Red Velvet Brownies

Red Velvet cake seems to be the trend at the moment, but the idea of colouring cake with food colouring seems very unappealing to me... Here is a healthy alternative - moist, dense, delicious and definitely worthy of such a beautiful name! The 'secret ingredient' - beetroot - gives the cake a lovely heavy brownie texture and a heavenly earthy flavour which goes so well with dark chocolate.

2 beetroot
100g butter
200g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa, chopped
1/2 cup unbleached caster sugar
3 eggs
1 cup plain flour
2 heaped Tbs cocoa

Preheat oven to 180•C.
Peel and chop the beetroot with rubber gloves on or you'll look like you've murdered someone! Cover and microwave with a little water for 10 mins or until tender.
Grease and line a square cake tin.
Drain beetroot then put in food processor with blade attachment with butter and chocolate - the heat from the beetroot will melt the chocolate. Process until it all melts together and becomes smooth.
Using a spatular, pour the beetroot mixture into a large bowl, then replace the blade attachment with beater. Crack in the 3 eggs and caster sugar and whizz on high until thick and the sugar is blended thoroughly with the eggs. Pour into the beetroot mixture and mix well.
Sift flour and cocoa into bowl and gently fold through then pour into the prepared cake tin and bake 30mins, or until skewer comes out clean.
Cool in the tin, cut into squares and dust with icing sugar.

10 Minute Double Choc Muffins

Simple enough to make before school, thrown together whilst eating a stand-up breakfast!

They are best eaten straight out of the oven - there's no butter which makes them very fast to make but the tradeoff is they don't keep so well, although the banana does make them deliciously moist! Freshen one up for your afternoon cup of tea by zapping it in the microwave for 10secs.

PS. This is a modification on a basic muffin recipe - if you omit the cocoa powder you can do almost anything. Swap half the SR flour for wholemeal, add nuts, sultanas, a chopped overripe pear or frozen blueberries, add a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on the top, whatever... just keep in mind that frozen fruit will up the cooking time to about 60mins. 

Makes 6

2/3 cup SR flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (optional)
2 heaped Tbs cocoa powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup olive oil
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 ripe banana, mashed well

Preheat oven to 200•C
Prepare 6 squares of baking paper to line the muffin tin with - I find this works better than paper liners which stick to the muffins!
Sift the 'dry ingredients' into a bowl. (flour, cocoa & sugar)
Beat the egg and add the 'wet ingredients' (milk & oil).
Pour the wet ingredients into a well in the dry ingredients and mix quickly together - you might need to add a bit more milk if its a bit dry here, but don't overmix or the muffins will be tough.
Add the choc chips and banana and mix through briefly, then divide the mixture into the cases, putting the baking paper squares in as you go.
Pop them in the oven and in 20 minutes they're done!

Christmas Cake

This is a really delicious baked Christmas Cake that will last for ages. There is no mixed peel in it as I hate it, but I've added macadamias which go slightly crunchy and delicious where they touch the tin. Unfortunately this means it doesn't cut particularly well, but that's just another excuse to clean up the crumbs! I prefer to split this recipe into two large cake tins - they cook better and one makes a nice gift, unlike the positively enormous boiled pudding my family used to make for Christmas Day - read below!

250g sultanas

1.25kgs mixed dried fruit - including raisins, currants, glace cherries, dates and figs and more sultanas if needs be.

1 cup brandy or sherry

230g butter

230g dark brown sugar

5 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 lemon - juice and rind

1 Tbs golden syrup

60g macadamias

230g plain flour

60g SR flour

1tsp mixed spice

Raw almonds and dried cranberries to decorate

Soak fruit overnight in brandy.

Grease and line base and sides of two large round cake tins and preheat oven to 160•C.

Cream the butter and sugar well then add the eggs and beat after each addition. Add the lemon juice and rind, golden syrup, vanilla and mix well. Add the marinated fruit and macadamias and mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients and stir (see below for instructions on stirring!). Pour into your cake tins and decorate.

Then bake in a low oven for 1 hour in the middle shelf. Put a tray of water on the lowest oven shelf - this is to keep the cake from drying out too much. Test the cake by inserting a skewer in the middle if it comes out clean the cake is cooked, but most likely it will need further cooking so turn the oven down to 140• and set your timer for thirty minutes to check again, then fifteen minutes if you need extra time. This way if you have two differently sized cakes you will make sure they are cooked beautifully. Allow the cakes to cool in the tin before turning out and then store them in an airtight container to keep moist.

