Vanilla Bean Bundt with Strawberry Glaze

Bonjour mes amis.

Well, Easter is over. Boo. I love the colours and happiness of everybody at Easter time. I wish everybody was in such good spirits all of the time. Easter certainly says one thing:

CHOCOLATE MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER.

But, I don't know about you lovely folk, but I am a teeny bit over it. GASP! Now don't be like that. It's just that it's been everywhere and supposedly Australians are the biggest chocolate-consumers at Easter in the world and I JUST NEED A BREAK OK?!

So with that in mind, I have decided to steer away from the chocolate until I have recovered somewhat from the mayhem that has encapsulated the citizens of the world.

So in order to escape the Easter craziness, I turned back to Christmas (such logic!). Most of my Christmas presents, I admit, were to do with baking. Cupcake cases, an icing bag set, cookbooks, and... A bundt tin!

I have never made a bundt cake before, but looking at different blogs around the place, they photography beautifully, and the possibilites are endless! So I knew that I had to have one. I had a bit of bundt fever.

Even the word 'bundt' is addictive. Go on, say it.

...'bundt'.

Bundt bundt bundt.

The word is looking extremely strange to me as I type now.

Anyway, my grandparents' birthday's are about a week apart from each other, so I made them a Birthday Bundt! It was the first opportunity I had to use my new tin, so I was a bit nervous. But the cake turned out pretty well, I think! I pinched the recipe from Always With Butter, one of my favourite blogs, except I eliminated the almond flavouring because I don't really like that distinct almond essence flavouring. I replaced it with vanilla essence, which, combined with the vanilla bean paste, made for a simple and utterly delicious cake. I did, however, want to reproduce the design of Julie's cake, because the photos were just stunning. The vanilla, the pink of the glaze, and the contrast of the blueberries just took my breath away. If it ain't broke, don't fix it,  right?

Right!

I think I'm in Bundt-Love. That's a thing, I'll have you know. Expect more bundts coming your way from FBC!

Vanilla Bean Bundt with Strawberry Glaze

{Recipe adapted from Always With Butter}

Ingredients:

3 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

250g unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp vanilla bean paste

4 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

3 strawberries

Icing sugar

Blueberries

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. In a bundt pan, grease the inside surface evenly with butter, and then dust with flour.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and vanilla bean paste and mix until well-incorporated.Add the eggs in, one at a time, mixing well.

In alternating batches, gradually pour the flour mixture and buttermilk into the butter-sugar mixture bowl. Pour the batter into the bundt pan, smooth the top, and bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Wait to cool completely, then invert onto a wire rack.

Strawberry Glaze:

In a food processor, puree the strawberries until smooth. Gradually add sifted icing sugar until the glaze comes to the desired consistency (thicker will make it run nicely down the cake). Process until smooth, and pour over the cooled cake. Sprinkle with blueberries.

Caramel Easter Egg Fudge Brownies

FBC IS BACK BABY!

(and by FBC, I mean the Fairy Bread Chronicles, the name of my temporarily abandoned blog which I have been neglecting painstakingly throughout the last month because of all my big scary HSC exam prep.)

But GUESS WHAT!

...what?

My exams are officially over as of yesterday, and since I have gone into an uncontrollable baking frenzy.

Exhibit A: These bad boys right here.

Yesterday I was like HOLY WOW it's like 5 days till Easter!

And because of my stupid important exams, I had (almost) completely forgotten, and could not bake any delicious and bunny/egg related treats for y'all.

Soooo yesterday I came out of my exam coma and said to myself, you know what Angela? Today, you're going to buy 4 packets of caramel easter eggs, and you're going to make an amazingly sugary baked treat.

And so... I did!

By the by, today I am including many photos, as I am attempting to make up for the lack of material during my absence. So consider this a MONSTER POST.

And what better treat to include in my  MONSTER POST than possibly the most chocolate-y and sugary treat I have ever created?!

I give you: Caramel Easter Egg Fudge Brownies.

I tweaked a glorious recipe for Rolo Brownies that I saw here on Cookies and Cups, a fabulous blog that is always jam-packed with baking inspiration!

But, seeing as it's Easter soon, I figured I'd use caramel eggs instead. 2 cups of them!

