Banana Bundt Cake with Rum Icing

This is the best banana cake I've ever made. It's seriously moist and delicious and will be making its way into my repertoire for whenever I have some over ripe bananas to use up. It's easy to make and looks stunning with very little effort. This is definitely my favourite of the two bundts I made this weekend.

The banana flavour is very pronounced (I did use 4 of them!) and, when combined with the sour cream, the cake becomes tender and moist with a soft crumb. I found the original recipe here on Cooks.com but as with the last recipe, there were some problems. The method neglects to mention some of the listed ingredients which is kind of unhelpful! Thankfully, I know how to make a cake and could work out what I needed to do.

I've typed the recipe here as I made it and have converted to metric as usual. I really recommend this cake even if you don't have a bundt pan, I think it would work well in a few loaf tins or maybe even a big batch of cupcakes! The rum icing was amazing. It was the perfect accompaniment to this cake and was so easy to make too.

Ingredients
115g butter
340g sugar
3 or 4 over ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
220g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
120ml (a small pot) sour cream
For the icing
300g icing sugar
2-3 tbsp hot water
3 tsp rum (to taste)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease an 8 cup bundt pan.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs and bananas and mix well.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold in. Finally, stir through the sour cream.
Pur the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning the cake onto a wire rack to cool.
For the icing, combine the sugar, rum and water into a large bowl and blend until it's spreadable. Pour over the top of the cake and allow it to drip down the sides.

Read more...

Cinnamon Bun Bundt Cake

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated. I've been settling into a new job and also trying to set up a business (more details of that to come!). It's all been exciting but somewhat disturbing to my blogging and baking! I spent Sunday baking cakes in my new bundt pan and they're the first things I've baked for ages!

I've been eyeing up bundt cakes for some years. They feature on American baking blogs regularly and I've always been interested in them. I got my first bundt pan (8 cup) from Lidl a couple of weeks ago and have only just got the time to try it out.

I did some searching for recipes that use my size of pan (often bundt pans have a larger 10 or 12 cup capacity) and found a couple that I wanted to try. So I made them both. I'll start with the Cinnamon Bun Bundt to carry on the theme from my last post.

I found the recipe for this cake here at Food for Laughter. I'm posting it here with metric measures as usual and how I made it. There were a couple of issues with the original recipe so here is my version

Ingredients
220g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
150ml milk
85g butter
4 tbsp sugar
3 eggs

For the glaze
135g soft brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
120ml water
50g butter

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a bundt pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Heat the milk, butter and sugar in a pan on a medium heat just until the butter is melted, stirring constantly.
Add the eggs and the milk mixture to the flour mixture, and beat well.
Pour the batter into the bundt pan, and bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.
To make the glaze; heat the sugar, cinnamon, water and butter in a saucepan until the butter has melted and the sugar disolved. Pour over the still warm cake and, using a pastry brush, make sure the entire cake is covered with the glaze.
Serve warm with some extra syrup poured over.

Read more...

Chocolate Custard Muffins

Dan Lepard is an award-winning baker and he publishes many recipe through his Guardian column "How to Bake." I regularly trawl through the archived recipes and bookmark those that look delicious (most of them) and easy to recreate at home. I have had this recipe for chocolate custard muffins bookmarked for ages and, in a desperate need for a chocolate fix, decided to make them to share with my family one evening.

The muffins were delicious and decadent. They had a wonderfully rich chocolate flavour thanks to the cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate. When served warm these were moist and sweet and when cold were still tasty and soft.

The recipe is really rather simple. A warm chocolate custard thickened with cornflour is made in a saucepan and the flour is added to the mix. The batter is then baked and comes out amazingly moist but still light. Dan boasts that this is "the best chocolate muffin you'll ever eat!" and I must say that I'm inclined to agree.

The original recipe is posted here along with links to the whole series. I've reprinted it here for ease of use.
Ingredients
50g cornflour
3 level tbsp cocoa
100g dark soft brown sugar
225ml cold water
75g unsalted butter, cubed
125g dark chocolate, broken small
75ml sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
125g caster sugar
125g plain flour
2½ tsp baking powder

Method
First make the custard: put the cornflour, cocoa, brown sugar and water into a saucepan and whisk together over a medium heat until boiling, very thick and smooth. Remove from the heat, beat in the butter and chocolate until melted and absorbed, then add the oil, vanilla and one of the eggs, and beat again until combined. Add the remaining egg and the caster sugar, and beat again until smooth and thick.

