Christmas Cake adapted from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy 1765 edition

A SWEET CHRISTMAS TALE

The story of your favourite Christmas Desserts

Tara Deshpande 

Christmas is possibly one of the busiest times of year for a baker.  Cookies, cakes and puddings are on everyone’s menus. Yule log cakes, Figgy pudding, sticky toffee pudding, rich red velvet cake, marmalade cake, the list is long for the holiday season but the one of most recognisable Christmas desserts worldwide is undoubtedly the Christmas Cake. 

Christmas cakes has been known by many names and prepared in different ways throughout history. Essentially, a Christmas Cake is a fruit cake made with spices ,dried and candied fruits and often liberal doses of booze. 

The earliest fruit cakes go back to the Romans who made them with pomegranates seeds, spices and honey.

The Arabs it is argued were the first to master the art of candied fruit in the early 15th century. These techniques of preservation became popular in southern Europe in the 16th century, a time of Arab domination and coincided with the availability of cheap sugar from the American colonies. Candied fruit becoming cheap and fruit cake because popular with the masses.

Christmas cakes vary- they can be light & fruity, yeast leavened some more like bread, others can be chocolatey or full of molasses. The most well known Christmas cake recipe is the English Christmas cake and is made well in advance and allowed to mature for months. In some cases it is ‘fed’ small amounts of alcohol over several weeks. This is achieved by making holes in the cake with toothpicks and pouring brandy over it as it sits inside a tin. This is called feeding a cake.

But before this, English Christmas Cakes were called by many names- plum cakes, fruit cakes, rum cakes, brandy cakes and in the case of Hannah Glasse’s cookbook a Rich Cake. The cake pictured here I made from a recipe for Rich Cake in a 1765 edition of The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse first published in 1747.

These cakes were made in huge quantities to feed a constant stream of guests who came to visit during the holiday. The icing recipe for the Rich cake contains 24 egg whites and the author Hannah Glasse expects you to beat them manually for 2-3 hours! It must have kept the author very fit because she lived to the ripe old age of 62. Life expectancy for women was below 40 in the early 1700’s. 

This recipe contains many unusual terms and ingredients. Printed in old English the script employs the ‘long S’ where s is printed as an f. So sifted appears as fifted. This form of writing albeit disappeared by the 1800’s. 

The recipe has some unusual ingredients. A pint of fack refers to sack, a sweet fortified white wine imported from Spain, Jordan almonds are sugar coated almonds and the author suggests baking the batter in ‘hoops’. Hoops are cake rings without a top or bottom that just go over a large plate. As this is a thick batter and bakes for several hours it doesn’t leak as much.

A Creole Christmas Cake from a 1920 copy of the Trinidad Cookbook, a Caribbean specialty, contains Angusturo bitters, cherry brandy and dark rum and is a version of the famous  Black Cake. Indian Christians too have their own versions of cakes including the Allabadi Christmas cake prepared with safed petha (candied ash gourd) and the famous Goa Baath Cake made with semolina and coconut. The Baath cake also called Bolo de Rulao in Portuguese has much in common with the Greek Revani cake also made with semolina but flavoured with orange. The Lebanese Namura prepared with almonds and the Egyptian Basboosa made with semolina and yogurt and soaked in a sweet syrup.Semolina is derived from the Italian word semola. Interestingly one of the Sanskrit words for wheat is Samhita.

Interestingly the Cochin Jews also prepare a semolina and coconut cake called Apam.

The Scottish Dundee Cake, German Stollen, Romanian Cozonac and the Italian Panettone are all versions of fruit cake eaten around Christmas and Easter.One of the earliest Christmas cakes was the German Stollen of Saxon origin that dates back to the 1300’s. This bread like cake wasn’t particularly tasty because it was forbidden, by church decree to use butter or sugar in the recipe during the Advent. Prince Elector Ernst and his brother, Duke Albrecht of Saxony’s pleas to lift this ban began in 1450 and it took 5 Popes and nearly 50 years before Pope Innocent VIII acquiesced. His response in 1490, came to be called the ‘Butter Letter’ or the ‘Butter Brief’. Thanks to this the Stollen, now made with unrestricted amounts of butter and sugar is a beloved Christmas treat.

