Showing posts with label Helen Goh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Helen Goh. Show all posts

Friday, August 3, 2018

Coffee and Cardamom Pound Cake

When I first saw this recipe, I was curious about the combination of coffee and cardamom. I love both coffee and cardamom but have never tried them together in a bake before. I'm so glad I did. This cake is a winner!


I made half a recipe, using a half-bundt pan. I halved all of the ingredients, except for the sugar, which I've further reduced to 100gm. The cake smells amazing while baking. I skipped the icing as we are not fond of frosting, we prefer our cakes plain. I let the baked cake sit overnight and sliced it the next day.


It was moist with soft tender crumbs. A winner! I love the combination of coffee and cardamom, balances really well together. This is one cake that I would make again.


I made half of the recipe and baked in a half-size bundt pan (6-cup capacity). The recipe below is the full recipe to be baked in a 23cm bundt pan.
Coffee and Cardamom Pound Cake
(Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh)
90ml full-fat milk, at room temperature plus an extra 20ml for the coffee
6 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
200gm self-raising flour
100gm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
300gm caster sugar
300gm unsalted butter, soft but not oily, diced, plus extra for greasing
1-1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom
1-1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
2 tsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Icing :
1-1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
45ml full-fat milk, warmed
240gm icing sugar, sifted
30gm unsalted butter, softened

  1. Preheat the oven to 195C/175C Fan/Gas Mark 5. Grease and flour a 23-cm bundt tin and set aside.
  2. For the cake : Place the milk, eggs and vanilla extract in a medium bowl and lightly whisk, just to combine.
  3. Sift the flours and salt directly into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place, then add the sugar and mix on a low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and half of the egg mixture and continue to mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. then gradually add the remaining egg mixture, in two batches, making sure the first batch is fully incorporated before adding the next. Don't worry if your batter looks slightly split ; it's due to the large proportion of eggs in the mix, but it won't affect the final result.
  4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and divide the mixture between two bowls. Add the ground cardamom to one bowl and fold to combine. Warm the extra 20ml of milk in a small saucepan, then place in a small bowl with the coffee granules and cocoa powder. Stir until the coffee dissolves and the consistency is that of thick but pourable milk. Combine this with the cake mixture in the second bowl.
  5. Spoon the two mixtures into the prepared tin in four alternate blocks, two of each colour, then use a skewer or small knife to make a zigzag-shaped swirl once through the mix, to create a marble effect. Do not be tempted to overdo the swirling as you will lose the effect of the marbling.
  6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes. The cake tends to dome in the oven, so if this happens and you want a perfectly flat base (the top will become the bottom once it's inverted), just slice off the top to flatten it out before turning the cake out on a wire rack to cool completely.
  7. To make the icing : Combine the coffee and warm milk in a small mixing bowl. Add the icing sugar to the coffee mixture, together with the soft butter. Whisk until smooth and thick, then spoon over the cooled cake, so that it drips unevenly down the sides. Allow the icing to set slightly before serving.


I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #32 hosted by 


Thursday, July 5, 2018

Coconut, Almond and Blueberry Cake

This month at Cookbook Countdown, we are making Tea Time Treats! You are welcome to join us. Make any tea time treats, share and link your post with Cookbook Countdown.  Head over to Cookbook Countdown for more details. 

This is a super simple, fuss-free cake to make, no need of a stand mixer! Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another. Pour the combined wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add some of the blueberries, stir to combine, and pour mixture into the baking pan. Scatter more blueberries over the top along with the flaked almonds, then bake. How easy is that!



I made half a recipe, reduced the sugar to 80gm, baked in a 7 inch pan for 40 minutes.





Cake is not too sweet, with tender moist crumbs. A slice is perfect with a cup of warm tea, for a lovely tea-time treat.

