Strawberry and rhubarb trifle

Yes, I am still wading my way through all the rhubarb in my garden. I might as well rename the blog "what do you make of my rhubarb?"

In my effort to find more ways to use rhubarb I stumbled across a raspberry and rhubarb trifle recipe online by Phil Vickery. Having never tried rhubarb in a trifle before I was suitably intrigued and decided to make it for a little family gathering to celebrate my first wedding anniversary with the Man. If anniversary trifle isn't a thing then I'm totally making it a thing.

I made some tweaks to the recipe according to taste and also what I had in the kitchen. The most obvious swap was strawberry instead of raspberry as I had two packets of strawberry jelly and two tins of strawberries in syrup in the cupboard left over from Christmas (as trifle is a Christmas necessity) so it made sense to use them.

My only other significant change was using less sugar in the stewed rhubarb and omitting the vanilla as I prefer a more tart flavour. I think the original quantities would be far too sweet as mine was sweet enough. I guess it'll vary depending on your rhubarb though.

Although not necessarily a change, I also didn't follow the recipe for the custard. I used the same ingredients but measured by eye and went by taste. It was roughly the same quantity.

Usually for trifle I make a plain Victoria sponge, however I decided to go for a Swiss roll like the Phil Vickery recipe. I used my trusty Mary Berry recipe from her "Baking Bible", once again swapping the raspberry for strawberry jam. It's been a few years since I last made a Swiss roll (9 years ago, apparently?!) so that was a fun change.

The resulting trifle was fantastic! The lemon in the rhubarb gave a lovely zingy flavour in contrast to the sweeter strawberry flavour and Swiss roll. 

Everybody thought this trifle was immensely tasty. I have to admit, the rhubarb in our garden is the nicest rhubarb I've ever encountered; it is so red and sweet. This trifle is definitely one to add to the rhubarb repertoire.

Strawberry and rhubarb trifle

Recipe based on Phil Vickery's mum's trifle

X1 Swiss roll filled with strawberry jam. I used this Mary Berry recipe but without lemon. Same method but I used the following quantities in a larger tin measuring 33 x 23cm:

4 large eggs

100g caster sugar 

100g self raising flour

At least 4 spoonfuls of jam for the filling.

X2 135g packet strawberry jelly, made according to instructions. Admittedly I didn't end up using all the jelly, but I felt it needed more than one packet.

X2 tins of strawberries in syrup (drain the syrup) or fresh, chopped strawberries

Stewed rhubarb:

350g rhubarb, chopped into small chunks

Juice of 1 large lemon

100g sugar

Approx. 1 pint of custard, fresh/homemade, shop bought or made up with Bird's custard powder.

300ml double cream, lightly whipped.

Method: 

Make the Swiss roll, cut it into slices, then cut each slice in half. Place into the bottom of the trifle bowl and around the sides. Layer the fresh, chopped or drained, tinned strawberries into the centre.

Make up the jelly according to instructions. Top tip: if using tinned strawberries, use the fruit syrup for your jelly. Add enough boiling water to melt the jelly blocks then top up the rest of the liquid with the fruit syrup.

Once cool, pour the jelly into the trifle bowl until it fully covers the sponge and fruit. Put in the fridge to set, ideally overnight.

Put all ingredients for the stewed rhubarb in a pan and simmer over a low heat until the rhubarb has softened. Set aside to cool. Once cool, add on top of the set jelly.

Make up the custard, either using the powdered variety, make from scratch or buy ready made. If you're making it though, it's best to make it on the thick side to give it a firmer set. Let the custard cool before adding to the trifle, on top of the rhubarb layer.

Lightly whip the double cream and add as a final layer on top of the trifle. Re-chill and serve, with a flourish of sprinkles for decoration.

white chocolate cake with passionfruit curd and chocolate dipped strawberries

Hey, long time no blog. 2017 has been utterly rubbish so far, hasn't it? I was so determined to start the year positively, despite a gut feeling of impending doom, but it's just been one crap thing after another. My gut was correct. I'm fed up with the year and basically want to hide in a dark hole. It's difficult to write when you have zero enthusiasm and the longer you leave it the less inclined you feel to return.

