Whisky and nutmeg pound cake

I know, I know, there’s nothing “healthy” about whisky, but I believe that there is nothing wrong with adding a bit of alcohol to your cooking and baking occasionally – I can’t cook risotto without a splash of white wine, and beer can do wonders to a beef recipe (my bolognese sauce turned into something even more delicious after I started adding red wine to it).

All that written by someone who once made a cake drenched in rum. :D

The cake I bring you today has a lot less alcohol, but it is very flavorsome still and I bumped into the recipe because I wanted to bake something with whole wheat flour – my first thought was to bake bread, but when I checked the whole wheat flour container it was almost empty. Alice Medrich’s cake was then a very good choice, since the recipe called less than ½ cup of flour. It turned out tender and delicious – as all cakes should be – and with a beautiful golden hue.

I thought the cake was great with a cup of tea (it was a cold weekend), but I am sure it would be wonderful served with whipped cream and berries or fresh fruit, as the plated trifles Nigella makes, for a summery dessert. Or with vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce, or salted caramel sauce.

Ok, I’ll stop. :)

Whisky and nutmeg pound cake
slightly adapted from the delicious Pure Dessert

2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
1 tablespoon whisky
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
105g cake flour (homemade: 15g corn starch + 90g all purpose flour)
55g whole wheat flour
150g granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
180g unsalted butter, softened and in chunks

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 4 to 5 cups loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, whisky, eggs, and vanilla to combine.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the flours, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Add the butter then pour in half of the egg mixture. Beat on low speed just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add half of the rest of the egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Add the rest of the egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake until golden and risen and a toothpick comes out clean, 55-60 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, unmold carefully and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely, then peel off the paper.

Serves 8-10

Spiced honey cakes and another TV show

The best TV show ever made is sadly coming to an end and I felt like finding another addiction to watch. :) I’d read somewhere that “Broadchurch” was good (and then avoided reading more about the show because apparently people can’t write about movies and TV without resorting to spoilers) so that was my choice. Because it is a show with a very short season (only eight episodes) I finished it in no time and yes, it is every bit as good as I’d expected and both David Tennant and Olivia Colman are magnificent on it (note to self: try to find “Tyrannosaur” as soon as possible).

Though considered a no-no, I sometimes like to eat while watching TV and if it’s something tasty even better: these cakes, which are super easy to make (melted butter, no need to wait for it to soften), turned out delicious and utterly tender, and one of them was devoured still warm from the oven while I watched the season finale of “Broadchurch” – lucky for me the episode really got my attention, otherwise I would have eaten another cake right after the first one. :D

Spiced honey cakes
slightly adapted from the always stunning and delicious Gourmet Traveller

180g all purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (44g) light brown sugar, packed
120g honey
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
100ml whole milk, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ tablespoons whisky
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour eighteen 1/3-capacity muffin pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, spices, baking soda and salt, add sugars and whisk to combine. Make a well in the center, add honey, butter, milk, egg, vanilla and whisky. Whisk until smooth, spoon into prepared pans and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pans over a wire rack for 15 minutes, then carefully remove from the pans and cool completely on the rack.
Sift with icing sugar before serving.

Makes 18 – I made the exact recipe above, used 180ml-capacity pans and got 8 cakes

Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing

Every time a new DH magazine issue arrives I go crazy with so many delicious recipes and it’s a tough task to choose which one to make first. This time, however, it was a bit easier: I decided I would only make something if I had all the ingredients home. Since I was out of cream cheese all the gorgeous cheesecakes would have to wait, that way I settled for these cupcakes: tender and deeply chocolaty, they are enhanced by the delicious icing. The original recipe called for smooth peanut butter but I used crunchy and thought that it worked really well, adding a nice bite to the smooth frosting. The recipe also called for a caramel sauce to be poured over the frosting but to me the cupcakes were sweet enough without it – more sugar wouldn’t do them any good.

Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing
slightly adapted from the always delicious and stunning Donna Hay Magazine

Cupcakes:
200g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons whisky
140g unsalted butter, chopped
½ cup (45g) Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
275g granulated sugar

Peanut butter icing:
160g icing sugar, sifted
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
80g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-hole (½ cup capacity each) cupcake pan with paper liners.
Cupcakes: in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Place the whisky and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla and whisk to combine. Whisk in the sugar, then the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Pour the batter equally into the prepared pan (don’t go over 1/3 of the capacity or the batter might overflow) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen and cooked through when tested with a skewer. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing: place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and fluffy, 6-8 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the cream and beat for 1 minute. Spread the icing over the cooled cupcakes.

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used 1/3-cup capacity muffin pans and got 9 cupcakes

Chocolate whiskey Bundt cake

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” premiered here last week and a couple of days ago I finally watched it – the movie is absolutely beautiful and moving and I could then understand all the awards. Quvenzhané Wallis is lovely and very talented – kids in movies are cute but to me not all child stars have an actor’s aura, so to speak, but Quvenzhané certainly does; I believe she’s that kind of person who was born to act (something I thought of Tom Holland while watching “The Impossible”).

My sister, a.k.a. “my partner in crime for all things cinematographic”, also loved “BotSW” – which was a relief, since she hadn’t liked my previous choice – and for the first time in over four years of watching movies together I saw her crying, and to me that was pretty intense.

