Edit: oh yeah, I should mention first up that this is a flourless chocolate cake
This cake is pretty easy. In fact it's ridiculously easy for how good it tastes. It's even easier if you have one of the kitchen master mixer thingies, but it's still really doable without one. Probably the most time consuming and tedious thing is whisking the egg whites. If you've got a mixer/whisky-thingie, then you're golden. If not, you may want a friend or something to take over halfway.
You cannot half-arse the egg white whisking. The entire mixture has got to be firm as hell. Firmer than shaving cream. There are better guides out there to whisking egg whites, (probably people in this thread can help) but you need to understand that this is really important.
Second of all, actually separating out the egg whites.
The way I've been taught out to do this is you crack your egg, break it so the shell is in two halves, and gently pour the yolk from one half to the other. The egg white should pour out into a bowl that's been placed below. This bit is probably the only difficult part, and if you stuff up, and any more than a speck of yolk gets into the egg white, you pretty much have to start again. I've poured out 4 eggs perfectly and proceeded to stuff up the 5th quite a few times, and in these cases there is no salvaging the egg whites. You pretty much just have to start again. So try not to break the yolk when you break the egg. In fact, doing so pretty much makes this whole thing impossible.
But anyway, now that I've got that out the way, here is the recipe.
200g (7oz) dark chocolate, chopped
125g (4 1/2oz) unsalted butter (probably best to leave this out of the fridge for about half a day or so before you start making the cake. It's easier if the butter is soft)
225g (8oz or one firmly packed cup) brown sugar
100g (3 1/2oz) hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
5 eggs, with yolk and whites separated
stuff you need
cake tin, preferably a round one that 20cm (8") across, and with a removable base
big mixing bowl
preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4), and grease the base and sides of the cake tin
Heat the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave. You more or less need to just eyeball this. You want the butter pretty melted, but not so that it's liquid, and you also want the chocolate pretty much the same. Basically, just put it in for 1 or two minute runs, and keep on trying to stir it. You pretty much just want it smooth. Once this is done, set it aside and let it cool slightly.
Now, you want to transfer the chocolate mix to a biggish mixing bowl, then add the sugar and hazelnut meal. Stir until there aren't any lumps. Add the egg yolks one at a time and keep on stirring.
So, if you are using an electric mixer, you want to whip up the egg whites first, and then transfer them to another bowl, so you can use the mixer for all the stuff above. It's not super necessary for the stuff above, but it guarantees that it'll be really smooth.
Ok, so, once you've got your chocolate mix and your egg whites, you want to fold the egg whites into the chocolate mix. This part is also a bit iffy. Folding is not stirring. If you stir the mix, or try to fold it too much or too quickly, you will collapse the egg whites, and they'll go back to being runny again. You want to find a bit spoon, and, bit by bit, add the egg whites to the top of the mix. Use the spoon to bring the stuff from the bottom of the bowl and fold it on top of the rest of the mix. Eventually, you'll mix it through pretty evenly, and the mix will basically be speckled with white bits.
So, pour it into the cake tin and put it in for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Dust it with some icing sugar and you are good to go.
Apart from the few sort of difficult techniques, like folding and separating out the egg yolks and whites, this is probably the easiest and best cake recipes I know. I'll also try to write down the cheesecake recipe I sort of know as well.
The fish is emotionally and physically traumatized, Tef.
After dealing with this type of fish falling apart on me I handled it state with the utmost care.
But yeah, they are steaks. Slabs cut through the spine into two-inch sections. Seems like two fish worth and around ten steaks total. Stuck them in separate bundles because my father can't have too much salt and I find this fish to be pretty bland.
What is the range of temperatures I should know about? Is there a reference somewhere I can look to as a general guide for heats/times?
Cooking isn't the same as legos. These are organic products, not identical. They're going to be different every time. You have to get out of the mindset of "I do x degrees for 45 mins".
I only posted here because I was unsatisfied with how I was doing things, fumbling around in the dark with no other references to how this is done. I've already learned the wonderful lesson of sorta feeling things out over the past month making chili, I just need a different angle to start at.
