How to change a recipe (and not get a flop!)

How to change a recipe (and not get a flop!)

You’ve heard it a million times; baking is a science, follow the recipe, stick to the rules. Rules Shmules, I say! I’m about to tell you how you can go rogue with a recipe and change it without getting a flop. And yes, it’s possible – because I do it all the time! 

First, start with a recipe you really like that’s similar to what you want. In other words, don’t try and change a cake recipe into a cookie. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel here, just reinvent the flavour combinations. 

Don’t mess with the basics. Chopped almonds, pistachios and other nuts, herbs, zest, choc chips, vanilla, liqueurs, spices – flavourings are easy to play with and won’t affect the structure or texture of your baked goodies. Fresh and dried fruits can also be fiddled with but just keep their textures and acidity levels in mind when you’re changing them out.  Ingredients like eggs, sugar, flour, butter are all there for a reason so it’s best to leave those alone.   

If you want to go seriously rogue and fiddle with the eggs, butter, sugar and flour, make small changes. And record them as you go! There’s nothing worse than inventing the best choc chip cookie recipe only to forget what you did! 

Ask yourself if the ingredient you’re swopping has a similar fat/sugar/consistency/structure and acidity to what it’s being replaced for? This is vitally important in avoiding a huge flop. Eg. You cannot substitute sugar for honey if you’re making toffee because it caramelizes at a different temperature. This is when baking really does become a science! 

Here are some simple replacements you can make to a recipe:

Dairy milk can be replaced with almond, soy, rice or coconut milk. It can also often be replaced with water, fruit juice, brewed tea, beer or even wine. 

If you want to add cocoa powder to a recipe, simply remove part of the cake flour.  Eg. if a recipe calls for 100g cake flour, you can change it to 80g cake flour + 20g cocoa powder. Don’t change more than half the cake flour, though. 

Peanut butter can be swapped for tahini or any other nut or seed butter. Sunflower seed butter, almond, nutella etc. 

Buttermilk, yoghurt, sour cream and crème fraiche are all interchangeable. 

Oils can be substituted for each other – think olive oil, sesame seed oil, peanut oil, etc to change up the flavours 

Nut meals – almond, hazelnut, pecan nut flour are all interchangeable. This also applies to seed flours like ground sunflower seeds, linseeds etc. 

White sugar, soft brown sugar, muscovado, molasses sugar and demerara sugars all give different flavours but have the same structures. Muscovado will make cookies super moist, white sugar will make them crispy! 

If you really love creating your own recipes and want to make your own from scratch, Michael Ruhlman’s RATIO is a must. All recipes can be broken down into a simple ratio and once you know that ratio, the possibilities are endless! 

Vanilla Beans: All You Need to Know

Vanilla Beans: All You Need to Know

I like to think of vanilla as the LBD (little black dress) of baking. It’s a simple, but powerful necessity that is as versatile as it is striking – when you know how to use it, of course. While vanilla is used in just about everything, most of us know very little about this mysterious bean – it’s time that changed!

The Kate Tin Vanilla

On a trip to Mauritius back in 2015, I saw a vanilla orchid for the first time. When you consider how often we eat and use vanilla in our everyday lives, it’s kind of bizarre that I’d lived 27 years before touching the real deal (and most people will never see one!). It’s a full-circle moment that I now import vanilla beans for my own online shop (which you can buy here) to make them more accessible to vanilla lovers. ⁠ ⁠ What’s also bizarre is the plant that grows vanilla beans and just how many steps it has to go through to become the vanilla we love. So I wanted to share all the amazing things I’ve learned during my vanilla journey. ⁠

Vanilla is a fruit.

Fresh vanilla fruits, often called “beans,” are the only edible fruit of the orchid family which has over 20 000 varieties!⁠ ⁠ Vanilla beans must grow to just the right ripeness for the harvest to yield the sweet and flavourful vanilla we all know so well. When the tip of the vanilla bean starts to turn banana yellow, the time is right. If the vanilla bean stays on the vine too long, it will dry up and its flavour will be weak. If the vanilla bean is picked before its peak, all is lost.⁠ ⁠ The ripeness of the fruit is of utmost importance to the final flavour and aroma. ⁠ ⁠

Fresh green vanilla beans have no aroma.⁠ ⁠ ⁠

They need to undergo many many processes to release their aroma. Which makes me wonder? Who decided to take a long, inedible green vanilla bean with no flavour and think to themselves; “Maybe if I dip this in boiling water for juuust the right amount of time, then go through months of letting the beans sweat in boxes over night and then sunning them during the day. And then maybe if I dry them they’ll turn into something delicious?!”⁠ ⁠ Someone crazy, that’s who! But man oh man are we glad they did! ⁠ ⁠

The flower that produces vanilla only lives for one day.

