Maple & Blueberry Cheesecake

Another week, another birthday cheesecake. But this one is very different to the last one, it's baked and it happens to be gluten free. I'm not experienced at all in gluten-free baking, but my sister in law can't have gluten and she loves cheesecake and requested a blueberry cheesecake (same as last year!). It isn't the prettiest of cheesecake (my baked cheesecakes always seem to turn out kinda fugly), but it's really, really tasty. The base is made with gluten free gingernut biscuits (which you could always replace with regular ginger biscuits), the filling is a baked ricotta cheesecake with maple syrup and vanilla bean and I made a thick blueberry topping similar to a pie filling.

No innards shots as this is a birthday dessert, but you all know what the inside of a cheesecake looks like. It's the same recipe as this strawberry ricotta cheesecake, with a few tweaks. The ricotta keeps the filling light and fluffy, which is good since I usually find baked cheesecakes too dense for my liking.

I nearly had another cheesecake disaster, can you believe it? The latch on my springform tin broke off while I was trying to carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin, and the tin was jammed shut and refusing to spring loose. I had to pry the thing apart with pliers. Luckily the cheesecake is in one piece and ready for dinner. Hopefully I'll be back soon blogging about something other than a cheesecake recipe!

Maple & Blueberry Cheesecake

(makes one 20cm cheesecake, serves 8-10)

For the cheesecake:

250g (1 packet) Ginger Nut biscuits (ginger snaps for those in the US, homemade recipe here), I used store-bought gluten free ones from Coles this time

80g butter (about 3/4 stick butter), melted

330g (11.6oz) cream cheese, softened

500g ricotta (17.6oz) ricotta

2/3 cup maple syrup

1 tbsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or scraped seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)

4 eggs

1.5 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1.5 tbsp water

1. Preheat oven to 165°C (330°F) (150°C(300°F) for fan-forced), grease and line the base of a 20cm round springform tin.  
2. Place ginger nut biscuits in a food processor and pulse until they are broken down to even crumbs. Add butter and pulse to combined. 
3. Press into the base of your prepared tin and  bake in oven for about 10 minutes, take care that it does not burn. 
4. Prepare the filling; place cream cheese, ricotta, maple syrup, lemon zest and vanilla bean in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth. 
5. Mix water and cornflour together in a separate bowl until smooth and then add the mixture and the eggs to the food processor bowl, pulse until combined. (If you don't have a processor, beat cream cheese and ricotta until smooth and fluffy in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high. Add the rest of the ingredients and then beat again until smooth.) 
6. Pour mixture over the chilled base and bake for an hour. The edges should be just golden and the centre might still be wobbly. Do not remove cheesecake from oven, turn off the heat and keep the door closed and allow the cheesecake to rest in the oven for another hour. Then remove from the oven and sit in tin on a wire rack until completely cool.

For the blueberry topping:

150g (2 punnets/5oz) blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) + 2 tsp cold water

1. Place blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir over heat until sugar dissolves. 
2. Mix cornflour and water together in a separate small bowl then add to the saucepan and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. When cheesecake and filling are cool, spread mixture carefully over the top of the cheesecake. Run a sharp knife around the inside edge of the pan and then carefully remove from the springform tin. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Strawberry Cheesecake (with Speculoos Crust)

Don't let this cheesecake fool you with its prettiness. It's EVIL I tell you! This will forever be known to me and Asian Gaga as the Cheesecake Disaster of 2014. It was close (but not quite) as devastating as the Trifle Disaster of 2012. I've decided that my birthday dessert attempts for Asian Gaga must be cursed. They've resulted in some of the biggest fails in my recent baking history.

So why was this such a fail? It looks fairly good in the photos, doesn't it? Well it was all fine while I was taking these photos, and then slowly I started to realise that it hadn't set properly and the whole thing was starting to melt into a puddle in front of me. In a panic I rushed to try and get it back onto a plate, but the stupid (but gorgeous) cake stand I was taking the photos with doesn't have a flat base, so the crust had split into four or five pieces which made it impossible to lift up, and there was a bloody super high lip on the edge of the stand so I couldn't just slide the damn thing off! ARGH! By this point there were smears of cheesecake everywherrrreee and the strawberries had started sliding off the edges and I was starting to freak out. I eventually got it on to a flat plate (with a lot of swearing). And then I realised that because it was totally not set, the sides were probably going to collapse even if I put it back the fridge. So I had to move it again into a cake tin to hold the sides up. This was a MESS. The cake was threatening to completely fall apart. Strawberries were rolling on to the ground. I was getting hysterical. AND THE TIN WAS TOO BIG. So I had to move it AGAIN. 

