Nowhere are ratios more important than in the sweet kitchen and if you look at all the high-end pastry books these days, you’ll notice that only weights are listed because “a cup of broken chocolate” can contain vastly varying quantities of chocolate depending on how small the chocolate has been broken.
Like last week’s, these are basic recipes designed to be a starting point. Use these basics and then work to improve them to create your own perfected version of each.
Also take note that the wonderful thing about these recipes is the impact that technique can have on the finished outcome of each dish.
Here, we are largely playing with the same suite of ingredients but see how versatile they can be.
PANCAKES
The recipe: 1 part flour, 1 part egg, 1.5 parts milk
Mix 1 cup flour with one egg. Now slowly whisk in 1.5 cups of milk. Add a knob of melted butter, a pinch of salt and a little sugar. Leave to thicken in the fridge for half an hour before using.
SHORTBREAD
The recipe: 6 parts flour, 4 parts butter, 2 parts sugar, 1 part cornflour
This is one of the first ratios I learnt by heart – six ounces flour, four ounces butter, two ounces sugar and one ounce cornflour makes a damn fine shortbread that can be scoffed with a pot of tea or work as the base of a dessert. To make, cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer until almost white. Then sift in flours (and a little salt) while the mixer is still going. Turn out on to a floured bench and pull together with cold hands into a smooth dough. Press into a baking tray 1cm thick. Score out shapes and decorate. Rest in fridge and then bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes at 170C.
- Any multiple of these quantities will work, such as 60g flour, 40g butter, 20g sugar, 10g cornflour; or 240g flour, 160g butter, 80g sugar, 40g cornflour.
SPONGE CAKE
The recipe: equal parts sugar, eggs, flour and butter
The sponge and the pound cake both start at the same place and with the same equal quantities of sugar, eggs, flour and butter (ie, 200g or one pound of each). The difference is that for the sponge you get bigger bubbles in the cake by whisking the eggs and sugar together first and folding in the flour, then the butter – in a cooled but melted form. Cook in a preheated oven at 180C.
How long your sponges will take depends on whether you make one large cake or lots of little ones. The sponge is done when a skewer plunges into the centre of the cake and comes out clean of any mix.
This sponge can be filled, torn up for use on a fruit dessert or sodden with a lemon or alcohol syrup to become the centrepiece of a pudding.
- Using warm ingredients will help incorporate the ingredients and add lightness to the cake
CUSTARD
The recipe: 4 parts milk, 1 vanilla bean, 1 part sugar, 1 part egg yolk
Whether you pour it on your apple pie or chill to turn into ice cream, this custard ratio works. Just simmer 400g milk and/or cream with a split vanilla bean. Then remove from heat and leave to infuse; scraping the vanilla seeds into the milk. Whisk 100g sugar and 100g egg yolks together until frothy. Pour the warm (but not hot) milk over other egg mix while whisking. Return this combo to the pan and stir over a gentle heat until it thickens to a spoon-coating consistency.
Serve or strain into a bowl set over iced water to cool.
To make creme brulee from this custard, first preheat the oven to 170C and place a highsided baking tray in the oven – one that you have half-filled with warm water. Pour your custard into ramekins and place them in this water bath to bake for 30 minutes or until just set. Then remove and brulee their tops with burnt melted sugar.
CRUMBLE
The recipe: 3 parts butter, 3 parts oats, 2 parts brown sugar, 2 parts plain flour
A crumble is the most forgiving of toppings and can incorporate anything from nuts and seeds to muesli, Weetbix or breadcrumbs. This 3:3:2:2 ratio is an easy one to remember – just mix together 90g soft butter, 90g rolled oats, 60g brown sugar, 60g plain flour and a good pinch of salt.
- Once you’ve mixed your crumble, you needn’t just use it to top fruit. Why not toast it on a baking tray in the oven and then just sprinkle it on to add crunch to other dishes like ice cream or Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit for a breakfast treat?
SUGAR SYRUP
The recipe: 1 part sugar, 3 parts water
I use a light sugar syrup for poaching fruits by warming 1 cup sugar with 3 cups water so the crystals dissolve.
Then I’ll add flavourings or spices like vanilla, saffron, star anise or cinnamon. Only then will I add my fruit. When the fruit is cooked, remove the fruit and reduce the syrup to make a sauce. You can use wine instead of water for poaching.
BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE
The recipe: equal parts butter, cream and brown sugar
This obscenely decadent butterscotch sauce is the perfect partner to sticky toffee pudding or vanilla ice cream. Heat all the ingredients together to a boil and then reduce the heat to thicken. To give the sauce a little edge, add some salt and a splash of vinegar to the mix.
SCONES
The recipe: 6 parts flour, 1 part butter, 3 parts milk
Using your fingertips, rub 100g of butter into 600g selfraising flour so what’s left looks like breadcrumbs and so you can see little lumps of butter. Add a good pinch of salt and a handful of sugar.
Pour 300g of milk (or 50/50 milk/lemonade mix) into the flour mix together but cutting it together with a table knife.
Gently pull it together into a loose dough. Flatten the dough to 2cm and cut out scone shapes. Bake these all huddled together in a pre-heated 220C oven for 10 minutes. Serve while warm.
- You can halve these quantities if you don’t want to make as many scones.
MERINGUES
The recipe: 3 parts egg whites, 1 part caster sugar
This is one of the simplest ratios of all. Just whisk 3 egg whites to soft peaks and then slowly beat in 1 cup caster sugar until it looks glossy.
Now pipe on to a nonstick baking sheet and cook in preheated 120C oven for 1 hour. Then turn off the oven and leave meringues to dry out a bit.
Sandwich together equal halves of meringue with whipped cream as the base for a fancy dinner dessert or break them up to mix with whipped cream, fresh berries and a little raspberry coulis for a take on Eton Mess.
- Adding a pinch of cream of tartar to the whites when they are frothy will help them plume and hold peaks.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE
The recipe: 1 part cream, 1 part chocolate
Warm 200g cream and then pour over 200g broken pieces of chocolate to melt it. Stir until combined, then use.
- Add more cream to make a pouring sauce.
- Why not go exotic and flavour the cream with alcohol (Tia Maria, rum, etc) or infuse with vanilla, ginger or even chilli while warming before adding the chocolate.
Follow Matt Preston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mattscravat
Information in this article is correct as of 12 June, 2012.
Matt Preston writes for the taste section, available every Tuesday in The Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph, and Herald Sun, every Wednesday in The Advertiser and in Perth’s Sunday Times.
