“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward”
Kurt Vonnegut
Happy New Year with an Ombre Almond Layered Cream Cake. Sorry I haven’t made an appearance yet. The beginning of the year is always BUSY! Call it bad planning, but the elder teen was born on the 2nd of Jan 17 years ago. In this absolutely freezing cold, where the temperature dips and the power trips, I’ve been baking birthday cakes every 1st January for the past 16 years.
We’ve broken ‘cold‘ records for the past 45 years this January. With a country not planned with central heating, we are surviving in ice boxes at 0.7 C temperatures. Absolutely bone chilling here these days. It’s one thing to shiver; another to shiver and bake!! Must be a glutton for punishment as I shiver through the process every year. I made an ombre cake a while ago for a dear friends birthday. It was TALL with many shades of pink. How the daughter whined! “You never make tall cakes in shades of pink for me”, “Why have I never got one like this”, “I WANT pink for my birthday”.
Then I saw this beautiful piece of art at BS in the Kitchen. Stunning and inspiring. I set off to replicate it but this January has been tougher than ever. Bitterly cold, power cuts galore … and if I may be allowed some more whining, cream that refused to oblige! I got down to whipping the low fat cream thrice … every single time we had a power cut. It usually obliges. Not this time though. I almost wept.
I should have made a buttercream; really should have. We don’t particularly love buttercream at home, so I decided to innovate. Lesson learnt: roses are made from firmer stuff i.e. buttercream! In sheer desperation, I began piping my frosting which was good enough to pipe roses on top, but played slip sliding roses on the walls of the cake. Thank heavens for lace collars. When all else fails, it seems to salvage the situation somewhat.
The cake tasted great and the birthday teen loved it to bits, pink and all. It got over really quick. In all the running around that day, I never did manage a proper picture before it was cut. It was worth the heartache though, well worth it!
[print_this]Recipe: Almond Layered Cream Cake
Summary: A light almond flavoured sponge sandwiched and frosted with an equally light almond whipped buttercream. Inspired from here. Serves 8
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
Sponge X 2 {to make 4 round cakes. Each portion makes 2 X 7″ cakes}
4 eggs
110g raw sugar {or powdered}
1 vanilla bean, scraped
4 drops almond extract
80g plain flour
25g almond meal
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp light olive oil
Pink colour
Filling and frosting
100g unsalted butter, room temperature
400g low fat cream, chilled
150-200g icing sugar {adjust according to taste}
Few drops almond extract
Method:
Sponge {each portion of batter makes 2 cakes}
Line the bottoms and sides of 2 7″ round tin. Preheat oven to 180C.
Sift the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt together. Reserve.
Beat the eggs and sugar over simmering water on high speed for about 10 minutes until the mixtures becomes thick and mousse like, tripling in quantity {Thermomix, Speed 4, Butterfly insert, 37C, 10 minutes or more}
Take off water, add vanilla bean almond extract and continue beating for 3-4 minutes until it cools down a bit. {Thermomix, Speed 4, Butterfly insert, 3-4 minutes}
Gently fold in the flour mixture in 3-4 goes. {Thermomix, Reverse Speed 2}, followed by the olive oil.
Divide batter into two {approximately 200-210g per portion}.
Pour one plain white portion into tin nbr 1. Add 2 drops of pink to the next. Repeat for another portion of batter but increase the amount of pink in the next two. You could use a drop of purple additionally in the 4th portion to get a darker hue.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the sponge springs back when touched lightly, or a tester comes out clean. {Don’t overbake els the sponges will get dry}
Cool on rack for 5 minutes, remove from tin and cool completely.
Filling and frosting
Whip the cream and sugar to medium peaks. Add the butter and almond extract and whip until light and fluffy. {You cannot pipe roses with this}
Sandwich the layers with this, then frost the top and sides with remaining cream. Pipe rosettes on top if desired.
“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.”
