Pistachio and Rose Cupcakes

Pistachio cupcakes with rose scented Swiss Meringue butter cream.

More birthdays! This time - mine! I've wanted to make some rose and pistachio cakes for a while, and seeing as I was making a Moroccan inspired dinner I thought these would be fitting for dessert. As luck would have it, a friend made me a cake as well. Happy cake day to me indeed!

I chose to make a Swiss meringue icing as I find it to be a little sweeter than the French butter cream I usually make. I thought this would go nicely with the salty-sweet flavour of the nuts and provide a good balance.

Ingredients:
140g softened butter
140g sugar
140g plain flour 
1 tsp baking powder
100g pistachios, shelled 
2 eggs
70ml milk

4 egg whites
120g sugar
230g butter, cubed, at room temp
3tsp rose water

Method:
-preheat the oven to gas mark 3 and line a bun/muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
-beat the butter using electric beaters to soften. Place the nuts in to a jug/blender and whizz up. Add a few spoons of sugar and whizz again to combine. 
-Add the rest of the sugar to the butter and whisk till fluffy and light. Then add in the nutty sugar and mix. Add the eggs and beat until mixed in. Sieve the flour and the baking powder over the top and beat until just mixed in. Add the milk so that the batter is a little less stiff.

Cooling Cakes

- spoon the batter in to the cases and bake for 25 minutes. Check that a spoon comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.

like this

-to make the icing, put the egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl and set over a small pan of simmering water. Basically you want to dissolve the sugar and lightly cook the egg whites without them scrambling. Whisk very lightly over the heat using a balloon whisk. If you do this by hand then you can get a better sense of when the sugar had dissolved. Once dissolved, remove from the heat and whisk using an electric whisk until meringue has magically appeared. This takes about 10 minutes. Keep going until the bowl is cool and you have nice firm, glossy peaks.
-then start to add the butter slowly whilst still beating. Once its all in there it should be fairly firm and looking like butter icing. Add the rose water a tsp at a time, tasting as you go. The idea is to just get a nice scent - lest you should end up with edible pot pourri. 

-spoon in to a piping bag and pipe on to the cooled cakes. Voila!

nom!

Strawberry Torte

How very red.

October definitely seems to be the month for birthdays, as it is another of my friends' today! She said that her favourite things were strawberries and that she wanted something I believe is called an Erdbeer schnitten. I Tried to find a recipe for it, but alas! Could not find a definitive one. So I trawled the internet and came up with a mish mash of what I think would be tasty. I opted for a simple victoria sponge base and a layer of creme patisserie topped with strawberries and a jelly glaze. I was a bit worried about the warm jelly melting all the filling, so I waited a bit too long and it wasn't very pour-able...
I hope it's right. Happy Birthday!

Ingredients:
For the base
180g soft butter
180g sugar
3 eggs
130g plain flour
50g cornflour
vanilla extract

for the creme patisserie
150ml milk
100ml cream
40g sugar
3 egg yolks
10g corn flour
20g plain flour
100ml extra cream, whipped.
10g vanilla sugar

Plus a punnet of strawberries and a packet of red torte jelly powder (tortenguss)

Method:
- preheat the oven to gas 4/180C and grease a flan tin
- beat the butter till smooth, then cream in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

-sieve over the flours and mix until just mixed. Pour in to the tin and level. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Turn which ever way up seems the most sensible (I went for upside down) and carve out some of the inside of the cake to make room for the filling.
- Make the creme patisserie as per the filling in these profiteroles, and cover the cake.
- slice up the strawberries and lay on top.  
-make the tortenguss to the pack instructions (if you can@t find it you could substitute some warmed up apricot jam). Once cooled enough, pour all over the top and leave to set!

Sacher Torte

It's a slab o'chocolate

As I am such a fan of making cakes, I always try my best in rustling one up when it comes to a special occasion - like a birthday! It was my friend's the other day and I asked her what she would like. She said Sacher Torte. So here it is. Unfortunately I was a little rushed in having to get out the door and transport it so I didn't glaze the sides for fear of it all getting a bit too messy on the tram. You need to have quite a bit of time to make this one as there's lots of 'letting it cool' parts. I am also glad a photo was snapped before the knife got to it. It's based on a Mary Berry recipe. Can't go wrong there.

