Tag: Baking

Almond, Apricot and Ginger Bars

Almond, Apricot and Ginger Bars

There’s something beautifully ironic about writers block becoming the key topic I seem to be writing about on here. For the past 3 weeks my tongue’s been as tied as my headphones after a day of being in the bottom of my bag and there’s no sign of that changing. Maybe it’s because life has taken over a bit recently, but there are very few things I can think of to say about snack bars.  It actually feels pretty inane to talk about a recipe through a long, sensual description in order to encourage you guys to make it anyway. Of course I can see the general point of it all, but when ice caps are melting, plastic is flooding the ocean, and God knows what is going on in my brain right now I’m just going to leave it at the classic: these are pretty tasty and pretty easy to make – so I’d recommend making them!

(Also small side point: since leaving veganuary I’ve decided to return to the land of vegetarianism and refined sugar-free-ness. That’s one of the reasons I love these so much – if you make them without the icing they’re 100% refined sugar free, and so even though they’re really sweet (and probably aren’t that good for you) they make a great treat whilst on this diet!)

Recipe

Serves 16

Time: 10 minutes, plus cooking time

Ingredients

  • 7 tbsp Unsalted butter
  • 155g Ground almonds
  • 200g Flaked almonds
  • 3 tsp Ground ginger
  • 130g Runny honey
  • 75g Dried apricots, roughly chopped
  • 1 Large egg
  • A large pinch of salt
  • 100g Icing sugar

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Line a 25cm square tin with butter and baking paper.
  2. Melt the butter in a small pan. Put the almonds into a bowl with the ginger, honey, chopped dried apricots and egg, and then pour in the butter.
  3. Mix until everything is combined and then pour into the tin and smooth over to make an even layer. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until starting to go golden brown. Leave to cool whilst you make the icing.
  4. Put the icing sugar and ½ tsp water into a bowl and mix together to make a pourable icing. If you need more water add a little bit at a time until perfect.
  5. Drizzle the icing over the tray bake, slice into 16 squares and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Vegan Banana Bread

Vegan Banana Bread

I have to admit I’m suffering from a big chunk of writers block at the moment. My life consists mainly of working, going to drama rehearsals, eating, sleeping, and then repeating all that, so writing fun and insightful intros to the world of vegan banana bread is not high on my to do list right now. Essentially all I can say is that (like most recipes on here) it tastes insane, is so so easy to make, and has the added bonus of being the perfect way of using up slightly beyond-their-best bananas!

Recipe

Makes 1 loaf

Time: 10 minutes prep, 40 minutes baking

Ingredients

  • 3 Very ripe bananas
  • 75ml Vegetable oil
  • 100g Light brown sugar
  • 225g Plain flour
  • 3 tsp Baking powder
  • ½ tsp Ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Line a 2lb loaf tin with butter and baking paper, or one of those easy-to-use liners.
  2. Mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork until it’s a puree. Add the oil and sugar and mix in until smooth.
  3. Add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix in again until smooth.
  4. Pour the batter into the cake tin and then bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until golden brown, risen and so that a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. (Cover the top with tin foil if it starts to burn before being cooked all the way through!).
  5. Leave to cool a little before serving!

Why not try:

  • Adding a handful of chocolate chips to the batter when you add the flour
  • Substituting in 1 tbsp Peanut butter instead of 1 tbsp of the oil to make a banana peanut banana loaf
  • Adding fruit and nuts (like raisins and brazil nuts) to the batter

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Icing

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Icing

This might just be the most Christmasy thing I have ever made. Ginger is without a doubt the poster spice for the festive season and so ginger cake topped with a ginger bread house, little trees and a good dusting of icing sugar is pretty much an edible version of Lapland. This was really fun to make but it wasn’t without it’s faults. For example, I learnt things like:

  1. Sometimes gingerbread can be too thick.
  2. Don’t pipe icing that’s too runny onto a sloped surface. As much as you tell yourself it will succumb to the laws of gravity and drip sadly off the sides of your house, forming a pool of sugar tears next to it.
  3. Even if your cakes are completely cool make sure your kitchen isn’t too hot when icing your cake. Those of you following my Instagram may have seen the effects of heat + cream cheese frosting with the image of my cake ‘rustically deconstructed’ across my kitchen table, where it slid whilst I was washing up.

