Carrot Cake

carrot-cake
Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 cup oil
  • 2 cups grated carrot
  • 8½ oz (240g drained) tin crushed pineapple
  • 4 eggs

Method:

  • Sift together dry ingredients
  • Add sugar, oil and eggs
  • Mix well
  • Add carrots, pineapple and optional nuts
  • Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 50 minutes

Fishcakes

fish-cakes
Ingredients:

  • 500g hake (either fresh or frozen), steamed
  • 4 medium potatoes, peeled and steamed
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 extra large egg
  • handful italian parsley, chopped
  • handful coriander leaves, chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • breadcrumbs

Method

  • Steam potatoes until tender. Mash the potatoes.
  • Steam fish until cooked
  • Fry onions in a bit of Olive oil until translucent
  • Add and mix together all the other ingredients to the potatoes, fish and onions except for breadcrumbs
  • Roll into balls and roll in the breadcrumbs
  • Fry in Olive oil until golden brown on both sides

Buttermilk substitute

buttermilk-substitute
Instead of using buttermilk, you can add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk, then let it stand for 5 minutes before using.

Basic butter cake

basic-butter-cakeIngredients:

  • 375g butter
  • 15ml vanilla essence
  • 2½ cups castor sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 4½ cups cake flour
  • 20ml baking powder
  • 1½ cups milk or buttermilk

Method:

  • Grease a 25cm round tin or a 23cm square tin
  • Beat the butter until light and creamy
  • Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy, add the eggs one by one and beat well after each addition
  • Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder, add the milk and mix lightly
  • Spoon into prepared tin and bake in a moderate oven (180°C) for 1½ hours or until golden in colour
  • Stand cake in tin for 10min before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely
  • This cake will keep for 3 days in an airtight container or freeze for 3 months

Simple sugar syrup

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 5ml glucose

Method:

  • Bring to boil with the lid on
  • Cook for 10 min, remove from stove and cool
  • Keep in fridge until needed
  • Flavour syrup with orange / lemon zest or cinnamon sticks or try some star aniseed
  • Thin syrup down with any liqueur or with strong coffee
  • Pour over hot cakes for extra moisture

Basic butter icing

basic-butter-icing
Ingredients:

  • 250g butter or margarine
  • 500g icing sugar, sifted
  • 15ml boiling water
  • 5ml vanilla essence

Method:

  • Cream butter / margarine until light and fluffy
  • Stir in the icing sugar then add the boiling water and beat on high speed for about 10 min or until light and creamy
  • Use powder colouring if needed and beat well after adding.

Tips:

  • for black icing, replace some icing sugar with cocoa powder then add black colouring
  • for intense, bright colours, start with a large amount of colouring, mix and stand for 1 hour or overnight
  • for pure white icing, use Wooden spoon or Marvello margarine
  • add some full cream Greek yogurt to coloured or pure white icing to make it more palatable
  • add some essence to complement the colours used

Chocolate Ganache

chocolate ganache
Ingredients:

  • 500g chocolate – melted
  • 200ml cream – heated

Method

  • Mix together until smooth
  • Pour hot over cakes for a thin coating or stand to firm up for a thicker coating
  • Add 30g butter for more gloss in the final product
  • Use only 125ml cream for a basic truffle mix. Stand to chill in fridge then beat until fluffy, chill well
  • Shape into balls, refrigerate until firm, dip in melted chocolate and decorate

Useful tip: This is a perfect hot chocolate sauce to serve with ice-cream or use as a fondue base with fresh strawberries, banana pieces etc.

Royal Icing Recipe

royal icing
Ingredients

  • 1 egg white
  • 1 cup icing sugar – sifted
  • 10ml lemon juice

Method

  • Mix all ingredients together until smooth with a fork
  • Cover with clingwrap to prevent drying
  • Add more icing sugar if a firmer consistency is needed