Do you like having picnics at the park? I didn’t when I lived in the Philippines, mainly because of the heat. When I moved to Australia, there are so many beautiful green spaces that it was just unacceptable not to have picnics! Don’t you agree?

Centennial park is such a great location, it has unlimited parking, a bicycle rental, a few playgrounds, BBQs, picnic tables, plenty of trees, a number of well-maintained gardens, coffee kiosks, and public toilets scattered around. It’s a great place to host a picnic. So I did just that, and it was a lovely sunny day perfect for a gathering with friends.

The food was simple and stress-free. I prepared salmon, green beans, chicken and pesto, plus a variety of desserts. The standout dessert was my version of Better than Sex Cake. Which I called Better than Anything because there were young children present and I didn’t want to be the bad aunt!

To be honest, I don’t get why anyone would say anything is better than sex, but this cake is better than any bundt I’ve made or had! So should I call it Better than Any Bundt? Hmm.. Yeah, I’m sticking with it! Better than Any Bundt!

The recipe is pretty easy, there are a couple of components, like the Chantilly cream, salted caramel and crushed flake bars. Read the notes section for substitutes and vegan option! Now here are some photos from our picnic!

Difficulty: Easy

Better than Any Bundt

Makes 1 x 10-cup bundt

Ingredients

    Chocolate Cake
    • Caramel sauce
    • Chantilly cream

Instructions

0/10 Instructions
    For the cake:
  • Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a 10-cup bundt pan with softened butter diligently then dust with cocoa powder.
  • In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bi-carb soda. Mix in salt and sugar. Make a well in the center.
  • Add the eggs, yogurt/sour cream, oil and vanilla and mix until smooth. Whisk in the boiling coffee. The batter will be runny, so don't worry.
  • Pour the batter in the pan and bake for 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and cover with a plate. Leave for 10 minutes.
  • Remove plate and gently pull the sides of the cake away from the pan. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and it should slide out easily. Cool completely.
    • Make the caramel
  • Place sugar in a heavy-based sauce pan. Leave it on medium heat until it melts and starts to colour.
  • Once sugar turns amber quickly whisk in the diced butter. If it separates, remove from heat and keep whisking. Once it comes back together return to the burner and cook for 1 minute.
  • Turn heat off then add the cream slowly. It will sputter so be careful. Then add the salt and cool down.
    • Make the Chantilly cream
  • With a cold and cold whisk, whisk the cold cream until stiff but doesn't look grainy. Whisk in the vanilla until incorporated. Set aside in the fridge.
    • Assembly
  • Once the cake is completely cool, pour the cooled down caramel sauce in the middle of the bun then cover with the whip cream. Drizzle remaining caramel sauce on top with the chunks of flake bars.

Notes

  1. You can use other chocolate that you like, I've tried Malteser and Twix
  2. Sour cream and yogurt work well in this cake, although I like the result with yogurt better.
  3. For a vegan version: replace the cream with plant-based cream for the Chantilly cream and the caramel, replace the butter with Nuttelex, the flake bars with vegan chocolate bars and use my vegan chocolate cake recipe here.
  4. For tips on preventing your bundt cake from sticking, please read this post.

Tags

#beautiful cake recipes  #better than sex bundt  #better than sex cake  #better than sex cake recipe  #bundt cake  #bundt cake recipes  #cake  #chocolate  #chocolate cake  #chocolate recipes  
Winter always posts a challenge to me recipe-wise because of the “limited” fresh produce availability. But lately, I’ve learnt that it might just be me who is limiting my creativity. So this winter I am actively testing different citrus like cara cara, yuzu, bergamot on top of my normal blood oranges, navel oranges, limes and lemons in my recipes. In this one, you could use any citrus you have available, except maybe grapefruit. But I like the combination below best. You have play with it and let me know in the comments section which citrus combo tickled your fancy!

This is a straight up bundt cake that could also be baked in a large loaf tin. You can watch my bundt cake tutorial below to avoid getting your cake stuck in the pan.

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Joanne | Mrs.FancyPants (@mrs.fancypants.recipes)

If you make this recipe, tag me using @mrs.fancypants.recipes on social media or use #mrsfancypantsrecipes or #mrsfancypantsbakes so I can see them! If you have other questions or comments, please feel free to use the comments section below. Now time to get your whisk out and give this recipe a try! I promise you won’t regret it. Happy baking!!!

