I am so excited to share this Brie Dauphinoise Potatoes because it ticks a lot of boxes! Feel good food with wow-factor that’s knee-knockingly delicious, straight forward, great for make-ahead and not that expensive. The perfect potato side dish for special occasions!

Potato Dauphinoise – elevated

I used to think classic Potato Dauphinoise was the ultimate potato bake But then we plonked brie on it, baked it, and it catapulted into another stratosphere! Because brie trumps ordinary cheese every day of the week, and twice on special occasions.

Think: melt-in-your-mouth layers of thinly sliced potato bubbling away in a butter-cream sauce perfumed with just the right amount of garlic and thyme. Already great.

But then we place brie on top, cut face down, and pop it back in the oven until it melts and oozes all over the surface and seeps down the sides. Incredible.

And then – you cut into the brie skins to discover pockets of gooey brie underneath. Your eyes widen, your face splits into a huge grin, you do a little happy dance and you scoop up way, way more than your fair share.

You know I’m describing myself here. Though I’d wager this describes you too, when you make this!!

Ingredients in Brie Dauphinoise Potatoes

This recipe is actually a simplified version of tartiflette which is a potato bake from the French Alps. It’s baked with Reblochon cheese on top, one of those pungent washed rind cheeses which I haven’t seen here in Australia. So we’re going with good ole’ brie in our version! Here’s what you need:

1. Mini bries

This recipe calls for 3 x small brie that are 8 cm/3.2″ wide weighing 125g / 4oz each. I use the Woolworths brand one which are $2.80 each. Don’t bother with artisan brie, it’s wasted for this dish!

Small bries work well because once split in half, 3 small ones almost fully cover the surface of a 1.5 litre / 1.5 quart (6 cup) baking dish in which the potato dauphinoise is baked. The idea behind using small ones is that the skin of the cheese sort of contains some of the cheese inside even once fully melted, so you get an impressive ooze when you cut into it.

However, if you can’t find the small ones, just use two larger ones. I’d keep them whole so the skin holds some of the cheese underneath because honestly, that is one of the great things about this dish. 🥰

Brie vs camembert – Camembert will work just as well, it’s just that brie is richer (~65% fat v 45%).

2. The potato bake part

These are the same ingredients as classic Dauphinoise Potatoes excluding shredded cheese. Because even the self confessed Cheese Queen admits that’d be too much cheese!

• Potatoes – We want to use starchy potatoes for potato bakes like this so they break down and become soft and fluffy, rather than slippery like waxy potatoes do. It’s so disappointing when you cut through the molten cheesy topping only to find the potato slices are sliding all over the place (from the vivid description, you can guess I’ve made that mistake!).

  Australia – Sebago (those dirt brushed potatoes) are ideal. US – Russet, and UK – King Edward or Maris Piper are perfect. Or any other starchy potatoes – Dutch creams, King Edwards or red delight.

• Cream – Thickened or heavy cream work best, otherwise any full fat cream. This is the sauce in Dauphinoise that makes the potatoes so deliciously creamy.

• Garlic and butter – Mixed into the cream for deliciously buttery garlicky flavour in the creamy sauce.

• Fresh thyme – Scattered on each layer of potatoes, fresh thyme adds the most beautiful hint of herby flavour. Dried thyme really isn’t the same. But if you really can’t get fresh, just use dried (half the quantity as dried is more intense than fresh).

• Salt and pepper – For scattering on the layers as you assemble.

How to make Brie Dauphinoise Potatoes

The part that is a bit finicky is slicing the potatoes thinly though if you’ve got a mandolin you’ll make short work of it. Other than that, this is breeze to make!

1. Cut the brie in half horizontally to form 2 rounds. Do this while fridge cold, it’s easier (cutting gooey room temperature brie is a mess!).

2. Cream sauce – Mix the cream, butter and garlic in a jug.

3. Slice the potatoes using a mandolin (if you’ve got it), else, sharpen your knife and get to work!

4. Layer one third of the potatoes in a 1.5 litre / 6 cup baking dish. Pour over one-third of the cream (make sure you scoop up some of the garlic settled at the base too) then sprinkle with one third of the thyme, salt and pepper.

5. Repeat twice more, using up all the cream, thyme, salt and pepper, so you have 3 layers in total.

6. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until the potatoes are basically done ie. soft (use a butter knife to test in the centre).

   I know that sounds like a long time, and yours might be faster especially if you use a larger baking dish so the potatoes are not stacked as deep as mine. But for me, it consistently takes 80 minutes! The potatoes won’t get much softer during the 30 minute brie melting time, they just enjoy bubbling away in the melty brie.

7. Brie – Remove the foil. Place brie on top, cut face down.

8. Bake for a further 30 minutes or until the melted brie is bubbling and the edges are golden. Rest 5 minutes then serve!

It’s a side….it’s a meal!

You know I’m pitching this to you as a side dish. There are rumblings in the RecipeTin family WhatsApp thread that this needs to make an appearance on Christmas Day alongside the Seafood Platter which would go so well – think, light, cold seafood with warm oozy potato dauphinoise. YES!!!

But I exaggerate not when I say I’ve been inhaling bowls of this as a meal with a leafy side salad. It’s pictured above with an on-point holiday appropriate Pomegranate Salad (it’s got candied walnuts!). And not 5 minutes ago, I finished making the recipe video and it was dinner with this Rocket Salad on the side.

Making ahead – and leftovers

And lastly, just letting you know this is a make-ahead beauty! Assemble and bake for the covered part. Refrigerate, then finish baking it on the day with the brie on top.

In the event you are fortunate enough to have leftovers, I strongly suggest hiding the dish at the back of the fridge so you can enjoy leftovers without sharing. Or do as I suggested to a friend – cover with foil and label as RAW CHICKEN (to deter teenage boys). It works. 😈 – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Print

Brie Potato Dauphinoise (Gratin)

Recipe video above. I used to think classic Potato Dauphinoise was the ultimate potato bake But then we plonked brie on it and it catapulted into another stratosphere! Because brie trumps ordinary cheese every day of the week, and twice on special occasions .

