Chocolate and Ginger Cheesecake

Posted on 12 August 2015 by Linda Peek

With a food processor this dessert is quick to make. Really chocolatey and not too sweet.

Crust:
125g Ginger Nut biscuits
50g butter
Filling:
250g mascarpone or sour cream
500g ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2-3 Tbs sugar, to taste
150g dark chocolate, melted in microwave
2-3 Tbs crystallised ginger, chopped
To serve:
Labneh
Icing sugar
Crystallised ginger or stem ginger in syrup, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 170°C. Place biscuits in food processor and process until fine. Melt butter in microwave, mix in biscuit crumbs then tip into a 20cm (8″) springform pan which has been greased and bottom lined with baking paper. Press the mixture evenly over the base of the tin. Bake for 10 mins.

While biscuit crust is cooking make filling. Wipe out the food processor. Place all ingredients except ginger in processor and mix till well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides halfway. Add chopped ginger and process briefly, just to combine.

When ready remove biscuit base from the oven tip in the filling and smooth the top. Return to the oven for 30 mins or until just set, but still a bit wobbly when shaken. Cool cheesecake, then refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Dust the top of the cheesecake with icing sugar. Serve with Labneh or whipped cream, with some chopped ginger and a little icing sugar mixed in.

Serves 10-12

Lemon Drizzle Cake Salvation Creek

Posted on 24 June 2015 by Linda Peek

As we were heading off to Europe last year for an extended holiday my friend Karen lent me a few good books.

We thoroughly enjoyed The House at Salvation Creek, a delightful memoir by Susan Duncan, but soon realised that it’s actually a sequel to her first book. So when we got back I borrowed the first one, Salvation Creek, from the local library.

Pittwater, where the narrative takes place, is described by Wikipedia as “a tide-dominated drowned valley estuary 40 km north of Sydney.” Duncan’s descriptions of the native flora and fauna are exceptional. A friend in Denmark to whom I recommended the books said “Susan Duncan brought some warm Australian sunshine into the bleak, grey days of a Danish winter.”

Duncan’s relationship with her ageing mother is something many readers will relate to. And of course I loved all the references to what she was cooking. This is her recipe for Lemon Drizzle Cake. Very easy and a real crowd pleaser.

Zest of 1 large lemon
250g caster sugar
250g butter (at room temp)
4 large eggs
250g SR flour
Pinch salt
1 level tsp baking powder
Syrup:
Juice of 1 large lemon
150g sugar

Preheat oven to 160ºC and prepare a round or square cake pan. I used a 22cm (9″) square silicone pan, so there was no need to grease and line the bottom with baking paper, which you need to do with a metal pan.

Place lemon zest and sugar in food processor and blitz for 1-2 mins. Add butter and mix for a minute then add the eggs, sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Mix for 1- 2 mins then stop to scrape down the sides and mix for another minute. Scrape into cake pan, spread out evenly and bake for 30-40 mins or until golden and well risen. Test cake with a toothpick inserted in the middle, which should come out clean, but don’t overcook the cake. Remove from oven and pour over the syrup while hot, using a knife to distribute it evenly. If liked serve garnished with flowers e.g. potato vine as in photo.

Syrup: heat lemon juice and sugar together in a small saucepan to form a syrup.

Serve for afternoon tea or as a dessert with whipped cream and some berries. Duncan suggests mixing some icing sugar and passionfruit pulp into the cream.

Serves 16

Notes: The original recipe says to cook the cake for 30-35 mins but mine took 40. The recipe can be doubled and it makes very good cupcakes. She says it freezes well.

Quick Apple Cake

Posted on 8 April 2015 by Linda Peek

My mother used to make a dessert called Eve’s Pudding which consisted of stewed apples topped with a simple butter cake mixture. It was a family favourite when I was growing up in England.

This quick and easy recipe combines the same simple ingredients, but instead of being underneath the cake the apples are mixed through. You can use oil or butter, although butter always gives a better flavour.

Served warm with cream or ice cream it’s sure to please the whole family. Any leftovers are perfect for school lunch boxes.

2 eggs
1¾ cups sugar
½ cup vegetable oil or melted butter
2 cups Plain flour and 2 tsp baking powder
(Or 2 cups self-raising flour)
4 tsp cinnamon
6 eating apples, peeled and sliced

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. In a mixing bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and oil or melted butter until well combined. Fold in the sifted plain flour and baking powder (or self-raising flour) and cinnamon. Add the apples and mix to coat thoroughly. Tip mixture into a well-greased 22cm (9 inch) cake pan or pudding dish. Bake for 50 mins or until well risen and golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold

Serves 8-10

No-Knead No-Cross Buns

Posted on 2 April 2015 by Linda Peek

There’s nothing quite like home-made Hot Cross Buns for breakfast over the Easter weekend. Serve them warm straight from the oven. Or make them ahead and reheat them in a moderate oven. Or split and toast them.

