Double-Decker Mud Cake

Cookbook Adventure #9 - The Australian Women's Weekly "chocolate cakes"

Happy Easter! 

I offered to make dessert for Easter Sunday dinner, so of course this was the perfect cookbook for this adventure. Some colleagues kindly gave it to me in place of a birthday card given my predilection for all things chocolate! 

This double-decker mud cake was a winner from the start and it may turn out to be an Easter regular (or for a post Easter "use up all my kids' easter eggs" baking frenzy).

The original recipe can be found on the Australian Women's Weekly website and here is my Thermotalk version:

Ingredients

150g white cooking chocolate

250g butter

220g raw sugar (original recipe had 440g!)

250g milk

225g plain flour

75g self raising flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 tbsp cocoa powder

500g milk cooking chocolate 

210g cream 

Method

Preheat oven to 150C. Grease two deep 20cm round cake pans; line bases and sides with baking paper.

Place white chocolate in TM bowl. Grate for 5 seconds on speed 8.

Add butter, sugar and milk. Mix at 50C for 3 minutes on speed 2.

Add flours, vanilla and eggs. Mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.

Pour half of the mixture into one of the prepared pans (half is when you can just see the pointed end of the TM blade sticking out of the remaining mixture in the TM bowl).

Add cocoa and mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.

Pour into other prepared pan.

Bake cakes for about 50 minutes or when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Stand cakes in pans for 5 minutes then turn cakes, top-side up onto a wire rack to cool.

Wash the TM bowl and then make the frosting. 

Place milk chocolate in TM bowl and grate for 7 seconds on speed 8. Add cream and heat at 50C for 4 minutes on speed 3. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for about an hour (or until spreadable), stirring occasionally.

To put the cake together - split each cooled cake in half. Place one layer of cake on serving plate. Spread with milk chocolate mixture. Repeat layering alternating colours. Cover top and sides of cake with remaining chocolate mixture. 

Decorating the top of the cake is optional. The Lindt white choc bunny was just perfect for this occasion. 

But of course it had to be shattered to be shared!

Cleaning tip: After making the frosting make yourself or your choc loving child a yummy hot chocolate by placing 150ml of milk into TM bowl and heating at 70C for 4 minutes on speed 2. This will ensure every last skerrick of chocolate is consumed and the TM bowl will only need a quick rinse afterwards!

Japanese Mayo & Potato Salad

It was sushi night at our place and I decided to make some Japanese salads to compliment it.

Hubby makes the best sushi (as vouched for by many friends and family). Unfortunately this is one thing the Thermomix can't do!

Potatoes were plentiful in my pantry and so potato salad seemed an obvious choice.  And what's Japanese Potato Salad without Japanese Mayonnaise? We are usually an ardent fan of Kewpie Mayonnaise, but in my Thermomix mindset of course I had to have an attempt at making it. Found this recipe at Bella Online but have tweaked it to my taste.

Mayonnaise
Ingredients
1 egg at room temperature (very important!)
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp karashi hot mustard (which I didn't have so used hot english!)
1 tsp white sugar
250g canola oil

Method
Insert butterfly. Place all ingredients except oil into TM bowl. Mix for 1 minute on speed 4. With blades rotating on speed 4 and MC in place, slowly drizzle the oil into the lid (should take about 6 minutes to incorporate all the oil).
Store in a sterilised jar. To be the on the safe side most recipes say that it keeps for a couple of days but I have kept it for 2 weeks (just try to use fresh eggs and wash it before cracking).

Potato Salad

This recipe is based on a recipe posted by Just Hungry, however I have again varied the ingredients a bit for taste and texture, and of course used the Thermomix for the whole process! Here it is in Thermotalk:

Ingredients

4 firm medium sized potatoes, scrubbed

2 small carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise

1 small cob of corn, peeled and cut into 3cm length cobs

1 egg

1 stalk of celery

1 small onion or two spring onions

100g Japanese mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Method

Place 500g of water, 1/2 tsp of salt and a pinch of sugar into TM bowl. Insert simmering basket and place potatoes and egg into it. Place corn and carrots into Varoma receptacle and place Varoma into position. Steam cook for 25 minutes on Varoma temperature speed 1. After 15 minutes remove the corn and egg and set aside. Continue cooking the potatoes and carrots for the remaining time. Once cooked remove simmering basket and throw out water.

Peel potatoes whilst warm (use a kitchen towel if necessary). Peel egg.

Place onions and celery into TM bowl. Chop for 3 seconds on speed 5. 

Roughly break potatoes, carrot and egg into half and add to the TM bowl. 

Cut corn kernels off corn cob and add to the TM bowl (give remaining cob to a teething baby as a tasty and healthy rusk!) 

Add mayonnaise and salt and pepper to TM bowl. Mix for 10 seconds on speed 4 or until chopped to the texture that you prefer. 

Best eaten at room temperature (so if you do refrigerate it, remember to take it out at least 10 minutes before serving).

Cooking order tip: If you are making the mayonnaise and the potato salad on the same day, then do it in the following order to minimise washing up: 

1. Cook potatoes, egg, carrots, and corn. 
2. Rinse out steaming water and dry TM bowl.
3. Make mayonnaise.
4. Remove the mayonnaise to a sterilised jar but don't worry about washing the TM bowl.
5. Complete the remaining steps for making the potato salad.

Choc Chip Hot Cross Buns

It's Easter time and I've been busy hot cross bunning! (If you count 3 batches baked in 10 days as busy). The recipe is in the EDC (page 117 sans the choc chips). However I've decided to post my own version which came about purely by accident!
When making my first batch of the season I didn't realise my TM cord was caught up under one of its legs and resulted in serious weighing errors (something one should have learnt in Thermomix 101!)  I only discovered this once I had put in the milk and was weighing in the flour so there was no going back.  As I hate waste, I didn't throw it out but plowed ahead and did it all by "feel".  It produced the best batch I have ever made.  And therein lay the problem - I was not sure I could recreate it because of the errors!  Anyway a couple of experiments (and many calories) later, I think I have it.  

So here's my Thermotalk version of this month's "hottest" bun:
Ingredients
400g milk
60g raw sugar

15g dry yeast (4 tsp)

650g bakers flour
2 tsp salt
90g butter
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
200g mixed dried fruit (or your own favourite combo of any or all of sultanas, raisins, currants, cranberries, cherries, mixed peel (but don't use more than 20g of this unless you really like the orange/lemon rind taste))
Approximately half a cup of dark chocolate chips
Extra butter

Method
Place milk into TM bowl and cook for 2 minutes at 60C on speed 1.
Place remaining ingredients (in order of the recipe list) into the TM bowl except the dried fruit and choc chips, and mix for 6 seconds on speed 7.
Place dried fruit into the TM bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.
Set dial to closed lid position and knead for 4 minutes on Interval setting. 

Dough before first prove

Remove from TM bowl and put into a bowl to prove. As the  dough is quite sticky, use buttered hands to make it easier to remove from the TM bowl.

Doubled!

Put in a warm place to prove for 1 to 1.5 hours until dough more than doubles in size.
Grease a large baking tray (30cm x 40cm) (you can use baking paper but I find that I get a better bun if it is baked directly on the tray).

With buttered hands pull off enough dough for a dinner roll size bun, press 4-6 chocolate chips into the base and fold over to enclose and create a smooth top on your bun. Makes about 24. 

Buns  before second prove

Place onto baking tray about 1cm apart so that they have room to grow. Cover and let prove for about an hour until the buns are touching each other.

Crossed & ready for the oven

Pipe with crosses and bake in a pre-heated oven at 220C for 12 minutes or until a golden colour. Leave oven on.

Brush with hot sugar syrup and then place back into the oven for another minute to set the glaze.

Piping Mixture
Place 50g water, 40g plain flour, 1/2 tsp light olive oil and a pinch of salt in TM bowl and mix to combine for 30 seconds on speed 4. Scrape down sides if necessary and mix again until mixture is smooth and of pancake consistency. Pour into a piping bag (or a ziplock/freezer bag and snip a tiny bit off the corner) and pipe out the crosses onto the buns.

Sugar syrup
Dissolve 3 tbsp raw sugar in 3 tbsp of boiling water by stirring vigorously.

Best eaten straight from the oven whilst warm! Still good to eat a day later, and if (in the unlikely event) you have any leftover pop them in the freezer for a yummy snack another day.

Upside Down Blood Plum Tart

Cookbook Adventure #8 - "food fast" 

With plums in season I couldn't resist finding a recipe which used them. In particular blood plums, because of their velvety redness, which when cooked looks fabulously vibrant.