By the end of it there was cheesecake all over me and the kitchen and about 3 different tins because I couldnt match up my springform tins with their matching bases (I have a lot of them). It was awful. My husband actually fled the house to go shopping in the middle of my meltdown, because he knows better than to be anywhere near the vicinity of one of these disasters. I felt so bad because the cheesecake actually tasted really great, and I had this feeling while I was making it (I was sorta loosely making it up as I went along) that I hadn't added enough gelatine but I was on the cold and flu meds and kinda out of it so I just kept going (I also exploded a ton of melted butter all over the inside of my microwave, I'm just that good). I knew better, but I still managed to completely stuff it up.

The cheesecake somehow still tasted great, even though it was a little melty as it came back to room temp. If I had the time I would have just started from scratch again, but Asian Gaga was already in her car and on the way when this was all happening. Of course she was a dutiful best friend and ate it all anyway, told me it was great and ignored the smears of cheesecake on the floor. The cheesecake itself is a chilled Strawberry Cheesecake with Strawberry Jelly on top and Fresh Strawberries. The crust is made with speculoos (aka Biscoff cookies for those of you in the US). I was so excited to find the Lotus brand in Coles (on special!) and bought about 10 packets, I'm not kidding. These lovely spiced biscuits make an excellent cheesecake crust that match so well with the strawberry and I really recommend you try it if you can find the biscuits. But if you can't get your hands on them, ginger nut biscuits/ginger snaps will work well with this flavour combo too. Anyway, since I'm still completely happy with the flavour of the actual cheesecake, I'm going to share the recipe with you with some modifications so that you can avoid any of my pain (I've more than doubled the gelatine amount so it should be nicely set - if you make this recipe please let me know if it is too firm or not firm enough!).

Strawberry Cheesecake (with Speculoos/Biscoff Crust)

(makes one 7 or 8 inch cheesecake)

For the crust:
250g (about 9oz) speculoos (aka Biscoff cookies), I used Lotus brand (you can substitute with ginger nuts/snaps or any other biscuit of your choice)
75g (about 5 tbsp) butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and line the base of an 18cm (7inch) or 20cm (8 inch) springform cake tin with baking paper (I used 18cm). 
2. Place biscuits in a food processor and blend until crushed to small crumbs, then add melted butter and blend until just combined.
3. Press mixture in an even layer on the base of the prepared tin.
4. Bake in oven for about 7-10 mins, make sure it does not burn.

For the strawberry mixture:

400g (about 1.5 punnets/14oz) fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled

1/3 cup (about 65g) sugar

3 tsp lemon juice + grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1 vanilla bean pod, split and seeds scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste)

4 tsp powdered gelatine

1. Place gelatine in a small bowl with 3 tsp of cold water and set aside to soften.
2. Place strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest and vanilla bean pod and seeds into a medium saucepan on medium heat.
3. Simmer until sugar is completely dissolved and fruit softens, about 10 minutes.
4. Add gelatine and whisk mixture over heat until gelatine is completely dissolved. 
5. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Place 1 cup of mixture aside to use for topping later, the remaining amount will be added to the cheesecake.

For the cheesecake:

3/4 cup thickened/heavy cream

400g (14oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (100g) sugar (preferably caster/superfine)

Remaining strawberry mixture from above, should be just over 1 cup

Optional: Extra fresh strawberries to decorate, about 2 punnets

1. Place cream in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until it reaches stiff peaks (take care not to overwhip). Place cream in fridge until ready to use.
2. Place cream cheese and sugar in another large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until smooth and fluffy. 
3. With the mixer on low, gradually add the remaining strawberry mixture from above (making sure you leave 1 cup behind for topping) to the cream cheese mixture. Beat until completely combined.
4. Gently fold in in whipped cream until smooth. 
5. Pour mixture over prepared crust and chill in the fridge until just set, about 2 hours (or about half an hour in the freezer).
6. Reheat remaining 1 cup of strawberry mixture in saucepan until it is pourable, then pour over top of chilled cheesecake. Return to the fridge to set overnight.
7. Run a sharp knife under hot water to warm it up, then carefully run knife around the inside edge of the cake tin. Carefully remove from springform tin. Top with extra fresh hulled strawberries. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Strawberry Jam & Brown Butter Melting Moments