Measure the flour and baking powder into a bowl, stir together, then sift directly on to the custard and beat through until combined. Spoon into a dozen paper muffin cases sitting in the pockets of a muffin tray; heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and bake for 25 minutes.

Read more...

Lemon Cheesecake Cupcakes

As you may be aware I was responsible for making some gorgeous cupcakes for my brother's birthday last weekend. I was really unsure which flavours to go for so I had a bit of a think and decided I needed a chocolate, a fruit and something else.

The fruit came in the form of lemon. I really like lemon in desserts. The sharp citrus matches perfectly wit the rich butter and counteracts the sweetness of the sugar.

These were a bit of an experiment actually. I used the Red Velvet recipe and tweaked it to make a lemon cheesecake flavoured cake. I used good quality lemon curd in the middle of the cakes and topped them with a lemon cream cheese frosting that was to die for. The lemon curd did sink a bit in the batter but it didn't really matter. There was a lovely lemony gooey centre/bottom to these cakes and they were a big hit at the party!

Ingredients
195g plain flour
85g butter, softened
225g sugar
1 large egg
Grated zest and juice of 1 1/2 lemons (you'll use the other half a lemon in the frosting)
3-4 drops yellow food colouring (optional)
1 jar (400g) of good lemon curd (you may not use it all)
3/4 tsp salt
175ml milk + 2 tbsp lemon juice (or 175ml buttermilk)
3/4 tsp cider vinegar
3/4 tsp baking soda

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line muffin tray with 12 paper liners.
In a small bowl, sift the flour and set aside. Combine the milk and lemon juice in a cup and set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat well.
Add the lemon zest and a little yellow colouring if desired.
In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat.
In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
Place a generous spoonful of batter into each muffin case and top with a spoonful of lemon curd. Cover the lemon curd with more batter so that it is sealed in. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting I used this recipe as I needed it to be pipeable (is that a word?) and this guaranteed that it would be. As has become the norm I've converted the measurements to metric and added my alterations. This is also for 12 cupcakes rather than 24.

Ingredients
65g butter, at room temperature
115g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225g icing sugar
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp lemon curd

Directions:
Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
Add the zest and lemon curd and beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

Read more...

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cake is a rich, moist cake with a distinctive red colour popular in the Southern United States. Traditionall it got its colour from a chemical reaction between cocoa and vinegar. Due to the modern processing methods now used to make cocoa, this reaction doesn't occur so red velvet is now much more likely to include red food colouring to get its rich colouring.

You don't really find red velvet cake in the UK unless you're at an American bakery. I've been spying it on blogs for years and figured now was a good time to have a go at making it myself. I chose to do it for the cakes I made for my brother's birthday and did some research into recipes. I didn't manage to get a decent picture of the colour of the cakes so you'll just have to believe me until I make them again.
This recipe from Epicurious came highly recommended. I halved the batch and frosted with a simple vanilla buttercream though a cream cheese or cooked roux frosting appears to be more traditional. This is the halved batch with metric measurements and my alterations.

WARNING - Wear an apron when you make these or you WILL get covered in red colouring, no matter how careful you are.

Ingredients
195g plain flour
85g butter, softened
225g sugar
1 large egg
3 tbsp red food coloring
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
175ml milk + 2 tbsp lemon juice (or 175ml buttermilk)
3/4 tsp cider vinegar
3/4 tsp baking soda

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line muffin tray with 12 paper liners.
In a small bowl, sift the flour and set aside. Combine the milk and lemon juice in a cup and set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat well.
In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat.
In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

There is quite a lot of washing up to do after this recipe but it really is worth it. The cakes are tender and moist and come out a beautiful shade of red. Top these with a bright white frosting to enhance the colour of the cake.

Read more...

Mocha Cupcakes with Chocolate Kahlua frosting

This is the first of the three cupcake recipes from my brother's birthday. I realise they're a bit late in coming on to the blog but I've been busy with work things and haven't really had a chance to update. While I've got some free time, I thought I'd get the ball rolling.

I've made these cakes before but this is the first time I've been able to use instant espresso powder and get a true mocha flavour. It was amazing. These cakes are actually pretty simple to make and they bake with a flat top so they're extra easy to frost afterwards. The chocolate flavour is rich and deep and the espresso adds a lovely bitter coffee edge. The frosting works perfectly to create a creamy chocolatey and slightly boozey flavour that complements the cupcake perfectly.
The original recipe can still be found here at Culinography, but I halved the batch as I only needed 12 cakes and changed the measurements to metric to make things a little easier.