Ingredients:
for the cake
140g dark chocolate - I used a mix of 85 and 70%
140g soft butter
115g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5 eggs, separated
90g ground almonds
50g plain flour

for the glaze
4 tblsp apricot jam (no bits)
140g 70% chocolate
200ml pouring cream
4 squares milk chocolate

Method:
-preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Grease the sides and line the bottom of a 22cm loose bottomed tin.
-melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave to the side.
-Beat the butter in a large bowl with electric beaters until nice and soft, then add the sugar and beat until incorporated.
-Add the cooled chocolate and vanilla and mix, followed by the egg yolks. 
- Sieve the almonds and flour over the top and fold in. It should be pretty thick and stiff by now.
- Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until quite stiff. Fold these in to the chocolatey batter. Do this by sacrificing one third to loosen the mix - i.e mix the first third in without a care for losing air, then gently fold in the rest.
-Spoon in to the tin and level the top. Bake for 40 minutes. It should have risen up -  check the centre with a knife. Once cooked, remove from the oven, then the tin after 5 minutes and leave to cool on a rack.
- Heat the jam and then brush on to the cooled cake and allow to set. 
-Heat the cream in a small pan till it's nearly boiling, then turn off the heat and add in the dark chocolate for the glaze. Stir. Cool until it's the right consistency to coat the cake without being too runny, and cover the cake. Cool. Melt the milk chocolate, pour in to a wee bag made out of baking paper and pipe 'Sacher' on top. 

Prince Regent's Torte

I used vanilla and chocolate, so the layers aren't as clear. Was still tasty though.

I've wanted to make this cake for a while, and now that I'm in Germany, I thought I would! It's a Bavarian cake that has to have at least 6 - I went for 8 layers - of very thin sponge, filled with butter icing and then covered in dark chocolate. It's named after the guy it was baked for; Prince Regent Luitpold who was PR of Bavaria from 1886. Apparently it has all the layers because of the 8 regions of Bavaria during his reign...hence the 8. It was supposed to have sickly sweet icing-sugar-butter-icing, but I opted for a French Buttercream instead. It's biscuity and cakey at the same time.
Basically it's just another reason to eat a lot of butter.

Ingredients:
for the cake
-250g soft butter
-250g sugar
-4 medium eggs
-200g plain flour
-50g cornflour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp vanilla extract
for the filling
-4 egg yolks
-150g sugar
-100ml water
-300g softened butter, cut in to chunks
-3 tblsp cocoa
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
for the covering
-150g really dark chocolate (85%)
-40g butter

Method: 
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 5. Using a 20cm loose bottomed round tin, cut out 8 cartouches (circles of baking paper). Weigh the bowl you are going to use for the batter and make a note.
-For the cakes cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift the flours and the baking powder over the top and then gently fold in with a large metal spoon. Try not to over mix.
- weigh the mix and less the weight of the bowl. Divide in to 8 and then spoon the correct amount on to the first circle of paper, smooth it out evenly then gently place it in to the tin. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Set up the next lot of batter whilst the former is cooking. Remember to lay the baking paper in between the cooling sponges! Repeat until all the mixture is gone and you have 8 sponges.
-Make the butter cream! Pour the water over the sugar in a small pan and set over the lowest heat until it dossolves (you don't want too much water to evaporate). Once dissolved, whack up high and get your thermometer ready. Once the syrup reaches 110C, start beating (using an electric whisk/mixer) the egg yolks till they thicken. When the syrup is bubbling and at 116C, carefully pour on to the eggs, whilst still whisking. Keep at it. Eventually they will cool and will be a thickened yolky meringue-type substance. 
- once cool, continue beating and add in the butter. It should thicken in to tasty icing.
- divide in to two and flavour one with the cocoa and one with vanilla.
- Once the cakes are cool, build the torte by layering the sponges with alternating buttercream. 
-melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly, then spread over the top and sides of the cake.

-slice and then drown in butter.

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Bundt

That's quite a thick layer of ganache, there.

A lot of things were supposed to happen today...well, some things any way. I went to work and was all finished by 12.30 (yay for me!) and then nothing else was really falling in to place. So I thought I would cheer myself up by doing a spot of baking. Once the cake was in the oven I got a very excellent phone call! So then there was something to celebrate, and then as if by magic - there was a cake!

