Holidays and Honey Cake.

Tags

baking, blog, Exmoor, Holidays, Honey cake

Hello all, hope you are enjoying some lovely sunshine where you are! What a nice change for the UK after the terrible (and terribly long) winter. The sunshine just makes everything better.

Last week we went away for the week to the very beautiful Exmoor National Park and went totally phone, wifi and facebook free. Seems like we all needed a technology break – it’s strange how quickly we adapt to doing things “old school” when needed. The week was a totally lovely relaxing family adventure.

On one of our days out we visited an amazing bee farm. We saw all the different times of hives and learnt how vital bees are to our ecosystem. After all that, we went and had cream teas with honey instead of jam, and stocked up on our own honey supplies whilst the juniors ran around on a bee themed soft play place. The honey we bought was deliciously thick and had a heavy pollen tang. Of course I had to make a honey cake with it. What else?

This cake we served up with honeycomb ice cream. On our return from Exmoor we popped in to visit some very good friends who served up honeycomb ice cream for dessert and now I’m addicted. My lovely friend also has an equally delicious blog – you can check it out here.

Honey cake

1/2 cups (440 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) baking powder [see Update above]
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons (about 8 grams) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup (235 ml) vegetable oil
1 cup (340 grams) honey
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (95 grams) brown sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 cup warm (235 ml) coffee or strong tea
1/2 cup (120 ml) fresh orange juice
zest of 1 orange

Fits in three loaf pans, two 9-inch square or round cake pans, one 9 or 10 inch tube or bundt cake pan, or one 9 by 13 inch sheet cake. I made mine in two full-size loaf pans plus two miniature ones.

Preheat oven to 170°c11 Generously grease pan(s) with non-stick cooking spray. For tube or angel food pans, line the bottom with lightly greased parchment paper, cut to fit.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Make a well in the center, and add oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee or tea, orange juice and zest. (If you measure your oil before the honey, it will be easier to get all of the honey out.)

Using a strong wire whisk or in an electric mixer on slow speed, stir together well to make a thick, well-blended batter, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom.

Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). Sprinkle top of cake(s) evenly with almonds, if using. Place cake pan(s) on two baking sheets, stacked together (this will ensure the cakes bake properly with the bottom baking faster than the cake interior and top).

Bake until cake tests done, that is, it springs back when you gently touch the cake center. For angel and tube cake pans, this will take 60 to 75 minutes, loaf cakes, about 45 to 55 minutes. For sheet style cakes, baking time is 40 to 45 minutes.

Let cake stand fifteen minutes before removing from pan.

 

 

Ginger and Honey Scones

Tags

all about the bake, baking, blog, Ginger and Honey Scones, Retro Recipe, scones

Today has been one of those days where I have walked into the house after work and instantly rolled up my sleeves to bake. As ever I rummaged through the cupboards first (and also served up 2 plates of cheesy scrambled eggs and toast for the Juniors) and was pondering my decision when I remembered this book I picked up from my Mother-in-Law.

Now, I am mildly fascinated by this book and there are some great post war recipes to be tested, although I can’t see me making the haddock stuffed with sausage meat, the jugged hare or the (gulp) meat roly-poly anytime soon. The desserts and baking section however is a different kettle of fish, and the ginger scones immediately caught my eye.

Now this recipe calls for golden syrup but I fancied honey so did a straight swap. I also made my dough up with milk instead of egg – probably about 4 tbsp I’d guess. Hope you like them as much as we did.

My First Clandestine Cake Club Meeting and Lemon, Rosemary and Lemon Thyme Cake.

Tags

all about the bake, baking, blog, cake club, Holden Clough Nursery, Lemon rosemary thyme cake, Ribble Valley Clandestine Cake Club

Do you remember me telling you that I had joined something exciting a while ago? Well today was the day I finally went to my first meeting of the Ribble Valley Clandestine Cake Club! What better thing to do on a Saturday afternoon but eat and discuss cake?!

The meeting was held at Holden Clough Nursery which was a beautiful place to visit. It was lovely to have a look at all the plants they have there and the tea room looked amazing. The lovely ladies who kept us well supplied with tea couldn’t have been friendlier either – I’ll definitely make a return visit!

The theme for the CCC meeting was “Guess the ingredient” so we had to produce unusual cakes and then try and guess each others. It being my first meeting I didn’t want to go too wild and so went with a cake that contains rosemary and lemon thyme. Other members however didn’t hold back and I ate cakes that contained mashed potatoes, aubergine, beetroot and coca cola and very nice they were too! I brought a slither of each home for the juniors and Mr. Bake (even though Mr. Bake kept asking if I’d joined the WI!) and so they also got to play the guess the ingredient game too.