Robert Browning
Traditional Panettone … the December Daring Bakers challenge sounded like music to my ears, only that I wasn’t sure at all that I would get to doing the challenge. The year end has been quite a roller coaster ride, at times frustrating and saddening. The events around the world make the heart heavy, yet the very thought of food means comfort.
Back from an early Christmas cum birthday party a few days ago, I bit into a sweet rum fruit cake that was part of the goodie bag. That old comforting feeling flooded my senses. Sure enough, I was soaking fruit the next morning. A quick Christmas fruit cake was sure to lift the spirits a bit…
With the fruit soaking, the challenge played on the mind since I knew the panettone also used fruit, not soaked though. Pannetone is a sweet yeasted Italian bread served at Christmas. It is characteristically tall. Mine wasn’t. I misjudged the tins a little {read quite a lot}.
The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread!
I really pushed myself to begin the challenge. One look at the recipe and you will understand. It looked long and daunting. I began early in the morning. Thankfully the Thermomix did all the kneading in minutes. It was the ‘rises’ that took all day, and my panettones finally got ready late in the evening.
So how was the Panettone born? A beautiful bread with a romantic tale. Traditionally it is eaten by the Milanese but now it is available all through Italy and in many parts of the world. There are many stories and legends of the Panettone. The one recounted by Carol Field, whose recipe we use today, is that of a rich young Milanese noble who fell in love with the daughter of a poor baker whose name was Tony (Antonio). The nobleman wanted to marry the baker’s daughter so he ensured the baker had at his disposal the very best ingredients – eggs, butter, flour, candied orange peel, citron and sultanas. The baker created a wonderful bread which became known as pan di Tonio (Tony’s bread). The baker found his fame and fortune and the nobleman honorably married the baker’s daughter.
Well thanks to Tony and Marcellina, {and the author of the recipe, Carol Field, of course}, we have this delicious traditional Christmas favourite delighting our palettes today. Rich, buttery, brioche like, studded with raisins, candied peel, nuts {and dark chocolate chips in the mini ones}, the Panettone is comforting and addictive.
Of course I had no time to make a traditional panettone case, and sadly they are quite impossible to find in India. Mine were baked in parchment cases in 3 tiny cake tins. I made half a dozen in cupcake cases too.
So glad I made them. They were fabulous! I was unsure if the kids would eat them, given their love-hate relationship with fruit and nuts … but NOM NOM NOM were the words out of the daughters mouth. The first cupcakes vanished soon, followed by one small cake.
One bite of the Panettone took me back to the Dresden Stollen; a bread that had ‘stolen‘ my heart a few years ago. The Stollen is an amazing Christmas bread, one that can be made months in advance, and one that keeps really well. A traditional German holiday bread, the Dresden Stollen has yeast and quark as two of the key ingredients.
We also did a Stollen Bread Puddingwith the Daring Bakers in December 2010; yet another amazing Christmas dessert. This year was getting very busy and my time management was rock bottom {so what’s new?}. The quintessential fruit cake was yet to be baked and it was already the 22rd!
Christmas at home is never complete without Fruit Cake. I made a twist to my regular fruit cake this year with a Christmas Garam Masala Fruit Cake. YUM! That was what I originally cut and soaked fruit for. Then figured I could manage the Panettone too.
Lofty ambitions as Mr PAB decided to hit ER running a temperature of 105C on the coldest day of this year. We shivered with cold while he raged with high fever that took us to hospital. Nothing a drip and a few shots couldn’t fix … and I raced home to my beloved Panettone. Talk about dedication to baking!
Don’t get daunted by the length of the recipe or the many ‘risings’ … or the amount of butter for that matter! This is good stuff, well worth the effort, and all the ‘risings’.
I didn’t get as far as the baked traditional glaze the recipe offered. The Panettone looked good without it too, until the boy saw a picture I was looking at and asked why mine had no glaze. Talk about added pressure.Low fat cream + raw powdered sugar + almond extract = good quick glaze. Good enough for some craisins and slivered pistachios to hang on to. Yummy as well!
