Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients :
90g cream cheese, softened
45g butter, softened
210g icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method :
1. Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy.
2. Add sugar in batches and beat well.
3. Add lemon juice and beat until well combined, and frost cake.

Banana and Coconut Cake

Banana and Coconut Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients :
125g butter, softened (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp salt)
330g sugar
280g very ripe, mashed banana
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
100ml buttermilk
225g self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup dessicated coconut (this is optional - only my addition to the recipe)

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C. Grease and line a 22cm pan or line a muffin tin with cupcake pans.
2. Mix butter, sugar, banana, vanilla and eggs until well blended.
3. Add buttermilk and pulse to combine.
4. Sift flour, salt (if using), and bicarbonate of soda. Add to the banana batter and mix well.
5. Fold in coconut.
6. Pour onto baking tin or muffin tin. Bake for 50-60 minutes if using a baking tin, or 25-30 minutes if using a muffin tin.
7. Leave cake to cool before icing with cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie (Makes approximately 16 slices)

Brownie

Ingredients :
185g butter, melted
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
Cheesecake
285g cream cheese, softened and chopped
4 1/2 tb sps caster sugar
2 eggs

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C. Line a 20cm (8in) tin with non-stick baking paper.
2. Mix butter, cocoa, sugar, eggs and flour together until smooth. Pour on prepared tin.
3. On a separate bowl, process cream cheese, sugar, and eggs until smooth.
4. Now, I didn’t follow the recipe which said to put spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and swirl with a butter knife. I just placed the whole motherload of cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate and popped it in the oven.
5. Bake for 45-50 minute. Cool in tin.
The second cake is a good old Banana cake with dessicated coconut, topped with lemon cream cheese frosting

Cider Apple Christmas Cake

Cider Apple Christmas Cake

Ingredients :
600g raisins
375g dried figs or prunes, chopped
350g glace cherries
2 small dessert apples (120g) peeled, cored and grated
700ml scrumpy (or other cider)
4 level tsp mixed spice
200g unsalted butter, softened
175g dark soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
150g ground almonds
275g plain flour
2 level tsp baking powder

Method :
1. A day before baking the cake, preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F.
2. Put the fruit, scrumpy and spice in a casserole, cover with foil and bake for an hour and a half. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes.

3. Cover, and leave on a worktop overnight. You should be left with plump fruit and little juice.

4. Next day, double or triple line a 20-25cm square deep cake tin with baking parchment.
5. Beat the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, then fold in the fruit and nuts.
6. Sift the flour and baking powder, and beat through.
7. Spoon into the tin (decorate the top with nuts if you like).

Cover with foil and bake at 160C (150C fan-assisted)/325F for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 40 minutes more until a skewer comes out clean.

Christmas Cake Notice

Christmas Cake Notice

Ingredients :
2 pounds pitted prunes
2 pounds raisins
10 oz currants
11 oz mixed peel
13 oz glazed cherries
1 (750 ml) bottle dark rum
1/2 bottle (375 ml) sweet port wine
1 + 1/2 cups brown sugar

Method :
1. Grind/blend the fruits along with the sugar, in batches, using the rum and wine to moisten.
2. If you are using a blender, pour some of the liquid into the blender first before adding fruits, this way, the fruits would start grinding immediately and not clog up the blade. Use the pulse button. If you find that your fruits have become really thick in the blender and not moving, add more rum so that it will move easily or consider taking out some of the fruits. It is very important not to over crowd your blender as this forces the engine to work harder and can burn out.
3. If you are using as food processor, do the opposite, add the fruits first then the liquid. You can opt to start whizzing the fruits and then pour in the rum and wine through the opening at the top of the food processor.
4. Feel free to add some extra rum or wine to the entire mixture before bottling it.
5. Store in a sterilized glass or plastic bottle with an air-tight lid and place on your counter top or a cupboard.
6. Adding more prunes to the mixtures enables your cake to turn out really dark without having to add burnt sugar or any other dark coloring as many people do. However, do what makes you comfortable.