Chocolate Cake

The hubby made this last week but I didn't have a chance to blog about it until now. The recipe is from a local organic food magazine.
Normally I am not too keen on things that are too chocolatey but this chocolate cake is exceptional. I particularly like the cocoa dusting on top. Simply gorgeous!
Serves 6
Ingredients:
125g self-raising flour
125g unrefined soft brown sugar
25g cocoa
125g plain chocolate
125g butter
2 eggs

For the icing:
200g plain chocolate
half a pot of single cream (roughly 150ml)
12g butter
100g icing sugar
cocoa power for dusting

Method:
Heat the oven to 160C
Line a square cake tin (we actually use the bread tin)
Mix the flour, sugar and cocoa together in a bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter together with 100ml water in a pan and then beat this along with the egss into the dry mixture.
Pour this into the cake tin and bake for 1hr or until a knife/screwer comes out clean. It may crack a little on top but we'll cover it up with icing.

To make the icing, melt chocolate with cream and butter until smooth and then cool in the fridge to a spreadable consistency, beat in enough icing sugar to make the icing stiff.
Slice the cake into 2 or 3 layers horizontally and spread some icing between each layer. Ice the outside of the cake in a thick even layer and smooth the icing down.

Dust with cocoa before serving with some pouring cream.
Enjoy.

Baked salmon with black pudding

I know the idea of combining fish and black pudding sounds a bit bizarre but they actually compliment each other quite well.
A few weeks ago we went to a food festival in town where we was introduced to an interesting idea-black pudding with scallop. Initially I was wondering if the contrast in texture and taste between salty scallop and rich, fatty black pudding would be too much to take. So we decided to do a dish with fish and black pudding that weekend :D
Ingredients:
2 salmon steaks
breadcrumbs
soft cheese
black pudding
salt + pepper
asparagus: 1 bunch
babycorn: 100gr
lambs lettuce
olive oil + lemon + mixed herbs for dressing

Method:
Preheat oven 200C, season fish with salt and pepper
Fry skin side of salmon steaks for 1 minute then transfer onto a baking tray
Spread enough soft cheese (about half an inch thick) evenly on the two pieces of fish
Sprinkle with breadcrumbs
Bake until done (check after 25-30 mins depending on how thick the steaks are)
Meanwhile, saute asparagus and baby corn with a knob of butter and some herbs, season with salt and pepper
Also, fry 2 slices of black pudding until done

To serve, put a bit of lettuce in the middle of a plate, put the fish on top and then the black pudding slice on top of the fish. Veg can go on the side of the plate and last but not least, drizzle dressing to decorate.

If you're brave enough, try it out and let me know. Enjoy.

Mango bread

I've got to be the first one who try out wandering chopsticks mango bread recipe.
The only thing I would do differently next time is to add more sugar (I only put over 100g sugar for 1 loaf this time and it was no where near sweet enough for my sweet tooth)
The hubby's not keen on mango so I'm taking the loaf over to a friend's tomorrow. Mmm. Special thanks to Wandering Chopsticks :D

Victoria sponge

Ingredients
110g/4oz butter or margarine
110g/4oz caster sugar
2 medium eggs
110g/4oz self raising flour

Method
1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Line 2x18cm/7in cake tins with baking parchment
3. Use a hand mixer to cream the butter and the sugar together until pale.
4. Beat in the eggs.
5. Sift over the flour and fold in using a large metal spoon. The mixture should be of a dropping consistency - if it isn't, add a little milk.
6. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
8. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before turning on to a wire rack to cool.
9. Sandwich the cakes together with jam, lemon curd or whipped cream and berries or just enjoy on its own.

TIP: use a pinch of baking powder as well to help the cake rise.
ENJOY

An English love affair

To be honest I am not too sure whether this originally came from Scotland or England. I got the recipe from an English cookbook and it was relatively easy to follow. All you need is some self raising flour, sugar, salt, butter and milk to bind.
I mean, If I can do it, anyone else certainly can. I have to admit I love baking despite various disastrous attempts I've made so far. It's hit and miss really with the tiny oven I have. I need a bigger kitchen.
Anyway I'm off now for a scone and a cuppa tea. Will be back later.

The eyes can be deceiving...

I've wanted to make cassava cake for a while but was held back because there's not a single Filipino shop in town. So my quick thinking told me that I could try making it with tapioca flour instead, based on the premise that tapioca flour is somehow made from cassava roots;therefore, it should be the closest substitute I have in hand.
The result, was supposed to look like this:

Instead, mine looks like this:

D'oh! Don't let the eyes deceive you though. Mine tastes just as good (I would imagine). It is still soft, chewy and pretty moist.
At the end of the day, even though I don't make pretty cakes,at least I'm getting there (eventually).

Searching for a REAL gingerbread man recipe

Ok, I broke the rule of not baking ever again :sigh: Instead of my 45 minutes yoga session I was burying my head in doing gingerbread man. The recipe I got is from The Great British Kitchen, which, judging by the name, has to be the most original. So I followed the instructions:
Ingredients

"Serves: 16

350 Gram Plain flour (12 oz)
1 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
2 Teaspoon Ground ginger
110 Gram Butter, diced (4 oz)
175 Gram Soft light brown sugar (6 oz)
4 Tablespoon Golden syrup
1 Egg, beaten
Currants, to decorate


Method

Makes 16

Pre-heat oven to 190 °C / 375 °F / Gas 5.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar. Beat the syrup into the egg, then stir into the flour mixture. Mix together to make a smooth dough. Knead the dough until smooth, then divide in half. Roll out, half at a time, on a floured surface until about 5 mm ( 1/4 inch) thick.

Using a gingerbread man cutter, cut out gingerbread men until all the dough has been used up, re-rolling and cutting the trimmings. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Place the gingerbread men on greased baking sheets and decorate with currants to represent eyes and buttons. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Leave on the baking sheets to cool slightly, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container."

Two things I notice:
1) baking at 190C is far too high, which resulted in half of my men (the ones on the inner part of the oven) being totally black and completely unpalatable.
2) the stated amount of sugar is far too sweet for my likings, so next time I would prefer to cut it down by half.

Except for the small incident of cremating half of my men, this little baking job has shown me that with a little bit of patience and COMMON SENSE, I can get back to learning to bake again...

Banana loaf

The novice cook officially announce that banana loaf is going to be the last baking project for now. Since the novice cook's repeated attempt to make cookies ended disastrously, the novice cook has decided it's now time to call it quits. From now on the novice cook will leave all the baking jobs to the professional chef a.k.a the hubby.
Recipe for banana cake:
10 oz ( 275 g ) self raising flour; 4 oz ( 100 g ) butter or margarine; 6 oz ( 175 g ) soft brown sugar; 3 eggs; 2 large bananas; 1 level teaspoon cinnamon; 3 to 4 tablespoons milk; 4 oz (100 g) chopped apricots or walnuts ( optional )

Cream butter and sugar, add mashed bananas to mixture. Add beaten eggs one by one, add milk. Fold in flour and cinnamon. Bake for one hour at 350F degrees/ 180C degrees/gas mark 4, in a 2 lb loaf tin.
Enjoy.
P.S: I always put tinfoil over the loaf tin after 35-40 mins to prevent the loaf being burnt on top

Chewy Butter Cookies

I tested hoangtam's chewy butter cookies recipe today and as can be seen from the picture, I burnt the cookies a little bit. They still taste all right (better than what I'd expected anyway). To be honest I've never been good at baking and it really does help to boost my confidence with an easy-to-follow recipe like this one.
I specially made 2 heart-shaped cookies for the hubby, as an apology for...(ahh, never mind)
I'll definitely do this again...