I know, it's ANOTHER brown butter recipe. I'm sorry. I'm addicted! The call of that golden, nutty, delicious elixir cannot be denied. This time it's in biscuit form. I have a special place in my heart for melting moments (also known as yoyos).  They are one of the first things I ever learnt how to bake, and they never disappoint. Melt in your mouth shortbread biscuits sandwiched with a buttery icing? You can't go wrong.

These melting moments are made with loads of browned butter, and the icing is mixed with strawberry jam to make that lovely pink shade. If you have read my blog before, you know my fondness for using strawberry jam as an icing flavouring. It's a really quick and easy way to get a fantastic strawberry flavour into an icing with very little work.

It's like the most girly version of milk and cookies ever. Just in time for Mother's Day! These biscuits were extremely well received by my friends and family. I brought the whole batch to my brother's house expecting them to have a few so that I could take most of them to work the next day but we sat down with a pot of tea and destroyed about 15 of them in one go. So I'm warning you now, they are super, super moreish. One will not be enough!

Strawberry Jam & Brown Butter Melting Moments (Shortbread Biscuits)

(adapted from this Gourmet Traveller recipe, makes about 22-24 biscuits)

For the brown butter:

250g (about 2 sticks + 2 tbsp) butter for the biscuits (I used salted, add 1/2 tsp salt to flour mixture if using unsalted)

+ an additional 100g (7 tbsp) butter for the icing

Prepare the brown butter ahead of time as you will need to chill it, you can do the two amounts listed above in the same pan and separate them later, or brown each amount separately:

1. Place butter in a small saucepan on low-medium heat and stir until it melts completely.
2. Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, about 5 minutes longer (or as long as it takes to turn golden brown). Take care not to burn (it will continue to brown even after you remove it from the heat, so take it off early).
3. Scrape the melted butter and browned bits into small bowl and chill until solidified (about half an hour in the freezer, an hour or so in the fridge). When ready to make cake, remove from the fridge long enough that the butter is soft enough to be beaten with an electric mixer.

For the brown butter biscuits:

250g (weight before browning) brown butter, softened (prepared above)

80g (about 2/3 cup) icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste or scraped seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod

75 g (½ cup) cornflour/cornstarch

225 g (about 1½ cups) plain/all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Place brown butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until light and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla and beat until just combined.
4. Sift flours over butter mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir to form a soft dough.
5. Keeping your hands lightly floured, form level ½ tablespoons of mixture into balls, then place 5cm (2 inch) apart on baking paper-lined oven trays, flatten slightly to 3.5cm (1.5 inch) rounds, then, using a floured fork, press tines gently into dough rounds, to create grooves.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly coloured. Allow biscuits to cool on trays for 5 minutes, before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

For the strawberry jam icing:

100g (weight before browning) brown butter, softened (prepared above)

275g (about 2 and 1/4 cups) icing (confectioner's sugar)

3 tbsp strawberry jam 

1. Place butter and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on low until just combined, then beat on high until smooth and fluffy.
2. Add strawberry jam and beat until combined. Icing should be soft enough to be spooned or piped, but stiff enough to hold its shape.
3. Spoon or pipe mixture between cooled biscuits. Serve immediately, or can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for several days.

Matcha Custard Cake

I've had this wonderful looking Magic Custard Cake recipe on my todo list ever since White on Rice Couple blogged about it. I mean, how can you resist something called Magic Custard Cake? It sounded so interesting, a batter that separates into a top fluffy cake layer and a middle custard textured layer.

I finally got around to trying the recipe this weekend, but with the added twist of flavouring it with matcha. I looooove anything green tea flavoured and I had a severe hankering for a green tea dessert this weekend. And since I totally chickened/lazied out of my original plan to try making one of those nutso matcha crepe layer cakes, this was the next best option.

