Chocolate and Dulce De Leche layer cake

My beloved niece Ataraiti is leaving in a couple of days for her OE so we went to say Goodbye today. I wanted to make something special for her so I created this cake. It's a 2 layer chocolate cake with homemade Dulce De Leche in the middle and buttercream Dulce De Leche icing, topped with Maltesers. We couldn't stay for dinner so at this stage I am not sure how it went but I have tasted all the elements separately and I was pretty happy with them so fingers crossed.

Right let's get to the recipe:

For the cake: (recipe take from the book "500 cakes" by Susannah Blake that my wonderful Sister- in Law and Brother gave me).

- 170g of butter, at room temperature (if you have forgotten to take the butter our of the fridge then try grating it)
- 140g caster sugar (for some reason I put 100g of caster sugar and the rest was brown sugar)
- 3 eggs
- 140g self- raising flour
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease two 20 cm round cake tins and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper. (I just sprayed my tins with neutral oil spray).

Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour and cocoa over the top, then fold in.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tins and spread out evenly using the back of a spoon. It will look like there is not enough batter for the pan but persevere, it'll work.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Then a tip I have pinched from Bakerella: let the cakes cool enough to be able to handle them and get them out of the pan. Once that's done, wrap them in cling film so lock in the moisture.

For the Dulce De Leche: (www.joyofbaking.com)

This recipe makes about 1 cup and a quarter.
There are 3 different ways to make Dulce De Leche. 1 with the tin of condensed milk in the oven, another one still with condensed  milk but this time in saucepan filled with water and the last one by combining and cooking all the ingredients. I chose the last one, mainly because I didn't have any condensed milk and the end product was phenomenal!

Ingredients:
- 4 cups of whole milk
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated white sugar
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup (I have never found corn syrup in New Zealand so I use glucose which can easily be found in supermarket)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Put the milk, sugar, corn syrup, baking soda and salt in a large heavy- duty saucepan.

Place over medium heat and bring just to a boil. Watch carefully and as soon as the milk begins to foam up, stir with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon (I used a whisk), and reduce the heat until the milk is just at a low rolling boil.

Continue to cook the milk, stirring the sides of the saucepan frequently until the mixture become very thick and sticky and caramel colored (about 40 to 60 minutes).

It is important to stir the milk so it doesn't burn. Adjust the heat as necessary. Remove from the heat and strain if necessary (I didn't do it and it turned out fine).

Stir in the vanilla extract.

Let cool before covering and storing.

This will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

For the Dulce De Leche buttercream: (www.bakespace.com)

This makes enough buttercream to cover a two layer 20cm cake and to decorate it.

Ingredients:
- 2 sticks of softened unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 4 cups of sifted icing sugar
- 1 can of Dulce De Leche (4 to 5 tablespoons of homemade one)
- 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract (I didn't use it since I had already put some vanilla in the Dulce De Leche and this was to go with a chocolate cake anyway)

- Approx 1/4 cup of heavy cream or milk (I used milk in mine)
- A pinch of salt

Cream the butter.
Slowly add 2 cup of the sifted icing sugar.
Add the vanilla (if using) and half of the cream/ milk.
Mix until well incorporated.
Add half of the Dulce De Leche.
Mix until blended well.
Add the remaining cream/ milk.
Add the remaining Dulce De Leche.
Blend well.
Add the salt.
Continue with the remaining 2 cups of sugar until you reach the desired consistency. Depending on your desired consistency. You might use a little more or less of the sugar.
Mix on medium for about 4-5 minutes. Keep your eye on this as it mixes and DO NOT over mix as the mixture can become grainy.


Assembly:
Place one of the chocolate sponge on the serving plate. Pour approx 5 tablespoons of Dulce De Leche and spread it over the top of the cake.
Place the second cake on top. Place it in the fridge for the Dulce De Leche to stick both cakes together (especially if it's warm). I didn't do it at first and when I covered the cakes with buttercream the cakes kept sliding which made it quite difficult.
Once you are confident the cakes are not going to move too much, remove it from the fridge and pour 3/4 of the buttercream on top of the cake. Spread to the sides.
Fill a pipping bag with the rest of the icing to decorate. I used the Wilton tip 2D (I actually wanted to use the 3M to make big roses but I was running out of time and couldn't find it so I had to improvise). I added some Maltesers on top but you could drizzle some more Dulce De Leche or leave it as is.
And Tadaaaaa, here is the final result (again). I hope you enjoy making this cake and especially eating it. Happy Baking Everyone :)

Creme Anglaise

If you have read the previous post you would have seen that I made a creme Anglaise to accompany my apple crumble pie. I took the recipe from Annabel Langbein's website: (www.annabel-langbein.com)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups of milk
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp of cornflour
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Heat the milk in a pot. While it is heating put the sugar, egg yolks and cornflour in a bowl and whisk to combine.

