Mudgee Part 2: Whole Orange and Duck Egg Cake

Hi everyone! I am poking my head out from under the mountain of assignments that are crushing my social and blogging life to bring you a continuation of my trip to Mudgee.  This one promises to be a goodie...Why? Because we have ducks.

The mere sight of these creatures makes my heart sing. To me, they are hilarious to watch and I wish could have taken one of them home with me.

I like to imagine them wearing tiny cowboy hats. 

In my opinion these ducks need names. Creatures that could potentially wear a tiny cowboy hats definitely need to have names. I need to set aside my assignments and do some brainstorming on this. 

Gateau au Chocolat Fondant de Nathalie

Dear Chocolate,

I love you but we both know that you are no good for me. I made a conscious decision to limit your appearance in my cooking for this blog because of, you know, the effect you have on me.

You tease me with your alluring aroma and dark, handsome good looks - I am powerless when you are around.

And I must say, you do look very dapper at this time of the year with your brightly coloured foil and shaped into eggs...oh who am I kidding, you are wonderful any time - especially when you are at your darkest. 

You always seem to be there when I am feeling down. You try to cheer me up, but after you have gone, all I have left is tight fitting jeans and a deep fear of the bathroom scales.

But you are back in my life and on this blog no less. I can't say I blame you, you needed to be here.

You are the star - this cake is and will always be a tribute to you.

I don't know who this Nathalie person is but I think that she might have once been in love with you too, to have this cake named after her. That's OK, I know you have had many lovers.

I'm glad you're here for this. Right now, I can't think of a better way to have you.  I took you to a dinner party and shared you with everyone there - they loved you too, especially when I covered you with gold dust.  The sheer richness and quality of you in this cake ensured that I only needed a slice and I was completely fine with that. I think I can handle you again in my life - maybe...

Gateau au Chocolat Fondant de Nathalie
Adapted from Chocolate and Zucchini which was adapted from a recipe by Trish Deseine.
200g 70% dark chocolate - the best quality you can afford, finely chopped
200g butter - the best quality you can afford, cubed
1 cup white sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon flour
Edible gold dust - optional

Pre-heat your oven to 190C and grease (with butter) a 20cm cake tin. Line the bottom of the tin with baking paper and grease the baking paper.

In a bowl over a pot of simmering water (or in the microwave), melt the chocolate and the butter together, stirring to combine. Add the sugar and stir until combined. Set the mixture aside to cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one by one whisking each egg into the mixture before adding the next egg. Add the flour and stir in well to combine. You will have a runny batter. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for around 20 to 25 minutes (checking after 20 minutes) until the cake has a barely there wobble in the centre and is slightly cracked on top.

Leave the cake to cool in its tin for around 15 minutes before carefully removing the cake from the tin onto a rack to cool completely. The cake will sink, it's inevitable and completely normal. 

This cake is best eaten the next day with nothing more than some softly whipped, unsweetened cream...and maybe a little edible gold dust painted on the top.

Peach and Ginger Pie

I’m really proud of this pie.

It has been something I have wanted to make for a very long time and it really tested my skills in the pastry-making department.

Making pastry is not something I felt entirely comfortable with in the past; it stressed me out and generally made me feel unhappy. You see, I am the owner of consistently warm hands. If you want to hold hands with me on a chilly day, I am sure it would be fine (just, you know, ask me first) if you are so inclined. 

However if you want me to make pastry for you – well, things get a little more complicated. These hands melt butter quickly and because I don’t own a large enough food processor (just a hand held attachment) to be able to make it in there my only option is to make it by hand.

My friend (who can whip up flaky shortcrust pastry by hand in a matter of minutes) uses a pastry blender to cut the butter through the flour and thus never needing to touch it. I got myself one of those do-hickeys when I was in America last year and I think it may be one of the best kitchen tools I own right now - pastry making wise. 

I had a little help from Maggie Beer too. Her sour cream shortcrust recipe is awesome. Three ingredients: butter, flour and sour cream makes for extra flakiness. This is now my go-to shortcrust recipe. 