Not going to lie, there is definitely something magical about this cake recipe. I had my doubts as I was making it because the method is quite unusual, but I followed the instructions closely and made sure all my ingredients were at the right temperature and it turned out just like I hoped. A lovely soft and cakey top layer, with a wobbly, custard-like layer underneath. And with a good, strong flavour of matcha.

I like my matcha strong so if you decide to try this version you are welcome to adjust the amount of tea powder to your taste. As the original recipe recommends, it's important all your ingredients is at the right temperatures when you add them too the batter, especially the milk. I think the matcha flavour works particularly well with this dessert; the slightly chewy bottom layer almost reminds me of mochi so the whole thing seems very well matched.

Ummm how cute is the new addition to my teacup & saucer collection? Thanks Karen! She knows the way to my heart. My teacup collections is getting a little out of control. This dessert might not be for everyone, I know some of my friends who aren't familar with green tea desserts were a little unsure of it. The original recipe and the chocolate version would probably be more up their alley. But as a matcha lover, I couldn't get enough of it. It's a perfect afternoon treat to be enjoyed with a cup of tea.

Matcha (Japanese Green Tea) Magic Custard Cake

(adapted from White on Rice Couple and this original recipe here)

1 cup (140g) plain/all-purpose flour

1-2 tbsp matcha powder (Japanese green tea powder), you can adjust to taste

113g (1/2 cup) butter

2 cups (500ml) milk

4 eggs, separated and at room temp

4 drops white vinegar

1 1/2 cups (180g) pure icing (confectioner's) sugar

1 Tablespoon (15ml) Water

To dust: 2 tbsp icing (confectioner's) sugar + 1 tsp matcha powder, sifted together

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C(325°F). Grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) square baking pan/dish with baking paper.
2. Sift flour and matcha powder together in a medium bowl. (I like my matcha flavour very strong so if you prefer it milder then only use 1 tbsp of powder)
3. Melt the butter and set aside to slightly cool. Warm the milk to lukewarm and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vinegar to stiff peaks with an electric mixer. Set aside.
5. In a separate large mixing bowl beat the egg yolks and sugar until light with an electric mixer. Mix in the melted butter and the tablespoon of water for about 2 minutes or until evenly incorporated.
6. Using a hand whisk, mix in the flour until evenly incorporated. Slowly hand whisk in the milk and until everything is well mixed.
7. Fold in the egg whites with your hand whisk, 1/3 at a time. Repeat until all of the egg whites are folded in. The egg whites will appear curdled and lumpy at first but keep gently mixing with your whisk until all the larger lumps are incorporated.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the top is golden. (Take care not to overbake, middle should still be a bit wobbly) Allow cake to completely cool (you can place it in the fridge after 15 minutes to cool it quicker) before cutting and then dust with icing sugar/matcha mixture.
9. Can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for several days, best served at room temperature.

Mini Blue Ombre Cake with Sprinkles

Just a short (and sweet!) post this week. I haven't been feeling super inspired to bake over the Easter break, and I had a few baking fails as well so that put me right off. But I did pull out one of my favourite cakes, the Ombré Cake with Sprinkles, because today is my good friend Tomred's birthday. You may remember him from the following birthday cakes: Mr. Gummy Bear Cake, Mr. Tim Tam Cake and Mr. Rolo Brownie Cake. Wow, he's gotten some pretty good cakes in the past.

Unfortunately in my super lazy state this weekend (and with closed supermarkets), I had to make do with whatever I had in my pantry. So I decided to keep it simple and pretty, a 'naked' blue ombré cake with vanilla bean icing and lemon curd filling, topped with rainbow sprinkles (innards shot here). It's a spin on my most favourite Purple Ombré Sprinkles Cake. I made a smaller version this time, using my new favourite small 6 inch cake tins. They are seriously the best for layered cakes, I love the tall, skinny cakes I can make now. You can also use regular sized tins, you'll just end up with a shorter, wider cake like the original ombré cake. I was super nervous about making this a naked cake, because you can see EVERY single flaw and I am a messy baker who likes to cover my mistakes with loads of icing. I also had to make the difficult decision of trimming off all the edges of my cakes so you could really see the pretty blue gradient of colour in each of the layers, which made it a lot messier looking than I would have preferred. It's not perfect by any means, but it's not bad looking and more importantly it tasted great. I just love the great visual impact of the ombré and the sprinkles together. It's simple but really effective.

