Christmas Cake 2015

I bake Christmas cake using the same recipe every time that my family loves. Ironically everyone never gets to eat it on Christmas Day.  The day is always plenty of beautiful food and sweets.  However, we love Christmas cake, and we enjoy it throughout the new year. I bake the cake using the same recipe, it is a very rich dark fruit cake which keeps very well, it can last over a year and still moist and delicious.

A bowl of mixed dried, glace fruit,
nuts with rum, brandy, sherry
and soaked overnight

For this year, I will put away my family Christmas cake recipe which I used for the past years,  and I will be using the new recipe which I created by pinching from various recipes.  I believe it is going to work well.  It is a very rich dark fruit cake, and the preparation is much simpler.  I simply get commercial mixed dried fruit which comes in a kg packet.  To that, I will add a lot more dried and glace fruits and nuts as I think they are good to have.  I also won't restrict my self of using only one type of liquor, I will be using three mixed alcohols for the cake, and feed it with liquor-Brandy, toward Christmas.

Ingredients

Ingredients after adding chopped nuts, glace fruits, dates and three liquors.

My Christmas cake for this year is a festive, rich dark fruit cake, and this is the recipe.

Festive Rich Dark Christmas Cake.

Baking Tin (square) size 23 inches
Baking Paper
Line the baking tin with three layers of baking paper.  Prepare this the night before.

The Ingredients
2 Kg mixed dried fruits come in a packet of a one-kilogram.
(They are readily available from the supermarket, choose the brand that you are happy with)
400 g glace cherry
400 g chopped glace orange and pomelo (my homemade)
200 blanch almonds, chopped
250 g pitted dates, chopped
1 cup mixed brandy, rum and sherry
1 cup plain flour
5 cups plain flour extra
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon mixed spices: allspice, cloves and cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
500 g butter
5 cups dark brown sugar
10 large eggs
3 tablespoon treacle, 3 tablespoons warm water
Finely grated zest of one lemon.

Method
Combine all fruit in a large bowl, add the liquor and mix and toss, soak overnight.
The next morning, add in one cup of flour and stir.
Get the tin which is prepared ready, preheat the oven to 120 degrees C (fan-forced).
Place the flour in a small bowl and mix with the bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, and all spices.
Cream butter with an electric mixer until creamy and gradually beat in brown sugar. Add egg one at the time, followed by lemon zest, and the treacle mixture.
Fold in floured fruit.  Put the mixture on the prepared tin and spread evenly.
Bake for five to six hours, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven, and immediately brush with 1/2 cup of rum.
Cover with foil to trap the steam, and cover it again with a cloth (tea towel). And leave it for 24 hours or overnight.
Remove cake from the tin, and brush the cake with extra brandy or rum all over. Wrap it with paper, and wrap it again with foil then cover tightly with plastic
Keep it in a clean and dark place until Christmas.  Decorate with mixed glace fruits on top.
(It makes a large squire cake, 23 cm and the leftover can be baked onto a small square tin, 18 cm)

The Baking

Baking paper to line the tin

The tin is lined with 2 layers of baking paper.
weighted inside the tin to make the paper stay

The cake mixture is evenly spread.

Outside the tin is lined /wrapped with brown paper
before baking

The cake is cooked, baked for almost 6 hours.

The baked cake was brushed with extra rum, paper and foil put over it to trap the steam, and covered with a tea towel until it's completely cold.  It took about 24 hours at least.

Take off the paper and brush with extra liquor, brandy or sherry all over-the-top, the sides and the bottom.  Wrap it up with clean baking paper, then with foil and the last one with clear plastic. To keep, I wrap it again with the clean cloth, and now it is sitting in a cupboard until closer to Christmas.

Keeping the cake after baking

Now the cake is kept in the dark place to mature

Three days before Christmas day, I will dress it up with glace fruits, I am sure it will look pretty.   I am looking forward to tasting it, I hope it cuts well, is moist and delicious.

I am sure you had your Christmas cake organised long before, and it will be beautifully decorated.  

I also prepared this beautiful and luscious pear tart which is very sweet and so kind to share during the Christmas season. 

Poached pear in red wine, and the tin with the chocolate flavour pastry crust

Pear Tart is ready to be baked.

Freshly Baked Pie Tart

Pear Tart is Dressed

To Serve Beautiful Pear Tart
Simply Slice into Wedges

Slices of pear tarts to serve with hot coffee.

The ingredients for the Pear Tart:
Pear poached in red wine, shortcrust pastry (I did with chocolate and allspice flavour), almond meal and jam to spread over the crust before adding the pear.  Bake for 35 minutes over medium heat.  When it is cold, brush the tart with melted jam, honey mixed with liquor (brandy or cherry). Decorate the edges with pecan nuts and glace cherries.  It looks so beautiful and festive.
* The Pear Tart is easy to prepare and beautiful, it is a  festive sweet for Christmas*


It has been great preparing the Christmas cake with the new recipe.  I hope it is going to be good if not better.




