Black and White Ganache Birthday Cake.

So, what do you do when you've got to make a cake for your niece who is turning 18, and the weather is absolutely dismal - 99% relentless humidity. 99% impossible to work with sugar.
(I know...  I talk moan about the weather a lot in spring. And truly, I am grateful for the rain after the drought. But really - this mist could just contain itself a little, you know?!)

Anyway... Chloe's cake.
She's a lovely, easy-going young woman who had requested something yellow, black and white. "But really - whatever, I don't mind".

You'd think that an open invitation like that would make the creative juices flow, but really - it's impossible in this weather! 

So, I settled on a simple ganache'd cake, with yellow flowers and a drip element. (Hoping that the drip would not include the decorations slowly melting away down the sides of the cake!)

The C would never have set by itself (yes... the weather), so it's wired for support:

The flowers dried and then wilted and then dried again - left for a few hours in a room with the aircon on high.

The black ganache is made by adding black food colouring (powdered) to dark chocolate ganache.

The cake itself is layers of alternating dark chocolate and sour cream vanilla, sandwiched together with cookies and cream icing.

I was going to take a picture of a slice, but the monkeys got in and destroyed everything that was left over. Another spring problem... Oh, the joys!

Happy (spring) baking!

xxM

Sour Cream Chocolate and Blueberry cake

I'm sitting here with a knot in my stomach - we're going away for a few days (yay!) without the kids (eek!). It's the first time we've left them for more than one night and I know they're going to be fine (they'll be looked after by granny, nanny, auntie and an au pair!) ... but I don't know if I'll be ok!
I really didn't appreciate the ease of travel BC (before children). Now it's stressful to go away with them, and without them. Easier to stay at home and bake.  So, although I am looking forward to a break - I'm already looking forward to being back. Ridiculous, right?!

So, let me just distract myself with chocolate for a bit....

Sour Cream Chocolate and Blueberry Cake.
Recipe adapted from  The Cake Genie / Good Housekeeping Magazine

Preheat the oven  to 180'C
Grease a 23cm Bundt pan

Ingredients:
125ml boiling water
30ml vegetable oil
125ml cocoa powder
165g butter at room temp.
275g caster sugar
2 XL eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
320g cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
250ml sour cream
150g fresh blueberries + extra for decorating


Mix the cocoa powder with the boiling water and oil and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour and baking soda into a bowl.

Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.
 Add the eggs one at a time, beat well between additions.
Add the vanilla extract and the cocoa mixture. Beat well.

With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour and the sour cream to the butter/ egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon into the Bundt pan and bake for approx 45minutes or until a skewer comes out just-clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Dark chocolate ganache.


300g dark (bittersweet) chocolate
150ml heavy cream (fat content 35-40%)

Melt the chocolate and cream together in a double boiler.

Allow to cool. Pour over the cake.

Decorate with blueberries dusted with icing sugar.

See you when we get back from our trip.

xxM

Festive Fruit Cupcakes

It's Christmas Eve, so this will be the last festive recipe I'll share with you this year. Not the last recipe for 2014, but certainly the last one with "festive fruit" .
Oh, I have more - chocolate brownies with festive fruit, cheesecake with festive fruit and shortbread with festive fruit. (Can you tell that I over-stocked on glacé cherries and candied peel??).
The combination of rich dark chocolate, gooey cherries and crunchy nuts is definitely more-ish.
But, by now - I must admit - I'm over it! Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year ; )

Anyway, in case you're looking for something to serve this evening or tomorrow, here's the recipe…

Festive Fruit Cupcakes
Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

Preheat oven to 180'C
Line 2x muffin pans with cupcake cases (makes 24)

Ingredients:
400g dark chocolate discs or dark chocolate cut into small pieces
80g butter
6 eggs separated
80g + 1 tbs caster sugar
80 g cherry jam / preserve
150g ground almonds
50g cake flour
50g cocoa

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler or on low power in the microwave.
Allow to cool slightly.

Sift the dry ingredients together - flour, cocoa and ground almonds.

Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in 1tbs caster sugar, then whip until stiff.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg yolks and remaining caster sugar together.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour in the melted chocolate/ butter, then the cherry preserve. Mix well.
Add the dry ingredients - mix until just incorporated.

Fold one spoon of the egg whites into the batter, then gently fold in the rest.
Continue folding the batter until the whites are no longer visible.


Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake cases.

Bake at 180'C for 20min or until a skewer inserted comes out with moist crumbs attached.

Remove from the oven to cool slightly, then remove the cupcakes from the muffin pan.

Ganache

300g dark chocolate discs
150g whipping cream

Place both ingredients into a heat proof bowl and place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
Allow the ganache to cool slightly - but not set; then pour over the cupcakes.

Festive Fruit Topping

Mix together-
100g mixed candied peel
160g glacé cherries - roughly chopped
80g white chocolate - roughly chopped
80g shaved almonds - toasted


Place a spoonful of the topping onto each ganache'd cupcake.

(Omit the festive fruit and you could serve them any day of the year you please!)

Have a very very deliciously merry Christmas!

xxM

Chai White Chocolate Ganache

It was amazingly difficult to photograph these macarons.
They just kept on wanting to roll off the plate, and straight into my mouth. Biz-arre!
; )

Anyway, I'm still using the same macaron recipe as before, but what I discovered is that making them is not like riding a bicycle! I took a break after I'd felt I got the hang of it last September. I didn't mean for  6 months to go by before I made macarons again; but I guess it did.
It was almost like starting from scratch. But it only took three failed batches this time, compared to (at least) 6 last year! One thing I did learn was that the bottled egg whites you can now buy from Woolworths don't seem to work as well as aged fresh egg whites (does that make sense?! "aged fresh"! Making mac's clearly scrambles the brain!)

What I really wanted to share with you, though, is the Chai Ganache that I made to fill the macarons: Delish!

Chai White Chocolate Ganache
recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

200g white chocolate discs, or blocks cut into small, even sized pieces
100ml cream
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Place both the cream and chocolate into a bowl, and melt the chocolate either in the microwave on low power - 2 minutes increments, stirring in between; or by using a double boiler.
Stir occasionally, until all the chocolate has melted.
Stir in the spices, and leave ganache to set.

When it is a spreading consistency, spoon between the macaron shells.

It would also make a great topping or secret centre
for cupcakes, or sandwiched between layers of cake.

Be warned - I'm on a winter spice and citrus kick;  more recipes to follow!

xxM