Cherry Pie with Almond Shortcrust

It has been a long time since I have posted (again) but here goes - hopefully I will be posting more regularly this year. Little Miss C has just turned 2 and is now at an age where we can do a little bit of baking together, and I can actually enjoy some time in the kitchen by myself without being constantly interrupted (provided Playschool or Peppa Pig are on TV!). That said, we are very excited to be expecting baby number two so I can see myself becoming very time poor again in the not too distant future!

This recipe is one that I first baked for Little Miss C's first birthday party (it was actually her second first birthday party because Daddy missed the first one!) - a hungry caterpillar themed party.



I made each of the foods that the little hungry caterpillar eats his way through as he grows into a big fat caterpillar.





One of those things is a piece of cherry pie, and when the theme for the first Pudding Club of the year was fruit, my thoughts immediately went to the hungry caterpillar munching his way through some cherry pie. We read that book a lot...



Cherries would have to be my favourite fruit, and this pie is pretty easy - filled with a deliciously jammy cherry and apple filling covered with a crispy almond shortcrust; you can't really go wrong. My only apology is that I only took one photo - I totally forgot to take photos as I was cooking!

Enjoy, little caterpillars!
Frankie xox

Cherry Pie with Almond Shortcrust

Ingredients

Pastry
1 3/4 cups (235g) plain flour
1/3 cups (40g) icing sugar
3/4 cups (80g) almond meal
180g cold butter, cubed


Pie Filling
3 Granny Smith apples
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 lemon
670g jar pitted Morello cherries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put plain flour, icing sugar, almond meal, and butter in food processor
Process until mix starts to come together
Tip onto floured board and bring together into a ball
Wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Peel, core, and dice apples
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat
Add apples, caster sugar, cinnamon
Finely grate lemon rind and juice lemon and add to the apple mixture
Stir until sugar is dissolved then simmer for 10 minutes
Strain jar of cherries and save juice
Add cherries, 3 tablespoons of cherry juice, and vanilla extract to apple mixture
Continue to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring intermittently
Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely

Preheat oven to 180C
Split pastry dough and put 1/3 back in refrigerator
Roll out 2/3 of dough to 2mm thick and place in greased and floured pie tin
Weigh down with pie weights and bake for 15 minutes
Remove pie weights and bake for further 5 minutes then allow to cool completely

Spread filling in pie shell when both are completely cooled
Roll out remaining 1/3 of dough to 2mm thick and cut into thin strips
Lattice strips over pie and bake at 180C for 25 minutes

Serve hot or cold with icecream or whipped cream

Baked Tofu Cheesecake with Caramel Sticky Date Biscuit Base

Following on from my last post - these delicious Caramel Sticky Date Cookies . I actually had set about to make a Tofu Cheesecake. Our local Japanese Restaurant, Gyo have put a few new items on their dessert menu lately - and one of which is a Tofu Cheesecake. Now, I am not a cheesecake fan. In fact, I would probably say I go out of my way to avoid eating cheesecake. That sickly sweet mixture of cheese and sugar, doubled with the texture of marshmallow and peanut butter mixed together... Needless to say, cheesecake does nothing for me. The baked tofu cheesecake at Gyo, however, does make my mouth water in anticipation. (As does the okonomiyaki, the various assortment of sushi, the amazing miso soup, and the tempura green tea icecream - which is like a doughnut filled with icecream with a jammy compote to accompany it).

Sorry, I got a little carried away thinking about all that delicious Japanese food. The Tofu Cheesecake recipe I got from Shizuoka Gourmet and tweaked slightly to suit my tastes/needs. It turned out pretty delicious, if I do say so myself!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I am!
Frankie xox

Baked Tofu Cheesecake with Caramel Sticky Date Biscuit Base

Ingredients
5 Caramel Sticky Date Cookies
250g (1 tub) Philadelphia Cream Cheese (the full fat one - though I always find it difficult to tell which is which)
250g tofu (medium firmness)
70g sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon corn flour


Preheat oven to 180C.


Crush 5 Caramel Sticky Date Cookies into the bottom of a cake pan lined with baking paper.


Mix together the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth.


Add in the eggs and the tofu and mix until all there are no lumps.


Add in the vanilla paste, corn flour and flour and mix again until there are no lumps.


It will sort of go thick like creme anglaise. (hmm.. I wonder if it would make a good icecream!)


Pour over the biscuit base and smooth down with a spatula. Bake for 50 minutes at 180C - the middle will rise up like a cake. If it is not browned on the top, turn the heat up to 200C and bake for another 10 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from the cake tin (the domed top will deflate when you take it out of the oven). Refrigerate overnight if you can wait that long.


Spoon on a little jam of your choice (fig and cinnamon was nice, and so is cherry - as pictured).
Enjoy.


Little miss was helping me out in the kitchen today! She is a big Caramel Sticky Date Cookie and Baked Tofu Cheesecake fan!

Caramel Sticky Date Cookies

Just wanted to share a quick batch of cookies I made the other day - I wanted to make a cheesecake but I didn't have any biscuits for the base. So I whipped up this batch and to make them a bit more interesting I decided to make them Caramel and Sticky Date flavoured. Yumm. One handy tip I would like to mention is about ginger. I love fresh ginger, but I never find that I use a lot at a time. Keeping it in a ziplock bag in the freezer keeps it much longer, and makes it super easy to grate up- the same goes with garlic cloves/bulbs too! Pop them in the freezer to make them last and then just grate them up with a plane or a little cheese grater when you need them!

They were super quick and easy, and a bit more exciting than plain old biscuits - and made a fantastic base for my cheesecake (post to follow!).