Mini brie are good value at grocery stores ($2.80 each), expensive ones are wasted for this purpose. Also, this is great for making ahead.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine French

Keyword Dauphinoise Potatoes, Potato Bake, potato casserole, Potatoes au Gratin

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings 10 people

Calories 334cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups thickened / heavy cream , full fat – or just pure cream (Note 1)
• 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
• 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
• 1.25 kg / 2.5 lb starchy potatoes (Aus: Sebago dirt brushed, US: Russet, UK: Maris Piper) (Note 2)
• 1 tsp cooking / kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp thyme leaves , fresh (optional – but highly recommended, Note 3)
• 3 x 125g / 4oz small brie (8cm / 3.2" wide) , fridge cold, cut in half horizontally (or camembert) (Note 4)

Cups – Metric

Instructions

• Cream Mixture: Place butter, cream and garlic in a jug. Mix until combined.
• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (both fan and standard ovens).
• Slice potatoes: Peel the potatoes and slice them 1/8"/3 mm thick. Or use a slicer!
• Layer 1: Spread 1/3 of the potatoes in a 1.5 litre / 6 cup baking dish (Note 5). Then pour over 1/3 of the Cream Mixture, scatter with 1/3 of the salt, pepper and thyme.
• Layers 2 & 3: Repeat for the 2nd and third layer.
• Cover & bake: Cover with foil, and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until the potatoes in the middle are soft (use knife to test), it might take 1 1/2 hours. (Note 6)
• Top with brie, bake again: Remove foil. Place brie on the surface, cut side down. Bake for a further 30 minutes until the brie is oozy and the edges tinged with gold.
• Serve – Stand 5 minutes before serving and be prepared to swoon!

Notes

1. Cream – For a lighter version, use light fat, or US half and half (or use 1/2 cream, half milk). But it won’t have the same rich mouthfeel. Don’t try this with just milk.

2. Potatoes – Australia: Use Sebago (“dirt” potatoes, sold everywhere), US: Russet, UK: King Edward or Maris Piper

OR any other starchy potatoes. Dutch creams, King Edwards or red delight. Great all rounders like golden delight, coliban and red rascal are also great.

3. Thyme – Really try to get fresh for this special dish. But if you can’t, use 1 tsp dried thyme and crush it between your fingers to powder it up slightly, it will release a bit of extra flavour.

4. Brie – No need to get expensive ones, I use the Woolworths brand one (125g/4oz, 8cm / 3″ diameter) which are $2.80 each. Camembert also works but brie is richer with a higher fat content ~65% v 45% for camembert.

Cut when fridge cold, it’s easier because it’s firmer.

Small brie works best because 3 cut in half will cover the surface nicely, and the skin sort of holds some of the oozy cheese in though some will ooze out and spread across the surface and seep down the sides. 

If you can’t get small, just use 2 larger ones.

5. Baking Dish Size – I use a 1.5L / 1.5 Qt / 6 cup, 18 x 26 cm x 5 cm / 7 x 11 x 2″ oval shape, or thereabouts but it’s full to the brim so a slightly larger one would be more ideal. A 26 cm / 11″ skillet also works great. A 20cm/8″ square pan is too small. Larger dish is fine – just means the potatoes au gratin isn’t as deep

6. Baking time – Will differ depending on shape of dish, depth of potatoes, heat retention of baking dish, reliability of oven etc, 1 hour 20 minutes covered is consistently the time for me. Also, if you cut potatoes thicker (accidentally or on-purpose), they will take longer to cook.

7. Make ahead: Near perfect for make ahead! Bake covered with the foil until the potatoes are fully cooked (it might take 1 1/2 hours). Cool uncovered on counter then refrigerate covered. Remove from fridge 2 hours prior. Warm in the oven covered in foil for 15 minutes, plonk the brie on then bake uncovered 30 minutes. 

To speed things up you can microwave it then pop it in the oven (this is dense so takes quite a while to reheat in the oven, depends on depth of baking dish you use).

Leftovers will keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge.

Nutrition assumes 10 servings.

Nutrition

Serving: 110g | Calories: 334cal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 483mg | Potassium: 430mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 847IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 107mg | Iron: 1mg

More potato sides I love

Potatoes au Gratin (Dauphinoise)

Make-ahead Mashed Potato Casserole

Easy Creamy Cheesy Potato Bake

Browned Butter Savoury Sweet Potato Casserole

Spiral Sweet Potato Bake

Twice Baked Potatoes (Stuffed Jacket Potatoes)

Potato Recipes

Life of Dozer

Figuring out the Advent calendar….

Figured it out!

The post Brie Dauphinoise Potatoes appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Here’s what we put on our seafood platter, a staple on Christmas Day for the RecipeTin Family! Our top tips for what to get, where best to spend your money and where not to, and our favourite seafood sauces. Plus, a video at the Sydney Fish Markets – watch me choose the seafood!

A lifetime of eating seafood!

In today’s recipe, I’m sharing all the items we put on our seafood platter – a staple on Christmas Day! We love the ease (mostly no-cook, just assembling) and because it’s a treat reserved for special occasions. Australian seafood is incredible, but good quality seafood is not cheap!

This is why we are pretty meticulous with research and taste-testing our seafood – we even write nerdy notes to ourselves as reminders, to refine our purchases for the next shop. Because there’s nothing more disappointing than spending hard-earned money on expensive crab only to find it tastes completely bland.

So this post today is essentially our shopping list of what we include on our seafood platter. Learn from all the tips we have picked up over a lifetime of seafood eating, and watch me buy the seafood at the Sydney Fish Markets to put the seafood platter together in today’s video!

SUMMARY – What we put on our seafood platter

Here is a summary list of what goes on our seafood platter. Please see below sections on the why, why not, and extra tips. Note: I’m in Sydney, Australia.

1. pre-cooked seafood, served cold

This is the seafood we get that we purchased pre-cooked, or seafood that is served raw. Everything we get is Australian – we specifically ensure it is because we know it will be better.

1. Prawns (pre-cooked) – Tiger, king or banana prawns.

2. Oysters – Pacific or Sydney Rock (Tasmanian and Merimbula oysters are my favourites)

3. Morton Bay Bugs (over Balmain Bugs) – Pre-cooked.

4. Blue swimmer crabs (best over 350g) – Pre-cooked. Alternatively: Spanner crabs, but read crab section below (including king crab & mud crab advice).

5. Sashimi – Kingfish, tuna, salmon are most common

6. Smoked salmon – Sold in packets, I only get Huon (Tasmanian).

7. Dipping sauces – Our Family Favourite Seafood Sauce, and Tartare or Marie Rose sauce (recipes here)

TIPS: Seafood quality is better at fish mongers and the fish markets, one reason being they look after it better than large chain grocery stores. For all the above, we only get Australian, and seafood that’s undergone as little freezing as possible. The freshest seafood has never been frozen: caught and sold ideally on the same day. However the reality is some seafood has to be snap frozen at sea before reaching market and is sold thawed. This includes even cooked prawns at the fish markets during Christmas time. Done properly, excellent seafood quality is still maintained.

But the point is, the less freezing-thawing cycles, the better. The worst is: Caught > frozen > thawed > cooked > frozen > thawed (like cheap lobster at grocery stores likely is). Quality degrades with each step!

