Chocolate Malibu and Coconut Cake

I'd like to start with an apology today. Sorry. Sincerely I'm sorry for having been so horiffically slack with my posts of late. I would like to be able to say I've been FLAT OUT, or that my grandma has been ill. Fact is that I'm still on holidays and all of my grandparents are dead and the reason for my dissapearance relates directly back to a canoeing incident involving my camera.

To give you all a quick breif, I'm back in France, and start school again in 2 days. And what's more I have lots of recipes I'll be sharing with you in an unusually short space of time, because despite the lack of posts, I have been really domestic goddess-ing myself mad.

Todays effort started with the lack of school for me, and the fact that everybody else actually DOES have school/work. And thus, as we all know, being left to my own devices I generally end up somewhere along this line of thought- food:cake:chocolate:alcohol:boys:lack of boys:MTV

SO I improvised a cake: a chocolate cake: a chocolate malibu cake: a chocolate malibu cake for a boy: a chocolate malibu cake because the boy can't come to see me: a chocolate malibu cake for me while watching MTV. Exhale.

Ingredients-

1 1/2 cups of regular flour

1 cup of castor sugar

1/4 cup of cocoa powder (I would definitly add more next time around- at least 1/2-3/4 cup)

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/3 cup of butter, melted

100 ml of Malibu

140 ml of water

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

2 egg whites, beaten until soft peaks form

3/4 cup of dessicated coconut

200g of milk chocolate (for icing)

60g of butter, extra (for icing)

Method-

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C° and grease/line a regular 20cm cake tin.

In a large bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients, then form a well in the center.

Pour in the melted butter and vanilla extract, then gradually add the water and Malibu, combining with a whisk.

Add the beaten egg whites, gently stirring with a soup spoon until its well combined.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for around 35 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean.

When the cake is cooled, melt the chocolate and extra butter in a meduim dish in the microwave (or of course you can go old-fashioned and do the whole hot water in saucepan + another bowl in saucepan shenanigans if you so please) and stir frequently until all is melted and well combined.

TOP YOUR CAKE and then eat it with your sister in fronts of MTV's '16 and mother' program comme moi...

Plum Crumble Cake

..... I have to admit it's been a while since I actually made this cake. So to summon up a witty anecdote about the tiny seed of an idea that this cake once was to me from the depths of my memory has proved itself to be difficult. In fact- Impossible. But I will write about what I actually DO remember. I LOVED IT. I love plums. I love crumble. I love almonds. And I love cake with tea.

And I did eat this cake with tea. I remember that. And I remember eating it with a maths tutor that was helping my sister. I remember not understanding anything but telling myself it didn't matter because the maths tutor couldn't make that cake. And I was right, she couldn't, and I could, and I prefer cake to equations. Thus self-esteem crisis solved. And so I give you my very, VERY good plum crumble cake-

PS. Don't worry, said maths tutor may have been able to make this cake if she had the recipe BUT always one step ahead, I write in English and not French, and as such cake will stay out of her arithmatic-stained hands.

Ingredients-

2 1/4 cups of regular flour (I used a bit more, as my dough was sticky- see how you go)

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 large lemon, zested then juiced

1 cup of castor sugar

3/4 cup of butter, cubed

3 eggs

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups of plums, sliced

1-2 tablespoons of castor sugar, extra

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Method-

In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

One at a time, add the eggs then vanilla and ensure that all is well combined.

Add the flour, salt, baking powder and lemon zest and stir with a metal spoon, then combine with you hands until it comes together and can be pulled into a ball (it's here that I needed to add a little more flour to make it 'pull-together-able'). Freeze for 30 minutes.

In another medium bowl, throw together the plums, lemon juice, and extra sugar.

Line or butter a 25cm spring form pan and preheat your oven to 180°C.

Take your dough from the freezer and slice it in 2 pieces, and pat one half into the bottom of the pan.

Place the fruit on top of the dough, then seperate the remaining dough into 2.5cm 'blobs' and place them (strategically) on top of the fruit.

Bake for 30-40 minutes by which time the top should be golden and the fruit is boiling and bubbling away.

Enjoy for afternoon tea, with a nice cup of earl grey.

Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Ice-Cream- machine free!

