Sweet Tooth Experiments

Author Archives: Ella

Polenta, Yoghurt and Lime Cake

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Polenta, Yoghurt and Lime Cake

Polenta, Yoghurt and Lime Cake

I am a lover of polenta, cook with parmesan and bake..oh my! So when I came across a polenta, yoghurt (I also love baking with yoghurt the texture is to die for) and lime cake I was intrigued.

You don’t taste the polenta (it doesn’t really have much flavor anyway) but the texture of this cake is awesome.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup polenta
  • 1 cup natural yoghurt
  • 2 tsn finely grated lime rind
  • 250g butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup self raising flour

Syrup:

  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup lime juice

Method:

  1. Combine the polenta, yoghurt and rind in a bowl and mix. Refrigerate for 3 hours minimum (overnight would be best).
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 180c and line a 25cm cake tin with baking paper.
  3. Add the butter, sugar and polenta mix until combined. Then stir in the eggs and sifted flour.
  4. Pour batter (or spread due to constancy) into the cake tin and cook for 50 minutes.
  5. To make the syrup add the sugar and juice into a pan on the stove on low until the sugar is dissolved, then boil mixture.
  6. Pour the syrup over the cake in the tin once cooked and let the cake stay in tin for 20 minutes. Serve.

Notes:

  • This cake is amazing by itself but you can serve with a dollop of yoghurt on the side if you think the syrup is to over powering.
  • Don’t microwave the syrup instead of cook on the stove, the syrup won’t thicken and it will be the consistency of water not thick syrupy goodness.
  • I places some sultanas in the syrup for a bit of a variation on the syrup in the pic above, however I do recommend leaving the syrup as is.

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

Spiced Pumpkin Pie

Posted on Posted in America, Pies, Traditional .

Pumpkin Pie

Spiced Pumpkin Pie

I have mentioned before that zucchini is one of my favorite veggies, in addition to this though I LOVE pumpkin. This recipe could actually be classified as a traditional cultural recipe as Pumpkin Pie is renown as a sweet treat in America (especially at Halloween).

Similar to zucchini cake there are many many pumpkin pie recipes but this one is my favorite and has great spices incorporated.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of pumpkin that has been cooked then pureed in the food processor
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 + ½ thickened cream
  • 200g brown sugar
  • 2 tsn ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsn ground ginger
  • ½ tsn nutmeg
  • ½ tsn ground cloves
  • ½ tsn all spice
  • 1 28cm sweet short crust pastry shell or store brought sweet crust pastry

Method:

  • If using store brought pastry, roll out on a lightly floured surface then transfer pastry onto a lightly greased 25cm loose bottomed tart pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. If you are using a bought tart shell omit this step.
  • Preheat the oven to 180c.
  • Line the pan with baking paper and fill with rice (this is called blind baking which stops the center of the pastry in the tart rising).
  •  Bake for 10 minutes.
  • Increase the oven temprature to 220c.
  • Place all ingredients (how simple is this) into a food processor and process until smooth.
  • Pour batter into the tart case and cook for 10 minutes.
  • Now reduce the oven to 150c and bake for a further 30 – 40 minutes
  • Cool, then its ready to serve. I suggest serving with a dollop of cream and a good drizzle of maple syrup.

Notes:

  • This is not the most amazing tart in the world as its not as sweet as a choc pie (clearly) but it is very tasty, different and a must if you love different spices (also if you love pumpkin like me).
  • You can make your own pastry by placing 250g plain flour, 110g icing sugar and 110g chilled & cubed butter in the food processor for a few seconds until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add an egg until the mix comes away from the walls of the processor and place in plastic wrap in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then transfer pastry onto a lightly greased 25cm loose bottomed tart pan

 

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

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

My last post featured the Chocolate Zucchini cake, which I would say was one of the most dense cakes I have ever made, however this cake I am about to introduce you to would be one of a few that is an exception.

Recently I have been drinking red wine a lot more than I usually do (I’m not really a wine or beer drinker, more a spirit with mixers).  Based on this new palate I seem to have I thought it could be fun to experiment with red wine in a cake (many cakes have liqueur’s so this isn’t that different..is it)?

From my posts thus far you can start to get the notion that I am a MASSIVE chocolate fan, where again this cake demonstrates this. I promise the next posts will be chocolate free for a bit of a change 🙂

For this Red Wine Chocolate Cake you will need:

Ingredients:

  • 1 + ¾ cups plain flour
  • ¾ cocoa powder
  • 2 tsn bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsn baking powder
  • 1 + ½ cups white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup + 20ml red wine
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 tsn vanilla essence

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180c and line a 25cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.
  • Add all the dry ingredients into a bowl via a sieve and stir to combine.
  • Then add all the wet ingredients and beat with an electric beater on medium for 2 minutes until the batter is smooth.
  • Pour batter into the cake tin and bake for 40 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.
  • Cool the cake for 5 minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Notes:

  • This cake is awesome and the red wine is not over powering at all.
  • If you want to make cupcakes instead pour batter into cupcake patties and cook for 15 minutes.
  • I decorated my cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting that had red wine also incorporated into it.

