June 4, 2017 / Lyn Jones / 0 Comments
12 serves
Ingredients
250g unsalted butter
4 cups SR
2 cups steamed pumpkin, mashed
2 tbs honey
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup Greek yoghurt
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
chopped pistachios to serve
chopped craisins, to serve
1. Preheat oven to 180°c. Grease a 3.5l (14 cup) capacity pan with butter and add 1 tbs of SR and to coat pan well. Tip out excess flour.
2. Combine pumpkin, honey & spices in a bowl. Cool then stir in yoghurt.
3. In a separate bowl, beat remaining butter & sugar together for 5 minutes until pale and creamy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in SR, in alternate batches with pumpkin mixture, until smooth. Transfer to pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour until cooked when tested. Cool in pan 20 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Place cake onto a cake stand. Mix icing sugar with enough milk until it forms a smooth icing. Stir in vanilla. Drizzle icing over cake with nuts and fruit. Serve.
NOTE: With your wooden spoon, stir the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. The butter is “creamed” when it has almost doubled in mass and it has lightened to a yellowish-white colour.
June 20, 2016 / Lyn Jones / 0 Comments
Serves 8
Ingredients
250ml marsala – try a little balsamic or acv?? google
100g + 3 Tab castor sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
4 firm pears: peeled, cored and cut into eighths
500g mascarpone cheese
1 ½- 2 cups Greek yoghurt
30 (300g) sponge finger (Savoiardi) biscuits – try almond bread slices
1 ½ cups strong espresso coffee
Cocoa powder, dusted, grated dark chocolate, and toasted hazelnuts, chopped (optional), to serve
- In a medium saucepan combine the marsala, sugar, water & vanilla and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears, cover with a cartouche (a round piece of baking paper to fit the saucepan) and reduce the heat to a simmer, cooking for 5 to 8 minutes or until pears are tender. Remove pears from liquid and set aside to cool. Once cooled, cut pears wedges in half.
- Meanwhile, using an electric mixer beat the mascarpone on low speed until smooth and gradually add the 3 tbsp sugar. Gently fold in the yoghurt and refrigerate until needed.
- Dip half the sponge fingers into the coffee – one at a time for a few seconds – and arrange in a single layer, trimming to fit, over the base of a 6 – 8 cup dish (eg 20cm x 20cm – at least 6cm deep).
- Arrange half the pears on top of the sponge fingers and drizzle with a little of the poaching liquid.
- Use a spatula to spread half the mascarpone mixture over the pears. Repeat with remaining biscuits dipped in coffee, pears, a drizzle of poaching liquid and remaining mascarpone mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Serve dusted with cocoa powder, topped with grated chocolate and hazelnuts, if desired.