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Berry Mousse Layer Cake

Posted on December 8, 2015 by The quirk and the cool

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I love meringue and I love a really light and airy sponge cake. I also love berries and cream. I decided to create a cake that incorporated all of these elements into one festive cake.

Each layer is easy to make, and the whole cake can be assembled on the day you bake it. But it does take a little more time than (my) average throw-all-the-ingredients-in-the-food-processor cake!

It’s a lovely celebration cake. I made it for a friend’s special birthday. It would be a great cake to serve at Christmas for dessert – it’s so fresh, colourful, full of berries – Christmas on a plate!

To make it, you construct layers of meringue and sponge cake with layers of  berry mousse, rasbberry jam, more berries and cream. The mousse really softens the meringue layers and make the sponge cake almost dissolve.

Decorate how you like – fancy or plain – the cake will look good and be delicious either way!

You will need: meringue layers, sponge cake layers, berry mousse, raspberry jam, whipped cream and fresh berries.

Berry Mousse – I used raspberries, blackberries and a few cherries. I’ve made it before with blueberries and strawberries in the mix too.

Ingredients
400g mixed frozen berries
125g caster sugar
300ml cream
1 sheet gelatine
Method
Soften gelatine in a bowl of water for 5 minutes. Place frozen berries in a saucepan with the caster sugar. Cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves and the berries begin to break down. Remove from heat.
Squeeze excess water from the gelatine and add to the berry/sugar mixture in the saucepan. Stir gently to dissolve the gelatine. Set aside to cool. Whip the cream to soft peaks in an electric mixer. At this stage you can strain the berry mixture if you want a pure mousse, or you can leave the broken down berries in the mixture if you want a more fruity mousse.
Fold the berry mixture carefully into the whipped cream. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour until the mousse has thickened but not set completely.

Meringue Layers

Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence
1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar

Method
Preheat oven to 120 degrees C. Roughly mark out rectangles the same size as the sponge cake tins on baking paper (about 23cm x 33 cm). Turn over the pieces of baking paper – you can see the rectangle markings – and place them on each of 2 baking trays.
Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Gradually beat in sugar, continue beating until very stiff. Stir in vanilla and vinegar.
Spoon meringue onto paper rectangles, smoothing out tops so there no obvious peaks.
Place baking trays in centre of oven. Cook for 10 minutes to set the meringue, then turn down oven to 100 degrees C.
Bake for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, until the meringue is dry, but not brown.
Turn oven off, leave in oven with door ajar until meringue is cool. When meringues are completely cool, carefully remove from baking paper.

Sponge Cakes
Ingredients
50g cornflour
50g plain flour
50g self-raising flour
4 x 60g free range eggs, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease 2 rectangular cake tins or Swiss roll tins (I used a regular cake tin and a Swiss roll tin, both 23cm x 33 cm) and line bases with baking paper. Sift flours and 1/4 teaspoon salt together three times to aerate.
Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl on medium-high speed for 6 minutes, or until mixture is thick, pale and tripled in volume. Gradually sift flour mixture over egg mixture while simultaneously folding in with a large metal spoon until just combined.
Divide mixture between prepared tins. Gently level the batter with a spatula. Bake for 15-20 minutes  or until cakes have shrunk away from the sides slightly and spring back
when gently touched.
Turn out on to baking paper-lined wire racks. Carefully peel away baking paper, then leave to cool.

To assemble the cake:

Mix a couple of tablespoons of raspberry jam with a teaspoon of water and heat for 30 seconds in the microwave. Brush the jam mixture liberally over both sponge cakes.

Place one of the meringue layers on a serving platter. Spread the meringue with 1/3 mousse. Scatter a few sliced fresh berries over the mousse. Place one of the sponge layers on top of the mousse. Spoon another 1/3 of the mousse onto the cake. Dab a little whipped cream – a couple of tablespoons – onto the mousse. Scatter a few more sliced berries over the mousse and cream. Repeat with the other sponge cake layer, the remaining 1/3 mousse, a little whipped cream and more sliced berries. Place the other meringue layer on top.