Like this recipe? I recommend you also check out my Chocolate Zucchini Cake. Additionally please do subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Now I know there are many many many chocolate and zucchini cake recipes out there (seriously, who would have though it), but this one is a winner.

It’s simple, easy and I dare you to bake a more dense cake!

Zucchini is one of my favourite veggies and the fact it generally takes on other ingredients flavours as appose to having its own strong flavour make me think this would be an interesting experiment to trial…

The outcome, this cake is great and tastes lovely, it also sticks with my desires to turn the ever-so-naughty chocolate baking treat into a healthier version.

So without further ado my Chocolate Zucchini Cake:

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsn vanilla essence
  • 1 tsn instant coffee
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsn baking powder
  •  1 tsn bicarbonate of soda
  • 3 cups of grated zucchini that has had a good squeeze to remove excess liquid
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method

  • Preheat oven to 180 c.
  • Line or grease a 28cm spring form cake tin.
  • Beat together butter, sugar and eggs until the batter is pale. Following add the vanilla and coffee.
  • In another bowl sift the flour, soda, bicarb and cocoa. Stir in zucchini and choc chips.
  • Now lightly fold in wet mix unto the dry mix until combined.
  • Pour into tin and bake for about 50-60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
  • Cool in tin for 5 mins then transfer onto a cooling rack.

Now there are 3 ways I have made this cake and finished them to serve. These being:

  1. Top with mixed berries and dust with icing sugar and cream on the side
  2. Covered the cake in chocolate ganache (however defeats the ‘healthier’ statement); OR
  3. Make a cherry jam. For this all I did was bought a 680g jar of Morello cherries and added to this 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup of the cherry juice from the jar. I placed these into a pan on the stove and once boiled I added 2 tbs corn flour and whisked until thick. Once the cake was cooled I cut in half and spread the jam in the center and the top of the cake. Outcome OMG!

Things to note:

  • Without the jam or berries the cake can come off to be a little tiny bit ‘earthy’ tasting…not really noticeable but to a sweet tooth like mine the cake is not the sweetest around.
  • I made Cherry jam as I had the jar in the cupboard and LOVE cherries.
  • Lots of zucchini cake recipes don’t have the coffee however I think it intensifies the chocolate taste and you don’t notice it’s there.

Like this recipe? I recommend you also check out my Red Wine Chocolate Cake. Additionally please do subscribe via RSS or email to get my new entries and more scrumptious recipes with reviews.

Sweet Potato and Chocolate Brownie

Posted on Posted in Brownies .
Sweet Potato Chocolate Brownie

Sweet Potato and Chocolate Brownie

This recipe spiked my interest as I don’t really cook a lot with sweet potato. Standard potato and pumpkin yes, but this veggie not so much.

In addition to sweet potato, the combo in this recipe of dark chocolate seemed like an interesting fusion of flavours.

The outcome of these brownies was quite surprising.

Though a whole cup of mashed potato is used in this recipe the favour of chocolate and hazelnut is so strong that you don’t even realise that this ingredient is present. This actually is not a bad thing as chocolate and hazelnut as we know are a match made in heaven. The potato makes the brownie extremely dense and moist, while also cutting out the large quantity of butter, chocolate and sugar that makes a normal choc brownie. This then makes the recipe a much more healthy version.

There is only a small quantity of flour in this recipe therefore I actually used gluten free plain flour to make the recipe gluten free (the baking powder is also GF).

This recipe is very simple, quick and very tasty.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 + 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 cup mashed and baked sweet potato
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsn vanilla essence
  • 3/4 cup plain flour
  • 1/4 tsn baking powder
  • 100g raw hazelnuts chopped  finely.

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 180c and line a square baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Place the butter and 1 cup of the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium until melted. Stir with a metal spoon until the ingredients have melted.
  3. In another bowl mix the potato and sugar unit combined. Following add the chocolate mix, eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth and thick.
  4. Stir in remaining ingredients.
  5. Pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes or until firm to touch.
  6. Cool in tin, cut and serve.

A few tips include:

  • You can use hazelnut meal instead of chopped hazelnuts for a more smoother texture.
  • In addition, if you don’t want any ‘crunch’ at all melt all the chocolate not just one cup at the beginning.

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

Hello and welcome to Sweet Tooth Experiments