Gingerbread truffles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

chocolate jazzie cupcakes

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

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

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

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

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

Chocolate jazzie cupcakes

This recipes yields approx. 10 cupcakes.

cakes:

4oz soft light brown sugar

4oz softened butter or Stork margarine

2 large eggs

4oz self raising flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Splash of milk.

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

decoration:

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

cake sprinkles/ chocolate buttons/ jazzies for decoration.

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

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

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

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

 

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

white chocolate and passionfruit sprinkle cake

Last October my sister-in-law requested passion fruit and lots of sprinkles as a theme for her birthday cake. This is what I created: a densely sprinkle-covered vanilla victoria sponge filled with passionfruit curd and white chocolate butter icing.

As suspected, I found sprinkles around my kitchen for DAYS afterwards. Totally worth it though.

I based the recipe around this cake I baked years ago. I'd definitely say it's one of my favourite cakes. I absolutely adore the combination of white chocolate, vanilla and passionfruit. It just feels special. The curd is zingy, the vanilla is aromatic and white chocolate is deliciously creamy and sweet. I also love using golden caster sugar in a vanilla victoria sponge. It gives an almost butterscotch flavour and just generally lifts the vanilla.

To make the cake look fancier I cut the sponges in half to make it quadruple layered but without being ridiculously tall. I really like doing this as it distributes all the flavours evenly through the cake.

To apply the sprinkles I coated the sides of the cake with the icing then rolled the sides in a tray full of sprinkles (I used at least 2 little tubs of hundreds and thousands). This is so much easier than trying to pat sprinkles onto the side of the cake and also contains some of the inevitable sprinkle mess. Then I iced the top of the cake and poured/pressed the remaining sprinkles on top.

I definitely want to make another dense sprinkle cake some day. Not only does it look fun but I also really enjoyed the crunch the sprinkles added to an otherwise soft textured cake.

There's no excuse not to make another sprinkle cake as I typically over bought sprinkles when I made this cake. There's at least two more tubs sitting in my baking cupboard. At least they're keeping all the pink marshmallows company!

White chocolate and passionfruit cake

 

sponges:

225g (8oz) golden caster sugar

225g (8oz) softened butter or Stork margarine

4 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

225g (8oz) self raising flour

 

passionfruit curd: 

(I would recommend doubling the quantity as I barely had enough for all the layers. However, if you don't cut your sponges in half this amount is fine)

3 passion fruit

1 egg

40g caster sugar

25g butter

 

white chocolate butter icing:

(enough if you don't cut your sponges in half, otherwise double the quantity)

100g white chocolate

100g butter

175g softened butter

 

First, make the curd. Cut the passion fruit in half, scoop out the pulp and strain the juice and flesh through a sieve. Discard the seeds. Put the strained juice, egg and sugar in a glass bowl and whisk until combined. Place the bowl over a small pan of gently simmer water and stir regularly until the mixture heats up and thickens. Do not turn up the heat and let it boil as you'll end up with sad scrambled egg. Add the butter and continue to whisk fairly regularly for about 20 minutes or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Once ready, pour into a sterilised jar or bowl and leave to cool. Whilst the curd is cooling, make the sponges. 

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. 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 extract 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, 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.

 

To make the icing, beat together the butter and icing until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes.) Melt the white chocolate either in short bursts in a bowl in a microwave (30 seconds at a time) or in a glass bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Add the melted chocolate to the icing mixture and whisk again until fully combined.

 

Once cool cut both sponges in half to create four cake layers. Apply a layer of icing and curd to every sponge layer and stack. Cover the sides and top of the cake with the remaining icing. However if you want to create a sprinkle effect, there's a bit more work involved. First give the cake a light crumb coating with the icing then leave in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour to firm up. Once firm coat only the sides of the cake then pick up the cake, holding the top and bottom and gently roll the sides in a tray full of sprinkles (I used at least two tubs of hundreds and thousands sprinkles.) Once densely covered, put onto your cake onto a plate/cake stand and cover the top with icing. Pat/pour the sprinkles on top.

 

Now tidy the devastation that is your kitchen. Even if you think you've tidied up all the sprinkles, there will be MORE!!

 

30 and a load of cake

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

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

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

My 1950s neapolitan kitchen dreams are slowly coming together.

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

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

 SO. MUCH. CHOCOLATE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?!

white chocolate and hazelnut praline cake

The combination of white chocolate and hazelnut has been rattling around my brain for ages so last weekend I finally decided to pair them together in a cake. I'm happy to report that it turned out rather well.

 Uggghhh night time photography. Sorry. 

Towards the end of last year I was kindly sent a tub of praline white hot chocolate powder from Whittard along with other goodies (you can find the other bakes I made from these here and here.) It was a special flavour brought out for their hot chocolate month last October but I see from their website that the flavour has been brought back. YES! I'm definitely buying more because oh my word that drink was good. It tasted like a ferrero rocher melted into a white hot chocolate. In other words, it was heavenly. Sadly it never made it into a baked good, but I've recreated the flavour in a special cake for Mother's Day last Sunday.

