Pastel Tres Leches - Three Milk Sponge Cake

We first had a piece of this cake when our friend Nancy, she is from Ecuador, prepared it for a dinner party and it was a hit. I must admit that the first we had a piece of this cake, Amanda and myself fell instantly in love with it. This type of moist cake is very famous in Central & South America and there are many ways to prepare this cake but our favourite is the Mexican style. In fact I followed the recipe that I found on All Recipes México and it came out perfect. In this recipe I have done everything from scratch and was very proud of myself that I managed to cook the perfect sponge cake. 

I previously made this cake using premade sponge or even premade sponge mixture from a bag, but to be honest, the amount of chemicals, additives and glucose-fructose syrup made me make my own sponge from scratch. The sponge for this cake does not contain any fat at all [fat meaning butter or oil], reason being the cake needs to be light and fluffy so as it can soak all the milky goodness without becoming a stodgy and heavy cake that sticks to your mouth. 

I decided to make this cake for a dinner party to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, it was a potluck dinner party and there was so much food and desserts and we had so much fun. Anyway, everyone loved our Tres Leches and when I went back for seconds I only found a sliver left. I was happy, that meant only one thing...our friends loved it!! Yay! 

It is very easy and quick to prepare and all you need is a hand held electric mixer and 2 large mixing bowls, well apart from the ingredients obviously! :) This is what you will need...

• 1 cup [225g] caster sugar
• 5 eggs, yolks and whites separated
• 1/3 cup [80ml] whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup [125g] plain flour
• 1 ½  teaspoons baking powder
• 1 can (397 grams) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can (410 grams) evaporated milk
• 1 ¼ cups [300ml] double or whipping cream
• 8 fresh strawberries, to decorate

How to...

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease a 23cm cake tin and dust with flour, remove any excess flour.
2. In a medium bowl place the egg yolks with ¾ cup sugar and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy and whitish in colour. Add the milk, vanilla, flour and baking powder and mix all until well blended. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and they form peaks. Whilst beating, gradually add the remaining sugar. 
4. Now gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Do not over mix. Pour into the cake tin.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if it is done.
6. Take out of the oven and let cool in the tin for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the sponge from the tin, use a knife to help you. Transfer on a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Whilst the cake is cooling down make the milk mixture by mixing the condensed milk, evaporated milk and ¼ cup [60ml] of the cream into a bowl using a hand whisk. Take a cup of the mixture and set aside. [You can use this later or in a smoothie], you can also add this in too if you want your cake to be extra moist. Put the sponge cake into the serving tin or back into the cake tin. Prick the sponge with a fork in various places and pour the milk mixture and leave it to soak for about 20 minutes until the milk is soaked up by the sponge.
8. In the meantime, whip up the rest of the cream and cover the cake with it. Decorate with the strawberries. Put in the fridge for about an hour before serving.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Reduced Sugar Ovaltine & Dates Cake

Hello all hope you are all well!! So, after a sabbatical month of not blogging, here we are with a new recipe for you all. Apparently Ovaltine cake is a wartime classic here in Britain and here is our take on this cake recipe. I reduced the amount of sugar and increased the amount of dried fruit. I also used rice milk instead of dairy milk and the cake turned out surprisingly light. You can, of course, use cow's milk. It turned out so good and because it is not overly sweet I cheekily spread some proper butter on a slice of this tasty cake whilst it was still warm. Heaven!! The ingredients down here are for a small cake so feel free to double the amounts for a larger cake.  Give it a go...very easy to prepare. For a small cake you will need...

• 170g self-raising flour
• 40g caster sugar
• 70g chopped dried dates
• 3 tablespoons Ovaltine
• Pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 cup (240ml) rice milk (or cow's milk)

How to...

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, Ovaltine and sugar. Mix them well with a wooden spoon.
3. Add the chopped dates and rice milk and mix well until you get a runny batter.
4. Pour into a silicon mould or a lightly greased small loaf tin.
5. Bake into the preheated oven for 50 minutes.
6. Serve warm with or without butter.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Morello Cherries & Walnut Cake

Morello cherries in syrup are on offer at Aldi at the moment so had to buy some. These cherries are also known as sour cherries and wild cherries, they are quite tart on their own. In fact, they are mainly found sold in syrup and ready pitted. Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are the main producers of this fruit. Friday night after work I wanted to bake, as you do haha and found this recipe online, so I tweaked it a bit and this delicious cake came to be. It is sweet, sour, crunchy, moist and the Marsala really gives it that unique taste. I prepared it in less than 15 minutes. We do not like frosting and icing that much so we do not frost our cakes, that is why the picture looks the way it does, we love our cakes fresh out of the oven!! Give it a go, you will need...

