Tag: Baking
Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

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When I was a lot younger I used to earn money by making and selling cupcakes at school fetes and bizarres. Most of my memories of these events are spending hours into the night before stressing out and piping onto hundreds of differently flavoured cakes. The picture below is of a very timid me at my first Christmas stall when I was 12. At this one I sold vanilla, lemon, coffee and walnut, ginger, chocolate, and caramel cakes.

Without a doubt my best seller was my chocolate cupcakes topped with a Malteaser. I’d always have to make twice as many of them as any of my others as they’d sell out within the first half of the event.

Unfortunately, although I’ve made hundreds of these, I have no good photos of them. The two above photos are old ones from my cupcake selling days, before I learnt how to use a camera properly, and so they’re pretty blurry. Recently I made another batch (see below) for my Dad’s birthday, which inspired me to write a post on them. However, as I made them in the evening they have the unavoidable dark yellow tone that comes with artificial light. Nevertheless, they taste really good and by using a brownie-like mix they come out really squidgy and rich.

Recipe

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 210ml Vegetable oil
  • 320g Light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 4 Medium eggs
  • 80g Cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate, as it has added sugar and less cocoa, and so has much less flavour)
  • 130g Plain flour
  • 12 Malteasers

For the icing

  • 300g Unsalted butter
  • 265g Icing sugar
  • 50g Cocoa powder

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Put 12 muffin cases into a muffin tin.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs and whisk until fully combined. Add the cocoa and whisk again (go slowly here as the cocoa will go everywhere if whisked too fast). Add the flour and then whisk until fully mixed.
  3. Distribute the mixture between the cases using two table spoons, (I find about 1 1/2 tbsp for each cake works well). Put the cupcakes in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature 150˚C and continue to bake until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cupcake (about 15 minutes more).
  4. Take the cakes out of the tins and leave to cool completely on wire racks.
  5. Meanwhile make the icing. Put the butter and icing sugar into a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the cocoa powder and continue to mix until it’s all combined.
  6. Put the icing into a piping bag fitted with a star shaped nozzle. Pipe the icing onto the cooled cakes in a spiral shape.
  7. Top each cake with a Malteser and serve!

Thanks for reading! Check out my social media pages (links on the side bar), and like/follow to stay updated.

Emma x
Easter Simnel Bread

Easter Simnel Bread

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Simnel cake is to Easter what Christmas cake is to Christmas. Love it or hate it, it’s the embodiment of Easter in a bake. However, I have to admit I’ve never been much of a fan of fruit cake, and so I’ve decided to morph the flavours of simnel into a bread. It has all the classic almonds, spices and fruit found in a simnel cake, but it’s also light, soft and beautifully flavoured with a womph of rum. Easter in my family is a very social occasion and we tend to get the whole family together and have a nice meal. This bread is perfect for an event like this as the twirled fingers which make up the loaf can be torn off tear-and-share style, making it perfect for social occasions!

It may seem weird that there’s balls of marzipan on top of the loaf, but here’s a little simnel fact to get you in the Easter spirit. Traditionally simnel cake is topped with 11 balls of caramelised marzipan to represent the 12 disciples, minus Judas. I’ve honoured this tradition here, topping the loaf with marzipan to make it truly simnel and to give it a bit of a wow factor.

Recipe

Makes 1 loaf (serves about 13)

Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

  • 200g Raisins
  • Zest 1 Lemon
  • Zest 1 Orange
  • 2 tbsp Rum
  • 1 tbsp Orange juice
  • 520g Strong white bread flour
  • 12g Salt
  • 30g Caster sugar
  • 2 tsp Mixed spice
  • 3 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 10g Fast-action dried yeast
  • 40g Butter
  • 50ml Milk
  • 2 Large eggs, beaten
  • 200g Marzipan

To Decorate:

  • 1 Egg, beaten
  • Apricot jam to glaze
  • 100g Icing sugar
  • 30g Flaked almonds

