Another decorated cake

It was my sister- in- law's Birthday last week end and we arranged to meet in the park so my little Monkey could run around a bit.
I made her the cake below. It was the ginger cake recipe that I have posted earlierhttp://www.thebakingfrog.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/im-not-one-to-brag-but-this-gingerbread.html, with some white chocolate ganache, covered with fondant and royal icing pipping. It took me about 3 and a half hours to decorate it. I couldn't find some of my tools (it was getting close to midnight) so I used a pizza cutter for the details on the bag. I must have been quite tired because I went a bit deep on some of them.
Enjoy:)

I'm not one to brag BUT this gingerbread cake is delicious

Ok, so it's doesn't look like much but trust me it ticks all the boxes (at least all of mine). It is very, very moist, not too sweet, tasty and good for you...

I wanted to make a gingerbread cake simply because I LOVE the smell of gingerbread cake baking. It gives the whole house a holiday smell. So I got inspired by this recipe: http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/food/cookbooks/833427/divine-ginger-cake-with-caramel-icing.
When I said I got inspired by this recipe, it's because I gave myself a challenge: make this cake gluten and dairy free so I could finally have some cake!!!

Don't ask me why I made the changes I made, I have no idea, I just felt this was meant to be so here is my version of it:

Ingredients:
¾ cup (165g) cane sugar
1/2 cup of rice flour

1/2 cup of buckwheat flour

1/4 cup of brown rice flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
125g of coconut oil
2 eggs, separated
2/3 cup (160ml) sour milk (2/3 cup of soy milk with a teaspoon of white vinegar)

1 orange (zest and juice)

2 pieces of crystallised ginger

Spray a 9'in round pan with cooking spray and pre- heat the oven to 170 Degree C.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together all the dried ingredients.

Beat the egg whites until they reach stiff peaks.

Mix together all the wet ingredients (except the egg whites) in a jug.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dried and add the orange zest and the crystallised ginger cut into small pieces.

Carefully fold in the egg whites.

Pour in the prepared tin. 

Place in the medium rack of the oven and bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

Leave it to cool in the pan until you can turn it over a wire rack. Cover with a tea towel and leave it to completely cool. 

Notes: 

- I have not iced it because all the icings I could think of have dairy in them, however a nice dark chocolate icing might go well with the heat of the ginger.

- It also can make a very nice tea cake. Bake it in a loaf tin and serve it for tea with maybe a little butter and a nice warm cup of tea.

- Despite the generous amount of coconut oil, the cake does not taste of coconut. The orange and spices are the pre- dominant tastes. 

- Finally I have found this cake to be so tasty, I had to pieces. Even my husband could not believe it. to be honest, I could have had the whole thing for dinner...

Hope you enjoy making this cake and especially eating it.

Happy Baking everyone :)

Decorated cakes- 2009

Since I didn't have a post for Valentine's Day (we don't actually celebrate it at home), I thought I would post some pictures of cakes I have decorated so far.

So here they are:

This was one of my first "elaborated" ones. The order was a Tennis themed cake from a friend for her Mother's Birthday. I made the racket on the right too big and it started cracking.

This is the cake I made myself for my 30th Birthday. Top tier is gluten free orange cake and bottom... well has to be chocolate:

This one was for my Manager when she left for her new job:

I made this one for a 40th Birthday I think. It was a very rich chocolate cake...

I made this one for a lady at work who was going on maternity leave, unfortunately, when I got out of the car, the container fell on the ground and the cake got damaged:

Halloween:

I made this one for a colleague at work who was getting married:

This one is the one that started it all I have to admit. My manager at the time asked me if I could make a cake for her son who loved Lighting McQueen. It's not a perfect cake but considering I had had no training in shaping cakes or on how to use fondant, and the rest, I am still really happy how it turned out. 

This one I made for my niece's third Birthday:

I hope you have enjoyed looking at those cakes as much as I have enjoyed making them. I'll try to post some more soon. Happy baking :)

On Saturdays, we have pancakes...

Every Saturday we have pancakes for breakfast at our place. I have tried a few Gluten Free recipes but this one wins it for me. I served it simply with fresh blueberries and a drizzle of agave syrup. It was delicious, they were light and fluffy and despite the picture only showing 3 on my plate I must have eaten at least twice this many.


