Chocolate or Vanilla biscuits? cant choose. lets have both.

well i dont mean just plain chocolate or plain vanilla biscuits! NEVER!
these biscuits originate from a divine chocolate ship cookies recipe but instead of adding choc chips
i added a few of my favourite ingredients and you can do the same or stick with the ones i used:
fig and ginger in the vanilla biscuits and orange chocolate chunks in the chocolate biscuits

showing the ingredients in case you find yourself in the middle of rome with nowhere to go and nothing to do. you can visit Castroni's, its a specialty food store which imports food stuffs from around the globe. whenever i can find something in the italian supermarkets (like anything ginger related) i merrily skip off to Castroni's and browse around the wonderful things that smell of home.

the amount of bits i used for the vanilla biscuits

resist temptation to snack

the finished vanilla biscuits
see recipe at end of this post

 

The good stuff...I bought dutch processed cocoa for the first time in my life and i now realise just what ive been missing. all the schmansy recipes always said 'dutch processed cocoa powder' (in a posh british accent) and i usually just thought, meh. all i have is normal cocoa... i'll use that it cant be that different but wait! it is! its smoother and so much richer, you can smell the difference. or maybe you just smell the money you spent to get the precious package because it costs a pretty penny! but i dont think you will regret it

look how rich the dough is! maybe i will modify it for a cookie dough truffle recipe. doesn't that sound delicious, i think so!

the finished chocolate biscuit
scroll down for recipe

with a good cup of tea i could finish the whole plate myself!

Recipe 

Vanilla, ginger-fig biscuits and Chocolate chunk biscuits

both biscuits start with the same ingredients then we separate the mixture and add different things to get the different biscuits

Method:

recipe makes about 24 small biscuits

1) heat oven to 180' C

2) cream 1/3 cup butter with 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar. beat until white and fluffy

    Add 1 tsp vanilla esscence and 1 egg, beat well.

3) split the mixture equally between 2 bowls. we are now going to add the dry ingredients for each type of biscuit seperately. (if you are only making one type of biscuit then ignore this step and see the tip at the bottom)

4) for the Vanilla biscuits: add 1/2 cup flour, pinch baking soda, pinch salt.

    Stir until combined 

    then stir in 1/2 cup chopped goodies (i chopped up sugared ginger and dried figs which added a delicious

    caramel flavour)

5) for the Chocolate biscuits: in the other bowl with half the creamed mixture.

    Stir in 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup DUTCH PROCESSED cocoa :), pinch baking soda, pinch salt.

    Stir until combined.

    Then stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chunks (i roughly cut up about 50gr of dark orange chocolate mm..)

6) bake at 180'C for 10-12 min or as you like :)

TIP: if you only want to make one type of biscuit skip out step 3 and double the dry ingredients for the biscuit type you are making.

Happy baking!

Funky flower cupcakes

Its my birthday today so i thought id post some of the cheerful cupcakes i made for my sister

oh Clare so happy you returned to us! so here are some welcome back cupcakes for you to devour!

made using the black magic cake recipe i always seem to be using nowadays.. maybe i should try make it betterer hmm..
careful only to fill the cupcake cases half fill with batter because this rises Quite a lot. and butter-cream icing and my awesome new gel food coloring's that i got myself as a treat for the Italian days ahead, Rome is a vast cake decorating desert

so, i used buttercream icing and gel food colouring. using this icing tip and messing around a bit with different icing colours and patterns, these cupcakes are the result. also, if you can get your hands on a potters wheel or some similar apparatus that spins, it would be very useful because i find i need both hands on the icing bag, one to steady, one to squeeze!

this icing effect can also be used as a skirt kind of thing for a doll cupcake or ballerina, a plan is forming in my brain..

also a frangipani flower can work with petals like this.. another plan forms

clare, my darling beloved little sister, if the distance between us was measured in cupcakes , i would get incredibly fat or die trying x

Becky's cake of roses

a bunch of roses for a special friend who turned 21 the other day!
blogging is back on track now since our move back to rome and getting internet
up again etc etc. so i am going to be adding the last few posts from
south african baking that i never got around to while i was there... in the next few days..hopefully.
my kingdom for adsl!

these two-tone buttercream roses are piped using the icing tip from the Carnation Cupcakes post.
its a bit more complicated than piping individual roses but well worth the sweat!

what a happy face! haha, it was early in the morning! so. this cake is made using
the hersheys black magic cake recipe.
then using buttercream icing slightly ice the cake chocolate for the bottom half,
vanilla for the top half and choc icing in between the two layers. this will make sure
the piped buttercream you are about to ice does not get fall off the cake.
and as you can see i iced the stems in lumo green buttercream (electric green gel food colouring)
i used a giant cupcake shaped baking tin which looks like this

got this pic from here but its basically the same tin i used. its cool hey!

then started icing the roses, one by one and it gets quite tricky

voila

made a bow and ribbon out of coloured plastic icing
and stuck it together with water and buttercream 

piped details in buttercream icing with this handy little gadget a friend gave me for christmas.
its like a silicone icing syringe and you can get it from At Home stores in south africa

and there you have a beautiful bunch of roses
and a yummy chocolate cake when you get tired of looking at it!

