake as soon as you try it.

After eating peanut brittle I decided that I wanted to make a cake around almond brittle as a twist of the usual peanut treat.

Thinking about something that would go with almond brittle and really make the sweetness and almond flavor standout I opted for honey as a complementary flavor to include through the cake, brittle AND icing.

Ingredients:

140g butter
100g brown sugar
70ml honey
1 tsn almond essence
2 eggs, 1 yolk extra
140g self-rising flour
50g almond meal
1/2 tsn salt
65ml buttermilk

Almond brittle:

95g sugar
80ml water
130g toasted almonds

Icing:

80g butter
100g white chocolate
250g cream cheese
100g vanilla flavored yoghurt
30ml honey

Method:

Heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, honey and essence until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and yolk one at a time, beating in between each addition.
In a bowl sieve the flour, almond meal and salt, stir to combine.
Add half the flour mixture to the butter mix and beat until just combined.
Add the buttermilk and beat until just combine.
Add the remaining flour mix and beating on low until just combined
Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool on a cooling rack.
To make the almond brittle chop up the almonds into small pieces.
Place a sheet of baking paper onto a tray.
Place the sugar and water into a pan and heat on high, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Place a candy thermometer into the mix and allow to heat to 125c degrees and it just starts to golden.
Add the almonds and stir to cover.
Pour onto the baking paper to set.
To make the icing, melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave until boiling. Add the white chocolate piece and stir until smooth and silky.
Add the cream cheese, yoghurt and essence into the butter mix and using electric beaters whisk until smooth and silky.
Place the set almond brittle into a food processor on low and blitz until the pieces are small.
Place ¾ of the brittle into the icing and stir to combine, place in the fridge to set.
Cut the cake into 3 even horizontal layers and place the bottom layer onto a plate.
Top the layer with 1/4 of the icing.
Add the 2nd layer and 1/4 of the icing.
Add the 3rd layer and top with icing as well as spread onto the sides of the cake.
Sprinkle with the remaining brittle on top.

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Lemon, Thyme and Zucchini Layer Cake recipe

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Ricotta Doughnuts with Orange Syrup

Posted on September 18, 2016 Posted in Doughnuts .

Ricotta Doughnuts with Orange Syrup

There are so many varying doughnut recipes that exist, with different methods and flavor combinations, to be honest the list is endless.

However after come recent doughnut making experimenting I made one doughnut in which I think is the most fluffy and soft doughnut I have ever eaten.

The secret? All I did was made a very simple and quick batter that was made predominately of ricotta cheese.

The cheese created the fluffy melt in your mouth texture that is easy to shape and crisps up like a perfect doughnut.

The zest in the batter provides a lovely citrus flavor without overpowering, while the syrup adds extra punch to the doughnuts flavors that delivers sweet luscious excellence.

Ingredients:

270g ricotta
2 eggs
20ml milk
50g sugar
1 + 1/4 orange’s zest
1 tsn lemon zest
50g flour
2 tbsn baking powder

Syrup:

60g sugar
40ml water
100ml orange juice
1 tbsn honey

Extra:

Vegetable oil to fry
Sugar to dust

Method:

Place the ricotta, eggs, milk, sugar and zests into a bowl and using a hand whisk beat until smooth.
Add in the flour and baking powder and beat until just combine.
Fill a saucepan with vegetable oil and place a small amount of batter into the oil on a high heat.
Once the batter starts to fry remove and turn down the temperature to medium.
Using 2 tablespoons scoop up the batter and shape into a ball, following with dropping into the oil.
Allow to fry for 2 minutes or until the doughnut is golden brown, turn the doughnut and allow to cook for a few more second and then transfer onto a plate lined with absorbent paper towel.
Repeat until all batter has gone.
Place the doughnuts into a bowl and sprinkle with the extra sugar, top with a plate and shake the bowl to allow for full sugar coverage.
Transfer onto a clean plate.
Make the syrup by placing all the ingredients into a saucepan on a high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.
Turn heat to medium and stir until the mix resembles a syrup consistency, place into a clean jug.
Serve doughnuts with vanilla ice cream, drizzle doughnut with the syrup and enjoy.

