cakes
cakes to keep you warm this winter…
Caramel Banana Cake
Ingredients
Cake
125g unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp bi-carb
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tbsp milk
Passionfruit Icing
2 passionfruit
1 1/2 cups Icing sugar
1tsp softened unsalted butter
method: sift icing sugar (can’t remember exactly how much I use).
Add butter, spoon passionfruit pulp in and mix.
Sticky Caramel Icing
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pouring cream
method: simmer ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
Increase heat and simmer rapidly for 8 mins or until caramel thickens.
Process
preheat oven – moderate
Grease a 14cm x 21cm loaf pan (or other).
Ina small bowl, cream butter & sugar well with electric mixer until light & fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time until combined.
Transfer to larger bowl, stir in banana.
Stir in half sifted dry ingredients with half wet ingredients until smooth.
Stir in the other half of both until combined.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in moderate oven for about an hour.
Stand 5 mins before turning out to cool.
Ice when cool.
Flourless Orange Cake
Thanks to Mum and Karmel for the original cake recipe. This recipe has become a bit like Chinese whispers and has been adapted along the way. This cake is a total winner! Best to enjoyed as a sneaky piece with a cuppa (too good to share this cake!).
It’s a flat cake that tastes so good, the bitter chocolate icing contrasts so well with the sweet orange cake. I sometimes go a bit heavier on the sugar, depending on what I feel like. It’s cooks a little faster with more sugar though.
Ingredients
Cake
125g butter
1 Cup raw sugar
6 eggs
200g almond meal
1 teaspn baking powder
dash cointreau
2 whole oranges
Chocolate Icing
1/3 Unsalted Butter
Half block (70% cocoa) Lindt chocolate
1/4 block milk Lindt
Process
preheat oven – moderate/ 200º
Grease normal square/ round pan. Line with greased baking paper.
Cover oranges with water and simmer for an hour, until soft (Navel are the best because they are seedless).
Put through food processor, allow to cool and then mix in the eggs.
In a small mixing bowl, cream butter & sugar well. Add orange & egg mix, add almond meal & baking powder and cointreau and mix in.
Cook for an hour. After 40 minutes, turn down to 180º.
Ice when cool.
Icing
This icing is dark and thin.
method: Melt chocolate in bowl over boiling water, as it starts to melt, add butter. Keep heat as low as possible. Spread thinly over cake (it’s quite runny at this stage and is likely to set quickly), do another layer. It sets thin, shiny and hard and looks impressive. Sometimes I just pour it over.
Coconut Sour Cream Cake
Thanks to Gail & her Womens Weekly ‘Cakes & Slices’ cookbook that I keep borrowing… this is another killer cake…
Ingredients
Cake
125g unsalted butter
1/2 tsp coconut essence
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
300g carton sour cream
Coconut Ice Frosting Icing
2 cups icing sugar
1 1/3 cups coconut
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
pink food coloring
Process
preheat oven – moderate
Grease a 23cm round/square cake pan. I also line with greased baking paper (trust me on this!!)
Sift in 1/2 dry ingredients, then mix in 1/2 wet ingredients.
Sift in remainder of dry ingredients, mix well.
Stir in remainder of wet ingredients.
Icing
sift icing sugar (can’t remember exactly how much I use). Mix in egg whites and drop of pink food coloring. Add shredded coconut. Spread thickly over cake once cool.
