Cakes

From Gluten-free Orange Cake to Mary’s Mini Coffee & Walnut cakes

The 108th Bake: Mary’s Dobos Torte

I am nearly done with my bakes! I can’t believe it. This is the last cake from the recipe book and WOW, what a cake. But, this spectacular torte was a mare to make. I laid the ingredients out on the bench and it took me at least 36 hours to get up the courage to start. Finally one evening before dinner, I made the decision to make the sponges, all 12 of them!!! So I cut measured circles out of baking paper, and laid them on baking trays. Then, you know the drill, I beat 8 eggs with caster sugar until the ribbon stage and added the flour. I spooned the mixture evenly onto the circles of paper and baked for 8 minutes.

  • a game of cut out
  • 8 egg sponge mixture
  • divided by 12
  • fluffy circles of air

Now that’s a lot of sponges. Six 20cm wide and six 15 cm wide. Job done. I decided to get a head start on the next step, the caramel for the caramel butter cream, so I put 800g of sugar in a pot with 100ml of water and dissolved this over medium heat. Unfortunately, it went from a bubbly lump of sugar to a hard lump of sugar, so I called it a fail and decided to do it in the morning!

  • bubble and toil
  • now that aint caramel 🙁

So in the morning with 12 sponges done, I set to to make the caramel butter cream again. Luckily I had bought more sugar as 800g is no small amount. Well, you wouldn’t believe it, but it happened again!!! A hard lump of white sugar instead of clear sugar syrup going to golden caramel. So I decided to

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By Denise, ago

The 104th Bake: Miniature Chocolate & Cherry Cakes

One miniature and one large chocolate cherry cake!

My miniature chocolate & cherry cakes were not so miniature. I decided to make a birthday cake for my son, born on Valentines Day, – cherries and chocolate, perfect!!

Given that I didn’t have the 16 miniature ramekins, it seemed like too good an opportunity to waste, so big birthday cake it was. I have to say, if you’ve ever thought about pimping up a cake, this has got to fall into that category. What didn’t it have in it? It had from melted chocolate, to cocoa, to liqueur to cherry syrup, cherries and buttermilk, this was a rich wholesome cake. It made me realize there’s no holding back when baking. You can pimp your cake anytime!!!! Add cherries, melted chocolate, whatever you like. Such a great idea, even inject liqueur if it’s a special occasion, Why not I say?

  • muscovado sugar gave it an extra depth of flavour
  • chopped cherries
  • melt that chocolate

So to make the cake I melted dark chocolate over a bain marie, and set this aside to cool. I beat together butter, caster sugar, and muscovado sugar till light and creamy, and gradually beat in the eggs. Then

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By Denise, ago

The 102nd Bake: Dundee Whisky Cake

Have you ever made a mistake and thought, I can’t believe that just happened. We go through life on a wish and a prayer, not anticipating mistakes and mishaps but always shocked and annoyed when they do happen. (Speaking of which I just accidentally posted the 103rd bake before this one, which I baked a week ago and is now ready to eat!!!) I went to the beach with my daughter the other day, quick trip as she had to be somewhere later. I backed up next to the curb and as we got out, she said, “you’ve punctured the tyre on the curb.” “What surely not” I thought, but lo and behold, there it was hissing air, going flat before our eyes. Turned into a quick, very annoying and expensive trip to the beach!!!

So I went to make this cake, Dundee Whisky Cake and as you can see it has Whisky in it. I knew my husband had some whisky stored in the back of the liquor cabinet so reached in and pulled out what I thought was a cheap bottle that had been sitting there forever. I was supposed to soak the fruit overnight, but thought 5 tablespoons of whisky with an extra splash for good luck soaking for a few hours would do the trick instead. He popped in while I was making the cake and said in shock “What is the gold label doing out?” I told him and he nearly fell over in explaining to me that it was a very expensive 18 year old bottle of whisky I had broken the seal on, to make a cake!!! Woops. Now that’s going to be a very expensive delicious cake!!! Another unforeseen mishap! Never mind, I’m sure he will forgive me when he gets to eat the cake. Haha. So to make this cake I first put the whisky into the fruit and mixed peel to soak!!! (yum)

  • Oops, I used rather a lot !
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By Denise, ago

The 100th Bake: Dark Chocolate & Almond Liqueur Savarin

I made it to triple figures, Yay. Can’t believe it. One step at a time and I’m nearly there. Just living the moment and not thinking too much about what lay ahead has helped make this task less daunting.

This was one of those Saturday bakes, when I knew I had all day and could take my time. I needed it! This is not a regular cake, it’s a “rich yeast cake”, soaked in almond liqueur syrup. It comes out light and fluffy and moist. Quite unusual. The dough contains yeast and sugar, salt, milk and eggs, so had to be mixed and proved twice for an hour each time, in order to rise before baking. Now that was plenty of time for contemplation! It’s something I have noticed recently, that seems to be a lost art. When do you see people waiting at bus stops, even walking down the street, just taking in their surroundings and giving their brains time to download and process all the information we pile into it daily. There is usually a device in hand, even at family picnics, its the devices that are reached for to check out status or likes or just what everyone else in the world is doing. I’m guilty of it too but I have to admit I do get my best ideas when I take time out to think. 🙂

As Luther Standing Bear an Oglala Sioux chief once said “I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi mediating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.”

