chocolate stout cake

chocolate stout cake

7 Oct 2024

This is another classic story of cake redemption. Quite a few years ago I jumped onto the stout cake bandwagon and whenever I made it, using Nigella Lawson's recipe, it was very well received. One of my colleagues so liked the cake that she made it for her daughter's 21st birthday. For reasons I'm unsure of, I stopped making it.

Last month, a workmates' birthday came up and I decided to dust the cobwebs off the chocolate stout cake recipe. I topped the cake with my absolutely amazing Natalie Paull inspired cream cheese icing. The cake was a roaring success but I didn't photograph it, so I made another chocolate stout cake just so I could share the recipe with you. I took the cake into work and I can report that my workmates didn't mind one little bit.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a larger version, I've added a link to the original recipe - see below - which makes a 23 cm cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Chocolate stout cake, adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe.

Ingredients

120 mls stout
120g unsalted butter
30g cocoa 
200g caster sugar
65g sour cream at room temperature
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
140g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Icing
80g full fat softened cream cheese
80g unsalted butter, squidgy soft 
1 tsp vanilla paste
25g dried milk powder
pinch salt
80g icing sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional and grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm springform tin with baking paper.

Pour the stout into a large wide saucepan, add the butter — in spoons or slices — and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake on the centre rack for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake. When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing.

Icing
Place the cream cheese, butter, vanilla paste, milk powder and salt in the bowl of electric stand mixer. Sift the icing sugar over the top. Beat with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes on speed 4 (below low) until pale, and fluffy. Store covered in the fridge until needed. If refrigerated, rewarm in the microwave in 20-second bursts until softened. 

Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

The cake is a thing of beauty in its simplicity and I believe this is the correct cake to icing ratio.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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blood orange custard creams

blood orange custard creams

4 Oct 2024

Last Sunday I discovered the biscuit tin was empty so I opened up my copy of Beatrix Bakes:Another Slice, by Natalie Paull, and I decided to make some tangelo custard creams. No tangelos? No worries, as I had a few blood oranges in the fridge. The biscuits are made with pantry staples so with everything available I made a batch whilst all around me the world was sleeping. 

I reduced the blood orange juice for the filling as instructed and the end result was a blood red syrup. My kitchen looked like a crime scene and the whipped filling turned a hectic hot pink fluoro colour not seen in nature. Undaunted I filled the biscuits and I can tell you that the filling was delicious. It tasted pretty much the same as an elevated version of the filling from an Arnott's orange slice cream biscuit, one of my favourites.

I adapted the original recipe a little and made smaller cookies because I didn't have a 7 cm cookie cutter and I prefer small biscuits anyway. That way I can have 2 biscuits with my cup of tea, not just one. Here’s the recipe for you which makes twelve 5cm biscuits. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Blood orange custard creams
Ingredients
100g cool pliable unsalted butter
25g icing sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 blood orange (reserve juice for the filling)
100g plain flour
50g custard powder
Pinch fine sea salt
Cooking oil spray

Filling
80mls blood orange juice
100g icing sugar
Pinch salt
45g unsalted butter, very soft and squidgy

Method

Put the butter, icing sugar and finely grated orange rind into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment beat on speed 4 (below medium) for 10 minutes or until the mixture forms a creamy orange paste. Scrape down the sides of the bowl twice during mixing.

Lightly combine the dry ingredients and add to the creamed butter. Mix on 1 (low) until cohesive and no flour or butter streaks are visible.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. If the dough feels cool and ‘easy’, divide it into 2 portions and start rolling straight away. Otherwise form the dough into 2 fat discs, cover it in plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes. The dough should be around 15°C and feel like playdough.

Preheat the oven to 140°C (160°C in my oven). Lightly spray 2 flat trays with cooking oil and line with baking paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out half the dough to a 4mm thickness. Keep moving the dough and flouring underneath as you roll. If the dough cracks just re-roll it. If the cookies or dough stick to the work surface shimmy an offset spatula underneath to loosen them.

Use a 5cm round cutter to stamp out the cookies. Immediately lift them onto the baking tray. Collect up any scraps and roll again. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. Before baking, prick 3 rows of marks in the centre of each cookie with a fork so they look like deep-set buttons. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until set (when you can easily lift one up) – they should be fully cooked and dry looking but not brown. Remove from the oven and place the trays to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before filling.

While the cookies bake, juice the blood orange (don’t strain) to give you around 80g of juice. If you’re a bit short, you can top it up with some water. Reduce the juice in the microwave in 2–3-minute bursts until you have 20g of juice then set aside to cool. 

