Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Coca-Cola Cake - an ode to the Anderson fam

 
Coca Cola Cake


I don’t want to cloud this post with commentary, but what can I say? This cake is just, awesome.
It is incredibly (for lack of a better word) moist, chocolately, sweet and will last for up to a week (if it hasn’t been eaten already).
It’s funny that there is coca cola in the cake batter as well as the icing, as really there is only a hint of coca cola flavour, really it is best described as a really good chocolate cake.

I found that one regular can of coke was enough for the cake, the icing, and a small glass of it for my mum to drink!

Do make it though, it is so easy and will definitely please a crowd.





Ingredients (can be made into one cake, or 12 cupcakes)

For the cake:

  • 200g plain flour
  • 250g golden caster sugar (I just used regular caster sugar)
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 125ml buttermilk (or 30g natural yogurt mixed with 100ml skim milk)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 125g unsalted butter
  • 2 tblsp cocoa powder
  • 175ml coca cola

For the icing:

  • 225g icing sugar (sifted)
  • 2 tblsp (30g) unsalted butter
  • 3 tblsp (45ml) coca cola
  • 1 tblsp cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract


Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and put in a baking sheet at the same time (the cake tin will go on top of this). Grease the cake tin and line it (I lined mine with foil, wrapping the foil around the outside of the tin as well to avoid the mixture leaking – it is quite a runny cake mixture). While the foil is a slight pain to peel off the cake at the end, you could try baking paper instead, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
  3. Beat the egg, buttermilk (or yogurt and milk mixture) and vanilla in a measuring jug.
  4. In a heavy based saucepan, melt the butter, cocoa and coca cola, heating it gently.
  5. Pour this into the dry ingredients and stir well with a wooden spoon, and then add the liquid ingredients in the jug (buttermilk, egg and vanilla), beating until it is well blended.
  6. Pour into the prepared tin and bake on the warm sheet for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean (my cake needed about 45 minutes).
  7. Leave to stand for 15 minutes in the tin before unmoulding. Then, turn the cake out on to a wire rack, and place some throw away newspaper underneath the wire rack (this is to catch any icing that drips through).
  8. Sieve the icing sugar and set aside for the moment. In a heavy-based saucepan, combine the butter, coca cola and cocoa and stir over a low heat until the butter has melted.
  9. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and spoon in the sieved icing sugar slowly, mixing until you have a good, spreadable and well-combined icing. It will be runny and this is okay. 
  10. Pour the icing over a cake, letting it drip a bit, it looks great and it will set slightly after some time. You do this step while the cake is still warm, not piping hot, but warm. Leave the cake to cool until transferring it to your serving plate and sharing with your friends and family…. Right? 


 

Jam-Doughnut Muffins - that's right...doughnut...

 Jam-Doughnut Muffins – that’s right…doughnut….


These were a bit risky with no picture to refer to, so I took a chance – and what a great outcome!
I did make a couple of mistakes though, which is good because now you won’t make the same!
My advice – coat with butter and sugar when warm, and eat warm, just like a fresh, jam-filled vanilla doughnut, only in a muffin form and SUPER easy!
These couldn’t really be simpler – and there is no fiddling around with a deep fryer like for regular doughnuts; nor is there a requirement for a special doughnut baking tray – simple pimple. Wait….






Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

  • 125ml milk (1/2 cup, FULL CREAM do not even bother anything else)
  • 85ml vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 12 tsp strawberry jam
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 150g caster sugar


Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease a 12-bun muffin tray (not the huge muffin size, the regular size), and grease incredibly well (with the oil) – I used muffin patties for mine and that was mistake one (incredibly hard to peel off!)
  2. With a fork, beat together the milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract.
  3. Stir this into the flour and caster sugar to combine (just, do not over mix and lumps do not matter!)
  4. Spoon the mixture into each muffin cup so that it’s just under a third full.
  5. Then, add a tsp of jam to the centre of each muffin mix, and finally top with the remaining muffin mix so that the cases are just about full.
  6. Put them into the preheated oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the tops feel springy and resistant and the muffins have puffed up into little toadstools.
  7. Once you have taken the muffins out of the oven, melt the butter slowly in a thick-bottomed pan, and lay the sugar out in a wide and shallow bowl.
  8. As soon as the muffins are manageable to handle (but still warm), take them out of the moulds, dip them in the butter (the whole muffin) and roll them in the caster sugar.
  9. Eat warm – just like a fresh doughnut J

An ode to Nigella - beginning with Blueberry muffins

 
Nigella’s Blueberry Muffins


This recipe and the few to follow are all a result of my Sunday afternoon spent non-stop baking, and of course, inspired by the one and only Nigella Lawson.
I don’t care what people say, she is still my idol, and she is still the original domestic goddess in my eyes.

I love when I get on a baking role, and these muffins were the first off the mark this past Sunday afternoon. I had spent much of the weekend looking through all of my Nigella cookbooks after a big room clean out (yes, I have all of her books) and this recipe caught my eye.
These muffins actually aren’t terribly sweet, which is good! They taste just that little bit healthier…
I am a muffin rookie (cupcakes are my thing, and there is a big difference between the two!) and I was able to make these with ease, so you should find these a breeze! 

You can find this recipe in Nigella's most faaaaabulous book for the baking mad (and one of her oldest) "How to be a Domestic Goddess - Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking"  - you can purchase the book here (I HIGHLY recommend) - https://www.google.com.au/search?q=how+to+be+a+domestic+goddess&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&gfe_rd=ctrl&ei=W5GdUt_VEsyN8QfM24DICQ&gws_rd=cr#channel=fflb&q=how+to+be+a+domestic+goddess&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=shop



Ingedients

  • 75g unsalted butter
  • 200g plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 75g caster sugar
  • pinch of salt (I used Himalayan pink salt)
  • 200ml buttermilk (alternatively, use 100g natural yogurt and 100ml skim milk)
  • 1 egg
  • 200g blueberries


Method

  1. Melt the butter, and set it aside to cool a little. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
  2. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl, and in a measuring jug beat together the buttermilk (or yogurt and skim milk), egg and melted butter.
  3. Using a wooden spoon and a light hand, pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently to combine. Don’t worry about the lumps: the important thing with muffins is that the mixture isn’t over worked, as this will result in a tough and dry muffin (yuk). This step definitely tests my heavy-handedness…
  4. Fold in the blueberries, again keeping the mixing to an absolute minimum.
  5. Spoon into the muffin cases, best way to ensure they are all the same is by using an ice cream scoop, but any spoonful will do.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffins are risen and golden, and firm to the touch.
  7. EAT. Warm, cold, with butter (you don’t really need it though) – they are fabulous warm because the hot fresh blueberries creates its own jam.