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. 

Another carrot cake

It's birthday season at the moment which means a constant layer of icing sugar dust in my kitchen. Yay?

For last week's birthday I tried another new-to-me carrot cake recipe as there's no point in having a shelf full of baking books if I always default to the same handful of recipes. This one is from Vintage Cakes, one of my favourite books to flick through as it's full of pictures of homely bakes on pretty vintage china. To be honest I'm surprised I haven't baked this recipe before.

I think I preferred this cake to the one I made for the Man's birthday. The texture felt less wet and I've come to the conclusion I prefer the flavour of a carrot cake made with dark muscovado sugar as opposed to light brown sugar. I think it brings out the spices more.

Sadly I only have one picture of this cake so you'll just have to believe me when I say it was a winner and looked very satisfying when cut.

Carrot layer cake

Recipe (once again, slightly adapted to suit what I had available) from Vintage Cakes by Jane Brocket. I also did my own thing with the icing.

Sponges:

250g self raising flour

2tsp baking powder 

In all honesty I can't remember how much spice I added, but probably 1tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 tsp mixed spice

100g pecans, chopped 

250g dark soft brown sugar 

220ml sunflower oil

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

250g carrots, grated 

Icing:

300g icing sugar

Approx. 75g softened butter ( I used slightly salted)

Approx. 250g cream cheese (that's all I had at the time)

Zest of half an orange

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan/ gas 4. Grease and line 3 20cm/ 8" round cake tins with baking parchment.

Combine the dry ingredients into a bowl: flour, baking powder and spices. Stir in the chopped pecans.

In a large bowl mix together the sugar and oil. Add the eggs and whisk again until smooth.

Add the grated carrots and the dry mix (flour and nuts) to the wet mix (eggs, sugar, oil) and mix everything together until well combined.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake in the oven for approx. 25 minutes, until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool for a few minutes before removing from their tins and leaving to cool fully on a wire cooling rack.

For the icing mix together the butter, orange zest and icing sugar then add the cream cheese and mix until everything is smooth and fully combined. (Tip: if you have a stand mixer and find your icing goes lumpy try swapping the paddle attachment for the whisk attachment. I usually find the whisk helps to incorporate the stubborn butter lumps.)

Once the cakes are cool, spread the icing onto each sponge and stack into a layer cake. Optional: add chopped pecans on top for decoration.

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.

Apricot and orange marmalade cake

Two weekends ago I made my first batch of marmalade. And what do you do once you've made a big batch of jam or marmalade? Use it in a cake, of course!

The resulting marmalade cake (with a handful of chopped dried apricots) had a lovely tart, citrus flavour from the Seville orange and marmalade. However the texture was a bit dense. I don't think my mixing was at fault, it was more likely due to the amount of liquid in the cake batter (orange juice, apricots and the marmalade which was slightly underset.) I left the cake in the oven a bit longer than stated as the centre was still liquid when I inserted a skewer into the middle. By the time the centre finally cooked I think the rest of the cake dried out a bit despite covering the top with greaseproof paper for the last 15 minutes.

Not a failure of a cake by any means, but mildly disappointing due to the bake. I have plenty of marmalade though so I can easily try again.

Apricot and orange marmalade cake

Recipe very mildly adapted from Vintage Cakes by Jane Brocket

175g baking margarine/ softened butter

175g light soft brown sugar 

3 large eggs

Grated zest of 1 orange (plus the juice from half the orange). I used a Seville orange, the same as I used for my marmalade.

75g chopped dried apricots 

2 rounded tablespoons of orange marmalade 

200g self raising flour 

Icing: 

150g icing sugar 

Juice of 1 orange. Orange zest for decoration.

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160 Fan/ gas mark 4 and grease and line a 20cm round deep cake tin with greaseproof paper.

Mix together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the orange zest, juice and marmalade and mix. Add the flour and mix gently until everything is fully combined. Finally stir in the chopped dried apricots.

