Red Velvet Cupcake

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Garnish with chopped pecans and a fresh raspberry or strawberry.

Cook's Note: Frost the cupcakes with a butter knife or pipe it on with a big star tip.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com

Traditional British Fish and Chips

Traditional British Fish and Chips

Recipe courtesy Grant MacNaughton, Mac's Fish and Chip Shop
Published on The Foodnetwork

Ingredients
6 to 8 cups peanut oil, for frying
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces amber beer
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
Directions
2 teaspoons Essence, recipe follows

1 cup rice flour
2 pounds haddock or other firm, white flesh fish cut into 4-ounce strips
Perfect Fries, recipe follows

Lemon slices or pepper vinegar

Heat oil in large pot or in an electric deep-fryer to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, beer, eggs and half of the salt, pepper, and Essence. Whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Dredge the fish in the rice flour. Working in small batches, submerge the fish in the batter and carefully place into the hot oil. Fry the fish until golden brown on the first side, about 2 minutes, then flip and cook until golden on the second side, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Remove the fish from the fryer and transfer to a wire rack positioned over paper towels or newspaper so that the fish can drain. Season, to taste, with some of the remaining salt, pepper, and Essence. Repeat the process for the remaining of the fish.

Serve the fish and chips with slices of lemon or pepper vinegar.

Rocky road ice-cream cake

Rocky road ice-cream cake

Ingredients:

2 litres low-fat vanilla ice-cream, slightly softened 2 cups chopped raspberry and vanilla marshmallows 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts 3/4 cup dark chocolate bits 220g frozen raspberries 2 tablespoons chocolate topping fresh raspberries, to serve


Instructions  and steps:

Step 1 Line the base of a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper. (Or, use a regular cake tin, and line the base and sides.)

Step 2 In a large bowl, combine ice-cream, marshmallows and nuts. Stir in chocolate and raspberries.

Step 3 Spoon into prepared tin and firmly push mixture to edges. Smooth top. Cover and place in freezer for 2–3 hours, or until firm.

Step 4 When ready to serve, loosen edges with a small spatula or knife and turn out onto serving a plate. Drizzle top with chocolate topping and serve immediately, either plain or with raspberries.

more info at: http://www.healthyfoodguide.com.au/recipes/2009/december/rocky-road-ice-cream-cake

Baked Beans on Soda Bread Toast

Full of beans: Tom Kerridge's baked beans and toast

A recipe from the heart by:

Tom Kerridge
This is one of the first dishes that I ever cooked, albeit from a can. Everyone loves baked beans, and my home-made version is really worth the effort. These will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator in a sealed container. They are also very good as part of a full English breakfast, or you could add curry powder when frying the onion to make curried beans.


The joy of this soda bread recipe is that it is so easy to make. It’s not proven bread, so it won’t sound hollow on the bottom if you tap, but you’ll know when to take it out of the oven because it will be golden brown and smell fantastic.

Serves four to six

400g dried white beans, such as haricot
5 tbsp rapeseed oil
200g smoked streaky bacon in one piece, diced
200g chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, grated
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
150g soft dark brown sugar
200ml red wine vinegar
500ml water
Salt and pepper, to taste
For the soda bread
340g plain wholemeal flour
340g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
45g butter, softened, plus extra for spreading
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper
625ml buttermilk

To begin the baked beans, cover the white beans in cold water and soak overnight.

Meanwhile, make the soda bread. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Put both flours, the butter, bicarbonate of soda, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Stir in the buttermilk and use your hands to mix all the ingredients together until a soft dough forms. Transfer the dough to a greased baking sheet, pat into a loaf and dust with a little extra flour. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake the bread for 45–50 minutes until it is wonderfully golden. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

After the beans have soaked overnight, drain them and put them in a large saucepan. Cover them with water and bring to the boil. Drain the beans again and return to the pan. Cover with fresh water and return to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for about one hour until the beans are just tender.

Top up with boiling water, if needed.

Drain the beans and set aside.

Heat the rapeseed oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the bacon and fry, stirring, for about five minutes until it is crispy and the lovely bacon fat and flavour is in the pan. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and continue stirring for three to five minutes until the onion is softened.
Add the canned tomatoes, tomato purée, sugar, vinegar and water and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the beans, reduce the heat to very low and leave to simmer, uncovered, for 1½ to two hours until the sauce is thick and the beans are soft. Season.

When ready to serve, preheat the grill to high. Slice the soda bread and toast until crisp and golden brown.

Spread the toast with butter and serve with the baked beans.

Tom Kerridge’s 'Proper Pub Food' (Bloomsbury) is available to order from Telegraph Books

PEAR WITH AMARETTO LIQUEUR

Ingredients:

21/2 tablespoons butter
21/2 tablespoons sugar
4 ripe firm pears peeled and thickly sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoons grated lemon zest
¼ cup white wine
2 tablespoons Amaretto
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup crumbled amaretti biscuits



Directions:

Grease a shallow baking dish with a tablespoon of the butter. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of the sugar. Arrange the pear slices, slightly overlapping them to cover the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and zest. Pour the white wine and Amaretto evenly over the pears. Cut remaining butter into small pieces and evenly dot the pear slice with them.

In a small dish, stir together the remaining sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle evenly over the pears then top with the crumbled amaretti biscuits.Roast the pears, in a 400F (200 C) oven basting 2 or 3 times with the pan juices until tender about 20 minutes.Divide pears among individual bowls and serve with icecream or custard.