So I delved through my recipe book collection and found this recipe, which was perfect as I also had some almonds to use up. And the added bonus was that it promised to be fast (as per the name of the book) ... it was!

Photo from p108 of food fast

This recipe book was my first marie claire cookbook (I now have three large ones (all by Donna Hay) and 4 small ones) and I've always loved how each recipe has a delicious looking photo to accompany it (I like to know what the cooked product is supposed to look like!)

In this instance, since I was making dessert for 8 people, and couldn't be bothered mucking around with 8 individual bowls, I thought I would experiment with doing it in a flan tin. I know, a bit risky with an untested recipe, but the occasion was not a do or die and the result was worth the risk!

Here's my Thermotalk version:

Ingredients
4-6 blood plums (depending on what will fit into your tart tin), stone removed 
165g almonds
160g raw sugar
190g butter, cubed 
85g plain flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 200C.
Grease a flan or tart tin and line the bottom with non stick baking paper. (Check out Jamie's website for an easy way to make a circle of baking paper (aka a "cartouche"). I learnt this from watching his first tv series!)
Cut plums into six even segments and place into the tin in a circular pattern or however you want it to look when turned upside down!
Place almonds in TM bowl. Grind for 10 seconds on speed 8. Set aside.
Place sugar in TM bowl. Mill for 3 seconds on speed 9.
Add butter, mix for 20 seconds on speed 5.
Add flour, eggs, almonds and vanilla and mix for 30 seconds on speed 4.
Spread mixture evenly over plums in tin. Smooth top to make it even.
Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is puffed and golden. 
Leave in tin for 5 minutes and then turn out onto the serving plate to cool.   

Eat by itself or serve with Thermomix vanilla bean icecream (see EDC page 150 but use a real vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste and not just vanilla essence.) 

Variation: Try substituting yellow nectarines or golden peaches for the plums.

Colourful Cookies

Cookbook Adventure #7 - "Cakes and Cookies"

Yes another repeat cookbook! But this time at the request of my eldest child who wanted to take these cookies to school for birthday treats for the whole class. 

They were so popular that we did another batch for my second child's birthday treats for her class too!

A great way to occupy the kids for an afternoon and to let their creative talents loose.

Here's the very easy Thermotalk version of the recipe:

Ingredients
200g butter, roughly cut into 1-2cm cubes

200g raw sugar

2 eggs

450g plain flour

approximately 200g icing sugar for icing

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.

If you don't already have icing sugar, place 200g white sugar in TM bowl and mill to icing sugar for 15 seconds on speed 9. Set aside.

Place raw sugar into TM bowl. Mill to caster sugar for 3 seconds on speed 9.

Add butter to the TM bowl. Cream for about 3 minutes on speed 4 until pale and creamy. You may have to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Add eggs one at a time with the Thermomix running on speed 4, until combined.

Add plain flour. Knead for 1 minute on interval speed or until dough comes together.

Remove the dough, wrap in plastic or your Thermomat, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface until 5mm thick and cut out your cookies. Place on a greased baking tray or one lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on wire racks.

Golden brown and great with a cuppa!

To make a water icing: add enough water to the icing sugar to make a thick smooth paste and add food colouring if desired.

Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy one (or two) of the cookies  whilst the kids go wild with the decorating!

Batch #1

Batch #2

Serving size tips: This recipe makes approximately 40 medium sized cookies and countless small cookies.  The recipe can be halved (we used half the recipe for batch #2 and still ended up with 80 mini cookies!)

Cashew, Almond & Maple Syrup Granola

The name says it all! A very yummy (semi-healthy) breakfast cereal and snack. 

The original recipe is from that American guru of food science - Alton Brown, but I have modified his method to speed up the process, and of course have also used the Thermomix!

Here it is in Thermotalk:

Ingredients
150g cashews 
150g slivered almonds
300g rolled oats
100g sunflower seeds (optional)
50g shredded coconut
40g brown sugar
50g vegetable oil
80g maple syrup
3/4 tsp salt
100g raisins (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 220°C. 
Place cashews in TM bowl and chop for 2 seconds on speed 5. (You can leave them whole but I prefer them to be closer in size to the rest of the ingredients.)  