 
Difficulty: Medium

Citrus & Poppy Seed Cake

Makes 1 x 10-cup bundt cake or 1 large loaf cake

Ingredients

    For the cake
    • For syrup:
    • For glaze

Instructions

0/15 Instructions
  • Measure all your ingredients then preheat oven to 175C. If using softened butter, grease your bundt pan now. Do this by brushing the bundt pan with the softened butter using a small pastry brush, being careful to get the butter into each nook and cranny. Sprinkle flour over the butter and tap around lightly to distribute. Turn pan over and tap lightly to remove excess flour. If you're using melted butter, DO NOT GREASE YOUR PAN YET.
  • Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium-high, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition.
  • Turn mixer down to low then add lemon zest.
  • Add half of the flour mixture gradually using a spoon, mix well.
  • Mix the sour cream and lemon juice together then add to the batter. Mix until incorporated.
  • Fold in the rest of the flour mix. Set aside.
  • If you're using melted butter, make sure its not hot. Brush the bundt pan with the butter using a small pastry brush, being careful to get the butter into each nook and cranny. Sprinkle flour over the butter and tap around lightly to distribute. Turn pan over and tap lightly to remove excess flour.
  • Pour cake batter into the pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. Meanwhile make the syrup.
  • Combine all the ingredients for the syrup in a small pan. Bring to the boil until sugar is dissolved and you get a slightly thick consistency. Cool down.
  • When cake is ready, remove from oven and cover with a large plate for 10 minutes. Use kitchen mitts to invert pan and remove cake. Your cake should slide out perfectly.
  • Make several small holes on your cake using a toothpick then brush the cake with the syrup. Leave to cool completely.
  • When cake is completely cool, make the glaze by placing the icing sugar in a medium bowl and whisking the juice in. Start with half and keep adding until you get the consistency you want just be careful that you don't make the glaze too thin, test it by checking how quick it drips from your spoon. You want a slow drip to get that nice drizzle effect.
  • Leave the glaze to set for 10-15 minutes then your cake is ready to serve.

Tags

#blood orange cake  #bundt cake  #bundt cake recipes  #cake  #citrus cake recipes  #easy cake recipes  #orange cake recipes  

These days so much of our way of life is influenced by what we see on social media. Take food trends for instance, bakeries get a cult following from people posting their products and rating it as “lit” or whatever the new word for cool is. I’m sure the younger generation can’t imagine what life must have been life before Facebook or Instagram or Tik Tok, but the recipe I’m sharing with you today pre-dates social media. It became famous all over the world that they kept the recipe in a vault–or so the story goes.

My recipe has been adapted from the recipe published on Hotel Sacher’s website, Hotel Sacher is a world famous hotel in Austria. It was built by Eduard Sacher, the son of pastry chef Franz Sacher who developed the cake recipe. The cake is made of a generous helping of apricot jam sandwiched between two sponge cakes and covered with a shiny chocolate glaze. There are plenty of recipes out there, most of them have almond meal, but I’m a stickler for tradition, so I went straight to the source and worked on that recipe.

I tried the sachertorte at Hotel Sacher in Salzburg. Pictured above is Mirabell garden in Salzburg.

The sponge cake is a chocolate genoise, meaning the recipe does not use a chemical leavener. Egg whites are used to give the cake height, so it’s important to gently fold them in. The generous apricot jam helps moisten this otherwise dry chocolate cake, and the chocolate glaze also protects it from further drying out. A word of caution, cool down the cake before even starting the glaze. The glaze sets quickly and will form a skin if left out too long, so it’s best to make it when the cake is ready to be glazed. You don’t need fancy piping techniques, just an offset spatula. Oh and try not to move the cake until the glaze is completely set, otherwise you will get cracks, just like mine below. The glaze should set in a couple of hours in room temperature or an hour if chilled.

Again, this is a very basic recipe, quite easy to follow and make at home, so please, if you are just starting off baking cakes, give this one a try. The cake is traditionally served with a big helping of whipped cream, but my recipe calls for white chocolate chantilly cream. However, vanilla ice cream also pairs well with this cake. Or just have it as is with coffee is great too.

