Cake 25, The Cake I Only Kinda Made (Fruit)

Cake Team Effort, meaning somebody else made most of it.

Easy-mix Fruit and Rum Cake

another Alison Holst classic from my mother's collection

1 kg small dark raisins (I used a combination of raisins, currants, cranberries, prunes and glace cherries)

1/2 cup liquid (cranberry juice for me, no brandy at hand)

200g butter

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup golden syrup

1/2 cup milk

2 large eggs

Soak the fruit in the liquid for 24-48 hours, until all the liquid has been soaked up. Alison recommends putting the liquid and fruit into a snaplock bag so none of the alcoholic goodness can evaporate. 

Rub the butter into the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt using a food processor or your digits. 

Warm syrup and milk just enough to combine them, beat in the eggs, then mix this liquid into the fruit and dry mixture. Pour into a lined 20cm square tin.

Decorate the top with almonds and cherries etc. 

Bake at 150C for 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours, until a skewer comes out clean. 

My camera batteries died right after taking the first photo. Bonus: evidence of how the cockroach was eventually killed.

Cake 24? Worst Photos of Best Waffles feat. Giant Roach and Little Sister

"Best Waffles Ever Recipe"

Combine: 1 3/4 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 Tb sugar and 1/2 tsp salt.
In another bowl, beat 3 egg yolks and 1 3/4 cups milk.
Combine wet and dry, then beat in 1/2 cup vege oil.
Lastly, stiff peak-erise 3 egg whites, then fold these into the batter. Don't over-mix.
Do regular waffle-thing. They cook quickly, and are AMAZINGLY crispy/fluffy.

Then our friend Giant Roach wanted in on the action, so we swept him off the ceiling and trapped him under a bowl. I love the bonding me and Cush get up to, it always seems to involve baking or killing vermin. <3
(Is it strange that I felt the need to follow that sentence up with a heart?)
Oh, and sorry for the terrible pics, my camera is in a box somewhere, so I had to use the piece of shit Kodak thing my family own. It's very holiday-snaps.
And, um, I think I'm going to jump back on the baking bandwagon after my long summer break. Here's to resolutions :-)

I noticed how happy the cheese grater was at the prospect of waffle-quaffing.

Cake 23, Cupcakes from a Box

I followed instructions, and added sprinkles. Very sweet, very mixed, getting closer.

Cake 22, Lazy Scones with Condiments

This is my lazy scone/cake attempt. They turned out okay, nice and fluffy.

Lazy Scones

250ml cream (use a 500ml bottle)
355ml (1 can) lemonade
4 tsp baking powder
4 - 4 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 220 C
Combine, roll out on a floured surface, cut into circles with a glass.
Bake for 12-15 mins.

Whip the remaining cream, and slather on scones with jam.

Cake 21, Mini Chrimbus Cakes

It's a Chrimbus miracle!

I made mini cakes, and pressed glace cherries and almonds into the tops.

Chrimbus Cake

400g sultanas (I replaced these with a combination of dates and prunes)

400g raisins

200g currants

grated lemon rind

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup orange juice or brandy (I used up my stout)

250g butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

1 cup mashed banana

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

Combine the fruit, lemon rind, vanilla and juice/booze in a bowl and leave to soak overnight.

The next day, (preheat oven to 150C) cream the butter and sugar, and then beat in eggs one by one. Add the banana, flour, baking powder and spice and mix thoroughly. Finally stir in the fruit and liquid until the bits and pieces are evenly coated. Line a large cake tin (or many many muffin tins) and spoon in the mix. Bake at 150 for 1hour, and then reduce the heat to 140 for another 1 1/2 hours (or even another 2 if you have a slow oven). Allow to cool in the tin. 

This is the best plate I've ever found on the side of the road.

Cake 20, Goopy Salted Caramel Cheesecakes

This is something I've been meaning to make for quite a while now.... and I'm so glad I did. I love salted caramel. I would happily make bowls of it just fer eatin'. Only problem, the cheesecake didn't turn out that great. It tasted very... sour creamy, and it didn't set either. Hence the goopy. It was more like caramel-topped sour custard. Nice though. I recommend making the caramel sauce, it's really super.


