Category Archives: Desserts

Perfect pavlova

January 21, 2018 12:00 pm / 4 Comments /

Pavlova

The classic pavlova is always a tradition in our house on Australia Day.   There is still the ongoing issue of who actually invented the pavlova?  Whatever and whoever wins on that score between us or the Kiwi’s is irrelevant to us – we just love it any day but particularly on Australia Day!

My tips for the perfect pavlova would be;

Use room temperature egg whites that are as fresh as possible, making sure that there isn’t one skerrick of yolk in it.

Make sure your bowl and the beaters are super clean.  Wash and dry them thoroughly in hot, soapy water first.

Don’t be in a hurry to add the sugar and certainly don’t add it in large quantities.  The trick is to let it dissolve before adding the next bit.

Make sure that it is completely stiff and doesn’t drop from the beaters at all.  You can then shape it on the circle you have drawn on the baking paper and smooth it out beautifully….

Cook it on a Conventional or Static Oven setting.  Not Fan Forced.  You don’t want to blow it around and you do need the elements on the top and bottom for the light browning that happens on a beautiful pavlova.  As the top and bottom elements are on be sure to place it in the centre of the oven.

Let it cool – IN the oven with the door ajar.  You can do this by sticking a wooden spoon into the top edge if your oven doesn’t stop at the appropriate spot.

Finally – it must be served with FRESH fruit, never canned as it just doesn’t stack up.  Remember it’s also gluten free!

Ingredients:  Serves 10

6 egg whites
1½ cups (330g) castor sugar
1 tbsp. cornflour
½ tsp white vinegar

300g cream, whipped
1 tbsp. icing sugar mixture
1 tsp vanilla essence
fresh fruit of your choice to serve but 2 passionfruit a must….

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to a very slow 125°C Conventional.  You shouldn’t use fan forced for a pavlova.
  2. Mark a 23cm circle on baking paper and put onto a flat oven tray.
  3. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer with a tiny pinch of salt until soft peaks form.
  4. Gradually add castor sugar a little at a time, beating well after each addition until it is all incorporated and the meringue is well beaten and glossy.  It should be stiff enough to turn upside down without falling out of the bowl!
  5. With a large spoon gently fold in cornflour and vinegar.  Make sure it is all incorporated but do it gently – you don’t want to flatten the egg whites.
  6. Spread the mixture onto your paper circle and using a palette knife or spatula shape it into a huge, high circle.  Level the top.
  7. Bake in the slow oven for about 1½ hours.  Turn off oven.  You may have a couple of cracks, but that’s ok.
  8. Leave the Pavlova in the oven to cool with the door ajar.  This can be done overnight.  Stick a spoon or something in the door if your oven doesn’t have a stop at that level.  You will get a few more cracks now, as it cools.
  9. You can make it ahead of time and store, covered until required.  Not suitable to freeze.
  10. Before serving whip cream with icing sugar and vanilla.  Top Pavlova with cream and decorate with fresh fruit.
Posted in: Desserts, Gluten free, Party Food

Chocolate & cherry panettone zucotto

December 30, 2017 2:25 pm / 1 Comment /

Panettoni zucotto

Years ago I discovered a great recipe for using panettone and made a strawberry Zucotto.  Everyone really enjoyed it and thought it was such a good idea as you always end up with at least half a panettone that no one knows what to do with.  This is a great alternative to using the leftovers as a bread and butter pudding in our warmer months and a nice way to incorporate the Italian Christmas tradition into your own Christmas or New Year celebrations.

The great thing about this recipe is you can make it a few days before and leave it covered in the refrigerator until you need it.  It makes a lovely addition to a Christmas dessert table if you have a large number of guests or even better for a dessert on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day or New Year’s Eve when you don’t feel like cooking.  Terrific also if you are travelling somewhere where you need to bring a dessert.  It packs easily into an esky with an ice-pack in its original pudding basin for a long drive.

The addition of the fresh cherries in the centre makes it a much lighter, fresher dessert than the traditional.

