Sweet Tooth Experiments

Orange and Poppy Seed Rice Cake

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Orange and Poppy Seed Rice Cake

I actually got the idea for this recipe from a savory risotto and garlic cake recipe. I thought it would be interesting to take the rice base idea and the cooking methodology and incorporate this into my orange and poppy seed cake recipe (knowing only zest, juice or essence would work as the flavoring).

I did have to make quite a few alternations as I went, obviously the original orange and poppy seed ingredients were not all applicable and the savory cake methodology didn’t 100% translate but was fairly close.

The outcome was quite surprising. I had no idea if the cake would hold the structure I was after, or if the cake would be too dry, however the outcome was an extremely well structured but moist cake that tasted amazing! A very satisfying experiment. I even got told that had I not informed people of the rice part they would not have known.

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 tbsn orange zest
I tsn vanilla essence
80g poppy seeds
220g sugar
1 cup orange juice
2 cups milk
1 cup arborio rice
2 eggs
3 tbsn self raising flour

Syrup:

20g orange juice
1 tbsn orange zest
120g sugar

Method:

Simmer on low the orange zest, vanilla, poppy seeds, sugar, juice and milk in a saucepan on the stove until well combine and the sugar and butter are melted. Remove off heat.
Place the rice in a saucepan on medium heat and stir the dry rice.
Now add in 1/2 cup of the milk mix until the liquid is absorbed. Then add in another 1/2 cup. Repeat until the liquid is full absorbed. This will take around 30 minutes in total.
Remove the rice mix off the heat and place a lid on the top, leave for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 23cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.
Once the rice mix has cooled add in the eggs and flour, beat until will combine with a wooden spoon.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the top of the cake has browned slightly.
Meanwhile, place the syrup ingredients in a saucepan on a medium heat, stir until ingredients are well combine.
Boil the mix for 4 minutes or until the mix resembles a thick syrup consistency.
Using a skewer poke holes in the cake and pour the orange syrup over the top of the cake.
Remove from the tin and enjoy.

Notes:

You will need 3 oranges for this recipe.

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Peanut and Raspberry Ricotta Cheesecake

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Peanut and Raspberry Ricotta Cheesecake

So often when I come across ricotta cheesecake recipes they seem to have more cream cheese, mascarpone or cream than they do ricotta. So I decided to make a ricotta cheesecake with ricotta and no other cream or cheese inclusions.

For the flavour, I actually played around with many different fruits and flavors but found the texture always ended up too soft or the ricotta flavour overpowered the fruits flavors. Therefore, I ended up opting for ingredients that were thick in texture and strong in flavour. Now, you may recall in the past I have posted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich slice recipe which was one of my first experiments with the peanut and fruit flavour combo’s. This combo worked very well, was strong and as I used peanut butter and jam the mix would not thin the ricotta out too much. The outcome a very satisfying, creamy, tasty RICOTTA cheesecake! In fact, my father actually told me this was the best cake I have made! On top of this it is super easy to make with only 7 steps!

Ingredients

Base:

210g plain sweet biscuits
85g butter

Cake:

90ml milk
1 tbsn gelatine powder
500g ricotta
90ml golden syrup
240g raspberry jam
150g peanut butter
175g condensed milk

Method:

Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Place the biscuits and butter melted in a food processor and blitz until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.
Press the mix into the bottom of a cake tin and press with fingertips until the base is firm.
Place the tin in the fridge to firm.
Heat the milk in the microwave until bubbling then sprinkle the gelatine in the milk. Wisk with a small hand whisk until the gelatine is well combine and no lumps. Leave mix aside to cool slightly.
Using electric beaters whisk the ricotta with the condensed milk until; smooth and creamy.
Pour the milk mix into the ricotta mix along with the peanut butter and jam and beat to a smooth consistency. Whisk until well combine then pour the mix onto of the base and place in the fridge to set for 3 hours. Then remove the cake from the tin and serve.

