Daring Bakers February challenge

 The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

I loved the challenge even though it wasn't really a challenge but it is such a versatile basic recipe that leaves room for your own additions. I added bananas and chocolate, yum, that was very scrumptious!

Since it's currently quiet warm and humid our bananas ripen as soon as I take them out of my shopping basket, duh. No one in the house really likes overripe bananas but they are great in cakes.
That makes them obviously less healthy but at least I don't have to throw them out- recycling!

Here is the basic recipe for:
Basic Quick Bread
Makes one 9” x 5” (23×13 cm) loaf
Recipe from Sara Schewe
2 cups (480 ml) (250 gm/9 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm/8 oz) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) fine sea salt or table salt
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk or soured milk*
1 large egg
1/4 cup (60 ml) mild- or non-flavored oil, like canola
1 teaspoon (5 ml) flavored extract, such as vanilla or almond
for the glaze
1/3 cup (80 ml) (35 gm/1-1/3 oz) confectioners’ (icing) sugar
1-2 teaspoons (5-10 ml) milk
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4. Grease a 9×5 inch (23×13 centimeter) loaf pan with butter and line with parchment paper cut to fit the length and width of the pan, with enough overhang to allow easy removal after baking. Grease the top sheet of parchment.
2. In large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt to combine. Make a well in the center and set aside.
3. Lightly whisk (butter)milk, egg, oil, and extract to combine. Pour into well and stir until just mixed into a batter. The batter will be lumpy and may still show a few streaks of flour.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely before slicing. Drizzle with glaze, if desired.
5. For the glaze: Slowly whisk confectioners’ (icing) sugar and half of the milk, adding more milk as needed to thin the glaze to the desired consistency.

Note: To make soured milk, combine 1 cup milk (240 ml) with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vinegar or lemon juice and let sit for 10 minutes.


And that is my recipe for the banana and chocolate little cakes:
Makes 12 little cakes or muffins.


2 cups (480 ml) (250 gm/9 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm/8 oz) brown sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) fine sea salt or table salt
50 g milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup (240 ml) milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup (60 ml) mild- or non-flavored oil, like canola
1 teaspoon (5 ml) flavored extract, such as vanilla or almond
2 very ripe bananas
icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350ºF/180ºC/gas mark 4. Spray a muffin tin or little bundt cake tin with oil.
2. In large bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and chopped chocolate to combine. Make a well in the center and set aside.
3. Lightly whisk milk, egg, oil, and extract to combine. Peel bananas and mash with a fork. Stir through the milk-egg mixture.
4. Pour wet mixture into well (dry mixture) and stir until just mixed into a batter. The batter will be lumpy and may still show a few streaks of flour.
5. Pour batter into prepared tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in tin on wire rack for 5 minutes, then tip over and cool little cakes on rack (or eat them still warm). 
6. Clean tin and spray with oil to bake the remaining batter.   
7. Dust with icing sugar before serving, if desired.

Reuben Hills cafe in Surry Hills

Admittedly it took me so long to write this blog post that the cafe I am talking about Reuben Hills is not really the new cafe on the block any more (at least not by Surry Hills standards).
Nevertheless it's sill worth mentioning. It's so effortless trendy and cool as you would expect a haunt like this in Surry Hills.

Its menu has a Central American take, offering Baleada – a Honduran tortilla, empanadas and ceviche while also venturing North for its namesake, Reuben sandwich. If you like sweet and salty, order a ‘Dogg’s breakfast’ an ice-cream sandwich with salted caramel. The shakes sound very interesting too: salted caramel, black sesame, and espresso with wattle seed.

It's quite a narrow space showing off a sleek and clean design. Natural light comes in from the front entrance as well as the rolled-up roller door at the rear (Melbourne style). A semi-circular cutaway in the ceiling reveals the upper level which houses the roastery and cupping workshops for coffee nerds.

My friend actually thought it was a waste of beautiful space that should belong to the customers too.

