Mulberry Butter Cake

Hello once again. Have you had a good week? I hope so. Mine's been good. Beautiful weather makes all the difference, doesn't it?

I'm sorry, I'm making small talk again.

I guess this week was a bit overwhelming for me. I started Year 12! As soon as we got back to school, it was go, go go. Quite frankly, all the important talk gave me the heebie-jeebies. But I guess it's kind of exciting at the same time too. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog up throughout the year! It's relaxing and fun for me :)

Mulberries, to me, are the ultimate symbol of my childhood. We have a mulberry tree in the backyard, and as a kid, my sister and I used to wait for months until the berries began to appear, and when they did, we would pick bucketfuls, the purply-red juices staining our hands (and our mouths) in the process. So this cake is special, and extra delicious to boot!

It's taken from Bill (once again). He uses blueberries, so if mulberries are lacking to you, you could use them, or even blackberries would do the trick. I just love the juiciness and dark flavour of the humble mulberry, so I substituted those into the recipe. The crumble topping gives a little bit of crunch too, which is highly desirable for any cake, I think.

*You need a springform pan to make this cake.

Mulberry Butter Cake

Makes one big, glorious cake. (Serves 12)

Ingredients:

- For the topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup plain flour

75g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes.

- For the cake:

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

125g unsalted butter, softened

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup sour cream

2 cups mulberries, washed and de-stemmed

Method:

To make the topping, combine brown sugar and flour in a bowl. Add the butter cubes and rub with your fingertips, mixing with the sugar/flour until the mixture is crumbly and coarse. (This may take a while, but perservere!)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Place the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and cream using electric beaters. Add the eggs and mix again. Add the dry ingredients and sour cream little by little, alternating. Mix yet again until the batter is smooth.

Pour batter into a greased 23cm springform pan. sprinkle with mulberries and the crumble topping.

Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave in the pan for 10 minutes, then spring the pan out and transfer the cake to a wire rack.

Serve the cake warm, or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream. (See delicious picture below!)

Salted Butter Caramel Icecream

Bonjour internet!

So I am into making icecream at the moment. A couple of months ago I made a pretty impressive icecream cake for my Mum's birthday - perhaps I'll put the recipe and semi-demi-ok iPhone photos up later - but I am really becoming a homemade chilled-treat enthusiast. So expect some more icecream posts!

Yesterday I made a "sophisticated" caramel icecream. It's not like a store-bought caramel icecream, which is uber sugary and (I think) a teensy bit sickly; it's got a dark, salty-sweet flavour that is very grown-up. it's an acquired taste, I admit, but once you get into it, it's so amazing!

You could serve this with grated dark chocolate sprinkled on top, or with strawberries and chocolate 'cigarello' biscuits like me!

Anyhoo, here's the recipe, adapted from the icecream master blogger/author himself, David Lebovitz. (Also, last post I forgot to mention that the delectable flourless choc/hazelnut cake was adapted from 'Bills Holiday', by Bill Granger).

Salted Butter Caramel Icecream

Ingredients:

2 cups full cream milk

1½ cups caster sugar

4 tablespoons salted butter

½ teaspoon good-quality sea salt

1 cup thickened cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

Keep your 2 cups of milk cold (ie. in the fridge) until ready to use.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, spread the caster sugar out in an even layer. When the edges start to melt, stir them back into the middle of the pan using a wooden spoon. Repeat this process until all the sugar has melted.

Continue to cook until you can smell that it's almost going to burn - be careful as it will happen very quickly! If you chicken out at this bit, you're icecream will just taste sugary, instead of getting that deep caramel that is so highly desirable! So be brave, I believe in you!

Now quickly remove from the heat and stir in the butter and salt. Once the butter has melted, whisk in the cream. (Note: if the caramel hardens, simply return it to low heat and re-melt.)

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, and pour a little bit of the caramel over them. Keep stirring!

Pour the yolky-caramelly mixture back into the original saucepan with the other caramel and stir over low heat (remember to scrape the bottom) until the mixture thickens.

Take the milk out of the fridge and transfer to a large bowl. Through a mesh sieve, pour the caramel mixture over the milk. Add the vanilla and stir until cool. Refrigerate for 8 hours.

Ding dong! 8 hours is up and it is time to press on!

If you have an iceream maker, freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

If you don't have an icecream maker, pour liquid into an airtight container and pop it in your freezer, taking it out every hour and mixing with electric beaters until it's too hard to do so! (Note: your icecream won't have quite the same texture as if churned in an icecream maker, so before eating, maybe leave it out for 10 minutes to soften a little).

This is such a sophisticated icecream! Well done old chap.