I had a lovely afternoon and met some really nice people. Maybe you could join a Clandestine Cake Club near you?

Lemon, Rosemary & lemon Thyme Cake

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup lemon zest
1/2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon thyme (or plain thyme)
3 cups plain flour 
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup yogurt and 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

and for the syrup…
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170°C
Grease one 10″ round cake tin or 2 loaf pans.

In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar with your electric mixer until fluffy, or by hand until your arm gets tired.

Beat in 4 eggs, one at a time.

Add 1/3 cup lemon zest, 1/2 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary, and 2 to 3 Tbsp fresh lemon thyme.

In another bowl, sift together 3 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 3/4 tsp salt.

In a third bowl (or your liquid measuring cup, if you’re very clever or lazy) combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, 3/4 cup yogurt/milk mix, and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Alternating between dry and wet ingredients, add the flour and liquids to the batter, starting and ending with flour. After each addition, mix just enough to blend the batter — overmixing will develop the gluten in the flour and make your cake tough and dense.

Put batter in cake tin (or 2 loaf tins) and bake at 170°C for 45 minutes to an hour.

Meanwhile, make the lemon syrup.

In a saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice.

Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved (or microwave on medium for 1 minute, stir, and repeat until the sugar is dissolved.)

Once the cake is done and has cooled off for 10-15 minutes, drizzle the lemon syrup over the top and down the sides. It will soak in and make it extra moist and delicious.

Triple Chocolate Toffee Walnut Muffins for a 1st Birthday!

Tags

baking, blog, Chocolate toffee walnut muffins, muffins., Turtle muffins

It’s my blogs 1st birthday and what better way to celebrate than with decadent triple chocolate, toffee and walnut muffins. These muffins are just ridiculously amazing, just like making it to 50 followers on the blog – as the Juniors would say, its epic!!

Sorry I’ve been away for a while, my family has needed a little extra care and attention recently, I’m due to present at a very important conference in the next month, I have joint responsibility in creating and completing a very important new Autism provision at work and I’ve been contemplating a new career idea. All this has made me super busy and when Mr. Bake asked if I’d found time to blog recently, I reminded him that I’d yet to find time to bake never mind blog about it! Luckily the UK has a bank holiday weekend this weekend and so I found time to bake AND blog. Phew!

I came across the idea for these muffins after following a link about Turtle muffins although I’m not at all sure WHY our friends over the pond refer to these as Turtle muffins (maybe someone out there can let me know?) I am surely glad they exist.

Triple Chocolate, Toffee and Walnut Muffins.

1 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 c mini dark chocolate chips (2 Tbs more if topping each muffin)

1/4 c mini milk chocolate chips (2 Tbs more if topping each muffin)

1/2 c walnuts, chopped (1 -2 Tbs more if topping each muffin) (pecans would be nice here too)

1 egg
1/2 c milk
1/4 c Greek yogurt, plain
1/4 c toffee or caramel sauce + 1-2 Tbs for drizzling

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 180º and prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners, set aside. In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add in the mini chocolate chips and nuts and toss to coat (that way they won’t all sink to the bottom). In a small mixing bowl whisk together the egg, milk, Greek yogurt and toffee sauce. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until moistened. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, optional: top with a few extra nuts and chocolate chips. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Remove carefully and let cool in the pan 10 minutes, transfer to a plate and drizzle with toffee sauce; serve warm.

Yields about 9 muffins

Lemon and Blueberry Madeleines – for posh back-to-school lunches!

Tags

baking, blog, lemon and blueberry madeleines, lunchbox baking, Madeleines recipe

It’s back to school time for all of us tomorrow and so I’m busy getting things ready for the busy week ahead and the lunch boxes that will need making up over the next 5 days. I have to confess that I find the routine of making lunchboxes incredible dull and so am always looking to inject a bit of interest to liven the whole process up.

I had a half pack of blueberries that needed eating and so wanted something that would use them up, I also wanted to find something easy and lunchbox friendly and so I settled on these lemon and blueberry madeleines. I love the process of making madeleines – its so easy and low stress I’d recommend it to anyone.

Lemon and Blueberry Madeleines

Ingredients

• 2 free-range eggs
• 100g/3½oz caster sugar
• 100g/3½oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• 100g/3½oz butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus extra for greasing
• blueberries – I had 3 per madeleine so 1/2 punnet was plenty.

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C Brush the madeleine tray with melted butter then shake in a little flour to coat, tapping out the excess.
2. Whisk together the eggs and the sugar in a bowl until frothy. Lightly whisk in the remaining ingredients. Leave to stand for at least 40 minutes before carefully pouring into the prepared madeleine tray. Add 3 blueberries per madeleine.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture has risen a little in the middle and is fully cooked through. Transfer the madeleines to a wire rack and leave for a few minutes to cool.

Torta Colombina for a Spring that’s finally (maybe) sprung.

Tags

Torta Colombina, lemon orange and almond cake, baking blog, lemon curd and almond cake.

So the weather has finally turned a corner this weekend meaning that I have been able to tend my veggie patch and plant new herbs in the herb garden, the juniors have been able to get some non-arctic like fresh air and Mr. Bake has managed to get round to fixing and re-laying the garden step.

Very productive and lovely and although it’s a little chillier today I’m trying to keep the Spring feeling going with this cake.

This recipe is adapted out of my Clandestine Cake Club recipe book. The original uses just orange flavours with the almond but I had lemon curd that needed using up so adapted it to suit what I had in. It’s the first time I’ve used this recipe so was very happy with the end result. Hope you like it.

Orange and lemon Torta Colombina

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKES

• 175g soft unsalted butter
• The finely grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon (a few drops) bitter almond extract
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 medium egg yolks (save the whites for the topping)
• 175g self raising flour
• 50g ground almonds

FOR THE TOPPING

• 80g ground almonds
• 80g icing sugar (vanilla if possible)
• 2 egg whites
• 30-40g whole almonds
• 30-40g  sugar – the original calls for crushed sugar cubes or sugar nibs which sound great but I didn’t have them to hand so just used granulated sugar.

 

FOR THE FILLING

• 50g good quality lemon curd
• 50g  orange marmalade
• Whipped cream

• Two 18cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins, about 4cm deep

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4 (adjust for fan oven). Butter the sandwich tins, and line with baking parchment.

Beat the butter with the zest and caster sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the almond and vanilla extracts, then add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and adding a little flour if the mixture starts to curdle.

Using a large metal spoon, fold in the ground almonds, followed by the flour. You should now have a light, but stiff mixture. Divide this equally between the sandwich tins and level the surface.

For the topping, mix together the ground almonds, sifted icing sugar and egg whites to make a rough paste. Dot this over the surface of one of the cakes, and then spread it out carefully, disturbing the sponge mixture underneath as little as possible. Scatter the whole almonds on top, followed by the sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the uncoated cake is well risen, firm to the touch, and coming away from the edge of the tin. Leave the topped one in for 5-10 minutes longer, until the topping is a light golden brown colour all over. It may still be moist and sticky below the crunchy surface, so if you are testing the cake for doneness with a skewer just make sure there is none of the yellow sponge mixture on it.

Leave in the tins for 10 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack. With some careful juggling, you should be able to get the topped cake clear of its tin and lining without turning it over and so risking cracking the crust.

To make the filling, mix the lemon curd with the marmalade. Sandwich the cakes together with the curd and whipped cream. 

Enjoy!

 

 

Meringue Magic

Tags

baking, blog, meringue, meringue nests, sprinkles meringue kisses

Today I have been literally baking up a storm. Some days I wake up and baking is all I want to do but normally I have to go and do my “proper” job instead. Today however I’m still on my holidays and so can indulge to the max. So what’s cooking? I have a loaf of bread rising in the kitchen (I realised today that I haven’t been activating my yeast as per the (unread) instructions on the tin. Whoops!!) and I have shortcrust pastry chilling in the fridge for a yummy cheese and onion pie for tea. With all this sensible grown up baking I needed something frivolous that was also going to use up the ton of egg whites I had in the fridge.

Firstly I decided to make some meringue nests – we will be filling these with chocolate squirty cream (yes really), fruit and left over easter egg bits I think. 

 

I then had some meringue left over (I had a lot of left over egg whites!) and so made these little meringue kisses and sprinkled them with sprinkles. I think I’ll likely pop these into the Juniors lunch boxes with some fruit when we are at back to school time.

Basic meringue recipe to pipe to your own wishes.

4 egg whites

250g caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

sprinkles if you wish

1. Have your egg whites at room temperature. Half an hour out of the fridge should do it.
2. Whisk egg whites in a large bowl on a low speed until frothy.
3. Add cream of tartar and turn up mixer speed to medium. 
4. Continue whisking eggs adding a spoonful of sugar every minute or so.
5. Whisk until firm and standing in peaks.
6. Pipe to the shape you want and add sprinkles if you want to.

 

 

One-a-penny, two-a-penny ….

Tags

baking, Brockholes Nature Reserve, Easter recipe, Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter everyone, hope you are all enjoying family time together.

Yesterday I baked my first ever batch of hot cross buns which were not only super exciting but particularly yummy too. I won’t write out the recipe in full because I stuck firmly to Paul Hollywoods recipe which is here with the only changes being that I left out the mixed peel (I’m not keen on it) and left my fruited dough over night to rise as its super cold here and I suspect my yeast is getting a bit tired – I know how it feels! Give this recipe a go over Easter, you won’t be sorry!

Mr Bake also made the Lemon Meringue Pie from Paul Hollywoods book to take to my parents for our Good Friday lunch. It was a hit all round although VERY lemony but I like it like that. It was not the easiest to take freshly out of the oven into the car though – I have a lemony sugar syrup puddle in my foot well as proof.

Today we went to a local nature reserve to blow off some cobwebs (and walk off the aforementioned pie!) and they had Easter crafts for the kids as well as a good walk and play park for us. If you ever get the chance to visit, Brockholes Nature Reserve has a lot to offer for families wanting to do something outdoorsy for a while.

Sorry and an Update.

I’m sorry I disappeared off the blogging radar for a little while. Things got a bit tough at Chateau Bake and with that life also got busy. I was still baking but not many new things, just old reliable favourites that I knew wouldn’t be difficult or taxing and that were soothing as a reliable old comfort blanket. I promise you that I am trying to get back into the old baking and as a result have joined a Clandestine Cake Club. My first meeting is in May so I will let you know how it goes!

So, what else has been going on?

K turned 9 and had a very fun photo party to celebrate. I can’t believe how grown up she’s getting. Time seems to be passing in the blink of an eye! She had a sprinkles cake to celebrate which was fun to make!

We had Mothers Day here in the UK. It was a very relaxed day on the whole for us and it was nice to have snuggles in bed before L went off to do his junior white belt in Ju jitsu.

On the baking front, Mr Bake has found a love of making sweet pies (his chocolate pecan pie last week was delicious) although he always needs someone to make to pastry for him, and I’ve been pottering around making some bread and some old school cakes.

I’ve also been nominated for a blogging award – thanks to Candy at lovely buns x

The rules of the award are: 1 Visit and thank the blogger(s) who nominated you. 2 Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back. 3 Answer the “Super Sweet” questions. 4 Nominate a “Baker’s Dozen” (13) blogs for the award, add a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs. 5Copy and paste the award on your blog somewhere.

So, the Super Sweet Questions (and answers) are:

1. Cookies or Cake? Cake. Everytime.

2. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

3. What is your favorite sweet treat? Walnut whips or Viennese whirl biscuits.

4. When do you crave sweet things the most? In the evening or when I’m having a cup of tea (how British!)

5. If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be? My step dad’s nickname for me  has always been Pudding!

My nominees are (in no particular order):

Sugar Dish Me

Random sweetness

The Happy Little Baker

Crumbs and Sprinkles

Sugar and Spice Baking

mydearbakes

Baking for Bears

No time for ironing

Baker on the rise

Butterbaking

For the love of Cuppie cakes

Erin’s DC kitchen

Burlesque Baker

Tequila and Lime Cupcakes

Tags

baking, blog, cupcakes, hen night cupcakes, Lime and tequila cupcakes, recipe

This recipe was one I made for Cindy’s hen night (see coconut cupcakes) and this recipe caused me some SERIOUS headaches. Cindy specifically asked for these cupcakes after seeing them on Pinterest and I of course said yes. That is where the learning curve started!

The original recipe I had said to add tequila and lime to both cake and icing but was mysteriously lacking in sugar. I dutifully followed the recipe, including battling with the near impossible meringue icing required. They looked pretty, I was pleased, then I took a bite…. urgh! Way too bitter! That batch went immediately in the bin and I made a new batch the way that made sense to me with more sugar in everything.

I have again tweaked it slightly since then and here is my final recipe. Here also are the married couple – may they have a very happy married life ahead of them.

For the cake:

• 230g self raising flour
• 230g sugar
• 230g butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of lime juice
• 3 tablespoons milk

For the syrup:

• 50g suagr
• 2 tablespoons lime
• 2 tablespoons tequila

For the icing:

• 150g butter
• 300g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime
• 1 tablespoon tequila

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees c. Cream butter and sugar together then beat in eggs alternating with flour. Add milk/juice and spoon into cupcake cases (3/4 full). Bake for 20 minutes until light brown.

Heat sugar and lime and tequila in a pan until sugar melts. Brush mix on top of each cake whilst cakes are still warm. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

In a mixer combine the ingredients for icing until smooth. Pipe onto cooked cakes and top with lime zest and lime quarters as you like. I also added a sprinkle of sugar for that salt effect. Enjoy!