Contrary to popular belief I do have to cut loose from baking and cooking sometimes. Do not get me wrong preparing and baking desserts, cake, pie etc. is incredibly satisfying; not to mention delicious (sometimes); however like all activities I cannot bake sweets 24/7. Sometimes the things I am craving are labelled as “vegan or health foods”
Yes I want to eat fresh fruit salads with mixed seeds and rice syrup. I like to drink my “greenier than green” rice milk smoothies with Chia and matcha powder. Sometimes a hearty warm salad of crunchy toasted nuts, seeds, balsamic roasted pumpkin and spinach is enough to sustain me as a complete meal. I call it channelling my inner “yuppie” into my food.
Not to mention I have a wide range of savoury indulgences that I do not report here. I have thing for cheese, eggs and bread in any form. Crunchy crackers and dip, watch out when Belinda’s munchies are about.
I really do not understand why we have to separate foods into good
and bad; black and white; sometimes and always. I am looking at you
cookie monster *finger poke*
No matter how addicted you think you are
to a food, I hardly expect you to eat that ONE thing all day, every
day. Trust me I have tried (just as an experiment of course) AND!!! To
all those people who think they are exception; lairs… just saying. Beat
you are one of those people who say they do not pick their nose or fart
too.
I really do not understand why we have to separate foods into good and bad; black and white; sometimes and always. I am looking at you cookie monster *finger poke*
No matter how addicted you think you are to a food, I hardly expect you to eat that ONE thing all day, every day. Trust me I have tried (just as an experiment of course) AND!!! To all those people who think they are exception; lairs… just saying. Beat you are one of those people who say they do not pick their nose or fart too.
So as a special treat, I am doing a very trendy breakfast parfait. It is all you expect from a Yuppie meal; Granola, thick Greek yoghurt, coconut sugar, fruit. It is the dessert bowl for virtuous eater or a very healthy meal for the normal people. However this is hardly boring as the contrast of crunchy, smooth, and chewy makes this completely suitable meal for any one and at any time. Breakfast for dinner? YES please!
This is my adaption upon Top with Cinnamon’s banana breakfast parfaits. How good does her one look? I definitely had to try it this week since I was in the yuppie food mood. However for mine, I used quinoa stove top granola and caramelised my fruits instead of the date puree. I burned each layer of banana with a crunchy coat of coconut sugar, with the final topping layer finished off with a crunchy sugar crust. It is like crème brulee but for fruit and yoghurt.
Granola occupies a special place in my heart; mainly because I can eat it and not have any one judge me for going through half a batch in one sitting. It is “SO HEalthly” they say. I laugh at it when people say that too me. Yes this not most virtuous granola recipe out their but it does have a lot of great things about granola but with a few tricks to keep it out of the dessert territory.
One thing for clumpy crunchies in granola is to use very thick apple sauce, use a flax/chia egg in the mix per 2 cups of oats and soak your nuts and seeds in a small amount of nut milk before combing it with your grains. These all create a very sticky messy which looks scary but it does make your granola clump really well. Also who can argue with you when you can label it as low sugar? The quinoa is not obvious but adds to nutty flavour and helps gives the oats a bit more body.
Flavour your how you like, I use a cinnamon and apple combo here because I find this one is most adaptable. Peach, pears, dates; you got it? Add in!
This can easily be made complete vegan if you sub out the yoghurt for a soy based one or nut milk based “cream”. So let’s get started!!
Base of granola
Next your bananas and sugar
Burn baby burn! ( but not too much)
Creamy dollop of yoghurt
Repeat as needed (aka. How hungry you are)
Banana Brulee Quinoa Parfaits
Apple cinnamon quinoa crunchies (granola)
3 cups rolled oats
¾ cups uncooked quinoa, rinised
70g flake almonds
40g white sesame seeds
40g pumpkin seeds
30g LSA meal
30g roasted white sesame seed meal
~100ml-150ml Almond milk
90g rice syrup
4 Tbsp raw sugar
150ml apple sauce, thick
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
4 g salt
60g apple, dried, in small deice
2 Tbsp chia seeds mixed with 6 Tbsp hot water, sit for 5 minutes
Pre heat oven to 150C. Line three trays with baking paper.