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Joanne | Mrs.FancyPants (@mrs.fancypants.recipes)

Finally, like I said, if you’re looking for a super moist chocolate cake, this is not the recipe for it. But this is delicious and easy to make with no frosting involved. Below is a photo of the original sachertorte that I had in Salzburg, and next to it is my homemade version, finished in 2 hours. I enjoy it by itself with coffee, and I didn’t find it too dry at all. Let me know what you think if you give this recipe a try. If you post photos, feel free to use #mrsfancypantsrecipes or tag @mrs.fancypants.recipes, this helps me see your creations and gives me feedback on what recipes I should post. If you also have any questions, comment below and I’ll make sure to respond. That’s it for my sachertorte recipe. Again, if you’re after a simple, delicious and quick cake recipe, don’t wait any longer. Preheat your ovens and bake away! Happy baking!

 
Difficulty: Easy

Sachertorte

Makes 1 x 24cm cake

Ingredients

    For the cake:
    • For the glaze:
    • For the white chocolate cream

Instructions

0/12 Instructions
  • Place milk, chocolate and sugar in a small heatproof bowl and place on top of a pot with simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bottom your bowl. Once chocolate is melted, take the bowl of the heat then mix in the cream. Chill for at least 2 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 170C. Greases and line a 24cm cake pan.
  • In a medium bowl, make a meringue by whisking the egg whites and sugar together on medium until glossy. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add yolks one at a time mixing after each addition. Add warm melted chocolate. Fold in flour then fold in meringue.
  • Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs.
  • Remove from oven and let cool completely. Remove from the pan and cut in half so that you have a sandwich. Place the halves on a cooling rack, cut part facing up.
  • Warm the apricot jam until smooth. Using a palette knife or brush, spread the jam onto the cut side of each layer of the cake. Put the cake back together like before, the jam should be in between the cake sandwiches. Place the cake on a rack and put a tray underneath the rack. Set aside.
  • In a small sauce pan, mix together water and sugar. Bring to the boil, and keep boiling for 5 minutes. Take off from heat and let cool for 2 minutes until the bubbling subsides.
  • Slowly pour the sugar syrup on the chocolate and mix with a wooden spoon until glossy. Keep stirring until the mix thickens and cools slightly. If it becomes too thick just use an offset spatula to spread it.
  • Cover the whole cake with the glaze, use an offset spatula if the glaze is too thick. Leave the cake to set until the chocolate glaze is hard. If you move or touch the cake at this stage it will crack. You can place the rack in the fridge of you want it to set faster.
  • When you're ready to serve, whisk the white chocolate cream until stiff. Place in a piping bag with a large star nozzle.
  • Dip the blade of a knife in hot water and cut cake slices. Pipe the white chocolate cream on the side.

Tags

#beautiful cake recipes  #cake recipes  #Sacher cake  #sachertorte  #sachertorte recipe  #Valrhona recipes  

There’s so much available citrus recently, so I have buckets of lemons, navel oranges and cara cara to consume, so pardon my very colourful citrus bundt cake series, I’m obsessed with how simple bundt cakes are to make and so easy to photograph! I’m working on a video talking about tips on baking the perfect bundt without tears, so if you’re having problems with your bundt cake, watch out for that video.

Now about the recipe, if you’ve made my lemon drizzle cake, this recipe should be straightforward. It starts by creaming the butter and sugar together, adding the yolks, the lemon zest, and alternating between the dry ingredients and the sour cream finishing with the dry ingredients and blueberries. I dredge the blueberries in the dry ingredients so they don’t sink, and also so I don’t overmix the batter. Then it’s just bake at 175C for 50 minutes or until done.

Again, just a couple of bundt cake baking 101. If you have an intricately designed bundt pan, similar to mine or even more, make sure you follow my tips on the recipe about buttering the pan well and placing a plate on top after baking. The plate traps heat and creates steam inside which helps release the sides of your cake. Don’t worry, your cake will not end up being soggy at all.

This cake is packed with so much good stuff! I used lemons, which are rich in vitamin C, and blueberries which is a superfood. All in all, this cake is delicious, bursting with flavour, easy to make and oh so pretty! I mean, check out that sexy glaze right there.

The recipe is very detailed, but if you have any issues, please comment below and if you post photos of your goodies online, I would love to see them, so please tag @mrs.fancypants.recipes on social media or use #mrsfancypantsrecipes. Lastly, if you don’t have a bundt pan, no worries! This recipe can be baked in 1 large loaf pan, too. Now put your aprons on and preheat your ovens. Happy baking!