Gingerbread cake is another winter time speciality also made during the X’mas holiday. I adapted one from in Eliza Acton’s book Modern Cookery published in 1845 (I cooked from the 1864 edition). This cookbook is one of the best recipe books printed in the Victorian era with precise and detailed instructions-most other books assume that women must know how to cook and provide scant instruction. This book also contains one of the earliest recipes for Christmas Pudding ever published. It was later renamed plum pudding. I digress but I must mention that Ms Acton is also one of the first to provide recipes for Indian chutneys.

Gingerbread cakes were among the most popular desserts in England since the Elizabethan era and were made throughout the year not just for Christmas. They became especially popular in the Victorian period when ginger was easily available and the cake was considered medicinal. 

Every Victorian cookbook has atleast one recipe, others many- rich gingerbread, hard gingerbread, soft, moist, dark, light economical -gingerbread was made in many forms. It was also popular because it calls for brown sugar or treacle and not refined white sugar which was very expensive even in the mid 1800’s. Gingerbread became popular in the USA where it was prepared with molasses that produced a softer cake. In Victorian cookbooks Gingerbread could also refer to hard ginger cookies. 

Gingerbread Men were first served in the court of Elizabeth 1. 

In modern times we are used to lighter cakes that employ baking soda and baking powder. Pure and dependable baking powder and baking soda only became available on a commercial scale in the mid 1800’s.

From / Glasse, Hannah “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy” 1747

Take four pounds of flour dried and sifted, seven pounds of currants washed and rubbed, six pounds of the best fresh butter, two pounds of Jordan almonds blanched, and beaten with orange flower water and sack till fine; then take four pounds of eggs, put half the whites away, three pounds of double-refined sugar beaten and sifted, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of cloves and cinnamon, three large nutmegs, all beaten fine, a little ginger, half a pint of sack, half a pint of right French brandy, sweet-meats to your liking, they must be orange, lemon, and citron; work your butter to a cream with your hands before any of your ingredients are in; then put in your sugar, and mix all well together; let your eggs be well beat and strained through a sieve, work in your almonds first, then put in your eggs, beat them together till they look white and thick; then put in your sack, brandy and spices, shake your flour in be degrees, and when your oven is ready, put in your currants and sweet-meats as you put it in your hoop: it will take four hours baking in a quick oven: you must keep it beating with your hand all the while you are mixing of it, and when your currants are well washed and cleaned, let them be kept before the fire, so that they may go warm into your cake. This quantity will bake best in two hoops.

Modern Version of Hannah Glasse’s Rich Fruitcake 

This recipe does not have brown sugar or treacle, two ingredients commonly in British Christmas cakes and it uses a white wine and brandy. This makes for a lighter fruit cake. In the absence of sherry you can use a less expensive sweet and white Samos, Muscatel, Madeira, even white port. A sweet Reisling or Chenin Blanc could also work but you may need to add some sugar to it.

Makes  1 10 inch wide 3 inch deep fruit cake

Ingredients

  • 400 grams maida or all purpose  cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 6 whole eggs at room temperature
  • 300 grams refined sugar
  • 350 grams unsalted butter
  • 200 grams candied orange peel finely chopped
  • 200 grams candied lemon peel finely chopped
  • 200 grams candied citron finely chopped
  • 300 grams golden raisins pips removed
  • 200 grams black raisins pips removed
  • 100 grams fine almond flour
  • 1 tsp. nutmeg powdered
  • 1 tsp. mace powdered
  • 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon powdered
  • 1 tsp. Sunth or ginger powdered 
  • ¼ tsp. cloves powdered
  • 1/2  cups sweet white Sherry (sack)
  • 1/4 cup Brandy
  1. Combine all the dried fruits with the sherry and brandy and let it sit ion the bowl while you prepare the cake. 
  2. Preheat the oven to 350°. 
  3. Evenly grease a 10-inch deep (3 inches deep) pan with butter and line with parchment paper. You will need an additional circle of parchment paper to place on top of the batter.
  4. Beat the butter and all powdered spices with the sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer or use a hand mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about one minute. 
  5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until thoroughly combined with the butter and sugar. 
  6. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
  7. Add the baking powder, then the almond flour and then the cake flour  a cup at a time and beat on a low speed until just combined. 
  8. Add the fruit mixture and beat until thoroughly combined.
  9. Pour the batter into the cake pan, spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Smack the pan against the counter a few times to settle the batter. Cover the batter with the second piece of cut parchment and press down lightly to smoothen the batter.
  10. Place pan on bottom rack in oven. Bake at 350° for one hour then move to the middle rack and bake another 40-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  11. Allow cake to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 60 minutes.
  12. Invert the cake onto a plate and then invert again back onto a cooling rack. 
  13. Allow cake to cool completely atleast 2 hours before icing or slicing.

