Ingredients For the pastry 1. Plain flour - 250 grams/9 oz 2. Butter - 130 grams/4½ oz plus extra for greasing 3. Cold Water - 3 tablespoon For the filling 1. Golden syrup - 400 grams/14 oz 2. Fine fresh white breadcrumbs - 150 grams/5½ oz 3. Lemon zest of 2 lemons 4. Lemon juice of 2 lemons 5. Egg one beaten, to use as egg wash Method
In a bowl add flour and butter. Rub butter into flour with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (alternatively, this can be done in a food processor). Add water and mix to form a dough, wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF and put a heavy baking tray in the oven to heat up. Grease a 18 cm/7 inch loose-bottomed fluted flan tin with butter. From the dough remove about 150 grams/5½ oz of pastry from the main ball and set aside for the lattice top. Roll the rest of the pastry out thinly on a lightly floured work surface and line the prepared flan tin with the pastry. Press the sides of the pan with your fingers. Cut the extra dough hanging out of the pan. Prick the base with a fork, to stop the base rising up during baking. Chill the pan until filling is ready. Roll out the remaining dough for lattice, cut into 1/2 inch strips. Place the strips in a sheet pan and egg wash the strips. chill it until ready to use. To make the filling In a sauce pan with medium low flame, heat the syrup gently in a large pan but do not boil. Once melted, add the breadcrumbs, lemon juice and zest to the syrup. If the mixture looks runny, add a few more breadcrumbs. Pour the syrup mixture into the lined tin and level the surface. Remove the lattice strips from fridge. Egg wash the edge of the pastry in the tin, and start to make the woven laying lattice pattern over the mixture, leave the strips hanging over the edge of the tin. Once the lattice is in place, use the tin edge to cut off the strips by pressing down with your hands, creating a neat finish. Bake at 400 F for 10 mins, until the pastry has started to colour. Reduce the oven temperature to 180ºC/350ºF for another 25 - 30 minutes until the filling is set. Remove the tart from the oven and leave to firm up in the tin. Serve warm or cold.
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Recently a friend of mine asked me if I can make a 'Dholak Cake' for her sister's wedding. I made a chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream filling as per her initial request. That didn't turn out well. So I wanted to try some more flavor combinations. I made a chocolate cake, a white cake and yellow cake. I tried out few cake recipes, and I have to say Test Kitchen's yellow cake recipe was perfect. So here it is. Ingredients 1. Cake flour - 2 cups / 8 oz (Add 2 tablespoon cornstarch in a dry ingredient measuring 1 cup, then fill cup with all purpose flour = 1 cup cake flour) 2. Granulated Sugar - 1 & 1/2 cup / 10 ½ oz (divide into 1 & 1/4 cup plus 1/4 cup) 3. Baking powder - 1 teaspoon 4. Baking Soda - 1/4 teaspoon 5. Salt - 3/4 teaspoon 6. Buttermilk - 3/4 cup 7. Egg yolk - 5 8. Egg white - 3 9. Butter melted and cooled - 8 tablespoon 10. Vegetable oil - 3 tablespoon 11. Vanilla extract - 1 & 1/2 teaspoon 12. Cream of tartar - 1/8 teaspoon Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9 inch or two 8 inch round cake pan. Whisk flour, 1 & 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, yolks, melted butter, oil, and vanilla extract. Combine dry and wet ingredients. Whisk until there are no lumps. Do not over mix. In a medium bowl whisk egg whites and tartar, until soft and pillowy. Slowly add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, whip to stiff peaks. Fold in the egg whites into batter in batches of three. Divide evenly into pans. Tap to release any air bubbles. Bake for 18 - 22 mins for 8 inch pan and 20 - 25 mins for 9 inch pan. Cool in pan for 15 mins and 2 hours out of pans. This cake best without any frosting or goes best with milk chocolate frosting. Preparation time - over 2 hours Cooking time - 30 mins to 1 hour Makes 1 loaf Ingredients 1. Strong bread flour - 500 grams/1 lb 2 oz 2. Instant Yeast - 7 grams sachet 3. Fine salt - 10 grams/¼ oz 4. Olive oil - 1½ tablespoon 5. Water - 340 ml/12 fl oz 6. Sunflower oil for greasing bowl 7. Egg - 1 plus pinch of salt (egg wash) 8. Extra flour for dusting Method
In a bowl, add flour, olive oil, yeast on one side and salt on the other side. Mix until evenly distributed. Slowly add the water and mix until it forms a dough. Place the dough on to a work surface and knead for about 10 mins. Oil a medium sized mixing bowl and place the dough into the bowl. Cover with cling film and set aside to rise, for about an hour, or until the dough doubles in size. When risen, knock the dough and knead for few mins on a work surface. Weigh the whole dough and divide into eight equal portions. Roll out the portion into a strand about 40 cm/16 inch long. The dough is elastic, hence roll the portions out as much as it goes then rest them for few mins and then try rolling them again. (dough will keep shrinking back if not rested while rolling) Lay the strands out on a surface, fanning out from one central point at the top. Pinch all the ends together at the top. For Braiding I followed this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP6j7esQyjk Place the plaited dough onto a baking tray, cover with cloth and leave to prove for another hour, until risen again. Brush the loaf with the beaten egg wash and bake in the oven for 20-25 mins in preheat over at 200°C /400°F. To check the whether its baked, tap the bottom of the loaf, you should here a hollow sound or 195°F or more in a thermometer. Preparation time - 1-2 hours Cooking time - 10 to 30 mins Serves - 10 small Ingredients 1. Strong flour - 220 grams/8 oz 2. Fast action yeast - 1 x 7 gram sachet 3. Salt - ½ teaspoon 4. Sugar - 50 grams/ 2 oz, plus extra for dusting 5. Eggs - 2 medium 6. Milk - 70 ml/ 4½ tablespoon 7. Butter - 100 grams/ 3½ oz , softened For the syrup 1. Water - 200 ml/7 fl oz 2. Caster sugar - 250 grams/ 9 oz 3. Dark rum - 3-4 tablespoon For the Chantilly cream 1. Double cream - 250 ml/9 fl oz 2. Icing sugar - 100 grams/3½ oz 3. Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon 4. Fresh fruit, for garnish Method