I've found whisking egg whites is easier if you chill the bowl beforehand
Also apparently hand-whisking is best if you want good firm whites because you incorporate more air than just using an electric whisk
Electric whisks are fiiine, though
Yeah, since the egg whites just have to be pretty good, not amazing, the electric whisk just saves you time and effort with this cake. For something like... actually I dunno, but for something that incorporates them a bit more might be worth it to do it by hand.
Ok, reading up on this it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the fish, but that garlic will sometimes have enough chlorophyll in it when cooked that acids (in this case from vinegar) and/or heat will react and cause it to turn green or blue. I've never noticed this myself, but it's apparently pretty common when pickling garlic.
Happens all the time when I make corned beef. It's weird at first but then you just sorta get used to it.
So for my boyfriend's birthday party I've been given a bit of free rein on the cake portion as long as it doesn't feature chocolate in any way, shape, or form. Also no peanuts, because blah blah one of his friends is allergic to everything good in this world. Anyway I was thinking a lemon cake with a cream cheese frosting, so if anybody has a really awesome lemon cake recipe they'd like to share that is well suited to cupcakes I am all ears. Or, even better, a raspberry and lemon cake; though I may just make a lemon cake and do a raspberry "filling" under the frosting.
Apparently my ravioli turned out quite well, though not quite so flavorful (understandable since I didn't really add any spices - I was afraid of completely ruining any flavor that would have turned out). Still, it was still good and filling, so yay!
Next time totally adding a little bit of salt & pepper, I think.
Fennel seed goes really nice with squash and/or sweet potatoes. A pinch of dry toasted fennel seeds ground up and added to the the filling would work pretty well I think, especially if you were drinking a good dry white with that.
EDIT: but be very moderate with that. If you're not sure, put less in. A little goes a long way with aromatics.
V1m on
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Edit: oh yeah, I should mention first up that this is a flourless chocolate cake
This cake is pretty easy. In fact it's ridiculously easy for how good it tastes. It's even easier if you have one of the kitchen master mixer thingies, but it's still really doable without one. Probably the most time consuming and tedious thing is whisking the egg whites. If you've got a mixer/whisky-thingie, then you're golden. If not, you may want a friend or something to take over halfway.
You cannot half-arse the egg white whisking. The entire mixture has got to be firm as hell. Firmer than shaving cream. There are better guides out there to whisking egg whites, (probably people in this thread can help) but you need to understand that this is really important.
Second of all, actually separating out the egg whites.
The way I've been taught out to do this is you crack your egg, break it so the shell is in two halves, and gently pour the yolk from one half to the other. The egg white should pour out into a bowl that's been placed below. This bit is probably the only difficult part, and if you stuff up, and any more than a speck of yolk gets into the egg white, you pretty much have to start again. I've poured out 4 eggs perfectly and proceeded to stuff up the 5th quite a few times, and in these cases there is no salvaging the egg whites. You pretty much just have to start again. So try not to break the yolk when you break the egg. In fact, doing so pretty much makes this whole thing impossible.
But anyway, now that I've got that out the way, here is the recipe.
200g (7oz) dark chocolate, chopped
125g (4 1/2oz) unsalted butter (probably best to leave this out of the fridge for about half a day or so before you start making the cake. It's easier if the butter is soft)
225g (8oz or one firmly packed cup) brown sugar
100g (3 1/2oz) hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
5 eggs, with yolk and whites separated
stuff you need
cake tin, preferably a round one that 20cm (8") across, and with a removable base
big mixing bowl
preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4), and grease the base and sides of the cake tin
Heat the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave. You more or less need to just eyeball this. You want the butter pretty melted, but not so that it's liquid, and you also want the chocolate pretty much the same. Basically, just put it in for 1 or two minute runs, and keep on trying to stir it. You pretty much just want it smooth. Once this is done, set it aside and let it cool slightly.
Now, you want to transfer the chocolate mix to a biggish mixing bowl, then add the sugar and hazelnut meal. Stir until there aren't any lumps. Add the egg yolks one at a time and keep on stirring.