I had to chop up the poor little eggs. I was shocked at how ruthlessly I massacred them:

Their caramel blood leaking out everywhere... Not pretty.

I made too much batter too, so I put some of the mixture into little circus cupcake cases that I got for Christmas. They are so cute!

These brownies are not pretty. And they're not polite either. Do they care what you think? Not one bit.

Is it possible for something to be ugly, and yet incredibly beautiful at the same time?

In this case, yes.

The brownies are soft and gooey and the caramel sauce/eggs balance out the sheer sweetness of the chocolate.

I dare you to give them a go!

Caramel Easter Egg Fudge Brownies

{Recipe adapted from Cookies and Cups, Brownie + Caramel Sauce recipe adapted from 'Sweet Serendipity' Cookbook}

Makes 1 and a half 20x25cm tins (or you can put the mixture into cupcake cases!)

Ingredients:

Brownie Base:

250g unsalted butter

250g dark chocolate

2 cups caster sugar

5 large eggs

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla essence

Caramel Sauce:

(You could use store-bought caramel sauce, but just in case...)

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup thickened cream

2 tsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups Mini Caramel Easter Eggs

Fudge:

400ml can sweetened condensed milk

250g milk chocolate

2 tsp vanilla essence

Optional: Rainbow sprinkles

Method:

For the Brownie base:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, and grease/line a 20x25cm brownie pan.

Combine chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water on medium-high heat. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water!

Remove from heat and mix in caster sugar. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Sift flour and salt into the bowl, mix until just combined. Add vanilla.

Scrape the batter into the pan(s)/cases. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Let cool completely before adding the caramel sauce.

For the caramel sauce:

Either use store-bought, or make from scratch:

Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved and mixture has started to turn golden brown. Swirl the pan around to prevent the sugar on the edges of the pan burning.

When mixture is a dark amber colour, remove from heat and add the cream slowly (mixture will bubble up!) Allow mixture to settle and add the butter and salt. If lumps remain, cook slowly over low heat until smooth.

Pour caramel sauce over the cooled brownies, spread so a thin layer covers the top of the brownie.

Chop easter eggs and spread evenly over the top of the sauce. Make sure the eggs don't add too much height to the pan, keep them low.

Fudge: In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt together the condensed milk and chocolate. Once smooth, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Using a spatula, evenly spread the fudge over the top of the easter eggs, ensuring it doesn't spill over the side of the pan. (Optional: sprinkle rainbow sprinkles on top for some Easter-y magic!)

Let set for at least 2 hours before consuming (if you can wait that long!). Cut into squares.



Happy Almost-Easter everybody! May your day be peaceful and filled with chocolate eggs!

Scones with Burnt Fig Jam

Salutations, friends!

 

Listen, I know it's been a while since I last posted, but fear not, for I have returned! Like I've said, this year is going to be crazy, busy, and at the moment rowing is at its peak - we go to Nationals over in Perth in like, two weeks! Scary, but exciting too. AND on top of all this training, racing etc., I've got mountains of work to do. Please forgive me, peoples of the Internet - I have baked this for you!

Usually, I suck at scones. Like, really, really suck. Like, my previous scone attempts have all turned out like rocks in appearance and taste. So I was both scared and raring to have another attempt at these country classics.

One of my absolute favourite blogs, raspberri cupcakes, has a fabulous recipe for Country Women's Association Scones, who, as we all know, are the masters of floury treats such as these. So I decided to pinch that perfect recipe (because I was hoping that it would be incredibly hard for me to stuff up), and paired it with some Burnt Fig Jam that I made.

I got the idea of Burnt Fig Jam from Maggie Beer, the grandmother of Australian cookery, but I didn't have a recipe, so I kind of just made it up. I also bought a jar of her jam to compare taste, but I found hers a little too burnt (maybe it would pair nicely with savoury dishes?). So I went for cooking my jam until dark and caramelized, but not to the point of being bitter.

I also used beautiful fresh figs that we had grown on our tree in our backyard. YUM FIGS! They appear only for a short time, and they are perfect to eat for an even shorter time, so I thought that making a yummy jam would preserve their summery deliciousness for a little while longer.

