Jumbo jaffa cake

Baking birthday cakes for my nephews always has me trying out random things and this time it was baking a sponge in a frying pan/skillet.

It's getting harder and harder to think of fun or interesting things to bake for the nephews' birthday cakes now that they're all teenagers but I'm still just about managing it even if I'm not always remembering to photograph/blog them. Last week was youngest nephew's birthday and like myself, he bloody loves a Jaffa so making a jumbo version was the answer.

I mostly followed this recipe from Delicious magazine although I followed the jelly instructions from this one from BBC Good Food as I liked the idea of adding a marmalade to "oomph" up the orange flavour. I also heated up a couple of spoonfuls of marmalade in a pan to brush over the (cooled) cake before adding the jelly and chocolate topping.

Sadly I was quite disappointed with this bake despite it looking really cool. I wish I had taken it out of the cast iron skillet sooner when it came out of the oven as I think it continued baking in it and dried out a bit. I also regretted my choice of chocolate for the topping. I used half dark and half dark-mild and I think it made the overall flavour a bit too "grown up"/ bitter. The set chocolate also made the cake really difficult to cut as the cake had to be kept in the fridge to stop the jelly layer from melting.

However all was not lost. I also made some buns/fairy cakes using the same cake mixture and they were tasty. Instead of a melted chocolate topping I iced them with chocolate butter icing and topped with a Jaffa cake. They looked really cute. Did I remember to photograph them? Nope. 

Chocolate and coconut squares

As soon as I saw these chocolate and coconut squares appear on Lynn's blog, Traditional Home Baking, (back in March) I immediately scribbled down the recipe to try.

Usually I'm not overly drawn to coconut, but every so often it really appeals to me. I liked the idea of it combined in a chunky, oaty traybake. I was also keen to try the chocolate topping which I've seen Lynn use before in other recipes on her blog. It sets firm but doesn't crack when you cut into it. I can confirm that it's a lovely topping, almost fudgey, and so quick to make as it is just melted chocolate mixed with some butter. One to use again!

For my topping I used dark chocolate as I like the contrast of a darker, rich chocolate against the sweeter base, but milk would be delicious too. I'm just really into dark chocolate at the moment.

The texture of the base was quite crumbly but full of buttery, oaty, coconut goodness. I'd describe it as a cross between a chunky, oaty biscuit and a flapjack. It's a comforting, easy bake to enjoy with a big mug of tea.

I can't believe I made these over two months ago, time is absolutely flying this year. I've come to the end of birthday season within my family so I can go back to baking whatever I fancy, although I have no idea what that might be. I think I need to have a rummage in the baking cupboard to see what's going out of date. That usually sparks some creativity!

Gingerbread truffles

Every Christmas I make grand plans to try out a few new recipes. . . And every year I pretty much fail. At least I'm consistent!

I managed one new recipe last year, linzer cookies, but I had also planned to make these gingerbread truffles which I found at Baking with Granny, a lovely baking blog if you're not already familiar with it. Also see her post for nicer photography and less lumpy melted chocolate.

After weeks of no baking I felt inspired to make something two weekends ago and remembered these truffles. I reasoned that  gingerbread truffles could be a treat for any time of year, not just for Christmas.

The recipe is nice and simple, no baking required, with only a handful of ingredients: gingernut biscuits, ground almonds, ground ginger, condensed milk and melted chocolate.

I had to re roll the balls a couple of times until they looked suitably dainty as I naturally seem to make hulk sized portions. Eventually I ended up with 56 bite-sized truffles.

The only change I made was adding about 30-40g extra ground almonds as I found the mixture was too soft and sticky to hold the ball shape. The extra ground almonds helped to firm them up.

I also decided to cover some of the truffles in 70% cocoa dark chocolate. Normally I am the biggest white chocolate fan, however in the last year my taste buds have expanded to appreciate a good, dark chocolate. I guess this means I'm a grown up now?

