Tag: cwa

Kicking it old school: Scones with Jam and Cream

Well sydneysiders, it’s definitely Winter. In case you missed the memo, the weather gods have brought a doozy of a storm this week  to remind you. Winds of 100km/h, flash flooding, very sudden drop in temperature all hit mid early on in the week but, strangely enough, I’m quite content sitting here, indoors in my onesie and slippers. Yep. it is definitely onesie weather.

Don’t pretend you’re not jealous.

What could make being warm and inside on a cold rainy day even better? Scones of course! Just like your nana used to make, just like your mum used to make. Don’t you think they look comforting?

They’re simple, fun to make and are great if you want to bake but have run out of eggs. Not to mention they’re a great excuse to get out all your jams and a good pot of tea. Bliss!

I started off with some delicious Blueberry Jam, Rhubarb Jam and double thickened cream.

I scored the jam on my last trip to the Maxwell Treats factory in Berry. Delicious!

I found the scone recipe in The Country Show Cookbook that I was given for my birthday last year. It is full of recipes that have been winners at country shows around the country. This particular recipe is from Ruby Mulley who has been exhibiting at the Camden show continually for fifty years! Holy moly! Although there are myriad scone recipes in the book, this was the first in the section, and it seemed straightforward enough to follow. Although, I do think sometimes that these women who seem to have magic at their fingertips leave out a vital step or trick. My efforts never yield quite the same results as those wonder women in country kitchens. Still, these were pretty damn good.

I followed the recipe to the T

even when it meant sifting the dry ingredients six times.

Yes, I am not the most patient of women but I did sift it

SIX TIMES!

I mixed it all up with a knife

Patted out the dough and cut the rounds

and BAM! Light as air, delicious scones.

One with rhubarb jam, the other with blueberry and BOTH with a great whack of cream

is there any other way to eat scones?

Look at that! Fluffy, warm and piled with the good stuff.

Overall it is a pretty easy recipe to follow and execute and great for a lazy morning on a rainy day. It’s also a nice accompaniment to watching re-runs of Monarch of the Glen and Heartbeat. Yes, I think my  inner homebody and oldie are definitely on display this winter. So, my lovelies, what do you like to do on a rainy winter day? And have you succumbed to the power of the onesie yet?

Scones Recipe (Ruby Mulley’s recipe from The Country Show Cookbook)

Ingredients

3 cups self raising flour

4 tsp icing sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp  salt

large 1/2 cup thickened cream

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup hot water

Method

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together six times. Yes, SIX times. And don’t skimp if you want some seriously light scones

2. Make a well in the centre and add the wet ingredients

3. Mix with a knife until all the ingredients come together. Don’t over mix or the dough will be too dense and heavy

4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead well. Pat the dough out until it is a couple of cm thick

5. Cut with a sharp cutter and place onto a baking tray

6. Cook for 10 mins at 230 degrees celsius (210 degrees celsius fan forced)

7. Enjoy with copious amounts of jam and cream and a large pot of tea

Chocolate Cake like your Grandma used to Make

So I have to start this post with a disclaimer: I don’t ever remember my grandma making cakes. My mum assures me that she did, and regales me with tales of amazing pavlovas made by whipping the eggs and sugar on a giant plate with a knife, but have no memories of this whatsoever. The cake I am going to tell you about is the kind of cake I imagine my grandma would have made.

The chill of winter calls for simple food and after browsing through my cookbooks again I stumbled upon my CWA cookbook. An oldie but a goodie. And no requirements for crazy fancy or difficult to find ingredients which is a huge saving on my time poor days. Having said that, I did use two rather special ingredients that were not necessary but definitely added to the final cake. These were some particularly indulgent cocoa and chocolate sprinkles that I bought on a trip to Josophans chocolate shop in Leura, Blue Mountains.

I have a thing about cocoa powder. I used to be a staunch Bourneville user until I realised how much lighter in colour it and the Nestle cocoa powder was compared to other brands. While expensive, Josophans’ cocoa powder drew me in with its rich, dark colour and I knew it would be a winner in any recipe.

I had intended to make this cake and bring it in to work for morning tea but I was turning into the driveway at work when I realised that I had left it at home. Along with my sanity it seems.

