Sunday, July 28, 2013

Banana cake with chocolate icing.

An oldie but a goody.
I used a rectangular cake tin for this recipe. It made a rather thin cake which cooked quickly.
Remember to grease and flour your tin before pouring in the mixture.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Icing

Equipment
·      Cake tin (greased and floured)
·      Mixing bowl
·      Measuring cups/spoons
·      Wooden spoon
·      Whisk
·      Sieve
·      Cooling rack

Ingredients
·      Butter, 75g, soft
·      Sugar, ½ cup
·      Eggs, 1
·      Soft banana, 1 mashed (or 2 small mashed)
·      Vanilla essence, ¼ tsp
·      Flour, 1 cup
·      Baking soda, ½ tsp
·      Salt, ¼ tsp
·      Cinnamon, ½ tsp
·      Milk, 1/4 cup
·      Lemon juice, ½ tsp

Method
1.    Cream butter and sugar until light.
2.    Beat in the egg.
3.    Stir in banana and vanilla.
4.    Sieve in the dry ingredients.
5.    Fold into creamed mixture with milk and lemon juice.
6.    Pour into the greased and floured cake tin.
7.    Bake at 1800C for 30 minutes until cooked.
8.    Remove from oven and let cool down before turning out. The cake may need to be microwaved if it is still mushy in the middle.
9.    Ice with chocolate icing.

Icing
·      Icing sugar, ½ cup
·      Cocoa, 1 tsp
·      Butter, 1 knob, melted
·      Hot water, 2-3 tsp


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Warm Salad (Bacon, eggs and croutons)

A warm salad is one with cooked ingredients in it. In this case, it is bacon, croutons and boiled egg. The croutons absorb a lot of flavour and oil so we don't need a dressing with this salad.
You can also use normal lettuce instead of Mesclun mix.

Warm Salad (Bacon, Egg and Croutons)

Equipment
·      Chopping board
·      Sharp knife
·      Grater
·      Peeler
·      Large mixing bowl
·      Small fry pan and fish slice/tongs
·      Small pot

Ingredients
·      Mesclun salad, 1 cup
·      Carrots, 1
·      Spring onions, ½ stem
·      Tomato, ½ diced
·      Bacon, 3 slices
·      Bread, 1 slice, diced
·      Celery, 1 stem
·      Eggs, 2
·      Oil for frying

Method
1.    Slice up the bread into cubes.
2.    Slice up the bacon in small pieces.
3.    Fry both in oil until crisp. Place into mixing bowl.
4.    Add eggs to a pot of hot water. Bring to the boil for 8 minutes. Pour out the hot water and fill pot with cold water.
5.    Peel the eggs and chop up. Add to the mixing bowl.
6.    Grate the carrot, after peeling.
7.    Slice up celery and spring onion into thin slices.
8.    Dice up the tomato into small dice. Add all to the mixing bowl.
9.    Add the Mesclun salad to the other ingredients in the bowl.
10. Toss the salad together, mixing all the ingredients through.
11. Serve with tongs onto a plate and eat.



Monday, July 8, 2013

Fresh Fruit Kebabs with Ganache

Oooh, this is good.
Good quality chocolate makes good ganache.
Use dark compound chocolate, not dairy milk chocolate.
Make sure your chocolate and cream are hot before mixing.

Fresh Fruit kebabs with Ganache (Chocolate sauce)
Equipment
·      Wooden chopping board and sharp knife (large or small)
·      Large mixing bowl
·      Measuring cup/ spoons
·      Dessert spoon
·      Microwave dish/ ramekin
·      Kebab sticks (4 per pair)

Ingredients
·      Selection of seasonal fresh fruit (4 total)
·      Cream, 2 Tbspn (30 ml)
·      Dark Chocolate, ramekin

Method
1.    Select the fruit then wash and peel and slice/dice into medium size chunks.
2.    Carefully skewer on the kebab sticks in a regular pattern and place on a clean plate.
3.    Pour the cream into the measuring cup and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds.
4.    Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 2 minutes (in 1 minute bursts).
5.    Whisk the melted chocolate into the cream until silky smooth.
6.    Pour over the fruit kebabs.



Chocolate (Theobroma cacao)

Food product made from the fermented, dried, roasted and ground beans of the tropical cocoa tree, native to Mexico and South America. The Mayans and Aztecs used it in religious ceremonies and the beans were used as currency. It is now grown mostly in central Africa.

Chocolate comes in several forms, including powder (cocoa/cacao), liquid and solid.
The type of chocolate depends on the amount of cocoa butter (oil from cocoa bean), milk powder, lecithin and vanilla that are added. The higher the cocoa butter content, the smoother and richer the chocolate.

Couverture has a high proportion of cocoa butter and is used for dipping, moulding and for making professional quality chocolates.