Ingredients
225g granulated sugar
75g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
120ml natural yogurt
110g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 rounded tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
175ml water
2 tablespoons espresso powder
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12 cup muffin tin.
On medium speed, cream together the sugar, butter, and eggs until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the yogurt.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.
In a measuring cup combine the water, coffee and vanilla.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/sour cream mixture with the coffee mixture. Mix thoroughly.
Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Remove cupcakes to wire rack and cool before frosting.

For the Kahlua Frosting I used this recipe from Group Recipes. This is a half batch with metric measurements.

Ingredients
Pinch ground cinnamon
3 tbsps boiling water
1 tbsps Kahlua
450g confectioners' sugar, sifted
40g cocoa powder
4tbsp butter, softened

Method
Place the cocoa powder In a large-ish mixing bowl & pour in the boiling water & Kahlua.
Stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the cocoa comes together into a soft mass.
Add the butter & mix with an electric mixer on lowish speed until the mixture is soft & well mixd, 30 seconds.
Stop the machine.
Add the confectioners' sugar & cinnamon & beat with the mixer on lowish speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 min.
Increase the mixer speed to medium & beat until the frosting lightens & is fluffy, 2 mins more.
Pipe or spread onto cupcakes and enjoy!

Read more...

Flourless Chocolate and Pear Cake

Flourless chocolate cakes fascinate me. Soft peaked egg whites give the cake air and structure and the ground almonds create a delicious texture. In this recipe, pears are rested gently on top of the light cake and it is baked in the oven. The cake come out moist and delicious with a good chocolate flavour. The pears bake until soft but still hold their structure well.



I found this recipe on BBC Good Food. We've got a glut of pears at the moment since we harvested them from our pear tree and even though this only uses a couple; every little helps!



Ingredients
85g butter , plus 1 tbsp extra for tin
85g golden caster sugar , plus extra for tin
85g dark chocolate , broken into pieces
1 tbsp Sailor Jerry rum
3 eggs, separated
85g ground almonds
4 pears, peeled, halved and cored (I only used 3 as that's all that would fit)
icing sugar, for dusting

Method
Cut a circle of baking parchment to fit the base of a 25cm loose-bottomed tin. Melt 1 tbsp butter and brush the inside of the tin, then line the base with the parchment and brush again with more butter. Spoon in 2 tbsp caster sugar, swirl it around to coat the base and sides, then tip out any excess.

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of hot water, remove from the heat, stir in the brandy and leave to cool. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick; fold into the chocolate with the nuts.

In a separate bowl, with a clean whisk, beat the whites until they reach a soft peak (try not to whisk them too stiffly or you'll have trouble folding them in). Stir a spoonful of the whites into the chocolate mix, then carefully fold in the rest of them in 2 additions. Spoon into the prepared tin. Level, then arrange the pears over the mixture, cut-side down.

Bake for 30-40 mins until the pears are soft and the cake is cooked all the way through. Leave to cool in the tin slightly before releasing it, then place on a rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve

Read more...

Vegan Chocolate and Stout cupcakes

I told you to expect more vegan treats. I've got soy milk that needs using up and a baking bug that just wont go away. These cupcake were absolutely delicious. They were springy and soft, deeply chocolatey and would go great with a glass of the milk of your choice. The crumb topping adds a nice bit of texture and dryness to combat the moistness of the cakes. Oh I wish I had one fo these left...
The important thing for this recipe is finding a vegan stout. There are plenty of them available. I'm lucky enough to have the Spectrum Brewery fairly locally. All their bottled beers are totally organic and vegan friendly as are several of their cask ales. I can't really recommend them highly enough.
So once you've found your vegan friendly stout (a Google search should help you if you don't already have a favourite) you will be good to go. As with the last vegan cupcake recipe it looks like there are a lot of ingredients. They all come together very easily and the resulting cupcake is so decadent. Please give these a try. I converted the recipe into metric measures again.

Ingredients
Crumb topping:
30g all purpose flour
30g cocoa powder
55g granulated sugar
2 tbsp sunflower oil

175ml soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
200g all purpose flour
40g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
60ml stout
170g granulated sugar
80ml sunfllower oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla


Method
In a small bowl sift together the cocoa and flour and stir in the sugar. Slowly drizzle the oil in while tossing flour mixture with a fork. Crumbs will form. Stir with fingers and make as many crumbs as possible.
In a large bowl whisk together soy milk and vinegar.
In a seperate bowl, sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix.
Add stout, sugar, oil, and vanilla to soy milk mixture and beat till foamy.
Add dry ingredients to wet in 2 batches, mix 2 min. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full and sprinkle with the crumb mixture. Make sure the crumbs rest on top and don't sink into the batter.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 18-20 minutes and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Once again this recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World which is available from Amazon

Read more...

