Chocolate Birthday Cakes – variations on a theme

•May 18, 2013 • 7 Comments
aero cake

Mint Aero Bubbles Cake

Recently I have been making quite a few chocolate cakes with Maltesers. They are brilliant for decorating cakes and kids love them on their birthday cakes. But why stop at Maltesers? If you have another favourite chocolate treat, why not use them?

Word is out at Bootcamp that I make cakes so I was really pleased to be asked to make one for my friend Karyn’s son, Roan. He loves mint Aero Bubbles and wanted them on his cake. The green and chocolate balls make a really striking decoration for a cake and combined with his favourite colour, orange, the cake really makes a statement:

mint aero cake

Chocolate icing, mint Aero bubbles and orange highlights!

And Neve, Roan’s sister, has her birthday ten days later. So not to be outdone she requested a cake decorated with mini eggs. I think it would have looked brilliant but mini eggs after Easter are difficult to find: one shopkeeper just laughed when I asked him. So next year I will be stockpiling mini eggs, just in case, but in the meantime we settled on chocolate fingers and mini chocolate stars:

chocolate finger cake

Birthday cake with chocolate fingers and chocolate stars

We went for more traditional pink highlights on this cake! The chocolate stars are really cool because they have little faces:

chocolate finger cake

Chocolate mini stars with funny faces

They also work really well for a topper: 12 stars, one for each year (one is hiding):

star topper

Mini star topper

These cakes were really fun to make: both were chocolate sponge filled with chocolate buttercream. So thanks Karyn, and happy birthday to Roan and Neve.

And I will be checking out the confectionary aisles for new ideas!

Posted in Baking, Birthday cakes, Cakes
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Blackberry and Apple Tart with (Surprisingly Delicious) Wholemeal Spelt Pastry

•May 16, 2013 • 13 Comments
blackberry apple tart

Blackberry and Apple Tart

If you have any blackberries left in your freezer from the Autumn, and don’t want to make another crumble, this is a great weeknight, family dessert. It is essentially a wholemeal pastry case filled with deliciously soft apples and blackberries. The pastry does not have any added sugar and the filling for the tart is just fruit, a sprinkle of sugar, a few dabs of butter and some flaked almonds. It really couldn’t be simpler.

Using part spelt wholemeal flour, part plain white flour gives a tasty, short pastry texture. Even though this is a dessert recipe I don’t think it needs any sugar: there is enough in the filling. Wholemeal pastry can often seem quite dry but this one doesn’t have this problem.

The pastry might seem as if it wants to break and flake when you are rolling it out: just be firm with it and push it back into shape, while trying not to overwork it. Any breaks that occur when you are putting it in the tin can be easily fixed as well.

Recipe

Ingredients

Pastry

125g plain white flour

100g wholemeal spelt flour

pinch of salt

50g butter

50g white vegetable fat (or lard)

2-3 tablespoons chilled water

Filling

4 dessert apples

150g blackberries

2-3 tablespoons Demerara sugar

a few dabs of butter

Flaked almonds

Method

Make the pastry: put the flours and salt into a large bowl or food processor. Cut the fats into small cubes and add to the flour.

Either rub the fat into the flour using your fingers or using the pulse setting on the food processor.

Add enough of the water for the dough to bind together and form into a ball.

Wrap the dough in cling film and put into the fridge to chill for around half an hour.

When the dough is chilled, roll it out and use it to line the base of a tart dish:

wholemeal pastry

Uncooked pastry case

Set the oven to 190ºC.

Either prick the base of the pastry all over or use greaseproof paper and baking beans to weigh the pastry down.

Bake the pastry case for around 20 minutes or until golden brown. If you find that it is starting to bubble up while it is cooking just prick it again with a knife and push it back down.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin:

wholemeal spelt pastry

Baked pastry case

Make the filling: peel and slice the apples. Mix in up to a couple of tablespoons of Demerara sugar.

Add up to a tablespoon of Demerara sugar to the blackberries and mix in.

Put the apples into the pastry case and sprinkle over the blackberries.

Add a few dabs of butter to the top of the tart.

Sprinkle over some flaked almonds:

blackberry apple tart

Filled and ready for the oven

Bake for around 25 minutes or until the fruit is soft and the almonds are beginning to brown.

Allow to cool in the tin for a while before removing the tin and transferring the tart to a plate.

apple blackberry tart

Delicious served warm!

As I had a small amount of leftover pastry I thought I might as well make something with it so made a few Mango Curd Tarts with the Mango Curd from a while ago. They were really tasty and would be great with a little crème fraiche on top to neaten them up as the mango curd puffs up in the oven and then collapses:

mango curd tarts

Mango Curd Tarts

I think I will be using this pastry recipe a lot more in future, would love to know what you think of it!

Posted in Baking, Desserts, Fruit, Pastry, Recipes
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Coffee and Walnut Cake Bars

•May 14, 2013 • 6 Comments
coffee walnut cake

Coffee and Walnut Cake Bars

Good coffee is one of the great things in life. And so is good cake. Put the two together and you can satisfy two cravings in one.