Pour the cake batter into the tin then bake in the centre of the oven for approx. 1 hour, checking on it after about 45 minutes. You may need to add a layer of greaseproof paper as a "hat" on top of the cake to stop the top from burning but allow the centre of the cake to continue cooking. The cake is ready when a skewer or knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack before icing. Turn out of the tin after 5-10 minutes.

For the icing, mix together the icing with enough orange juice to create a thick, smooth, pouring consistency. Spread over the cooled cake. For extra flourish grate orange zest to sprinkle on top.

Orange, rhubarb and almond cake

This cake is the lovechild of two BBC Good Food recipes: Berry Bakewell cake and Stewed Rhubarb. 

I've made the Bakewell (almond) cake countless times over the years with various berries and substituting the vanilla extract for almond extract or ground spices. It's satisfyingly simple and adaptable - my favourite kind of cake.

The stewed rhubarb and orange is a recipe I only discovered last year. I absolutely loved the flavour combination so was keen to make it again this year when my rhubarb was ready to harvest.

When I was making a batch of stewed orange and rhubarb last weekend I had a brainwave to combine the two recipes. I had previously made the cake with stewed rhubarb (no extra flavours) with great success (see here) so it wasn't much of a change to include orange.

For the cake batter I added the zest of an orange and instead of adding berries I put a few dessertspoonfuls of the (cooled) stewed rhubarb in the middle of the cake. I smoothed it out as a jammy layer before topping with the remaining cake batter and flaked almonds.

It's not a flashy looking cake but it is very tasty and with most almond bakes the flavour improves the following day. The orange lifts the cake, adding a subtle, sweet zing to both the sponge and the squidgy rhubarb vein running through the centre. 

I'm delighted that I have created another successful variation of this almond cake. It's the recipe which keeps on giving!

hummingbird cake with orange cream cheese icing

I remember "semi-naked" cakes being all the rage online about 10 years ago and the term felt too "hipster" for my liking. I'm a contrary sod so needless to say I did not jump on the bandwagon. Until last month, purely because I didn't make enough icing and couldn't be arsed to make more. I wonder if this is how the style started?

I've posted this hummingbird cake before (originally here) numerous times as it's a firm favourite for family birthdays but for a change I tried an orange and honey cream cheese icing. It was absolutely delicious; the orange complemented the spiced banana and pineapple flavours really nicely. I definitely want to use it again so have written it down below for reference.

Orange and honey cream cheese icing:

2oz softened butter

4oz icing sugar

6oz full fat cream cheese

Grated zest of an orange

1tsp runny honey 

Beat together the butter and icing sugar for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, orange zest and honey and mix until fully combined.

Enough for a standard sandwich cake but recommend doubling the quantities for filling and fully covering a triple layer cake.

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.

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.

orange, almond and yoghurt loaf

Baking late at night is a bad idea, but sometimes you really want to have a cake ready for the next day (or for midnight munchies) so you go ahead regardless of tiredness. I was about to spoon the mixture for this cake into the tin when I thought "this is an unusually stiff mix" so I glanced back to the list of ingredients in the recipe. It turns out I had forgotten an egg.

Luckily I was at a stage where I could still add the necessary third egg, not halfway through baking! This is the kind of blunder you see on tv programmes like the Great British Bake Off and shout "YOU IDIOT!" at the contestant. This time I had the privilege of shouting at myself.

My cake turned out lovely, thankfully. It's one of those plain, unassuming cakes but that doesn't mean it's boring or not tasty. Neither the orange or almond is overpowering; they just happily sit together. Perhaps they're balanced by the vanilla extract, which oddly enough isn't mentioned in the recipe title despite being more obvious than the yoghurt.

Anyway, it's one of those fresh flavoured cakes which goes perfectly with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee. It's also rather nice with a light spread of marmalade, if you feel so inclined.

Orange, almond and yoghurt loaf
Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery "Cake Days" book

190g (7oz) unsalted butter, softened
190g (7oz) plain flour
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest (1 whole orange)
190g (7oz) caster sugar
3 large eggs
60g (2oz) ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (optional, I didn't add it as I used salted butter)
 25g (1oz) plain yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
10g (1/3oz) flaked almonds (or a handful, if you don't care about being precise)

Preheat the oven to 170C/ 325F/ Gas 3. Grease and line a 8.5 x 17.5cm (3 1/2" x 7") loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl with your mixer until soft and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs individually, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets incorporated. In a separate bowl combine the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Tip this into the other mixture in two batches and mix on a slower speed on your mixer until just incorporated. Add the yoghurt and vanilla and mix until everything is combined.

