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Mama Chan always makes brandy snaps for Xmas. But this year after our Xmas dinner we just had pavlova and fruit salad, which was absolutely fine as we all had food comas anyway. Then as we were cleaning up she said, "Oh, I forgot the brandy snaps!", and spent the next ten minutes trying to remember where she put them. No cupboard was left closed or cake tin unopened in the quest to find the elusive snaps. They were under a table in a see-through container with brazil nuts (so she thought it w...
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From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

(sorry about the imperial measures, but you can figure them out!)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 oz dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
8 oz unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. ...
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I made these GF cookies for our Bake Club meet. The recipe is from my friend Sarah, via Ray McVinnie in the NZ Herald, thank you, and I used a technique from another recipe re heating up the egg whites. I bought bulk ground almonds from Davis Trading in Mt Wellington - very reasonable price for 1kg. I forgot to dust icing sugar on top. I think that's why they became sticky by the end of the day. But still tasted great.

1 c ground almonds (or hazelnuts. You can also finely chop instead of using...
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We were very lucky to have pro chef and food writer Alessandra and her family join us at our second Bake Club meet. She made gorgeous calissons (marzipan-like ground almond bites), petit fours (sponge dipped in chocolate, topped with raspberries) and a super soft spongey frittata with homegrown zucchini and zucchini flowers. Step-by-step pics and more info on her blog here. Yep, she definitely deserved her Bake Club badge!
Bake Club is going through a gluten free phase at the moment so we real...
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I have adapted this from a recipe given to me by a student in my department, it was her grandmother's, originally (the student was considerably older than me), and makes a damn fine banana cake, I think perhaps the best I have tasted. I don't like bananas, but in cake like this, that's a different story. easy, fool-proof one could say. works well in a round or a ring tin, but then bake for slightly less time. I would just say if using chocolate it probably pays to line the base of the ...
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At the 2nd Bake Club meet I made a quiche in a fancy cake tin.

4 Free Range Eggs
1C Milk
1C Rice Flour
1t Baking Powder
1C Grated Cheese
Salt & Pepper
Any vegetables you like cut into small pieces. I used mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes and purple basil

Mix together eggs, milk, salt and pepper, then add flour and baking powder until just combined. Add in vegies and cheese. Pour into 20/23cm greased tin and bake at 220 C for 20-25 mins. Leave 5-10 mins before turning out.

Recipe f...

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Ginny says: I would recommend NOT doubling the cornmeal, which I did not paying attention to quantities. Made it crunchier than I would have liked.

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Aaaah…freelancing. In my world, it means more time to bake! I hadn’t made bread with gluten for a while so I thought I’d use up some spelt that I have at the back of the pantry. And if you’re going to make one batch you might as well double it and do two – one sweet and one savoury.

2 c warm water
4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp butter or vegetable spread
2 tsp salt
6 c flour (I used 2 plain white and 4 wholemeal spelt)

savoury filling:
2 Tbs butter,...

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Makes 4

100g pitted dates, finely chopped
¼ boiling water
50g butter, chopped
½ c brown sugar
1 egg
¾ c plain flour
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground ginger
2 Tbs milk
icing sugar to serve

Toffee sauce:
100g butter
½ c cream
½ c brown sugar

Preheat oven 180 C. Place dates and water in a bowl and set aside for 5 mins. Put butter and sugar in bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add egg and beat well. Sift flour and baking powder of the mixture. Add ginger, milk an...

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Now that I’ve set a precedent by adding the deep fried frittelle di pere to Bake Club, here’s another fried snack featuring a new favourite flour at the moment, chickpea flour (aka garbanzo, gram, besan) or pea flour. This recipe is from Annabel Langbein.

Prep time:  5 mins + standing
Cook time:  3-5 mins per batchjk
Serves: Makes approx 30

 

2 cups chickpea or pea flour
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coriander seeds or mustard seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds, roughly ground o...

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I adapted this recipe from Miyuki McGuffie, the vegan baker on the Good blog. I made mine extra indulgent by using espresso coffee.

1 cup strong espresso
1 ¼ cup rice flour
1/4 cup muscovado sugar
½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup cocoa powder (I used fair trade cocoa but Valrhona from Sabato is excellent)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (you can get them at New World and Pak 'N Save but I used...

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This is an easy-peasy custard Mama Chan usually makes when she has yolks left over from making a pavlova or meringues.

¾ c milk
1 ½ c cream
½ c sugar
4 eggs yolks

Mix all ingredients together and pour into baking dish. Bake at 150 C for about 30 mins until set. The strawberries worked well as a decoration for colour and a complementary taste to the custard.

Mama Chan uses this recipe to make Chinese-style custard tarts (you can just use all milk if you don’t have cre...

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I was inspired by Birg (see previous post) and Alessandra (from her own blog) to make a gluten-free olive focaccia. This was the first time I had used GF flour to make bread – my favourite recipe is usually spelt bread. I decided to use Healtheries GF bread mix and the result looks good but is quite firm throughout. After I baked it I realised the yeast I used was best before 2008! We’ve been enjoying it as toasted slices with pesto.

450 ml warm water
3 tsp yeast
3...

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When Ginny said she used about 8 bowls to make this cake, we were so impressed. Ginny lets the story unfold...
I wanted to make a rich and moist chocolate cake for David's birthday. I leafed through a heap of recipes, but Nigel Slater's chocolate beetroot cake in Tender (Vol 1) jumped out at me and sounded pretty good. It was. Delicious. Rich. Moist. Sticky. Everything I wanted in the cake, and more.
It was also a lot of work! The most involved cake I have made...Three and a half hours i...
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OK, these aren’t officially baked goods, they are fried, but definitely worth the effort. I made them for a little dinner party. They looked posh and went down a treat.

2 ½ cups flour (I used gluten free)
¼ c caster sugar
pinch salt
2 eggs, separated
1 Tbs olive oil
about ¾ c ice water
4 firm yet ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into ½ inch thick wedges
½ c vin santo (I used port)
canola oil for frying
icing sugar for dusting

In large bowl whisk together 1 ¾ c of the f...

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This olive oil cake from Frankies Spuntino in Brooklyn was one of the nicest things I ate in NYC...oily with a hint of orange.
I didn't have a bundt tin, so it was a bit oily in the middle, but still delicious (took longer to cook and so the edges were crusty). A lot of olive oil, but it's worth getting one that tastes nice... :

5 large eggs, at room temperature
finely grated zest of 1 1/2 oranges
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups extra-virgin olive oil (you could get away with less)
2 cups cake flo...
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