The Good Cook » Recipes

Working With Sugarpaste Icing

Sarah — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 01:39:32 +0000

Sugarpaste icing is edible sugar dough that is used to cover cakes from small birthday ones to large three tiered wedding cakes. It is made of sugar and glucose and can also be called fondant icing. Pastry chefs that make elaborate cakes most commonly use it and it is also great for making edible decorations. Sugar paste is solid and white but food coloring can be added to it if other colors are desired. Sugar paste icing can be made at home or can be purchased from your local cake decorating store.
For those who have never used Sugarpaste icing, it may be a somewhat difficult task if you have no idea how to use it. In order to cover a cake with fondant there are steps involved. Continue reading to find out how to use this type of icing.
Step 1: Knead sugar paste in a smooth shape for the cake.
Step 2: Roll out sugar paste large enough to cover the top and sides of the cake.
Step 3: Smooth out the icing.
Step 4: Place cake on a shape board that has about 2 inches of extra space on each side. Room is needed to apply fondant correctly.
Step 5: Brush cake with sherry, or water.
Step 6: put both hands under sugar paste and lift it without stretching out the paste.
Step 7: Lay over the cake.
Step 8: Smooth the top with a smoothing tool.
Step 9: Smooth the sides of the cake using the same tool.
Step 10: Trim any excess from the cake.
Step 11: Smooth the edges of the cake and smooth out any other imperfections.
Step 12: Leave cake to set.
Using this type of icing is simple once you know how to use it. Some practice may be required before you can apply it to a cake perfectly. With sugar paste icing the decorating options are endless when it comes to cake decorating. They make cakes look amazing and they make them look like professional cakes. There is no point of wasting a thousand dollars for a cake when you can do it yourself.

Pasta with Prawns, Lemon, Chilli and Spinach

Sarah — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:51:04 +0000

Recently, I realised that my public library has cookbooks and food magazines. I still don’t get how I could miss that for months, but ever since I’ve been heading over there, it’s just across the street from my office, during lunch, flicking through magazines and books. I always felt kind of bad buying new books and magazines all the time, having hundreds of recipes that haven’t been cooked yet at home, plenty of cookbooks that have rarely been touched and a 100 meter long ‘to cook’ list from all the great online resources.

But now, without feeling bad, I can take books and magazines I like home, look at the beautiful photos, get inspired, cook the nice things and bring them back. It’s not the same – I know. But for me it’s a way out of my guilt without missing all the fun…

The recipe I’d like to share with you today is super easy and not rocket science, you probably wouldn’t even need a recipe for it. But for me, sometimes, it’s all about inspiration. Seeing some delicious prawns there, reading about citrus fruits here and having a craving for pasta. And that’s what comes out of it. Enjoy. I hope you like it.

Pasta with Prawns, Lemon, Chilli and Spinach.

Serves: 2 – 3

Ingredients:

250 g pasta
1 clove of garlic
1 red chilli, fresh
100 g cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon
400 g prawns
50 g baby spinach
30 g parmesan
Sea salt
Black pepper

Directions:

Cook your pasta in a large pot of well-salted water.
Crush garlic, deseed chilli and chop finely, cut tomatoes in half.
Shortly before pasta is ready, place olive oil and garlic in large saucepan over medium heat.
As soon as garlic starts to sizzle (ca. 30 seconds), add chilli and stir for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add tomatoes and cook for a further minute until tomatoes start to break down.
Add lemon zest, juice and prawns and heat prawns through for 2 minutes.
Drain pasta and add to prawn pan, add baby spinach and mix well.
Divide among serving bowls and top with grated parmesan and some sea salt and black pepper.

Note:- I recently just purchased a meat grinder and am looking forward to using it for homemade sausage so I’ll be testing that out soon!

Berry Pancakes

Sarah — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:07:29 +0000

Yes, yes, yes – Pancakes again. I put myself in for a challenge: find the best pancakes in the world. You can imagine how much Stefan loves me for that.

So I try as many recipes as possible and I will share all the good ones with you. So be prepared…

I like this one a lot, because it uses frozen berries. I love all kind of berries and have suffered a lot lately with being stucked in a cold and berry-less winter. So using frozen ones is a nice way of answering my craving for blueberries and more.

Berry Pancakes.

Serves: 6 x 10 cm pancakes

Source: ‘Every Day’ by Bill Granger

Ingredients:

90 g mixed berries, frozen
2 tbsp caster sugar
45 g standard flour
45 g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
125 ml milk
60 g ricotta

Directions:

Defrost and lightly mash berries, mix with 1 tablespoon sugar and set aside.
Sift flours, baking powder, salt and remaining sugar in a large bowl.
In a small bowl whisk egg yolks and milk together and add to dry ingredients. Stir until just combined and gently stir in ricotta.
Whisk egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into batter.
Fold in berries in a few strokes.

Preheat pan to medium heat. Using a pastry brush, brush some butter into pan. Wipe off excess with a folded paper towel.

Using a tablespoon pour batter in pan. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.