Vegan Rum and Raisin Cupcakes

I'm really beginning to love vegan baking. I was a bit scared at first but once you learn a few basic rules there is really no stopping you. I've tried to make things that don't require lots of single use ingredients. It seems like a waste of money to go and splurge on something for one recipe which will get thrown out before it can be used up.

I was going to tell you how difficult it is finding vegan ingredients in my small town but in fact, there's a little shop in the town centre that offers a wide range of vegan ingredients as well as a plethora of other random foodie things. The shop is almost heavenly for me but the staff seem somewhat uninterested. Maybe if I become a regular customer I'll feel more welcomed. Anyway, it means that I'll be able to grab vegan cream cheese and silken tofu for further vegan baking exploits. It's the small things that amuse me...


Back to these here cupcakes. This was the last remaining cupcake of the batch. I grabbed a couple of quick shots before scoffing it myself. They were delicious. They were golden and sweet with a nice hint of warming rum and the sticky raisins added a lovely texture. The raisins did sink to the bottom a bit as the cake mixture is quite runny but that was fine. I decided not to ice these as I was transporting them 25 miles (and I didn't want to run to the shops for more ingredients) and they had to sit in my bag for quite a while. I don't think I lost too much without an icing but maybe next time I'll glaze them or frost them in a more interesting way.

The intended recipient (Hi Jhon!) was very appreciative and scoffed the lot on the long drive home after the gig. He also asked for the recipe which is pretty much the most flattering thing you could ask me for. So in honour of Jhon, I post this recipe, please don't be scared of the number of ingredients, they all come together very easily. As ever this recipe is taken from the amazing Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World which is available from Amazon below, I have added my own notes and alterations.

I've converted this recipe from US cups into metric measures.

Ingredients:
110g raisins (I used crimson raisins which are slightly sharper than the darker ones
2 tbsp rum (I used Sailor Jerry as always)
190ml soy milk
1tsp apple cider vinegar
80ml sunflower oil
170g granulated sugar
1 tbsp black treacle
1 tbsp rum (again, Sailor Jerry)
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
140g plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Method:
In a small bowl combine the raisins and rum together and leave to stand for around 30 minutes stirring occasionally.
In a large bowl mix the soy milk with the vinegar and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
Whisk the oil, sugar, treacle, rum and vanilla into the soy milk mixture until well blended.
Sift in the flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg into the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
Fold in the rum soaked raisins.
Fill 12 lined muffin cups 3/4 full making sure to get some raisins in each cup.
Bake in a preheated oven 180C for 18-20 minutes. They will be golden brown and deliciously scented when you pull them from the oven.
Allow to cool on a wire rack if you can resist them!

Read more...

Lemon Blueberry Upside Down Cake

Here's another dish from the dinner party I mentioned so long ago. This was dessert and it was so delicious!

I found the recipe via BakeBakeBake which is a cooking community based on Live Journal. I love Live Journal for its communities as there is no limit as to what you might find. People from all over the world add their recipes and photos of their creations which means you can always find something to make.



The original recipe is from Bon Appétit April 2006 but I will reproduce it here as I made it with the alteration of marzipan instead of almond paste.

Ingredients

Blueberry topping
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Lemon-almond butter cake
3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 ounces marzipan broken into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature

Preparation

For blueberry topping:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine brown sugar and butter in 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides (preferably nonstick). Place cake pan over medium heat and whisk constantly until butter and sugar melt and mixture is smooth and bubbling. Using pot holders, remove pan from heat; cool 15 minutes. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over.

For lemon-almond butter cake:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Combine marzipan, sugar, and lemon peel in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until marzipan is broken into very small pieces, about 1 minute. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, beating until mixture is smooth and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Add flour mixture and beat just until batter is smooth. Spoon batter in dollops over blueberries in pan; spread evenly with offset spatula to smooth.

Bake cake until deep golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 43 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 1 minute. Run small knife around cake to loosen. Place large platter atop pan. Using oven mitts or potholders and using both hands, hold platter and cake pan firmly together and invert; shake gently, allowing cake to settle on platter. Cool at least 20 minutes.



This was a really big hit with everyone eating. The blueberry topping is sweet and the lemon and almond cake compliment it beautifully. I will definitely add this to my repertoire and I really think it is the epitome of summer eating. The deep purple topping with the yellow lemony cake is beautiful and so tasty. I recommend that you make this before the season is out.

Read more...

