Coconut Ice Cakes

What story do I tell you that doesn't begin with some experience I had as a kid? Coconut Ice is no different - it was "some kind of wonderful" that would turn up on the tables of school fetes, usually costing 20 cents for a few pieces. I was always charmed by the beauty of the delicate pink hue next to the pure white, and the way the two were layered to form a dreamy coconut partnership.

When we got our first food processor in the 80s, the book that came with it included a recipe for coconut ice based on condensed milk. This was a good flavour, but it wasn't quite like the coconut ice of my childhood. Around this time Darrell

Lea, the chocolatiers, began making slabs of coconut ice. Also not like the coconut ice of my childhood, but since it was readily available, I didn't care.

Skip forward to circa 2000 and I was having a pre-Christmas cup of tea at a friend's mum's place, who had just taken delivery of some Christmas treats. And there it was sitting on the plate - coconut ice just like I used to get at the school fete. I begged for the recipe and was very fortunate to be given it. Imagine my surprise when I found it contained one raw egg white? I'll share that recipe with you some time, but for now, I want to show you what I've made for World Baking Day.

Coconut Ice Cakes. I was dreaming of a gorgeous loaf cake with swirls of icing along the top, trimmed with shredded coconut and little pieces of coconut ice marooned on the icing mounds. But my cake stuck to the tin and I just couldn't bake another. So I decided to put my inventor's cap on and came up with these little morsels, which would sit perfectly on any high tea menu. Enjoy!

Ingredients
250g butter
2 cups caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup desicated coconut
1/3 cups butter milk

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees celcius. Grease and line a deep bar tin.
2. Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of your Kitchenaid. Combine on first gear then stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to sixth gear and beat for three minutes.
3. Pour half the mixture into the prepared tin. Colour the remaining mixture with 1/4 teaspoon of pink food colouring. It needs to be quite dark to come out pink after cooking.
4. Bake in the oven for one hour. Test with a skewer if you are not sure it's cooked through. If the skewer comes out of the cake clean, it's cooked.
5. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
6. At this point, if you want my original idea, go to the icing instructions. If you want the little morsels in the photo, continue from here!
7. Slice the cake into 1.5cm thick slices. Use a bread knife for this task and be very careful to catch each slice before it breaks.
8. Lay each slice flat on a chopping board and use a 4cm heart cutter to cut a heart shape out of the middle of the cake. You should get about 14 hearts. Set the off cuts aside (and scoff them plain with coffee later).

Icing
100g butter
500g pure icing sugar
4 tblsp full cream milk
a good squeeze of Wilton icing white
1/4 cup shredded coconut
14 pieces of store bought coconut ice

1. Combine all the ingredients in the large bowl of your Kitchenaid. Mix on first gear to combine, then increase speed to sixth gear and beat until white and fluffy. Make sure there are no butter lumps.
2. Fit a piping bag with a closed star piping tube then fill the bage with the icing.
3. Pipe a strip of icing around the heart shape, finishing with a squeeze in the middle.
4. Sprinkle with shredded coconut then decorate with a small piece of coconut ice.

Mocha & Chocolate Layer Cake

I have been thinking about making a layer cake for quite some time now, but I just haven't had a good reason to get into it. Since it was Mother's Day today, I thought I would indulge myself - my excuse being that I wanted a piece of chocolate cake, and I should just make my own so as to avoid disappointment!

Everyone has been making layer cakes lately with ribbons of icing piped up the sides of the cake. I am really glad I avoided this as it would have applied too much icing to what is already a sweet cake. Instead I went for a classic cake with a coffee twist. See what you think.

Ingredients
2 cups water
250g butter
3 cups caster sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp bicarb soda
4 eggs
3 cups self raising flour

1. Combine the water, butter, sugar, cocoa and bicarb soda in the biggest pot you've got. It needs to be at least four litres.
2. Stir until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined, then bring to the boil. Do not take your eyes off the mix as it will boil up and over the sides of the pot, creating a shocking mess on your stove. Boil for five minutes - the more this mix boils, the darker your cake will be.
3. Pour the chocolate syrup into a glass bowl and set aside to cool until it is stone cold.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line two eight inch cakes tins with baking paper on the bottom and the sides.
5. Pour the chocolate syrup into the bowl of your Kitchenaid. Add the eggs and flour then mix to combine on first gear.
6. Increase the speed to sixth gear and beat the mixture for three minutes or until it becomes thick and pale.
7. Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the cakes spring back when touched. If in doubt, insert a skewer in the middle - if it comes out clean, the cakes are cooked.
8. Turn the cakes out of the tins, remove the baking paper, and allow to cool completely.