I'm not sure what to do with this space. It has been offline for the past week as I contemplated shutting down. I'm undecided as I do like having a creative journal and have always enjoyed all the like-minded blogger interaction, however I really struggle with putting myself "out there". I continued documenting my bakes earlier in the year, indicating that I did intend to catch up, I'm still sewing and knitting, and I still love reading blogs although I haven't been able to bring myself to comment or interact. So... yeah, that's where I am at the moment.

Anyway, today I'm sharing a white chocolate and passionfruit cake I baked for my Mum's birthday back in February. You're here for the cake, right?

The cake is a Peggy Porschen recipe from her "Cake Parlour" book I've had bookmarked for a few years, although I baked it as an 8" two layer cake instead of a 6" three layer. I also filled it with homemade passionfruit curd instead of jam and topped it with white chocolate dipped strawberries. Whenever a family birthday approaches my Mum inevitably says, "remember that cake you made with the chocolate dipped strawberries?" (this one!) so I felt it was about time I made something similar for her birthday.

My sponges didn't rise particularly well - I don't know whether this was down to my mixing of the batter, changing cake tin sizes or just the effect of adding melted chocolate to a sponge batter - but the flavour made up for the denser than expected texture. The sponges very much tasted of white chocolate and the white chocolate icing was gloriously silky and moussy. Then the freshness of the passionfruit curd and strawberries cut through the chocolatey sweetness. All in all, pretty tasty.

It's not the most immaculately decorated cake, certainly a far cry from the beautiful examples in Peggy Porschen's book, but it has its own charm. This is when I'm reminded that I'd make a terrible professional baker. I really don't have the patience for all the careful levelling, crumb coating and chilling.

Perhaps now that I've written this post it'll get the ball rolling for others.

How has everyone else's year been? Please say somebody has been having a good year?!

strawberry and cream cake

After the success of last year's Wimbledon final cake I decided to make another this year. I didn't write out a recipe last time so I thought the cake was worth documenting again.

This is such a pretty, summery cake. I love the simplicity of a dusting of icing sugar and the freshness of strawberries and cream.

I also love when a filling squidges when you cut into the cake. There's strawberry jam and whipped cream sandwiched between the sponges here which makes for a satisfying squidge.

A couple of folk last time asked whether the strawberries made the sponges soggy and I think the trick to avoiding that is to keep the strawberry chunks fairly small and not to add too many. I also gave them a light coating of flour before incorporating them into the cake batter.

I don't think I have anything else new to say about the cake. The combination of vanilla flecked sponge with strawberries, cream and jam is a winner. The only bummer is that the cake needs to be kept in the fridge due to the cream filling, but then again, you may find this cake won't last longer than one sitting. It's pretty good.

Strawberry and cream cake

sponges:

200g margarine/ softened butter

200g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

200g self raising flour

100g strawberries, chopped into relatively small chunks - lightly coated in flour

filling:

300ml pot of double cream - lightly whipped

generous spoonfuls of strawberry jam 

icing sugar for dusting

extra strawberries for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. 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 vanilla bean paste and flour and mix everything together until fully combined. Stir in the strawberry chunks until evenly distributed.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 30 minutes until well risen, light 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.

Once cool, sandwich the cakes together with whipped cream and strawberry jam. Decorate the top of the cake with a dusting of icing sugar and halves of strawberries. 

This is best eaten on the day of serving although it will keep for a couple of days if covered and kept in the fridge.

strawberry meringue roulade

Meringues give me "the fear". I never really know what they're meant to look or feel like so they send me into a bit of a baking panic. Making sure the baking bowl and whisk are completely oil free and successfully separating multiple eggs makes me feel nervous. I also live in fear of the "bowl above your head" test not working. What if I haven't whipped the egg whites enough and the mixture actually does fall on my head?  The whole thing stresses me out.

However I decided to push myself out of my baking comfort zone this week. I was not going to default to a victoria sponge which, let's face it, I do a lot. The double cream and strawberries in the fridge were going to be put in a meringue roulade!