Place the reduced juice in the bowl of a stand mixer and add the remaining filling ingredients. Beat with the paddle attachment on speed 4 (below medium) for 8 minutes until the filling is fluffy, ultra creamy and hot pink (!) in colour. It should hold its shape and not be melty or slack. If the filling does slump, remove the beater and place the bowl into the fridge for 30 minutes. Return to the mixer and beat again until cool and fluffy.

Lay half the cooled cookies bottoms up on a clean tea towel and pipe or spoon a blob of the filling on each one, about 1-2 tsps. To ensure the filling doesn’t form a crust, quickly sandwich with the top cookie and using the palms of your hand, lightly press with a swirly wiggle to bring the filling out to the sides, just flush with the edge of the cookie. Chill for 10 minutes.

The biscuits will keep for 2 days in an airtight container or up to 2 weeks, if chilled, but I can assure you they won't last that long. 

Vibrant aren't they, with a flavour to match. The next time my biscuit jar is empty I'm planning to adapt the recipe to make a batch of lemon melting moments filled with passionfruit filling. Yum!

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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salted peanut butter babka

salted peanut butter babka

30 Sept 2024

A few years ago I was the babka queen but it's been at least 2 years since I last made one. A few months ago I saw a recipe for salted peanut scrolls in Delicious magazine. They sounded delicious and I planned to make a batch, that is until I wondered whether a peanut butter flavoured babka was a thing.

After I discovered it was indeed a thing, I decided to make one. I used the Honey and Co babka dough recipe, then filled the babka with the Cherry Moon General store filling, then soaked it in maple flavoured syrup after taking it from the oven. Making a babka is a 2 day process. I usually make the dough and refrigerate it overnight before shaping, proving and baking.

It was quite cold  in Sydney the day I made the dough, so it took 4 hours for my filled babka to prove and instead of brunch, I had a slice for afternoon tea. Here’s the recipe for you which makes one babka, inspired by this recipe.  For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Salted Peanut Butter and Maple Babka inspired by Cherry Moon General Store
Ingredients
90 g diced unsalted butter at room temperature
2 tsp dried yeast
1 egg
40g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
100-125 mls milk
330 g plain flour
A pinch of table salt

Filling
100g smooth peanut butter
55g roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped
100g brown sugar

To finish
2 tbs melted butter or cream
Sea salt flakes

Maple flavoured syrup 
100g caster sugar
100 mls water
1½ tsp maple extract

Method
Place the butter, yeast, egg, sugar, vanilla and 100 mls of the milk in a large mixing bowl, then top with the flour and salt. Use the dough attachment on your mixer or your hands to bring it all together to a smooth, shiny dough, adding the remaining 20 mls of milk if it looks dry. Don’t worry too much if you still have some whole flecks of butter running through the dough; they will make your final bun super-light.

Once the dough has a nice texture to it, wrap the bowl in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours. You can leave it there for up to 12 hours, but not much longer or it will start to double in size.

Assembly
Place the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle of about 40cm x 30cm. While the dough is still cool, evenly spread with peanut butter. Combine the peanuts and the brown sugar in a bowl then sprinkle the mixture over the peanut butter.

If the dough has softened too much for you to handle it, place on a tray and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up. While you are waiting, butter a 1kg loaf tin and line the base and long sides with baking paper, making sure that there is an overhang so that you will be able to lift the baked loaf out easily.

Tightly roll up the dough from the long side. Use a pastry cutter or sharp knife to cut the log in half along its length to expose the layers. Place the halves with the cut sides facing upwards. Lift one halved log over the other so that they form a cross at their midpoints, with the filling layers still pointing upwards. Continue to twist the strands over each other until the dough looks like a lovely, twisted plait.

Place in the lined baking tin and leave to prove in a warm place until the dough is fluffy, soft and doubled in size. This will take about 1 and 1/2 hours in a warm kitchen, or up to 4 hours if it is chilly.

Preheat the oven to 220°C conventional. Brush the surface of the babka with melted butter or cream then sprinkle the top with a few salt flakes. Place the babka in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 190°C. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the tin around for an even bake and leave for another 10 minutes. Bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the babka is well browned and cooked through.

While the babka is in the oven, prepare the maple flavoured syrup. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Take off the heat then add the maple extract. Set aside until needed.

Remove the babka from the oven and immediately pour the maple flavoured syrup all over the hot babka. You must let the babka cool completely in the tin or it will fall apart.

My next door neighbour loved it and came back for seconds whilst the babka was declared 'good but different' by my work colleagues and definitely was at it's best when still warm.

This was my first attempt at this babka and whilst good, I consider it a work in progress. The yeast I used to make the dough was on it's last legs, so the dough didn't rise as much as I would like and the filling was a bit dry, making it hard to twist. I think a little butter added to the peanut butter would solve this problem, so I'm keen to make the babka again, maybe drizzled with a little maple flavoured icing.  

