Let Us Eat Cake

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by NornaBiron

Lime and ginger cheesecake - a great dessert for after a curry

Grease and line a loose bottomed flan tin.
Crush one packet of biscuits (gingernuts if you have them, otherwise digestives) and mix well with 125g melted butter.
Press crumbs firmly onto base of flan tin.
Drizzle with 2 tbsp syrup from a jar of stem ginger.
Scatter 3 balls of stem ginger, chopped fairly finely, over the base.
Put in fridge for 1 hour to firm.
Whisk 200g Philadelphia cheese with 200ml whipping cream and 1 tbsp icing sugar until well blended.
Add juice of 4 limes and zest of 3. Mix well.
Taste and adjust the lime/sugar as required.
Spread the cheese mixture over the base and return to fridge to set for a minimum of 2 hours.
Serve sprinkled with lime zest.

Sorry there's no photo, we ate it too quick!

I made it again today........and remembered to take a pic!

[bfloyd4445]

Originally Posted by NornaBiron

I made it again today........and remembered to take a pic!

GRRRRR....I gained ten pounds just from the picture and posted description!

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by bfloyd4445

GRRRRR....I gained ten pounds just from the picture and posted description!

You can always make a tiny one.........and share it!

[Wonderinlost]

Originally Posted by bfloyd4445

what's caster sugar?

In the good ol US of A its to be known as "super fine" sugar. If you can't find it just toss plain sugar in a blender to grind it super fine in a mortor and pestil.

Different from confectionary which has corn starch added to it.


SWL Ive sat down and picked many of the fine looking recipes I know will get my tummy loving me. Now to see what I don't have. Make a list for when the times does come to restock. Ill be sure to be posting how yummy it all comes out.
: thumbs :


wandering and wondering around with no destionation

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Wonderinlost

SWL Ive sat down and picked many of the fine looking recipes I know will get my tummy loving me. Now to see what I don't have. Make a list for when the times does come to restock. Ill be sure to be posting how yummy it all comes out.
: thumbs :

Would love to hear how it goes .

Just finished antifouling here fuelled by Date & Banana cake .

[Sailor g]

Not cake but this is so easy & uses common ingredients. The recipe is from a casino restaurant in Las Vegas.

Golden Nugget Bread Pudding

16 oz Half and Half
8 oz Whipping Cream
8 each Fresh Eggs
1.25 c. Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla
4.5 slices White Bread
1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1 tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp. Raisins


1. Preheat oven 400*
2. Mix well: Half & Half, Whipping
Cream, Eggs, Sugar and Vanilla.
3. Arrange. Read in bottom of 10x12"
pan.
4. Pour mixture over bread.
5. Spread raisins over top.
6.Cover with foil and bake in water bath
for 75- 90 minutes

[Wonderinlost]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Would love to hear how it goes .

Just finished antifouling here fuelled by Date & Banana cake .

With pictures of course! : thumb :

Nice all scrubbed and painted fresh. Nothing better then that.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Sailor g

Not cake but this is so easy & uses common ingredients. The recipe is from a casino restaurant in Las Vegas.

Golden Nugget Bread Pudding

16 oz Half and Half
8 oz Whipping Cream
8 each Fresh Eggs
1.25 c. Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla
4.5 slices White Bread
1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1 tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp. Raisins

This is wonderful winter 'comfort food' .

The version I make is less custardy though - I use half the milk/cream/eggs/sugar and more bread (about 250g or half a pound). I bake it without the water bath and not covered, so the top crisps up.

It is best with stale bread. Any bread goes - white, wholemeal, sourdough, fruit loaf, even Italian Christmas bread. A great way of using up bread too old to eat normally.

I have added it to the recipe index in post #1

[Sailor g]

The good thing is that it is flexible. I usually use whatever amount I have in stores-which is usually regular milk and less on eggs and amount of milk. I've even used evaporated milk. It is still good. Oh, I've never used a water bath! LOL!! I really should read the recipe closer! It has never hurt the outcome of the bread pudding. It may be why mine comes out a bit less & thicker custard. Thanks SL! 😊

[Seaworthy Lass]

Christmas and shortbread seem to go hand in hand. A wee dram with this and even those who usually say "Bah, humbug" will be smiling .