As a result, I possibly prefer the dark chocolate covered truffles to the white chocolate ones as I like the contrast of the rich chocolate with the sweet, ginger, cookie dough textured filling. Both are incredibly tasty though. I'll definitely make these again. I kept a few truffles for myself then packaged up the rest to drop off at friends' and family's doorsteps as a winter treat. 

The only thing I felt on the fence about was the crystallised ginger topping. They're fine as tiny chunks and the truffles benefit from a decoration but I don't think it's something I'd want to eat as a big chunk. In other words, I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of this stuff! Suggestions welcome.

chocolate jazzie cupcakes

I had no intentions of blogging these cupcakes but they turned out so cute I couldn't resist sharing.

It was my uncle's birthday recently so I baked a small batch of chocolate cupcakes to drop past his house. Usually I bake a big cake but what with Covid19 household restrictions in Scotland/UK I thought a smaller amount of cake was more sensible since they wouldn't be having a bigger family gathering.

When rummaging through my baking cupboard for cake decorations I came across a bag of jazzies/snowies (white chocolate buttons covered in sprinkles.) I received them as a Christmas present from my best friend last year (she knows they're my favourite pick 'n' mix sweetie) but I was astounded to discover the bag was entirely unopened?!? Changed days. Anyway, I thought they'd make a fun topping for the birthday cupcakes.

It's been a while since I've baked cupcakes. For whatever reason I've been on more of a muffin and biscuit kick this year, so it was nice to return to them. They're always fun to make. Obviously I reserved one cupcake for myself. Quality control and all that.

I also used up the last of my pretty Lakeland paper cases when making these cupcakes. Dare I say it I think it's time to replenish the cupcake case stash as I mostly only have Christmas themed ones left. My stash was borderline out of control a few years ago so it's good to see I've worked through them!

Chocolate jazzie cupcakes

This recipes yields approx. 10 cupcakes.

cakes:

4oz soft light brown sugar

4oz softened butter or Stork margarine

2 large eggs

4oz self raising flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Splash of milk.

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

decoration:

chocolate butter icing - admittedly I made this up without a recipe, but the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook's chocolate icing recipe is a favourite of mine when I do follow a recipe.)

cake sprinkles/ chocolate buttons/ jazzies for decoration.

Preheat the oven to gas 4/180C/fan 160C and line a cupcake tray with paper cases.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add a tbsp of the flour mix with the second egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. 

In a separate bowl sift together the remaining flour and cocoa powder then add to the main mixture along with the vanilla extract and a splash of milk. Mix until everything is fully combined.

Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, filling each case about 2/3 full. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25-30 minutes, until well risen and firm to touch.

 

Make your chosen icing and spread onto the top of each cupcake with a teaspoon or palette knife then liberally cover the icing with cake sprinkles. Add two chocolate buttons or Jazzies on top for extra decoration.

mini egg biscuits

Slow clap for me posting an Easter bake at the end of May. 👏

However the Mini Eggs can easily be swapped for other chocolate: chocolate chips, Smarties, M&Ms etc. Please don't dismiss these biscuits (or cookies, if that's what you prefer to call them) just because they're dressed for Easter.

I came across these biscuits through Nickki's blog (again!) I liked that they contained oats and were described as chunky and robust. After making my oat shorties I was still on an oat biscuit kick so this recipe very much appealed to me, although typically I only got around to baking two weeks after Easter. Better late than never. 

To be honest I'm impressed that I kept two bags of Cadbury's Mini Eggs on my kitchen counter for over two weeks without breaking into them. That's extreme self control.

These biscuits are indeed chunky and robust as Nicki describes, like a pimped up Hobnob. The recipe also produced a sizeable batch. I think I got 26 decent sized biscuits. The smell of oats, butter and vanilla from the oven was absolutely insane and I couldn't wait to eat one fresh from the oven. It certainly didn't disappoint.

I think my only alteration to these next time would be to slightly reduce the sugar amount as they seemed incredibly sweet. I don't know who I am these days as that previously would have been an unthinkable sentence to proclaim.

