Saturday, March 27, 2010

Beesting cake


Recently I've been recovering from an incident where I was burnt on my face and arm. I'm certainly healing up well - which is a testament to my quick thinking workmates, and proper first aid. I'm very happy to be back blogging. Please enjoy some Bee sting cake!


I'm such a huge fan of the Bee sting Torte made by the franchised
The Cheesecake shop, so decided to try and make the real deal. The Bee sting cake is traditionally known as Bienenstich in Germany, where it hails from. It is traditionally yeast based, but I thought I might make a version with light sponge as the cake part, then everything else to spec. So maybe this is not quite the traditional version of a Bee sting - but very nice and worth making, nonetheless!

PS - It's easier than the recipe suggests - so I do urge you to try it out!

Ingredients

Cake

2/3 cup (100g) plain flour
4 tbsp (40g) custard powder
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2/3 cup (160g) caster sugar
1 tbsp water if required

Topping

100g almonds, ground
honey

Custard filling

30g custard powder
250ml milk
50g sugar
100g butter, softened

Method

Cake
1. Sift flour, custard powder and baking powder
2. Separate eggs; place whites into mixing bowl
3. beat egg whites until stiff and then gradually add sugar whilst continuing to beat.
4. Add egg yolks and beat until you can form a figure eight with the mix (it will resemble thick cream)
5. Fold in sifted flour very lightly using a spoon. If you feel the mix is too thick, add some water.
6. Pour into pan and bake in a preheated 190 degree Celsius oven for 20 minutes.

Filling

1. Dissolve custard powder in a little bit of the milk in a saucepan. (just enough to dissolve milk)
2. When dissolved, add sugar and milk and then cook until boiling.
3. Allow to cool
4. Beat the butter until creamy, and when the custard has cooled (at least lukewarm) whip it with the butter until creamy
5. When Cake has cooled, slice in half and fill with custard.

Topping

1. Spread ground almonds over top of cake and drizzle with plenty of honey.
2. Allow to sink in so the the almonds stay on top

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Because the kitchen gods must be appeased: Salt and pepper prawns! (easier than you think...and quicker too)


I've been having some cooking disaster recently. It all started with the lemon tart....

I decided to make a lemon tart for dessert one evening. Boy, I was looking forward to that. So I started the tart filling, and it seemed like things were going well until I got to the base. Unfortunately for me - I didn't quite have enough butter in the house to make the base. So I decided to go ahead and make the tart - and do the base the next evening Silly me. It didn't turn out well at all! The base burnt, and so I threw it away, and only had the realisation that I could have turned it into chocolate truffles as the last of it went into the compost. Decidedly NOT a good feeling.

I have also bought a slow cooker. The first recipe I tried was lamb shanks, but I made the mistake of buying the wrong wine, and it was so bad we ended up getting a pizza. It's gone back into the cupboard until I gain some cooking mojo back.

So there's my confessional, dear reader! I've made a few disasters recently.

However, something I stumbled upon quite by accident has left me quite excited - Salt and Pepper prawns. In the small town I live in, there are 2 supermarkets, one of which I frequent. They had promised me a delivery of squid would be arriving - so I carefully planned around that and made sure I showed up on the right day. Of course, there was no squid delivery! So instead I bought some raw prawns and decided to make salt and pepper squid, instead (oh, and I tend to make this when the prawns - peeled and de-veined, with tail on - are on special. It's great because it is yummy and quick; I think having to spend hours peeling prawns would take something away from this for me)

A few days later, the squid finally turned up, and after my success with the prawns, I thought I would try with the squid. It wasn't as nice - and was harder to prepare. I'm sticking with the prawns, in future! This is so damn easy; there should be more of it in the world!


Salt and Pepper Prawns

Ingredients

1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup rice flour
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili flakes

oil, for deep frying
500g prawns

Method

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together
2. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius
2. Heat up the oil until about 190 degrees Celsius (a piece of bread turns golden within a few seconds when dropped in the oil)
3. In about 3 batches, coat the prawns in the mixture and deep fry them. Put cooked prawns on a well lined baking tray (use a few layers of paper) and keep them hot in the oven.
4. Serve with your favourite salad!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Simple chocolate fudgy brownies




Sometimes, you yearn for chocolate. And so dear reader, tonight I thought I would entrance you with some simple chocolate fudgy brownies. I resisted the temptation to add all sorts of things to try and make it "better". I nearly added half a cup of milk chocolate chips, but thought better of it just as I was about to pour them into the saucepan.

I like this recipe for the sheer simplicity of it. It took less than 10 minutes to prepare; and takes about 25 minutes to bake in a moderate oven.

Chocolate fudge brownies

Ingredients:

185g dark chocolate
125g butter
100g brown sugar
1 tsp instant coffee granules
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sifted plain flour
1 cup nuts or choc chips (I used sliced almonds, but walnuts are more traditional)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Melt chocolate and butter over low heat
3. Add sugar and instant coffee and stir to dissolve
4. remove from heat, cool slightly, and beat in eggs
5. Beat in nuts and sifted flour.
6. Pour into a greased or lined brownie pan
7. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, allow to cool and then serve.