Pavlova 5 July 2010
Posted by Mekekamps in Baking, Cooking, Happiness, Life.Tags: Baking, cake, sweets, treats
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After my recent baking adventure making custard buns, I still had a whole lot of egg whites in the fridge. Being Dutch at heart, I really dislike throwing away food, so I thought I should attempt to make that fantastic cake Australians call their own (although the origins of the ‘Pav’ is sometimes disputed).
It turned out to be far easier than I had expected, and the result was divine. I even have a plan on how to make a cake derived from the Pavlova (although the Aussies might find this sacrilege…), but more on that in due time. First, here is the Pavlova.
Pavlova
Ingredients:
6 egg whites (the original recipe called for 4, but I had 6 left, so I increased all the amounts by half)
1.5 cups of castor sugar
0.75 tsp corn flower
1.5 tsp white vinegar
Whipped cream (300 mL), sugar and fruit to decorate.
Oven at 130 C, 75 minutes.
Method:
– Firstly, it is essential that there is no grease that comes into contact with the egg whites, or they will not stiffen! So use a clean bowl and make sure the beater is clean, too. I always wipe everything down with some extra vinegar, just to make sure, because there is nothing worse than eggs that won’t go hard.
– Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to form. Add the sugar one tablespoon at the time, continually beating.
– When all the sugar is in, beat until stiff. You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the egg falling out at this point. Be careful, though, if you fail at this stage, you will have a very messy kitchen, and no more egg whites.
– Sprinkle the vinegar and corn starch over the lot, and carefully fold into the egg. Make sure not to deflate the egg too much.
– Spoon onto baking paper on a baking tray in a circular shape. Make it about 4-5 cm thick, with a slight indentation in the middle.
– Place in a hot oven, and bake.
– When it is finished, leave the Pavlova in the oven to cool slowly. It will crack and sink a little, not too worry.
– When you are ready to eat it, decorate with cream and fruit.
– I used mango and strawberries (the latter of which I threw through a food processor, because they were frozen) with great dollops of cream.
Enjoy!
Custard buns 26 June 2010
Posted by Mekekamps in Baking, Cooking.Tags: Baking, sweets, treats
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There is something very relaxing about kneading, flour up to your elbows, knowing that what you are creating will be delicious. I am currently waiting for the dough to rise, so decided to blog about it in the mean time.
I first made these custard buns in Home Ed at junior high. Loved them then, love them now.
Note to self; when this recipe says ‘whisk’ it means combine, not beat with an electric beater. I ended up with extremely frothy custard!
Custard buns
Ingedients:
50 g margerine or butter
3.5 dL milk
4 g (half a packet) dry yeast
50 g sugar
0.5 tsp salt
~500 g flour
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For custard:
3 egg yolks
50 g sugar
2.5 tbs corn flour
2.5 dL milk
1 drop vanilla extract
40 g unsalted butter
Method:
– Make the custard. Note that you will have left overs with these amounts. I adapted the above from a different recipe, but I like home made custard for desert, so I never decreased the amount. I reckon about half would be enough, too.
– So, make the custard by ‘whisking’ the egg yolks, sugar and corn flour together.
– Add 2 tablespoons of the milk to the egg mixture. Heat the remaining milk and vanilla in a saucepan.
– When boiled, slowly pour the milk into the egg, mixing all the while to prevent the egg from cooking.
– Pour the lot back into the pan, and bring it to a boil over medium heat, while continuously stirring.
– Remove from the heat when it thickens, add the butter, combine, then leave to cool.
– Make the dough.
– Rise it to about twice the size (in hot, humid climes, you can place it outside under a wet teatowel).
– Divide the dough into about 10-12 equal parts. Lightly knead each part, then flatten to a piece of dough about 10 by 10 centimetres.
– Place the dough flap on your palm, then cup your hand to make a little bowl.
– Place one teaspoon of custard in the bowl, then close the dough around it. Make sure not to overstuff, because it will just leak out.
– Place the bun with the joint down onto baking paper, then cover with a wet teatowel again, and leave to rise 15 minutes.
– Bake in a preheated oven at 225 degrees for 15 minutes.
Enjoy.
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