Notes:

I have decorated with crushed peanuts and fresh raspberries.

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Novelty Chomp Bar

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Ella Posted in Unique .

Novelty Chomp Bar

While on holiday at the start of the year a friend professed her love for the chocolate bar Chomp. We were in the supermarket and she saw the Chomp bar, which is quite a rare find and had to have not one but two.

Somehow we got onto the subject of me making a ‘chomp cake’…A few bars later and an analysis of the key ingredients that go into the chocolate bar and I was pretty sure I could replicate the bar on a large scale.

Therefore introducing my Novelty Chomp Chocolate Bar.

Ingredients:

125g pack of vanilla cream waffers

Chocolate ganache:

50g thickened cream
150g milk chocolate

Caramel layer:

160g brown sugar
95g thickened cream
35g butter

Method:

Line a 15cm x 8cm loaf cake tin with baking paper.
To make the chocolate ganache heat the 50g cream in the microwave in a bowl until boiling.
Add the chocolate to the cream, wait 1 minute then stir the chocolate until a thick and glossy consistency has formed. Place the mix aside in the fridge to cool.
To make the caramel place the sugar and 95g of cream in a pan on the stove and heat on medium stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up to high and boil for 5 minutes.
Remove the pan off the heat, add the 35g of butter and stir until the mix is glossy and combine. Place in the fridge until the caramel is cooled.
To assemble pour 2/3rds of the chocolate mix into the tin, ensuring you spread the chocolate along the sides as well as covering the bottom of the tin. You need to have all the metal of the cake tin completely covered in chocolate. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes or until set.
To add the caramel layer you need to pour half the mix into the base on top of the chocolate mix.
For the wafer layer place 2×2 waffers in the tin horizontally (long ways). Cut 4 extra wafers to size to ensure complete coverage of the caramel with 2 layers of wafer thickness.
Pour the remainder of the caramel on top of the wafers and spread to ensure even coverage.
Place the tin in the freezer for 5 minutes.
Remove the tin from the freezer and pour the remaining chocolate ganache over the top of the caramel, ensuring even and full overage of the caramel.
Place in the freezer for 20 minute.
To serve turn the tin upside down onto a plate and remove the baking paper from the Chomp Bar.
Cut horizontally and enjoy.

Note:

You will only need 8 waffers for this recipe so if you can find a smaller packet (70g) of waffers it would be ideal.

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Musk Candy Cake

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Musk Candy Cake

Recently at work a colleague brought in a box of old school canteen/cafeterias musk sticks, which of course I consumed quite happily. It has been so long since I have had lollies that I grew up on (one would hope that I have grown out of the lolly bag stage by now). Eating these lollies brought on the idea of making a musk flavoured cake.

By using my standard vanilla cake recipe as the base I modified to allow for ground-up musk sticks. After a few variations of frosting I ended up making a rosewater inspired frosting, which is a very very similar flavour to musk sticks therefore worked really well.

Musk sticks in the icing made the texture way to rough and looked worse for wear after being spread onto the cake.

Such a tasty and pretty cake – this one will be coming out again for a cousins 7^th birthday for sure!

Ingredients:

Cake:

250g sugar
125g butter
2 eggs
1 + ½ rosewater essence
Pink food coloring (as many drops as you desire)
275g musk lollies
250 milk
2 cups self raising flour

Frosting:

125g butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsn rosewater essence
Pink food coloring (as many drops as you desire)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 23cm baking tin with baking paper.
Place the musk lollies in a food processor and process until they are to a powder consistency.
Beat the sugar and butter with electric beaters until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time beating in between each addition.
Beat in the rosewater essence and food coloring.
Beat in the ground musk until well combine.
Pour in the milk and flour and stir with a spoon until just combine.
Use the electric beaters until the mix is just smooth, without over-beating.
Pour the mix into the prepared cake tin.
Place in the oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Meanwhile make the frosting by placing the ingredients into a bowl and using the electric beaters beat the mix until light and fluffy. Place aside.
Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer onto a cooling rack.
Once cool cut the cake in half horizontally.
Following, spread the frosting in the middle of the cake, over the top and sides with a knife.

