Delicious Thermomix Chocolate Cake

This recipe has been adapted from one on the Thermomix Forum. It's such a great recipe and so many members have had success with it. Most use it as a base for birthday cakes because it's made in a slab tin.

I've reduced the original sugar content, used less eggs and also make it using the traditional cake making method.
It can easily be made in a Food Processor.

Chocolate Cake

170g butter (I use Dairy Soft for a softer cake texture)
260g sugar (process first if using coarse or raw sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb
40g cocoa - use the darkest you can find, Woolworths Home Brand is the best, believe it or not...
250g milk

Grease and line a small baking dish. I use the Scanpan one which is 21cm x 29cm.
Preheat oven to 160c fan forced.
Process butter and sugar at speed 5 - 6 for about 30 seconds or until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time. When adding the last egg, add some of the flour and cocoa mix.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients and the milk and process on speed 5 for a few seconds, using the spatula to assist. Scrape down and process again until all incorporated.

Bake for 40 minutes. Leave in tin for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out.

This also makes great muffins. Oven needs to be only a little hotter, around 170C. Bake for 20 -25 minutes.
Makes around 20, depending on size.

Buttercream Icing

125 g butter (real butter, not a dairy mix)
180g pure icing sugar
2 Tbsp cream or milk
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 Tbsp Glucose
2 tsp vanilla

Whizz all together for about 20 seconds. Scrape down and whizz again - about speed 5 or 6.

Favourite Cookware

Le Creuset

I'm a fan of really good quality bake ware and cookware. I use my Thermomix a lot, but when cooking larger quantities or things that the Thermomix isn't suitable for, I love my Le Crueset cookware. I only have two items that I purchased online and I use these over and over again.

I love the fact that I can brown meat in the pans and get a really dark caramelisation. The  dishes will go on the stove top or in the oven and can cook like a slow cooker. They wash up like a dream, absolutely spotless!

Le Creuset cook ware is an investment, it isn't cheap. It's sometimes available at a special price, but usually only limited colours. I really don't care about colour. I bought the red ones as only blue and red were available.
They're also very heavy, being enamelled cast iron, so not suitable for people who have arthritis or other conditions which would affect their ability to heft a full casserole from the oven.

I used to be a fan of Scanpan, but now only use their baking dishes. I bought the Scanpan frying pan and wok when they first came to Australia and was disappointed as they certainly were not 'non-stick'. The baking dishes, however, are exceptional. Definitely non stick and easy to clean.

You certainly don't need great quality cookware to be a good cook, but it does help. My eldest sister is an exceptional cook and has always had cheap saucepans and kitchenware. I honestly don't know how she's managed to produce the sort of food she has with only the most basic of equipment. It can be done, but I'd rather not have to.

Ice Cream Containers

What is it with the manufacturers of ice cream lately? Where have our normal ice cream containers gone?

I asked these questions of my local store owner and was very cross to find that Peters have sold out to Multinational giant, Nestle. How could they do that? I loathe multinationals and try to avoid buying these brands as much as possible.

Nestle, in their weird sort of wisdom, chose to make these strange little tubs with lids that are almost impossible to remove. I fight with the damn things every time my nearest and dearest wants to have ice cream with his dessert (sacrilege). My wonderful local store owner agreed that we should be using local products, so he now buys Bulla ice cream. But, low and behold, they also have the horrible containers with the impossible lids!

These containers may fit into the freezer a bit better, but you can't re-use them. In a world where we're being encouraged to "Reduce, Re-use and Recycle", why have companies taken away the good old ice cream container?

Perfect Patty Cakes

My family seem to love patty cakes. They're easy to eat, especially since they can be just grabbed, even with hands covered in grease, and quickly devoured.
I still go by the name "Patty Cakes", the Australian name, not "Cup Cakes", an Americanisation that is creeping in to our vocabulary.
My no fail recipe is a beauty, because it was originally a food processor recipe, so is perfect for the Thermomix.
I use paper patty pans, available from supermarkets and specialty stores.

Perfect Patty Cakes

240g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
220g butter, softened
150g castor sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs

Place butter, vanilla and sugar into the Thermomix bowl and mix on speed 4/3 minutes, scraping down frequently.
Add eggs one at a time on speed 4 and mix for around 30 seconds each. Scrape down in between. Mixture will curdle due to the ratio of egg to butter.
Add sifted flour and mix on dough setting/30 seconds or until incorporated. Use spatula to assist.
Use ice cream scoop to half fill patty pans and bake at 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes.
Recipe makes around 16.

