Christmas Cupcakes! It's nearly here!

Hullo,

So my recent challenge was creating some Christmas Cupcakes for the work peeps. It may sound bizarre but before I even started thinking about the actual cakes I was consumed with thoughts about cupcake toppers! This year I vowed to make: Christmas Trees, Christmas Puddings, Baubles, Snowflakes, Santa Clauses, Robins and Snowmen. A week before I was due to bake the cupcakes I made my toppers using fondant icing. I did this because this gives the fondant a few days to harden so it's easier to top the cupcakes with them. If the cupcake toppers are soft they mould and flex around the shape of the cupcake.  I place them on baking trays, lined with baking parchment which is lightly dusted with icing sugar (stop them sticking) and leave to set somewhere cool. It took me 6 hours (including cleaning time) to create 40.

Finally, a week later, it was time to think  about baking the actual cupcakes. I wanted to create a festive flavoured cupcake but I appreciate that not everyone likes dried fruit and Christmas spices so I also made plain vanilla cupcakes using the vanilla cupcake recipe found in this book. I have mentioned this book before; it is 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' by Marta Swift and Lisa Thomas and is a fant-abulous book! A perfect last minute Christmas gift for the baker in your family or circle of friends!

This is the recipe for the Vanilla Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

Cupcakes (makes 12):
110g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
225g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g self raising flour (sifted)
125g plain flour (sifted)
1tsp baking powder
120ml semi-skimmed milk (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla EXTRACT (not essence, this does not give as good a flavour as extract does)

Method:

• Line a muffin baking tray tin with your cupcake cases- I line two muffin baking tray tins as I find although the recipe is meant to make 12 cupcakes I can usually get somewhere between 16-18 from the mix.
• Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius.
• In a large bowl, measure out your butter and beat it a little with a fork. I find this makes creaming the butter and sugar together easier.
• Add the sugar to the butter and put to one side.
• Crack the eggs in a small bowl and whisk slightly with a fork and put to one side.  
• In a separate, medium sized bowl sift the flours and baking powder together and put to one side.
• In a jug, measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract to it and put to one side.
• Now all your ingredients are ready they just need combining. It may seems illogical to use all these bowls, particularly when it comes to washing up, but I find this works well in terms of getting your cupcakes in the oven asap once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed. Once the flours/baking powders are wet the raising agents within them are activated so it's best to transfer the batter into the oven asap.
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I use an electric hand whisk and this takes about 5 minutes).
• Slowly add the egg mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, whisking as you add it.
• Add a third of the flour mixture and whisk. Then add a third of the milk and vanilla extract mixture and whisk. Keep doing this until all of the ingredients are combined.
• Then pop the batter into your cupcake cases. Some people use spoons, some people use piping bags to get the mixture into the cupcake cases; I use a jug and pour it in! I find this helps me get an even distribution of mix into each cupcake case without to much faffing. Please feel free to fill your cupcake cases whichever way works best for you.
• Bake for 25 minutes. Test with a skewer to ensure they are baked, when removed the skewer should come out clean. If it doesn't bake for a further 5 minutes. Keep doing this until the cupcakes are baked.
• Once baked leave to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes then remove and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling. I find this helps the cupcakes firm slightly as they cool which makes decorating easier.

For my festive flavoured cupcakes I followed the recipe above but added the following:

Extra Ingredients for Festive Flavoured Cupcakes:

• 3-4 tsp of mixed spice (add this to the flour)
• 200g of mixed fruit- soaked in brandy overnight. Once I have drained the brandy off I coat the fruit in a tbsp of flour then mix it into the cupcake batter at the end just before I spoon the mixture out. In this case I do spoon the mixture into the cases to ensure each one gets a little bit of dried fruit in it.

Whilst the cupcakes are cooling I crack on with my buttercreams. I topped the vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and the festive flavoured cupcakes with brandy buttercream. Again these recipes are taken from the same book.

Chocolate Buttercream

Ingredients

• 175g melted chocolate (good quality chocolate, at least 70% cocoa)
• 225g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g sifted icing sugar

Method

• Melt the chocolate, I do this in a metal bowl over a pan of gently simmering water.
• Let the chocolate cool slightly.
• Combine the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. I find it helps to beat the butter on it's own slightly and the add the icing sugar in stages until you've added your 250g. This stops your kitchen from being dusted in icing sugar as you beat it into the buttter.
• Then add the melted chocolate and combine well.

This creates the most scrumptious chocolate buttercream I have ever tried. It is gorgeous! Try not to eat it all!!

Brandy Buttercream (this is the vanilla buttercream recipe from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery but I replace the milk with brandy...oooer!)

• 110g unsalted butter
• 500g icing sugar
• 60ml brandy

I must say this worked okay but next time I would edit this brandy buttercream recipe to use slightly less icing sugar and maybe add the milk as well as the brandy as it had quite a powdery taste. Nice but a bit powdery.

Method

• Combine the butter and icing sugar until smooth- again I find it helps to add the icing sugar in stages.
• Add the brandy and mix well.

Finally it was time to decorate and those well crafted cupcake toppers were finally be used. Yey!

Have fun with any festive baking you decide to do this Christmas!

Enjoy

xoxo

Christmas is coming! Mince Pies with Home-made Mincemeat and Home-made Brandy Butter!

Hullo!