So, if you are using an electric mixer, you want to whip up the egg whites first, and then transfer them to another bowl, so you can use the mixer for all the stuff above. It's not super necessary for the stuff above, but it guarantees that it'll be really smooth.
Ok, so, once you've got your chocolate mix and your egg whites, you want to fold the egg whites into the chocolate mix. This part is also a bit iffy. Folding is not stirring. If you stir the mix, or try to fold it too much or too quickly, you will collapse the egg whites, and they'll go back to being runny again. You want to find a bit spoon, and, bit by bit, add the egg whites to the top of the mix. Use the spoon to bring the stuff from the bottom of the bowl and fold it on top of the rest of the mix. Eventually, you'll mix it through pretty evenly, and the mix will basically be speckled with white bits.
So, pour it into the cake tin and put it in for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Dust it with some icing sugar and you are good to go.
Apart from the few sort of difficult techniques, like folding and separating out the egg yolks and whites, this is probably the easiest and best cake recipes I know. I'll also try to write down the cheesecake recipe I sort of know as well.
Anyway, enjoy.
Saving this, thanks! We used to serve a flourless chocolate cake at the pub where I worked and it was delicious, so definitely want to give this a go.
For today though my brother has requested a carrot cake. I have a recipe for one which is really tasty but oh my god, even on the scale of cake it feels sooo unhealthy.
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited February 2013
I'm supposed to do dinner tonight and I'm just not in the mood for anything.
Help a girl out here. I need something delicious and also either vegetarian or only involving poultry.
Lost Salient on
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
So for my boyfriend's birthday party I've been given a bit of free rein on the cake portion as long as it doesn't feature chocolate in any way, shape, or form. Also no peanuts, because blah blah one of his friends is allergic to everything good in this world. Anyway I was thinking a lemon cake with a cream cheese frosting, so if anybody has a really awesome lemon cake recipe they'd like to share that is well suited to cupcakes I am all ears. Or, even better, a raspberry and lemon cake; though I may just make a lemon cake and do a raspberry "filling" under the frosting.
How about this cake right here:
If you PM me I can email you the recipe! Otherwise I'd have to screen cap it which I don't think is cool because I work for the company that developed it.
DirtyDirtyVagrant on
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
I made those brown butter chocolate chip cookies today.
@lalabox I also made the meatballs with fava beans and the burnt eggplant with pomegranate from Jerusalem and I can thoroughly recommend them both if you haven't tried those recipes yet.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I made those brown butter chocolate chip cookies today.
@lalabox I also made the meatballs with fava beans and the burnt eggplant with pomegranate from Jerusalem and I can thoroughly recommend them both if you haven't tried those recipes yet.
wait
the nutella stuffed ones?
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Yeah! Only I never use nutella because I dislike it
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Maaan I hate when I gotta get in the murder hole
Thanks for taking one for Team Nutella No, Mori
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
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LuvTheMonkeyHigh Sierra SerenadeRegistered Userregular
Nutella isn't BAD per se, but I think it makes those cookies too busy on the whole. Oddly enough the main thing everyone commented on for the batch a friend made was the sea salt adding a new and fantastic dimension to the taste.
So for my boyfriend's birthday party I've been given a bit of free rein on the cake portion as long as it doesn't feature chocolate in any way, shape, or form. Also no peanuts, because blah blah one of his friends is allergic to everything good in this world. Anyway I was thinking a lemon cake with a cream cheese frosting, so if anybody has a really awesome lemon cake recipe they'd like to share that is well suited to cupcakes I am all ears. Or, even better, a raspberry and lemon cake; though I may just make a lemon cake and do a raspberry "filling" under the frosting.
How about this cake right here:
If you PM me I can email you the recipe! Otherwise I'd have to screen cap it which I don't think is cool because I work for the company that developed it.
The best part about Nutella is when there's not enough left in the jar for any practical use, so you have to eat it with a spoon so you don't waste any.
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
goddamit mother in law.
when i tell you, repeatedly, 'i am on a fairly strict eating plan, so i'm going to be buying food for me to eat in order to stick to my diet and lose some weight', this does not mean you can stand there and go 'oh but you already doing so well with losing weight, you look great!' and then IGNORE EVERYTHING I SAID and use all the veggies that I have bought to last me a week of meals in order to make a weekend's worth of dinners for you and your husband and the random teenaged girl that's now living here.
