Raspberry Butter Cake

Did you ever have one of THOSE mornings? 

I just have. 

No milk for my morning Latte, the other half did not bring home a Latte with him from his photo shoot, the pizza I ordered in the shopping for Jonathan's dinner (teenage boy dinner while parents are out consists of frozen pizza, ice cream, block of chocolate and bottle of coke) was not there sorry out of stock, then while making this cake I spilt Self Raising flour all over the bench and floor, to top it all off I forgot to put on the bread maker so no bread for lunch.

Sigh, well it can only get better.  I did pick my first lemon of my lemon tree and the pumpkin growing out of season in the garden is huge and getting bigger and I found more hiding. The sun is shining and the whole house is open to a very nice breeze in the middle of winter. 

See life is balanced in some way.

This is an old family favourite recipe I have been making for years.  Mum used to go to garage sales and auctions and pick up job lot boxes of stuff.  Some of my favourite weird old time cake tins came from these boxes and this cake I have only ever made in this tin.  Funny how you get used to doing something a certain way.

125gm butter room temp
3/4 castor sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup raspberries fresh or frozen

 

Crème butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until combined.  Add flour and milk alternating in 2 batches until combined.  Scrape down the sides and give a final mix.  Toss raspberries in 2 tablespoons of flour to ensure they don't sink. 

Fold raspberries through gently.

Grease and flour a tin of your choosing and pour mix into tin.  Bake at 180C for 45 mins in fan forced oven or 1 hour in non fan forced.  Allow to cool for 5 mins in the tin then turn out onto a rack to fully cool.

Oven Baked Chicken and Bacon Risotto



 

Sorry about the photos next time I make this ill redo them.

This was a trial recipe for us.  I saw the recipe in a supermarket specials catalogue weeks ago and don't have the catalogue anymore so I kind of wing it.  However it turned out really well and we will have this again!

I am always looking for something different to do with chicken that is tasty and doesn't take heaps of time and effort.

1 - 2 chicken breast or 4 thigh fillets cut into 2cm cubes
2 rashes of bacon diced.
1 onion diced
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1 tin diced tomatoes
chicken stock
salt and pepper

I use a Le Creuset pan for this but if you don't have an oven proof pan just a casserole dish with a lid is fine.

 

 

In a fry pan heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and fry off the bacon and chicken until browned on all sides remove and set aside. 

In the same pan sauté the onion over medium to low heat for 3 to 4 minutes then add the crushed garlic cloves,  sauté for a further 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the rice (uncooked) to the onions and garlic and stir until coated in oil and sauté for 5 minutes stirring to ensure the rice doesn't stick.

Add the chicken and bacon to the rice and stir through.

Add the tin of tomatoes and stir through.

Add enough chicken stock to cover the rice, add salt and pepper to taste.  If using a casserole dish transfer into dish and cover.  Put in pre heated 180C oven for 45 minutes.  You will need to stir the dish every 10 to 15 minutes if the dish looks a little dry you will need to add more stock.

When you remove from the oven stir through a handful of fresh chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice.  This will just lift the flavour and give it a little zing.

Serve.

Creamy double Strawberry Cheesecake

I love cheesecake but find baked cheesecakes a little heavy sometimes.  This cheesecake is adapted from a lemon cheesecake I used to make as a kid for the family.

Even in winter strawberries are hint of summer.  Using a strawberry puree makes the whole kitchen smell like summer.

Base

200g pack of your favourite chocolate biscuits such as chocolate ripples or oreos made into crumbs
125g melted butter

Puree

2 punnets of strawberries
1/4 cup of icing sugar
lemon juice to taste

Cheesecake

2 x 250g packages of cream cheese
300ml cream
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/3 of the strawberry puree

Strawberry Jelly

2/3 of the strawberry puree
3 leaves of gelatine
3 tablespoons of boiling water

Mix biscuit crumbs and butter, press into base of round spring form cake tin.  I use 2 x 20cm cake tins or you can use one 28cm tin.  I gently press the crumb base with a flat bottomed glass just to ensure a smooth finish.  Set aside in the fridge while you make the filling.