Chill in the fridge for a few hours to firm the cake. Decorate with whipped cream and fresh berries in whatever way takes your fancy.

The cake cuts well once it’s chilled. Everything softens up. It keeps well in the fridge, and like trifle, the flavour improves as everything blends together with time!

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Jamie Oliver Smoothie Pancakes with Berries, Banana, Yoghurt and Nuts

Posted on October 10, 2015 by The quirk and the cool

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Super food, super easy and super good! Jamie’s latest book Everyday Super Food is a bit of a revelation, crammed full of beautiful, colourful, easy recipes that are really healthy.

The research, the nutritional information, and the carefully planned and written recipes make this book a must-read and a must-cook. I’m big on flavour, and what I’ve cooked so far is bursting with it …I can’t  wait to cook more!

If you love cooking, love really tasty food, and would like to feel that you are doing your bit to eat healthily, then get Everday Super Food. It’s common sense, not faddish, and do-able!

I made Smoothie Pancakes with Berries, Banana, Yoghurt and Nuts today. I went for blueberries, next time I’ll try raspberries. I didn’t realize till I was making the recipe that there was no sugar – the blueberries are sweet enough – even for the sweet tooth of this quirky writer! The drizzle of honey on the pancakes themselves when serving adds that little extra sweetness which is nice. Here is Jamie’s recipe very slightly tweaked.

Ingredients

320g blueberries or raspberries

1 ripe banana

170ml semi-skimmed milk

1 large free-range egg

250g wholemeal self raising flour

To serve

4 tbs natural yoghurt

Sprinkle of ground cinnamon

30g mixed unsalted nuts, chopped

Drizzle of honey

Method

Blitz half the berries, peeled banana, milk, egg and flour in a food processor or blender to make a smooth pancake batter. Fold in the remaining berries. Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium high heat. When hot, put some batter into the frying pan to make large pancakes or small ones. I went for smallish. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, or until crisp and browned. Jamie suggests flipping them for an additional 30 seconds each side to ensure they are super crispy. This seemed to work for me.

You can serve whole, or slice the pancakes in half so you can see the fruit. Serve with a spoonful or two of yoghurt, a sprinkling of cinnamon, some chopped nuts and a drizzle of honey over the whole lot. Delish.

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Cream Horns

Posted on April 15, 2015 by The quirk and the cool

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I love cream horns – an old fashioned treat, full of cream and a smattering of jam.

I wanted to recreate these retro treats, making them a little smaller than the original. I filled them with whipped cream and my homemade berry jam.

Using bought puff pastry and some cone shaped molds, it was really easy! While I agree that making your own puff pastry can be time consuming, I would encourage everyone to make their own jam. I made a quick jam in the time it took to shape and bake the horns, 20 minutes or so. That’s fast, and the beautiful mixed berry jam is so worth it!

And because I love the idea of a “cornucopia” – horn of plenty – I made a large puff pastry horn as well, filling it with berries. A pretty centre piece and you can eat the contents.

The recipe below makes 6 small horns.

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Ingredients

2 sheets of puff pastry partially thawed

Milk for brushing

Caster sugar for dusting

325 mls pure cream

1 quantity mixed berry jam (see recipe below*)

Raspberries, blueberries and strawberries to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C fanforced. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Cut the sheets of puff pastry into 2cm wide strips. Spray the molds with non stick spray. Wind the strips of pastry around the mold, starting from the tip. Make sure there is a little overlap with each turn so that the mold is completely covered. It’s really easy to do, especially when the pastry is still cold. Try to get all the joints on the one side, but don’t worry too much, these horns are meant to look little rustic!

Place the horns join side down on the baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, brush with a little milk. Scatter the horns with a little caster sugar. This gives the horns a nice sugary crunch.