Blue Ombré Cake with Sprinkles

(makes a tall 4-layer 15cm (6") cake or a shorter 4-layer 18cm (7") cake)

Note: if you want a tall 7" or 8" cake you can increase all ingredient amounts by 1.5 and adjust baking time

For the cake:

355g (about 2.5 cups) plain/all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter, otherwise skip)
225ml (about 1 cup minus 1 tbsp) milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
350g (about 1 & 3/4 cups) sugar (granulated or caster)
225g (2 sticks) butter, softened
4 eggs
Blue food colour (I used Wilton royal blue icing gel colour)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease four 15cm (6 inch) (or 18cm (7 inch), cake will be shorter) round cake tins. Line the base of the tins with baking paper. 
2. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug.
3. Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until blended. Increase speed to high and beat well until very pale and creamy, at least 5 minutes. 
4. Reduce speed to medium low, add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (I did it by adding 1/4 of of the dry mixture followed by 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time). Beat until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with a spatula. 
6. Split mixture equally into four bowls (I did this by weighing my batter first). Gradually fold in a very small amount of colouring to the first bowl so it lightly tints it blue (if you add too much don't worry, just use that as one of the darker layers instead).
7. Add slightly more colouring to the next bowl, and repeat with remaining bowls so that you end up with an even gradient of colour between them. Try your best not to over mix the batter but it is quite forgiving to being mixed a lot.
8. Pour mixtures into prepared tins and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the outside is golden, about 30-35 minutes (will vary depending on your cake tin size). Take cake not to overbake or cake will be dry. 
9. Cool in tins for 15 minutes, then carefully turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. Keep cakes chilled in fridge until you are ready to assemble. Can be stored in an airtight container overnight if you want to prep the cakes a day ahead.

For the icing:

225g (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

400g (about 2 & 2/3 cups) icing/confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or scraped seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod

1. Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth and pale. 
3. Add vanilla and continue beating until light and fluffy.
4. Place mixture in a large piping bag with a wide round tip

To assemble:

Optional: lemon curd (using this recipe)

1. Trim the tops of each cake layer to ensure that they are level and equally sized. (I also decided to trim the edges of my cakes to expose the colour on the outside, but you can skip this step as it is quite messy and fiddly)
2. Place the darkest layer on your cake stand or plate. Pipe a ring of icing just inside the edge of the cake and continue piping circles of icing inside this. I left a centre circle empty, about 5cm wide, to spoon lemon curd into the middle of each layer. 
3. Smooth top of icing slightly with a small spatula, then sandwich the next darkest layer of cake on top. Repeat with remaining layers and icing.
4. Using a spatula, spread a thick layer of icing over the top layer of cake. Smooth icing with spatula, then top with rainbow sprinkles. Decorate as you wish with bunting, candles etc.
5. Keep cake chilled in fridge, remove 30 minutes before serving to allow it to come back to room temperature.

Giant Chocolate Speckled Egg Cake

IT'S A GIANT SPECKLED EGG! AND IT'S CAKE! Can I just say again how much I love Easter baking? It gives me an excuse to buy a ton of Easter eggs, and make crazy desserts with them. My house is Easter Egg City right now. I had to buy a huge bucket of speckled crispy M&Ms for these photos and now I get to eat them all muahahahahahahaha. I may have eaten a little too much sugar today.

Isn't it glorious? I was 100% inspired by this amazing speckled egg cake on The Cake Blog that is so beautiful and perfect. I wanted to re-use the speckle technique but I tried it on an actual egg-shaped cake, based on this pin of a recipe from the 1950s that is AWESOME. My speckling technique is obviously nowhere near as good as the original cake, but it will have to do. Added bonus; the inside of the cake is chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It's only right that an Easter egg-shaped cake is filled with chocolate.

I'm so glad that I didn't go with my original plan to create a whole, standing up 3D egg shaped cake. That thing would have been a total bitch to cover in icing. It was already fairly difficult to get this as smooth as I wanted, I spent a good hour or so smoothing out the top surface. The good thing is, you're covering the thing in speckles anyway so it hides most of the imperfections.