Each flower blooms only once a year and must be pollinated the one day that it blooms or else the stem bears no fruit. No pressure! ⁠During pollination and harvest seasons, the blossoms don’t all open at the same time so the farmer must go out into the plantation or jungle every single day to check for blossoms. The farmers also need to wait up to five years before the vines reach fruit-producing maturity. ⁠ These are just a few of the many reasons we pay top dollar for precious vanilla beans. ⁠

Most vanilla beans are hand-pollinated.

Before hand-pollination was invented, vanilla was only cultivated in Central America where a very special little bee pollinated the flowers naturally. ⁠

That was until 1841 when Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old slave discovered that the plant could be hand-pollinated by a wooden needle. It was a ground-breaking revelation and meant that vanilla could be grown all over the world – and made more accessible! ⁠

It’s still a lot of hard work as every single flower needs to be pollinated by hand – with great skill.⁠

Some vanilla beans have tattoos.

Yes, you read that right!⁠ ⁠ Vanilla is so valuable it can attract vanilla thieves so some vanilla bean farmers will “tattoo” their beans with small markings (made with toothpick-sized instruments) to prevent theft and protect their precious beans!⁠

Vanilla is listed on the stock exchange.  ⁠

Just like saffron (the world’s most expensive spice), growing and processing vanilla beans is incredibly hard work and very labour intensive which is why it is so pricey. ⁠ ⁠ Vanilla beans (like cocoa, coffee and crude oil) are commodities that have price fluctuations depending on everything from the market, quantity produced, quality, and even the weather! ⁠ ⁠ 

Real vanilla contains over 200 flavour compounds.

That’s 199 MORE flavour compounds than vanilla essence. 🤩⁠ ⁠ Most imitation vanilla extracts are a weak solution of naturally derived (from lignin or wood pulp) or artificially derived (synthesized in a lab) vanillin.⁠ ⁠ Vanillin is the most prominent flavor in the vanilla bean, but it is only one of more than two hundred. ⁠ ⁠ Even more “complex” imitation vanilla flavours will only boast five or six flavoring components and cannot possibly compete with the natural sophistication of pure vanilla beans. ⁠

Dipping. Sweating. Sunning. Drying.

No, it’s not a day at the beach!⁠ ⁠ This vanilla curing and it is is what freshly harvested green vanilla beans need to go through in order to give them the fragrant aroma we love!⁠ Curing is both an art and a science and requires dedication.⁠ ⁠ The characteristic aroma results from enzymatic action which starts by dipping the beans in hot water. ⁠As soon as the beans are pulled from the water, workers rush to wrap them tightly in wool blankets, storing them inside a dark, airtight container. Speed is essential to preserve heat and steam. These trigger the enzymes that convert cellulose and starches to vanillin and other complex components that give vanilla its beautifully subtle aroma.⁠ ⁠ Finally, the vanilla beans are ready to start being sorted for the curing shed. The vanilla beans are no longer kept under the sun, but are kept in the open air under the shade to slowly dry to the right moisture and develop oils and hundreds of flavoring components. The beans are kept in this shed until the moisture content is correct and then are placed in conditioning boxes which develop the vanilla flavors further.⁠ ⁠ Finally, the beans are spread out on trays to dry out before they get graded and packed. This entire process can take 4-5 months. ⁠ ⁠ Yet another reason vanilla is worth every cent!⁠

Vanilla is like wine.

The flavour and aroma of vanilla beans changes depending on several factors in the cultivation of the vanilla orchid, including climate and soil. Vanilla beans from different regions have unique flavour profiles.⁠ So vanilla beans from Uganda (where my vanilla comes from) will be different from those from Madagascar which will differ from Mexico). Isn’t that just amazing?⁠

Real vanilla vs beaver butt.