Mix a little hot milk into the aboe mixture, then stir the egg mixture into the remaining milk.

Add the vanilla. Stir over low heat until thikened slightly.

Allow to simmer for another 40 to 50 seconds, stirring gently.

If you are not going to use it straight away, cover it with plastic wrap (touching the top of the creme) otherwise it will form a skin.

Apple crumble pie

Never go shopping when your head is not into it or you might... end up buying 10kgs of apples and have no idea what to do with them. So I had to improvise. I wanted to make some nice apple juice but my son was sick and the noise that the juicer made really upset him. Plan B: apple pie. I didn't want to make any type of apple pie. I felt like a crumble apple pie. Here is the recipe:

For the sweet shortcrust pastry: ( I have found this recipe on a French website: http://cuisine.journaldesfemmes.com and they substituted the white sugar for icing sugar which makes the pastry very easy to handle)
- 250g of flour (I used plain flour)
- 125g butter
- 50g icing sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 30g of cold water (I used a tablespoon)
- 1 pinch of salt

1- Mix the flour and butter together between your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. When the flour has "absorbed" all the butter, add the icing sugar.

Add the egg yolk and the cold water and finally the pinch of salt.
Mix the ingredients and as soon as it resembles a dough stop mixing otherwise it will become too elactic.
Wrap the dough in cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Note: to make it easier to handle before the fridge part, I mixed the dough in a large bowl and then dumped the content on the cling film. I then used the sides of the cling film to bring all the ingredients together and then wrapped it in the cling film to put in the fridge. This saves on cleaning as well.

After 30 minutes (overnight for me), roll the dough out to the size of your pan, line the pan with the pastry and fill it with what you have chosen. If you have already cooked your filing, you will need to blind bake the dough.

Preheat your oven to 180 Degree C.

I then sliced my apples (I used 3, I forgot to take the picture before I used them so this is what I had left) and sprinkled them with brown sugar and cinnamon. I let them absorb the sugar and cinnamon for about 15 minutes and I then placed them on the dough.

for the crumble:
I used 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 of flour and 2 tablespoons of butter. Mix it all together and sprinkle on top of the pie.

Cook in a 180 degree C oven for about 25 minutes. You will smell the beautiful smell of apple and cinnamon in the whole house and that should mean it is ready.

I made 2 pies. The first one (above I thought was too short on the sides). I really need to invest into a ring....
Here is the second one:

I also made a creme anglaise to go with the pies and a min pie with the creme anglaise in.

For this one I would advise to blind bake the pastry, cook the apples and then assemble everything and bake. since I didn't do that the apples had a lot of juice that came out when I cut it (or maybe I just needed to let it cool before I cut it).

Hope you enjoyed this recipe. Happy Baking everyone :)

Delicious and very quick and easy chocolate pots...

After I made the 3 curds cake I had 3 eggs yolks left and I didn't want to waste them. I know that you can freeze them but as usual I would have forgotten all about them and in the end they would have ended up down the drain...
So I tried to think of what I could do with them... and Eureka. I thought creme patissiere (pastry cream)... but I really didn't want to make pastry so I just poured it in ramekins and tried to forget about it for at least an hour (until it was "appropriate" to have dessert). I made up the recipe and if you want a chocolate hit that's the one for you:

Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of cornflour
- 2 teaspoons of cacao powder
- 2 cups of milk
- a handful of chocolate chips (dark for me)

In a bowl mix together the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and cacao powder. Set aside.
Bring the milk to the boil with the chocolate chips. Keep stirring otherwise the chocolate is going to burn. Once the milk is boiling, turn the heat off and pour the milk onto the mixture of egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and cacao powder stirring like mad to avoid egg bits in the cream.
Pour into the molds of your choice (big ramekins for me). leave to cool and ready to put in the fridge. The creme patissiere will be set but the time in the fridge will bring up the chocolate flavor even more.