In a medium bowl combine sesame seeds, sesame seed meal, almonds, pumpkin seeds and LSA meal.
Pour over nut milk and mix well till a thick paste develops. Allow to stand for 5 minutes.
Once the seed and nut has stood for 5 minutes add in apple sauce, sugar and syrup. Mix well.
In a large bowl combine your oats and quinoa. Mix in spices and salt. Mix in apples, nut/seed/ sugar mixture and chia egg. Combine the two until well mixed. Spread on to the trays in a thin but packed layer.
Transfer to oven and bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour, turning the trays every 15 minutes. Once brown enough and edges have crisped, turn off the oven and leave the granola trays inside over night to dry out. Transfer to an air tight jar once cool.
Assembly (use any jars or bowls) for the parfaits
I followed Top with cinnamon’s guide for layering but like I said in the intro I changed it by burning coconut sugar on the banana slices. You will need approx. 50g coconut sugar for 4 parfaits including 50g hard crack caramel for the 4 toppings. For 4 parfaits I used 2 bananas, 700g plain Greek yoghurt, and 1/3 of the recipe for the granola.
The winter chilli is slowly changing the tone of my kitchen from warm ambiance to a chili hue. Outside my window, the hairy melon plant has passed it season cycle and the little buds from my newly planted radishes and fancy lettuces are starting to sprout. My little niece is about to reach double digit months and I am approaching finishing one of my courses. Times are indeed changing around my house hold.
Life threw me a curve ball a few months ago and only now can I accept that things have to change around my house hold. I am not fond of breaking from routine, so it comes as no surprise that this shake up has really affected my emotional and in turn physical health. So I am guess I am apologising for not being very active here lately. It is not that I do not have things to say or food to post (I actually am backlogging sometimes) but mustering enough courage to post each time has become difficult.
“Getting the courage to post?” Who the hell says that!?
Yes this phase is not common but I will explain. Each time I post here I am filled with anxiety and suspense over whether the quality is good enough to be posted on the net. You guys are really what keeps me going on here as I love to hear your comments ( good or bad), re tweets, pins and other forms of sharing. I am hoping you have not been too disappointed with my last few post; some of them I am questioning the quality of the photos and such, but I can not take back what I have posted in the pass.
It might be helpful if I tried to adopt this outlook from my life too. While I cannot change the fact my dad is no longer here; I am damn well set on remembering him every day and never forgetting what he has done for his friends, family and even simple strangers. His determination and hard working spirit will live on in his garden that I view from my creative space.
I know it might not be the same. Working with sugar and butter is hardly comparable to plants and soil but go with it here. The garden may be changing it colours, appearance and produce but the foundation it was built on will never change. Maybe I can try my hand at growing a pumpkin patch next time…
Finally apples have reached a price that I can make pie from them!! Yes I am protective of my fresh apples. Hey, at $6 dollars a kilo for apples I was hardly in a rush to turn them in a dessert when I could eat them raw. Also with the cooler weather I can actually make a short, flaky pie crust without needed to run to freezer every 10 minutes. With the seasonal change I am taking a different edge on this apple crumble pie. Indeed it is everything which is great about pie. Warm, crumbly and chunky sweetened topping; next a golden crisp base which holds tender layers slices of cinnamon spiced apple. However this one is completely vegan and gluten free! Yep I am taking on the baking challenge of making pie that everyone can eat
I am not familiar with using this so I am looking to experts for guidance on pie making when gluten free. Also I got some help from series eats and other vegan guides on making a flaky short crust for pie. Hopeful it will work for you if chilli it enough and work with it quickly so it holds together. Like most pie crust it requires a quick hand, cold as oil/butter and water. I am using a food processor for convenience but it is helpful here as coconut oil or margarine is particularly hard to work in to flour by hand.
The apples are simple. Use tart ones, slice them thin and simmer with cinnamon, and brown sugar till just tender. They will get more cooking when you bake it. I like to use almond meal to combat the moisture but if do like the texture of it use corn flour or tapioca starch.