In an attempt to save time I thought I would see if the No-Knead Bread recipe could be adapted to make Hot Cross Buns. You always need more yeast when you’re adding fruit, sugar, butter and eggs to a basic bread dough, so I doubled the amount used in the No Knead Bread recipe.

Putting crosses on the buns is a bit fiddly so I didn’t bother and can assure you they taste just as good without! Technically this recipe is not quick because you leave the dough to prove overnight. But the actual work involved takes no more than five or ten minutes.

Basic yeast mixture:
4 cups plain flour
½ tsp dry yeast
1½ cups warm water
1 tsp salt
Additions:
60g butter at room temp (I used spreadable butter)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp each ground cinnamon, mixed spice and ground ginger
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup sultanas
¼ cup dried mixed peel (optional) or use more sultanas
Extra flour as needed
Glaze:
1 Tbs cold water
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp powdered gelatine

In a large mixing bowl mix all ingredients for yeast mixture with a spoon until well combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave overnight. Next day – whenever you are ready – mix butter, sugar, spices and egg into the yeast mixture, using electric beaters. Lastly mix in the fruit then tip mixture onto a well-floured surface.

Knead just enough to incorporate a bit more flour and get rid of excessive stickiness, then cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Form into balls and arrange in a greased 10-12″ (25+cm) round tin or use a rectangular one. Leave to rise for an hour or two, then bake in a pre-heated oven at 220ºC for 20 mins. Remove from the oven and brush with hot glaze while hot. Serve warm or toasted split in two and spread with butter.

Glaze: place cold water and sugar in a small bowl and sprinkle with gelatine. Zap in the microwave for 20 secs on High.

Makes 12 buns

Note: can be frozen, but best frozen without glaze then thawed, reheated in a moderate oven and brushed with glaze while hot. Made in this way the buns all stick together and need to be broken apart. If preferred bake them on a larger biscuit tray, leaving more space between each one, so they don’t stick together.

Hermits

Posted on 14 May 2014 by Linda Peek

During the recent school holidays number one son James headed off to Disney World with his wife Karen and two very excited boys aged seven and five. He’s the computer wizz behind Café Cat, making sure that subscribers get their weekly recipe.

When James & Co go away we look after Hershey, their bouncy chocolate labrador and when we go away they look after Danske, our ivory-coloured golden retriever. A reciprocal arrangement which works well. Hershey doesn’t have to be here long for the contents of our vacuum cleaner to change from cream coloured hairs to a perfect cappuccino mix of the two!

Hermits are spicy, slightly salty little cakes which originate in Canada. James is very ~~fussy~~ particular when it comes to cakes, but as I mixed them I thought they would be right up his alley, though he would prefer them without the nuts. Unfortunately they were all gone by the time he got back.

1½ cups plain flour
1½ cups self-raising wholemeal flour
1 egg
½ cup olive oil or melted butter
½ cup plain yoghurt
1/3 cup molasses or treacle
½ cup milk
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
¾ cup brown sugar
½ tsp each cinnamon, salt, ground cloves & nutmeg
2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup raisins or sultanas
½ cup walnuts or pecan nuts (optional)
To finish:
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease a 20-22cm square cake pan or a small slice/slab tin and line with non-stick paper. A Lamington tin is perfect. Place all ingredients except fruit and nuts in food processor and mix well, stopping after a minute to scrape down the sides. Add fruit and nuts and process briefly, just to mix.

Scrape mixture into tin and smooth the top. Bake for about 20 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Don’t overcook – the cakes should be soft and chewy in the middle like chocolate brownies. How long they take will depend on the size of your tin. Cool then cut into squares or rectangles and dust with icing sugar.

Makes 16-20

Mazurek

Posted on 16 April 2014 by Linda Peek

Our Polish friend Peter was coming for dinner so I decided to make something for dessert which would remind him of his homeland. After searching online I came across Mazurek, a nutty cake, not quite as dense as shortbread, covered with chocolate icing and nuts.

There are as many recipes for Mazurek as I’ve had hot dinners, so having found a version for which I had the ingredients – essential when you don’t want to go shopping – I adjusted it slightly and came up with this.

Peter explained that Mazurek is traditionally served at Easter so my timing was perfect. He hadn’t tasted one for many years and was delighted to take home the leftovers.

Serve for afternoon tea or as dessert, with a dollop of cream. Scrumptious.

