rum – Page 2 – Sweet Tooth Experiments

Coconut and Lychee Rum Flan

I tend to go through phases with baking where I fixate on a particular ingredient until I master a killer recipe with that ingredient or I try different flavour pairings with the same base recipe until I get a result that I am really impressed with.

This is exactly what happened last week, I went flan crazy and made about 6 different versions with varying methods and flavour combo’s. Needless to say I can now make a perfect flan with my eyes closed!

The below recipe is one of the standout experiments that was good enough to make it to my blog. The influence was to play with a mix of Asian flavours, where after coming up with the pairing I actually added Rum essence as a flavour enhancer which amplified the taste.

Ingredients:

100g sugar
140ml lychee syrup
1 tsn rum essence
3 eggs
300g condensed milk
250ml milk
120g desiccated coconut
2 x 400g cans of lychees in syrup
1/2 tsn coconut essence

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and grease a 20 x 10cm cake tin.
Place the lychees into a bowl and reserve the syrup in another bowl.
Place the sugar for the caramel into a saucepan and cook on a high heat until the sugar dissolves and just starts to turn amber.
Remove pan off heat and carefully stir in the lychee syrup and the essence until a syrup is formed.
Pour the syrup into the cake tin.
Place the eggs, condensed milk, milk, ½ tsn rum essence, the coconut essence and the desiccated coconut in a bowl and whisk with a hand help beater until combine.
Pure the mix into the tin on top of the syrup.
Place the tin into another bigger cake tin and pour hot water until it comes half way up the sides of the tin.
Bake for 40 minutes or until set and slightly browned on the top.
Place the tin with cake aside on a baking tray to cool.
Place in the fridge for 3 hours.
Slightly dice up 400g of the lychee and place on the top of the flan to serve.

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Check out an impressive Parmesan Cheese Chocolate Slice recipe. Follow the simple baking method to bake a spectacular sweet treat

Pina Colada Cake

Cocktails…some have the most amazing flavours I have tasted. Hello express martini, white Russian, tequila sunrise, mojito and pina colada.

This got me thinking, most of the ingredients in cocktails are variations of juices, fruits and alcohol that you will find in standard everyday supermarkets.

So if the flavor combo is already tried and tested and the ingredients are easy to come by why can’t the recipe be replicated into a cake?

I bake with juices and fruit all the time and have made many alcoholic cakes (see red wine chocolate cake) so a cocktail cake is not really a far stretch away from my usual baking.

As I am a fan of the old Pina Colada it fast became a must on the to-bake-list to launch off my cocktail cake experimenting.

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tbsn baking powder
1/2 tsn salt
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsn vanilla essence
1 + 1/2 tbsn rum essence
1 tsn lime zest
1 can 420g can pineapple (250g pineapple)

Milk:

190ml coconut milk
95ml cup condensed milk
95ml cup milk
1 tsn vanilla extract
2 tsn rum

Topping:

200ml thickened cream
35g sugar
1/2 tsn vanilla essence
1 + 1/2 tbsn coconut, toasted
1 limes zest (1 tsn of this to go into the cake).

Method:

Preheat oven to 175c and line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In another bowl beat with electric beaters the egg yolks and sugar on high speed for 5 mins until thick and pale.
Stir into the egg mix the coconut milk, vanilla, rum and lime zest.
Sift the flour mix into the egg mix then gently fold in the flour mixture or whisk gently with a hand whisk.
In another mixing bowl beat the egg whites on until soft peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the rest of the mix in 3 lots, following stir in 2/3rds of the pineapple pieces.
Pour the batter into the cake tin and sprinkle the remaining pineapple on top of the cake.
Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Once cooked let the cake cool.
Now make the milk mix by combining the coconut milk, condensed milk, milk, vanilla and rum.
Use a skewer to poke holes in the cake, pressing all the way down to the bottom.
Take the cake out of the tin and wrap with cling wrap allowing for the cling wrap to overlap the tin. Then place back in the cake tin.
Pour the milk mixture over the cake, covering it all over and fold the cling wrap on top of the cake.
Place the cake in the fridge for 3 hours to soak up the mix.
Now make the cream topping by beating the cream, sugar and vanilla with electric beaters until soft peaks form.
Remove the cake and place on a plate, top with the cream, toasted coconut and lime zest. Serve.