Pour the batter into the loaf tin and scatter the flaked almonds on top before baking in the oven (on the middle shelf) for 50 - 60 minutes until golden, firm on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. I think my cake took 10 minutes longer to bake, so keep an eye on it depending on how quick your oven cooks as you don't want an overbaked, dry cake (or a sad, underbaked one!)

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

orange and passion fruit loaf

Finally, I've baked something. It's been a while. One of my friends mentioned that she had baked an orange and passion fruit cake last week and the flavour combination stuck in my mind. I then remembered that I've had Edd Kimber's orange and passion fruit cake recipe from his first book "The Boy Who Bakes" bookmarked for the last 4 years. Now I can remove that bookmark!

I'm a bit sad that my cake sank. It was one of those "ooh it looks ready" - timer goes off - open the oven door - gently prod the cake to check it's cooked - cake wobbles in an underbaked fashion - close the oven door - cake slowly collapses - "noooooo!" moments.

What the cake lacks in presentation it more than makes up for in flavour. I had forgotten how much I loved passion fruit. It's such a sunshiney, happy flavour and pairs very well with sweet, tangy orange. A refreshing cake to eat in gloomy, winter weather! The passion fruit seeds in the icing glaze also lend a welcome bit of crunch to the cake.

Needless to say this cake didn't hang around for long. I'd better put my pinny on and bake something else! 

Orange and passion fruit loaf

225g softened butter/margarine

255g caster sugar (30g reserved for making a syrup)

4 eggs, large

225g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

zest of 2 large oranges

juice of 1 orange (you get to eat the other orange, yay!) 

passion fruit glaze:
3 passion fruits
125g icing sugar (I added a bit more to reach the consistency I wanted)

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C Fan/ Gas 4. Grease and line a 23 x 10cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Sift together the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, give it a stir and set aside. In a separate bowl beat together the orange zest, butter and 225g of the sugar  for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Alternate adding the eggs and 3 tablespoons of orange juice a little at a time, beating well between each addition, until everything is mixed evenly. Fold in the flour. Once everything is fully incorporated pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for 50 - 55 minutes (at least an hour in my case) until risen, golden, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

In the last few minutes before the cake comes out the oven make an orange syrup using the remaining juice from the orange and the 30g of sugar set aside earlier. Place in a small saucepan and leave to simmer for a few minutes until the sugar has dissolved. 

Pierce holes into the top of the cake with a skewer and pour/brush the warm syrup on top, allowing it to soak into the cake. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Once cool, finish the cake with the passion fruit glaze. To make the glaze, cut open the passion fruits, scoop out the seeds and pulp and press through a sieve. Reserve one tablespoon of the seeds. Add the icing sugar and reserved seeds to the passionfruit juice and mix until smooth and a good pouring consistency. 

cranberry and orange muffins/cupcakes

Festive baking is now in full swing around here. I think I've baked something every evening since last Friday! The Christmas tree was also put up this week and I decorated it today whilst half watching a fantastically awful Hulk Hogan Christmas film on tv. Can't get much better than that really!

First up with the festive baking are these cranberry and orange muffins which I decided to bake as cupcakes as I really wanted to use my festive cupcake cases from last year. They have really cute patterned bases.

I came across fresh cranberries in the supermarket last week and absolutely had to buy them. I've never seen fresh cranberries to buy before so was pretty excited and immediately started searching for festive cranberry based recipes online. There were a few serious contenders but after a quick family poll these cranberry orange muffins from Sally's Baking Addiction won.

Sally's opening description is spot on - "Buttery and moist, these cranberry orange muffins are heavy on the flavor and bursting with cranberries in each bite." I absolutely loved the tart bursts of cranberry. Despite me loving full on sweetness in bakes I actually really liked that these muffins weren't overly sweet other than the orange icing glaze. They're a good antidote to all the Christmas chocolates, fudge and shortbread and would also make a lovely present for folk who don't like cakes loaded with sugar or icing.

