Spiced Feijoa and Chocolate Cake

Once again during 'Feijoa Season', I'm on the look out for recipes to use the bounty from our tree.
Isabella showed her 'entrepreneur' tendencies and set up feijoa stands over a few weeks and managed to get rid of a lot of them while making herself quite a lot of money. It seems like there are a lot of people who really love feijoas and she certainly had vey well developed sales techniques.

This recipe came highly recommended and it is nice...you just need to be expecting more of a spice cake than a really chocolate hit. The icing is really chocolately though.

The cake is really light and crumbly.







Spiced Feijoa and Chocolate Cake

185g butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 free-range eggs
1 1/2 cups peeled, sliced feijoas
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (first measure)
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon (second measure)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sour cream

- Lightly oil or spray a 20cm ring tin. Line the bottom of the tin with strips of baking paper. Heat the oven to 180C.

- Peel ripe feijoas (depending on size  I used 8 egg-sized feijoas) with a sharp knife. Slice each feijoa in half lengthwise, then slice thinly.

- Measure 1 1/2cups of the sliced fruit and place in a bowl with 2 tbsp brown sugar and the first  1/2 tsp cinnamon.

- Cream the softened butter and caster sugar in a small bowl with an electric beater.

- Beat in the eggs one after the other, then transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

- Stir in the prepared feijoas, sifted flour, baking soda, cocoa, second measure of cinnamon and the nutmeg alternately with the sour cream in two batches.

- Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top evenly.

- Bake at 180C for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer exits cleanly from the middle of the cake.

- Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and remove the baking paper. Allow to cool completely.

- Cover the top and sides with the chocolate glaze.

For the chocolate glaze

130g dark chocolate
40g butter
 
Place in a small microwave proof bowl and heat on 50 per cent power for about 1 minute. Whip with a knife until smooth and shiny.

Heart Shaped Birthday Cake

It's been a bit of a crazy time for us with John away in South Sudan since August. I was determined this year to not put huge pressure on myself to create the perfect birthday part and cake for Isabella. Memories of previous year's efforts and the dramas in creating them still inter for us all!

I'd used the idea of surrounding the cake with white chocolate covered biscuit fingers last
year and it worked really well...and meant the icing around the cake didn't have to be perfect. I also replicated the paper cut out number (for birthday years) with sprinkles around it...although this didn't stand out as well as last year.

I had found the instructions for making the heart on Pintrest. It just seemed too good to be true - simple and very effective - and it was. The key was finding a square and round tin that were the right size. To figure this out I held the round tin up to the edge of various square tins until I got the right fit.


Isabella asked for a chocolate cake. I used an easy recipe from Sophie Gray's 'Enjoy'. See below
I tried making the cakes the same height by putting the same level of mixture in them...this didn't work but it was easy enough to slice a layer off the higher one.

I made Butter Cream Icing - I like this because it is easy to use and can be whipped up in the food processor. See below

I used pink tubular wafers to put around the outside and added a ribbon to make sure they stayed put.
A good end result, minimal fuss and no stress!



DANA'S CHOCOLATE CAKE 
from Destitute Gourmet by Sophie Gray
Very moist cake, freezes well, either process in food processor or put all in
bowl and beat together.
1 & 2/3 c flour
1 & 1/2 t baking soda
1 & 1/2 c sugar
2/3 c cocoa powder
1 t salt
1 & 1/2 c milk
100g butter, melted
2 eggs
1 t vanilla essence
Oven at 180 C, grease a 20cm loose-bottom cake tin and line bottom - it is a very liquid mix and you don't want it to leak!! Put all ingredients into
processor and mix until smooth. Pour into tin, bake 50 min to 1 hour, check if done with skewer.

Butter Cream Icing
125 g softened butter
1 tbsp warm milk
flavouring of your choice
colouring of your choice
375 g icing sugar


Put the butter, milk and any flavour or colour in a mixing blow. Sift in the icing sugar a little at a time and beat well between each addition until it has all been incorporated and the mixture is light and creamy.

Lemon and Gin Cake

I'm not sure how this cake has not been included on my blog previously. It's a real favourite and is one that is requested for special occasions and birthday cakes.

