Caramel dessert cake

… but it doesn’t have to be dessert.

Caramel dessert cake

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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Cakes, Slices & Breads, Desserts
Servings 12

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups Self raising flour
  • 100 grams Softened butter or margerine
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 cup Caster sugar (I measured 1 cup then removed a tabsp or 2)
  • 1/2 cup Milk
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 1 tin Caramel pie filling

Instructions
 

  • Put all ingredients into the mix master bowl, mix on low then 3/4 speed for 2 minutes.
  • Spread cake batter in a lined lamington tray aprox (33x23cm). Blob on enough caramel so that when you cut into squares, each square has a bit of caramel on top but don't don't cover the whole top, you may not use all of the tin.
  • Bake in a preheated 180*C oven for about 20-25 minutes. Let almost cool in the cake tin before turning out so that the caramel is set on top. Cut into squares or fingers and serve as is, with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Notes

As an alternative to caramel pie filling use chocolate pie filling.
Yes this does freeze with the caramel or chocolate filling, cut into squares first.
Use pie apple instead of the choc or caramel filling but I would not freeze.
Use pineapple tart filling instead of the choc or caramel  on top.  Possibly freeze but I have not done this.

Cake freezing

I don’t know about anyone else but when I bake a cake, unless it’s for an event, I use half then slice and freeze the other half.

Before freezing the cake I always slice it as that makes it so much easier to grab out a piece.   Just pop in container and take to work or school for lunch, it will be defrosted by morning tea.

Therefore I have a tendency to make my cakes square, in a slice tray or in a loaf tin.  Why not round cakes?  Because I find wedge pieces of cake don’t fit in my containers very well and a nice square piece or a rectangular piece of cake fits in so nicely.

An alternative to above is to bake your cakes in muffin trays or cupcake moulds.  Just because the recipe says layer cake does not mean it can’t be baked in a slice tray or as cupcakes.  Make them to whatever fits your needs best.

Pineapple tarts

 

Pineapple tarts

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Course Desserts, Snacks & Sweets

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 Quantity short sweet pastry
  • 1 x 400 gram can Crushed pineapple
  • 1 1/2-2 tablespoons Corn flour (corn starch)
  • 1-2 teaspoons Sugar if needed.

Instructions
 

  • In a small dish add the cornflour and a little pineapple juice to make a paste.
  • Tip crushed pineapple into a saucepan adding the cornflour paste, stir until thickened on a medium heat. Set aside to cool to about room temp.
  • Preheat oven 180*C. Roll out and cut pastry to line a 12 tartlet tray (or the bottom of a pie dish) and blind bake cases for 10 mins. (don't forget the paper lining between pastry and rice or beads)
  • Take out rice or beads from blind baking and fill with the pineapple mix. Bake for a further 10-15 mins until pastry is golden.

Notes

Serve with ice cream, whipped cream.
Sprinkle on coconut or eat just as they are.
Keep in fridge.
If you wish to use the full pastry mix double the pineapple recipe.
Can be done with puff pastry, the blind baking a must to at least half way.

Sweet short pastry

 

Sweet short pastry

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Course Desserts

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup Plain flour
  • 1 cup Self raising flour
  • 125 grams Shortening (butter)
  • 2 tablespoons Caster sugar
  • 1 Egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup Cold water (approx)

Instructions
 

  • Sift flours into a bowl and rub shortening through until crumb like. Alternatively put flour into a food processor and blitz shortening until crumb like.
  • Add sugar and mix in.
  • Add lightly beaten egg yolk and water to the dry ingredients and mix to a dough. Cover and set aside in the fridge for 15 mins or so to make rolling easier.

Notes

Can freeze this dough, cling film with no air and a sealed bag.  I divide into 2 or 3 portions.

Pancake tarte tatin?

Yes I like to mix and match my dishes.

Last night’s dessert was simple,

1 batch of pancake mix.

1-2 sliced bananas.

2-3 tablepoons of brown sugar and 2-3 tablepoons of butter.

Spray oil your frying pan. Your pan on a stove top half to 3/4 heat.

Lay in your banana slices, sprinkle with the sugar and dob on the butter.

Pour your pancake mix over the bananas. I use about 2/3 of my mix in my stove top smallish fry pan. (How much mix you use depends on how many you are cooking for and how big your pan is, go with what looks good.)

I pop a lid on for the first 2-3 minutes to seal the top.  Take off the lid and check doneness of the pancake, leave lid off to keep checking the centre is cooked.

When the pancake is cooked through, put a dinner plate over the top of the pan and turn out.  This gives you the banana on top and pancake on the bottom like a tarte tatin.

Cut into wedges and serve with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup or pouring cream.

Yes you can probably do this in the oven but I’ve personally not tried making it that way.

Add more sugar or butter if you wish to make more of a syrup in the bananas. Add a dash of cream.

Try with thin slices of apple instead of the banana.

With the little bit of left over batter I made a few pikelets for morning teas for work.

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