Taiwan | Sugar and Spice Pineapple Pastry

Images from the website:

We got given these treats at work this week, either bought in Taiwan or maybe bought from an airport shop en route over to the UK from that direction. I love trying new foods from different countries, these were delicious and unusual! 

The Sugar & Spice website is cute, it took me about 10 minutes to find the English translation button so I could find out more, then eventually I found the product page for this cake. 

The ingredients say: Pineapple, Butter, Eggs, Flour, Sugar so not much that explains the interesting filling. 

The filling is almost like candied pineapple, a bit like a mince pie consistency with an outer which is close to a British sweet suet pastry. 

Baking | Mocha tray bake... again

MOCHA (CHOCOLATE & COFFEE) TRAY BAKE

6 oz recipe

4 oz Self raising flour 

3 oz cocoa (extra 1 oz for richness & lighter sponge)

6 oz Butter

6 oz Eggs (3 large free range)

1 Teaspoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon coffee chicory essence

3 Tablespoons cold, strong coffee (just mix 2-3 teaspoons of instant coffee with boiling water and use enough to create a paste, then dilute with 3 tablespoons-ish cold water)

1 Teaspoon vanilla essence

Made in a brownie pan

Line with grease proof paper & butter
Baked for 20 minutes, middle shelf, gas mark 4.

Taken out the oven, lifted straight onto a wire rack to cool.

When 100% cold, spread with mocha icing.

MOCHA ICING

1 Tablespoon Salted Butter
1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
1 Tablespoon Coffee Chicory Essence
2-3 Tablespoons Cold Strong Coffee
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
8 oz Icing Sugar

Whizz until smooth, add more coffee / cocoa / icing sugar to taste.

Baking | 1st Birthday Cakes

I recently made my Lemon Basil Cupcakes and (The World's Best) Chocolate Brownies for a first birthday party. 

Baking | Coconut lime drizzle tray bake

I have already made this and posted it before but this is slightly different.

This time I made a 6 oz tray bake with a lime drizzle top, vs previously I made cupcakes with an 8 oz recipe and a lime coconut frosting / icing.

INGREDIENTS:

6oz Self Raising Flour

6oz Butter

6oz Eggs 

(Which was 3 Large Free Range British)

4oz Desiccated Coconut

Juice and Zest of 2 Limes

1 tsp Baking Powder

The icing topping was lime, and 3oz unrefined golden caster sugar which is spooned over the cake when still in the baking tray and still warm.

Baking | 80th Birthday Cake

For my Grandad's 80th Birthday I made a large eight-zero cake for 30 people.

I was going to hire an 8 shaped baking tin and a 0 shaped baking tin but in the end I decided that among my 30+ tins I would probably be able to construct my own and save £30 on the hiring fees which seemed pretty steep!

I used a few different shaped tins, carved them into shape using a sharp serrated knife and then to flatten the tops perfectly I used a baking wire which guarantees a perfect level surface.

I made my chocolate cake recipe which is heavy on cocoa powder, the ratio of cocoa to flour is almost half and half which creates a rich, light cake.

I "dirty iced" the bare cake with icing, as well as the the filling which glued everything together, I put the cake in the freezer for 10 minutes which quickly solidified the outer buttercream so when I added the warm (but cooled down) chocolate ganache, it wouldnt melt off the sides.

I tried to make a thick ganache but it didn't seem any thicker than my usual ganache, however as it cooled down it become a firm truffle consistancy. I could have rolled it into balls and used them as chocolate truffles.

I melted some white chocolate to decorate, as well as using ganache to glue raspberries to the edges. The white chocolate was very thin, I wish I had used something thicker or less see-through. 

I added some dark chocolate curls I made from using my sharpest knife to shave chocolate that had been in the fridge for 24 hours.

I added orange roses to the centre of the numbers and then I felt the cake needed some green so I finely grated some lime zest over it too. 

The cake was dry, I think it was because I carved them and the dried out, plus the un-tested baking times of using random measures of cake mixture in a variety of tins, my family said it wasn't actually dry, but it was a dry mix for my usual standards. Especially when my chocolate cakes are light and moist after perfecting the recipe.  With all the gananche and raspberries I suppose the cake wasn't that noticeable! The important thing is that Grandad enjoyed it!

Baking | Tray Bake: Quick lemon drizzle

Pretty much Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle but with slight changes to the bake, different sugar and more lemon for the topping. I like lemon cakes to be really, really lemony and fresh tasting.

Cake:

6oz butter

6oz golden caster sugar

6oz self raising flour

6oz eggs (3 large free range)

1 tsp baking powder

Finely grated rind of 2 lemons

Juice of 1 lemon

Drizzle:

Juice of 2 lemons

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

170g golden caster sugar 

Beat together the butter and the sugar until pale and well creamed. Add the lemon rind. Golden caster sugar is delicious because it creates a more golden sponge and it's unrefined which also, in my opinion, seems to create a richer flavour. 

Lightly beat the eggs and add to the bowl along with the lemon juice.

Sift in the flour and baking powder and then beat the whole mix together, use a spatula to clean down the bowl and give a final mix. Do not over stir. 

Pour/scoop into a greased and lined tray, I use my brownie tin which is about 30cm x 20cm.

Cook in the oven on Gas Mark 4 for 20-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin.

While the cake is cooling, make the drizzle topping. Juice the lemons and simply combine with the sugar in a small bowl. Pour or spoon over the cake evenly when still warm. 

When the cake is completely cold, place in an airtight container. 

The icing / drizzle will firm up and become a crunchy topping while keeping the cake extremely moist.

I can make the batter of this cake in 10/15 minutes, then the cake goes in the oven for 25 minutes and can be iced warm so it is a very quick and simple cake to knock up in a hurry. 

It's also a rather shallow tray bake so very forgiving, if it doesn't quite fit the tin you have to hand you can cook for more or less time. 

The drizzle topping makes the cake moist and keeps it moist, even if you have been heavy handed with mixing or have over cooked it.  

Baking | Mocha Coffee Chocolate Cake

I will have to add this recipe later, I make this cake all the time for my friend, I usually make it in any container she has, even once being made in a roasting tray lined with foil. Also cupcakes. This was a very small tin, maybe 5 inches? I have notes on my phone so I will fill in later.