Unfortunately my lack of understanding for meringue structure shows. This was barely cooked enough, perhaps too much on the mallow-y side. I think I put too much faith in the recipe's estimated baking times as it soon became apparent that my meringue needed longer in the oven. The resulting roulade was still very tasty, but a bit sloppy. I don't know whether it needed more cooking at the first stage with the hot temperature or the latter cooler setting. Feel free to share your meringue making wisdom with me!

I've done it though. I didn't die despite panicking when I saw the meringue going all gloopy when I tried to roll it up ("waaaaah it's not cooked enough, it still feels hot and I've already put the cream on!") and I have a better idea of what to expect next time. I'm sure it's something I'll try again.... and photograph in better light!

Now I need to think of something to do with 5 egg yolks. Custard, anyone?

Strawberry meringue roulade

Recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible, substituting raspberries for strawberries

for the meringue:

5 large egg whites

275g (10oz) caster sugar 

50g (2oz) flaked almonds

for the filling:

350g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped

300ml (1/2 pint) whipping or double cream 

Preheat the oven to 220C/ 200C Fan/ Gas 7 and line a 33 x 23cm tin with baking parchment. In a clean, oil free bowl whisk the egg whites on a high speed on your mixer until very stiff. If you can hold the bowl upside down above your head without the egg mixture falling out, it's ready! Add the sugar to the eggs a teaspoon at a time, whisking well between each spoonful. 

Spread the meringue mixture evenly into your tin and sprinkle with flaked almonds. Bake on a shelf fairly near the top of the oven for about 8 minutes until pale golden, then turn the temperature down to 160C/ 140C Fan/ Gas 3 and continue baking for a further 15 minutes. Remove from the oven when the meringue is firm to the touch and turn it out, almond side down, onto a sheet of baking parchment. Remove the baking parchment from the base of the meringue and leave to cool for around 10 minutes.

Whilst you're waiting for the meringue to cool, hull and roughly chop up the strawberries and whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Gently fold the strawberries into the cream then spread this mixture evenly over the meringue. Start rolling up the meringue fairly tightly, starting from the long end, until you have a roulade. (This is when I started panicking as my meringue was still pretty hot and was turning into a squidgy lump as I tried to roll it up!) Wrap in baking parchment and chill in the fridge before serving.

strawberries and cream cake

Just a quick post today. I wasn't intending to blog this as I didn't take any photographs other than these two snaps with my phone, but I enjoyed this cake so much I felt compelled to share it regardless of photo quality.

My friends and I had a small Wimbledon final party last Sunday so naturally I baked a cake for us to enjoy. It's the same sponge recipe as the strawberry cupcakes I baked the previous week - basically a victoria sponge with a handful of chopped strawberries and teaspoon of vanilla bean paste - baked in two 18cm (7inch) round cake tins, sandwiched together with jam and cream and topped with strawberries and icing sugar.

It was light, fresh and delicately sweet. I really wish I had taken better photographs! One of my friends baked Pimms cupcakes so we were well supplied with cake for the afternoon. We needed it to console ourselves after Federer's defeat.

It could just be that I was too distracted by conversation and cake this year, but I felt like I had seen more exciting Wimbledon finals. Anybody agree?

strawberry cupcakes

It's Wimbledon season, the time of year when I swoon over Roger Federer and eat lots of strawberries. Sometimes swooning over Roger Federer whilst eating strawberries.

This year I have been swooning over Roger Federer (can you tell I like Roger Federer?) whilst eating strawberry cupcakes. Soft, fluffy, vanilla flecked cupcakes with juicy chunks of strawberries and topped with strawberry jam butter icing. These are seriously addictive. I could easily eat 3 in quick succession.

Jam mixed into butter icing is definitely my new favourite thing. I've tried raspberry and strawberry jams mixed into icing so I'm plotting which jam variation to try next. Any suggestions?

These strawberry printed cupcake cases have been sitting in my baking stash for at least two years, waiting for the right opportunity to be used. Aren't they cute? I've always felt that I couldn't just use them for any old cupcakes, they *had* to be strawberry flavoured. I'm surprised it has taken me this long to make strawberry cupcakes again (last baked here - god that was ages ago!)