Photo Credit: TARA DESHPANDE

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE PRESSURE COOKER CAKE

This cake is eggless and easy to make. use a large pressure cooker that can fit your cake pan.

Ingredients for an 8-9 inch cake

  • 350g all purpose flour/ refined flour or maida
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 90g unsweetened Dutched cocoa, sifted
  • 400g fine white sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 tbsp whole milk or soy milk
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce from a jar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 150g butter melted or vegetable oil
  • 300 ml room temperature water
  • Pinch of salt
  • Thick aluminium foil
  • Pressure cooker
  • water and 2 cups of sand
  • 8-9 inch cake pan 2-2.5  inches deep well greased with vegetable oil (this must fit inside your cooker. You can use a bundt cake pan as well.

For the glaze combine on low heat until smooth-

  • 200 ml coconut milk of heavy cream
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 125 grans semi sweet chocolate or use vegan bitter chocolate and add icing sugar to it

Method

Set pressure cooker without a whistle to heat with some water in it on medium hear. Grease cake pan with oil lightly.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa together.  Stir in melted butter or oil, milk, apple sauce and water and stir to just combine- don’t over beat it. Combine vinegar and baking soda and stir until it begins to fizz. Add to the batter and mix well. Pour batter into greased cake pan of your choice and stir well until all ingredients combined. Do not over beat cake batter.

Wrap top of tin tightly with foil. Remove most of the water form the hot cooker. Add sand, a stand on which to place the cake pan. Cover. Don’t use the whistle. Place on cooker and cook on low heat for 45-50 minutes until cake is cooked.

Open and remove foil. Test with a cake tester to ensure the cake is baked through. If tester comes out clean cake is ready otherwise return to the cooker.

Cool cake in tin at least 30 minutes. Loosen sides of cake if required with a sharp knife and unmold on to a serving plate

Glaze with fudge or buttercream or ganache. If you’ve use a bundt cake pan I recommend  the frosting in this recipe.

ROASTED ALMOND CAKE

ROASTED ALMOND POUND CAKE

THIS MAKES A LARGE 10 INCH BY 4  BY 4 INCH LOAF. YOU CAN USE  2 OR 3  SMALLER LOAF PANS INSTEAD IF YOU WANT TO MAKE THEM TO GIVE AS GIFTS. THIS CAKE HAS A DEEP ROASTED ALMOND FLAVOUR AND AN ALMOST MARZIPAN LIKE RICHNESS. ITS LIGHTER THAN A TRADITIONAL POUND CAKE BECAUSE IT USES LESS BUTTER AND EGGS.

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 EGGS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
  • 400 GRAMS BUTTER SOFTENED
  • 450 GRAMS CASTOR OR GRANULATED SUGAR
  • 400 GRAMS MAIDA OR ALL PURPOSE FLOUR, SIFTED
  • 100 GRAMS ROASTED AND FINELY GROUND ALMONDS WITH SKIN
  • 1.5 CUPS UNROASTED FINELY SLIVERED OR SLICED ALMONDS WITH SKIN
  • 1.5 TEAPSOONS VANILLA EXTRACT
  • 1/2 TEASPOOON ALMOND EXTRACT (OPTIONAL)
  • 2 TABLESPOONS WHOLE MILK
  • 1/2 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER

ROASTED ALMOND LOAF CAKE

METHOD

  • PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 f. PREPARE LOWER RUNG OF OVEN. GREASE A 10 INCH LOAF PAN.
  • WHISK THE BUTTER AND SUGAR TOGETHER IN A STAND MIXER OR USING A HAND WHISK UNTIL FLUFFY. ADD EXTRACTS AND WHISK AGAIN. USE A SPATULA AND  SCRAPE THE SIDES AND BOTTOM TO ENSURE UNIFORMITY.
  • ADD EGGS ONE AT A TIME AND BEAT UNTIL WELL INCORPORATED ON MEDIUM SPEED
  • ADD MILK AND CONTINUING WHISKING
  • ADD ALMOND FLOUR AND WHISK AGAIN.
  • ADD BAKING POWDER AND ONE CUP FLOUR AT A TIME. BEAT ON A LOWER SPEED.
  • ADD HALF THE SLICED ALMONDS AND BEAT UNTIL UNIFORMLY INCORPORATED. DO NOT OVERBEAT THIS BATTER.
  • PUT THE BATTER IN THE LOAF PAN. DO NOT OVER FILL LEAVE ATLEAST 3/4 INCH SPACE FOR THE CAKE TO RISE. TAP THE CAKE PAN TO REMOVE AI BUBBLES. SPRINKLE REMAINING ALMONDS OVER THE TOP AND PAT DOWN WITH A SPATULA.
  • COVER WITH FOIL AND BAKE 35 MINUTES.
  • REMOVE FOIL AND MOVE CAKE TO MIDDLE RUNG AND BAKE UNTIL GOLDEN AND CRACKED ON TOP AND A CAKE TESTER INSERTED IN THE CENTRE COMES OUT CLEAN.
  • KEEP REFRIGERATED IN A HUMID CLIMATE. SERVE AND ROOM TEMPERATURE.

BADAM PISTA MILK FUDGE

 

INGREDIENTS

I tin condensed milk about 400 grams
150ml Whole-milk from a tetrapak
450 grams Brown sugar

110 grams unsalted Butter

1 teaspoon almond extract

Pinch salt

1/2 cup crushed badam pista cashew mix

9 inch square tin lined with wax or parchment paper

METHOD

Combine sugar milk, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy bottomed saucepan and Cook on a medium flame until fully incorporated and sugar has melted. Continue to cook another 13-14 minutes stirring constantly on medium heat. Mixture will froth and bubble. Scrape and stir to prevent burning.

Add almond extract stir well and remove from the fire.

Cool exactly five minutes then start beating it using a hand held or stand mixer until mixture gets thick and sticky about 10-12  minutes.

Spread mixture into a pan and sprinkle with badam pista kaju mixture. Let set 3-4 hours then cut into squares.

Stir in an airtight container in a cool place for 2-3 days.

COCONUT MAWA LADOO

INGREDIENTS FOR 8-10 LADOOS

1.5 CUPS FRESH KHOYA OR MAWA

2 CUPS FRESHLY GRATED WHITE MEAT OF COCONUT

3 TBSPNS GHEE

1 CUP CONDENSED MILK

1 TEASPOON POWDERED NUTMEG OR SEEDS OF GREEN CARDAMOM

15-20 STRANDS OF SAFFRON SOAKED IN 2 TABLESPOONS OF HOT MILK

 

METHOD:

Toast the coconut in a dry non stick skillet about 4-5 minutes. Dont brown, just dry the coconut out a bit. Reserve. Crumble the khoya or mawa and saute on a low flame with ghee until bubbly and soft. Add condensed milk and stir well. Add powdered spices and saffron with milk and stir again. Add coconut and stir until mixture comes together. Stir until bubbly. Taste for sugar and spice levels and adjust to taste. Switch off flame and let mixture cool 10 minutes. While it is still warm divide into 8 equal parts and roll each into a ball. Cool completely and keep refrigerated in an air tight container for 48 hours.

 

CARAMEL RUM BUNDT CAKE

This recipe can be adapted for different flavours. You can substitute the rum with caramel or maple water. You can use cinnamon instead of nutmeg and allspice. Whiskey is also an option to dark rum. Make sure to butter and flour the pan evenly and preheat oven to 350F. Watch Bundt Cake Tips on my Instagram profile or Facebook Videos.

