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.

Today the lil monkey had Empanadas for lunch

So today my lil' Monkey and I were so focused on buying him some sun glasses that we didn't think about lunch. Luckily he went down just long enough for me to make something yummy: empanadas.
I thought those are great because really you can stuff any leftover in them. For my little one I filled them with ham, onions, green capsicum, cheese and a grated kumara. I cooked the filling first so it had time to cool.

Then I made the pastry that I have found on this website: http://blog.superhealthykids.com/2011/02/starting-e-week-with-empanadas/. 
This site has awesome recipes for kids.

Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp of butter (I used reduced fat margarine)
- 1 Tbsp of olive oil
- 1 Tbsp of white vinegar
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 tsp of salt

Place all the ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in:
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- 1 cup of white flour.

Put the dough in the fridge until it has cooled. Once the dough is cool, roll out and cut into circles or squares out of the dough. Fill with desired filling. Bake at 180 Degree C for 20 minutes or until the bread dough is browning and cooked through.

I made mine into kind of ravioli shape and the lil monkey loved them... Considering that lately he would only eat eggs or Terriyaki chicken with rice, I feel we have achieved something here.

And again for Christmas I made some Gingerbread cake pops

I forgot to take pictures of them on their own so here is a pic of them in the goodie box I was assembling for my son's swimming instructor.

For the gingerbread cake: (from Martha Stewart)
8 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup of unsulfured molasses (I didn't have any and to be honest I have no clue where I could find some here so I used Treacle)
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 large eggs lightly beaten

1- Heat the oven to 350F (180). Butter and flour a 9 by 13 inch cake pan; set aside.
In a bowl combine boiling water and baking soda; set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt and baking powder; set aside.

2- In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter until light. Beat in brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and grated ginger, baking soda mixture and flour mixture. Beat in eggs.

3- Pour the batter in prepared pans; bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

While you wait for the cake to cool, you can make the brown sugar frosting:

Brown sugar frosting: http://southernfood.about.com/od/icingrecipes/r/bl50618m.htm

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup milk

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, more or less

hot water, optional

Preparation:

In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Add the brown sugar. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually add sifted confectioners' sugar. Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water.

Assembly
Break the cake in pieces.
Mix the frosting to the cake and make it into a sort of a paste.
Put in the fridge to harden for at least an hour.
Take it out of the oven and place it between 2 sheets of food wrap.
With a rolling pin, roll it out and flatten it.
Cut the gingerbread men out.
Place them on a cookie pan and place them in the fridge overnight or even in the freezer. Make sure they are covered with a food wrap so no water gets on them.
When they have harden enough, melt some milk chocolate with a little bit of vegetable oil- something neutral, you don't want to spoil the taste of the chocolate (double boiler method). Leave it to cool slightly since you are going to dunk the gingerbread men you don't want them to melt or get the chocolate messy.
Before you dunk the gingerbread men, prepare another cookie pan or another dish with a baking sheet over it to place you gingerbread men once they have been covered in chocolate.
Dunk your gingerbread men in the melted chocolate. If you want to stick some decorations (like the buttons on mine) you will need to do it immediately after you have placed the gingerbread men to set.

And for Christmas I also made some... Chocolate dipped Hazelnuts Shortbreads

I wanted to make shortbread but not the ones I usually make during the year. I wanted the Wow factor and I found this recipe on the Food Network website: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/chocolate-dipped-hazelnut-shortbread-recipe/index.html.

Ingredients

• 1 cup husked hazelnuts
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place hazelnuts on baking sheet. Bake until they're a shade darker and fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Lower oven to 325 degrees F.
Place hazelnuts in blender or food processor and pulse to coarse bits; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt to blend; set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon until smooth. Beat in egg. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add the chopped hazelnuts and mix until distributed evenly throughout.

Form into long cookies and place on greased cookie sheets. Bake until firm, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on racks.

In a saucepan over lowest heat or in a double boiler, melt chocolate. Dip 1 end of cooled cookies into melted chocolate. Place back on cookie sheet to harden.

I shaped mine in stars. I thought that was more Christmassy :) Although I realized as I didn't take any pics of the shortbreads once they were dipped... Well, will have to make them again.

Happy Baking :)

and for Christmas I made some: Christmas mince Pies

For those I turned to my Baking Bible aka: The Edmonds Cookery book... And they always turn out to be a crowd pleaser.
Here is the recipe for the pastry (if you do have the book, turn to page 86)
Sweet Shortcrust pastry:
1 cup of standard plain flour
75g of butter
1/4 cup of sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of water
This recipe works if you double it too which makes it a lot easier.