The recipe is oh so easy. Just remember 1, 2, 3 by weight and you have the right proportions and can make whatever quantity you wish:
1 of sugar
2 of butter
3 of flour

I know many would say it is criminal playing with a classic, but I tweak this a little . Traditionally, shortbread is very dense. To produce a truly light, "melt in the mouth" shortbread, substitute about an eighth of the flour with cornflour (it binds with the butter's water content giving a lighter, crumblier texture). In addition, don't over mix the dough (some recipes call for kneading it, but this will toughen the mix).
Also, I love the smell of vanilla, so I throw a little of that in as well.

SHORTBREAD

125g sugar
250g butter
50g cornflour (or rice flour)
325g plain (= all purpose) flour
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
(to make lemon shortbread add the finely grated rind of 1 lemon)

- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Beat in vanilla
- Sift together the two lots of flour and gently mix in to make a soft dough (don't overmix)
- To cook quickly and evenly, flatten small balls and make individual biscuits. Alternatively, form one big flattened round (you can flute the edge by pinching it all around) or rectangle and as soon as it comes out of the oven cut it into wedges (called petticoat tails) or fingers.
- Whatever shape you make, poke it all the way through with a fork before baking. This is apparently done to allow the heat to "vent", as when you bake pastry. I have found it makes zero difference when making individual biscuits, but it does give it the classic "shortbread look"
- Bake at 325°F (165° C) for about 20 minutes (longer if making one big one)

Merry Christmas everyone!

SWL xxx

[Seaworthy Lass]

According to the Julian calendar, Easter falls on the 12th of April this year so celebrations are on in full swing in Greece this weekend. Fireworks went off at midnight around distant churches. Most Greeks are enjoying lamb or goat or pork on the spit today after 40 days of Lent. It is a big event here, far bigger than Christmas and we have delayed munching on Easter eggs until today to fit in with the locals (OK, I admit a few may have been sneaked early ).

A sweet yeast bread is commonly served on Easter Sunday in most countries. The British have Hot Cross Buns, the French orange blossom perfumed Pogne, the Italians Colomba, the Finnish cardamom spiced Pulla. The less well known ones are the brioche like ones from eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia they call this Easter bread Houska, in Poland Chalka, in Bulgaria Kozunak, in Croatia Sirnica, in Hungary Fonott Kalacs, in Lithuania Velykos Pyragas, in Romania Cozonac, in Russia Kulich and in Ukraine Paska. In Greece the loaf is known as Tsoureki and is baked with whole eggs tucked in the braids.

I have left out a host of countries, but you get the drift. It's popular at this time of year .

Each year along with Easter eggs we enjoy some type of sweet bread. When fresh these loaves are beautiful on their own, days later I toast slices and top with marmalade, and if there is any left to go really stale, it makes the best bread pudding.

The last few years in Greece I have simply bought a Tsoureki, but this year the boat has been filled with the aroma of a Paska being baked.

PASKA (edited to add: a few alterations included in bold after making a second lot)

¼ cup lukewarm water
2 heaped teaspoons sugar
7g packet dry yeast (about 2 teaspoons)
1 cup warm milk
5-6 cups flour, sifted (closer to 7 cups the second time around, I may have miscounted initially)
125g butter, softened
¼ tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated lemon rind
3 eggs, lightly beaten with a tablespoon reserved
½ cup sultanas (I bumped this up to a cup the second time)