So, there was nothing else for it but to serve it as a particularly tasty morning tea on Saturday morning. Remember, when there’s chocolate cake involved the glass is always half full people! It was lightly chocolatey and moist. Definitely not the super rich chocolate hit of other cakes ive made but just right for morning tea. Simple yet satisfying.

Now I know that this photo is grainy, but I wanted to show you the tea I drank with this cake. It was Wedgewood Earl Grey that I was given as a present for Christmas. It was absolutely delicious! One of the best Earl Greys i’ve tasted in a long time.

mmmmmmmm…. chocolate cake…..

So, my lovelies, are you as forgetful as me? My terrible memory has been well documented in this blog. What is the silliest thing you have forgotten and did it turn out ok in the end? Tell me a story to help me procrastinate from doing my marking!

Recipe – Kim’s Chocolate Cake – From the CWA Cakes Cookbook

Ingredients

2 cups self raising flour

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Method

1. Sift flour and cocoa into a bowl

2. Add the sugar, milk and eggs and beat well

3. Add the melted butter and beat for another two minutes

4. Pour into a tin (recipe does not specify, use your common sense!) and bake in an oven at 180 degrees celsius for 1 hour

Icing Note:

You can use your favourite chocolate icing for this cake but I used the Donna Hay Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting that you can find here. Enjoy!

Another year older…

Last Saturday I woke up thinking “where did all the time go?” I looked behind the sofa, nothing. Under the bed? Nope, not there either. At the bottom of my handbag (a common hiding place for other necessities such as keys, lipstick, spare change)? Nuh uh!

I had to face the startling conclusion that the time had just gone. Poof. Another year, another notch on the wall. But birthdays are not supposed to be about doom and gloom! So despite the time sucking black hole following me around, I put on my apron and started baking for my annual afternoon tea party!

I had been secretly planning this for weeks and had hoped to have my tea party outside in the garden. But as E.E. Cummings would say, the world was “puddle wonderful” as the heavens opened for an almighty deluge. So the garden was not to be, but at least it cooled down so that the heat from my baking wasn’t so uncomfortable. See? Always a silver lining!

On the menu was:

Thumbprint cookies

Vanilla cupcakes

Mini vanilla cupcakes with fondant duckies

*squeak*!

Brownie Bottom Cheesecake (on the bottom left)


Violet Cream Cupcakes (With sugared violets courtesy of the fabulous Mrs S!) And yes that is the Bourke St Bakery Flourless Chocolate Cake hiding in the corner.

and of course…

Birthday Cake!!

This time filled with strawberry jam and chantilly cream

(and yes, I can see my wonky layers! I didn’t realise chantilly cream was so unstable!)

I was particularly proud of my Violet Cream Cupcakes which came to me in a flash of inspiration. When I was in Adelaide recently, I fell in love with Haighs’ Violet Cream Chocolates. I loved them so much that I got to thinking… I had made Elderflower cupcakes, rosewater cupcakes, why not Violet ones? Furthermore, why not make chocolate cupcakes with Violet Buttercream Icing so that they would be Violet Cream Cupcakes? Brilliant!!

Thankyou to all my lovely friends who made it last Saturday and thanks also for the birthday wishes from those who were otherwise engaged. I had a wonderful time and I hope you all did as well!

So my lovelies, what food do you love to eat on your birthday?

(p.s. I think my camera lens might have been a bit grubby. Oops.)

Violet Cream Cupcake Recipe

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe – from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients

100g plain flour

20g cocoa

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

40g unsalted butter

120ml full cream milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and butter in a bowl and mix until you have a sandy consistency

2. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla together in a separate bowl

3. Pour half the milk mixture into the flour mixture and beat until smooth and combined

4. Slowly pour the remaining liquids in and beat until smooth

5. Spoon into paper cases and bake for 20-25 mins on 170 degree celsius

Violet Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

250 g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter

25ml milk

a dash of violet essence

purple food colouring

Method

1. Beat butter and sugar until combined

2. gradually add milk until desired consistency is reached

3. Add a dash (maybe half a teaspoon) of violet essence and mix well. Add more essence as desired (bear in mind that if you are making this in advance the flavour will intensify the longer they are left)

4. add food colouring until desired colour is reached

Move over Marion, here’s MY CWA Neapolitan Cake!