Mince pies are a vital part of the Christmas build up. I love settling down for a mince pie and a mulled wine after spending 2-3 hours decorating the house so it's all Christmas-y! They are a bit like Marmite though as some people really cannot stand them- they must be bonkers!!!! My mince pies are slightly different to those most people make. Traditionally the pastry is soft and has an almond taste (owing to the almond flour people use). I use a short bread pastry which gives the mince pie a more crunchy texture. I also use my own home-made mincemeat. They are divine, so many people have commented how nice they are. I have just parcelled up and posted 4 off to my Grandpa as he loves them so much! They are clearly not as nice as Mamma's though! :D

I start mid-way through November by making the mincemeat. In a large bowl I combine the ingredients below and leave it to steep for a few days. Once it's steeped I put it into sterilised jars and leave it to mature for about 2 weeks.

NOTE: To sterilise the jars I wash them in hot soapy water, making sure I wash all of the soap suds off. Then I put the jars into a preheated oven (140 degrees celsius) on a baking tray for a few minutes. If you have a dishwasher just washing them in there is enough to sterilise them.

 

Home-made Mincemeat 

Ingredients

• 1 grated apple (cored and peeled)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 110g chopped dried apricots
• 110g chopped dried pear and apple
• 110g chopped figs
• 110g chopped dates
• 110g quartered glace cherries
• 500g sultanas
• 200g mixed peel
• The juice and grated zest of 1 orange
• 4 tbsp orange marmalade
• 175g soft light brown sugar
• 175g demerara sugar
• 4 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 150ml dark rum
• 150ml brandy

Once it gets to around the 1st of December the tree is up and it's time to make some mince pies to accompany my mulled wine! I like to serve mince pies warm with brandy butter so firstly I make that. It is very quick and easy and tastes beautiful!

Home-made Brandy Butter:

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter
• 125g icing sugar
• 4 tbsp brandy
• 2 tbsp hot water

Method:

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar until smooth.
2. Add the brandy and water and combine fully.
3. Try not to eat!
4. Empty into a tupperware container and put in the fridge to set. It will last for quite a while. I use mine all throughout December.

Mince Pies

I make deep filled mince pies so I start by pre-heating my oven (200 degrees celsius) and getting my baking tray ready. I use a 12 hole muffin tin and the pastry goes directly into the holes so the tray needs to be well buttered to stop the mince pies from sticking.

Then I get all my ingredients/equipment that I will need.

Ingredients:

• 225g unsalted butter (this must be straight from the fridge, it needs to be cold)
• 350g plain flour
• 100g golden caster sugar
• Flour, for dusting the work surface with
• 1 egg beaten, for egg washing the tops
• 20g of golden caster sugar and 2 tsp of cinnamon mixed together in a small bowl. This is for sprinkling on top of the egg washed mince pies.
• About 300g of home-made mincemeat

Equipment:

• Wooden rolling pin (it must be wooden, if it's plastic the pastry sticks to it)
• Large circular cutter, for cutting out the bottom of the mince pies
• Medium fluted circular cutter, for cutting out the top of the mince pies
• Pastry brush
• Small Christmas cookie cutters (I use a holly leaf, Christmas tree and a star)
• Teaspoon

Method:

• I dice the butter and put it into a large bowl. I find dicing it helps when rubbing the flour into it.
• Then I sift the flour into the bowl and rub it into the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
• Then I add the caster sugar to the mixture and rub this in also. NOTE: I do not use any piece of equipment to mix these ingredients. I simply use my hands.
• Once the ingredients are combined I half it. I put one half in another bowl and place it in the fridge to keep it cool while I get on with making the bottom of the mince pies.
• This is the tricky part. I dust my work surface with flour and combine the pastry together (as much as possible) by compressing it with my hands. Then I put it onto the work surface.
• The pastry is very crumble and it does take patience and continued effort to do the next step, which is to roll it out. It will crack and crumble, particularly around the edges. What I do is push the cracks back together to smooth the cracks and continue rolling. I find its easier to focus on rolling out a section if the pastry at one time. For example, I will roll over the same 3cm section over and over again and them move onto the next 3cm. I takes a while but eventually you will get it, I promise!

 

• Then I cut out the bottoms with the large circular cutter and lower them into the muffin tin holes, this ends up a bit messy as they don't fit perfect. There is a little extra bit of pastry but this isn't a problem I simply use my fingers to smooth it a little. Inevitably there will be rips, this is okay, just fill them in with a little bit of pastry.

• Once that is done using a teaspoon fill each mince pie bottom with mincemeat. Do not over fill as this will bubble out of the sides during baking and your mince pies will get stuck!
• Then I put the half constructed mince pies in the fridge (to keep them cool while and make the tops) and take out the remainder of the pastry mix.
• I roll out this half of the pastry as I did in step 6.
• Then I cut out the tops using the medium fluted, circular cutter.
• I grab the half constructed mince pies out of the fridge and top them.
• I use the pastry brush to 'paint' a little bit of the egg wash on each top.
• Then I cut out some decorations  from the rolled out pastry (small holly leaves, Christmas trees and stars) and place them on the tops.
• I use the pastry brush to egg wash the decorations then use a teaspoon to sprinkle a, rather thick layer, of my sugar and cinnamon mix in top of each mince pie.

• Then I pop them in the oven for 20 minutes
• Once they are done I take them out and leave them to cool for a few minutes.
• To stop them from sticking, once the tray is cool enough to touch (it will still be warm though), I use a knife and cut around the edges and try spinning each mince pie so I know it won't stick.
• Then carefully placing the knife down one side of the mince pie I left them out. Again the tray will still be warm. If you let the mince pies cool down completely before removing them they will get stuck! 
• Once cool sprinkle with a little icing sugar.
• Serve warm with home-made brandy butter!

