gabriella

Baked white chocolate cheesecake

matthew@nuwavedesign.co.uk (Matthew McAuliffe) — Tue, 21 May 2019 12:37:19 GMT

Deliciously creamy white chocolate combined with mascarpone, what’s not to love! This baked white chocolate cheesecake is incredibly easy to make and is the perfect dinner party dessert! I like to team this with my homemade baileys ice cream but equally it goes just as well with a few raspberries and some raspberry coulis.

Ingredients:

300g Milk chocolate digestive biscuits
100g Melted butter
500g Good quality white chocolate (I use callebaut or divine)
300ml Double cream
4 Eggs
100g Caster sugar
425g Mascarpone

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and butter an 8” cake tin. Crush your biscuits in a bag, I usually use a rolling pin and then tip them into your tin and pour in your melted butter. Using a spoon or your hands press it around your tin making sure you press down firmly. Bake for 15mins.
Once your based is baked take it out of the over and reduce the heat to 160 degrees. Put your chocolate and cream into a sauce pan and melt the chocolate, make sure you keep an eye so the chocolate doesn’t burn. Once melted remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Beat your eggs and sugar until pale and then add your mascarpone. Continuing to whisk add in your chocolate and cream mixture and only mix just to incorporate. I always think over beating a cheesecake will cause it to sink.
Line the outside of your tin with some tin foil making sure it’s up all the sides and then prepare a water bath, the tin foil stops any water getting into your tin. Tip your cheesecake mixture into your prepared tin, put it in the water bath and bake for 1 hour 15. After the time is up turn off the oven and leave it to cool for another hour in the oven, remove from the oven and leave to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours before your serve and enjoy.

I recommend preparing this the day before your dinner party or in the morning just to allow any extra time for resting. Baked cheesecakes cannot be rushed, but the wait it worth it.

Love the pudding girl xo

Panettone

matthew@nuwavedesign.co.uk (Matthew McAuliffe) — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 13:59:10 GMT

A traditional Italian Christmas cake, this light and fluffy sweet bread is full of festive flavours and a really delicious alternative to the typical English Christmas cake. It’s great with a cup of tea, or spread with mascarpone – and any leftovers make great bread and butter pudding. This recipe makes four large Panettone, so halving the recipe might be a good idea if you do not want to make so many, but it does keep well and I’m certain it won’t last very long – it doesn’t in our house! It must also be made a few days before you want to eat it, to allow resting time.

Ingredients:

Starter:

1kg Strong bread flour

500g Milk

100g Egg yolk

200g soft butter

10g of fresh yeast

The Panettone:

Your starter

300g strong bread flour

15g salt

300g sugar

150g egg yolk

200g soft butter

700g selection of dried fruit, sultanas, candied fruit and chocolate chips (you can also make this just chocolate chips and it tastes amazing!)

30g honey

50g milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

Equipment:

A mixer

Panettone cases, which can be bought online or a Panettone tin – Lakeland sell a great one, alternately you can use the bottom of a giant cupcake mould.

First of all, you need to make the starter of the panettone. Place the flour, milk, egg yolk and yeast in a mixer and mix until your dough starts to form and becomes shiny, then add the butter and continue to mix for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once that time is up cover your bowl in Clingfilm and let it rise for 10 – 12 hours, until the dough has risen to four times its original size.

The next day, place your starter, flour and milk in the mixer and mix until the dough becomes shiny again (when I say shiny, it really does become shiny, you’ll be able to tell). Add your sugar and mix just to incorporate. Whilst mixing add in your egg yolks and your butter and continue to mix, then mix in your vanilla essence and honey. After five minutes, whilst everything is still mixing add in all your fruit and chocolate. This whole process will take one hour and once you’re done mixing leave your dough to rest for another hour and again it will rise to four times the amount.

After resting, turn your dough out on the table and divide it into four, shape it into balls and place it in moulds. It then has to rise for another five hours in a warm place, if it’s a little cold it may take a little longer to rise.

After this second resting period make a cross in the top and put a tablespoon of butter in the cross. Bake at 180 degrees for one hour or you can test with a thermometer which should reach 92 degrees.

Once out of the over the panettones must be hung upside down for 24hours, this is important so the panettones don’t sink. We usually hang them by piercing large metal kebab skewers through the bottom of the panettone, and rest them on boxes.

After 24 hours your panettone is ready to eat. Please remember to prepare this well in advance if you need it for a special occasion and enjoy

Love the pudding girl xo

My top tips for baking

matthew@nuwavedesign.co.uk (Matthew McAuliffe) — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 13:12:15 GMT

So, it came to me the other day, that I’ve actually been baking for ten years now, how did that happen! Ten years ago, I was 16 and I had just started out at catering college, hoping to be a chef, like my dad. However, that didn’t really go to plan. Ten years ago I also quit catering, decided to concentrate on just pastry – Absolutely hated pastry, still got my qualification though, moved onto art and design which I studied for 3 years and then went onto another 3 years at university, getting a degree in fine art, in the middle of that I studied floristry as well, I then went on to study teaching which I did for two years, got the qualification and then decided after all that time…to go back into pastry and cake making *face palm* But hey! I guess I needed to find myself and all that!

