fatmanyash

Dina, who is a childcare educator at Viraajs day care , is an ex chef and had this recipe which wowed all the children, so this post is dedicated to her recipe, which should wow young and old.

Ingredients

To cream together

• 125 gm butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 +3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Sour milk

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Dry ingredients( sieve twice to ensure they get well mixed)

• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• pinch of ground cloves( here ive reduced the qty which dina had)
• 2 +1/4 cups plain flour
• 4 tablespoons dark cocoa powder

To add

• 2 cups of grated zucchini
• 1/4 cups of dark chocolate chips

method

1. preheat oven to 180 C/ 375 F.
2. cream butter, sugaroil then add in eggs and vanilla till well blended
3. mix in milk and lemon juice.( the acid in the lemon juice helps the baking soda to act). +the baking soad when used with cocoa powder gives it a richer darker colour.
4. add in the dry ingredients to the creamed mix.
5. stir in the zucchini.pour into large cake tin or 2 loaf tins, and bake for 40-45 minutes.
6. check thats done by inserting a toothpick or wooden skewer in the centre, iot should come out clean.

. . . → Read More: Dina’s Chocolate Zucchini cake

for the pastry shell we will use a 1-2-3 dough really that simple

1. 100 gms sugar
2. 200 gms butter
3. 300 gms flour

rub the butter and sugar with the flour till the butter mix is blended in with the flour. its called rubbing in , and helps to achieve the short crumbly texture that we want for a tart/pie or cookie dough. add in 1 egg and combine lightly to just form a dough. rest in the chiller for 30 minutes.

part 2

make a strawberry compote / jam with fresh, frozen strawberries and sugar about 500g berries and 200 sugar till really thick. belnd it all together and cook over a low heat. thats to get a really concentrated flavor. if you are short of time then get a really good jam with high concentrate of fruits

1. eggs-2 whole
2. sugar- 50 gms
3. white wine 50 ml

cook over a double boiler whisking till really light and frothy and thick . the white wine will add lots of flavor, plus volume. then add in 10 gms of gelatine powder, which you will have soaked in about 10 ml of cold water beforehand(i hadnt mentioned it earlier, but now i have).oh also nuke the gelatine in the microwave for aboout 10 seconds and mix it in the egg mix.

Add in about 150 gms of the strawberry compote /jam.

now whip about 200 ml of cream till thick and light , soft peaks . no sugar in this , because our strawberry already has some so do the eggs.  by the time the cream is whipped , the egg mix will have cooled down sufficiently to fold it in. voila here is the strawberry mousse mix.

oh and we go back to our 123 dough. roll it out and line a sprigform pie/tart mold with it. there is enough for that and with the scraps you can make easy cookies.

bake at 175 C /350 F for about 20 minutes . dock the pastry so that it does not rise. cool down.  melt some white chocolate and brush the inside of the tart/pie shell with the melted white chocolate. this will prevent it from going too soggy when the mousse mix goes in.

pour in the mousse mix in the pie/tart shell. and chill for about an hour .

slice and decorate with plenty of strawberries. for the final piece of work you can glaze it with some strawberry jam thined down with orange juice and melted  in the microwave. brush it over the sliced strawberry topping and we are ready to rock after 2 good hrs of some work , but hey, this is not fast food . this is slow and decadent.

. . . → Read More: strawberry mousse tart, for mirra

Made this after tweaking a recipe which i had gotten from Jayshree Visht-Gussain, who had very kindly made it for Ashwinis birthday. I replaced her canola oil with a mix of pomace and extra virgin olive oil, and added in some 70% dark ghana chocolate. Having given all the spiel , lets get down to it.

Makes  one  9″ cake enough for about 8 people

1. olive oil- 250 ml i used half pomace and half extra virgin
2. sugar grain- 200 gms
3. eggs- 2 nos
4. flour- 225 gms
5. Baking powder- 10 gms
6. cocoa powder- 25 gms
7. Dark chocolate-100 gms
8. milk-100 ml

Method

• Melt the dark chocolate and milk together in the microwave – about 45 seconds or as long as it takes really without burning the chocolate. shouldnt take too much longer though
• Warm the olive oil slightly and add in the sugar, and whisk well , with the slight residual heat should help to melt it.
• Add in the eggs one at a time ,and it will get a mayonnaise like consistency
• Add in the melted chocolate +milk mixture
• mix in lightly a combination of the flour, cocoa, and baking powder , which (obviously) you would have mixed together before being the baking pro that you are.
• pour into greased / or sprayed with non stick spray cake tin and bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes. I used a springform tin and after 20 minuted covered the top to prevent it form colouring too much.

. . . → Read More: Dark chocolate olive oil cake /inspired by Jayshree Visht

1. 450 gms butter – cream well till fluffy
2. alongwith 450 gms grain sugar till all sugar is incorporated.
3. whisk 11 eggs separately till mixed.
4. add the eggs a little at a time to the egg and sugar mixture.
5. add 1/4 tsp vanilla essence/altrnatively can add lime zest/rum/whisky/alcohl of choice.
6. sieve 550 gms of flour with 1/2 tsp of baking powder.Add 1/4 tsp dry or 20 gmcandied ginger+1/4 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg and some mixed cake spice. fold into the mixture.
7. Add some blackjack, i.e caramel, with a bit of water to keep it flowing, to add some more colour and flavour.

drop in muffin trays/or cake molds..bake at 375 deg F. 12-15 mins for muffins and 45 ++mins for cake.

for fruit cake replace 250 gms or more depending on how rich you want the cake to be of flour with dried fruits. mix them with the flour.end of the process add like flour.Aslo with fruit cake its better to replace the sugar with brown sugar.gives better colour and flavour.

IMPORTANT- after baking cake, baste with alcohol liberally.it will be better, not on the same day, but a day after and so on.
the fruits can also be soaked in alcohol before,the longer the better.
Also no BLOODY TUTTI FRUTTI -good quality nuts, dates, raisins .,black currants , candied ginger, candied orange peel,chopped up.

. . . → Read More: in the century of the fruit cake or was?:””..)it muffin