WWDH - Food Processor Banana Cake

This week's Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Food Processor Banana Cake, chosen by Margaret from p160 of Off The Shelf.  You can also find the recipe online here.

To make this cake is a breeze - you bung everything in the food processor, wazz it up, pour it into a bundt tin, bake and and voila - you have cake in under an hour. I used up some aged bananas that I had stashed in the freezer, and though they looked gross when thawed, they were perfect in this cake. 

If you need a snack for a child's lunch box, I think this cake would be perfect - it is not too bad nutritionally while still maintaining the treat factor.

To see what Margaret, Kayte and Chaya thought of this cake, visit their websites.

BWJ - Boca Negra



Last night, I went to see Neil Finn and Paul Kelly in concert at The Palais in St Kilda. It was a stiflingly hot night, but no-one seemed to mind with the class acts that we had come to see.  My favourite song was Neil singing Split Enz's Message to My Girl - I was shivering with delight. Other great moments for me were Paul singing Before Too Long, and the Neil-led sing-along of Fall At Your Feet. Magic!

This week's Baking with Julia assignment was the very decadent Boca Negra (literally, "black mouth" which is what you will have after taking a bite), hosted by Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden.

If you are a chocolate fan, you will love this cake.  If you eat it warm, it is kind of like a chocolate self-saucing pudding, but  if you refrigerate it, the cake turns into a fudgy delight that will take you to heaven.  Here is my heart shaped version:

Eat this cake with icecream and raspberries to cut through the dense chocolate.  Enjoy!

To see what the other Baking with Julia bakers thought, visit the BWJ website.

Mascarpone and Fig Sponge Cake - Kate Gibbs recipe

Last night, I went to see Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band at Festival Hall in Melbourne.  It was an amazing evening on all kinds of levels.  Ringo is 72 years old, but jumped around on stage, despite the stifling heat, and has the physique of a man half his age.  His voice is still good, and his sense of humour is still sharp as a tack.  Can you spot Ringo in the photo below:

The All Starr Band was comprised of guys from a number of famous bands who played a range of hits from the 70s and 80s.  However, for me, the best part was Ringo himself.  When I was a little girl in kindergarten, one of the songs we learned was Yellow Submarine by The Beatles.  Imagine my delight when all these years later, Ringo led me and the rest of the audience in a rousing rendition of Yellow Submarine!  He also led us in A Little Help From My Friends.  It was a brilliant evening, and I am so glad that I went.

Now on to the cake.  This Mascarpone and Fig Sponge Cake recipe is by Kate Gibbs, and was published in a recent Sunday Life  magazine.  It caught my attention because it contained two ingredients that I just happened to have on hand - fig jam and mascarpone.

This cake is light and delicious, making it a perfect tea time treat.

To make this cake, you will need:

Cake

95g self raising flour
25g cornflour
4 eggs, separated
100g + 2 tbs sugar 
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Filling

320g fig jam

2 egg whites
500g mascarpone
2 tbs icing sugar
extra icing sugar and dried figs to decorate

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 22cm springform pan.

Sift the flour and cornflour together into a bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the egg yolks, 100g sugar and vanilla until thick, then set aside.

Beat the egg whites until they start to foam, then add the cream of tartar  and beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.  Fold in the 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Fold a third of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the flour, and finally, fold in the remaining beaten egg whites.

Place the batter into the prepared cake pan, reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees Celsius, and bake the cake for 30 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the filling, beat the egg whites until firm peaks form, then fold in the softened mascarpone and the icing sugar. 

Cut the cake into two layers using a serrated knife.  Place the bottom layer cut side up onto a cake plate or board.  Spread the layer with the fig jam, spreading right to the edges,  then spread the mascarpone mixture over the jam.  Place the second cake layer, cut side down, on top of the mascarpone.  Dust the top of the cake with icing sugar and decorate with dried figs as desired.

Slice and enjoy.

FFwD Valentine's Cookie Exchange - Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries

Despite this week being one of the most demanding of my working life, I left for work with a spring in my  step this morning - because I was off to the post office to pick up my FFwD Valentines Cookie Exchange package from the post office!  It arrived right on time on Valentines Day, but unfortunately I did not get home in time to pick it up before the post office closed.

Off to the post office I skipped at 7.30am today, and there was my parcel, neatly wrapped in brown paper.  The yellow tape on the outside and a note inside indicated that the Australian Quarantine service had been there before me:

but nothing could spoil my excitement at receiving a parcel of cookies all the way from the USA.

My cookies were from Maggie of Always Use More Butter - thanks Maggie!  Inside the Tupperware container in the package, I found some beautiful bright dotty paper:

which I lifted to reveal the carefully wrapped contents:
 

 
 
On top was a beautiful heart mobile carefully hand crafted by Maggie:
 

 
 
together with a card that was very appropriate to send to Australia, land of the marsupials:
 

 
 
with the following punchline and message inside:
 

 
 
and beautifully individually wrapped in wax paper were the Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries pictured at the top of this post, in perfect condition.  These cookies were baked by Maggie from a recipe in Martha Stewart's Cookies book, and they are special to Maggie, as she made them as favours for her wedding.  Thanks Maggie for sharing such a special recipe with me.
 
And the taste of these cookies?  Absolutely scrumptious!  Chunky, deeply chocolatey cookies are offset by the zing of sour cherries, making them just right.  Because I opened my package at work, I shared my cookies with a select few people, who were amazed at receiving a homemade cookie all the way from the USA, and all of whom enjoyed them as much as I did.  I still have a couple of cookies left for the weekend, just for me.  I look forward to eating them very much.
 