Here is the recipe: (from: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/9096/gluten-free-pancakes)
½ cup buckwheat flour
½ cup rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbs white sugar, I used 1 tablespoon of agave syrup 
1 egg, separated
1 cup gluten-free soy milk- I actually add a teaspoon of white vinegar to my cup of milk to make it a sour milk. It seems to make the pancakes light and fluffy but it's really up to you.
pinch of salt
1 tbs oil (I used a vanilla infused grapeseed oil)

1. 
   Sift the flours and baking powder into a bowl. Add the salt and sugar and make a well in the middle. Pour the whole egg yolk, milk and oil in and whisk well until just combined.
2. 
   Whisk the egg white until peaks form and gently fold into the batter. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes. I guess this might have made them even fluffier but you should see breakfast was pretty rushed as I had to prepare my son's as well.
3. 
   Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and spray with oil. Drop tablespoons of the batter onto the pan. Cook the pancakes until bubbles appear on the top side and then flip it over. Cook for another minute or so until golden.
4. 
   Serve immediately with sliced fresh fruit and soy yoghurt.
5. ********************************************************************************************************
6. Tous les Samedis, chez nous on mange des pancakes
7. 
   
8. 
9. Chaque samedi, nous avons des pancakes pour le petit déjeuner. J'ai essayé quelques recettes sans gluten, mais celle-ci est la recette gagnante pour moi.Je l'ai servie tout simplement avec des bleuets frais et un filet de sirop d'agave. Ils étaient délicieux, ils étaient légers et moelleux, et malgré l'image montrant seulement 3 sur mon assiette, je dois avoir mangé au moins deux fois ce nombre.
   
   
   Voici la recette: (à partir de: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/9096/gluten-free-pancakes)
   ½ tasse de farine de sarrasin
   ½ tasse de farine de riz
   1 cuillère à café de poudre à pâte
   1 cuillère à soupe de sucre blanc, j'ai utilisé 1 cuillère à soupe de sirop d'agave
   1 oeuf, 
   1 tasse lait de soja sans gluten-j'ajoute une cuillère à café de vinaigre blanc à ma tasse de lait pour en faire un lait caillé. Il semble faire les crêpes légère et mousseuse, mais c'est vraiment à vous de décider.
   pincée de sel
   1 huile tbs (j'ai utilisé une huile de pépins de raisin  infusée   la vanille)
   
   
   Tamiser les farines et la poudre à pâte dans un bol. Ajouter le sel et le sucre et faire un puits au milieu. Versez l'oeuf entier, le lait et l'huile à l'intérieur et bien mélanger au fouet jusqu'à ce que ce les ingrédients soient bien combinés.
   
   
   Faire chauffer une poêle antiadhésive sur feu moyen et vaporiser avec de l'huile. Laisser tomber des cuillères à soupe de pâte dans la poêle. Cuire les pancakes jusqu'à ce que des bulles apparaissent sur ​​le côté du haut, puis retournez-les. Faites cuire pendant une minute ou jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient dorés.
   
   Servir immédiatement avec des fruits frais tranchés et le yaourt de soja.

A project for the week end with my little boy: decorate sugar cookies

On Friday afternoon my son kept playing with a decorating kit of mine and I thought: "let's make some simple sugar cookies and we will make it OUR project to decorate them together." He helped me prepare the batter for the cookies, picked the cutters but when it came to decorate he was over it so Mummy had to practice her pipping (which is very rusty but still extremely relaxing). Here are a few pics:

Our Green, Purple and White bear collection:

Our chocolate covered bears (1 of them has already perished):

And our flower collection:

Happy Baking everyone :)

An oldie but a goodie- Flourless orange cupcakes with fluffy frosting

Another Gluten Free recipe and this one is also Dairy Free.

For the cupcakes (from 500 cakes by Susannah Blake)
3 small oranges, peeled- make sure they are small or if they are quite big use only 2 otherwise the batter will be too liquid to handle
6 eggs
200g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Put the oranges in a saucepan and cover with boiling water. Simmer for 1 hour, then drain and leave to cool. Cut the cooled oranges in half and remove any seeds. Put the halved oranges in a food processor and blend to a smooth paste.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 Degree C and prepare the cupcake cases into a muffin tin.

Pour the orange purée into a large bowl, then beat in the eggs. Stir in the sugar, then add the almonds and baking powder. Stir until well combined. Tip the mixture into the prepared cupcake cases. and bake for about 1 hour until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave the cupcakes to cool before icing.

Seven minute icing:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
3 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste- I have completely fall in love head over hill with this)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I didn't use it)

Put the sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler with at least a 2- quart capacity (about 2 liters) and beat with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until opaque, white and foamy, about 1 minute.

Put the bowl over the pan of hot water. Beat on high speed until the frosting forms soft peak that stands straight up if you stop the beaters and lift them up, about 7 minutes. The frosting should register 160F (70 Degree C). Remove the container of frosting from the water and add the flavouring you are using and continue beating for 2 minutes to further thicken the frosting.