My husband had his as is. I mixed mine with frozen mixed berries. YUM!!!

Variations:
If you need to make a quick chocolate tart you can buy some already made pastry from the shops (I would recommend shortcrust, cook the pastry to the instructions on the packet and them pour the creme patissiere.
This can also be nice sandwiched between a sponge.
You can also add some cinnamon to make a spicy choc cream, or if like me you like the combination of of chilly and chocolate you could add some cayenne pepper...
Really the possibilities are endless. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Happy cooking!

Latest creation to be made again and again: 3 curds cake

When I made the meringue for my High Hat chocolate cupcakes, I didn't realise how much meringue I would have left. Since I messed it up when I made it the first time, it didn't really get a chance to show me its full potential. Anyway I decided to use up that beautiful meringue in making yet another cake inspired by Bakerella's blog: www.bakerella.com

I made that wonderful yellow cake in 3 pans as directed by Bakerella but I thought I could push it a bit further and make it a 6 layer cake. Originally the plan was to make 2 different cakes both using Lemon Curd but the plan changed when my little dinosaur started teething.
So I looked in my fridge and what did I find a mandarin and an orange and since I am in my crud mania and went for a 3 crud cake covered in meringue and coconut. Here is a picture:

Moist Yellow Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (room temperature)
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
3 cups of sifted self-rising flour
1 cup of whole milk (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring ( I don't actually use this)

Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
Grease and flour (3) 8 20 cm cake pans.
Using a mixer, cream butter until fluffy.
Add sugar and continue to cream for about 7 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg is added.
Add flour and milk (alternating to creamed mixture), beginning and ending with flour.
Add vanilla and butter flavoring to mix; until just mixed.
Divide batter equally into three cake pans.
Hold each layer about 3 inches above your counter and carefully drop the pans flat onto counter several times to ensure release of any air bubbles (that is really hard to do when you have a sleeping baby so I skipped that and the cake turned out ok). This will help you have a more level cake.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes (depending on your oven) until done.
Cool in pans for 5 – 10 minutes.
Remove and immediately wrap each layer in plastic wrap to seal in moisture. Cool completely on wire racks.
Once cooled, you are ready to assemble your cake.

I didn't actually wrap the layers in plastic wrap but I will make sure I try that next time. There were no complaints about the cake not being moist enough though since the layers were slathered in curd and covered in meringue.

For the curds (from Joy of Baking):
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
3 eggs
The zest and juice of a lemon (or one mandarin or the zest of an orange and half its juice)
2 tablespoons of butter (at room temp.)

In a heatproof bowl place the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and the eggs and whisk enough to have the mixture come together.

Place it on a pan of already boiling water making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water itself.

Whisk for about 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken. As soon as this is done, take the bowl off the pan and strain the mixture into a clean bowl. Add the butter and stir until completely melted. Place a plastic wrap over the mixture touching it to avoid getting a skin once it's cooled. Leave to cool completely.

I have actually let the curds rest in the fridge overnight to make sure they would be thick enough and in terms of taste it felt they were more flavorsome the next day (but that's only my opinion).

Assemble the cake by spreading a different curd flavor every slice of cake. I started with lemon then orange and then mandarin and again lemon... I put some curd on the last tier (the top of the cake) because I wanted to pip the meringue on the top.

I then spread the meringue on the side of the cake. Added the coconut by gently tipping and throwing the coconut onto the meringue (there could be a better way but I was in a rush to have delivered) and then pip the top with the 2M (I think) Wilton tip and a disposable pipping bag.

My next dilemma was to torch or not to torch. Well it wasn't really a dilemma I hadn't played with my faithful little torch for what seemed to be forever so I torched. I took a picture before so you be the judge. Happy Baking :)

Chocolate cupcakes with a twist....

I have been pretty busy baking and experimenting in the past week. The first recipe I have tried is a chocolate cupcake made with avocado. Yes, you read right: AVOCADO. I love avocado especially just simply spread on a piece of toast with a bit of salt and pepper but I never thought of combining it with chocolate to make the moistest chocolate cupcake I have tasted so far... Best thing is, Avocado contains good fat so it has to be healthy right?!
So here is the recipe I have found on a French blog: www.uneirresistibleenvie.blogspot.com.