Vegan Chocolate and Coconut Cupcakes

I've been wanting to get into vegan baking for a while. I have no experience of it really but it looked simple enough and had seen loads of promising reviews of vegan recipes. I have a couple of friends who are vegan/strict vegetarian and so I thought I'd help them out and find some recipes that they could appreciate. I must say I had my doubts as I was mixing the cake batter as it looked really wet but they actually came out a treat.

I bought myself the vegan cupcake book that has been doing the rounds; Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. It's a cute little book with loads of recipes for all kinds of cupcakes and frostings with no animal products. The recipes seem easy to follow and while some contain ingredients you may not have lying around, plenty of them use everyday ingredients or are easy to modify to fit what you have in the cupboards. I actually modified the recipe for these cupcakes as I didn't have a couple of things and they still came out wonderfully. The cupcakes were moist and store really well in an airtight container for several days.

This recipe is based on the Toasted Coconut Cupcakes from VCTOTW book but I will post it here as I made some modifications.

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp creamed coconut, grated
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

For the glaze
2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup coconut milk

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 12 hole muffin pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, soft together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl mix together the coconut milk, oil, sugar, vanilla, creamed coconut and oil. Stir to combine.
Add the flour mixture in batches and beat thoroughly after each addition to ensure the batter is smooth. Fold in the desiccated coconut.
Fill the liners two thirds full and bake for around 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before glazing.
Sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl and add the coconut milk. Mix thoroughly until smooth and then pipe onto the cold cakes using a sandwich bag with a small hole cut from one corner.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World is available from Amazon

Read more...

Bread Machine Recipes: Marmalade Citrus Cake

I've been holding out on you. I made this cake on Sunday and have been meaning to post about it as it was such a success. I would have posted it after I made it but we ended up taking to a friends house (and came back with half a slice) where it was greatly received. We then went out that night and didn't get back until late. Then I was out on Monday and yesterday I was busy with house stuff. There are no excuses left, this has to be posted.

I decided that I'd like to try to make a cake in my bread machine. It's about the only thing I haven't tried (apart from jam but I'm not sure I'd do that in my bread machine as it has no instruction manual!) and I'd found a recipe for a Quick Marmalade Citrus cake in my go to bread machine book One Hundred Bread Machine Recipes by Vicki Smallwood (ISBN: 1856057135).

It was simple but could have been simpler if I'd had a cake setting on my machine. I thought I did but by the time I found that I didn't, it was a bit late. All the ingredients were in the pan and it was ready to go... I have a "bake" setting (sounds like cake) but it doesn't mix so I had to improvise. I mixed it on the Rapido setting and once it was all combined, I switched the machine off and set it to bake. It took and hour and came out beautifully, it was moist and dense and the citrus flavour was lovely. The smell was amazing. Next time, I'll mix everything thoroughly and then put it in the machine, I'll also choose the "light" crust setting as I didn't think to check it (hence the slightly dark exterior).

Here is the recipe that I made (I used grapefruit instead of lime as that's what I had in the house)

Ingredients
6tbsp marmalade
110g (4oz) butter
1 orange
1 lemon
1/2 red grapefruit (you can use any citrus)
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Place butter and marmalade in a saucepan and heat gently until melted (stir occasionally). Set aside to cool.
Finely grate the zest of the citrus fruits into a mixing bowl, add the butter and marmalade mixture and eggs and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the juice of the lemon, half of the orange and grapefruit and beat again. Pour the mixture into the baking pan of your bread machine.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarboinate of soda and add to the baking pan.
Set the program to "CAKE." Check that all ingredients are mixing thoroughly about halfway through the mixing cycle. Once baked, turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Read more...

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I made these last night to take out with me tonight. There are several birthdays around this time so as I'm a bit skint I decided to take some cupcakes for everyone instead of buying individual presents. I used the same basic recipe as I did for the mocha cupcakes but modified them by replacing the coffee with pureed fresh raspberries and halving the recipe to make only 12 cakes. Again I substituted the sour cream with plain yogurt.


For the frosting I modified the Kahlua chocolate frosting but replaced the Kahlua with more pureed raspberries. I tried to half the recipe (as I was left with a lot of leftovers last time) but it came out a little soft and wasn't quite enough to cover all 12 cakes. It has become a little stiffer overnight and the cakes still look great.

The hearts were made from pre-coloured red fondant cut with a cookie cutter.

Read more...

Cupcake decoration

Oh where have I been hiding? Life's been having some dramas recently with various things that needed my attention. I apologise dear readers and am back with some things to show for my time away.