Repeat with remaining batter. You can keep finished pancakes on a heat-proof plate in the oven at 80°C.

Pita Bread

Sarah — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:04:33 +0000

After a long day at work, I wasn’t in the mood of cooking and standing in the kitchen for too long. So we had Chickpea Salad with Feta and Rocket. But I wanted to make something to accompany that. So I thought: Pita Bread with Cucumber Yoghurt would be nice. And it was nice. Very nice. And so quick and easy…

I used to buy Pita Bread at the store and I have to admit that the home made one doesn’t taste that much different, but it is a lot more fun to see them puff. And it’s cheaper, too. And you can make them when you need them. And you can make different shapes and sizes. Convinced?

It’s easier as you might think… So let’s get floury in the kitchen.

Pita Bread.

Serves: 8

Source: Based on Fool for Food

Ingredients:

250 g high-grade flour

1 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
140 ml water, lukewarm

Directions:

Dissolve yeast and sugar in lukewarm water and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
Add yeast and water to flour and knead for about 8 minutes (KitchenAid, Dough hook, Level 2).
Cover bowl with dry cotton cloth and let rest for about 1 hour.
On a flour surface, knead dough for about 1 minute and divide into 8 pieces.
Form dough into balls, then flatten with a rolling pin into 0.5 cm thick discs. Try and keep an even thickness as this is what helps them puff.
Bring a pan to medium heat and add one dough disk at a time. Cover with lid and cook for 2 minutes from each side. The lid on the pan traps the steam and helps them puff up.Tip: Wipe out the pan after making each pita, as the flour tends to burn.

Pasteis de Nata

Sarah — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:02:45 +0000

Pasteis de Nata

Back in Germany we had a nice tradition for Saturday mornings. We would get up early to go grocery shopping and on our way to the supermarket, we would stop at our favourite Portuguese cafe. We would grab a Galao, which is a Latte the Portuguese way, and a Pasteis de Nata.

They are yummy littley pastries with vanilla custard. I didn’t think of them in a long time, but when I saw them on Deichrunner’s Kitchen, I had a flashback and an immediate craving.

So I made them the next day and they were so delicious. I think it’s amazing how flavours remind you of situations, places, people…

You have to try them. Really.

Pasteis de Nata.

Serves: 12

Source: Based on delicious days

Ingredients:

200 g puff pastry, frozen
250 ml milk
125 g caster sugar
15 g cornflour
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp butter
1 egg
2 egg yolk
1/2 vanilla pod
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Defrost puff pastry and roll out to a 25 x 35 cm rectangle. Starting with the shorter side, roll up the pastry. Chill it in freezer until it becomes firm, but not frozen (about 20 minutes).
Cut dough roll in 12 equally thick slices. Form them into little cups with your hand and make them fit in a lightly greased muffin tray.
Preheat oven to 225°C.
In a small bowl combine sugar, salt and cornflour.
Split vanilla pod lenghtways and scrape out seeds.
Heat up milk, vanilla pod and seeds and butter in a pot. Remove vanilla pod when boiling, add sugar mixture and stir well. Bring to a boil again for a short moment until it thickens and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes.
Add egg and egg yolks and whisk well.
Fill the mixture into the pastry shells – half-full is enough.
Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. The pastries should become quite dark on top with ‘black dots’, which is typical for Pasteis de Nata.
Dust pastries with cinnamon for serving.

Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Pizza

Sarah — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:57:39 +0000

There is this lovely restaurant in Hamburg, Ottensen – the neighbourhood we used to live in. It’s called Eisenstein and has the most amazing Pizza.

I always struggled to choose between Fire & Flame, prawns, red onions, ginger and chilli and Dumb Goat, rosemary tomato base, goat cheese and crisp bacon.

When we moved to New Zealand, I missed this kind of Pizza a lot. So I tried to figure out how to make it myself and came up with this recipe for Pizza with Prawns. Have you tried it yet? If not, do so.

And then I came across Chaosqueen’s Kitchen’s recipe for the 21. Bread Baking Day: Dumb Goat a la Eisenstein. She simply made my day.

It is actually kind of tricky to find the right ingredients here in New Zealand, so I had to adjust the recipe. Even if not quite original, it was still yum… I hope you will like it.

Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Pizza.

Serves: 2 Pizzas

Source: Based on Chaosqueen’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

Pizza dough for 2 pizzas
300 g crushed tomatoes
2 tbsps rosemary, fresh
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
10 cherry tomatoes
150 g prosciutto
150 g goat cheese
1 tsp honey

Directions:

Chop rosemary and mix with crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper. Spread on pizza.
Cut cherry tomatoes in halves, cut prosciutto in pieces and slice goat cheese. Spread over pizza.
Sprinkle with remaining rosemary and honey.
Bake at 250°C for 10 minutes.

Chicken, Cauliflower and Bean Curry

Sarah — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:06:25 +0000

I really like spicy curries with a lot of fresh vegetables. When I came across the recipe for a Cashew Curry on the beautiful 101 cookbooks site, I made it immediately. It’s simple, it’s yum and you can swap the vegetables with the ones you have at hand.

