Archive | Sweet Treats

Ok, I have a story! Do you remember I was baking autumn themed cupcakes sometime last year at “Canvas” event? And if you were there than you should remember pumpkin cupcakes that were everyone’s favourites!? Well… they were not a pumpkin cupcakes, they were actually butternut squash cupcakes. You see in the America it seems that pumpkin is much loved for the sweet puddings, but here in UK pumpkin is so hard to find in stores (except Halloween season of course). So I used butternut squash as a substitute! I think it worked well and in fact I grew one in my garden this year (in picture bellow together with my Halloween decorations).

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CUPCAKES

Makes 12 cupcakes

(for the base)

• 225g brown caster sugar
• 115g butter (softened)
• 2 eggs
• 215g butternut squash (cored, pealed, cooked and pureed)
• 125g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1tsp ground nutmeg

(for the frosting)

• 200g soft cheese
• 50g butter (softened)
• 400g icing sugar
• 2tsp ground cinnamon

1. Cream sugar with butter and gradually combine it with the rest of the ingredients.

2. Spoon the mixture into prepared muffin pan.

3. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 20-25min.

4. Meanwhile make a frosting by mixing all ingredients into one (butter and cream cheese first).

5. When the cupcakes are baked and cooled, pipe out the frosting in the swirl motion so they look like roses… aww

Enjoy autumn!

Rasa :)

As Halloween is fast approaching I thought I will bake Beetroot chocolate meringue cake for today’s knitting group meet up. I made the meringues on the cake look like little ghost! The base recipe is adopted from “A Tiny Bit Marvellous” by Dawn French (surprisingly not a recipe book, but a novel).

BEETROOT CHOCOLATE MERINGUE CAKE

(for the base)

• 180g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 180g plain flour
• 180g ground almonds
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 200ml yogurt
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 200g raw, peeled and finely grated beetroot

(for the meringue)

• 100g egg whites (about 3)
• pinch of citric acid, tartar or 1tsp of lemon juice
• 125g icing sugar
• 6g dark chocolate

1. Whisk sugar with eggs until light and slightly fluffy.

2. Mix the egg mixture with the rest of the ingredients and combine well.

3. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake it for 30min in the preheated 180C oven.

4. Meanwhile whisk the egg whites with a pinch of citric acid until it forms soft peeks. Slowly add sugar and combine it carefully.

5. Using  a piping bag pipe out the meringues onto the half baked cake. Continue baking for another 30 min.

6. Once the cake is cooled, melt some chocolate and carefully “paint” the eyes onto the meringues with the toothpick.

Enjoy!

Rasa ;)

Recently I have baked passionfruit cheesecake for one of the cafes I supply to and I had too many passion-fruits left. As I really hate food waste I kept thinking what else I can do with passion-fruits until I remembered this passionfruit and coconut cake that I tasted few years ago (baked by my secret competitors… ghhr). I could not get over the taste of it so it wasn’t too difficult to recreate the recipe. It is soo easy to make and you don’t have to have it as a tart: bake the filling on it’s own!

PASSIONFRUIT AND COCONUT TART

For the sweet pastry:

• 85g unsalted butter
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 200g flour

For the filling:

• 4 eggs
• 165g caster sugar
• 330ml rich and creamy coconut milk (dunn’ river is good)
• 125 double cream
• 80g desiccated coconut
• 75g plain flour
• 50g almond flakes
• 125ml passionfruit pulp (7-9 small passion fruits)
• 1tbsp lemon juice

1. Place the butter and sugar in mixing bowl and beat them together until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg to the butter mixture and mix it until combined. Then add the flour gradually and mix until it looks like smooth dough.
2. Place the pastry in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes to rest. (or into freezer if you want it to be used another time)
3. Meanwhile make the filling. Place the eggs and sugar together in a mixing bowl and beat them lightly. Combine the egg mixture with the rest of the ingredients, except icing sugar. Set the mixture aside until ready to use.
4. Remove the pastry from the fridge. Roll it out on a well floured surface until it is around .5-.75mm thick. Lightly grease 30cm tart tin (or line it with baking paper). Line the tart tin with the pastry. Place the lined tin in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
6. Pour the filling into the pastry and place it in the preheated oven and cook it for 45-55 minutes. The filling will be golden brown, risen and firm when the tart is ready.
7. Remove the tart from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the tart carefully from the tin.

Enjoy!

Rasa :)

I have celebrated my birthday today so I have had a good opportunity to bake a fancy cake. I generally don’t like overly decorated cake as then it can look like a statue, not a treat ;). I love cakes decorated with fruits and berries (sometimes flowers) that gives a rustic appeal. I baked honey cake this time decorated with sugared figs. Yum!

HONEY MASCARPONE CAKE

• 170g honey
• 115g butter
• 80g yogurt
• 160ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 220g flour
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

(For the frosting)

• 500g mascarpone cheese
• 250ml double cream
• 55g sugar
• 1tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean seeds

(For the decoration)

• 2-3 ripe figs, cut in quarters
• granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two same size baking tins and set aside.

2. Cream butter with honey. Add yogurt, milk, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder and vanilla extract and mix to combine.

3. Divide the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 20min each, or until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.

4. Cool the baked cakes on the wire rack

5. Meanwhile make a mascarpone frosting by whisking mascarpone cheese together with double cream, sugar and vanilla.

6. When the frosting becomes thick enough, spread the half of it on one cake.

7. Line two cakes on top of each other (plain cake goes on top of the frosted one).

8. Pipe the rest of the frosting on the top.

9. Dip the figs into the sugar and place them on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil (I used just a baking sheet, but that burns quite easily so I don’t recommend using that). Using a kitchen torch, caramelise each fig.

10. Use these figs to decorate the cake.

Enjoy!

Rasa ;-)

So as it turns out, today is a International Chocolate day! For this lovely occasion I thought I will share my 10 favourites…

Chocolate brownie (with peanut butter and caramel)

Vicki’s favourite chocolate mousse

Royal truffles

Cup-cheesecakes

Coconut and mixed berries mousse

Black forest gateau 

Chocolate flan cake

“Rolo” peanut butter cupcakes

Wine chocolate cupcakes

Chocolate Amaretto cake

Happy chocolate eating!

Rasa xox

What a lovely weekend we had! My mum was visiting me all the way from Lithuania and we were invited to a one amazing Lola’s and David’s wedding…. Aww! But once the weekend is over I always think of the ways to prolong it. I baked this chocolate amaretto cake (who does’t like chocolate?), which defiantly deserves some attention ;). Try it out for yourself!

CHOCOLATE AMARETTO CAKE

• 115g unsalted butter (softened)
• 115g caster sugar
• 3 eggs (separated)
• 100g ground almonds
• 40g flour
• 150g dark chocolate (melted)
• 2tbsp amaretto (almond liqueur)

(For the chocolate glaze)

• 90ml double cream
• 100g dark chocolate (chopped)
• 10g butter
• 1tbs amaretto (almond liqueur)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. In the bowl  or food processor cream butter with sugar.
3. Add egg yolks, almonds, flour, chocolate and amaretto to a creamed butter and mix well to combine.
4. In separate bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.Carefully fold the egg whites into the mixture.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Bake for 30-35min, until the edges are puffed but the centre is still soft.
6. Cool the cake on the wire rack before glazing.
7. To make the chocolate glaze, bring the cream to the boil in a saucepan. Remove the cream from the heat and add the chocolate, butter and amaretto. Whisk everything until smooth.
8. Pour the glaze over the cake to cover it completely. Decorate with the bits of fruit or serve it with ice-cream while still warm.

Happy Monday!

Rasa :-D