Leave it to cool and either load up a pipping bag and leave it as is if you are spreading it with a spatula.

I pipped mine just because I love pipping and cooked orange zest in a sugar syrup with a little dash of Cointreau

Happy baking everyone :)

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Une autre recette sans gluten et celle-ci est également sans produits laitiers.
Pour les cupcakes (recette Susannah Blake-500 cakes)3 petites oranges, pelées-assurez-vous qu'elles sont de petite taille autrement n'en utiliser que 2.6 œufs200g de sucre en poudre200g d'amandes en poudre1 1/2 cuillère à café de poudre à pâte
Mettre les oranges dans une casserole et couvrir d'eau bouillante. Laisser mijoter pendant 1 heure, puis les égoutter et laisser refroidir. Couper les oranges refroidies en deux et retirer les graines. Mettre les oranges coupées en deux dans un robot et mélanger jusqu'à obtenir une pâte lisse.
Pendant ce temps, préchauffer le four à 180 degrés Preparer les caissettes pour les cupcakes dans un moule a muffin.
Verser la purée d'orange dans un grand bol, puis incorporez les oeufs. Incorporer le sucre, puis ajoutez les amandes et la poudre à pâte. Remuer jusqu'à ce que bien mélangé. Verser le mélange dans les caissettes préparées et faire cuire pendant environ 1 heure jusqu'à ce qu'un cure-dent inséré au centre en ressorte propre.
Laissez les cupcakes refroidir avant de les glacer.
Glacage 7 minutes:1 1/4 tasses de sucre1/3 tasse d'eau3 gros blancs d'œufs1/4 cuillère à café de creme de tartre (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%A8me_de_tartre)1 extrait de vanille (j'ai utilisé de la vanille en pâte, j'ai complètement tomber amoureuse de ce produit)1/4 cuillère à café d'extrait d'amande (je n'ai pas l'utiliser)
Mettez le sucre, l'eau, les blancs d'œufs et la crème de tartre dans un bol résistant à la chaleur ou le haut d'un bain-marie avec au moins un 2 - pintes (environ 2 litres) et battre avec un mélangeur à main électrique à haute vitesse jusqu'à ce que opaque, blanche et mousseuse, environ 1 minute.
Placer le bol sur la casserole d'eau chaude. Battre à grande vitesse jusqu'à ce que le glaçage monte en neige souple cést a dire que les blancs d'oeufs fassent des poitnes quand vous arretez et enlevez les batteurs, environ 7 minutes. Le glaçage doit inscrire 160F (70 ° C Degré). Retirer le récipient de glaçage de l'eau et ajouter l'arôme que vous utilisez et continuer de battre pendant 2 minutes pour épaissir encore le glaçage.
Laisser refroidir et soit charger une poche a douille ou le laisser tel quel si vouz utilisez une spatule pour l'étaler.

Gluten Free Chocolate and Raspberry Jelly tart

My husband organized a morning tea at work since he is moving offices and asked me to make a few things. One of his colleagues is on a gluten- free diet I decided to go with a couple of yummy things that are gluten free.

I didn't get a chance to decorate it but I'm sure it didn't affect the taste.
Note: to avoid the air bubbles once you have poured the ganache, gently tap the dish on your counter to make them burst.

So here is the recipe for this delicious tart easy as pie, all you need is the will power to let it set.

For the pie pastry: (from Women's Weekly allergy free baking)
1 1/2 cup of hazelnut meal (I actually used almond meal and it was fine)
1/3 cup of caster sugar
1/4 cup of cornflour (I used rice flour)

125g cold unsalted butter, chopped
1 egg yolk

Note: I generally chill all my utensils before I make the pastry i.e. : food processor bowl and blades, spatula as well as my ingredients.

Process the meal, sugar, corn or rice flour and butter until crumbly; add egg yolk, pulse until the mixture comes together. Knead the dough gently on floured surface until smooth. Wrap in plastic film; refrigerate 1 hour.

Grease a 22 cm round based flan tin. Roll the pastry between two sheets of baking paper (I used plastic wrap and it worked a treat). Note: if you don't use anything the pastry will crack (trust me I spend about 20 min cursing at it before I realized "if something doesn't work, try something different"). Ease the dough into the tin, press into the base and side; trim the edge. Cover and refrigerate again for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 200C fan- forced (I used mine on baking at 170C degree and it might have taken longer but the pastry was nice and crumbly). Place the tin in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes (I'm not sure exactly how long I baked mine for, just open the door from time to time and check that the pastry feels "dry"). I then left it to cool completely.

