Last but certainly not least was the Pavlova with manderins.........

Ingredients

3 large Egg whites
175g Caster Sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 150ºC / 300ºF / Gas mark 2
2. Place the egg whites in a clean dry bowl.  Measure out the sugar into another bowl and have it ready.  Whisk the egg whites till soft peaks form (you should be able to turn the bowl upside-down without them sliding out). 
3. Slowly whisk in the sugar, about 25g at a time and beat well after each addition.  The mixture will turn glossy.
4. Spoon the meringue mixture onto a prepared baking sheet and spread it out to about a 20cm diameter circle. I normally hollow out the centre a bit, making the sides a little taller.
5. Turn your oven down to 140ºC / 275ºF / Gas mark 1 and place the tray in the oven.  Bake for 1 hour. 
6. Turn the heat off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven.  I normally make this at night so it cools overnight without the oven door being opened. 

Beat some cream till soft peaks and spread over the pavlova, top with manderins......and serve.

Following on from my rainbow cake, I used the same recipe and made some cupcakes, plain vanilla ones iced with chocolate fudge frosting. 

I made a New York Baked Cheesecake to go with my rainbow cake.  This recipe is not a modern day quickfix cheesecake but well worth the extra time and effort taken to make it, it is a divine cheesecake to make.

Ingredients

Pastry:

70g (1/2 cup) Self-raising Flour
140g (1 cup) Flour
50g (1/4 cup) Caster Sugar
5ml (1 teaspoon) Lemon rind, grated (optional)
80g Butter
1 Egg (large)

Filling:

750g (3 tubs) Cream cheese, softened
210g (1 cup) Caster Sugar
35g (1/4 cup) Flour
4 Eggs
170ml (2/3 cup) Cream

Topping:

15ml (1 tablespoon) Caster Sugar
15ml (1 tablespoon) Cornflour
1 time Granadilla Pulp (passion fruit pulp)

Methods:

Pastry -

1. Process the flours, sugar, lemon rind (if using) and butter for about 30 seconds or until crumbly (if mixing my hand).
2. Add the egg and mix till the mixture comes together.  Knead gentle on a floured surface, wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for 20 minutes or till firm.
3. Preheat your oven to 210ºC. 
4. Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper until large enough to fill the base and sides of a 23cm round springform cake tin.
5. Ease into tin and cut edges.  Line pastry with baking paper cut to size.
6. Bake blind for about 10 minutes (see milk tart recipe below about baking blind), removed baking paper and beans.  Gentle flatten pastry with the back of a metal spoon and bake for a further 5 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely.

Filling - 

1. Reduce oven temperature to 150ºC.
2. Beat the cream cheese, sugar and flour together till smooth. 
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
4. Beat in the cream, pour the filling into the pastry case and bake for 1 hour 25 - 35 mins (depending on your oven) or until almost set.  Cool and then refrigerate.

Topping - 

1. Remove the cheesecake from the tin.
2. Combined the caster sugar and cornflour with two tablespoons of water on the stove.
3. Stir, add two more tablespoons of water and the pulp.  Stir till boiling and thick. 
4. Cool the pulp mixture and then spread on the cake.  Don't let this go cold as you will not be able to spread it on the cheesecake.

I have made this cheesecake before but instead of using Granadilla pulp, I used mango pulp and it was great, the girls loved it.  I would be tempted to try it with strawberry pulp too......

For those of us living in the UK, it is very difficult to find Granadilla pulp but you can order it through Amazon (this is where I get mine from)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=granadilla+pulp&sprefix=granadilla+p%2Caps%2C0

As most of you know I celebrated my birthday a week ago and as a treat, I brought homemade goodies into the office.... It turned out to be a wonderful day and I was very spoilt indeed, my boys bought me a Kenwood 3 in 1 mixer, liquidiser and shredder = one very happy lady..... it will certainly be put to good use...  So here are the recipes from my birthday.

Firstly I made a rainbow cake, I have never made one of these before and you can use any food colouring you like, I went for pink, blue and yellow with a vanilla section too.  You can of course, have as many layers as you'd like, I choose 4 as this is my first time.   I used the best flop-proof sponge cake recipe I gave, given to me by my Mother-in-law, it never fails.

Rainbow Cake

Ingredients

3/4 cup Sugar
3 Eggs (separated)
2 tablespoons Cornflour (heaped)
1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Oil
1 cup Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
Pinch Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC / 350ºF and grease two sandwich cake tins.
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
3. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together till creamy (goes a light yellow in colour).
4. Add the cornflour and mix well. 
5. Add the water and oil. Combined well.
6. Add the flour mixture and mix till well combined.
7. Add vanilla and mix.
8. Beat egg whites till soft peaks form.  Using a metal spoon fold egg whites into the flour mixture. 
9. Split the mixture between the two sandwich tins and bake for 20 minutes (or until cake skewer comes out clean).
10. Remove from tins and let cool completely before icing.