I'm sure its not only me who has noticed that EVERY food blog that's worth its salt seems to be posting recipes for ice-cream left, right, and centre. All well and good too, ice-cream is obviously a very post-worthy treat... Or is it? Because frankly I'm suffering from a case of food-blog anger at these masses of recipes! And do you want to know why??? Because they all need an ice-cream machine. Pft! What nonsense. Anybody with an ice-cream machine doesn't need recipes because they don't actually have to DO anything, and would have to have a peanut-sized brain not to be able to improvise the flavouring. In my opinion anyways... On top of that, I am nowhere near self-destructive enough to purchase one of these crafty boxes. No sirree. So this is to you David Lebowitz with all of your inspired and gourmet combinations- get a life and make it from scratch.
yeah!

So that's exactly what I did, using a recipe from the Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook... And no its not as flashy a book as it sounds, in fact it was published in 1950 and is so dated that the ice-cream recipes come with their own make it yourself freezer instructions because refrigerators were as sophisticated as it got!

Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Ice-Cream

Ingredients-
2/3 of a cup of castor sugar
1/3 of a cup of boiling water
2 1/2 cups of milk
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 a teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 cup of peanut butter

Method-
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar by itself until it is melted and browned, making sure to stir constantly.
Add the boiled water and stir quickly until sugar is dissolved. This wont happen straight away, and don't be scared when the sugar turns hard like candy when the water is first added, it will dissolve afterwards.
Add one cup of the milk, the egg, and the salt and cook for 5 to 10 minutes stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened a little, but the milk hasn't separated.
Leave to cool, then add the remaining milk and vanilla.
Place in the freezer until partially set, and then take out to beat with a fork in order to avoid the ice crystals that will form. Continue to do this once every hour or so until you have your desired texture, then add 1 cup of peanut butter and beat it through.
Serve sprinkled with sea salt flakes, chopped nuts, and a caramel topping for a truly wicked treat.

My Last 7 Days In Food

So much has happened since my last post I don't know where to start at ALL!
In a week I have gone from the French countryside, to the alleys of Paris, to the maniacle sidewalks of Athens, and now have settled on the small Greek Island of Patmos for around a month... Exhale.I'm sure you also realise that with all of that travelling also come heaps of food experiences, regardless of the limited time I spent at each destination.


To start, we'll go to Paris.
Picture a classic Brasserie down a side street off the metro, packed into the old buildings and surrounded by what to me (lets be honest Australian cities are tiny) seems like millions of apartments, each with their own peeping window and life behind.
I am eating garlic-parsley snails for a starter, thyme-roasted rack of lamb for the main and of course a tart tatin for desert. Please God, don't hold the creme fraiche.... The others are having camembert wrapped in pastry and fried until each is its own golden/crunchy/gooey package, served with a savoury cranberry compote and a fresh balsamic salad.Eaten on a hot night with a cool breeze (and that un-identifiable something else in the Parisian air), my sister and I both in our party dresses and great friends of the family - there couldn't be a better night to remember what life there is all about.

Switch to my first night in Athens- the day of the strikes that were keeping my Father and I there in the first place- and there was really no sense of rebellion or trouble in the air- or maybe I was just too busy thinking 'food' or 'shopping'.Of course I had to have my first Greek Greek salad of the trip... and how it was good. There is no feta like that found in Greece (guess there isn't too much surprise factor there), I could eat this salad for ever onwards simply because of its absolute freshness. Pair that with zuchinni, dill and a mild cheese fritter and thats just about right I'd say.
NEXT on the menu-Buffet breakfasts Greek style. Need I say more? To me, nothing has the same allure as that of a buffet breakfast. Its an utterly enchanting idea that I can have what I fancy as many times as I like, and change my mind along the way, and not have to do a thing but miander over to the other legnth of the table and pop it on my plate. I mean come on, you must admit you love the luxury of that too.So imagine that concept but with cheese and spinach pastries, lusciously thick Greek yoghurts with the sweetest Greek honey, walnut cakes, anise spiced loaves of fresh baked bread... Need I go on? Don't forget the strong Lavazza esspresso which starts and follows this meal, that's surely a not a touch that could ever be left out.
And now, to my favourite food memory in Greece from my last trip-nay from and for forever. I don't know why I can't resist this sweet, but I buckle every time. It's not the wickedest honey-nut-pastry delight, nor the rich blocks of Halva that get me. It's.... nameless? A simple street-vendor-sold ring of light, shiny bread coated in golden seasame seeds and filled with custard. Oh take me back Dr. Who, to even write of it is torture. In fact, this type of thing is sold everywhere, with sweet and savoury combinations (for example bacon and cheese, spinach, or chocolate ect.) but its ready availability could not tarnish its specialness to me. My favourite moment of the day was roaming up and down the main shopping strips peering into the iconic Greek jewelers, ripping off chunks and popping them in my mouth like a slave would feed a goddess a grape.
To conclude Athens, I must include a sexy dish. Try saffron-poached pears filled with Pernot cream and topped with honey roasted nuts. I do believe that's a good end to an incredible city...