When i tell you, repeatedly, 'i am on a strict eating plan, and i can't have rice or noodles at night in order to stick to it' this is not the time for you to go 'oh but you are so looking good with your weight loss and you go to the gym so much!' and then IGNORE EVERYTHING I SAID and offer me every array of rice and/or noodles that you can think of for dinner in order to feed me. Because I look so hungry. Because you ate the salad stuff that I was intending on having for dinner goddammmit.
On the other hand, I am now going to have some yogurt and light muesli because at least THAT she won't eat. Goddddammmmit!
For this, the secret is to have a pretty deep 20cm cake tin. If you've got a good one, then this recipe works wonders.
200g (7oz) oatmeal biscuits
125g (4 1/2oz) butter
250g (9oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
250g (9oz) ricotta (preferably good ricotta)
150g (about 3/4 cup) caster sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
juice and zest from 1 large lemon
a pinch of ground ginger or cinnamon. Ginger works best
So, preheat the oven to 230°C (440°F), preferably not on fan forced
Place the biscuits in a food processor and turn them into pretty fine crumbs
in a pan, melt the butter, and then mix in the crumbs and the ground ginger. Stir until it's pretty even. It won't be amazingly smooth, but still needs to be pretty consistent.
Then, in the cake tin, press the biscuit mix into the base and sides to create an even layer. It's best to do the sides first and then finish off with the base. You want the biscuits to go completely up the side. You can't have the cheese mix overflow the biscuits. Also, it's best to use a straight-sided cup or glass to press it against the sides. You want it to be pretty dense, but only a few millimetres thick. If you run out of mix, you are probably making it too thick, but it's best to just make some more biscuit stuff and then add it than it is to redistribute.
Leave the tin to the side to cool down.
IN a big bowl or mixer, mash the cream cheese until soft and smooth, and then add the ricotta, sugar and sour cream. I'll be honest, I mostly just use the mixer with this on a low spin, but using a whisk would also work at this point.
Then, add the eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. The recipe says to 'beat' this stuff in, which I mostly interpret as using a whisk and whisking pretty hard.
Ok, so, nearly done.
Just chuck this mixture into the tin, making sure it doesn't overflow the crust
Bake it for 10 minutes, and then reduce the heat to about 110°C (230°F) for one hour. Then turn it off and allow to cool in the oven for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely before removing the tin.
If your oven is shitty at low temperatures, then bake the cake for 30 to 50 minutes at 180°C (350°F) instead.
Also cheesecake ain't great when hot, so either make this early in the day, or the day before you want to eat it.
So, this is apparently, according to my mum, the best sweet pastry recipe ever. It's amazingly tasty and really works very well when you are actually baking stuff. Also it is quick as balls if you have a mixer. To make it, you need:
330g (11oz) plain flour
100g (3 1/2oz) icing sugar
grated zest of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon of salut
180g (6 1/2oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cold water
Put the icing sugar, lemon zest and salt in a bowl and add the butter. Rub it in with your hands, until you get a coarse breadcrumb consistency, making sure there aren't any large lumps of butter. If you have a mixer, then just use the whisk attachment for this bit. And do it sort of on a highish speed, but not the highest.
Add the egg yolk and water and mix with either an electric beater attachment or some other sort of manual beater instrument until the dough comes together, being careful not to mix any longer than necessary. I don't actually know what such a beating instrument would be, but maybe you could use a spoon or something? You might need to add a tiny amount of extra water.
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and kneed very lightly for a few seconds, just to shape it into a smooth disc, 5-6cm thick. Wrap it in cling film and then chill it for a bit. Not long, maybe not even an hour or anything, just a bit. Alternatively, the pastry will keep for about a week in the fridge.
For the rest of the recipe, you want a 25cm tart tin. Doesn't have to be one of the removable metal ones, we've got a ceramic one and it works great. But has to be oven proof.