Tips

Try not beat the mixture once you have added the egg whites, this cake works great because it is so airy and light.  If you beat it too much, you remove the air.

 

To make the various colours, once you have add the egg whites, spilt the mixture in two bowls and add the colouring of your choice, pour into sandwich tin and bake as required.  I put a little at a time, till I got the colour I wanted. 

You can also use this recipe to make a chocolate cake, substitute the cornflour with cocoa powder and the vanilla with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon = delicious ....

To put my cake together, I used Raspberry jam between the layers and a vanilla butter-icing for the top and sides, finishing it off with hundreds and thousands....

And lastly, the ginger biscuits I made.  Leigh loves ginger biscuits but says I never make them "strong" enough so I came across this recipe and thought I'd give it a bash.  Also I have so much self raising flour that I needed to use, it seemed ideal..... Leigh really likes them so I am pleased...

Ginger Biscuits

125g Butter
250g Demerara Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Golden Syrup
250g Self Raising flour
1 teaspoon (scant) Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon (scant) Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon (scant) Ground Cloves
1 teaspoon (scant) Ground Mixed Spices
1 teaspoon (scant) Bicarbonate of Soda

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190ºC (375ºF / Gas 5).  Grease two baking trays.
• Cream butter and sugar together till soft and fluffy.
• Stir in beaten eff and mix well.  Add golden syrup.
• Sift the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda together and add to mixture, combine well.
• Form small balls and place spaced well apart on the baking trays.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool on wire tray before storing in tin / airtight container.

Tips:

I used 3 Tablespoons Ginger as Leigh likes it with a strong ginger flavour so you can increase the amount of ginger you use.......

A very easy biscuit to make, my boys love the combination of crunchy and chewy on these, hope you do too....

Coconut Macaroons

4 Egg whites, light beaten
450g Caster sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons Liquid Glucose
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
180g Desoccated Coconut
125g Plain Flour

Method

• Preheat oven to 150ºC (300ºF / Gas 2).  Line 2 trays with baking paper.
• Combined the egg hites, sugar and liquid glucose in a large heatproof bowl and whisk to combined.
• Place the bowl over simmering water and whisk till the mixture is just warm.
• Remove and add vanilla, coconut and flour.  Stir to combined.  Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate till mixture is firm.
• Take a heaped teaspoonful of mixture and using wet hands, form into balls.  Flatten slightly and place on trays, spacing them apart.
• Bake for 15 minutes, cool for 5 minutes on trays before removing and allowing to cool completely.

These biscuits can be stored for up to a week in an airtight container. I used 4 baking trays and made about 50.....  You can make them smaller if you like. 

Hello out there, I hope everyone is doing well and your week has been a good one.  Sorry it's take some time to upload details from my baking on the weekend, it has been a manic week for me.  So last weekend was no exception with regards to my baking, I decided to try something new ......... Pistachio Biscotti..(biscuits served with cofee).. I love nuts of all kinds but particularily Pistachio ones.... I also made some Coconut Macroons and some Ginger biscuits......

Ingredients:

250g Plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
230g Caster sugar
3 Eggs
1 Egg yolk
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated Orange zest
110g Pistaschio nuts (shelled)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF / Gas 4).  Line two baking trays with baking powder and lightly dust with flour.
• Sift the flour and baking powder in a large bowl.  Add the sugar and mix well.
• Make a well in the centre, add 2 whole eggs, the egg yolk, vanilla and orange zest.  Use a large metal spoon to mix till just combined. 
• Mix in the pistachios.  Knead for about 2 minutes on a floured surface.  Sprinkle a little water onto the dough.
• Divide the mixture into two portions and roll each into a log of about 25cm long and 8cm wide.  Slightly flatten the tops. 
• Place the logs on the trays in the middle so they have room to spread.  Beat the remaining egg and brush over the logs.  Bake for 35 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
• Reduce over to 150ºC (300ºF / Gas 2). 
• Cut the logs into slices, about 5mm thick.  Place them back on the baking trays and bake for a further 8 minutes per side.  Cool on a rack complete.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee, they are awesome.....

Tips
If you find the mixture is not moist enough to combined, add another egg (medium or small one). 
You do not have to bake till totally dry, I only baked mine for 6 minutes per side and it was enough.