2. luxury seafoods – ONLY BUY if you can afford quality

Here are the top-ticket seafood platter signatures that we strongly recommend only buying if you can afford good quality. And by no means will your platter be any less delicious without them! These are not regulars on our seafood platter.

1. Lobster (crayfish) – Not worth it unless you can afford $100+/kg for high quality lobster. The cheap grocery store lobsters are rubbish (sorry, but they are). Lobster serving recipes here.

2. King crab (~$90/kg) – Everybody loves the big meaty crab legs! While they are sold pre-cooked for convenience, we find the pre-cooked product very hit and miss. King crab is imported which can also play a part in the variability of quality. So we stopped buying pre-cooked king crab after too many disappointments for such an expensive food. Want king crab? Best buy raw legs and cook it yourself.

3. Mud crab (~$90/kg) – Buy it live and cook it yourself (here’s how to prepare mud crab). You don’t see often see frozen or cooked mud crab. If buying cooked mud crab, check with the seller how fresh it is and when it was alive (we are suspicious by nature and assume it was half dead so they cooked it).

3. SEAFOOD WE COOK (SOMETIMES)

While our seafood platter is mostly comprised of cold pre-cooked seafood, if we do have cooked seafood, these are the dishes we most commonly include.

1. Baby octopus – Purchased in bags frozen or raw, marinated then BBQ’d until the legs are charred and crispy! Rare seafood item that freezes well.

2. Mussels – Cooked ahead and served at room temperature (it’s so great!). Mussels are a rare seafood item that vac packs well. Our favourite brand are Kinkawooka blue mussels (best quality, juiciest!) – look for the purple bag, sold even at regular grocery stores.

3. Salt and pepper squid – 3 years in the making, we finally cracked the perfect salt and pepper squid! This is on the RecipeTin Family Christmas menu for this year. Recipe coming before Christmas…

4. STANDARD SIDES

Here are the standard sides we serve alongside a seafood platter:

• Good bread (I love using my Crusty Artisan Bread recipe) with good butter or good extra virgin olive oil – Always!

• Potato salad or macaroni salad – … sometimes

• A Show-Off Salad like this festive Apple Salad with Candied Walnuts and Cranberries or Pomegranate Salad (more Show-Off Salads here)

And honestly, that’s all we do. We keep it simple to let the seafood shine! Also, because Christmas should be about be relaxing not slaving in the kitchen, is our motto.

5. GOING THE EXTRA MILE

If we’re feeling particularly inspired or have VIP guests, we will go the extra mile and add “special” extra dishes. Things we reach for include:

• Christmas Baked Salmon – A big statement side of salmon that’s made for Christmas festivities!

• Crispy Beer Battered Fish – and I exaggerate not when I say they are crispy and stay crispy!

• Crispy Homemade Fries – they’re crispy even long after they cool

• Store bought potato gems (tater tots) – I’m not even going to pretend we attempt to make these. We buy frozen, we love ’em, and I’m not ashamed to tell the world! For special occasions, we even deep fry them instead of baking (OMG I know, you’re horrified).

• Chinese Honey Prawns – OMG YES!!! Crunchier than you’ve ever had at any Chinese restaurant, these will blow your mind!

• Singapore Chilli Crab – A big, giant, statement main.

• Whole Baked Fish – The dill butter sauce is everything….

• Any other seafood or fish recipe – here’s the full collection.

Perfect Crispy French fries

Christmas Baked Salmon: Easy & Make-ahead

Crispy Beer Battered Fish

Singapore Chilli Crab

Whole Baked Fish – Snapper with Garlic & Dill Butter Sauce

Honey Prawns – stays crispy!

Fish recipes

5. seafood sauces

With the above fresh seafood, we simply serve with fresh lemon wedges and two sauces (recipes here):

1. Family Favourite Seafood Sauce – A family staple. Everybody who’s tried this sauce loves it! It’s essentially a mash up of Marie Rose Sauce and Tartare sauce with the added freshness from dill. It’s a bit special, and always a hit.

2. Marie Rose / Thousand Island – The classic pink sauce.

3. Cocktail Seafood Sauce – A piquant red sauce that goes heavier on the tomato sauce (ketchup).

4. Tartare Sauce – It’s amazing how much better homemade tastes, even using jar mayo. Yet so simple!

5. Thai Chilli Lime Sauce – Tangy with lime and hit of sweet chilli, for a lovely no-mayo fresh sauce alternative.

Our standard choice is the Family Favourite Seafood Sauce plus either Marie Rose or Tartare.

Find all the Seafood Dipping Sauces here.

More about each seafood item

I warned you I have a lot to say about seafood!! 😂 So in this section, I’m delving into more details about each.

Prawns

Prawns are a dependable favourite in Australia, and we are blessed with an abundance of excellent quality prawns! The 3 most common varieties are:

1. Tiger prawns – More salty and savoury.

2. King prawns – More of a sweet flavour. (You’d expect them to be larger, but they aren’t always!).

3. Banana prawns – Sweet, mild flavour, and often more economical

We love them all, and will happily eat any of them.

TIPS

• We buy them pre-cooked – Most Australian prawns are cooked soon after being caught, which locks in freshness and flavour. As long as they are fresh, the quality is excellent. You could also buy them raw and boil yourself.

• Be sure to get Australian prawns because the flavour is superior, the flesh is sweeter, and to support the Australian fishing industry! While most tiger and king prawns are locally sourced, imported banana prawns are more common. Just take note of the display label.

• Avoid pre-packaged prawns. They can be less fresh and stinky, beware! If that’s all you can get, take them out well before serving, give them a good rinse then leave to air dry.

• TOP TIP: Ask for a taste test before you buy!

Moreton Bay bugs – the better value lobster

This is one of our gold nugget tips! 🥰

We prefer to eat Moreton Bay bugs instead of lobster. They taste similar to lobster yet are about 70% cheaper at ~$40/kg. In fact, Moreton Bay bugs (and Balmain bugs) are a slipper lobster and are closely related to rock lobsters, so the flavour similarity is not surprising!

Moreton Bay bugs also have a higher meat-to-shell ratio (30-40% yield) than lobster and are easier to cut. They are more compact in shape, so easier to store too. They are caught on the northern part of Australia’s coast, mostly off the coast of Queensland.

We buy them pre-cooked (orange-coloured) which is the most common way they are sold, though you can get them raw (aka “green”, on the right below) and cook yourself (just boil them).

Balmain bugs vs Moreton Bay bugs – Balmain Bugs are the other species of slipper lobsters sold in Australia. We usually buy Moreton Bay over Balmain bugs, as we prefer the milder flavour, find the quality usually more reliable, and they’re also generally larger. Also, just FYI, despite the name, Balmain bugs aren’t actually caught in the Balmain area of Sydney! They are caught across the southern coastline of Australia, though mainly in NSW. But if you can’t find Moreton Bay bugs, Balmain bugs is a solid alternative.

