Christmas Cake

It's Christmas time, mistletoe and wine and I'm not home  for Christmas this year. Sad face. Tosakanth is sad. Christmas is my favourite time of year to be in Sri Lanka because my family and the extended jingband all go for a Christmas breakfast at a family friends place. It's the bestest thing ever. AuntyChurchVillage makes the best breudher ever ever. I personally hate breudher because it's always really dry and full of raisins and stuff that I don't like. But this lady's breudher is to die for. I look forward to this day the whole year and I eat till I pop. Second most awesomest thing about Christmas at home is Christmas dinner at my friend BigMommaR's place. I've been attending her Christmas dinners now for about 6 years I think and it's so much fun. A bunch of fun fellas having homemade Christmas dinner and then afterwards playing havoc with  firecrackers. Our favourite thing to do is sweep the bambara chuckra (the spinny wheely thing) with a broom as far as we can using our hockey skills. best times. sigh.  So anyway, this time I won't be enjoying any of those fun stuff because I'm all alone in Sydney. To numb the pain (and also because I love throwing parties) I decided to have a Christmas Jingle at my place for all those orphaned loners who are in Sydney with me. I wanted to do something authentically Christmassy for dessert. So decided to make Christmas pudding. My mother always fusses and says what a painful task it is because it takes so long to make and all the ingredients are really expensive and stuff. But I think I managed to do a super job of it. although I did want to make pudding and not cake, once I had finished making the batter I decided to bake it instead and make it a cake because steaming it would take forever and I didn't have forever. But O.M.G. the cake is divine. It is soooo moist and rich that I myself am very impressed by how it turned out. 

Your Challenge: This cake is all you will want for Christmas. Trust me. Mariah Carey is lying to you.

  

 

             

Ready --- Steady --- Bake!

Christmas Cake
(Serves 10)

INGREDIENTS: 

100g sultanas 

100g raisins 
100g currants

50g glace cherries, chopped 
50g candied peel
50g ginger preserve, chopped

50g mixed glace fruits. chopped
50g pineapple, Chopped
50g chopped nuts (almonds, cashew, hazelnuts, walnuts etc)

125ml (1/2 cup) brandy 

125g butter, softened 

155g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar 
50g white sugar

60ml (1/4 cup) golden syrup 
30ml Honey

2 eggs 

125g good quality dark cooking chocolate, melted 

75g (1/2 cup) plain flour, sifted 

55g (3/4 cup) breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/2 teaspoon allspice 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tbs brandy, extra, to serve

 

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to180°C.

2. Line cake pan with baking paper. (two 9-inch cake pans)

3. Combine the fruits (sultanas, raisins, currants, candied peel, pineapple, ginger, cherries, nuts and glace fruit) in a glass or ceramic bowl. 

4. Place brandy in a heatproof, microwave-safe jug. Cover with plastic wrap and heat on High/800watts/100% for 1-2 minutes or until hot. 

5. Pour brandy over fruit mixture and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes to macerate.

6. Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar, honey and golden syrup in a large bowl until thick and pale. 

7. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

8. Add the melted chocolate and beat well

9. Add the batter into the fruit mixture, and stir until well combined. 

10. Add flour, breadcrumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, and stir until well combined.

11. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tray and bake for about 35 minutes until toothpick comes out dry. 

12. serve with a brandy butter cream cheese icing.

Note: if you want to make Christmas pudding instead

Cover with 2 layers of baking paper. Tie unwaxed white kitchen string under the rim of the basin to secure. Cook on Defrost/350watts/30% for 20-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the pudding comes out clean. Drizzle with extra brandy and set aside for 15 minutes. Turn pudding onto a plate and cut into slices to serve.

Challenge Accepted ???

Have yourself a MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, my internet buddies!

