White Chocolate Coconut Cake

It's funny where inspiration is found these days. I was reading an article about how Tom Cruise bought a lot of his friends a specific cake for Christmas. It was a white chocolate coconut bundt cake and that just sounded delightful to me. 

Full disclosure, I first tried this cake as a bundt cake and it failed miserably. In fact, I can't recall a time when I've ever successfully extricated a bundt cake from a bundt pan. I've tried the tricks. I think my pans are just really old without modern non-stick technology.

I added a little bit of cinnamon to this cake which I think just elevated the basic sponge and really goes with the chocolate-coconut topping. It's a delicious cake-y version of those coconut Ferrero Rochers and it hits the spot.

This makes one sheet cake. If you want to make a three tier cake, increase the recipe by 1/3 (so 225g butter, 180g sugar, 3 eggs etc etc).

White Chocolate Chunk Cookies - New and Improved!

I told you guys I'd give it another bash! Here's a little middle of the week pick me up.

I have modified one of my all time favourite recipes - the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, as it has the perfect texture that I was looking for. I did a little tinkering with the recipe and I think I have struck gold! To me, this is about as close as I'm going to get to the correct flavour and texture. 

The only thing that needs improved is the white chocolate - ideally I'd have something thicker than 2 chocolate buttons but thinner than a chunk from a chocolate bar. I tried a few with 3 chocolate buttons and that is almost perfect! But then you're into a second bag of giant chocolate buttons. 

Experimentation is fun! And delicious.

White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

So, I have a feeling that this is going to be a bit of an experiment. 

I came upon the idea of these cookies while trying to recreate the famous cookies from Van Stapele Koekmakerij in Amsterdam. These cookies were worth the 20 minutes I queued for them - you can spot the shop a mile off due to the queue. It's set in a tiny little shop on a narrow street and they only serve one thing - fresh, soft, super chocolately cookies. And the unusual thing about them is the huge nugget of white chocolate right there in the middle.

I amended this recipe from some that I saw online, and I love the idea of using a little bit of espresso powder to bring out the chocolate flavour. And, if you like cakey cookies then these are perfect. I prefer mine with a bit more of a squish and I need to find a bigger piece of white chocolate to go in the centre, so I will continue to experiment for *my* perfect version of this cookie but these are a cracking biscuit all on their own.

Cookie time! Pistachio and Dark Chocolate, and Cranberry with White Chocolate

I have a bit of an obsession with baking cookies.

From the irresistibly chocolately peanutty ones, to the classic choc chip, there is room for them all in my kitchen!

I do have a favourite “baseline” cookie recipe, to which all sorts of extras can be added, but I thought I would branch out and try something else, to see if it improved the finished product, or even if it changed it to a noticeable degree. My usual recipe calls for the butter to be melted first, cooled slightly, and then added to the sugar. This recipe called for the butter to be creamed with sugar, more like a cake recipe.

Chocolate and nuts - perfection

Fruit and chocolate - sweet and flavourful!

These turned out beautifully -  I will be using pistachio a lot more, this is part one of a three part pistachio extravaganza!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarb of soda
• ½ cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla sugar
• 100g pistachios
• 75g chocolate chips
• (I also decided to do white chocolate and cranberry cookies with the same recipe, so I used an additional 75g dried cranberries, and 75g white chocolate)

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees

Stir together the flour, salt and leavening agents.

Beat together the butter and sugars for a few minutes until lighter in colour. Add in the vanilla and egg, and beat together again. Gradually add in the flour mixture.

At this  point I halved the mixture into two separate bowls, in one I added the dark chocolate and pistachio, and to the other I added white chocolate and cranberries.

Spoon some mounds of dough onto baking trays lined with greaseproof paper. I usually get six to a sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes and then transfer to cool on a wire rack.

I may have eaten some when hot from the oven and it was goooood.

Packaged up for a picnic! Finally got new napkins.

Chessboard Cake

OMG SO IMPRESSIVE.

Is what your friends will be saying about this kickass cake. Now, mine never turns out *quite* how it is supposed to, but c’est la vie. It is meant to be a well demarcated "chessboard" pattern inside when cut, but mine never looks like that. However, it looks cool and tastes amazing, I call it ‘lava lamp’ cake and everyone is happy.

..And it relatively simple to make, all you need is a couple of cake tins, some piping bags and the will to impress.

I had a teensy bit of cake batter left over which I would PERISH before throwing out, so I also piped a few cupcakes.

I would hope that this blog conveys the real way that I cook (ie: occasionally by the seat of my pants!). I don’t always have everything to hand, I improvise, there's flour everywhere, I photograph on auto and then I share and EAT.

The war/prep-zone

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

These are so good I almost don’t want to share the recipe. 

They always turn out great – they taste amazing, texture is fantastic and everyone loves them. Plus, the recipe makes like a million cookies. These are the perfect way to get over the mid-week slump. Also great for the weekend, Monday, Christmas..

There are a few ways to prepare these, normally I form them into rough balls just using the spoon to shape the dough on the greaseproof paper. Alternatively, you can take a small amount of the cookie dough and form it into discs using your hands. The latter is easier, and forms rounder cookies but it is a bit messier. Whichever you prefer, people will eat these anyway. Looks don’t matter when they taste like little chocolate-nutty drops of happiness.

Gingerbread and White Chocolate Bars

Another addition to my afternoon-tea tray of delight. Found this recipe online somewhere, and it is fantastic. You know those delicious little hard biscuits you get in IKEA at Christmastime (pepparkakar)? Imagine the flavour of those, but in a dense chewy cake-bar with white choc chips sprinkled in. I’ll give you a second to wipe up the drool from the keyboard.

..

Anyway, these are great. The only sticking point in the recipe may be using the shortening. I used lard (ooh, delish) and it was a little hard to work with straight from the fridge, next time I might leave it a bit to become room temperature enabling me to blend/cream it more effectively.

These are so packed with flavour and spice, like a delicious fruit cake without any of the gross dried fruit. 

Chocolate instead!

My number one cooking rule is: fruit has no place in desserts. Exception that proves the rule: banoffee. Blowing minds, all up in here.

Classic Walnut Brownies

Packaged up for work

I have a confession to make. I am a bit crap at making brownies. It’s just one of my sticking points, like fudge (dear God, fudge haunts my nightmares). But every so often I get the urge to give it another go, because I am a bit stubborn like that, and brownies are so delicious.

I got the Mary Berry Baking Bible from my very thoughtful mum for Christmas and there are a few promising brownie recipes which I earmarked. One of which is the subject of this post. She hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

First of all, it is a gratifyingly simple recipe. Second, it has an amazing brownie ‘crust’ on top which I am ecstatic about. And finally.. It isn’t all goo in the middle! Rejoyce! Brownies: delicious. Me: successful. Winners all round.

Make these. Put whatever nuts you want in them. Eat them.

Orange cake with white chocolate ganache

This cake is an absolute delight. It had the great honour of being first cake I served and ate of 2014 (got stuck into it straight after a glass of bubbly to toast the new year!) and it definitely was deserving of this. My mum got me the Mary Berry Baking Bible for Christmas, and so far I have not been disappointed with anything. It feels like stealing your grandmothers’ best recipes.

Back to this cake: it’s so simple to make, it’s light and zesty, and the ganache just gives it a richness which is not overpowering due to the citrus flavour of the cake.

In short: you need this in your life (and mouth).