Victoria Sandwich

A cake fit for a queen, they say. This humble, no-frills, cake may not be fancy or fashionable, but its origins are far from humble. I spent the most recent public holiday reading up on random Wikipedia offerings, offset by the sudden urge to research Bran Castle (apparently it's on the market), wandering through the subject of morganatic marriages (there goes the princess fantasies), the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and somehow or other I ended up at Victoria sponge cakes. I can't tell you how I got there, but through endless right-clicking and new-tabbing, my general curiousity led me to one of my favourite tea time snacks! And wouldn't you know it, it was almost time for tea too!

It is said that Queen Victoria absolutely loved desserts, and during her reign she had carriage-loads of cake sent to all royal residences on a daily basis. Apparently she wasn't allowed sweets as a child, and I suppose when she grew up to be queen of England, she fought back against the man and said "I'll have whatever dessert I want, whenever I want." I can understand that decision.

I toyed around with the idea of doing up a tropical twist Victoria Sandwich, maybe bring a taste of Sarawak (what would that be? Black pepper?) to the classic British tea time favourite... but why change something that works so well? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This comforting sandwich cake may not be revolutionising dessert as we know it, but on a rainy afternoon in with the family, familiar is good.

I pulled out my new cake stands from the recent trip to Melbourne for this recipe post. I'm absolutely in love with the cake stands, and I only wish I had a bigger baggage allowance... though it may be a blessing that I didn't. I shudder to think of what that would have done to my bank balance. I've already got so many cake stands of different heights and widths, but I'm afraid I have a bit of an obsession with them, and there's still so many different types that I'd like to own in multiple colours. I suppose they'll come in handy for when I finally open up my cake shop.

Strawberries & Cream muffins

It's past midnight, I retreated into my room after watching the late night news with my parents more than two hours ago. I've taken a shower, changed into my "Proud to be well adjusted" t-shirt I got from a chiropractor's convention in Las Vegas (long story, not for this entry) and sleep shorts, I have read a chapter of Crazy Rich Asians (get a copy if you haven't already)... and I can't sleep.

I keep thinking. My brain won't quit talking to me. The images keep speeding at me. Voices, memories, thoughts, hypothetical conversations with myself, questions I don't want answered, recipes, more recipes, cake decorating ideas, and oh my God, before you know it... I'm in the kitchen again, I've put the apron on (I only ever wear an apron when I'm baking in my pajamas, cos I don't want to get sugar in my bed), the oven is preheating and I'm flipping through my "Keep Calm and Carry On" red notebook of recipes.

Late night baking. It's surprisingly quite a normal thing to do for young professionals who love baking. It's also an excellent method of quieting the mind to ready yourself for bed. I've talked about the benefits of baking in approaching anxiety issues before... this time it's no different. I can't sleep cos I'm afraid, so I bake and worry about getting the measurements just-so instead of thinking about all the stuff I can't change.

Late last night, I decided to make breakfast muffins as I wanted to wake up to something positive. After a quick look in the fridge, I decided the strawberries I bought a few days ago would definitely go bad in the next two days, so the recipe just HAD to be strawberry based. No bananas, or else I would have made brown butter strawberry banana bread (an old late night baking favourite of mine), but the pantry told me I have an excess of white chocolate. Then I knew just the muffin I wanted to have my morning latte with.

Strawberries & Cream Muffins
Yield: 12 5.5oz muffins

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup chopped strawberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare your muffin tin or muffin liners (I used 5.5oz standalone cups)
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl and set aside
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk the cream, oil, egg, and vanilla until incorporated
4. Pour the cream mixture over the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until thoroughly combined
5. Add the chopped strawberries and white chocolate chips (leaving roughly 1/4 cup of each to sprinkle on top of the muffins later) and fold into the batter
6. Scoop up the batter into the prepared muffin tins or liners, top each muffin with some more strawberries and white chocolate chips, then transfer into the preheated oven. Reduce the heat to 165°C/fan-forced and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops appear golden and a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean (depending on the size of your muffins). Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely

Clean up, wash up, go to sleep, then wake up 4 hours later when your alarm clock goes off and enjoy a fresh muffin, reheated quickly if you like, and a cup of brewed coffee. This happens to me at least twice a week, nobody in my house ever says anything about it, but they'll quietly watch me over breakfast as I set up my little studio and snap pictures of my late night baking spoils.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you find that the sun on your skin doesn't quite warm you to the core, or the rain pattering on the roof outside your bedroom window sounds a bit too much like your insides, my darlings... it's time to put on an apron, pull out the sugar jar, and bake yourself a carrot cake. With cream cheese frosting, lots of it.

