Cook Along With Rich

Friday night Tv, Better Homes and Gardens if you’re a 7 watcher. Something to watch before the main event, which was Swans vs Hawks a delightful dessert as it happened with Hawks swooping fro the first bounce, magic footy. Still back to BHG, and one of the cooking items was this little beaut. Clearly registered in our heads since out shopping Saturday arvo and discussing what to get, we both jumped at apple and blackberry custard pudding. If you like the look then here’s the link https://www.bhg.com.au/apple-blackberry-custard-pudding

It’s a sponge based pud, using those traditional favourites of apple and blackberry, a sponge topping, but with a twist of custard, as in large dollops of the stuff in with the fruits and good spoon in with the flour “extra custardy”.

Here’s the doing photos, with the super prebaking lick the spoon part, only you don’t get to lick it, I did :)

Later perhaps I’ll add a cooked photo…but I’m likely to forget if I’m too busy with the eating part ;)

Update, all ready to eat!

...and now for something completely different yet very familiar!

These cakes popped into me Facebook feed this week. I thought at first they were some kid of Battenberg, and you know I like making those. But no, these are different. They’re a Malaysian layer cake, but specific to Sarawak they get seriously colourful, as opposed to just being a layer cake done Malay style.

I’m a believer in the power of the big old universe, so clearly I was meant to make one of these for Amanda’s birthday, I’d planned to take the day off, and as these cakes take more than 3 hours it was a good job I had.

Quite a bit of preparation, mostly counting how many bowls I’d need, the recipe seemed to just keep saying “in another bowl”!

Not shown is the first part, which was sifting the plain flour and cornflower into a bowl, or the second part, melting some butter and condensed milk, the purpose of that will be revealed shortly... That’s two bowls by the way...

Here’s the butter, sugar and egg yolks, condensed milk and sunflower oil, all ready to put to one side...while in another bowl... So bowls three and four...

Egg whites and sugar and cream of tartar, and whisking, ie meringue, but not to make a meringue...

So, here we have folded the meringue into the creamed butter, sugar and egg yolks, seven of those by the way, and this is the reduced egg recipe, and then folded the flour into that to get to the actual batter for the cake. But we have to divide into three lots, two small ones and a big one.

You take a little from each small bowl, oh, bowls five and six, but I’m reusing bowls now so I’ll,have to stop counting! Anyway, you put the colouring into the little you too out, mix up, and then fold back in. Separate spoons for the folding else it will go badly wrong. See last photo for what would happen if you did mx your red and green...not nice cake colour...

Now you put 100g of plain batter across the base of you square tin, and essentially grill, or top element cook. Out oven has manny setting, there was one with a top element, that had a default temp of 180, the recipe says 170, so I knocked it back to that but figured it was maybe the correct setting. I could have selected grill, like the recipe said, but I think this was better, as it was a little harder to burn the cake!

Remember that butter and condensed milk? Well, you brush that onto the thin layer you’ve just baked, 5mins turned halfway through. Then put 100g of green mixture on top and spread out, then back that fro 5mins, turning halfway.

You do that again back to plain mixture...

...and then again with red mixture...

...and then plain mixture...

...and green mixture...at which point you realise that taking the photos is a good idea...and also that you’d best list out the layers and tick them off as you do each, because otherwise you might forget what was next...

...plain...

...red...

And top off with plain....

Then get that put, let it cool, and get the rest of the plain mixture on the tray ie Swiss roll style...

Now this has cooled enough to get and and let cool some more...oooo you can see something here....

...now that’s cooled enough to cut...don’t worry, those trimmed off bits came to no harm...they tasted very nice, cooks privileges ;)

...and join, using condensed milk as glue, wrap and pop to chill for 30mins...

...there were still bits leftover...which I decided should be saved for later...

Now, wrap in the thin layer of cake...using condensed milk to glue...

Put in the fridge to chill for two hours...and let you awesome wife cut for her birthday :)

.now, in case you were worried about the leftover batter...don’t be, I made some little cakes with that...

...and yuk...green and red makes brown...the colour your plasticine all ended up as and the colour of the paint jar if you kept sticking the same brush back in...