It was my birthday on Tuesday and I decided I needed some really good cakes. Al and I created these shark attack cakes based on those in the Hello Cupcake book that has been doing the rounds for a while now. We had to make some substitutions and cut back on the things we chose but we were really happy with how they turned out and they all got snaffled on our night out.

They weren't perfect but they were good enough and tasted delicious.

I've literally just finished another set of cupcakes that we're taking over to my brother's. I wanted something a little less time consuming and a little more classy (I wont mention that they will be consumed mid beer festival in a pub) and I also wanted something chocolatey. I chose mocha cupcakes with a chocolate kahlua frosting. I halved the recipe for the cupcakes to make only 12 and replaced the sour cream with plain yoghurt. Yum. These are decorated using a large star tip (from my new piping set) and dark chocolate covered coffee beans with a sprinkling of icing sugar to finish. I'm very pleased with the result.

Read more...

Spotted Dog

Spotted dog is a cross between a bread and a cake. It isn't too sweet and can be sliced and spread with butter or eaten plain. I believe it is a traditional Irish fruit bread which goes by many other names including curnie cake and railway cake depending on the area.

I made this recipe as something that isn't too high in fat and sugar. The 2lb loaf (I made two 1lb loaves) contains no butter and only 3tbsp of sugar. The recipe was very easy to follow and didn't really take much time at all. I used whatever dried fruit I had lying around (a berry mix and some sultanas to bring it up to the required weight) and the verdict was pretty good.


I must say I didn't taste this myself (I posted a loaf each to my dad and a friend of mine) my dad said he really liked it and was saving the last piece to have before he went to bed. I'm very tempted to make this again and think it would be delicious with a cup of tea and a chat with friends.

Ingredients:
300g/10oz plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
3tbsp caster sugar
100g/4oz mixed dried fruit
1 egg, beaten
200ml/7fl oz buttermilk*

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5. Butter a 2lb loaf tin (or two 1lb tins.
Sift the flour, salt and bicarb together into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Make a well in the centre and add the fruit, egg and buttermilk. Mix lightly and quickly into a soft dough.
With floured hands, remove the dough from the bowl and knead very briefly. Press into the prepared tin.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden and the loaf feels firm to the touch.
Turn out and leave to cool.

*A note about buttermilk -
I didn't and don't have buttermilk in my kitchen. I used a simple recipe of 1tbsp lemon juice (or white vinegar) to 200ml of milk. Mix together and leave to stand for 5 minutes and use as called for in the recipe.

This recipe is from the BBC Good Food magazine book 101 Cakes and Bakes.

Read more...

Coconut cake

It's not often that Al says that he fancies a bit of cake. He's not a cake eater in general and doesn't really request baked goods either. I was quite surprised when he said that he wanted some cake but, so as not to lose a chance to bake, I passed him a recipe book and got him to choose what he wanted. Coconut cake.



It was a simple coconut sponge with a buttercream on top and in between. It was very easy to make and meant that I could purchase some new sandwich tins (my old ones are rubbish!). The recipe said that you should mix the ingredients in a food processor but I don't have one. My trusty hand mixer with normal beater attachments seemed to do the job very well. We also missed out the raspberry jam filling as we didn't have any. Al thought that cherry jam might be nice next time.



Ingredients
175g/6oz softened butter
175g/6oz caster sugar
175g/6oz self raising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, beaten
50g/2oz dessicated coconut
2tbsp coconut cream or single cream (I used milk as it's all I had to hand)

For the buttercream
280g/10oz icing sugar
100g/4oz softened butter
3tbsp coconut cream or single cream (I used milk again...)
1-2 tsps of vanilla extract
5 tbsp raspberry (or cherry) jam

Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and line the base of two 20cm/8inch sandwich tins with greaseproof paper.
Mix the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs in a food processor for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Gently stir in the coconut and cream.
Divide the mixture between the two tins and smooth the tops. Bake for 20-25 minutes until evenly golden and firm. Loosen the edges and leave the tins to cool for 5 minutes and then transfer onto a wire rack to cool. Peel off the lining paper.
To make the buttercream; beat together all the ingredients unbtil smooth. Spread one sponge with the jam and the other with just under half of the buttercream and sandwich together. Spread the rest of the buttercream onto the top of the cake and enjoy.

This recipe is from the BBC Good Food magazine book 101 Cakes and Bakes.

Read more...

Christmas Cookie Recipes

I was busy in the kitchen before Christmas so that I could pack and post boxes of treats for friends and family. I had a couple of disasters (that I blame on being on the verge of illness and NOT just being a bit rubbish) but generally things turned out really well.

