Carrot and orange cake

Surprisingly, I'm not returning with another variation of mini tarts (although I still really want to bake a lemon curd version) but with a carrot cake I baked for the Man's birthday last week.

Last year I baked the carrot and ginger cake from the Hummingbird Bakery's "Cake Days" book for his birthday. Hummingbird Bakery sure do know how to make an excellent carrot cake. I often default to the carrot cake recipe from their first book for family birthdays, however I fancied making something different and a bit smaller on this occasion.

After flicking through my recipe books I landed on a carrot cake from The Great British Book of Baking, the baking book which accompanied the very first series of The Great British Bake Off. It's a lovely book yet somehow I've baked very little from it over the years. The recipes and accompanying pictures make me feel nostalgic for the early series which were very much centred around traditional (dare I say old fashioned?) wholesome home baking. 

I love orange in a carrot cake. It gives it such a sunshine-y, fresh lift in flavour which feels appropriate for a Spring birthday. I also think orange zest makes the best addition to cream cheese icing (which also attracted me to this recipe.) For the last few years I've found it difficult to make a cream cheese icing without it.

It was only when I was typing up the recipe for the blog that I discovered that I had added the zest of a whole orange when I was only meant to add half to the sponge mix. Oops! Luckily we're both big fans of orange flavour.

My only criticism regarding the cake was that I found it a touch too heavy/wet in texture, but my eaters thought I was being overly picky. I don't think this recipe will replace my love for the Hummingbird Bakery's carrot cake but it was fun to try something different and dip into a baking book I haven't used in a long time.

Carrot and orange cake

Recipe very mildly adapted (because I dislike nutmeg and misread orange quantities) from The Great British Book of Baking 

Sponges:

225g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

225g soft light brown muscovado sugar

Zest of an orange (or half, if you read the recipe accurately. . . )

100g chopped walnut pieces

3 medium size eggs

150ml sunflower oil

250g grated carrots (Squeeze out excess moisture if they feel really wet.)

Icing:

200g full fat cream cheese

50g softened butter (I use slightly salted)

150g icing sugar

Zest of 1/2 an orange 

2 tsp orange juice

Preheat the oven to 180C/ fan 160C/ 350F/ Gas 4. Grease two 20cm/ 8" round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. 

Combine the flour, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Next mix in the sugar, orange zest and nuts followed by the eggs, oil and carrots. Mix everything together until well incorporated then divide equally between the prepared cake tins.

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25 minutes, until risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Turn the cakes out of their tins and leave to fully cool on wire cooling racks.

For the icing, mix together the icing sugar, orange zest and butter until smooth before adding the cream cheese and mixing until well incorporated and smooth. 

Divide the icing between the two sponges and stack as a sandwich (layer) cake. Decorate with more orange zest or walnuts if desired. 

Carrot and ginger layer cake

I let Man pick a cake from my recipe books for his birthday last week and he chose the carrot and ginger cake from Hummingbird Bakery's "Cake days" book.

Although I have baked many recipes from this book I haven't made this one before which is surprising considering how much I love trying different carrot cake recipes. I can now happily report that this is another winner of a carrot cake recipe which I can add to my repertoire. 

Admittedly it is a gigantic beast of a cake (even my Kitchenaid struggled with containing the batter!) so it's definitely more of a celebration cake. However there's no reason why it can't be scaled down for a more everyday sized cake. I've done this before with Hummingbird Bakery cake recipes and it has worked well.

This was also my first time using root ginger in a cake. I fully expected the ginger to be really fiery and dominant in flavour, but it thankfully wasn't overpowering. It produced a lovely, warmly spiced carrot cake. 

Another first was roasting the pecans before adding to the cake batter. Sometimes I can find pecans a bit chewy(?) but roasting them first gives them a lovely, toasty crunch. Normally walnuts are my nut of choice for a carrot cake but this has potentially converted me to pecans.

And I can't finish this post without waxing lyrical about the orange cream cheese icing. My goodness it is tasty and perfectly compliments a carrot cake. I don't know why it took me until last year to try adding orange zest to cream cheese icing but it has fast become my favourite flavoured icing. I did my own thing when it came to icing quantities as I generally find Hummingbird Bakery icing quantities to be excessive. I also prefer a higher ratio of cream cheese to icing sugar. Cream cheese icing needs to be cream cheese-y!

Ginger and carrot cake

450g peeled and grated carrots

2 tbsp peeled and grated root ginger

80ml buttermilk

3 eggs (large)

1tsp vanilla extract

350ml sunflower oil

420g caster sugar

500g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 tsp ground ginger 

80g pecans, roasted and chopped

Icing:

Admittedly I didn't accurately weigh things out, but it's roughly the following:

300g icing sugar

125g butter (softened)

445g Cream cheese (1 bigger pack + standard size pack of Philadelphia)

Zest of 1 orange.