Bake for 10- 12 minutes or until the horns are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool before gently sliding the horns from the molds.

Whip the cream until soft peak stage, but not stiff.

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Filling the horns

Spoon or pipe the cream into each horn. Carefully add a teaspoon of berry jam to the cream horn, swirling into the cream or just leaving as is.

Serve with mixed fresh berries and more jam and cream for that extra lusciousness…

*Mixed Berry Jam

Ingredients

250g mixed berries – I used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries

150g sugar

Juice of a lemon

Method

Place the berries in a saucepan and cover with the sugar. Squeeze over the juice of a lemon. Heat slowly, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When all the sugar is dissolved, boil on a moderate heat until setting point is reached. Mush the berries, if still whole, into a jam like consistency. Take off the stove and allow to cool.

If you want to make the Cornucopia, that’s easy too. Make a cone shape, whatever size you like, using cardboard covered with baking paper. Wind strips of Pampas puff pastry around the mold until completely covered.

Bake on a baking sheet for 12-15 minutes in a 200 degree C oven. Cool before removing the mold.

Fill with fruit, flowers or anything else that signifies abundance.

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Mixed Berry Muffins

Posted on February 10, 2015 by The quirk and the cool

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Lots of mixed berries make these muffins moist. I varied my usual recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook by adding some ground almonds to the dry ingredients. This gave the muffins a softer texture. Cooking the muffins in flexible silicon molds lined with muffin papers gave the muffins a nice high shape.

Ingredients – Base Mixture

1 and 1/4 cups plain flour + 1/2 cup ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carbonate soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
Demerara sugar for sprinkling on tops of muffins

Mixed Berries

3/4 cup fresh raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C or 160 degrees C fan forced. Line 6 silicon muffin molds with muffin papers. If you don’t have these molds, use an ordinary muffin tin. If you use the muffin papers and three quarters fill them you will get 6 muffins.

Mix the dry ingredients for the base mixture with a spoon in a bowl until well combined.  In another bowl mix the oil, beaten egg and milk.

Gently fold in the mixed berries.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin papers.  Sprinkle the tops with a little demerara sugar for extra crunch. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Remove from the oven – eat  warm or cold.

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Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondies

Posted on October 19, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

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I was inspired to make this recipe from The Baker’s Wardrobe blog: http://thebakerswardrobe.wordpress.com, with a few of my own tweaks.

I was surprised that the blondies rose without baking powder! They are a very sweet blondie but the raspberries cut down a little on the sweetness.

Ingredients

115 g unsalted butter

180 g white chocolate chopped

115 g caster sugar

2 free range eggs

1 tsp of vanilla paste

125 g plain flour +1 tbls flour

1 cup frozen raspberries raspberries

Method

Preheat the oven to to 180 degrees C or 170 degrees fan forced.

Grease and line a 20 cm x 20 cm  baking tin with baking paper.

Melt the butter and 100g of the white chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until smooth.

Beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla paste in a bowl until the mixture is thick.

Gently combine the the butter and white chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture.

Gently fold 1/3 of the flour into the batter and repeat twice until all the flour is all incorporated.

Mix half of the raspberries in the tablespoon of flour then gently fold the raspberries into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and place the remaining white chocolate pieces and remaining raspberries over the top of the batter.

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Bake for 30- 35 minutes. The blondies will have risen but will still be slightly soft in the middle.

Cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

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Chocolate and Raspberry Shortcake Slice

Posted on June 8, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

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I am continuing with my slice/traybake experiments. I am intrigued with their nomenclature. Slice in Australia, traybake in the UK, and my fellow blogger Revolutionary Pie
tells me they are bars in the US. Here is her blog:

http://revolutionarypie.com/

Gaining inspiration from my Berry Jam Shortcake Traybake, I had to whip up a batch of slices for a lunch so my shortcake recipe became chocolate by adding cocoa and dark chocolate pieces to the pastry and I sandwiched the shortcake with raspberries and sugar before baking.

