Since being bitten by the baking bug of late, I have become more and more aware of how the correct tools make the job so much easier. One of the ironies of having been a professional chef is that, because I had access to any possible kitchen implement as part of my job in industrial kitchens, I never really bothered to buy any for home use. Also, the last thing I usually felt like doing when getting home from a sixteen hour split-shift was cooking/baking, thus adding to my lack-of-basic-baking-implement chagrin.
So for Christmas 2009, I bribed close family with the promise of baked goods if they bought me some nifty kitchen gifts. Subsequently, they obliged, and I made out like a bandit garnering:
- a rustic Jamie Oliver cookbook from my hubby;
- a hardcore Soehnle digital kitchen scale from my parents;
- a workhorse Philips electrical hand mixer from my brother/sister-in-law;
- a funky Boston Warehouse Cake Walk Lazy Susan shaped like cupcakes from my aunt and her partner.
On Monday, I treated myself to a trip to Binuns for the first time, which sells all manner of catering equipment, and was shocked at the price of things! For instance, a
chiffon cake pan was close to ZAR400 (roughly USD52)! So I drooled (metaphorically) up and down the aisles, and eventually walked out a half hour later with a blue spatula, a little cake skewer and a little (and relatively economical at ZAR50) non-stick cake pan (pictured below) which I think is just the cutest thing!
I found a cheaper shop around the corner where I managed to buy a well-priced plastic cake storer/carrier, a baking sheet and one round/one oblong wire cooling rack.
Obviously, I just HAD to try out my new toys! I made a chocolate cake using
this recipe (FYI: the recipe turned out one cake and 10 cupcakes), substituting a mix of rice flour/potato flour instead of the pre-mixed gluten-free flour. It turned out beautifully moist and uncracked.
Then, as the title of today's post suggests, I decided to play around with the icing and made the following:
Chocolate Fudge IcingGluten-Free
Ingredients:- 50g butter
- 3 level tablespoons cocoa powder (without anti-caking agent)
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 200g caster sugar (without anti-caking agent)
Method:- Melt the butter and caster sugar over low heat on the stove.
- Add the milk and cocoa powder, and continually stir the mixture until a thick and fudgey consistency is reached.
- Ice your cake immediately before the fudgey topping sets (this made enough for a thick layer on the cake, as well as a thinner layer on all 10 cupcakes).
Quick, easy and ever-so-yummy! As ever, born-up-a-gluten-free-tree, and have a great weekend :-)
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