Icing
1 kg pure icing sugar
175g butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp instant coffee powder.
150ml full cream milk
4 tsp hot water

1. Combine all the ingredients for the icing in the bowl of your Kitchenaid and mix on first gear to combine. Increase the speed to sixth gear and beat until all ingredients are combined.

Assembly

1. Measure the cakes to check the height - these cakes usually end up 5cm high for me. Insert tooth picks around the circumference of one cake at the 5cm high mark. Then carefully cut the dome of the cake off to level it. The split the cake at 2.5cm high.
2. Insert toothpicks around the circumference of the second cake at 2.5cam high and then split the second cake, retaining the domed top.
3. Place the bottom of one cake on a cake board or turntable. Spread a good amount of the mocha icing over the cake then place the flat top over the icing. Repeat until the cake is fully stacked. Try to use the icing sparingly as you sandwich the layers together - too much icing can over power the beautiful flavour of the cake. Reserve at least a quarter of the icing for finishing.
4. Refrigerate the layer cake to set the icing.
5. Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the layer cake, smoothing with a long palette knife to get is as consistent as you can.
6. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream

Makes 12 serves.

Raspberry Kermakakku

There are many different sweets the people of Finland enjoy, but when it comes to birthdays one of my colleagues, who hails from that part of the world has told me, no celebration is complete without a kermakakku. ‘Kerma’ means cream and ‘kakku’ means cake. Together they mean cream cake – a layered sponge cake decorated with lashings of whipped cream and favourite fruits found in Finland. Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, lingon berries and cloudberries are all common flavours for this indulgent dessert cake.

I wanted to try making such a cake last year, and decided my birthday was a suitable occassion. The sponge cake was very easy to make (although when my colleague sampled mine he said the Finnish version was much more dry, thanks to their use of potato flour amongst other things). I worried this would be a cream heavy cake, but the piped cream up the sides was deceiving. My son and his friend scoffed this cake in minutes. And there was more than half a cake left over to take to work to share the next day.

Note: I've adjusted the ingredients in this recipe today as I made this cake for my mum yesterday and I wasn't satisfied with the proportions of the sponge cake. I think your sponge needs to be thick and fluffy. If you try this recipe please let me know how it works for you so I can make any further adjustments if necessary.

Ingredients
4 large eggs
2/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup corn flour
800ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp white sugar
1 ½ cup raspberries
¼ cup raspberry syrup

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease two 20cm (8 inch) round cake pans and line the bottom and sides with baking paper. It makes a big difference lining the sides of the tin as this helps the cake rise neatly up the sides.
2. Crack the eggs into the large bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on high for one minute. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating for 10 minutes.
3. Place all three flours in a bowl and mix with a spoon to combine. Drop flour into a triple layer sieve and sift one third into the egg mix. Gently fold the flour through the egg mix, being careful not to over mix. Repeat two more times until all the flour is combined. Divide the sponge mix between the two prepared cake pans and place them in the middle shelf of the oven to cook for 20 minutes. Test they are cooked by inserting a tooth pick into the middle of one. If it comes out clean the sponge is cooked.
4. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and carefully peel the baking paper off the sides and bottom. Leave to cool completely.
5. Pour the cream, vanilla and sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on high until the cream is thick and will hold a peak. Be very carefully not to over mix the cream.
6. Spread one third of the whipped cream on the top of one sponge. Cover with raspberries, reserving 12 of the best looking berries to decorate the top.
7. Place the second sponge on top of the raspberries. Press lightly to secure. Use a knife to spread a thin layer of whipper cream over the top of the second sponge.
8. Fit a star-shaped piping tube to a large piping bag and fill the bag with the rest of the cream. Pipe strips of cream up the sides of the cake to completely cover it. Pipe decorative swirls of whipped cream around the top edge of the cake.
9. Carefully pour the raspberry syrup onto the middle of the top of cake. Gently tilt the cake to spread the syrup to the edge of the cream.
10. Place the 12 reserved raspberries on the cream around the top of the cake and serve.

Note: as an added extra, it's really nice to spread a layer of lemon curd through the middle of the sponge before you add the cream and raspberries.

Serves 10.

Caramel Coconut Cream Sponge

A couple of months back I told the story of the caramel cream sponge my dad used to buy us when I was a kid. And I promised I would try and recreate that cake and share it with you. Well this weekend I finally did that. It was a friend’s birthday, so I decided what better occasion to test that recipe and see if it worked.