 
Difficulty: Easy

Glazed Blueberry Cake

Makes 1 x 10-cup bundt cake or 1 large loaf cake

Ingredients

    For the cake
    • For the glaze:

Instructions

0/9 Instructions
  • Measure all your ingredients then preheat oven to 175C. If using softened butter, grease your bundt pan now. Do this by brushing the bundt pan with the softened butter using a small pastry brush, being careful to get the butter into each nook and cranny. Sprinkle flour over the butter and tap around lightly to distribute. Turn pan over and tap lightly to remove excess flour. If you're using melted butter, DO NOT GREASE YOUR PAN YET.
  • Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium-high, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Turn mixer down to low then add lemon zest.
  • Add half of the flour mixture gradually using a spoon, mix well. Add sour cream then mix until incorporated. Put the blueberries in with the rest of the flour then toss until the blueberries are covered in flour. Fold in the blueberries and flour into the batter. Set aside.
  • If you're using melted butter, make sure its not hot. Brush the bundt pan with the butter using a small pastry brush, being careful to get the butter into each nook and cranny. Sprinkle flour over the butter and tap around lightly to distribute. Turn pan over and tap lightly to remove excess flour.
  • Pour cake batter into the pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. When cake is ready, remove from oven and cover with a large plate for 10 minutes. Use kitchen mitts to invert pan and remove cake. Your cake should slide out perfectly.
  • When cake is completely cool, make the glaze by placing the frozen blueberries, water and lemon juice in a sauce pan. Cover and cook on low heat until blueberries are very soft. Strain the juices and push as much liquid out of the blueberries as you can. Reserve the liquid and throw out blueberries.
  • Place the icing sugar in a bowl then add half the liquid. Mix until you get a glaze consistently, adding more liquid if needed. Drizzle on top of your cooled down cake. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar.

Notes

  1. You can substitute yogurt or creme fraiche.

Tags

#beautiful cake recipes  #blueberry recipes  #bundt cake  #bundt cake recipes  #easy cake  #easy recipe  #lemon recipes  

So you made my Lemon Drizzle cake but didn’t finish it? You’ll be the first, but don’t throw out your leftover cake just yet, make it into another dessert that you could enjoy!

Now, if leftover lemon cake isn’t your problem and you’re simply looking for a trifle recipe, that’s fine too! You can bake 1 recipe of my Lemon Drizzle cake in a large loaf pan and skip the syrup and glaze.

Mrs. Fancypants Lemon Drizzle cake, who could resist??? Click on the photo for the recipe.

Today I’m sharing with you my Raspberry & Lemon Trifle. This dessert has 4 components:

  1. Lemon cake
  2. Raspberry compote
  3. Lemon curd
  4. Plain natural yogurt

So we have the lemon cake recipe covered, now the raspberry compote is pretty straight forward. You’ll need frozen raspberries, sugar and water. Bring to the boil in a pot until the sugar dissolves then turn the heat off. So that’s easy too.

Most trifle recipes call for custard, to be honest, I used lemon curd because I have plenty of lemons and I wanted to make my trifle colourful and I definitely achieved that. This trifle is so pretty it looks like Christmas! The best part is, it takes less than 15 minutes to make this lemon curd, plus 5 minutes for the compote, all this while your cake is in the oven, and if you already have leftover cake, then this dessert will take you less than an hour to assemble. No one would think that when they see it though, I mean how pretty is it???

So when you have everything ready, it’s time to layer. I recommend dividing the cake, curd and compote into three. Then take 2 generous spoons of the compote out and into a bowl and reserve for later. Then you start layering the cake, lemon curd then raspberry compote, you will have 3 layers with the lemon curd on top. Let it set in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Divide your cake, lemon curd and compote into three to make layering easy. You should end up with lemon curd on top just like above.

When you’re about to serve, mix the fresh raspberries and the reserved compote together. Dollop the yogurt on top of the trifle then finish with the raspberry mix. if you have some mint handy, take the baby leaves a sprinkle on top, otherwise, it’s beautiful the way it is.

So what do you think? Isn’t it pretty? And you didn’t have to throw out leftover cake, double win! Now, servings… This is a “small” trifle, but it still serves 5-6 people depending on how much you love dessert. And don’t we all love dessert?

