I Bake Therefore I Am

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

2012-02-02T21:54:00.000Z

The two things I love trying new recipes for are cupcakes and layer cakes. Because there are so many out there! Chocolate and bacon is pretty popular amongst American bloggers these days and I recently saw a recipe for a cupcake topped with fried chicken. I kid you not! While I'm not going that experimental just yet - 'just yet' being the operative phrase seeing as there is a Nigella bacon and chocolate brownie recipe sitting in my pile just waiting to be tested - I thought I'd make something a bit different for my next cupcake.

For those of us that aren't American and have no idea what a Snickerdoodle is - nope, it's nothing to do with drawing or Snickers bars - I found this definition online to help us along: "Snickerdoodles are an old fashioned cookie that have a sugar cinnamon coating and a sweet and buttery flavour"!

See how helpful that was? Whatever did we do before the Internet?!

These are a light, cinnamon flavoured cupcake topped with marshmallow frosting so the entire thing is lighter, less sweet and less cloying than your average cupcake. They're also a nice, easy cupcake to make, which I have to be honest, was the deciding vote when I was considering which new recipe to try. Some of the recipes out there look I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E but boy oh boy, they've got an ingredient list longer than ... well, something really long!

This recipe is adapted very slightly from my amazing Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book and the marshmallow frosting is from Marthastewart.com . Photos are courtesy of the amazing Onada.

Makes: 28

Ingredients

Cake
3 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
227g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Frosting
8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Cake
1 - Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Combine together both flours, baking powder, salt and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
2 - With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.
3 - Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester/toothpick inserted in centres comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
Frosting
4 - Place egg whites, sugar and cream of tarter in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 - 4 minutes.
5 - Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks
6 - To finish, combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe frosting on each cupcake. Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon sugar

Best of 2011

2012-01-20T12:35:00.000Z

Better late than never eh? :) These are the bakes that stood out for me in 2011. Either because they were challenging, or new, or particularly enjoyable to bake and more importantly, particularly enjoyable to EAT!

Please let me know which of my recipes you tried in 2011 and how they turned out. Which ones made you go 'wow!' (hopefully there were some ;p), and what you want to see me bake more of in 2012 and I promise to try and oblige as many of you as I can.

Thanks for your support in 2011!

Irish Car Bomb Cake

I made this cake for my 'Great British Bake off' audition and both Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood loved it :) It's Guinness chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache and frosted with Baileys buttercream frosting. It's yummy! Even if I do say so myself.

The Best Brownies in the World. Ever!

I swear I'm not just tooting my own horn - these brownies really are amazing! And trust me, I've eaten A LOT of brownies - ahem, only in the name of research of course. Obviously *cough*. I intend to experiment with them a lot, throw some cookies in them (like in the entry below), swirl some peanut butter and throw in some chopped Snickers bars (coming soon) etc so watch this space.

Oreo Stuffed Brownies

I tried some cookies and cream brownies but I was left underwhelmed. And let's be honest. 'underwhelmed' is a word that shouldn't even feature when we're talking about brownies AND Oreos! Together! So when I saw a recipe for Oreo Stuffed Brownies, I decided there and then to just adapt my recipe slightly and throw some Oreos in them and voila! A friend told me two days ago that whenever he goes to markets and sees a brownie stall, he goes up to them and starts telling them all about these amazing Oreo brownies that his friend Vickii made - that's how cool these brownies are! And easy! Try them!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting

2011 will go down in history - well, my history anyway. The history in my head which is oh so important to me and I'll recount to my kids over and over again - as the year when I discovered how amazing pumpkin in baking tastes! And also that when you cook butter till it melts and starts to burn slightly, it's an actual technique that makes everything taste amazing; brown butter! I also used brown butter in these Snickers cookies.

Red Velvet Cake Pops
Cake pops were 2011's cupcakes. Remarkably easy to make and not to mention smooshing a cake you've just baked is strangely satisfying :) I need to make some more in 2012!

Triple Layer Oreo Cake
The natural choice of cake for my mum's birthday as she is a chocolate fiend. There's no such thing as too chocolatey in her book! A vanilla sponge layer speckled with Oreo cookies sandwiched between two layers of intense, rich chocolate cake with the aid of a light and creamy filling containing large Oreo pieces. All covered in a rich fudge frosting and decorated with Oreos ... *sigh* ... sorry, I just had a moment there recalling the taste - it was kinda like chocolate and Oreo heaven.

Mojito Cupcakes
A cupcake inspired by my favourite cocktail - what's not to like? ;p

Puffy Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip and Golden Oreo Cookies
This had to be the year of the cookie for me! Turns out I'm not genetically incapable of baking cookies afterall. In fact, I'm pretty good :) I made Cinnamon Roll Cookies, Lemon Sugar Cookies, Lofthouse cookies and Snickers Cookies but these were my favourite! They were also the easiest to make and the most versatile. You can throw whatever you want in them!

My Beautiful Cupcakes
I'm still in love with how amazing Onada made my cupcakes look so of course they made the list! The recipe for the Snickerdoodle cupcakes (the ones with plain white frosting and a dusting of cinnamon sugar) will be posted next week.

Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

2012-01-15T15:32:00.000Z

Happy New Year all!

I made this cake twice for Christmas gatherings a week apart. I'll let the reviews I got do the talking ;)

"I dare say your pumpkin cake is currently my most favourite thing in the world.
The sweetness of the caramel frosting perfectly counterbalances the pumpkin moistness and density of the cake with a little bitter chaser" (She should be a food writer right?!)

"I thought Hummingbird was good but ... this cake, oh my God"

"Possibly the best cake I've tasted of yours so far"

"Had a slice, smuggled out and carried across state lines. One word; sublime"

"Someone just screamed OH MY GOD. Can you get me her details?"

I'm not touting my own horn; it's the cake!

This incredible recipe (changed very slightly) is from Food & Wine.