So yeah, this didn’t go entirely to plan, but it still tasted amazing and I managed to get a few decent photos before it self deconstructed! As with all big cakes this can feed an army so it’s perfect for any Christmas parties or celebrations coming up.

Recipe

Serves 12

Time: 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 150g Butter
  • 300g Self raising flour
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • 4 tsp Ground ginger
  • 2 tsp Ground mixed spice
  • 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 150g Muscovado sugar
  • 280g Golden syrup
  • 300ml Whole milk
  • 1 Large egg

For the gingerbread house

  • 175g Dark muscovado sugar
  • 85g Golden syrup
  • 100g Butter
  • 350g Plain flour
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tbsp Ground ginger
  • 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 1 Egg, beaten
  • 200g Icing sugar

For the icing

  • 150g Cream cheese
  • 300ml Double cream
  • 3 tbsp Icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp Stem ginger syrup (optional)

For the decoration

  • 4 tbsp Lemon curd
  • 2 tbsp Caramel
  • A large pinch of Sea salt
  • Icing sugar for dusting

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line 3, 20cm round tins with butter and baking paper.
  2. Put the flour, bicarb, ginger and mixed spice into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers until there are no lumps.
  3. Put the sugar, golden syrup and milk into a pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Bring the mixture just up to the boil.
  4. Pour the warm mixture into the dry mixture and whisk together. Add the egg and then mix in. The mixture should resemble a thick pancake batter.
  5. Pour the mixture into the three lined tins (about 400g into each tin) and then bake in the oven for 50 minutes – 1 hour until baked all the way through. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Leave to cool until needed.
  6. Now make the ginger bread house. Put the sugar, syrup and butter into a pan. Bring to a gentle simmer whilst stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to bubble for 1-2 minutes and then leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.
  7. Put the flour, bicarb and spices into a bowl. Add the egg, syrup mixture and stir together to form a soft dough.
  8. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.
  9. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out between two sheets of clingfilm. You want it to be about half the thickness of a £1 coin. Using the templates (below) cut out the pieces of the house you need.
  10. Place the pieces onto a lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until starting to slightly brown at the edges. Leave to cool before icing.
  11. Mix the icing sugar and 2 tbsp water in a small bowl and then transfer it into a piping bag with a small round nozzle.
  12. Pipe icing around the edge of your gingerbread pieces. Then join the four sides of the house together. Add the roof to the house and then decorate each panel how you want. Leave the house at room temperature for a couple of hours so that the icing has time to set.
  13. Now make the filling. Put the cream cheese, cream, icing sugar, and ginger syrup (if using) into a big bowl and whisk together until it starts to hold its shape and is smooth. Then spoon the mixture into a piping with a large round nozzle. Keep chilled until needed.
  14. When the cakes have cooled completely and your house is ready you can start assembling. Place one of the cakes on a plate or board. Spread over ½ the lemon curd and then pipe blobs of the icing over the sponge. Then drizzle 1/3 of the caramel over the icing.
  15. Place another sponge on top and repeat with the icing and caramel. Then finish by putting the last sponge on top.
  16. Pipe the rest of the icing in blobs over the top of the cake. Spoon the rest of the caramel over the icing, letting it drip over the edge.
  17. Top with the mini ginger bread house, any Christmas decorations you like and a sprinkling of icing sugar!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Gingerbread House Template:

 

Welsh Cakes

Welsh Cakes

I think we’ve got to that point in the year where it’s dark more than it is light, the words ‘I can’t believe it’s getting dark this early’ ring in the air, and you can no longer convince yourself that you don’t need a coat when you go out. I’m up north for the weekend and about 70% of the time I can’t feel my fingers. Oh yes… we’re in… winter.  (Add dramatic music as you will). But it’s not all bad. The Christmas lights are out, the jumpers are in and comfort food is better than it ever was.