Ingredients:  Serves 10-12

100g hazelnuts
1/2 (about 400g) large panettone or most of the smaller size
3tbsp Cointreau liqueur
juice 1 orange (remove rind and reserve before juicing)
500g fresh ricotta
1 x 250g ctn mascarpone
80g (1/2 cup) icing sugar mixture
100g 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 tbs finely grated orange rind
200g fresh pitted and halved cherries

Cocoa powder, to dust

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Spread the hazelnuts over a baking tray. Bake in oven for 5-10 minutes or until toasted. Place hazelnuts in a clean tea towel and rub to remove the skins. Coarsely chop.
  2. Use a serrated knife to cut panettone lengthways into six 1.5cm-thick slices.  Arrange the 3 largest slices, overlapping slightly, around the side of a 2L (8-cup) capacity pudding basin. Place smallest piece of panettone in the base of pudding basin. Brush panettone with about two-thirds of the orange juice and Cointreau which have been combined making sure you cover all the sides and the base.
  3. Use an electric beater to beat ricotta, mascarpone and icing sugar in a bowl until smooth. Stir in hazelnuts, chocolate and orange rind until combined. Spoon half the ricotta mixture into the lined pudding basin, pressing firmly.
  4. Top with another layer of panettone which has been brushed on one side with the orange juice mixture
  5. Now layer pitted cherries over the panettone and top with remaining ricotta mixture.
  6. Top with remaining panettone slice brush with the remaining Cointreau. Place on top of this layer of pudding to enclose filling. Cover pudding basin with plastic wrap that comes over the sides of the basin and place in the fridge with a weight on top for 6 hours or overnight to chill.  Use some cans from the pantry as your weights.

Turn pudding onto a plate and dust with cocoa powder. Cut into wedges and serve with vanilla ice-cream 🙂

Recipe adapted from Taste.com

Posted in: Christmas cookery, Desserts

Peach & raspberry trifle

December 16, 2017 2:17 pm / Leave a Comment /

Peach & raspberry trifle

Not only for Christmas, a trifle is always a favourite.  Especially one that combines beautiful Summer fruit that can be prepared the day before and serve a crowd.  Trifles have come a long way since my mother’s version with Swiss roll, sweet sherry and packet custard.  Even though it was basic (not even containing jelly as most traditional trifles do) we still loved it as she had a trick of diluting the sherry with fresh orange juice so you didn’t get that overwhelming hit of alcohol.  In this version I took that idea and diluted the peach schnapps with the raspberry puree.  It works well, just enough to make it a very good trifle!

Ingredients:  Serves 8-12

400g frozen raspberries
½ cup peach schnapps liquor
½ cup sugar
Half x 500g packet sponge finger biscuits
300ml cream
¾ cup crème fraiche
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
2 punnets fresh raspberries (keep a few for decorating the top)
2-3 ripe & juicy white peaches

Method:

  1. In a small saucepan saute frozen raspberries with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved and set aside to cool.
  2. Add the peach schnapps.
  3. Whip the cream and fold through the creme fraiche & vanilla paste.
  4. Dip the sponge finger biscuits into the cooled raspberry mixture and line the base of a deep glass bowl. Be generous with the mixture to ensure the biscuits soften.  Add a few slices of fresh peaches and a few fresh raspberries.
  5. Now add a layer of the cream mixture.
  6. Continue in this manner until all the mixture is used, making sure that the biscuits are softened.
  7. Finish with a cream layer and fresh fruit.
  8. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Delicious, this will become your new favourite trifle!

Posted in: Christmas cookery, Desserts, Party Food

Time to make the Christmas pudding!

November 6, 2017 4:45 pm / 7 Comments /

making-pudding

As the festive season fast approaches now is the perfect time to make the Christmas pudding!

Number one on Google for cooking in the steam oven for several years this recipe has become a firm favourite in my family.  Moist and delicious, it will easily serve 12-15.  There are many comments over the years for cooking instructions to make smaller puddings as well.  See the recipe here.  There is also a gluten free, quick sago pudding option here as well.

So if you didn’t make this pudding in your steam oven last year then try it now.  So much easier than watching a pot on the stove in case it boils dry, cooking it in the steam oven for six hours only means you have to refill the water container a few times which frees you up to do other things with your day!

Christmas pudding

Posted in: Christmas cookery, Desserts, Steam Oven

Malaysian glutinous rice & pandan dessert

April 30, 2017 2:56 pm / 1 Comment /

After returning from our eating trip to Penang I wanted to try one of my favourite Malaysian desserts in the steam oven.  So much easier than the original recipe I found and it tastes delicious!