I dressed the Panettone up in a collar of parchment paper with holes punched through, threading golden ribbon through. The little ones were baked in green Christmas cupcake liners that I placed in deep individual muffin tins like the ones you see in this Plum Fro Yo. The dough baked upwards quite nicely. I loved the way they came out.
Do stop by here and check out some the beautiful Panettone that the Daring Bakers have baked. Thank you Marcella for sharing the beautiful story and recipe with us. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!!
[print_this]Recipe: Traditional Panettone
Summary: A delicious sweet Italian bread like cake studded with fruit, nuts and candied peel. The Panettone originates from Milan, and is traditionally made around Christmas. Panettone recipe slightly adapted from The Italian Baker by Carol Field. Makes 2 Panettone {I made half recipe} Candied Orange Peel from Use Real Butter
Prep Time: 2 hours 10 minutes Total Time: 3 hours {plus resting and cooling time} Ingredients:
Sponge
1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast
1/3 cup (80 ml) warm water
½ cup (70 gm) unbleached all purpose flour
First Dough
1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast
3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water
2 large eggs, at room temp
1¼ cup (175 gm) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour
¼ cup (55 gm) (2 oz) sugar
½ cup (1 stick) (115 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp
Second dough
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2/3 cup (150 gm) (5-2/3 oz) sugar
3 tablespoons (45 ml) honey
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract {I used 1 vanilla bean in half recipe}
1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon essence/extract
1 teaspoon (5 ml) orange essence/extract
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) salt
1 cup (2 sticks) (225 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp
3 cups (420 gm) (15 oz) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour; plus up to (2/3 cup) 100 gm for kneading
Filling and final dough
1½ cups (250 gm) (9 oz) golden raisins or golden sultanas
½ cup (75 gm) (2-2/3 oz) candied citron {I didn’t have this so I made it up with candied orange peel}
Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and allow to stand until creamy. That’s about 10 minutes or so.
Mix in the flour.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size for about 20 to 30 minutes
TM: I just placed everything in the Thermomix Speed 5, 10 seconds.
First Dough By Mixer
In the mixer bowl, mix together the yeast and water and allow to stand until creamy. Again, about 10 minutes or so.
With the paddle attached mix in the sponge, eggs, flour, and sugar.
Add in the butter and mix for 3 minutes until the dough is smooth and even.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow double in size, about 1 – 1 ¼ hours
Second DoughBy Mixer
With the paddle mix in thoroughly the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, honey, scraped vanilla bean, essences/extracts, and salt.
Mix in the butter until smooth.
Add the flour and slowly incorporate.
At this stage the dough will seem a little too soft, like cookie dough.
Replace the paddle with the dough hook and kneadfor about 2 minutes.
Turn out the dough and knead it on a well-floured surface until it sort of holds its shape.
Don’t knead in too much flour but you may need as much as 2/3 cup. Be careful the excess flour will affect the finished product. {I didn’t add any extra flour}
First Rise
Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover
Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place for 2-4 hours until it has tripled in size.
Filling and Final Rise
Soak the raisin/sultanas in water 30 minutes before the end of the first rise. {I used about 3 cups of fruit & nut filling from my Christmas Garam Masala Fruit Cake}
Drain and pat dry with paper towels.
Now take your dough and cut it in half. Remember we are making two panettoni.
Combine all your filling ingredients and mix well.
Press out one portion of dough into an oval shape.
Sprinkle over one quarter of the filling and roll up the dough into a log
Press out again into an oval shape and sprinkle over another quarter of the filling.
Roll into a log shape again.
Repeat with the second portion of dough.
Shape each into a ball and slip into your prepared pans, panettone papers or homemade panettone papers.
Cut an X into the top of each panettone and allow to double in size. If it has been rising on the kitchen bench in a warm place it should be doubled in about 2 hours.
Baking
When you think your dough has only about 30 minutes left to rise preheat your oven to moderately hot 200°C
Just before baking carefully {don’t deflate it!} cut the X into the dough again and place in a knob {a nut} of butter.