I’ve slightly changed the recipe, as I am not a big fan of tofu and I didn’t have any cashew nuts. I am sure it will be even better with the nuts, so make sure you try it.

Chicken, Cauliflower and Bean Curry.

Serves: 2 – 3

Source: Based on 101 cookbooks

Ingredients:

250 g chicken breast filet
1 tsp canola oil
250 ml coconut milk
2 tsps curry powder, mild
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 red onion
1 clove of garlic
75 ml water
250 g cauliflower
200 g green beans

Directions:

Dice chicken breast filet and red onion. Finely chop garlic. Cut cauliflower into tiny florets and cut green beans into 3 cm segments.
Heat canola oil in a large saucepan or wok and stir fry chicken breast for about 4 – 5 minutes. Set aside and wipe out the saucepan or wok.
In the same saucepan or wok bring half the coconut milk to simmer. Whisk in curry powder and salt, working out any lumps.
Stir in red onion and garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in remaining coconut milk and water and add cauliflower and green beans.
Cover and simmer for about 2 minutes.
Add chicken breast filet and cook for another minute.
Serve with rice or pita bread.

Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Sarah — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:48:56 +0000

Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Didn’t I tell you that I am into healthy things? And that I don’t bake very often because we can’t eat all the stuff? Forget about that for a minute.

Ingredients
2 large eggs
200g caster sugar

zest from 1 lemon, finely grated
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

280g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder

250ml low fat greek yoghurt
120ml oil

icing sugar for dusting

Method
1. Whisk egg and sugar until pale, thick and creamy (3-4 minutes).

2. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat for a further 1 minute

3. In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Fold into the above mixture.

4. Mix in the yoghurt and then the oil.

5. Pour batter into a lined and greased 21-26cm cake tin. Bake at 180C in a preheated oven for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. Leave cake in tin to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cake rack to cool.

7. Dust with icing sugar (optional).

Note
1) Plain unsweetened yogurt can be used in place of greek yogurt. I use my own homemade low fat greek yogurt and pure vanilla bean extract.

2) 21cm cake tin : bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cake height 6cm/2½”.
26cm cake tin : bake for 35 minutes. The height of the cake is 5cm/2″.

Tip
This cake freezes well. Cut it into serving slices, arrange on a tray close together but not touching and put into the freezer. Once it is frozen, transfer the slices into ziplock bags. To serve, thaw at room temperature or microwave for 30 seconds.

Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Ricotta and Spinach

Sarah — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:12:32 +0000

Stefan doesn’t like pasta very much. If he would have to choose between rice and pasta he would always go for rice. But I’ll try to sneak some spaghetti and co into our dinner as often as possible…

So here is another simple and fresh dinner – great after a busy day at work.

Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes, Ricotta and Spinach.

Serves: 2 – 3

Source: ‘Simply Bill’ by Bill Granger

Ingredients:

250 g pasta
300 g cherry tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1/2 red onion
1 bunch of oregano, fresh
1 tbsp olive oil
30 g baby spinach
100 g ricotta
30 g parmesan
Sea salt
Black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Thinly slice garlic, red onion and oregano.
In a medium bowl combine tomatoes, garlic, red onion, oregano and olive oil. Place on a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes or until wilted.
Cook your pasta in a large pot of well-salted water. Drain and toss with the tomato mixture, spinach and half the ricotta.
Divide among serving bowls and top with remaining ricotta, grated parmesan and some sea salt and black pepper.

Cinnamon Espresso Cake

Sarah — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:01:37 +0000

On Saturday night we drove around the bay to have dinner with our dear friends. As usual the answer to ‘can I bring something’ was ‘No, not at all. Relax, don’t worry’… Mmh, but arriving with nothing is not very kind and nobody would dismiss some home made dessert I assumed.

The first thing that came into my mind was tiramisu. I haven’t had any for ages and my mouth was watering. But I didn’t have much time for grocery shopping and preparing… With the idea of coffee, chocolate and sweet in my mind, I browsed TasteSpotting and came across this Cinnamon Espresso Cake. It looked delicious, didn’t sound too complicated and so I found what I was looking for and gave it a try. I am not a big fan of icing, so I just dusted it with icing sugar and it worked just fine.

Cinnamon Espresso Cake.

Serves: 1 cake

Source: Based on vanilla sugar

Ingredients:

280 g caster sugar + 2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon + 2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp espresso powder
220 g high-grade flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
180 ml cream
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 g butter
90 g mini chocolate chips
30 g icing sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 23 cm cake tin with baking paper.
Melt butter on a low heat and allow to cool.
In a small bowl mix 2 tbsp caster sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp espresso powder. Set aside.
Sift flour, remaining caster sugar and cinnamonm, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl whisk cream, eggs and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet mixture over the flour mixture and gently whisk until almost combined.
Add the melted butter and mix just until the butter is absorbed.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips over the batter and then top with the cinnamon espresso sugar mixture.
Top with the remaining batter, spreading it evenly and slowly.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 – 45 minutes. Stand in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.
Dust with icing sugar.