When I was in Orange a couple of weeks ago, I made a little pilgrimage to Hillside Orchard where my family buys their seasonal fruit. I love to buy apples there in autumn but this particular visit had me walking out with a bag of lovely, fragrant peaches and the promise of pie dancing around in my head.

There is rum* in there and for me it is there purely for the fragrance. Peaches and rum are one of those wonderful scents that just belong together - like vanilla and pear, or tomato and basil. Introducing ginger to the pair was an experiment that went very, very well.  It harmonises with the peaches and rum in the fragrance department and then provides background warmth behind the delicately sweet peaches.  My mouth is watering just writing about this combination. 

So what have I learnt?

I learnt that I am no longer afraid of pastry and I do not need a food processor to make said pastry. I have also learnt that there are many paths to happiness, and if you take peaches, ginger and rum with you for the ride, you are sure to have a wonderful journey.  

*I purposely left rum out of the title for this recipe because although it is recommended - it is, of course, optional.

Peach and Ginger Pie

pastry via Maggie Beer 

Influenced by Smitten Kitchen

I used a 25cm metal pie dish

For the Pastry:

I made my pastry using Maggie Beers sour cream shortcrust pastry recipe – but I don’t have a large enough food processor so I used a hand held pastry blender (like this) to incorporate the butter. I also divided the mixture into two discs before refrigerating.

For The Filling:

6 Large yellow peaches (Approximately 1kg)

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 “thumb sized” piece of fresh ginger, minced

Approx 2 tablespoons of dark rum – optional

1 tablespoon of corn flour

Method:

• Bring a large pot of water to the boil and have a bowl of icy water ready. Cut a small X in the base of each peach.
• Plunge the peaches into the boiling water for a about 30 seconds and then remove them with a slotted spoon and place them directly into the ice bath.
• The skin should have loosened enough for you to peel it off easily. 
• Slice the peaches down the middle and remove the stone, then slice into wedges.
• In a bowl, toss the peach slices with the ginger, sugar, corn flour and rum (if you are so inclined) and set aside for about an hour to marinate. The sugar and corn flour will create a sauce and the ginger and rum will become one with the peaches.
• On a clean, floured surface, roll your pastry out into a disc about 5 mm in thickness and about 30 cm in diameter. 
• Fold the disc into quarters and place it in your pie dish with the folded corner facing the centre. 
• Unfold the disc so that it fits within your pie dish and there is a few cm of overhang.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C (fan forced)
• Roll the other disc out to the same size and thickness as the base and slice into approximately 2.5 cm strips.
• Spoon your peach filling into the base. There will be quite a bit of sauce left, you do not need to use all of this.
• Place every second strip of pastry over the filling going in one direction and then place every other strip over that in the other direction.
• Here is a good guide to assist you with creating a lattice effect.
• Brush the top of the pastry with milk or a lightly beaten egg.
• Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling.

Serve hot or cold with vanilla ice cream, cream or on its own.

Date and Walnut Loaf

Years ago in a past life I used to sell things. 
Sometimes it was fun and sometimes I was quite good at it. I didn't want to do it forever, so I stopped, but I still get the itch from time to time. For instance, I love to gently coax a friend into buying a dress that I know they will feel amazing in when they wear it out next. Or convincing another friend that they do look amazing in a hat (when they do) because not everyone can get away with wearing a hat. Some might say that I am spending (and wearing hats) vicariously - maybe so, but I do gain an immense amount of pleasure from someone I care about having something that makes them feel good.

So how do I sell you, person reading my blog that I care about, how do I sell you this seemingly dull looking date and walnut loaf? 

Miascia

Miascia.

Miaaaaa-sci-a (whisper it - it’s fun). Or do you pronounce it Mias-chi-a? My tenth grade Italian is a little rusty. However you pronounce it, this rustic Italian cake tastes as good as it sounds. Actually,“good” is a terrible word to describe the amazing-ness that is this cake-like dessert. Three adjectives that came to mind as I ate this are – thrifty, curious and crispy.