Gin and tonics with lemon or lime are a favourite of mine so I was thrilled (several years ago now) to find a cake recipe that includes some of these ingredients.

It is definitely best served with plain yoghurt to balance the sweet syrup that is poured over the top. I usually double the syrup recipe to ensure there is lots to cover the cake.




Lemon and Gin Cake

SERVES: 12This gorgeous sponge-like lemon cake is soaked in a lemon and gin mixture immediately after removing from the oven.

200g butter
1@1/2 cups sugar
zest of 2 lemons
4 x size 6 (medium) eggs 
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (at room temperature)

Preheat the oven to 160ºC (fan-bake). Prepare a 24cm loose-bottomedcake tin by lining the base with baking paper, brushing the sides with butter and dredging lightly with flour.

To make the cake, cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, and fold carefully into the egg mixture. Add the milk and stir in gently. Pile the mixture into the preparedcake tin. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cake shrinks from the sides of the tin. This can also be made in 6 small loaf tins which would be baked for about 25 minutes.

For the topping
1/2 cup caster sugar
juice of 2 lemons
4 tablespoons gin

While the cake is cooking, prepare the topping and the decoration. To make the topping, stir the caster sugar, lemon juice and gin together. 

For the decoration
1 small lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water 

To make the decoration, slice the lemon finely. Melt the sugar in the water, bring to a simmer and gently poach the lemon slices for 10 minutes. Remove slices to drain. When the cake is removed from the oven, pour topping mixture over the hot cake. Add the lemon slices around the edge of the top of the cake and allow to cool. 

John's Birthday Cake(s)

My husband John turned 50 about 2 weeks ago. To celebrate we gathered friends and family at our favourite local Japanese Restaurant - Taiko.

Despite things being pretty crazy for us at the moment - John is about to deploy with the Army to South Sudan for six months and some health issues for me, I wanted to do something special for a cake for him.


When I first met John he worked for Apple New Zealand - his job description was 'Apple Evangelist'. In my career Apple computers have been a very important tool. Apple products are pretty important to all of our family. My idea for a cake was to use the 'Apple' logo as inspiration. I hunted on 'Pintrest' for ideas and found some good ones. Several years ago the Apple logo had rainbow stripes...this seemed like a great idea.

I purchased coloured fondant icing for the cake. The colours were not exactly right but it looked good. Luckily I had my Mum helping. The icing took far far longer than I expected! We measured the stripes of the icing, but the stretched when we lifted them on to the cake.
I used butter cream icing over the cake before laying over the fondant. The cake was made using my failsafe banana cake recipe with chocolate chips added.



I was a little unsure how many people I was feeding so decided to supplement the cake with 'camouflage' cupcakes as a 'nod' to the importance of the Army in

his life.
To make the cupcakes I just coloured basic cupcake mixture and added a bit at a time to create the pattern.



Butter Cream Icing

125 g softened butter
1 tbsp warm milk
flavouring of your choice
colouring of your choice
375 g icing sugar


Put the butter, milk and any flavour or colour in a mixing bowl or use food processor. Sift in the icing sugar a little at a time and beat well between each addition until it has all been incorporated and the mixture is light and creamy.

Courgette Chocolate Cake

I'm hoping I am about to have a great crop of courgettes in my garden and since none of my family are too keen on eating them as a vegetable I need to find some ways to use them in disguise.
I had a very interested little helper who grated the courgettes for me...perhaps not as finely as I would have liked but I guess she was already in the know about the unusual ingredient in a cake.

The cake was nice. Not a traditional rich chocolate cake, it was really light and had a hint of spice.
I tried a bit as a muffin which worked well. So potentially this could be a good lunch box filler.

The icing was gorgeous. Very rich and chocolatey.