Notes:

I used musk sticks as musk flavored lifesavers are too hard to process sufficiently.

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Lychee Coconut and Lime Yoghurt Sorbet

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Ella Posted in Ice-cream & Sorbet .

Lychee Coconut and Lime Yoghurt Sorbet

This recipe has come from a combination of different types of ice-cream and sorbet recipes, where I have then overlayed an interesting twist via the inclusion of yoghurt.

I do experiment quite frequently with yoghurt. I find yoghurt a great versatile ingredient to replace other dairy ingredients with the added bonus of being a little more healthy and providing a brand new flavor to the mix.

I like the idea of making sorbet by blitzing frozen fruit but found that frozen lychees blitzed didn’t really work quite like Banana…

After playing around a little bit I found adding in some yoghurt gave the ideal texture.

Once coconut and lime juice were paired for a smack bang flavor combo explosion I had a delectable sorbet on my hands.

Ingredients:

450g lychees
110g coconut milk
95g sugar
250g natural yoghurt
25g desiccated coconut
15ml lime juice
2 + ½ tsn lime zest

Method:

Place the lychees into a food processor with the coconut milk and blitz until the mix is smooth and silky.
Pour the mix into a saucepan with the sugar and stir on a medium heat until the mix bubbles. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Place the yoghurt, desiccated coconut, lime juice and lime zest into a bowl and whisk until well combine.
Pour the lychee mix into the yoghurt mix and stir until combine.
Place the mix into the food processor again and blitz for 1 minute.
Pour the mix into an ice-ream machine and churn accordingly.
Place the mix into a container in the fridge until your ready to serve.

Notes:

If you do not have an ice-cream machine that is fine just transfer the mix each hour, 3 times into the food processor and blitz before placing the mix back in the frezzer to set.
I used 2 x 565g cans of lychees for this recipe to get the 450g of actual lychees.

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Mandarin and Rosemary Cake

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Mandarin and Rosemary Cake

Though it sounds bazaar to have a cake featuring a pairing of 2 conflicting flavors and textures this cake surprises and delights.

I do have to admit I was a little skeptical as to if this would turn out to be a successful flavour combo. I knew this experiment of flavours would be interesting, but you don’t know how successful a made up flavour combo will pair until you actually create the cake and taste.

Why this was so surprising, the favors blended together and created the most amazing flavour. The rosemary seems to add a salty but sweet twist, while the mandarin provides the freshness and citrus flavour foundation.

Definitely a new favorite sweet treat!

Ingredients:

Cake:

170g butter
140g sugar
300g cake flour
2 tsn dried rosemary
1 tbsn mandarin zest
1 tsn vanilla essence
2 tbsn mandarin juice
170g milk
6 eggs
Pinch cream of tartar
Pinch salt
40g sugar

Icing:

160g butter
4 cups icing sugar
4 tbsn mandarin juice
2 tsn mandarin zest
2 tsn dried rosemary

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 175c degrees and line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper.
Using electric beaters whisk the sugar and butter for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
Add the flour, rosemary, zest, essence, juice and milk to the butter mix.
Beat until the mix is creamy and fluffy.
In another bowl beat the eggwhites until soft peaks form.
Add the salt, tartar and sugar to the eggwhite mix and beat until peaks form.
Fold a quarter of the eggwhite mix into the batter to loosen the batter up.
Fold the remaining eggwhites into the mix.
Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes to cool, then place on a cooling rack until cold.
To make the icing beat the butter and icing sugar with electric beaters until creamy and smooth.
Add the juice, zest and rosemary to the mix and beat until well combine.
Cut the cooled cake in half horizontally.
Place 1 cake half on a plate, spread with 1/3^rd of the icing.
Place the 2^nd cake half on top of the icing then spread the remainder of the icing on the sides and top of the cake.
Enjoy!