It is a faff, it takes me about 1 hour (including baking and cleaning time) to make 12, but it is worth it; they taste great and look fabulous!

NOM NOM! I challenge you to eat just one!

Enjoy

xoxo

Christmas is coming!!! Christmas Chutney! Sweet or Savoury based?

Hullo!

It won't be long now. Just 6 Saturdays until Christmas. I love it!

I have my Christmas Cake made and steeping away in the kitchen. Now it is time to turn my attention to Christmas Chutney. I love cheese and crackers at Christmas and pork pie and it's hard to think of something that can make them even better but chutney does it. I normally pick Red Onion Chutney or Tomato and Chilli Chutney from the shop. Last year, however, I decided to make my own. I followed Nigella Lawson's recipe in her Christmas Book. On page 234/5 you'll find her deliciously sweet recipe. This was a fruit based chutney with a lot of apples, cranberries and dates. And I very much enjoyed it! If you don't have her book you can find a similar recipe of her's here. It really is gorgeous particularly with a bit of Brie.

This year I decided to try a more savoury recipe and so I opted for another culinary genius' recipe; Mary Berry! I have, for the first time, this year watched The Great British Bake Off all the way through from the start and so when it came to making Christmas Chutney I perused the internet for inspiration and there she was. I couldn't resist! You can find her recipe on the BBC Good Food website. As mentioned previously it is a more savoury based recipe with tomatoes, peppers and aubergine.

The recipe is simple and clear and very easy to follow. This years chutney lead me to peel tomatoes for the first as per Mary's instructions and it worked a treat. I must emphasise Mary's advise that the pan should not be left unattended as it is very easy for the chutney to burn, particularly at the end. But apart from that it is such a fantastic recipe to follow, have fun if you decide to make some. 

My Mary Berry chutney is now maturing in my kitchen cupboards and I look forward to trying it. It lasts for ages so you can mature it well in advance. Now all I need is my cheese and biscuits (roll on the Lincoln Christmas Market- which has an an array of amazing cheese stalls!).

Enjoy!

I know we will.

xoxo

 

(Bit late but oh well) Bonfire Toffee!!!!!

Hullo,

So this is a little late as it was the 5th yesterday but there are still loads of bonfires going on so here goes.

I love toffee. Especially Thorntons Special Toffee but in November only that dark treacle based toffee will do. When I moved I found it hard to find a shop to buy it from so I decided to try and make it myself. Who would have known it'd be so easy...or so I thought when I saw the ingredients list.

All you need is:

450g dark brown sugar
125ml hot water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
115g black treacle
115g golden syrup

I use this BBC Good Food Recipe! It is really straight forward but be very careful when boiling the mixture as boiling sugar will severely burn you if spilt.

Here are a few tips for making bonfire toffee:

• Use a VERY deep pan. Whilst boiling the mixture froths up ridiculously and may escape if you use shallow pan leaving a lovely mess all over your cooker that will be a nightmare to clean.

• Use a sugar thermometer. This is the only way you'll be able to guarantee you have boiled the mixture to the correct temperature (known as soft crack). A meat thermometer is no good, it does not go high enough on the temperature scale and you risk damaging it as the mixture boils.
• As mentioned in the BBC recipe grease your jug you use to measure out the treacles and cream of tartar, this really does help when you pour this out into the sugar and water.
• Have a very hot (use boiled water from the kettle), soapy sink ready to soak your pan in once you have poured the mixture out. It saves a lot of work later. I soak it for a bout an hour before I attempt to clean it.
• If your pan does become caked in a sticky mess (or any other mess when cooking/baking) you can use bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and hot water to remove tough dirt/stains. Soak over night and clean normally the next day.
• To break into small pieces keep the toffee in the baking tray and cover with a layer of baking parchment then bash with a rolling pin. The first year I did this I made the mistake of not covering it with baking parchment and bonfire toffee was showered all over my kitchen, doh!
• When eating it do not try to chew it! It will weld your teeth together (as bonfire toffee should!).

Enjoy

xoxo

Mocha Cupcakes! Chocolate sponge with coffee buttercream, nom nom!

Hullo,

Not posted for awhile as I have been a busy bee doing extra work in the evenings. I have ploughed through marking 300 odd papers and now I don't know what to do with myself in the evenings!

Anyway, I made these for the work peeps recently. We all need a pick me up every now and then during the working day and sometimes a cup of coffee just isn't enough. Those are the moments when you need chocolate! So why not have both?! Mocha Cupcakes are the answer to this conundrum! As it happens a cup of coffee is never enough for me as I don't like to drink hot drinks- give me a cupcake any day over a hot drink.

I started by making chocolate cupcakes. Some people make chocolate cupcakes with actual chocolate, by melting it and the incorporating it into the mixture; others use cocoa powder. I have tried both and I prefer using cocoa powder to make cupcakes. I use the vanilla cupcake recipe from the book 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas but I add 40g of cocoa powder and a teaspoon of baking powder.

