This may look like your run of the mill Carrot Cake but don’t be deceived. This is quite possibly the best Carrot Cake I have ever eaten and yet the only Carrot Cake I have ever made.

The most surprising thing about this cake is that it even turned out.  I made it with a whisk and a metal spoon, didn’t have precisely all the right ingredients and realised during mixing that I hadn’t halved all the ingredients – I sloppily rectified this.

The brown butter gave it a richer taste and it was unbelievably moist.

This recipe makes two sponges which you can stack and ice but it was too much for two people so I froze one.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

One 8- or 9-inch (20-23cm) double layer cake

For the cake:

4 cups loosely packed grated carrots

1/2 cup sultanas (optional)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

¼ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup melted brown butter (or more oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups self-raising flour

2 cups raw sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

For the frosting:

450g cream cheese, at room temperature

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2-3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

a few drops of vanilla extract

For the cake,

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter two 8- or 9-inch (20-23cm) cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

Beat the eggs until they are pale and frothy (they need not increase dramatically in volume) with a handheld mixer. With the mixer running, drizzle in the oil and melted butter, then the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the eggs and mix carefully until just combined. The paddle will accomplish this easily but if you only have a hand held mixer you may want to just do it by hand.

Fold in the carrots and raisins, then divide the batter between the two pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes, until the surface springs back when gently touched.

Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

For the frosting,

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.

Add the powdered sugar, gradually, (do this on low speed to avoid a dust cloud) and mix until light and silky.

Add the vanilla.

Serving and Storage: This cake is best served at room temperature but will keep for a few days stored in the refrigerator.

You may need to make a little extra syrup  to drizzle over the top as the cake will suck up most of it when cooking. Also, use a spatula dipped in water  to smooth the batter over the pears.

Chocolate Pear Cake

Pears

80g butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

2 small small pears, peeled, halved and cored

Cake

185g butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

2 cups self-raising flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Place the butter, sugar and water in a frying pan over medium heat and stir until the butter has melted.

Add the pears to the pan, cut-side down, and cook for 2 minutes.

Place the pears, cut-side down, in a 23cm round cake tin that has been side and base-lined with non-stick backing paper.

Pour over the syrup and set aside.

Place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.

Sift the flour and cocoa over the mixture and stir through.

Spoon the mixture over the pears in the tin.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.

Eat warm with ice-cream.

Chewy Oat & Choc Cookies

125g butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup choc bits

1 cup self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Combine butter, vanilla and sugar in a bowl.

Add coconut, oats, chocolate and sifted flour, mix until well combined.

Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls.

Place onto a greased oven tray about 5 cm apart. Flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake for about 8 minues or until golden brown.

Caramel Slice

1 cup self raising flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

150g butter melted

395g can sweetened Condensed milk

2 tablespoons butter, extra

1 cup milk or dark chocolate melts, melted

Preheat oven to 180ºc and line an 18cm x 28cm tin with baking paper.

Mix the flour, sugar, coconut and butter together in a bowl.

Press into the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Combine the condensed milk, golden syrup and extra butter in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until almost boiling.

Reduce to a low heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour caramel over base and bake a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Spead the Caramel Slice with the melted chocolate, refrigerate until set.

Serve cut into pieces.

Recipe from Maggie’s Table

Fig & Walnut Meringue

180 g walnuts

330 g dried figs

6 free-range egg whites

250 g soft dark-brown sugar

Mascarpone

Slices of candied or fresh lime (optional)

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Roast the walnuts on a baking tray for about 5 minutes, shaking the trays to prevent the nuts from burning. If they are not fresh season’s, rub the walnuts in a clean tea towel to remove the bitter skins, then sieve away the skins. Allow to cool.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180C.

Line and grease a 24 cm springform cake tin.

Remove the hard stem from each fig, then chop the figs into small pieces (this should give you 1and 1?2 cups).

Toss the walnuts and fig pieces together.

Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks in a bowl with an electric mixer.

Slowly add the soft dark-brown sugar in heaped tablespoons until incorporated and the resultant meringue is thick and stiff. Mix a spoonful of the meringue through the figs and walnuts. Tip this back into the meringue and fold it through.

Spoon the meringue mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45–50 minutes; until the tart pulls away from the sides and feels ‘set’ on top.

Allow to cool and serve with a good dollop of mascarpone. Candied or even fresh lime is a wonderful accompaniment to this tart – decorate the edge of the tart with a ring of fine, fine slices of the lime. The tart is meant to be sticky and soft and will be rustic in appearance, so don’t fret if it falls apart as you serve it.

BURNT! I think we put the grill on…

I don’t really even like shortbread, but I needed something sweet and they looked easy and I had all the ingredients. Just make sure the butter is really well mixed in or they will melt.

Shortbread with Jam

1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cornflour
1 ½ cups plain flour
a pinch of salt
Raspberry (or any) jam
Icing sugar for dusting

Beat the sugar & butter together in a bowl until just combined.

