Self Saucing Pudding

A New Zealand classic and a family favourite, Self Saucing Pudding has to be one of the easiest and tastiest puddings in all the land. It’s also extremely versatile and can be made at the drop of a hat.

The classic is usually made to be a chocolate pudding with a delicious and sticky sauce that is found at the bottom of the bowl, after it has been in the microwave. Sliding your spoon under the sponge is always satisfying as soon as you find the pool of chocolaty sauce. You can also add coconut to the coconut sponge and it makes it taste like heaven. It is comprised by mixing a basic batter and then pouring over the ‘sauce’ mixture with consists of a cup of sugar mixed with a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder, and a cup of boiling water. These three components with the help of nuclear power create the richest sauce which accompanies a fail safe pudding.

However, having a creative mind *cough* I decided I wanted to broaden my horizons and wanted to make the pudding see a different flavour other than the classic chocolate and coconut. I decided to make the pudding a toffee flavoured. I substituted the cocoa powder in the pudding and sauce for golden syrup. This meant that instead of a chocolate brown, the pudding was a light golden colour. So inviting.

I had to cook this for a few minutes, I think as there was more liquid in the pudding, so it needed more time. This pudding was much sweeter than the chocolate but still tasted great.

The next winter’s night I made this pudding, I swapped the cocoa for blackcurrant jam, and added 1tsp of cinnamon and a handful of raisins. I was trying to make it seem like a classic steamed pudding. To my delight, it turned out rather well. It still had the classic ‘Self Saucing Pudding’ texture but had the taste of a steam pudding that had been cooking for hours.

Although you can’t replace the taste and tradition of a chocolate self saucing puddings, the cinnamon, jam and raisin comes as a pretty good alternative to hours of steaming in the kitchen.

~Caker~

Train Cake

With my passion for baking, my fetish for children birthday cakes, and my birthday coming around the corner, I made a last ditch effect to create the ultimate birthday cake. Well, I lie. It’s actually supposed to be used a centre piece on the table, but that didn’t bother me.

The train cake was on the cover of the Children’s cake book, and through the years it has stared me in the face as I idly choose the monster cake that my mother had made me for years. Last year however, I put it upon myself to create the trophy of all the cakes in the cake book. The train.

This train was supposed to be comprised of one engine and 3 carriages. However, there were four family members attending my birthday dinner, so I had to make 4 carriages. Of course, I was going to eat the engine, being the birthday girl an all, I had to get the biggest slice. On paper, the train looked reasonably easy to make. Cut here, ice there, place lollies of your choice on the side.

I started by buying the cakes in boxes and a Swiss roll (this would be used to create the engine and chimney). Cheating a little, I know, but this baby was going to take me a while, but finding and mixing up a lot of ingredients was just way to time consuming. (Oh, I should mention that my mother let me have the day off school so I could make the cake. Bless) So, after making 3 cakes, and letting them cool, it was almost lunch time. But this stage I was stressing just a little as my relations were coming at 4.30pm.

With the use of an electric beater, I mixed up some butter icing (which now I regret as it was WAY to butter for me, so I ended up not eating my entire engine). Here was the ‘fun part’. I had to cut the cake in a certain way, to end up with about 10 rectangles and all of approximately the same length. But after slicing and dicing away for about 15 minutes, I was satisfied with what I had done.

Now, I had to cover up the glorious *cough* looking rectangles which formed each carriage (two placed on top of each other) with different coloured butter icing. In some ways, fondant would have been a better choice to use, and would have created a nicer finish. However, I personally am not a fan of fondant and really didn’t want to start using something I have never worked with before nor liked. After the tremendous effect to ice each carriage, I was then able to decorate with straps of icing, and chocolate biscuits for the wheels. I then placed candy coated popcorn on each carriage to make it look like ‘coal’. To connect each carriage, I used sour apple rings and stuck them at the back of each carriage and onto the front of the next.

For the engine (the most important part to any train) I used a longer piece of rectangle sponge, and 3/4 of the Swiss roll. I used the other 1/4 to cut a small cylinder for the train’s chimney. I then add to use more butter icing to glue the sucker together. I don’t think I’ve sworn so much in such a short time space in the kitchen, in my life! However, I did manage to stick all the components together, and decorated it with licorice, M&M’s, chocolate biscuits and more popcorn.

At the end of the day, I was rather happy with the slightly lop-sided train, and my relatives thought I did a pretty good job. Unfortunately the icing was too sweet for my taste buds, though my Father and sister did enjoy the taste. They ended up finishing my engine (after I stole their chocolate biscuits of course!) I would completely and utterly recommend this cake for a birthday party. Even though I made it, it still made me feel like a child again (which is one of the reasons I made the cake in the first place XD)

~Caker~

Doughnuts

So, Christmas came and went, and my boyfriend gave me a Doughnut maker. Epic Win!
I was ready to jump at the opportunity to use it, so when New Years came round, and I was invited to a party, I knew it was time to get that 'new' smell off the doughnut maker, and replace it with the sweet, sweet smell of doughnuts.
My plan was to make various different flavours of doughnuts. Some would be coated in sugar and cinnamon (a classic doughnut), others would be iced and the last flavour would be chocolate. I tried to make an even number of each flavour, but I think chocolate won by 7 doughnuts (not that i'm bias or anything) hehe.