Before baking

Nicely toasted

Place cashews, almonds, rolled oats and sunflower seeds (if using) onto a half-sheet (45x33cm) pan / baking tray. Bake for 3 minutes - stir mixture - bake for 3 more minutes. The oats won’t brown, but they should begin to smell toasty. Don’t overbake, or the oats and nuts will begin to burn. 
Remove the pan from the oven. (Keep the oven on). Sprinkle the coconut evenly over the top.
While the oat/nut mixture is toasting, place the brown sugar, vegetable oil, maple syrup and salt into the TM bowl. Cook at Varoma temperature on speed 3 for 2 minutes or until the sugar has melted.
Pour it as evenly as possible over the oats/nut mixture and mix thoroughly to combine. (You can do this in a separate bowl, but I try not to use too many bowls (less washing up!) and you shouldn't get too much spillage if you mix it carefully on the large pan (I use a large serving spoon to "fold" the ingredients together rather than "stir").
Return the pan to the oven for 3 minutes - stir mixture - bake for another 3 more minutes.
Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

It's fantastic over natural yoghurt and fresh fruit in season!

Pappardelle with amazing slow cooked meat

Cookbook Adventure #6 - "jamie's kitchen"

Yes I know, only six Cookbook Adventures so far and already I have turned to Jamie again!

I had some gravy beef that needed to be used up and I have just got into making my own pasta, so this recipe was a perfect combination.  The full recipe for the meat is reproduced on Leites Culinaria's website. The recipe for the pasta is on Jamie's website.





And here is my Thermotalk version:

PAPPARDELLE
Ingredients
3 eggs
300g plain flour

Method
1. Place all ingredients in TM bowl. Set dial to closed lid position and knead for 2 minutes on Interval speed. 
2. Remove from TM bowl and wrap in plastic wrap. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes. 
3. Once rested follow Jamie's instructions on how to roll out the pasta.
4. When the pasta is rolled out, dust it well with flour then fold in half, fold in half again, and then once more, dusting with flour each time. 
5. For pappardelle cut the flat rolls into 2cm sections. 




6. Make a cage with your fingers and shake until the pasta separates.
7. Cook pappardelle in boiling salted water for 3 minutes, drain and serve with the slow cooked meat.

SLOW COOKED MEAT

Ingredients
800g casserole chuck steak, chopped into 2cm chunks and seasoned with salt and pepper

30g extra-virgin olive oil

1 handful each of fresh rosemary and fresh thyme and a couple of fresh bay leaves

1 medium red or brown onion, peeled and quartered

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks

1 celery stick, cut into 3cm chunks

100g red wine

400g fresh tomato quartered or canned tomatoes

2 tbs pearl barley, washed and drained

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

100g butter
50g Parmesan cheese

Method
1. Place Parmesan cheese into TM bowl. Grate for 10-15 seconds on speed 9. Set aside in fridge.

2. If you want your herbs chopped then pick the leaves of the rosemary and thyme, place in TM bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 7. Set aside. (I like the rustic look of whole herbs so I place them whole into the slow cooker and then remove the stems at the end.)

3. Place onion and garlic in TM bowl. Chop for 3 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down sides of bowl.

4. Add carrot and celery to TM bowl. Chop for 2 seconds on speed 5. Set aside vegetables.

5. Place 15g olive oil in TM bowl and set to Varoma temperature for 4 minutes reverse speed soft. Once the Varoma temperature is reached (approximately 60 seconds in), add half the meat whilst TM is still on.
6. Remove meat, and repeat step 5 for remaining half of meat.
7. Return previously browned meat to TM bowl together with vegetables and any chopped herbs and cook at Varoma temperature for 4 minutes reverse speed soft.

8. Add red wine and cook at Varoma temperature for 2 minutes reverse speed soft.

9. Add tomatoes, pearl barley and whole herbs. Cook for 70 minutes on reverse speed soft at 100C or until meat is tender enough to your liking.

10. Once meat is cooked and tender, season carefully to taste, add butter and the Parmesan that was set aside and mix for 20 seconds on reverse speed soft.

11. Serve over pasta and sprinkle with finely chopped rosemary and additional Parmesan if desired.

Variations: As this is a stew I always look through my veggie crisper in my fridge to see what other veg I can throw in to add more flavour and nutrition. Eg zucchini, capsicum, mushrooms, pumpkin, sweet potato. For the softer vegetables like zucchini, capsicum and mushroom, chop these after the carrot and celery, for 2 seconds on speed 5.

Leftover tip: Use leftover meat as filling for gourmet meat pies.  (I even cook batches purely for the purpose of making meat pies - make the shortcrust pastry from EDC p119, blind bake at 200C for 20 minutes, then add in filling, top with a sheet of puff pastry, brush with egg wash or milk and bake for 45 minutes at 200C or until top is nice and golden).