I’m completely self-taught in cake decorating, my dad has had a big influence though and teaches me a lot about baking and cooking, mainly Italian. Having now realised I’ve been baking for ten years, I thought i would share with you all my little tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way. I know a few people have said to me that they find baking quite daunting, so hopefully these useful tips will help you bake with ease.

1. Good quality ingredients.

I know some may disagree with me but in my opinion if you can afford to buy a better quality of something, then do! Once you see the outcome of one of your bakes and knowing it works for you, then why would you do anything different. I always use callebaut chocolate and vanilla beans, I find that spending just a little bit extra on higher quality ingredients will always give a better result, which is the taste and you’ll 100% be able to tell the difference.

2. Weighing your ingredients and following the recipe.

I know this is a bit of a no brainer, but seriously weighing your ingredients accurately is super important. I recommend investing in some digital scales. If your new to baking then following the recipe step by step is a must, read it before you even begin so you can get a rough idea of what it’s asking you to do. As time goes on and you become more confident you can start using recipes as a guide and you’ll learn to adjust them and experiment a bit. I also, cannot stress enough about using a good recipe from a trusted website, or even better a good recipe book, I always find it easier having a book in front of me then looking at my phone. You can also tell if a recipe is good online by the comments people leave.

3. Same temperature ingredients.

Now I never used to follow this, I didn’t think it made any difference, but it actually does! I especially notice the difference when I make my baked cheesecakes. Make sure your eggs, butter, chocolate all your dry ingredients are at room temperature before you start. Eggs don’t even need to be kept in the fridge, but the butter, especially if it’s as cold as it has been the past few days, it needs to be taken out a good few hours before you start. Sometimes I’ll even take mine out the night before if its super cold. The importance of this is because eggs curdle easily when you add them to your sugar and butter if they’re cold and butter just wont mix properly, you need an even consistency, I’ve also broken many whisks in my kitchen aid years ago by trying to mix hard butter.

4. Prepare your tins and oven ahead of time

Whilst my cold ingredients are whisking, instead of standing around waiting I’ll prepare all my tins. Make sure you use the right sized tin for the recipe you’re using, and even if some of my tins say they’re non-stick, I still make sure I grease them. I butter the tin and then line it with grease proof paper and then butter it again, on top of the grease proof paper. I also line the tin all around the sides and above the tin if I’m making a fruit cake. Using too much butter can also cause you to fry your cakes inside the oven, so be careful of that. I always put my oven on the right temperature before I begin to allow it time to heat up to the temperature I want. If your over isn’t preheated and you add your cake it may cause your cake to be dry or affect the way it rises, or just sink.

5. Baking powder

Do not be tempted to over use baking powder, when I was learning I used to think if I add more then my cake will rise more, I was so very wrong. If your recipe states to add ¼ teaspoon of baking powder, then do! Adding too much will cause your cake to rise too quickly and then sink.

6.Getting your cake as light as air

I have a certain sponge recipe, I use for all my cakes, it has always worked great for me and I know I can do it with-out any problems. I’m quite secretive about my sponge recipe, I really do think, in my opinion it’s the best sponge cake recipe ever, it took me ages to perfect it and it really is light as air. It involves me mixing the eggs and sugar to start with and once that’s mixing I just forget about it for a while, grease my tins and I leave it going until it’s doubled in size and pale. If you can get your mixture like that with which ever recipe you use, then your onto a winner. Next, if the recipe says fold, fold! Don’t be tempted to whisk vigorously and at this stage you shouldn’t over fold, once it’s all incorporated you must bake straight away as the baking powder as soon as it’s in contact with the mixture it starts working straight away. I always bake my cakes in the center of the oven too so they bake evenly.

7. Your oven.

Once your cake is in the oven, do not open the door. Don’t even be tempted however much you’d like to. Opening the oven door can cause your cakes to sink. You can test your cakes are ready by either just pressing down slightly and if it springs back it’s ready or using a skewer in the center, If the skewer comes out clean it’s ready. If you do really have to open the door to check your cake then make sure you don’t slam the oven door shut. Once removed from the oven, leave it for a few minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack, this stops the cake from getting soggy. If you’re making something like a baked cheesecake I always leave it to cool inside the oven.