250g butter at room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1½ cups almond meal (see note below)
1 cup plain flour
pinch salt
¼ tsp almond essence
¼ cup cream or sour cream
Chocolate Icing:
½ cup dark chocolate chips or chocolate squares
1 Tbs corn (glucose) syrup
2 Tbs cream
2 Tbs butter
To decorate:
¼ cup flaked or slivered blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Grease a 9″ (22cm) square cake pan and line with non-stick baking paper. In a food processor or with electric beaters mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, salt and almond essence and mix well. Add flour and almond meal and mix well. Scrape into cake pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 20 mins or until light golden – don’t overcook or cake will be dry. Cool completely in tin.

Remove cake and place on a flat serving plate. Place chocolate, corn/glucose syrup, cream and butter in a small bowl over simmering water and when melted stir till smooth. Cool a little then spread icing over cake and decorate with almonds.

Serves about 16

Note: make your own almond meal by blitzing blanched or unblanched almonds in food processor until fine.

Variations: use hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans instead of almonds.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Salted Peanut Brittle

Posted on 14 October 2013 by Linda Peek

This recipe will appeal to fans of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, those American sweets which combine chocolate with peanut butter. However, I do know a few other people who will say “yuck” when they see this post!

Half cream cheese and half ricotta results in a somewhat lighter texture, but you can use all cream cheese if you prefer. The addition of salted peanuts and salty biscuit crumbs in the crust make a nice contrast to the sweetness of the filling.

This dessert is very rich, so serve in small slices.

Base:
1½ cups salty biscuit crumbs, such as Jatz, Ritz or pretzels
1/3 cup melted butter
Filling:
1 kg cream cheese (or use half cream cheese and half ricotta)
1 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
3 large eggs
Topping:
1 cup cream
100g dark chocolate
Salted Peanut Brittle:
100g sugar
100g salted peanuts
To serve:
Thick pouring cream or whipped cream

Have cream cheese at room temperature. Preheat oven to 170ºC. Crush biscuits or pretzels in food processor till they are like breadcrumbs, tip into a bowl with the melted butter and mix well. Line base of a 22-24 cm (8-9″) spring-form pan with baking paper and grease the sides. Tip biscuit crumbs in and press evenly over the base with your hand or the base of a glass. Place in the fridge while you make the filling.

Place cream cheese (or cream cheese and ricotta) in food processor with sugar and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and mix, stopping to scrape down the sides. Scrape filling into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for between 45 mins and an hour or until just set. As soon as it feels set in the middle when you touch with your fingers it’s ready. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

For topping, heat cream in microwave or a saucepan till almost boiling. Add chocolate broken into squares and stir till melted. Leave until starting to thicken, then spread evenly over the cheesecake. When cheesecake is cold refrigerate overnight.

To make brittle, heat sugar in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until dark caramel colour. Don’t stir, but you can lift and swirl the pan from time to time, to ensure sugar melts evenly. Add peanuts, swirl to combine, then tip onto a baking pan lined with baking paper or foil.

Remove cheesecake from fridge 15 mins before serving. Run a knife dipped in boiling water around the sides of the cheesecake to loosen, then remove the sides of the pan. Dip knife into boiling water to cut cheesecake into slices. Wipe and dip each time. Break or cut peanut brittle into shards and use to decorate cheesecake. Some whipped or pouring cream goes well.

Serves 16-20 (small slices)

Note: in South America queso fresco can be substituted for the ricotta. You can use sour cream instead of cream and milk chocolate instead of dark in the topping.

Carrot Cake

Posted on 3 October 2013 by Linda Peek

This is Matthew’s favourite cake and he complained that I didn’t make it very often. The reason is that it’s rather a big cake so I only made it when we had guests, then he would finish it off over the following week.

To keep him happy I now make half the recipe in a large loaf tin which takes about 45 minutes to cook rather than an hour. The quantities for half the recipe are in brackets.

The carrots and cream cheese make this a moist cake which will keep in a tin with a lid for up to a week, refrigerated in warm weather.

4 eggs (2)
1¾ cups sugar (just over ¾)
1½ cups vegetable oil (¾)
2 cups self-raising flour (1)
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (1)
2 tsp cinnamon (1)
1 tsp salt (½)
½ tsp ground cloves (optional) (¼)
1 cup chopped walnuts (or ½ cup walnuts and ½ cup raisins) (½ total)
400g coarsely grated carrots (about 4-5 big carrots) (200g)
Icing:
250g cream cheese at room temperature (not the spreadable kind) (125g)
1-2 cups icing sugar, sifted (¾ to 1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla essence (½)
25 walnut or pecan nut halves

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Peel carrots then grate in food processor if you have a grating attachment or by hand. With electric beaters, beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy and tripled in volume. Gradually beat in oil, fold in sifted dry ingredients, then walnuts (raisins) and carrots. Pour into a 25 cm (9”) square tin, greased and bottom-lined with greaseproof paper, and smooth the top. You can use a round tin if preferred, but I like the way a square cake can be cut into lots of small servings.