Place your panettoni in the oven and bake for 10 minutes
Reduce the heat to moderate 180°C and bake for another 10 minutes
Reduce the heat again to moderate 160°C and bake for 30 minutes until the tops are well browned and a skewer inserted into the panettone comes out clean.
Cool completely.
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Before I go, I am happy to announce the winner for the giveaway of the beautiful retro scale and worktop saver from Zansaar. Put your hands together for Kajal @ For the Love of Food. Congratulations Kajal … will mail you soon! BTW, your blog is beautiful!
“Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.”
Robert Fulghum
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt and Fluted Pistachio & Craisin Cookies … Cookies Cookies Cookies. The events of the past week asked for something comforting … the call was for cookies! Last months Daring Bakers challenge was meant to awaken the cookie monster in us, which it did. Sadly, I never did get down to posting them.
Excuses? Plenty and thankfully not too lame. Exams! Then the internet has played truant. The service provider refused to acknowledge the basic problem. A month later, after trying every solution under the sun, they finally agreed to redo the wiring {which is what we asked for in the first place}. Frustrating but true, like so many other things in life. I am happy to be back to blogging with less stress.
Of late, I’ve been bitten by the brownie monster and it was just a matter of time before I hit cookie mode. Daring Bakers in November set me off. Made two lots {downgraded from an ambitious 5-6}. Then the posting date passed by with intermittent internet and these poor cookies went into drafts. With the net now up and racing, I thought I’d better get them out before the bells begin to jingle louder. When the kidlets were younger, December always woke up the cookie monster in me. The jar was never empty. I was always elbow deep in dough {well almost}. My days {and often nights} would go in backbreaking baking, frosting cookies, doing stain glass cookies, hanging dozens onto the tree, making dozens more for the kids, their friends, for orders etc.
Then the ‘forever hungry for pretty Christmas cookies’ kids grew up. I fell to easier and more practical cookies to make. I hardly ever do cookies that need dressing up and fussing over. Wholewheat Gingerbread Men Cookies are an exception though; I really enjoy doing these. {Ceramics courtesy Urban Dazzle}
Now I consider myself lucky if freshly baked cookies even get a chance to ‘cool completely‘! Before I know it, dirty grubby teen ‘lad’ fingers hesitatingly come forward to grab a few, while the older sister bites gently into them. The two are ALWAYS game for cookies.
I started off pretty early in November. First out of the oven were FlutedPistachio & Craisin Cookies. Simple, crisp and delicious with craisins and pistachios adding beautiful flavour. The craisins were orange flavoured, so slight hints of orange teased the palette! Good beginning!
Then I happened to see these chippers on a beautiful blog Reclaiming Provincial. I instantly knew they were about to happen in the near future, pretty near future. I mentally ticked off everything I loved about them …
They are from a book I long to own {read yet another book}Good to the Grain, Kim Boyce. Wholewheat flour only. Brown sugar too. Seemed like a good deal! They certainly were! Watch them as they bake though … they can go from brown to dark brown in a heartbeat.
My cookies didn’t flatten like the ones I saw. Maybe because our Indian wholewheat is heaps different from the American whole wheat pastry flour {I presume the original recipe uses wholewheat pastry flour}. Maybe the egg I used was a tad small. Whatever, but these are darned delicious cookies!
I did add a drizzle of honey; maybe I could have added another. There’s plenty of time for experimenting because these are good cookies and are going to show up more often! Sorry for the delay in this Daring Bakers post Peta.
Holiday season is the time for sharing and Peta of Peta Eats is sharing a dozen cookies, some classics and some of her own, from all over the world with us.
[print_this]Recipe: Fluted Pistachio & Craisin Cookies
Summary: Simple cookies to enjoy holiday baking this season! Enjoy these crisp, light and delicious cookies with a cup of tea or coffee! Makes 2 dozen
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
100g unsalted butter
75g raw sugar
1 egg yolk {reserve the white}
Zest of 1 lime
25g almond meal
175g plain flour
25g pistachios, chopped
25g craisins, chopped
Method:
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolk and zest and beat again.
Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well and bring together into a smooth dough. {In case the dough doesn’t come together well, add a little egg white to bind it}
Roll out to 1/8″ 4mm thick and stamp out with fluted cookie cutters. The cutters need to be sharp to cut through the craisins and pistachios.
Place on the prepared sheet and bake at 180C for 13-15 minutes until light golden brown.
Cool for 5 minutes on the tray, and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt
Summary: Rustic, earthy and delicious wholegrain chocolate chip cookies … worth every bite! {Minimally adapted from Good to the Grain, via Reclaiming Provincial}. Makes 2 dozen
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
225g whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
100g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbsp honey
60g dark brown sugar
60g raw sugar {bura}
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp smoked sea salt
Method:
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda into a medium bowl. Reserve.
Beat the butter with both sugars in another bowl on low speed. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again for a minute.
Add the sifted flour mix and incorporate on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Fold in the chocolate chips {on low speed, with a wooden spoon, or your hand}.
Drop walnut size scoops of dough about 1.5″ apart onto the baking sheet. {I rolled mine into balls and flattened them slightly}.
Sprinkle over with sea salt if desired.
Bake for 15-18 minutes until the cookies are evenly dark brown.
Cool for 5 minutes on the tray, and then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
“May your life be filled, as mine has been, with love and laughter; and remember, when things are rough all you need is … Chocolate.”
Geraldine Solon
Wholewheat Dark Chocolate Brownies … deep, dark, decadent, indulgent. These days I’m driven by a strange bug, the whole grain bug. Experimenting rules the roost, the more whole grain, the better! It’s a fight to the finish … HUNGRY TEENS, final exams and the need for food, or rather, the constant need for food! The last few days of December slip through the fingers helplessly. I try to hang on to the year but obviously am fighting a losing battle. Time to march on the greener avenues, look forward to 2013 … and enjoy the remainder of 2012!
The junior teen and his friends discuss the Mayan end of the year on December 21, 2012. I look at him disdainfully! For heavens sake … what must be, must be! Who are we to figure out when the world will end? There must be better things to think about. Chocolate is one of them! Chocolate just makes everything better!
Plenty better stuff to think about – More whole grains everyday. Making food yummy. Experimenting. Butter is good! I make it at home too, sweet white butter from scratch! I made 2 batches of thees whole wheat brownies for the ‘German Mela‘ last week, a fundraiser to help my sweet friend Mukta. I made some Christmas sugar cookies too. Then I made yet another batch of these brownies yesterday for the hungry kids … they’re almost gone {the brownies I mean …LOL} . Did I tell you the wholewheat dark chocolate brownies are good, really good?
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Recipe: Wholewheat Dark Chocolate Brownies
Summary: Decadent wholewheat dark chocolate brownies just right for the season of indulgence. Wholewheat makes these less ‘guilt-ridden’, and some olive oil instead of butter convinces you to reach for more. Add some walnuts if you like!
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a square 8 X 8″ baking tin with parchment paper.
Place the butter, oil and chocolate in a bowl and microwave for 1 minute {or simmer over a double boiler}. Whisk well until the chocolate has blended with the butter and oil.
Add the sugar and whisk well.
Add the eggs and whisk again, followed by the vanilla extract, then baking powder and salt.
Now whisk in the wholewheat flour, and fold in the dark chocolate chips and /or nuts if using.
Turn batter into prepared tin and bake for 18-20 minutes.
Cool in tin, then remove gently and cut into squares.
“Cake is happiness! If you know the way of the cake, you know the way of happiness! If you have a cake in front of you, you should not look any further for joy!”
C. JoyBell C
Lime & Strawberry Cream Cake … a very simple cake made in the Philips AirFryer a few days ago. 15 minutes was all I could manage that day. There have been no desserts of late and the kids were beginning to make strange unhappy sounds. There’s been barely any ‘free time’ what with final exams on for both teens which are well underway. The cake came out surprisingly nice. Didn’t take pictures of it once made as it was slightly domed and I didn’t have time to pretty it up. One bite down and I thought it was really nice.Lime and strawberries pair well. The second round of the strawberry season has finally begun here in North India. Can’t have too much of this delicious fruit.