Vegan pie crust
You will need two pie tins 6inches
Adapted from Vegan baking, food 52 and this recipe on how to make pie crust from Serious eats.
20ml vodka, cold too
60ml cold iced water
460g gluten free plain flour mix ( I use a store bought one)
200g coconut oil, soften and cut to 1 cm pieces
5g teaspoon sugar
5g salt
IN a food processor, mix all dry ingredients. Add in coconut oil pieces and blend on pulse for 5 rounds. Add all vodka and pulse once. Add water in slowly, one tablespoon at a time, until it just comes off the sides of the food processor. Turn out the mixture on to a cold surface. Using your hands quickly pat the dough together to form a disc. Wrap in plastic and fridge for 1 hour.
Crumble
50g brown sugar
20g large granulated coffee sugar
60g rice flour
50g buckwheat flour
2g baking powder
2g xanthan gum
2g salt
10g almond meal
80g coconut oil, soften to 1 cm pieces
In large bowl cream brown sugar and coconut oil until well mixed and lightly whipped. Use your stand mixer or hand electric whisk
Combine flours, gum, nut meal, salt and baking powder in a large bowl, Shift in another bowl
Add flour mix to coconut oil mix and stir to combine with a knife. Add large coffee sugar. Once it forms a dough, wrap in a plastic wrap and fridge till hard, about 10 minutes.
Apples filling
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced to 2mm
1 lemon zest and reserved 2 tsp. lemon juice
20g brown sugar
20ml water
5g cinnamon ground
Almond meal as needed
Over medium to low heat in large heavy based sauce pan, bring to boil all ingredients. Once boiling turn down the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 15 minutes to till tender and liquid is reduced
Assembly
Take out your pie crust, crumble block and apples. Pre heat oven to 180C.
Roll out pastry to 4mm thick between two pieces of baking paper.
Flour your rolling pin well and roll up the pastry loosely around the rolling pin. Over a pie tin of your choice (I used two 6 inch pie tins); roll the pastry down to cover the whole tin. Gently shake your tin and tap to work the pastry down the sides of the tin. Press in the corners and trim the excess off the sides. Fridge for 30 minutes.
Place blind baking beans on a cover of baking paper over the unbaked pie crust. Bake for at 180C for 10-15 minutes until just blonde. Remove beans and allow to cool.
While that is chilling on a course grater, grate your crumble topping and increase the oven to 200C
Place the pie tin on a baking sheet. Add your apple filling, layer the pieces carefully and almond meal then top with a generous amount of crumble.
Bake in preheated oven (200C) until the topping is golden brown and crisp.
Serve warm.
This time I have no story to tell. Instead I am going to tell you why how process of eating and making chocolate cake can tell you a lot about your personality . I have only realised this once I made this easy as butter milk chocolate cake with blueberry grape syrup and coconut whip cream. This was for my little niece as she had just turned 6 months a month back; you know it is always nice to blame someone else for baking. Let see if you can guess what kind of person I am.
We all have good intentions when making chocolate cake; we plan ahead and careful search for that recipe that makes the best one. Deciding what recipe to use for chocolate cake is up there with all major choices in life. Well, that and if you are going to order a main or entrée depending on the dessert menu. I do not know about you I focus more on find a recipe for cake than actually making the recipe for cake. Thinking that I can prevent a baking fail of I search hard enough for a recipe, it rarely works but hey I am set in my ways. Also the pretty, pretty pictures of chocolate cake are addictive to look at. Personality trait: Over cautious
Making chocolate cake; careful measuring and the stirring in of ingredients is mesmerising. The glossy hue of light brown with the disappearing specks of matte dark velvet is my favourite part of baking chocolate cake; nothing is more satisfying than to see the batter being made. O.k. may not the most satisfying, licking the spoon is better. Anyway, the shifting of flours, melting of chocolate and stirring of the batter are repetitive motions that I would gladly do all day. Personality trait: Pedantic
Now baking…. The worst part of chocolate cake. The baking and waiting for it to rise with that smell waffling out of the oven? Torture!! Anyone else think watching cake bake is like magic?