Preheat the oven to 170c / 150c fan/ 325f/ gas mark 3. Grease and line 4 8" round cake tins.

Roast the nuts first. Tip them into a non stick saucepan and toss them over a medium-high heat for a few minutes until they smell toasty. Leave to cool them chop into small chunks.

In a large bowl combine the carrots, root ginger, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, oil and sugar. In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices. Add the dry mix to the wet mix in 3 batches, mixing well after each addition. Once fully incorporated, stir in the chopped pecans.

Divide the batter between 4 tins (or divide and portion into quarters if you only have 2 tins and need to bake the cakes in 2 batches like me.) Bake for approximately 30 minutes until risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack before icing.

For the icing, mix together the butter and the icing sugar. Add the cream cheese and orange zest and mix for a few minutes until fully combined, light and fluffy.

Level the cakes if needed. Spread the icing on top of each sponge and stack them. Crumb coat the outside of the layered cakes (if you can be bothered) or just use the remaining icing to smooth round the outside and top of the cake. Decorate with extra pecans on top.

rhubarb gingerbread pudding

"And so it begins...", said King Théoden (R.I.P. Bernard Hill.)

Also myself upon looking at my garden. Rhubarb season has begun and the "rhubarb empire" is growing larger with each passing day...

...resembling an exotic jungle for cats.

The Man gave me a Rhubarb cooking/baking book for Christmas so I've been eagerly awaiting rhubarb season to arrive to try out recipes. It's a quirky, little book called Rhubarbaria and it's full of sweet and savoury dishes the author has gathered from people all around the world along with a bit of rhubarb history and anecdotes. It's not a glossy, instagrammable book as it has no pictures but I think it's a gem. I'm especially looking forward to trying the jam recipes.

The rhubarb gingerbread pudding immediately appealed to me and became my first rhubarb experiment of 2024. Despite knowing rhubarb and ginger pair well together I hadn't ever considered rhubarb with a gingerbread cake. I also loved that the recipe originally came from a lady called Mavis from New Zealand. How could I be steared wrong by a Mavis?

Well, Mavis. Your pudding, especially after 2 days, is delicious. However, your timings are shocking. What was meant to be a 35-40 minute bake was actually at least 60 minutes. That's a fair old difference, Mavis.

But as I said, 2 days later served warm with custard it was exceptionally tasty. As with all gingerbread cakes the flavour and texture benefitted from maturing. This goes against the nature of hot puddings for me, which are always served fresh from the oven, but I guess this makes this pudding an excellent one to make in advance for an occasion.

What I liked most is that the rhubarb is left as its natural, tart self; no extra sugar before adding the cake mix. The cake is the sweet element, although that didn't feel overly sweet either. However I would say if you're using a particularly tart or green rhubarb you may want to add additional sugar. My rhubarb is naturally on the sweet side as it's very pink so it was perfect for me.

I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Mavis.

Rhubarb gingerbread cake 

Mildly adapted from "Rhubarbaria" by Mary Prior

450g/ 1lb rhubarb

25g/ 1oz muscovado sugar 

25g/ 1oz soft dark brown sugar

100g/ 4oz Stork margarine (or softened butter)

50g/ 2oz golden syrup

1 large egg 

150g/ 6oz plain flour

Pinch of salt

1tsp ground ginger 

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda 

2 tbsp hot milk

Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/375F and grease a baking dish with butter. My dish measured 16cm wide x 24cm long x 6cm deep and I found it was a suitable size.

Wash and dry your rhubarb stalks then chop up into 1" chunks. Arrange in the bottom of the baking dish. Add a sprinkling of extra sugar if you want a sweeter flavour.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy (about 5 minutes) then mix in the syrup. Add the egg and mix again until combined. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt and spices then add to the egg mixture and mix until combined. Finally, in a cup or small bowl dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the hot milk then add this to the cake mixture and mix again.

Spread the cake mixture over the rhubarb in the dish. It's quite a thin spread so don't be alarmed if it doesn't cover well.

Bake in the oven for approx. 1 hour. I put a layer of greaseproof paper over the top of the dish after 40 minutes to stop the top from burning but allow the middle to continue baking.

Serve warm with cream, ice cream or custard. Alternatively leave it to cool fully, store in the fridge (with a cover on top) for at least a day then reheat and serve. This will enhance the gingerbread flavour.

Adventures with rhubarb part 2: the trials and tribulations of making jam

"You should enter The Great British Bake Off", they say.

Little do they know I can basically only bake cakes. I would barely last a week in the tent as I am rubbish at jam and scones and have pretty much zero experience with bread and pastry.