I opted for a marbled chocolate and vanilla bundt with a nice thick layer of dark chocolate ganache. Death by chocolate? Perhaps! It's your average nice-and-simple 4 egg Victoria sponge with one half laced with vanilla and the other with some chocolate. Easy.

Ingredients:
4 eggs. Weigh them whole and then use that as the weight for the other ingredients
butter, at room temperature
caster sugar
self raising flour

200g dark chocolate, chopped
2 tblsp cocoa
120ml cream
2 vanilla pods/ 1/2 tsp extract

Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a bundt/ring tin
- beat the butter until nice and fluffy and then add the sugar and beat till light and fluffy. It's all very fluffy.
- add the eggs one at a time, beating aster each addition. Add in a tablespoon of the flour if it starts to look as though it may curdle.
- Sift in the flour and fold in until everything is mixed in well.
- divide the batter in to two. In one half, add the seeds of a vanilla pod (or two) or 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. In the other half, mix in the cocoa and then melt 50g of the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over boiling water. Add this to the chocolate half and stir to combine. 
- add both sets of batter in to the tin as you like. Swirl it around a bit with a knife. Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean!
- once baked, leave in the tin for 5 mins and then turn out on to a wire rack.
- heat the cream in a sauce pan until it starts to come to the boil. Add the rest of the chocolate and whisk until its lovely and melted and thick and ganache-like. Spoon on to the top so it starts to run down the sides.
- leave to cool, slice and enjoy!

Bagels

Much better than from a packet!

Today was exceedingly hot and stuffy, so I decided that I should take a trip to a lake or a river after work. Then I remembered how lazy I am and how a warm day is the perfect day for bread. I've wanted to bake some bagels for a while and thought, today is the day!

I didn't really have anything in the way of a topping -  I like lots of seeds on my bagels - but I did try to introduce a little sultana and cinnamon in to half the dough. But I did it after it had proven, so I had some fun pushing the little dried fruits in to the dough and watching them ping out again.

This recipe will make 8 fairly decent sized bagels for breakfast and lunch styled treats.

Ingredients:
450g strong bread flour
sachet of active dried yeast (7g)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
300ml lukewarm water

a big pan of water with 1 tblsp honey and 1 tblsp sugar

Method:
- pour 100ml of the warm water in to a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface and then sprinkle the sugar on the top (this should help the yeast to sink). Let it sit for 10 mins (do not stir) until it's nice and frothy. Then stir to dissolve.
- mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeasty mixture, then top it up with just about all of the rest of the lukewarm water.
- mix together until it's of a lovely soft consistency, but not too sticky. Tip out on to a floured work surface and knead for about 10 mins until smooth and elastic. Form in to a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl, drape some cling film over the top and leave to rise for an hour in a warm place.
- Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with paper.
- Get the big pan of water on to boil.
- punch the dough a bit and leave again for a few minutes. (This is when I decided to make half the dough cinnamon and sultana). Divide the dough in to 8 - 10 equal sized lumps and shape in to balls. Do this by rolling it around in a circular motion on the work surface with the palm of your hand. Stick your finger (or the end of a wooden spoon) into the middle and wiggle it about until you have a hole. 
- add the bagels two at a time to the pan of boiling sugary water. Boil on each side for 1 minute, remove, drain and then place the 'right way up' on to the baking tray. Now would be the time to top them with some tasty seeds if you have them to hand.

look at that sultana still trying to escape!

- bake for 25 minutes, leave to cool on a wire rack, slice them open and enjoy with your favourite bagel toppings. Mine's banana and honey.

Chocolate Hazelnut Friands

Chocolate Hazelnut Friands.

After having a custard experiment disaster the other day, I had an awful lot of egg whites to use up. I didn't really fancy meringues and decided that friands were on the cards, mostly due to how affordable mountains of nuts are here. I opted for a tasty nutella inspired chocolate and hazelnut concoction. Unfortunately I had to dash out to work just as they'd finished baking. I have a lack of tupperware here and they lost the fight against the open air. Still tasty though!

Ingredients:

200g ground hazelnuts

175g unsalted butter

6 egg whites

160g plain flour

2 tblsp cocoa

230g icing sugar, plus more for dusting

Method:

-preheat the oven to 200C and grease a 12 hole muffin/friand tin

- heat the butter in a small saucepan until melted. Keep an eye on it and take off the heat once it's gone nice and brown - this adds a nutty loveliness to the butter. Remove, strain for darkened milk solids and keep to the side.