• 350g Morello cherries, drained
• 120g chopped walnuts
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 60ml Marsala
• 150g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a 22cm round cake tin or alternatively line with baking paper. 
2. Place sugar, eggs and Marsala in a bowl and mix with an electric whisk for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl combine the flour, salt, walnuts and baking powder, mix well. Fold in the egg/sugar mixture until everything is combined well. Now fold in the cherries and mix well again.
4. Bake into the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes or until you insert a skewer and it comes out clean.
5. Cool into the tin for about 10 minutes and take out of the tin and serve. Maybe with some cream or ice cream. :)

Enjoy!!

R&A

Caribbean Halo

Who doesn't love a piece of delicious and moist cake? We made this cake yesterday and it turned out a super hit. It is absolutely divine and heavenly. We used fresh coconut, which made it even better tasting and obviously that wee bit of booze just gives it that kick. We named it Caribbean Halo for obvious reasons, sweet banana, exotic pineapple, fragrant coconut, rum turn this cake into a tempting delight. You will need...

• 280g [2 cups] plain flour
• 100g [½ cup] caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 banana
• 400g can pineapple cubes in own juice (weight including juice)
• 1 cup fresh coconut flesh, chopped or 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 1 tbsp raisins
• 1 tot rum or brandy

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
2. In a blender or food processor, blend the banana, rum or brandy, pineapple with juice and coconut for about 20-30 seconds until the coconut pieces get smaller. If using desiccated coconut you can omit the use of a blender and use a masher to mash everything instead.
3. In a large bowl sift the flour, add the sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix them with a wooden spoon. Add the fruit mixture and raisins to the bowl and mix well until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Pour into a well greased Bundt pan and bake into the preheated oven for 35 minutes.
5. Take out of the oven and let the cake rest in the tin for 15 minutes and then turn onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Chocolate & Banana Loaf with Flax Seed

We discovered flax seeds not long ago and I must say they have a distinctive taste which I loved. Flax seeds are meant to be very healthy and are classified as a power food. Flax seeds are nothing but Golden Linseed which if bought from health stores as such will cost much cheaper than buying the milled flax seeds. Just freshly grind your own when you need them, they can be used in baking, savoury and sweet dishes, and also to sprinkle on salads. They add quite a crunchy texture, do make sure that you grind them though as all the nutritious stuff is in the seed itself and your body will not absorb the nutrients through the seed. This delicious chocolate banana loaf can be served with a warm cup of tea with or without some cream or even ice-cream!! Give it a go, the unique taste of linseed will give this loaf a delicious flavour. You will need...

• 80ml (1/3 cup) milk
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 225g (1 ¾ cups) strong wholemeal flour
• 65g (½ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• Pinch ground cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 150g (¾ cup) caster sugar
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp flax seeds (linseed), ground
• 1 tbsp porridge oats

1. Start by mixing the milk and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside so it curdles (about 30 minutes)
2. Preheat the oven to 190 deg C. Grease a 9x5 in loaf pan and set aside.
3. In a bowl mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt and set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until creamy and smooth, I used an electric mixer. Mix the mashed bananas, milk/vinegar mixture, olive oil and vanilla extract and mix well.
5. Now mix the contents of the two bowls, add the liquid mix to the dry one and stir until you incorporate all the ingredients into a moist batter. Pour the batter into the loaf tin.
6. Bash the flax seeds into a mortar & pestle or spice grinder and grind coarsely. Spoon the ground seeds on top of the batter and using a clean teaspoon, stir into the batter with a slow movement so as the seeds are in the batter.
7. Sprinkle with the porridge oats and bake in the preheated oven for an hour. Leave to set for 10 minutes, carefully remove the loaf from the tin and then serve warm or let cool completely.
   

Enjoy!!

R&A