If you make this recipe, have any questions, or comments, please feel free to comment below. If you post photos on social media, I’d love to see them so use #mrsfancypantsrecipes or tag @mrs.fancypants.recipes! Enjoy your trifle and happy baking!

 
Difficulty: Easy

Raspberry and Lemon Trifle

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

    • Lemon curd:
    • Raspberry compote:

Instructions

0/7 Instructions
  • Make the cake and cut it up into small pieces or if you have leftover cake, cut it up into small pieces.
    • Lemond curd:
  • Place all ingredients except for butter in a medium bowl on top of a double boiler. Whisk continuously until the lemon curd thickens and coats the back of the spoon. If you have a thermometer, cook to 75C.
  • Take off from the double boiler and whisk in the butter one by one. Set aside to cool.
    • Raspberry compote:
  • Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan, mix together. Bring to the boil until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool down.
    • Assemble:
  • Divide the cake pieces, yogurt or cream, lemon curd and compote into 3. Take 2 heaping tablespoons of the compote and place it in a bowl for later.
  • Line the bottom of a small trifle bowl with 1/3 of the cake pieces. Layer 1/3 of compote then 1/3 of the lemon curd and 1/3 of the yogurt/cream. Repeat until you have 3 layers, the yogurt/cream should be on top. Let set in the fridge.
  • Before serving, gently toss the fresh raspberries in the reserved raspberry compote and spoon on top of the trifle.

Notes

  1. Here is the recipe for my Lemon Drizzle Cake, just make the cake base in a loaf pan if you're making from scratch.

Tags

#berry trifle  #easy desserts  #lemon dessert  #lemon recipes  #raspberry desserts  #trifle  #trifle recipes  

Let’s be honest, intricate bundt cakes look so amazing. But there’s always that risk that because the design is so intricate your cake will get stuck. If you are a bundt cake pro, please keep doing what you’re doing, because why fix what’s not broken? Now if you’ve had bundt cake stuck in the pan several times and you’re ready to give up, please give this recipe a try before totally throwing your beautiful pan out.

Here are a few key things to remember:

  1. Softened butter is my preference when it comes to greasing bundt pans. Softened means you can make a dent in the butter even with just a slight pressure. Use a small pastry brush and get the butter into each nook and cranny. Take your time.
  2. When you’re satisfied that every millimetre is buttered up, sprinkle flour on top of the butter and lightly tap to distribute the flour. Cover all of the buttered surface then turn your pan over and tap lightly to remove the excess flour. Your pan should look like the one below:

3. Now like any cake, you know the cake will come out if the cake is pulling away from the pan.

Note the photos below:

  • Slightly pulling away
  • This looks stuck

Now here’s the golden ticket! This tip is a bundt cake game-changer! Once you remove the pan from the oven, cover the pan with a bigger plate and let sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, invert the pan and your cake should slide right out.

If you don’t have a bundt pan, this recipe works in a large loaf pan too! Some key notes if you’re using a loaf pan:

  1. It’s the same baking time and temperature.
  2. You don’t have to use butter and flour to grease the pan, I simply use spray oil and line the tin with baking paper.
  3. You don’t need to cover the pan with a plate after removing from the oven, just cool it down completely in the pan.

Finally, I adapted this recipe from Spruce Eats’ Sour Cream Lemon Cake. What does “adapt” mean? I added some of my own touches like:

  1. I use metric measurements when baking because I weigh everything, but I’ve tested the US measurements in this recipe too.
  2. I prefer using creme fraiche instead of sour cream (and yogurt) because after testing all three, I found the cake using creme fraiche had the nicest crumb, flavour and moisture even without the syrup and glaze.
  3. I added another lemon for zesting to amp up the flavour in the cake itself
  4. I added a lemon-vanilla syrup mostly to use up the other lemon and in case you overbaked your cake, this will save it.
  5. Lastly, I used the juice from the other lemon in the glaze.

Surprisingly, the lemon flavour in the cake is not overwhelming, it’s just absolutely delicious and fresh. Now you know everything there is to know about this lemon drizzle cake. Time to take your whisks out and preheat your ovens and try this recipe! Please comment below if ou have any questions, and tag @mrs.fancypants.recipes on your Social Media posts. Happy baking!