I have made jam two or three times previously and all overset to the degree they could be used as cement mortar or silicone sealant. I was convinced the thermometer lied so threw it out after my last attempt. My last attempt also burned to the bottom of the pan so I became convinced my preserving pan base wasn't thick enough either. 

After moving house and discovering we had a rhubarb patch and gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes I knew it was time to conquer jam. I'm clearly not a natural, but determined nonetheless to learn. Luckily the sheer size of the rhubarb patch allows me to experiment without feeling like I've wasted too much money or precious fruit.

Armed with a different pan, new digital thermometer and a new recipe book I was ready to go!

Things I've learned about jam making in the last week:

I need a better preserving pan. I used my big Denby casserole dish this time as it has a heavy, thick base but it isn't quite tall enough for boiling jam as jam sparked EVERYWHERE. My kitchen was very sticky last week!

105C is not the "golden number" for jam setting, it's a rough guideline. I only found this out after reading "the basics" beginning section of my new jam making book, The National Trust Book of Jam. It was one of those penny dropping/light bulb moments and I suspect this could be where I've gone wrong in the past. Learning to "read" my jam will undoubtedly come with experience. For my rhubarb jam I discovered 102 - 103C was the best setting point.

Every jam is different, even when you're using the same recipe. It won't necessarily set the same even if you take it off the boil at the same temperature you used last time.

Pectin. Learn about pectin as this is what makes your jam set. Some fruits like strawberry and rhubarb are low in pectin, therefore need added pectin to help the jam set. This can be done by either using jam sugar (as opposed to granulated) and/or citrus like lemon juice. For my first batch I used jam sugar, but as I already had lemon and orange in the jam I found it made a firmer set. For subsequent batches I used half jam sugar and half granulated sugar and I felt it worked better.

For a complete jam novice I'm really pleased with my three attempts. Although the first batch is perhaps a bit too dark/over boiled, none of them are disasters. They are all edible and that's a vast improvement from previous attempts.

Batch 2 is definitely my best effort. I was initially worried it was under set but after spreading some on a scone (not baked by myself, as I said earlier, I'm crap at scones) I decided that it's actually spot on. It's incredibly tasty. There is something rather special about homemade jam.

Like the stewed rhubarb, the orange really lifts the rhubarb flavour in this jam. It's definitely a recipe I'm looking forward to perfecting over the years with my rhubarb patch.

There are also recipes for rhubarb and raspberry jam and rhubarb and strawberry jam in the National Trust Jam book which I'm keen to try later in the year. The Man and I have transplanted our young raspberry bushes and strawberry plants from our old garden so hopefully we'll have home grown raspberries and strawberries to enjoy with our home grown rhubarb in years to come.

Rhubarb, orange and ginger jam

Recipe from National Trust Book of Jam

 

1 kg rhubarb, washed and cut into 2cm slices.

1.1kg sugar (I used 500g jam sugar and 600g granulated sugar)

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 large orange

55g drained stem ginger in syrup

Start your prep the night before you intend to make your jam:

Layer up the chopped rhubarb, sugar and lemon zest in a large glass bowl then pour the lemon zest on top. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a cool place to soak overnight. Stir it before going to bed then again the following day before using.

Place the orange in a small saucepan and pour in enough water to almost cover it or at least half cover. Bring to the boil and simmer until the orange has softened, about an hour. Remember to turn the orange every so often to ensure it cooks evenly. Leave to cool in the pan and set aside.

The following day, wash and sterilize 4-6 glass jars and lids then place them on trays in the oven at a low heat, around 100C, while you prepare the jam.

Tip the rhubarb sugar mixture into your preserving pan. Put it on a low to medium heat and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Meanwhile drain the softened orange (discarding the water) and roughly chop it up. Chuck it in a blender with the stem ginger and blend into a paste. Alternatively, chop finely. Tip this mixture into the jam pan once the sugar has dissolved.

Now bring your pan to the boil, remembering to stir every so often and remove any scum which forms at the edge of the pan. It'll take about 10 minutes to thicken and come to a setting point, around 103 - 105C.

When you think it's ready take the pan off the heat and dab a small amount of jam onto a cool saucer then set the saucer in the fridge for 5 minutes. Push your finger through the cooled jam; if the jam "wrinkles" and leaves a trail, it's ready. If not, put the pan back on the heat and boil for longer.

Take the jars out the oven and ladle jam into them, filling right to the top. Put the lids on tight (or cover with waxed discs and cellophane tops with elastic bands) and add labels, naming and dating your jam. Store your jam in a cool place and keep in the fridge once opened.

Adventures with rhubarb part 1: stewed rhubarb and orange

I moved house at the end of last year. (I don't recommend selling, buying and moving house three days before Christmas, it was stressful.)