I made these cupcakes to take on a summery picnic with my friends last week. The weather looked set to be glorious, so glorious that I ventured outside in bare legs(!) and sandals(!!) However by the time we arrived at our picnic destination the sky clouded over slightly and it became increasingly windy. It was strange weather: hot enough to promptly melt my friend's ice-cream and so windy that the melted ice-cream blew *everywhere* In hair, on arms, on tops, on trousers, on my legs! It was an eventful day out.

Strawberry cupcakes

cupcakes:

200g margarine/ softened butter

200g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

200g self raising flour

100g strawberries, chopped into relatively small chunks

icing:

250g icing sugar

125g softened butter

1-2tbsp strawberry jam (add to taste)

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and line two cupcake trays with cases. In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until very 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 flour and mix everything together until fully combined. Stir in the strawberry chunks until evenly distributed.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, until 2/3 full. I got 18 cupcakes from this mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until well risen, light golden and spring back when touched. Leave to cool in the tray for a couple of minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, beat together the icing sugar and butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Stir in the jam and mix for another few minutes. Spread the icing on top of the cupcakes with a palette knife. I'd recommend increasing the amounts (by about half perhaps?) if you'd prefer to pipe the icing on as this only gave a relatively thin covering per cupcake.

birthday blow away sponge and shiny new things

It was my birthday last Friday and my Mum baked a beautifully fluffy blow away sponge cake. However this was actually her second attempt. Her first cake went awry because she accidentally used self-raising flour instead of plain flour, resulting in sponges with flat edges and strangely domed centres. Always double check your ingredients folks!

Unfortunately I could only manage a tiny piece of cake due to the unwelcome stomach bug I woke up with that morning, but I can report it was as light as a cloud with a delicate, sweet vanilla flavour.

The chopped strawberries, jam and whipped cream filling kept the flavours fresh and light as well. As much as I love a buttery, heavily frosted birthday cake this was a lovely change. It could also be made completely dairy free by omitting the cream filling.

Although I didn't make the cake I'll include the recipe at the end of the post as I think it's worth sharing.

Birthday gifts this year included flowers, ferrero rocher, small pieces of jewellery and a stash of socks. You should see my sock drawer at the moment; it is positively overflowing with colourful, crazy prints. I love a good pair of socks.

Somewhat unexpectedly, I ended up with an overlocker for my birthday! On Monday morning I discovered through Char that Lidl had deals on Singer sewing machines and overlockers this week (retailing at about half their usual price) so I headed into town and grabbed an overlocker. My Mum also bought a new sewing machine for herself as she never got round to replacing her old one which broke years ago, so we're two very happy ladies.

Matchy matchy machines! This makes me very happy. I'm looking forward to producing clothes with professionally finished seams. On a side note, my Singer sewing machine is officially 10 years old this year. Whaaat?

And lastly, I'd like to introduce you all to the life size, cardboard cut-out Superman my brother bought for my birthday. Who knew owning a 2D Henry Cavill would be so much fun. He's proving to be quite a hit.

"Nice jugs, Jo."

"Ummmm why thank you, Henry."

He has also managed to scare the crap out of me on several occasions when I forget he's in the room. Such a stealthy guy.

Blow away sponge

4 eggs
4 oz caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
2oz plain flour
2 oz cornflour
1 level tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6 and grease/line two 8 inch round cake tins. Whisk the egg whites on a high speed until they form stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted from the bowl. (You can also do the bowl above your head trick to check!) Add the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla and give a quick mix. Sift together the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then carefully fold it into the egg mixture with a metal spoon until everything is incorporated. The mixture should look quite pale and glossy. 

Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for approximately 15 minutes until risen, golden and firm to touch. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire rack. Sandwich together with chopped strawberries, jam and whipped cream. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar.

browned butter berry banana bread

Well that was fun alliteration. Let's say it again. Browned butter berry banana bread!

There's 50g of white chocolate chips in there too but mentioning that in the title would have spoiled my fun.