In a food processor blitz the strawberries and icing sugar.  Pass the strawberry puree through a fine sieve to get out most of the seeds.  You will not get all the seeds out but this is OK.  Squeeze in lemon juice to taste and set aside.

In a bowl whip the cream to soft peaks, don't over whip or you will have butter.

In a second bowl beat your cream cheese and sugar until smooth and combined.  Pour a third of the strawberry puree in and mix until combined.  Fold the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture until combined.

Pour mixture into cake tin and smooth the top.

Soften gelatine leaves in cold water.  Squeeze excess water from gelatine and place in saucepan with the boiling water, heat over low heat until the gelatine is dissolved.   Mix the gelatine mixture with the remaining 2/3 of the puree.

Pour the puree over the cheesecake and tilt to ensure all the top is covered.  Refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours.

Serve.

Mum's Welsh Cakes

 

My brother went to Swansea in Wales this week to do something for his Phd.  We were joking around about Welsh cakes and I am sure the my Sister In Law didn't know what we were on about so I decided to make my Mum's version of Welsh Cakes.  These are different from the real ones but we have always loved them just the same!

 

 

 

Think this one will be mine its got a crack in it!

 

 

2 x short crust pastry pre rolled sheets defrosted

125g room temp butter

125g castor sugar

2 eggs

125g sifted self raising flour

jam of choice

 



 

 

 

 

I use patty pans for this, grease tin and cut pastry with cutter to fit tin.  This recipe makes 2 dozen.



 

 

Spoon 1/4 teaspoon of jam in each pastry.

 

 

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until mixed.

 

 

Add flour until just combined.

 

 

Spoon half a dessert spoon of cake mix on top of the jam.

 

Bake for 20 minutes at 200C or until cooked.

See how long they last.

 

Black and White Chocolate Torte

It's been a busy weekend here in Kitchen HQ (can I call it that or would MKR have a go at me?) yesterday we had a clean out of the spare/sewing room, yay I can now get in the door and to my sewing table!  I have some quilt projects gathering dust.  During the clean out Scott found the Circulon frypans and roasting tray I bought just before Christmas that I put away and have never used.

This morning I had cooking plans but life got in the way,  a family member has a team of mountain bike racers that are here in Newcastle for the Port to Port stage race that was finishing at Nobbies beach.  We headed down to the finish line to cheer them on and have a quick catch up. 

Now it's after 1pm and all the baking plans I had are out the window!  I am feeling a Nana Nap is in my future.  I seem to be motivationally challenged today.

Anyway here is the cake recipe I put the photos up on facebook for a couple of weeks ago.

1 Sponge Cake

White Chocolate Ganache

600ml cream
200g white cooking chocolate finely chopped

Chocolate Ganache

300ml cream
150g dark cooking chocolate finely chopped

You can use a pre bought sponge or make one with the link above however if time poor no one will notice the difference!

Heat the cream to just below boiling and then pour over the chopped chocolate (in separate bowls of course).  Stir until the chocolate is melted, refrigerate the ganache for about 3 hours until set. 

The ganache may not set solid if it doesn't you can whisk it in your mixer with a whisk attachment like cream until a piping consistency.  I found I had to do this with the white ganache not the chocolate one.

Place half the white ganache in a piping bag and all of the chocolate in another bag.  I used a large round tip on both.  Forgive the pictures of the piping I'm still trying to master the old piping techniques.

Either slice a sponge in half or 3 layers and pipe alternate circles of ganache on 2 layers starting in the middle is easiest.

Stack the layers and spread the remaining white ganache over the top and sides.

Put the cake in the fridge and allow to set.  The recipe did call for curls of white and dark chocolate but hey I think that may have been a step tooooo far!  serve with strawberries or other berries to cut through the richness.