Coffee and walnut cake is an enduring classic because the combination is such a good one. And soft sponge with a little crunch, topped with glacé icing is a great way to enjoy it.

I started out with the intention of making a slightly different cake but as the finished product turned out to be a success despite my misgivings, I thought I would share it with you.

I wanted to make coffee and walnut cake bars rather than a traditional cake, and I wanted to put walnuts in it and on top of it. I should have checked what I had in the cupboard first because I had used up most of the walnuts in the Coffee, Date and Walnut Muffins.

So I had to rethink my recipe and decided that the walnuts would just go in the cake. Then as I finished spooning the cake mixture into the tin I realised I had forgotten to add the walnuts… So I sprinkled them on top instead:

Coffee walnut cake

Just out of the oven

The cake is also good like this if you don’t want to add the icing. I had intended to drizzle the icing sparingly over the top of the cake but in the end decided to spread it all over. Which I then regretted because it looked a bit plain! So I found some coffee flavoured cake sprinkles just to finish it off.

coffee walnut bars

Iced Coffee and Walnut Cake Bars

In the end I was pleased with the way they turned out and would definitely make them in the same way again. Although next time I will be more organised!

If you want more walnuts in your cake increase the quantity to 75g and if you want to drizzle your icing, halve the recipe quantity of icing.

Recipe

Cake ingredients

175g butter

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

175g SR flour

1½ teaspoons instant coffee granules

A few drops of water

50g chopped walnuts

Icing ingredients

100g icing sugar

½ teaspoon instant coffee granules

A few teaspoons of water

Method

Line a tin with baking parchment. I used a 7×11 inch tray. Set the oven to 180°C.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.

Add the eggs one at a time and mix to incorporate.

Dissolve the coffee granules in a small amount of water and add to the mixture. Mix well.

Carefully fold in the flour. Either add the walnuts at this point and mix in, or spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle the walnuts evenly over the top.

Bake for around 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin before carefully removing and leaving to cool on a wire rack.

If you want to ice the sponge wait for it to cool completely.

To make the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl.

Mix the coffee granules with a tiny bit of boiling water and add about 6 teaspoons of cold water. You may need slightly more or less water. Slowly add the coffee mixture to the icing sugar while beating it. You do not need a lot of liquid so mix it well between each addition.

When the icing has reached the desired consistency either drizzle or spread over the cake. Decorate with sprinkles if using.

When the icing has set cut the cake into bars.

coffee walnut cake

Coffee and Walnut Cake Bars

I hope you enjoy them!

Posted in Baking, Cakes, Recipes
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Seeded Rolls with Wholemeal Spelt Flour

•May 11, 2013 • 12 Comments
wholemeal rolls

Wholemeal Seeded rolls

Rarely do I make anything other than a round or rectangular loaf of bread: time for a change! I am trying to incorporate healthier ingredients into my baking at the moment and seeds make a healthy and very tasty addition to bread (and flapjacks!).

Replacing some of the wheat flour with spelt flour is a good way to use different grains, and by using part wholemeal flour the rolls have added fibre. You could use any combination of seeds but for these rolls I chose to use mixed seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, linseed, hemp and sesame.

You could make these with all wholemeal flour but you would need to increase the amount of liquid and they might be a little dense. You could also use white spelt and wholemeal spelt flour, but the texture of the rolls would be slightly different: I find it more crumbly and cakey.

Recipe

Ingredients

250g wholemeal spelt flour

250g strong white wheat flour or white spelt flour

9g salt

7g dried yeast

335ml water

About 25g mixed seeds

Method

Put the flours into a large bowl and add the salt to one side and the yeast to the other.

Add the water and mix well.

Turn out and knead for 5-10 minutes, until silky and smooth.

Put into an oiled bowl and cover with cling film or a tea towel for at least an hour or until doubled in size.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and fold the dough repeatedly in on itself and form into a ball.

Divide into 10-12 pieces.

Form into balls and flatten slightly.

Brush the tops with water and dip in the seeds.

Place on an oiled baking tray and cover. Leave for around 45 minutes or until doubled in size again. If you make them in the evening you can leave them overnight in the fridge and bake them first thing in the morning:

seeded rolls

Ready to go into the oven

Heat the oven to 250ºC.

Put the rolls into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 220ºC.

Bake for around 15 minutes or until golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Move onto a wire rack to cool.

spelt rolls

Rolls cooling on the rack

These rolls are delicious for breakfast with jam and also for lunch with cheese or soup.

They also freeze well and are very handy to have in the freezer!

homemade rolls

Wholemeal Seeded Spelt Rolls

Posted in Baking, Bread, Recipes
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Oat, Apricot and Seed Squares

•May 9, 2013 • 6 Comments
apricot flapjack

Oat, Apricot and Seed Squares

These are essentially flapjacks with a few healthy ingredients added for good measure: dried apricots, nuts and seeds. This weekend I will be walking 27 miles across the Isle of Wight for charity: if there are any of these left by then I will be taking some with me!