 
Difficulty: Medium

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Makes 1 x 10-cup bundt cake or 1 large loaf cake

Adapted from Spruce Eats

Ingredients

    For the lemon cake
    • For syrup
    • For glaze

Instructions

0/15 Instructions
  • Measure all your ingredients then preheat oven to 175C. If using softened butter, grease your bundt pan now. Do this by brushing the bundt pan with the softened butter using a small pastry brush, being careful to get the butter into each nook and cranny. Sprinkle flour over the butter and tap around lightly to distribute. Turn pan over and tap lightly to remove excess flour. If you're using melted butter, DO NOT GREASE YOUR PAN YET.
  • Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium-high, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition.
  • Turn mixer down to low then add lemon zest.
  • Add half of the flour mixture gradually using a spoon, mix well.
  • Add the creme fraiche (or yogurt or sour cream) then mix until incorporated.
  • Fold in the rest of the flour mix. Set aside.
  • If you're using melted butter, make sure its not hot. Brush the bundt pan with the butter using a small pastry brush, being careful to get the butter into each nook and cranny. Sprinkle flour over the butter and tap around lightly to distribute. Turn pan over and tap lightly to remove excess flour.
  • Pour cake batter into the pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. Meanwhile make the syrup.
  • Combine all the ingredients for the syrup in a small pan. Bring to the boil until sugar is dissolved and you get a slightly thick consistency. Cool down.
  • When cake is ready, remove from oven and cover with a large plate for 10 minutes. Use kitchen mitts to invert pan and remove cake. Your cake should slide out perfectly.
  • Make several small holes on your cake using a toothpick then brush the cake with the syrup. Leave to cool completely.
  • When cake is completely cool, make the glaze by placing the icing sugar in a medium bowl and whisking the lemon juice in. Start with half and keep adding until you get the consistency you want just be careful that you don't make the glaze too thin, test it by checking how quick it drips from your spoon. You want a slow drip to get that nice drizzle effect.
  • Leave the glaze to set for 10-15 minutes then your cake is ready to serve.

Notes

You can make this in a large loaf pan if you don't have a bundt pan. Here are some notes if you're doing this:

  1. It's the same baking time and temperature.
  2. You don't have to use butter and flour to grease the pan, I simply use spray oil and line the tin with baking paper.
  3. You don't need to cover the pan with a plate after removing from the oven, just cool it down completely in the pan.

Tags

#bundt cake  #cake  #citrus  #easy cake recipes  #lemon  #lemon recipes  

In my Strawberry Cheesecake Post I discussed what a ganache is, and mentioned that it has plenty of uses. My recipe today also uses a ganache but with a different ratio and I use this to glaze my Ube Butter Cake. Last time, I incorporated the ganache in the cheesecake to help it set and have form instead of using gelatine, this time I used it as a decorative topping to make my cake look lovely and also to enhance the ube flavour.

Now, the cake recipe today is baked in a 10-cup bundt pan. What is a bundt pan you say? Bundt pans are cake pans that look like donuts because they have a tube in the middle. They also have different designs that make your cake look spectacular (when you get the cake out correctly). You’ll see the bundt pan I have in my video below, but if you don’t own one and still want to make this cake, don’t fret! You can use a large loaf pan instead.

https://youtu.be/rXdGhEJcNTs

This cake is a variation of my vanilla butter bundt. I wanted to make an ube flavour to commemorate Filipino Food Month. Filipino flavours and Filipino food don’t tend to be as popular as other cuisine, and Filipino Food Month is the Government’s initiative to give it a push globally since Filipinos are all over the world. Now this cake is not traditionally from the Philippines, however, ube is a well-known native flavour of the Philippines. Ube is a root crop also known as purple yam. It’s colour gives desserts a vibrant pop but this doesn’t translate to a strong flavour, instead its flavour is very mild–a little nutty with a hint of vanilla. It is widely used in local desserts, and one day I will post an actual traditional Filipino ube dessert when I get my hands on fresh ube again. But for now, here is the recipe for this delicious and easy to make butter cake. Happy baking!