Chocolate courgette cake recipe

Recipe type: Cakes

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  1 hour

Total time:  1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 350g self-raising flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 175ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 375g golden caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 500ml grated courgettes (measure by volume in a measuring jug, but it’s about 2 medium courgettes; if using 1 overgrown one, peel first and take out seeds)
• 140g toasted hazelnuts , roughly chopped (I left these out)
• FOR THE ICING
• 200g dark chocolate , chopped
• 100ml double cream

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, mixed spice and 1 tsp salt. In another bowl, combine the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and grated courgette. Mix the dry and wet mixture until just combined, then fold in the toasted hazelnuts. Line a 24cm cake tin with greaseproof paper, then pour in your mixture. Bake for about 40-50 mins, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
2. To make the icing, place the chocolate in a bowl and bring cream to the boil in a saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until completely smooth and melted. Leave the icing to cool slightly and thicken, then spread it over the cake so it’s covered and the icing starts to drip down the sides. Serve with a cup of tea or enjoy as a pud with a spoonful of something creamy.

Diane's Fruit Cake

This cake has been a bit of a nightmare in the making but it all turned out ok in the end.
I am not a huge fan of fruit cake. When I was asked to make a fruit cake for my husband's parents 50th wedding anniversary celebrations (which took place months ago now), I agreed but was a bit concerned.
I went to a lovely friend (Diane) who is a fabulous baker and cook for a recipe. 
My husbands advice (from he who rarely cooks and never bakes) was to do a trial. I made a single recipe which turned out dry and small in the tin I had. A very expensive trial given how much fruit is in this cake. The trial cake is now receiving regular doses of brandy and is refrigerated for later use.
I doubled the recipe and baked the cake for significantly less time than the recipe says, judging if it was ready by inserting a fork in after 3 hours and from then on half hourly.

The cake was a success and I received lots of positive comments. From my perspective it was moist and seemed ok.

I can't take credit for the icing - this job was passed on to an aunty of John's.

I'm not sure when I will be making a fruit cake again, but this would be the recipe I'll use when I do.

INGREDIENTS

500g (3 & 1/4 cups) sultanas
500g (3 & 1/4 cups) currants
250g (1 & 1/2 cups) chopped raisins
125g (2/3 up) glace cherries, halved
1/3 cup mixed peel
185g (1 & 1/2 cups) blanched almonds, halved
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup brandy
500g butter
500g (2 cups) brown sugar, firmly packed
8 eggs
3 cups plain flour
1 cup self-raising flour
METHOD

Combine fruit, almonds, marmalade, rinds, juice and brandy in a large bowl; mix well. Cover bowl, stand mixture for up to a week.

Cream butter with sugar in large bowl with electric mixer only until ingredients are combined. Beat in eggs one at a time, beat only until combined between each addition. Add creamed mixture to fruit mixture, mix well; mix in sifted flours in 2 lots.

Spread mixture evenly into deep 25cm square or deep 28cm round prepared cake pan. Bake at 150°C for about 5 hours.

Rainbow Birthday Cake

Isabella chose a 'Rainbow' theme for her fifth birthday. After last year's Ginger Bread House fiasco where stress levels were high to say the least I was determined to make this year's cake a lot easier.
I found lots of examples of cakes with separate layers to form rainbows which all looked reasonably easy but my concern was the time involved in baking each layer. I found a couple of recipes for this cake and gave it a try several weeks in advance.
My trial cake seemed like it was going to be a bit of a disaster but turned out really well - a good sign for the 'real thing'.
The key to this cake it using a cake recipe and mixture that is pretty thick - I chose a Madeira cake for this reason and using A LOT of food colouring.

I wanted to keep the decorating quite simple to get the 'wow' factor when it was cut open. The white icing and white chocolate fingers were easy to put on.
I used a 'Butter Cream' icing (below) which was easy to work with and eventually set a bit hard.
The '5' was just cut out of paper, placed on top of the cake, then sprinkles added.
I did the top decoration before I did the white chocolate fingers so that I could keep the sides 'clean'.


Rainbow Cake
Make the cake mixture according to the recipe.  (I used about a 30cm tin and doubled the recipe. There was some mixture left over)
Take about 1/2 the mixture and use red colouring to colour. Create a red layer around the outside of the cake tin.
Next take smaller amount of mixture and colour orange and create the next layer.
Continue through the rainbow colours until you get tot he middle where you use a very small amount of purple coloured mixture.
If you have a lot of mixture left over you can colour it according to the colour you are short on and add mixture in. The cake is very forgiving!