Is that even a question? Well, when it comes to using imitation or ‘fake’ vanilla flavouring (ie. essence) then you’d be surprised.⁠ What makes vanilla beans taste and smell like vanilla beans is a component called ‘vanillin’. ⁠In order to make cheaper, synthetic flavourings to replace real vanilla, artificial vanillin is produced from lignin (found in wood) which is a by-product of papermaking pulp⁠. ⁠So what’s with the beaver butt? Well, what if I told you that some of the fake vanilla you’ve been using comes from the anal glands of beavers. In the USA it can legally be referred to as a ‘natural flavouring’ in the products ingredients list. 🤯⁠

Ew. ⁠

Dunno about you but I don’t want beaver butt in my cake. 🤣⁠

Using pure vanilla beans will elevate the taste of your baking while providing you the peace of mind that your flavouring is natural and chemical-free. ⁠

How to split a vanilla bean properly.  ⁠

STEP 1⁠
Massage the bean gently to loosen the seeds. Place the vanilla bean on a clean chopping board (make sure there are no strong onion or garlic flavours!).⁠

STEP 2⁠
Use a small sharp knife to split the vanilla bean in half starting at the top and running the blade down the length of the bean.⁠

STEP 3⁠
Run the knife blade down the inside of the bean to scrape out the seeds. You can also use a small spoon for this. Go over it a few times until all of the seeds have been collected.⁠

STEP 4⁠
Add the vanilla seeds to your recipe (reserve the pod for another use – see my 4 uses below!). ⁠

A vanilla bean’s flavour isn’t just in the seeds!⁠

The entire bean is loaded with flavour and it’s your job as the pastry chef to extract as much flavour as possible from the precious pod. ⁠After the seeds have been scraped the pod still has lots of aroma and can be used in many ways! 

Chocolate and vanilla are besties.

The first to use and love vanilla were the Aztecs.⁠
They mixed cocoa beans and vanilla beans together to create what they called “The Drink of the Gods” – cacahuatl. This became the beverage of choice of Aztec nobility and muuuuch later became the chocolate we all now love. ⁠

Like chocolate which begins as seeds, vanilla shares a complicated journey in transforming from an inedible fruit to an ingredient packed with flavour and aroma! ⁠

It is quite poetic then that chocolate and vanilla are now considered the perfect flavour partners – and my favourite ingredients! 🙌⁠

The Kate Tin Vanilla

Only 2% of the world’s vanilla comes from Uganda. 

Vanilla can be found all over the world but the biggest supplier of vanilla is Madagascar, producing over 40% of the world’s vanilla. My vanilla, on the other hand, comes from one of the smallest, Uganda who produces just over 2% of the world’s vanilla. I like to think it makes them even more special!

1 vanilla bean, 4 uses.

And at R40 per bean, that’s R10 per use…⁠

Gourmet vanilla beans are a precious investment but their intense aroma can go a long way – with a few of my clever tips!⁠

First use: Split the vanilla bean open with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds inside. Use the seeds to infuse cream desserts like panna cotta, ice cream, pastry creams, and whipped cream. Let the flavour shine by avoiding adding other ingredients that might mask vanilla’s delicate aroma.

Vanilla Bean Sugar

Second use: Place the scraped vanilla bean into a bowl or jar of sugar and leave to infuse for 1-2 days. Vanilla sugar is perfect for sprinkling over doughnuts, shortbread, or spooning into your morning coffee.⁠

Vanilla Exract

Third use: Return the scraped vanilla bean to the bottle it came in and fill it with clear alcohol such as vodka or white rum. Leave to stand in a dark place for 2-3 weeks and you’ll have your own extract!⁠ I simply top mine up with alcohol as I use it. I have a batch that’s been going for 6 years now!

Note: for a no-alcohol version, simply fill with vegetable glycerine – available at most baking shops and pharmacies. The added benefit of glycerine-based vanilla extract is that it keeps cakes, cupcakes and cookies moist and fresher for longer! It will take a bit longer to infuse (compared to the alcohol version) but will be equally as delicious. ⁠

Burnt Vanilla Powder

Fourth use: Thought your vanilla bean had no flavour left? Wrong! Make burnt vanilla powder! 

How to make it: Preheat the oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan-forced). Place the vanilla pod in the oven for 5 minutes or until it puffs up. Leave to cool before blending to a fine powder in a blender or food processor. This method is perfect for using up vanilla beans which have already been used to infuse sugar or your own vanilla extract.

How to use it: Burnt vanilla powder is delicious in nougat, fudge, frostings or sweets.

The Secret To Preserving Vanilla Beans⁠- forever!

