Desserts and baking

The almond cake with cocoa nibs

Sticky

This is a cake I baked a few days back an hour before I had to fly out from Sydney to Singapore enroute to Mumbai. Was meant to be a surprise dessert to take to meet my friends from a long time back. They are christened as Gatarganga for the filthy language they use when talking to each other ..Ahh boys who still pretend that they and I are teenagers.

I was very pleased to see that it survived the journey in my backpack all the way to here so I thought to write down the recipe before I get senile or dementia or both.

  1. Butter softened -75 g
  2. Oil( vegetable )-50 g
  3. Sugar brown or white – 125 g
  4. Flour 95 g
  5. Almond powder- 50 g
  6. Baking powder-10 g
  7. eggs large-2
  8. Cream 50 g
  9. Cocoa nibs – 10 g/1 t( these are for the crunch and a hint of bitterness to contrast with the sweetness of the cake.
  10. Sliced almonds -20g/1 T

I made this like a modified version of a pound cake. First things to do is get your oven preheated before you start to175 C. Line one 8 inch cake tin with baking paper atleast at the base( or use a precut silicone cake base)

whisk the eggs with sugar and add a little vanilla extract. Melt the butter and oil and add to the whisked eggs mix. Add in the cream and mix lightly.

Mix together the almond flour and baking powder and fold it into the egg mix. Gently mix in the cocoa nibs.

Pour it into the cake tin and top with sliced/ flaked almonds. Bake for between 20-25 mins or a bit more till done .

Cooking international, Desserts and baking

Warm Flourless Chocolate soufflé

Sticky

serves 6..

  • Egg yolks- 3 ea
  • Sugar- 30 gm
  • Cocoa powder- 30 gm
  • Cornflour -15 gm
  • Egg whites- 3 ea
  • Sugar -30 gm
  • Chocolate dark- 120 gm
  • Butter- 100 gm

Additional butter to grease ramekins

Additional sugar to dust ramekins with.

We used to make this dark chocolate souffle in my hotel in Dubai and serve it in our Latin American restaurant Pachanga, and 5 years and several menu changes later this was one item which had stood the test f time. Never fails to please or your money back!!

Method.

  1. Pre-heat oven to 200 C.
  2. Grease ramekins with some melted butter and line with sugar, just enough to coat the bottom and sides of the ramekins.
  3. Separate egg yolks and whites.
  4. Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler
  5. Whisk egg yolks and sugar till well combined and fluffly.
  6. Sieve cornflour and cocoa powder together
  7. Add cornflour and cocoa mix to chocolate mix.
  8. Whisk egg whites with 30 gm sugar till stiff .
  9. Mix egg yolk mix and chocolate mix.
  10. Fold in egg whites, a little at a time, to ensure we do not lose too much volume.
  11. Fill into the ramekins approximately ¾ th full.
  12. Bake at 200 C for 8-10 minutes, for soufflé with a soft centre. For a fully cooked and drier product can be cooked for upto 12 minutes.
  13. Dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Note- these soufflés can be kept in the refrigerator and cooked to order and will stay without losing significant volume for upto 1 day.

Desserts and baking

The formulae for successful bread

In commercial baking they talk about bakers formula and that makes life so much easier rather than trying to remember a recipe with exact details.

I will give you an example of a simple bread formula using bakers percentage. In this the flour is Always taken as a100%.and everything else is taken in proportion to the flour .

  • Flour 100%
  • Water or liquid -65%
  • Active dry yeast -2%
  •  Sugar 2%
  • Salt2%
  • Oil/fat-5%

So I were to put a weight on this I could say

  • Flour 1000g
  • Water 650g
  • Yeast 20g
  • Salt 20g
  • Oil/butter -50g

The method stays the same . Mix flour with water sugar and yeast then add in the water .add salt and oil in the end .

Proof once, then scale, shape  and proof again.

Bake usually at 190-200c for 12-15mins

Cooking indian

Aais chicken masala..