I have used fresh pandan leaves in the glutinous rice but only essence in the green top layer.  I had a bad experience once with chopped pandan leaves curdling a panacotta custard so I wasn’t game to put in the water from the pureed leaves into this custard (as in the original recipe).  Have a look at that recipe if you like but the pandan essence (providing it is a good one from the Asian food shops) is fine.  Be mindful though it is very green.

So easy in the steam oven, just pour over the top layer and cook.  It must be served at room temperature and doesn’t keep well.  The glutinous rice becomes hard and chewy but can be warmed a little in the steam oven to rejuvenate.

Ingredients:

For Bottom layer:
300g white glutinous rice, washed well and soaked in plenty of water overnight
100ml coconut milk or cream (I used a 400ml can of Ayam Light coconut cream and just split it)
100ml water
2 pandan leaves, ripped in strips and tied in a knot
1 tsp salt

Top layer:
200ml thick coconut cream
¼ cup water (wash out the coconut cream can with this)
3 x 70g eggs
¾ cup castor sugar
¼-½ tsp pandan essence (or to your liking/colour/taste)
2 heaped tablespoons cornflour

Method:
Bottom layer:
Drain the rice.
Mix together with all the ingredients for the bottom layer.
Pour into small, solid steam oven tray.
Cook @ 100°C steam for 30 minutes.  It should be sticky but cooked.  Remove pandan leaves.
Line a square 23cm cake tin with baking paper and transfer cooked rice into pan.
Press down firmly to make a solid, dense layer.
Set aside.

Top layer:
Prepare this while the bottom layer is cooking.
Whisk the eggs, sugar and cornflour in a medium size mixing bowl until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has lightened in colour a little.
Add the coconut cream, water and essence to colour.  It should be a mid-green if you are using essence.  Be careful it is very bright.  I only use a dash.
Pour over glutinous rice layer, cover the dish with foil.
Cook @ 100°C steam for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and set aside with the foil over to cool.
Cut into squares or diamonds to serve, see my note above  🙂

 

This is a recipe I adapted for the steam oven & made it gluten free, from rasamalaysia.com

 

 

Posted in: Desserts, Gluten free, Malaysian, Party Food, Rice

Little chocolate puddings

August 28, 2016 9:45 am / 9 Comments /

Little chocolate puddings

These little puddings are perfect in the steam oven as the mixture ends up making a delicious chocolate custard under the pudding.  We all know that the steam oven is great for delicate things like custard and everyone loves a little surprise in their pudding!

Quick and easy to make if you have all the separate elements ready to go at the last moment.  I would suggest only cooking this in individual dishes that can be filled almost to the top as the mixture will drop a little when removed from the oven.  *If you want to stretch it to 5 puddings then use one cup of milk for the custard.

This is a really old recipe that I cooked when I was a teenager, altered of course for today’s tastes and converted to cook in the steam oven for you all to enjoy 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 4*

1 heaped tbsp soft butter
½ cup castor sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 very heaped tbsp good quality cocoa.  I used ‘Josephine’s’ but any good brand is OK.
1 heaped tbsp self-raising flour
Pinch salt
2 level tbsp desiccated coconut
¾ cup milk
Grated dark 70% dark chocolate to serve

Method:

  1. Grease 4 x ¾ cup ramekins or small pudding basins well and set aside.
  2. Mix the softened butter into the sugar, set aside.
  3. Separate eggs, place whites into a separate bowl.
  4. Sift cocoa, flour and salt together into a medium size bowl with a pouring lip or jug.  Add coconut and set aside.
  5. Just before you are ready to cook, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.
  6. Fold egg yolks into sugar mixture, mix well.
  7. Slowly fold in milk mixing well.
  8. Stir in flour mixture, gently fold in beaten egg whites and pour into greased dishes.
  9. Place into the solid steamer tray, group together and cover with one piece of baking paper that should be wide enough to be tucked down the sides of the containers.
  10. Steam @ 100°C for 15 minutes.
  11. Uncover, top with grated dark chocolate and serve with pouring cream. Yum!
Posted in: Desserts, Dinner parties, Steam Oven

Gluten free orange & almond cake

June 27, 2016 9:37 am / Leave a Comment /

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Always on the look out for gluten free cake recipes, my gluten free friends say this is the best cake ever!