The chocolate cake is the trusty Devil's Food Cake from David Lebovitz, I use it all the time and it's pretty much foolproof. The icing is just regular butter icing (with chocolate added to the middle layers), tinted with blue on the outside. I'm loving the pastel blue hue of the cake, it's so eye catching and what drew me to the original cake in the first place. I do realise that this cake has a LOT of icing, but it's worth it to get the full effect of the 3D egg-shape. The cake itself is really not very sweet because of all the cocoa powder, so it isn't overwhelmed by all the icing.

I even brought back the helpful progress photos below so that it's slightly easier for you to see how I made it (and because it's too darn confusing to explain what I did). Okay so tips for getting this cake right: don't rush it, it takes time. Your cakes need to be COMPLETELY COOL or chilled before you start cutting into them or they will crumble and fall apart. Your icing needs to be stiff enough to hold everything together, or it will fall over when you stand your cake pieces on their side. You need to chill it again after you sandwich the chocolate icing between the layers, before you cut it into the egg shape. Don't be afraid to carve into your cake to get the right shape, I know it seems wasteful but if you want to get the egg shape right you will need to cut away the right amount from the edges of your cake. And make sure the cake is completely chilled hard before you cover it in blue icing. A small offset spatula, regularly run under hot water will make icing the outside a LOT easier. Oh and don't be dumb like me and buy the softest, finest-bristled brush to do your speckling with, it won't work. You need one with fairly stiff bristles so that it's easy to flick.

Giant Chocolate Speckled Egg Cake

(cake recipe adapted from David Lebovitz's Devil's Food Cake)

For the chocolate cake:

9 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups (about 210g) cake flour (not self-raising, I just used plain flour and replaced 3 tbsp with cornflour/cornstarch)

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarb (baking) soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
115g (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used salted butter and reduced the 1/2 tsp salt above to 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 cups (about 300g) caster sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole or low-fat milk

1. Butter and line the base of a two 8-inch (20cm) round cake tins and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, salt, bicarb soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Using an electric mixer with a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until fully incorporated.
5. Mix together the water and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then add the milk mixture. 
6. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients until smooth. Split batter mixture between the two prepared tins. 
7. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in tin about 5 mins, then place on a wire rack and cool completely before icing (you can also chill your cakes overnight, this will make them easier to handle and carve).

For the chocolate icing filling:

100g butter, removed from the fridge 30 minutes before starting
150g chocolate, melted (I used milk, you can also use semi-sweet or dark)
3 cups icing sugar (about 350g), sifted
1 tbsp milk

1. Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth and pale. 
3. Add melted chocolate and milk and beat until smooth. (You can adjust the amount of milk you add to get the icing to the texture you want, you want it to be smooth but not runny) 
4. Using a long serrated knife, level the top of your cakes so that they have a flat even surface. 
5. Stack the cakes on top of each other and cut them in two, slightly off centre, about 1.5cm off the centre so that you have two smaller pieces and two larger pieces (see top left photo)
6. Using an offset spatula, spread icing on the bottom of one of the larger pieces, then sandwich it with the second larger piece and stand it on its side in the middle of your cake stand or plate. Spread more icing on the base of the two smaller pieces and place each half on either side of the large pieces, so you have the two larger pieces in the middle and the two smaller pieces on the outside (see top right photo). If you have having issues with the pieces sliding or falling over then your icing and cake are not stiff enough so place both in the fridge to allow them to stiffen up a bit before continuing.
7. Place cake in the fridge to chill until it hardens up, at least 1 hour, then use your knife to trim the outer edges to resemble an egg shape (it needs to be cut slightly narrower and lower on one end and wider and higher on the other end).
8. Return to the fridge while you prepare the outer icing.

For the outer icing:

300g butter, removed from the fridge 30 minutes before starting

600g (about 4 cups) icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Blue/teal food colouring (I used Wilton's gel icing colors)

To decorate: 3 tsp vanilla extract + 2 tsp cocoa powder (you can also add water if mixture is too thick), to speckle cake

1. Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth and pale.
3. Carefully add colouring little by little until you reach your desired colour. 
4. Use an offset spatula to crumb coat your cake with one layer of icing. Chill for half an hour.
5. Cover entire cake with another layer of icing. Use an offset spatula that is regularly run under hot water to achieve a smoother finish for your egg-shaped cake. Chill again until ready to speckle.
6. Mix vanilla and cocoa powder together in a small bowl. Cover your speckle area with lots of baking paper to protect it as speckles with go everywhere. Use a new/clean paintbrush with fairly stiff bristles and dip the tip into the mixture and practice flicking the bristles with your finger tips to create the speckle effect (more detailed instructions and photos here), before moving to the actual cake. 
7. Keep cake chilled until ready to serve, and then remove from fridge 30 mins before serving to allow cake to soften slightly.