The garden at the new house, rather excitingly, has mature fruit bushes and a ginormous rhubarb patch. This is just my first gathering of rhubarb this year, I can already see I'll need to pick more in a few weeks time.

And what do you do when you inherit a rhubarb empire? Stew it, make crumbles and (try to) make jam!

Usually I stew rhubarb simply with sugar, occasionally pimping it up with ground ginger, cinnamon or vanilla extract, but this time I decided to follow a BBC Good Food recipe which added the zest and juice of an orange.

This flavour combination is a complete revelation, I don't know why I've never thought to pair orange with rhubarb. The orange lifts the tart rhubarb and gives it a sweet zing. It's insanely tasty. Even the Man had to admit it was delicious and he doesn't particularly like rhubarb. 

We enjoyed our stewed rhubarb and orange at the weekend with plain yoghurt and a handful of flaked almonds. A quick, fresh and simple dessert.

And this concludes part 1 in my rhubarb adventures. Stay tuned for part 2: the trials and tribulations of jam making.

Stewed rhubarb with orange

Recipe from BBC Good Food

500g-600g rhubarb, chopped into 2cm wide chunks

100g (ish) of caster sugar

Zest and juice of one orange

2 tbsp water

Put everything in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat until the rhubarb is softened but not mushy, around 8 minutes. Serve warm or cold alongside plain yoghurt, ice cream or custard.

Gingerbread isn't just for Christmas

Every Christmas for at least the last 5 years I've declared "this is the year I'll finally make a gingerbread house" and it never happens. Last year was no exception.

However I was determined not to let the occasion slip past yet another year, especially since I had bought all the ingredients and decorations. Instead I rescheduled the bake for Easter. Why should Christmas have all the fun? Stick some mini eggs on it and you've got yourself an Easter gingerbread house.

The recipe and house template are from BBC Good Food. It's easily the largest quantity of dough I have ever handled. It barely fitted in my massive and deep ceramic kitchenaid mixing bowl; no other bowl I owned could contain the dough beast. Goodness knows what you do if you don't own a big stand mixer.

The dough is divided into quarters once you've completed the Olympic task of bringing it all together. Out of curiosity I weighed each quarter and they were roughly 500g each, so that's 2kg of gingerbread dough in total!

I made a few deviations from the recipe including subbing out some of the mixed spice in favour of cinnamon, using a mixture of brown sugars (I fancied adding some dark sugar), resting the dough in the fridge for half an hour before rolling out my shapes, rolling out the dough between sheets of grease proof paper and using a boiled sugar/caramel to stick the house together as it sets quicker than royal icing.

I also didn't fancy cutting out gingerbread tiles for the roof as I wanted to use white chocolate buttons (which, coincidentally and impressively, I had exactly the right number of for sticking to the roof.) This left me with a lot of left over dough which I turned into biscuits using my Spring themed cutters: flowers, hearts, bunnies and chicks. The bunnies are my favourite, they looked adorable.

The finished house is perhaps a bit rough and ready and my piping could certainly be a lot neater but I'm really pleased with my first attempt. I think piping/decorating the sections before assembly would result in neater piping, so that's something to bear in mind if/when I make another one. I would also reduce the quantities for just making a house which would make the dough a more manageable size. As you can below, my left overs created a big tin full of biscuits.

However I doubt I'll ever recreate this at Christmas time as it was so labour and time intensive. It was good fun but basically took up a whole weekend: one afternoon baking, one afternoon decorating. In a funny way I think it was actually a better idea to make in Spring, more chilled as I had less other obligations. Maybe I'll do a gingerbread summer house next!

Almost forgot to mention that the gingerbread tasted lovely - a classic soft gingerbread, rather than a crisp biscuit. Thank goodness it tasted good after all that effort!

Courgette and walnut cake

One would be forgiven for thinking I no longer baked judging by the rolling tumble weed on this blog, but look! Here's a cake I baked recently and remembered to photograph. 

Also, check out my beautiful ceramic kitchenaid mixer bowl which Santa gave me for Christmas (after some not so subtle hinting.) I love that it has a pouring spout and matches my 1950s pastel kitchen.

The cake is an adaption of the courgette and walnut layer cake from the Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book, scaled down to a more manageable 2 layer cake. Three layer cakes look spectacular but I always feel they're more of an "occasion" cake to feed lots of people so I often admire but skim past those recipes. I'm far more likely to bake a standard 2 layer cake.

Over the past year I've been really into baking with greens. A strange statement admittedly but bear with me. I've had brilliant success baking with avocados in chocolate based recipes such as brownies and cookies. I've also made a lovely courgette and chocolate loaf and this courgette, coconut and lime cake which I've already documented here from a couple of years ago. I doubt I'm going to start putting broccoli or kale in cakes though, that may be a step too far.