Bake for an hour in the middle of the oven, or till a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes in the tin then turn out, cool thoroughly and remove paper. Ice the top only and decorate with 25 walnut halves, 5 down one side and 5 down the other, then fill in the gaps like a chess board. Cut cake into 25 squares. Keeps for several days in a tin.

Icing: Place cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in food processor and mix until light and fluffy, stopping once to scrape down the sides. Don’t over-mix or it will go thin and runny. If preferred mix the icing by hand. If using a softer, spreadable cream cheese definitely mix by hand.

Cuts into 25 squares

Salted Caramel & Macadamia Cheesecake

Posted on 17 July 2013 by Linda Peek

Salted caramel desserts are very “in” at the moment. I first tasted this combination of flavours in Brittany, where you can buy a salted caramel spread in jars to eat on toast like Nutella. The Bretons also use it as one of the many fillings you can choose for crepes sold by street vendors in the region. I know it’s not good to eat too much, but Matthew and our two boys are very keen on anything salty and this includes salted caramel desserts.

Israeli-born chef Yotam Ottolenghi created this delicious caramel and macadamia cheesecake. All I have done is to add salt to the caramel sauce, cut down a bit on the biscuits in the crust and the sugar in the cheesecake filling.

Base:
About 130g plain sweet biscuits (I used 9 Digestives)
40g unsalted butter
Filling:
500g ricotta cheese, at room temperature
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
4 eggs
½ cup sour cream
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod or 2 tsp essence
Topping:
150g macadamia nuts
90g caster sugar
Sauce:
65g unsalted butter
160g caster sugar
100ml cream
½ to 1 tsp salt, to taste

Base: Preheat oven to 140ºC. Lightly grease a 20cm spring-form cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. Whiz biscuits to crumbs in food processor. Melt butter in microwave, add biscuit crumbs and mix. Tip into the cake tin and flatten with the bottom of a glass to create a level base.

Filling: In a bowl with electric beaters or in a food processor, mix all ingredients for filling until smooth. Scrape into cake tin and bake for 50 mins or until set in the middle. Cool then refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight, covered.

Topping: Preheat oven to 140ºC. Spread macadamias over a baking sheet and roast for about 15 mins or until light golden brown. Watch them carefully – mine got a bit too brown as you can see in the photo. Remove and set aside. Place sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently until it turns golden-brown. Do not stir, but you can lift and swirl from time to time. Add nuts and mix gently with a wooden spoon. Pour onto a tray lined with foil or non-stick baking paper and leave to set. Chop roughly with a large knife, leaving some of the nuts halved or whole.

Sauce: Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add sugar and stir constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth, dark caramel. It may split, but that doesn’t matter. Add cream carefully – it will splutter – and stir to combine. Sieve to remove any gritty bits then cool.

To serve: Remove sides and base of cake tin and place cheesecake on a serving plate or board. If you want to present it whole, spoon the sauce in the middle, allowing it to spill over the sides a bit and scatter the nuts over the top. Alternatively arrange slices on individual plates, then decorate with the nuts and spoon over some of the sauce. Keeps for 3 days in the fridge.

Serves 10

Quick Banana and Oat Bread

Posted on 13 June 2013 by Linda Peek

Matthew’s not mad about bananas or coconut, so I usually avoid using them in cakes. Sometimes I sneak them in and hope he won’t notice.

This recipe only uses one banana, so the flavour isn’t overpowering. It’s delicious served fresh on the day it’s made. Or you can keep it in the fridge, well-wrapped, for up to a week and serve it toasted.

As it doesn’t contain any fat this banana bread is quite healthy, eaten on its own. But of course it’s even nicer with things on top! Serve it toasted for breakfast, topped with butter and jam; with a sliced banana, ricotta cheese and a drizzle of honey or with home made strawberry jam and ricotta as shown in the photo. I like to freeze the individual slices wrapped in plastic wrap so they can then be toasted from frozen and are ready in a jiffy.

1 ripe banana
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (see note below)
2½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
½ cup oats
½ cup desiccated coconut
¼ to ½ cup honey, to taste
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup sunflower kernels (shelled sunflower seeds)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a large loaf tin and line the bottom with baking paper. Place banana in food processor and process till smooth. Add remaining ingredients except sunflower kernels and process just enough to mix. Add sunflower kernels, tip into prepared loaf tin and smooth the top. Sprinkle with a few more oats, press them in, then bake for an hour, or until well-risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Can take up to an hour and a quarter, depending on your oven. Cool and serve fresh or toasted. Can be frozen.

Makes one loaf

Note: if you don’t have buttermilk substitute half milk and half plain yoghurt. If you don’t have any sunflower kernels, double the oats or the coconut.