Category: Recipes
Bruleed Apricots with Ginger and Almonds

Bruleed Apricots with Ginger and Almonds

By | | Comments 0 Comment

It’s been a while since I made a pretty dessert and making this one reminded me just how much I love doing them! This one was inspired by apricots and custard so it’s made up of bruleed (caramelised) amaretto soaked apricots, crème patisserie (aka custard), and chocolate ganache and then decorated with stem ginger, almonds, amaretti biscuits and mint! Because the three main elements (the apricots, custard and ganache) are relatively easy to make this dessert is surprisingly easy and quick to throw together (unlike some of my other pretty dessert plates!). You can also display it however you like – I enjoy getting out the blowtorch and tweezers to make a little crescent shape but it works just as well all thrown into a bowl for pudding!

(Note: I’ve made meringues for this to use up the egg white leftover from making the custard, but it’s a completely optional element to the dessert!)

Recipe

Serves about 4

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the apricots

  • 1 tin of apricot halves in fruit juice
  • 2 tbsp amaretto liqueur
  • 2 tbsp stem ginger syrup

For the crème patisserie

  • 80ml whole milk
  • 1/2 tbsp vanilla bean paste
  • 20g caster sugar, plus 2-3 tsp for the brulee
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 5g plain flour
  • 5g cornflour

For the meringue (optional)

  • 1 egg white
  • 40g caster sugar (ideally the same weight as the egg white, you might need to use less or more sugar accordingly)

To decorate

  • 100g dark chocolate
  • 100ml double cream
  • 4 tbsp flaked almonds
  • A few pieces of stem ginger
  • 2-3 amaretti biscuits, crushed
  • A few sprigs of fresh mint

Method

  1. Put the apricots and their juice into a bowl. Add the amaretto and stem ginger syrup and leave to soak for at least 1 hour (you could do this the night before if you want!).
  2. Meanwhile make the crème patisserie. Put the milk and vanilla into a saucepan, stir once and bring to the boil.
  3. Separate the egg by rocking the yolk between the two halves of the shell and letting the egg white drip into a bowl below. Put the egg yolk into a separate bowl.
  4. Add the sugar and two flours to the egg yolk and whisk together until fully combined.
  5. Once the milk is heated, remove the pan from the heat and mix around 1/3 of the milk into the egg mixture.
  6. Whisk the mixture quickly and then pour the egg mixture back into the pan with the milk.
  7. Put the pan back over a medium-low heat and whisk until the mixture thickens.
  8. Pour the mixture into a pipping bag and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, until cool.
  9. Meanwhile prepare the decorations. If you’re making the meringue put the egg white into a spotlessly clean bowl and whisk with an electric which until soft peaks form.
  10. Add the caster sugar to the egg whites, 1tbsp at a time, whilst whisking until all the sugar is added. Keep whisking until the mixture hits firm peaks.
  11. Tip the meringue out onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Smooth out with a palette knife until it’s an even sheet about the thickness of a 1p coin.
  12. Pre-heat the oven to 120C and bake the meringue in the oven until crisp (about 20 minutes). Turn the oven off and leave to cool completely in the oven (this will prevent them from cracking).
  13. Now make the ganache. Roughly chop the chocolate for the decoration and put it into a glass or metal bowl.
  14. Put the cream into a small pan and bring up to just below the boil. Then pour it on the chocolate and stir until smooth.
  15. Pour the ganache into a pipping bag and leave in the fridge for about 20 minutes, until just set enough to pipe and hold it’s shape. (If the ganache becomes too set you can warm it up in the microwave with 10 second bursts).
  16. When all the components are ready start plating up. Take the apricots out of the soaking liquid and place on a plate lined with kitchen paper to soak up the excess juices.
  17. Take 3 of the apricots and place them on a plate so that the hole where the stone was is facing up. Sprinkle a little caster sugar into this hole and then use a blowtorch to caramelise it (you could use a grill if you don’t have a blow torch).
  18. Pipe 3-4 blobs on the crème patisserie onto a plate, making the blobs smaller further away from the apricots to start building up the crescent shape. Then take the ganache and then pipe small blobs in the gaps. Break the meringue into shards and prop them up around the plate by leaning them into the ganache and crème patisserie.
  19. Finish the plate with some flaked almonds, crushed amaretti biscuits, slices of stem ginger and some fresh mint. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Pride Cupcakes

