Banana cake with Chocolate icing.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Icing

Equipment

·      Small cake tin (greased and floured)     

·      Sharp knife

·      Mixing bowl

·      Measuring cups/spoons

·      Wooden spoon

·      Whisk

·      Sieve

·      Cooling rack

Ingredients

·      Butter, 75g, soft

·      Sugar, ½ cup

·      Eggs, 1

·      Soft banana, 1/2 large mashed (or 1 small mashed)

·      Vanilla essence, ¼ tsp

·      Flour, 1 cup

·      Baking soda, ½ tsp

·      Salt, ¼ tsp

·      Cinnamon, 1/4 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 mashed banana and vanilla.

4.    Sieve in the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda).

5.    Fold into creamed mixture with milk and lemon juice.

6.    Pour into the greased and floured cake tin.

7.    Bake at 180⁰C for 20-30 minutes until cooked.

8.    Remove from oven and let cool down before turning out.

9.    Ice with chocolate icing.

Icing

·      Icing sugar, ½ cup

·      Cocoa, 1 tsp

·      Butter, 2 knobs, melted

·      Hot water, 2-3 tsp

Warm Salad (Bacon, eggs and croutons)

Warm Salad (Bacon, Egg and Croutons)

Equipment

·      Chopping board

·      Sharp knife

·      Peeler

·      Large mixing bowl

·      Small fry pan and fish slice/tongs

·      Small pot

Ingredients

·      Mesclun salad, 1 cup

·      Carrots, 1

·      Spring onions, ½ stem

·      Parsley sprig, chopped up finely

·      Bacon, 3 slices or 1 ramekin.

·      Bread, 1 slice, diced

·      Eggs, 2

·      Oil for frying

Method

1.    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.

2.    Peel the eggs and chop up. Add to the mixing bowl.

3.    Slice up the bread into cubes.

4.    Slice up the bacon in small pieces.

5.    Fry bacon in oil until crisp. Add the bread and toss through until bread has absorbed the oil and gone crispy.

6.    Place into mixing bowl to cool down.

7.    Slice the carrot into julienne (matchstick sized pieces), after peeling.

8.    Slice up spring onion into thin slices.

9.    Chop up the parsley.

10. Add all to the mixing bowl.

11. Add the Mesclun salad to the other ingredients in the bowl.

12. Toss the salad together, mixing all the ingredients through.

13. Serve with tongs onto a plate and eat.

Fresh Fruit Kebabs with a Chocolate ganache.

Fresh Fruit kebabs with Ganache (Chocolate sauce)

Equipment

·      Wooden chopping board and sharp knife (large or small)

·      Peeler

·      2 mixing bowls

·      Measuring cup/ spoons

·      Wooden spoon

·      Kebab sticks (4 per pair)

·      Small pot

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.    Melt the chocolate in the double boiler (mixing bowl sitting inside the pot ½ full of boiling water).

4.    Pour the cream into the measuring cup and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds.

5.    Whisk the hot cream into the melted chocolate 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 (cocoa butter) 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.