This is actually the second time within a week I've baked this loaf and my last bake before these was also banana based. The warmer weather has sent me on a banana baking loop! Within a day or two of buying bananas they seem to turn brown. Not that I'm complaining, I like banana loaf.

For a slight change I decided to brown the butter for this loaf as I love the flavour of browned butter in blondies and figured it would work well in a banana loaf. Sadly I didn't detect much of a difference in flavour, probably because there was enough extra flavour with the berries, cinnamon and vanilla, but occasionally you'd get a little hint of the sweet, biscuity flavour from the browned butter.

I love how banana bread is so simple and easily adaptable. You can substitute and/or chuck in extras to your heart's content. Victoria sponges are fantastic for similar reasons. I nearly didn't bother posting this cake as I have posted a couple of variations of the same recipe already, but the vibrant berries bursting from the cake's surface were too enticing not to photograph. It's also good to remind people not to chuck out dodgy looking bananas. Look at what you can produce with them!

Browned butter berry banana bread

Recipe adapted from Hummingbird Bakery's banana loaf

250g brown sugar (I used half soft light brown sugar, half light muscovado brown sugar)

2 large eggs

2 large brown bananas, weighing roughly 250g

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

140g unsalted butter, melted and browned

50g (ish) white chocolate chips (optional! They were lurking in my baking cupboard)

150g mixed berries (I used frozen)

Preheat the oven to 170C/160 Fan/Gas 3 and line a 25 x 12cm loaf tin. Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently cook for about 5 minutes until the white solids turn golden and the butter starts to smell biscuity and sweet. Set aside to cool before adding to the cake mixture.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs for a minute or two until well incorporated and lighter in colour. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla bean paste and mix again. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon then add to the sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly. Pour in the (cooled) melted butter and mix until everything is fully combined. Lightly coat the berries in a small amount flour and stir half of them into the mixture along with the white chocolate drops. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, level the surface and scatter the remaining berries on top. 

Bake in the centre of the oven for roughly 1hr 15 minutes, checking on the cake after an hour. As the surface was quite brown I lay a piece of baking parchment on top to stop it burning for the last 15 minutes of baking. The loaf is cooked when firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire cooling rack.

strawberry and cream scones

It's Wimbledon season which can mean only one thing... it's time for strawberries and cream! Clichéd food blogger sitting right here.

There's little I love more in the summer than watching Roger Federer run about on a tennis court whilst I eat strawberries and cream from the comfort of my sofa. The only problem is when he does a shirt change as I run the risk of spilling food down my front due to the excitement. Anyway, I digress.

If I can stop myself from eating all the strawberries and cream as they are, I like to put them in scones. Add a dusting of icing sugar on top and the scones transform into something rather luxurious.

There's not much else I can really say about strawberry and cream scones, it's just a really good thing which everybody should make in the summer. I have a tendency to spread a lot of strawberry jam on my scone. What can I say, I like a bit of scone with my jam.

Scone-making used to be a skill which eluded me. I usually left them for my Mum to make as mine never turned out quite right. It's that balance of giving the mixture a light fold without over handling it. However, last year I became determined to master scone-making and after some practise, mostly making cheese scones to eat along with homemade soup, I think I've just about cracked it. :)

For my scones I used my Granny's recipe, which is this recipe but minus the dates. Mmmm date scones. Perhaps I need to bake another batch...

Vanilla cake with strawberries and cream cheese icing

What? Three posts in one week?! I'm as shocked as you to be honest. It has been a busy couple of weeks in the kitchen.

I have another birthday cake to share! This cake was baked at short notice for a family friend on Wednesday. When pushed for time I usually default to a victoria sponge recipe as it's quick and simple to put together and always a crowd pleaser.

The recipe is more or less the same as my vanilla cupcakes, except the sugar, margarine and flour are bumped up to 7oz (200g) as I used 3 duck eggs to make enough mixture to fill two 18cm round tins. 

For filling and decoration I kept it simple with cream cheese icing (using the Hummingbird Bakery's recipe), strawberry jam and chopped strawberries. I may have eaten a few strawberries dipped in the left over cream cheese icing.... oh so good!