Basically if you love carrot cake then you will also enjoy this courgette and walnut cake. It's the same textures and flavours but with the carrot swapped for courgette.

The big difference with this cake is the icing which is a cinnamon flavoured butter icing with Greek yoghurt as opposed to a cream cheese icing. I've never used yoghurt in icing before so was intrigued to try it out. It adds a slight tang, similar to using cream cheese and the finished icing had a beautiful, mousse-like texture. However, I don't think it has replaced my love for cream cheese icing. I think most of my cake eaters also preferred a cream cheese icing to this one but it was fun to try something different.

Courgette and walnut cake

Recipe adapted from Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book 

Sponge:

2 large eggs

200ml sunflower oil

200g soft light brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

200g plain flour 

Heaped 1/2 tsp baking powder (to work out roughly as 2/3 tsp for recipe ratio)

Heaped 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (same as above.)

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Pinch of ground mixed spice 

200g grated courgette (with excess moisture squeezed out.)

66g walnuts, chopped into small chunks

Icing: (I can't remember exactly, but this is roughly what I did)

175g butter

1 tsp ground cinnamon

250g -300g icing sugar

50g - 75g plain Greek yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 170C/ 150C fan/ 325F/ gas Mark 3. Grease and line 2 round 20cm/ 8 inch sandwich tins with baking parchment.

Whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl for a couple of minutes until well combined.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ground spices. Add this dry mixture to the wet egg mixture in two batches, mixing well after each addition. Mix until fully combined.

Stir in the grated courgettes and chopped walnuts then divide the cake batter into the two prepared cake tins.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes in the centre of the oven until risen, golden on top and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on cooling racks.

To make the icing mix the butter, icing sugar and cinnamon together. Once fully combined add the yoghurt and keep mixing for around 5 minutes until the icing is light and fluffy.

Fill and top the cooled cakes with the icing and decorate with more walnut pieces.

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.

Sticky ginger and orange cake

I take all my blog photos with my phone these days. In fact all my blogging is now done from my phone since my laptop barely functions anymore. It's something I wasn't comfortable with for a long time as I know I don't put much effort into photography if I'm just using my phone, whereas I generally used to make an attractive set up when I used my proper camera.

However this year I decided to embrace my laidback approach. After all my blog is a casual baking journal, not an aspiring professional food blog, so any form of documentation will do, whether it's (vaguely) styled or just a very quick snap before the cake ends up in my mouth.

This cake is falls into the latter category. It's unfair to judge it on its unassuming appearance and uninspired photography as it is genuinely a really lovely, comforting hug of a cake. 

As with most ginger cakes this cake improved with age. It tasted so much better on the second and third day (photo above is day 2 and below is day 3.) It developed the glorious, soft, stickiness associated with a great ginger cake and the spices became more intense. I've never added orange to a ginger cake before and found it was a lovely addition. It lifted the ginger and added a fresh zing to the cake. Although I ate the cake plain, I bet it would taste amazing served with custard as a cosy, winter pudding.

Needless to say this cake smelled gorgeous in the oven. I baked it whilst watching some terrible Christmas films on tv last weekend and it made my house feel a little bit festive. Bring on all the festive, spiced bakes!

Sticky ginger and orange cake

Recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible.

The cake:

100g (4oz) golden syrup

100g (4oz) black treacle

250ml (9 fl oz) water

100g (4oz) softened butter (I used Stork baking margarine)

100g (4oz) caster sugar

Grated zest of 1 orange

1 large egg, beaten

275g (10oz) plain flour

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger (I made it a heaped teaspoon for more kick)

The icing:

100g (4oz) icing sugar

Juice of 1 orange (I used less than one half)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C /fan 160C/ gas 4. Grease and line a 23cm (9") deep round tin with greaseproof paper.

Pour the syrup, treacle and water into a small pan and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile, put all the remaining cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix with a stand or hand mixer until well combined. Add the syrup mixture and beat again until smooth (it'll look lumpy as hell initially, but honestly it'll smooth out!)

Pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 50 minutes or until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (I took mine out at 40 minutes as it was definitely ready, so keep an eye on it.)

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out, peel off the paper and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the icing, mix together the icing sugar with enough orange juice to make a smooth, fairly thick pouring consistency. Pour onto the cooled cake over a wire rack to any catch drips (or be like me and disregard this step and enjoy the icing puddles which develop around the plate. It's all good!) Decorate with sprinkles if you want to pimp it up or just leave the icing to set for 1 hour.

Ginger nuts

Over the last year or so I've developed a strong liking for ginger nut biscuits. Especially dunked in a hot cup of tea. Yum!