The raspberries made the slice a bit gooey, so next time I would bake a little longer perhaps to firm up the slice.

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Ingredients

125 g unsalted butter

125 g castor sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

175 plain flour

50 g ground almonds

1/4 cup dutch cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

40g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

2 tbsp demerara sugar

Milk, to brush the pastry

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line a medium sized square cake tin.

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

On a lightly floured surface, roll each pastry portion into a square about the size of the tin, then press one square into the tin. Scatter the frozen raspberries over the pastry, making sure to leave a border around the edge. Scatter 1 tablespoon of the demerara sugar over the raspberries.

Top with the remaining pastry square and press the edges together to seal. Brush with milk and sprinkle with the remaining demerara sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes or until until the top looks firm (cover loosely with foil if browning too quickly). Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before carefully removing from the tin and cutting into slices.

Picture below is a plate of the chocolate shortcake with the berry jam shortcake traybake:IMG_2547

https://thequirkandthecool.com/2014/06/01/berry-jam-shortcake-traybake/

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Chocolate Chunk Fudge Cookies with Raspberry and Rhubarb Jam

Posted on May 5, 2014 by The quirk and the cool
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Chocolate Chunk Fudge Cookies
 
This recipe was featured in the May 2014 delicious. magazine.
It originates from the Sydney cooking school BakeClub:
http://www.bakeclub.com.au/recipes/chocolate-chunk-fudge-cookies.aspx
The cookie mixture is particularly rich because of the amount of melted chocolate stirred through it.
I used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate, although the original recipe specifies dark chocolate only.
The short cooking time plus the chocolate base give this cookie a fudgy centre. Quite delicious!

Ingredients

450g good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped or a mixture of dark and milk chocolate

125g butter, softened

125g firmly packed brown sugar

2 free range eggs, at room temperature

225g  plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Put 300g of the chocolate (dark) in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir over low heat until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside, stirring occasionally until cooled to room temperature. Or alternatively melt very carefully in a microwave.

Beat the butter and sugar until well creamed.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until well combined. Add the cooled chocolate and beat until combined.

Sift the flour and baking powder together over the cookie mixture. Add the remaining 150g of chopped dark, or dark and milk chocolate. Stir gently to combine.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for up to an hour or until the mixture is firm enough to roll into balls. I found the mixture firmed up after half an hour.

Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

Roll heaped tablespoonfuls of the cookie mixture into balls and place about 5cm apart on the tray. Place any remaining dough back in the fridge. Use your hands to flatten the balls slightly, to about 4cm in diameter.  Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until they are still slightly soft to the touch.

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool completely on the tray. Repeat with the remaining dough.

The cookies are great solo but also go well sandwiched with homemade raspberry and rhubarb jam.IMG_1190
Raspberry and Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients

500g frozen raspberries
150g lightly cooked rhubarb
400g sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Method

Put the raspberries into a china or plastic basin (not metal).  Cover with the sugar and leave for several hours or overnight.

Add lemon juice and gently stir the mixture to make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Add the cooked rhubarb.

Transfer to a large saucepan and boil briskly, testing for setting point regularly. When setting point* is reached – about 15  minutes, remove pan from the stove. Ladle carefully into sterilised jars and leave to cool.

Note: use a wooden spoon and do not stir vigorously so that the berries are kept mostly intact.

*Testing for setting point
While the jam is cooking, place a small saucer in the freezer to thoroughly chill (about 5 minutes). When you think the jam may have reached setting point, remove the saucer form the freezer, place a teaspoonful of jam on it, put back in the freezer for 3 or 4 minutes. If the jam has a jelly-like consistency or a crinkly skin has formed on the sample, the jam is ready.

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Easter Sunday Pastries

Posted on April 20, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

 

IMG_0754Easter Sunday 2014 and another beautiful balmy day in the Easter holiday break. Lunch in the garden again, this time lamb to mark the special day.

