FESTIVE RECIPES | Celebrate the season with local flavour

FESTIVE CARROT CAKE

Makes 1 large cake

For those who don’t enjoy rich and dark boozy fruit cake, the carrot cake, a South African fave, takes on the festive note with some delectable added extras and decorations to give it a celebratory feel. It’s an easy beat-and-bake cake and best made a couple of days before eating. Store in the refrigerator. It freezes well, securely wrapped, and remove from the freezer a couple of hours before icing.

Ingredients

400ml soft brown sugar

4 large eggs

350ml oil

240g (2 cups) cake wheat flour

10ml (2 tsp) bicarbonate of soda

10ml (2 tsp) ground cinnamon

5ml (1 tsp) salt

4 x 250ml (4 cups) peeled grated carrots

100g pecans nuts, chopped

250ml (1 cup) very well drained crushed pineapple

250ml (1 cup) desiccated coconut (optional)

250ml (1 cup) sultanas

Cream cheese icing:

125g softened butter

500g icing sugar, sifted

125g smooth cream cheese

5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence

Topping

100g shelled pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

30g dried apricots, cut into small pieces using scissors

30ml (2 tbsp) dried rose petals – these are available from baking shops

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Base line 2 x 22cm cake tins with greaseproof paper and spray with cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer or hand beater, beat the sugar and eggs together until mixture is creamy and smooth. Add the oil and beat again.
3. Stir in the sifted flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt. If using, add the remaining ingredients – the carrots, nuts, pineapple, coconut, and sultanas – and stir through the mixture.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between the two cake pans and bake for one hour. Turn off the oven and leave in the oven with door open for five minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, and cool for another five minutes before carefully removing from the pan and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
6. Make the icing by creaming together the butter and icing sugar using an electric mixer. Add the cream cheese and mix until you have a fluffy icing, and add the vanilla essence.
7. Place one cake on a serving platter and spread the top with a about 1cm of cream cheese icing. Sandwich with the other cake and spread the top with the remaining icing.
8. Combine the pistachio nuts, apricots and dried petals together and sprinkle over the top of the cake, pressing down gently into the icing, and if desired sprinkle the excess around the serving platter.
9. Cover and refrigerate, remove an hour before serving and serve cut in slices.

THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Move over mince pies and instead make these delectable mouthfuls of shortbread-style cookies filled with a centre of sweet jam. A great idea to get children involved in the baking by rolling, shaping and filling the centres of the cookies with jam.

Makes approximately 30

Ingredients

225g softened butter

180ml (3/4 cup) caster sugar

10ml (2 tsp) vanilla essence

1 large egg

300g (2 ½ cups) cake wheat flour

Pinch of salt

¼ cup each strawberry, mixed berry and apricot jam

Method

1. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for about two minutes using a paddle beater.
2. Beat in the vanilla essence and egg, then fold in the sifted flour and salt and beat for a minute to incorporate. The mixture will be fairly crumbly.
3. Roll out 3cm balls of dough – if you’d like even cookies, weigh each ball which should be approximately 25g for accuracy. Flatten each ball of dough to approximately 1.5cm thick – and using your thumb make an indentation for the jam without making a hole in the pastry. Place on a large baking tray covered with greaseproof paper, ensuring there’s a 2-3cm space between each cookie.
4. Using a 2.5ml ½ tsp of jam, fill each indentation. The trick is NOT to overfill with jam as it can boil over.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake the trays for 14 minutes until the edges of the cookies are a light golden colour. You can rotate the trays after 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the trays.
6. Once cold, the cookies will keep for a week in an airtight container – if they last that long.

RAINBOW JELLY AND CUSTARD TRIFLE

Serves 8-10

Both adults and children love jelly and custard – and are bound to enjoy this cool trifle featuring the colours of Christmas in sweet jelly interspersed with layers of condensed milk jelly. Top off with their fave readymade custard and a blanket of freshly whipped cream. Yum!

Best made at least a day before enjoying to allow the jelly to set properly.

Ingredients

30ml (2 tbsp) gelatine powder

400ml boiling water

1 x 385g can condensed milk

2 x 80g packets red jelly

2 x 80g packets yellow jelly

2 x 80g packets green jelly

3 x 600ml boiling water = 600ml boiling water for every two packs of jelly

1l readymade custard

250ml (1 cup) cream, whipped

Seasonal fruit to decorate

Method

1. Ensure you have a tall glass trifle dish on a stand for the very best look. If not, you can stand a glass bowl on a sturdy upturned glass.
2. Sprinkle the gelatine powder into a big mixing bowl, pour over 400ml boiling water and stir until the gelatine is dissolved. Add the condensed milk and mix through, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cool in the fridge.
3. Pour each of the two same colours of jelly powder into individual mixing bowls. Pour over 600ml boiling water into each bowl and stir well to dissolve the jelly crystals. Pour the red jelly into the base of the trifle dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set firm. Cover the other two bowls of yellow and green jelly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
4. Once the red jelly has set firm, pour half of the condensed milk mixture over the red jelly, cover the bowl and return to the refrigerator to set firm. If the jellies are too firm to pour into the trifle bowl, place each in the microwave on medium for a minute then stir to loosen. If still too firm, return to the microwave for a further minute or two, stirring after every minute.
5. Pour the yellow jelly over the layer of set condensed milk, cover and return to the refrigerator to set firm.
6. Once the jelly is set, pour over the remaining condensed milk jelly – and if too firm to pour then place in the microwave on medium for a minute and repeat until it has pouring consistency. Return to the fridge covered to set firm.
7. Once the condensed milk layer is set firm, pour over the remaining green jelly, cover the bowl and return to the fridge to set.
8. When ready to serve, pour the custard over the set green jelly. Whip the cream until stiff and spoon it over the custard to cover the top. Decorate with seasonal fruit and serve.