I don't have any pictures of anything as I was busy making sure everything got posted out in time but I do have a few recipes for you. Everything got very good reviews from recipients.

I got the recipe for these Cranberry cookies here and they are amazing. I successfully froze the dough and defrosted it before cooking. They were absolutely delicious (a girl has to test her new recipes, right?), tasted very chocolatey and the little hint of spice really rounded them out well. I recommend these as an easy but delicious holiday treat.

I was trying to make Gingerbread men and found a recipe on Joy of Baking this recipe for gingerbread cookies but it just didn't work out for me. The dough was very soft and sticky despite adding extra flour...lots of extra flour. In the end I resorted to rolling these into balls, flattening slightly and baking for around 15 minutes in a moderate oven. They ended up being slightly cakey but still very good. The yummy treacle and ginger flavours make it taste very christmassy.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Bars was from Cookie Madness but I made a few alterations. I used milk, white and dark chocolate chips, added some dessicated coconut and cooked it in a smaller pan so that they were more cake-like. They were really good and even my other half ate them and he's not a big cake eater. They're pretty easy to customise and add any of your favourite ingredients into the mix. They got good reviews from all who tasted them!

Read more...

Cherry Chocolate Roulade - Alternative to Christmas Pudding

We had my brother and his girlfriend over for Christmas this year and I spent some time planning the meal so that the shopping and cooking of it was as stress-free as possible. I decided against the traditional christmas pudding as I know that Al doesn't like it and I'm not a huge fan of having it straight after a big fat roast dinner. The house was already full of food and drink and so something a bit lighter than christmas pudding but still a bit special was necessary to round off the meal.

I eventually decided on a roulade. A roulade is made from a fat free sponge that is baked in a large, shallow pan. When cool, the filling is added (I chose whipped bream and a jar of cherries) and the sponge is rolled up like a swiss roll.

I'd never tried making this before (what is it with me and new recipes this christmas?) but I figured it wouldn't be too tough. I found a recipe that could be made ahead because, let's face it, who wants the hassle of dessert on Christmas day? The sponge was made on the 23rd December and filled on Christmas eve for us to enjoy on Christmas day.

And enjoy it we did! It was a bit of a hassle to roll but I think I should have maybe cooked it for a little bit longer. It was delicious though. Moist and chocolatey with a rich cream filling and juicy cherries. I'd definitely make this again but I'd probably make it for more people. I had to throw some of it away as it didn't all get eaten despite how yummy it was.

I used this recipe for the sponge cake and general idea. I left out the cherry conserve, swapped the kirsch for the syrup the cherries came in, didn't bother with the chocolate decorations and didn't dredge the finished product with icing sugar as it was already sweet enough.

Ingredients:
For the sponge:
6 large eggs, separated
175g (6oz) caster sugar
200g (7oz) plain chocolate, melted
2-3 tbsp juice or syrup from the cherries

For the filling:
300ml double cream
1 jar or tin of cherries in juice or syrup
3-4 tbsp reserved juice or syrup.

Method:
1. Set the oven to gas mark 4 or 180°C.

2. To make the roulade, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, until the mixture leaves a trail when the whisk is lifted out from mixture. Fold chocolate into the egg-yolk mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold egg whites into the egg-yolk mixture, then turn out into the Swiss roll tin. Use a palette knife to spread the mixture out to the edges, taking care not to knock out too much of the air. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 mins, until the mixture has set. Remove from oven and turn the roulade out on to a board that has a sheet of baking parchment on it. Leave the lining paper on the roulade sponge and then cover with a damp, clean tea-towel and leave to cool for at least 4 hrs, or overnight.

4. To make the filling, whisk the cream until it starts to form soft peaks and stir in the reserved syrup

5. Remove the tea towel and lining paper from the roulade sponge and brush the syrup over the surface. Then spread over the cream and then scatter over the cherries. Use the base sheet of baking parchment to help roll the roulade up from the longest side. Transfer roulade to a serving dish.

Read more...

Loaf cake recipes

Okay so I'm going to start going through the backlog of recipes from the christmas period. I made a few gift packages of baked goods and bravely tried all new recipes. I had a lot of luck really and made my first real foray into loaf cakes.

I chose loaves as they're easy to fit into a box for shipping, tend to keep well, are easily customisable and are easy to make. This season I chose a traditional tea loaf and a chocolate banana bread. Absolutely delicious.

The tea loaf was from a recipe by Simon Rimmer. It's very easy but does require you to soak the fruit overnight and bake the cake the next day. I found the original recipe here [note: there is a mistake in that the recipe doesn't mention what to do with the sugar - I add it in with the flour etc.] but I made my own changes.