Saying that, they're pretty damn tasty as they are and I wouldn't hesitate to bake them again. Here's the link to the recipe if you fancy making them too.

chocolate and vanilla marble cupcakes

This was my first bake in my new home in my shiny new oven a year ago. My best friend came to visit me about a week after I moved in which gave me the perfect opportunity to test my oven's baking abilities.

I went with marble cupcakes as I fancied trying two toned piped icing, something I've wanted to try for absolutely years. I absolutely love how the piped swirls turned out and intend to try the technique on a cake some time. I've actually seen some Easter versions online recently where bakers have marbled pastel coloured icing to match Cadbury Mini Eggs and it looks so pretty.

There's something very satisfying about marbled bakes. I always think they look fun, with or without icing.

As a side note I love my cooker, a cream coloured Richmond Stoves. I managed to buy a decent one as I saved a good chunk of money by sourcing second hand kitchen units (£200 from Ebay.) It has a bit of old fashioned charm as the lid makes it look like an old Aga (and handily the lid doubles up as extra worktop space) and the look suits my quirky, retro styled kitchen. I can also confirm after a year's testing that the oven bakes good cakes.

 (Here's a peek at my baking station. This was before I put up my kitchen tiles behind the worktop. It looks even prettier now.)

I also want to say I hope everyone is staying as safe as possible at the moment amidst the Coronovirus mayhem sweeping the world. It's all incredibly scary and unsettling on so many levels. Take care of yourselves and look after loved ones. x

Recipe was just a bog standard victoria sponge mixture divided in half with cocoa powder added to one half and 1/2tsp vanilla extract to the other. For the icings I followed the vanilla and chocolate butter icing from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. My butter icing swirls were created with a Wilton 1M piping tip.... I think!

chocolate and hazelnut cake

Well hello there. A lot has happened in a year. I didn't intend to abandon blogging but crap happened and I didn't deal with it very well, I certainly didn't want to talk about it and I pretty much spiralled into a pit of negativity and sadness. I still don't want to talk about it but I feel ready to dip my toes back in here now that I've vaguely touched on it. I've missed using this space and having a handy creative archive to refer to.

However, I have come to the decision that I want to return this blog to just baking and crockery as it has got to a stage where I'm not happy posting my sewing and knitting projects here anymore. I'm aware I've mentioned moving them to a separate space for at least 4 years, but this is the year where I feel I need to make the change. If/when the move happens, I'll let you know here.

In the meantime you can still find my knitting projects on Ravelry and I recently joined The Foldline where I've reviewed a few sewing projects from the last year.

So without further ado, CAKE. We're still here for cake, right?

This particular cake, inspired by Ferrero Rochers, was baked for my sister-in-law's birthday last April. I'd definitely describe it as a "grown up" cake. The hazelnut sponges were rich and textured and the chocolate ganache coating was rich and luxuriously cocoa-y. I'm glad I sandwiched the sponges together with a chocolate butter icing and used it to pipe decorative swirls on top as the sweetness of the butter icing really lifted the cake.

On the whole there was a lovely balance of textures and flavours. You certainly didn't need a large slice to feel full and satisfied either.

Somewhat amazingly, I appear to have kept a physical note of what I used for the sponges. The rest of the details however are a hazy memory, but this is roughly what I did:

Chocolate and hazelnut cake

sponges:

250g softened butter

250g soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

150g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

150g hazelnuts (roasted, skinned and ground.) I bought a couple of bags of already roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts then whizzed them up in my small food processor to ground them up further. 

chocolate ganache:

I have no idea what recipe I used for this, but I definitely used double cream with a combination of good quality milk and dark chocolate with high cocoa percentages. I have a funny feeling I may have incorporated melted butter into the ganache at the end...? Who knows. If you want to recreate this cake I recommend referring to a favourite chocolate ganache recipe or picking one of the many kicking about on the internet. It's safer than following my vague memory.

chocolate butter icing:

I likely mixed this up without following a recipe, so I recommend following whatever chocolate butter icing you like best. I personally really like the one in the Hummingbird Bakery's Cookbook.

topping:

another bag of roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts

a box of Ferrero Rocher

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/ Fan 160C. Grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. 