Lightly brush the tin with a tiny amount of vegetable oil, then set it aside.
Then, using a large, clean chopping board or some other surface, and a rolling pin roll the pastry into a rough disc, 2-3mm thick. Put some flour down on the surface and the rolling pin first so that it doesn't stick. Work quickly, and turn the pastry over as you go.
Once you have reached the right thickness, cut the pastry into a circle large enough to cover the tin and the sides. Carefully line the tin, using any excess pastry to patch up any holes. When the pastry is in place, use a sharp little knife to trim it so you have a neat edge. Place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas mark 3. Cut out a circle of baking parchment large enough to cover the base and sides of the tart tin. Place it inside the case and fill up with dry beans or rice or lentils (my mum's used the same lot of lentils for about 20 years now), so that the sides of the pastry are totally supported by the beans and won't collapse during baking. Bake the case for 25-30 minutes or until it is very light brown. Remove from the oven and take out the beans/rice/lentils.
Ok, so that was the tart base. Isn't actually as much work as it seems. You also need to make the lemon curd that's gonna go in the tart. You want to make this before hand, since it needs to chill for 6 hours, but this is also pretty straightforward, so whatever. Just make both of them at some time, and when both are ready, then cool, you can make the rest of the tart.
200ml of lemon juice (4-6 lemons)
grated zest of 4 lemons
200g of caster sugar
4 eggs
4 additional egg yolks (you can make some meringues or something with all the left over whites)
180g of unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Put all the ingredients in a large, heavy-based saucepan, oleaving out roughly half the butter. Place over a medium heat and, using a hand whisk, whisk constantly while you cook. Reduce the heat if it starts sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Once the lemon mix reaches boiling point, you will notice large bubbles coming to the surface. Continue whisking vigorously for another minute and then remove form the heat
Off the heat, add the remaining butter and whisk until it has melted. Pass the mix through a reasonably fine sieve and into a plastic container. Cover the surfacewith cling film, allow it to come to room temperature and then chill for at least 6 hours. It should firm up pretty well.
Once it's chilled, gently and evenly pour it into the cooked pastry base, and smooth it out with a butter knife or something. Make sure the base isn't hot or anything.
Then, bung the whole tart back in the fridge and chill it for a few more hours. Overnight is great.
So, there you go. It's not something that you can make at extremely short notice, but when it comes to the amount of time you actually have to be involved in the preparation and cooking of it, it's actually pretty quick. It seems daunting, and I'm probably not amazing at explaining it, but it's pretty great.
It tastes amazing. Also, if you want it to look fancy, you could chuck a few blueberries on it or something. Maybe write on it with some melted chocolate, like all the french patisseries do.
Anyway, enjoy. Also, baking stuff is ridiculously fun, so I really recommend that you try it.
Also, I'm not entirely sure about the quantities here. I'm reasonably sure that the amounts given in the book were enough to make two tarts. If so, then just make two tarts. They are really fucking good and keep for about 4 or so days.
I made those brown butter chocolate chip cookies today.
@lalabox I also made the meatballs with fava beans and the burnt eggplant with pomegranate from Jerusalem and I can thoroughly recommend them both if you haven't tried those recipes yet.
They've got a recipe for quinces stuffed with lamb meatballs that I am dying to try, but I have to wait until it's autumn.
Posts
cake time
Edit: oh yeah, I should mention first up that this is a flourless chocolate cake
This cake is pretty easy. In fact it's ridiculously easy for how good it tastes. It's even easier if you have one of the kitchen master mixer thingies, but it's still really doable without one. Probably the most time consuming and tedious thing is whisking the egg whites. If you've got a mixer/whisky-thingie, then you're golden. If not, you may want a friend or something to take over halfway.
You cannot half-arse the egg white whisking. The entire mixture has got to be firm as hell. Firmer than shaving cream. There are better guides out there to whisking egg whites, (probably people in this thread can help) but you need to understand that this is really important.
Second of all, actually separating out the egg whites.