8. Patience.

Patience is everything when it comes to baking. There’s been so many times when I get so excited about making a cake and I want to rush it so I can see the outcome straight away, but I have to resist! If you only have an hour or so to bake but the recipe is asking you to take two hours, put it off for another day to save it failing and having to redo it. Baking can’t be rushed and you definitely can’t take any short cuts either. Take your time and enjoy it, baking is fun once you know all the right tricks.

Love the pudding girl xo

Turrone – Soft Italian nougat

matthew@nuwavedesign.co.uk (Matthew McAuliffe) — Mon, 01 Jan 2018 13:23:27 GMT

My family cannot get enough of Turrone! It’s incredibly easy to make and very popular around the holidays, but we eat it all year round and it makes really cute gifts if you want to do a hamper for someone. We make a lot of it to use up all the spare egg whites I have left from all my cakes. Each region of Italy has their own variation of Turrone and the recipe can be adjusted very easily; whether you want to add vanilla, liqueur, chocolate, they’re so many different ways. This is our family recipe -hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

150g Water
500g sugar
300g honey
75g egg white
750g mixed nuts – pistachio, hazelnuts, almonds, you can even add candied fruit

Equipment:

Sugar thermometer
A mixer
Rice paper or greaseproof paper

Prepare your syrup by combining the sugar and water and getting it to a temperature of 140 degrees. Melt the honey in a sauce pan and bring it to 120 degrees.
Put your egg whites in a mixer and begin to whip them to firm peaks and then add the sugar syrup a trickle at a time followed by the honey. Continue to whip for 10 minutes.
Toast your nuts on a baking tray in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees and then add them to your egg mixture while it’s still hot, along with any fruit you wish to add.
Once your mixture is cool, remove it from the whisk and gently fold with a spatula to smoothen the mixture. Alternatively if you have a flat agitator part for your mixer, you can use that instead.
Remove from the bowl and spread it on a baking tray lined with your rice or greaseproof paper. It will take some time smoothing the mixture out because it becomes so stiff. Once you’ve smoothed it out place another sheet of paper on top and using a rolling pin spread it out even more to a thickness of about 3cm
Leave to set for 2 hours and then cut into rectangle slabs. Make sure you keep this stored in a tin in a cool place.

Pasta e fasuli

matthew@nuwavedesign.co.uk (Matthew McAuliffe) — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 13:05:53 GMT

"Pasta e fasuli fanno i figli belli"

(pasta and beans makes beautiful babies, a Napolitan saying)

I thought I’d post a savoury recipe, one that’s perfect for this cold weather. It’s actually my dad’s recipe too, which is currently being served as a special in the restaurant this month. In case you haven’t read y about me. My parents have an Italian restaurant and have done for 25 years now. Dad’s Italian and all the food is completely home-made, including all the pasta we make ourselves and he’s been teaching me everything he knows since I was, well, since I can remember.

Dad has asked if I would share this recipe with you because he loves it so much and reminds him of his mum and when he was growing up. When dad was growing up in the late fifties, his mum, my nonna would make this three times a week, firstly because of the lack of money they had growing up, its known as peasant food and secondly because everything they needed was grown from their own land. He mixes up the beans he uses in it each week, each type of bean is different depending which region you are in. Dad is from Napoli so they use cannellini beans, however this week he’s also been using borlotti beans.

Pasta e fasuli which is Neapolitan for pasta and beans, is probably one of the most famous soups in Italy and each region, even each family has so many different variations of it. It consists of inexpensive ingredients and it’s so easy to make! If you’re after a quick meal when you get in from work, this is the one!

The view from our house in Italy, where dad grew up

Ingredients:

Beans – Literally any types of beans, dad actually gets them dry from Italy and soaks them over night, changing the water a couple of times and adding bicarbonate of soda. When Sam and I make it at home we use beans just from the tin, you can use one type of beans or a mixture. I use borlotti, cannellini and chickpeas. So 3 tins.
Olive oil
100g pancetta
1 Onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 carrot
1 celery stick
1 Tbsp of tomato puree
1 litre of water
100g Ditalini pasta – Some people will just add any pasta or you can break up spaghetti too if you can’t get hold of Ditalini.

Chop onion, garlic, carrot, pancetta and the celery stick into cubes, heat up a sauce pan with olive oil and add it to the pan on a low heat. Continue to cook until everything is soft.

Add your beans, tomato puree and water and bring to a boil. Once boiled add your pasta. The beans do not need to be al dente, cook them through. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes.

Season at the very last minute and enjoy with a sprinkle of parmesan and some crusty bread.

Simple. Pasta e fasuli in three simple steps. It’s so easy to change this around too, add as many or little beans as you want, or more pasta, it can also be made vegetarian if you take away the pancetta. It’s really just made to your preference by taste testing it.

This soup and a glass of red will keep you warm with winter coming.

Hope you all enjoy it as much as we do.

Love the pudding girl xo