Pear and Ginger Cake

This was a spur of the moment baking idea to use up a few ripe pears which didn't have much flavour. I didn't want a heavy gingerbread type of cake as it seemed too heavy for the exceptionally hot weather we're having at the moment, so I just added a little powdered ginger and some stem ginger (plus some syrup from the jar) to an all-in-one sponge cake mixture. I also drizzled some Dulce de Leche over the pears before baking to improve their flavour. This wasn't visible after baking, so just added to the sweetness rather than giving a visual effect. Because of the caramel, I reduced the sugar in the sponge mix slightly.

This was a moist but still quite light cake, with just the right amount of gingery tang and juicy pieces of pear. Some of the pears were still visible on the surface and some of the larger pieces sank, which was OK, as it gave a more random distribution. It made a great dessert with cream or yogurt.

I apologise for the poor photograph - by the time I realised I hadn't taken a good one, there was nothing left to photograph!

Ingredients

4 small ripe pears, peeled, cored, divided into 6 pieces and held in acidulated water while the batter is mixed.
Batter:

100g butter, softened

120g caster sugar

2 large eggs

50ml sour cream

150g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons powdered ginger

3 balls stem ginger, finely chopped

1 tablespoon of syrup from the ginger jar

75g Dulce de Leche 

Method

Pre-heat oven to 170C, prepare a 8" diameter round springform tin. (I line the base and grease the sides)
Place all the batter ingredients (except the Dulce de Leche) into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the batter is smooth. Transfer to the springform tin and level with a spoon.
Drain the pear slices and lay on kitchen paper to dry a little, then arrange neatly on top of the batter.
Drizzle the Dulce de Leche over the pears (I put it into a freezer bag, then cut off the tip to make a piping bag)
Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes until a test probe is clean. Cool in tin.

Caramel, Hazelnut and Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

with chocolate granola 'streusel' topping.

I searched for ages for a good basic recipe for a caramel cake, preferably using Dulce de Leche, but nothing seemed to match up to my memory of this recipe from Dan Lepard. The original recipe was simple to follow and made a light, well-flavoured cake.

This time I wanted to use the cake batter to make a bundt cake rather than two layers to be sandwiched together. I used already ground untoasted hazelnuts rather than toasting whole nuts and grinding them myself. I also added 100g plain chocolate chips to the batter. Before spooning the batter into the prepared bundt tin I sprinkled 75g of Dorset Cereal Chocolate Granola in an even layer around the base. (Still looking for ways to use this cereal!). The cake took about 45 minutes to bake at 180C. I cooled the cake for 15 minutes in the tin before easing it away from the edges and turning it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

I finished the cake with a drizzle of caramel glaze made by mixing 4 tablespoons each of icing sugar and Dulce de Leche, and a little water. I was a bit heavy handed with the water, and had used the last of my icing sugar, so the glaze was a little thinner than I had intended.

This cake had a lovely flavour, a subtle blend of chocolate, caramel and hazelnuts. The granola topping did not show up as well as I'd hoped, as the brand of Dulce de Leche I used gave the cake quite a dark colour, but it was evident as a different texture and flavour when eating the cake.

Malted Chocolate and Caramel Tart - Take 2

This tart looked, as the saying goes, like a right dog's breakfast! I made a real mess of the topping, which didn't work at all. The only reason I'm even mentioning it here is that I've cracked how to use the malted chocolate filling and dulce de leche together, and the tart tasted wonderful!

The recipe is one of Dan Lepard's, see here, that I've never managed to get right. At the end of my last attempt, I thought that perhaps using the chocolate filling on top of a layer of dulce de leche might work better than trying to 'gently swirl' the caramel mixture Dan uses into the chocolate. So this time, I baked the pastry case blind, and gently spread about 4 heaped tablespoons of dulce de leche onto the hot pastry, before pouring in the chocolate mixture.

This proved to be the right thing to do - but my mistake was trying to gild the lily with a swirl of pure dulce de leche as a topping. This caramelised during baking and sank into the chocolate mixture, leaving a swirly trench on top of the tart. However, the fudgy malted chocolate on top of a layer of dulce de leche worked really well and tasted rich and decadent. Definitely the way to go forward.

Dulce de Leche Brownies

with Pecan Caramel Crumble Topping.

I used this recipe as a guide, but reduced the sugar in the brownie batter a little, as I didn't have unsweetened chocolate, only 85% cocoa solids. I left off the fudge sauce topping, as I wanted a cake, not a sticky dessert. I also took a guess at how much dulce de leche to use, when converting to metric weights. As suggested in the recipe, I needed to add more flour to the crumble topping to get it dry and crumbly enough to scatter. I left out the cinnamon from the brownie batter but put it into the crumble topping.

The crumble topping was very hard after baking, although it seems to have softened a little during storage. The brownies were overbaked when I tested them at the minimum suggested time, so that might have contributed to the crunchiness of the topping too. The brownie part of the recipe was nothing special - it really needs to be richer - but overall these were saved by the nutty caramel crumble topping which gave a good contrast in texture and flavour. With either more chocolate or more dulce de leche in the batter, and a few minutes less cooking, these could become something very good. I guess replacing the reduced sugar would improve the texture too - we live and learn!

Here's my metric weight conversion, if you are interested.

Brownie Mix:
115g 85% plain chocolate
175g butter
200g caster sugar
50g dark muscovado sugar
50g dulce de Leche
3 large eggs
140g plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
80g Dulce de Leche, 60g plain flour, plus more as necessary, 3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 60g pecans, chopped small, 30g melted butter.

Malted Chocolate and Caramel Tart (without caramel)

or - the case of the disappearing caramel!

I'm a big fan of Dan Lepard's regular column in the Guardian Weekend magazine, particularly his cakes and desserts. Unfortunately I just can't get this recipe for Malted Chocolate and Caramel Tart right, but the malted chocolate tart filling is so delicious that I keep trying.

The problem is the uncooked chocolate tart filling is thick and fairly solid and the caramel sauce which is supposed to be swirled into it is not - it is like unwhipped double cream in consistency.

The first time I tried this, I just couldn't see how to get the caramel into the chocolate and, not wanting to spoil the dessert, ended up piping a caramel spiral on top of the chocolate and using a skewer to feather it into a spiderweb pattern. This was very pretty, but it was just a surface decoration and didn't use enough of the caramel to taste it in the finished tart.

This time, I managed to incorporate all the caramel into the chocolate, but it took a lot of effort and I may have stirred the two mixtures too much - when the tart was cut there was no sign of the caramel, it had all either been mixed into the chocolate by me, or been absorbed into it during cooking. All I had to show it had even been there was a few messy looking swirls on the surface.

The tart was still delicious - a dense, sticky, fudgy texture and rich chocolate malty flavour, with a crisp pastry shell, but I've decided to do without the caramel in future and just make a Malted Chocolate Tart. Or perhaps try a layer of dulce de leche underneath the chocolate?

In my opinion, best served at room temperature with whipped cream or creme fraiche.