Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a medium loaf baking tin with baking paper. Add the eggs to a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the honey, yoghurt and vanilla and whisk again. Stir in the grated carrot and mashed banana and mix together. Sprinkle the flour, cinnamon and baking powder over and mix thoroughly. Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and spread it out evenly. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove the cake from the baking tin and cool on a wire rack. Give the cream cheese a good stir to soften it further and spread it over the carrot loaf. Sprinkle the pecan nuts over to serve.
Place the oven rack in the middle of your oven. Preheat your oven to 220℃ and line a loose bottom tin with baking paper. NB: scrunch the baking paper before you line the tin – it adds to the rustic look and prevents the sides of the cheesecake from over cooking. Set aside. Add the cream cheese to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on media. power for two minutes. Turn the mixer down to a low speed and drizzle in the sugar. Set aside. Pour some of the 60ml cream into a mixing bowl and whisk in the flower. Now add the rest of the cream while whisking and pour in the vanilla. Turn the mixer on to low speed and drizzle in the cream mixture. Pour the beaten eggs into the mixture with the machine running. Scrape the batter down and mix again until smooth. Pour the batter into the baking tin. Drop the tin on the counter (from about 5cm) a few time to get rid of any large bubbles in the batter. Bake the cheesecake for 45-50 minutes, until the top reaches a very deep colour. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter for two hours. Refrigerate the cheesecake for 8 hours. Remove from the baking tin and serve.
Honey-cream: 125ml burnt honey 360g tin of caramel treat 2,5ml salt 600ml whipping cream
Preheat your oven to 180℃. Cut 11 pieces of baking paper to the size of a large baking sheet and trace a 22cm circle onto each. Set aside.
For the burnt honey: Pour the honey into a small saucepan and place it over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium when it start to bubble. Cook until it becomes an amber colour – about 3 minutes. Take the honey from the heat and add the water – stand back as it will sputter! Whisk together once it stops bubbling. Pour the burnt honey into a measuring jug and set aside to cool.
For the cake: Pour the burnt honey, honey, sugar and butter into a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until the butter has melted and then whisk by hand to combine. Add the eggs one at a time while whisking continuously, still over the simmering water. Add the baking powder, salt and cinnamon and whisk together for 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the heat. Sift the flour into the mixture in 3-4 batches, whisking after each addition until the batter is smooth. (You may use an electric hand-held whisk) Scoop a heaped 125ml measuring cup of the batter onto the baking paper circle and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Bake each layer/disc for 7 minutes until it is a dark caramel colour. Place the baked discs on a flat surface to cool completely.
For the honey-cream: Add 125ml burnt honey, the caramel treat and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk by hand to combine. Add 190ml cream, a little at a time, while whisking. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Pour the remaining 410ml cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat to medium soft peaks. Add the honey and caramel mixture and beat to medium stiff peaks.
Assembly: Assemble the cake on your serving plate so that you don’t have to move it later on. Place the first cake disc on the plate and scoop a generous amount of the honey-cream on top. Spread out evenly not worrying that it will crawl down the sides. Keep going until all the cake discs have been stacked. cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining honey-cream and smooth it out. Place the cake in the refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours.
If you would like to, blitz up a selection of salted nuts and cover the sides and top of the cake with it before slicing to serve.
I made this cake with blood oranges but it can be made with regular oranges as well. You will need 6 oranges in total.
3 blood oranges, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds 15ml + 60g honey 75g butter, softened 1 blood orange, zested and juiced 3 eggs, separated 100g almond meal 90g polenta 200g ricotta cheese, drained a pinch of salt 110g caster sugar raw shelled pistachio nuts, to decorate crème fraîche, for serving
Syrup: 150g caster sugar 2 blood oranges, juiced
Preheat your oven to 160℃ and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Layer the blood orange slices on the bottom of the tin, in two layers. Drizzle the 15ml honey over and set aside. Add the butter, 60g honey and orange zest to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each addition. Take the bowl from the mixer and fold in the almond flour, polenta, ricotta and orange juice. Set aside. Add the egg white and salt to a clean bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the caster sugar until shiny. Fold the egg whites into the ricotta mixture. Spoon the batter onto the orange slices in the prepared cake tin. Smooth the top and bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
For the syrup: Add the sugar and juice to a small saucepan set over medium-high heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook until you have a light syrup – about 10 minutes.
Once the cake comes out of the oven, pour the syrup over and allow to cool. Invert the cake onto a serving plate and remove the baking paper. Decorate with a scattering of pistachio nuts and serve with crème fraîche.
625ml flour 10ml baking powder 7,5ml bicarbonate of soda 15ml ground mixed spice 5ml salt 375ml brown sugar 310ml sunflower oil 62ml smooth apricot jam 4 eggs 500ml grated carrot 1 x 440g tin of crushed pineapple, drained 125ml pean nuts, chopped
Preheat your oven too 190℃ and spray a ring tin with cooking spray. Coat the sprayed tin with dried breadcrumbs and shake out the rest. Set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and salt into a bowl. Set aside. Add the sugar and oil to the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Add small amount of the apricot jam to the mixture with the machine running on medium speed. With the mixer still running, add the eggs one-by-one. Scrape down and mix on high speed for a minute or so. Add the carrot, pineapple and nuts and mix on a low speed until the ingredients are well incorporated. Take the bowl from the mixer and add the flour mixture. Fold together until fully incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to stand on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before inverting the cake onto a serving platter. Cool the cake completely before icing.