Maderia Cake

250 g butter
250g sugar
4 large eggs
250g self raising flour
125g plain flour
4 teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 23 cm cake tin with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.
Sift the flours together and fold into the creamed mixture.
Fold in the lemon juice
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until the skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.



Butter Cream Icing

125 g softened butter
1 tbsp warm milk
flavouring of your choice
colouring of your choice
375 g icing sugar


Put the butter, milk and any flavour or colour in a mixing blow. Sift in the icing sugar a little at a time and beat well between each addition until it has all been incorporated and the mixture is light and creamy.

Yoghurt and Lemon Cake

I have to admit I didn't make this one but I certainly helped eat it. I have been incredibly slow in adding more posts to this blog. Perhaps this is an indication of being just a wee bit busy and not so well for ages?

We stayed the night with John's Aunty on Friday and she had made this cake. It was so light, moist, lemony and yummy!
The recipe looks incredibly easy too.





Yoghurt cake

1pottle or 225 ml of fruit yoghurt
1/2 cup cooking oil (not olive)
2 large eggs
Grated rind of one lemon


2cups of self raising flour
11/2 cups of sugar
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 160 deg fan bake. Grease and paper line the base of 21 cm cake tin
Mix the first four ingredients together in a small bowl
Place flour, sugar and salt in a larger bowl
Add wet ingredients to dry. Do not over mix ingredients
Bake for 35 mins. Let the cake cool and ice while warm, not hot

Use juice of two lemons and two dessert spoons of sugar mixed then poured over top of cake instead of icing

Note this recipe was found in an old British newspaper. It was called a dump cake, because you used the same container for all measurements ie a yoghurt pottle.

Feijoa Cake

As warned this is another feijoa post.

This recipe appealed to me because it had almond meal which reduced the amount of flour.

What I didn't read carefully enough was the unusual cooking method...cook for 50 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave in for another hour. Not ideal when making a cake late at night!

We had the cake on its own. It was nice but really needed greek yoghurt or something to give it a bit of a sharp bite. The base was quite dense as you would expect from an almond meal recipe. I suspect it would be better warmed up. Perhaps for my next slice?

This one is an Annabelle White recipe

Feijoa Cake

Ingredients
125g butter
200g white sugar
2 eggs - No. 6s are fine
165g white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
30g ground almonds
225g sour cream
1 tsp almond essence (opt)
Approx 400-500g ripe feijoa - Cut in half/thirds
1 heaped tbls coarse grained sugar (Demerara is ideal.)
A pinch of ground ginger

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Line the base of a 9" cake tin with baking paper and anti-stick spray the paper plus the sides.

Cream together the butter and sugar very well. Beat in eggs one at a time until well combined, then lastly the essence.

Sift dry ingredients over mixture and add at the same time the sour cream and almond meal.

Fold in carefully until well combined. (Mixture is quite thick.)

Spoon into prepared pan and very lightly press in the cut fruit (cut side up).

The fruit should be quite crowded but in a single layer.

Sprinkle Demerara sugar/ginger evenly over fruit and put cake into oven and immediately set temperature to a reduced 180 degrees Celsius.

Bake for 50 minutes, turn oven off and leave in oven for an hour.

Serve warm.

Notes

1. You can use other stoned fruit (plums, peaches, apricots) instead of feijoa and if using fresh figs change the almond essence and use rose water instead. If making it an apple cake - add cinnamon to the Demerara sugar.

2. Freezes well. Cut into portions before freezing.

3. Serve with a "side" of some of the same fruit - poached - and a dollop of either whipped cream or yoghurt.

Feijoa Shortcake

It is the start of feijoa season again which is a pretty exciting time in our house. Isabella (4 years) goes on a daily 'feijoa hunt' and delights in coming back with a huge bounty every day. At the moment it is a bowl full, later in the season it will be a bucket full.