On a visit to a vanilla plantation in Mauritius a few years ago, I spotted this jar of vanilla beans on the counter. The vanilla farmer explained to me that it’s his secret to keeping vanilla beans juicy for years! ⁠ ⁠ His trick? Place a tablespoon of rum and a teaspoonful of muscovado sugar in the bottom of a large jar and place the vanilla beans inside. The sugar and alcohol keep the moisture inside. I sometimes use this sweet intense vanilla mixture in my baking as a sort of extract. I then simply replace it with fresh rum and sugar. ⁠ ⁠ Clever, right?! ⁠

How to store vanilla beans.

There are a lot of vanilla beans out there that are vacuum packed 😒, this is actually not the best way to store them.  If you’ve purchased my vanilla beans, you would have received them in a glass bottle or wrapped in wax paper, this is perfect for storing them. 

When you receive your vanilla bean order, leave them bundled in the wax paper and place them in an airtight glass jar. Store in a cool, dark place – like a cupboard. ⁠

Please don’t refrigerate or freeze vanilla pods – the cold and moisture will make them mold.⁠

Open the jar every 6-8 weeks to allow excess moisture to escape and the beans to ‘breathe’ then rewrap them and place them back in the jar.⁠

Vanilla beans don’t last forever and it’s best to use them within 6 months of purchasing as they do tend to lose their potency. Remember your granny who never used her ‘special tea set’ because she was waiting for a special occasion that never came? Well, vanilla beans are the same. Don’t wait for a ‘special’ day to use them. Every day is special! ⁠

VANILLA BEAN RECIPES 

All the inspiration you need to use your precious vanilla beans!

 

 

 

4 Ways to Soften Butter – Fast!

4 Ways to Soften Butter – Fast!

It happens to all of us. You want to bake, but the butter or margarine has been in the fridge and now it’s so hard you can use it as a weapon.

butter

When trying to soften butter, usually, one of two things happen; you leave it on the counter and watch it soften for what feels like a million years, or risk it all and stick it in the microwave but end up with a melted puddle.

After many years of baking (and watching butter soften), I’ve got a few tricks that REALLY work: 

Grate it

Get out that cheese grater and grate the butter onto a plate. The smaller pieces will soften quicker. Then simply whack the grated butter into your electric mixer and give it a good beating until it’s soft.   

Microwave the sugar 

This is an ingenious method that works every time – as long as you’re using the creaming method. Weigh out the sugar you’re going to use then zap it in the microwave on high for 20-30 seconds until it’s warm to the touch (not hot). Then add it to your cold butter in the electric mixer and cream as usual. 

Use your microwave’s defrost setting

Set the microwave on defrost and select the weight of your butter (eg. 100g) then nuke it for 5 seconds at a time, flipping the butter over as you go until it’s soft. Works like a charm! 

Beat it

If you’re looking to release a little tension, this is the perfect stress release. Place the unwrapped butter on a clean work surface and whack it with a rolling pin to break up the pieces. Fold the butter over and continue to whack. Repeat this until it’s pliable then flatten it out and leave it for 5 minutes to come to room temperature. 

Baking Recipes Using Pantry Staples

Baking Recipes Using Pantry Staples

A collection of my favourite cakes, cookies, puddings and bakes using pantry staples!

13 Baking Gadgets You Need To Be A Better Baker

13 Baking Gadgets You Need To Be A Better Baker

If you bake as much as I do, you learn pretty quickly which are the tools and baking gadgets that are useless and which ones you simply cannot live without. I have A LOT of baking goodies – from my ridiculous cookie cutter collection to an absurd amount of piping tips, but over the years I’ve whittled my obsession for baking gadgets and equipment down to 13 must-haves. Take a look:

  1. Get. A. Scale.

I know you’re probably tired of hearing me say it but weighing your ingredients will change your baking. 140g of flour will always be 140g of flour – whether it’s tightly packed or sifted. 1 cup of flour is a whole ‘nother story! Try weighing a cup of flour 5 times – each time you will get another result. And if that doesn’t convince you, using a scale saves washing up! Instead of using every measuring cup, you simply weigh everything into one bowl! Scales are not expensive – you can get an al-cheapo one for R60. This is the one I have, but to be honest, any digital scale is better than nothing!

2.  Oven thermometer

Most ovens lie to you! What the knob/dial says and the temperature inside are two different stories! An oven thermometer will take a lot of guess work out of your baking. And they’re also not too pricey. This one is just R78 from Takealot.com

3. Dough/Benchscraper

These are great for dividing bread dough but also getting that smooth straight edge on a cake. I have a really wide 25cm one which is perfect for taller cakes! You can get the more expensive metal ones, but the plastic works just fine for me.