I used a mix of seeds that included sunflower, pumpkin, linseed, hemp and sesame but you could use a combination of any seeds you fancy, replace them with other nuts or leave them out entirely. The same goes for the chopped almonds.

Recipe

Ingredients

3 tablespoons golden syrup

85g butter

30g soft brown sugar

170g dried apricots, chopped

170g porridge oats

30g almonds, chopped

30g mixed seeds, eg sunflower and pumpkin seeds

Method

Set the oven to 170ºC.

Line a tin (about 8″ square) with baking parchment.

Melt the syrup, butter and sugar together.

Mix the rest of the ingredients into the syrup mixture.

Turn out into the prepared tin and press down well with the back of a metal or wooden spoon. If the mixture sticks to the spoon it is a good idea to oil the back of a metal spoon and use that.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin.

apricot flapjack

Cooling in the tin

Cut into squares or bars:

homemade flapjack

Cut into squares

Allow to cool properly on a wire rack.

As well as a good energy boost on a long walk, these make a good alternative to cereal bars as a snack, or even a breakfast on the run.

homemade flapjack

Oat, Apricot and Seed Squares

Posted in Baking, Biscuits and Cookies, Recipes, Starters and snacks
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Coffee, Date and Walnut Muffins

•May 7, 2013 • 7 Comments
date walnut muffins

Coffee, Date and Walnut Muffins

These muffins have a delicious sticky toffee pudding taste with a hint of coffee. You could add extra coffee to give a stronger taste, or leave it out if you prefer, but I think it adds something extra.

With sticky dates and crunchy walnuts these have a great texture. And if you’re going to eat cake, why not make sure you’ve got some healthier ingredients in there too!

date walnut muffins

Sticky dates and crunchy walnuts

Recipe

Ingredients

140g chopped dried dates

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

150ml boiling water

225g soft brown sugar

115g butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

250g SR flour

100g walnuts, chopped

Method

Put the dates in a large heatproof bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and coffee granules. Add the boiling water and stir. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes.

Heat the oven to 190ºC. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases although you may get more depending on the size of your cases.

Stir the sugar, melted butter and eggs into the date mixture.

Fold in the flour until just combined and then fold in the walnuts.

Divide the mixture between the cases and bake for around 20 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool.

coffee date walnut muffins

Muffins cooling

You can cover them with a clean tea towel while they are cooling to keep the tops soft if you prefer them like that. Enjoy!

Posted in Baking, Cakes, Muffins, Recipes
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Rhubarb Crumble Cake

•May 4, 2013 • 13 Comments
rhubarb cake

Rhubarb Crumble Cake

It is rhubarb time of year again and I always think rhubarb kicks off the season of home grown fruit (although it’s technically a vegetable). My parents have a rhubarb crown for me which is going to go on the patio in a pot: they have always grown rhubarb and I have always loved rhubarb crumble, despite arguing with my Dad as to whether or not dates should be added. As a child I always thought not. I’m currently undecided.

I was very lucky and grateful to be given some amazing home-grown rhubarb by my friend Sharon, an expert gardener, and it was perfect for this Rhubarb Crumble Cake. It makes a great dessert as it is wonderful still warm, either on its own or served with custard, cream, ice cream or anything else you fancy.

It is also very good as a slice of cake either cold or warmed up. So essentially it’s good any time of day and makes a change from rhubarb crumble (with or without dates) or stewed rhubarb.

It can sometimes be a little difficult to get the right balance of sweetness with rhubarb. This recipe, adapted from Leiths Baking Bible, keeps some of the tartness of the rhubarb while making it sweet enough.

There is no need to cook the rhubarb beforehand and it will keep its shape in the cake whilst being deliciously soft and juicy to eat.

Recipe

Ingredients

For the crumble topping

85g plain flour

55g butter

30g sugar

For the Filling

675g rhubarb

1 tablespoon sugar

For the Cake

100g butter

100g sugar

2 eggs

100g SR flour

Method

Set the oven to 180ºC. Grease a 20cm/8″ loose bottomed cake tin.

Make the crumble: rub the butter into the flour in a bowl and stir in the sugar. Set aside.

Prepare the rhubarb: wash, trim and cut into pieces. Stir in the tablespoon of sugar. Set aside.

Make the cake: Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix in. Fold in the flour.

rhubarb cake

Cake mix, prepared rhubarb and crumble mix ready to assemble

Spoon the cake mix into the tin and spread evenly.

Cover evenly with the rhubarb pieces.

Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the top of the rhubarb.

Bake in the oven for around 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and feels firm to the touch.

And enjoy the new season’s rhubarb. Thank you very much Sharon!

Posted in Baking, Cakes, Desserts, Fruit, Recipes
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