energy cookies

Cookies this week for TWD...granola grabbers picked by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking. These are the sort of cookies (we try to justify to ourselves) that lean towards the healthy side of the treat spectrum because they contain a virtuous ingredient such as wheatgerm. Not so healthy I'm afraid but very yummy...and packed full of energy and at least a little fibre. Using granola instead of raw oats mean they are extra crunchy and have a fantastic texture. I used some homemade honey toasted muesli that had a mix of rolled oats, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds. The cookies were quite sweet, next time I would cut the sugar down slightly. Couldn't bring myself to use raisins so chunks of dark chocolate instead, although in hindsight the raisins may have been pretty good...

blueberry ice cream

A belated TWD posting this week....it has been an eventful week. This week was Blueberry sour cream ice cream chosen by Dolores at Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. The ice cream maker was put back into action. I lazily skimmed the recipe and misread it, throwing all the ingredients (blueberries, sugar, sour cream, cream and lemon zest) in the saucepan together. No worries though, this didn't seem to matter, as the mixture blended up and churned nicely to make a lovely creamy ice cream. This must be the easiest recipe in Dories book! The sour cream gave it a beautiful creaminess that non-custard based ice creams sometimes lack, tending sometimes to be a little grainy. Perfect spooned straight from the churn to top our hot apple and almond crumble for pudding tonight on this cold wet night.

a banana loaf

Another week, another TWD recipe...this time for Black and White banana loaf chosen by Ashlee of A Year In The Kitchen . I followed the recipe for this almost to the t (couldn't resist adding a handful of chopped dark chocolate to the chocolate half of the batter!) I thought this loaf was....okay. The texture of my loaf was rather dense and it had quite a thick crust on it. Maybe my bananas weren't quite ripe enough. The marbling didn't turn out quite like Dorie's picture either...in the meantime the loaf has been relegated to the freezer. I have bigger things planned for it in the form of a chocolate and banana pudding...cubed banana loaf soaked in chocolate custard and packed into ramekins with a filling of chocolate ganache tucked inside. Watch this space.

pear, almond and vanilla 'galette'

This weeks TWD recipe for a summer fruit galette was chosen by Michelle at Michelle in Colorado Springs.

I approached the recipe in somewhat topsy turvy manner... not being summer here in NZ we had 2 ripe pears in the fruit bowl this week, and pears and custard are so good together. Pears, custard and almonds are also good together, so I added a bit of a frangipane theme to things. To stretch my two pears a little further instead of making a galette I made a small tart shell which I blind baked.

Going the tart route I switched the cracker crumbs for (quite a few) toasted ground almonds and my custard became almost like a frangipane mixture. The pear and vanilla jam went on the top instead to glaze the sliced almonds.

I had been looking forward to trying Dorie's recipe for good for everything pie dough, so was annoyed at myself for undercooking the base of this - the sides however lived up to expectation and were lovely and crisp. This was delicious. Next time I will try making it as a galette pairing the custard with its other good friend - rhubarb.

pear, date and ginger cobbler

TWD this week = Cherry and rhubarb cobbler, chosen by Amanda from Like sprinkles on a cupcake. Owning neither cherries nor rhubarb at this point in time I substituted pears with a handful of dates for good measure, seeing as they go so perfectly with ginger. Not being a cobbler lover I was surprised to quite enjoy this.

After the last cobbler attempt was so bland I decided to add a topping of brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger to the top of the cobbler so it had a nice crunchy sugary crust, and upped the ginger in the dough. This called for a generous pour of yoghurt, hence the pool of it in the pic below...

a teacup of heaven

The TWD recipe this week is Chocolate Pudding, and was chosen by Melissa from Its Melissas Kitchen and I suggest you visit her blog immediately to obtain the recipe!!

This pudding is divine. The plain jane name comes nowhere near doing this pudding justice, and lacking a picture in the book this is one recipe I would never have been inspired to try without the prodding of TWD. It is like a dense chocolate mousse (I am not into 'fluffy' chocolate mousse) and has the perfect balance of chocolate/cream/sugar so that it is not cloying or overly rich. It has a superb smooth velvety texture and tastes like it should be a lot naughtier than it actually is.

