cakes & bakes

Doughnut bread and butter pudding with strawberries and almonds

Right so I don’t usually do this but I do know that not everyone has a whole lot of time these days before dinner parties. At the end of the day my blog is about teaching you how to cook without the recipe as well as to know how to make simple things taste amazing!

So here is the first of two recipes that both involve store bought cinnamon and sugar doughnuts. Mine come from Woolworths but I am positive any fresh cinnamon and sugar doughnut that is light and fluffy will do. 

Ingredients:

6 cinnamon doughnuts, torn

50 grams salted butter, softened

3 extra large eggs

75 grams castor sugar

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla essense

1 cup (250 ml) milk

1 cup (250 ml) cream

1/2 cup Strawberries roasted with butter and caster sugar, to serve.

50 grams chopped almonds

Instructions:

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees celcius

Place the torn doughnut in a dish and dot with the butter.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, caster sugar, vanilla essence, milk and cream together well.

Pour the milk and egg mixture over the doughnuts and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the custard is set.

Place strawberries in a small saucepan over a medium heat, sprinkle with castor sugar and add a knob of butter. Let them soften and remove from heat once sugar has dissolved.

Serve warm with roasted strawberries, almonds and whipped cream if you wish!

-Melissa

rhubarb and honey tart

Rhubarb is not something I was not familiar with growing up as a child. I’m not sure why, but we just never used it. In my adult life I must admit the first person I saw use rhubarb was Jamie Oliver. He grows it in his garden and he uses it in so many recipes. Thanks to him I got the bee in my bonnet and decided to hunt down a great recipe. This one is so tasty because of it's layering of not only rhubarb but frangipane and honey which balances out the tart flavours of this celery like plant. I’m rather excited that I have discovered rhubarb and there are definitely many more exciting recipes to come. 

For this recipe you can use your own home made puff pastry or store bought puff pastry. If you get a good store bought puff there is no judgment here. Although I do think that home made just tastes better.

Serves: 6 

Ingredients:

Puff pastry:

•    250 grams cake flour

•    Pinch of salt 

•    250 grams butter

•    5ml lemon juice or brandy 

•    175ml ice cold water Filling:

•    1 cup almond flour

•    6 tbsp. castor sugar

•    ¼ cup cake flour

•    ¼ tsp. salt

•    6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

•    3 eggs

•    1 tsp. vanilla

•    1 fresh bunch of rhubarb roughly 500g (I like to go for the reddest stalks)

Instructions:

preheat oven to 200c

Puff pastry:

Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in a piece of butter the size of a walnut. 

Add lemon juice or brandy to water, make a well in the center of flour and pour in about 2/3 of the liquid.

Mix it with a palette knife or a round bladed knife. When the dough is beginning to form, add the remaining water.

Turn the dough out on to a clean counter that has been dusted with flour. Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes, and then roll out to a square about 1.3-2cm thick.

Beat the remaining butter if necessary to make it pliable and place in center of dough. Fold the dough up over butter to enclose it completely (sides and ends over center like a parcel)

Wrap it in a cloth or in greaseproof paper and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes 

Flour your clean worktop, take the dough out, the join facing upwards, and bring rolling pin down on the dough 3-4 times to flatten slightly.

Now roll out to a rectangle about 1.3-2cm thick. Fold into three, ends to middle, as accurately as possible, if necessary pulling the ends to keep them rectangular.

Seal the edges with hand or rolling pin and turn the dough half round to bring the edges toward you.

Roll out again and fold in three (keep note of the turns given)

Set aside in refrigerator for 5 minutes. Repeat this process, giving a total of six turns with a 15 minutes rest after each two turns. Then leave in the refrigerator until wanted. 

Roll out pastry to fit a baking sheet. Place pastry on greaseproof paper on baking sheet and keep chilled in the fridge or freezer until needed. If the butter in the pastry melts it will not puff up.

To make the almond paste, pop everything in a food processor and blend until thoroughly mixed. You can mix by hand but make sure you use good elbow grease! 

Evenly trim down the rhubarb stalks. Gently sauté stalks in a little butter and pinch of sugar until they begin to soften. Set aside to cool.

To assemble the tart: spread the almond paste evenly over the pastry. Place the rhubarb on top of the almond paste sideways next to each other-like little soldier and fold in the sides of the pastry. Brush the sides with a beaten egg yolk.  Place in the oven and turn heat down to 180C and bake for 40mins, checking towards the end that it does not brown too much.

When removed from the oven dust with icing sugar.

To serve: drizzle with honey and cut 

-Melissa

 

  

Easter Ring - A Legacy of Flour and Tradition

There is something truly sacred about growing up in a family that honours tradition. I count myself incredibly lucky to have a mother who, no matter how busy life became, always carved out time for the little moments—the kind of moments I will now cherish forever.

Whether it was the scent of spices on Easter morning or the ritual of decorating our Christmas tree, I grew up at her knee. She taught me not just how to bake, but how to become the woman I am today. She is my best friend, my rock, and a true connoisseur of flavours. In many ways, she is the birthplace of The Truffle Journal and my entire culinary life, unless, of course, I look even further back to my grandmother.

Tradition is a value I hold dear and one I am so hopeful to share with you. Those magical mornings spent baking Easter rings or setting up the Osterzweig (a beautiful German tradition of hanging eggs on branches) are etched into my memory.