Method

  1. Put the raisins, lemon zest, orange zest, rum, and orange juice into a bowl. Mix together and then cover with clingfilm or a tea towel and leave to soak for at least an hour, or even better overnight.
  2. The next day start by putting the flour, salt, sugar, mixed spice and yeast into a bowl. Make sure the yeast and salt don’t come into direct contact as the salt will kill the yeast. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon.
  3. Next add the butter, milk, eggs and 135ml of water and mix together to form a soft dough.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled or floured worktop and knead for about 10 minutes until the mixture is smooth and elastic.
  5. Form the dough into a ball and then tip into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave at room temperature to rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.
  6. When ready knock back the dough by kneading it for about 20 seconds on a lightly floured worktop. Then split the dough in half, wrap one of the halves in clingfilm and set it to one side.
  7. Take the other half and re-form it into a ball. Roll it out into a circle with a diameter of about 30cm – using a plate or large, round object as a guide can help with this. The dough will spring back and resist being stretched so just persevere until it stays in the shape you need it. Transfer this sheet of dough to a lined baking tray.
  8. Lightly dust your work top with icing sugar and roll out 50g of the marzipan to a circle with a diameter about 28cm, or generally a couple of cm less than your first bread circle. Place this marzipan disc on top of the disc of dough.
  9. Sprinkle over the raisins which have been soaking in the rum and zests to make an even layer.
  10. Roll out the second lump of dough into another circle with a diameter about 31cm wide. Brush the edge of the first circle with water and then lay the second dough circle on top of the first.
  11. Tuck the dough underneath itself around the edge to seal the two discs and make it into a neat circle. Next take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut 12, 10cm deep incisions into the circle to make a sun shape. Then take each strip and twist it twice clockwise to get a flower effect. Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to rise for about an hour.
  12. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Brush the loaf with the beaten egg to glaze and then put in the oven to bake for about 45 minutes until risen and golden brown. If it starts to burn cover it with tin foil to stop it browning too much.
  13. Put the apricot jam into a pan and heat gently to loosen it up. When the loaf is brought out of the oven brush with the warmed apricot jam to glaze.
  14. Roll the rest of the marzipan into 11 smooth balls, and then lightly brush with a blowtorch (or put under the grill) to caramelise. When the loaf is cool place balls in a circle on the top. Mix the icing sugar with 2 tbsp of water to make a just-pourable water icing. Drizzle this icing over the loaf, then sprinkle with flaked almonds and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

 
Lemon Swiss Roll

Lemon Swiss Roll

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So today’s Mother’s day and I don’t know about you but my Mum does so much for me she deserves a good treat on a day like today! Whilst cards and flowers are the more traditional prezzie I tend to give people bakes for special occasions – I actually first made this for my friend Lisa’s birthday back in October, but I’ve been saving it to post until now as I think it’s perfect for Mother’s day.

The cake is insanely light as it’s essentially a meringue with a bit of flour folded into it, which makes it really refreshing and delicate when eaten with the chantilly cream and lemon curd filling. It’s shape also makes it perfect for sharing, and as it’s easily transportable it’s the perfect Mother’s day bake/gift!

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 3 Large eggs
  • 115g Caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
  • Zest of 1 Lemon
  • 115g Plain flour

For the filling

  • 350ml Double cream
  • 1 tbsp Vanilla bean paste
  • 40g Icing sugar
  • 3 tbsp Lemon curd, plus extra to garnish
  • Icing sugar for dusting
  • Mint to garnish (optional)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Line a 30×25 cm Swiss roll tin with butter and baking paper.
  3. Put the eggs, sugar, and zest into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
  4. Whisk the mixture with an electric whisk until the mixture is pale and thick enough to leave a trail when the prongs are lifted out of the mixture.
  5. Take the bowl off the heat and keep whisking for another 5 minutes until the mixture is really thick.
  6. Sift in the flour and fold it in with a large spatula or metal spoon until it’s fully combined.
  7. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes, until risen and springy.
  8. Put a sheet of baking paper onto the worktop and dust it with caster sugar.
  9. Tip the cake out of the tin and onto the paper. Take a knife and score a line about 1cm from the short edge. Roll the Swiss roll up, with the paper inside the roll, until it’s as tight as possible. Leave the cake to cool like this.
  10. Meanwhile prepare the filling. Put the cream, vanilla and icing sugar into a bowl and whisk it up to soft peaks – until it just holds its shape.
  11. Once the cake is completely cool unroll it and smooth it flat. Spread the lemon curd over the sponge and then spread the cream over the top in a smooth layer (make sure it reaches all corners of the sponge).
  12. Re-roll the sponge up, this time without the baking paper inside, to make a tight roll.
  13. To make it look neater you could slice the ends off either side of the roll before serving, or you could just leave it as it is. Put a little more curd into a piping bag and drizzle it over the cake. Then sprinkle with icing sugar and garnish with fresh mint!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Almond, Blood Orange and Raspberry Cake

Almond, Blood Orange and Raspberry Cake

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Blood oranges are the delicious ingredient that I think is about to flood the food world and hit the mainstream. They have a very unusual flavour – sort of the classic orange taste with a fruity kick similar to strawberries in the background. This makes it a perfect partner for almonds and raspberries, which when all mixed into a cake tastes delicious! They also have an incredible natural pink colour – this icing is just blood orange juice and icing sugar, no food colouring!

Depending on the size of orange you use the mixture has the potential to end up very wet. If this happens there’s a chance the cake could take too long to cook and end up burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. Therefore, if this happens, I’d recommend adding a couple more tbsp of flour to the mixture to thicken it up – it’s not really the done thing in the world of baking but it works for me. If you’re unsure if your mixture is too wet or not you can check it using the v test. Take a blob of mixture on the wooden spoon you’ve been mixing with and sharply shake the spoon once to drop the mixture off it. If the mixture hanging off the spoon is a v shape it’s ready!