Ingredients

Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
170g unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons double cream
455g cream cheese, cut into small cubes

Cake
2 cups plain flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 425g can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup whole milk

For the frosting
1 - In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water, vanilla bean and seeds. Cook over high heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Using a wet pastry brush, wash down any crystals from the side of the pan.
2 - Cook over a medium-high heat without stirring until a medium-dark amber caramel forms, about 15 minutes (Don't worry if it takes longer). Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the butter and double cream. (Don't worry if the butter separates). Discard the vanilla bean.
3 - Transfer the caramel to the large bowl and using a mixer, beat at low speed until the caramel cools slightly and comes together, about 5 minutes.
4 - With the mixer, beat in the cream cheese, 1 cube at a time and beating well between additions (until the cube you've just added has completely disappeared into the mixture), until silky. It should be cool by the time you've incorporated all the cream cheese. Transfer the frosting to a bowl and refrigerate until very firm, at least 6 hours.
For the cake
5 - Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas mark 4 / 350F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans. (Note: I made 1 1/2 half times the recipe to make a triple layer cake).
6 - In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
7 - In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar and eggs at medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in the oil, then beat in the pumpkin puree. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk in 3 batches, beating well between additions.
8 - Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 20 - 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
9 - Let the cakes cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen the cakes, then invert them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
10 - Place one layer on a plate and spread with 1 cup of the caramel cream cheese frosting. Top with the second layer and frost the top and side.

Refrigerate the cake for 2 hours before serving.
Make ahead: The cake can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Notes: The cake can be garnished with candied nuts

Thank to Philippa Brady for the lovely Christmassy photos!

DAMN! Don't my cupcakes look good?!

2011-12-21T11:25:00.000Z

Wow! I know I'm supposed to be modest and all that but wow! My cupcakes look gooooooood! And that's all thanks to my wonderful photographer friend Bola who I put to work on her short trip to London a month ago! Who would've have known all those years ago when we met in school that she'd come in handy one day? ;p

If she makes my cupcakes look this good, you can only imagine what she does with people! Actually, you don't have to imagine, go check out her work here NOW!

I'm afraid this is it from me till January. Have a WONDERFUL Christmas all and an incredible New Year! And not just the 31st of this year but an incredible whole of next year!

Thank you so much for reading my blog and commenting and I'll be posting lots of new and interesting stuff in the new year!

Puffy Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip and Golden Oreo Cookies

2011-12-05T13:00:00.001Z

Lemme tell you something about these cookies.They're great! So great that ...

1) They have turned mere mortals into baking converts! I first made these with Susan (She's obsessed with peanut butter, carrot cake and ~~thinks she~~ is amazing ;p). She wanted a total peanut butter hit so we put peanut butter chips, peanut M&Ms and Reese's Pieces in them (That's another great thing about these cookies, feel free to swap the chocolate chips and Oreos for other things - smarties, m&ms, chunks of your favourite bar of chocolate, anything!).
They were so simple to make that when they were all ready and in the oven, she kept saying: "But that can't be it. We can't be finished already". But that was it. We really were finished. They really are that simple! Half an hour after you start, you've got hot cookies!

And FYI, Susan has gone on to bake white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies, peanut butter banana bread and a French yogurt cake. All because of these cookies ;p

2) God himself endorses these cookies! Well, I like to think He endorses everything I bake but I made these for Church and got a text from the Pastor's wife (Monica) that evening saying how good they were. And then a couple of days later, the Pastor himself (Mark) texted to say he really enjoyed them. I don't think Mark has eaten any of my baking before and I just assumed he didn't have a sweet tooth but a couple of weeks later, Monica asked for the recipe as Mark had been hassling her to make them.

So there you have it. Make these cookies!

Quick aside - Isnt' it funny how in this post, I was lamenting my genetic inability to bake cookies and muffins and now I'm like the cookie queen! Cookie queen is a title I'm trying on for size and I really like it!

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Makes about 20 cookies

2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
113g butter
6 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter (I bought crunchy by mistake and I like to think it gave it a little sumthin' sumthin')
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup Golden Oreos broken into bits. Regular Oreos would work too.

1 - Preheat oven to 170C / Gas Mark 3 / 325F. Line your baking trays with grease proof paper.
2 - Add peanut butter and butter to a microwave safe bowl, then heat in 30 second increments until melted. Let cool completely.

3 - Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
4 - In another bowl, mix the the cooled butter/peanut butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed.

Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms - it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. Use your hands to bring it all together if you want.
5 - Fold in chocolate chips and Oreo bits.

6 - Shape the dough into balls the size of a golf ball.

Place on your baking tray two inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. The centres should be soft and puffy. Do not over bake. Let cool completely.

Orange Marmalade Rolls

2011-11-26T13:28:00.001Z

Happy belated Thanksgiving y'all! (Please don't ask why I'm pretending to be from the American South - it just seemed right so I went with it)

As usual, I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving; despite saying EVERY SINGLE YEAR that I will start a tradition of cooking Thanksgiving fare and inviting friends round. Perhaps I should make that 2012's resolution?

I also really should get my act together and at least celebrate holidays on my blog! Surely, I could have made something Thanksgiving-y and posted it on Thanksgiving day right? Okay, adding 'celebrate holidays on my blog' to my non existent New Years Resolutions list!

I wasn't going to post this because as you can see, my orange marmalade rolls didn't look exactly as they were supposed to. I decided to because imperfection is a part of everything. Even baking. Especially baking. Hopefully you'll learn from my mistakes and you and I can do it better next time!

I know you guys think I'm perfect, and I never get anything wrong ... right? Oh you don't? Moving swiftly on :) Seriously though, people do think that everything I bake turns out perfectly and I never have disasters but that couldn't be further from the truth! My only saving grace is that I am often able to salvage (read: hide) those disasters. And other times, like now, something may not look as it should but it still tastes damn good! And isn't that the whole point of baking after all? :)

FYI, I think my mistake with this was rolling out the dough too thin so I struggled to roll it up and cut it into slices. I love everything in the 'roll' family so I'll be making lots more of these. And hopefully they'll be better looking!

If you're anything like me, you find recipes with yeast slightly threatening but believe me when I say these were very easy to make! And so yummy!

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

For the rolls
473ml Whole Milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
7g active dry yeast
4 cups (plus 1/2 cup extra, separated) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon (generous serving) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (scant serving) baking soda
1/2 tablespoon (generous) salt
8 tablespoons orange marmalade
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Orange Glaze
900g icing sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 dash salt

1 - Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off the heat and leave to cool for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

2 - When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in the yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add the 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together.

Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

3 - After rising for at least an hour, add 1/2 cup of flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it - overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).
4 - When ready to prepare rolls, sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape.

5 - Spread marmalade over the top. Pour on butter, and then sprinkle the brown sugar evenly. Sprinkle with salt

6 - Beginning at the long side furthest from you, roll the dough into a long roll toward you; being careful to keep it tucked tightly. Pinch edge to seal.

7 - Cut rolls into 1 to 1 1/2 inch rolls and place into buttered pans. Allow to rise for at least 20 mins.

