Apple coconut cake - great as a pudding

Apple and coconut cake

·         175g unsalted butter, softened

·         175g golden caster sugar

·         225g self-raising flour, sifted

·         1tsp baking powder

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         1tsp vanilla extract

·         ½tsp ground cinnamon

·         4 tablespoons milk

·         2 cups apple chopped and peeled (2 large apples)

·         100g dessicated coconut

Topping

·         2tbsp Demerara sugar

·         2tbsp desiccated coconut

·         ½ tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven to 180° C

Method

·         Grease and line round 8 inch/20cm springform cake tin with parchment paper

·         Stir together flour, coconut and cinnamon 

·         In separate bowl stir together the topping ingredients

·         Cream together together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy

·         Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing as you go

·         Fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and milk until incorporated, then add the chunks of apple and 75g of desiccated coconut, mixing well.

·         Spoon into the prepared cake tin, and level off with the back of a wet tablespoon

·         Sprinkle over the topping mixture

·         Bake for 40-50m until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre

·         Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack

·         Cut with very sharp knife

The larger the apple chunks the more likely the cake will fall apart easily. This does not affect the taste.

http://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/apple-and-coconut-cake.html

1kg coconut to use up

A kilo of dessicated coconut is a lot of coconut, even if you are very keen on coconut. I have no idea why I bought such a big bag. It is about half empty, and the best before date is two weeks away. So the race is on. So far apple and coconut cake and coconut shortbreads are on the menu, the cake is in the oven. I've tweaked it of course. The apples are bramleys, there is more coconut, some milk instead of yoghurt, and some creamed coconut for good measure. Also some topping.

going to need a sharp knife to cut this... and friends over

custard or creme brulee, and how much cream in creme?

Kitty decided to make her signature dish tonight, as the chickens have been laying well, and the eggs are stacking up. As usual nothing is straightforward, she mysteriously decided to try out Nigella's version, sending her dad out for more cream, then panicking because she didn't know if the mixture was thickening. It was. Now it is chilling in lots of pots in the fridge, because it is a stove top pan type custard, rather than a baked custard cooked in a bain marie.

It is quite a neat idea letting the custard set rather than worrying about the wobble factor as your mixture sits and steams. However, Kit's tried and tested recipe - which she forgot was carefully written out here, uses cream and milk. More economic, no need to send dad out for cream.

Hot chocolate pudding with a fondant centre

This is a rewrite of Gordon Ramsey’s recipe for Chocolate Fondant Pudding, from the Channel 4 programme The F word. I followed this recipe and they were perfect. The chocolate flavour was seriously intense, the gooey centre was seriously gooey and the only problem was that they were a bit too big! Perhaps it would have been better to have just one course before. Hey ho. It took dedication, and a fair bit of greed to finish off those puds.

I’ve done a rewrite, making it slightly less bossy, and, I hope, easier to follow.

Gordon says this amount is enough for 9 puddings, either ramekins or foil cases, but I think the size that would suit the eater best is somewhere a little bigger than a small coffee cup, which would make more. Otherwise the puddings are more suitable for sharing, which is nice. They are delicious with ice cream or crème fraiche, and a short strong coffee.

Preparing the moulds is the fussiest bit of this recipe, but don’t stint on it, otherwise your puddings probably won’t turn out.

A rough calculation, per two pots is 50g each of dark chocolate, butter, sugar and flour, one egg and one egg yolk plus butter and cocoa to line the pots.

To make Hot Chocolate Fondant Puddings

Ingredients

·          50g melted butter, for brushing

·          cocoa powder , for dusting

·          200g good-quality dark chocolate , chopped into small pieces

·          200g butter , in small pieces

·          200g golden caster sugar

·          4 eggs and 4 yolks

·          200g plain flour

Method

o    Prepare the moulds, brushing them with melted butter and chilling them, once cold do it again,  shaking off excess and rolling cocoa powder around to coat them

o    Melt the butter and broken up chocolate together over a pan of barely simmering water – the bowl must not touch the water, stir the melted chocolate and butter together until it is well mixed, then set it aside

o    Whisk the eggs and egg yolks briskly (I use an electric whisk) adding the sugar in a slow stream. The mixture will thicken, turn pale and bulk up with bubbles, and you’ll see a trail left as you drag the whisk through the mixture

o    Sift the flour onto the eggs and stir it into the mixture quickly

o    Pour the melted chocolate mix into the eggy mixture a little at a time, beating well as you go, until you have a dark chocolatey batter

o    Transfer into a big jug and pour into the pots, almost to the top and chill or freeze the pots

To cook, preheat the oven to 160C – remember cooking times vary according to the size and shape of the container you are using. The puddings are ready when they have a crust that bounces back when you give it a gentle nudge

From frozen – cook for 17 minutes

From chilled – cook for 12 minutes

Creme brulee

Creme brulee is an indulgence at the end of a meal. Or at the beginning of the day, if you have some left over and you are fridge raiding. It's a baked custard with a cristallised sugar lid, so you break through the crisp dark caramel into the soft and creamy custard, and when you put a spoonful in your mouth you get the ultra smooth vanilla flavour against the almost bitter shards of sugar.

It's not hard to make, just needs a little thinking ahead. And if you have a blow torch, involves the pleasure of playing with fire.

It's one of Kitty's favourites, taken from the BBC website, and already mentioned in a previous post. She does it, without vanilla pods and all that scraping, she just uses a natural vanilla essence. It uses a mixture of milk and cream, which makes it a little bit lighter.


You'll use a roasting tin, or similar, four large ramekins and a blow torch (or grill).


Ingredients

450ml/16fl oz double cream

50ml/2 fl oz whole milk

a few drops vanilla extract

5 free-range eggs

75g/2½ oz caster sugar, plus 40g/1½ oz more, for the topping

Method

• Set the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
• Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. Only the yolks are used in this recipe, so you can use the egg whites for another dish or freeze them for future use.
• Pour the caster sugar into the bowl with the yolks. Whisk together the egg yolks and the caster sugar until they start to get paler, and are well combined, the mixture will thicken a little.
• Pour the cream and the milk into a saucepan, put on a medium heat and bring to just below a boil.
• Stir in the vanilla extract and simmer.
• Pour the cream and milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Stir thoroughly for a minute or two to mix everything together and make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Ladle the brûlée mixture into ramekins, or any little heatproof pots.
• Put the crème brûlées into a deep baking tray and pour hot water into the tray. It should come about halfway up the pots. This is a bain marie.
• Put the baking tray and contents into the preheated oven and cook for about 30-35 minutes. They need to be firm, but will have a little wobble.
• Allow to cool, then chill. Chilling them will make the caramel work better. If you can’t wait just go to the next step.
• For the topping, sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top of the brûlées – if you do it in two stages you’ll get a stronger crust. Heat the surface with a mini-blowtorch until it forms a layer of caramel.

When you're ready - eat.