I found, in the process, that the toasted coconut on the side of the cake was a key player in the overall taste balance. So I've renamed the cake to include the coconut. It was a really fun cake to make and I hope you really enjoy making and eating this blast from the seventies past.

Ingredients
6 large eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup corn flour
½ cup plain flour
½ cup self raising flour
800ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp sugar
2/3 cup desiccated coconut
2 cans Nestle Top n Fill
12-20 pistachio nuts

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease and line a 10 inch cake tin. The lining is very important as it will help the sponge cake to rise.
Beat the eggs with the whisk attachment of your Kitchenaid – use 10th gear.
2. Gradually add the caster sugar, then continue to beat the eggs for 10 minutes. The mixture will become thick and foamy.
3. Combine the three flours in a triple sieve. Sift one third of the flour into the egg mix and gently fold through with a spatula. Repeat two more times or until all the flour is added. Be very gently with the folding, but also be careful to check that all the flour has been incorporated.
4. Pour the sponge mixture into the tin until it is two thirds full.
5. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the sponge is golden on the top and springs back at the touch.
6. Remove the sponge from the oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes. The sponge will drop a little – don’t worry if this happens.
7. Carefully turn the sponge out of the tin onto a wire rack. Peel the baking paper off the cake and allow to cool completely.

Assembly
1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper and spread the coconut over the paper.
2. Toast the coconut in the oven for about seven minutes, or until the coconut is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely before using.
3. Combine the thickened cream, vanilla essence and sugar in the bowl of your kitchen aid and beat to stiff peaks.
4. Empty the two tins of caramel into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat until smooth. I did this with a hand mixer.
3. Split the sponge in half place one half on a decorator’s carousel. Fit two large piping bags with a round piping tube. Fill one bag with the caramel and the other with the whipped cream.
4. Pipe a ring of whipped cream around the perimeter of the cake, then continue in decreasing circles one 1cm apart.
5. Pipe the caramel in the gaps between the cream. Be sure to finish with caramel in the centre as this will give the middle of the cake support.
6. Place the second half of the sponge over the filling and press lightly to join.
7. Palette a thin layer of cream around the edges of the sponge, making sure no cake is visible.
8. Pick up handfuls of the toasted coconut and lightly press it against the side of the sponge. Coat all of the cream but do not get any coconut on the top.
9. Change the cream to a piping bag fitted with a closed star tub and pipe star shapes or fleur de lys shapes around the edge of the top of the Sponge. This is to form a “fence” to retain the caramel. You’ll see in my picture I didn’t do this. When I transported the cake half the caramel ran down the side.
10. Pipe the caramel onto the top of the cake, then carefully use a palette knife to spread it out to meet the cream at the edge.
11. Decorate with 12-20 pistachios to mark cake portions.

Store in the fridge until it’s time to serve. You really should get about 20 serves out of this cake.

Bruscetta

Bruscetta (pronounced bru-sketta) actually refers to the bread, olive oil and garlic part of this antipasto dish. Dating back to the 15th century, it was a way to turn stale bread into a delicious snack. Italians enjoy many different toppings on their bruscetta, including roasted peppers, salami, tuna tonato (tuna blended with white beans, lemon juice and garlic) and even cheese. But nothing beats the flavour of perfectly ripe tomatoes, seasoned with salt and fresh basil. This bruscetta combination is a wonderful breakfast for a very hot day.

I have heard people dismiss bruscetta as nothing more than tomatoes on toast. But this is a far cry from the taste sensation of a properly made bruscetta. The key, in my opinion, is chosing the juiciest, most ripe tomatoes you can find, and combine them with beautiful fresh basil. As a breakfast meal bruscetta will leave you feeling like you have done something good for yourself today. I invite you to try.

Ingredients
Loaf of sour dough bread
3 tblsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
3 medium red tomatoes
1 tblsp olive oil extra
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Half bunch fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

1. Cut six 1.5cm thick slices off the loaf of sour dough. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush olive oil on both sides of each slice of bread.
2. Peel the garlic cloves and cut each one in half. Rub the cut side of the garlic all over one side of the oiled bread. Repeat for the other slices. Keep the garlic pieces for later.
3. Arrange the bread on a baking tray and place in on the middle shelf of the oven. Allow to cook for 5 minutes, or until the bread is lightly toasted.
4. Wash the tomatoes and cut each one in half. Use a soup spoon to scoop the seeds out of the middle of each tomato half. Throw the seeds away. Dice the de-seeded tomatoes into 1cm squares.
5. Place the diced tomatoes in a bowl with the extra olive oil, salt, pepper and the basil leaves, roughly torn into smaller pieces. Mix to combine then divide the tomato mixture evenly between each of the toasted slices of bread. Decorate with a sprig of basil and serve immediately.