  • oil -10 ml

  • butter15 gm

  • cumin -¼t

  • cardamom green-2

  • cinnamon- 1 small pc

    • cloves 2-3

  • Heat oil, add butter and whole spices
    then add 500 gms chopped onions and saute on low heat till light brown.
    Add ¼ tsp coriander pdr, 1/8tsp cumin powder, pinch turmeric powder.
    Add in about 20 gms of ginger and garlic paste. continue to saute.
    Add in 400 gm tin of chopped tomatoes , and slow cook till the oil starts to separate out.
    Then can add about 1 kg of chicken on the bone which should ideally be marinated with ginger and garlic paste about 20 gms and about 100 gms of plain / greek yoghurt.
    at this stage you can also add in chilli powder to your taste or 2-3 green chillies.
    let is simmer on low heat with a lid for about 30 minutes.
    Season with salt and some garam masala powder. Also a small pinch of nutmeg. Add some fresh coriander and mint for the oomph factor.
    We would get a chicken curry or masala like this maybe once every few months when we were growing up. Even chicken was a treat not for daily eating. Aai would take us to the butcher I still remember the name Prakash where they would take a fresh chicken and cut it up and wrap in newspaper to take home .
Random bits and bobs ..

Knife sharpening part DEUX or how to save your knives from landfill

To get your knives sharpened and in tip top condition here are some handy tips .

  • Keep away from the dishwasher and handwash only ..the corrosive chemical and high temp ruins the metal to a point where they just cannot be rescued anymore.
  • Buy a decent brand of a knife ,does not have to be a ken onion shun or a hand made thing but a victorinox is a good starting point or a similar by FDick .
  • Learn how to sharpen the blades . Remember also that the knife is meant to cut vegetables and tomatoes and so on not shave your arm – that’s just vanity/ sharpening snobbiness.+ You need sharpening stones which are 6000 grit or similar..and they are not cheap. There is a blog post here which tells you how to do this.
  • You also need a good stone not one of the pull through gadgets which they sell everywhere .They really ruin your blade not as much as the dishwasher but still  not good practice. Get a 400/1000 stone . That’s enough for a normal person. I’ve got a dozen or more between 120- 12000 grits and several diamond ones too
  • The angle between the stone and the blade is important and some companies sell decent angle guides,which could be a worthwhile investment after the bomb you will send on the stone/s .  I use only water or a little soap water to do the stones .the other blog post has videos on this.
  • Or if you are in Sydney you can contact me on gordoyash@gmail.com to make a time for this .

May you live in interesting times with your knife journey. Be safe and don’t drop the knife on your foot, that can hurt. If it’s falling let ita , better than cut yourself and slowly bleed to death.

 

Cooking international, Desserts and baking

Hot cross buns – one a penny two a penny.

♦This hot cross bun comes from the pastry maestro Angelo Roche, who was our batch coordinator and trainer many many many moons back in 1994.. I was able to catch up with him again when i moved to Sydney from Aotearoa.

There are 2 parts to the recipe, nay 3 including  the cross on the top

The Tanzhong- cooked starch paste- which makes them soft and fluffy.

  • water- 65g
  • milk -60 g
  • flour – 25 g

mix well together and microwave for 30 seconds or if you have a fancy 30k Rational Combi oven steam it there for 5 minutes. The idea is to have a cooked starch paste as the base for the recipe, which then makes the buns super soft and increases shelf life.

The next part has

  • tangzhong- 120 g-
  • milk-120 g
  • milk powder-7 g
  • sugar-35 g
  • yeast- 6 g
  • raisins- 100 g or mix of raisins , currants and mixed peel.
  • flour- 350 g
  • allspice- 1 g
  • cinnamon- 1g
  • Butter 30 g soft
  • cardamom- pinch
  • egg- 1 ea
  • salt- 5g

Mix warm tangzhong , with milk flour and yeast and set aside to bubble bubble boil and trouble.

Hehe no incantations required just cos it’s a rich dough do need to activate the yeast a bit more really.

Then add  everything else except salt and butter, which goes in the end .

Form the dough, keep it covered in a warmish place ..you know the drill.

Once proofed, knock back, divide into equal sizes -(50 g ) each roughly and arrange on a baking tray close to each other .

For the third part cos the power of three shall set us free.

  • Flour 250 g
  • Oil 75 g
  • Water 300 g

Mix oil and flour and then add water to form a smooth paste which can be piped.

Pipe horizontally on the buns , then vertically.

proof till nearly doubled in size, brush with egg wash. and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 12-15 mins.

 

 

 

 

stories of foods from the world over, laced with a hint of sarcasm and some black humour, its not for everyone, but then never was meant to be..