I halved the recipe and still used a whole egg plus the extra yolk. No full fat milk so I figured a splash of cream and some skinny milk would suffice. Dark chocolate with 72% cocoa. I made two generous teacups of pudding, the first of which was devoured spoonful at a time while it was trying to set in the fridge. This is addictive! The second one had been left alone to chill for a couple of days and was even more delicious, the texture was much denser. I ate this one with a spoonful of sour cream which worked beautifully.

Love it and this one shall be reappearing on the menu again soon, just need to figure out a more enhancing name!

blueberry pie raincheck

You may have noticed that Dorie hasn't featured yet this week with TWD....the recipe being for a lovely looking Blueberry Pie. Last week I seemed to have on hand all of the components (ie. an excess of ripe bananas, toffee sauce) for banoffee pie ...and with a banoffee pie fiend in the house it seemed appropriate. I will definitely try the blueberry pie next time I have some berries to hand. You can check out how the blueberry pies turned out here, it looks like a goodie. In the meantime here was our banoffee substitute. The topping is half cream, half sour cream and the bottom is a cookie crumb meringue cake with dark chocolate and toasted almonds.

Meringue cake with dark chocolate and almonds

4 egg whites

225g caster sugar

250g sliced almonds, toasted and roughly crushed/processed

250g plain sweet cookie crumbs, crushed

100g dark chocolate, melted

Beat egg whites until stiff, gradually incorporate sugar as you would making meringue. Beat until the mixture is glossy. Gently fold in the crushed cookie crumbs and almonds. Pour in the melted chocolate and gently swirl into the mixture. Pour into a cake tin lined with baking paper. Bake at 170c for 30 minutes or so. This is also lovely topped with softly whipped cream and seasonal fruit and served in wedges like a pavlova.

cheese, apple, quince

I love trying out new scone recipes, so this weeks TWD recipe for Cheddar and Apple scones, chosen by Karina from The Floured Apron by was right up my alley.

These are very, very good! Admittedly I struggled to taste the (chopped, dried) apple in them, and using vintage cheddar probably helped elevate these scones to further greatness. Texture wise these scones are extremely light and flaky with quite a 'short' crumb. The small amount of polenta in the dough added a subtle but distictive crispness to the crust.

Next time I would perhaps try this recipe without the apple to see if it does in fact add a subtle something to the flavour. I think it was worth using a strong cheddar, it meant the scones had a good strong cheese flavour but without that slightly greasy texture that a larger quantity of cheese can contribute.

They are definitely best devoured minutes after coming out of the oven, the leftover scone I reheated in the sandwich press the next day came nowhere near the freshly baked experience. I made a full batch and froze half, so will try baking from frozen next time I feel a cheese scone craving comes on...

A spoonful of Moutere Gold Quince Jelly took these to scone perfection.

cobbler vs crumble

TWD for this week was nice and easy (as much as I love the excuse to try the more elaborate recipes...quick and healthy-ish is good too!) as Beth of Our sweet life chose Mixed Berry Cobbler.

I have yet to fall in love with the cobbler. I love the idea of them - scones, jam and cream work so well and a cobbler is a bit like a pudding version of this. I guess I would just rather have my fruit topped with a crunchy crumble of oats and nuts, and cobblers can be a wee bit much on the doughy side for my liking.

I have never made a cobbler by rolling out the dough the way Dorie suggests, this makes a nice finish a little more like a pie crust, which was interesting to try for a change. The 'cobbled' rustic look is probably more up my alley though. Mine didn't rise particularly well, I did chill the cobbler dough while I made dinner so it went into the oven cold, which Dorie says is okay but I think must inhibit a bit of rising action?!