I don’t drink coffee – I don’t like the flavor despite loving its smell – and therefore I never bake with it, but I guess that there’s a first time for everything in life and to me this delicious, moist and chocolatey cake – not to mention boozy – was a first for liking coffee flavor in desserts.

Chocolate whiskey Bundt cake
slightly adapted from the great Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen

1 cup (90g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder + 3 tablespoons for dusting pan*
1 ½ cups (360ml) brewed coffee
½ cup (120ml) American whiskey – I used Johnny Walker
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 160°C/325°F**. Generously butter a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan, then dust with 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, knocking out excess (1 ½ tablespoons of cocoa were enough to dust my pan).
Heat coffee, whiskey, butter, and remaining 1 cup cocoa powder in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, whisking, until butter is melted. Remove from heat, then add sugar and whisk until dissolved, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and cool 5 minutes.
While chocolate mixture cools, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined well. Whisk in the vanilla. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined (batter will be thin and bubbly). Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 40-50 minutes.
Cool cake completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours. Loosen cake from pan using tip of a thin metal spatula, then invert onto a plate.
Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

* the original recipe called for natural cocoa and baking soda; since I only had Dutch-processed cocoa at home, I adapted the recipe to use it and replaced the baking soda for baking powder following the instructions on this link

** I baked my cake at 180°C/350°F for 45 minutes

This cake improves in flavor if made at least 1 day ahead and kept, in a cake keeper or wrapped well in plastic wrap, at cool room temperature. It can be made up to 5 days ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Serves 10-12

Oatmeal raisin ice cream

I know, I know... An ice cream post right after the salad and whole karma cleansing speech. What can I say? I am a lost cause. :D

In my defense, this ice cream has oats – even though they’re enrobed in caramel, they’re still oats. And oats are good for you. :D
If I were to make this recipe again I would double the amount of oatmeal praliné and skip the raisins; actually, I would triple the amount so I could nibble on some praliné while making the custard – this stuff is so delicious I almost ate it all before adding it to the ice cream.

Oatmeal raisin ice cream
from The Perfect Scoop

Raisins:
¼ cup (60ml) water
2 tablespoons caster sugar
½ cup (78g) raisins
2 teaspoons whiskey

Oatmeal praliné:
¾ cup (86g) rolled oats, not instant
½ cup (100g) caster sugar

Ice cream:
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups (480ml) heavy cream
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (70g) light brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the raisins: heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Add the raising and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until all about but 2 tablespoons of the syrup has been absorbed, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the whiskey and let cool completely.
Now, the oatmeal praliné: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and spread the oats evenly on the sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice while baking, until the oats are fragrant and nicely toasted. Remove from the oven.
Spread the sugar in a medium, heavy bottomed skillet and cook over medium heat, watching it carefully. When it begins to liquefy and darken at the edges, use a heatproof spatula to stir it very gently, encouraging the heat of the liquefied sugar to moisten the sugar crystals in the center.
Tilt the pan and stir gently until all the sugar is melted and the caramel begins to smoke. Once the mixture is deep golden, remove it from the heat and immediately add the oats (lift the foil to guide them in quickly). Return the foil to the sheet.
Stir the oats gently but quickly, coating them with the caramel. Scrape the oats onto the foil and spread them as well as possible. Let cool completely. Once firm, break into small pieces by pulsing them in a food processor or placing the praline in a heavy-duty plastic bag and smacking them with a mallet or rolling pin.
Make the ice cream base: warm the milk, granulated sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk the cream, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour over the warm milk mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the mixture back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir into the cream. Mix in the vanilla and stir until cool over an ice bath (I simply let it cool over the counter then refrigerated it).
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. During the last few minutes of churning add the raisins and oatmeal praliné.

Makes about 1 quart

Butterscotch pots

You almost got another panna cotta here today. :)

I think of panna cotta every time I need to use up heavy cream before it goes bad – what changed my mind this time, you might ask? The poor lonely egg yolks left from the buttercream on my MIL’s birthday cake. :D

These pots are delicious but also very, very rich – small cups are the way to go here.

Butterscotch pots
from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter
1 ½ cups (262g) dark brown sugar, packed
3 ½ cups (840ml) heavy cream
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Scotch whisky or Irish whiskey
9 large egg yolks
sweetened whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C.
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar and melt together over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and then stir in ½ cup of the cream. Stir until the mixture is smooth and combined. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 3 cups of cream, the salt, vanilla and whiskey.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the cream until smooth – whisk continuously to avoid cooking the yolks. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a large container with a pouring spout. Divide the custard among 8 ovenproof ramekins/cups.
Place the ramekins in a large roasting pan. Place the roasting pan in the oven and pour boiling water into the pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the roasting pan with foil and pierce it in several places to allow steam to escape.
Bake the custards just until set around the edges and still slightly wobbly in the center, 45-60 minutes. Remove the custards from the oven and then from the water bath; set aside to cool completely then refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, until well chilled, at least 4 hours for up to overnight. Top the custards with a dollop of whipped cream, if desired, and serve (I dusted the cream with a little cocoa powder).

Serves 8 - I made 1/3 of the recipe above and used 200ml capacity cups