INGREDIENTS

  1. 1.25 cups melted unsalted butter
  2. 1 cup dark rum or caramel or maple syrup water (see note below*)
  3. 4 eggs at room temperature
  4. 1.5 cups brown sugar
  5. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (2 if you are not using dark rum)
  6. 1 teaspoon powdered nutmeg (cinnamon and cardamom powders can be substituted as well)
  7. 1/2 teaspoon powdered allspice or cinnamon
  8. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  9. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  10. 1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice
  11. 1 cup buttermilk
  12. 2.5 cups all purpose flour sifted plus more for flouring
  13. Vegetable oil or non stick cake spray for Bundt cake pan (10 cup capacity pan)

OPTIONAL FOR GLAZING

1 cup caramel sauce mixed with 2 tbsp dark rum or whiskey

or

1 cup toffee sauce

OR

Confectioners sugar for dusting

METHOD

  • Preheat oven to 350F and prepare lower rack.
  • Grease the Bundt cake pan (I used Heritage Nordicware Pan) with excessive oil then dust generously with flour to cover all crevices  and nooks of the Bundt Cake pan. Then turn pan over and tap out the excess by smacking the pan lightly on the counter top.
  • In a mixing bowl of a stand or hand mixer combine the first  8 ingredients and whisk thoroughly.
  • Add the lemon juice and baking soda to the buttermilk, stir and whisk into the batter.
  • Cup by cup add the flour and beat until well incorporated. Do not over beat.
  • Pour into Bundt Cake pan. Tap pan a few times against the counter to ensure the batter settles into the shape of your pan and air bubbles are removed. Use a spatula and smooth the top of batter.
  • Bake 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and cool 25 minutes in the pan. Donot unmold it for several hours.
  • Brush some of the caramel sauce over the top of the cake as it sits in the cake pan with a pastry brush if you are using a sauce. Do not pour it over the cake or into the sides. This is done to keep the top moist while the cake cools.
  • Cool completely for several hours if required until the pan is at room temperature.
  • To unmold shake the pan a little to loosen the cake. Avoid using a knife if possible. Turn over slowly onto a cake plate.
  • Brush with more sauce or just dust with confectioners sugar.

*FOR RUM SUBSTITUTE

Stir together 2 tbspns maple syrup and one cup hot water. Cool then add to batter.

Heat 3 tbsp caramel or toffee sauce with 1 cup water until dissolved. Cool and add to batter.

 

BUN MASCA CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

THIS IS AN EASY DISH THAT EVERYONE LOVES. BUN MASCA  (MASCA MEANS BUTTER )IS AVAILABLE AT ANY IRANI BAKERY. IT COMES PARTIALLY SLICED AND BUTTERED. IT IS COMFORT HOME COOKING. IF YOU DONT LIKE CHOCOLATE LAYER THE BREAD WITH A GOOD JAM, ALMONDS, CARAMEL SAUCE, EVEN LEMON CURD.

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 BUN MASCA FROM IRANI BAKERY
  • 1 CUP CHOCOLATE CHIPS SEMI SWEET
  • 1 TEASPOON BUTTER
  • FOR CUSTARD
  • 5 EGGS CRACKED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
  • 1.5 TEASPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT
  • 1/2 CUP LIGHT CREAM (TETRAPAK) WARMED
  • 2 CUPS WHOLE MILK HOT
  • 1 CUP SUGAR CASTOR OR GRANULATED

BAKING TRAY TO FIT BOTH BUNS SNUGLY (ATLEAST 1.5 INCHES DEEP)

METHOD

TO ASSEMBLE BREAD

BUTTER YOUR BAKING PAN.

OPEN THE FIRST BUN UP (WATCH MY VIDEO ON IGTV) AND LAY EACH HALF ACROSS THE BAKING PAN OF YOUR CHOICE SO THE BREAD IS SPREAD EVENLY ACROSS THE PAN OF YOUR CHOICE. SCATTER CHOCOLATE CHIPS ALL OVER. OPEN UYP THE SECOND BUN MASCA AND LAY IT OVER THE STOP. PRESS DOWN SO IT FITS SNUGLY INTOT HE PAN. THEN USE A KNIFE AND CUT THE BREAD ACROSS ALLTHE WAY THROUGH IN TWO PLACES LENGTHWISE.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 325 AND PREPARE LOWER RUNG WITH BAKING RACK.

