KONSTANT KRAVER IN COLOMBO...SRI LANKA

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Baked Lemon Tart

                                                                                                                     by the Konstant Kraver

Lemons , Oranges anything even slightly citrus I love, yes even more than chocolate *gasp* I know crazy.This lemon tart was light refreshing and just zinged with every mouthfall. My lovely friend whose house I took it over to had it with ice cream the following night which I think was an absolutely amazing idea , a good vanilla ice cream to balance out the citrus.The recipe was from taste.com.au. I did miss the part where you are suppose to leave it overnight i the fridge. So I baked it for about 40 mins and then popped it in the fridge for about 2 hours .



Ingredients (serves 6)


185g Buttersnap biscuits
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup white chocolate melts
90g butter, melted
Pure icing sugar, to serve

Lemon curd
3 lemons
4 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
125g butter, chopped
 


Method



Lightly grease a 2cm-deep, 24cm (base) loose-based round flan pan. Combine biscuit crumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter in a bowl. Press into base and sides of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour.


Make lemon curd: Finely grate rind of 1 lemon. Juice all lemons. Whisk eggs and sugar together in a heatproof bowl until well combined. Add lemon rind and 2/3 cup lemon juice, whisking constantly until well combined. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not allow base to touch water). Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 20 to 25 minutes or until thick and custard-like. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.


Pour lemon curd into chilled tart case. Place on a oven tray and bake in a preheated oven of 180 degrees celcius for about 20 mins , take it out of the over carefully sprinkle some cinnamon on top and pop it back into the oven for another 20 mins or until set.Let it cool and over with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two.

The Cheeky Chef and the Konstant Kraver!

This was so much fun and as promised a little delayed here is the footage of our my first time ever being a guest on the fabulous show of my good friend and whiz in the kitchen Sheran Roche of MTV Sports "The Cheeky Chef" . MTV sport is a local channel in Sri lanka and "The Cheeky Chef " is known as a fun cooking show where you can have a laugh and cook up some sumptuous treats at the same time.

Here is the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMKGLp-xoAU

KONSTANT KRAVER BACK IN KOLOMBO...

Coming soon , a crazy fun episode with MTV Sports "CHEEKY CHEF "......The Konstant Kraver will bring her a selection of her sweet sensations to Colombo for a limited time .Watch this page and the Facebook page "Konstant Kraver Back in Kolombo" for updates order early to avoid disappointment!The Konstant Kraver can be reached through her Facebook page.....

Not Quite Anzac Biscuits

In honour of Anzac day I decided to try make some cookies , never really tried them before. Found a recipe  on exclusivelyfood.com.au was very excited at how easy it all looked. I have had a mad craving for anything peanut butter lately so I decided to substitute some of the butter with peanut butter yum.. Now I have been a little distracted off late so I didn't pay much attention to the actual recipe...big surprise I hear  you say. So somehow my mixture became too dry to mold into balls of dough. In an attempt to save it that is when I mixed in one egg.

That seemed to do the trick, so once again we were back in business. Baked for 15-20 min they were golden and crunchy on the out side, but the so soft and moist on the inside a mixture of dark brown sugar with the peanut butter I am guessing.

Makes about 25 biscuits.

100g butter

60g peanut butter
2 tablespoons (40ml) golden syrup
92g (1 cup) rolled oats
85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
150g (1 cup) plain flour
168g (3/4 cup) brown sugar
1 tablespoon (20ml) boiling water

1 egg lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you will be baking one tray of biscuits at a time, move the oven rack to the centre of the oven. If you wish to bake two trays of biscuits at a time, place one oven rack in the upper half of the oven and one in the lower half of the oven.

Line one or two large baking trays with baking paper.

Place butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Stir oats, coconut, flour and sugar together in a large bowl.
When butter has melted, combine soda and boiling water in a small bowl and stir into butter and golden syrup mixture.

Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, mix in one lightly beaten egg 

Bring the mixture together and mould into small balls , place on the baking trays about 5cm apart and flatten gently with a fork.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Deranged Smurf Cake and Marshmallows Anyone ?

                                                                                               by the Konstant Kraver

My little Smurf nephew is one 1!! I called him Sulky Smurf from the day he was born , which is slightly ironic because he is usually laughing it is just the rare moments he is not all smiley he has this cute sulky look on his face and he is always in blue!. So for his first birthday my sister thought a Smurf theme was perfect. When we were kids my mum and dad had this whole operation for our Birthday cakes. Mum would bake it and Dad would shape it and icing it .

So seeing as Sulky Smurf has inherited his grand dads name I recruited him for the process . The Cake Boss I am not !  The cake recipe was one I got from taste.com.au. It was delicious. I adore a good butter cake it has to my favourite type of cake .The recipe  makes a large cake which was perfect for this process. Trying to get white for the hat and pants drove me slightly insane as you know normal butter cream icing is a pale yellow. So into that I ended up mixing marshmallow fluff which was great for the colour but then it started to slide and drip...arrrrghhh. So that had to be left well alone for more than a few hours to firm up.I spent two days covered in icing and food colouring ....erm ok I may have eaten more of the icing then what I was covered in, but hey someone has to make sure it tasted great!

The result of our little smurf adventure was far from perfect and he looks like a slightly deranged smurf (hence the title of this post), but I will mark it up to as a learning experiance it was so moist and yummy though so I can live  with that.  My mums Smurf inspired marshmallows made up for it.

Preparation Time

20 minutes

Cooking Time

150 minutes

Ingredients (serves 15)

• Melted butter, to grease
• 450g (3 cups) self-raising flour
• 150g (1 cup) plain flour
• 440g (2 cups) caster sugar
• 300g butter, cubed, at room temperature
• 310ml (1 1/4 cups) milk
• 6 eggs, at room temperature
• 3 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven to 140°C. Position a rack on the second lowest shelf of the oven. Brush a round 25cm (base measurement) cake pan with the melted butter to lightly grease. Line base and sides with non-stick baking paper.
2. Place the self-raising flour, plain flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs and vanilla essence in a large mixing bowl. Use an electric beater to beat on low speed for 30 seconds or until just combined. Increase the speed to high and beat for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and all the butter is incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack for 2 hours or until completely cool.

Orange Marscapone Tray Cake.....

                                                                                                                     by the Konstant Kraver                                                                 

I  opened up my fridge and found a tub of Marscapone which needed to be used, that stuff is a little too pricey to let it just go past the used by date unused and unappreciated. So I scoured the internet for possible uses and came across this sort of tray cake, well I call it more a tray cake. The original recipe was for blondies, but the texture is more cake like, and moist.It was so easy to make , I literally used one bowl and had it all ready for baking in its little tray in 10 minutes.

The result was a moist cake just bursting with flavours of oranges, the dark chocolate on top was perfect in cutting through the sweetness without being to overpowering, and the nuts they just added a lovely crunch.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter, melted
1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
8 ounces of mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons of orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons of orange zest
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup of all-purpose flour

50 gr melted dark chocolate 

handful of roasted chopped walnuts

Method
  

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour an 8X8 pan. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk.

Add the orange juice, zest, and mascarpone cheese and mix thoroughly.
  

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, mix it all together.
  

Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Melt the chocolate and drizzle on the cake and sprinkle the chopped roasted walnuts

Cut into squares and serve.