For the jelly: I am slightly ashamed to say here that I bought crystal jelly (I used Pams raspberry jelly) and made it at home. Let the jelly completely cool otherwise the pastry will absorb it and you will get a soggy pastry.
Once you have poured the jelly into the pastry case, place the dish in the fridge and wait until it is fully set.
In the meantime make the Ganache. You will need:
- 300g of dark chocolate (I used Wittakers 72% Dark Gana)
- 500 ml of cream
- 1 Tbspn of butter

Break the chocolate into squares and the Tbspn of butter in a heat resistant bowl.

Bring the cream to the boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and butter. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. The chocolate will melt nicely. Whisk gently and leave it to cool.

Once the jelly is fully set and the ganache is cool, pour the ganache over the jelly and put it in the fridge again, preferably overnight if you can wait.

Note: I got some very good feedback on this tart so I hope you enjoy it as much as the people I made it for.

Happy baking :)

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Tarte au chocolate et gelée de Framboise sans gluten

Mon mari avait organisé une petit gouter d'au revoir au travail parce qu'il change de bureaux et m'a demandé de faire quelques petites gourmandies. Une de ses collègues suit régime sans gluten, et j'ai décidé d'essayer cette idée de tarte au chocolat et gelée de framboises.
Je n'ai pas eu le temps de la décorer, mais je suis sûr qu'il n'a pas d'incidence sur le goût.Note: pour éviter les bulles d'air une fois que vous avez versé la ganache, tapotez doucement le plat sur le comptoir pour les faire éclater.
Voici donc la recette de cette délicieuse tarte facile, tout ce que vous avez besoin c'est la patience d'attendre que chaque élément ait figer.
Pour la pâte à tarte: (recette prise de Women's Weekly- Allergy Free Baking)1 1/2 tasse de poudre de noisettes (j'ai utilisé le repas d'amande)1/3 tasse de sucre en poudre1/4 tasse de farine de maïs (j'ai utilisé la farine de riz)
125g de beurre non salé froid, coupé en dés1 jaune d'oeuf

Note : En général, je mets tous mes ustensiles au réfrigérateur avant de commencer: bol du robot culinaire et les lames, une spatule, ainsi que mes ingrédients.
Melanger les amandes en poudre , le sucre, le farine de maïs ou de riz et le beurre jusqu'à consistance qui reseemble a des miettes de pain; ajouter jaune d'oeuf, mélanger jusqu'à ce que le mélange forme une pâte. Pétrir la pâte délicatement sur une surface farinée jusqu'à consistance lisse. Enveloppez dans du film plastique et réfrigérer 1 heure.
Graisser le moule. Étalez la pâte entre deux feuilles de papier sulfurisé (j'ai utilisé du papier film et le résultat n'était pas mauvais du tout). Note: si vous n'utilisez pas l'un ou l'autre des papiers, la pâte va se fissurer (croyez-moi, j'ai passé environ 20 min à maudire ma pate avant de prendre la décision d'essayer autre chose). Facilité la pâte dans le moule, appuyez sur dans la base et sur le côté. Couvrir et réfrigérer de nouveau 30 minutes.
Préchauffez votre four à 200C. Placez le moule dans le four et cuire pendant environ 25 minutes (je ne sais pas exactement combien de temps je la mienne au four pour, il suffit d'ouvrir la porte de temps en temps et vérifier que la pâte soit "séche"). Je l'ai ensuite laissé refroidir complètement.
Pour la gelée: je suis un peu honte de dire ici que j'ai acheté cristaux de gelée (j'ai utilisé Pams gelée de framboise). Laissez refroidir complètement la gelée sinon la pâte va l'absorber et vous obtiendrez une pâte détrempée.Une fois que vous avez versé la gelée dans le fond de tarte, placer le plat au réfrigérateur et attendre jusqu'à ce qu'il soit entièrement figée (envrion 30 minutes)
 
Pour la ganache:- 300g de chocolat noir (j'ai utilisé Wittakers 72% Dark Gana)- 500 ml de crème liquide- Une cuillerée à soupe de beurre
Casser le chocolat en carrés et ajouter la cuillerée à soupe de beurre dans un bol résistant à la chaleur.
Porter la crème à ébullition. Verser la crème sur le chocolat et le beurre. Laisser reposer pendant quelques minutes. Le chocolat va fondre gentiment. Fouetter doucement et laisser refroidir.
Une fois la gelée est entièrement figée et que la ganache est froide, versez la ganache sur la gelée et le mettre dans le réfrigérateur à nouveau, de préférence toute une nuit si vous pouvez attendre.


Note: jái recu de très bons commentaires sur cette tarte alors j'espère que vous l'apprécierez autant que les gens pour je l'ai faite.