Condensed Matter Group UWA  History Since early 2006, there has been a great tradition of sharing a cake every Friday with the group whilst discussing physics. Usually these "cake meetings" take place in the fourth floor conference room. Now for the first time we publish some of our favourite recipes for the enjoyment of all.  Elena's antidepressive pastries 1.5 cups water 150g unsalted butter 1.5 cups plain flour 6 eggs whipped cream and fruit Heat up water, add the butter, then pour in while mixing the flour. When ready, take away from the heat, cool the pastry down and in turn whisk in the eggs. Afterwards, grease a baking tray with butter and put the pastry in the form of small balls onto the tray. Bake at 180C (350F) for about 35-40 minutes. When cooled, cut in halves. Fill with whipped cream and fruit. 5 1/2 tbsp margarine 1 1/4 cup self raising flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 eggs 2 tbsp cocoa 2 tbsp custard powder Mix all ingredients together and pour into greased tin. Cook in oven at 180C (350F) for 30-40 mins or until a skewer comes out of the cake cleanly. Chocolate icing: mix some butter, icing sugar and a tablespoon of cocoa together until combined (use a drop of water to help combine, if needed). Wait until the cake is cool to ice it. 3 weetbix (or weetabix, vitabrit etc), crumbled 1 cup self raising flour 1 cup coconut 1/2 cup sugar 1 tbsp cocoa 125g butter or margarine 1 tbsp golden syrup Mix all ingredients together and then press into a greased (or baking paper lined) tin. Bake in oven at 180C (350F) for 15 mins. To make icing, melt 100g chocolate melts with 1-2 tbsps milk. Pour on top of slice while still warm and leave it to set. Flourless orange cake Cake 2 oranges 3 eggs 1 cup caster sugar 300g almond meal 1 tsp baking powder Orange Syrup 1 orange 3/4 cup caster sugar some extra orange juice Preheat oven to 170°C. Take springform pan. Line base with non-stick baking paper. Place the oranges in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Return to pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes (this will reduce the bitterness of the peel). Refresh under cold water. Drain. Coarsely chop oranges. Remove and discard any seeds. Place the orange in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Use an electric beater to whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale. Add the orange, almond meal and baking powder and gently fold until just combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool. Meanwhile, to make the orange syrup, use a zester to remove the rind from the orange. (Alternatively, use a vegetable peeler to peel the rind from orange. Use a small sharp knife to remove white pith. Cut rind into thin strips.) Juice orange. Place rind in a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Drain. Return to pan with orange juice and sugar. Place over low heat and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens. Add orange juice to taste. Turn cake onto a serving plate. Use a skewer to gently prick the top. Spoon over syrup. Cut into wedges to serve. Orange and poppy seed cake 1/2 cup poppy seeds 1/2 cup plain yoghurt 200g butter 1 tbsp orange zest (or more if you like :) 1 cup caster sugar 3 eggs 1 1/2 cup SR flour 1/2 cup plain flour 1/2 cup almond (or other nut) meal / ground almond Combine poppy seeds and yoghurt (a few hours, or day in advance is good - makes the poppy seeds a bit moist). Beat butter, zest and sugar until light in colour. Add eggs one at a time, beating well in between additions. Stir in the rest of the ingredients listed. Mix in a little orange juice 1/2 a cup to a cup (don't want it to be runny). Bake in preheated 180 degree C oven, 20cm tin, ~50minutes. Make a syrup of a cup of juice, 1 1/2 cups water, some orange/lemon zest, and about a cup of sugar (mix them together in a pan, bring to the boil, and simmer until it has reduced a bit and is sticky) an pour over the top.  Gingerbread people Guinness Chocolate Cake This is from Nigella Lawson originally, with comments added by Zoe. ~140 ml sour cream (if you can find full-fat sour cream, go for it, but 'light' works ok too) 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla essence 250 ml Guinness 250 g butter, chopped 75 g cocoa 400 g caster sugar (the recipe really does call for 400 grams. I've never used the full amount. You do want quite a bit though, to get a lovely brownie-style crust.) 275 g plain flour 2-2.5 tsp bicarb Grease and line a tin (springform if you have one). In a bowl, beat the sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Pour Guinness into a large saucepan (it needs to be big enough to hold all the batter), add butter and melt it. Whisk in cocoa. Take the pan off the heat. Pour the sour cream mixture into the saucepan. Whisk in the flour and bicarb. Pour into the baking tin. Bake for at least 45 minutes in a 180C oven. In my experience, it always takes quite a bit longer than this, but to be fair I don't have a very good oven. Let the cake cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack. More recipes and photos coming soon.... |