  • Melted choc into the mixture
  • Proved twice and baked
  • Almond liqueur syrup to soak the cake in

So this recipe involved quite a few steps. I melted the chocolate and set this aside to cool. Then put the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and cocoa powder

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By Denise, ago

The 96th Bake: Mum’s Sunday Tea Lemon Curd Swiss Roll

I always grow tomatoes in the garden in summer. I love planting them, but am not great at watering them. This year I decided it might be quaint to have cherry tomatoes growing in a barrel on the deck. Well look at how that turned out!!! With all the rain over Christmas, the roots became water logged and the plants died, then next minute, fruit!!!! -the plants last ditch effort to reproduce. That’s nature for you – a veritable miracle, (not quite the lucky haul of previous seasons!)

  • A miracle!
  • The haul

I have never made lemon curd. I’ve threatened to, but never actually ventured to do it. I’m pleased now that I finally have and what a great recipe, full of butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest, it tasted like lemon meringue pie filling, just divine. To make the lemon curd, I simply

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By Denise, ago

The 94th Bake: Plum Muffins

I whipped these up one afternoon as the kids were arriving home after being away camping. I figured some home baking, or food in general would go down a treat. They were easy and delicious with the tart plums in the centre and wholemeal flour making them even healthier. I couldn’t find the recipe on line so will give it to you here.

To make the muffins I heated the oven to 180˚C. I cut the plums in half, removed the stones and cut each half into 6 wedges, then set aside. I put the soft butter, muscovado

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By Denise, ago

The 88th Bake: Emergency Christmas Cakes

I made small ones to give away as gifts

If you haven’t already made your Christmas cake, don’t panic. It’s not too late.  If you’ve never tried making a Christmas cake, it’s never too late.  My cake https://thebakersdozenbakeoff.com/2018/11/10/mamas-christmas-cake/ is a fantastic recipe, very easy, pretty much no fail.  Give it a go.  The great thing about Christmas cake is it does get better with age but you can also eat it straight away.  This Emergency Christmas Cake was different as it used fruit mince and apples, so resulted in a much lighter but delicious cake, a bit like steamed pudding, YUM.  By the way here’s the link to the recipe book I am using if you want a great Christmas present https://www.amazon.com/Great-British-Bake-Book-Baking/dp/1849904839 As you can see, it has some fun, very successful recipes, well worth trying.  I have to shop differently this year for one of my daughters as she prefers op shop clothing and recycled ethical purchases.  Makes shopping for Christmas presents challenging that’s for sure but it does feel good to be contributing to a charity with your purchases as well as recycling and not adding to environmental waste. 

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By Denise, ago

The 76th Bake: Paul’s Blackcurrant & Licorice Swiss Roll

A sunny afternoon, I had just done some exercise, so thought I would start this recipe, then go for a shower and finish the cake in a leisurely fashion during the afternoon.  Didn’t happen.  Once I had started the sponge I kind of had to finish it, so it was a quick bake, needless to say I didn’t wait for the sponge to finish cooling down before I rolled it and wammo, not a good idea.  It flopped and folded instead of rolled. Oh well, still tasted good and went down a treat.  In fact, it was a public holiday so we had lunch in the sun with pancakes and fruit made by my daughter and that was delicious.  The sun was bright, and it got me thinking about light, how important it is to us.  It’s got so many functions, heat, illumination, guidance, protection, symbolism, spirituality, you name it.  The moon was bright last night and as I looked at the stars I thought how everyone has their thing, their little bit of light that they want to shine into the world.  Stars remind us of what we are reaching for: something bright to put into the world, but they also remind us of how far away our dreams are, how big they are, and that they are worth striving for.  Now that’s deep!  Onto the bake. (more…)

By Denise, ago

The 74th Bake: Mary’s Cherry Cake

This little number looks easy.  All I need is cherries and almonds.  Seems to be a lot of cherry and almond recipes in this cookbook.  I have taken up watching not only master chef, but the Great Australian Bake-off and the Great Kiwi Bake-off.  Lots of cooking shows. Not complaining, for me its my sport, fun competition that’s interesting and informative. (because I don’t DO sport, unless its the Olympics of course)  The Great Aussi Bake off were making quiches and I didn’t know that you were supposed to blind bake first or that a quiche is cooked to the point of having a wobble!  Who knew?  I was baking a quiche at the time, so I will give you my recipe for that sometime soon.  It’s a good one, you don’t have to blind bake it first and the pastry is quick and easy.  I whipped up this cake with (more…)

By Denise, ago

The 72nd Bake: Swedish Cardamom Almond Cake

Time for cake in the house!   I had all the ingredients except for full-fat crème fraîche.  So I decided to whip this up before heading to a book reading in the afternoon. This cake was so full of the scent and subtle flavour of cardamom, delicious and unexpected.  It actually tasted like a lemon cake.

The book reading was at “The Open Book” which is a second hand book store on Ponsonby Rd.  Fabulous place, you could get lost there for hours with its room after room of categorized books, historical fiction, cooking, gardening, nonfiction and the list goes on.   There is a sale at the end of the month. GO 🙂

To make the cake, I buttered the loaf tin and then sprinkled sliced almonds around the sides.  This would coat the outside (more…)

By Denise, ago