Apricot Cake

Cake Anger.

Almost every Wednesday without fail I get it. Or rather it mounts from somewhere behind by stomach, seeps from my back-bone, and leaves me sitting at the computer with my knuckles clenched to white screaming (in my head) "WHAATTT THE HELL DO I WANT TO COOOOKKK?!!!"

That is the eternal question. Normally I have some sort of inspiration, but that inspiration is generally hampered by various problems- No muffin tin, no spring-form tin, no rolling pin, no brown sugar, no pie dish, no two cake tins alike to make layer cake and on and on and on.

I'll admit it, I need my mothers kitchen.

I get stares at the supermarket because I always buy at least 1kg of butter-but 250g doesn't even cover a bland cake, let alone a me-cake!

Mum's cupboard is mecca for cooks, and a nightmare for neat-freaks and use-by-date nazis- it could very well have Narnia behind it, but nobody would ever get close enough to the back of it to find out. Ditto for the fridge. BUT by the same token, I can't remember a time when I wanted to cook something and I had to go shopping first, or didn't have the equipment. Just the thought of returning to it in 2 months now gives me shivers! Tahini, Mi-Goreng, nuts from the South Melbourne Market, and in the fridge endless ice-cream containers of leftovers.... Bliss, Glee, they know my name.

ANYWAY rant/food wet-dream over. Time to recipe (yes I insist recipe is a verb). SO this is cake is the result of having practically nothing, and being so damn frustrated that I gave up real recipes and made for the kitchen. Results were reaaaally good, the texture of the cake is gorgeously light.

Ingredients-

2 cups of flour

50 grams of almond meal

1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of cane sugar

115g of butter

2 eggs

1 cup of plain yoghurt ( I used 0%)

1/3 cup of milk

3/4 cup of dried apricots (soaked until soft, then chopped into quarters)

1/2 teaspoon of orange zest

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

1 teaspoon of orange essence

sprinkle of nutmeg

Method-

Preheat the oven to 180°c, then butter and line a cake tin.

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy, then add one egg at a time.

Add half of the yoghurt then half of the flour and stir until combined. Repeat.

Add in the milk, the essences and zest, then stir in the almond meal.

Finally, stir in the chopped apricots.

Pour into the tin and bake for around 40 minutes.

Leave to cool, then ice with apricot jam or leave it plain if you'd like it as a breakfast cake.

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.

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.

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

I think I must subconsciously want to kill myself. Because every recipe that I look at and think ' I WANT/NEED/MUST cook that!' is a a sugar-butter-caramel (slash chocolate, peanut butter or cheesecake) minefield. I literally had to add a folder to my bookmarks dedicated to-

'things I want to cook- SWEET TOOTH'

So when this old Daring Bakers Challenge recipe kept re-appearing on basically every blog I was looking at, I took it as an omen. I would make, and eat practically the entire cake.

I have to admit I made this cake in an absolute rush, so I didn't have the time to take much care. And on top of that, my kitchen here in my host family is a little bit limited in the way of cake tins, decorating tools, ect.

But if I had had the time and the tools, this cake would have been MAGNIFICENT. It tasted that way regardless.

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

Ingredients-

Cake-

125 grams of unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/3 cup of caramel syrup (see recipe below if you'd like to home-make it)

2 eggs, at room temperature

Splash of vanilla extract

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1 cup of milk, at room temperature

Caramel Sauce-

2 cups of sugar

1/2 cup of water

1 cup of water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)

Caramelized Butter Frosting-

150 grams of unsalted butter

450 grams of icing sugar, sifted

4-6 tablespoons of heavy cream

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup

Kosher salt to taste

Method-

Cake-

This cake can be presented many ways, I chose to

(attempt) to layer it,

which didn't work too well because I didn't have the

appropriate cake tins.

So depending on how you'd like to present it,

butter the appropriate tins (note that it makes enough

mixture for one 20 cm Cake tin.

Preheat oven to 180 °C

In a large bowl cream butter (with a beater or by hand

if you're made of tougher stuff)

until smooth, then add the sugar, salt and cream

and continue to beat until light

and fluffy.