Taste your orange puree once cooked.  You must use Navel oranges that have thinner pith.  If the oranges are not very sweet or the pith is too thick then you will have a bitter cake.  I thought my oranges were really bitter and I added another half a cup of sugar.  The cake was perfect, not too sweet but still that ‘tart’ taste you want in this type of cake.  When I cooked it again my oranges were OK but I still added ¼ cup extra sugar and it was perfect, not too sweet.

More of a ‘dessert cake’ it was light, fluffy and was delicious served covered in whipped cream and chopped, toasted pistachio nuts and a few edible rose petals.  The perfect cake to serve after a Middle Eastern lunch.

Ingredients:

480g Navel oranges (I used 3 small ones) or 1½ large
6 x 70g eggs, beaten
220g castor sugar plus ¼-½ cup (see note above)
250g almond meal
1 tsp baking powder

Method:

  1. Boil whole oranges covered in water for ½ hour.  Drain and replace water.  If you are using large oranges you will have to cook two whole.  I ended up with a little over 500g.
  2. Boil oranges for another 1 hour.  Drain and set aside to cool to room temperature.  You can do this the day before.
  3. Puree in food processor and set aside.
  4. Beat eggs and sugar together until pale and creamy with an electric mixer until they reach the ‘ribbon’ stage (at least 10 minutes)
  5. Fold through oranges, baking powder and almond meal gently trying not to beat the mixture too much but ‘folding’ it to keep the eggs aerated.
  6. Grease and line a large 23cm springform tin. Go to the trouble of lining the sides of the tin as well, extending about 5cm above the tin.  It is a large cake, you may need this extra height to hold the mixture in the tin.
  7. Bake for 55-60 minutes on Cake Plus in Miele combi with the fan cover in place or on Fan Forced @ 160°C.  I found I had a more even cake when I cooked it with the fan cover on as this does restrict the fan a little and is usually removed when baking cakes.
  8. Test with a skewer.  Mine took 60 minutes.  It is a very moist cake but the skewer should come out clean.
  9. Allow the cake to cool upright in the pan. Do not attempt to turn out. When cool, remove the sides of the tin and the baking paper.  Move onto a cake plate and cover with whipped cream and nuts.

This is a big cake that will easily serve 12-14 (less for all the seconds that everyone will want!).

Posted in: Baking, Cakes and Biscuits, Desserts, Gluten free

Passionfruit souffle

May 22, 2016 4:59 pm / Leave a Comment /

Passionfruit souffle

This has to be my favourite, easiest and most fool-proof soufflé.  It is always delicious, you can make it ahead of time up to beating the egg whites and it is also the perfect soufflé recipe to test your oven!  I mention that because you need a very even and accurate thermostat to cook a soufflé perfectly and you also need a Conventional, not Fan forced oven that won’t ‘blow’ the soufflé around.

This picture was taken at an in-home cooking class I did in Kim’s beautiful kitchen in Mosman.  You can see that the soufflés are well risen and evenly browned.  We actually cooked them in her combination oven and microwave.  She was very happy, we had a very successful class where she learnt to use her new appliances.  See my page here about how you can have a cooking class with me in your own home in Sydney too where you can also read Kim’s feedback.

Ingredients:  Serves 5 large or 8 small ramekins

3 egg yolks.  I use 70-80g eggs
5 tbsp castor sugar
5 Passionfruit (you need 4tbsp of passionfruit liquid)
5 egg whites (at room temp)

Method:

  1. Strain the pips from the passionfruit and set aside liquid, see note above.
  2. Beat egg yolks with 3 tbsp castor sugar until pale and thick.
  3. Grease 5 soufflé dishes with melted butter.
  4. Preheat oven to Conventional 200°C with baking tray in place.
  5. Whisk the 5 egg whites in a large, clean, dry bowl with a pinch of table or cooking salt until half beaten (this can be done with an electric mixer but not a food processor)
  6. Continue beating by hand adding the remaining sugar slowly and beat until stiff peaks form.
  7. Fold passionfruit liquid into egg yolk mixture and carefully fold in half the egg whites then the remaining.
  8. Spoon into prepared dishes and bake on a hot tray for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.  Delicious with whipped cream served on the side.

Hint:  Serve on folded napkins on plates to take to the table.  The napkin will keep the souffle warm on the plate to protect it from dropping.