Happy birthday Bex!

Carnation cupcakes

Cupcakes anyone? these came about because it was sunday and i knew we would have many people come to visit us, but  more importantly, the new puppies we have. they are drawing crowds from far and near. and everyone needs a snack when they arrive so what better than a chocolate cupcake! there were no complaints and by nightfall, all 30 cupcakes had disappeared.

wouldn't you come to see this?!

yummy black magic chocolate cake cupcakes topped off with bright pink buttercream icing flowers
makes about 30 cupcakes in white paper muffin cases. make sure to only fill the cases half full with batter because this recipe rises quite a bit.  

to ice these babies you need the buttercream icing shown in the link, a piping bag which you can make from baking paper and a very special icing tip which is shown in the photo below.

shaped like a teardrop (i have size 124), the icing tip pipes a variety of flower petals. you can also make beautiful roses  using this icing tip. see my rose cupcake post  Here (scroll down that post for the roses). these are the other things i used like the robertsons rose pink colouring for the icing, the silver balls (can be bought from Pick'n Pay) and edible glitter (specialist cake shop)

the cake stand is quite popular in South african stores at the moment, you can get them at Mr Price home, At Home and  other home stores. and they make for great cupcake presentation on the coffee table

Coconut pineapple cake

the great thing about having christmas and holidays in december is that its summer and along with all the good things that brings, there are so many delicious fruits in season. in south africa we have access to such a variety of affordable fruit! its the cherry on top of holidays.

so, a light and fluffy coconut and pineapple cake drenched in pineapple syrup made with fresh coconut and topped with whipped cream and strawberries... best summer dessert, ever!  i used real coconut and the milk that was in it. its up to you but i would go for the real deal if you can, its worth it. you could also use real pineapple but i used the canned version and the juice that is in the can as well.
get an elf to help you with the coconut because it is quite a mission. and look how happy he is to do it!

ahhh  fresh whipped cream...

Coconut Pine-apple cake:

best served fresh but delicious cold the next day

Cake ingredients:

440gr   can crushed pineapple (or any canned pineapple form but then you must put it through a food 
           processor or stick blender until it is a pulp and not chunky anymore)

160 gr butter

3/4 cup castor sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup self raising flour (or 1 1/2 cup normal flour and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)

1/2 cup fresh coconut, grated *see coconut opening instructions at bottom of this post

Sauce ingredients:

- pineapple juice (leftover from draining the canned pineapple, or 1 cup pineapple juice if you used fresh pineapple)

- The drained coconut milk from the coconut

- 2 table spoons castor sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

- tsp fresh lemon juice

- 1/4 cup butter

Method:

1. preheat oven to 180'C

2. grease, flour and line with baking paper a 22 inch spring form cake tin

3.  strain tinned pineapple and keep the liquid aside, for the sauce

4. cream butter and sugar until white and fluffy. add eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg.

    (this is where the fluffy texture of your cake is born so the better you beat it, the fluffier and lighter your cake will   

     become. if you do not have an electric mixer, good luck to your arms!)

5. fold in the flour, grated coconut and shredded pineapple. do not over mix on this step. (dont forget if you are using 

    normal flour instead of self raising that you must add the baking powder now too.)

6. spoon into tin and bake at 180 for 50min or until skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean and not  

    gooey.

Sauce method: 

1. put pineapple juice, coconut milk, castor sugar and butter in small saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. stir for 3-4 min then remove from heat

3. stir in vanilla essence and lemon juice

4.  remove cake from tin and put on rack to cool, put tray under the rack. poke holes in the cake while its still hot and pour hot sauce over the cake. let it cool completely before spreading fresh whipped cream on top and sprinkling with fresh strawberries.

Serve immediately and enjoy


Note: this is a one layer cake that is about 5cm high. you can double the recipe and make it double layered with a filling in-between if you like. But, it is a very rich cake already so be careful not to make the filling too decadent.

mm yes thats good!

How to open a fresh coconut:
1. buying a coconut: when you shake the coconut you should be able to faintly hear the milk sloshing around inside. this is a fresh coconut and the coconut flesh inside will not be dry.

2. de-hair the coconut. when it is bald, look around the top of it, there should be 3 distinct dips, scrape around there until you find three 5mm brown circles. these are the weak points in the shell. take a sharp object like a screw driver and stab the coconut into one of the circles, use a rock to bash it in if it is a bit hard. make sure the screwdriver goes right through the white part of the coconut. widen the hole a bit with the screw driver. repeat, making a second puncture hole in another circle. you should have two holes that go right through the white part and into the coconut.

3. in a glass, drain the milk from the coconut (if bits have got into it then sieve it before using)
   if there is only a little bit of milk its okay

4. when the coconut is drained, stand it with puncture holes up. take a rock or hammer or smashing device and using moderate violence smash the coconut apart. (you can see how violently mine was opened)

5. carefully use a knife to pry the white fleshy part away from the shell. it should come off in chunks with a brown lining still.

6. using normal grater, grate only the white flesh of each piece of coconut.

Eat the rest of the coconut delighting that your primal instincts of sourcing food are still intact! and consoling yourself with the fact that should the situation arise, you would be able to survive on a desert island!