In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together the ground hazelnuts, flour and baking powder. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour mixture with the last egg to prevent the mixture from splitting. Tip in the rest of the flour mixture along with the vanilla extract and mix until everything is combined.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25-30 minutes until well risen and springs back when touched. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing beat the butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. Use to fill the cake and put the remaining icing in a piping bag with a 1M nozzle to use later.

After sandwiching the sponges together with butter icing, coat the sides and top with the ganache. It doesn't matter if it isn't smooth. Press chopped hazelnuts onto the side of the cake (this is messy, admittedly) and scatter them across the top. Finally, pipe 12 decorative swirls of the leftover butter icing on top of the cake and press a Ferrero Rocher chocolate on top of each swirl.

30 and a load of cake

I turned thirty a few weeks ago. *Insert Edvard Munch's Scream painting face*

I think I hit the feeling-and-looking-physically-older phase a couple of years ago so I wasn't bothered about turning thirty. If anything, I feel much healthier and in better shape now than I was for the majority of my twenties. Also, the older I become the more socially acceptable it is for me to be myself i.e. an introverted granny-type who prefers staying home to knit than going out to party. Basically I'm growing into the old woman I've always been.

Last year there was a knitting theme to my presents, but this year it was homewares since my house is edging closer to becoming habitable. I'm guessing most women would be offended if they received a toaster, kettle and blender for their birthday rather than posh jewellery or a fancy holiday, but I was delighted. I love practical presents, especially if they're pretty. Also, they matched my cake which was a giant party ring.

My 1950s neapolitan kitchen dreams are slowly coming together.

As a side note, my Dad took practical presents to a completely new level. I am now the proud(?) owner of every conceivable cleaning fluid and a stack of washing up sponges. Nice.

My sister in law also turned thirty two days after me so we had a joint cake for our "fake birthday"/family dinner. Although we're good pals we are very different in our styles and tastes so Mum thought it would be fun to reflect that in our joint cake which was a big 3 and 0. For sis-in-law we made a super duper chocolate cake sandwiched with jam and chocolate butter icing and covered the top with loads of different chocolate treats. There were Toblerone chunks, Maltesers, Rolos, M&Ms and chopped up Mars Bar, Crunchie and Twix.

 SO. MUCH. CHOCOLATE.

The sides were decorated with segments of Terry's Chocolate Orange. I almost wish I had covered the sides as densely as the top, but at the same time leaving gaps made the cake easier to cut into slices.

For my Party Ring cake Mum baked 2 plain Victoria sponges, sliced them into 4 layers, sandwiched them together with jam and white chocolate butter icing and then covered the entire cake in pink fondant. I really loved the simplicity of the decoration, especially next to the chocolate cake which was so visually OTT.

I'm glad I didn't have all 30 candles on my cake as I barely had the lung capacity to blow out 15 in one go. That's partly because as soon as I started blowing out the candles my hair fell in front of my face and I thought I had set myself on fire. Always keeping things classy.

Naturally, I sampled both cakes. The chocolate one, as expected, was mega chocolatey but the sponge itself was very light so the overall cake didn't feel overwhelmingly heavy or rich. I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe for this cake, just in case you're curious and fancy trying it.

I don't know what it is about a plain sponge with jam, butter icing and fondant but it always hits the spot. It's hard to beat. Add in a bit of pink and some white chocolate then I'm even happier.

As I had an early fake birthday Mum thought I still needed a cake for my actual birthday. I certainly wasn't going to argue, so for cake number 2 Mum surprised me with a ballet slipper cake. Admittedly, it's the kind of cake usually made for little girls, but damn it I don't care. It's never too late to learn ballet and have your ballerina cake!

