Recipes
05.01.2010
Recipes
Butter Cream
Butter Soft 250g
Icing Sugar Sifted 375g
Vanilla Essence
Method
Cream butter until soft and pale in colour
Slowly beat in sieved icing sugar
Add a few drops of Vanilla essence
Rich Butter Cream
Sugar 375g
Boiled water 2 tablespoons
Egg Yolks 2
Butter Soft 185g
Flavouring
Method
Place the sugar and water in small saucepan, place over low heat until sugar is dissolved (syrup)
When syrup is perfectly clear, bring to the boil without stirring until syrup makes a good thread on the end of a skewer.
Set aside for a few minutes
Beat egg yolks in a clean bowl, then pour on the syrup in a thin stream, whisking all the time
Important From the Cook’s Kitchen:
If the syrup is added too quickly or too hot, the eggs will curdle
Beat until cool.
Cream the butter and whisk a little at a time into the egg mixture
Important From the Cook’s Kitchen
If egg mixture is too warm then the creamed butter will become liquid and mixture will no thicken.
Flavour as desired, use the butter cream when very cold.
Coffee Butter Cream
Make as for Butter Cream, but omit the vanilla essence and flavour according to taste with liquid coffee extract.
Try adding 2 tblsps finely chopped walnuts also
Chocolate Butter Cream
Flavour either by adding 30g melted chocolate or by replacing 1 tbsps of sugar with 1 tablespoon of cocoa.
Walnut Butter Cream
Add 2 tbsps finely chopped walnuts to some vanilla flavoured butter cream
Nutty Butter Cream
Chop 2 tblsps toasted almonds, finely chopped and beat well into plain butter cream
Banana Filling
Bananas 2
Castor Sugar 65g
Lemon rind grated
A little lemon juice
2 tblsps cream stiffly beaten
Method
Sieve or beat the bananas and add the sugar, a little lemon juice and the stiffly beaten cream.
Beat all ingredients together very thoroughly.
Nut and Apricot Filling
Walnuts Chopped 3 tblsps
Almonds Ground 3 tblsps
Apricot Jam Warmed
Almond Essence (optional)
Method
Mix nuts together, add enough slightly warmed sieved apricot jam to bind together.
Add a few drop of Almond Essence if required.
12.09.2009
Recipes
Makes approximately 1.75kg
- Cranberries 500g
- Water 150ml
- Sour Cooking Apples 500g
- Sugar with Pectin 1kg
- Fine Port 8 tablespoons
- Place Cranberries and water in a saucepan
- Add peeled and quarter cooking apples
- Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until fruit is soft
- Remover from heat, add sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Return to heat, bring to the boil and boil for 4 minutes stirring occasionally
- Remove from heat
- Cool for 15 minutes, then stir in the Port
- Pour into warm jars
- Cover when cold
From the Cook’s Kitchen
*Pectin is the setting ingredients for jam
Always use clean warm jars because pouring hot jam into a cold jar may cause it to crack or shatter.
Jars must be cleaned by placing them in a large saucepan of warm water and bring the water to the boil for 5 minutes.
12.09.2009
Recipes
Makes 1.75kg
Ingredients
- soft dried apricots 250g
- 2 oranges Finely grated rind & juiced
- orange marmalade 4 tablespoons
- Demerra sugar 500g
- Mixed Spice 2 level teaspoons
- Nutmeg 1/4 level teaspoon
- Fine Brandy 300ml
- Into a large bowl snip the apricots into small pieces
- Add the rind of the oranges and 3 tablespoons of the juice
- Stir in all the other ingredients.
- Cover and leave for 2 days
- Stirr 3 or 4 times during that time.
- Pack into clean warm jars
- Cover tightly with lids to prevent evaporation of the Brandy.
- Store in a cool dry place.
Keeps well for up to 3 months
From the Cook’s Kitchen Hints & Tips
If giving as a gift
Cut Christmas patterned material into squares or rounds approximately 40cm larger than the top of the jar lid.
Cover the lid, place an elastic band around the material to hold it in place.
Using a 6mm wide piece of bright ribbon place it around the top of the jar & tie a bow.
05.09.2009
Recipes
- Melt 1 packet of chocolate bits over hot water, not boiling, until melted.
- Sift in 3/4 cup icing sugar mixture and stir through melted chocolate.
- Beat in 1/4 cup Nestle Ideal milk
- Allow to cool to spreading consistency and spread over a 20cm (8″) cake
Hints & Tips from the Cook’s Kitchen
Remember that Chocolate needs T.L.C. so melt over simmering water only.
If the heat is too hot you will have a white bloom through the chocolate when it cools.
Don’t allow steam to get into your chocolate or it will thicken it.
01.09.2009
Recipes
Chocolate Ganache is a creamy smooth blend of pure cream and great chocolate.
Never cook with a wine that you would not drink from a glass. the same rule applies to chocolate, never use a chocolate that you would not eat on it’s own
Remember that the quality that you put in is the quality of taste that your finished product will have.
If it is Yuk to start with it will be Yuk when it is finished.
Place your cake on a wire rack which is on top of a suitable size container so that the ganache does not spill onto your bench top.
With Chocolate Ganache, I like it to be thick like pouring custard when it has cooled.
To achieve this you will need the following ingredients;
300 mls of good quality fresh cream and 600 grams very good quality milk or dark chocolate, broken into small pieces.
- Place cream in a saucepan with high sides and bring to the boil until it nearly reaches the top of the saucepan.
- Remover from heat, wait 5 minutes until cream has started to cool then slowly add the broken chocolate.
- Stir continuosly until all the chocolate is melted and the cream and chocolate are as one.
- Let stand for another 5 minutes then pour over your cake, all at one time.
The remaining ganache maybe stored in the refridgerator for upto 1 week.
To remelt, place container of ganache in the microwave or place the ganache in a double saucepan on the stove.
Hints & Tips from the Cook’s Kitchen
The most important thing to remember with Chocolate is that it demands TLC. Tender Loving Care.
It is better to warm the ganache twice on a lower temperature than to place it on high heat.
If you heat the chocolate ganache on too high a temperature it will get a white bloom when poured over your cake and it sets.
Your Chocolate Ganache should have a good shine on it, like polished furniture.
28.08.2009
Recipes
Chocolate Banana Cake
Yield 22cm cake
2 cups sifted SR flour
125g soft butter
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1 cup castor sugar
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup chopped Pecan nuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate bite
1/2 cup instant full cream milk powder
- Pre – heat oven to 180C
- Grease 22cm round tin with butter, line with baking paper.
- Beat butter & sugar until light & creamy.
- Slowly add eggs & banana until well combined.
- Stir in pecan nuts & chocolate bits.
- Add sifted flour, milk powder & water, stir until combined.
- Spread into prepared pan, bake approximately 1 hour or until cooked.
- Stand 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
- When cold, spread with Chocolate Frosting.
Cook’s Hint: Add eggs & banana slowly or the mixture will seperate.
Chocolate Frosting
- 125 g cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
- 30 g butter
- 60 g good cooking chocolate melted
Beat the cream cheese & butter until light & creamy.
Add 1/2 the icing sugar & the melted cooking chocolate, beat until combined
Add remaining icing sugar & beat until completely combined
Spread over cold cake immediately.
Hints & Tips from the Cook’s Kitchen:
Don’t wait to spread frosting as chocolate will set and it maybe hard to spread