Pride Cupcakes

By | | Comments 0 Comment

These are coming a little after Pride but better late than never! (I made these back in June but I’m a bit behind on writing up the recipes which is why I’m only posting them now!). I don’t identify as LGBTQ+ myself, but I think it’s so important to show support whoever you are, whenever you can – especially at the moment with everything going on! These are a little time-consuming because you have to layer up the colours, but apart from that they’re super easy to make so I’d 100% recommend giving them a go!

It’s amazing how you can get cake looking so bright and colourful but still tasting delicious! I think the gel food colourings really help with this as they help you get super bright colours with only a drop or two. I used to use the bottle food colouring you get from supermarkets and you can end up having to use a whole bottle to get the right colour – which then kicks the balance of ingredients out of whack. I got this pack of 24 food colourings from Wilton for about £24 – which sounds like a lot for food colouring, but it’ll save you a good £3-4 on bottle food colouring every time you want to make something with colour in them and they will last for years! (You also get so many different colours so you can get super creative with your meringues, icings, macaroons, cakes etc!)

Recipe

Makes 12

Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

  • 100g caster sugar
  • 113g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 50ml milk
  • 50g natural yoghurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
  • 65g plain flour
  • 135g self raising flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple food colouring
  • A few tsp of rainbow sprinkles or 100s and 1000s

For the butter cream

  • 120g butter
  • 200g icing sugar
  • 1tbsp milk
  • ½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C and put 12 cupcake cases into a 12 hole cupcake tin.
  2. Take a large bowl and make a note of it’s weight when empty.
  3. Put the butter and sugar into the bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until pale and creamy.
  4. Add the eggs, milk, yoghurt and vanilla and whisk until combined.
  5. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk again to make smooth.
  6. Weigh the bowl with the mixture in (making sure no spoons or utensils are also being weighed!). Take the weight of the bowl away (that you noted down earlier) from the weight of the bowl + mixture so you know how much your total mixture weighs. Divide this by 7 and then put this amount of mixture into 7 bowls (so that you’ve equally divided your cake mix into 7).
  7. Colour each bowl of cake mix differently so you have one each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
  8. Carefully spoon a layer of purple cake mix into the bottom of each cupcake case (about 1tsp should do it, but go until all the mixture is used up!). Then repeat with the other colours in the order of a rainbow, finishing with the red.
  9. Bake the cupcakes for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and risen. (You can double check by inserting a skewer into the middle and seeing if it comes out clean).
  10. Take the cupcakes out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
  11. Meanwhile make the buttercream. Put the butter and icing sugar into a bowl and beat until smooth. Add the milk and vanilla and beat again until combined.
  12. Fit a pipping bag with a star shaped nozzle and spoon the icing into the pipping bag. Pipe swirls of the icing on the cooled cupcakes (the cupcakes need to be completely cool before you do this or the icing will slide off!).
  13. Finish with a few rainbow sprinkles and enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

 
Bakewell Traybake

Bakewell Traybake

By | | Comments 0 Comment

I’m a bit behind with my recipe writing so apologies for the tardiness on this one! I’m getting into the habit of brainstorming, baking, photographing and then posting on social media, but not so much with the follow up blog posts. When I’m baking I tend to jot down on post-it notes what I’m doing and what quantities I’m using etc, but recently these have ended up piling up in a corner waiting for me to re-visit them! But anyhow – we’re here, and this one is a particular fave of mine. I’ve been making bakewell tarts for as long as I’ve been baking, but I decided this time to make it as a tray bake so it can be easily chopped up and shared around! I’ve used raspberry jam here as I think it’s a nice tartness to pair with the sweet pastry and cake, but you could use any kind of jam you like!