I hope that by trying this recipe and sharing it around a table with your loved ones, you feel inspired to create your own yearly rituals. This Easter Ring is essentially a "glorified" hot cross bun meets a cinnamon roll, a total game-changer for your holiday table.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

The Dough 500g flour, sifted
5ml salt
55g sugar
10ml ground mixed spice
10ml ground nutmeg
5ml ground cinnamon
10g instant dry yeast
60g butter
150ml milk
1 egg, beaten
125ml lukewarm water
150g cake fruit mix

The Filling
80g butter
60g castor sugar
30ml cinnamon
180g cake fruit mix
1 egg
12.5ml milk

The Icing
85g icing sugar, sifted
15ml water (or brandy, for a festive kick)
5ml vanilla essence

The Process

In a mixing bowl, combine the first six dry ingredients. Once combined, sprinkle the dry yeast over the top.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter into the milk. Once melted, set it aside to cool slightly.

Combine the dry ingredients and the fruit mix with the egg and the milk-butter mixture. Slowly add enough lukewarm water until it forms a soft, pliable dough.

You can use a stand mixer with a dough hook for this part. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. It should not be too sticky; if it is, add a tiny bit of flour until the dough feels balanced.

Lightly flour your counter and place the dough on the surface, covering it with a greased glass mixing bowl.

Allow the dough to rest in a warm environment for 20 minutes. I often leave my oven on low to warm the kitchen or place the dough in a sunny spot.

Once rested, roll the dough out into a rectangle roughly 35cm by 25cm. Be sure to flour your surface so it doesn't stick.

For the filling, cream the butter and sugar together in a small bowl. Spread this mixture all over the rectangle as if you are buttering toast.

Sprinkle the cinnamon over the butter and top evenly with the fruit mix.

Starting at the long side, tightly roll the rectangle up like a Swiss roll.

Place the roll onto a lightly greased baking tray and shape it into a ring, joining the ends.

Score the ring into 5cm slices using a sharp knife, keeping the slices joined near the inner circle.

Cover with greased cling wrap and leave in a warm place for a further 10 minutes, or until the ring has doubled in size.

In a small jug, mix the egg and milk to create a wash. Brush this gently over the ring after it has risen.

Bake at 200°C for 20–25 minutes until the ring is golden brown. If you tap the base and it sounds hollow, it is ready.

Allow the ring to cool completely.

For the icing, mix the icing sugar with the water (or brandy) and vanilla until perfectly smooth and free of lumps.

Drizzle the icing over the cooled ring. When it comes to this part, I always say: don’t be shy!

You can decorate the finished ring with glacé cherries if you wish.

-Melissa

rainbow meringues

This recipe takes me right back to being a child. I received this recipe form my grandmother in a little pink book, put together by all the ladies that went to church with her. The recipe is the best I have yet to taste on meringue, as it doesn't have that jaw aching sweetness due to the vinegar. I remember making it when I was younger and being so proud of my whipped egg whites.

As I have gotten older I have played more with the recipe and these beauties are the result. They are fun and interactive and a great idea for children parties or for the adult who believes in unicorns. I had a lot of fun making these with my friend Nikita who was so kind as to hand model the dunking of the meringues. They are little mouthfuls of colour and super easy to make! This recipe can also be doubled should you need more!

serves: 6

ingridients:

  • 1 egg white
  • 2 Tbsp boiling hot water
  • 1 cup castor sugar
  • 1 tsp white vinegar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • powder food colouring
  • 80g dark chocolate
  • 60ml hot milk
  • sprinkles of your choice

Instructions:

Preheat the oven at 100°c

Line a flat baking tray with baking paper and set aside

Beat the eggs white on high speed with an electronic mixer. As they start to stiffen add the cup of sugar followed by all the ingredients except the baking powder.

Once the egg whites are stiff add the baking powder.

At this stage is when I separate the egg whites into different bowls. Sprinkle the colouring into the individual bowls. Don’t mix the colouring in as you will beat out the air of the egg whites.

Get your piping bag ready. Using a star nozzle and holding your piping bag open, gently scoop the first colour into the piping bag. Gentle squeeze out the meringues mixer into swirls the size of a teaspoon. Working neatly and in rows.

Once you have finished the first colour, wash the piping bag with hot water and repeat with the next colour. Make sure the piping bag is clean and dry.

Once you have piped out all the different colours into neat rows put them into the oven and bake for 2 hours.

Dipping chocolate:

Place a small bowl on top of a pot of boiling water. Make sure no water can splash into the bowl. Add the chocolate by breaking it into small pieces. The steam will gentle melt the chocolate. Keep stirring it until you have a smooth consistency. Then add the hot milk. The milk must be hot or you can seize the chocolate. Once it is all combined remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Once your meringues are out of the oven and cooled, dip the bottom end of them into the chocolate, followed by the sprinkles. Place them on a cooling rack upside down so that the chocolate can set.

If you want you can also dip the meringues in chocolate and match them up to another in size. Sticking them together and making meringue sandwiches. Roll the meringue sandwiches in the sprinkles and let them stick to the side of the meringues.

Serve with laughter, love or simply a great cup of tea.

-Melissa