Enjoy,

Frankie xo

Caramel Sticky Date Cookies



100g dates
100mL water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
250g butter
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger

Preheat oven to 180C.


Place the dates and the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.


Remove from the heat and stir through the baking powder to break down the dates.


Place the sugar into a pan over a medium heat and keep a close eye on it until it melts.


When the caramel has turned a nice brown colour remove from the heat and spread onto a piece of baking paper or silicone mat.


Mix together butter and caster sugar until light and pale in colour.


Add in the egg and mix well.


Add in the plain flour, cinnamon and ginger and mix.


Smash up the toffee when it has set. (Eat the small pieces that fly off the chopping board when you smash it).


Stir through the caramel pieces and the dates until combined.


Spoon onto baking tray making sure to leave a few cm between each one. You can also put the dough in the fridge and wait for it to firm up then roll it into a cylinder and cut rounds but I was way too impatient..


Bake for 15-20 minutes until they smell delicious and are golden brown. I made 18 fairly large cookies.
Enjoy with a nice cup of tea or coffee!

Party People

Life contains so many opportunities for cake. I love cake. Like, I really love cake. It is like my ultimate indulgence. The best excuse for creativity. An exciting way to create something incredible that is also edible and thus enjoyed twice as much as just art or food alone.

Since we have moved back home, I have had several excellent opportunities to make cakes - though I am really a novice in a lot of ways. It has been great to get so much practice - and after Chelsea's second first birthday party several people mentioned that I should become a party planner. I had been toying with the idea of starting my own cake business but with all this moving I just haven't had time! So now the wheels are in motion and the possibility of party planning as a job is something I have been thinking about a lot lately. We will see how things go. Does anyone have any ideas/advice? Words of support and encouragement or a warning that starting a party planning business is a terrible idea? Anyone?...

Anyway, I thought I would share some pictures of the cakes that I have been making and some of the parties I have thrown in the past. Enjoy!

much love,
frankie.pleure

Cakes!


The first fondant covered cake I ever made - a slightly dodgy superhero cake!


That is me with my superhero cake - I am the Silk Specter from the Watchmen movie.


And some Spiderman cupcakes for good measure...


Second attempt at a fondant covered cake - a camo print explosion cake for my boyfriend's birthday (yep, the same guy that I am now engaged to! Cake really is the way to a man's heart).


Something a little different - a cheese and bacon cake for my fur baby's birthday party. The canine guests loved the cake, but even though it was safe for human consumption, the human guests were a little wary. Being a vegetarian I had not tasted this one and couldn't guarantee it's deliciousness...


This cake was for our engagement party, it was a white chocolate sponge on the top layer, and moist chocolate sponge on the bottom layer. We had already been engaged for 9 months when we got around to having our engagement party because we wanted to wait until we were in our home town.


Sushi, rice paper rolls, red velvet macarons, and a lime syrup cake with meringue crumbs and custard were on the menu for afternoon tea with the girls.


This Batman cake was a double chocolate mud that I made for my friend Lizzy's Hen's Party that I hosted. It was a great night!


This salted caramel macaron cake was for my dear friend Roz's birthday. This creation was born from the need for a chocolate free dessert, so it is a caramel mudcake with caramel cream cheese icing and salted caramel macarons. The restaurant where we went for dinner asked us where we had got the cake from!


This cake was for my Nanna's 80th birthday party. Inside was a triple layer white chocolate mud, caramel mud, and chocolate mud cake with chocolate mousse filling and dark chocolate ganache.


My Nanna's 80th birthday buffet - the cake (as above) was joined by lavender macarons, peanut butter and chocolate macarons, fruit salad sticks, scones with jam and cream, both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, toffee capsicum dip, a variety of sandwiches, and a cheese platter. We also had mini sausage rolls and quiches. It was quite the feast!


This Elmo cake was for my friend Bree because it was her birthday party on the same night as a Christmas party we were all going to.


It was a chocolate gingerbread cake with spiced rum (Bree is a rum drinker!).

finally some food!

It has been a while since I posted some food - and that's not to say that I haven't been cooking because I most definitely have! I forgot to photograph a whole lot of it though, since I have been so lazy with my postings as of late. I was looking through my photos and thought I would share a recipe for the easiest and most delicious moist chocolate almond cake that you make in the food processor! The original recipe is from the Peter McInnes website (although my version is adapted, but the website has a whole stack of delicious recipes designed for KitchenAid appliances of which I have a growing collection. I love them all, they are brilliant and mix, chop, blend, knead and do pretty much anything else that you want them to in the most efficient way! This recipe uses the food processor, and turns out a delicious, moist, mouthwatering cake that rises exceptionally well, is firm enough for fondant icing, and will leave everyone begging for the recipe!


Read on for the recipe, but i had best be off, much to do now that I'm a Mum!

much love,
frankie.pleure

Chocolate and Almond Swirl Cake




Ingredients:
125g butter
1 3/4 cups caster sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk

Chocolate icing ingredients:
125g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups pure icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 22cm cake tin with baking paper.
Place butter and caster sugar in your food processor and process for two minutes.

Add in the brown sugar and process until well combined.

Add in eggs, vanilla paste, self-raising flour, almond meal and milk.

Process until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Pour half of the mix into the prepared cake tin.

Add cocoa powder to remaining mixture in the food processor bowl and pulse until combined.

Pour mixture into cake tin on top of the other cake mixture and swirl with a knife until you can see white mixture marbled through the chocolate but be careful to not over mix.

Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer. Set cake aside to cool.

To make the icing, place all ingredients in the food processor and combine.

Split the cake in half and fill with icing.
Sandwich the two halves together and spread icing all over cake.

Decorate as you wish, or leave plain and enjoy with a cup of tea!