Recipe

Makes 16 squares

Time: around 2 hours

Ingredients

For the pastry (or use ready-made)

  • 175g plain flour
  • A pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 115g unsalted butter
  • 1 medium egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp cold water

For the filling

  • 5tbsp raspberry jam
  • 200g soft butter
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 4 eggs, beaten

To decorate

  • 100g icing sugar
  • 25g flaked almonds

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line a 20x30cm tin with butter and baking paper.
  2. To make the pastry put the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and mix together. Add the cold butter in chunks and cut it into small lumps with a table knife. Then go in with your hands and rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (Shaking the bowl side to side every now and then can help bring the lumps to the top).
  3. Press the pastry into the lined tin to form an even layer. Prick the base all over with a fork and then bake for 8-10 minutes until cooked through.
  4. Spread the raspberry jam over the base to make an even layer.
  5. Put the butter, sugar, ground almonds, flour, baking powder, almond extract and eggs into a bowl and beat together until smooth. Pour this over the jam layer, even out to a smooth layer and then bake for 30 minutes until risen and golden brown.
  6. Leave the traybake to cool and then take it out of the tin and place on a chopping board. Mix the icing sugar with 1 tbsp water and drizzle the icing over the traybake. Scatter over the flaked almonds and then cut the traybake into 12 fingers. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Aubergine Shakshuka

Aubergine Shakshuka

By | | Comments 0 Comment

This is one of my family’s go-to comfort foods at the moment – ras el hanout aubergines, tomatoes, feta and a baked egg on top! You can make it in minutes and there’s always enough to share around!

Recipe

Serves 3-4

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 2 aubergines
  • A little oil for frying
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp ras el hanout
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 500ml tomato passata
  • 3 eggs
  • 50g feta

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Cut both aubergines in half, and then cut each half into four to make 16 long wedges.
  3. Fry the aubergine with a little oil, over a medium heat until browned. Take the aubergine out of the pan and place to one side until needed.
  4. Top and tail, peel and then finely dice the onion. Add it to the pan and fry for about 5 minutes until soft. Meanwhile peel and finely chop the garlic.
  5. Add the garlic to the pan and fry for another minute. Then add the ras el hanout, paprika, tomato puree and sugar and stir to combine. Next add the passata and mix. Finish with a seasoning of salt and pepper.
  6. Pour the sauce into an oven-proof dish. Arrange the aubergines over the top. Crack the eggs over the top of the dish and then sprinkle over the feta.
  7. Cook the dish for about 7 minutes in the oven until the eggs are softly cooked.
  8. Serve warm with some bread to mop up the juices!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondies

Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondies

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Blondies are my go-to comfort bake and I think they’re never better than when you add a handful of raspberries to the mixture to give a gorgeous sharpness to pair with the fudgy white chocolate blondie!

Recipe

Makes 16 squares

Time: 45 minutes (including baking time)

Ingredients

  • 170g butter
  • 220g light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
  • 1 large egg
  • 210g plain flour
  • 150g white chocolate
  • 50g raspberries (I use frozen as it’s cheaper but you can use fresh if you prefer)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 9” square tin with butter and baking paper.
  2. Melt the butter in a large bowl by putting it in the microwave for 20 second bursts. Add the sugar and vanilla and whisk until combined.
  3. Add the egg and whisk again to combine. Then add the flour and whisk again to make a smooth batter.
  4. Take the white chocolate and chop it into rough chunks. Then add this chopped chocolate and the raspberries to the blondie mixture and stir it in.
  5. Pour the batter into the lined tin. Bake the blondies for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and still a little fudgy in the middle. Leave to cool and then cut into 12 slices and enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x