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Tag Archives: demerara sugar

Strawberry on Strawberry Shortcake

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I cook lots and lots of cakes and this new recipe is very, very more-ish! Easy to make and great for afternoon tea or as a dessert.

Bill Granger cooked a Pear, Blueberry and Almond Shortcake on the first episode of his television series Bill’s Kitchen Notting Hill, see below for the link to the series.

http://www.bbcnordic.com/bills-kitchen-notting-hill/episodes/

I decided that the recipe would work just as well with strawberries. For a double strawberry hit, I cooked whole fresh strawberries and also added in a good dollop of my home made strawberry conserve.

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Ingredients

Filling
30 g unsalted butter, softened

40 g caster sugar

150g strawberries, whole

1 tsp vanilla paste

2 tbsp strawberry conserve*

Milk, to brush the pastry

1 tbsp demerara sugar

2 tbsp flaked almonds

Shortcake pastry


125 g unsalted butter

125 g castor sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

175 plain flour

50 g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

Method
Place the butter, caster sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over a low heat. Cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes until the butter melts and sugar dissolves.

Add the strawberries and cook over low heat for 8 minutes or until the strawberries are soft. Remove from the heat and stir through the strawberry conserve, being careful not to break up the whole fruit. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

For the shortcake, beat the butter and castor sugar until thick and creamy. Add the egg and mix well. Add the flour, almond meal and baking powder, then stir until combined. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to just bring the mixture together. Divide the dough in half, pat in to discs, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line a 24cm springform cake tin. On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough portion into a round about the size of the tin, then press one round into tin. Spoon the strawberry mixture and any juices over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge. IMG_9880

Top with the remaining dough round and press the edges together to seal. Brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar and flaked almonds.

Bake for 30 minutes or until until golden (cover loosely with foil if browning too quickly). Cool in tin for 20 minutes before carefully removing from the tin.

*My Strawberry Conserve recipe: https://thequirkandthecool.com/2013/09/06/strawberry-conserve/

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Mandarin and Passionfruit Cake with Buttered Macadamias and Candied Orange

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I am always interested in cakes which incorporate fruit into the bake as this ensures a moist cake and one with good keeping qualities. I used Annabel Langbein’s Orange Lightning Cake as the basis for this recipe.

The inclusion of mandarins gives a sweet juiciness; the passionfruit pulp adds tang and gives the cake a lovely chartreuse colour.

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The topping is smashed macadamias toasted in a mixture of coconut sugar and demerara sugar and a little butter, and candied orange – from my store cupboard on this occasion – although the process is easy enough to do yourself if you have the time.

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Ingredients

2 mandarins (unpeeled)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125 gms softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
Pulp of 2 passionfruit

Topping
1 tbl coconut sugar
1 tbl demerara sugar + 1 tsp for scattering over cake
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
A knob of butter
3 candied orange slices

Method
Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease a 20cm spring form tin and line the base with baking paper.
Cut the mandarins into quarters, remove the seeds and blitz in a food processor until finely chopped.
Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda soda in 1/2 cup water and add to the food processor with butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour. Whizz to combine. Add the passionfruit pulp and pulse several times to just combine.
Pour into prepared tin and place in oven.
Topping
Heat sugars in a frying pan over a low heat until dissolved. Add macadamias which you have bashed with a mallet or rolling pin, and cook until coated with the sugar mixture. Add the butter and toss the nuts in the butter/sugar mixture for a minute.
After about 30 minutes, gently open the oven door and scatter toasted macadamias over the cake while the cake is still in the oven. Close oven door and bake for a further 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean ( about 45 minutes bake time in all). However be sure to check before the 15 minutes if you see  – or smell – that the cake is cooking quickly. Leave to cool in tin before removing to serving plate.
Finish the topping by scattering the cake with a little demerara sugar and candied orange slices.

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