Ingredients:
225g mixed dried fruit (chopped dates, raisins, sultanas, cranberries all work well)
300ml/½ pint tepid Earl Grey tea
250g/9oz self-raising flour
200g/7oz soft light brown sugar
1 free-range egg, beaten
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Method:
1. Place the dried fruit and tea into a large bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave to soak overnight.
2. The next day, preheat the oven to 175C/325F/Gas 3.
3. Add the flour, sugar, egg and spices to the bowl with the fruit and mix well.
4. Grease two 1lb loaf tins and carefully share the mixture equally between the two.
5. Transfer to the oven and bake for one and a quarter hours, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

It is suggested that this loaf be served with butter and jam but I find it moist and quite sweet enough without. It goes nicely with a cup of tea and a natter with friends. Feel free to use whatever fruit you like and spice according to your own tastes.

The second loaf cake I went for was a banana bread from Nigella. I had some bananas that were at the perfect banana bread stage (black skinned, soft and sweet) and I had someone in mind when making this one. I had seen this recipe mentioned on Dressing for Dinner and again it seemed like an easy one to customise as necessary. I left out the dried fruit and booze soaking (though I will soon try it with these steps left in) and added cocoa powder and a packet of chocolate chips as I had them sitting around.

This cake was delicious and moist and chocolatey. Seriously, it was amazing. You could taste the banana sweetness and the cocoa powder complimented this with a slightly bitter chocolate flavour. The chocolate chips were yummy in the way that chocolate chips always are. I used two 1lb loaf tins again and divided the batter between the two.

The recipe for this can be found here.

I think I have now decided that loaf cakes are the perfect sweet treat for sending to friends. I'm sure I will continue to make them in various combinations as they are endlessly variable.

Read more...

Covering Christmas Cake with Marzipan

As we have finally reached December and the weather is getting colder, I felt like I should be getting on with my christmas preparations. My christmas cake has been waiting patiently in the wings to be dealt with but to be honest, I have been putting it off.

As you may know, this is the first time I've ever made Christmas cake. I decided that it was about time I learned how to do it but it's still a bit of a challenge. The preparation and actual making of the recipe was fine with no problems... I also fed my cake for a few weeks with Sailor Jerry rum and drooled over (not literally) the smell coming from it.


So, it's time to begin the decoration. Traditionally Christmas cake is covered with marzipan and then iced and this year, I'm mostly sticking with tradition. As this cake is being cut into four piece to be given as gifts individually, I have a bit of a chance to play around with the designs. one of my brothers doesn't like icing and requested a fruit topped cake.

Anyway, marzipanning (not a real weird I'm sure) the cake was the first step and it was time to just do it. Here is a step by step guide of how I did mine. This is by no means a definitive guide but it is how I did it and it seems to have worked!

1. If you are icing a whole cake (because I'm sure you're not silly enough to want to make separate ones) then make sure the surfaces are flat. If you're silly like me then you need to cut your cake into equal pieces... I got Al to do ours and then I ate the crumbs...you have to taste these things!

2. Then you need to take your marzipan and roll it out on a clean flat surface dusted with icing sugar to prevent sticking. Now, I haven't got any measurments for you because I just guessed. I ended up using about 1 and a quarter packets of marzipan for my 4 squares (I utilised trimming and was left with a bit left over for eating after all the work was complete). I didn't really want the marzipan to be too thick as the cakes are quite small so it was rolled fairly thin.


3. Next, you need to cut a piece a little bigger than the top of your cake. Then, using some warmed, smooth apricot jam you need to paint the top of the cake and place the marzipan on top and trim the edges with a sharp knife (preferably sharper than the useless one I used).


4. Then, with more marzipan you need to cut a strip to go around the cake (I did mine with two strips and joined them so that I didn't have to deal with breakages). Again, using the jam, you need to "glue" the marzipan on and make sure there are no gaps then trim the edges.


5. Finally you need to smooth the marzipan over the cake and make sure the join between the top and sides as well as the joins with the side pieces are firmly joined.

There you have it. It really wasn't as difficult as I had expected it to be and once I got the hang of it, by the fourth cake it was a pretty quick process. Now, as for the request for a fruited top for my brother's cake...

I simply left the lip of the marzipan from the sides of the cake a little higher than for the plain cakes and made a decorative pattern with dried fruit (here I used figs, dates, cherries, papaya and pineapple) and glued them down with leftover jam.











You need to leave the cakes out for the marzipan to dry for a few days before icing them.

Read more...