Recipe

Makes 1 cake

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 250g Butter
  • 200g Caster sugar
  • 60g Clear honey
  • 4 Large eggs
  • 140g Greek Yoghurt
  • 1 tsp Almond extract
  • 250g Self-raising flour
  • 100g Ground Almonds
  • 1tsp Baking powder
  • 200g Frozen raspberries
  •  Zest of 3 Bood oranges
  • Juice of 2 Blood oranges

To decorate:

  • 1 Blood orange
  • 200g Icing sugar
  • A sprinkle of Freeze dried raspberries
  • 25g Flaked almonds

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Take a rectangular pound cake tin and line with butter and baking paper.
  2. Put the butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Add the honey, eggs, yoghurt, and almond extract and whisk together to combine.
  3. Sift in the flour, ground almonds, and baking powder and whisk into the mixture until smooth.
  4. Add the orange juice, zest and the raspberries into the mixture and fold with a spatula to combine.
  5. Pour the batter into the lined tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for around 55 minutes, until it’s risen, starting to brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Take the cake out of the tin and leave to cool completely.
  6. Meanwhile make the icing. Cut the blood orange in half and juice one of the halves, setting the other to one side for later.
  7. Put the icing sugar into a bowl and pour in the juice. Stir to make a smooth icing.
  8. When the cake is completely cooled drizzle the icing over the cake. Slice the remaining 1/2 orange into chunks and arrange then on top of the cake. Finish with a sprinkle with the freeze dried raspberries and flaked almonds. Serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie

Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie

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My bakes never last very long in my house. Leave something on the kitchen table and it seems to disappear within a day or two, and this cinnamon roll apple pie is no exception! This style of pie crust is becoming a bit of a food trend, flooding every kind of social media. My sister knows I’m a big fan of cinnamon rolls and apple pie so I first saw the idea when my she tagged me in a post on it, and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to make my own!

Instead of making (or buying) a dough for the crust – as you would if you were making cinnamon rolls – I’m using a shop-bought shortcrust here for two reasons, 1) it’s more sturdy and therefore a better container for the apple filling, and 2) it’s a lot quicker and easier to work with, and will therefore help you get a tight roll which should make the pie more aesthetically appealing. This also means that it’s not too tricky or time consuming to make, so if you want to make something that looks cool but doesn’t require too much culinary nous this is a good one to try.

I was experimenting on this one a bit which is why it doesn’t look very neat, but I’ve now worked out how to make it look better. Originally I tried to roll the little rolls together into one sheet (as above) but this didn’t work as the individual rolls didn’t fuse together. Therefore I’d recommend doing what I ended up doing next – roll each little roll out to the thickness you want it to be (about 1/2 the thickness of a pound coin) and then line the tin with these flat discs, overlapping and pressing adjacent rolls together so they fuse when cooking and so there’s no gaps. That said though, even if it doesn’t look completely neat it’s guaranteed to taste good so don’t worry!

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the crust

  • 2 tbsp Ground cinnamon
  • 80g Light brown sugar
  • 2 packs of ready rolled shortcrust pastry (I used Jus-Rol)
  • 60g Butter
  • Flour for dusting
  • 1 Egg, beaten

For the filling

  • 6 Medium sized Bramley apples
  • 140g Caster sugar
  • ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 3 tbsp Flour

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and set to one side. Lay out the pastry on your surface. Spread over the butter and then sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar mix so that it covers the whole sheet of pastry in an even layer.
  3. Roll the pastry up from the short end, like a swiss roll, to make a tightly rolled log. Wrap the roll in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile begin to prep the filling. Peel, core and slice the apples and then wrap them in layers of kitchen roll and set to one side, (this will help to take some of the moisture out of the fruit so you don’t end up with soggy bottom pastry).
  5. Put the sugar, cinnamon and flour for the filling into a bowl, mix and set aside for later.
  6. Take the pastry out of the fridge and put it onto a chopping board. Take a sharp knife and slice the roll into discs about the thickness of a pound coin.
  7. Lightly flour a surface. Then take one of the discs and use a rolling pin to flatten it into a thinner disc, about half the thickness it was before. Repeat with 2/3 of the discs.
  8. Take these discs and line the tin with them, starting from the centre of the base and working up the sides of the tin until you have a little overhang. Press the discs together so that they fuse and there’s no gaps.
  9. Put the apples into the bowl of sugar, cinnamon and flour. Mix everything together and then tip this into the pie case.
  10. Cover your work surface with a sheet of clingfilm and arrange the rest of the pastry rolls on it in a round shape, making sure they’re close together. Cover these with another layer of clingfilm (this will make it easier to work with them) and then roll over them with a rolling pin to merge them into a single sheet. You want this sheet to be about 1 cm wider than the pie tin do that it comes into contact with the overhanging pastry.
  11. Brush the edge of the pie with a little water. Then take off one of the layers of clingfilm and flip the pastry sheet onto the top of the pie. Then take the other sheet of clingfilm off the pastry sheet.
  12. Take a knife and use it at a 45˚ angle to cut off the extra pastry around the edge. Then crimp the edge of the pie to seal everything by pinching the pastry between your thumb and first finger on one hand and your first finger on the other.
  13. Brush the top of the pie with the beaten egg to glaze and then bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and crisp.
  14. Leave to cool slightly before serving with cream, custard or ice cream!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x