The sponge is packed with nutty flavour. It might be a bit of a pain to roast, skin and grind hazelnuts but it is definitely worth the effort for the added flavour. The richness of the sponge was complimented by a sweet, creamy white chocolate buttercream and topped with a crunchy hazelnut praline.

PacMan cake angle

It's definitely the kind of cake where you should cut relatively slim slices as it's very filling. As you can see from my photos I cut my usual greedy sized portions but I really struggled to finish my slice. I do not like to be defeated by cake though, so I spaced my eating over an hour. Victory was mine!

Mum's only complaint was that there wasn't enough icing and I definitely agree. I originally intended to ice the sides as well but didn't have enough icing so I made do with just filling and topping the cake. If, like us, you are bonkers for white chocolate buttercream then I'd recommend increasing the amounts, perhaps even doubling it. There's no such thing as too much white chocolate buttercream.

White chocolate, hazelnut and praline cake

sponge:
250g butter, softened

250g soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

150g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

150g hazelnuts - roasted, skinned and ground

1 tbsp milk

icing:

100g white chocolate, chopped

100g butter, softened
175g icing sugar

praline:

100g whole hazelnuts, roasted and skinned

50g caster sugar

Line a baking tray with parchment and spread the hazelnuts for both the sponge and praline on top. Roast in the oven at a relatively low heat, at something like 130 or 140C, for around 5-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them as it really doesn't take long and you don't want them to burn! Once roasted, rub their skins off with a teatowel. Grind 150g of the hazelnuts in a blender (for the sponge) until they're a similar consistency to ground almonds.

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and grease and line two 8 inch round cake tins. Beat together the butter and sugar for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, then the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. In a separate bowl mix together the plain flour, baking powder and ground hazelnuts before adding to the main bowl along with the milk. Mix everything together until fully combined. 

Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. I noticed that mine were starting to colour too much just after 20 minutes but weren't fully baked so I put a layer of greaseproof paper over the top to stop the surface from burning. Once fully baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the icing, melt the white chocolate in short bursts in a bowl in a microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a small pan of simmering water (whichever method you prefer.) Once cool, add to the butter and icing sugar and beat together for about 5 minutes until soft and creamy. Use this to fill and top the cooled cake.

For the praline, put the caster sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and cook over a relatively low heat. Watch it like a hawk as it really doesn't take long for the sugar to dissolve and caramelise. Once it turns a nice caramel colour chuck in the remaining whole hazelnuts, give it a quick mix and quickly dump onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Once cool and set, roughly chop up the praline and press it onto the top of the iced cake.

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.

chocolate chunk hazelnut biscuits

Does anybody else grumpy-bake? I certainly do. "I feel grumpy so I'm going to bake something."

This is the end product of said grumpy baking.

I initially thought these weren't anything exciting, but considering I ate four in quick succession with my cuppa I must turn around on myself and admit they're rather tasty. They remind me of McVities Boaster biscuits (do they still exist?) which I find oddly comforting as my Granny occasionally kept them in her biscuit tin.

For the chocolate chunks I used a mixture of Green and Blacks white and milk chocolate as that's what I had to hand. Surprisingly, for me, I prefer the stronger cocoa flavour of the milk chocolate against the hazelnuts and vanilla.

The original recipe says to divide the dough in half, roll into 15-18cm long rolls and freeze for 2 hours before cutting into 2-3cm discs. However I had no time or patience for such nonsense so I roughly dolloped slightly flattened knob shapes onto the trays and left in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes to firm up the butter before baking.

So the resulting biscuits are crunchy and crumbly and a bit rough and ready as opposed to the soft and chewy, regularly spherical ones pictured in the recipe book, but I'm fine with that. If anything, I prefer them this way. Their sweetness easied my grumpiness so they did their job.

Chocolate chunk hazelnut biscuits

Adapted from Hummingbird Bakery's white chocolate and pecan nut cookies recipe

250g unsalted butter, softened

100g caster sugar

200g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

400g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

50g white chocolate chopped

50g milk chocolate chopped  

100g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Beat together the butter and sugars in a large bowl for about a minute until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a separate bowl before adding to the egg mixture. Mix everything together until well combined and forms a smooth dough. Stir in the chocolate and nuts. 

Dollop small-ish knobs of the dough onto lined baking trays (perhaps about a tablespoon in size), well spaced apart. Leave to chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes. This will keep the butter firm so it doesn't melt quickly and make the biscuits spread too much in the oven. Whilst your dough is chilling preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the edges start turning golden in colour. Leave to cool on the trays for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. The original recipe produces 24 biscuits/cookies but I ended up with 30-40.

lemon and white chocolate cake

There's little I love more in life than lemon flavours and white chocolate. And custard creams. And Henry Cavill. I'm already veering off track, sorry.