- whisk the whites until frothy, not peaky, just nice and foamy. 

-sift the dry ingredients in to a large bowl and stir the nuts in. Make a well in the centre and add the egg whites and the cooled butter. Mix to combine. 

- spoon this in to the tin and bake for 25 mins, checking after 20. A skewer should come out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack

- dust liberally with icing sugar and serve!#

Peach and Almond Tarts

Peachy.

This week I remembered how much I love peaches. Then I remembered how much I love anything that tastes like almonds. And then I remembered how delicious home made rough puff pastry is. 

Ingredients:

For the Rough Puff Pastry:

This makes 500g of pastry, you only really need half this amount for the tarts, but it's always nice to have left overs in the fringe or freezer (just make sure you stack the trimmings rather than scrunch them).

250g very cold butter, cubed

250g plain white flour

125ml iced water

5g salt

For the filling:

100g ground almonds

100g soft butter

1 egg

25g sugar

a few drops of almond extract

3-4 ripe peaches, depending on size, sliced finely in to crescents

a little vanilla sugar for dusting

Method:

For the pastry:

- weigh out all the ingredients. Tip the flour out on to a cool, clean surface and make a well in the centre. Tip the butter in to the centre and start to scrunch the butter in to the flour. Keep doing this until the flour and butter are fairly well mixed. You want to have pretty big lumps of butter throughout the flour.

-Add around half the water and mix it in with your fingers to form a dough. Add enough water that it starts to come together but is not sticky (you probably won't need all of it)

-very gently knead it so it forms a ball. Roll this out so that the length is 3 times the width.

-Now start folding: bring the bottom edge in to the middle of the length, then fold the top down over this (like a business letter)

- turn this folded dough one quarter to the right. Roll again so that it is 3 times longer than it is wide. Fold again in the same way. Make a mark in the dough using two fingertips (to remind you that you have done two folds. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 20 mins.

-repeat this rolling and folding twice more, mark it with four finger dents and return to the fridge for 20 mins.

Hooray! We have rough puff ready to use. Cut this block in half and save the other half for another recipe.

puffy buttery layers. Om nom nom

For the tarts: 

-heat the over to 200C and line a baking tray with paper

-mix together all the filling ingredients except the peaches.

- roll out the pastry to about 2mm thick. Either using a small saucer as a guide and cutting around it, or using a pastry cutter (10cm diameter) cut out 4 rounds. Place them on the baking sheet.

- add a tablespoon of the almond mixture to each of these discs and spread nearly to the edges.

-arrange the peaches on top in a circular fashion, overlapping the central corners as you go.

- bake for 10 mins. After 10, remove from the oven, sprinkle with the vanilla sugar and turn upside-down (this can be tricky) so the bottom of the pasty can cook and puff up. Cook for a further 10 mins. Turn them back up the right way round and bake for a further 2 mins (if they need extra time).

-And there you have them! Warm, melt in the mouth buttery peachy loveliness.

recipe adapted from Good Food magazine

Brown Soda Bread

The easiest bread in the world

Today I was peckish and fancied a freshly baked loaf, still hot from the oven, smothered in butter. But I am impatient and didn't want to have it take hours with lots of kneading and proving and all that. That's for nice lazy days, earmarked for bread making. So I opted for soda bread which takes 46 minutes - 1 minute to prepare, 45 to bake.

Ingredients:

225g wholemeal flour (I used the type with lots of seeds in)

225g strong plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp butter

1 egg

350ml buttermilk

Method:

- preheat the oven to 200C and lay a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray

-combine all of the dry ingredients in to a large bowl and make a well

- beat the egg in to the buttermilk. Pour most of it into the well. Gradually bring the dry in to the wet using a spoon or your hand

- add enough of the buttermilk so that the dough is soft but not too sticky. Once everything's mixed, form in to a rounded shape, place on the baking sheet and slash a big line or a cross in to the surface.

-bake for 40 minutes, remove and serve with lashings of salted butter.