The way I've been taught out to do this is you crack your egg, break it so the shell is in two halves, and gently pour the yolk from one half to the other. The egg white should pour out into a bowl that's been placed below. This bit is probably the only difficult part, and if you stuff up, and any more than a speck of yolk gets into the egg white, you pretty much have to start again. I've poured out 4 eggs perfectly and proceeded to stuff up the 5th quite a few times, and in these cases there is no salvaging the egg whites. You pretty much just have to start again. So try not to break the yolk when you break the egg. In fact, doing so pretty much makes this whole thing impossible.
But anyway, now that I've got that out the way, here is the recipe.
200g (7oz) dark chocolate, chopped
125g (4 1/2oz) unsalted butter (probably best to leave this out of the fridge for about half a day or so before you start making the cake. It's easier if the butter is soft)
225g (8oz or one firmly packed cup) brown sugar
100g (3 1/2oz) hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
5 eggs, with yolk and whites separated
stuff you need
cake tin, preferably a round one that 20cm (8") across, and with a removable base
big mixing bowl
preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4), and grease the base and sides of the cake tin
Heat the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave. You more or less need to just eyeball this. You want the butter pretty melted, but not so that it's liquid, and you also want the chocolate pretty much the same. Basically, just put it in for 1 or two minute runs, and keep on trying to stir it. You pretty much just want it smooth. Once this is done, set it aside and let it cool slightly.
Now, you want to transfer the chocolate mix to a biggish mixing bowl, then add the sugar and hazelnut meal. Stir until there aren't any lumps. Add the egg yolks one at a time and keep on stirring.
So, if you are using an electric mixer, you want to whip up the egg whites first, and then transfer them to another bowl, so you can use the mixer for all the stuff above. It's not super necessary for the stuff above, but it guarantees that it'll be really smooth.
Ok, so, once you've got your chocolate mix and your egg whites, you want to fold the egg whites into the chocolate mix. This part is also a bit iffy. Folding is not stirring. If you stir the mix, or try to fold it too much or too quickly, you will collapse the egg whites, and they'll go back to being runny again. You want to find a bit spoon, and, bit by bit, add the egg whites to the top of the mix. Use the spoon to bring the stuff from the bottom of the bowl and fold it on top of the rest of the mix. Eventually, you'll mix it through pretty evenly, and the mix will basically be speckled with white bits.
So, pour it into the cake tin and put it in for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Dust it with some icing sugar and you are good to go.
Apart from the few sort of difficult techniques, like folding and separating out the egg yolks and whites, this is probably the easiest and best cake recipes I know. I'll also try to write down the cheesecake recipe I sort of know as well.
Anyway, enjoy.
Steam // Secret Satan
Also apparently hand-whisking is best if you want good firm whites because you incorporate more air than just using an electric whisk
Electric whisks are fiiine, though
Cooking isn't the same as legos. These are organic products, not identical. They're going to be different every time. You have to get out of the mindset of "I do x degrees for 45 mins".
You cook it until it is done.
Yeah, since the egg whites just have to be pretty good, not amazing, the electric whisk just saves you time and effort with this cake. For something like... actually I dunno, but for something that incorporates them a bit more might be worth it to do it by hand.
Steam // Secret Satan
But yeah. It is better to do it by hand. And unless I really need the mixer for other parts of a recipe, I won't use it.
Steam // Secret Satan
Happens all the time when I make corned beef. It's weird at first but then you just sorta get used to it.
Fennel seed goes really nice with squash and/or sweet potatoes. A pinch of dry toasted fennel seeds ground up and added to the the filling would work pretty well I think, especially if you were drinking a good dry white with that.
EDIT: but be very moderate with that. If you're not sure, put less in. A little goes a long way with aromatics.
Saving this, thanks! We used to serve a flourless chocolate cake at the pub where I worked and it was delicious, so definitely want to give this a go.
For today though my brother has requested a carrot cake. I have a recipe for one which is really tasty but oh my god, even on the scale of cake it feels sooo unhealthy.
Help a girl out here. I need something delicious and also either vegetarian or only involving poultry.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
How about this cake right here:
If you PM me I can email you the recipe! Otherwise I'd have to screen cap it which I don't think is cool because I work for the company that developed it.
i love lemons!!
