Let Us Eat Cake

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by Coops

A litlle idea for the chocoholics,

How to make chocolate bowls. [VIDEO]

Coops.

that is brilliant! Can you imagine those bowls filled with homemade chocolate, coffee and cardamon mousse..........................that's a few pounds added to my waistline!

[osirissail]

Popovers or Yorkshire Pudding are my dream food. Break them open - lather with butter and honey and shiver with delight.

Pretty easy to make:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
vegetable oil or roast beef drippings

shift flour and salt in one bowl. Then in another bowl beat the eggs and milk until light and foamy. Mix the flour/salt into the eggs/milk. Then
pour some oil (or roast beef drippings for superior taste) into a cast iron muffin pan and heat it until the oil is smoking meanwhile heat the oven to 450°F/230°C.
Pour the mixture into each muffin hole then put the whole thing into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

For smaller batches the mixture ratio is:
1/3 cup flour to 1/3 cup milk with 1 egg

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by osirissail

Popovers or Yorkshire Pudding are my dream food. Break them open - lather with butter and honey and shiver with delight.

I have been daunted by Yorkshire pudds, as my MIL always pronounced with great authority that you need Yorkshire blood in your veins to cook them successfully. Any truth in this?

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

I have been daunted by Yorkshire pudds, as my MIL always pronounced with great authority that you need Yorkshire blood in your veins to cook them successfully. Any truth in this?

Probably not, but some common cooking techniques may be evident. For maximum success I use a cast iron muffin pan and then heat the pan on top of the stove on the biggest burner. Then when the oil in each cup is smok'in hot you add the batter to each cup. Then place the whole pan into the oven to finish. Otherwise, it takes too long inside the oven to get the pan and oil hot enough.

[cgrabens]

How to Replace Butter With Banana in Baking | LIVESTRONG.COM

i have not personally tried this yet, but could potentially solve butter problem. when i do, i'll let ya know

[beverley]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

I have been daunted by Yorkshire pudds, as my MIL always pronounced with great authority that you need Yorkshire blood in your veins to cook them successfully. Any truth in this?

Complete rubbish. I make them all the time and I am Irish although I have lived only 25 miles from Yorkshire for a couple of decades....

My recipe:

150ml milk
one egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
50g plain flour
10g self raising

Mix the ingredients until smooth and put in the fridge for 2 hours to chill. I do this in a jug for easy pouring later.

Fill a fairy cake tray's cups with a few mm of oil, no more than 5mm deep. Place in an oven at 200ºC and leave there for 10 or 15 minutes until the oil is 200C as well.

Get the mix from the fridge and beat smooth. Take the cake tray out of the oven and close the oven door to keep that 200C in there. Quickly pour the mix in until the oil just covers the mix. The mix pushes the oils up but you do not want more than 1cm of mix in there. Put the filled tray back in the oven and check in 10 or 15 minutes. Leave in until you are happy, just check regularly.

You can experiment and do different depths from shallow to deeper across the tray. It is very variable and some days it works brilliantly and other days it is yorkshire dumplings but it works far more often than it flops. Oven temperature seems to be critical and my oven is a fan oven. Some days I get a mix of good ones and malformed ones, but they taste err.... well ... bland ... until you drip beef gravy over them.

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by beverley

Complete rubbish. I make them all the time and I am Irish although I have lived only 25 miles from Yorkshire for a couple of decades....

My recipe:

150ml milk
one egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
50g plain flour
10g self raising

Mix the ingredients until smooth and put in the fridge for 2 hours to chill. I do this in a jug for easy pouring later.

Fill a fairy cake tray's cups with a few mm of oil, no more than 5mm deep. Place in an oven at 200ºC and leave there for 10 or 15 minutes until the oil is 200C as well.

Get the mix from the fridge and beat smooth. Take the cake tray out of the oven and close the oven door to keep that 200C in there. Quickly pour the mix in until the oil just covers the mix. The mix pushes the oils up but you do not want more than 1cm of mix in there. Put the filled tray back in the oven and check in 10 or 15 minutes. Leave in until you are happy, just check regularly.

You can experiment and do different depths from shallow to deeper across the tray. It is very variable and some days it works brilliantly and other days it is yorkshire dumplings but it works far more often than it flops. Oven temperature seems to be critical and my oven is a fan oven. Some days I get a mix of good ones and malformed ones, but they taste err.... well ... bland ... until you drip beef gravy over them.

That's my method too, although I use half milk/half water and all plain flour. And my oven thermostat has bust so it's just a hot oven! They turn out well though.

I do have SOME Yorkshire blood in my veins but it's very dilute!

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by beverley

I make them all the time and I am Irish although I have lived only 25 miles from Yorkshire for a couple of decades....

Originally Posted by NornaBiron

.....They turn out well.....
I do have SOME Yorkshire blood in my veins but it's very dilute!

OK, you have inspired me to try making some. If they don't work I will blame the lack of Yorkshire proximity and blood rather than my technique and lack of metal muffin tin .

It is way too hot here for any roast dinners, but I really like Osirissail's idea of dousing them while warm in honey (Aussie orange blossom honey is in the pantry at the moment). It will make a very indulgent brunch .

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by osirissail

Popovers or Yorkshire Pudding are my dream food. Break them open - lather with butter and honey and shiver with delight.

