GemMadeIt: Baking

This recipe is relevant if you love Jaffas and you love pastry. That's me. This recipe comes from the Australian Women's Weekly recipe book called Bake; a ginormous book jammed with recipes and dedicated to appreciating the tradition of home-style baking. This one's a winner:

Chocolate Jaffa Tart

Pastry

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup icing sugar

125g cold butter, chopped coarsely

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons (approximately) iced water

Filling

3 eggs

1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind

2/3 cup thickened cream

3/4 cup caster sugar

60g dark eating chocolate, melted

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons orange flavoured liqueur

Topping

140g dark eating chocolate

1/4 cup thickened cream

How to

One: Grease a 24cm round loose-based flan tin.

Two: Process flour, icing sugar and butter until crumbly. Add egg yolks and enough of the water to process until all ingredients come together. Enclose in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Three: Roll pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line tin. Lift the rolled pastry into the tin carefully and press gently into the sides and base of the tin. I don't have a flan tin, so I just used a rectangular slice tin, then sliced it into little squares when it’s all done, and it worked out nicely. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

Four: Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 180 if it’s a fan-forced oven.

Five: Line pastry case with baking paper and fill with rice or those little baking beads. Place the tin on an oven tray and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove tin out of the oven, then remove the baking paper and rice/beans. Bake for another 10 minutes. Let it cooooool.
Six: Make the filling by whisking all the ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Seven: Reduce oven to 180 degrees / 160 degrees fan-forced.

Eight: Step eight! Nearly there! Pour filling into pastry case and bake for about 30 minutes. Let it coooool.

Nine: Stir chocolate and cream in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth, then spread the warm mixture over the cold tart. Refrigerate until set.

Ten: Eat it! And maybe share it. Only if you want to.

Recently I made an Earl Grey Tea Cake, which I came across while reading a food magazine in a cafe. Turns out this cake is a winner! Its pretty much amazing. I'm prepared to share the recipe:

1 cup fresh dates (or 1 1/2 cups dried dates)
1 tsp bicarb soda
3/4 cup brewed earl grey tea (plus some more for you)
2 apples, peeled and grated
1 1/4 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
150g melted butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.
Soak the dates in the bicarb and tea for 10 minutes. Blend with a hand mixer.
Mix apples, flour and sugar.
Add butter, vanilla, eggs and date mixture.
Mix well.
Grease a 2.5 litre loaf tin (I made mine in two smaller tins)
Bake for 45 - 55 minutes.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn on to a wire rack.

Make some more tea to have with your cake.