Oysters

Here in Australia, we have two varieties of oysters: Pacific oysters and Sydney Rock oysters. Pacific oysters tend to be larger, with a fleshy, creamy texture. The flavour is clean and mild. Sydney Rock Oysters tend to be smaller, sometimes with yellow-tinged flesh and have a meatier mouthfeel. The flavour is stronger and more complex than Pacific oysters.

I love both of them!

Both these oysters are grown in various areas across Australia, and the region in which they are grown affects quality and flavour. I am particularly fond of Tasmanian-grown oysters (clean flavour without a bitter finish, and some are gigantic!). Merimbula is a Sydney fine-dining favourite source as are Port Stephens and Batemans Bay. Boomer Bay is a recent one I tried that I enjoyed as well.

Buy them already shucked (ie. opened) and serve with lemon wedges, that’s all you need. Though, if you’d like to try a sauce, 3 of our favourites are coming before Christmas!

Crab

I have a bizarre amount of information to share about crab! Possibly because I love crab but it’s expensive – and it’s a pain to pick out the meat especially if you buy certain types. 😂

So here’s my thoughts on crab:

• Blue swimmer crab (~$35/kg) – This Australian favourite is our preference for value, flavour and quality as long as they are on the large size (350g/ 12 oz+). Anything smaller and the ratio of meat-to-shell is too low, and it’s a pain to pick the meat out of tiny legs. Buy it cooked, or buy raw and cook yourself (just boil).

• Spanner crab (~$35/kg) is also good value but the crab’s anatomy is very different to blue swimmer crabs. The meat is mostly in the body, which is proportionally large while the claws are small and flat. The crab flesh is deliciously sweet. However it is quite fine and more crumbly than other crabs. Buy it cooked. You don’t often see it raw.

• King crab – People love king crab because of the extremely meaty legs and claws, and the firm, sweet flesh. But it’s expensive! We recommend giving frozen cooked king crab a miss. Over the years, we’ve found it hit and miss, as it’s sometimes disappointingly flavourless – such a waste of money 😭. If you want king crab, buy the uncooked legs and cook yourself. Note that king crab is mostly imported and as a general rule, this can affect reliability of quality. Excess freezing really seems to degrade the quality of crab.

• Mud crab – The king of all Aussie crabs! We love it (especially Singapore Chilli Crab), but as it is sold live it is quite expensive and you have to cook it yourself. You rarely see it frozen or pre-cooked. When we do, we are suspicious as it’s hard to know how fresh the crab was prior to cooking.

Cutting crab for serving – directions in the recipe card! There’s even a video.

Sashimi (raw fish)

Yes, we do! Totally at home on a seafood platter 🙂

There’s no need to get loads, just a little bit, for extra variety in the platter amongst all that shellfish. We just go to the sashimi bar at the Sydney Fish Markets and get what looks good or what we feel like. Kingfish, tuna and salmon are favourites, but we love to mix it up if there are other interesting fish varieties on offer.

Smoked salmon

A nice easy one to include on the seafood platter. Everybody loves it, and again, it adds to variety and abundance!

The only smoked salmon I get is Huon Salmon. I know there’s a lot of debate about the sustainability of salmon farming here in Australia. However based on my research (and also a visit to their farms in Tasmania), I believe Huon’s farming practices to be more sustainable than the other major brand here in Australia and imported economical brands, and kinder to local wildlife.

Cooked mussels

A recent addition to our cold seafood platter: cooked mussels served at room temperature. It’s so good! They present nicely if you dice up the vegetables really small so you can scatter them on the mussels for presentation purposes. Serve them in the half shell, spooning some mussel cooking liquor sauce into the shells to keep them moist and add some lovely extra flavour.

The mussels pictured above were cooked using this cookbook recipe but this recipe will also work (similar). Just remember to dice up the vegetables extra small for an elegant look, like pictured above.

Our favourite brand of mussels is Kinkawooka which are available at grocery stores as well as fish mongers. Compared to other brands, the mussels are considerably heavier which means they are meatier and juicier.

Lobster (actually, crayfish)

So, here’s the thing with lobster. It is not a regular on our seafood platters. As noted above, we usually get Moreton Bay bugs instead because it’s so similar but far better value and logistically easier to cut, store etc.

However, I do have knowledge to impart about lobster because I have a friend who catches local lobsters and shares them with me. Also, there was that time during the pandemic when our lobster export industry came to a standstill due to trade tensions with China, so there was an abundance of lobsters usually sold upwards of $100 at fish mongers going for $20 at regular grocery stores.

So I’ve actually developed a fair amount of experience cooking with lobster without shelling out an extortionate amount to buy them!

Buying lobster

If you want lobster on your seafood platter, just to reiterate what I’ve said multiple times earlier, be prepared to pay top dollar for it – $100/kg+. There is honestly no point buying the cheap ones (~$10 tails) at grocery stores, they taste like nothing! You are better off using that budget for more prawns.

Choose Australian lobster – cooked is great (it’s boiled freshly caught at sea). Then head over to my lobster recipes to choose one! There are 6 lobster recipes, all of which are suited for inclusion in a seafood platter, along with how to cut and prepare lobster.

PS It’s crayfish, not lobster

And just for a bit of food trivia: What most people call “lobster” here in Australia technically are not lobsters, they are crayfish. They are almost the same in appearance, but they don’t have the giant pincers that lobsters have in the US and Europe. We don’t have true lobsters here in Australia. 😊

Why we buy pre-cooked seafood

Our seafood platter is predominantly cold seafood that we purchased already cooked. The reason for this is simple – the quality of pre-cooked seafood here in Australia is excellent (if you know what to buy) and it’s convenient.

If you’re thinking – surely raw seafood I cook myself is going to be better – it can be true, but it’s often pricier and extra work to prepare!

Actually, pre-cooked seafood can be some of the best tasting seafood you buy because it’s boiled at sea as soon as it is caught, locking in fresh flavour when it is at its prime. Prawns are a great example of this, with most prawns sold at fish mongers here in Australia sold pre-cooked.

Pre-cooking also deals with the logistical challenge associated with how highly perishable seafood is because it extends the shelf life, as well as making the seafood more affordable for consumers.

Where I buy seafood

For special occasions, I go to the Sydney Fish Markets where you get better selection and more consistently higher quality. But on a day to day basis, I just go to my local fish monger.

I generally do not buy seafood from the grocery store, just because I find the quality is not that great and is not always handled with the care it should be.