Ingredients:

110g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

225g caster sugar

2 large eggs

150g self-raising flour (sifted) 

125g plain flour (sifted)

1 teaspoon of baking powder

40g of cocoa powder

120ml semi-skimmed milk (at room temperature) 

1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract (EXTRACT NOT ESSENCE)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
• Put the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat it slightly to soften it.
• Add the sugar to the bowl and cream the butter and sugar together. I use an electric hand  whisk to mix these together until they are light and fluffy.
• In a small bowl lightly whisk the eggs then gradually add the egg mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, mixing after each addition.
• In a separate bowl sift the flours, baking powder and cocoa powder together.
• Measure out the milk into a jug and add the vanilla extract to it.
• Add a third of the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder mixture to the butter, sugar and egg mixture and mix well. I continue using my electric hand whisk for this.
• Add a third of the milk and vanilla extract mixture and mix well. Again I use my electric hand whisk but I cover the bowl with a tea towel to stop the mixture from spraying up my kitchen walls. My boyfriend is not a fan of chocolate cupcake mix on our white kitchen walls...
• I repeat the last two steps until all of the ingredients are combined.
• Then I put the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling until they are about a third full. There are different ways to do this; traditionally the mixture is spooned in but nowadays some people using pipings bags to control this better. I have my own method; I use a jug. I pour my mixture into a jug using a spatula to ensure every little bit is poured into the jug. Then I pour out the mixture into the cupcake cases. 
• Then I Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
• When done I leave the cupcakes to cool for half an hour before decorating. If you decorate too soon your buttercream will melt! To test if a cupcake is done use a skewer. Insert the skewer into the middle of a cupcake and then remove it. If it comes out clean the cupcakes are done.

Now for the coffee bit of these cupcakes. Coffee buttercream! You can make this while the cupcakes cool. It is a recipe that is also taken from 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas.

Ingredients:

150g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1 tablespoon of semi skimmed milk (at room temperature)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (EXTRACT NOT ESSENCE)

1 teaspoon of coffee dissolved in a small amount of water

350g of icing sugar

Method:

• Dissolve the coffee in a small amount of water. It dissolves quicker if the water is hot but let it cool before combining it with the other ingredients if you do use hot water.
• Put the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat it slightly to soften it.
• Add the milk and sift half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until well combined. You can use a large spoon, a fork or an electric hand whisk for this. If your posh you may have a food mixer to do all this for you, luck you! I don't have the space to store a mixer :( So I am a fan of using a fork to start it off then using the electric hand whisk to ensure the buttercream ends up light and fluffy. 
• Add the dissolved coffee mixture and mix well.
• Sift in the other half of the icing sugar and mix.
• And of course once the buttercream is light and fluffy you must partake in the essential taste test! Nom nom! Try not to eat it all.

Now it's time to decorate! 

You can pipe the buttercream onto your cupcakes or you can smooth it on with a spoon or pallete knife- which ever you prefer. 

Finally, I smash a bar of 70% dark chocolate into shards and use the shards to top the cupcakes with. Voila!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Gorgeous Rose Swirl Cupcakes- Raspberry and White Chocolate. Look good, taste fab!

Hullo!

It's MacMillan Coffee Morning time and so far I have made Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie but nothing says coffee morning like a cupcake so let's get started! I am making two types of cupcake for the coffee morning, here is how to make Raspberry and White Chocolate ones! I take inspiration from the most fantabulous cupcake book which I discovered after a lovely friend sent me a recipe from it ^.^ The book is 'Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery' by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas and I highly recommend you get it- it's all you'll ever need for cupcake inspiration.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes (makes 12):
110g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
180g caster sugar
2 eggs
125g self raising flour (sifted)
120g plain flour (sifted)
1tsp baking powder
125ml semi-skimmed milk (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla EXTRACT (not essence, this does not give as good a flavour as extract does)
4-5 tbsp of seedless raspberry jam

Buttercream (covers 12):
150g unsalted butter
375g icing sugar (sifted)
2 tsp of vanilla EXTRACT (see notes above)
75g white chocolate
Pink food colouring (I use gels)

To Decorate:
Pink buttercream (made with ingredients mentioned above)
8 tbsp of seedless raspberry jam
Fondant leaves (2 for each cupcake)

Method:

Decoration:

• Prior to baking (at least the night before) make your fondant leaves. I make 40 just in case some break or I have additional cupcakes. Any left over leaves you have will keep for a while.
• Roll out a thin layer of green fondant and use a leave cutter to cut them out.
• Place on a sheet of baking paper (sprinkled with a little icing sugar to stop them from sticking) on a tray.
• Leave them for at least one night to harden.

Cupcakes:

• Line a muffin baking tray tin with your cupcake cases- I line two muffin baking tray tins as I find although the recipe is meant to make 12 cupcakes I can usually get somewhere between 16-18 from the mix. You will have enough buttercream from the ingredients listed above to cover any additional cupcakes.
• Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius.
• In a large bowl, measure out your butter and beat it a little with a fork. I find this makes creaming the butter and sugar together easier.
• Add the sugar to the butter and put to one side.
• Crack the eggs in a small bowl and whisk slightly with a fork and put to one side.  
• In a separate, medium sized bowl sift the flours and baking powder together and put to one side.
• In a jug, measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract to it and put to one side
• In a small bowl, measure out the seedless raspberry jam and beat it slightly.
• Now all your ingredients are ready they just need combining. It may seems illogical to use all these bowls, particularly when it comes to washing up, but I find this works well in terms of getting your cupcakes in the oven asap once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed. Once the flours/baking powders are wet the raising agents within them are activated so it's best to transfer the batter into the oven asap.
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I use an electric hand whisk and this takes about 5 minutes).
• Slowly add the egg mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, whisking as you add it.
• Add a third of the flour mixture and whisk. Then add a third of the milk and vanilla extract mixture and whisk. Keep doing this until all of the ingredients are combined.
• Using a large, metal spoon or a spatula fold in the seedless raspberry jam. Do not mix it entirely, the idea is to have swirls of the jam visible in the batter.
• Then pop the batter into your cupcake cases. Some people use spoons, some people use piping bags to get the mixture into the cupcake cases; I use a jug and pour it in! I find this helps me get an even distribution of mix into each cupcake case without to much faffing. Please feel free to fill your cupcake cases whichever way works best for you.
• Bake for 25 minutes. Test with a skewer to ensure they are baked, when removed the skewer should come out clean. If it doesn't bake for a further 5 minutes. Keep doing this until the cupcakes are baked.
• Once baked leave to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes then remove and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling. I find this helps the cupcakes firm slightly as they cool which makes decorating easier.