They never used to be my biscuit of choice (custard creams all the way) as I wasn't a fan of ginger or anything vaguely fiery/spicey in flavour. However my taste buds have definitely changed over the last couple of years as I can now stand a little bit of heat in my food. I even ate a (very mild admittedly) curry a few weeks ago. Who the hell have I become?!

At the beginning of the covid-19 lockdown I couldn't find any Ginger Nuts in the local shop so I took matters into my own hands and made my own, Mary Berry's Yorkshire Ginger Nuts to be precise.

There isn't a picture with the recipe but I have a feeling I went wrong somewhere. The mixture was really stiff so the biscuits didn't spread at all and they took a lot longer than stated in the oven. Admittedly I only got 35 biscuits when the recipe said it yielded 50, so I definitely rolled my dough balls too big. Saying that, the resulting biscuits are still pretty small.

Taste-wise, although perfectly nice with a cup of tea they didn't quite hit the spot for me. I think I was after a firmer biscuit with a snap.

The search for the perfect Ginger Nut recipe continues. . .

Yorshire Ginger Nuts from Mary Berry Baking Bible

100g (4oz) butter
1 generous tbsp golden syrup
350g (12oz) self raising flour
100g (4oz) demerara sugar
100g (4oz) light muscovado sugar
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tbsp ground ginger
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 160C/Fan 140C/Gas mark 3 and line 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Melt together the butter and golden syrup in a small pan on the hob over a gentle heat. In a separate large bowl combine all the dry ingredients then add the melted butter mixture and the egg.

Form the dough into 50 balls about the size of a walnut and place on the sheets, allowing some space for each ball to spread. (This is where I went wrong as I only got 35. I also flattened the balls slightly as I couldn't see how they'd be soft enough to spread.... and I was correct.)

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Leave to firm up slightly on the trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Betty's rhubarb - a crumble and a tart

Dare I say it, but I think I can almost see a glimpse of light at the end of the house renovating tunnel. The demolishing stage felt neverending, but things are finally going back in. Plumbing  is underway, the rewiring is nearly finished and new insulation and plasterboard are going up. Plasterboard automatically makes the space look cleaner and brighter which is exciting.

There have been a few "oh my god, WHAT?!" discoveries and eyebrow raising moments in my six months of house-ownership, but thankfully they have been manageable and fixable without too much cost rather than devastating.

One of the more pleasant discoveries was finding rhubarb growing in the overgrown garden. I didn't expect to find anything edible growing there so it felt like a real treat. Thanks, Betty!

*Betty was the elderly lady who owned the house before me. We found a *lot* of her stockings tied round bits of trees when we were excavating the garden a couple of weeks ago. An elderly neighbour also told me she used to keep clothes in her microwave?! She sounds like quite a character!

As there wasn't a huge amount of rhubarb to use I baked a crumble and bulked it out with two eating apples. I also added a sprinkling of ginger and cinnamon since they pair well with rhubarb. The resulting crumble was incredibly tasty although perhaps a touch on the sweet side. I guessed the sugar quantity and underestimated how much sweetness the eating apples would add to the filling.

Lovely red filling! 

A few weeks ago I trimmed off more rhubarb with the intentions of making another crumble, but my Mum suggested a tart instead. After a raid of the fruit bowl I ended up making an apple, nectarine and rhubarb frangipane tart.

It was a very spur-of-the-moment decision to make a tart, so I used a roll of shop-bought shortcrust pastry from the freezer rather than make my own. Some may frown, but I am absolutely ok with the occasional baking shortcut, particularly when it comes to pastry... and custard powder. I have no shame.

Speaking of custard powder, this tart tasted even better the following day served with custard. Custard made from powder *and* shop bought pastry in one photo/pudding. Told you, no shame.

I definitely felt I achieved a better balance with the sweetness in this tart. I also liked the more fragrant, summery addition of vanilla and nectarine compared to my more autumnal flavoured crumble. My only disappointment with this tart was that it could have done with a few more minutes in the oven as I think there was a slightly underbaked bit of frangipane right next to the fruit layer. At least my pastry wasn't soggy. No soggy bottoms here!

On the whole though, as a spontaneous bake I was pretty pleased with my effort. It's also the first tart I've made in quite a few years. (Holy moly, last time was in 2012 if I don't count mini tarts I made in 2014. Seriously?!) Next time I'll have to be more organised and make my own pastry.

Rhubarb and apple crumble 
I recommend reducing the sugar quantity if you prefer a sharp rhubarb flavour.

fruit filling: 15oz (425g) red rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch chunks
3oz (85g)  caster sugar
2 eating apples, cored and chopped into similar sized chunks
sprinkling of ground cinnamon and ginger

crumble:
4oz (115g) butter (I use slightly salted)
6oz (175g) plain flour
2oz (55g) porridge oats
3oz (85g) soft brown sugar

Preheat oven to 190C/ Fan 170C/ Gas 5 and grease a pie dish with butter. Chop up the fruit for the filling and put into a saucepan along with the sugar and spices. Gently simmer on the hob for a few minutes until soft, but not pulpy. Pour the mixture into the pie dish.