If you are dying to try these delicious cookies for yourself, you will need:
 
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups dried sour cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed, until just combined. Do not overbeat. With a wooden spoon, fold in chocolate and cherries.  Maggie also added in some white chocolate chunks.

Form balls of dough, each about 1/4 cup; place balls on baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake until puffed and cracked, 9 to 11 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Thanks to Alice of A Cooking Mizer for organising this fun event, and to Maggie for sending me my package.

 

FFwD - Coeur a la Creme

 

 

 

 

This week's French Friday with Dorie challenge had a Valentines Day theme, in that the dessert we made was Coeur a la Creme - literally a Heart of Cream.  To make this dessert, comprised of cream cheese, icing sugar, whipped cream, vanilla and alcohol of your choice (I chose Chambord, a black raspberry liqueur), you are supposed to have the special heart shaped moulds with holes in the bottom.  I used a strainer lined with cheesecloth instead, in the correct belief that I will never make this dessert often enough to justify buying the moulds, and hence we have Blob a la Creme: 

 

 

 

As the name suggests, coeur a la creme tastes overwhelmingly of cream.  I paired my coeur a la creme with some raspberry coulis (frozen raspberries and sugar warmed up together until a sauce forms).  The raspberry pairing is a good one, as it cuts through the creaminess.

Without a doubt, this dessert tasted nice if you are a creamy dessert fan.  For me, this was just OK, as although I love cheesecake, this dessert erred too far on the creamy side for my liking.  However, it got very good feedback at work - proving that I am a fusspot of sorts. 

To see what the other FFwD cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.

Hope you had a Happy Valentines Day!

Double Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake for Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!!  For Valentines Day, I have made a glorious Double Choc Fudge Cheesecake by Michelle Southan from the February 2013 edition of Australian Good Taste magazine.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It is a chocolate brownie base, topped with white chocolate cheesecake, then raspberry cheesecake, then another layer of white chocolate cheesecake. Finally, it is stencilled with cocoa using the free stencil that came with the magazine.   Bliss!  And it tasted as good as it looks.

Here is a side view of the four layers:

Tempted?  To make this cheesecake, you will need:

Base

60ml hot water
50g chopped dark chocolate
40g butter
2 tsp self-raising flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 lightly whisked egg  

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius.  Grease and line the base and sides of an 18cm springform pan as smoothly as possible with baking paper, so that the paper rises 2cm above the rim of the pan.

Heat the water, chocolate and butter in a microwave on high, stirring once every minute, until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.  (yes, this sounds like madness, but trust me, it works.) Add the sugar, flours, cocoa powder and egg and mix well.  Pour into the prepared springform pan and bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

White chocolate cheesecake

500g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g sugar
125ml thickened cream
200g melted white chocolate
2 tsp vanilla
80ml boiling water
2 tsp gelatine

Raspberry cheesecake

100g thawed frozen raspberries
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
55g sugar
60ml thickened cream
2 tbs boiling water
1 tsp gelatine

To make the first layer of white chocolate cheesecake, beat together half the cream cheese and half the sugar until smooth.  Beat in half each of the cream, melted chocolate and vanilla.  Put half the water in a heatproof bowl and sprinkle over half the gelatine.  Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, and allow to cool for 1 minute before beating into the cream cheese mixture.  Pour the cheesecake mixture over the cooled brownie base, cover the top of the tin with cling film, and place the tin in the fridge for 1 hour to allow the cheesecake to set.

To make the raspberry layer, mash the raspberries in a bowl with a fork, then press the berries through a sieve and discard the seeds.  Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth, then beat in the raspberry puree and cream.  Put the boiling water in a heatproof bowl and sprinkle over the gelatine, then stir until the gelatine has dissolved.  Allow the gelatine mixture to cool for 1 minute, then beat into the cream cheese mixture.  Pour the raspberry cheesecake over the white chocolate cheesecake layer, cover the top of the tin with cling film, and refrigerate for one hour to allow the layer to set.

Make the final white chocolate layer in the same way as the first, using the remaining white cheesecake ingredients.  Pour the white chocolate cheesecake over the raspberry layer, cover the top of the tin with clingfilm, and refrigerate for 4-6 hours until set.  (I refrigerated it overnight and the and the cheesecake was well set by morning.)

To serve, you can optionally place a pretty stencil lightly against the top of the cheesecake, and then dust over the top of it thoroughly with cocoa powder in a sieve.  Remove the stencil carefully so as to preserve the pattern, then take the cheesecake to the table to wow your guests with its beauty.  (I missed the latter part, as I was taking mine to work.)  Cut into slices with a warm knife to serve:

This cheesecake is sweet, smooth and silky, and very dangerous to have in the house.  By taking it to work, I could indulge in one decent sized slice, knowing that there would not be another, and enjoy it I did.

What are you doing for your beloved this Valentines Day, if you celebrate it?

WWDH - French Onion Soup

This week's Wednesday with Donna Hay is hosted by Kayte, who chose Donna's French Onion Soup from Modern Classics I.

Now, y'all will know that I am not much of a soup fan, and I was kind of hesitant wth this one. I made a quarter of a recipe on Sunday night, enough just for two serves, and put it in the fridge for another day, as I was already really full from late brunch with friends.

On Monday night, I reluctantly trotted out half a serve and reheated it for a minute or so in the microwave.  Then I had a spoonful - and then another - and by golly, I really liked this soup.  Who knew - and especially onion soup??

To see what Kayte, Margaret and Chaya thought of this dish, visit their websites.  And if you want to join us on our Donna journey, just contact any of us - we are cooking from Off the Shelf and Modern Classics I by Donna Hay.