I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to Dorie's recipe and used granny smith apples and frozen boysenberries. It was a little tart, as the dough wasn't too sweet either. I probably should have added a little more sugar to my fruit, and cream or ice cream would have been a better friend to it than natural yoghurt which was what we had in the fridge last night.

However for all my complaints the leftover cobbler after being warmed ever so slightly and tossed about with a slosh of yoghurt and a squirt of apple syrup proved to be an serviceable after work pre gym pep up!

Postscript- I just read everyone elses pre-posting comments here and am glad I don't seem to be the only one disappointed with the results here - maybe I do like cobbler but just haven't found the perfect recipe yet!!

eclairs for afternon tea

The naked eclairs fresh from the oven....

...and all dressed up ready for afternoon tea.

The TWD recipe this week - Peppermint cream puff ring - was selected by Caroline of A Consuming Passion. I love choux pastry in absolutely any form, sweet or savoury, and profiteroles with ice cream, chocolate sauce and toasted almonds are one of my favourite desserts - the perfect blend of crisp, soft, hot and cold - love it. I halved the recipe and made eclairs for ease of serving...although I have to say the ring is far more grand looking. We took them over to some friends for afternoon tea - the ulterior motive of which was to have a play on their Rocket espresso machine, in the hope that we will one day (soon?!) own one ourselves.

I found the pastry part of this one was straight forward. Normally I don't add sugar or milk to my choux, so I was interested in how fast these would brown up - they cooked beautifully.I instead had a bit of an issue with the peppermint part of this recipe...I infused the cream as Dorie says but our mint is not the healthiest looking plant at the moment, so the leaves were less than lush. In the end the cream didn't taste particularly minty, and in a moment of haste (we were due out the door as I was titivating the eclairs...) I added a splash of the Mrs Thomas's mint syrup I had in the fridge to intensify the 'mintiness'. Bad idea. This has a white vinegar base and while it is sweet and is fantastic over fruit and other desserts it did not work well with the cream. At all.

Luckily there was just enough cream was left in the bottom of the bottle that could be swiftly whipped and flung ino the elairs. Thus traditional chocolate elairs it was - simple but so good. I love the idea of the minted cream - and will try it again once that mint supply is back up and running...

tartless

No TWD for me this week...the recipe chosen by Marie from A Year at Oak Tree Cottage was La Palette's Strawberry Tart, a sweet pastry crust filled with strawberry jam and fresh strawberries. I am bowing out of this round by token of the 'but strawberries out of season in the Southern Hemisphere' excuse. Dorie suggested that other fruit could be used but a pear or apple tart just didn't feel quite right, so I am looking forward to trying this one next summer once berryfruit are back. Check out everyone else's strawberry tarts here.

Pudding tonight was made for nostalgic reasons rather than culinary merit...chocolate self saucing pudding, pictured above in all its glory (is there a less photogenic pudding?!) Tarted up with some vanilla bean ice cream, homemade even.

de/reconstructed brownie

Well as you can see things did not go to plan with TWD this week, and I ended up with a bit of a brownie disaster on my hands. I had a catering event on in the weekend and decided to make this weeks TWD pick of French Brownie for this - and took the liberty of making a double batch - having such faith in Dorie by this stage I thought I would be brave...

When making the mixture I was surprised at how pale it looked. I added a bit more chocolate than specified as I don't like the look (or taste) of pale brownies or chocolate cakes, they just seem a little sad and half hearted if you know what I mean.

Oh, and I left out the raisins. I like raisins and they have their place but raisins in brownie is just plain wrong!

I baked it for around the specified time but ended up with a brownie in two entirely separate pieces - the top crust which lifted off in one piece, and the dense, solid bottom bit. This was really strange, I know brownie should have a crust but this is usually papery rather than dry and thick and crunchy...and it tasted dry and thick and crunchy too.

There was nothing for it but to build it into something that looked a bit more presentable (read saleable) so the whole mixture - crumbly top, dense bottom and all went into the food processor. I added some crushed toasted almonds to bind the mix, as it was very moist. Then topped with some dark chocolate ganache, a handful of chopped dark chocolate, some toasted flaked almonds and a drizzle of more dark chocolate to finish!!!

