This little dessert is a very small twist on a classic one. It was born mostly by accident once using the wrong type of sugar. What resulted was a richer, more caramelised citrus custard than usual, but one that was definitely appreciated by everyone. This time I made it for a birthday celebration so spent some time prettying it up a little.
Butterscotch is one of my absolute favourite flavours. Drizzle a good butterscotch sauce on practically any pudding and I’m there. But outside of puddings, it’s almost unheard of in cake form here. In fact, the first time I heard of it was quite some years ago when an Indian family commissioned a cake from me and requested it for the flavour. They told me that back home it was quite the common flavour and fairly standard in most bakeries. I remember the sweet aroma that filled my kitchen as it baked. I was so jealous that I couldn’t taste this one and swore I’d make it again for myself soon.
Here we are quite some years later and I’m finally making one!
More after the jumpWhen you bake as much as I do, you have regular recipes you whip out for special occasions. Of course, I always ask for preferences among the group, but the answer is almost always ‘chocolate’. Chocolate is the ultimate crowd-pleaser, but there’s chocolate cakes and then there’s this. This is the fudgiest, richest mudcake I’ve ever had. It’s the kind of mudcake that makes me disappointed in other mudcakes. So when an occasion demands chocolate, oh boy do we bring the chocolate.
The best part is this cake is flourless, or gluten free. The cake itself is dairy free. This time I made a chocolate ganache for the top, but I’ve definitely used dairy free fudge recipes for the icing instead. I’ve even served it with no icing at all, cause this cake is delicious enough that it doesn’t need it. That makes it super versatile for occasions where you might need to cater for a range of dietary requirements.
Continue readingThis is a little recipe I turn to often when I’m looking for a dessert everyone can eat. I’ve shared a similar mousse before that I used in this Easter Cake, but this is a little version without the setting agent you can whip up in a hurry. Especially if you are serving this to someone who is vegetarian and don’t have the time to be trying to find agar-agar.
Now, while this recipe is great for handling dietary requirements, its also a great recipe if you’re looking for a healthier alternative. It is texturally different from standard chocolate mousse; without the whipped egg whites its going to be denser. But avocado does a wonderful job of bringing that light, creamy texture to the mousse. And no, it doesn’t taste like avocado!
Continue readingBack from a small accidental hiatus. Anyone who cosplays will know full well the drama that is cosplay crunch as the convention approaches. And they’ll know just as well the con plague that hits you after. Between being busy and sick there’s been no time to bake. But now its time. My favourite time of the year is approaching. Its almost Christmas, which means it is the perfect excuse to bake and bake and bake.
This week I eased into the festive season by baking a creme brulee with a twist. I had a lot of cream to use up and I wanted to try a Christmas-inspired creme brulee that wasn’t minty. Then the inspiration hit like it was always meant to be.
Spring is undoubtedly my favourite time of the year. It would be enough that the weather is generally just perfect so much of the time. But the way the entire landscape transforms into an array of colourful blooms is just the icing on the proverbial cake. Its all the motivation I need to get out into the garden and start working.
The house my partner and I recently moved into has two large magnolia trees in the garden. As someone who is pretty passionate about having a predominantly Australian native garden I had considered replacing them. But the first spring they bloomed was all the convincing I needed to let them stay. They couple of weeks of colour the bring is more than worth it. This year when it came time for them to bloom I was inspired to use it in a cake somehow.
After making the entremet last Father’s Day I had a whole bunch of mirror glaze left over. I guess I could have stored it, or tossed it. Instead I just made another cake! I did halve my usual recipes, to be fair, and made a much smaller cake than usual. After the richness of the last entremet I opted to go for something a little more on the fruity side.
Before I get into the next post, here’s a quick little PSA to say I’m doing the Instagram thing now. I’ve been asked a lot over the years if I have one for both food and cosplay, and since I got a new puppy I’ve been asked a lot about it again. I finally caved and joined insta. That said, I am far too lazy to maintain separate accounts. So its gonna have food I blog as well as rando food posts, artisan crafts and lots of doggo spam. If you want all the things that’s where they’ll be, but if you just want pure blog content updates on your socials that will always be the Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Now that’s over, lets talk food! This next post wasn’t going to be a post of its own, but we liked it so much I decided to give it its time in the spotlight.
You see, I was making another entremet and looking for a panna cotta layer to complement the flavours of the other layers. Instead of being clever about it and only making as much as I needed, I made an entire batch and shoved the rest in glasses.
“Don’t go to too much trouble.” These were the instructions handed to me when it came time to make a Father’s Day cake. Dark chocolate, light, fruity, and not too much trouble. I’ve never liked easy. But my favourite thing about mousse cakes is that they look a lot more complex than the actually are. The same can be said for mirror glaze. Most of this cake just involves pouring things on other things, but it looks like so much more than that.
The renovations at my rental are finally coming toward an end. I’ve spent much of it being without a kitchen or a computer or much of any of my belongings really. Half of my house is still in boxes, and with full time work spare time is definitely at a minimum. Which has meant I’ve been doing little to no cooking most nights, let alone anything fancy. I’ve definitely been missing it, and missing having usable space. But we’re slowly reclaiming the house and getting everything into some semblance of order. I have some usable spaces now, and no more yellow benches and green walls — massive yay! I’m definitely going to try to spend more time in my [new — more yay!] kitchen and in turn make more time for sharing it with you guys.
Speaking of work, though, over the last few months we’ve had a number of people being shifted to new locations or moving on to other things. We’ve celebrated last days with sadness and, of course, with cake. I’m fairly sure I’m getting a ‘the cake lady’ reputation now. A few weeks ago I made a ferrero rocher cake and had a pile of biscuit crumbs and hazelnuts that needed to be used up. The easiest thing to use a pile of biscuit crumbs on is definitely cheesecake (if not truffles), and the hazelnut definitely leant itself to another favourite: nutella.
The fact that it’s endlessly simple definitely helped in the decision making process. You don’t even need to bother with gelatine for this one!
Cakecrumbs 