Hmm what could I be making with this lot? Oh wait… its in the title.

It’s no secret among my friends and family that I LOVE Masterchef. I love the hype, I love the colours, I love the food, I love the contestants, and I love the way it always gets me yelling at the television even though I have no idea how to make whatever the contestants are cooking! Until now…

The other week, the contestants were shipped off to the country to bake for a formidable group of women. The CWA. Despite having to cook for (what I consider to be) one of the scariest judging panels from the show, we were all thinking “how hard can it be? Bake a few cakes, a few scones, a few lamingtons and BAM! You’re done. What kind of challenge is this?” Until the mayhem began. Scones were rock hard, lamingtons weren’t rising, jam wasn’t setting and cakes were burning on the outside and raw in the middle. Ouch.

For once in the series, I really felt their pain. Baking in the middle of a field at the crack of dawn with ovens you haven’t cooked in is one surefire recipe for disaster. I couldn’t have done any better and to be honest, some of the dishes they brought out were amazing given the circumstances.

In the comfort of my own home, I decided to try the Neapolitan Cake that Pete and Marion seemed to fail so miserably at. Wobbly, uneven layers and crusty bottoms plagued their products. However, while I admit I was working under much much easier circumstances, I was pretty damn proud to cook a Neapolitan Cake (cooked by Pete and Marion, two of my favourite contestants!) that seemed to tick all the right boxes set out  by  the CWA guest judge Alison Mutton.

I have to admit that it was also a great chance to bust out these cute Matryoshka measuring cups. I got these as a KK present from the awesome Miss G last year and im quite embarrassed to say that I don’t think I ever thanked her! Let me take this opportunity to say a giant THANKYOU to Miss G, please forgive the lateness of my gratitude! And yes, that is my computer in the background, I read the recipe straight off the internet. It seemed easier than printing it out… and im lazy. Clearly.

I was mesmerised by the creamed butter and sugar

The bottom half of this cake required the addition of coconut. I only had a packet of shredded coconut and I didn’t think that the Mother Ship would appreciate long tendrils of coconut in her cake. So I whipped out my trusty mini food processor and got myself a-chopping! As you can see, tiny as they are, the blades made short work of that coconut!

Now I know this isn’t the prettiest picture but I thought it was important to see the cake in progress here. And who doesn’t love great spoonfulls of strawberry jam! When the mixture was halved, it seemed as though there was barely enough batter to cover the bottom of the tin. I was worried that I had made some fatal error in measuring or used the wrong sized pan. But, as it was clearly too late to go back, I thought the best decision was to press on and see how it all went.

Well.. so far so good…

Now, it is important to note that during the baking of this cake I encountered a challenge that beset Marion. My cake was browning too quickly on the top. However, I had faced this obstacle before and I was equipped with my trusty roll of aluminium foil. Pop a sheet of this over the top of your cake and it will continue to cook without browning excessively or burning on top.

And it makes the Big Reveal all the more exciting!

Hooray! Lightly browned but not burnt and perfectly risen!

The finished product. It sure tasted mighty fine!

Now I will admit that the sides were a little too crusty as the cake was a tad overcooked. I still only cooked it for about 40 mins (5 mins less than required) but I would take it out earlier next time. Maybe after 30 mins. The bottom didn’t turn out crusty though, just nice and tasty.

And it passed the all important even layers test! Don’t believe me?

Look at those even babies! And a dollop of jam in there for good measure!

So all in all, this cake was pretty easy to make. Could I make it in the middle of a field at the crack of dawn in the midst of howling winds with an oven I hadn’t used before? Not on your nelly! Can you and I make it in our sheltered kitchens with our beloved ovens? Absolutely!

You can find the recipe here. The only change I would make is to omit the Strawberry essence. The stuff I used was pretty nasty and you couldn’t taste it in the end anyway! Also, keep your eye on the baking time as your cake may be done much earlier than the recipe says.

So, my lovelies, have you tried any recipes from this year’s Masterchef? Which ones and did they work?