Until Next Post
Susy

French Baguette - Close Enough.

Today I attempted to bake the most famous French bread, the Baguette.  I know for sure that it was not going to be the same with the One, but I tried my best to get a good result, which was close enough to It.

Based on the recipe I got from my reading, these were the quantities to make three sticks, and the key was using sour dough starter.  Due to not having the sourdough starter, I omitted this ingredient; instead I am baking plain Baguette by using extra active dry yeast.

The Ingredients
500 g white plain flour
1 cup of warm water

1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
2 teaspoons salt

I love baking bread, and I enjoy the kneading by hand.  Forget about the machine!

Knead By Hand
Put the flour on a work surface and make a large well in the centre.

Pour the warm water, (add a little more if you need ) and mix until the flour has been incorporated.

Keep in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth, let it rest for one hour.

Add the yeast, water, salt to the dough, knead it too becomes smooth and elastic.

Shape into a ball, put in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth.  Let rise for 1 hour and 30 minutes.  It will have increased in volume by the end of the rising time.

In the mean time, I could do other work, and I could go out somewhere as long as I am back in time for shaping the Baguette.
People always say I don't have time to do baking, especially baking bread, it takes too much time, I could get it from the shop anyway.   May be it is true, but you missed the fun of it.

The dough indeed have increased in volume
by 1 hour and 30 minutes rising time

Divide the dough into four equal pieces.

Fold each piece over on itself, pulling gently to stretch into a longish log.  Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Shaping:
The shaping is my own way, and they look almost similar, I have not mastered the shaping and scoring just yet.
The baguettes are on the tray to proof for one hour and forty minutes, and they are covered with the damp cloth.

Baguette Baking Tray

The baguette has been proof for 1 hour and forty minutes.

Place the baguette on a lined baking tray, dust with flour and make four evenly slashes a long the length of each baguette.

The Baking:
Preheat the oven to 225 degrees C, just before putting the baguette in the oven, pour 1/2 cup of water onto the preheated baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling tray.

Freshly Baked Baguette

They have a good crust, but the inside crumb is OK, good enough but not the best.

The baguettes look so good out and inside, even the crumb seems so right.

My assessment

• The first step: flour and warm water were incorporated, but it was so dry.  I was a little anxious to see that the flour mix was dehydrated and I decided to add extra water about 1/3 cup.  It became a hard flour dough. It did not look right.
• After one hour rested and covered with a damp cloth, the dough became relaxed and softer.  I added the rest of the ingredients, mixed and kneaded the dough.  But I was struggling, it was tough and sticky,  I need extra flour to enable me to incorporate the whole lot and to knead it to make a smooth and elastic dough.  All together I added 80-gram extra flour.
• The dough became smooth and elastic after the kneading, and I was happy about it.
• Now the dough was rested again, and I was looking forward, in 1 hour and 30 minutes, I expected to see that the dough would become doubled in size.
• After the time, the dough did not rise to double, but it was close enough, and the texture of the dough, was soft, light and spongy. Promising!
• The last proofing was one hour and forty minutes before baking, see what they look likes.
• Curiosities: what would the baguette look and what kind of texture would it have.

The Result.
These were the answers:

1. They looked pretty, just like baguette should be. 
2. The bread has to sound hollow when it is tapped, very crusty the outer, the crumb inside was too smooth but not fluffy.  
3. They were alright but could be better.

I think I did not do the right thing along the process.  I will do it again and work diligently and see what the result is going to be.   

I may have to get the sourdough starter and follow the recipe to a T.

Until Next Post
Susy

Javanese Cooking and Beyond.

Garnishes for Soto

Excellent dishes I did for Javanese Feast.  A Saturday in November, a friend, her family and their friends enjoyed these beautiful dishes.

My experience of cooking Javanese dishes was very tiring but fun.  Come to think of it. I have chosen the wrong menu. It was an excellent selection of dishes, but they needed thorough preparation and organisation on the day when they have to be presented and ready at 11.30.  That was a big call, and I was struggling, but I did it.  Thanks to a perfect helper.

People tend to think that I am very fussy.  Oh well, why not, to achieve the best is to be able and willing to work hard in detail. Javanese food is delicious, likeable and colourful, but it needs a lot of preparation and a perfect balance of flavour.   Soup is a simple dish, but not Soto (Chicken soup Javanese style).  It is very complex, it needs a dependable and precise preparation, from the broth to the garnishes.

Soto Garnishes before adding the broth.

The soup-the garnishes and the broth

Pictures below show how tasty and colourful the dishes are, how I prepared them and also what spices I used and last but not least, the garnishes for the presentation of the dishes.