Sift the flour. Cut in butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar. Add the egg yolk and water. Mix to a stiff dough. Chill for 30 minutes before using. Use as required for sweet pies and tarts.

Christmas mincemeat:
2 medium apples, unpeeled, quartered of cored
275g packet vegetable shortening or melted butter
1 1/4 cups of currants
1 1/4 cups of sultanas
1 1/4 cups of raisins
1 1/4 cups of mixed peel
1/4 cup blanched almonds
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons brandy or whisky or lemon juice

This is where I put my own personal touch of cutting corners and I buy the already mixed mincemeat (the one that is already prepared in the red tubs) and for the liquid I used cranberry juice and port.

Mince and finely chop apples, suet, currants, sultanas, raisins, peel and almonds. Add the sugar, salt, nutmeg and liquid (depending on what you are using). Mix well. Spoon the mixture into clean jars and seal. If using fruit juice, refrigerate.
Makes 6 cups.

Christmas mince pies:
400g Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
1 cup of Christmas Mincemeat
1 egg, beaten
Icing sugar

On a lightly floured board roll out the pastry to 3mm thickness.
Cut out rounds using 7 cm cutter, and use to line about 16 patty tins (I use mini muffin tins).
Using a 6cm round biscuit cutter, cut out the tops from the remaining pastry. I actually used a star shaped one (just my preference).
Spoon a teaspoon of mincemeat into each base. Brush the edges of the bases with some of the egg. place tops over the filling, pressing slightly around the edges to seal the pies. Glaze with the remaining beaten egg. Bake at 180 Degree C for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. To serve, heat at 140 degree C for 15 minutes or until warm. Dust with sifted icing sugar.

Happy Baking :)

Banana custard cake

Gosh has the silly season been busy (despite a quite average weather to say the least!). Then I decided my house needed a good top to bottom clean which took me a whole week so I've been quite busy but it doesn't mean I was cooking and baking as well. Anyway, let's move on to the important part: the food!!!
My husband had an afternoon tea at work on the Friday before Christmas and his section needed to bring cakes. I thought "I don't want to do the predictable chocolate cake", I want to make something summery but naughty at the same time... After all it was 2 days before Christmas. So I came up with this recipe. The cake is still the moist yellow cake from Bakerella that I love making and this is very easy and delicious. You can find the recipe here: http://www.bakerella.com/finally-i-found-it/.
To this wonderfully moist cake I added some homemade banana custard (inspired from the custard tart recipe on page 214 of the iconic Edmonds cookbook) which goes like that: 
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 bananas cut in very small pieces

In a saucepan, whisk together eggs, milk and sugar. Cook, stirring often until almost boiling. Remove from the stove and add the banana pieces. Stir to mix the bananas. Pour into in bowl and cover with glad wrap touching the top of the custard to avoid a skin to form.

For the meringue I used a 7 minute frosting from a book called: cupcakes by Elinor Klivans. Here is the recipe:
- 1 1/4 cups of sugar
- 1/3 cup of water
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla exctract
- 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract ( I have not used this one)

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 and beat with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until opaque, white and foamy, about 1 minute.

Put the bowl over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water. The top container should sit firmly over the pan of hot water; be sure to keep the cord of the electric mixer away from the burner. Beat on high speed until the frosting forms a soft peak that stands straight up if you stop the beaters and lift them up, about 7 minutes.
The frosting should register 160 Degree C on a thermometer.

Remove the container of frosting from the water, add the vanilla and almonds extracts, and continue beating for 2 minutes to further thicken the frosting.

Assembly:

Level your 3 yellow cakes to make sure you don't end up with the tower of Pisa and also to keep the custard between the cakes (otherwise you might have a landslide).

Select the more levelled cake to go on the top. I generally turn it around and put the bottom of one of the cakes as the top of the finished cake (the bottoms are always flat).

Put your first cake on the plate you are planning on serving the cake on (since it is quite a tall cake it can be tricky to move it). Pour half of the custard, spread stopping about 1/2 cm from the edge of the cake.

Place the second cake on top and repeat with custard.

Place the third cake over.

Pour 3/4 of the frosting over the cake and with a off set spatula spread to the side and smooth. Pour the rest of the frosting on top and decorate as you wish. I added some untoasted shredded coconut on the sides of mine and some banana chips at the top.

 

Happy baking everyone :)