I barbecued a butterflied leg of lamb, served it with baby new potatoes, Bill Granger’s Asparagus, Pea and Feta Salad (again) and a green salad.

Dessert was the star today – two different pastries focusing on seasonal fruit.

Fig and Raspberry Mille Feuille

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Not really a recipe, more an assembly.

Roll out a quantity of store-bought puff pastry (I buy Careme brand as it’s a butter puff and is very light).  The amount you use is entirely dependent on how many mille feuilles you want to end up with.

Cut into long rectangles. Bake according to the directions on the packet, usually about 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Remove from the oven and cut rectangles into individual pastry lengths. Whiles still warm flatten gently if the pieces are too”puffed”. You can also split the pastry in half to make it easier to fill, and also so that each half of the pastry is not too hard to eat.

When cool, fill with whipped cream flavoured with a little vanilla paste and fresh fruit. I used figs and raspberries as both are delicious and good value at the moment in April in Sydney.IMG_0739

Bill Granger’s Pear Shortcake

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I made a strawberry version of this cake last week and it was so more-ish I had to do it again! This recipe is closer to Bill’s but I included plums as well as a good dollop of my plum and raisin jam.

Ingredients

Filling
30 g unsalted butter, softened

40 g caster sugar

2 small pears and 4 plums

1 tsp vanilla paste

2 tbsp plum jam*

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 chopped pears and plums and cook over low heat for 8 minutes or until the fruit is soft. Remove from the heat and stir through the plum jam, being careful not to break up the 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 pear and plum mixture and any juices over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge.

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.

*The recipe for plum and raisin jam: https://thequirkandthecool.com/2013/04/28/autumn-jams/

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Raspberry and Macadamia Pavlova Revisited

Posted on March 9, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

IMG_8972 2I described recently in this blog a wonderful meringue concoction created by my friend the Architect. I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of tasting this amazing dessert…

Today, on a beautiful Sydney day in beautiful Palm Beach, I was treated to this dessert. Maggie Beer, from whom the recipe emanates, calls it a meringue; I would describe it as a vacherin (layered meringue), but to all intents and purposes it’s a wonderful Australian pavlova – all three payers!

Meringue + raspberries + creme fraiche and whipped cream + macadamias = Nirvana!

Here is the link to the recipe and thank you to the Birthday Boy for providing the impetus for such a sensational end to the lunch!

https://thequirkandthecool.com/2014/02/04/raspberry-meringue/

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Raspberry Meringue

Posted on February 4, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

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This luscious meringue is a Maggie Beer recipe.

It was created by a wonderful friend, as part of his Christmas feast at home in beautiful Palm Beach. His skills as an architect are obvious in the meticulous construction!

Many thanks to the Architect for the photograph and recipe. The Architect was ably advised by the Delegator, my very dear friend of many years…

Ingredients

6 egg whites

Pinch of salt

2 cups caster sugar

1 tbl cornflour

1 tablespoon white vinegar

500 mls thickened cream, whipped

250 gms creme fraiche

3 punnets raspberries

1/2 cup macadamias, lightly roasted

Method

Preheat oven to160 degrees C (140 degrees C fan-forced). Mark 3 x 22 cm circles on baking paper. Place paper on 3 oven trays.

Beat egg whites and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating after each addition until dissolved.

Fold in cornflour and vinegar. Spread meringue evenly onto circles.

Bake meringue disks for about 40 minutes or until dry and crisp. Cool on trays.

Combine whipped cream and creme fraiche in a medium bowl.

To serve, place 1 meringue disk on a serving plate, spread with half the cream mixture and sprinkle over 1 punnet of raspberries. Top with a second meringue disk, the remaining cream mixture and 1 punnet of raspberries. Top with the remaining meringue disk and raspberries. Sprinkle over the macadamias.

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