8 - Bake at 190C / Gas Mark 5 / 375F for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown (but not overly brown).
9 - While baking, mix together the ingredients for the orange glaze, thinning with more milk or orange juice to make mixture thin enough to be pourable.
10 - Immediately drizzle orange glaze over the top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Snickers Cookies and Marathon Running

2011-11-06T20:01:00.000Z

I officially lost my mind a couple of weeks ago ... more than usual, I mean.

My sister got a charity place with the Salvation Army on the London 2012 marathon and had been trying to convince me to do it with her. "No way Jose" was my (very sensible) reaction. I've always wanted to run a marathon - just once - and boy will I milk that one time marathon every day for the rest of my life.

"When I ran a marathon ..." will be how I reply to questions from friends about where we should go for dinner.

"I learnt several things when running a marathon; the most important of which ..." will be how I start the debate with my future toddlers about why they should eat their vegetables.

You get the point :)

Anyway, I wasn't ready to run a marathon just yet. And then I spoke to my sister one day and she gave me a spiel about how this wasn't just any marathon but it was LONDON TWO THOUSAND AND TWELVE, Olympic year, no London marathon would ever be the same ... blah blah. Long story short, don't ever give my sister the chance to convince you to do something because ... oh, sorry, went off on a tangent there, long story short, on the 22nd of April 2012, I will be running the longest I have ever run in my entire life. Hey, if a 100 year old man can do it, I can too right? Right?

Anyway, the only plus side to running a marathon is I've heard that with all the training, I can pretty much eat what I want without putting on weight; which will mean lots of cookies whoop whoop. Check these out - if you like Snickers, the big soft biteful in the middle of these cookies is amazeballs :)

Recipe from Bakers Royale who adapted it from Cook's Illustrated.

Makes 24 - 30 3inch cookies

Prep: Heat oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5/ 375F. Line baking tray with grease proof paper

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

227g butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tsps vanilla extract

2 large eggs

5 Snickers bars, each sliced into 6 pieces

1 cup chocolate chips

1 - Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl; set aside

2 - Place 140g of the butter in non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking and using the handle of the pan to swirl the butter around. Swirl butter constantly until it becomes dark golden brown in colour and gives off a nutty aroma; 1 - 3 minutes.

3 - Remove saucepan from the heat and transfer browned butter to a large heatproof bowl. Stir in the remaining butter into the hot butter until completely melted.

4 - Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to brown butter mixture and whisk until full incorporated.

5 - Add eggs and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds.Rest mixture for 3 minutes, then whisk for another 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny.

6 - Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

7 - Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough, flatten it into a round disc and place a Snickers slice on top. Fold edges over Snickers to seal it. Place cookies 2 inches apart on grease proof paper lined baking trays.

8 - Bake cookies one sheet at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, about 10 to 14 minutes. Cool cookies.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

2011-10-17T12:53:00.000+01:00

You all know my favourite chocolate cake recipe is Guinness Chocolate Cake. And that is the recipe I use for most of my cupcakes and cakes. However, when I was asked to make some small cupcakes for a friend's nephew to take to school on his 6th birthday, I deduced all on my lonesome that the parents might not be too pleased with their 6 year old eating Guinness cake. Despite the fact that all the Guinness evaporates in the bakingand that it doesn't taste of Guinness *spoilsports*.

So I decided to make these cupcakes from 'The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook'. I've made them before and my chocoholic housemate thinks they're the best chocolate cake he's ever tried! Since that accolade very clearly belongs to Guinness cake, we can dismiss his opinion as crazy but it is still pretty good compliment right?

It was fun making these cupcakes as they were so small and cute and I had a ball decorating them! I made 30 and apparently the kids at his school were so enthused that kids from other classes came in to have cake too. The amazing little birthday boy kept one cake for himself but ended up giving it to another kid who didn't get one. So he didn't get to have any of his own birthday cupcakes. I think there is a lesson in there for us all right? DO NOT SHARE CAKE! No. Not really. Caring. Sharing. More along those lines.

However, he did threaten to fight his aunt if she didn't get him more cupcakes which is how I ended up making a few more of these yesterday :)

Makes 24 normal sized cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cakes
3 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 cup hot water
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup cold water
200g softened unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate fudge frosting
6 cups icing sugar (I reduced this from the original amount of 8 cups)
1 cup cocoa powder
200g softened butter
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 - Preheat oven to 170C / 325F / Gas Mark 3. Line two 12-hole muffin trays with chocolate-coloured cupcake papers.

2 - Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the coffee, hot water and cocoa until you have a smooth paste. Add the cold water and whisk until evenly combined.
3 - In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the caster sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved.
4 - Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
5 - Add a quarter of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add a third of the cocoa mixture and beat until combined. Repeat this process twice more. Add the remaining quarter of the flour and beat until thoroughly combined; do not over-beat as this will toughen the mixture.
6 - Spoon mixtures into cupcake papers, filling each about three quarters full. To prevent the cupcakes cracking on top, allow the mixture to sit in the cupcake papers for 20 minutes before baking.

7 - Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

8 - While cooling make the frosting. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl.
9 - In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the milk, vanilla extract and half of the icing sugar mixture, and beat for at least 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy.
10 - Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy and of a spreadable consistency. Add extra milk if the mixture is too dry or extra icing sugar if the mixture is too wet.

Pumpkin Streusel Bars

2011-10-08T18:46:00.000+01:00

I realised as I typed up this recipe that I got it kinda wrong when I baked it - oops. Instead of removing 3/4 cup of the crumble mixture and reserving it for the topping, I removed 3/4 of the mixture. Yup, three quarters of the entire crumple mixture made it on to the top of my bars! Which didn't affect the taste but it sure made for some crumbly bars! I took these to church and honestly, the mess we left on the floor ... sorry! My sincerest apologies to whoever had to hoover the carpet after!

So yeah, if you guys make this recipe, please be smarter than me. Thanks :)

These are some good bars! I love the taste of all things pumpkin so I was always going to like these but other people did too. I got a couple of "your best yet" comments which are really sweet but leave me thinking "hang on what about all the other things I've baked?" But funnily, I don't think many people realised they were pumpkin. One person was insistent that there was banana in it. Somebody else said they loved the peanut butter flavour and one last person loved the custard :) I guess we don't bake with pumpkin much over here so it is pretty unusual.

These are easy to make so I'd definitely recommend giving them a go! And they taste much better the next day!