The week before my birthday I ordered my first leotard and ballet wrap skirt as a present to myself. Never did I think it was possible to feel so excited about exercise gear. My teacher is so chuffed that a few of us ladies are starting to wear leotards to class.

I love how the "ribbons" are arranged to create a 30; it's so subtle and clever. Also, check out the massive white chocolate Jazzies/Snowies around the cake! YUM.

As before, the cake was a plain sponge (Mary Berry's plain traybake recipe, I think) with jam and butter icing. Why change a good thing, right?

Next up is Dad's birthday cake. My family are all about birthdays in May and October! :D

millionaire's shortbread cake and a duff for dad

October has been rather busy and cake filled for my family. My birthday is at the beginning of the month, swiftly followed by my friend/future sister-in-law then my Dad a couple of weeks later. As a chocolate fiend I knew my friend's cake needed to be decadent so I took inspiration from a millionaire's shortbread cake I found on Jane's Patisserie blog.

 

Considering my family were still working through my large birthday cake I didn't think it was wise to bake a monster triple layer cake. Instead I adapted the cake to be smaller by using a standard 4 egg victoria sponge recipe baked in two 8" cake tins and swapped the caster sugar for soft light brown sugar. I also made my own caramel and millionaire's shortbread pieces as I felt like being fancy.

I don't know what it is about me and caramel but it's always a bit of a disaster. Every time without fail I burn the first batch. EVERY TIME. Also, it's always lumpy. Recipes say that if the caramel hardens and goes a bit lumpy after adding the cream just to put the pan back over the heat until it melts. Mine doesn't want to melt, even if I practically reboil it. Should I fully reboil it or will it go further wrong and burn? Should I warm the cream up first so it's less of a hot/cold reaction when adding it to the sugar? Tips or suggestions welcome!

The millionaire's shortbread, however, was an absolute triumph. Man, that stuff is addictive to eat. In fact it was the best thing about this cake. I don't know why, but the cake itself was a bit underwhelming. Perhaps I slightly overbaked the sponge, the chocolate icing was too thick, or maybe I'm just not that big a fan of cakes without a jam or curd filling or a fruit element as they're too sweet (gasp!) and lack contrast. It could be a combination or just personal preference.

It's a shame this cake didn't quite hit the spot for me, especially considering how cool it looked and the effort I put into making it, but I can highly recommend the millionaire's shortbread. You can find the recipe for it in my archives here. I only make it once every few years for fear of eating it all and becoming morbidly obese!

For Dad's birthday I baked a duff (clootie pudding) as it's his favourite along with a tray of buns/fairy cakes for my nephews as they're not fussed with boiled fruit pudding. I think this duff turned out better than the last one I made a couple of years ago (you can find the post and recipe here) as I kept a closer eye on the water level in the pot. Dad has had a really tough year health wise so he fully deserved a celebratory duff with a mahoosive exploding candle.

After a week's break I'm just about ready to start thinking about cakes and baking again. Roll on Hallowe'en!

chocolate and smartie cookies - take 1 & 2

I've been on a cookie kick this week and have used the same recipe twice with completely different results. The first batch didn't really spread out whilst baking, probably because I had added extra flour to the dough after thinking it felt too sticky (probably because I had used a large egg instead of a medium.)

The resulting cookies looked a bit craggy and lumpy. Appearances aren't everything though; they were very tasty chocolate lumps.

In terms of flavour and texture they were like a chocolate version of a rock cake crossed with a cakey brownie. A pretty cool hybrid if you ask me, so I certainly didn't regret my error. They were particularly good squishy and warm straight from the oven. I'm pretty sure it's bakers law that you have to eat at least one biscuit/cookie/cupcake fresh from the oven.

Now check out the second batch I baked last night. Completely different! They're very thin with crispy edges and chewy centres. Polar opposite of the first batch.