And so for now I bid you farewell, I'll let you dream of your own food memories, but I do hope you got something from mine.

Fig and Golden Coconut White Chocolate Fudge

I have been waiting for this day for a very long time. Today's the day I head off to Paris to catch my flight to Greece, where I'll be spending a month on the most picture perfect, idealistic island ever with my family who lives there. Got that?

TODAY.

And from this moment onwards, I'm switching my crown as Queen to be a GODDESS. Much more fitting, heritage-wise, and frankly I like the look of those toga dresses.

So what better breakfast for a Greek Goddess than something wickedly sweet like white chocolate, something exotic and holiday-ey like coconut, and something traditional but sexy like a fig?

Can't think of one thing.

So girls- channel the goddess, eat impossibly delicious (like seriously IMPOSSIBLY- its too good, just too amazing) morsels of this fudge like there is no tomorrow unless you say there is...

And guys...??? Well make this for the girl you love, I guess there is nothing stopping you from being her Zeus no matter what you look like when you're armed with this stuff.

Fig and Golden Coconut White Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients-

600g of good quality white chocolate (the one I use comes with shredded coconut already, so look for that if you can)

375g can of sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice

A pinch of salt

175g of dried figs, chopped into 6ths at minimum

*100g of lightly toasted shredded coconut- if you can't find a chocolate with it (Shame on you're supermarket if you can't because that by itself is pretty special in itself)

Method-

Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin, or any other shape depending on how brave you are at experimenting with the shape and width of your fudge.

Heat a medium saucepan over low heat, and add the white chocolate and condensed milk. Stir frequently and ensure that there isn't any chocolate sticking on the bottom and burning (white chocolate is an absolute trickster when it comes to that).

Cook until all is well-combined and melted evenly, should take around 5 or so minutes.

Remove from heat then add in the lemon juice, salt and vanilla extract.

Stir in the figs (and coconut if necessary).

Pour into your prepared tin and place in the fridge to set for a minimum of 3 hours.

Once set, cut and serve as you wish-in my case it was served from knife to mouth in the morning sunshine. Simply heavenly....

Whole Lemon Tart

The thing I love about summer holidays is that all of a sudden, out of nowhere, people seem to go mad for dinner parties. Even those who normally would be inclined to open a can of baked beans and nosh in with a spoon every night (ok, so bad example, that can be a very delish thing when you've got a craving) seem to think they are Gordon Ramesey, and invite people by the dozen to enjoy a bite together...

Fortunately all of the invites I've received so far are from people who have a bit more flair than that, BUT nevertheless they came in what seemed like millions.

I feel like I've been making a dessert to bring along every day this week!

In hindsight, that could just be because I tried to make precious little meringues and epically failed, so I had to do something else... Hahaha, can't say that it bothered me one iota, I hate meringues-they are quite possibly the least satisfying desert EVER! They tease you with their crunch and afterwards you get nothing on your tongue but the boring taste of castor sugar. I would prefer eat just castor sugar. But enough of that rant, its quite likely you don't feel as passionately as I do for those teasing, spiteful, crispy cups of air.

So with not many ingredients in the house (I've had fudge on the brain but my sister keeps eating the chocolate for it- I have re-bought 3 times and told her not to eat it. But still she does. I keep a meticulously organised pantry and THAT drives me irrationally crazy, like seriously, think The Shining and your close) so I turned to lemons.

Lemons are God's gift to the 'last minute', 'simple' and 'not too many ingredients' deserts. Think of all of the options- lemon slice, lemon drizzle cake, lemon delicious pudding, yo-yo's, lemon and poppy seed loaf, and finally (well not really because I could go on) lemon tart.

We all know lemon tarts are amazing. Nobody can deny that the are one of the all-time tops. You've got your cheesecake, you've got your flour-less chocolate, you've got your sticky date pudding- all of the classics. But the list just wouldn't be complete without a lemon tart.

This recipe was my first go at cooking one, and I think she's definitely a keeper, being super simple to make, requiring just ONE lemon (very good for my household as my sister would probably eat whole lemons if she knew I wanted to make something with them!) and, of course it tastes superb.