Pretty easy to make:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
vegetable oil or roast beef drippings

shift flour and salt in one bowl. Then in another bowl beat the eggs and milk until light and foamy. Mix the flour/salt into the eggs/milk. Then
pour some oil (or roast beef drippings for superior taste) into a cast iron muffin pan and heat it until the oil is smoking meanwhile heat the oven to 450°F/230°C.
Pour the mixture into each muffin hole then put the whole thing into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

For smaller batches the mixture ratio is:
1/3 cup flour to 1/3 cup milk with 1 egg

YORKSHIRE PUDDING - first attempt

Today was the day to be brave and tackle making Yorkshire pudds. Off racing this afternoon, so I figured we needed the extra energy .

I can report that they are not as daunting as my MIL made out decades ago . Thanks for the tips everyone.

I used Osirissail's recipe, but let the mixture stand in a jug at room temperature for an hour before baking (my MIL swears by this) and I heated the oil in a silicone muffin pan on a metal tray to 220°C in the oven for 5 minutes, rather than on the stovetop (no metal pan and I don't have one on board either). A teaspoon of avocado oil was used in each recess. This has a very high smoke point, so no smoking when it reached 220°C.

It was fun watching them rise - they visibly ballooned at a very rapid rate at about the four minute mark. They took 12 minutes to cook.

A pot of coffee made with Blue Mountain Gold beans (passed over by a friend who works on the rigs in PNG) and warm Yorkshire pudds doused in orange blossom honey for breakfast in bed, and we are feeling extremely content .

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

YORKSHIRE PUDDING - first attempt

Today was the day to be brave and tackle making Yorkshire pudds. Off racing this afternoon, so I figured we needed the extra energy .

I can report that they are not as daunting as my MIL made out decades ago . Thanks for the tips everyone.

I used Osirissail's recipe, but let the mixture stand in a jug at room temperature for an hour before baking (my MIL swears by this) and I heated the oil in a silicone muffin pan on a metal tray to 220°C in the oven for 5 minutes, rather than on the stovetop (no metal pan and I don't have one on board either). A teaspoon of avocado oil was used in each recess. This has a very high smoke point, so no smoking when it reached 220°C.

It was fun watching them rise - they visibly ballooned at a very rapid rate at about the four minute mark. They took 12 minutes to cook.

A pot of coffee made with Blue Mountain Gold beans (passed over by a friend works on the rigs in PNG) and warm Yorkshire pudds doused in orange blossom honey for breakfast in bed, and we are feeling extremely content .

easy peasy!

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by NornaBiron

easy peasy!

I will have to shine a torch in my boat oven when they are cooking. They are fun to watch rising as they do so at an amazing rate .

PS Are they supposed to be so lopsided? All of them blew up on one side first. Just curious - the taste and texture were perfect.

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

I will have to shine a torch in my boat oven when they are cooking. They are fun to watch rising as they do so at an amazing rate .

PS Are they supposed to be so lopsided? All of them blew up on one side first. Just curious - the taste and texture were perfect.

Some of mine are normally lopsided, just gives a bigger scoop to fill!

[Ocean Girl]

Has anyone posted a flan recipe? I have one I'm trying tonight. Here is the simple recipe:


Spanish Flan

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup white sugar ( I'm using turbinado)
3 eggs
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed
milk
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9 inch round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla until smooth. Pour egg mixture into baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in preheated oven 60 minutes. Let cool completely.
5. To serve, carefully invert on serving plate with edges when completely cool.


I'm going to try to bake em in a water bath with my muffin tin..? I was also thinking of sprinkling a tiny bit of coffee (finely ground) into the sugar syrup

[Seaworthy Lass]

Hummingbird style cake.
Love the name. Love the cake .

This is my version of a cake that originated in the southern USA well over a century ago. The recipe that was first published in the 1970's had no coconut, used less pineapple and more banana, and tossed in pecans instead of walnuts. It called for three times more oil. It was also much sweeter, using 2 cups of sugar. Cream cheese frosting using 3 cups of icing sugar was used as topping! Mine is positively healthy by comparison .

I came up with this combination after playing with the ingredients to get a good balance of tropical flavours. It is now one of my favourite boat cake recipes - despite the radical modifications and the fact that it is not super sweet, being rich and moist it is very moreish.

HUMMINGBIRD STYLE CAKE

2 cups SR flour
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup coconut
½ cup roughly chopped walnuts

2 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¾ cup brown sugar (or ½ cup honey)
1 tsp vanilla extract
440 g can crushed pineapple, well drained (or finely chopped rings or pieces)
Optional: sieved pulp of 2 passionfruit

- Sift flour & cinnamon together
- Stir in coconut and walnuts
- Lightly whisk bananas, eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla
- Add crushed pineapple
- Gently fold dry ingredients into liquid mix
- Spoon into a greased round silicone pan
- Bake 180°C approx 33 minutes (test)
- Dust with icing sugar

(This has been added to the recipe index in post #1)

Packed for passing around when we crossed the finish line Saturday's race around the sticks:

[Coops]

We are going to try this one this weekend.

Choc Honeycomb Slice

Being chocoholics, who isn't?, we are going to use chocolate biscuits and chocolate condensed cream. Crunchies instead of violet crumbles, more malty.

Coops.