Apple Crumble Cheesecake Slice

250g plain or gingernut biscuits

125g butter, melted

500g philly cheese, softened

2/3 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, lightly beaten

¾ cup cream

1 teaspoon mixed spice

5 (500g) apples, 3 peeled and finely chopped, 2 sliced

1 cup rolled oats

¼ cup plain flour

¼ cup brown sugar

50g butter, chilled, chopped

Line base of 30 x 20cm pan with baking paper. This makes the cheesecake easy to remove.

Process biscuits until coarse crumbs, add melted butter, and process again until finer. Press into the base of lined pan.

Beat the Philly, caster sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until just smooth.

Beat in the eggs then stir through the cream and mixed spice.

Fold through the chopped apple then pour onto the prepared base. Arrange sliced apple over the top.

Place oats, flour, and sugar in a bowl. Rub in butter until combined. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 180 for 30 to 40 minutes or until just set (cheesecake will wobble a little

in centre). Turn off oven. Cool cheesecake in oven for 3 hours with door ajar. Refrigerate thoroughly.
Cut into squares and sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.

Beetroot Red Velvet Cupcakes - sugar, dairy, gluten and grain free

Beetroot Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 large beetroot, washed and grated raw.
3 eggs.
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt.
1 1/2 cup almond meal.
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons coconut oil.
1/4 cup stevia
1 teaspoon baking powder.

Syrup
2 teaspoons cocoa
1 teaspoon stevia
1/3 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 170 C and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases.

2. Blend all ingredients (in a blender or with a stick blender) until it’s a smooth batter, then divide between the 12 cases.

3. Cook for 40 minutes.

4. Combine syrup ingredients and mix with stab blender. Heat 1 minute in microwave.

5. Pour syrup over cupcakes after they come out of the oven.

Servings: 12

Preperation: 15 mins

Cooking: 40 mins

Chocolate Hazelnut Friands

• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup (125g) ground hazelnuts, toasted
• 150g melted butter, cooled
• 50g plain flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 1½ cups (240g) icing sugar, sifted
• Choc chips to taste

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C fan-forced. Lightly grease 12 friand molds.
2. Lightly beat egg whites. Stir in ground hazelnuts and melted butter. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar into the mixture. Stir through choc chips if using.
3. Divide mixture among prepared pans (approx ¼ cup mixture into each one). 
4. Bake in preheated oven 25 minutes until cooked through (when a skewer is inserted into centre, it should come out clean).

Banana Bread from Cook's Illustrated, metric version

Ingredients
250g (1¾ cups or 8¾ ounces) plain (prefeably cake) flour
1 teaspoon bi carb soda
½ teaspoon salt
5 large very, very ripe bananas (about 2¼ pounds), peeled
125g butter
2 large eggs
150g (¾ cup packed, 5¼ ounces) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
Method
Microwave 5 bananas, then pour into a strainer over a saucepan, and drain 15 mins.
Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Prepare a loaf pan about 20x10cm (8½ by 4½-inch) loaf pan by rubbing with butter and sprinkling with flour.
Simmer banana water until reduced to about ¼ cup, about 5 minutes.
Add butter and allow to melt.
Add eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.
Mash bananas and add to mixture in saucepan.
Slice remaining banana into narrow slices.
Combine flour, salt and bi carb soda.
Pour banana mixture into flour mixture, and gently stir to until just combined with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in the walnuts, if using.
Pour mixture into prepared pan.
Bake 55 to 75 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean.
Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the loaf from the pan and continue to cool on a wire rack.
Slice thickly, toast in a fry pan, and serve with a pat of butter.

Japanese Cheesecake

500 g  (16oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

60 g (6 Tbsp.) caster sugar

60 g (4 Tbsp) butter, at room temperature

6 large egg yolks, at room temperature

200 ml cream, at room temperature

10 ml (2 tsp.) lemon juice

80 g (2/3 cup) plain flour

For Meringue

6 egg whites, refrigerated

100g (10 Tbsp.) caster sugar

If the ingredients aren’t at room temperature,
place them in the microwave on defrost for a short while.

Preheat oven to 160C (320F) degrees.

Line the base and sides of a 23 cm (9”) cake tin.    

Beat the egg whites on medium low speed (speed 4) till opaque and foamy and bubbly. Then add ⅓ of the sugar at a time as the mixer runs, continuing to beat for 10 seconds after each addition. Once all of the sugar has been added, increase the mixer speed to high (speed 10) and beat for approximately 4 minutes, until the meringue has doubled in volume and is thick and glossy. Transfer the meringue to a bowl. No need to wipe out the mixing bowl

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and sugar on medium high speed until smooth.

Add the egg yolk, lemon juice and cream and mix until very smooth.

Add the flour all at once and mix well.

Add ⅓ of the meringue to the batter and mix this well.

Then add the rest of the meringue all at once and fold it in (not mix this time). It's ok if small white pieces from the meringue remain.

Pour the batter in the cake pan and then drop the pan from 2-3” (5-7 cm) high to the benchtop to remove any air bubbles.

Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan and pour in 1” (2.5 cm) of cold water.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake at 320F (160C) for 60 minutes or until light golden brown. Then reduce temperature to 300F (150C) and bake for another 30 minutes.

When a wooden skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean without wet batter, turn the oven off. Let the cake sit in the oven with the door slightly ajar for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before refrigerating for a few hours.

Chewy and Gooey Pistachio Friands

120g pistachios

200g icing sugar

200g butter, melted

5 egg whites

80g flour

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Prepare 6 friand or cup cake tins by either greasing and flouring, or lining with patty cake liners.