This time I didn't add extra flour, slightly reduced the egg quantity (as I still only had large eggs to hand) and for fun I used hot chocolate cocoa instead of my usual cocoa powder. The resulting cookies are paler and don't pack such a rich cocoa/chocolate flavour (I should have known that, doh!) but are still very tasty.

The original recipe came from Kate at What Kate Baked and the only obvious change I made was subbing the dark chocolate for mini Smartie eggs which I unearthed from the baking cupboard. I was going to write that they were "left over" from Easter, but as Hazel recently wrote, is there such a thing as left over chocolate? Not so much left over in my case, but completely forgotten about. Had I remembered about them, they would have disappeared into my stomach long ago!

malted chocolate chip biscuits

I was going to write "cookies" but just couldn't bring myself to do it. To me, these are biscuits.

Regardless of what you want to call these, they are utterly delicious. The malt flavour really comes through and tastes fantastic with the milk chocolate chunks. It's like Malteser chocolates but in biscuit form. 

Go and bake them. NOW.

Malted chocolate chip biscuits
Recipe slightly altered from Choclette at Tin & Thyme, altered from Ruby Tandoh at the Guardian.

150g butter, softened (I use slightly salted)

100g golden caster sugar

1 egg, large

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

225g plain flour

1 1/2 stp baking powder

90g horlicks (or equivalent malted drink powder)

100g milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the horlicks powder and vanilla extract, followed by the egg. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder then add to the other bowl. Mix into a dough. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and flatten slightly. I got 20 from my mixture although admittedly I did eat bits of dough... If the mixture is really soft then put in the fridge to firm up a bit, about 20 minutes. Place on baking trays spacing well apart to allow for spreading in the oven.

Bake for approx. 12 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Allow to firm up slightly on the tray for a minute before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

chocolate chip banana and chocolate marble bundt

Another one of my "what will I do with those rotting bananas?" bakes. This time I had 4 bananas so I decided to bring out the big bundt pan.

I was originally just going to bake Dollybake's chocolate chip banana bundt which I almost baked successfully last year but I was struck with the idea of a chocolate and banana marble cake so I adapted the recipe to suit.

The resulting cake is dense. I'm not entirely sure if that's a bad thing as banana cakes generally have a heavier crumb anyway. This bundt is packed with banana and chocolate flavour and the chocolate chips and thick sugar crust provide a good texture contrast. Perhaps 4 large bananas is a bit overkill and 3 would have done fine, or I shouldn't have added so much milk when I incorporated the cocoa powder.

It's not a huge deal though as my Mum and I managed to eat about half of the cake by ourselves within 24 hours. Greedy? No..... *cough*

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks as I'm going away this weekend for my birthday. Woohoo! See you on the other side :)

Chocolate chip banana and chocolate marble bundt

Recipe adapted from Dollybakes

bundt:

500g self raising flour

300g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

large pinch of salt

200g unsalted butter, melted (and cooled!)

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

4 large brown bananas, mashed

3 tbsp milk mixed with 3 tbsp cocoa powder

100g milk chocolate chips

100g white chocolate chips 

fudgy chocolate icing/drizzle:
(my Granny's recipe)

1.5oz (about 40g) butter or margarine

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp milk 
4oz (about 100g) icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease your 2.4L/10"/10 cup bundt tin with cake release spray and a light coating of flour. Tap out any excess flour over the sink.

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl. Mix in the melted butter and eggs, followed by the mashed bananas. Divide the mixture in half and add the cocoa powder/milk paste to one half and mix thoroughly. Add milk chocolate chips to the plain batter and white chocolate chips to the chocolate batter and gently fold in. 

Spoon heaps of alternating batter into the bundt tin and swirl a knife through it all to create a marbled effect. Bake in the centre of the oven for 1hr 15 minutes until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

For the fudgy chocolate drizzle, heat up the cocoa powder, milk and butter in a saucepan on the hob. Take it off the heat when the mixture almost comes to a boil and add the icing sugar. Mix until smooth, glossy and slightly thickened and drizzle over the cooled cake.