Recipe from another one of my favourite blogs; Bakers Royale

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 + 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup of dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup cold butter
1 1/2 cup oats
3/4 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
226g cream cheese
1 can pumpkin puree (available in the UK at Waitrose)
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
pinch cloves
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butterscotch chips (I used white chocolate chips instead)

1 - Pre-heat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F. Line a 13 x 9 baking tin with grease proof paper - letting the grease proof paper hang 1 1/2 inches over each side.
2 - In a bowl, combine the flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, brown sugar

Using your fork or your fingers or a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in oats and pecans.

3 - Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture and add in butterscotch / white chocolate chips.

Set aside and reserve for topping. Press remaining mixture into bottom of parchment lined pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

4 - Combine cream cheese and pumpkin; add remaining sugar, cinnamon, ginger, all spice, cloves and vanilla and mix until well blended.

Pour over the crust and bake for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle reserved oat crumb mixture and continue to bake for another 15 minutes.
5 - Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before storing. Cut into squares and serve.

Boston Cream Pie

2011-10-02T14:33:00.000+01:00

Has anyone seen the new movie 'I don't know how she does it'? Apparently Sarah Jessica Parker's character is obsessed with lists which help her juggle her wife, mother and busy professional balls. I totally get her. I too, am obsessed with lists!

At present, I have 22 lists in my iPhone 'notes'. They range from my permanent shopping list to a list of songs I want to download and a bunch of quotes that I love and want to keep to hand (sample: "According to aeronautical experts, a bumble bee cannot fly because of the asymmetric relationship between its body shape, size and wing span. She doesn't know this however, and flies anyway").

As usual, there is a link (albeit, as usual, tenuous) between my enlightened write-up random chit chat and today's recipe. And that is my 'to cook/bake' list. This list contains the recipes that jump out at me from all the numerous recipes I book mark and post-it-mark in my cookbooks. If I love it, it goes on here so that I remember it when I have time to bake 'just because'. And this Boston Cream Pie (not a pie, as the name misleadingly implies, but a cake) has been on my list for a very long time!

It is from my favourite Nigella book and as usual the recipe didn't let me down. I LOVE the creme patissiere filling but for some reason, the oil seemed to separate from the butter and chocolate in my ganache so it looked very oily. A few hours later, it was fine but you will notice the oily sheen in my pictures. If anyone knows why this happened, please enlighten me. I should also point out I always struggle with ganache so maybe it's just me!

Happy Sunday folks!

Recipe from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic goddess'

Ingredients

For the cake
225g unsalted butter, very soft
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
200g self-raising flour
25g cornflour (Nigella believes the combination of flour and cornflour makes for a lighter, more tender sponge but it is fine to replace this with 225g self raising flour, as I did)
3 - 4 tablespoons milk

For the icing

150ml double cream
1teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
150g dark chocolate

For the creme patissiere

125ml milk
125ml double cream
1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
50g caster sugar
15g plain flour

The cake
1 - Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Grease and flour 2 x 21cm sandwich tins
2 - Cream the butter and sugar, add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, adding a spoonful of flour between each
3 - Fold in the rest of the flour (and the cornflour if using), and when all is incorporated, add a little milk as you need.
4 - Pour and scrape the batter into the tins

bake for about 25 minutes, until the cakes are beginning to come away at the edges, are springy to the touch on top and a cake tester comes out clean..

Creme Patissiere

5 - When the cake is in the oven, warm the milk and cream in a saucepan along with the vanilla pod split length-wise.

6 - Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat, cover and let stand to infuse for 10 minutes. If you're not using the pod, add the vanilla extract later, when you've combined all the ingredients.

7 - In a large bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar until creamy,

and then beat in the flour.

8 - With the point of a small, sharp knife, scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod into the milk, and add this warm milk to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth

9 - Pour back into the saucepan and stir or whisk gently over a low heat until the custard thickens.

Remove from the heat and let the custard cool by pouring it into a wide bowl and tearing off some greaseproof paper, wetting it, then covering the bowl with it. This stops it forming a skin. Don't put it in the fridge.

10 - When the cakes are done, sit them in their tins on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes, then turn out and cool directly on the rack. When the cakes and the creme patissiere are cool, you can make the chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache
11 - Warm the cream, vanilla extract and butter with the chocolate, chopped into small pieces, and bring to the boil in a thick-bottomed saucepan, by which time the chocolate should have melted.

12 - Remove from the heat and whisk till smooth and thickened. Let cool a little before using, but you still want it runny enough to ice with

13 - Sit one of the cakes on a plate or cake stand and spread with the cooled creme patissiere,

then top with the second cake. Dollop spoonfuls of the chocolate icing on top, letting it spread and drip down the sides of the cake

Serves 8

Oreo-stuffed brownies and a fairytale.

2011-09-18T22:04:00.001+01:00

It all started with a brownie!

If my baking story were a fairytale, this is how it would go...

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (okay so Birmingham is physically only a couple of hours away, but in every other way, it's like a whole other universe!) There lived a young woman who had moved back home with her mama and baba and sister after university. Despite a history of baking with their grandmother occasionally, neither girl baked much.

Until one day, the sister; Christiana decided to bake brownies and found this wonderful looking recipe. The brownies were a bit too oily, very sweet, and so gooey that it was impossible to cut them into squares but as neither sister knew any better, they thought they were amazing!

And so they started to make these brownies all the time; for every event they were invited to and for every pot luck lunch organised at work. Over time, they reduced the amount of butter, and increased the amount of chocolate. They started to bake them in a bigger pan, toned down the sugar content a notch and replaced caster sugar with brown sugar.
And so, our signature brownie was born! I love these brownies! And I always compare other brownies to this one. After making them oh, about a hundred times, I decided to try my hand at a few other recipes and that, my friends, is how my love of baking was born.

There is so much that can be done with brownies so it's about to get very browni-exciting up on this blog! Ha ha, like what I did there?

First off are these Oreo stuffed brownies. These are nice and simple.

Ingredients

1 portion of this brownie recipe (minus the white and milk chocolate chunks). Also, reduce the flour to 150g.
As many Oreo cookies as you need - I used 24 (almost two packs).