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Honey Nougat Crackle Cheesecake

Posted on September 4, 2016 Posted in Cakes .

Honey Nougat Crackle Cheesecake

Being a massive fan of Summer Rolls and Honey Nougat Chocolate Bars I decided I wanted to bake a dessert that would turned these bars into a luscious cake.

Honey, nougat, vanilla, peanuts and coconut are all ingredients that would work fabulously with a creamy textured cake, thus cheesecake it is.

Both bars are covered with chocolate so to replicate this layer I opted to use the chocolate as the base to hold the cheesecake together. As cheesecake is creamy and missing crunch I decided on using rice bubbles for a chocolate crackle base.

A very simple no bake cheesecake that replicates the chocolate bars flavours wonderfully.

Deliciously tasty.

Ingredients:

Base:

100g rice bubbles
40g desiccated coconut
200g chocolate, melted

Filling:

500g cream cheese, at room temperature
160ml honey
1 tsn vanilla essence
45g peanuts, chopped
70g desiccated coconut
2 tsn gelatin
40ml water
110g thickened cream
2 summer roll chocolate bars, chopped
2 honey nougat chocolate bars, chopped

Method:

Line a 25cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.
Place the rice bubbles and coconut into a bowl.
Add the melted chocolate and stir until well combine and all rice bubbles are covered.
Press 1/3^rd of the crackle mix on the bottom of the cake base and the remaining up the sides of the cake tin by pressing into the tin with damp hands.
Place the tin in the fridge to set.
Meanwhile, to make the filling place the cream cheese, honey and vanilla into a bowl and whip until creamy and smooth with electric beaters.
Boil the water and add in the gelatin, stir until dissolved and no lumps.
Add the peanuts and coconut to the cheese mix and beat for 1 minute.
Add the cream and gelatin mix and beat for 1 minute.
Finely chop up the chocolate bars and add to the mix, beat for 1 minute.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and leave in the fridge to set for 5 hours.
Remove the cake from the tin and top with grated chocolate, extra peanuts and drizzles of honey.


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Cinnamon Apple and Burnt Honey Semolina Pudding

Posted on August 21, 2016 Posted in Pudding .

Cinnamon Apple and Burnt Honey Semolina Pudding

This recipe is a mix between a rice pudding and porridge that can be eaten as a satisfying breakfast or a quick and easy dessert.

I eat porridge for breakfast quite frequently and also enjoy a sweet coconut rice pudding for dessert.

To my porridge I like to experiment by replacing the oats with similar ingredients such as chia seeds, sago or quinoa flakes. To take my experimenting to the next level I decided to use semolina instead of the oats in porridge or the rice in rice pudding.

For the flavouring I opted for apple and cinnamon – an oldie but a goodie.

After playing around with the recipe I decided that caramelized apple slices on top of the pudding and beautiful vanilla & cinnamon cooked into the semolina delivered the best taste result.

To add more depth I topped the pudding with a burnt honey sauce and roasted nuts for the satisfying crunch texture.

If you’re after a delightful creamy and moreish breakfast option or a sweet way to finish a meal this recipe will have you covered.

Why this recipe makes the website – the result I ended up with blew my expectations. I could but the spoon down!