And thus 'Chocolate and Almond Truffle Slice found itself on the menu instead. This was actually really delicious. It was a very good seller too, faring well against the competition (see below). I think the texture of this recipe lends itself more to a fudgy style slice rather than a brownie, as it was very dense. I am sorry to say this recipe will not be entering the brownie hall of fame, I look forward to trying some of the other brownie recipes though!

brioche two ways

This weeks TWD recipe was for Pecan Honey Sticky Buns and was chosen by Madam Chow of Madam Chows Kitchen. I have a recipe for sticky buns I use regularly, when I used to sell them at the farmer's market. These have an avid fan base, but I now have a new favourite recipe! I made these on a busy day, in between rushing around sorting things for my own wedding and attending another, so did not get to enjoy them in an ideal, sit down with a good coffee kind of way. Instead they were picked at off and on through the course of the day....and were surprisingly good the next day when warmed a little.

These sticky buns are made with a brioche dough. I have never come across this method of making brioche, where the butter is mixed into the otherwise finished dough, piece by piece. The poor Kitchenaid was well and truly put through its paces, but it was definitely worthwhile. The recipe calls for a half batch of brioche - I made the whole batch, figuring it was just as easy effortwise to pump out a full batch at once - and used the other half to make some brioche raisin snails. In the end I ended up making only a half batch of the sticky buns (the rest is in the freezer for a more suitably lazy day) as the dough goes a surprisingly long way...which assists to justify the amount of butter in the recipe - not quite so scary when you divide it on a bun by bun basis!

The picture below is how they look when baking - you pour the glaze into the pan and then sit the dough on top of this, let them rise, bake them, then flip the whole tray over once they are cooked.

These sticky buns were incredibly light - I loved the texture of the dough. Brioche can sometimes be quite dry with a coarse crumb, but not this recipe. You could really taste the honey in the glaze, which was good with the nuts. However I think the amount of glaze was a bit intense for the number of buns. Next time I would do a quarter recipe of glaze for a half batch, as opposed to the half recipe used this time. They were just too sticky and sweet (never thought that possible!) and the dough was so lovely in its own right.

Here they are close up in all their glorious stickiness. Beautiful.

With the other half of the brioche dough I made up some brioche raisin snails, a recipe baked by the other TWD bakers before I joined. These have a layer of vanilla pastry cream, topped with rum soaked raisins and a little cinnamon sugar. I only baked a couple and froze the rest of the roll to use later, so didn't bother icing them with the glaze - which I would definitely do next time as I think it would finish them off perfectly, as they needed a little more sweetness. (Or perhaps only as I was eating mouthfuls of this in between mouthfuls of the super sweet sticky bun?!) These were lovely too - the brioche is so light and they have just enough moisture from the custard and raisins.

a slab of snickery square

Ever since buying the book Baking: from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan I have wanted to try this recipe. It promises to be, as the name suggests, a glorified snickers bar. Or the ultimate caramel slice; shortbread base, a layer of extra thick, gooey, 'proper' caramel embellished with caramelised salted peanuts, and a thick layer of dark chocolate to finish. My sister's upcoming 21st birthday provided the necessary excuse to embark on such wickedness...

The recipe specifies using dulce de leche (spanish for caramelised/sweet milk) for the caramel layer, however this is not available in NZ. Highlander sell a condensed milk product that is caramelised, but I don't think this compares to the DIY version where you boil the can of sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan of water or 3-4 hours. This is how is looks after being 'cooked' - a lovely thick toffee coloured goo. Maybe dulce de leche is thicker, as my slice didn't look quite like Dorie's when I cut it...the caramel oozed out the sides quite determinedly. Not to say this detracts from the eating experience at all, it just makes it rather messier.