1 - Make brownie batter as per recipe (minus the last step which is folding in the milk and white chocolate chunks) and spread half of the batter on the bottom on your baking tin
2 - Arrange the Oreos over the brownie batter side-by-side and in one layer

3 - Pour the remaining brownie batter over the cookies and spread in an even layer to cover the cookies.
4 - Bake in a pre-heated 170C/ Gas Mark 3 / 325F oven for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Lemon Blueberry Buckle

2011-09-02T10:08:00.001+01:00

Hey hey! Sorry I've been AWOL for a bit. Okay, okay, about three weeks *shamefaced*. In my defence, I've been very very busy. But I'll also admit that I could have found some time somewhere to shoot off a quick post. Especially since I made this over a month ago and I've had the pictures ready to go the whole time.

Yup, I could have cleared some 'Cougar Town' from my schedule just long enough to write this. But have you seen 'Cougar Town'???? It's my new TV obsession! It's funny, not too deep and each episode is only 20 minutes long (which is great if you get restless when you sit still for too long. ~~Like me~~. Not like anyone I know)! Plus it has Josh Hopkins who was in 'Ally McBeal' for a few episodes towards the end; but just long enough for me to fall in love with him *sigh*.

Anyway, I present you with yet more lemon. This time a Lemon Blueberry Buckle. If you're wondering what a Buckle is - because I totally did - it is a cake with a crumble topping. Now, I'm convinced that a crumble topping makes everything taste good - case in point fruit. Crumble makes fruit taste GOOD - so this was bound to be a winner. The cake is so delicately soft and so full of flavour and the crumble topping? Well, it is crumble topping so it rocks.

Anyway, try it! And I promise I won't stay away for so long next time!

(Recipe from The Novice Chef)
Yields - About 20 servings

Ingredients

Crumb Topping
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of 2 lemons
113g butter, cubed, at room temperature

Cake
170g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan
3 cups plus 4 tablespoons flour
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
5 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, divided into two lots
crumb topping, chilled

For Crumb Topping:
1 - In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest.
2 - Add the butter, using a fork or your fingers to cut in the butter until it is reduced to the size of peas. Loosely cover the bowl, and place it in the freezer while you mix the cake batter.
For the Cake:
3 - Heat the oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 180F. Lightly grease a 33 x 23cm baking tin
4 - In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg
5 - In a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until the mixture is light and fluffy; about 3 - 5 minutes.
6 - Add the lemon juice and eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
7 - Stir the flour mixture into the bowl, a third at a time, alternating with the oil, until both the flour mixture and oil are evenly incorporated into the batter.
8 - Gently fold 1 cup of blueberries into the batter
9 - Spread the batter into the prepared pan and distribute the remaining blueberries evenly over the top of the batter.

Remove the crumb topping from the freezer and sprinkle it over the berries.

10 - Bake the cake until it is lightly golden and firm on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 - 50 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through for even baking.
11 - Remove the cake from the oven and cool to room temperature before cutting.
The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days, covered in plastic wrap.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread + Giveaway Winner

2011-08-10T16:40:00.000+01:00

First things first. The winner of my giveaway was comment number 9; Pretty Lashes! Congratulations! You win a copy of 'Indulgence cupcakes: A Fine Selection of Sweet Treats'. Please send me an e-mail (vickii373@aol.com) with your name and address so that I can post the book to you.

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:9Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Now onto business!
The business of baking, that is.
And eating.
Because obviously if I bake and don't eat, it's a waste. And I'm not wasteful. I was pretty much the opposite of wasteful with this bread because I ate it all myself (which I never do with my baked goods) over the course of a weekend! But me and bread, we've got something special.

Anyway, I've wanted to make this pretty much since I saw it on Annie's blog. Have I waxed lyrical about Annie yet? If I haven't, let me just take a moment to do so. First of all, she has the same name as my mum which is always a plus. She is also a doctor, has two kids AND pretty much cooks or bakes something new and incredible every day. And then updates her blog at least every couple of days with these wonderful creations and beautiful pictures. She's superwoman right? Yup, I thought so.

I want to be just like her when I grow up! Except that I'm grown. Dammit, why am I not like her?

Anyway, I've covered my love affair with bread already. Sugar is a given. Cinnamon, you probably know I like from this post so this bread was destined to be made, it was just a question of when. As with all yeast baking, there's a lot of waiting around for rising but it was totally worth it, I'm definitely making it again!

Yield: one 9 x 5" loaf

Ingredients

For the dough:

2¾ cups plain flour, plus more as needed

¼ cup granulated sugar

2¼ tsp. instant yeast

½ tsp. salt

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

¼ cup water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

For the filling:

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 - To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
2 - Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat just until the butter is melted. Set aside and let cool briefly, until the mixture registers 46-51˚ C on an instant-read thermometer. (I don't have a thermometer so I let it cool for 5 minutes)
3 - Add the milk mixture, water, vanilla and eggs to the mixer bowl.

Mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms. Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour as needed 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not sticky. Knead about 3-5 minutes more
4 - Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat, and cover.

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. (After the dough has doubled, it can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before proceeding.)
5 - While the dough rises, add the butter to a small saucepan and melt until browned. Set aside.
6 - Combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix well.
7 - Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Roll into a ball, cover with a clean towel and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out into an approximate 12 x 20 inch rectangle.Brush the dough with the browned butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough in an even layer. (Yes really, use all of it. I've reduced the sugar slightly from the original recipe)

8 - Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Slice the dough vertically into 6 even strips.

Stack the strips on top of each other and again cut again into 6 equal slices. Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into the prepared loaf pan. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place, 30-45 minutes.

9 - Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F. Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. (If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil at the end of baking.) Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan 20-30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out, transferring to a serving plate. Serve warm.

Lemon Sugar Cookies and a Giveaway!!!

2011-07-28T22:00:00.000+01:00

Let's talk numbers.

At last count, I had about 40 cookbooks on my book shelf...
At least 15 of those, I've never made anything from...
I have another 14 cookbooks biding their time till they become a part of my book family on my Amazon wishlist...
I have about 40 recipes bookmarked on my computer at work...
At least another 200 bookmarked on Ella Mac (my laptop)...

My (very long-winded) point is that I have lots of cook books that are brand new, that I've never cooked/baked from and if I'm honest, probably never will. So I'm going to start to give them away!
The first book I'm giving away is called 'Indulgence Cupcakes: A Fine Selection of Sweet Treats'. Please see the bottom of this post for details on how to enter the giveaway.

Now, onto today's post. It is another recipe from Sweet Pea's Kitchen - whose recipes are always on point! I'm trying to take advantage of the season known as summer in other countries to make lighter, more refreshing recipes taking advantage of all the lovely fruit around and these fit the bill. Lemon is one of my favourite flavours and these cookies are bursting with it. They're also sweet and light and soft; everything a cookie should be.