Buttercream:

• Whilst the cupcakes are cooling make the buttercream.
• Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over gently simmering water. Keep an eye on this whilst you get on with the next step.
• In a large bowl combine the butter, vanilla extract and HALF of the icing sugar (remember to sift this in, it gives the buttercream a smoother texture). Once this is combined well, add the other half of the icing sugar. Adding the icing sugar in stages helps the ingredients combine easier and saves your kitchen from being dusted in a icing sugar! If there is too much icing sugar in a bowl, when you begin mixing, it likes to escape the bowl!
• Once the white chocolate is melted add it to the buttercream mixture and combine well. 
• Add a few drops of pink food colouring. I use gels as I find they give a better colour and are easier to work with.
• Mix well for at least 5 minutes with an electric hand whisk to ensure the buttercream is light and fluffy and the colour is even.

Decorating:

• Line the cupcakes up on a clean surface.
• Use a small knife to cut away a small hole out of the top of each cupcake.
• Fill these holes with a teaspoon of seedless raspberry jam- just to ensure you get the raspberry taste!

• Then fill your piping bag (I find plastic disposable ones are best) using a Wilton 1M nozzle.

• Then crack on piping those roses. Start in the middle, build it up a little then swirl outwards. Below are some pictures that may help you with this. It took me a good few tries to get the hang of it.

1.2.

3.4.

5.6.

7.8.

9.

• Finally, grab your fondant leaves and decorate the cupcakes with them.

TA-DA!

These are on the way to OB's work tomorrow.

Fingers crossed they go down well and raise lots of money.

I am also making chocolate orange cupcakes which I will ensure I add to my blog, possibly next time I post.

Enjoy!

xoxo

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie! Nom Nom!

Hullo all!

It is time for some charity baking this weekend and I started off with this delicious hybrid of brownie and chocolate chip cookies. Two baked goods all in one! What more could you want?

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)- to melt with the butter
100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)- chopped
265g soft light brown sugar (muscovado if you have it gives a better taste)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla EXTRACT (not essence- extract has a more intense flavour)
85g plain flour
1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder

150g unsalted butter
80g soft light brown sugar (again muscovado if you have it gives a better taste)
80g granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
225g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
100-200g chocolate chips (how much depends on how chocolatey you want it and you could use white, milk, or dark chocolate chips, whichever takes your fancy!)

• I Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (if you have a powerful oven you may wish to preheat to 160 degrees celsius).
• Then I line a rectangular baking tin (mine is 22cm by 28cm).
• I start by semi-preparing the Brownie:
• Melt the butter and 100g of the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, once melted allow the mixture to cool slightly.
• In a large bowl beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract together. I use my electric hand whisk ( which was very kindly donated to me by my Mamma) for this.
• In a separate bowl sift the plain flour and baking powder together, if you like you could some spice such as cinnamon or nutmeg to this, this is a good addition at Christmas time.
• Chop the remaining 100g of dark chocolate.
• Put the chopped chocolate and these bowls to one side (you should have three bowls, one containing the butter and chocolate, one containing the sugar and eggs and the final one containing the flour, baking powder and any spices you are adding).

• Now I make my chocolate chip cookie mixture:
• Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
• Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the mixture then mix with a wooden spoon.
• Add the chocolate chips and mix well (I used white chocolate chips today).
• Dollop teaspoons of the chocolate chip cookie dough into the lined baking tin at regular intervals.

• Then I complete the mixing of my brownie ingredients:
• I add the flour, baking powder and chopped chocolate mixture into the beaten sugar, eggs and vanilla extract mixture and mix well (again, I use my electric hand whisk).
• Then I add the melted chocolate mixture and mix well (again, using the electric hand whisk).
• Next I pour the brownie batter over the dollops of chocolate chip cookie dough, ensuring an even distribution in the tin and over the cookie dough.

• Then I dollop further teaspoons of the chocolate chip cookie dough onto the top of the brownie mixture- just to make sure there's plenty of cookie dough action going off!

• Then I bake for 30 minutes and check with a skewer. If the skewer doesn't come out clean I give it another 5-10 minutes and check again with a skewer. If you use a lower oven temperature it may take 40-50 minutes overall to bake but check regularly at the end of baking to avoid burning.
• Once baked I remove the chocolate chip cookie brownie from the oven and leave to cool almost completely in the tin. If I remove it from the tin to soon it is too soft and the brownie is likely to break and crack.
• Once it is cool I remove it and leave it for a further 30 minutes to cool with the baking paper still stuck to it. I do this because the chocolate chip cookie brownie firms up further making it easier to cut. It's hard to resist cutting it and having a slice but it's worth the wait!
• Once it's cool and firm enough I cut it into squares and serve. 
• It will keep for quite a while as, unlike most other cakes, brownie tastes better after a few days after baking. I once made this brownie for OB's Aunty and Uncle and they froze it in the freezer and ate it for months!
• It can be served hot or cold. OB's Aunt and Uncle assure me it's very nice with vanilla ice cream when served hot.

So there you go! It's a bit of a faff and it's a tad expensive with all the ingredients required but definitely worth it if you fancy a brownie with a different twist!

I am about to destroy the edges of my chocolate chip cookie brownie as when I cut mine I slice the edges of to make the pieces a bit neater. Good job I did a 10k run this morning!

Enjoy- I know I will!

xoxo

Christmas is coming...get your Christmas Cake Baked!

Hullo!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat...please put your Christmas cake in the oven!

So I did mine last weekend so I can seep it in alcohol on a weekly basis for 3 months. I love the taste of Christmas Cake. Not many people may age seem to like it but my Mamma made loads each year so I was exposed to it from a very young age and I learned to like it and now I love it.

I use a recipe I got from the BBC Food website but I add a few extra steps in based on words of cookery wisdom from my Mamma.

These are my additional steps:

I use 200g of glace cherries rather than 150g as I like the taste of them.

My Mamma recommended that I soak my fruits (the 800g of mixed dried fruit, 100g mixed peel and 150g of glace cherries, although I tend to use 200g of cherries) in red wine. I soak them for one-three days, whatever is most convenient at the time of baking, but my Mamma is adamant you should leave them for three days. I cover the bowl with cling film and leave it in a cupboard. I use a sweet, Greek, red wine called Mavrodaphne. It is glorious; another thing my Mamma introduced me to. If you like a sweet wine I highly recommend it. At the end of the soaking period I strain the red wine off but my Mamma says she incorporates it into the cake mix, her Christmas Cake should come with a warning not to drive after consumption!

When mixing the dry ingredients I like to add nutmeg along with the Cinnamon and Mixed Spice as I like my fruit cake to be unmistakably Christmas-sy!

Another trick my Mamma taught me is to wrap the outside of my baking tin up in brown parcel paper. As the cake is on the oven for 3, maybe more, hours she says this helps to stop the cake from burning. You can secure the paper with string and I recommend using at least two layers of paper.

So far in my baking life I have made three fruit cakes, one I seeped in normal brandy but the other two I seeped in Cherry Brandy and the results were amazing. If you like a sweet and moist cake I would suggest you use Cherry Brandy or similar liqueur that you like. If you like a drier cake then stick with the normal brandy. This year I am seeping mine in Jack Daniels as my partner likes this, fingers crossed it works well! 

I seep my cake every Sunday with 2 tablespoons of whatever alcohol I am using. I will do this right up until a week before decorating. The BBC recipe suggest icing you cake with royal icing, this is something I have not tried yet. I like working with ready to roll icing (fondant) so I use this. I'll be posting some photos with advice and suggestions on how to do this in December when I ice my cake.

One final step you should most definitely add to the end of baking your cake is one I learnt, not from my Mamma, but from my Grandpa. He would always appear at the end of baking to 'test' the mixture! So don't forget to eat the leftover mix from your mixing bowl- it tastes delicious and is a nice little prequel to all the Christmas-sy goodness that waits! It'll soon be December!

Enjoy! xoxo

Gorgeous Rose Cake with a Fab Buttercream Recipe

Hullo!

So it was my Mamma's (that's what I call my Grandma) birthday last Sunday and I was tasked with the usual job of making the birthday cake. I made a vanilla birthday cake with vanilla buttercream and a strawberry jam filling. Since she likes white chocolate I decorated the sides of the cake with Cadbury White Chocolate Fingers- only 4 didn't make it onto the cake and ended up in my belly! Then on the top I piped pink roses as she loves her garden. Here's an explanation of how I did it:

I made the buttercream with 300g of unsalted butter, 420g of icing sugar and 3 tsp of vanilla ESSENCE. I make it in stages by creaming 100g of butter, I take the butter out of the fridge at least an hour before hand so it's soft as this makes mixing it a lot easier. Once I have softened the butter further (by beating it) I add 140g of icing sugar, 1tsp of vanilla essence and cream them together. I repeat this 2 more times so all the ingredients are combined. I find that this recipe and method gives you a lovely creamy and sweet buttercream which holds it's shape well but isn't to powdery.

I sliced the cake in half length ways and filled it with the buttercream and a layer of strawberry jam. I put the strawberry jam (about 4 tbsp) into a bowl and give it a good mix so it spreads onto the buttercream easier. I place the top of the cake back onto the bottom ofthe cake (so the buttercream and jam are sandwiched in the middle) then cover the whole cake in a layer of buttercream. Next, I stick the white chocolate fingers around the outside of the cake then I use a small circular cutter to 'draw out' where my roses will be in the buttercream layer on the top of the cake. Then I pipe the roses onto the top of the cake starting with the one in the middle and work my way outwards. To pipe the roses I use a Wilton 1M swirl nozzle and I find disposable piping bags a great help, particularly when it comes to washing up! As a final finishing touch I used a leave cutter to cut out leaves and placed them at random intervals into the piped roses.