4. Off-Set Palette Knives – 1 x small and 1 x big

Honestly, if you can have more of these then do it! I have 3 large and 3 small and it never feels like enough. They’re amazing for spreading frosting, cake batter, lifting rolled-out pastry, loosening cakes from tins – the list is endless. I like the ones with the wooden handles, because I can use them in my photographs, but the plastic handles are just as good.

5. Digital/sugar thermometer

I love this fancy schmancy one from Heston Blumenthal that the husband bought for me. It has soft ball, hard ball stage etc already programmed in which is super useful with a timer so it beeps when it reaches the temperature. But you can get a very affordable standard thermometer online for about R150. Perfect for making fudge, toffees, nougat, italian meringue – it takes the guessing out of dropping sugar syrup into water, peering into the cup and wondering whether it’s hard or soft ball. Life changer! (side note, it’s also great for checking medium/rare/well done steaks!)

6.  Stand Mixer

While I may love my Copper Kitchenaid more than my husband.  I know not everyone can afford one but they are a fantastic investment. With the amount of baking I do, I’ve gone through 3 other brands where the motors have just given up while attempting to knead bread dough. But, I know not everyone bakes as much as I do! A stand mixer saves so much time, as you can leave it creaming your butter and sugar and do something else in the meantime, and it saves you energy (no more kneading by hand!).

7. Disposable Piping Bags

Because life is too short to wash a piping bag! That being said, I do reuse mine a couple of times before recycling them. I love The Piping Bag Company – you can find them in most baking shops like CAB, Value Baking etc. The disposable bags allow you to snip the tip off for any piping nozzle. You don’t have to look for the attachment rings etc etc.

8. Loose-bottom cake tin 17cm

You may have noticed that I love to use 17cm cake tins in my cake recipes. I prefer to make a smaller, taller cake as it’s still a manageable size for most families to enjoy and looks really impressive. Loose-bottoms are always the way to go as I find there’s less chances of the edges breaking when you unmold it.

9. Silicone Baking Mats

Okay so these aren’t a must-have but they are a splurge/investment that will pay off in the long run! Think about how much baking paper you go through in a year and add that all up and BAM, you could’ve bought one of these babies! Perfect for cookies, praline, hot caramel, spreading chocolate, bread and, if you’re really wanting to perfect your macarons, these are a GAME CHANGER.

 

10. Revolving Cake Decorating Stand

If you’re trying to get that perfect flawlessly smooth finish on your buttercream-frosted cakes, it’s almost impossible to do so without one of these babies. This one is pretty cool because it’s actually pretty enough to be a cake stand too! Once you’ve frosted a cake on a turntable, you will never be able to go back!

11.  Large star piping tip #857

I have a bajillion piping nozzles but this is by far my favourite. It makes a pretty swirly effect when piped on cupcakes and is quite versatile for cakes and cookies too. I love piping my melting moments with it!

12. Rubber Spatulas

I can never have enough of these Le Creuset Spatulas. I’m addicted to the range of colours and the medium size is not too big and not too small – it’s juuuuust right. The wooden handle is also super sturdy so they never break like some of the cheaper spatulas.

13. Flat-sided Cookie Sheets

I’m not really sure why cookie/baking sheets have sides and to be honest I never really gave it much thought until I got this flat-sided kind. The edges just take up space that the cookies could be using! Not only can you fit far more onto this sheet, they’re easier to clean and don’t warp as easily. These sheets are also AMAZING for lifting large cakes! It makes the perfect giant spatula.

 

That’s my list, for now! I’ll keep adding to this as I find more and more baking goodies I think you may like. Is there anything I’ve left off this list that you cannot live without? Let me know in the comments below!

Feel free to forward this onto your husband/boyfriend/partner/colleague/family members/friends so they can actually get you a Christmas or birthday gift that will get lots of love and be super useful! 🙂

Upside-Down Cake Frosting Technique

Upside-Down Cake Frosting Technique

Have you ever tried to frost a cake upside-down? That’s what the upside-down cake frosting technique is all about. And it will change your life!  

Want a perfectly smooth and flat cake with sharp edges? Then flip it upside down! Check out the video below to find out exactly how the upside-down cake frosting technique works. You won’t ice a cake any other way ever again! 

If you’re looking for a recipe to try this technique on, try this one or how about this one. If you’d like a written step-by-step description of how to do the upside-down frosting technique, then click here.