Top Deck Cupcakes

No, I haven't misplaced my piping nozzles - I was going for the rustic look with these ones... which is surprisingly hard to do neatly. Funny that!
No, not really... I've been having some sense of humour issues... o_O

It's been one of those weeks:
Two failed recipes (still scraping the dregs of one of them off my cookie trays); chocolate with the sulks; humidity literally making sugar creations weep, and a virus (courtesy of the first week back at pre-school.)
Oh, the joys!
So, I wasn't expecting much from these cupcakes, especially the ganache - which I liked the sound of, but fully expected to separate at the addition of the cream cheese. But, it didn't. The week might be redeemed!

Here they are, courtesy of Yuppie Chef and Leigh who kind of insisted they be tea at Saturday's class ;o)

I'm an incorrigible fiddler when it comes to recipes. So if you want to see the original, find it here; but here's mine with some small changes:

Top Deck Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Yuppie Chef

Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 180'C
Line 2x muffin trays with cupcake cases

280g cake flour
2 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
15g unsweetened cocoa powder
200g brown sugar
2 XL eggs
200g dark chocolate, melted
180ml vegetable oil
250ml buttermilk
150ml sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

Sift the cake flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix in the melted chocolate, followed by the oil, buttermilk, vanilla and sour cream. Mix well.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour in the egg/ chocolate mixture.
Use a figure of eight motion to mix the batter.
Divide amongst the prepared cupcake cases.

Bake at 180'C for approx. 18minutes - remove from the oven when a cake tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.

Remove from the muffin trays to cool.

Cream Cheese Ganache

360g white chocolate
120ml cream (you can use sour cream)
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
250g cream cheese

Melt the chocolate together with the cream and vanilla pod in a double boiler.
Remove from the heat when all the chocolate has just about melted, and stir until smooth.
Scrape out the seeds from half the vanilla pod, and mix into the ganache.
Allow to cool and set slightly. Stir often to prevent a skin forming on the surface of the ganache.

Beat the cream cheese to soften it, then slowly beat in the ganache. Mix until smooth.
Spread onto the cooled cupcakes.

Like most chocolate cakes, the flavour is even better on day 2 - if you can resist them that long...

Enjoy!

xxM

Hummingbird Cake

Ok, it was a little slow in getting here: my "island inspired" cake.
I was just setting the mood and giving you a taste of island time, that's all...

When I was thinking of what to make that was heavy on vanilla, coconut and tropical fruit, I kept  coming back to this Southern (as in Kentucky, not Cape Town) classic: Hummingbird cake.
The recipe may have originated in Jamaica, but first appears to have been published and made popular in the US in the 70's - clearly a good decade for classics ; )

The traditional frosting for a hummingbird cake is cream cheese icing, but in this case I've made it into a Bundt cake with a vanilla-rich white chocolate ganache.

I've also changed the mixing directions from the original recipe to make the cake lighter in texture.  (When working with mashed banana your cake can sometimes become dense and stodgy  - which makes me think of hostel food rather than holiday food! )

 So, here it is:

Hummingbird Cake with Vanilla Ganache
Recipe by Tea, Cake & Create

Preheat the oven to 180'C

Grease and line 2 x 20cm round cake pans or 1  Bundt pan

Ingredients:

300g cake flour
250g light brown sugar
250 ml canola oil
3 large eggs
120g roasted pecans, roughly chopped
60g shredded coconut
1 tin (440g) crushed pineapple, drain excess liquid
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl. Add in the coconut and chopped pecans. Whisk together to combine.

Using a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low speed, mix in the oil. Add half the dry ingredients, then the pineapple and banana, followed by the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake at 180'C for approx 35 minutes for layers or          1 hour for the Bundt cake - or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Leave in the cake pan to cool before turning onto a cooling rack.

Vanilla Ganache

240g white chocolate
120ml fresh cream (35-40% fat content)
1 vanilla pod

Melt the white chocolate and cream together in a double boiler. Stir until smooth.
Split the vanilla pod in half,  scrape out the seeds and stir into the ganache.
Leave it to set slightly; pour over the cake once the ganache has reached a custard-like consistency.

Finish with a flourish - a generous sprinkling of shaved coconut.

If you're making a layer cake, I'd recommend cream cheese icing between the layers, with vanilla ganache poured over the top of the cake.

How did the hummingbird cake get its name? Maybe it was because that's the Jamaican national bird; perhaps it's the sweetness of the cake. I think it may be the hum of delight you hear when it gets eaten.

: )  

Give it a try and tell me what you think. 

xxM

Orange and Pistachio Cake with White Chocolate Ganache

Somewhere out there is a prize winning recipe with this combination of flavours. I just don't know where. I had the magazine that it was published in, I'm sure of it. But fits of zealous de-cluttering occasionally take over from my usual hoarding nature, and I fear that that particular magazine was a victim of such an episode. And that inveterate hoarder, Google, couldn't find it either.

So, after finally giving up the search, I've managed to come up with a pretty-darn-good (if-I-say-so-myself) Orange and Pistachio Cake.
Actually, it's so good that it's one of my current favourites.

In the 1:1 000 000 chance that I've been lucky enough to replicate the original recipe exactly,  I offer my sincere apologies to its creator: I'll amend the credit accordingly… and rush out and buy a lottery ticket ; )

Orange and Pistachio Cake with White Chocolate Ganache

Orange and Pistachio Cake
Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

Preheat the oven to 180'C
Grease a Bundt pan or 18-20cm cake pan.

Ingredients:
150g butter
150g caster sugar
275g flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
Zest of 1 medium orange.
Juice 1/2 medium orange.
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk

50g roughly chopped pistachio nuts - for sprinkling.

Method:
Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Put aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together - beat until pale.
Add the orange zest and vanilla extract. Beat briefly.
Add the eggs, one at a time. (Add 1tbs flour with each egg to prevent curdling).

Add 1/3 of the sifted dry ingredients, then half the buttermilk to the above mixture. Mix briefly.
Then another third of the dry ingredients followed by the buttermilk and orange juice. Mix.
Finally add the last of the flour mix.
Mix until just combined.

Pour into the prepared cake pan.
Bake at 180'C for approx. 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out just-clean.
Remove from the oven.

Leave to cool completely before turning out from the cake pan.

White Chocolate Ganache

120g white chocolate
60g cream (35-40% fat content)

Melt both ingredients together in a double boiler.

Allow to cool slightly.
Pour over the cool cake before the ganache sets.
(If you're using ganache that has already set, heat it gently - either in the microwave or double boiler - until it is at pouring consistency.)
Sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts.

Serve...

... and save the recipe ; )

 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