These cupcakes/muffins also smell absolutely amazing. When I opened my cake tin the following morning the most amazing waft of Christmas came out. A heady mix of orange and spice. Lovely!

cranberry and orange cupcakes with white chocolate icing

January has been the "bake things I never got round to making in December" month. First the gingerbread biscuits and now these cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home book.

There are some gorgeous looking baked goods in this book. HOWEVER... is it just me or are a lot of the cupcake/cake recipes basically their chocolate or vanilla cake batter with slightly different presentation or an extra ingredient/flavour thrown in? I hadn't noticed this in their two previous books, so I felt a bit disappointed, although I will undoubtedly bake more from this book.

One more gripe regarding Hummingbird Bakery recipes... is it just me or is 1 tablespoon of baking powder for a cupcake batter excessive? For a recipe containing 200g-ish of plain flour I would normally think 1 teaspoon or maybe 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder is sufficient. I have had mixed results with Hummingbird Bakery cupcake recipes (something to do with their baking powder ratio perhaps?) and these cupcakes certainly turned out interesting looking. I've never had a mixture turn out like this before. Have you?

In the interest of comparison I baked another batch using a standard victoria sponge mixture, adding in the same amount of orange zest and dried cranberries. I photographed the two batches side by side for your amusement.

After sampling both batches, dare I say, the pimple-tastic volcano cupcakes possibly win in flavour! They have a creamy flavour and soft, close texture whereas the victoria sponge cupcakes are much fluffier. It's a tough contest to call as both are very edible, but I really enjoyed the creamy sponge against the creamy, sweet icing.

 creamy volcano

fluffy cupcake

It was really lovely to bake with orange for a change. So often I bake with lemons, forgetting there are other citrus fruits. It's less in your face than lemon but still really fresh. I always find orange pairs very well with dried fruit, whether it's cranberries or sultanas.

And not enough words can express my love for white chocolate icing. It's just the most delightfully creamy, sweet thing to grace the planet. I must refrain from eating spoonfuls of it like a bowl of ice-cream.

Cranberry and orange cupcakes with white chocolate icing
Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery "Home Sweet Home" book

70g (2 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened

210g (7 1/2oz) plain flour

250g (9oz) caster sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

210ml (7 1/2fl oz) whole milk (I used semi skimmed)

2 large eggs

60g (2oz) dried cranberries

1 tsp grated orange zest

white chocolate butter icing:
I would suggest halving this as it easily covered both cupcake batches. Unless you're happy to eat a bowlful of it like myself.

60g (2oz) white chocolate, chopped

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar

160g (5 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened (I used half unsalted half salted)

50ml (1 3/4fl oz) milk (semi skimmed)

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3 and line a muffin tray with paper cases. To make the sponge batter mix together the butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs. In a jug, whisk together the milk and eggs with a fork. Pour half the eggy milk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk on a slow speed until everything is combined. Turn up the mixer to a medium speed and beat until there are no more lumps. Once smooth, slowly pour in the rest of the eggy milk mixture and mix until the batter is fully combined. Fold in the orange zest and dried cranberries until even dispersed.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases filling them about 2/3 full. I think I got 15 or 16 cupcakes from this mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen (hopefully not like oddly formed volcanoes) and springy to touch. Leave to cool in their trays for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing, start by melting the chocolate in a heatproof bowl in short bursts in the microwave (or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, whichever technique you prefer.) Set aside to cool. Mix the icing sugar, butter and milk in a large bowl. Start off mixing by hand to minimise the dreaded icing sugar dust cloud, then continue whisking with the mixer for 5 minutes until the icing is light, smooth and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and whisk until fully incorporated.  Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (Wilton 1M tip) and pipe swirls on Mr Whippy style, working from the outside edge swirling in.

Dad's birthday carrot cake

For Dad's birthday this year I decided to make a carrot cake. He has been growing vegetables this year so I thought it would be a great idea to use some of his homegrown carrots.