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
it's not working very well. but I've got a good imagination!
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
@lalabox I also made the meatballs with fava beans and the burnt eggplant with pomegranate from Jerusalem and I can thoroughly recommend them both if you haven't tried those recipes yet.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
wait
the nutella stuffed ones?
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
You can use my corpse to escape the murder hole
Thanks for taking one for Team Nutella No, Mori
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
can i get that recipe, @DirtyDirtyVagrant ?
It looks so good! :bz
With my last breath I curse Druuuuhiiiiim
You ever see what happens when you really whisk egg yolks? Shit gets even weirder.
Well it was weird to me because I'd seen egg whites countless times.
Steam // Secret Satan
when i tell you, repeatedly, 'i am on a fairly strict eating plan, so i'm going to be buying food for me to eat in order to stick to my diet and lose some weight', this does not mean you can stand there and go 'oh but you already doing so well with losing weight, you look great!' and then IGNORE EVERYTHING I SAID and use all the veggies that I have bought to last me a week of meals in order to make a weekend's worth of dinners for you and your husband and the random teenaged girl that's now living here.
When i tell you, repeatedly, 'i am on a strict eating plan, and i can't have rice or noodles at night in order to stick to it' this is not the time for you to go 'oh but you are so looking good with your weight loss and you go to the gym so much!' and then IGNORE EVERYTHING I SAID and offer me every array of rice and/or noodles that you can think of for dinner in order to feed me. Because I look so hungry. Because you ate the salad stuff that I was intending on having for dinner goddammmit.
On the other hand, I am now going to have some yogurt and light muesli because at least THAT she won't eat. Goddddammmmit!
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cheesecake
For this, the secret is to have a pretty deep 20cm cake tin. If you've got a good one, then this recipe works wonders.
200g (7oz) oatmeal biscuits
125g (4 1/2oz) butter
250g (9oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
250g (9oz) ricotta (preferably good ricotta)
150g (about 3/4 cup) caster sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
juice and zest from 1 large lemon
a pinch of ground ginger or cinnamon. Ginger works best
So, preheat the oven to 230°C (440°F), preferably not on fan forced
Place the biscuits in a food processor and turn them into pretty fine crumbs
in a pan, melt the butter, and then mix in the crumbs and the ground ginger. Stir until it's pretty even. It won't be amazingly smooth, but still needs to be pretty consistent.
Then, in the cake tin, press the biscuit mix into the base and sides to create an even layer. It's best to do the sides first and then finish off with the base. You want the biscuits to go completely up the side. You can't have the cheese mix overflow the biscuits. Also, it's best to use a straight-sided cup or glass to press it against the sides. You want it to be pretty dense, but only a few millimetres thick. If you run out of mix, you are probably making it too thick, but it's best to just make some more biscuit stuff and then add it than it is to redistribute.
Leave the tin to the side to cool down.
IN a big bowl or mixer, mash the cream cheese until soft and smooth, and then add the ricotta, sugar and sour cream. I'll be honest, I mostly just use the mixer with this on a low spin, but using a whisk would also work at this point.
Then, add the eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. The recipe says to 'beat' this stuff in, which I mostly interpret as using a whisk and whisking pretty hard.
Ok, so, nearly done.
Just chuck this mixture into the tin, making sure it doesn't overflow the crust
Bake it for 10 minutes, and then reduce the heat to about 110°C (230°F) for one hour. Then turn it off and allow to cool in the oven for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely before removing the tin.
If your oven is shitty at low temperatures, then bake the cake for 30 to 50 minutes at 180°C (350°F) instead.
Also cheesecake ain't great when hot, so either make this early in the day, or the day before you want to eat it.
Steam // Secret Satan
lemon tart
So, this is apparently, according to my mum, the best sweet pastry recipe ever. It's amazingly tasty and really works very well when you are actually baking stuff. Also it is quick as balls if you have a mixer. To make it, you need:
330g (11oz) plain flour
100g (3 1/2oz) icing sugar
grated zest of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon of salut
180g (6 1/2oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cold water
Put the icing sugar, lemon zest and salt in a bowl and add the butter. Rub it in with your hands, until you get a coarse breadcrumb consistency, making sure there aren't any large lumps of butter. If you have a mixer, then just use the whisk attachment for this bit. And do it sort of on a highish speed, but not the highest.