Grind the pistachios in a food processor until very very fine. This will take 3-5 minutes.

Add icing sugar and continue to grind even more finely.

Add melted butter and process  to incorporate.

Whisk egg whites until they’re foamy.

Add the pistachio mixture.

Gently fold in flour. Be careful not to over mix the flour.

Pour into prepared moulds and bake for 30 mins.

These keep for a long time, but are at their best fresh out of the oven when the outside of the cakes is chewy. The inside will be more moist than normal friands. .

Lemon cake

This cake has an intense lemon flavour and a crispy crust from the sugar put on top after baking. It is my favourite cake of all time, and that's saying something!

3/4 cup (180ml) vegetable oil  

2 eggs  

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind  

2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup (280g) thick natural yoghurt  

1 3/4 cups (385g) caster sugar  

2 cups (300g) self raising flour   

Crunchy Lemon Topping 

3/4 cup (120g) granulated (not caster) sugar  

1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice    

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  

Place oil, eggs, rind, lemon juice, yoghurt and sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine.  

Sift over flour and stir until smooth.  

Pour the mixture into a greased 24cm ring or loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  

To make the lemon frosting, gently stir together the sugar and lemon juice. Spoon over the cake while it is still in the pan and allow to set. 

 Serves 10-12  

Pistachio Rose Cake Recipe

Created by Steve Parle and Emma Grazette
12 filo pastry sheets, cut into 30 cm (12 inch) discs

75 g (2½ oz) butter, melted
300 g (11oz) pistachios, roughly chopped
4½ tbsp honey
4½ tbsp rosewater
500 ml (2 cups/18 fl oz) cream
dried or fresh rose petals, (optional) 

Preheat the oven to 160˚C (325˚F/Gas 3). Line two baking trays with baking paper, then butter the baking paper.

On the baking tray, divide the filo discs into three piles, painting a little butter in between the layers of each pile. Mix the nuts with the cumin seeds, honey and 3 tablespoons of the rosewater, then spread one-third of the mixture over each pile. You will have three stacks of filo and pistachio mix. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the pasty is golden.

When cool, beat the cream with the remaining rosewater until you have soft, undulating waves. Spread the cream over two of the pastry stacks, then layer the stacks on top of each other, finishing with the stack without cream. Scatter with the rose petals and serve. 

Pound Cake Adapted from Cook's Illustrated - Metric

I love Cook's Illustrated but can't understand why they don't publish metric measurements alongside imperial. Also, I prefer to weigh ingredients because it's so much easier.

Ingredients

500g butter

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

200g self raising flour (CI use plain flour)

½ teaspoon table salt

250g sugar (1¼ cups)

Method

 1.      Cut butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and place in bowl of standing mixer; let stand at room temperature 20 to 30 minutes to soften slightly (butter should reach no more than 15 degrees celcius).

2.      Using a fork, beat eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla in liquid measuring cup until combined. Let egg mixture stand at room temperature until ready to use.

3.      Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 160 degrees celcius.

4.      Generously butter 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust pan liberally with flour and knock out excess.

5.      In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter and salt at medium-high speed until shiny, smooth, and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. 

6.      Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, gradually pour in sugar (this should take about 60 seconds).

7.      Once all sugar is added, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white in color, 5 to 8 minutes, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once.

8.      With mixer running at medium speed, gradually add egg mixture in slow, steady stream; this should take 60 to 90 seconds.

9.      Scrape bottom and sides of bowl; beat mixture at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes (mixture may look slightly broken). Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides.

10.   In 3 additions, sift flour over butter/egg mixture; after each addition, fold gently with rubber spatula until combined. Scrape along bottom of bowl to ensure that batter is homogenous.

11.   Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and smooth surface with rubber spatula.

12.   Bake until golden brown and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 70 to 80 minutes.

13.   Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes; invert cake onto wire rack, then turn cake right side up.

14.   Cool cake on rack to room temperature, about 2 hours. Slice and serve.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Thanks Naomi for this recipe. So delicious.

Butter Cake & Crumb Topping

2 cups all purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

125g butter, cold and cut into chunks

½ tsp bicarb soda

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup sour cream (full fat)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling

250g cream cheese, room temperature

¼ cup sugar

1 large egg

Strawberry Filling

1 ½ cup fresh strawberries, cut into pieces

3 tbsp sugar

3 tsp water

1.5 tsp cornflour

Preheat the oven to 175C. Line an 20cm round pan with removable bottom with non-stick baking paper.

Prepare the strawberry jam.

Combine the cornstarch and water to make a slurry in a bowl. Mix the strawberries and sugar in a pan. Cook over low heat until the strawberries release their juices about 5 minutes, then add the cornstarch mix and stir until well combined. Stir for another minute or two until it has thickened. Remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the cake.

Prepare the cream cheese filling.

Beat the cream cheese on medium speed for about 30 seconds until smooth. Add in the sugar and egg and beat until well combined.  Set aside.

Prepare the cake.

Combine the flour and sugar together in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter or just 2 forks, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Measure ¾ cup of the mixture and set aside. Add the baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well.

In another bowl, beat the sour cream, egg and vanilla extract until well blended. Using a hand whisk or a spoon, stir gently into the flour mixture until just incorporated. Batter may be a bit lumpy. Set aside.

Spread the batter in the pan, with about ½ inch up the sides, also leaving a ½ inch border around the edges bare (like making a well). Pour the cream cheese mixture over the batter, being careful not to go beyond the border. Spread the strawberry jam on top of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle the remaining ¾ cup crumbs over the strawberry filling. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing the cake.