As you can see from the picture I cover my cake drums with a layer of fondant icing. I find this gives the cakes a more professional look and I like to utilise the extra space/fondant as an area for decoration. On this cake I used cutters to imprint flowers into the board and used letter stencils to imprint a a personalised message. This was the final product:

I was very happy with it. On the day half of it was consumed so for the rest of the week my Mamma and Grandpa are eating cake for breakfast, dinner and tea, which they say they are very happy about!

xoxo

Beautiful Paper Flower Decoration

Hullo,

So I got creative at the weekend after searching the internet for paper flowers. I would love to make the flowers for my wedding so I am getting lots of practice in! This is my first attempt and I just used bits and bobs that I already had around in the house:

1. I started by soaking an empty, large honey jar in hot soapy water to remove the label.
2. Whilst this soaked I created my paper flowers (I will be publishing how to make this over the next week).
3. Once the label was removed I used glue to secure string that I wrapped all the way around the main body of the jar.
4. On it's own the string doesn't look great so I then tied a piece of red ribbon around the middle of the jar. If I were to make more I would probably use coloured string to give a better effect.
5. I then took a piece of oasis floral foam and carved a piece that would sit on top of the jam jar lid. 
6. I used glue to secure the oasis floral foam in place on top of the lid.
7. I covered the oasis floral foam in a piece of tissue paper- I used red as it was all I had but green would be ideal.
8. I then arranged my flowers using cocktail sticks, pins and glue to secure them into place. 

Voila!

xoxo

Stuff Matters: amazing book by Mark Miodownik

Hullo,

Just a quick one tonight.

So it was the first day back at work (school) today, a day of teacher training. I felt like a sponge swimming in information and I am not sure how much I have soaked up yet. During the day I found myself really taking noticing of stuff that normally I wouldn't, such as the cutlery we ate our dinner with and the glass windows in the exams hall and the plastic chairs we sat on. It was a peculiar felling to be realising we are surrounded and aided, in so may ways, by these materials that we utilise in such a passive manner. This is the basic premise if one of my favourite books I have read so far in 2014. I really do highly recommend it. Mark Miodownik (read his website here) is a scientist who presents every day materials in an amazing new light. Each chapter is dedicated to an important material that has become a vital part of modern day life. From concrete to glass he covers an array of 'stuff'. My favourite chapter is that about plastics. The book is full of facts but is told in a fascinating style, a real must read for people who are curious about the world around them!

You can buy Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik from Amazon by clicking here.

Seed Bar; Alternative Flapjack Recipe; Great snack, still a little naughty, easy to make!

Hullo,

So I like my carbohydrates, without them I feel hungry as hell. I love cereal bars and find they are a great mid-morning snack but with all the bad press they get for being high in sugar and preservatives I decided to choose my cereal bars more carefully. I came across a honey seed flapjack bar in Asda but to buy enough for the week would be a bit costly so I looked at the ingredients list and used it to create my own recipe. It has the same texture of flapjack but doesn't have any butter, golden syrup or added sugar. Despite this it is still very sweet because it is made with honey. So it's a great snack, still a little naughty, but a lot better for you than the processed bars. I took some into work and it went down very well and lots of my colleagues asked for the recipe so I thought I'd share it one here too. Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 200-250g of honey (how much you use depends on how sweet you want it)
• 100g oats
• 200g seeds (I use pumpkin, sunflower, golden linseed and sesame, 50g of each)

With either:

For Plain Seed Bar:

• 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 1tsp ground nutmeg.

OR

For Fruit Seed Bar

• 100g of sultanas or cranberries or whatever dried fruit you like.

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment- this is really important as the honey makes the seed bar rather sticky and it will stick to the tin if you don't line it.
3. Weigh 200-250g of honey in a heavy based pan and heat it gently. The honey will turn really runny and you will be able to mix the dry ingredients into it easier.
4. Weigh out 100g of oats and you 200g of seeds in a bowl and tip this into the runny honey.
5. Add which ever flavouring you are using (either the vanilla and spices or dried fruit) and mix well.
6. Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin.
7. Optional: I cover the tin with a layer of foil to stop the top from burning.
8. Bake for 30 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
10. Once cool slice the seed bar into squares- I can get 12 squares out of mine. I wrap the squares in cling film and store them in a tupperware container. They last for quite a long time I have never had to throw it out. 

Hope you like it as much as we do!

xoxo

Sunday Morning can mean one thing only: Banana Pancakes!

Good Morning people!

Sunday morning can mean one thing only. It's banana pancake time.

My partner (Ordinary Boy, O.B) and I like to keep fit and O.B follows Chris Jones (a personal trainer who posts on you tube). A few months ago O.B watched Chris Jones' banana pancake video on you tube and that was that. We threw our ordinary pancake recipe out of the window and now we use this one every time. Ours is very slightly different from Chris Jones' version (we don't use the sweetener) but his video is where we got our inspiration from. Click here to watch his video: Chris Jones' Banana Pancakes Video

Here's our version of the recipe:

Ingredients (creates 6-8 medium sized pancakes):