I do think though that here in Australia, we are very lucky to have an abundance of good quality seafood, so even seafood from grocery stores is actually not that bad. I’m just a bit fussy – I’d rather indulge in seafood less often and spend a little more to get good quality seafood when I do. That’s just the way I roll.

How we put together the seafood platter

And with all that information and opinions shared, we finally arrive at the serving and eating part!

For the RecipeTin Family, one of the things that appeals to us about a seafood platter is that it’s essentially no-cook, and it’s a cold main which is ideal for hot summer Aussie Christmases. So you literally pull it out of the fridge, pile it up onto platters then serve!

OK, OK. I can give a little more guidance here, in case you’re interested. Here we go:

1. Ice bed – If we have ice, we will spread that onto a big serving platter, tray or multiple plates. This not only keeps the seafood cold, but also provides a nice non-slip bed to put the seafood on.

2. Assembling – Pile the seafood on the ice, randomly scatter lemon wedges around then nestle in bowls of sauces. A few sprigs of parsley might also make it onto the platter – but that’s really going above and beyond. 😂

Laying out the seafood

There’s no rules for the way I lay out the seafood, except logistical considerations:

• Oysters laid out mostly in a single layer or carefully shingled to avoid the oyster juices from spilling

• Mussels laid out the same as oysters so the sauce stays in without spilling

• Prawns, Moreton Bay bugs and crab – piled high (reserve the crab carapace (top shell) for decoration)

• Sashimi – fanned out

• Smoked salmon – randomly draped around

Matters of serving (tip: finger bowls!)

To serve, we put the platters out along with plenty of napkins, bowls for discarded shells and finger bowls of water with lemon slices for people to dip their hands in for a brief clean before diving back in for more seafood.

How else can I help you?

And with that, I think I am done! Or – am I? Are there any critical things I’ve missed? Is there other seafood you’d like to know about? Such as, let’s say, abalone. A highly prized delicacy here in Australia – why doesn’t it make our cut, you may be wondering??

This and any other questions you have, please leave them below and we will do our best to address them and update this post with extra information. I can’t promise I will continue to do this beyond Christmas 2023, but I can promise that we will monitor questions and update this post leading up to Christmas Day. Because the whole purpose of doing today’s post is to help readers who want to put together an amazing seafood platter!

I hope you find this useful and enjoy the little video of my shopping trip to the Sydney Fish Markets to choose and purchase seafood for the seafood platter featured in this post. – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Video of me choosing seafood at the Sydney Fish Markets and putting a seafood platter together:

Also, a little tutorial on how to cut and prepare Moreton Bay Bugs and Balmain Bugs for your seafood platter:

Print

Seafood Platter

Video above! This is what we put on our seafood platter. Our preference is to buy most seafood pre-cooked (boiled at sea) and serve it cold. See the post above for why we choose these items – it's all about best quality and best value for money! Varieties of seafood specified are for Australia.

Top tips: Buy Australian (or locally caught, wherever you are in this world) and where possible buy fresh rather than thawed/frozen (most seafood loses quality when frozen). Don't buy cheap lobster, it's a total waste of money. Get Moreton Bay bugs instead (it's so similar, but cheaper) or more prawns instead. Avoid buying pre-packaged if you can, it's fresher from open displays!

Course Main

Cuisine Australian, Western

Keyword seafood platter

Servings 8

Author Nagi

Ingredients

• 2 kg / 3 lb whole prawns , pre-cooked, shell on (Tiger, King or Banana prawns)
• 24 oysters – Sydney Rock or Pacific , love both (Tasmanian, Merimbula and Port Stephens are favourites)
• 4 blue swimmer crabs (400g/14oz+) (not smaller), pre-cooked in shell, whole
• 8 Moreton Bay bugs , pre-cooked in shell, whole (fallback – Balmain Bugs)
• 200g / 7 oz smoked salmon (Huon is the only Australian one I get)
• 250g / 8 oz sashimi , pre-sliced (tuna, kingfish or salmon)
• 1 kg / 2 lb mussels – cooked, served at room temp (Note 5)

Seafood Sauces (choose 2) – all recipes here:

• Cocktail Seafood Sauce
• Tartare Sauce
• Marie Rose / Thousand Island (top pick)
• Thai Chilli Lime Sauce
• RecipeTin Family Favourite Seafood Sauce (top pick)

Other sauces:

• Sauces for oysters (selection coming next week)
• Soy sauce and wasabi , for sashimi

Serving:

• Ice , optional (crushed if you can, else normal)
• Lemon wedges (lots!)
• Parsley sprigs (for decorating, if you're feeling fancy)
• Bowls , to discard shells
• Finger bowls , filled with water and lemon slices
• Napkins (lots!)

Our standard side dishes

• Good bread with good butter or good extra virgin olive oil (Try this easy Crusty Artisan Bread)
• Perky green salad or vegetable sticks (crudites), see in post for suggestions
• Lots of cold beer, wine and champagne!

Extra dishes pictured in post and the video

• Marinated crispy baby octoptus
• The crispiest salt and pepper squid (recipe coming soon!)
• Cheese and crackers (because I just have to!)
• More extras – see notes

Instructions

• Purchase all seafood as close as possible to the serving date. We often do the 5AM shop at the Sydney Fish Markets on Christmas Eve, because we are slightly crazy! We don't order online (we like to choose our own).
• Storage – Cooked seafood will easily keep 2 days, fresh raw for cooking will too if you take it out of the plastic bags, put in a colander or similar and very loosely cover with cling wrap (breathing = less stinky).
• Crab – To cut the crab, follow directions in How to Cut a Whole Crab except DO NOT cut off the claws if you are using a Blue Swimmer Crab. (See note)
• Moreton Bay bug – To cut the bug, flip it on to its back. Cut down through the middle (the shell is not too hard). Clean out the yellow and brown matter in the head, then it's ready to serve. Recipe video above.
• Sauce – Make your sauces of choice. They will be used for dipping prawns, Moreton Bay bugs and crab (I also use for vegetable sticks and bread!). Refrigerate until required (2 days+).
• Mussels – Make mussels, if using. Great served at room temperature on a cold seafood platter.

Assembling:

• Ice (optional) – Cover a large platter with ice. This keeps the seafood cold as well as providing a non-slip bed.
• Pile the prawns, crab and bugs on to the platter. Drape smoked salmon randomly around. Fan out the sushi.
• Oysters – Place them level to avoid the juices in the shells spilling out (what a waste!).
• Mussels – Break off one shell, and serve in the remaining shell. Then place the mussels in a single layer, or shingled (stacked but level). Spoon on a little of the diced vegetables and some reserved mussel cooking liquor.
• Sauce and lemon – Nestle bowls filled with sauces amongst the seafood and scatter over lemon wedges. Serve alongside finger bowls for cleaning and bowls to discard shells, and lots of napkins. Fill glasses with wine, cheers to Christmas! Now dive in!

