Pear and Ginger Cake

I love any city that doesn't have wind blowing all the time. So pretty much any city that isn't Wellington. I've lived in Wellington longer enough to call myself  a Wellingtonian and whilst I am proud to be one, I will never enjoy or like wind. There's something annoying about being blasted into my car when I go to hop in it and that constant wind swept look I seem to have day after day. Ahhh Wellington, or should I say Newlands? which seems to be the windiest suburb in Wellington. I obviously know how to pick the good locations. Thankfully for me, food makes even the windiest day tolerable. The types of food depends on the day and what I feel like, but all in all, food soothes my angst towards the wind, and angst towards anything for that matter. 

This particular windy day, the only thing that it going to make me happy is pear and ginger cake. I love everything about pear and ginger together and this cake makes the cut for a blustery, cold and bitter day. 

I'd suggest you try making this on the next windy day you have to soothe your soul. If you're in Wellington, this will be needed often.

Pear and Ginger Cake

First:

 Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 22cm springform cake tin with baking paper.

Cream butter, brown sugar and maple syrup until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs a small amount at a time to avoid the mixture curdling.

Dissolve baking soda in the milk

Sift flour, baking powder and ground ginger into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, mixing carefully until combined. 

Spoon mixture into prepared tin.

Peel and slice two pears.

Then arrange over the mixture, overlapping a little to ensure that the whole cake will remain covered once cooked.  

Bake at 180 degrees for 40 - 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted to the cake. 

  

Wait for the cake to cool and slice. Serve with custard, maple glaze, yoghurt or what ever tickles your fancy.

It truly does make all the wind in the world seem okay....

Pear and Ginger Cake

Ingredients

• 150g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup soft brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 ripe pears
• 
  

• Method

   Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 22cm springform cake tin with baking paper.

   Cream butter, brown sugar and maple syrup until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs a small amount at a time to avoid the mixture curdling.
  
   Dissolve baking soda in the milk. Sift flour, baking powder and ground ginger into the creamed mixture, alternately with the milk, mixing carefully until combined. Spoon mixture into prepared tin. Place the sliced pears on top of the cake.
  
  Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked. A skewer inserted into the middle of the cake will come out clean. Place cake on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Remove from the cake tin.
  
   Serve warm with custard, cream or ice cream.

- From 'Food in a minute' 

Birthday Coconut Cream Layer Cake with Chocolate Icing (- what a mouthful!)

In my opinion, it's not a birthday party without a birthday cake. So when I went to my friend's birthday during the week, I took her along a cake. She suggested she wanted a Coconut Cake so I went hunting for a recipe. I chose one that used coconut cream, in hope it would be moist, as well as for something a little different.

When the layers came out of the oven they looked extremely dry and I was worried they had failed the moisture test. Cakes can be scary things to make for a large number of people, because you can never test them to make sure they will be ok! Hence, I was a bit nervous when watching people take their first bite...

To my relief, it wasn't too dry at all, but rather, it was light, spongy, and velvety - a texture which I hadn't really come across before. It's a MUST-TRY recipe. Just beware of the icing, it is rather delicious.

Coconut Cream Layer Cake with Chocolate Icing

2 1/4 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150 g butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup coconut cream/milk
4 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 190' C. Lightly grease 9 inch round cake tins and line with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk togehter flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in egg yolks and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Alternating wet and dry ingredients, add in the coconut milk and flour mixture in 3-4 additions, ending with a final addition of the flour mixture.

In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks with an electric beater. Fold in the egg whites into the cake batter. Make sure no streaks of egg white remain visible. Divide cake batter into prepared round cake tins.

Bake for 25 minutes or intil a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Turn cakes out onto a wire rack and remove baking paper, allowing them to cool completely bofore icing.

Once the cakes have cooled, place one of the layers on a serving plate or cake stand.

I poked several holes into the layers with a toothpick before topping with the coconut filling (see recipe below)- to prevent the cakes from drying out.

Place second cake layer on top-side-down, so that the flattest part of the cake is on top. Press down gently.
Use a spatula to ice the sides and top of the chocolate coconut icing. I decorated mine with sugar flowers, and added a handful of shredded coconut to mine, to give it a 'rough' look. But you can decorate to your hearts content.

Coconut Filling

6 Tbsp sugar
1.2 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp coconut cream/milk
1/2 cup shredded coconut

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Refridgerate until ready to use.

Coconut Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter
2 oz chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2-3 cup icing sugar
5 Tbsp coconut cream/milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp salt
handful coconut (optional)

In a small, microwave safe bowl, melt together butter and unsweetend chocolate. Heat in 30-45 second intervals, stirring frequently, until mixture is smooth. Cool for 10-15 minutes, or until mixture is at room temperature.

Transfer butter mixture to a larger bowl. Beat in cocoa powder, 2 cups icing sugar coconut cream/milk, vanilla and salt, beating until icing is smooth and slightly fluffy. Add additional icing sugar to thicken if needed. Icing shoud be at room temperature before using.

Happy Birthday Jo!x

Popping Delicious

For a while now I've had my eyes on these and finally decided to give them ago today. I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out just as they should. I think they would make the best wee treats for a little one's birthday party or any party for that matter. Once you get the imagination cranking I'm sure you could turn them into a range of different things. Check out Bakerella for ideas.

It was a bit fiddley and a little time consuming (thankfully I'm on holiday) but definitely worth it. To start off, you need a cake. I just made a simple chocolate cake and once cooked and cooled, I processed it in a food processor.

I then got my hands in there and mixed in some typically American "Aunt Betty's Fosting" -this stuff is seriously delicious by the way.

Once all mixed together, you roll the mixture into balls then place in the freezor for 10-15 minutes.

When firm, you take them out of freezor and using a wee flower shape cookie cutter, you press the cutter into the ball to form a 'cup cake' shape.

You then place the cupcake shapped mixture back into the freezor for another 10-15 minutes, get them out again and then dip their little bottoms into melted dark chocolate.


They will look a bit messy like above, but will look prettier as the chocolate dries. I also tried some plain round ones too. You could decorate these more if desired.

Dip their tops in a different colour (I used melted white chocolate with a bit of red food colouring), sprinkle hundreds of thousands on top and place an m & m on top to finish.

Cute huh? I will definitely be making these again at some stage. Maybe for my niece's 5th birthday which is coming up...