I used my usual carrot cake recipe as I like its chunkiness. It turned out slightly wetter than usual, and it was definitely fully cooked, so I'm putting it down to the amount of orange juice I added (it was a pretty big orange.)

I decided to keep this cake dairy free by using an orange glaze (just icing sugar with fresh orange juice) rather than cream cheese icing as we're fairly sure now that my eldest nephew is lactose/dairy intolerant. I wanted to bake a cake which everybody could enjoy.

Although I probably still prefer a cream cheese icing, the orange glaze complimented the cake really well. I'm on the look out for more dairy free bakes so I'd be delighted if anybody has any good ones to share.

Now for some funny photos! Dad has quite a few hilariously weird carrots. I used only the best mutants for his birthday cake :)

I drew eyes on the carrot on the right as his "growths" looked like an awesome moustache. You have no idea how much enjoyment I got from this.

Easily amused :)

Earl grey tea loaf

There's something a bit old fashioned about a tea loaf so it only seemed appropriate to photograph it with my 1940s Berylware crockery.

This loaf is a great way of using up questionable looking dried fruit as soaking them in the tea plumps them up beautifully. Nobody would know that they are quite possibly past their sell by date.

 

The fruit bursts with orange flavour in this very citrussy flavoured loaf although I think the star of this bake is the syrup topping. It's like a sticky, sweet marmalade. The zingy-ness of it contrasts well the heavier texture of the loaf.

I like to think that this is a healthy bake because of the amount of fruit it contains: dried cranberries, sultanas, raisins, orange and lemon. That's your 5-a-day covered! It's also dairy free.

My only slight niggle is the amount tea flavour. Although Earl Grey is a citrus tea (a black tea blended with the flavour of bergamot oranges) I felt its distinctive flavour didn't quite come through with this loaf (for me anyway) despite the overall flavour being very orangey. If I made this again I would perhaps brew the tea a little longer before adding to the dried fruit.

And that's the end of my mini tea series, hope you enjoyed it! A massive thank you to the folks at Whittards for giving me a lovely tea selection to bake with.

I'm also entering this bake into Kat's Sweet Leftovers Link Party as my dried fruit was on the brink of being thrown out.

Earl grey tea loaf

I came across multiple variations of this Jamie Oliver recipe online. I don't know what the exact recipe is, but this is what I did:

4 earl grey teabags (courtesy of Whittards)

100g dried cranberries

200g sultanas

100g raisins

1 orange, zest and juice

1 duck egg

200g golden caster sugar

400g self-raising flour

1 level tsp. mixed spice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ginger

1 lemon, zest and juice

100g caster sugar

200ml water

2 earl grey tea bags

Pour 300ml of boiling water over 4 teabags in a jug. Leave to brew for 5 minutes then remove the teabags. Put all your dried fruit and orange zest in a bowl and pour in the brewed tea. Stir, cover with clingfilm and leave overnight (or if you're a night time baker like me, leave them to soak all day.)

Preheat the oven to Gas 4 and line a 1l loaf tin. Beat the egg in a separate bowl before adding to the soaked fruit. Then add the sugar, flour, spices and orange juice. Mix well and put into the tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 1hr 10 minutes or until golden on top and a skewer/knife is clean when inserted into the centre of the loaf. Mine actually took about 1hr 30 minutes to cook, covering the top with baking parchment for the last 15-20 minutes to prevent it from burning. Start making the syrup in the last 5-10 minutes of the loaf baking.

For the syrup topping, place 2 teabags in a saucepan with the water, lemon juice and zest. Gently bring to the boil, removing the teabags after a couple of minutes. Add the sugar and bring back to the boil without stirring. On a medium heat let it boil steadily for 5-10 minutes until the mixture has reduced by half and is syrupy. Prick the cake and pour/brush the syrup on top of the cake and leave the loaf to cool in the tin.

Disclaimer: I was sent tea products to bake with as Whittards recognised that I'm a cake/biscuit obsessed crazy tea lady. They're a brand I enjoy and have purchased from before. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed are my own.