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

 

Chocolate Mousse Cake

It's DashGlowPrincess' birthday day and I had the honour of whipping up a cake for her. Wanted to do a Coffee Mud cake but then decided on this intoxicating-death-by-chocolate-better-than-sex-chocolate-mousse-cake instead. I halved the ingredients to make a small itsy bitsy little cake. We felt a little high and hysterical after eating it because twas too intensely rich. Everyone loved the cake, and the birthday girl seemed very surprised! Happy Birthday DashGlowPrincess!

Your Challenge: Try to amuse your bouche with this Chocolate Mousse.

A very surprised DashGlowPrincess

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Chocolate Mousse Cake

INGREDIENTS:

500g dark chocolate
2 tbs golden syrup
125g unsalted butter
4 eggs
1 tbs caster sugar
3 tbs plain flour, sifted
Icing sugar to decorate
Fresh Cream or Whipped cream to serve

METHOD: 

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm round spring-form cake pan with non-stick baking paper. 

2. Melt the chocolate, golden syrup and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.  

3. Place eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or use an electric hand beater and beat on high for 10 minutes until very thick and pale.

4. Gently fold in the flour then fold in the chocolate mixture until combined.

5. Pour into the cake pan and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 12 minutes. 

6. Remove from oven and run a knife around the edge of the cake. Remove collar from cake pan and transfer the cake to the fridge for 1 hour to cool (this step is important as it sets the middle of the cake).  

 

Coffee Mascarpone

Ingredients:

200g mascarpone cheese  

2 tbs instant coffee  

2 tbs pure icing sugar 

Method: 

1. Dissolve coffee in 1 tablespoon of boiling water and set aside to cool.

2. Beat together the mascarpone, coffee and sugar in a bowl until stiff.

3. Serve a dollop with the cake.

Microwave the frozen cake for 5seconds and serve with Coffee Mascarpone, Fresh Cream, Whipped Cream or Ice Cream. The original recipe served it with a Chocolate Sorbet and Coffee Mascarpone.

Challenge Accepted?

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Super Duper Awesomely Gooey Chocolate Brownies

Welcome to my first legit post.

This was one of the first things I ever made (March 2012), since I moved out of College catered halls and into this amazing realm of cooking independence at my new pad. I was hosting a small party at my new crib of awesomeness, which is more formally called 'Tosakanth's Crib of Awesomeness',  because my house-mate was on holiday and thought it would be the best time to host a little gathering for my little friendas in Sydney, and also because I love hosting things.

My friends are suckers for brownies. I think it's a Sri Lankan thing. Brownies are considered to be this divine food fit only for the gods, so you vacuum it up at the sight of it because no one cares about manners when it comes to gooey chocolatey goodness.

Anyway, moral of the story--- my friends absolutely adored it, which made me extremely happy. We also won the Cricket match against some country we were playing at some random tournament, somewhere in the world. Win-Win!

Your challenge : give it a go and let me know (oh-hey, I'm also a lyrical genius)

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Super Duper Awesomely Gooey Chocolate Brownies

Makes 16 larger or 25 smaller brownies

 INGREDIENTS:

140g Butter
280g Sugar
85g unsweetened Cocoa Powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon Salt 

1/2 teaspoon pure Vanilla extract
2 large Eggs, cold
65g All-Purpose Flour
2/3 cup walnut, pecan, macadamia pieces (optional)

Cooking Chocolate chopped/Chocolate chips (optional)

 METHOD:

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 160°C. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

1.   Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water (double boil).

2.   Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test.

3.   Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added. [Note, this step works just fine in the microwave]

4.   Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon.

5.   Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one.

6.   When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula.

7.   Stir in the nuts and extra cooking chocolate/chocolate chips, if using.

8.   Spread evenly in the lined pan.

-Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Just keep an eye out, my oven takes various times to bake. Let cool completely on a rack. 

-To cut with clean lines, you can put it in the fridge or freezer for a bit.

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares. 

adapted from: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Best-Cocoa-Brownies-108346

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth