mitzireddy

I have always loved the flavour of fresh ginger especially in curries and it was only over the last few years that I became aware that ginger spice is associated with the festive season of Christmas from soft gingerbread cakes to flat crisp ginger biscuits.

Each European country maintained its own variation of gingerbread over the centuries. Of all the countries in Europe, Germany has the most enduring tradition of flat, shaped gingerbreads. Of all the German cities, Nuremberg became known as the “gingerbread capital” of the world. Sculptors, painters, woodcarvers and goldsmiths all contributed in the creation of the most beautiful cakes in Europe. Gifted craftsmen carved wooden molds and talented artists assisted with the frosting. Many of these designs were actually objets d’art, varied and incredibly fancy, depicting angels, hearts and wreaths.

The ginger brownies are a modern twist and the recipe is from theYou Delectable Cookies and the end result is not only delicious but very moreish.

GINGER BROWNIES

 Ingredients

750ml cake flour

125ml cocoa powder

15ml baking powder

5ml bicarbonate of soda

5ml salt

100g preserved ginger, chopped

100g pecan or macadamia nuts, chopped

250ml soft brown sugar

150g butter

350g golden syrup

200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

1 extra-large egg

300ml milk

Icing sugar for the top

Preheat oven to 170C and grease a deep 27cm square tin with butter or cooking spray. Line the bottom with baking paper.

Mix the dry ingredients into a deep bowl, add the ginger and nuts.

Put the sugar, butter, syrup and chocolate in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until melted. Add to the dry ingredients. Beat the egg and milk and add to the mixture in the large bowl. Mix well.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour or until firm. Cool (the mixture will subside slightly). Sift icing sugar on top, cut into squares or slices.

Variation Top with chocolate icing. Beat 1 egg white until stiff peaks form. Melt 3 squares of chocolate and add to the egg white along with 50ml cocoa powder. Mix well. Add 200-250ml icing sugar and spread over the brownies. Sprinkle with gold dusting if preferred.

During both my pregnancies I waited to experience those special food cravings that I heard and read about – it just never happened. I felt cheated that I did not send hubby dashing off at all hours of the night to buy whatever savoury or sweet craving that needed to be satisfied irrespective of the hour. My mum laughed indulgently when I complained – my family knows that whatever food I crave I will end up making it – did not need to be pregnant.
I enjoy fruit – luckily so does the rest of my family – there is always seasonal fruit at home – and it’s wonderful that Wollies is stocking non seasonal fruit and veggies – yeah!! I had a yen for an orange cake and when a friend gave me a bag of oranges when she came to visit – this gave me the excuse I needed to satisfy this particular craving.
After scratching through my many cookbooks I settled for this recipe from the You Let’s Cook 1. The recipe calls for everyday ingredients and the cake is soaked in orange syrup. I was glad that I did not make a glace icing to pour over the cake to pretty it up – the cake is sweet enough and does not need any icing.

ORANGE CAKE

200ml margarine
375ml castor sugar
25ml grated orange rind
4 extra -large eggs
125ml plain yoghurt
50ml fresh orange juice
500ml cake flour
2ml bicarbonate of soda

SAUCE
250ml orange juice
50ml lemon juice
12.5ml grated orange rind
12.5ml grated lemon rind
125ml sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20 cm ring tin.
Cream the margarine and castor sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the orange rind and blend well.
Add the eggs one by one, beating thoroughly after each addition.
Mix the yoghurt and orange juice and add to the mixture.
Sift the cake flour and bicarbonate of soda together and add to the mixture.
Blend well and pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until a testing skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.
Stand the cake in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool slightly.
Blend all the ingredients for sauce in a saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring continuously. Boil for 5 minutes and pour over the cake while still hot.

Shopping for Mother’s day was a frantic rush as usual in the crowded stores as I searched for the correct size and colours of clothing that will appeal to my mum. Luscious Lynn and Lovely Linda had made plans to take me to a spa for Mother’s day and I wanted to give my mum her gifts a day earlier as I was not sure of what time we would be returning from the spa. She smiles when she opens her gifts and says that I always know what to buy for her – and I grin pleased that she is happy. When it is time to say goodbye – I turned to
give her one last wave and smile – and she says to us that she will be home on
Monday.  It’s a memory that will always remain with me as it was the last time I had spoken to my mum – she had a stroke the next day from which she did not recover – seven years today – seems like yesterday. Mother’s day brings poignant memories for me and I avoid the shops over that period – it’s a reminder of the void in my life.

My mum, Doris, in her youth

Doris as her grandchildren know her.

As a child I remember Fridays being special – my Dad would come home with treats which always included coconut tarts and macaroons which was my mum’s favorite. It’s the first time that I have made these in the last seven years. It’s an old recipe from the Housewives’ League cookery book and my mum always enjoyed these.

The recipe below makes 2 tart crusts and I am posting recipes for 2 different coconut fillings.

The pictures below are of filling (1) – the filling is much thinner.

Picture of Filling (2)  – which is more like a macaroon.

CRUST

60g margarine

60g sugar

4 teaspoon sunflower oil

2 cups flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

Cream margarine and sugar well. Add oil and beat well.

Add the egg. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder. Mix
into a soft pliable dough.

Press into greased pie / tart pans.  I prick holes into the pastry with a fork to
ensure  a fully cooked pastry.

Spread the base of the tart with a generous layer of apricot
jam.

Then add the coconut mixture.

Bake at 180 C until light brown  approximately 30 minutes.

FILLING (1)

½ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon butter

1 egg

1 ¼ cup desiccated coconut

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and beat well.

Add coconut and mix well.

Spread the filling over the jam covered tart base.

Bake until light brown. The filling is sufficient for 1
tart.

FILLING (2)

2 cups desiccated coconut

1 beaten egg

Pinch of salt

½ cup milk

1 cup sugar

Mix all the ingredients together and spoon over the jam
covered tart base.

Bake until light brown. The filling is sufficient for 1 tart.

The news24food team has done an excellent job with the transition to wordpress – and now it’s just a matter of time before I can
work my way around wordpress and find my fellow bloggers as well. The pace to the countdown to Christmas is picking up with the shops starting to get overcrowded as the excitement and shopping madness starts to set in. The boozy,
dark, fruity and nutty Christmas cakes complete with marzipan icing and fruitmince pies are my favorite goodies at this time of the year – definitely satisfying for someone with a sweet tooth like me.

For me an invitation to tea has to include something sweet –so when my neighbour
who prefers savouries came to visit for tea – I decided to make this cheese and marmite cake which is an interesting combination of sweet and savoury – and am glad to say that she enjoyed it and wanted the recipe.

It’s an old recipe from the You cookbook where it is described as “this rich butter cake with its melted cheese and marmite topping
is the perfect treat for lazy Saturday afternoons”.

CHEESE  AND MARMITE CAKE

Batter:

90g butter or margarine

200ml sugar

1 t vanilla essence

2 extra -large eggs

500ml cake flour

2 t baking powder

¼ t salt

125ml milk

Topping:

2 t marmite

50ml butter

125ml grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Grease a 31 x 20 cm ovenproof dish with butter,
margarine or nonstick spray.

Batter:

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla essence.

Whisk the eggs and beat into the creamed mixture.

Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the
mixture, alternating with the milk.

Mix well and turn the batter into the prepared dish.

Bake in the preheated oven to 25 – 30 minutes.

Topping:

Mix the marmite and butter.

Prick holes in the cake as soon as it comes out of
the oven and spread with the marmite mixture on top.

Sprinkle with the grated cheese and return to the
oven until the cheese has melted.

Serve hot.

My friend, Joey, celebrated her birthday in a Greek restaurant, Mythos, a few weeks ago and the food and atmosphere was fabulous – I always enjoy the variety of tastes in a meze with the delicious dips, cheese and phyllo pastries with mouth-watering fillings.

So I had this great idea of making some Greek dishes for lunch for some friends and drew up a menu which included the Greek yoghurt marmalade cake. The only item from that menu that was served for lunch was the cake –lol – I was side tracked as usual by other recipes that caught my interest as I did mention previously that its very rare I stick to a menu.

