food hits and misses

I really enjoy cooking for people who have diets a little bit different to the every day. It's just a little bit more challenging than whipping up any of my regular recipes. My most recent challenge was to make a dessert that was both gluten and dairy-free. Since baking is my thing, I decided to try my hand at gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with dairy-free ganache.
The recipe is both easy and delicious. You can't ask for more than that!

Perfect as a dessert topping

Chocolate cupcakes

Method

Dairy-free ganache

Method

I love lemon. When somebody asks if I prefer chocolate or vanilla, I tend to wonder why lemon isn't an option. Obviously the other two have their place, but lemon is right up there. So you can imagine how happy I am that my little lemon tree has finely fruited, managing to beat the very ordinary weather we've had this year. Life has given me lemons, and I've made cupcakes with them.

Lemon meringue cupcakes

Makes 12 regular or 24 mini cupcakes

Lemon curd

2 large lemons, juiced and zested
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 tbspn unsalted butter

Lemon cake

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 1/2 cups self raising flour

Meringue

2 egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar

Method

Combine the juice, zest, eggs and sugar in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Mix well, add butter then place over simmering water and stir until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cover the top with cling wrap to preven t a skin forming, and set aside to cool until needed.

Preheat the oven to 170 Celsius. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the lemon juice and yoghurt. Add one third to the cake batter, mixing well. Add one third of the flour, and beat well. Continue adding the yoghurt and flour alternately until all combined. Place in cupcake wrappers and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before filling.

Place the egg whites and sugar in a large glass or ceramic bowl over simmering water. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved - test by rubbing a little of the mix between your fingers; the sugar is dissolved when there is no longer any graininess. Be careful not to let the mixture get too hot, as this will cook the egg whites separately to the sugar and result in an "eggy" flavoured meringue. Remove the egg mix from heat, and beat until stiff peaks form.

To assemble

Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius. Place the cooled lemon curd in a piping bag with a small round tube attached; numbers 5 through 10 are all suitable. Use the tube to make a hole in the top of each cake and fill it with lemon curd. Top each cake with meringue. Place in the oven and cook for around 5 minutes until the meringue is lightly browned.

NOTE: It is not essential to cook the meringue mix before whipping, but it reduces the risk of salmonella.

I've just finished auditing the pantry and discovered that we had way too many bags of chocolate melts. Clearly the solution to that problem is chocolate cake, and so I had a look around the internets and found Nigella's cupcake recipe. I figured they would be as good a base as any for some silky smooth chocolate buttercream frosting.



The original cake recipe calls for everything to get chucked in the food processor. Getting that out seemed like too much of a challenge, especially given there's a Kitchenaid permanently on my kitchen table. So here's how to make them with a stand mixer, or if you're feeling energetic, a wooden spoon.

Chocolate cupcakes

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn bicarbonate of soda
2 tbspn cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. Add to the butter mixture and stir thoroughly. Add the milk and beat well until smooth. Add a tablespoon of mixture to each paper case. Bake 15 - 20 minutes until done.

Chocolate buttercream

3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, cubed
200g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tbspn cocoa
1 tspn ground cinnamon

Method

Combine the eggs and sugar in a heat-proof bowl. Place over a pan of simmering water and whisk until the sugar dissolves - around 5 to 10 minutes. Beat on high speed with a whisk attachment until the outside of the bowl is cool to touch. Slowly add the butter, beating with the paddle attachment on medium speed until all butter is incorporated. Mix together the chocolate, cocoa and cinnamon. Add to the meringue mix and beat well to combine.

Red velvet cake isn't particularly common here. I've only seen it at one wedding, and it wasn't until a new cupcake boutique opened in the CBD that you could buy it with any sort of ease. It's an interesting cake. It has a great texture, both moist and light, but is kind of blandly sweet until you put the frosting on. I've seen recipes that call for meringue frosting, but cannot fathom how anyone could enjoy that much extra sweetness on a cake that's already sweeter than most. The general recommendation seems to be cream cheese frosting, which I can definitely get on board with.

Red velvet cupcakes

125g butter
375g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tspn vanilla bean paste
1 tbspn pillar box red liquid food dye
1 cup milk
1 tbspn lemon juice
2 tbspn unsweetened cocoa
250g flour
25g wheaten cornflour
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
1 tspn cider vinegar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line three 6 hole muffin pans with cupcake cases. Cream the butter. Add the sugar and continue creaming. Add the eggs, half at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and food dye and stir through. Mix the milk and lemon juice and allow to stand for a few minutes to curdle slightly. Add around a third of the milk mix and stir well. Sift together the flour, cornflour and cocoa. Add a third to the cake batter. Repeat, alternating with the milk, until all combined. Mix together the bicarb soda and vinegar and add to the batter while still fizzing. Spoon into cupcake cases, filling each around 2/3 full. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

I haven't baked much recently, and as a result, the fridge has been filling up with butter and eggs. So when I found a recipe for French buttercream, I just had to give it a shot. Afterall, the fridge had to be emptied, and I didn't feel like making hollandaise.

So to French buttercream, which has to be the richest thing you can possibly put on top of a cake. Unlike Swiss and Italian buttercream recipes, French buttercream uses egg yolks, not whites. That's right, it adds extra fat to the butter. The result is silky, buttery and delicious, and definitely not something you want to eat every day. It pipes a beautiful swirl, but is so rich you might prefer to spread it thinly.

This cupcake recipe is a great base for the buttercream. They're plain enough for the flavour of the icing to come through, but the vanilla bean paste makes them a little more special than an everyday butter cake or sponge.

Vanilla cupcakes

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla bean paste
1 1/3 plain flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a muffin pan with 12 patty cake cases. Cream the butter at high speed until pale and fluffy. Slowly add the caster sugar, beating well until dissolved. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for at least a minute after each. Add the vanilla and mix through. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Add half to the butter mixture and mix at low speed. Follow with half the milk, then remaining flour and milk, mixing until just combined. Spoon into the patty cake cases and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

French buttercream

6 egg yolks
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
500g butter

Method

Using a whisk attachment, whip the egg yolks until very pale and foamy. Meanwhile combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat when the syrup reaches soft ball stage - around 120 degrees Celsius. Remove from heat. If necessary, transfer to a jug or pan with a pouring spout. Add a little to the egg mix, then whip for 30 seconds. Repeat until the syrup is completely incorporated in the egg mixture. Reduce the speed to medium and continue beating with the whisk until the mixture reaches room temperature. Change to a paddle beater and add the butter a little at a time. When all of the butter is combined with the egg and syrup, add flavour and colour as needed.