For the crumble topping, rub together the butter and flour in a mixing bowl then mix in the porridge oats and sugar. Spoon the mixture on top of the fruit filling in the dish. Bake for 30 - 40 mins. Serve warm with custard or ice cream. Or both if you're feeling decadent!


Rhubarb, nectarine and apple frangipane tart.

fruit filling:
7oz (200g) rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch chunks
3 nectarines, chopped into similar sized chunks
2 eating apples, cored and chopped into similar sized chunks
a sprinkling of cinnamon (under 1/4tsp)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

one pack of ready roll shortcrust pastry (or make more own)

frangipane topping:
4oz (115g) caster sugar
4oz (115g) softened butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4oz (115g) ground almonds
1oz (28g) plain flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
a handful on flaked almonds for the topping

Requires an 8 inch (20cm) tart/flan tin.

If you're making your own shortcrust pastry, prepare that first. If you're using shop-bought, roll it out big enough to cover the base and sides of the tin. Press it into the tin (using a left over scrap of pastry to push it into the grooves/sides of the tin) and prick the base with a fork. Cover with tin foil and weigh down with baking beans to stop the pastry from puffing up in the oven. I also leave the edges hanging over the tin and trim them back after the tart comes out the oven. 

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6, until you can see the pastry turning golden, then remove the foil and beans and put back in the oven for a further 2 minutes to help dry the pastry out. 

Whilst your pastry case is in the oven make the fruit filling. Chop all the fruit in similar sized chunks and put into a large saucepan along with the cinnamon and vanilla. Gently simmer on the hob for a few minutes until everything has softened. Leave to cool whilst you make the frangipane topping.

Turn the oven temperature down to 180C/Fan 160/Gas 4. For the frangipane, beat together the sugar and butter with a mixer for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add in the ground almonds, flour and vanilla extract and mix until everything is fully combined.

Pour the cooled fruit filling in the base of the tart case, followed by the frangipane mixture, which may need a bit of coaxing over the fruit filling with a palette knife as it's a stiffer mixture. Make sure the frangipane fully covers the fruit filling. Sprinkle a handful of flaked almonds over the top. 

Bake in the oven for at around 35 minutes until golden on top and the frangipane is firm to touch. (I forgot to write down how long it was in the oven for, but it was definitely over 30 minutes so keep an eye on it after half an hour),  Serve warm, but not hot, or completely cool. Both are delicious. Cream, ice-cream or custard make lovely accompaniments.

a fruity carrot cake

A few months ago I had a craving for carrot cake and wanted to celebrate having survived my first block of beginner adult ballet classes. Instead of defaulting to my usual favourite recipes I flicked through my baking books to find something slightly different.

Perhaps a controversial statement but I enjoy dried fruit in carrot cakes so this fruitier carrot cake recipe from the Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook appealed to me. I've always meant to try adding raisins or sultanas to my carrot cakes yet somehow this is the first time I've done it.

The resulting cake was well spiced, dark and had satisfying bursts of orange juice-soaked raisins and chunks of walnuts. My only gripe was that it took an eternity to bake in the oven. There's no way the recommended temperature and timing in the book are correct. My gut instinct thought the temperature looked too high and it was right. When I opened the oven door after the recommended 45 minutes the top was borderline burnt yet the inside of the cake was still raw so I turned the temperature down and laid a folded sheet of greaseproof paper on top of the tin to stop the top from burning further.

As I made this a couple of months ago I can't remember how much longer it took, I'm guessing an extra 20-30 minutes. I know that when I baked this cake again a week later I baked it at a lower temperature for at least an hour and it turned out much better.

I also found the cream cheese icing from the recipe slightly too sweet so I added more cream cheese. There's no point in cream cheese icing if you can't taste the tang of the cream cheese! It's almost the best thing about carrot cake, surely?

I think this recipe has the potential to become a favourite with a little bit of tinkering. I just need to write down my changes next time since I have the memory of a goldfish. If/when I do make this cake again I'll update my recipe at the bottom of the post.

As mentioned at the beginning of the post, I baked this cake to celebrate having survived my first block of adult ballet classes without my dodgy back or leg going into sciatic spasm. Yay! Progress, people! I've now finished my second block of classes and making small steps of progress. I can see a difference in my flexibility and I'm feeling slightly less uncoordinated. My core strength is still pants though and I really struggle with stability in pirouttes and turns. I just wobble and fall to the side EVERY DAMN TIME.