The sponge was soft but not moist as always because I whisked in the flour instead of folding it in G E N T L Y. So I didn’t get a ‘light as air’ sponge. Still it was quite soft. Interesting!
The easiest way to get cake moist is to give it a good soaking with a simple sugar syrup. Love doing that when I make my pineapple cream cake. If you are doing a black forest cake, you can always reduce the syrup the cherries are canned in, and add a dash of Kirsch or lime juice to it to moisten the sponge.
I thought the Lime & Strawberry Cream Cake was nice enough to share, a quick easy cake, make ahead, light and delicious. A slice was hidden away for a picture opportunity while the rest of the cake was devoured by the happy family. Then late that evening the bell rang. It was the courier with the Samsung Netbook that I had won at the Del Monte recipe contest hosted at Indiblogger. My entry was the Tropical Cream Pie. Much excitement followed and we found a candy pink gizmo. Even though I’m not a pink person, the netbook is really pretty and very handy! I ♥ it!!
Seems to be an early Christmas over and over again. I am feeling quite pampered … maybe too pampered! First the Philips AirFryer, then Finla spoilt me silly, next Mr PAB got me a Samsung S3. My sister sent me more stuff as her better half was visiting … and just when I thought I had everything and more I could ever ask for, PINK came into my life!
December’s here already. A clutch of days to fly through, a year that’s been packed to the gills. So much happening in this foodie world. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised with some fabulous tea from a beautiful tea company in China. Yes China! And yes tea!It’s funny because I am a 100% coffee addict and never drink tea. My first foray into tea was at the Aussie MasterChefs breakfast meet where Sangeeta talked me into sipping some lavender tea. It was wonderful. Then she got me some beautiful green tea from Darjeeling from a recent visit. This herbal and green tea from Teavirve was a nice coincidence. In the bag were samples for green tea, and for Blueberry Fruit Tea and Apple Awakening Fruit Tea. The green tea was similar to others that I have recently sampled, but it was the Blueberry Fruit Tea that was amazing, and stole my heart. Beautiful aromas and subtle flavours of blueberry, black currant, roselle and grapes. The teen is in love with this tea!
The Apple Awakening Fruit Tea is really refreshing too … teasing the palette with an intriguing combination of apple and lemon. With such an extensive selection which can be shipped across the world, Teavirve is a great gifting option. Green, white, black, Oolong, Pu-erh, herbal, fruit, ice, organic, flavoured … the variety is endless.To make the range complete, Teavirve offer a stunning range of teaware too. {They offers worldwide free shipping for orders over $30 … you should check out there collection.}
[print_this]Recipe: Lime & Strawberry Cream Cake
Summary: An almost fatless sponge cake layered with a whipped raspberry creamwith strawberries within … light, moist, flavourful and gone quick!
80g Del Monte rapberry fruit filling {chilled, from feezer}
250g strawberries, chopped, some saved for topping
Method:
Sponge
Preheat oven if using to 180C. If using the AirFryer, you can preheat it to 160C just before you begin folding the flour mix in as it requires only 5 minutes to preheat.
Line the base and sides of a 7″ round cake tin with baking parchment. {Please check first if the tin fits into the AirFryer}
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Reserve.
Beat the eggs with raw/powdered sugar, pure vanilla extract and lemon extract in a big bowl over a pan of simmering water until tripled in volume and mousse like, about 7 minutes. {Thermomix: Butterfly insert, Speed 4, 37c, 7 minutes}
Preheat the AirFryer to 160C at this time …
Gently add the flour mix and fold through, followed by the olive oil and milk.
Transfer batter to prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes in conventional oven, OR 15 minutes in the AirFryer until light golden brown
Cool in tin for 5 minutes, and demold and cool completely on cooling rack.
Raspberry Cream
Whip cream with sugar until medium peaks form. Add the fruit filling and whip again until smooth and firm. Taste & adjust sugar if required. The cream will be thick enough to spread.