Yield - about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 and 3/4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Zest of 2 large lemons
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling cookies

1 - Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats
2 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside
3 - Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add lemon zest, egg, vanilla extract and lemon juice; beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds.

4 - Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.
5 - Place the 1/2 cup sugar for rolling in a shallow bowl. Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a 1 1/2 inch ball, roll the ball in sugar, and then place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart

6 - Bake until the cookies are slightly brown around the edges and their centers are just set and lightly coloured, 8 - 10 minutes.
7 - Cool the cookies on the baking sheets about 2 minutes; using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

To keep cookies soft, store them with a slice of bread in an air tight container.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

I'm giving away the copy of 'Indulgence Cupcakes: A Fine Selection of Sweet Treats' There is one mandatory way to enter and additional ways to gain entries into the giveaway (Tip: Each comment only counts as one entry so you're giving yourself more chances if you leave different comments for each entry. e.g. Answer the question in one comment. Tell me you're following me in a different comment etc)

CLOSING DATE - Midnight on FRIDAY 5th August

Rules and How to Enter
1) Giveaway is open to everyone with a UK mailing address
2) For the mandatory way to enter, leave a comment below telling me what your favourite cupcake flavour is.
3) For another entry, follow my blog using the Google Friend Connect 'Follow' button on the right of my blog. Leave a separate comment to tell me you have done this or if you are already following.
4) For yet another entry, follow me on Twitter @vickii373 and leave a comment here to tell me you are following me on Twitter and what your username is. Let me know if you're already following me.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Orange Pound Cake and Me, Me, Me!

2011-07-21T21:29:00.000+01:00

I know you guys lie awake at night, thinking to yourselves; "What I want most in the world is to know more about Vickii ..." Well, consider your wish my command, because this post is mostly about me! Ha ha, only kidding. Kind of. I saw this on another blog (can't remember which one) and thought it would be fun to do - so enjoy, and feel free to judge me as harshly as you want.

Today's post is an orange pound cake that I made for church a few weeks ago when the weather was so lovely, I wanted to bake something with a refreshing zesty flavour. A lot of people thought it was lemon drizzle cake which is interesting as I think it is quite distinctively orange. But either way, it is a gorgeous pound cake. Soft and moist and fabulously citrusy yet not overwhelmingly so. Enjoy!

1. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

Totally! I'm a great friend.
2. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
A lot compared to who? Actually, it doesn't matter, yes I use sarcasm a lot. In fact, I think I'm genetically incapable of opening my mouth without being sarcastic.
3. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yup
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Does bacon count?
5. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Probably not. I don't really get the point of jumping off somewhere really high just to bounce up and down and dangle after. Jumping out of a plane, now that I get.
6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
The cereal formerly known as Cinnamon Grahams. I've introduced so many people to it! It is soooo good that I don't think it can technically be referred to as cereal. More like crunchy dessert.
7. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Only my running shoes because apparently it's bad to tug them off your feet while they're still laced up.
8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
One of the American Ben & Jerry's flavours. I can't choose. That's like asking me to pick a favourite child. (I don't have kids but I imagine that would be hard ;p)
9. RED OR PINK?
Pink - despite vehemently fighting it, it turns out I'm quite a girly girl
10. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON YOUR NEXT VACATION?
Hawaii. Or Cape Town. I wouldn't say no to Tahiti either. Or Thailand.
11. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Camel coloured boots.
12. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
A jam sandwich for breakfast.
13. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Yellow!
14. FAVORITE SMELLS?
I have LOTS of favourite smells. The sea. The smell of yummy baking. Stella McCartney's Stella perfume. Jo Malone's Nectarine and Honey perfume. Davidoff's cool water on men. The smell of caramelising onions. Freshly brewed coffee.... I could go on forever
15. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My mum

16. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Football during the World or European cups17. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Nope

18. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Happy endings.
19. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Going The Distance. It wasn't as good the second time around.

20. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

I'm wearing a strappy top in a colour best described as some shade of yellow.

21. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

'I'm reading 'The Nanny Returns' - sequel to 'The Nanny Diaries'. I wouldn't recommend it.
22. FAVORITE SOUND?
The sound of waves crashing on a beach.23. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Depends on which is further from London; California or Vancouver?

24. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU WATCHED ON TV?

Probably 'Come Dine with Me'.

Recipe from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Yields 2 loaves

Ingredients

For the Pound Cake

226g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

4 extra - large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup grated orange zest (from 6 oranges)

3 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Orange Syrup

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

For the Orange Glaze

2 cups icing sugar

4 - 6 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 - Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F. Grease bottom and sides of two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess. Line the bottoms with grease proof paper (optional).

2 - Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer still running, beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the orange zest.

3 - In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4 - In another small bowl, combine orange juice, buttermilk and vanilla.

5 - Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternatively to the butter and sugar mixture; beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until combined, not too long.

6 - Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes

7 - While the loaves are cooling, make the orange syrup by combining the orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat.

8 - Remove loaves from tin and place on a wire rack positioned over a baking sheet. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the loaves.

9 - Brush the tops and sides of the loaves with the orange syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cakes cool completely.

10 - To make the orange glaze, in a small bowl whisk together the icing sugar and 4 tablespoons of the orange juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of orange juice if the mixture is too stiff.

11 - Pour the orange glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the orange glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving

Mojito cupcakes and My Favourite Books Reviewed Part 1

2011-07-12T12:05:00.000+01:00

Good morning :)

As I explained in this post, I'm an avid reader. And I'm going to start reviewing some of my favourite books of all time on here thereby incorporating two of my favourite things; ~~eating~~ baking and reading. And writing. Okay, make that three of my favourite things.

However, don't let my enthusiastic book review distract you from today's cupcakes because they're absolutely scrumptious! Even if I do say so myself. My housemate proclaimed them her favourite of all the many, many cupcakes I have made. I chose to be flattered rather than indignantly insulted on behalf of all the other cupcakes :)

The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory

Have you ever read a Jackie Collins book? If you haven’t, do yourself a favour and beg, borrow or steal one. If you have, then you’ll understand what a treat you are in for when I say The other Boleyn Girl is just like a Collins book, except it has more substance, it is set in the 16^th century, and it features deviant monarchs and courtiers instead of rock royalty and pop princesses.

This definitely isn’t your typical boy meets girl story. For one, the boy is King Henry VIII - he of the six wives fame – and the girl is Anne Boleyn. The boy is already married to Queen Katherine of Aragon and before falling for Anne, he had an affair with her sister; Mary. Oh, did I forget to mention that Mary was married at the time and her husband all too aware that she was the King’s mistress?