The tradition in my family is for every member of the household to have a turn at stirring the cake for good luck - this includes all the children, and reluctant male members of the house too! I also distinctly recall that my grandmother was very particular that the pudding must only be stirred in one direction, and each year there would be a debate as to whether that was clockwise or anti-clockwise - hilarious!

My grandmother's pudding was a boiled one though, so I guess it needed a bit of luck... The mixture would be mounded onto an enormous piece of wet floured calico which would then take three or four people to help pull up the sides and secure with string, then the pudding would be lowered into a gigantic pot of boiling water where it would bubble away for hours and hours filling every corner of our huge terrace house with the delicious smell of Christmas. This was all in late October and once the pudding was boiled it would be hung in a corner of the kitchen on a broom handle where it would annoy my father every time he tried to open a cupboard door. I can still hear him shouting "How long is this pudding going to stay here Jean! mutter mutter slam...!" 

On Christmas Day the pudding would once again be submerged into boiling water to heat through for dessert, served with brandy butter and custard. Everyone was so fat and full by this stage but you daren't say you were too full to eat any!

Katrina's Weet-Bix Slice

This is a terrific recipe that got shared in the playgroup kitchen by Katrina, one of the Mums who was sick of us repeatedly asking her for the recipe every time she made it. Not only does it use up all the broken bits at the bottom of the WeetBix packet, but its fun to make with little kids as its all about measuring and mixing.

And this is a little poem I learnt at my first cooking class when I was about six years old which I now share with my children:

First the oven,

Then the tin,

Wash your hands

And then begin!

1.5 cups crushed Weet-Bix

1 cup SR flour

1 cup sultanas

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup raw or brown sugar*

1 cup milk, or soymilk

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 180•C. Mix all ingredients. Spread into a greased square cake tin and bake 30-45 mins, depending on thickness.

*The last time I made this I dropped it down to 1/2 cup of sugar but it really wasn't sweet enough. I waited til it was cool though and drizzled some lemon icing over it and it made a very nice change.

4th Birthday Ice Cream Cake

There are several reasons this cake is terrific: 

1. It requires no cooking or icing.

2. It can be made well in advance of the party, giving you the appearance of being organised. 

3. Kids LOVE it! 

This recipe makes one enormous cake, enough to satisfy the whole preschool class who will come back for seconds and even thirds if you let them, so you'll need a really big 25cm springform tin. 

2 litres Streets Blue Ribbon vanilla ice cream

200g butter, softened

1.5 cups pure icing sugar

4 eggs at room temperature

400g dark chocolate melts

0.5 cup thickened cream

250g packet tiramisu sponge finger biscuits

2 x 175g packets hundreds & thousands

Soften the ice cream by leaving at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. Then using a hand beater, cream the icing sugar and butter until pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Combine chocolate melts and cream in a microwave bowl and zap on high, uncovered for 2-3 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon until melted and smooth. Add to butter mixture and and beat until smooth.

Line the base of a large 25cm springform tin then cover the base with 1 packet of the hundreds & thousands. Pour in half the chocolate mixture, taking care not to disturb the hundreds & thousands. Cut the biscuits in half lengthways to make two thinner biscuits and arrange in a single layer over the cake, trimming them to fit. Next put the icecream in squashing down gently. Then repeat the biscuits, the chocolate butter mixture and cover with the other packet of hundreds & thousands. 

Cover tightly with glad wrap and foil and freeze overnight.

Plum Teacake

This is a twist on a favourite recipe of mine that uses tinned pie apples. Its so easy to keep a big tin of fruit in the pantry, the left overs of which are lovely to eat on breakfast cereal or with ice cream. The colour and fragrance of this teacake is delicious and lends itself very well to girlie tea parties.

180g butter, softened

0.5 cup brown sugar

3 eggs, beaten

zest of 1 lemon

1 cup SR flour

0.5 cup wholemeal flour

0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

0.5 cup milk

1 large can tinned plums

0.25 tsp allspice

1 Tbs brown sugar, extra

0.25 cup flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 180•C. Grease a spingform cake tin and line the base with paper.