Hot Cross Bun Eclairs

It surprises me how much I love Easter baking. It's a very close second behind Christmas as my favourite holiday to bake for. There's just so many fun ideas to play around with! For some reason I've never gotten into Halloween baking, but I'm all about the Easter bunnies and eggs and hot cross buns.

So here's my latest creation that is likely to make traditional French pastry chefs curse me for messing with their lovely desserts. A hot cross bun flavoured eclair! A hot cross eclair. Looks like an eclair, tastes like a hot cross bun. It is quite delicious. And quite cute too.

I flavoured the pastry cream with plenty of spices and mixed in a few sultanas, topped them with a cinnamon white chocolate glaze, white chocolate crosses and currants. I couldn't make up my mind between doing them as regular shaped eclairs or round profiteroles so they looked more like hot cross buns, so I did both! I think I still prefer the regular ones though. Anyway, this is a super impressive and light Easter dessert that will impress anyone. Don't be intimidated by the thought of making choux pastry, it's very straightforward as long as you make sure to bake your choux for long enough so they are completely dried out.

Hot Cross Bun Eclairs

(choux pastry and pastry cream recipe adapted from this recipe)

For the hot cross bun pastry cream:

1 cup milk

4 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch

200g (about 1 cup) sugar (I used caster/superfine)

2 large eggs

4 large egg yolks

4 tbsp (60g) butter

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp mixed spice/allspice

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg or ground nutmeg

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

Optional: 1/2 cup sultanas/raisins

1. Dissolve cornflour in 1/4 cup of milk in a medium bowl. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a large saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat. 
2. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook. 
3. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream into the saucepan, continuing whisking.
4. Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter, cinnamon, mixed spice, nutmeg and vanilla. Strain cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl, then fold in sultanas. 
5. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use, at least two hours or overnight.

For the choux pastry (makes about 18-20 eclairs):

3/4 cup (about 175 ml) water

6 tbsp (85 g) salted butter (or add 1/4 pinch salt if unsalted butter)

1 tbsp sugar

1 cup (about 140g) plain/all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

For egg wash (optional): 1 egg and pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F). Line two baking sheets with baking paper. 
2. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally.
3. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.
4. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
5. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly. Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.
6. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip. Pipe choux about 2-3cm/1 inch apart on the baking sheets. For long eclairs, I piped them about 10cm long and 2.5 cm wide and for profiteroles I piped them about 3.5cm wide.
7. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain to be smoothly curved on top. Brush tops with egg wash if you wish (I totally forgot this step, oops).
8. Bake the choux at 220°C (425°F) until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 180°C (350°F) and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 25 minutes more. (You may need to lower the temp 10 degrees or so if using fan-forced or if your choux are browning too much.) Note: It is very important that you ensure your choux are completely dried before removing them, if you remove them from the oven and they start to deflate or soften at all, return them straight to the oven as they are not dried out enough and will go soggy if filled. It will take longer than you think.
9. Remove to a rack and cool. Can be stored in an airtight container overnight.

For the glaze:

120g good quality white chocolate

4 tbsp thickened or pure/heavy or whipping cream

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Toppings: 100g good quality white chocolate melted, currants

1. Place pastry cream in a piping bag with a tip large enough to allow the sultanas through. 
2. Slice horizontally into one side of each eclair, leaving the other side attached. 
3. Pipe pastry cream into the hollow of each pastry and chill filled pastries while you prepare the glaze.
4. In a small saucepan, heat chocolate, cinnamon and cream on low heat, stirring until smooth.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.
5. Dip the top of each filled eclair into the melted mixture, allowing the excess to drip off. You can also smooth it with an offset spatula if needed. Place on a wire rack to set.
6. Melt the additional white chocolate for the topping, place in a piping bag with a narrow tip. Pipe white crosses over the top of each eclair, then place currants over the top of each one. 
7. Place eclairs in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to serve.