Add the egg yolk and water and mix with either an electric beater attachment or some other sort of manual beater instrument until the dough comes together, being careful not to mix any longer than necessary. I don't actually know what such a beating instrument would be, but maybe you could use a spoon or something? You might need to add a tiny amount of extra water.
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and kneed very lightly for a few seconds, just to shape it into a smooth disc, 5-6cm thick. Wrap it in cling film and then chill it for a bit. Not long, maybe not even an hour or anything, just a bit. Alternatively, the pastry will keep for about a week in the fridge.
For the rest of the recipe, you want a 25cm tart tin. Doesn't have to be one of the removable metal ones, we've got a ceramic one and it works great. But has to be oven proof.
Lightly brush the tin with a tiny amount of vegetable oil, then set it aside.
Then, using a large, clean chopping board or some other surface, and a rolling pin roll the pastry into a rough disc, 2-3mm thick. Put some flour down on the surface and the rolling pin first so that it doesn't stick. Work quickly, and turn the pastry over as you go.
Once you have reached the right thickness, cut the pastry into a circle large enough to cover the tin and the sides. Carefully line the tin, using any excess pastry to patch up any holes. When the pastry is in place, use a sharp little knife to trim it so you have a neat edge. Place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas mark 3. Cut out a circle of baking parchment large enough to cover the base and sides of the tart tin. Place it inside the case and fill up with dry beans or rice or lentils (my mum's used the same lot of lentils for about 20 years now), so that the sides of the pastry are totally supported by the beans and won't collapse during baking. Bake the case for 25-30 minutes or until it is very light brown. Remove from the oven and take out the beans/rice/lentils.
Ok, so that was the tart base. Isn't actually as much work as it seems. You also need to make the lemon curd that's gonna go in the tart. You want to make this before hand, since it needs to chill for 6 hours, but this is also pretty straightforward, so whatever. Just make both of them at some time, and when both are ready, then cool, you can make the rest of the tart.
200ml of lemon juice (4-6 lemons)
grated zest of 4 lemons
200g of caster sugar
4 eggs
4 additional egg yolks (you can make some meringues or something with all the left over whites)
180g of unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Put all the ingredients in a large, heavy-based saucepan, oleaving out roughly half the butter. Place over a medium heat and, using a hand whisk, whisk constantly while you cook. Reduce the heat if it starts sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Once the lemon mix reaches boiling point, you will notice large bubbles coming to the surface. Continue whisking vigorously for another minute and then remove form the heat
Off the heat, add the remaining butter and whisk until it has melted. Pass the mix through a reasonably fine sieve and into a plastic container. Cover the surfacewith cling film, allow it to come to room temperature and then chill for at least 6 hours. It should firm up pretty well.
Once it's chilled, gently and evenly pour it into the cooked pastry base, and smooth it out with a butter knife or something. Make sure the base isn't hot or anything.
Then, bung the whole tart back in the fridge and chill it for a few more hours. Overnight is great.
So, there you go. It's not something that you can make at extremely short notice, but when it comes to the amount of time you actually have to be involved in the preparation and cooking of it, it's actually pretty quick. It seems daunting, and I'm probably not amazing at explaining it, but it's pretty great.
It tastes amazing. Also, if you want it to look fancy, you could chuck a few blueberries on it or something. Maybe write on it with some melted chocolate, like all the french patisseries do.
Anyway, enjoy. Also, baking stuff is ridiculously fun, so I really recommend that you try it.
Also, I'm not entirely sure about the quantities here. I'm reasonably sure that the amounts given in the book were enough to make two tarts. If so, then just make two tarts. They are really fucking good and keep for about 4 or so days.
Steam // Secret Satan
They've got a recipe for quinces stuffed with lamb meatballs that I am dying to try, but I have to wait until it's autumn.
Steam // Secret Satan
IT IS HEARTBREAKING
Steam // Secret Satan