This is also the last cake to have been baked in our old gas oven. It was almost sad to see it go. It's the end of an era! We now have a brand spanking new rangemaster. Dare I say our kitchen almost looks posh! (I'll never want to move out...) Country Living photoshoot here we come! Whenever I'm in the kitchen now I just stare at it in amazement, similar to when I got my kitchenaid two years ago (ok, I still stare at it in amazement.) I'm hoping I'll bake something in the new electric oven(s!) this weekend. It'll be a new experience!

berry bakewell cake

I'd like to start off by saying a huge thank you to everybody who left advice on my last post regarding my not so successful bundt. The general consensus is that I should invest in some cake release spray so that's what I'm going to try next. I shall not be defeated by that bundt tin!

Hello photogenic plugs and sockets.

Now onto a cake which was a total success, woohoo! My Mum is a huge fan of almondy, bakewell flavours so I decided to make this pimped up Victoria sponge for her birthday last week.

It's a very simple cake but the addition of ground almonds and berries make it that bit more special. Basically if you love victoria sponges and bakewell tarts then you'll love this cake.

The nephews are excellent fire extinguishers.

I used frozen berries in this cake but I imagine fresh would taste even better. I was a bit worried about adding too many in case they would all sink and make the sponges soggy but thankfully this wasn't the case. If anything I think I could get away with adding a few more next time.

We have red blinds in our kitchen so if you're wondering why all my photographs are rose tinted that's why. I haven't gone all instagram toaster filter on you.

Ahhh just looking at that photo makes me want to bake the cake again. Apparently the last slice tasted even better the following day.

Berry Bakewell Cake

I naturally bake in imperial measurements (I'm old school like that) but I've converted the weights into grams. I hope they're right!

8oz/ 225g caster sugar

8oz/ 225g margarine (I used Vitalite as I wanted to make the cake dairy free)

3 large duck eggs (hen eggs are fine, as long as the overall weight is roughly 8oz)

8oz/ 225g self-raising flour

1 oz/ 28g ground almonds

a few drops of almond essence (add to taste)

roughly 2-3 ounces/ about 75g mixture of berries (fresh or frozen) for scattering

a few tablespoons of strawberry jam

Icing sugar for dusting

Grease and line two 20cm round cake sandwich tins. Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C. Beat together the sugar and margarine for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour if the mixture starts to curdle/split. Add a few drops of almond essence (to taste) along with the rest of the flour and ground almonds and mix until everything is fully combined. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins. In a separate bowl, give the berries a light coating of flour to stop them sinking in the mixture (you can cut some of the heavier berries such a blackberries in half to reduce weight.) Lightly press the berries into the surface of both cakes. 

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for roughly 25 minutes or until both sponges are golden, well risen and spring back to touch. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack. Once cold, sandwich together with a generous amount of jam and serve with a dusting of icing sugar on top.

banana strawberry yoghurt loaf

This was a "I need to use stuff up before they go completely out of date" loaf. A bit of an experiment so not completely successful.

This loaf was delicious fresh from the oven. Although I don't think the strawberry flavour in the yoghurt contributed much, the roasted strawberries on the top were delicious. Roasting strawberries most definitely enhances their sweet flavour (believe the hype folks!) and they made what's usually a plain banana loaf look very pretty.

However the loaf went really soggy the following day. I'm pretty sure it was cool before I closed it in a tin, but it went really sticky and heavy in texture (too much moisture from the yoghurt and strawberries perhaps?)

I also seem to struggle with yoghurt in cakes. I can pretty much guarantee that whenever I use it, it makes my cake sink about half an hour after coming out the oven, despite knowing that my cake is fully baked. Is it to do with the heavier texture they create? I have no idea. Oddly, this doesn't seem to happen when I use it in muffins.

Banana strawberry yoghurt loaf

Adapted from this recipe I used last year.

120ml sunflower oil

225g light muscovado sugar

3.5 (ish) medium eggs (I didn't have 3 large eggs)

225g self raising flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 brown bananas

125ml tub of strawberry yoghurt

50-75g strawberries, sliced finely and given a light coating in flour.

