Tag Archives: cake

Carrot Cake

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cortijoblog carrot cake

CARROT CAKE

I am still experimenting with using the breadmaker to make cakes and this is the recipe for a carrot cake I have just made. Next time, I will use two rectangular cake tins so that I can sandwich the two halves of the cake together.

carrot cake

Carrot Cake

This recipe is easy to prepare and only requires turning after 20 minutes.

 

INGREDIENTS for the cake

  • 85g walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1 orange, zested and juiced
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 175g brown sugar
  • 175ml sunflower oil
  • 1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 280g carrots, roughly grated

INGREDIENTS for the ICING

  • 50g icing sugar
  • 50g butter, softened
  • 100g cream cheese
  • 1 orange, zested and juiced
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

METHOD

  1. Oil and line the cake tins
  2. Measure out the flour, baking powder and salt.
  3. Add the sugar and oil to a bowl and whisk well.
  4. Break in the eggs and continue mixing.
  5. Gradually tip in the dry ingredients and beat well.
  6. Stir in 2 tablespoons of orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon, carrot and nuts, and mix well.
  7. Divide the cake mixture between the two tins and cook each one for 35 minutes (or until cooked) on the breadmaker BAKE setting.
  8. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a baking rack.
  9. To make the icing, cream the butter and icing sugar together until smooth.
  10. Beat in the cream cheese.
  11. Add the orange zest and lemon juice, and mix well.
  12. Put some of the icing on top of one of the cakes.
  13. Spread out with a knife and sandwich the two halves together.
  14. Spread the rest of the icing over the top of the cake.

Lemon and Olive Oil Drizzle Cake

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LEMON AND OLIVE OIL DRIZZLE CAKE


Lemon and Olive Oil Drizzle Cake

This cake is made from lemons and extra virgin olive oil. It is one of the cakes that I make in the bread-maker.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 250 g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 lemons
  • 120 ml olive oil
  • 100 ml milk
  • 275 g self-raising flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

For the drizzle

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 50 g sugar

METHOD

  1. The recipe uses 3 lemons. Zest all the lemons and use 2/3 of the juice for the cake and 1/3 of the juice for the drizzle.
  2. Place the silicone liner in an 18cm cake tin.
  3. Whisk together the sugar and eggs.
  4. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and milk, and mix thoroughly.
  5. Fold in the flour and baking powder.
  6. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the bread-maker on the BAKE cycle for about 1½ hours until cooked.
  7. Take the cake out of the tin and cool on a wire rack.
  8. Prepare the drizzle by heating the remaining lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan.
  9. Prick the top of the cake with a skewer and pour over the drizzle.

Non-stick Cake Liners for Baking Tins

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NON-STICK CAKE LINERS FOR BAKING TINS

In this post, I explain how to make your own non-stick, reusable baking liners for circular cake tins from fibreglass grill mats.

I have recently started experimenting with cooking and making cakes in the breadmaker. I found a recipe for brownies that I liked but I wanted a quick method that could be whipped up in minutes, without the faff of having to prepare the cake tin. Although greaseproof paper was the easiest thing to use, I wasn’t happy with the fact that you have to buy it and you can’t reuse it, and so thought about the idea of reusable cake liners. When I started looking, these do exist,  but they tend to be expensive and I saw one for about 30 euros on an Australian site.

BARBECUE MATS AND OVEN LINERS

After a bit of thought, I came up with the idea of using the grill mats that you can buy to keep your barbecue or the bottom of your oven clean. These are generally made of fibreglass and can withstand high temperatures. They are also quite thin (2mm thick) and so can be cut with scissors. I knew from the size of the greaseproof paper that I used to line the cake tin that the mats would have to be at least 34cm wide. As I’ve got a round cake tin, I also bought a compass.

MARKING THE GRILL MAT

I set the compass to the internal radius of the cake tin (8.75cm) and drew a circle in the middle of the grill mat. I put the point of the compass on the diameter and marked the points where the compass crossed to divide the circumference evenly into six.

The internal radius was 8.75cm and the sides measured 10cm. Adding these two figures together, I set the compass to this new measurement and drew a second circle with the same central point as before.

I cut out the grill mat round the second circle.

Using a ruler, I lined up opposite intersecting points on the first circle. I drew a line through them to connect the two circles. I then cut down from the outer circle to the first circle.

 

Fried Potato Cake

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cortijoblog fried potato cake

FRIED POTATO CAKE

This potato cake is similar to a potato rosti but in this recipe, the potatoes are sliced rather than grated. As you want to overlap the potato slices in the pan, it is best to avoid using large potatoes if possible.

fried potato cake

Fried Potato Cake

This recipe is easy to prepare and only requires turning after 20 minutes.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into 4mm slices
  • 2 tablespoons cornflour
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon salt

METHOD

  1. Put the potato slices into a bowl.
  2. Sprinkle over the cornflour, herbs, spices and salt.
  3. Mix well with your hands to ensure that every slice is separated and coated.
  4. Add some olive oil to a frying pan.
  5. Layer the potato slices in rounds in the pan, overlapping them to form concentric circles.
  6. Put a tight-fitting lid on the pan.
  7. Heat the pan until you can feel heat through the lid.
  8. Turn the heat down low and fry for 20 minutes.
  9. After 20 minutes, use an inverted plate to first drain off any excess oil and then to flip the cake onto the plate.
  10. Pour some of the oil back in and slide the potato cake back into the pan.
  11. Cover with the lid and cook for another 20 minutes.
  12. Serve.

NOTES

It is easy to adapt this recipe according to the number of people by using more potatoes and a larger frying pan if necessary.

Gluten-free carrot cake

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Gluten-free carrot cake
Serves 24
In this carrot cake recipe, polenta and ground almonds replace the flour and olive oil is used instead of butter.
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Cook Time
40 min
Cook Time
40 min
CAKE
  1. 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  2. 350g brown sugar
  3. 5 medium eggs
  4. 150g ground almonds
  5. 100g polenta
  6. 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  7. 1 teaspoon salt
  8. 125g chopped walnuts
  9. 500g grated carrot
  10. 1 teaspoon baking powder
ICING
  1. 125g salted butter
  2. 250g light cream cheese
  3. 250g icing sugar
  4. grated zest of 2 large oranges
TO MAKE THE CAKE
  1. Heat the oven to 180ºC.
  2. Line a rectangular cake tin (25cm x 29cm) with baking parchment.
  3. Beat the eggs, sugar and oil together in a large bowl.
  4. Sprinkle in the polenta, ground almonds, salt and cinnamon and mix well.
  5. Add the carrots and walnuts and give the mixture a good stir.
  6. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes.
  7. Test with a skewer to check that the cake is cooked.
  8. Cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a baking rack.
  9. Leave to cool completely.
TO MAKE THE ICING
  1. Cream the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
  2. Add the other ingredients and keep in the fridge until needed.
  3. Once the cake has cooled, spread over the icing.
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