You are browsing the tag archive for baking.

Photo: danielmoyle / Flickr

These rose petal biscuits are perfect for tea on Valentines Day.  Ingredients call for 12 fresh rose petals, rose essence, butter, icing sugar, self raising flour, caster sugar and salt. A teaspoon of ground cardamom is added for spiciness. The mixture can be made in advance and baked as required. It will keep for a week in an airtight container in the fridge. Alternatively, it can be stored in the freezer for up to a month. (more…)

Photo: yaili / Flickr

Rabanadas tipsy cinnamon bread slices are similar in appearance to egg-bread. While they’re normally served at Christmas time in Portugal, in in her book Piri Piri Starfish Tessa Kiros suggests that they’re ‘also nice to make on a morning when you wake up early and can’t get back to sleep.’ Rabanados or tipsy slices should be made with tightly crumbed Portuguese bread, baguette or ciabatta bread. (more…)

Photo: dr.coop / Flickr

This butternut bake recipe does not require any pastry skills as the crust is made with breadcrumbs making it great for cooks who want to get a simple – if indirect – introduction into what goes into making pastries The breadcrumbs are blended with chopped tomato, sesame seeds, grated cheddar cheese and olive oil. The crust doesn’t require any rolling as it is simply sprinkled over the filling and baked until golden brown. Ingredients for the filling include butternut, onion, garlic, feta cheese, hyme, olive oil, mixed spice and seasoning. Replace the butternut with spinach for a spinach and feta cheese dish. Serve with couscous. (more…)

Photo: [puamelia] / Flickr

This potato and lentil shepherd’s pie dish can be enjoyed by meat eaters as well as vegetarians, and the lentils can be substituted with kidney beans, if your prefer. Being a hearty dish, it is well suited to cold weather. Serve it with caramelised onions and whatever vegetables are in season for a well-rounded meal. (more…)

Photo: dmc_fz7_az / Flickr

Macarons are shiny, delicate treats with moist centres. Also known as macaroons, they are made with icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites and sugar. They can be flavoured with vanilla, raspberry or cocoa powder — although the options are seemingly endless. This recipe makes about 35 petits fours. You will require an electric mixer, a piping bag, a plain 1cm nozzle, four baking sheets, greaseproof paper and a wire rack. Preparation time is 15 minutes and cooking time is 10 minutes. (more…)

Photo: smcgee / Flickr

How often does one bite into a gorgeous-looking celebration cake, only to find that it is tasteless or rubbery? Planet Cake offers several recipes which actually taste as good as they look. There are offers of vanilla cupcakes, chocolate mud cake, white chocolate mud cake, carrot cake and coconut cake. There’s also a flour-less orange and almond cake recipe for those who require a dairy-free and gluten-free cake. These recipes can be prepared in advance, allowing for plenty of decoration time. (more…)

Photo: bezajel / Flickr

This chocolate cake recipe is melt-in-your mouth, besides being simple and reliable. It’s not too rich but that doesn’t stop it from offering a wonderfully indulgent taste experience. It isn’t difficult to make and requires the following ingredients: plain cake flour, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream. The icing requires 70 per cent cocoa solid chocolate, icing sugar, golden syrup and additional vanilla extract, butter and sour cream. (more…)

Photo: moonlightbulb / Flickr

Since Christmas is around the corner, you might be wondering what to prepare for dessert. If your family is not keen on a traditional Christmas pudding, this blueberry pie will be a lovely alternative. Made with sharp blueberries and soft-textured apples, these pies ooze out a crimson colour that is perfectly suited to Christmas. A word of warning, though: be careful not to overcook the apples when you have them in the pan as they will become rather mushy during the baking. (more…)

Photo: gurke / Flickr

This Belgian chocolate cake recipe can also be seen as a chocolate truffle cake. It allows for eight to 10 individual chocolate cakes with a chocolate ganache ball placed inside the batter before baking. Ingredients include dark chocolate, butter, caster sugar, corn flour, cake flour, eggs, cream, icing sugar and cocoa powder. Using good quality chocolate will yield excellent results. So will heating up the cake for a minute in the microwave before serving it with your choice of ice-cream. (more…)

Photo: KathrynW1 / Flickr

Richard Bertinet’s Czech assistant Zdenek introduced him to these gingerbread biscuits. Z, (as he is most often called) got the recipe from his grandmother. It’s a tradition for him and his family to bake the biscuits at Christmas time. Richard’s family have also taken to them. He explains: ‘My children like this recipe so much that we cut the dough into shapes, make little holes in each one, then thread them with ribbon after baking and hang them on the Christmas tree.’ (more…)