• 3 bananas
• 2 egg whites
• 2 eggs
• 30g oats
• 1tsp of cinnamon

Method

1. Cut your bananas up and then mash them in a large bowl.
2. Break two eggs into the mashed up banana.
3. Separate two further eggs and add just the whites to the mixture.
4. Measure and add 30g of oats to the mixture and mix slightly. 
5. Add 1 or tsp of cinnamon to the mixture and mix slightly.
6. Pour the mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth.
7. At this stage we pour the mixture into a measuring jug as we find it easier to pour out into the frying pans.
8. Put a little oil/cooking spray into a frying pan and heat until it's warm.
9. Pour a little of the mixture into the frying pan and sprinkle a few cranberries on the top. We add our cranberries this way as it ensures each pancakes receives and even number of them.
10. Cook the pancake until little bubbles start forming on the top and then get ready to show off your flipping skills! I am rubbish at flipping so in our house this is O.B's job!
11. Cook the other side for a few seconds, this side should not need as long as the first side did, so keep a close eye on it.
12. Put the pancake in the oven on a low temperature (we have the oven at 100 degrees celsius) to keep it warm while you cook the rest. We find it handy to have two small frying pans and cook two pancakes at a time. I am sure you'll find a method that works best for you.
13. Serve! Because these pancakes are made from bananas they are very tasty without any toppings but for us banana pancakes are a real treat so we go all out and have honey, maple syrup, choc chips, sultanas and pecan nuts on the table to top the pancakes off with. Nom nom. A perfect breakfast if you have a busy day ahead of you; you won't need to eat until late in the afternoon!

Enjoy

xoxo

Proper Birthday Cake!

Hullo,

So this week I will be making a birthday cake as it's my Mamma's 80th Birthday. This book (100 Fondant Models for Cake Decorators by Helen Penman) is a god send:

O.B bought me this as a pre-Christmas pressie to help me create some Christmas goodies. Needless to say it has come in very handy. Not only does it tell you how to create multiple fondant creatures, it also gives you recipes and lots of advice on what tools you'll need and how to best present your cakes. For example, I never thought of covering my cake boards until I read this book. Now I do it religiously and utilise the covered board as a blank canvas to further decorate and enhance the cake.

Anyway the point to this post is to share the fab recipe found in this book. It's a very dense mixture so if you're wanting a Victoria Sponge-like recipe keep looking. The purpose of this cake is for it to support lots of fondant decoration (like in the photo below) thus it needs to be a heavy cake.

A Victoria Sponge Cake, although it tastes deliciously light and airy, will not support lots of fondant. Thankfully I happen to love dense cakes, this tastes to me like proper vanilla birthday cake. Slice it up and stick a layer of vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam in it and nom nom! Reminds me of my childhood birthday cakes.

So here is the recipe for a 20.5cm (8inch) round cake or the same can be used for a 18cm (7inch) square cake. The recipe is take from the book100 Fondant Models for Cake Decorators by Helen Penman. If you fancy buying it, it can be bought on amazon for about £7. It definitely recommend buying it.

Ingredients

• 425g of unsalted butter- take the butter out of the fridge ahead of mixing your ingredients. It's easier to cream the butter and sugar.
• 425g caster sugar.
• 7 large eggs- I break this all into one bowl and beat them lightly (just so the egg yolks break).
• 550g self raising flour- sifted.
• 1 tbsp of milk- I have forgot this before and the cake has been fine. If you add too much milk it's difficult it shape the mixture into your cake tin as described in the method below (see step 8 in the method below).
• 2 and a half tsp of vanilla ESSENCE- I add this to the lightly beaten 7 large eggs. It must be essence to get the best vanilla flavour, sometimes people pick up extract and this does not have the same intensity in taste.

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Farenheit). Each oven is different, you will know yours and the more you bake the more personalised your baking will become. My oven is pretty hot so I preheat mine to 160 degrees Celsius and towards the end I may drop it to 150 after checking the cake. I also place the top shelf as high as I can in the oven and put an empty baking tray on it. When ready I place my cake into the oven on the bottom shelf. As it takes a while to get the cake cooked all the way through these steps help prevent the outside from burning.
2. Line your cake tin with baking parchment. Some people wrap the outside of the tin with multiple layers brown parcel paper as this can also help prevent burning but I find this isn't necessary for my oven with this recipe.
3. Beat the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. If you want to do it the old fashioned way (by hand) get ready for some achey arms, I prefer to use a hand whisk. If you're lucky enough to have a food mixer then this will help you no end at this stage!
4. Add one egg at a time and beat into the mixture (I add a little bit of my lightly beaten eggs and vanilla extract mixture at a time). Add a little flour in between each addition of egg to prevent curdling.
5. If you haven't added your vanilla extract into the egg mixture, then add it to the cake mixture now.
6. Add the milk to the cake mixture and gently mix it in.
7. Add the sifted flour a little at a time and fold in gently by hand. I recommend using a large metal spoon.
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. I create a dip in the middle of the top of the mixture to make the mixture look like a doughnut. I do this because in the past I was smoothing the top of the cake and popping it straight into the oven. When I took the cake out it appeared cooked but the middle was hollow. I have found that creating this dip/hole in the middle of the mixture prevents this from happening.
9. Cook for 1 hour 20 mins. 
10. After the baking time has elapsed use a skewer to check the cake is cooked all the way through. Check the middle of the cake as this takes the longest to bake. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is baked. 
11. If the skewer does not come out clean give the cake another 10-15 minutes and repeat step 10. Keep cooking and checking the cake every 10-15minutes until it is cooked through.
12. Once it's cooked through remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool completely in the tin. I cover it with a tea towel and have left it overnight to cool before. Removing the cake from the tin too soon while it's still hot can compromise the shape (it may fall to pieces). Do not decorate the cake until it's cooled completely as your icing will melt.

Well there it is my favourite proper vanilla birthday cake recipe! Love it! Hope you do too!

xoxo