Saturday, 21 April 2012

R2D2 cake

 This is my Husband's second Birthday cake. He does like Star Wars so I thought it would be a nice one to make. It's a three tier cake: 
Top is Gluten Free and dairy free lemon and chocolate marble cake with chocolate and pear mousse.
Middle Tier is chocolate mud cake with ganache.
Bottom tier is a coconut cake and tequila and lime buttercream.
I have made the fondant myself and the legs are homemade Rice Krispie Treat.








Princess Castle cake

This is a cake I have made a little Princess' 5th Birthday last Friday. Both cakes are chocolate mud cake. Bottom tier is frosted with ganache, top tier is frosted with buttercream. The towers are made out of Ric eKrispie Treats and covered in fondant. The top of the towers are ice cream cones.








Thursday, 12 April 2012

Liverpool FC Birthday cake



Cake I made for my beloved husband for his Birthday today. He is a devoted Liverpool fan. The cake was Mississippi Mud cake with chocolate and peanut butter icing. The white writing is from fondant I made myself. It took me an hour to carve and decorate. This is the fastest I have ever been. I had to since my husband was sitting just a few feet in front of me playing video games while I was frantically trying to decorate before he got up and came to the kitchen (which is open plan too).
Anyway he loved it from both the looks and the taste. I will post the recipe soon as I have another one to make for the end of next week.

Here are a couple more pics:


Monday, 9 April 2012

Gluten Free Brioche

I think Brioche has always been one of my favourite French pastries. With its sinful buttery taste and its crusty outside and moist inside, how can you resist?
I hadn't made one in ages and now that I am on a gluten free/ dairy free diet I thought I had to give it up altogether. BUT was I wrong?
I have recently found yet another French blog where there is an array of Gluten Free/ Dairy Free recipes. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for: Brioche au miel.
As soon as it came out of the oven we had to tuck in. It was just like one containing gluten except lighter and despite the fact that there is no butter in this recipe, the brioche tastes just as buttery as I remember the ones I used to buy back home. So without further ado, here is the recipe and the link: http://www.lafaimdesdelices.fr/pain-viennoiserie/recette-de-brioche-sans-gluten-au-miel/

Ingredients:

75g rice flour
75g tapioca flour
350g of cornstarch
4cc of dried yeast
2cc of salt
4cc of xanthan gum (or guar gum)
225g of soy milk
190g of liquid honey 
115g of grape seed oil (I used simple canola oil and it worked fine although the grapeseed oil would bring a nice dimension to the brioche)
4 eggs + 1 egg for the glaze (I actually brushed milk on top and sprinkled some palm sugar)
2tsp vanilla extract
caster sugar


Mix in a large bowl, salt, flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder and xanthan gum (or guar gum)
In another bowl, combine milk, 4 eggs, honey, oil and vanilla extract
Stir in flour and mix previous with the hook of your robot hand for 5 minutes to incorporate all the flour.
Leave the dough covered with a damp cloth for 1:30
Grease a mold and incorporate all the dough
Smooth the top of the dough with your fingers moistened
Let stand again 40 minutes. Here I would recommend to split the brioche on the top with serrated knife as you would do with some breads like baguette. Mince was a bit crooked.
Beat remaining egg and use it to brown the top of the bun
Sprinkle lightly with sugar on top of the bun
Bake at 180 ° C (gas mark 6) for 35 minutes. Check for doneness with the tip of a knife.



I also think that brioche is the best choice to make eggy bread/ French toast (pain perdu). I made some today (for lunch, I know!!!) but while I was getting it ready I couldn't resist having a piece of toasted brioche with butter. Yum, yum, all around.



Friday, 6 April 2012

Easter Toblerone Hot Cross Buns


Last week my sister- in law came for a visit and brought me the 2 biggest pieces of Toblerone I have ever seen. I thought the ones you buy at the airport were the biggest you could find but was I wrong! Those ones are humengous!!!
Don't believe me??
I didn't have anything else for comparison than my son't bottle. But I guess it shows how big that one piece of Toblerone is!!!

Anyway, I made those special Hot Cross Buns for her and her beautiful family. I followed the Edmonds recipe with a few changes.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of butter
2 teaspoons Edmonds active yeast
4 1/2 cups Edmonds high grade flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons sugar
1 3/4 cups of mixed dried fruit
1 cup of tea (mine was lemon flavoured)
100g of chopped Toblerone

Crosses:
1/2 cup Edmonds high grade flour
3 Tablespoons of cacao powder
6 Tablespoons of water

Glaze:
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon boiling water
1 teaspoon gelatine

Heat the milk until almost boiling. Stir in the first measure of sugar and butter until butter melts. Set aside until lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast over and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes or until frothy.

Put the dried fruit is a bowl and pour the hot tea over. Leave aside until needed.

Combine 4 cup of flour with salt, cinnamon, mixed spices and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in second measure of sugar. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.

Pour the yeast mixture in. Beat to a soft dough, adding more flour if the dough is sticky.

Drain the fruit and add them to dough along with the pieces of Toblerone.