Add the vanilla extract, sifted flours & salt & mix until a dough forms.

Mould into a log 6cm in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Remove the dough from the fridge & cut into 7mm slices, then cut shapes.

Reroll the excess dough & repeat the process until all the dough is used up.

Place the {insert shape} on a greased & lined baking tray & bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Spread half the biscuits with jam, top with remaining biscuits & dust with icing sugar.

‘Les Parapluies de Cherbourg’ and dessert. Life is sweet.

Puffed Apple Pancake

via Bill Granger Holiday

Serves 4-6

50g Butter

4 Green apples, peeled cored and cut into eighths

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

3/4 Cup plain flour

A pinch of salt

1 Teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 Tablespoon sugar

4 Eggs

3/4 Cup of milk

Plain yoghurt, to serve

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Melt the butter in a 25cm frying pan with an ovenproof handle.

Add the apples and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add the brown sugar, vanila and lemon juice and cook, shaking the pan occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.

Mix the flour, salt, lemon zest and sugar together in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and slowly add the eggs and milk, whisking lightly to combine.

Pour the batter evenly over the apples.

Place the pan in the oven and cook for 15 minutes until puffed and golden.

Serve immediately with yoghurt.

A fairly de-puffed pancake as we didn’t eat it immediately.

Holy shit! These were amazing.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Caramel

via David Lebovitz

For the cookie dough

115g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 salted peanut butter

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the salted peanut caramel

1 cup thickened cream

1/2 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1/8 teaspoon salt (I added a bit more as I didn’t add the peanuts)

3/4 finely chopped roasted salted peanuts

100g chocolate (any), melted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat the butter, brown and granulated sugar until smooth.

Beat in the egg and vanilla until well mixed.

Beat in the peanut butter.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and stir until there are no patches of flour.

Scoop up tablespoon-sized portions of the dough and roll each piece between your hands so they’re as smooth as possible so they don’t crack at the edges when performing the next step.

Place them 1 1/2-inches (2 cm) apart on the baking sheets, then use the rounded end of a wooden spoon, or your thumb, to make a depression in each one. Don’t worry much if the sides crack; push them back together.

Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during cooking, until they are light-golden brown and the edges barely start to darken.

Remove from oven, and while they’re warm, press in to reinforce each depression with the end of the wooden spoon. Let them cool competely.

Warm the cream in a saucepan or microwave and set it aside.

Heat the water, 1 cup sugar, golden syrup, and salt to a caramel, gently swirling the pan only if necessary (to ensure it melt and cooks evenly) until it turns a nice golden brown.

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the hot cream in a slow, steady stream.

Cool until warm and pourable, then add the chopped peanuts.

Spoon some of the caramel into each cookie, letting it set for about an hour, if you want to drizzle them with chocolate.

NB: For best results, use regular smooth peanut butter.

Cookies will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 3 to 4 days. The unbaked dough can be rolled into rounds and stored in a heavy-duty freezer bag in the refrigerator or freezer, until ready to bake.

Disgustingly good…

I’ve never had anything like it. A light sweet bread on the bottom and a super sweet sticky ‘custardy’ layer on top which crisps up nicely on the top. I left it in the oven too long though. I kept thinking it’s going to be too runny, but obviously it firms up as it cools.  The bottom was too brown and the cake became a bit dry. It was still delicious though. Also as I’ve just moved out of a shared house I have very limited kitchen supplies.  Smitten Kitchen recommended not using metal but ceramic and the only ceramic dish I have is a pie dish. Anyway, it worked but it was a slighty awkward shape. I love having heat lights in my bathroom, I’ve got my own dough proving room.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake
via Smitten Kitchen

For the cake
3 tablespoons milk at room temperature
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling.

Make the cake dough:

Mix milk with 2 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl.

Add yeast and whisk gently until it dissolves. Mixture should foam slightly.

Cream butter, sugar and salt using an electric mixer (or wooden spoon in my case) with paddle attachment.

Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg.

Add flour and the milk mixture alternately, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Switch to a dough hook (again… the spoon) at this point to beat dough on medium speed until it formed a smooth mass and pulled away (just a little, my dough was still very soft) from sides of bowl, 7 to 10 minutes.

Press,  stretch and nudge dough into a greased 9-by 13-inch baking dish at least 2 inches deep. Cover dish with plastic wrap or clean tea towel, put in a warm place, and allow to rise until doubled, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Make the gooey topping

Heat oven to 180°C.

Whisk corn syrup with 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla in a small bowl.

Cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.

Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg.

Add flour and corn syrup mixture alternately, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Spoon topping in large dollops over risen cake and use an offset spatula to gently spread it in an even layer.

Bake for 10 to 20 minutes; cake will rise and fall in waves and have a golden brown top, but will still be liquid in center when done.

Allow to cool in pan before sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar for serving.

New kitchen