Ingredients:
210 g of flour
3 CS of cacao powder
¼ CC of salt
1 CC of bicarb of soda
150 g of powdered sugar
2 CS of avocado (mashed)
2 CS (or 30 ml) of neutral oil- I used Canola Oil
240 ml of cold water
1 CS of white vinegar
1 CC of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
Prepare your cupcake cups.

In a bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, salt and bicarb of soda.

In another bowl mix the avocado, the oil, cold water and white vinegar and the vanilla extract. Add the sugar and then add the flour mixture. Mix just enough so the mixture is all wet but be careful not to overwork it.

Fill the cups to about 3/4 and place in the oven for about 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Let them cool a little in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.

I iced mine with 2 different icings:
- Peanut butter and chocolate made from the same recipe I used for my son's birthday cake and some dark chocolate ganache.

- Since I made very tiny cupcakes I decided to try and make the high hat chocolate cupcakes I had seen on Bakerella's website- www.bakerella.com

For the high hat cupcakes it is the same meringue I have made for the lemon meringue cupcakes (except executed properly this time) and dipped in chocolate. This part is very daunting but I followed Bakerella's advise and placed my cupcakes in the freezer prior to dipping them and it worked a charm.

Next post very soon. I just need to attend to a teething toddler right now. Happy baking everyone :)

Lemon curd cupcakes with fluffy coconut icing

When life gives you lemons... well I didn't make lemonade, instead I made a litre+ of lemon curd. I didn't have any jars to store it in so I called on my sister- in law to get some and with the rest I tried to make some cupcakes. I looked on the Internet for a recipe with Lemon Curd as an ingredient but all I could find were recipes of white or yellow cakes with lemon curd spread between layers. I decided to make up my own recipe (generally that doesn't go too well but this time it was not too bad).

I used the recipe I found from Bakerella and swapped some ingredients for the lemon curd. The result: a nice yellow cake with a hint of lemon. For the frosting I decided to make a fluffy coconut icing, except I didn't cook the mix enough and the sugar didn't melt which gives a gritty icing (according to my husband is quite difficult to eat.

Anyway here is the recipe:

For the cupcakes:

- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of lemon curd
- 2 cups of sifted self rising flour
- 1 cup of whole milk


Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
Prepare the cups for the cupcakes.
Using a mixer, cream the butter until fluffy.
Add the sugar and continue to cream for another 7 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg is added.
Add the lemon curd and delicately mix.
Add the flour and milk (alternating) to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
Add the vanilla flavor to the mix.
Divide the batter into the cups ( I made 6 medium sized cupcakes and 24 small ones).
bake for a about 20 minutes. If you use the toothpick checks it needs to come out clean.
Leave the cupcakes to cool in the pan until you are able to handle them and place them on a wire rack to completely cool.

In the meantime make the fluffy coconut icing.
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cup of white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- shredded coconut

In the heatproof bowl place the egg whites, the sugar and the cream of tartar.
Beat on high speed with an electric mixer for about a minute until it turns white.
Place on a pan over a pot of boiling water making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the boiling water.
Keep beating the mixture for about 7 minutes or until you get to soft peaks. Here is where the catch is as well, your mixture needs to reach approximately 160 degree C or alternatively taste it and check what the texture is like. I didn't and I ended up with more texture than I asked for because my sugar did not dissolve properly even thought I had reached soft peaks.
Once this is done, take the bowl off the boiling water pan and beat for another 2 minutes.
Pipe the mixture onto the cooled cupcakes and "dust" with shredded coconut.

Note:
- I thought the cupcakes needed a bit more lemon hit so I will try again next time with more lemon curd.
- Because of that I scooped some of the cupcakes tops off and spooned some more lemon curd in, put the tops back on and piped my fluffy icing over.

I will hopefully be able to post some more feedback tomorrow after my team of tasters have sunk their teeth into them.
The first one was my husband and he didn't like the icing because of the gritty texture but he really liked the cupcakes themselves. It was light and lemony.
Hope you enjoy making those and especially eating them.