 
Difficulty: Easy

Ube Butter Cake

makes 1 x 10-cup bundt pan

   

Ingredients

    For the cake
    • For the glaze

Instructions

0/8 Instructions
    Make the glaze:
  • Place the white chocolate in a medium bowl.
  • Bring the cream to the boil then pour on top of chocolate. Cover and let sit for a minute. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until glossy.
  • Add ube. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
    • Make the cake
  • Preheat oven to 170C. Mix yogurt, eggs and vanilla tin a medium bowl.
  • In your stand mixer bowl using a paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, b. soda and b. powder. Slowly add the liquid ingredients. Mix until smooth.
  • Add butter cubes one by one. The batter should look creamy. Grease your 10-cup bundt. Make sure you grease all the folds and edges for quick release.
  • Pour batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool for 10 minutes inverted on a wire rack.
  • The cake should separate from the bundt tin successfully. Pour the glaze all over and serve.

Notes

  1. If you do not have a bundt pan, this should also work with a large loaf pan.
  2. Grease your bundt pan well to make sure the cake come out easily. If it doesn't, try using a butter knife to loosen the edges of the cake as well as the middle tube.
  3. Keeps well at room temperature for 2 days, or in the fridge for 5 days. Always serve at room temperature.

Tags

#bundt cake  #cake recipes  #dessert  #filipino cakes  #filipino recipes  #ube  #ube recipes  

 

Who doesn’t love a good chocolate cake? But I understand that sometimes, dietary restrictions prevent us from enjoying the well-loved classic chocolate sponge cake with chocolate filling, so here is a gluten-free & lactose-free option! My dairy-free, flourless chocolate cake is made from Valrhona Guanaja 70% but you can use any good quality baking chocolate like Callebaut 811 which is also lactose-free. Most baking dark chocolates are dairy-free, but if in doubt, just check the label. A good thing to note when checking ingredients, is that cocoa butter is a lactose-free product.

Another dairy-free ingredient is Nuttelex buttery, which I used in place of butter. Nuttelex is a vegan, lactose-free butter alternative here in Australia, but if you don’t have Nuttelex in your local store, you can use any dairy-free margarine or coconut oil. I prefer using coconut oil because it tastes great, but of course your cake will have a hint of coconut. So for this recipe, I decided to use Nuttelex buttery.

Image courtesy of Nuttelex.com. Click photo for more information.

I love this chocolate cake because it’s easy to whip up and to decorate. It’s great to take to pot lucks and also a nice grown-up birthday cake. I love serving this with raspberry or coconut sorbet, and when I have time, I make my own using Gelato Messina’s recipe, which I will share here when I find extra time. It’s a great recipe and works so well! If you can have dairy, feel free to pair this with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, and it’s absolutely delicious too. There’s only one thing you could do to mess up this super easy cake, and that is too leave it in the oven for too long. The last thing you want is to dry this out, so make sure you set a timer and check on the cake 10 minutes before it’s meant to be done, especially if you’re oven runs hot. Cool down on the kitchen bench for 15 minutes then transfer to the fridge to set completely for at least an hour.

If you try this recipe, let me know how you went by leaving a comment below or tagging me on social media. I’m always excited to see your work and always keen to answer any questions.

Happy new year everyone and thank you for all your support last year, cheers to the future of Mrs.Fancypants!

 
Difficulty: Easy

Dairy-free Flourless Chocolate Cake

Makes 1 x 20cm cake

Ingredients

    • Toppings:

Instructions

0/5 Instructions
  • Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
  • Melt the chocolate and butter together and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool down. Meanwhile, in the bowl of your stand mixer or with a hand mixer, whip egg whites and sugar together until stiff peaks.
  • When the chocolate is cooled down to room temperature, add the egg yolks one by one, incorporating well before each addition. Sift the cocoa powder and mix until smooth.
  • Carefully fold in the meringue in 3 additions into the cake batter. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30 minutes. The cake should feel set but still soft in the centre. When you shake it, it should jiggle a little in the centre. Do not over bake or the cake will dry out.
  • Cool down on a rack for 15 minutes then move to the fridge for 1 hour to completely set. To serve, take out of the cake pan and peel off the baking paper. Sprinkle cocoa powder on top and decorate with berries and edible flowers, if using. Serve with a scoop of coconut or raspberry sorbet.

Notes

  • Nuttelex Buttery is actually margarine but I use this brand because the taste is not like other margarines. You can also opt for coconut oil and other dairy-free butter substitutes.
  • Pure cocoa powder (dutch processed or not) should be gluten-free
  • Make sure the 70% chocolate is dairy-free, I used Valrhona Guanaja 70% but there are plenty of good quality baking chocolate that are dairy-free too, like Ghirardelli & Callebaut.