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and grease and line a 900g loaf tin. Pour the oil into a large bowl, add the sugar and whisk for a few minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking as you go, then stir in the flour and mixed spice. Peel and mash the bananas in a separate bowl and add them to the mixture along with the yoghurt. Mix well with a spoon and pour half of the mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange a layer of strawberry slices on top and pour the rest of the mixture on top. Arrange the remaining strawberry slices into a pretty pattern on top before baking on the middle shelf of the oven

Bake for roughly 1 hour until well risen and golden (or check by sticking a skewer/knife into the centre of the cake. The cake is ready if the skewer comes out clean). Leave in the tin to cool then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Strawberry and cream scones... again!

It's only been a few weeks since I last featured scones but when strawberries are in season this is one of my favourite ways to enjoy them.

Unlike last time, I actually made these scones! I had mentioned that for some reason I find it difficult to make good scones so Gem offered her favourite scone recipe for me to try out.

I am pleased to report that they were a success! They were so lovely and fluffy fresh from the oven. Thank you Gem! I'll definitely use this recipe again.

You may also notice that I've been on a labelling frenzy this week. My blog was terrible to navigate in terms of looking for recipes with particular flavours or ingredients in mind. Hopefully this will be much more organised.

It is also interesting to see what I bake most. True to my blog title, cake is what I bake most and I appear to be a big fan of buttercream! I was also genuinely surprised by how often I bake with chocolate as I honestly didn't think I used it that often. Unsurprisingly, lemon was the next most popular.

Scones

Recipe from Gem, with permission to blog.

450g self-raising flour

100g butter, slightly soft

50g caster sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

About 250ml milk

Preheat the oven to 220C and grease a baking tray. In a large bowl rub together the flour, butter, sugar and baking powder using your fingers until the butter is all mixed in. Add milk gradually and stir together using a knife to cut through and bring together to avoid overworking it. Plonk onto a floured surface and cut out your scones. Don't twist the cutter! Brush with a beaten egg yolk and bake for about 12 minutes depending on the size of your scones. 

Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes

Now isn't that a glorious combination of words? Three very tasty things rolled into one.

I had a rather disappointing punnet of dry strawberries a few days ago so I thought I'd add them to a vanilla cupcake batter. Then I thought I'd use a cream cheese icing on top. THEN I thought I'd add crushed digestive biscuits and strawberry slices as extra decoration. The resulting cupcake was rather tasty: a golden, fluffy sponge dotted with juicy strawberry chunks and rich, creamy icing.

I wasn't sure whether using golden caster sugar instead of ordinary caster sugar would make much of a difference but it really does. Even just tasting the raw batter I could tell it was going to produce a tastier cupcake. I highly recommend using golden caster sugar, it really is lovely to use.

I used to make cream cheese icing daily for carrot cakes when I worked in a cafe, which meant I got to eat cream cheese icing every day. It was definitely a perk of the job and something I miss, along with chocolate buttercream which I also got to make and eat every day!

I'm debating making more of these but substituting the cream cheese icing for a white chocolate buttercream. Or maybe I'll just be healthy and eat the strawberries as they are!

Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes

 What I used:

Stork margarine

golden caster sugar

duck eggs

vanilla extract

self-raising flour

strawberries

Weigh two duck eggs (or two large hen eggs) and then measure out your margarine, sugar and flour separately to the same weight. The amount of strawberries you use is up to yourself, I think I used 50-75g. I probably could have put in more but I was worried that adding too much would make the cupcakes soggy, which has happened to me before.

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases. Beat together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy (aim for roughly 5 minutes), add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between each addition, and a few drops of vanilla extract. Sift (if you can be bothered) the flour and carefully fold into the mixture until fully incorporated. Lastly fold in the strawberries until evenly distributed through the batter. Divide the mixture between the cases and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for roughly 20 minutes or until well risen, golden and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to finish cooling. For the icing I roughly followed the Hummingbird Bakery's cream cheese frosting (not making as much)and then finished the cupcakes with some digestive biscuit crumbs. Only add strawberry pieces as well if the cupcakes are going to be eaten immediately otherwise they'll go soggy and bleed colour.