Pineapple coconut cakes with pineapple syrup

I heard a song on the radio yesterday that reminded me of my childhood days, when I spent wonderful vacations at my aunt Maisa’s - I used to sing that song while pretending my aunt’s floor polishing machine was a microphone... :) I was 8 back then.

Later on, once I’d started cooking and baking, she’d let me prepare whatever I wanted in her kitchen, savory or sweet – that was so much fun. One of the cakes I used to bake was a simple yellow cake with pineapple slices on the bottom of the pan – everyone loved it. These little cakes reminded me of the one I used to bake at my aunt’s, but are much simpler and equally delicious – the addition of coconut makes them extra special.

Pineapple coconut cakes with pineapple syrup
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Cakes:
65g unsalted butter, softened
75g caster sugar
1 egg
90ml buttermilk
¾ cup + ½ tablespoon (110g) self-rising flour
1/3 cup (30g) unsweetened desiccated coconut
¼ cup (25g) sweetened shredded coconut
40g pineapple, finely diced

Pineapple syrup:*
350g pineapple, coarsely chopped
130g caster sugar
3 small limes, juice only
50ml white rum

For pineapple syrup, combine pineapple, sugar, lime juice and ½ cup (120ml) water in a saucepan and stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until syrupy. Cool, add rum and strain, discarding solids (or eat them, like I did). :)

Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F. Butter and flour ten 1/3 cup (80ml) brioche or dariole pans.
Beat butter and sugar using an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, add egg and buttermilk and beat to combine. Stir in flour, the two types of coconut and pineapple, then spoon mixture into prepared pans. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and a skewer withdraws clean. Turn cakes from moulds, pour over half the syrup and cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature with remaining syrup.

* too much syrup; half of this amount is enough for all the cakes

Makes 10 – I halved the recipe above and got 12 mini cakes (6 using 3 tablespoon capacity star shaped pans + 6 using 1/3 capacity muffin pans)

Lemon glazed madeleines

My favorite director has been making good money at the box office with his new movie: the trailer made me insanely curious, the plot seems really interesting and the cast is full of good actors – if I were an actress I’d work for Scorsese for free. :)

From one favorite to three more: madeleines, lemons and Pea’s blog.

Lemon glazed madeleines

3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup (133g) granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups (175g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
9 tablespoons (126g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus additional melted butter for preparing the molds

Glaze:
1 cup (140g) icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon water

Brush the indentations of a madeleine mold with melted butter. Dust with flour, tap off any excess, and place in the fridge or freezer.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, whip the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt for 5 minutes until frothy and thickened.
Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and fold in using a rubber spatula.
Add the lemon zest to the cooled butter, then dribble the butter into the batter, a few spoonfuls at a time, while simultaneously folding to incorporate the butter. Fold just until all the butter is incorporated.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (Batter can be chilled for up to 12 hours.)
To bake the madeleines, preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F.
Plop enough batter in the center of each indentation with enough batter which you think will fill it by 3/4’s. Do not spread it.
Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the cakes just feel set. While the cakes are baking, make a glaze in a small mixing bowl by stirring together the icing sugar, lemon juice, and water until smooth.
Remove from the oven and tilt the madeleines out onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely.
Drizzle glaze over madeleines. Allow glaze to set.

Makes 24 cookies – I made 1/3 of the recipe (but added the zest of 1 whole lemon anyway) and got 15 using 1-tablespoon capacity pans

Apple and cinnamon mini pies

Thank you all for your votes and lovely comments – you guys are the best!

The award nomination may have been a huge surprise to me, but your reaction to it was not – you’ve supported me right from the start and have become a very important part of this blog. It is wonderful to share my kitchen experiments and love for food with you – it really makes my days a whole lot better. :)

Speaking of surprises, these mini pies looked and sounded simple – and indeed making them was not hard – but I did not imagine the filling would be so good.

Apple and cinnamon mini pies
filling adapted from Donna Hay magazine, pastry from Modern Classics Book 2

Pastry:
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
1 ½ tablespoons caster sugar
1/3 cup (75g) cold unsalted butter, chopped
1-1 ½ tablespoons iced water

Filling:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
2 ½ tablespoons caster sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoon golden raisins
½ teaspoon corn starch
½ teaspoon water
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon milk
granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Start by making the pastry: process the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. White the motor is running, add enough iced water to form a smooth dough and process until just combined. Knead the dough lightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Now, prepare the filling: place the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook until melted. Add the apples, sugar, cinnamon and raisins and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cook for 5 minutes or until the apples are just tender. Place the corn starch and the water in a bowl and stir to combine. Add to the apple mixture and cook, stirring, for a further minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; butter four 9cm tartlet pans.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface or between two sheets of non stick baking paper, until 3mm thick, and cut eight 12cm circles from it. Line the prepared pans with four of the dough circles – make sure you leave a tiny overhang of dough. Divide the filling between each pan and top with the remaining dough – make sure you seal the filling well inside the tartlets, sticking the overhand of dough and dough circle together, pressing the edges with the back of a spoon; otherwise the lid might get loose after the pies are baked.
Use a small kitchen knife to trim the excess and to score the tops of the tartlets. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

Makes 4

Pineapple mint sorbet and Saveur’s Best Food Blog Awards

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday: Technicolor Kitchen has been nominated for best baking and dessert blog on Saveur’s Best Food Blog Awards!! How amazing is that? I can hardly believe it. Please, vote for me! :)

Can you imagine how much I talked about last night? My poor husband. :)
I had to have a scoop of this sorbet to chill out – I adapted the amount of ingredients from a DH pineapple sorbet recipe, but the idea of adding mint was Joao’s.

Pineapple mint sorbet
adapted from Donna Hay magazine

1/3 cup + 2 ½ tablespoons (84g) caster sugar
½ cup (120ml) water
400g peeled pineapple
handful of mint leaves
3 tablespoons lime juice

Prepare the basic sorbet syrup: place sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for 1 minute. Set aside to cool completely, then refrigerate for 1 hour.
Process the pineapple until you get a thick juice. Add the mint and process until finely chopped. Combine the pineapple juice, lime juice and syrup in a bowl and stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions until the sorbet is just firm. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for 3-4 hours.

Serves 8

Orange cake

One of the movie trailers I saw at the theater last week was for the remake of “Clash of the Titans” – the original is one of my all time favorites. I remember watching it dozens of times on TV throughout my childhood and teen years – after I turned 11 and started cooking and baking, I’d always make something especially for the movie session, and there was an orange cake I’d repeat to exhaustion back then; unfortunately, I never kept the recipe.

What a lovely surprise it was for me to find this recipe in one of my old magazines – it is really, really similar to the one I used to make as a girl and brought me such fond memories from those afternoons.

Orange cake
from Donna Hay magazine

½ cup + 1 tablespoon (127g) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (162g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups + 2 ½ tablespoons (225g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder, sifted
1 tablespoon milk
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
4 tablespoons orange juice

Orange icing:
1 ¼ cups (175g) icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons orange juice
zest of 1 orange, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°; butter a 20x10cm (8x4in) loaf pan* and line with baking paper; butter the paper as well.
Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Add the flour and baking powder and mix well. Add the milk, orange juice and zest and mix until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool completely on a wire rack, then carefully unmold.
To make the icing: combine the sugar and orange juice in a small bowl and mix to form a smooth paste. Use a palette knife to spread the orange icing over the cake and top with the zest.

* the cake almost did not fit the pan – I recommend using a slightly larger pan

Serves 8-10