Notes

Extra suggestions to add on the side: Christmas Baked Salmon, Crispy Beer Battered Fish, Homemade Fries, frozen store bought potato gems (tater tots), Chinese Honey Prawns, Singapore Chilli Crab, Whole Baked Fish any other seafood or fish recipe – here’s the full collection.

---

See in post for more tips and thoughts on each item listed. Summary points below!

1. Prawns – Tiger, king and banana prawns in Australia are all great, though if I had to pick one I’d choose tiger prawns (I love the salty slightly more intense flavour). Watch out for imported – Australian prawns are superior in flavour.
2. Oyster – Both Sydney Rock (smaller, stronger flavour) and Pacific (fleshier, cleaner flavour) oysters are great. These are the two varieties here in Australia. The quality and flavour comes down to where and how they are grown.
3. Moreton Bay bugs – The “better value lobster”!. At ~$40/kg, they’re easier to cut, to eat and have a higher meat-to-shell ratio. There’s really no point getting cheap lobster, tastes of nothing. If you get lobster, you need to spend $100/kg+. Don’t bother with cheap lobster!
4. Crab – Blue swimmer crabs for the best for flavour (in our view) and value, but don’t get small ones <350g/12oz, it’s a pain to get the meat out. Spanner crab is also great but all the meat is in the shell (cut per same directions). Mud crab and king crab – please read in post for our view on these (buy raw, make sure it’s Australian, and cook yourself), they are expensive so get it right!
5. Mussels – cooked using this cookbook recipe or this recipe,  but dice the vegetables very small (to use as garnish on mussels). Cool to room temperature then serve on platter.

Life of Dozer

One of my favourite photos of Dozer in the cookbook. Buried smack bang in the middle of the book, it must be quite a shock for people who don’t know me to be flicking through tasty food photos then suddenly come across this!! 😂 (Page 174, Restaurant Worthy Prawn Linguine).

The post What we put on our seafood platter appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Something a little special for you today – preview of the Good Food Australia special Christmas Edition coming out tomorrow featuring exclusive new Christmas recipes!

On the cover of Good Food with JB!

8 years ago when I started this website, never in a million years did I imagine I’d be writing a post like this. I mean, I started my career as an auditor of all things. PricewaterhouseCoopers alumni, right here!

And here I am today, a little embarrassed, a little proud, and very disbelieving that RecipeTin’s Chef JB and I are on the cover of Australia’s Good Food for a special Christmas Edition which will be published tomorrow (Tuesday 5th December 2023)!

The Good Food Christmas Edition

For those of you not in Australia, Good Food is the all-things-restaurants-and-food arm of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age newspapers (Melbourne), considered to be Australia’s most respected food publication. I describe it as the Australian equivalent of New York Times Cooking.

The Good Food is a lift out in the paper each Tuesday and is also online. I contribute a recipe each week for a series called “SOS” (which, as the name implies, are quick recipes for midweek madness!) and once a month I do a cover story which involves a set of recipes.

And this month, it’s a big Christmas special!! A menu of classic Christmas recipes including a never-before-seen game changing turkey breast recipe created especially for Good Food by JB. My signature glazed ham, classic trifle and a sparkling new Christmas Roast Pumpkin Salad.

Here’s a little preview of the spread!

That turkey recipe is really special. The secret is a brine that not only locks in juices (turkey is notoriously lean) but also infuses the flesh with beautiful Christmassy flavours from edge to edge.

Then it’s roasted with a Christmas glaze that’s perfumed with holiday spices, so it comes out golden and sticky, and just everything you dream your Christmas turkey to be. The smell when it’s roasting is the smell of Christmas!

Behind the Scenes at the Shoot

And here we are on the shoot day. While I do all the photos for my website, the photos of our recipes for Good Food are done by a team of professionals in a food photography studio.

And… a familiar face!! You know I take Dozer everywhere with me….so is it any surprise I snuck him into a Christmas cover shoot? Of course not! 😂

He was an excellent supervisor for the day, ensuring the floor was impeccable at all times. Not a food scrap to be seen.

And though Dozer was not specifically part of the brief, there were were many, many photos taken of him (at my insistence) with a secret hope that there’d be a giant full-page photo of him in the paper……..

….but sadly, it seems a golden fur ball isn’t really on point for a food publication so his photo wasn’t quite full page. Rather, a smaller inset. But he’s still in it!!!

In hindsight now, it was quite wishful thinking that this photo would make the front page of a food publication…😂

I’m so glad I was wearing a white dress that day. Made for sliding around on concrete floors…..

Meet the shoot team!

I want to officially introduce you to the incredible team who’s been shooting our recipes all year for Good Food! Here they are:

We have:

• Rob Palmer – One of Australia’s best food photographers, an award winning one actually! Rob also did the important photos (like the cover and Dozer) for my cookbook.

• Emma Knowles (right) – Food stylist and recipe developer! I’ve been fan-girling Emma’s work for as long as I can remember, including her days when she was a major presence at Gourmet Traveller. In awe of her work. Makes food look effortlessly beautiful!

• Theressa Klein (left) – Photo Chef. Impeccably organised, swans through the cook of enormous table spreads without breaking into a sweat and knows all the tricks of the trade to make food look amazing, naturally.

We love working with this team. I call them the A-Team, because they’re the best of the best at what they do, with the bonus that they’re an absolute hoot to work with!

Big shout-out to JB

And this post wouldn’t be complete without a big, public, splashy thank you to JB. Not only for his fabulous new turkey recipe (really, that brine is everything!), but his commitment and hard work all throughout this year for the contributions we made to Good Food.

In 2023, we produced over 50 recipes especially for Good Food. The schedule is big and complicated, with numerous stakeholders and tight turnaround times (print is hectic!). He’s been the driving force behind all our work with Good Food, managing our work with the editorial and shoot teams, and with everything else going on in our business, I know I could not have done it without him. He’s a gun with the knife, a machine in the kitchen and now he’s a cover-model Chef! It feels like a fitting way to close out our final issue of Good Food for 2023.

Where to get the Good Food special Christmas Edition

The Good Food Christmas Edition is a lift out that will be in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers tomorrow, Tuesday 5th December 2023. The recipes are also online here on the Good Food website. Though…I love seeing the spread in print!!

If you’re planning a turkey breast this Christmas, I really hope you have a look at the recipe. It really is special. Turkey breast has never been so succulent!

And with that, we are officially kicking off a series of holiday recipes leading up to Christmas. I hope you love them as much as we do! – Nagi x

Life of Dozer

We had an adorable Christmas onesy for him. Sadly, it was little small for him. 😔 So we had to settle for a boring Santa Hat.