Salted Caramel Cheesecakes
cool(heat(caramel(heat(custard))))

225g cream cheese (spreadable is best)
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temp
1/2 cup sour cream
6 Tb corn syrup (see recipe at the end if you want imitation corn syrup)
1/2 cup and 2 Tb sugar
3 Tb butter
1/2 cup cream
salt to taste (about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp)

Preheat the oven to 165 C.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar together, then beat in the eggs, one at a time, and lastly the sour cream. Beat until smooth. Divvy the mix into 6 ramekins/tea cups (1/2 cup of mix each), and place these in a large oven-proof dish. Pour hot water into the dish until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 10mins, then turn  the heat off and leave the cheesecakes in the oven for 1 hour (I left mine a bit longer, they didn't seem very set). Transfer to a wire rack, and allow to cool.
Meanwhile...
In a pan, heat the corn syrup on a low heat for a few minutes or until fully liquid. Increase the heat to medium and add the sugar (I also added a few Tb of water). Leave for about 5 minutes until it's a dark amber colour. Turn the element off, and stir in the butter. Add the cream in a thin stream, mixing constantly. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the salt. Allow to cool, then spoon about 2 Tb onto each cheesecake. Transfer to the fridge and allow to set for at least 3 hours. I have lots of the caramel left over, but it'll make a great icecream sauce :)

Corn Syrup (I made half this recipe and ended up with at least 4 times too much)
Combine 2 cups sugar, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 tsp cream of tarter and a pinch of salt in a heavy pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cover for about 3 minutes (less if you halve it). Uncover, and cook until it reaches the soft ball stage. Apparently this goop will last for 2 months, stored in an airtight container at room temp. Mine solidified almost straight away, and now I have a jar half-full of solid sugar...

Cake 19, Lemon Meringue Pie (but I've reassigned it to the cake family)

So while searching for a taxonomy of cake, I found an amazing blog. It blew my mind. A Sketch Towards a Taxonomy of Meta-Desserts has given me a whole new way of describing desserts:
lemon meringue pie = heat(egg white(heat(pastry(custard(fruit))))) where custard refers to the egg yolk mixture and fruit to the lemon. This is a two-function dessert involving four dessertoms.

Anyway, here's the recipe I actually followed. I got an awesome pastry tip from Henry - use a ratio of 3:2:1:1 for  flour, butter, icing sugar and egg respectively. However, since I only had 100g butter, I decided the whole egg made the pastry too liquid so I had to add extra flour and sugar...and then I baked it blind and only had teaspoons to weigh it down, so the whole base puffed up :-(

heat(egg white(heat(pastry(custard(fruit)))))

Pastry:
100g butter (easier if it's room temp, or chilled and then grated)
150g flour (1 cup, although I added more later)
50g icing sugar (just under 1/2 cup)
1 egg

Cut the butter into the sifted flour and icing sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the beaten egg (I added a whole lot more flour and sugar, but then wondered if I got the ratio thing wrong? Maybe my egg was just a big 'un). Mix until you have a soft doughy mess. It should be all over your hands by now. Roll into a ball, wrap in gladwrap and chill for about 20mins or so. Grease a pie tin/cake tin and dust with flour. Remove the pastry from the freezer, flour a sheet of baking paper, and roll the pastry out until it's the right size for your pie tin. Roll the pastry around the rolling pin, almost like rolling sushi (use the baking paper like a sushi mat), and then un-roll the pastry over the tin. Trim the edges, and leave to chill in the fridge. Or you could just ignore the recipe and bake the pastry (with baking paper and spoons to weigh it down) like I did. I guess it does stop the pastry from becoming soggy when you add the filling. Anyway, while you bake the case (for 15 mins at 180 or something) or chill it, make the filling.

Filling:
Combine the following and mix lightly:
3 large egg yolks
2 Tb caster sugar
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
1 cup milk
Leave to soak for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 200 C. Beat filling until smooth and pour into the chilled (or woefully cooked) pastry case. Bake for 20 mins or until the filling has just set and the pastry is golden. Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 30 mins. Lower oven temp to 180 C, and make the topping.

Topping:
Whisk 3 large egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and then gradually whisk in 1/2 cup caster sugar until glossy. Spoon on top of the filling. You could make it all swirly if you like. Try to make sure the meringue is spread right to the rim of the pastry case. Bake for 20-25 mins or until crisp. Cool for 10 mins before serving.

Mmmmm despite my worries about the pastry, this turned out a treat. It leaked a whole lot of liquid, though, which I suspect was the lemon juice sneaking it's way out. I would like to make it more lemony, but I'm not sure how to do that without compromising the consistency...