In a nutshell, this novel is the story of Anne’s rise to the throne as Queen of England, told through her sister’s eyes. This is a genius move on Gregory’s part as it gives a personal and spectacularly fascinating (albeit fictional) insight into a historical saga that most of us are at least vaguely familiar with. Anne herself is truly one of the most interesting characters ever to grace the pages of a book. She is extremely intelligent, and the relentless ambition with which she first gets the King’s attention, and the rather crazed dedication with which she holds it for several years while he tries to get a divorce from Katherine – and all without sleeping with the famously lusty King – make for fascinating reading.

Scandalous and enlightening, this is a must-read for anybody who thinks palace life in Tudor England was boring. This is such an interesting and remarkably well written book that you will be torn between devouring it every spare minute you get and savouring every last word because you know that reaching the end of this book might be the last time in a long while you read anything this brilliant. As for me, if it is even half as good as this book, I am planning to make ‘The Tudors’ (also about Henry VIII) my new TV addiction.

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the cupcakes - recipe from Alpine Berry

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup mint leaves, loosely packed
3/4 cup whole milk, hot
113g unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup golden caster sugar
2 eggs
grated zest of 2 limes
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rum (optional)

1 - Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F
2 - Add mint leaves to hot milk. Let steep for 10-15 minutes. Pour milk through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl. Press liquid from mint leaves. Discard leaves and allow milk to cool slightly
3 - Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4 - In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, 3 - 5 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
5 - Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
6 - Mix in lime zest, vanilla and rum (if using)
7 - On a very low speed, add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk and ending with flour, mixing until just incorporated
8 - Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and half fill each liner with cake batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 18 - 22 minutes
9 - Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely.

For the frosting

Ingredients

225g softened cream cheese
1/2 cup soft dark brown sugar
2 cups icing sugar
2 cups whipping or double cream
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 tsp fresh lime juice

1 - Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, lime juice, lime zest and brown sugar until light and creamy and the sugar completely incorporated.
2 - Add the icing sugar and beat for another couple of minutes
3 - Beat the whipping/double cream in a separate bowl until very thick
4 - Add the cream to the cream cheese mixture and whip for a minute or two until thoroughly combined
5 - Frost cupcakes

Weight Watchers Mini Double Choc Chip and Orange Cookies and Giveaway Winner!

2011-07-05T11:58:00.000+01:00

First things first, the winner of my giveaway (picked by using random.org) to win a copy of James Ramsden's 'Small Adventures in Cooking' was this comment:

YAY a giveaway!!!

Hmm considering I have never really tried to impress anyone with my cooking ... ( or maybe I have) ... I guess it'll have to be my chicken/salmon fried rice (its always on demand and it is so easy and fast to make! Oh and EXTREMELY TASTY :-P)

Twitter follower.
beelatweets

Congratulations Beelatweets!!!

Min: Max: Result:8Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And for today's recipe:

Recipe Source - Weight Watchers Your Week Magazine

5 Pro Points per 4 cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

100g low fat spread

10g artificial sweetener

1 egg, beaten

Grated zest of 1 orange

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

40g milk chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)

1 - Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C/fan oven 160C

2 - Beat the low fat spread and the sweetener together until combined (about 2 minutes)

3 - Beat in the egg, a little at a time, and then beat in the orange zest

4 - Combine the flour and cocoa powder into the low fat spread and beat in until combined, then stir in half of the chocolate chips. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour or until starting to firm up

5 - Line two large baking trays with grease proof paper and set aside

6 - Scoop 24 teaspoons of the cookie mix onto the baking trays, spacing the spoonfuls well apart, then pat into flat rounds with your fingertips - the dough will be sticky, so be gentle as you pat them into shape

7 - Press in the remaining chocolate chips and bake for 15 minutes until crisp.

8 - Leave to cool and store in an airtight container. They will keep for 2 - 3 days.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting

2011-06-27T19:43:00.000+01:00

To set the scene for today's post, I must tell you two very important things about me.

I am addicted to Twitter
I know very little about children. In my defence, I just don't have very many in my life. Please do take this as a HUGE hint my married sister and friends :)

So when I invited a friend and her two kids over for lunch one Sunday after church, I had a bit of a dilemma. And naturally, as with all important life decisions, I decided to ask for help on Twitter. Here is the conversation I had with one particularly helpful friend of mine.

Me: Forgive my ignorance but do kids eat the same food as full grown people??
T: No. They eat specially created food from specially created specialist children's shops
Me: Dammit. That's what I was afraid of. Where are these shops ;p
T: There is one near Hogwarts and another half way up Jack's beanstalk. Next to the pub called the white nosed rhino.
Me: Hogwarts is way too far. I might have to feed these kids some adult food. Thanks for your help though!

To this day, I can't rid myself of the niggling feeling that he was mocking me. So yeah, thanks for nothing Trey!
All by myself, I came up with a menu of meatballs cooked in tomato sauce in the oven with pasta, salad and these cupcakes for dessert.

It all went down pretty well even if I do say so myself. The kids wanted to come round again the following Sunday. That's good huh? But I think the highlight were these cupcakes. Yum! The cake itself is moist, soft and not too sweet at all! And the frosting ... wow! Brown butter frosting is a revelation. It tastes ... it's difficult to describe the taste, it's a fusion of subtle spice and it's a bit nutty and a bit caramelly and a whole lot of incredible! Thank you Brandy for submitting this recipe to 'Frosting for the Cause'!

Makes 20 cupcakes

Ingredients - for the Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
113g unsalted butter, softened
2 cups plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (In the UK, you can buy this in Waitrose)

1 - Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F
2 - Combine the dry ingredients (Except for the sugar) together in a bowl
3 - Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy; about 4 minutes
4 - Add eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition
5 - Add the flour mixture, milk and pumpkin in the following order - 1/3 flour, milk, 1/3 flour, pumpkin, last 1/3 flour - mixing after each addition until just combined. Scrape the bowl after the last addition of flour to make sure all the ingredients are well combined
6 - Line the cupcake tins with liners and fill each liner until 2/3 full with the batter.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

7 - Leave cupcakes to cook on a rack and make the browned butter frosting in the meantime

Ingredients - Browned Butter Frosting
1 cup of brown butter (Instructions to make follow)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup of whipping or double cream (more can be used depending on the consistency you want)

To make the brown butter
1 - Start with 1 cup of unsalted butter, cut into chunks. Put it in a small saucepan and boil on medium low heat until it slowly cooks and boils and results in a golden/brown colour

2 - Let the brown butter cool. Once cooled add to the mixer with the cinnamon and vanilla. Mix until just combined
3 - Add the icing sugar one cup at at time. Once it is all added, it will be very dry and crumbly
4 - Add the whipping cream while mixing on low until combined and smooth - about 4-5 minutes. If still too thick to frost, add whipping cream one tablespoon at a time till you reach your desired consistency

5 - Frost cupcakes

Cook Book Review and A Giveaway!! James Ramsden's 'Small Adventures in Cooking'

2011-06-23T13:12:00.001+01:00

Before I started writing this review, I Google-imaged James Ramsden's name.