I'm also the proud owner of a pair of ballet slippers. My first pair! I was so happy when I put these on my feet for the first time. Childhood dream fulfilled! Darcey Bussel better watch her back. HA!

Carrot cake

Recipe adapted from Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook (Published 2013)

cake:

100g raisins (or sultanas, whichever you prefer)

juice from 1 large orange

175g self-raising flour

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

175g soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs

125ml sunflower oil

175g grated carrots

50g chopped walnuts

cream cheese icing:

100g cream cheese (possibly more, sorry I can't remember. Add to taste!)

50g softened butter

225g icing sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract

First, soak the sultanas in orange juice in a bowl. You can either leave them to soak overnight, or if like me you forget to do that, set the sultanas and juice in a pan and place on the hob over a low heat for about 5 minutes or until the sultanas have soaked up some of the juice.

Grease and line a 20cm round, springform cake tin and preheat the oven. The original recipe says to preheat to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6 however I think this is way too high. I would recommend 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. I think that's what I went with the second time I made this cake and it turned out better.

Sift together the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Add the sugar and mix. Whisk the eggs in a separate small bowl and add them to the sunflower oil. Pour the egg mix into the flour mixture and mix well. Add the grated carrot, chopped walnuts and soaked sultanas and fold the mixture until fully combined.

Pour the cake batter into the tin and spread it out evenly. The original recipe says to bake for 40-45 minutes but as mentioned earlier I found that to be way off the mark. Baked at the lower temperature I recommend, it should take about an hour. Keep an eye on it after about 50 minutes and if it looks cooked on top but is still raw in the middle when you stick a knife/skewer into the centre of the cake, then put a greaseproof paper hat on it until the cake is fully baked. Once baked, turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.

For the icing, beat together the icing sugar and butter then add the cream cheese and vanilla extract. Whisk for a few minutes until very smooth. Spread the icing on top of the cake once the cake is completely cool and decorate with more chopped walnuts and a dusting of cinnamon.

caramelised apple and cinnamon cake

How on earth are we in September already?! Crazy. Anyway, here's a cake I made for my sister-in-law's birthday back in April. It has an autumnal feel so I guess it's appropriate that I'm sharing it later in the year. Sis-in-law is a fan of cream cheese icing so I generally plan my cake choices for her around that. After a flick through my recipe books I felt most tempted by the apple pie cake in Edd Kimber's first baking book, "The Boy Who Bakes."

I've actually baked that cake before for my brother's birthday years ago, but it is a *huuuuge* cake and the sponges involve some time consuming elements. To make things quicker and easier for myself I baked a standard victoria sponge cake but added some warming spice.

For the cinnamon cream cheese icing and caramelised apple topping and filling I followed the original recipe but scaled down the quantities. The overall flavour was tasty although from what I remember I thought I was a little heavy handed with the cinnamon in the sponges. I also slightly overbaked them which was annoying, especially since I was baking for someone else, but sometimes these things happen. Luckily the incredibly tasty cinnamon cream cheese icing and juicy, spiced apples provided enough moisture to stop it feeling like a sad, dry cake.

On the subject of cake, is anyone else watching the new Great British Bake Off series since it moved to Channel 4? Although the programme hasn't particularly changed, the absence of Mary Berry makes me sad. I also find Sandy Toksvig intensely annoying. Thoughts?

Sticky apple and cinnamon cake
Recipe adapted from Apple Pie Cake in "The Boy Who Bakes" by Edd Kimber
(I think this is what I did...)

cinnamon sponges:
I used the classic method of weighing out my softened butter/margarine, caster sugar and self-raising flour to the same weight as my eggs (each, not their combined total weight, if that makes sense.) I used 3 large eggs for this recipe which weighed around 6oz (about 170g?)
1tsp ground cinnamon (perhaps use less though, I'd go for 1/2 tsp)

cinnamon cream cheese icing:
75g softened butter
175g icing sugar
125g cream cheese (full fat)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 

caramelised apples:
3 apples (I used Braeburn or Cox)
55g butter
55g light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/ Fan 160C. Grease two 18cm/7 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. Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from splitting. Add the cinnamon and flour and mix everything together until fully combined.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 30 minutes until well risen, golden and spring 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 and icing sugar until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes, then beat in the cream cheese, vanilla extract and cinnamon.

For the caramelised apples core, quarter and slice into wedges. Add to a pan with the butter, sugar and ginger. Put the pan on the hob over a medium heat and cook until the apples have softened and are coated in caramel. Drain the apples and leave to cool but keep the caramel juice. Pour the juice back into the pan and cook again over a medium heat until it has reduced and thickened slightly.

To serve, spread half of the icing on top of one sponge along with a layer of apples and half of the caramel juice. Pop the other sponge on top and repeat. Enjoy!