Surry Hills neighbourhood.

Reuben Hills Cafe.

This is it!

Plum cake with streusel

To be honest I am still confused sometimes with what is in season when. Plums are already turning up at the grocery stores and I thought it's still summer.

Well, the weather has been more on the autumn side anyway so I guess it makes sense in a way to have plums now. I love plums and although there is a wide variety available here in Sydney I do miss what we call "Zwetschge" in Germany. It translates into damson plum and I have seen it at some farmers markets but only rarely. The damson (fruit) is identified by its dark blue skin, oval shape (though slightly pointed at one end) and smooth-textured yellow flesh.
In Germany we use it to make the very popular Zwetschgendatschi (plum cake with yeast dough)
and Pflaumenmus (very dark plum jam) which then gets used in Germknoedel (steamed sweet dumplings). I'll definetely be on the hunt for damsons plums next time I go to the market.

Never mind, I love them all and made my first plum cake for this season on the weekend.
To give it a bit of a twist I added thyme to it and that goes very well together. Streusel are
a must on a German-style cake and so good paired with sour plums.

From this...

to this!

Recipe for plum cake:

850 g plums
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon picked thyme leaves
100 g sugar

200 g butter, softened
200 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150 g wholemeal flour
100 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Streusel:
100 g brown sugar
150 g plain flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
80 g butter, melted

1. Cut plums into small wedges. Place plums, lemon juice, thyme and sugar in a saucepan and let sit for 20 minutes. Over medium-low heat cook plums for 20 minutes until plums are soft and sauce has slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile make cake batter. Whisk butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Mix together both flours and baking powder and add to butter-sugar mix. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
3.  For the streusel, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add melted butter in a thin stream then use a fork to clump batter together.
4. Line a deep baking tray (32 x 25 cm) with baking paper and spread batter evenly. Pour plum sauce over and spread evenly.
5. Sprinkle with streusel and bake in preheated oven for 45 min or until cooked and the streusel are lightly golden.
Let cool a little before slicing into pieces. Serve with whipped cream or Greek-style yoghurt.

Pink marshmallows for Valentine's Day

Aww, Valentine's Day. I am never quite sure if I really like it or not. What I do like is getting flowers (hint to my hubby), but who doesn't like flower? However, I found flowers are quite pricey in Sydney and they don't last very long especially roses always dye on me very quickly, very annoying. It's probably the humidity or my lack of a green thumb.

That's why I rather make something that will not necessarily last longer but at least has some added value to it :-) Pink marshmallows!

This recipe is from Karen Martini and are made using real raspberries which is a bit more time consuming but the flavour is divine. They are still not healthy given all the sugar that goes in to make them but I think it's okay as a treat.

Recipe for raspberry marshmallows:

300 g frozen raspberries, thawed, pureed and strained
10 leaves gold-strength gelatine
550 g caster sugar
80 g egg whites (about 3 eggs)
desiccated coconut

1. Puree raspberry in a blender and strain. Discard the pits.
2. Lightly grease and line a 20cm square pan with baking paper.
3. Soak gelatine in water in a separate bowl and set aside.
4. Put caster sugar and 150 ml water in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat to medium and cook for ca. 10 minutes until syrup thickens and reaches 125degrees Celsius on a sugar thermometer (or drop a tiny amount into a saucer of water; if syrup hardens immediately, it's ready).
5. Remove from heat. Squeeze out any excess moisture from gelatine leaves. Add gelatine and raspberry juice to sugar syrup and stir to dissolve.
6. Using and electric mixer, beat egg whites and a pinch of salt until soft peaks forms. Gradually add hot raspberry mixture, beating continuously on a medium speed until mixture doubled in size.
7. Pour into prepared tin and smooth top. Stand at room temperature for at least 4 hours or until firm.
8. Tip over tin onto a tray with desiccated coconut then cut marshmallow into squares and roll in desiccated coconut until evenly coated.