This is wickedly good. The texture of the candied peanuts is what makes it I think - salted, roasted peanuts (I dusted them with a little flaky pacific seasalt) with a thin crisp caramel shell. That, and the thick dark chocolate slab like topping and the crumbly, biscuity base, all work beautifully to contrast with the creamy caramel. The messy side trimmings I combined with some leftover whipped cream and sliced banana - like a banoffee pie version of eton mess. So good albeit slightly shameful...

Here is a close up that shows the true 'gooeyness' of the filling, it wants to gush out in much the same manner as a perfectly ripe cheese...Due to this fact it probably wasn't the best choice of baked good to attempt to send to the other end/side of the South Island. So instead of cutting this up I left it as a whole slab, hoping this would enhance the chances of it remaining intact for the next 24 hours.

And here is the slab of snickery square snugly packed in its little box, ready to make the journey south. Fingers crossed it made it safely!

Snickery Squares

Do not be put off by the longwinded directions - this is really quite easy!

For the Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

2 Tbsp powdered sugar

¼ tsp salt

100g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

For the Filling:

½ cup sugar

3 tbsp water

1 ½ cups salted peanuts

About 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche (I used 2 x tins condensed milk, cooked for 3 hours in boiling water)

For the Topping:
200g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Cadbury Old Gold)
50g unsalted butter

Getting Ready:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 8 inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

To Make the Crust:

Toss the flour, sugar, powdered sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds-stop before the dough comes together in a ball.Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.

To Make the Filling:

Have a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon and a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. Toss the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white—keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet., using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts.

To Make the Topping:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the rest of the peanuts. Slide the pan into the fridge to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.

a variation on a theme...

This weeks TWD recipe is for madeleines, the little shell shaped cakes...but as these need a special mould to be baked in (and specialist bakeware stores are a little thin on the ground in this part of the country - that is, non existent!) there was the option to choose a recipe already baked by other members of the group.

The most appealing recipe of those baked before I joined TWD would have to be Snickery squares - they look like, as the name suggests, a homemade and far superior version of a snickers bar, or a deluxe caramel square. Both of which I am partial to. However with only two mouths to feed this week (mine included) a batch of Snickery squares simply seemed too excessive.

Instead I made a more modest choice, the Pecan sour cream biscuits (scones in NZ speak) and decided to use the dough to make a cobbler topping, and serve it as a pudding. Possessing no pecans but several kilograms of sliced almonds, I substituted a handful of the latter. The fruit base was sliced braeburn apples and some boysenberries I had frozen in summer.

I had read good things about this recipe on other TWDer's blogs, however my cobbler version of this recipe failed to impress. This is probably due to the variations I made (such as cooking it over a base of hot fruit!) and a bit of heavy handedness with the mixing, and possibly undercooking it slightly, but I found the dough to be quite dense and a little stodgy. Too rib sticking for my liking. The crunchy part on top was quite nice though, especially with whipped cream and the fruit.

I ended up picking the topping off the leftovers and feeding it to the compost, the fruit at the bottom was salvaged and made a pleasant addition to my muesli this morning.

Bring on the Snickery Squares!! Should have followed my instincts. Check out the rest of the recipes made this week here.

chocolate and peanut butter overload

The TWD recipe this week was for Peanut butter Chocolate Torte...I am a huge peanut butter fan and also a huge chocolate fan but find the peanut butter and chocolate combination thing a bit much. This was a fun dessert to make though, and the reason I enjoy Tuesdays with Dorie as it means I try recipes I normally wouldn't!

I halved the recipe and made 4 little tortes. I could have easily stretched it to 6 tortes by making smaller portions, but that would not have been in the nature of this recipe which demands to look decadent and over the top rather than sensible I think.

The mousse was a good consistency and once chilled a little was easy to pipe into the tartlet cases. I was pleased with my ganache...it was woth being patient and waiting for the exact moment when it thickened enough to cover the mousse perfectly without turning into a landslide.

I found the cookie crumb base very crumbly to work with and was tempted to add more butter, but after freezing and baking as specified they worked perfectly and came out of their tins obediently enough without requiring the use of a hairdryer...