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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tahini halva brownies

tahini halva brownies

9 Sept 2024

A long time ago I read an article by a food writer lamenting that her children couldn't nominate a 'favourite dish' that she made for them but they could for their Dad. She was a bit taken aback before she realised the reason. Dad had a small repertoire of dishes that were on repeat while she constantly presented new dishes to her family and rarely remade dishes. 

It's a bit the same with me these days, as every week I try and make something new. Favourites wouldn't be favourites though without good reason so I've decided to revisit a few of my tried and true recipes and today it's tahini halva brownie's turn.

I've made these before and every-one loves them but instead of the Ottolenghi version, I turned to Claire Ptak's recipe from her book, Love is a Pink Cake. The recipes aren't all that different but Claire's uses spelt flour instead of plain flour. I didn't have any spelt flour, so I looked through the cupboards and came up with a combination of flours I thought would go well with the tahini, chocolate and halva. I used some rye flour, plain flour and a little tapioca starch to ensure the brownies stayed squidy.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 8 tahini halva brownies. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Tahini Halva Brownies adapted from Love is a Pink Cake by Claire Ptak
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter
125g dark chocolate
2 eggs
125g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
70g spelt flour (I used 20g tapioca starch, 25g rye flour and 25g plain flour)
25g cocoa powder
Pinch salt
50g tahini paste
112g vanilla or marbled chocolate halva, broken into 1 cm pieces
Generous pinch sea salt flakes

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Butter and line a 7x7 inch cake tin with baking paper.

Put the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until the mixture has melted completely. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until combined, taking care not to over whisk; the idea here is not to add too much air. Stir the eggs into the cooled chocolate mixture with the vanilla extract, then sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Fold all together then pour into your prepared tin.

Drizzle the tahini over the top of the brownie mixture then gently run a knife across the surface to marble it. Dot with halva pieces then sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 23-25 minutes in the preheated 180°C, conventional oven but start checking for doneness at 22 minutes.The brownies should be just set but still wobbly. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into rectangles.

Baker’s tip: Remember that brownies continue to bake while they cool down. It is always a good idea to err on the side of caution and remove the baked goods just before you think they are done to avoid overbaking and to keep that lovely gooey texture. 

The brownies went down a treat at work and I think everyone was glad I'd made them - the true definition of a favourite recipe I guess.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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blood orange almond bundt cake

blood orange almond bundt cake

8 Sept 2024

I made this blood orange almond bundt cake, adapted from Flo Braker's Crystal Pound Cake recipe, just so I could retry the cake goop which failed so spectacularly last time I used it. I greased the the tin with the cake goop but then for insurance, I dusted the tin with flour then placed it in the fridge until baking time. 

This time the cake came out cleanly, but then again I didn't have any wet berries in the batter to adhere to the tin. I have a blueberry bundt cake recipe in the wings and I'll bake it using the cake goop/flour combination before making my final decision about cake goop. If you want to make some cake goop, it's just equal quantities of softened butter, oil and flour mixed together to make a paste.

Here’s the recipe for you which makes a 5-cup bundt cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Blood orange almond bundt cake – uses 1 blood orange and 1 lemon
Cake
65g plain flour, sifted (plus some for preparing the pan)
½ tsp baking powder
pinch salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
135g almond paste, at room temperature
135g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus some for preparing the pan)
1 blood orange, rind grated
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind

Blood Orange Glaze
60g of juice from 1 lemon and ½ blood orange 
60g caster sugar

To finish

1 tsp granulated sugar

Cake

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease and flour a 5-cup bundt tin and place in the fridge until needed.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla and whisk together just to combine.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the almond paste on low speed until it breaks up. This can take up to a minute, depending on how soft and warm it is. Slowly add the sugar in a steady stream, beating until incorporated. If you add the sugar too quickly, the paste won’t break up as well.

Cut the butter into 1-tablespoon pieces. Continue on low speed while adding the butter, a tablespoon at a time, for about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Then turn on the mixer to medium speed and beat until the mixture is light in colour and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. With the mixer still on medium speed, add the eggs in a very slow, steady stream and mix until incorporated. Stop the mixer and again scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn on the mixer again to medium speed and mix for 30 seconds more.

Add the rinds and mix in with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture in two batches, stirring after each addition until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl one last time, then spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula.

Bake on the centre rack of the preheated 180°C, conventional oven until the top springs back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. 

Glaze
While the cake is baking, make the glaze. Add the juice and sugar to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat for a couple minutes until the juice has come to a simmer and the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat and set aside. 