Berry Berry Cake

Cookbook Adventure #5 - "Simply Heaven, Volume 2"

I wanted to use up some home-made cream cheese so I checked out my free cookbook from Philadelphia (think Kraft, not the largest city in Pennsylvania) and found this quick and easy recipe that didn't rely too heavily on the fact that my homemade cream cheese probably had quite different properties to the Philadelphia version.

My cream cheese, was simply made from "hanging" home-made natural yoghurt in the fridge for a couple of hours and letting all the whey drip out.  For more on the science of cheese making see: http://hubpages.com/hub/Easy-to-make-Cream-Cheese.

Originally called Cherry Berry Cake, I didn't have any cherries so used extra berries, hence the name!  Here's a link to a very similar recipe by Philadelphia but which is double in size to the one in the cookbook: http://www.philadelphiacreamcheese.com.au/recipes/Desserts/Cherry-Berry-Cake-with-Marsala-Cream.aspx

And here is my version in Thermotalk:

Ingredients 
125g butter
125g cream cheese
140g sugar (I used raw sugar)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
150g self raising flour
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tbs of milk
160g fresh or frozen blueberries
icing sugar for dusting

Method
Preheat oven to 160C. Line a 22cm x 12cm loaf tin with baking paper.
If you don't have any icing sugar for dusting, then make this first. Place 100g of white sugar into TM bowl and grind for 20 seconds on speed 9. Set aside.
Place sugar into TM bowl. Grind to caster sugar for 3 seconds on speed 9.
Add butter and cream cheese. Mix for 30 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down sides and then mix again for 30 seconds on speed 5 or longer until smooth.
With TM on speed 4 add the eggs one at a time until combined.
Add flour, rind and milk and mix for 10 seconds on speed 3.
Add blueberries and fold gently with the spatula.
Pour mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
Bake in oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from tin. Cool. Dust with icing sugar.

I don't know what it would have tasted like had I used Philadelphia cream cheese, but it sure tasted good and was lovely and moist with my homemade version!

Thrifty tip: once you have removed the majority of the cake mix from the TM bowl, spin the blades for 2 seconds on speed 8 and you will find all the mixture flying to the sides which makes it easier to remove and gives you a little bit more cake! Do the same when making dips.

Cheese and bacon scrolls

My kids just love bacon. Put bacon in anything and they will eat it. So this recipe caught my eye, and I was even more enticed  when I found out that the dough only used 2 ingredients and I didn't have to hang around waiting for it to prove!

I also wanted to make a more adult version, as believe it or not, I am not a huge bacon fan (the kids get their bacon addiction from their dad!) but I love mediterranean flavours such as sundried tomato, olives and basil.

Here is the website link to the original recipe:

http://www.kidspot.com.au/best-recipes/Kids-cooking+5/Cheese-and-bacon-rolls-recipe+2762.htm

And here it is in Thermotalk:

Ingredients for dough

440g self raising flour

400g greek or natural yoghurt

Ingredients for filling

Approximately 200g grated cheddar or mozzarella or a mix of both (add more or less depending on how cheesey you want it)

Anything you like - think bacon, ham, pepperoni, salami, vegemite, feta, sundried tomatoes, roast capsicum, pickled onions, marinated mushrooms, basil, oregano, parsley etc.

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Cover a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

Grate the cheese either by hand or 10-15 seconds on speed 8 in the Thermomix.

Chop the filling ingredients either by hand or use the Thermomix (2-5 seconds on speed 5). 

(If using the Thermomix you don't need to wash it in between processes, unless you don't want to contaminate any particular ingredient with another one. Likewise you don't need to wash it before mixing the dough, as having cheese and other bits in the dough will only make it yummier!).

To make the dough, place flour and yoghurt into TM bowl. 

Mix for 6 seconds on speed 8 to combine. Set dial to closed lid position. Knead the dough for 1 minute on Interval speed. The dough will be a bit sticky. Transfer it to a floured bench/mat. 

Roll dough into a large rectangle. Spread preferred filling all over the dough evenly. Top with grated cheese. Roll from long end to end, encasing all the filling inside.

Cut 2cm segments from the end of the roll and place on baking tray.

 Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Can be eaten warm or cold and are great for lunchboxes and picnics!