The post Christmas Edition: Good Food Australia appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Mini Christmas Cakes! Great to serve at gatherings and ideal for gifting – long shelf life, packages up beautifully, easy to make and economical. Made with my classic Christmas cake batter, the rich fruit cake is moist and velvety.

Mini Christmas Cakes

Here are the Mini Christmas Cakes I promised in last weeks’ Holiday Gift Guide!! This is just my classic Christmas Cake converted into mini form. They look so great on a platter to serve at gatherings, and are also ideal for gifting because they have a long shelf life. The cake is beautifully moist, rich with dried fruit, perfumed with Christmas spices. Dense, but soft pudding-like, not like a brick as many store bought ones are.

I also like that they’re easy to dress up for serving and gifting, because this Christmas Cake is designed to be eaten plain. So you don’t need to fuss to work around frosting or add a sauce for serving. Just dust with icing sugar, then for an extra Christmassy touch, tie a ribbon around each one and add a sprig of rosemary!

Also – the option to add a Christmas pudding drippy glaze!

What you need to make Mini Christmas Cakes

A LOT of dried fruit and very little cake batter!!

1. SOAKED DRIED FRUIT (booze optional)

Here’s what you need for the Soaked Dried Fruit. The fruit is soaked in either apple juice OR a combination of apple juice and brandy (for those who like boozy Christmas Cake).

Dried fruit mix speedy option – While I like to chop my own dried fruit (cake is softer, you get better flavour and I can use the ratios I like), feel free to use a store bought mix of pre chopped dried fruit for convenience.

• Use any dried fruit you want – As long as it weighs 855g / 30 oz in total. The selection above is the mix I like!

• Mixed peel is a store bought mix of dried, crystallised (ie sugared) lemon and orange peel. Usually it comes pre chopped – I like to chop it a bit finer. I like less citrus peel than some recipes because I’m too scarred by all those times I bit into a huge piece of orange peel. Just not to my taste! Don’t use FRESH orange and lemon peel, it will be too strong and too bitter. I do not know how much fresh peel to substitute this for.

• Juice and/or booze – for a traditional boozy Christmas Cake, just switch 1/3 of the apple juice with brandy. Can also sub apple juice with orange juice if you want a stronger citrus flavour.

2. CHRISTMAS CAKE BATTER

And here’s what you need for the cake batter part. The cake has very little baking powder because it’s quite a dense cake with a pudding-like texture. But it’s still got a distinct “cake” texture – unlike some Christmas Cakes that are so dense they are like eating fudge!

• Brown sugar – Dark brown sugar gives the cake a richer colour and that is what I use for my classic single large Christmas cake. For individual ones, I prefer a slightly lighter coloured crumb so the fruit bits stand out more, so I use regular brown sugar.

• Molasses / golden syrup – adds to the richness of flavour and colour of cake. Either is fine – I interchange year on year.

• Walnuts – sub with any nuts of choice, or leave it out completely.

• Oil AND butter – oil is what gives this cake a superb moistness. Butter is for flavour!

• Eggs – This is what makes the cake hold together rather than being crumbly.

• Flour – Just regular plain / all-purpose flour. Self raising flour can be used to substitute the flour and baking powder but the cake may dome a little more than pictured.

• Spices – All spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Classic Christmas cake flavours!

How to make Mini Christmas Cakes

The only difference between this and my classic Christmas Cake is that I bake it in a square pan so I can cut into square individual cakes.

Pan size – I use a 20 cm / 8″ square pan which makes a 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall cake so when cut into 9 squares, they are a nice tall height and impressive gift-giving size. Feel free to use a larger pan – for example, a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13″ pan will make a 2.3cm / 1″ tall cake which you can cut into more pieces. You can also use a muffin tin lined with silver foil patties.

1. Baking the Christmas cake

The key step that makes this so much faster to make than other fruit cakes is the fruit soaking step. Most recipes call for dried fruit to be soaked overnight. I take a speedy approach: just microwave the dried fruit with juice and/or brandy, then stand for 1 hour to soak up the liquid. So much faster – and just as effective!

1. Soak fruit – Microwave the dried fruit with the juice/brand for 1 1/2 minutes or until hot. Stir to coat then set aside for 1 hour to let the fruit soak up the liquid and plump up.

2. Batter – Beat the butter and sugar for 1 minute until light and fluffy. Because of the volume of sugar vs butter, it won’t look creamy but you can tell it’s soft from the texture. Then beat in the oil and molasses, then the salt, spices and baking powder. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, beating until just incorporated.

3. Mix in the flour using a wooden spoon.

4. Soaked fruit – Then mix in the dried fruit, including any residual liquid left in the bottom of the bowl.

5. Pan – Pour the batter into a lined 20cm / 8″ pan. It will fill it right to the top and that’s fine, the cake barely rises. As noted above, it’s a dense cake but it’s not brick-like! It’s still distinctly cakey.

6. Bake 2 1/2 hours – Cover the cake with a sheet of baking paper (which will peel off without ripping the cake surface off), then foil. Then bake for 2 hours, remove foil and paper, then bake for a further 30 minutes uncovered to colour the surface.

   Cool – Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferred to a rack to fully cool.

2. Cutting mini cakes

I like to cut into 9 squares because I think the proportions look nice and the cake is a gift-worthy size. To be specific, they are 6.5cm / 2 1/2″ squares that are 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall. As noted above, feel free to use different size pans. For example, a 23 x 33cm / 9 x 13″ pan will make a cake that is 2.3cm / 1″ tall and you will be able to cut many more pieces.

1. Cutting – Trim the edges (to make the sides neat). Then cut the cake into pieces as desired. I do 9 squares.

2. Trim surface – The surface of the cake is ever so slightly domed. So to make the Christmas Cake into perfect uniform pieces, I trim the surface then turn them upside down and decorate the base.

3. Flip and dust or ice – Flip the cake upside down so the base of the cake is the side you decorate. Then either dust with icing sugar (easy option I use when gift-wrapping), or decorate drippy-style with white frosting (for a classic Christmas Pudding look) or top with fondant (see classic Christmas Cake recipe for directions).

Gift wrapping

As I mentioned earlier, Mini Christmas Cakes have in their favour as a homemade gifting idea. They are:

• Easy to make

• Economical – especially if you use a mixed fruit option instead of getting individual dried fruits

• Easy to decorate – Just a dusting of icing sugar makes them instantly Christmassy! Though tying ribbon around the cake really is an easy way to make them even more gift-worthy.

• Easy to gift wrap – no need to find specific size jars of gift bags. Just wrap in cellophane and tie with ribbon.