When the cake comes out of the oven, place it on a wire rack and rest for 10 minutes to allow the cake to set before carefully turning the cake out onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan or a piece of greaseproof paper. Brush the syrup all over the top and sides of the cake then allow the cake to cool completely on the rack. The cake breaks apart easily when warm, so don’t attempt to move it. Just before serving brush the cake with 1 tsp granulated sugar. Kept covered, this cake keeps well, at least 4 days. 

I made the cake using the original Flo Braker crystal glaze but it made the cake far too sweet so I changed the glaze recipe. Whilst I found the cake a bit too sweet, my colleagues didn't seem to mind. To mimic the crystal glaze, I sprinkled the glazed cake with a little extra sugar just before serving. 

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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blood orange and almond syrup cake

blood orange and almond syrup cake

1 Sept 2024

Sometime last year I discovered Nicola Lamb, a UK based pastry chef with a extrordinary devotion to recipe development. She posts recipes weekly and this orange cake recipe caught my eye. I was just waiting for blood oranges to arrive in the fruit shop before making my own version of her recipe. By the way, Nicola has just released her first cookbook, called Sift. 

I tried to simplify Nicola's instructions a little and added a few extra decorative flourishes, inspired by a photo I saw of a Revani cake, from an old issue of Gourmet Traveller. The recipe makes a lot of syrup and not wanting to waste any of my precious blood oranges, I decided to candy some peel and used the peel to decorate the cake.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. My cake used 4 blood oranges, which were around 200g each.  For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Blood orange almond syrup cake – adapted from Six Orange Cake recipe by Nicola Lamb

Syrup 
1 orange, peeled and the flesh blended and reserved
2 oranges, grated and juiced to make 150g orange juice. Reserve the rind
1 x lemon, juiced (35g)
150g caster sugar 
pinch of salt

Cake 
15g reserved grated orange rind (from approximately 1½ oranges) 
125g caster sugar

1 orange peeled and blended to make 115g blended orange flesh
2 eggs
115g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
135g unsalted butter, softened
40g ground almonds
pinch flaky salt

To serve
Candied orange rind
1 x orange, segmented
Thick greek yoghurt 
30g coarsely chopped toasted raw almonds

Make the syrup and candy the rind
Blanch the peel of one orange in boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain. Repeat this step. Juice the 2 grated oranges and the lemon - you want about 150g of orange juice and about 35g of lemon juice. Pour 135g of the juice mixture into a saucepan and add the 150g sugar and the blanched orange peel. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Take off the heat and leave to cool completely before fishing out the peel. Place the peel into a small airtight container with a little of the syrup and store in the fridge until needed. Add the remaining fresh juice and a pinch of salt to the syrup and then taste - it should taste fresh and sweet!

Cake
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional. Grease and line the base of a 17cm cake tin with baking paper.

Add 15g of finely grated orange rind (approximately 1½ oranges) directly into the caster sugar. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar to release the oils. Leave for 10 minutes for the sugar to fully draw out the oils; It will be very perfumed and turn a pleasant shade of orange.

Place the blended orange flesh into a bowl. If you don’t have a blender, you can also just use 115g of freshly squeezed juice. Whisk the eggs into the blended oranges and set aside. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.

Cream the soft butter, almonds, salt, and zesty orange sugar together for 2 minutes in a stand mixer until lightened. Scrape down the edge of the bowl, and then begin adding the orange/egg and flour/raising agent mixtures alternately in 3-4 additions. The mixture may look a bit split but don’t worry. We are trying to combine a lot of water and fat, so it will likely split - the cake will still be perfect.

Pour into the lined 17-cm tin and bake in the preheated 190°C conventional oven for 50 minutes or until deeply coloured and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with just a few moist crumbs. There should be a deep, dark crust on the cake. You want this! Leave the cake to cool completely.

Once the cake is cool, pour around 1/4 cup of syrup on top of the cake, allowing it to flow down the edges, too. Leave for 1 minute, then pour another 1/4 cup of syrup on top. Leave to soak for about 20 minutes at least before serving. Keep the rest of syrup to additionally dose the cake when serving. You can also use it to ‘feed’ the cake as it dries in the coming days. To finish, boil the remaining syrup until it is very thick and syrupy. This will be the final glaze.

Just before serving, unmould the cake and place on a serving plate. Brush a little glaze over the top of the cake and top with some chopped toasted almonds and the candied orange peel. To serve, cut into slices, spoon a little syrup onto a plate and place a slice of the cake on top. 

Top with more syrup and if desired, serve with some orange segments and a dollop of yoghurt. The cake will keep at room temperature for 1-2 days. This cake is very tender so to ensure clean slices, refrigerate the cake for about 20 minutes to firm the cake before slicing.

This cake was as good as I expected it to be - the cake was tender, deeply orange and the citrus slices and the yoghurt added a nice touch of freshness. This recipe is a definite keeper. 

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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