Carrot cake

• 280g grated carrots
• 50g chopped pecans
• 300g soft light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 300ml sunflower oil
• 300g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 8" round pans with butter and baking paper
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside
3. In the large mixing bowl of your stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sunflower oil
4. Beat in the flour mixture until just combined
5. Stir in the grated carrots and chopped pecans
6. Divide the batter evenly between the two baking pans and bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely

Nigella's Raspberry Lemongrass Trifle

Being assigned the task of bringing dessert to a barbecue in the perpetually hot climate of this Equatorial country in which we reside is one of the most stressful things that has ever happened to me. A good sort of stress, but stress all the same.

I mean, the thought of how hot the barbecue itself will get, plus how thirsty people will be, and then topped off with the thought of having the oven on at all... Rh'llor, save us all, cos I can't take this heat.

Trifles. Cold, creamy, and tart trifles are the answer for warm weather, friends. I mentioned before that my mother's go-to dessert to prepare is a fruit trifle, with fresh fruits, custard, and a jelly topping. But in keeping with my new year, new things resolution, I decided to try out a different sort of trifle.

Nigella Lawson's Raspberry Lemongrass trifle, to be exact. I remember sitting through a Nigella Bites marathon on the Food Channel a few months ago, and this was one of the recipes she featured. I coveted it from the get go, and saved the recipe in my little red recipe notebook, but only pulled it out now.

It's amazing, and I swear you have to try it. It's amazing. I had no idea what I was missing out on until I tried this recipe. If you can get your hands on store-bought trifle sponges, or a light pound cake, or finger biscuits, then do so for the base of this recipe. If, like me, you are unable to find an acceptable store-bought sponge, then make your own! Recipe below.

Trifle Sponge

• 4 eggs, separated
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 100g all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 200C, line two baking trays with parchment paper, and prepare a piping bag
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add 2 tbsp of the sugar. Continue whipping until stiff and glossy
3. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks, remaining sugar, and vanilla until fluffy and pale
4. Sift the flour and baking powder and set aside. Fold half of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in flour, then fold in the remaining egg whites
5. Fold in the melted butter at the very end, don't beat the batter
6. Transfer batter into a piping bag, snip off the end, and pipe out short lines onto the baking trays. Be sure to space them evenly, as these tend to spread out (especially if the batter's been over-mixed)\
7. Bake for 8-9 minutes, take them out and cool completely before using for trifle, or store in an airtight container until ready for use

