Katty's Heart

Autumn’s Cake

Ingredients: 12 + servings

For the cake:

560g plain flour

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

220g butter, softened

400g caster sugar

10 tablespoons brown soft sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

360ml milk

800g pumpkin puree

For the icing:

800g icing sugar

500g butter

dash of milk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For pumpkin decorations / cake toppers:

orange and yellow fondant icing

green / brown fondant icing for stems

brown gel food colouring

fondant tools or small kitchen knife

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Sift together the flour, spices, salt and baking powders into a bowl and set aside.

In an electric mixer, blend the butter and sugars until they are light in colour and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time and stir in the milk and pumpkin puree.

Add in the dry ingredients from the other bowl until it’s all just mixed together but try not to over mix it.

Grease the sides and bottom of three 20cm cake trays with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Top tip: you can also use these handy baking belts to bake perfectly moist and level cakes without cracks. Simply soak in water and add to the outside of the tins before they go in the oven.

Divide the batter equally between three lined cake trays. These non-stick pre-cut baking parchment rounds are really helpful.

Bake for 30 mins or until they spring back and a knife/toothpick comes out clean.

While the cakes are baking, make the icing by adding the butter and milk to the mixer and blending until smooth. Then add the icing sugar a little bit at a time until it is all mixed in and lighter in colour.

Add in the vanilla and beat until it’s fluffy and combined.

Remove cakes from the oven. Once they are cool to touch, transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely before icing.

Place the first cake on a cake card or turntable ready for icing. Using a palette knife, spread an even layer of buttercream icing over the top until covered, or using a round ended piping nozzle and piping bag, you can pipe evenly around the cake in circles to ensure a nice even layer.

Layer the second cake over the top and repeat the buttercream icing step.

Top with your final layer and apply a crumb coating (a thin layer of icing using a scrapping tool) around the whole stack of cakes, filling in any gaps. Once smooth, refrigerate for 30 – 45 minutes before applying a final layer of icing to the whole cake. You can leave this as a completely smooth effect, or add swirl in the icing.

Now it’s time to make the little pumpkin toppers. Tear off a small piece of orange fondant and roll into a ball. For slight variations in colour, you can also combine yellow fondant with orange and roll together for different pumpkin hues.

Starting from the bottom, use the dull side of a knife or a fondant carving tool to add the pumpkin lines, turning the ball as you go. Push down the centre of your pumpkin slightly where the lines meet to make a small well for the stem.

Roll out a tiny piece of your brown/green fondant for the stem (you can also use cloves if you prefer) and apply on top, squeezing the orange fondant snug around it.

Using a paint brush and your brown food colouring, mix with water and paint on in between the lines of the pumpkins to add more depth and real-ness to them.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients: 9 servings

1 can crescent rolls

½ cup pumpkin puree

4 tbsp light brown sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3 ounces cream cheese softened 

1½ cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp unsalted butter melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-3 tbsp milk (3 tbsp will make it runnier, 1 more like frosting)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 177°C. 

Grease a pie pan with butter or cooking spray. Unroll crescent rolls dough. Firmly press perforations to seal, making it one large sheet.

Spread pumpkin puree evenly over the dough. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice over the pumpkin puree.

Starting on the short side of the rectangle, roll the dough up into a log. Cut the roll into about 9 pieces and place into a baking dish.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, until turning lightly golden at the edges. Let it cool in pan for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, butter and milk. If the frosting is too thick, add a little more milk and mix until is smooth. 

Drizzle over the pumpkin cinnamon rolls when they have cooled.

Eat them while they’re warm...

Sweet Rice

Ingredients: 4 servings

500ml fat milk (whole milk) + 2 soup spoons milk

2 yolks

75gr rice

80gr sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 small lemon peel

cinnamon powder (as needed)

Preparation:

In a pot, add the milk, rice, cinnamon stick and lemon peel. Let it boil over low heat, stirring occasionally for 30/40 minutes, until the rice looks soft. Remove the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel.

In a bowl, mix the 2 yolks and the 2 soup spoons of milk. In the rice pot, put the sugar and the yolks mixture and mix it all together. Let it cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes to thicken, do not stop stirring.

Divide the sweet rice into 4 dessert bowls and decorate with the cinnamon powder. Serve it warm.

Summer Pasta Salad

Ingredients: 8 servings

1 lb pasta cooked al dente and cooled

¾ cup cherry tomatoes chopped

1 large orange sweet bell pepper chopped

¼ cup crushed pineapple

¾ cup cucumber chopped

¼ cup red onion chopped

Small handful basil chopped

3 Tablespoons olive oil or to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation: