Blueberry crumble loaf

Another tasty recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book. I was actually going to make the coconut jam sandwich bars this weekend (I'm sure I will get round to it eventually) but noticed we had lots of blueberries in the fridge and instantly felt an urge to do something with them. I love baking with berries.

The cake has a really lovely texture, little chunks of pecans, juicy blueberries and a crumbly topping. The mixture also made a lot of batter, so I got to make a few buns with the excess (any excuse for a bun!)  I would maybe put slightly less cinnamon in next time, but that's just me, Mum loves it as it is. She says I can make it again anytime!

I also have some VERY exciting ebay purchases to share with everybody next week, so watch this space!

Blueberry crumble loaf from Hummingbird Bakery "Cake Days"

For the sponge

190g (7oz) unsalted butter, softened, plux extra for greasing

190g (7oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting

190g (7oz) caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

25ml (1fl oz) whole milk

100g (3 1/2 oz) fresh or frozen (and defrosted) blueberries

50g (1 3/4oz) pecans, chopped

For the crumble topping

25g (1oz) plain flour

10g (1/3 oz) unsalted butter

15g (1/2 oz) soft light brown sugar

20g (3/4oz) chopped pecans

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas mark 3 and grease a 8.5 x 17.5cm loaf tin with butter and dust with flour. To make the crumble topping rub together the flour and butter with your fingertips until it has a breadcrumb texture. Add the remaining ingredients and stir together. Set aside.

For the sponge, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and make sure everything is incorporated. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, and add in three stages to the butter and sugar mixture, pouring in the milk after the second batch has been added. Mix well after each addition and mix until the batter is smooth and even. Stir in the blueberries and chopped pecans by hand and pour the batter into the tin. (I had enough excess batter for 5 regular buns.) Scatter the crumble mixture on top and bake in the middle of the oven for 50-60 mins (mine took 1hr 15-20 mins so keep an eye on it). It is ready to take out the oven when a skewer/knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaf cool a bit before removing from the tin.

Pretty things

My Mum and Dad came back from their weekend holiday in the Western Isles a couple of days ago. I thought I was too old for "holiday presents" but apparently not!

Pretty little bird which now happily hangs from my bedroom window.

HOW CUTE IS MY EGG HOUSE?!

I absolutely love it.

Next thing I need for my future kitchen (other than a shiny kitchenaid) is a little blackboard so I can pretend my kitchen is a cafe. "Today's special........  white chocolate brownies". Mmmmm, need to make them again :)

Coconut and raspberry cupcakes

If there's one thing people slowly (or maybe quickly) discover about me, it's that I don't particularly enjoy "going out". I'm just not a "let's party, it's Friday night!" sort of person. I'm happier pottering around at home playing the piano or baking with a good film/ sitcom on in the background. Saddo?

I knew I wanted to bake last night, but couldn't decide what to bake. I eventually decided (by 1am) on the coconut jam sandwich bars from the new Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book, but then discovered I didn't have enough dessicated coconut. I scoured the internet for alternative ideas but realised it was pretty late to be baking. Half an hour later...... I still wanted to bake. In my pyjamas of course.

I decided to compromise and have raspberry and coconut cupcakes. Funnily enough, when I typed "coconut and raspberry cupcakes" into google, the lovely Caked Crusader popped up, so I used her sponge recipe but decided to only use one raspberry in the middle of each cupcake. I then made some raspberry buttercream and had a bash at the Hummingbird Bakery icing technique. I finished at a very silly middle-of-the-night time...... it was getting lighter outside, oops! I may not go out that much but I'm still a night owl.

It was worth it though, they are very tasty and so pink and girly! I had one for my elevenses this morning with my brother. Nowhere near as impressive as the Caked Crusader's cupcakes, but pretty nonetheless.

I love the raspberry in the centre. Delicious!

Coconut and raspberry cupcakes.

Original recipe from the Caked Crusader (Check hers out, they are amazing!!)

125g softened butter

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

125g self-raising flour

3 tbsp dessicated coconut

2 tbsp milk

packet of raspberries

Preheat oven to 190C/gas mark 5 and line your bun tin with 12 large cases. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs (I tend to do them one at a time) followed by the flour, coconut and milk. Mix until everything is smooth and combined. Put a dollop of the mixture in the bottom of each cupcake case, place a raspberry in the centre, and then cover with the remaining mixture until each case is roughly 3/4 full. Bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until pale golden on top and firm to touch. Place onto a wire rack to cool.

I didn't really weigh things out for my icing (by 3am I was just chucking stuff in!) Roughly, I think it was around 50g(ish) softened butter, 1/2tsp vanilla extract, 200g(ish) icing sugar and 10-15 raspberries (which were washed, dried and strained through a sieve to remove seeds). I then added enough milk to make the icing a smooth, spreadable consistency.

I may not be up late partying, but I'm certainly up late baking!

semolina berry cake and weekend purchases

This has got to be one of my favourite summer cakes. I found the recipe in a newspaper supplement, although I can't remember which one as it was a few years ago. The colours of the berries look stunning and it has such a fresh, juicy flavour. A perfect summer dessert, polished off with a nice cup of tea and extra berries.

Semolina berry cake

175g self-raising flour

100g semolina

175g caster sugar

175g butter, melted

juice and rind of 1/2 a lemon

2 large eggs

200g(ish) of berries (e.g. raspberries, blueberries, blackberries. As long as it's not strawberries)

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, semolina, sugar). Melt the butter then pour into the dry mixture. Add eggs one at a time, then juice and rind of 1/2 a lemon. Mix together and spoon into a 24cm greased springform tin. Scatter berries over the top and gently press them in a little. Bake in the middle of the oven for approx. 45 mins or until golden on top and firm to touch. (Have a piece while it's still warm, it tastes amazing!)

And onto the weekend purchases.... I was in town on Saturday and couldn't resist buying these shoes. Not only was I seduced by the cute bow and colour, but they were also £10 in the sale. Hurray! It's also great to buy pretty shoes for a change rather than plain work shoes which support my feet (as I'm on them all day).

I have been lusting after this tin for quite a while online, so when I saw it in town I just had to have it. Here it is casually sitting on my Cath Kidston bedding :)

I love the colour, the font, the handle on the lid, even the feel of the tin (hmm, starting to sound creepy. I don't go round shops rubbing tins, honest!)

A girl can never have too many pretty shoes or cake tins can she?

custard cream cupcakes

I haven't baked these in ages! I made them a lot last year but since buying the Hummingbird Bakery book I had forgotten about them. It's the "cookies 'n' cream" recipe from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. I think it's made with Oreos in mind, but I much prefer custard creams as a sandwich biscuit. Since I'm feeling a bit more organised today (writing a post before midnight!) I'll include the recipe.

I also realised that my first cake stand has not appeared on the blog yet! It's Royal Winton Grimwades and one of my most prized possessions. Mum bought it for my 19th Birthday after we stalked various ebay sellings for months. Eventually we won! It's strange, at the time there were only ever around two, maybe three pages of three tier cake stands on ebay (most of which were wedding tiers) but now there's at least twenty pages!

Although my icing was a bit on the stiff side leaving a rough edge (or frilly if you want to make it sound pretty!) the cake was as tasty as I remembered. I forgot to take a photo to show the custard cream chunks inside the cake, so being the super nice blogger that I am, I took it upon myself to eat another one so I could snap that photo.

In other happy news, I found another teacup, saucer and sideplate today matching these ones so I now have four. The shop keeper gave me a little discount again because she remembers me!

Custard cream cupcakes

250g plain flour
2 tsp.baking powder
1 tsp. salt
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
180ml single cream
115g coarsely crushed custard creams

Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and add vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and single cream and beat until batter is smooth. Fold in crushed biscuits and spoon batter into cupcake cases, filling cups about 2/3 full. I used fairly large cases and it made 18 cupcakes. Bake for 20-25 mins. 

The book gives a white chocolate cream cheese icing but for this cake I prefer a basic buttercream. I pretty much follow the Hummingbird Bakery icing: 250g icing sugar, 80g butter, 25ml milk (more usually!)

Bakewell tart

Here's the bakewell tart I made with the left over pastry from yesterday's quiche.

This is the second time I've made a Bakewell Tart and I figure it's going to be a third time lucky thing. The first time I forgot to add flaked almonds and the pastry I made from the recipe tasted too lemony. This time I nearly burnt the tart, it cooked quicker than the recipe stated (good job I decided to check on it 10 minutes before it was meant to come out!) I was also a bit too keen with the raspberry jam which made it tricky to add the sponge mixture. It still tasted better than my first one though, so next time it WILL be perfect. I also took the opportunity to show off my party ring mug. I love how sturdy it is, perfect for a big cuppa after a long day at work.

Judging by my blog posts I have baked three times in the last week. No wonder my trousers were feeling on the tight side the other day! May have to reign myself in slightly.

Here's a picture of my quiche too. I was really pleased with it, despite seeing in hindsight that it looks more like a pizza. Definitely going to be making quiche more often.

Victoria sponge sandwich

Last night I remembered about all the sponges with cream and strawberries I made at a barbeque the day after my brother's wedding five(?) years ago this month. I'm sure I made at least six cakes and I remember them being so yummy (and well appreciated) so that's what I baked this weekend.

The only downside to this type of cake is that it has to be kept in the fridge unless you manage to eat it all in one sitting. It never tastes quite the same after it has been in the fridge.

On the upside, I'm making quiche tonight and I have left over pastry (unfortunately it's bought, was too lazy after work to make my own) so I'm making a Bakewell Tart. It'll probably find its way on to the blog later tonight or tomorrow.