Assemble
Slice cake into 2 horizontal layers. If the top is slightly domed, you might like to level it. {Reserve the trimmings and run in processor to make cake crumbs. I left mine domed}
Moisten both the layers with the simple sugar syrup.
Sandwich with about 1/3rd of the whipped cream. Scatter the chopped strawberries uniformly and top with second layer.
Frost the sides and top with the remaining cream. Top with quartered strawberries. Allow it to sit for about 30 minutes for the flavours to mature {chill in the fridge if the weather is warm, else leave on counter}
“Only one thing is certain about coffee…. Wherever it is grown, sold, brewed, and consumed, there will be lively controversy, strong opinions, and good conversation.”
Mark Pendergrast
I love the theme for the latest Femina. It’s an issue celebrating the art of slowing down. Rat races and deadlines threaten to burn us out. I screamed a big hearty YES in my head, and then decided to get the better of life! Of course it didn’t happen. The Bru Coffee Panna Cotta did though! It gave me an opportunity to use the beautiful mason jars that Finla sent.
It was for a shoot for a magazine in China, they were doing a feature on fridges and lifestyles. Yours truly was contacted, and yours truly said YES! NEVER say yes to a fridge photoshoot! I was spring cleaning till kingdom came, discovering things I hadn’t seen in ages, scrub-a-dubbing forever … and cursing my poor foresight! At the time I really wished I hadn’t said yes!
On the brighter side, I have a sparkling clean fridge that looks almost as good as new, I now know every little crumb that lives in there. It’s so organised that it barely looks like mine! In there too was some Indian Coffee Panna Cotta that I made that day. I am on a coffee overdrive, what with the recent Coffee Vanilla Bean Layered Cake.
There’s been a chocolate overdrive of late too, but then, no one seems to be complaining! In the past few days I also made Whole-wheat Mocha Brownies for the kids. They were delicious.And on the trot yesterday, Whole-wheat Chocolate Lava Cakes in 4 and a half minutes in the Philips AirFryer. Some gadgets are such a blessing.
Bru is my morning cup of coffee, my coffee connect! It’s instant, a mix of chicory and coffee, and I love its deep flavour. It’s been a favourite for years and years. Anything Bru works for me, the original Bru that is. None of the new flavours appeal to me like the old rustic original!
A coffee panna cotta has been tempting me for long ever since Cookaroo posted one with an espresso syrup. What’s not to love about this quintessential Italian dessert of ‘cooked cream’? It’s one dessert where all flavours work magically and very few people would refuse a serving … the kids always want seconds and thirds!
So without further ado, here is one of my all time favourite desserts, a Bru Coffee Panna Cotta … make ahead, indulgent and deliciously coffee! For those who have known me over the years, sorry it’s coffee again. For those who don’t know me – nothing wins my palette over like coffee in dessert! My guilty pleasure, my relaxation. {And if coffee is not your thing, I have a whole string of other flavours ... Dark Chocolate & Orange, Saffron Caramel, Strawberry Tangerine Quark to tempt you with!}
Oh, did I tell you that the sun is back? It is indeed. The horrid smog has finally cleared and ‘lazy creatures‘ are enjoying the morning sun!
[print_this]Recipe: Bru Coffee Panna Cotta
Summary: Whats not to love about this quintessential Italian dessert of ‘cooked cream’? It’s one dessert where all flavours work magically, coffee is one of my most loved versions. Serves 8
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let stand for five minutes.
Stir coffee into 30ml of the cream.
Place the cream, coffee cream mix and sugar in a heavy bottom pan and gently bring to a simmer, but not a full boil. Stir often.
Take off heat. Add 1-2 tbsp of this hot cream to the dissolved gelatin to loosen it further, and then pour the gelatin mix back into the hot cream through a sieve. Stir well.
Let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes, then distribute among your serving bowls/molds/ramekins/goblets.
Allow to set for 6-8 hours/preferably overnight. Serve with chocolate shavings.
