Gourmet on a Shoestring

My current favourite cake – so quick and easy, with delicious crunchy edges and warm moist filling. It’s also equally yummy cold!

Ingredients

For the caramelised pears:

• 3 small Pears, peeled, quartered with centres and stalks removed (reasonably firm, but not rock hard)
• 25g unsalted Butter
• 1 tbsp granulated Sugar

For the cake:

• 150g unsalted Butter, softened
• 125g Caster Sugar
• 2 medium Eggs
• 75g wholemeal Flour
• 75g Almond Meal
• Pinch of Cinnamon
• teaspoon of Almond Essence

Method

Preheat oven to 170oC. Prepare a spring-form tin (20cm) with a greaseproof paper bottom and sides.

First caramelise the pears, add the butter to a frying pan under a medium-high heat, as it starts to froth add the sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved then add the pears. Move them around the pan so they go equally caramelised all over. This should take between 5 and 10 minutes. Once ready leave them to cool.

Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and beat until fluffy. Add an egg at a time, while beating the mixture, with each egg add a tablespoon of flour. Once both eggs have been beaten in, add the remaining flour, sugar, almonds, almond essence and cinnamon and fold in.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, then add the pears on top evenly, leaving them sitting on top of the cake. Pour the buttery pan juices on top of the cake. Put in the oven for 40-50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool for another 5 minutes, either eat warm with ice cream or eat cold later on.

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Prep time: 30min Cooking time: 35min
Makes approx. 30 pieces

I learnt this recipe from my friend Michelle. I had never craved cakes or biscuits until I made this beautiful stuff! Very easy, very yummy, and makes enough to sustain your coffee breaks for weeks!

Ingredients

250g unsalted Butter
125g Dark Cooking Chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 cup Flour
¼ cup Cocoa
½ teaspoon Salt
125g pecans, chopped (use walnuts if cheaper)
Optional: Icing sugar on top

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 24cm square cake tin with grease-proof paper.
2. Heating the butter in a saucepan over low heat. When half melted add chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon until all melted and combined.
3. Remove from heat and stir in sugar.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixture is shiny.
5. Stir in vanilla.
6. Sift in dry ingredients and nuts and mix well.
7. Pour into baking tin and bake for 35mins. Cool completely in pan, sift a little icing sugar over the top and cut into small rectangles.

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Makes 1 1/2 cups

This very lemony lemon curd is beautiful with meringues (see my receipe for meringues) and ice cream, or in a lemon meringue pie, or on toast, I could go on….

I make a lot of this when our lemon trees are in season!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
• 80g chilled unsalted butter
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons

Method

1. Whisk whole eggs, yolks and sugar in a saucepan until smooth, then place pan over a low heat.
2. Add the butter, juice and zest and whisk continuously until thickened (this will take 10 minutes or so, so turn up the heat to speed it up).
3. Strain through a sieve into a sterilised jar. Lemon curd keeps, covered, in the fridge for 2 weeks.

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Preparation Time: 15 minutes  Cooking Time: 90 minutes  Makes: 30

For a last minute dinner party desert, I love these quick and easy chewy meringues.

Ingredients

• 4 Egg whites, at room temperature
• Pinch of salt (or pinch of cream tartar)
• 220g (1 cup) Caster Sugar

Method

The most important thing to remember when making meringues is that moisture is their greatest enemy. Apparently moisture in the air, humidity, will prevent them from drying completely and will make them “weep”, however we live in a tropical climate so there is no avoiding humidity and I haven’t noticed any problems.

Bring your eggs to room temperature before using them – cold egg whites incorporate less air than those at room temperature. When you separate the egg whites from the yolks, separate each egg into a small dish rather than straight into a large bowl. This way, if a yolk breaks into a white, you will not spoil all four egg whites.

The salt will help to stabilise the meringues and help them stiffen before the sugar is added.

Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Have all the required utensils on hand. Make sure your egg whites, bowl and whisk attachment/s are free of any water, or fat such as butter, oil or egg yolks, as this will inhibit the egg whites from incorporating air and producing a good volume. It is best to use a stainless steel, glass, ceramic or copper bowl for whisking egg whites and not plastic as traces of fat are difficult to remove from plastic bowls.

1. Preheat oven to 120°C.
2. Place the egg whites and salt in a large, clean, dry mixing bowl. Use an electric beater to whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
3. Add the sugar, a spoonful at a time, whisking until just combined. The sugar should be added gradually but there is no need to whisk well after each addition. If the sugar is added too slowly, the resulting mixture will be fluffy and not smooth and will give the final meringues an open texture.
4. After the last of the sugar has been, added, continue to whisk for a further 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is very thick and glossy, all the sugar has dissolved and a long trailing peak forms when the whisk is lifted. The best way to test if all the sugar has dissolved is to rub a little of the mixture between your thumb and forefinger.
5. If it is smooth, all the sugar has dissolved. Keep a close eye on the mixture and stop beating as soon as it reaches this stage. If the mixture is overbeaten, the meringues will collapse during cooking and beads of sugar will form on their surface.
6. Spoon the mixture onto the lined trays to form the meringues. As a guide, each meringue will be about 2 level tablespoon measures of mixture.
7. Place the meringues into the oven and reduce the temperature to 90°C. When you place the meringues in the oven, the initial slightly higher temperature sets their outsides. The lower temperature then dries the meringues rather than bakes them. For slightly soft and chewy meringues, leave the oven on for 1 hour or until the meringues are crisp and sound hollow when tapped on the base. Turn the oven off and allow the meringues to cool in the oven.
8. Store the meringues in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Serving suggestion: add lemon curd (see my receipe), vanilla ice cream and some passion fruit or raspberries sprinkle on top. MMM!

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