Posted in: Cooking classes, Desserts

Little baby cheesecakes

April 21, 2016 2:05 pm / 10 Comments /

Little baby cheesecakes

I found this new baby cheesecake tin in my local kitchenware shop and had to try a quick and simple cheesecake version in my steam oven.  Pretty easy to produce a baked cheesecake in 15 minutes, the steam oven is excellent for this type of baking due to its low and even temperature.

You can basically use any biscuits you have on hand and add any flavourings you like.  I have gone for simple lemon, topped with toasted almonds.  They were really delicious served with my steamed pears here.  Stone fruits or fresh berries would also be great made into a little sauce.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Ingredients:  Makes 12 baby size or 6 small muffin size

¾ cup crushed sweet biscuits.  I used Butternut snaps
50g butter melted
¼ tsp cinnamon

Filling:
125g full fat cream cheese at room temperature
125g smooth ricotta
1/3 cup castor sugar
¼ cup cream
2 eggs
rind ½ lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cornflour
¼ cup toasted, slivered almonds

Method:

  1. Brush tins all over with melted butter.  If your not using pans with removable bases then add little circles of baking paper.
  2. Combine biscuit crumbs, cinnamon & melted butter together.
  3. Press into bases and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
  4. In a bowl or jug with a spout for pouring, beat together the room temperature cream cheese, ricotta, cream, sugar and lemon rind until smooth.
  5. Now all all the other ingredients and mix well.
  6. Pour carefully into tiny tins over the biscuit base.  If you are using the removable bases make sure you sit it in a solid steamer tray as the butter will escape.
  7. Cover with foil and steam baby size @ 100°C for 15 minutes.  Larger muffin tins may take up to twice the cooking time.
  8. Uncover and cool.  They will firm up and sink a little on cooling but should be just set.
  9. Chill until required.  I actually like the texture better at room temperature.

Top with a dollop of cream, toasted almonds and fruit in season.

Posted in: Desserts, Party Food, Steam Oven

Black sticky rice with coconut milk

March 6, 2016 8:08 pm / Leave a Comment /

Black sticky rice

One of my all time favourite Asian desserts.  This classic is also excellent served as part of a brunch or in tiny individual bowls or glasses at the end of a cocktail party.

Yet another rice dish that is fantastic cooked in the steam oven.  I use to cook this in my old Le Creuset pot that was lined in a pale coloured enamel.  A great pot but not for sticky rice as it use to turn it purple.  Easier to cook and wash up in the solid steamer tray.  Half quantity is a generous serving for four.

Result was delicious, just as good as before but without the messy pot!

Ingredients:  Serves 8-10

2 cups black glutenous rice
2½ cups water
2 Pandan leaves, cut to fit length of solid tray and spit down spine

Syrup:
125g palm sugar
¾ cup water

1 cup coconut milk
pinch sea salt to taste (it can be slightly over salted as the rice doesn’t contain any salt and it will balance out all the flavours)

Method:

  1. Wash black glutenous rice well in a sieve under cold running water.
  2. Soak overnight in cold water.
  3. Drain, rinse again and place into the solid steamer tray with the Pandan leaves flattened, ripped into strips down the spine to release the flavour and pushed under the water.
  4. Cook at 100°C steam for 30 minutes.  Open the steam oven half way through the cooking time to push the leaves into the liquid a little more.
  5. Remove from steam oven and immediately cover with a piece of aluminum foil.  The rice should be cooked but still have a ‘bite’ to it.  This process helps to extract all the flavour from the Pandan leaves.
  6. Let it go cold with the foil over until ready to serve or refrigerate for later*.
  7. In the meantime melt the palm sugar and water together in a small saucepan and set aside.  This can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator until required.
  8. When the rice has cooled (about 20 minutes) uncover, remove the Pandan leaves and discard.  You will need to scrape all the rice from the leaves.
  9. Stir in as much of the palm sugar syrup as you like to sweeten*.  It should be sweet but not sickly.
  10. Serve slightly warm* with coconut milk drizzled over the top and fresh, ripe mango for that tropical hit 🙂

Note:  *You can make this a few days before and reheat in the steam oven @ 100°C for 4 minutes.  If you are doing this don’t add the syrup until you are ready to serve.  In fact I never add the syrup until serving time when the rice is warm.  Let your guests add a little more if they like it sweeter.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Steam Oven, Thai