Ingredients:

Pudding:

600ml milk
60g sugar
1 tsn cinnamon
1 tsn vanilla essence
70g semolina
15g butter

Apples:

2 apples
40g butter
2 tbsn maple syrup
½ tsn cinnamon

Extra:

80g honey
40g water
80g mixed almond/hazelnut/brazil/macadamia nuts

Method:

Place the milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla into a saucepan on a high heat.
Whisk the mix until it boils.
Add in the semolina and butter, stir and reduce the heat down to simmer.
Whisk continuously until the milk is soaked up by the semolina and the mix thickens (about 15 minutes).
Remove off heat and divide the mix up between 4 bowls.
Peel the apples and thick julienne cut them.
Place the apple in a saucepan on high heat along with the 40g butter, maple syrup and ½ tsn cinnamon.
Stir with a spoon until the apples caramelize and are slightly soft.
Spoon the apples over the semolina pudding.
Place the honey a saucepan on high heat for 1 minute or until it darkens in colour.
Add the 40g water and stir until the mix slightly reduces and is syrupy in consistency.
Spoon the honey over the pudding.
Top with finely diced nuts and enjoy.

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Cinnamon Apple and Burnt Honey Semolina Pudding

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Yoghurt Panna Cotta with Honey Figs Syrup

Posted on April 26, 2016 Posted in Panna Cotta .

Yoghurt Panna Cotta with Honey Figs Syrup

I recently went through a phase where I wanted to make ‘healthy’ desserts, but without using super expensive ingredients or ingredients that are difficult to find.

On top of this I didn’t want them to be too hard to make, I wanted to make the recipe easy for anyone to pick up and master. Additionally, I wanted people to be able to zip into Coles for ingredients and make a simply tasty and not KJ (calorie) heavy dessert.

This Panna Cotta recipe uses low fat yoghurt and milk instead of fattening cream and honey to add some extra sweetness.

The figs provide some beautiful flavor and sweetness (especially being soaked in honey).

Ingredients:

Panna Cotta:

120ml low fat milk
2 tsn honey
2 tsn vanilla essence
2 + ¼ tsn gelatine
480ml low fat vanilla yoghurt

Syrup:

120ml honey
200ml water
320g figs (around 5 figs)

Method:

Spray 4 x 250ml cup ramekins with oil spray.
Place the milk, honey and vanilla essence in a bowl and heat in the microwave until boiling, stir to combine.
Add the gelatine and beat until smooth with no lumps.
Add the yoghurt and whisk to combine.
Pour the mix evenly between the 4 ramekins and place in the fridge to set for 4 hours.
Meanwhile, make the figs cut up the figs into 6 pieces vertically and place in a saucepan.
Add the honey and water to the saucepan and heat on high on the stove.
Stir constantly until the figs are soft and a syrup has formed (will take around 5 minutes on high/medium heat).
Place the syrup and figs into a bowl and leave aside to cool completely.
Once the Panna Cotta has set turn out onto a plate and top with the cooled figs and cooled syrup. Serve.

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Traditional Panforte

Posted on March 13, 2016 Posted in Italy .

Traditional Panforte

A traditional Italian dessert that goes back to the 13^th century. The name itself means strong bread thanks to the layer of spices, in particular pepper.

There are so many variations to this traditional sweet treat, therefore I decided to experiment by baking 3 types; one with coffee, one with chocolate and one plain. The chocolate Panforte was by far the tastiest.

There are also variations in the nuts, fruit and spices in this dessert. I opted for the ingredients that I loved and deemed would work well together.

I actually didn’t think much of this dessert when I first made it, but after having a piece the next day after the flavours had time to develop I couldn’t put the slice down.

Ingredients:

100g hazelnuts
100g almonds
150g candied citrus zest (or glace zest)
60g dried figs
60g glace cherries
¼ tsn black pepper
¼ tsn ground cloves
½ tsn ground cinnamon
¼ tsn ground ginger
100g flour
¼ tsn salt
2 tbsn cocoa powder
100g dark chocolate
135g sugar
180ml honey