In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix until evenly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and milk until combined. Slowly add egg milk mixture into flour in parts, until it forms a dough. Knead the dough for about 5 mins until stretchy. Dough will be very sticky. Add room temperature butter into dough little at a time and knead until combined well. Knead the dough until sticky and stretchy. Set the dough aside to rise for at least an hour, until doubled in size. Grease and sugar the four 11 cm/4 ½ in fluted rum baba tins (savarin molds). (Adding the sugar will help the fragile sponges come out of the molds). I used a donut pan. After an hour, knock it back by kneading it a few times. Place the dough into a piping bag. Pipe the dough into the molds. Try to get them all as equal as possible. Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F. Allow to prove for a second time until the dough has expanded almost to the top. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes. When the babas are cooked, take them out of the oven and allow to cool a little before carefully removing the cakes from their tins. They will be very fragile. For Rum Syrup In a small saucepan, add water and sugar and bring it to a rolling boil. Dip the babas into the syrup and allow it to soak the syrup completely. Repeat for remaining babas. Chill them in refrigerator. Meanwhile for the Chantilly cream, whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla extract. The cream must be firm enough to pipe and hold its shape on top of the babas. Transfer the cream to a piping bag and keep in the fridge until needed. Prepare the fruit as necessary. To serve, pipe the Chantilly cream, using a star nozzle, into the middle of the babas. Garnish with the mixed fruit. This is one of the best chocolate cake I have made. It is quite dense cake but it has a unique taste. It tastes even better the next day. It's a simple recipe so my tips will be only to keep an eye on your chocolate while melting. Preparation time - 30 mins to 1 hour Cooking time - 1 to 2 hours Serves - 12 Ingredients 1. Plain chocolate - 140 grams/ 5 oz (I used semi sweet chocolate chips) 2. Unsalted butter - 140 grams/5 oz, softened 3. Caster sugar - 115 grams/4 oz 4. Vanilla extract - ½ teaspoon 5. Eggs - 5, separated 6. Ground almonds - 85 grams/3 oz 7. Plain flour - 55 grams/2 oz For the topping and the icing 1. Apricot jam - 6 tablespoon. sieved 2. Plain chocolate - 140 grams/5 oz (I used semi sweet chocolate chips) 3. Double cream - 200 ml/7 fl oz 4. Milk chocolate - 25 grams/1 oz Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease a 9 inch cake pan and set aside. I used a 7 inch ring placed over greased tray. Melt chocolate in microwave for about 1 minute, mixing after every 30 seconds else the chocolate will burn. Cool the chocolate to room temperature. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cool chocolate and vanilla extract, whisk until combined. Add yolk and mix until combined. Note - If the chocolate is hot it will melt butter and cook the egg yolks Fold in ground almonds and sieved flour. Mix until combined well. In a separate clean dry bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff. Fold in the egg whites into chocolate mixture in batches of three. The first batch can be mixed in vigorously. Next two batch should be folded in gently without deflating the batter too much. Pour the mixture to the prepared tin and level the surface as its a mixture, it wont take its own shape. Note - It is a thick batter so we need to shape it. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until well risen at the top and the cake springs back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the paper and finish cooling on a wire rack. Sieve the apricot jam and brush evenly over the top and sides of the cold cake. Allow to set. Note - If the Jam is very thick. Heat it for few minutes and then brush over the cake. For Ganache, microwave the cream for about 1 min or until really hot. Add chocolate and leave it for about 1 to 2 minutes. Then mix well until completely melted. Hand blender or whisk will work well. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature or coating consistency. Place the cake over a wire rack placed over sheet tray and pour the ganache over the cake. Spread it gently over the top and down the sides, and leave to set. Note - If the ganache is not cooled enough it will not stick to the cake. For writing Sacher over cake, Melt milk chocolate in microwave for about 30 to 60 seconds. Taking out and mixing every 20 seconds. This step is important else the chocolate will burn. Spoon into a small paper icing bag or polythene bag and snip off the corner. Pipe ‘Sacher’ across the top and leave to set. Note - Milk chocolate has lighter color which makes it easier to see over the dark chocolate. Since its very small quantity chocolate will burn fast so keep close eye, take out every 20 seconds and mix well. |
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