Note:

I used 4 mandarins for this recipe.

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Chocolate Avocado Peppermint Slice

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Ella Posted in Slice .

Chocolate Avocado Peppermint Slice

You may notice that I bake every few months with avocado as an ingredient, where it’s not generally the hero ingredient but a substitute for naughty ingredients (think butter, oil, thickener etc). This is mind, I decided that I would make a common flavour pairing slice (peppermint and chocolate) and turn this into a less guilty version.

If I added in avocado and used cocoa powder instead of adding in chocolate I could cut out primary refined processed elements and make the recipe more wholesome-friendly.

Of course it did take quite a few tweaks along the way to get to this final recipe but I am actually really happy with this one. It’s super simple, doesn’t need to be cooked, not too sweet but still tasty and does the 3pm treat trick.

How I see this recipe – think mint slice biscuits but a much nutritious version.

Ingredients:

Base:

120g flour
45g cocoa powder
75g brown sugar
90g butter

Filling:

280g avocado (2 avocado equivalent)
100g butter
100g brown sugar
¾ tsn peppermint oil (1 tsn if using essence)

Topping:

60g cocoa powder
60g butter
85g sugar

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 20x20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Place all the base ingredients into a food processor and blitz until the texture resembles fine crumbs.
Spoon mix into the prepared cake tin and flatten with finger tips.
Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes until cooked then set aside to cool.
Place all the filling ingredients into the food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy.
Spoon the mix over the chocolate base, smooth with the back on a spoon and place into the freezer for 20 minutes.
To make the topping place all 3 ingredients into a saucepan on a medium heat on the stove and stir until the mix boils and the sugar has melted. You should have a glossy consistency.
Allow mix to cool slightly then pour over the avocado filling. Using the back of a spoon spread and smooth for a flat top.
Place in the freezer for 20 minutes, cut with a hot knife and enjoy.

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Marmalade Bread and Butter Port Slice

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Ella Posted in Slice .

Marmalade Bread and Butter Port Slice

Recently Bread & Butter pudding has been brought to my attention again, which for some reason happens to be one of my father’s favorite desserts.

To me, this dessert is quite bland. I get that the sultanas, cinnamon and/or nutmeg add flavour, however ultimately it’s still just soaked bread that is baked.

As the old English traditional recipe is so simple and only includes few ingredients for flavour I thought this was a good dessert to play with and bring it to a place I found appealing.

After a bit of trial and error I ended up happy with an orange and port flavour pairing and a slice as the form.

Outcome? I’m now a fan of a Bread & Butter dessert.

Ingredients:

300g white sourdough bread, crusts removed
300ml milk
80g butter, melted
3 eggs
100g brown sugar
280g orange marmalade
2 tsn cinnamon
2 tsn vanilla essence
2 tsn port
100g sultanas

Ingredients:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
Cut the bread into 1cm pieces and place in a bowl with the milk for 5 minutes until the bread is soft and has absorbed the milk.
In another bowl place the melted butter, eggs, sugar, marmalade, cinnamon, essence and port. Using a hand whisk beat until well combine.
Add in the bread to the butter mix and stir with the hand whisk until well combine and the bread starts to breakdown.
Add in the sultanas and stir.
Pour the mix into the tin, smooth the top and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until lightly brown.
Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
Serve with ice-cream or cream.

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Parmesan Cheese Chocolate Slice

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Ella Posted in Slice .

Parmesan Cheese Chocolate Slice

While researching interesting flavour combos to experiment with I came across a reference to chocolate and parmesan cheese. This sparked my interest as (1) that just sounds so wrong and (2) it could be an interesting experiment considering baking with ricotta, mascarpone and cream cheese is so common.