- Combine water, sugar and yeast and let sit 10 minutes or so until frothy (primarily to make sure you don't have a dud lot of yeast)
- Add to the milk and whisk in about 1½ cups of flour to form a smooth thick batter
- Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon and beat in the eggs, then stir in the sultanas
- Whisk this into the yeast mix, then add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft, very sticky dough
- Knead this for 10 minutes occasionally scraping the bits sticking to the surface with a spatula. At the end of this time the stickiness will have dramatically reduced and the dough will barely be sticking to your hands or the surface.
- Let this sit covered in a bowl in a warm spot until doubled in bulk (I enlist the aid of a hot water bottle, so it takes about an hour)
- Punch the dough down and knead a few minutes
- Again return to the warm spot an hour or so until doubled in bulk
- Punch down and place into several lined greased high tins (eg saved 800g cans or coffee tins), filling each about halfway. I just used one round silicone cake tin this time (better the second time making two).
- Let sit in a warm spot an hour or so until doubled in bulk for the third rise
- Brush the top with the reserved beaten egg to create a glaze
- Bake in a moderate oven (around 175°C or 350°F) about 40-50 minutes (depends on the size of the tins used). Muffins take just 20 min.
- Let sit 10 minutes, then gently remove from tin and cool
- Ice with a mix of soft icing sugar and water or butter, allowing the icing to run down the sides

Using a cake tin means I haven't ended up with the classic tall skinny shape to this Paska, but it still rose awesomely . The size is deceptive, this is my monster serving platter. This was just heavenly with coffee this morning:

[goboatingnow]

Brill. Not on my boat , but going to bake this at home.

Dave


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Seaworthy Lass]

Easter bread continued:

The first batch was demolished pretty quickly. It never reached the bread pudding stage .

We enjoyed it so much toasted with marmalade and coffee that I made up a second lot yesterday. As much as I love this fresh out of the oven, it is even better the next day hot from the frypan (the easiest way of toasting on board) with butter melting through .

This time I divided the above quantity and made a tray of a dozen "muffins" as well as a "cake" and I think this worked better than the massive loaf the first time around. The muffins took just 20 minutes.

Mini Paskas (I forgot to glaze them ):

[Seaworthy Lass]

This boat is currently filled with the heavenly fragrance of gingerbread cake baking, a perfect antidote to cold, rainy conditions. This recipe originated in the Shetlands decades ago and has stood the test of time. The cake is dark and moist with such a superb flavour that I was prompted to share the recipe.

GINGERBREAD CAKE

110g (4oz) butter
55g (2oz) dark soft brown sugar
170g (6oz) golden syrup
55g (2oz or 1 tablespoon) black treacle (= molasses)
150 ml (⅔ cup) milk
3 pieces (2 tablespoons) chopped preserved stem ginger (not in original recipe, but an excellent addition)
2 eggs
225g (8oz) SR flour
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate soda
2 level teaspoons mixed spice
3 level teaspoons ground ginger

Mix butter, sugar, syrup and treacle in a small saucepan and warm gently until butter melts.
Add milk and stem ginger and allow to cool.
Beat eggs and stir them into the cooled mix.
Sift dry ingredients and fold into liquid mix.
Pour into a 26cm lined and greased cake tin and bake @ 180°C for approximately 35 min.
The original recipe used a 20cm greased tin and baked in preheated oven @ 160°C about 1 hr 15 min, but I found that using a larger tin results in a thinner cake and shortens the cooking time significantly.
Remove from tin and cool on wire rack.
The cake apparently improves if kept for 3-4 days before cutting, if you can resist it for that long .

SWL

[JPA Cate]

That recipe is similar to my Mom's gingerbread recipe, and I found, with it, that if you happen to have fresh ginger root aboard, it makes a lovely addition, just like the preserved ginger, and thin slices can decorate the top. One difference, is that my recipe does not use milk.

However, since y'all like the ginger flavour, here is a recipe, that a friend of ours who is married to a retired admiral got from a friend of hers.....

Dutch Ginger Cake
1-3/4 c. plain flour 1 c. caster sugar
125 g. glace ginger, coarse chopped, =1/2 c. 1 egg, beaten
185 g. butter (3/4 c., US meas.), melted 30 g. blanched almonds (~1/2c.)
1 Tbsp. milk

Into the 8" baking pan, sift the flour and sugar, and add chopped ginger. Mix in the melted butter and egg. Press mixture into well greased tin. Brush top with a little milk, and decorate with the almonds. (I blanch my own for this, but one can buy them blanched to save time.)

Bake in a moderate oven, ~190 deg. C (~350 deg. F.) 30-35 min. Test for done with toothpick. Cut in wedges to serve.

*