I have a collection of feijoa recipes but last night found a great site via pinterest that has loads of new feijoa recipes to try. I will apologise in advance for those of you that don't have access to or don't like feijoas for numerous posts to come over the next few weeks.

Today I have made a feijoa and lemon cordial concentrate which I suspect will be similar to the lemon cordial I made a few months ago and feijoa shortcake. I made a double recipe of the shortcake in the hope that I can take enough to work tomorrow for everyone. I've never made shortcake before and had my doubts about how it would turn out but it looks and tastes great.

FEIJOA SHORTCAKE

Fruit topping

• 500 grams peeled chopped feijoas
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• zest of 1 lemon

Dough

• 180 grams butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• juice of 1 lemon
• 250 grams flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Mix the feijoas, sugar and lemon zest and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and lemon juice.
3. Mix well and add flour and baking powder.
4. Spread most of dough in greased/lined tin or flan dish, drain feijoas and spread on top of dough.
5. Drop bits of remaining dough on top of feijoa, sprinkle with brown sugar.
6. Bake at 180ºC about 50-60 minutes (I used Moscavato dark unrefined cane sugar)

Chocolate, Banana and Berry Cake

This recipe comes from Sarah Kate Lynch's book 'On Top Of Everything.' I really like her books and especially those that have a food theme. I tried this recipe years ago when I first read the book and remembered it being really good. Today we had visitors and when I asked Isabella what kid of cake we should make for afternoon tea she said chocolate and strawberry! I'm not sure where the idea came from but it was a good one.

The recipe is for raspberries but I figure any berry will work. We used strawberries today.
The only part of the recipe I'm not sure about is the chocolate in the cake mixture. It does't say to melt it but unless it is melted it would be in chunks (...maybe I'll try that next time?). I melted it and added it with the wet ingredients.

Chocolate, Banana and Raspberry Cake Recipe

Cake Mixture
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
100g granulated white sugar
50g light brown sugar
1 tsp of BP
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150g dark chocolate (I melted it)
3 large very ripe bananas mashed well
3 large eggs lightly beaten
120g unsalted butter - melted and cooled
1 cup raspberries

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees C. Place oven rack in middle of oven.
Butter or spray cake tin.
In large bowl combine the flour, sugars, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, salt and chocolate. Set aside.
In a medium bowl combine mashed banans, eggs and melted butter. Withe rubber spatular or wooden spoon lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mix) into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick..
Add raspberries and spoon batter into prepared tin.
Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
Place on wire rack to cool for 5 mins then remove from tin.
Let cool and ice.

Icing
250 g dark chocolate
1 cup sour cream
2/3 tsp of vanilla.

Melt chocolate in double boiler or large metal bowl over pot of simmer water, storing occasionally.
Remove bowl from heat and whisk in sour cream and vanilla.
Cool to room temp, storing occasionally.
Icing will become thick enough to spread.
You must work quickly and spread before it becomes too thick. (If icing becomes stiff, reheat over simmering water, then cool and try again)

top with a layer for fresh raspberries.

Apple Cake - recipe

I found myself with a lot of apples. This recipe was pretty easy and looked like a good way to use some up.

I took a bit of time making the pattern on the bottom...it was worth it. A nice cake eaten cold or heated up with ice cream.

It could do with a it more cinnamon in the apple part and cake but I kept it light to cater for tastes of little people.

I wonder if it might also work with feijoas...the season is only a few months away!


Apple Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 large golden delicious apples
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• .
• Cake
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, stirred before measuring
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup milk

Preparation:

Heat oven to 325° (about 170 degrees C) . Butter a 9-inch square cake pan or spray with baking spray. Core the apples and cut into wedges; peel and slice thinly. Combine apple slices with the brown sugar, 1 scant teaspoon of cinnamon, and 4 tablespoons of melted butter. Arrange the apple mixture in the prepared baking pan.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl. In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture to the first mixture, alternating with the milk, beating just until blended. Spoon the batter evenly over the apple slices; gently spreading to cover. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Invert the hot cake onto a platter or cake plate and let stand for about 5 minutes. Remove the pan and scrape up any fruit slices clinging to the pan and arrange them over the cake.