Keep the beating and slowly incorporate

the caramel syrup.

Increase the speed and add the vanilla essence, then the

eggs, one at a time, making

sure that you beat well after each addition.

Scrape down the bowl and beat again for 1 or 2

minutes to insure all of the

mixture is uniform and fluffy.

Turning the mixer onto the slowest speed, sift in 1/3 of the

flour and baking powder,

then add 1/3 of the milk and combine well.

Repeat with the remaining quantities.

Pour the mixture into prepared tin/s and bake for

around 30 minutes

or until the sides of the cake have pulled

away from the tin.

Cool cake completely before trying to

transfer them

onto a plate, because it tears easily.

Caramel Sauce-

I didn't make my caramel sauce, I used a bought one, which worked fine.

If you choose to do this instead,

look for a very thick, real caramel,

a can dulce de leche would work really well too,

because mine lacked that good, dense texture

In a small stainless steel saucepan, mix together the sugar and the first quantity of water.

With a wet pastry brush down any sugar crystals that may have formed,

then turn the heat on to the highest.

Do not stir from now on!

Continue to let cook on highest heat until it is lightly smoking and

a dark caramally/amber colour is acheived.

Very (and I repeat very!) carefully pour the second quantity of water into the mixture.

WATCH OUT! ITS HOT AND WILL SPIT AT YOU.

Turn the heat to medium and then whisk until the texture is,

well... Caramelly.. You shouldn't need a description for that :)

Caramelized Butter Frosting-

In a small saucepan, cook butter until brown (be careful not to burn it).

Remove from heat and pour through a seive into a large bowl. Leave to cool.

When cooled, add the icing sugar a little at a time and beat.

When the mix starts to look too chunky, add a little of the cream or caramel syrup.

Repeat these steps until all of the sugar had been incorporated

and the mix is smooth. Add salt to taste.

Before icing cake ensure that it is completely 100% cooled,

because I never EVER can be that patient and my cakes suffer because of it...

Lemon Drizzle Cake

So this cake started when my elderly next-door neighbour fell and broke her hip. Not exactly a start to the worlds happiest story, but nonetheless a start...

To get back to it, after she returned home from hospital, I thought it would be nice if there was a cake there to greet her, so after googling and food blog searching, and also due to the wrinkly looking lemons, I decided on this lemon and almond drizzle cake. I mean what old person doesn't appreciate the simplicity and downright wholesomeness of a good lemony no fuss cake?

Well it turns out it was a real hit, and the husband of said neighbour, who is bed-ridden and hardly eats kept on asking for it until it was all out. Good deed for the day done and dusted, and a feeling of accomplishment that I made somebodies life a little nicer. :)

In fact, to this day I haven't tasted it, even though I've been asked to make it again and again for the neighbours due to above reasons, but trust me, I reckon this ones a winner for a simple but super tasty cake you can whip up in NO time what so ever.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Ingredients-

Cake-

• 225g Softened Butter
• 225g Castor Sugar
• 3 Lemons (3 zested and 2-3 juiced depending on size.)
• 4 Eggs
• 200g Self-Raising Flour
• 50g Ground Almonds
• 1tsp Baking Powder

Icing-

• Marmalade Jam
• Icing Sugar
• 2 Lemons, juiced

Method-

Cake-
Heat the oven to 180°C. Butter and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin.
Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer in a large bowl, until pale creamy and light.
Add lemon zest and stir in well. Don't worry if the mixture begins to look a bit curdled after the addition on the lemon zest, its not a problem!
Whisk in the eggs one by one in to the mixture gradually.
Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the cake with a large metal spoon or a scraper.. Add the almonds and lemon juice and continue to fold until well-combined.. Pour into tin and bake for around about an hour, or until (like usual!) you can insert a skewer and it comes out clean.

Icing-
I like to make my icing for this cake by combining an un-specified amount (normally depending on how much lemon juice I have left over!) of lemon juice icing with marmalade, as it gives the cake an added kick of flavour and looks great on top with the rich glassy colours and shapes of the orange rind.