FOR THE CUSTARD

WHISK EGGS AND VANILLA WITH SUGAR UNTIL WELL INCORPORATED IN A MIXING BOWL. SLOWLY ADD WARM CREAM AND WHISK CONTINUOUSLY. ADD HOT MILK AND WHISK AGAIN. USING A SIEVE, STRAIN HALF THE MIXTURE OVER THE LAYERED BUNS. PRESS THE BUNS DOWN SO THE CUSTARD CAN SEEP INTO IT EVENLY. LET IT SIT 15 MINUTES.

SIEVE THE REMAINING MIXTURE OVER THE BUNS AND LET SIT 15 MINUTES.

BAKE 30-35 MINUTES UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN. WHEN YOU PRESS DOWN WITH A SPOON THE CUSTARD SHOULD NOT OOZE OUT BUT YOUR PUDDING SHOULD BE SOFT AND CUSTARDY INSIDE.

 

PUFF PASTRY IN INDIA

Puff Pastry photo Tara Deshpande

 

Puff Pastry- Where to Buy It in Mumbai and What to Make with It

Before the chicken puff came puff pastry. In India Pattice and savory Khara biscuits available at Irani cafes are the most commonly eaten snack made from puff pastry. 

Puff Pastry also known as butter paste and puff paste originated in France where it is called pâte feuilletée or feuilletage. Feuille is the French word for leaf.

 Puff pastry, unlike pâte brisée is a laminated dough where layers of dough are repeatedly rolled and rested with layers of butter to produce a very flaky, fine and crisp dough.  In some early, medieval recipes eggs were also added to the dough. 

The process is far more time consuming than short crust or the choux pastry (pate a choux) so many home cooks buy it frozen or readymade at a bakery.

photo Gallica

The first published recipe for puff pastry appeared in François Pierre La Varenne‘s “Pastissier Francois” in 1653.

But it was invented some years before this in 1645 by a French pastry cook’s apprentice, Claudius Gele who accidentally stumbled upon the technique for puff pastry while trying to make a loaf of bread for his bed ridden father. 

Claudius later went to work for the Brothers Mosca’s pastry shop in Florence, Italy where he continued to produce the puff pastry for his employers all the while keeping the recipe secret. He made his employers a fortune. 

While many food historians agree puff paste was a logical outcome of short crust pastry others believe that it was influenced by Middle Eastern Phyllo and werqa dough made with olive oil and fine sheets of dough. 

My 1765 edition of The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by a Lady has an early recipe for ‘Puff-pafte’. By the early 1800’s Puff Pastry become the standard term used in English cookbooks.

photo

 

In Mumbai you can buy Puff Pastry to order at Worli’s City Bakery.  They sell it by the kilogram and must be ordered with 24 hour notice. It is also available refrigerated in 250 gram sheets at American Bakery in Byculla. Both are vegan. Check with the local Irani cafés in your city –if they make khara biscuits and pattice, chances are they will sell you the readymade dough. You can also buy it in the frozen section in supermarkets and some club shops.

I would advise you keep the fresh puff pastry refrigerated (not frozen) at all times and use it within 24 hours.

For me puff pastry is the go to when I don’t have time to make leavened dough or a short crust pastry.

Here are some of the easy, elegant and delicious recipes I make. You can also make chicken pot pies, cheese straws, vol au vents, poisson en croute (whole fish wrapped in pastry.

No Huff, Puff Pizza photo Bini Bharucha

NO HUFF PUFF PIZZA

Perfect for large groups, you can add on almost any filling.  While this recipe calls for a red sauce you can also do a Pizza Bianco or a sweet dessert pizza with fruit compote and almonds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NAPOLEONS

This classic layered dessert should be served plated as individual portions. They are impressive and elegant but easy to make.