Parmesan does have a very different texture and a much stronger taste than its creamy associates listed above; however, this would just skew the way I will need to incorporate the cheese and the volume placed in the recipe.

Therefore to complement the texture of the cheese I opted for a slice and undertook a lot of taste testing until I hit the volume of parmesan that I felt was the perfect ratio to chocolate.

Now, I do realise this flavour combo does sound weird but the output of this slice is perfection. The slice cuts like a dream and tastes like one to, seriously!

Ingredients:

Base:

190g flour
30g cocoa powder
80g brown sugar
150g butter

Filling:

330g icing sugar
120g grated parmesan cheese

Topping:

200g dark chocolate
20g vegetable oil

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c and line a 20x20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Place the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and butter into a food processor and blitz until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.
Place the mix into the base of the tin and flatten down with your fingertips.
Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until the top is firm.
Set the slice aside to cool.
Make the filling by placing the icing sugar, parmesan cheese and 50ml of water into a saucepan and stir on a medium heat until the mix is combine and the cheese is melted.
Pour over the top of the chocolate biscuit base and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to set firm.
Place chocolate and oil into a saucepan on low heat and stir until melted and smooth.
Pour the chocolate topping over the filling and place back in the fridge for 1 hour to set.
Cut and enjoy.

Notes:

I used grated packet cheese. If you are using fresh and grating yourself you may want to add 2/3 of the cheese that I have and taste test as the fresh Parmesan (depending on brand) could vary in taste strength.

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Banana and Bacon Caramel Slice

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Ella Posted in Slice .

Banana and Bacon Caramel Slice

I have had the flavour pairing of bacon and banana on my radar for quite some time now, however was unsure of how to incorporate these two ingredients into a recipe that would work, have the perfect texture, complement other ingredients and be super tasty.

I’m familiar with baking with bacon and know that it is a massive flavour enhancer (my Chocolate Bacon Cake is amazing).

After a bit of experimenting I ended up very happy with a caramel slice type recipe that incorporated the bacon and banana.

The caramel and bacon work so well together, the bacon is almost like a natural salt, thus making a lovely salted caramel flavour. Additionally banana and caramel are amazing together (hello Banoffee Pie). As banana is quite a soft ingredient and does not hold is shape well (unlike marshmallow) I have opted for banana chips for this recipe. The chips actually provide a lovely complementary crunch to the smooth caramel and fluffy marshmallows.

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base:

220g diced bacon
100g butter
90g sugar
30g rice flour
150 flour

Topping:

40g thickened cream
260g caramel sweets (lollies)
90g marshmallows
80g banana chips

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 15cm x 15cm square cake tin with baking paper.
On a high heat place the bacon pieces in a saucepan and fry until the bacon is brown and bubbling.
Place the bacon on paper towel to absorb the oil then place in a food processor (you will have 100g of cooked bacon pieces).
Place the melted bacon, butter, sugar and flours in the food processor and blitz on high until the bacon is as fine as breadcrumbs.
Pour the mix into the tin, flatten with a spoon and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until firm to touch.
Cut up the banana chips into small pieces as well as the marshmallows.
Scatter the banana and marshmallows over the top of the biscuit base.
Place the cream and caramels in a saucepan on a medium heat and stir until the caramel and cream become smooth and melted.
Pour the warm caramel over the top of the slice.
Allow the caramel to set then cut into square pieces.

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« Previous Page

Unusual sweets and global treats

Orange and Poppy Seed Rice Cake

Peanut and Raspberry Ricotta Cheesecake

Novelty Chomp Bar

Musk Candy Cake

Lychee Coconut and Lime Yoghurt Sorbet

Mandarin and Rosemary Cake

Chocolate Avocado Peppermint Slice

Marmalade Bread and Butter Port Slice

Parmesan Cheese Chocolate Slice

Banana and Bacon Caramel Slice

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