When I saw Kate's Easter white chocolate and lemon curd cake I instantly knew I had to make a similar cake as soon as possible. I couldn't understand why I had never combined two of my favourite flavours in a cake.

And what a light and fluffy, zingy yet sweet cake it produced! The only minor disappointment was the icing and I think it was due to the choice of white chocolate. I used Lindt Lindor which I'm positive I've used before and had excellent results with, but when I melted this particular block it seemed really runny and almost water-y, making a very soft icing which never firmed up. It just didn't behave the way I expected it to. Perhaps I picked up a different type of Lindt chocolate without really noticing?

Flavour wise it was very sweet which was to be expected (it was white chocolate after all!) and contrasted well with the zingy lemon curd and sponge, but I felt the white chocolate flavour itself didn't come through particularly strong.

Ooh look at that layer of lemon curd peeking through in the filling! I thought I was pretty generous with it at the time but I could have easily put in more. The tang of the curd against the sweet icing was so good!

Despite my (only very slight) disappointment with the icing this was a popular cake and I think it tasted even better on the second day. I can't comment how well it would taste on a third day as it didn't last that long. If you do have cakes lying around your house that long you must have serious willpower!

white chocolate and lemon cake

225g caster sugar

225g Stork margarine (or butter)

4 eggs

225g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

filling and icing:

1 jar lemon curd (I used Tesco's finest which was lovely but obviously home made is even better)

100g white chocolate, melted

175g butter, softened (I used slightly salted)

175g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to Gas 5/190C and grease and line two 20cm round tins. Beat together the butter and sugar for roughly 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs individually, mixing well after each addition. Sift together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl then add to the cake mixture. Add the lemon zest, 1 tbsp of juice and two 2tbsp of milk and mix until everything is fully combined. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 25 minutes until risen, golden and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the icing, put the white chocolate into a bowl and melt in short bursts in the microwave (or melt it in a bowl sitting above a small pan of simmering water, whichever method you prefer). Leave to cool and then add to the icing sugar and butter. Mix everything together for a few minutes until smooth and fluffy.

Fill the cake with a few dollops of the icing and a good spread of lemon curd. Use the remaining icing to coat the top and sides.

White chocolate and custard cream browned butter blondies

Well that's certainly a mouthful isn't it?

Last week I was thinking about how oreos are often incorporated into brownies which led me to ponder whether custard creams could be put into blondies. After a quick google image search I noticed nobody had done it. So I made it happen.

After remembering how tasty my last blondies were, I adapted the recipe to use custard creams instead of raspberries. As the recipe link no longer works (why would you remove such a great recipe bbc?) I'll type it up at the end of the post.

I really enjoyed the texture of these blondies. They have that essential crispy, cracked surface and fudgy/chewy texture inside you'd expect from a good blondie or brownie but also an added crunch from the custard cream biscuit chunks. Then there are the delicious, smooth chunks of white chocolate just to punch up the sweet-factor even further. Basically, if you love sweet, vanilla based bakes then you'll love these. They're a real treat.

I also don't think I can go back to making blondies without browning butter. It really does add something. Plus the sweet, biscuity smell of butter while it's browning is pretty addictive. Yay for butter!

White chocolate and custard cream browned butter blondies

Recipe originally from bbc good food's website

200g unsalted butter
150g white chocolate chopped into chunks (I used Lindt as it has a lovely vanilla flavour)
300g light muscovado sugar
3 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
200g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
100-125g custard cream sandwich biscuits, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and line a 25 x 22cm tin. (I didn't have the correct sized tin so I used a smaller oblong one and a 7inch square sandwich tin.) Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook gently for about 5 minutes until the white solids turn golden and the butter starts to smell biscuity and sweet. Side aside to cool for 5 minutes. Add half of the white chocolate to the melted butter and set aside again for a few minutes, stirring until combined. Meanwhile, beat together the sugar and eggs for a couple of minutes until thick and pale. Add the flour, salt, vanilla extract and cooled butter mixture and mix together. 

Pour into the tin (or tins) then scatter custard creams and white chocolate chunks on top, pressing them in slightly. Bake for 40-45 minutes until it has a golden crust and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out relatively clean. (Since I used smaller tins my blondies cooked quicker, about 35-40 minutes.) Leave to cool in the tin. It's tempting to dive in straight away but they cut so much easier once cool.

custard and white chocolate biscuits

I've been on a bit of a biscuit theme this week. First the muesli ones and now these custard and white chocolate beauties which I photographed outside in the sunshine.

I've been meaning to bake these for a few months after spotting them on Lucy's blog, and they certainly didn't disappoint. The flavour from the custard powder really comes through and gives the biscuits a sandy, shortbread texture.

I also love how aromatic vanilla is in a biscuit, it makes a great waft when you open the biscuit tin :)

My only gripe is that I would probably want more white chocolate chunks. I actually reduced the sugar amount by 25g, after reading below the recipe that some people found them almost too sweet, so I certainly think more chocolate could be added without making them sickly.

Any excuse for more white chocolate really :)