Here is Miriam and Phil tucking into a torte (in real life they had one each!) Feedback regarding tortes = good but rich and would be perfect if made in mini muffin tins and served with coffee as little afterdinner mouthfuls...a bit like a homemade Reece's peanut butter cup.

Peanut Butter Torte

1 ¼ c. finely chopped salted peanuts (for the filling, crunch and topping)
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
½ c. mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semi sweet chocolate)
24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt
2 ½ c. heavy cream
1 ¼ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ c salted peanut butter – crunchy or smooth (not natural; I use Skippy)
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Getting ready: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.
Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Crape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Wipe out (do not wash) the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, ¼ cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.
Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Scrape the mouse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.
To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.
Bring the remaining ½ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and , working with a a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.
Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ½ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.
When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan; it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel damped with hot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

figs and honey

This weeks TWD recipe is Polenta and Ricotta cake, a mediterranean style cake with figs and honey, chosen by Caitlin of Engineer Baker . I love polenta, so was interested to try a cake recipe using it. I used Rata honey, a NZ bush honey which has quite a strong flavour. I halved the recipe and still filled (to the brim) a medium sized tart tin, so the whole recipe must make an enormous tart.

I did find the cake was a little sweet, I wish I had read other TWD comments earlier about cutting down the sugar. However served with greek yoghurt it was better.

The recipe specifies putting little dots of butter on top of the cake mix before baking. I was skeptical about this but did it anyway, and it resulted in funny little square patches on top of the cake which looked really odd - so I dusted it with icing sugar to try and improve things!


The inside of the cake is lovely and moist with quite a dense crumb (although is is not heavy to eat). Dried figs of the fat, moist kind are essential for this cake. This is a nice, if plain cake, it would be good served as a lighter dessert, maybe with some poached figs or stonefruit.

a cupcake full of carrot

This weeks TWD recipe was carrot cake. Admittedly this didn't inspire me too much, as I already have a carrot cake recipe I love to use that is pretty much unbeatable...check out the link for more details.

We didn't need a whole cake this week so halved the recipe and instead made cupcakes. Although I loved Dorie's suggestion to make it as a layer cake...the problem I always find with eating a piece of carrot cake is that it will have a lovely thick layer of icing on the top which requires self discipline to ensure it is rationed out to make it last all of the cake bit. Layering the icing through the cake would solve this problem perfectly!

To the basic mixture I chose to add finely diced dates and a mixture of toasted pumpkin, sunflower seeds and flaked almonds (because this was what I had in the cupboard for sprinkling on my bircher muesli). Usually I prefer carrot cake to be unadulterated ie. pure carrot, but the nuts added a nice bite. In keeping with the 'using what is on hand' theme, I substituted sour cream for cream cheese in the icing, which worked fine. The consistency was perhaps slightly thinner than normal but it still piped perfectly well.

I usually top my carrot cakes with toasted thread coconut, so for something different I thought I would make a praline. In the absence of any pecans or walnuts I used some more toasted pumpkin seeds...they also have a 'wholesome' feel about them, in the way that carrot cake does too (misguided I know!) They worked really well as when toasted their flavour and texture is very nutty, the taste reminded me of caramel popcorn.

This recipe was nice enough but I still think I will stick to my tried and true favourite...

Bill's Big Carrot Cake

Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs

For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.


To make the cake:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.
If you'd like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:
Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting.
Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.
Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it's good plain, it's even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:
The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it's firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Pumpkin seed praline

1/2 c sugar - castor is better
1/4 c water
1/4 c roughly chopped toasted pumpkin seeds

Heat sugar and water in a heavy pot over high heat until sugar dissolves. Stop stirring, remove the spoon and leave sugar to caramelise, watching carefully. As soon as it changes to a light golden colour add the pumpkin seeds, swirling the saucepan to combine them into the sugar mixture. Continue cooking until colour is a dark gold, then quickly tip onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. Carefully tilt the tray to spread the mixture. Leave til set - this only takes about ten minutes - then break into shards.