Warm Pear Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Back in the seventies, my sister and I used to sit down to a breakfast of puffed wheat every morning. If we were lucky, they were honey puffed wheats, served up with canned pears. Mum kept a lot of canned fruit in the cupboard, which seems odd now I think of it, because fresh fruit was plentiful, and not particularly expensive.

Those boxes of puffed wheat always came with a toy in them - a Dutch figurine, and I used to marvel, firstly at how many of them my sister got and I did not, but also at the unusual shaped hats and shoes the figurines wore. Of they were not shoes, they were clogs, something which I later learned my Aunt who spent six months travelling around Europe.

I used to make a lot of parfaits in the seventies, in which canned pears or canned peaches featured heavily. They were basically a single serve of trifle in a tall glass. They'd take all day to make because I'd set the jelly in the jar and couldn't add another layer until it not longer wobbled.

I never really took to fresh pears as a result of eating all those canned ones. But today when the unusually cold weather motivated me to make a pudding for dessert, I decided the pear in my fruit bowl would be the ideal fruity addition. Of course no pudding is ever complete without sauce of some kind. I chose carmel sauce for this one. The combination of caramel and pear is unbeatable.

Ingredients
125g butter
2 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
2/3 cup butter milk
one fresh pear, peeled

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Heavily grease a 7 inch round cake tin and set aside.
2. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of your Kitchenaid and beat on sixth gear until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat add until combined. Ensure all the butter mixture is scraped off the sides of the bowl and fully incorporated.
4. Add the flour and buttermilk and beat on sixth gear for two minutes. Pour into the cake tin and smooth the top.
5. Cut the peel pear into eights and remove the core. arrange the pieces in a decorative pattern around the top of the cake.
6. Bake in the oven for 60 mins, or until cake is golden brown and form to the touch.
7. Carefully turn out of pan and cool on a rack top side up.

Carmel Sauce
50g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tblsp milk

1. Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and stir while it comes to the boil.
2. Boil for one minute - no need to stir.
3. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.

Assembly
1. If you have another pear, peel it and cut into 5mm slices, ensuring the pieces remain attached at the stem. Fan the pear out and arrange on the top of the cake.
2. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the pear and cake and serve. This pudding is nice with icecream too!

Note: the pears in the cake will sink - don't worry if this happens!

The Design Diva Tweets!

It's quite often a long time between posts isn't it? I try not to blog unless I've got a really good story to tell along with a really good, reliable recipe. I try to put a post up every week, but I noticed last month that just didn't happen! And yet I cook every day, sometimes three times a day! What the heck am I doing in between blog posts?

Well now you can find out. I've set up a Kitchen Alchemy Twitter stream, which lets me follow all my favourite foodies, and also gives me a chance to show you where I'm eating, what recipes I'm reading, and of course, what food I'm cooking. I figure micro blogging will help me keep up with you guys, and it will also let you keep up with me.

If you want to hear about the daily magic Kitchen Alchemy creates, follow me on Twitter. Just search for user name Kitchen_alchemy. Or you can click here to go straight to my Twitter profile Kitchen_Alchemy See you in the Twitterverse!

Meringue Au Chocolat

In 1702 Francois Massiolot, a chef in the kitchen of King Louis XIV of France, was the first to name an egg white and sugar confection he'd concocted for the King, “meringue”. Meringues are the little sisters of pavlova, a delicious dessert usually accompanied by whipped cream and fruit. The great thing about meringues is they are portable and they taste good on their own. Meringues can be found in patissieries all over France, often as large as a baker’s hand, swirled with the beautiful colours of fruit syrups.

When we first started our market stall in 2008, we had a lot of requests for gluten free items. We just didn't have the time or resources to come up with a range of GF cupcakes, so each week I'd whip up a batch of chocolate meringues so I'd have something to offer the GF customers. These were the cheapest item on the table, selling for $1.00, and they were invariably always the first thing to sell out.

If ever I have egg whites left over from another recipes, I make these. My husband adores them. They need no accompaniment to be enjoyed.

Ingredients
3 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp white vinegar
75g dark cooking chocolate, melted

1. Pre-heat the oven to 120 degrees Celsius. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
2. Beat the eggs whites in the bowl of an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add the vinegar and mix until thoroughly combined.
4. Drop heaped spoonfuls of mixture on the baking tray, ensuring you leave enough room in between each for spreading.
5. Dip a skewer in the melted chocolate and swirl it onto the top and sides of each meringue.
6. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove tray from oven and allow meringues to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 12 meringues.