The recipe is from the Foodnetwork – the Greek yoghurt and orange are a great combination in this moist cake recipe. It will also keep for several days in an airtight container if you can resist eating it all at once!

GREEK YOGHURT MARMALADE CAKE

Ingredients

For the cake

125g full-fat Greek-style yoghurt

50ml vegetable oil

1 lemon, zest only

1orange, zest only

3 eggs

125g caster sugar

200g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

For the glaze

                              75g marmalade

                               1 tbsp orange juice

To serve

                              Greek-style yoghurt

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 450g loaf tin.

In a large bowl beat together the yoghurt, vegetable oil, lemon and orange zest and eggs until light and fluffy. Sift in all the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for about 45 minutes. (Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the centre. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done.)

Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little in the tin.

Meanwhile for the glaze, warm the marmalade and orange juice until the marmalade melts. Pour the glaze over the cake and set aside to cool completely.

Remove the cake from the tin and serve with some Greek-style yoghurt.

Dates, the fruit of date palms, and staple food of the Mideast countries, have very high nutritional values and are good energy boosters (even more than a banana). The health benefits of eating dates on a daily basis make up a long list – this includes a healthy heart,  keeping abdominal cancer at bay and (my favorite) removing a hangover.

Despite being aware of all the goodness that comes from eating dates daily – I enjoy dates in a biscuit, cake or a boozy pudding. For Diwali I usually make a date finger biscuit which is my daughter, the Lovely Linda’s, favorite. I will be making it for her when she visits for Christmas.

So I have made these chocolate date squares instead – it’s an old recipe by Angela Day that I have wanted to make for a while. It’s delicious with the pecan nuts and chocolate.

CHOCOLATE DATE SQUARES

250g dates, pitted and chopped

250ml hot water

250ml castor sugar

160g butter, softened

2 extra-large eggs

375ml cake flour

5ml bicarbonate of soda

Topping

250ml chocolate chips

125ml dark brown sugar

125ml chopped pecan nuts

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Grease a 20 x 35cm baking pan.

Combine the dates with the hot water and set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and mix well.

Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda.

Add the flour to the creamed mixture alternately with the cooled date mixture.

Pour into the oven pan.

Combine together all the ingredients for the topping.

Sprinkle over the cake batter.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until the cake is cooked.

Cool in the tray and cut into squares.

Makes about 24 pieces.

Makes 25.

Since returning from my holiday,which is nearly 6 weeks ago,I hardly did much baking –this is a looong time for someone like me who has a sweet tooth. When I mentioned this to my sister – she very wisely put this down to my having eaten a lot of decadent sweet goodies during my trip which had satisfied my sweet cravings .

She is right – both my children still tried to feed me stuff that I just had to taste right up to the day that I was leaving.

 The urge for something sweet has raised its head again – and it had to be a chocolate cake. I chose this recipe which is an old favorite of mine because it is quick and easy to put together – its hand mixed and the ingredients are everyday items.

The cake is rich, moist and satisfying with a delicious icing. This cake gets demolished at great speed – I just managed to save a piece to take a picture for this post.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERMILK CAKE

Serves 8 – 10

125g butter

125ml oil

30ml cocoa powder

250ml water

500ml flour

400ml sugar

2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

5ml bicarbonate of soda

5ml vanilla essence

125ml buttermilk

Icing

60ml butter

30ml cocoa powder

30ml buttermilk

560ml icing sugar, sifted

5ml vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Grease a ring pan well.

In a pot heat the butter, oil, cocoa powder and water.

When the butter has melted, remove the pot from the heat.

Cool slightly and place in a large mixing bowl.

Add the flour and sugar.

Mix well.

Add the eggs and bicarbonate of soda, vanilla essence and buttermilk.

Mix together.

Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake for approximately 36 minutes in a metal ring pan (29 minutes in a silicone ring pan).

While the cake is baking, prepare the icing.

Melt the butter.

Add the sifted cocoa powder and buttermilk.

Then add the icing sugar and vanilla essence.

Beat until smooth.

When the cake is baked, remove from the oven.

Cool and then pour over the icing.