Nigella's Raspberry Lemongrass Trifle

• 600ml water
• 400g caster sugar
• 60g lemongrass, cut in half lengthwise)
• 350g frozen raspberries, thawed (or is it thawed frozen raspberries?)
• Trifle sponges (Nigella says 16, but I just used however many needed to soak up all the jam)
• 3 tbsp limoncillo (Again, Nigella uses vodka, but I didn't have any on hand)
• 600ml single cream
• 8 egg yolks (save the egg whites for macarons!)
• 500ml double cream
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1. Lemongrass syrup: Make a syrup with the water and 325g of the sugar in a saucepan by bringing them to a boil for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat, and add the lemongrass and allow to infuse for at least half an hour. Next time I will let it infuse for a lot longer, or add more lemongrasss
2. Strain the syrup into a jug, and keep the saucepan with the lemongrass inside aside
3. Raspberry jam: Measure out 200ml of the syrup into a medium sized saucepan, add the raspberries, and bring to a roiling boil. Let it thicken, and mash the fruit to make a "jam-like consistency". Let it cool slightly, then dunk the trifle sponges in and then arrange at the bottom of your trifle bowl. I soaked up all the jam. Add the limoncillo or vodka, or skip this bit if you don't want any alcohol. Then pour about 100ml of the lemongrass syrup over that to let it absorb all the flavour, and reserve the rest
4. Custard: Heat the single cream in the pan with the lemongrass until almost boiling, then take it off the heat and infuse for 15 minutes (again, I'll probably add fresh lemongrass instead of reusing). In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar (75g), then slowly whisk in the cream. THEN, put the custard back into the cleaned out pan, and stir over the heat until the custard thickens, then pour it over the trifle sponges and let it cool, or refrigerate until ready to serve. 
5. Cream topping: Just before serving, or before you leave for the barbecue, whisk the double cream and vanilla in a cold bowl (I usually pop my kitchenaid mixing bowl and whisk into the freezer for about 5 minutes before I whip cream), until it thickens, then cover the custard layer
6. Caramelized lemongrass syrup topping: Heat 250ml of the lemongrass syrup in a saucepan until it turns a golden brown, then drizzle over the cold whipped cream topping to decorate

One of my friends, Nisha, finishing up the very last bit of trifle

This is by far the best trifle I have ever made (and tasted), though I have some notes of improvement that I plan on implementing in the next attempt of it (which, frankly, is probably going to be as soon as tomorrow). Such a great recipe, thanks, Nigella! 

x Nabs

Back to Basics Banoffee Pie

There has been a particular recipe sitting on my shelf for far too long, and now that I've tried it, I don't quite know what I was so afraid of. I've been terrified of trying Banoffee Pie, or any caramel based recipe, due to the fact that I'm afraid to make caramel.

I can't for the life of me understand why. It's incredibly easy, and oh-so-satisfying to taste the results. Unless you're an idiot like me and taste it right out of the hot saucepan. I'm still waiting for my lip to blister, wondering if it will be so unsightly that I may need to take some days off work. LOL, jokes.

A good friend of mine asked me last week if I can do Banoffee Pie, and I told her the truth: that I've never tried it, but have always wanted to try. She then went on to say that she's got a friend who may be interested in asking me to do the dessert for her wedding! 60 mini Banoffee Pies! Is it silly of me to even try and wish for this gig?

I whipped up (heh, geddit?) a sample for her, and made a test pie to go with it... from my side, the flavour and texture turned out great, and everyone here seems to like it. I just wonder if she'll feel the same. Sitting on tenterhooks here and biting my nails to boot!

But that said, whether or not she goes for my Banoffee Pie, I've not opened up a whole new world for myself! CARAMEL!

Banoffee Pie

Crust

• 250g plain digestives, passionately whacked with a rolling pin into fine crumbs
• 120g butter, melted

Filling

• 100g butter
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 397g condensed milk

Topping

• 3 medium bananas, ripe and soft
• 300ml whipping cream

1. To make the crust, mix the digestive crumbs and butter using a fork, then press into the bottom of a lightly greased pan (I used a round tin foil pan for ease of delivery, but springform or removable bottom is ideal). Use the bottom of a glass to firmly pat the crumbs down. Then chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling
2. In a non-stick saucepan, gently heat the butter and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour in the condensed milk and bring to a boil gently, making sure to stir continuously so the caramel doesn't burn
3. Pour the caramel over the chilled crust and smooth it out with a rubber spatula then chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour while the caramel sets
4. Just before serving, slice your ripe bananas to cover the caramel
5. To make the whipped cream, be sure to chill your bowl and whisk for 2-5 minutes beforehand. Then for a creamy, yet not overpoweringly sweet whipped cream topping, just whisk the cream for around 1 minute (if you're using an electric mixer) or until soft peaks form and you can turn the bowl over and the cream stays intact. Smooth or pipe the cream over the top
6. For extra decoration, you can grate some semi-sweet chocolate over the top of the pie, or decorate with slices of bananas

It couldn't be easier, and now I'm dying to make more pies to give away to friends and family members!

x Nabs

P.S. Sorry for the ugly, over-exposed pictures...