I think this little treats are massively underrated. I find loads of supermarkets sell them, however as they’re small and look a little meh they don’t really get picked up. If you’ve never had one before think of them as a sweeter, slightly shorter scone that you cook in a pan. They’re so easy and quick to rustle up that they’re perfect to make before Strictly on a Sunday evening.

Recipe

Makes 20

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 230g Plain flour
  • 90g Caster sugar
  • ¼ tsp Ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp Ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp Baking powder
  • 50g Unsalted butter
  • 50g Lard, plus extra for frying
  • 70g Raisins or currants
  • 1 Large egg
  • 25ml Milk

Method

  1. Put the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and baking powder into a big bowl and mix together until combined.
  2. Add the butter and the lard and then rub the fats into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Shake the bowl from side to side every so often to get the lumps to the top so you can work them into the mix.
  3. Add the raisins or currants and mix them into the dough.
  4. In another bowl mix together the egg and milk. Then slowly trickle in the milk, mixing with a round bladed knife (like a table knife) until a dough forms.
  5. Lightly flour a worktop and roll the dough out into a thin sheet around the thickness of a £1 coin. Take a 6cm round cookie cutter and cut out as many circles as you can, re-rolling the leftovers until you’ve used all the dough.
  6. Put a large skillet or frying pan over a medium heat. Add a knob of lard and leave it to melt. Then place 4-5 welsh cakes on the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes on either side until golden brown and cooked all the way through (they shouldn’t feel squidgy when prodded gently).
  7. Repeat with the rest of your welsh cakes until you have a stack of delicious treats. Serve with jam, butter or just as they are!

Thanks for reading!
Emma x

Tahini Chocolate Cake

Tahini Chocolate Cake

What the hell is tahini I hear you ask? To be honest, the first time I heard about it I thought it could be an exotic grass skirt dance from the Caribbean. But alas… no.  It’s actually a sesame seed paste that is used a lot in Middle Eastern cooking and is a key component of hummus. So if you like hummus you’ll definitely like this, but fear not, this is not hummus cake! The tahini goes in the icing to make a salty, sweet, nutty filling for these super moist chocolate cakes that just works so so well.

This is one of those things that will only make sense when you try it, so if you’re looking at this a little doubtingly then I’d recommend just giving it a go! I made my own sesame snaps for this as I couldn’t for the life of me find any anywhere in the shops, but in the recipe I’ve said use sesame snaps as they taste better and make your life so much easier.

Recipe

Serves 12

Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake

  • 180g Unsalted butter
  • 100g Dark chocolate
  • 240g Plain flour
  • 280g Caster sugar
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • 3 tbsp Cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 142ml Milk
  • 142ml Greek yoghurt
  • 2 tbsp Tahini

To Decorate

  • 230g Unsalted butter
  • 3 tbsp Tahini
  • 320g Icing sugar
  • 2 Packets of sesame snaps

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line two 7.5 inch cake tins.
  2. First make the chocolate cake. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
  3. In a bowl mix the flour, sugar, bicarb and cocoa together.
  4. In another bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and yoghurt. Add this mixture and the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture, along with the tahini and 100ml boiling water. Whisk quickly until combined and then pour this into the two lined tins.
  5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean once inserted. Leave the cakes to cool for 15 minutes before turning them out onto wire racks and leaving to cool completely.
  6. Now make the icing. Put the butter and tahini into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar and beat it into the mixture until smooth. Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and leave in the fridge until needed.
  7. When the cakes have cooled completely put one onto a plate. Pipe blobs of the icing over the base layer and then place the other cake on top.
  8. Pipe the rest of the icing over the top of the cake in blobs.  Dust the cake with a little cocoa powder. Then break the sesame snaps into shards and place them around the top of the cake. Serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x