• Long shelf life – This one is important to me! A few years ago I did cookies but they just don’t have a great shelf life. It’s rare for any cookie to truly remain in top-notch fresh form beyond 2 days. Wheres the Christmas Cake? I’ve kept mine in the fridge for a month and it was still like freshly made. How good is that!

Love to know how you present these Mini Christmas Cakes if you try them, or how you customise the cake to your taste. Share in the comments below – readers love getting inspiration!

Also, spoiler alert for my friends – you’re all getting Mini Christmas Cakes this year. 😂 – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Print

Mini Christmas Cakes – ideal for gifting!

Recipe video above. Here's my classic Christmas Cake converted into mini form! They look so great lined up on a platter to serve at a gathering, and are also ideal for gifting because they have a long shelf life. The cake is beautifully moist, rich with dried fruit, perfumed with Christmas spices. Dense, but soft pudding-like, not like an enjoyable brick as many store bought ones are.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Australia, British, Western

Keyword christmas cake, easy christmas cake, fruit cake

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Fruit soaking 1 hour hour

Total Time 4 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 9 – 16 pieces

Calories 388cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Fast soaked fruit (Note 1):

• 300g / 10 oz raisins
• 150g / 5 oz diced dried apricots , chopped 8 mm / 1/3"
• 75g / 2 1/2 oz mixed peel , diced 5mm / 1/5
• 150g / 5 oz glace cherries , chopped 8 mm / 1/3"
• 180g / 6 oz dates , diced 5mm / 1/5"
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp apple juice , OR 1/3 brandy + 2/3 juice (Note 2)

Cake:

• 115g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , softened (1 US stick)
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar , packed (or dark brown sugar for a darker crumb, Note 3)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or canola, peanut, grapeseed)
• 3 tbsp molasses or golden syrup (Note 4)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 2/3 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
• 3/4 cup walnuts , chopped (optional)

Decorating

• Icing sugar, for dusting
• Christmas fondant – see directions here

Christmas Pudding Drippy Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp / 15g unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 – 3 tbsp milk

Cups – Metric

Instructions

Fast Soaked Fruit:

• Heat – Place dried fruit and juice/brandy in a large microwavable container. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes on high or until hot.
• Soak – Stir to coat all fruit in liquid. Cover then set aside for 1 hour (to plump up/soak and cool).

Cake:

• Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F (140°C fan). Grease and line a 20cm / 8" square cake pan with baking paper / parchment paper, or larger pan to get more cakes out of it. (Note 5 on pan size).
• Beating – Using an electric beater, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute on speed 5). Add oil and molasses, beat until combined. Add salt, spices and baking powder – beat until incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated.
• Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon, then the dried fruit (including all the extra liquid in bowl) and walnuts (if using).
• Pour into the cake pan, it will fill it right to the top (it won't spill over, the cake barely rises). Cover the surface with paper then cover with foil.
• Bake 2 1/2 hours – Bake for 2 hours, remove the foil and paper, then bake for a further 30 minutes. A skewer inserted into middle should come out clean with no batter on it.
• Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting.
• Cutting – Trim off the sides (to make them neat). Then cut into 9 squares (or more, if you want). Trim the surface (to make them level as the cake slightly domes). Then flip upside down and decorate the base of the cake.

Decorating, gifting and serving

• Simple – Dust with icing sugar. That's all this cake needs, it's so full flavoured and moist! Wrap with cellophane and ribbon to gift.
• Ribbon – Wrap and tie a ribbon around each cake. Nice way to present for serving. (Optional to include for gift wrapping too, but then there's a double ribbon situation happening – ie ribbon and cake, ribbon on cellophane!)
• Drippy white glaze – Mix the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and start with 2 tbsp milk. Mix really well (it will take time to come together, be patient). Then adjust thickness using 1/2 tsp milk at a time. BE CAREFUL – it goes from too thick to too thin very easily! Goal: Thick glaze that will ooze "pudding style", as pictured, rather than dripping in long streaks. Spoon onto cake, coaxing it down the sides. Allow to set before wrapping.
• Fondant – See directions in my classic round Christmas Cake.
• Serving – serve with custard for a traditional experience! Either homemade custard or store bought pouring custard.

Notes

1. Dried fruit – any fruit of choice can be used as long as it totals 855g / 30 oz and it’s finely chopped. Combination I’ve used is to my taste – I do not like my fruit cake too citrusy (hate biting into big chunks of orange peel!). I like having variety for flavour.

Mixed peel is a store bought mix of diced, dried, crystallised (ie sweet) orange and lemon peel. Sometimes it’s already chopped, sometimes not. Chop it to size per recipe. It is not fresh peel. Fresh peel will be much stronger and more bitter – not sure how much to use.

Pre chopped mixed dried fruit – store bought mix of pre chopped dried fruit is fine to use. Chopping your own will yield a more moist cake (pre chopped dried fruit is not as moist) BUT having said that, this cake is so ultra moist, it has the give to use pre chopped!

2. Juice / brandy – this cake tastes just as good made with or without alcohol, it comes down to personal taste. I usually make it without because Christmas Cake stretches far and I want everyone to be able to eat it.

BRANDY – If you want to use brandy, use 1/3 cup brandy PLUS 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp juice.

Juice – I like using apple juice for its neutral flavour. Pineapple and other not so strong flavoured juices will be fine here. If you like citrus flavour, use orange juice – you can taste it a bit more than other juices.

3. Dark brown sugar – makes the cake a rich dark brown colour. Can sub with normal brown sugar – will make cake lighter (also looks nice as fruit stands out!)

4. Molasses / golden syrup – adds to the richness of flavour and colour of cake. Either is fine – I interchange year on year.

5. Cake pan size – A square 20cm/8″ pan makes a 4.5cm / 1.8″ tall cake which is a nice height for 9 squares. Feel free to make this cake in a larger cake pan. a 23 x 33cm/9 x 13″ pan will make a cake 2.3cm / 0.9″ thick, it takes around 1 hour 45 minutes to bake (covered for 1 hour 15 minutes, then uncovered for 30 minutes). Don’t fret about exact baking times because the cake is very moist so it’s forgiving.

You can also use a muffin tin – silver liners look lovely. They take around 25 minutes to bake (no need to cover, just bake uncovered).

6. Serving – cake is moist and so full flavoured it’s wonderful eaten plain. But for an extra special touch, serve with custard.

7. Storage – I’ve kept it for a month in an airtight container in the fridge and it was good as it was freshly made (at room temperature). Having researched online, looks like 2 to 3 months is the general consensus (for fridge) and a year in the freezer (for this sort of cake, with no alcohol. 

Nutrition

Calories: 388cal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 413mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 469IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 2mg

Life of Dozer

Pleading for help.

The post Mini Christmas Cakes – gift! appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.