But never fear hurrah! It is done! Waiting for it cool. Really another setback? Prrfff…. Personality Trait: Impatient and fussy
Frosting it is honestly my favourite part. The swirling of the icing on the cake is like art and of course I do sometimes take too long when icing the cake before any gets to eat it. However the aesthetics are well worth the effort. Personality trait? Visual Perfectionist
Eating cake? Well that is all about judging whether or not your effort have paid off. I might judge myself too harshly sometimes but I guess we are all are own worst critic. Personality trait? I have no idea…
Next time you bake a cake maybe you can track your personality too. It is really very interesting.
This cake is perfectly fine as a round cake but for my little niece she deserves my take on a shaped cake. Donna Hay’s Chocolate cake is made from buttermilk which gives it texture like red velvet but it is so easy to remember the measurements for it. I love ratio cooking! It is dense in flavour like brownie but light enough to be called cake. The fine, tender crumb soaks up the syrup well which makes it even more moreish.
It is so easy to cut the shape out it! Simply make a template you wish and cut it out like a cookie shape. I used a 23cm round cake tin and cut out two shapes from one layer; this means 4 layers from two cake layers. Make sure you drench the cake in blueberry syrup well because it really does add to the flavour of the cake which is complimented by the light as air coconut cream. I know everyone seems to be doing this but the coconut cream is my newest obsession.
A light chocolate cookie crumb coats the lightly whipped dark ganache frosting which holds these luscious layers and macerated berries in place. Yes the blueberries are not traditional for dark chocolate but the Lindt blueberry dark chocolate with almonds is my newest fave night time chocolate meal.
Glazed Chocolate Blueberry cake with Cookie crumb crust.
Chocolate cake
Taken directly from Donna Hay
• 250g butter
• 1⅓ cups (235g) brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups (300g) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ⅓ cup (35g) cocoa powder
• 1 cup (250ml) full fat sour cream
• 250g dark chocolate, melted
Coconut whip cream
• One can coconut milk, refrigerated for 24 hours
• 50g pure icing sugar, shifted
Blueberry syrup
• 200g blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 200g water
• 100g sugar
Blueberries- macerated
• 250g Fresh blueberries
• 1 lemon worth of zest
• 60ml crème de cassis
• 10g caster sugar
Chocolate glaze/ ganache ( you will need to divide this in two bowls)
• 450g dark chocolate, chopped
• ⅓ cup (200ml) pouring (single) cream
• 20g butter, softened
CHOCOLATE CAKE
Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Grease a 22cm cake tin. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa over the butter mixture, add the sour cream and chocolate, and mix until just combined.
Pour into 2 lined and greased 23 cm layer cake pan, making sure they are as even as possible. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a wooden skewer cake tester comes clean. Cool in tin for ten mintues before turning out on to a cooling rack. Place in fridge to chill.
GANACHE/ GLAZE
To make the chocolate glaze, combine the chocolate and cream in a saucepan over low heat and stir until smooth. Divide mix into two bowls, one third of the mixture in one and two third of the mixture in another. The larger mix will be for the frosting and smaller bowl for the glaze. Set the small bowl aside to cool to room temp.
With the larger bowl place in the fridge for 30 minutes, stir it and return to the fridge again for 30 minutes. Continue to do this until you slowly get a thickmixture.
BLUEBERRIES (macerated)
In a large bowl place fresh blueberries, lemon juice, cassis and sugar. Gently mix and allow to stand in the fridge covered until needed.
BLUEBERRY SYRUP
In a medium pot, combined the syrup ingredients and bring it to the boil. Reduce it down to a simmer and allow it to bubble for 5-10 minutes. Once mix has slightly thicken, remove it from the heat and strain the mix into another bowl. You may keep blueberries for a topping on waffles or toast.
COCONUT WHIP
Use this recipe from How sweet it is. I made no changes to it.
ASSEMBLY
Cut out template
One recipe of the chocolate cake, one recipe of glaze/ganache divided
One recipe of syrup
One recipe of blueberries ( macerated)
One recipe of coconut whip
Decoration
Cookie crumb, Caramelized white chocolate dust
Using a paper template, cut around the shape with sharp knife. Depending on your shape you may only get one shape or two.
