New tool – Ganache Calculator

The first tool has landed – the Ganache Calculator!

If you’re wondering what the tool is for, it’s so you can estimate in one sweep the total amount of ganache you’ll need in order to cover and fill your cakes. The tool will also provide a break down based on ingredients, so you can ensure you have the right amounts of ingredients on hand, and take the guess work out of making it. The tool comes with the following customisations:

  • Set the cake measurement units to what you prefer to work with – inches vs centimetres
  • Dynamically add and remove as many tiers as you need
  • For each tier, you can choose:
    • Which chocolate type you’ll want for the ganache – choose between dark, milk and white chocolate
    • What the shape of the cake will be – round or square/rectangle
    • How many layers will the cake have, for when you are wanting to include ganache filling into the calculations
  • Toggle between metric and imperial measurements for the ingredient amounts (grams vs ounces, millilitres vs fluid ounces)
Add and delete as many tiers as you like
When you’ve finished adding your cake tiers, click the “CALCULATE” button to get your total amounts

I hope the tool is useful for all you cakers out there. If you have any feedback, comments or issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Cake: Review of Sally’s Baking Addiction’s recipe

One evening I found myself with 2 zucchinis starting to look sad in my fridge. I’d bought a bag of them earlier in the week and suddenly found myself wondering how else could I possibly use up these last two? I’d run out of creative ways to sneak them into our dinner menu, and while my son did eat it (mostly…), I don’t think he’d be too happy to see them on his next dinner plate. So off I went to Google for a different kind of recipe that used zucchinis, one that I knew he’d be excited to try.

I’d heard of zucchinis being used in cakes so thought I’d run with that (afterall, I’m a baker), surely this is doable and my son would eat it – right? I Googled for “chocolate zucchini cake recipe” and off I went rummaging through the results.

As I’m sure many of you know, it can be quite overwhelming looking through stacks of results, and I usually narrow my options down based on reviews. On this occasion though, I decided to go with a website that I was familiar with – Sally’s Baking Addiction. I use her Salted Caramel Sauce recipe all the time (and it’s sooooo gooood!). So I felt confident that her Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipe should also be good.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I split the batter across 2x 7″ tins and cooked with cake wraps at 150 degrees Celsius. I loved how each cake baked flat on top – no torting required!

On this occasion I decided to pair it with chocolate cream cheese frosting – only because I just happened to have a block of cream cheese sitting in my fridge that I thought could help cut through the sweetness. I have to say, on that note, mission failed haha The richness of the cake paired with the richness of the frosting was quite overwhelming. Even a small teeny piece needed a cuppa to help wash it down. Next time, if I needed to pair it with something, I would opt for something less rich and less sweet, like some simple Chantilly cream or vanilla meringue buttercream.

Slice of Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Overall it’s a moist, delicious chocolate cake and a wonderful way to use up and sneak in some zucchini. If you wanted to tone the chocolate sweetness down a tad, you could even reduce or omit the chocolate chips (I did enjoy the extra texture having them in there though – so perhaps could sub with some chopped nuts instead). I would definitely recommend giving this recipe a try – I know I’ll be revisiting it again 🙂

Cinnamon Apple & Ricotta Cake

A review and remake of the BEST Cinnamon Apple Cake

Jump to Recipe

Sitting in my fruit bowl sat two rejected Pink Lady apples – sad to not have made it into our week of fruit intake. “Fear not”, I thought as I held them in my hands, “for I am a skilled baker and will find a delicious way to bring new life to your existence!”

I started Googling for a cinnamon apple cake recipe. I have made a gluten free French apple cake before for a work morning tea (which was absolutely sublime), but I really felt like something a bit more cinnamony (totally a word…).

Short on time, I went with the recipe that had high review rating, but also boasted being the BEST – right there in the title. So I loaded up the Sweetest Menu’s recipe for The BEST Cinnamon Apple Cake, feeling confidence that I would be eating a scrummy cinnamon apple cake in no time.

Source: Sweetest Menu – I couldn’t go past this delicious looking apple cake

Scrolling through the ingredients, I pulled out everything onto the bench one-by-one – except when I got to the last ingredient. Ah crap – I didn’t have Greek yoghurt. No matter – I pulled out some buttermilk (to help bring in the acid required), and ricotta to help thicken it to more of a yoghurt consistency. That’ll do – I want this cake!

I didn’t know how it was going to go, but after baking for about an hour, my house was seriously smelling amazing! Apples and cinnamon filled the air as I took it out of the oven. I lightly tapped the top and was delighted that the Cinnamon Topping provided a caramelised crunch topping. I was salivating.

It tested my patience having to wait for it to cool. I think I lasted all of about 30 minutes before I caved – one small piece… The top crunched as the knife cut downwards, making way for the super-soft cake interior, with slight pressure at the points where I cut through the apple pieces within.

As I took that first bite – I realised that this cake was something very special that I would be remaking in the future. I love cinnamon apple desserts – my Dad (being Austrian), often baked apple strudels from scratch. It was a staple in our culture. This cake hit all the right notes with the cinnamon and apple. Sure, it doesn’t offer the flaky pastry – but for those short on time, this is a wonderful substitute to use up some apples. And it’s got fruit it in – so how bad can it be? 😉

You may notice that I did not add the extra icing sugar glaze. This was purposeful. I don’t think it really needs it (I thought it was sweet enough), but if you wanted to jazz it up a bit, some drizzled over the top would definitely do the trick.

Cinnamon Apple and Ricotta Cake

A remake of the BEST Cinnamon Apple Cake recipe found on the Sweetest Menu website.
Prep Time 45 mins
Cook Time 1 hr
Total Time 1 hr 45 mins
Course Dessert, Snack
Servings 12 Slices
Calories 263 kcal

Equipment

  • Peeler
  • Electric scales
  • Measuring cups
  • Measuring spoons
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Medium mixing bowl
  • Sieve/Sifter
  • Whisk
  • Spatula
  • 8" Cake Tin
  • Cake wrap (options)

Ingredients
  

Cake Batter

  • 2 apples Pink Lady, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 210 g plain flour sifted
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda sifted
  • 150 g caster sugar sifted
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 120 ml oil rice bran or vegetable
  • 60 ml buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup ricotta full fat

Cinnamon Topping

  • 20 g salted butter melted
  • 50 g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 150°C (fan-forced). If using cake wrap, get that soaking. Grease and line an 8" cake tin.
  • Peel and roughly chop 2 Pink Lady apples. Toss in cinnamon to coat. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, combine the sifted dry ingredients – plain flour, baking soda and sugar. Add in the cinnamon apple pieces and gently toss in the dry ingredients mix.
  • In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients – eggs, vanilla extract, oil, buttermilk and ricotta.
  • Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir until combined. Pour into prepared cake tin and set aside to make the Cinnamon Topping.
  • In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar and cinnamon, Mix well, and then sprinkle over the top of the cake batter.
  • Place the cake wrap around the cake tin, and bake in preheated over for approximately 1 hour. Use a wooden skewer to check for doneness in centre of cake (you should not see any wet cake batter).
  • When cooked, remove from oven and set aside to rest in the cake tin for 10 minutes, before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool.
Keyword Apple, Cake, Cinnamon, Ricotta