I was pleased to cook Javanese cooking and happy enough to cook other dishes, such as pangsit, it is based on Chinese food.  The other one was bread with pistachio nuts, which is based on Western cooking.  The dumplings' wrapper was homemade, and I made them from scratch.  Rolling and stretching the pastry was good, but it took time.

Presentation of the finished dishes has to be pretty and perfect.

Garnishes-Fresh Flowers and Herbs.
I cannot ignore the fresh and the beauty of flowers, I use them for garnishes as well as eating them.

Garnish is a big part of my cooking presentation, I love to celebrate fresh flowers and herbs.

Lemper is a typical Javanese food, made out of steamed glutinous rice, stuffed with sweet, savoury meat.  In Java, every family has their own standard of making it, and here I do too.  And this is the way I do it, and how to present it.

Cooking the rice and the filling for the Lemper

The Lemper, decorated with Daun pandan and Roses

Lumpia

A  platter of accompaniment-garnishes for Soto, so fresh and colourful.  A plate of Loempia (pancake rolls stuffed with meat, vegetable and prawns) is garnished beautifully.

Garnishes for Soto-Soup Javanese style

The making of Lemper
Rolling the Lemper

Lemper is ready when it is cold, sliced into thin pieces.

Spices: a part of the herbs and spices.  All are Fresh

Soto
Preparation of the fragrant broth and the shredded chicken to accompany the Soto

Beautifully shredded chicken is ready to be lightly sauteed with yellow spices to garnish the 'Soto."



Perkedel-Fried Potato Dumplings is a part of the garnish for Soto.

Fragrant Broth and Garnishes for Soto Ayam
Herbs and aromatic herbs are added to the broth: turmeric, parsley, kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, ginger, galangal and white pepper.

Fragrant Broth for the Soto

Under Cover: perkedel, shredded chicken and fried shallots.ion

Open Pangsit - Beef Dumplings

Homemade Wrapper for dumplings

It takes time to roll to thin circles, but it is fun.

Beef Pangsist

Chicken Pangsit

Wajik, my interpretation of Kue Wajik (Javanese Sweet).  It is steamed sweet glutinous rice with coconut, sweetened with white sugar or palm sugar/coconut sugar.

Wajik Merah Jambu (Pink Wajik) flavoured with white sugar. 

Wajik Gula Merah-Wajik flavoured with palm sugar.

Platters of wajik garnished with Daun pandan works.

Wajik Gula Merah (the brown colour)

Pancakes

Loempia Basah

Pancake roll filled with mixed vegetables, meat and prawns.

Efficiently preparing the pancake, cooking two pancakes at the same time, it saves time.

Fresh Pancakes for Loempia

Filling for the Lumpia

(beef, carrots, cabbage, mung beans, fresh herbs and prawns)

A Platter of Lumpia

Chilli and Ginger Sauce to Serve for Lumpia

Using Flowers and Pandan Leaf

Beautiful Garnishes and Decoration.   Fresh and Fragrant.

Bread with Pistachio was a part of the Feast.

Freshly Baked Bread with Pistachio Nuts

The bread was wrapped in paper to keep fresh.

People are happy to have experience of Javanese meal, the savouries are delicious, but the sweet part is rather heavy because all the sweets are made of rice.

Wajik Merah Jambu

Wajik is made of glutinous rice, coconut and sugar: it can also be white sugar cake or palm sugar. 

Pandan Leaf

Pandan leaf is added to the cooking of wajik to give a lovely fragrance, especially for the wajik gula merah.

What is Pandan Leaf

Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the Pandanus genus, which is commonly known as pandan leaves, and is used widely in Southeast Asian cooking as a flavouring.

The characteristic aroma of pandan is caused by the aroma compound which may give white bread, jasmine rice and basmati rice  (as well as bread flowers) their typical smell. (Wikip)

To look back.  It was too ambitious to get the whole job done by one person, but no it was not, I was so fortunate to have Rayner to assist me (not the cooking as such).   I could not thank him enough, without his help, I could not finish it on time.  I am very grateful.

Other Javanese Dish 

Cooking for My Family

Bakwan

Bakwan is one of my favourites, it is mixed fried vegetables or mixed fried vegetables with prawns.  It is readily available in any street stall or in a restaurant in Java.  I did last time with pure mixed vegetable only, it was a delicious vegetarian dish for my family.

Cooking with leisure is fun, but cooking by the deadline is challenging.  The big cooking followed by a big mass in the kitchen, and it is not fun, it is a lot of work, but it got to be done.  Do I like to clean after my mass in the kitchen?, NO I DO NOT, but I have to,  just like most cooks do.  Lucky though sometimes I have good help.

No recipe on this post, I hope you enjoy the pictures and are glad to get to know about Javanese Cooking.

Until Next Post
Susy