The full recipe can be found here

Coconut, Almond and Blueberry Cake
(Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh)
(my adaptation for half a recipe )
90gm ground almonds
30gm desiccated coconut
80gm caster sugar
35gm self-raising flour
2 large eggs
100gm salted butter, melted, then set aside to come to room temperature
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
100 gm frozen blueberries
10 gm flaked almonds

  1. Grease and line a 7inch round cake pan. Preheat oven to 180C.
  2. Place the almonds, coconut, sugar, flour and salt (a pinch, if using unsalted butter) in a large mixing bowl and whisk to aerate and remove the lumps.
  3. Place the eggs in a separate medium bowl and whisk lightly. Add the melted butter, vanilla extract and lemon zest and whisk again until well combined. Pour this into the dry mix and whisk to combine. Fold in 70gm blueberries, then pour the mixture into the tin. Sprinkle the last of the blueberries on top, along with the flaked almonds, and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Keep a close eye on it towards the end of cooking, the relatively large number of eggs in the mix means that it can go from still being a little bit liquid in the centre of being well cooked in just a few minutes.
  4. Set aside for 30 minutes before inverting out of the tin, removing the baking parchment and placing the cake the right way up on a serving plate. It can either be served warm with cream or set aside until cool.


I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #31 hosted by 




Saturday, March 3, 2018

Kaffir Lime Leaf Posset with Fresh Papaya

It is Potluck Week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). I've made a lovely dessert from Yotam Ottolenghi/Helen Goh's cookbook Sweet. It's a nice rich sweet dessert made with heavy cream. What I like about this dessert is, it is infused with the fragrance of tropical flavours ; kaffir lime leaves, limes zest, lime juice and fresh papaya, all of which are easily available over here, anytime of the year.

Fresh Kaffir lime leaves, from my garden pot. The aroma of the leaves is like no other!



Heavy cream is heated with shredded kaffir lime leaves and shreds of lime zest, then left to infuse for half an hour. Add sugar with a pinch of salt to the cream and heat until the cream bubbles and rises. I did reduce the sugar to only 4 tablespoons (about 50 gm). The original amount for the sugar is 140gm which I've guessed would be too sweet for us, that was why I started with only 4 tablespoons, and after tasting the mixture when the sugar has fully dissolved, I found that the balance is not needed, 4 tablespoons is just perfect! Strain the mixture into a heatproof measuring jug, stir in one tablespoon of lime juice, the cream will thicken, then pour into ramekins or bowls. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. Right before serving, place slices of papaya on top, sprinkle with some finely grated lemon zest, with a teaspoon of lime juice in each bowl.



This posset makes a lovely after dinner dessert. It has the lovely fragrance from the kaffir lime leaves. And with the added lime zest and juice, helps cut the richness of the cream. Not too sweet, just right! We've enjoyed this dessert very much!

This lovely dessert recipe is from Sweet, a cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh, or you can get the recipe at this link. The only changes I've made is to reduce the sugar to 4 tbsps (about 50gm).


I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week
February 2018 Potluck

and

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #27 hosted by 



Monday, January 29, 2018

Rum and Raisin Cake

It's IHCC's first Potluck Week for 2018. I've made Rum and Raisin Cake from the cookbook Sweet by  Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh. Ever since I bought the book, this is the recipe I've been wanting to make, I love cakes with rum, and this cake did not disappoint.

The only change I've made is to reduce the brown sugar slightly and omitted the glaze, as I prefer eating cakes without any glaze or frosting. As long as the cake is moist, buttery and delicious, the glaze or any frosting would not be missed, at least for me.




The raisins needed to be soaked in rum the day before. 
The batter is really thick, thicker than most bundt cakes I've made, and that got me worried that the cake would be heavily densed. I was tempted to add a few tablespoons of milk, but decided to follow the recipe instead. The filled bundt pan with the batter was a weight! 
During baking, the cake almost did not rise at all, the level of the batter when filled into the pan was almost exactly that as when the cake was done baking. It smells incredibly rum-delicious when the cake was baking.

When the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, I turned the cake out of the bundt pan, and that was when I knew that the cake would be OK, as it was quite soft and tender to the touch.



This cake smells incredibly fragrant from the rum, with moist, surprisingly soft tender crumbs, maybe due to the sour cream used for the batter, and not only it is rum-fragrant, you can taste the rum too, a definite plus in my books, delicious!  I really like this cake, and would love to make a yellow version of it by replacing the raisins with sultanas and using white sugar instead of brown. 

Recipe can be found from guardian.com here, or from Sweet , page 124.

kitchen flavour's notes;
reduced brown sugar to 200gm

omitted salt, as I've used salted butter

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week
January 2018 Potluck


and
I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #25 hosted by