Citrus chiffon cake

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:
300 g (2 ¼ cups) cake flour
375 g (1 ½ cups) sugar
15 ml (1 tbsp) baking powder
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
125 ml (½ cup) sunflower oil
5 egg yolks
7 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
180 ml (¾ cup) cold water or orange juice
15 ml (1 tsp) orange zest

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160 ºC

• Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl..
  
• Make a well in the centre and add the oil, egg yolks, water/orange juice and orange zest.. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
  
• Place the egg whites in another bowl. Add the cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form.
  
• Carefully fold the flour mixture into the egg white mixture.
  
• Pour the batter into a greased 25 cm chiffon cake tin. Bake 60-75 minutes.
  
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool upside down in the tin on a cooling rack. The cake should be completely cooled down before removing it from the tin.
  

For the icing:
80 ml (⅓ cup) butter, softened
750 ml (3 cups) icing sugar
orange juice

• Cream the butter and icing sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add enough orange juice to make it spreadable.
  
• Cover the cake with the icing and decorate with candied orange slices.
  

Parisian macaroons

Makes 24

Ingredients:
200 g ground almonds
110 g icing sugar
70 g castor sugar
pink and green food colouring
2 extra large egg whites

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 130ºC. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
  
• Sift the almonds through a fine sieve. Weigh out 100 g of the sifted almonds.
  
• Sift the almonds and icing sugar together three times.
  
• Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the castor sugar a spoonful at a time while whisking Whisk until the mixture is thick and shiny. You almost over whisk the meringue at this stage, carrying on a little after the peaks have formed.
  
• Fold the meringue mixture into the almond mixture until thoroughly mixed. Add a drop of food colouring at the same time. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a 1½.cm round nozzle.
  
• Pipe 2½ cm round disks onto the prepared baking trays, leaving ± 5 cm opening in between each macaroon. Bake for 15 minutes.
  
• Remove the greaseproof paper from the baking tray to a cooling rack. Let the macaroons cool completely on the greaseproof. Carefully peel off the greaseproof paper.
  
• Place a little whipped cream on one macaroon and sandwich together with another.
  

Handy hint: Slightly over whip the meringue mixture before you fold it into the almond mixture.

Butterfly cupcakes

Cupcakes:

Makes ± 24
To save time you can use ready-
made cupcake mixture.

Ingredients:
200 g butter
200 g castor sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
4 eggs
200 g self-raising flour

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C

• Place the butter, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream together until pale and fluffy.
  
• Bet the eggs lightly in another bowl. Gradually add to the butter mixture while mixing. Once combined, sift the flour over the mixture and stir to combine.
  
• Spoon the mixture into muffin tins lined with paper cupcake cases. Only fill halfway with the batter.
  
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.
  

Butterfly biscuits
Makes ± 24

Basic cookie dough:
225 g butter
125 ml castor sugar
5 ml vanilla extract
½ a tin condensed milk
350 g flour
10 ml baking powder
a pinch of salt

Royal icing:
(you can buy ready made royal icing from Spar that does not contain raw egg)
2 large egg whites
500 g icing sugar, sifted
squeeze of lemon juice
pink, yellow and green food colouring

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Start with the biscuits. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla extract and the condensed milk and mix.
  
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the butter mixture. Mix to form a smooth dough.
  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 min.
• Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Use a butterfly shaped cookie cutter to cut out the butterfly shape. Place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
  
• Use a sharp knife to cut the butterfly in half so you have 2 wings. Bake for ± 10-15 min until golden brown.
  
• Meanwhile, make the royal icing. Place the icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the egg whites and start to mix on a low speed.
  
• Once these are well combined, check the consistency. If the sides of the bowl still look dry and crumbly add some more egg white or lemon juice until the mixture looks smooth. Mix for 4-5 minutes until it has reached the stiff peak consistency.
  
• Divide the mixture in two. Add a little water or lemon juice to half of the royal icing until it has a runny consistency. Add a few drops of food colouring.
  
• Spoon the icing into a paper piping bag or small plastic bag. Snip a small tip off the piping bag. Use the stiff icing to outline the butterfly. Leave to dry. Then use the runny icing to flood the centres of the biscuits. Leave to dry.
  
• Decorate the wings using the stiff icing sugar. Use the icing to “glue” the wings together . Fold a piece of cardboard to a V shape. Place the butterflies on the cardboard to support the wings. Leave to dry.
  

Butter icing:
500 g soft butter
500 g icing sugar, sifted
a few drops of blue, pink or blue food colouring

• Mix the butter and icing sugar together with a spatula until smooth. Add the food colouring and mix until the food colouring has been incorporated
  

To assemble:

• Place the butter icing in a piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe the butter icing onto the biscuit.
  
• Place the butterfly biscuit on top.