Cream the butter and sugar well until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each is added. Mix in the lemon zest. Using a metal spoon, fold in the sifted flours and cinnamon alternately with the milk. Stir until just combined and almost smooth. 

Spoon half the mixture into the tin and top with the tinned plums, halving each and removing the seed, until the mixture is covered with a single layer of plum halves. Spread the rest of the cake mixture over the plums. Then combine the slice almonds, extra brown sugar and allspice in a small bowl and sprinkle over the cake.

Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean - check carefully that the centre of the cake is cooked as it may need an extra 8-10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside until you're ready to serve it as its lovely warm and particularly indulgent when served with cream.

Craig Bennett's Luscious Tropical Cheescake

This is one of those phenomenal desserts that will instantly hush a riotous dinner party as the guests are transported to taste bud heaven. It is not heavy like cheesecakes I have eaten in the past. In fact it is so light that before you know it you are holding out your plate for seconds...

Serves 12 or more.

2 packets White Wings Bakeo biscuit crumb crust mix*

3 x 250g packages cream cheese (1 packet 30% less fat)

250g low fat smooth ricotta

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 large can crushed pineapple in juice

2Tbs gelatine

1.5 cups thickened cream

1 cup fresh passionfruit

Drain the pineapple reserving half a cup of juice. Heat the juice in the microwave and add the gelatine stirring well until it dissolves. Put aside to cool. Then make up the biscuit crumb crust mix as directed and press into a very large springform cake tin and chill in the fridge until firm. 

In a large bowl mix together the cream cheese, ricotta and condensed milk until smooth. Fold the pineapple and gelatine juice into the cheese mixture with a wooden spoon. Whip the thickened cream until thick then together with the passionfruit fold gently into the cheese mixture. Pour all into chilled biscuit crust and leave for an hour or two to firm up. 

*Look for this in the cakes section of the supermarket. If you can't get it finely process 250g digestive biscuits and mix with 80g melted butter.

Carrot Cake

Bake this easy cake with your kids in the morning. Then take it straight from the oven, wrapped in a tea towel with a knife, some fruit and a bottle of water. Put your housebound kids and dogs in the car and drive to the nearest park. Pick a spot in dappled sunlight to spread a rug and enjoy life. Eating carrot cake cut straight from the tin - the outer edge crisp and crumbly and the inside moist and still warm from the oven - is one of life's most joyful pleasures.

1.5 cups self raising flour

0.5 cups of brown sugar

1.5 cups coarsely grated carrot

0.5 cups sultanas

0.5 cups chopped walnuts

zest of 1 lemon

1tsp bicarb of soda

1tsp cinnamon 

0.5 tsp ground ginger

3 eggs

2Tbs maple syrup

3/4 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 180•C. Butter one large, or two small loaf tins and line the base with baking paper. Sift flour and mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk eggs and wet ingredients then add to dry ingredients and mix til just combined. Pour into loaf tins and decorate with whole pecans and demerara sugar. Bake until a skewer comes out clean, approx 35-45 mins for a small loaf tin, or 1 hour for a regular sized tin. 

Chocolate Almond Cake with Rhubarb Cream

Rhubarb is one of the most beautiful plants in my garden with huge leaves supported on succulent ruby red stalks. The leaves are poisonous but the stalks are delicious stewed with a little sugar and served with ice cream or as a crumble base, or with chocolate...

This is the most sublime cake from Irish chef Rachel Allen who I adore. Recently I made it for Rose's Birthday Dinner and received the utmost compliment from one of our guests who asked if I'd bought it at Bourke Street Bakery. Need I say more!

125g Dark Chocolate

4 Eggs

150g Castor Sugar

150g Ground Almonds

150g Rhubarb, sliced into inch long pieces

2 Tbs Raw Sugar

Fresh Cream, whipped

Preheat the oven to 180•C. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Meanwhile beat the eggs and castor sugar for 5 minutes with an electric hand beater. Stir in the melted chocolate and mix well. Then gently fold in the ground almonds. Divide into two lined and greased 18cm round tins and bake 20 mins. 

Stew the rhubarb with sugar and water to just cover in a pot until tender. Allow to cool then assemble cake by sandwiching the chocolate rounds with rhubarb and cream. A truly decadent dessert.