Category Archives: Cakes

Coffee and Walnut Cake in the Pressure Cooker

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I’ve recently been experimenting with cooking cakes in the pressure cooker. As we live off-grid, low-wattage electric ovens are only possible on sunny days and with all the rain we’ve been having over the last few days, this hasn’t been an option. So far, the cakes cooked in a pressure cooker have been a success and they come out cooked and moist.

So far, I have cooked an orange cake, brownies and today I wanted to see what would happen when I baked the walnut and coffee cake that I’d previously made in the mini electric oven.

I used a round 7 inch cake tin and lined it with a silicone BBQ liner that I’d cut out specially. This means that you don’t have to grease or butter the tin before making the cake and means you lift it out easily once it’s cooked so that it can cool.

 

COFFEE AND WALNUT CAKE

Coffee and Walnut Cake

CAKE INGREDIENTS

  • 65g walnut halves, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon coffee
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • a pinch salt
  • 115g butter, softened
  • 115g brown sugar
  • 2 medium eggs

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

  • 2 teaspoons instant coffee
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 12 walnut halves

METHOD

  1. Heat a frying pan and gently roast the chopped walnuts and the walnut halves.
  2. Prepare some strong coffee. You will need 1 tablespoon for the cake. You can also use this to substitute for the boiling water and instant coffee for the icing.
  3. Grease and line the cake tin.
  4. Coarsely grind 30g of the chopped walnuts in a food processor.
  5. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  6. Beat in the eggs.
  7. Gently fold in the ground walnuts, chopped walnuts, flour, baking powder and salt.
  8. Pour the mixture into the cake tin.
  9. Put 2 cups of boiling water in the pressure cooker and place a silicone mat on the bottom.
  10. Gently lower in the cake tin.
  11. Bring to pressure and then turn down the heat and cook for 30 minutes.
  12. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes.
  13. Quickly release the pressure.
  14. Remove the tin from the cooker and leave to cool for ten minutes.
  15. Lift out the cake onto a baking rack and leave to cool.
  16. Prepare the topping by mixing 2 tablespoon of boiling water and the icing sugar.
  17. Ice the cake with the topping and decorate with the walnuts halves.

Chocolate Brownies in the Pressure Cooker

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Although it was a beautifully sunny day today, the backlog of everyone’s dirty clothes meant that the washing machine had priority over the mini electric oven.

So, this is my latest experiment at cooking cakes in the pressure cooker and I wanted to give brownies a go . This time, I decided to make a chocolate pudding and wanted to try out the idea of one with a sauce. I wasn’t sure what the result would be in the pressure cooker, but it worked out perfectly and was delicious.

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS

    • 85g butter
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
    • 2 tablespoons water
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

    METHOD

    1. Line a 7″ cake tin with baking parchment.
    2. Place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan with some boiling water.
    3. Add the butter and melt over the heat.
    4. Stir in the sugar and cooked until melted
    5. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder, water and vanilla until smooth.
    6. Add the eggs and beat well.
    7. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and continue whisking
    8. Fold in the walnut pieces.
    9. Pour the cake mix into the cake tin.
    10. Pour 1 cup of boiling water into the pressure cooker and place a silicone mat on the bottom.
    11. Carefully lower the cake tin into the pressure cooker.
    12. Cover and bring to pressure.
    13. Turn down the heat and cook for 20 minutes.
    14. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes.
    15. Quickly release the pressure and leave the tin on a baking rack for another 10 minutes.
    16. Remove the brownies from the pan and leave to cool.
    17. Serve with ice cream or cream.

NOTE: If using a normal oven, cook the brownies at 160ºC (bottom + fan) on a central rack for 20-25 minutes.

 

Chocolate Self-saucing Pudding

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Here’s my second experiment with baking sponges in the pressure cooker. This time, I decided to make a chocolate pudding and wanted to try out the idea of one with a sauce. I wasn’t sure what the result would be in the pressure cooker, but it worked out perfectly and was delicious.

CHOCOLATE SELF-SAUCING PUDDING

INGREDIENTS

For the sauce:

  • 2 tbsp cocoa
  • 50 g soft brown sugar
  • 200 ml hot water

For the sponge:

  • 80 g soft butter
  • 80 g soft light brown sugar
  • 65 g self-raising flour
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 3 eggs

METHOD

  1. Butter the pudding basin.
  2. Make the sauce by putting the cocoa and sugar into a small bowl and using a wooden spoon mix in some of the hot water to make a smooth, runny sauce.
  3. Put all the pudding ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
  4. Pour the pudding mixture into the basin and pour the sauce mixture over the top.
  5. Cover with foil and tie a piece of string around the top to secure..
  6. Put 2 cups of boiling water in the pressure cooker and place a silicone mat on the bottom.
  7. Gently place the pudding basin on the bottom of the cooker.
  8. Cover the basin with a small plate and close the lid of the pressure cooker.
  9. Bring up to pressure and then turn down the heat and cook for 30 minutes.
  10. Quick release the pressure.
  11. Serve with vanilla ice cream or cream.

Lemon Sponge

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We’ve recently bought a mini electric oven so I’ve been experimenting with making cakes in small-sized tins. This one was a modification of Helena’s mum’s lemon drizzle cake recipe. I’d heard about the method of weighing an egg in its shell and then using the same weight of sugar, flour and butter.

My 2 eggs weighed 140g in total so I weighed out equal amounts of flour, sugar and butter. This was the perfect amount for a 220cm x 160cm x 5cm rectangular cake tin.

I’d got some icing left over from making a carrot cake so I spread this on top of the cake after pouring over the lemon drizzle.

 

LEMON SPONGE

This recipe is quick and easy to make and deliciously moist and lemony.

Lemon Sponge

CAKE INGREDIENTS

  • 2 eggs (weigh them with their shells)
  • (weight of eggs)g self-raising flour
  • (weight of eggs)g sugar
  • (weight of eggs)g butter, softened
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced (use the half the zest for the cake and the other half for the drizzle level teaspoon baking powder)
  • 4 tablespoons milk

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

  • 115g granulated sugar
  • juice of the lemon

METHOD

  1. Grease and line the cake tin.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar.
  3. Add the eggs and mix well.
  4. Add the other cake ingredients and 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and half the lemon zest and beat for a minute or so.
  5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes (or until cooked).
  6. For the topping, gently heat the sugar and the lemon juice until the sugar dissolves.
  7. When the cake has cooked, prick the top of the cake with a skewer and pour over the lemon topping.
  8. Serve with cream.

 

1-tin Orange Cake

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Note: reduce amount of flour and quantities
P1010514

INGREDIENTS:
2 large eggs
160g brown sugar
65g vegetable oil (almond oil, sunflower oil, etc.)
180g self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup orange juice
zest from 1 orange
1 orange, thinly sliced
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
2 tablespoons orange marmalade (optional)

METHOD:
Butter the tin and then sprinkle over some brown sugar and shake to completely coat the bottom and sides of the tin. Arrange the orange slices on the bottom of the tin so that they overlap slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy.

Gradually beat in the oil.

Stir in the flour and salt and then mix in the orange juice, marmalade and vanilla extract.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in an over at around 180ºC for 40 minutes or until cooked.