Whole Lemon Tart

Ingredients-

Filling-

1 lemon (preferably Meyer, and around 130 grams of lemon to be precise), rinsed and dried

1 1/2 cups of castor sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 tablespoons of cornflour

115 grams of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Tart Pastry (Dorie Greenspan's Un-shrinkable)-

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of icing sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

130g of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 large egg

Method-

Pastry-

In the bowl of a food processor (yes this IS why I love this recipe) add the dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it looks like small flakes or crumbs.

In a small bowl or glass, lightly whisk the egg, then add slowly, little by little, pulsing each time.

Set the mixer on a medium level until the colour and texture is uniform, if still s-crumby.

Knead quickly (don't over-knead) to get the dough to come together, then wrap the dough in plastic and chill for 2 hours (I didn't have time for this so I rolled it straight after kneading, and it worked fine, but I do recommend chilling).

Roll the dough with a rolling pin, into a 30cm circle, then place in a buttered or baking papered 20cm tin (less hassle and risk if you have a spring-form tin or one with a detachable base).

Press the dough into the edges and fold the extra dough that's hanging over to make sides that are doubly thick.

Make small cuts in the bottom of the tart to let the air our when baking.

Place in the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake the tart until lightly golden.

Filling-

Cut the lemon into small slices, removing any seeds.

Place the lemon bits, and the sugar in the bowl of an food processor and mix on high until there are no chunks of lemon (well small one are rather nice so you don't have to be too pedantic), scraping down the sides every now and then.

Pour the lemon/sugar mix into a medium sized bowl, then add the egg, followed by the egg yolk, using a whisk to combine.

Sift in the cornflour, and then add the butter.

If you so please you can do the whole thing in the food processor, and the result is just as good, if not better. Come to think of it I'm a bit of a nin for sticking with the traditional method.

Pour the filling into your pre-baked tart shell and bake at 160°C for around 20 minutes, or until it is set.

Be careful with the temperature of your oven because the butter can separate from the mix and sit on top of the filling if the oven is too hot, so keep an eye out.

And to finish, ENJOY one of the all-time desert greats, taking a minute to appreciate how good you've got it :)

Peach, Raspberry and Almond Yoghurt Cake (with white chocolate because I can't resist)

Stage 3 of my last-minute dinner (check out the last 2 posts for the full story and recipes-*http://when-a-drama-queen-cooks.blogspot.com/2010/07/celeriac-orange-and-date-salad.html

*http://when-a-drama-queen-cooks.blogspot.com/2010/07/shallot-and-rosemary-onion-jam-tarte.html), has been a favourite of mine pretty much since I started my cooking obsession.

It basically combines everything I've ever loved on to eat on its own (raspberries = no-brainer favourite thing EVER, peaches, white chocolate, almonds, and yoghurt) and turns them into a delicious cake that everybody likes. I pull out this cake every time as the back-up, the crowd (and me)-pleaser, and even the 'look at me, I didn't make ANOTHER chocolate cake to go along with your 100' at bring-a-plate style events..

Not only that, but it stopped me and the people I work with from getting majorly yelled at one day, when our boss (nicknamed the Hurricane because of his erratically planned notions and, well... nature) was suffering from a lack of sugar and too many boxes of shoes that needed to be shifted. Just one slice of this delight, and he was back to the smiley, if still a little kooky ways. Trouble sorted.

To spell it out for you, this cake is magic.

It will do wonders no matter what the situation.

That is if you give it a chance..

Peach, Raspberry and Almond Yoghurt Cake (with white chocolate because I can't resist)

Ingredients-

150g of unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

100g of castor sugar

100g of brown sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

2 eggs

200g of plain yoghurt

100g of self-raising flour

150g of almond meal

3 small yellow peaches

150g of raspberries

200g of white chocolate drops (optional but oh so worth it)

50g of flaked almonds

Method-

Preheat oven to 180°C, and line or butter a 20cm cake tin (spring form tins work well for this recipe because yoghurt cakes are often fragile).

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, vanilla extract, and 2 sugars until light and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, ensuring that each is well combined before adding the other.

With a scraper, or a metal spoon, add in the yoghurt, then the flour and almond meal folding gently until the mixture is uniform.

Add in 150g of the chocolate chips and fruit.

Pour the batter into the tin and sprinkle with the flaked almonds and remaining chocolate chips.

Bake for around 50 minutes (depending on oven) or until a skewer comes out clean when poked into the middle. You will probably need to cover the cake with foil during baking to stop the top from burning before the inside is cooked.

When the cake is done, leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring, because, as I said, this cake is a delicate little flower :)

Dust with icing sugar, and top with fresh raspberries or slices of peach if you still have any hanging around.

Enjoy and watch the wizard-cake work its magic.