Ice with buttercream icing. The following recipe makes heaps of icing, but it keeps in the fridge for a few weeks. It's adapted from a recipe by Serious Cakes and is fabulous for piping.
I haven't tried this is in the Thermomix yet, but it would be excellent as sometimes the mixer can put unwanted air bubbles in the icing.

Buttercream Icing/Filling

300g salted butter, softened
145g Copha, softened (or other vegetable shortening)
5 Tbsp Cream
2 tsp vanilla
780g pure icing sugar
3 Tbsp glucose

Soften copha over hot water, stirring regularly until smooth and creamy. Add to softened butter and mix with electric mixer until creamy and lighter in colour. Add vanilla. Slowly add icing sugar and continue mixing for about a minute. Add glucose and, depending on the weather, the amount of cream necessary to achieve a good consistency. For piping and in warmer weather, 2 tablespoons may be sufficient.
Add more cream if using as a filling.
Do not refrigerate iced cakes.

I've adjusted this recipe by using less sugar.

My Blog Personality

Just for fun, I used Typealyzer to analyse my blog's 'personality'.
It's fairly accurate, I think:

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Yep, I think that's me....

Quick Tuna Risotto

It seems whenever I have a big breakfast, I'm hungry again around lunchtime.
Today was no execption. Bacon, eggs, tomato and spaghetti for breakfast on a slice of gorgeous homemade bread at 9am (yes, we had a lie-in today), then hungry at 1 o'clock!

I've been in the kitchen most of the morning, baking more patty cakes and a carrot cake. I knew ol' Herman would be able to whip up a super quick risotto, so looked around for inspiration and spied a tin of tuna in spring water in the pantry. This recipe is enough for two people (or one greedy person!).

Tuna & Spinach Risotto

1 small onion, quartered
20g oil
1/2 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup tuna juice
small tin of tuna in spring water
zest and juice of 1 lemon (make up to 1/2 cup with water)
handful of spinach leaves (mine were from the garden)
parsley
1/2 punnet or so of cherry tomatoes

Grate the lemon rind with the parsley leaves for a second or two and set aside. I don't do this myself, as I have a whizz bang zester and I just use scissors to chop the parsley into the bowl.

Turn Thermomix on to speed 5 and drop onion on to blades, (cover with hand quickly) for a couple of seconds. Scrape down and blitz at speed 4 for a second or two if necessary. Scrape down again.
Add oil and heat at Varoma for 2 minutes/speed 1. Add rice and cook at same temperature for a couple of minutes.
Add wine, water and tuna juice and cook for 10 minutes/100/speed 2, reverse. Add lemon juice and rind and cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes or until rice is almost cooked. Add spinach leaves, tuna, chopped parsley and tomato and cook for 2 minutes/ reverse/speed 1 - 2. Use Thermomix spatula to help incorporate spinach.

You could add parmesan cheese, but I was so hungry, I just poured it into my bowl and scoffed it. Lemon pepper woud also be a nice addition. It doesn't need extra salt as the tuna is salty enough.
Sorry, no photo - too hungry!

Serious Cakes

I've been watching some videos of a very clever lady, known as SeriousCakes in the US about decorating with Buttercream Icing. She does some amazing things, albeit a little over the top - garish colours and enough buttercream to drown a cat.
Her videos are very entertaining with little snippets to read and beautiful music to listen to while you watch.

I thought I'd try one of her cake recipes, she calls it yellow cake. I converted the recipe using an online conversion tool and thought it sounded a little out of whack:


2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (250g plain flour)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening (220g)
2 cups sugar (385g)
4 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups milk (385g)

The closest thing I could find to vegetable shortening (they use the brand name Crisco), was Copha, which is coconut shortening. I used one third butter and two thirds copha. I couldn't bring myself to use 2 cups sugar, so I reduced to 1.5 cups, or 190g. As I was adding the milk, I knew it was way too much as the mixture was curdling, so I reduced it to the 300g. The mixture was still curdled, so I added another cup of flour, around 150g.

So, that made it a whole new recipe!  The mixure still looked a little like it was curdled and the taste wasn't flash because I hadn't added any salt. 

The warm cake tasted delicious, light and fluffy, though slightly 'eggy'. However, once cold, the cakes were firm and quite fatty tasting. I played around and made SeriousCakes Buttercream with Copha and butter and decorated them with little stars. I'm taking them up to Footy for afternoon tea. They looked really amatuerish, but the little girls will love them!