I followed the recipe that was given to me with the maker, and found that the suggestion of 1Tbsp of batter to each doughnut hole was too much, instead, I ended up using 2tsps. I made way more than what the recipe said it would make. (It said a mere 24, but I think it was more like 42) .
I had high hopes for the doughnuts. I hoped they would have the proper shape, a certain taste, and more importantly, a certain look. (Im going to blaim it on the fact, that I am an amature at doughnut making, and for my first attempt, they weren't a bad batch really)

I found that the doughnut batter was rather runny, which meant that the amount of batter I used would over flow, and the part that was there to make the centre would be COVERED in batter, which meant the classic doughnut shape was more a round ball, with a small indent in the centre. =(
Fortunately, I used the runt looking doughnuts to cover in sugar and cinnamon. I realised within my first attempt that I needed to brush the doughnuts in butter, before dipping them in the sugar and cinnamon mixture otherwise no sugar would stick.

I made rather alot of plain ones, and then thought I should upgrade some of them to sugar and cinnamon. I then added the cocoa to the batter, and made about 18 chocolate doughnuts. Yum!
Some of the doughnuts were rather chewy, and not as I had hoped. I used icing to cover up any mistakes, which I think worked well as a disguse.

Next time when I make the doughnuts, I shall focus more on the amount of batter I add, so I can get a batch of doughnuts, instead of the chewy doughnut batter balls, smoothered in icing. hehe




~Caker~

Ahh, TIRAMISU!!

With all the global recession occurring, and budgets being extremely tight, it’s hard to enjoy the delights of certain desserts as of their cost. I don't know about you, but where I live in New Zealand, food items, such as mascarpone are not only limited as of choice, but are on the pricey side. The 2 unspoken rules that I have with my Mother, is that I’m allowed to cook/bake/create, with her permission and as long as the ingredients aren't in short supply (e.g. we have it in the house) or, aren't too expensive. Unfortunately, Mascarpone is one of the 'expensive' ingredients. So, unless I found an alternative, I couldn't make the beloved dessert. Thankfully, my initiative kicked in, and I decided to just use whipped cream instead of the mascarpone.
That idea, equals WIN!

After making trifle (My sister and Father's favourite dessert, I personally don't see it myself) for Christmas, we had some left over sponge and cream. I really wanted to try Tiramisu, as of seeing it on the net on various other food blogs, and hearing about it through TV shows. So, I devised a plan, went online in search for a tiramisu recipe without mascarpone. As suspected, I found none that used ingredients I had in the house. (Sour cream and cream cheese where used, but I didn't have them in the fridge). So, I took it upon myself to just 'Go with the flow' and make a Tiramisu without using Cream Cheese or Mascarpone, but by using ordinary cream. I can’t say I know what texture and taste a proper Tiramisu is meant to have, but the ‘cream’ tiramisu was certainly delicious. The cream was light, and had a mousse like texture and the sponge was moistened with the coffee/boiling water, so it had similar texture to a trifle, but tasted of delicious chocolate and coffee!
My family didn’t complain about the taste, in fact my dad went back for seconds, and he doesn’t even like chocolate or coffee.


































Ingredients

2 Eggs
300ml Cream
250gm Sponge, cut into cubes
6tsp Sugar (3tsp per egg)
5 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
2tsp Icing Sugar
1 Cup Boiling Water
1/4 Cup Grated Chocolate, or Chocolate Chips etc.


Method

1. Whip the cream and then fold in 2tsp of icing sugar.
2. Separate the two eggs, then add the 6tsp of sugar to the egg yolk. Beat till yolk thickens and is whiter in colour.
3. Beat the egg whites till stiff peaks.
4. Spoon the yolk mixture, 1 Tbsp at a time, into the cream mixture. Fold in after each spoonful.
5. Add 2-3tsps of instant coffee (to taste), and the chocolate, folding in.
6. Fold in, spoon by spoon, the egg white into the cream mixture.
7. Mix the hot water and remaining coffee essence into a shallow dish, stirring till coffee essence is dissolved.
8. Dab the cut sponge in the coffee so it soaks up a little of the water and coffee.
9. Layer the sponge in a bowl, then top with the cream mixture, then more sponge, and then end on the cream.
10. Sprinkle with cocoa powder (or sweeter drinking chocolate) for a garnish.
11. Chill for 5 hours before serving.


~Caker~