Toffee-glazed white chocolate mud cakes

My vacation is over and tomorrow morning I'm back at work; I still have things to organize at home, therefore a quick post with an equally quick recipe (despite the steps), so delicious that will certainly put a smile on my face, even now that I no longer remember what it feels like waking up early. :D

Toffee-glazed white chocolate mud cakes
from the always delicious and oh, so beautiful Donna Hay Magazine

Cakes:
200g unsalted butter, chopped
200g white chocolate, chopped
1 cup (175g) brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons water
1 ½ tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (58g) almond meal

Toffee glaze:
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
½ cup (120ml) water
2/3 cup (150g) unsalted butter
½ cup (120ml) heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter six 1 ¼ cup capacity (300ml) mini cake or muffin pans.
Place the butter, white chocolate, sugar, water, golden syrup and vanilla in a heavy saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour and almond meal and mix to combine. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then carefully turn onto a wire rack. Cool completely, then transfer to the serving plates.
Make the glaze: place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir just until sugar is dissolved, turn heat to high then cook, without stirring, until golden and caramel forms (8 minutes or so). Remove from the heat and immediately add the butter and cream – carefully, mixture may spit – and stir until smooth. Spoon over the cakes and allow to set before serving. Transfer any remaining glaze to a small bowl to serve with the cakes (if glazes hardens, place it over a bowl of very hot water and stir until smooth).

Makes 6 – I made ¾ of the cake recipe above using ¾ cup (180ml) capacity pans and got 8 cakes; I halved the toffee glaze recipe and it was more than enough to glaze all the cakes

Apple kuchen

The idea was to make Nigella’s apple and blackberry kuchen, but my stash of frozen blackberries was long gone (and to be honest I don’t even remember what I used the berries for). Therefore I made an apple and only apple kuchen, with a sprinkling of slivered almonds, which turned out delicious, moist and tender, adjectives very commonly associated to Ms. Lawson’s recipes; I hope the mail is nice to me and delivers her new cookbook as quick as possible. :D

Apple kuchen
from a cookbook I love and should use more often

Dough:
2 ¼ to 3 cups (315g to 420g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons dried yeast
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated of ½ lemon
good grating fresh nutmeg
½ cup (120ml) whole milk, lukewarm
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, softened

Topping:
2 Granny Smith apples
1 large egg
1 tablespoon cream
grating of fresh nutmeg
1 tablespoon demerara sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon allspice
2 tablespoons slivered almonds

Icing:
1/3 cup (46g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon hot water

Lightly butter a 20x30cm (12x8in) baking sheet. Set aside.
Put 2 ¼ cups (315g) flour into a bowl with the salt, sugar and yeast and mix together. Beat the eggs and add them, with the vanilla, zest and nutmeg to the lukewarm milk. Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients to make a sticky medium-soft dough, being prepared to add more flour if necessary. Work in the butter and knead by hand for about 10 minutes or half the time by machine. The dough should be smoother and springier when done. Put into a lightly oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to double somewhere warm for 1 hour-1 hour30min. When ready, punch down and stretch out to fit the prepared sheet. Leave to prove for 15-20 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Peel, core and chop the apples finely. Beat the egg, cream and nutmeg together and brush over the proved dough, then spread the apples over the top. Mix the sugars and allspice then sprinkle over the fruit. Top with the flaked almonds and bake for 15 minutes; reduce the oven to 180°C/350°F and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden and cooked within.
Make a runny paste with the topping ingredients and drizzle over the kuchen after you remove it from the oven.

Serves 8

Yogurt cake with marmalade glaze and a solved dilemma

The whole vacation song dilemma got solved after all: in the end, throughout my entire trip, Phoenix’s “1901” got stuck in my head in such a deep way that it ended up putting the other two songs aside up to this moment. Go figure. :D

Dorie’s delicious yogurt cake with marmalade glaze got stuck in my head for ages, but the “Tuesdays with Dorie” event made me completely ignore the cookbook for months; I don’t even know if it still goes on, but I used to find it oh, so annoying – nothing personal, but it drove me crazy to read the same recipe over and over in so many different blogs. :/
The jar of orange marmalade I had home was the perfect excuse for this recipe, and the cake turned out so good I bought another jar of marmalade just to make it again. :D