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 25cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.
Place the hazelnuts and almonds in a pre-heated oven on a baking tray for 6 minutes or until just raosted. Remove the almonds.
Allow the hazelnuts to roast for 5 more minutes then place the hazelnuts in a dishtowel.
Rub the hazelnuts in the towel to remove the skin.
Coarsely chop up the nuts.
Chop up the dried figs and glace cherries.
Turn the oven down to 150c degrees.
Stir the nuts, zest, figs, cherries, spices, flour, salt and cocoa powder until well combine.
Place the dark chocolate in a bowl and on a low level heat the chocolate for 1 minute in the microwave. Stir then continue in 20 sec intervals until the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool.
Combine the chocolate to the nut mix.
Bring sugar and honey to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Then boil without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 120c degrees.
Immediately pour honey over the fruit mixture and quickly stir until combined (mixture will be very thick and sticky).
Spoon mixture into the tin and spread evenly with back of a wet spoon.
Dampen your hands and press mixture firmly and evenly to compact as much as possible.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until edges start to rise slightly and the top is bubbling.
Cool panforte completely in the cake tin on a cooling rack.
Once cooled remove from the tin, remove the baking paper, dust with icing sugar and cut into slices.

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Jasmine Honey-Lemon Bombe Alaska

Posted on August 24, 2015 Posted in Cakes .

Jasmine Honey-Lemon Bombe Alaska

This recipe is such a beautiful surprise cake.

I have taken the traditional Bombe Alaska model of cake, ice cream and meringue and placed an Asian twist on it.

Green tea, chai, earl grey and rosemary are some ingredients I have successfully baked with in the past so I decided, after a friend was telling me how Jasmine was her favorite tea I would experiment.

Why Jasmine was so appealing was due to this ingredients being so beautiful and interesting in scent. Therefore, I went to my local Asian grocer and purchased a bag of Jasmine flowers for me to experiment with.

By using my super fluffy cake base recipe (the same sponge cake recipe as my Blueberry Cardamom Pudding – yet to be posted), making things super easy by buying vanilla ice-cream (why reinvest the wheel when we already have 3 elements to this dish) and honey infused meringue this dish will look very impressive indeed.

Outcome = super delicious but not too sweet.

Ingredients:

Sponge:

4 egg
145g sugar
4 tsn corn flour
145g self raising flour
1 tsn butter
80g water
2 tsn lemon zest

Ice-cream:

500g vanilla ice-cream
100g cream
20g jasmine flowers
25g honey

Meringue:

4 egg whites
100g sugar
2 tsn honey

Method:

Using oil spray cover 6 large muffin tin holes 8cm in radius.
Layer each hole with 2 sheets of cling wrap, ensuring the holes are well covered and there is overlap.
Place the flowers into a saucepan with 100g cream and on a low heat simmer until steam appears and the flowers have soaked up majority of the cream. Do not boil.
Place the mix into the food processor and blitz until almost smooth.
Add the ice-cream and blitz until the ice-cream is smooth and the flowers are evenly distributed through the ice-cream.
Place the honey in the microwave for 30 seconds to thin out then pour into the ice-cream mix until well combine.
Pour the ice-cream in the holes and tap the tin to remove air bubbles, place in the freezer.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 180c degrees and line a 20cm x 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Beat the eggs in a bowl with electric beaters until thick and creamy.
Add the sugar slowly while beating until the sugar dissolves.
Triple sift the flours into the egg mix and fold until just combine.
Add the butter to the boiling water and stir to combine.
Add the lemon zest and stir.
Once the butter mix has cooled pour into the egg mix and fold until just combine.
Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool in the cake tin and turn out on a cutting board.
Using an 8 cm cutter cut our 6 circles the same size as the muffin tins.
Place the cake circle over the top of the ice-cream and lightly push with your fingertips.
Place the tin back in the freezer for 3 hours to set.
Beat the eggwhites with electric beaters until soft peaks form.
Add the sugar slowly on a high speed followed by the honey that has been placed in the microwave for 30 seconds to thin out and beat until thick and glossy.
Turn the cakes with the ice-cream out onto plates.
Cover the ice-cream with the meringue mix, ensuring complete coverage.
Using a blow torch slightly brown the meringue.
Enjoy!