Place on layer on a piece of baking paper. Using a pastry brush , spread on the syrup. After Spread a generous coat of coconut whip. Spread a few blueberries on top of this whip. Place another cake layer on top. Repeat until all layers are used.
Crumb frost the cake with a small amount of ganache. Allow to set in the fridge for 30 minutes. Prepare a shallow cookie tray filled with cookie crumbs.
Spread another layer of ganache on to the cake. Before it is set cover the cake in the cookie crumbs by rolling the sides fist in the crumb than the top.
Re warm the glaze in a Bain Marie. Allow the glaze to stand for 5 minutes before spreading over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with caramelised white chocolate. Fridge for 1 hour before serving.
I was really excited the first time I cooked an orange and poppy seed cake.
I know, I know it seems weird that even though I baked macarons, and fancy as decorated cakes; the thing that makes me keen as mustard to bake is a cake like this. The rich history behind baking a cake made from nut meal and free from dairy products, I believe, traditionally comes from the Jewish holiday of Pass over. It is so noble to abstain from flour and dairy to pay homage to the first mass Pilgrimage to escape being a slave.
As awful as it sounds, my family history is not “rich”.
Nobody (as I know of) comes from a history of war, mass hardship or strict religious traditions. I guess I could consider myself (or my pass ancestors) lucky that nothing extremely bad has happened to them, none the less it would be nice to have one part of the family that has SOME story to tell. All that I got right now is how to farm a rice field in extreme heat and water buffalo care; yes I am not kidding my family history is very stereotypically Asian…
With all the things we have thanks to advancements in technology and increased opportunities thanks to free thinkers; I hope that my ancestors would be proud of where we have ended up in this world.
From nothing, my parents and grandparents have worked very hard to make a very comfortable life style for the latest generations. Maybe they would like a slice of this cake too; however I would think they would be happy over the fact we have so much food that we can indulged in hobbies such as baking with such a precocious resource, food.
This flourless orange and poppy seed syrup cake is moreish, moist and highly fragrant. You could almost consider it a health food because of pureed whole oranges in it, use of healthy fats and all those eggs ( protein , duh!)
Hey! A dessert baker can dream right?
Almond meal is a wonderful ingredient as it keep cake moist without making them gummy and spongy; also it is effortless way of increasing the flavour in tea cake as the almonds give that heavenly nutty aroma to the Bundt. While poppy seeds do play a major role in Sephardic cooking; the original recipe did not use them; I just added them because I love the crunchy bits in my teeth. Hahaha, Nah they are very tasty little black dots that impart their smokey flavour into the cake to counter the tart sweetness of navel oranges.
The cake slices beautifully and is so very easy to store . Simply leave it in the fridge once the syrup has been added after baking and it will keep from a good week; getting better as the cake matures. Serve with icing sugar, tart candy orange, or ( if you are feeling cheeky) cream; it make the perfect way to welcome unexpected guest into your home. Nothing says welcome more than cake.
I may not be Jewish nor have a great family story to tell but at least I can bake cake like this and pretend to have connections to such noble people.
Flourless orange and poppy seed syrup cake.
Adapted from Food Safari and Nigella Lawson, How to be a domestic goddess.
Makes one large 25cm round Bundt pan
4 oranges, washed
300 g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
10 eggs
500 g almond meal
40g poppy seeds
15g baking powder
icing sugar, to serve
Syrup
150g white suagr
100g water
40ml orange blossom water
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Wash the oranges and boil in the water for 2 hours or until tender when pricked with a knife. Drain and allow to cool to room temperature.
Once cool puree to a fine pulp in food processor, Set a side
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease with oil and flour a 25 cm Bundt cake tin.
In a large bowl whisk the eggs and caster until well combined and sugar slightly dissolves. Stir in the orange puree followed by the almond meal, poppy seeds and baking powder. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and dust the top with extra caster sugar. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes, until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin. Poke small holes in warm cake and pour over syrup. Allow to set over night before serving. Dust with icing sugar, cut into slices and serve.
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