Yogurt cake with marmalade glaze
from the always great and now interesting to me again Baking: From My Home to Yours

Cake:
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
½ cup (50g) almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
½ cup plain whole-milk yogurt
3 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil

Glaze:
½ cup orange marmalade
1 teaspoon water

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 180°C/350°F. Generously butter a 21x11xcm (8½x4½in) metal loaf pan and place it onto a baking sheet.
Whisk together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl.
Combine the sugar and zest in a medium bowl and using your fingertips rub the sugar into the zest until fragrant. Add the yogurt, eggs and vanilla and whisk vigorously until smooth. Still whisking, add the dry ingredients, then switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the oil. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
Bake until cake is golden brown and begins to pull away from sides of pan and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 5 minutes. Carefully cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Turn cake out onto rack. Turn cake upright on rack and cool completely.
Glaze: stir marmalade and water in small saucepan over medium heat until marmalade melts. Brush hot mixture over top of cake. Let glaze cool and set before serving.

Serves 8

Pasta alla Norma and back from vacation

After 11 wonderful days spent in the unforgettable New York I’m back home – very tired and immensely happy. The best trip of my life to a place I intend to go back to many, many times. My heart is full of joy but my feet still hurt from all the walking, so a quick meal is mandatory: this pasta dish is easy to make and tastes great, despite its simplicity – a weeknight favorite.

Pasta alla Norma
slightly adapted from the always amazing and delicious Australian Gourmet Traveller

1 large eggplant, cut into 4cm cubes
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
300ml tomato passata
1 tablespoon tomato paste*
400g short pasta
6 tablespoons ricotta
1 small bunch fresh basil
extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Place eggplant in a colander, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon table salt, weigh down with a plate and allow to drain for 2 hours. Gently dry on kitchen paper. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté eggplant pieces, in batches if necessary, until golden brown and tender. Drain on kitchen paper and transfer to a bowl.
Add garlic to the frying pan over low heat and sauté until softened. Add tomato passata and tomato paste and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add the eggplant to the sauce and season with freshly ground black pepper.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid. Add this cooking liquid to the tomato and eggplant sauce and cook for 1 minute.
Place pasta in a large serving bowl, add tomato and eggplant sauce and combine well. Add ricotta and basil leaves and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Combine the mixture one more time before serving.

* I did not have any tomato paste at home, so I added 2 tablespoons of homemade tomato sauce packed with lots of basil

Serves 4

Melt and mix lemon bars + songs linked to my vacations

It was not like I planned it, but the past two vacation periods I had were marked by a song each: 2010's vacation was all about Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition" while the days off I had in 2011 come to mind every time I listen to Feldberg's "Dreamin". This year's vacation period, though, is linked to two different songs, and I can't choose my favorite. :D

Days off request my favorite flavor, and therefore I present you Bill's delicious lemon bars, dead easy to make and with a filling that reminded me more of custard than curd; for a moment I thought of dusting the bars with icing sugar to hide the small cracks, but then I came to the conclusion that the idea went against what I believe: I don't think there's anything wrong with cracks in desserts - or lines in people's faces, for that matter.

Melt and mix lemon bars
from the always beautiful and delicious Feed Me Now! (mine was bought here)

Base:
1 1/3 cups (185g) all purpose flour
4 tablespoons (40g) corn starch, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (62g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
600ml heavy cream
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
finely grated zest of 4 lemons
1 1/3 cups (320ml) lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Lightly butter a 32x22cm (13x9in) baking pan*, line it with foil leaving an overhang in two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.
Base: sift the flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Make a well in the center and add the melted butter and vanilla. Mix until evenly combined then press the dough into the base of the prepared pan. Chill for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Bake the base for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.
Filling: sift the flour into a large bowl. In medium bowl, whisk together the cream, sugar and eggs. Add a couple of tablespoons of the egg mixture to the flour, whisking to dissolve it into the liquid (do that to avoid flour lumps in the mixture). Add the remaining egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice, zest and vanilla.
As soon as the base is golden pour the filling mixture on top and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until set. Cool in the pan over a wire rack. Cut into bars or squares and serve.

* I made the exact recipe above using a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan

Makes about 20 slices