The scones turned out amazingly! Points to the CWA, and raspberri cupcakes for making a foolproof (ahem, me) recipe! They're light and fluffy, and with the burnt fig jam and whipped cream they are... well, you'll just have to make them, won't you!

CWA Scones

Makes about 12 scones

Ingredients: 

4 cups self-raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

300ml pouring cream

1 1/3 cups milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius. Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Pour cream into bowl, and using a butter knife or spatula, cut the cream into the dry ingredients until just combined. Gradually add in the milk and continue to cut until a soft dough forms.

Handling the dough as little and as quickly as possible, gather the dough onto a flour bench and pat into a flat rectangle about 3.5 cm thick. If you knead too much, the scones will be hard (take it from me!)

Using an egg ring or cutter about 5-6cm in diameter, push down into the dough and remove the circles from the mass. Pack closely together in a lined baking dish that has sides. Lightly brush the scones with milk and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

Serve immediately with whipped cream and Burnt Fig Jam.

Burnt Fig Jam

Ingredients:



1 kilo ripe fresh figs

500 grams caster sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Sterilised Jars with lids

Method:

Trim figs and chop into small pieces. In a large saucepan, combine sugar and figs and over high heat, stir constantly while bringing to the boil. Add honey.

Reduce heat to mediuma nd cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom, for 40 minutes, until thick, dark golden, and almost burnt. To get the perfect caramelized taste, you will have to watch the jam closely AT ALL TIMES, and perhaps taste a bit (cooled down first) before turning off the heat.

Pour into clean jars, and seal. Label and store in the fridge for up to a month.

Enjoy on scones!

Coconut Panna Cotta with Berry Reduction

Hello once again, mes amis!

Well, school's back, and so is the rain! It's pretty cool how the weather can predict the feelings of all the schoolkids! Summer has disappeared completely, I fear. And what's more, there is terrible flash-flooding up in northern NSW. Stay strong, northern compatriates!

So, Valentine's Day is coming up... and I still have no idea what to blog about! Chocolate is the obvious choice, and so is going crazy with the red food colouring - but I don't want to do that! Meh, I'll think of something.

School is going to be pretty hectic for the next 8 months, so I think I will have to cull back my blogging - oh, it breaks my heart! But this is my last year at school, and after that, I'll be free as a bird to bake till my heart's content! 

So, these panna cottas are AH-MAZING. Like, legitmately incredible. Dad proclaimed it 'the best dessert ever', and then proceeded to inhale his jar of the stuff. Oh, I'm currently obsessed with jars. I know, once again, I'm a little behind on the whole 'food blog fad' business, but I am just coming to terms with how cute and shiny and clear they are! You can do so much sweet baking stuff with them too. Love!

So I decided to put the panna cottas in the jars. You don't have to, I guess... But don't say I didn't warn you! The jars almost enhance the delicious experience of these silky, coconutty desserts. And the berries! Oh, the berries! I simply adore jelly, and the fresh berries just make it so much juicier! You could almost eat the cooled reduction on its own - but don't! You must try these awe-inspiring jars of goodness!

Coconut Panna Cotta with a Berry Reduction

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups thickened cream

1 1/2 cups lite coconut milk

1/2 cup caster sugar

Pinch of salt

1 envelope plain gelatin powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp coconut extract

Berry Reduction:

2/3 cup water

6 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp blackberry jelly

1 cup fresh blackberries and/or blueberries



Method:

To make the panna cotta, Place 1/4 cup of the thickened cream in a small bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin over the cream. Let it set for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, whisk gently. The mixture will be extremely lumpy. Set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining thickened cream with the salt and sugar until simmering. Stir in the extracts and remove from the heat. Whisk in the gelatin-cream mixture, then the coconut milk. Strain the panna cotta mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl, then, using a funnel or jug, pour evenly into 4x120ml sterilised jars (which look super cute!) or glasses, or if you want to get fancy, ramekins which you can pop the panna cottas out of later. Chill for a minimum 2 hours.

For the berry reduction (or let's just face it, yummy jelly topping), bring the water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan, and cook until reduced by half. Add the jelly and stir until dissolved. Add the berries and cooks until they are soft, but still hold their shape. Pour onto the set panna cottas and chill once more, until cold.