Turn onto a lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic or until the dough springs back when lightly touched.

Lightly brush a bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl. Brush the top with oil. Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

Punch the dough in the centre and knead lightly. Divide the mixture into 16 even- sized pieces. Shape into balls. Place the balls 2 cm apart on a greased oven tray. Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

Pipe the crosses on each bun.

Bake at 200 Degree C for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and brush with the glaze. Cool on a wire rack.

To make the crosses:
Mix together all the ingredients until obtaining a smooth paste. Place the mixture into a small plastic bag and snip one of the corners.

To make the glaze:
Boil the water and mix together with the sugar and gelatine until all dissolved. Brush onto the Hot Cross Buns.


Gluten Free Pasta- Take 2




The GF pasta I had made previously were nice but not the whole family liked them and I don't like making 2 different dinner... Too much time and too many dishes. So I gave it another try. I have found this recipe on a French site: http://sanslaitsansgluten.over-blog.net/.
The miracle happened. My husband loved them so much so that I managed to serve them 2 days in a row. The bonus is that it requires less ingredients and is easier to make than the other one.

Ingredients:
350g of gluten free flour (I use 2/3 of rice flour and 1/3 of tapioca flour)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Mix the flours directly on the working surface.
Make a well in the centre.
Beat the eggs slightly and mix in with the flours.
If the mixture is too sticky, add more flour; if it feels too dry add another egg.
Leave it aside to rest for about 30 minutes.
Roll as thin as possible and cut with either a knife or a cookie cutter. I used my new pasta maker which I have to admit I am very happy about :)
Cook in boiling, salted water for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain well. Drizzle some olive oil over them and toss them a bit so they won't stick together. Serve immediately.

We had ours with home made bolognese and a good helping of cheese for the boys.



And here is a pic of my kitchen afterwards:


Happy cooking everyone :)

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Home made Gluten Free pasta







I have always meant to make my own pasta. There is something very satisfying about making things from scratch I find. 
I found the following recipe on: http://glutenfreegirl.com/gluten-free-fresh-pasta/ and decided to try it out tonight. Now in the recipe it is emphasised that the egg are extra large. I thought that size 8 eggs would be big enough but I think it might not have been. The pasta ended up quite dry after cooking and easily breakable, not the smooth roll around the fork type of pasta but the taste was nice and my son and I ate them without complaints. It says a lot that he ate it without complaints :)
Here is the recipe:


Ingredients:
85g of chickpea flour
85g of millet flour (I used sorghum)
85g of potato flour (I use rice flour)
Pinch of nutmeg (I didn't have any fresh one so I decided not to use it)
1 teaspoon of psyllium husk
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 extra large egg
3 extra large egg yolks
1 to 2 tablespoons of oil
1 to 2 tablespoons of water





Making the dough in the food processor. I chose this one due to lack of time
Combine the flours, psyllium powder, nutmeg, and salt in the bowl of the food processor to combine and aerate the flours.
Mix the egg, egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the water. Pour the liquid into the flours. Run the food processor on pulse 8 to 10 times, then look at the dough. If the dough has formed crumbs that look like dry cheese curds, you’re done. If they are a little too dry, add the remaining olive oil, then pulse, look, then add more water, if necessary. If the dough looks a bit too wet, add another tablespoon of flour.
Turn out onto a dry, clean surface.
Making the dough by hand.
Combine the flours, psyllium powder, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl. Whisk them together for a few moments to combine and aerate the flours.
Pile the flours into a small mound on a clean, dry surface and make a well in the center.
Mix the egg, egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the water. Pour the liquid into the flours. Using a fork, rubber spatula, or your fingers, stir the liquids gently, bringing in a bit of flour from the outside walls with each turn. When most of the egg mixture is blended with the flour, bring the rest of the flour into the middle with your hands. If it feels too dry — flour flaking off the ball of dough — add the remaining olive oil, then water. If the dough feels too wet — if it squelches when it touches the board — add another tablespoon of flour.
Take a few moments to knead the dough, gently. Push forward on the ball of dough with your hand, then fold the ball back on itself toward you. Rotate the dough and repeat until the dough feels supple and smooth.
Once you have your ball of dough, whether you made it with the food processor or by hand, wrap up the dough in plastic wrap. Let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Spread a little flour on your favorite work surface. (Any of the three flours will do.) Cut the ball of pasta dough into four equal pieces. Working gently, roll out the dough, backwards and forwards, side to side, until it is as thin as it will go. (See video above.)
Using a sharp knife, cut the pasta into noodles of your desired thickness. Move the noodles onto a plate and cover them with a damp cloth as you finish the other noodles.
You may now cook your pasta. Fill a large pan with water and enough salt to make it taste like the ocean. When the water is boiling, gently nudge your noodles into the water and cook until they are soft but still have a bit of a bite, about 2 to 3 minutes. (Don’t overcrowd the pan. You might have to cook this in 2 batches.) Drain immediately, reserving a bit of the cooking water for any sauce you might be making. Toss the noodles with a bit of oil to coat.