Cream Cheese Icing: 60g butter, room temperature 125g cream cheese, room temperature 30ml milk 2,5ml vanilla 125g icing sugar, sifted
Beat the butter and cream cheese together until soft and fluffy, scraping down every now and then. Keep the mixer running and drizzle in the milk and vanilla. Add the icing sugar a spoonful at a time until you have a smooth mixture. Spread the cream cheese icing on the cake and scatter a handful of pecan nuts over.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line the bottom and sides of a 22cm diameter loose-bottom cake tin, with baking paper. NB: the paper should stick 10cm above the rim of the cake tin as the cake will rise up. Sprinkle 30ml of the sugar and 2,5ml of the ground cinnamon on the bottom of the baking tin and then set it aside. Place a saucepan on medium-high heat and pour in the 1 litre milk, butter, 250ml sugar and another 2,5ml cinnamon. Remove the saucepan from the heat as soon as small bubbles start appearing on the sides of the pan. Add the cornflour, flour, salt, egg yolks and 250ml milk to a bowl and whisk together. Drizzle the milk into this mixture while whisking. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place it over medium heat. Stir the mixture until it thickens and has a custard consistency. Remove from the heat. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold it into the custard. Gently pour the custard into the prepared cake tin. Sprinkle the leftover 30ml sugar and 2,5ml cinnamon over the batter. Bake the military in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove and cool completely before serving.
Preheat your oven to 170℃ and spray the sides of a fixed-bottom cake tin with cooking spray. Peel the pears and slice them into 8 wedges each. Arrange the wedges on the bottom of the cake tin and set aside. Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan set over medium heat. Do not stir but swirl the mixture from time-to-time until you have a caramel. Remove from the heat and pour the syrup over the pear wedges in the cake tin. Set aside. Add the butter to a small saucepan set over medium heat and gently simmer it for 5 minutes or so. Pour the browned butter into a large mixing bowl and add the honey, buttermilk, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Whisk the mixture together. Now sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mixed spice and salt. Mix until you have a smooth batter. Pour the cake batter onto the pears wedges and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and invert it onto a plate – leave the upturned cake tin for a few minutes before removing it. Serve the cake with a dollop of cream, ice cream or yoghurt.
300g dry biscuits 100g butter, melted 500g cream cheese, room temperature 100g caster sugar 300g sour cream 10ml vanilla 3 eggs 1 x 385g tin unsweetened pie apple slices, drained 2,5ml ground cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 150℃ and spray a 17cm x 27cm (22cm round) baking tin with cooking spray. Set aside. Break the biscuits into the bowl of a food processor and blitz to crumbs. Drizzle in the butter while the engine is running – the mixture should resemble wet sand. Spoon the mixture into the baking tin and evenly press into the base and up the sides. Place in the refrigerator until needed. Add the cream cheese, caster sugar, sour cream, vanilla and eggs to the bowl of your clean food processor. Process until well combined and spoon into a mixing bowl. Add the drained apple slices and fold the mixture through. Bake the cheesecake for 45minutes. It should just be set and still be slightly wobbly in the centre. Turn off your oven, open the oven door slightly and rest the cake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the cheesecake from the oven, sprinkle over the ground cinnamon and cool to room temperature. Now refrigerate the cheesecake overnight.
310ml flour 10ml baking powder 2,5ml bicarbonate of soda 90ml sugar 5ml cinnamon 2,5ml salt 1 egg 45ml butter, melted 250ml cultured buttermilk cinnamon sugar for sprinkling over
For the filling: Add the milk and butter to a small saucepan set over a low heat. Allow to warm to the point where small bubbles form around the edges of the saucepan, but do not bring to a boil. Take from the heat and keep aside. Add the egg and sugar to a bowl and whisk together. Add the flour and cornstarch and whisk again. Drizzle the warm milk mixture into this while whisking continuously. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, place it back on a low heat and simmer for 2 minutes while stirring. Take from the heat, add the vanilla, stir through and set aside to cool slightly.
Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cups.
Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, cinnamon and salt to a bowl and mix together. Add the egg, melted butter and buttermilk to a jug and whisk until amalgamated. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix through. Spoon a tablespoon of the batter into each of the paper cups. Now spoon a heaped teaspoon of the filling in the centre of each muffin and end off with another tablespoon of the batter on top. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Take the hot muffins from the oven and immediately sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. Allow to cool one a cooling rack.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line two 22cm cake tins with baking paper. (If you want a cake with three layers, double the batter and divide between three baking tins.) Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed until soft and creamy, scraping the mixture down once or twice during the mixing. Add the eggs one at a time with the mixer running and then add the vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder to a bowl and mix through. Add two spoonfuls of the dry ingredients and follow it up with a splash of milk, while the mixer runs on slow speed. Keep going until all is incorporated. Divide the batter between the baking tins and bake for one hour. Remove and allow the cakes to cool in the tins before removing and cooling on a wire rack. Frost as desired.
My Whisk and I 