Crystallized Ginger Yoghurt Pound Cake Food

SIMPLE YOGHURT POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300° F (about 150° C).
• Using an electric beater or kitchen aid, cream together sugar and butter, when it is light and fluffy, add egg yolks one at a time,beat well after each addition.
• Blend in vanilla and yoghurt.
• In a separate bowl, sift sifted flour, salt, and soda.
• Add sifted dry ingredients to batter, beat well.
• For the egg whites, to ensure a successful formation of stiff peaks, the first step is that the bowl - preferably a metal or glass bowl, and beaters should be clean and dry. If there is a trace of oil residue in the bowl or a little hint of yolk in the whites, it will interfere with the formation of air bubbles. Beat on low speed for about a minute until foamy then switch to medium/high speed until stiff peaks form. (Note: I do not have 2nd spare bowl designed for the kitchen aid for beating the egg whites, so I scoop with a spatula the yoghurt mixture batter - it would be rather stiff by then - into a large separate clean bowl; then wash, dry the beaters and bowl of the kitchen aid with paper towel.).
• Take a quarter or so of the beaten egg white and mix it into the yoghurt batter, it will bring the consistency of the batter closer to that of the foam so they mix better. Fold the rest of the egg white in 2 or 3 parts, do not over mix.
• Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 1/2 hours (90 mins) or until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

CRYSTALLIZED GINGER - YOGHURT POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300F (a low temperature, but it works); butter and flour a bundt pan (mine is no-stick but I still butter and flour it).
• With mixer beat butter for a couple of minutes until white; add sugar and extracts and beat a few minutes longer (about 8-9 minutes in all); Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition; With mixer on low (to avoid getting flour dust all over the kitchen) add flour, baking powder and salt alternately with yoghurt; beat in ginger; this makes a very thick batter; Spoon into prepared bundt pan and bake for 75 minutes (but start checking with toothpick to see if it's done after an hour (temperatures vary from oven to oven).
• Variations: I often use the 'base' recipe (omitting the ginger) and 'marble some of the batter with cocoa (add a tablespoonful or so of milk and 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of cocoa to 1/3 of the batter); or make a nut cake by stirring in 1 1/2 cups of the flour-dusted, toasted nuts of your choice (a sprinkle of freshly-grated nutmeg is great in this version); our current favourite is chocolate, chocolate/chip where I add 3 tablespoonfuls of cocoa to the batter (along with a couple of tablespoonfuls of milk - or buttermilk if you have it) and then stir in 1 1/2 cups of flour-dusted chocolate chips at the end, before spooning into pan.

TRIPLE-GINGER POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube cake pan, 10-inch angel food (tube) cake pan or 2 (9x5-inch) loaf pans. In medium bowl, mix flour, ground ginger, baking powder and salt; set aside.
• In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, butter, gingerroot, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk on low speed. Fold in candied or crystallized ginger until evenly mixed. Spread in pan.
• Bake fluted tube or angel food cake pan 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, loaf pans 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• In chilled large bowl, beat whipping cream and powdered sugar on high speed until stiff. Fold in pineapple. Serve cake with pineapple cream.

YOGHURT CAKE

Steps:

• Beat all ingredients together for 3 minutes.
• Pour into a greased 23 cm bundt pan.
• Bake at 160C for 1 hour.

CRYSTALLIZED GINGER

Steps:

• Peel the ginger and slice it into rounds 1/8 inch thick.
• For every cup of prepared ginger you will need 3 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar.
• In a large to huge pot bring the water/sugar to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.
• When dissolved add the ginger and boil for 45 minutes stirring almost constantly.
• You want the ginger tender and getting that translucent look about it.
• You also don't want it at a full rolling boil-just a little less.
• Drain the ginger reserving the liquid.
• Separate and place on a rack to dry for around 30 minutes-it's gonna be a bit sticky-and then coat with sugar-I would whirl it a bit in a spice grinder to get it half powder, half granulated.
• Set it out on wax paper to dry-this took a few hours with a lot of hand slapping.
• Store in an air tight container.
• As for the remaining syrup you can boil and reduce to a syrup-something between maple syrup and honey and use on pancakes, waffles or ice cream.

GINGER CAKE WITH CRYSTALLIZED GINGER FROSTING

Steps:

• For cake:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Sift first 6 ingredients into medium bowl; set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in molasses. Beat in flour mixture alternately with stout in 3 additions each (mixture may look curdled). Beat just until smooth. Divide batter between prepared pans; smooth tops.
• Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on rack 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks; cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in plastic; let stand at room temperature.)
• For frosting:
• Using electric mixer, beat cream and powdered sugar in large bowl until peaks form. Fold in minced crystallized ginger. Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread 2 cups frosting over top. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Arrange orange slices, ginger slices and cranberries on top. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Chill. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes before serving.)

GINGER POUND CAKE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in ginger and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Beat just until combined. Stir in crystallized ginger. , Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. tube pan. Bake at 350° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

CRYSTALLIZED CANDIED GINGER

Steps:

• Peel the ginger using a sharp-edged teaspoon (or a small knife) -- yep that is the easiest way, just scrape it toward you and all comes off. In the joints just break apart the pieces to get all the peeling.
• Now slice it in 1/4-inch-thick slices -- I used the Cuisinart since I was doing so much but you can use a mandoline or sharp knife.
• Place the slices in a large nonreactive saucepan with cold water to cover, bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Drain, cover with fresh cold water, boil, and again cook 15 minutes. Repeat this blanching process 2 more times, for a total of 4 blanchings in all.
• After the last blanching, drain and cover with 6 cups of fresh cold water and 3 cups of sugar. Slowly bring the syrup to a boil, stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the ginger is translucent and the syrup is thickened, about 20-30 minutes; watch carefully. Remove from heat.
• You now have Canton candied ginger and can store it this way (in it's syrup, in a sterilized jar with a tight fitting lid, and refrigerated) for practically forever.
• Or, for crystallized ginger, let stand for about 30 minutes, for the ginger to absorb more syrup. Then you can take the pieces of ginger from the syrup and toss it in granulated sugar and put it on a rack (or on a parchment lined baking sheet) to dry, uncovered at room temperature, for at least 8 hours or overnight, until the sugar coating is firm and the slices are no longer sticky. This also keeps for at least a year, stored in a cool dry place in an airtight container.
• Notes: Save the syrup for flavoring, it has a strong ginger flavor and can be used to flavor drinks-- it is so yummy! I also save the sugar that I tossed it in to use in recipes.

CANDIED GINGER POUND CAKE WITH A HINT OF ORANGE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time until mixed well.
• Combine flour, soda, and salt.
• Alternately add flour and sour cream until combined with egg/butter mixture.
• Add extract and zest to cake batter.
• Gently fold candied ginger mixed with 3 tablespoons flour into cake batter -.
• Pour into large bundt pan, sprayed with baking spray.
• Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes ~ check for doneness ~ cover top of cake with aluminum foil if it is getting too dark!
• Continue baking if necessary ~ check at 5 minute intervals till done. Cake in my photo baked for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• If desired, brush hot cake with an orange juice/sugar syrup to glaze ~.or top each serving with orange curd.