Plum Crumble Cheesecake

Pflaumen-streusel-kasekuchen

When I visited Hamburg with some friends a few years ago I got a tasty treat from the bakery. It was delicious- some sort of cake with fruit and a lovely crunchy topping. What with not knowing any German and being bad at remembering things, I had no idea what it was and has since been know as a blat of yum. Now I live in Berlin, I have seen hundreds of blats of yum! And I now know that they are 'streuselkuchen'. I've come across lots of things with streusel and decided to bake a cheesecake with it on top. It's got more of a cake than a biscuit base. 

I spent a little while translating (thank you google) a cheesecake recipe I found in a magazine. It uses quark....when in Rome-or, rather, Berlin! You can get different types of quark, so I opted for the fattiest, creamiest kind. The recipe was for a massive cake, so I altered it and added in a few extra bits and pieces. I have baked this twice, adjusting it here and there. The first one went well, but there was way too much bready base which made all the cheese topping spill out when it was baked. This second version has a much better balance.

Ingredients:
For the dough:
200g plain flour
25g sugar
30g butter
pinch of salt
10g fresh yeast (or equivalent instant)
300ml lukewarm milk


For the filling:
100g sugar
380g 40% fat quark/sahnequark
20g flour 
3 eggs
3 tblsp milk 
the seeds from a vanilla pod/vanilla extract


For the topping
250g plums, stoned and sliced
25g sugar
50g cold butter
50g plain flour


Method:
-Preheat the over to 185C and line a loose bottomed round tin (21cm) with baking paper. Line the sides too - you want to create extra height all the way around. Set it on a baking tray.
-put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Crumble the yeast in to some of the warmed milk and stir to dissolve. Pour this in to the well and sprinkle a little of the flour on top. Cover with a cloth and leave for 10 mins.
-add some of the milk to the butter in a small bowl and mix. They won't mix together properly, but you want the butter to soften without becoming liquid. Add this, the salt and the sugar to the flour and mix. Add more of the milk until the dough starts to come away from the side of the bowl. Roll it out and line the cake tin with it - you will have some left over, it rises as it bakes!
-Put all of the filling ingredients in to a bowl and whisk till smooth. Pour this on to the dough. Scatter the plum slices on the top. Some will sink a bit, but that's ok.
- make a crumble mixture with the sugar, flour and butter by rubbing the ingredients with your fingertips, nice and lightly. Sprinkle this on the top of the plums.
-Bake for 40 mins checking after 30. It should be slightly golden.

Carrot Cake

Carroty and Cakey

I've been making carrot cake with the same recipe for a few years. It's a tried and tested one that I've tweaked in to tastiness along the way, but, alas! I forgot to bring the recipe with me to Berlin, so I have had to try and remember what it was. It could have all gone horribly wrong, but I think that it went pretty well-considering I haven't made this for over a year and I did it from memory. This recipe will do for now but could be replaced with an improved one. I couldn't find any soft dark brown sugar in the shop, so that was a bit of a shame. It's carrot, it's cake, it's got cream cheese icing- what's going to be bad about that?

Ingredients:
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g brown sugar
100g sultanas
2 very ripe, blackened bananas- mashed
250g carrots, grated
130ml sunflower oil
3 medium eggs
1 lemon, zested 
1 tsp cinammon
2 tsp grated ginger


200g cream cheese at room temp
2 tblsp very soft butter
85g icing sugar


Method:
-preheat the oven to 180C and line the bas of a 20cm/8" spring form tin with baking paper.
-sift all the dry ingredients in to a large bowl. Add the sultanas and carrot and mix. Add the banana mush and mix. 
-beat the eggs in to the oil, pour in and combine thoroughly. Add half the zest and a little squeeze of lemon juice, if you fancy.
-pour the batter in to the tin and bake for around 1 1/4 hours, checking after one. If a knife doesn't come out clean, stick it back in for 10 mins.
-leave it in the tin for a bit, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

sliced and ready for cream cheese

-meanwhile! Make the icing. Squish the butter around in a bowl with the back of a spoon then add in a few tablespoons of the cheese. Mix them together, then add in the rest of the cheese. Sift in the icing sugar and stir gently (lest you should be surrounded in a cloud of sugar!). Add the rest of the zest, cover and chill.
-Either slice the cake in half and sandwich half the icing in the middle and the other half on the top, or just spoon the lot on the top of the cake in a single layer.

nom

-ready to eat!

Apple and Cinnamon Ring Cake

Apfel und Zimt Kuchen!

It's been a while since I posted about some crumbs! This is because I have moved to the far away land of Berlin-hooray! I have only just managed to scrape together the necessary things for baking a cake. A very simple apple and cinnamon bundt cake. 

Ingredients:

130g unsalted butter, room temp

185g caster sugar

2 medium eggs, room temp, lightly beaten

1 sachet vanilla sugar/tsp of vanilla extract

185g SR flour

185g low fat natural yoghurt
2 medium apples, skins removed, one diced, one sliced
1 tsp cinnamon


Extras: 20g butter, 30g sugar, pinch of cinnamon


4 tblsp icing sugar
1/2tsp cinnamon
drop of water

Method:
-Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Grease a small bundt/ring tin or a deep 18cm round tin.
-Beat the sugar and the butter together until light and creamy. 
-Add the egg little by little, mixing well after each addition.
-Add the vanilla sugar/extract and then fold in the flour and cinnamon.
-Add the yoghurt and the diced apple and stir until smooth.
-Spoon in to the tin and level out. Add the sliced apples on top. Dot the extra butter over the apple then sprinkle on the extra sugar and cinnamon.
-Bake for about an hour, check to see if it's done with a skewer then tip out to cool on a wire rack.
-Mix the icing sugar, cinnamon and water together to make a simple icing, and drizzle over the top.
-Enjoy warm or cold! 

Appley and Tasty!

Apple and Blackberry slice

Fruity!

I am moving to Berlin this week and am having friends around for some games, wine and of course cake! I've tried to make things that will use up the majority of ingredients in my store cupboard, whilst also battling with the fact that I've had to store a lot of my belongings (cake tins) at my parent's house, 500 miles away. I've made this ginger cake  without the pears, a nice lemon cake and this cheesecake along side this apple and blackberry slice. 

It's got a nice layer apples baked in to the middle of the slice with lovely jammy blackberries dotted about. And, because I think it's tasty- it's also almond flavoured.   

Ingredients:
150g butter
290g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250g self raising flour
150 ml fat free natural yoghurt
2 caps full of almond extract
2 large apples
180g blackberries
icing sugar, to dust

Method:
- preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line a shallow rectangular tin with baking paper.
- beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg gradually and beat well.
- stir in the flour and yoghurt alternately and mix until smooth. Stir in the almond flavour.
- spread a thin layer of the batter over the tin. Peel, core and quarter the apples and slice thinly. Lay these over the cake mix. Top the apples with the rest of the batter. Scatter the berries on top and bake for 40 mins.
- once cooked, leave in the tin for half an hour, then leave to cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and scoff.

Chocolate and Almond Cake

I didn't get a chance to take a photo till it was half eaten

My Auntie was coming up for a visit so I thought I would bake a cake! I am moving to far away lands in the next few weeks, so wanted to use up the supplies that I have. Ground almonds was first on the list!

Due to the move, I have also sent most of my cake tins away, so this should have been in a smaller one ie a two layer job. It was still tasty as a single layer, so no complaints here. There isn't any butter in the cake so it's best enjoyed all in one go, on the day.

Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate, chopped

95g ground almonds

60g self raising flour

4 eggs, separated

115g caster sugar

2 tbls warm milk

150ml whipping cream

Method:

-Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm spring form tin with paper.

- put 100g of the chocolate in a food processor and blitz until fine. Add the almonds and flour and whiz to combine.

- beat the egg yolks and sugar using an electric whisk until really thick. 

- stir in the chocolate mixture and stir, it will be quite thick. Add the milk to loosen it up a bit.

- beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Mix one third of the whites in to the cake batter, then gently fold the remaining whites in. pour in to the tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 45 minutes. Leave in for 5 mins, then turn on to a wire rack to cool.

- melt the rest of the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whip up the cream. Pour the chocolate on to the cake, then when set, spoon on the cream.

-enjoy with a cup of tea!

Chocolate Brownies

Gooey and Very Chocolatey.

A friend told me that she had one of those murder at the manor board games- so she put on a night and it was a hoot! Instead of doing a sit down dinner, everyone brought something and I was assigned to making some sort of dessert. For ease and deliciousness I opted for brownies. This is my own recipe having tweaked others, taking the basic idea that as long as you melt butter with chocolate it will be tasty. Nuts or chunks of chocolate can be added, too (white chocolate and hazelnuts = yum).

Ingredients:
150g butter
185g dark chocolate (74-85%)
85g plain flour
40g cocoa
3 large eggs
250g caster sugar
a handful of flaked almonds, toasted

Method:
- preheat the oven to 160/gas 3 1/2. Line a square deep pan with baking paper and set aside.
- using a bowl over a saucepan of water, melt the chocolate and the butter together (don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl). Once melted, allow to cool slightly.
- sift the flour and cocoa in to a large bowl.
- using an electric whisk the eggs and sugar until very thick and creamy- they should double in size.   
- stir the melted stuff in to the creamy egg. Resift the dry ingredients over the top of the wet chocolate concoction and fold in gently with a large metal spoon. Try not to over mix
- pour in to the tin and sprinkle with the almonds. Bake for 25-35 mins, checking after 25. Allow to cool in the tin. Slice up and enjoy warm or cold!

Cardamom and Sultana Tea Loaf

A Tasty Tea- Time Treat

This loaf is very easy to make, but requires a little forward planning as you have to soak the fruit in the teas over night. It's packed full of plump fruit with a nice whiff of cardamom- and it's fat free! The recipe is based on a loaf from the Good Food 2012 calendar, but I've altered the amount of sugar as I found it a bit too sweet, and changed the tea flavour.

Ingredients:
250g sultanas
100g mixed peel
120g light muscovado sugar
300ml cardamom tea, with around five pods bashed and flung in (I used 2 tblsp of loose leaf, but you could use 2 bags of any tea)
300g self raising flour
1 large egg, beaten
a little oil for greasing- or, to make it really fat free, I used a silicone loaf tin

Method:
- place the fruit, peel and sugar in to a bowl and pour over the hot tea. Stir well and leave to soak in over night.
- the next day, heat the oven to gas mark 2/ 150C. Line a tin if you don't have a silicone one.
- remove the pods if you can locate them (hopefully!) then stir in the flour and egg until well combined. Scoop in to the tin, level the surface and bung in the oven for 1 1/2- 1 3/4 hours. Check if it's done with a skewer. It should have risen, too.
- cool for 10 mins then remove to a wire rack. Put the kettle on. Slice and spread with butter (sorry, not fat free) and enjoy with a cuppa.

It freezes really well, and will keep for a good 5 days in an airtight container.

Black Forest Cupcakes with Mascarpone Icing

A forest of cake

For a while I'd been toying with the idea of a black forest inspired cake. This is a chocolate sponge with a mascarpone and cherry icing, a kirsch soaked cherry middle and chocolate shavings on the top. What a tasty treat!

This recipe makes around 18 smaller sized cakes than I would usually make. I used fairy cake cases.

Ingredients:

160g softened butter
160g self raising flour
160g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
20g cocoa powder
2 squares of really dark chocolate (79% +), melted

250g mascarpone cheese at room temp.
70g icing sugar
60g butter, room temp.
2 more squares of chocolate

1 tin of black cherries in light syrup (you may have to pit them)
4 tblsp kirsch
few drops of almond extract

Method:
- line a bun tin with cake cases and set the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Drain the cherries ans reserve the syrup. Pour the kirsch and almond extract over the cherries and leave to soak.
- place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. If it looks like it's about to curdle, add in a spoonful of the flour. Sift the flour and the cocoa powder together over the top of the buttery mixture and beat until just incorporated. Add the melted chocolate and a few tablespoons of the cherry syrup and mix well.
-spoon the batter in to the cases. I used a small ice cream scoop for the job, or if one isn't to hand, use 2 1/2 tablespoons.
-bake for 15-18 mins until a skewer comes out clean and cool on a wire rack.

-to make the icing, beat the butter and cheese together until blended and smooth. Add the icing sugar and mix gently - else you'll end up covered in dust! Chop up 10 or so of the cherries and gently fold in. Cover and place in the fridge.

om nom nom

- once the cakes are cooled, take a small knife and cut out a funnel from each of them, as if you were to make butterfly cakes. Try not to make them too wide or deep! Push two cherries in to each of the funnelled holes. Brush the remaining cherried-kirschy booze on to the top of the cakes.
-fill a piping bag with the icing and swirl on to each cake using a star (or your preferred) nozzle. Grate or shave the chocolate with the blade of a knife and sprinkle on the top.

DONE!