Napoleons with pastry cream and fruit photo by Bini Bharucha

http://www.taradeshpande.in/mixed-fruit-napoleons-with-pastry-cream/

MUSHROOM AND GOAT’S CHEESE BEGGARS PURSES

Beggars Purses with puff pastry photo Beynaz Mistri

Knotted with chives these delicate purses can be stuffed with meat, prawns, tofu or turn them into a dessert.

http://www.taradeshpande.in/puff-pastry-beggars-purses-with-mushrooms-goats-cheese-and-thyme/

APPLE, HONEY AND CINNAMON TURNOVERS photo Bini Bharucha

Turnovers are so easy. I bake them just before the dessert course and serve them warm with vanilla ice cream and some honey drizzled over the top. A winner! 

http://www.taradeshpande.in/easy-apple-honey-and-cinnamon-turnovers/

 

Poisson En Croute

A classic French preparation this is a complex dish but makes a spectacular main course.

poisson en croute with puff pastry photo Tara Deshpande

 

ORIGINAL DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE RECIPE

Original Devils Food cake

THE ORIGINAL DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE RECIPE PUBLISHED IN SARAH TYSON RORERS NEW COOKBOOK IN 1906 IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE MODERN VERSION OF THE DEVILS’ FOOD CAKE THAT IS NOW SO POPULAR ALL OVER THE WORLD. IT IS HOWEVER DELICIOUS, ESPECIALLY WHEN PAIRED WITH A RICH FROSTING OR FILLING.

Modern Devils Food cake (left) and original Devils Food Cake (Right)

THE ORIGINAL DEVILS FOOD CAKE IS ESSENTIALLY A LIGHTLY FLAVOURED CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE. IF YOU LEAVE THE CHOCOLATE OUT OF THIS CAKE IT IS MORE LIKE AN EGGY GENOISE.

THIS CAKE IS MADE WITH CHOCOLATE AND NOT COCOA UNLIKE MODERN DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE RECIPES. THE QUANTITY OF CHOCOLATE USED IS MUCH LESS THAN IN THE MODERN VERSION OF THIS CAKE. IT ALSO EMPLOYS BUTTER AND CALLS FOR WHIPPING EGG WHITES. THIS CAKE IS MUCH DRIER THAN CAKES WE ARE USED TO SO I WOULD SUGGEST BRUSHING THE CAKE WITH SIMPLE SYRUP TO MOISTEN IT. IVE MADE ADAPTATIONS TO THE RECIPE BELOW BECAUSE I FOUND THE ORIGINAL RECIPE BATTER TOO THICK TO FOLD EGG WHITES INTO.

ORIGINAL DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE RECPE (adapted from Sarah Tyson Rorer’s Cookbook)

 

Makes 2 8 inch round cakes

3 cups of Maida or all purpose flour sifted together with a pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons baking powder

450 grams unsweetened baking chocolate broken into pieces

1/2 cup commercial cream

1.5 cups water

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened

1 cup castor or granulated sugar

4 large eggs at room temperature, separated carefully

FOR ASSEMBLY

5-6 cups dark chocolate butter cream

Beat together 1 cup regular cocoa, 1/4 tsp salt, 3 cups confectioners sugar and 500 grams unsalted butter until fluffy, 2 tablespoons or corn flour dissolved into 1/2 cup of warm milk.

1 cup simple syrup (optional)

Boil together 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar until reduced to 1 cup. Cool.

 

METHOD

Grease cake pans and line with parchment. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare middle rack.

Heat the milk and water on a medium flame. When it reaches a bubble turn off the flame and stir in the chocolate pieces and keep stirring until completely dissolved.

Reserve.

Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer or use a hand mixer. Beat on medium speed until soft, fluffy and creamy. Add vanilla extract and whisk again. Add one egg yolk at a time and beat until well incorporated. Add the chocolate mixture and beat again on high speed until completely incorporated. You will have a thick batter.

Beat the egg whites on medium speed for 2 minutes. Increase speed until egg whites reach stiff peaks.

Slowly using a spatula fold these egg whites into the batter.

Divide the batter into the two cake pans. Smoothen the tops gently.

Bake in bottom rung about 25 minutes. Then move to middle rung for another 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Your cake will have a light mocha or caramel colour. The top will be cracked like this-

This is what the original Devils Food cake looks like even when I added extra chocolate

 

 

Cool completely before unfolding.

ASSEMBLE

Use a sharp knife to slice the uneven tops off.

Slice each cake into 2 equal halves. Glaze with sugar syrup if desired.

Frost each layer and then cover the entire cake with frosting.

Serve at room temperature.

Frosted 4 layer Original Devils Food Cake