"Why?" you might wonder. Well, because I wanted to see a photo of him.
"Why is that?" you might again ask. And the answer to that is that I had an image of him when I finished reading his 'Small Adventures in Cooking' and I wanted to see if I was correct.
In my head, James Ramsden looked not unlike a young(er) Jamie Oliver and I pictured him pottering around a (rather small) kitchen in surfer shorts and flip flops (yeah yeah I know they're not appropriate kitchen footwear). Because his food philosophy seems to be chill out. The only rules of cooking are there are no rules. Oh except for have fun. And if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.

In his debut cookbook, Ramsden demystifies cooking. With eight sections ranging from 'Corner shop capers' (Fare for when you've been drinking and/or are hungover) to 'Surfing the stumbling blocks' (recipes for those foods that can give even experienced cooks slight heart palpitations - souffle anyone?), 'Small Adventures' is a guide that will see you through most cooking scenarios.

His recipes are interesting yet not too complicated, impressive but totally achievable. And best of all, they're for me and you; people with jobs who don't have hours to spend cooking a meal which will be devoured in minutes. People who can find their way round a kitchen but don't have culinary school training. And it is food that covers all sorts of food genres - there are curries and chicken livers, English muffins and meringues. On my 'To make ASAP' list are the Thai pork patties, cheese toast with a twist, goat curry, 6 cheese and ale fondue and the chocolate, chili and cardamom tart!

One of my qualms with this book is not to do with the content but rather the design. Don't get me wrong, it is very cool. But that's exactly it. It feels too much like a boys book. I like my cook books with a huge picture of some glossy, mouthwatering dish on the cover that makes me want to lick it because I know that my version will never look that good. But perhaps that is the point, that the book isn't intimidating. Like the content, the cover and design isn't setting standards so high that the reader can't fail but fall dismally short of.

Oh, you're probably wondering if the picture of James Ramsden looked like the surfer my imagination produced. He didn't. Which is a good thing - my surfer dude probably couldn't string two sentences together (he's wearing flip flops in a kitchen after all!); much less write a very good cook book.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

I'm giving away the copy of James Ramsden's 'Small Adventures in Cooking' which the lovely people at Quadrille Books sent me. There is one mandatory way to enter and additional ways to gain entries into the giveaway:

CLOSING DATE - Midnight on FRIDAY 1st JULY (Giveaway now closed)

Rules and How to Enter
1) Giveaway is open to everyone with a UK mailing address
2) For the mandatory way to enter, leave a comment below telling me what your speciality dish is. Y'know, that dish you cook when you're trying to impress, or on short notice?
3) For another entry, follow my blog using the Google Friend Connect 'Follow' button on the right of my blog. Leave a separate comment to tell me you have done this or if you are already following
4) For yet another entry, follow me on Twitter @vickii373 and leave a comment here to tell me you are following me on Twitter and what your username is. Let me know if you're already following me.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecakes

2011-06-16T21:16:00.000+01:00

Hey hey. Guess what I've got on my mind today?
...
Did you guess yet?

Books. And Crushes.

Lemme explain. I am an avid reader. That's how I know how to use words like 'avid' ;p And today, I was tweeting about the book I'm currently reading when I thought that I'd really like to start incorporating book reviews into my blog. Which means you guys are going to be subjected to my opinions about some of the books I read. If you don't like to read, well ... then ... you're missing out big time. And no! You can't just watch the movie. It is never as good!

On a related note, the lovely people at Quadrille books have sent me a new cook book to review which I'll do next week, as well as run a giveaway for a copy of the book. My very first giveaway! Are you excited? I am!

On to crushes. I was thinking that I have a blog crush on the creator of today's recipe; Lauren's Latest. And it got me thinking of the other blog crushes I have - Annie's Eats, How Sweet it is and Gingerbread Bagels to name a few.
Y'all already know about my chef crush on Nigella Lawson right? Well did you know I also crush on the lesser known though equally talented Jo Pratt? And the Caribbean food god Levi Roots? Oooh and the Ace of Cakes. Though I don't know his name.
I have clothes crushes on dresses and playsuits.
Hollywood actor crushes on Josh Hartnett and Joshua Jackson - *swoon* wasn't Pacey Witter just the best character to ever grace our TVs?
Halle Berry, Nicole Richie and Rihanna are my girl crushes, Kathryn Stockett (have I raved about her debut novel 'The Help' yet?) and Chimamanda Adichie are my author crushes ... I think you get the message, I have crushes just about everywhere.

Everywhere, that is, except in real life. If my work's HR department is reading this, it is upon your weary heads I lay the burden of hiring me a real life, everyday crush. Thank you.

Till then, peace, love and cookie dough cheesecake.

Makes 12

Ingredients

For the cookie dough
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp icing sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp chocolate chips

For the cheesecakes
12 Oreo cookies
227g cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

Chocolate chips (to decorate)

1 - Preheat oven to 170C /Gas mark 3/ 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners and set aside
To make cookie dough:
2 - Place softened butter into a medium sized bowl. Stir in sugars until well incorporated

3 - Stir in vanilla, salt and flour. It may seem too dry at first but it should all mix in

4 - Once flour is no longer visible, mix the dough with your hand. The heat of your hands should help keep things sticking together.

Mix in chocolate chips and form dough into a log with the same diameter as the Oreo cookies

5 - Score the top of the dough to get even pieces and then slice

6 - Place dough rounds on top of Oreo cookie and press down lightly to help it stick. If the dough circles are a little too big, just press the overlapping dough to be flush with the side of the cookie, and then smooth the top
7 - Place these into the prepared muffin tins and set aside

To make the cheesecake filling
8 - Whip cream cheese in a large bowl
9 - Slowly pour in sugar and flour. Scrape down sides and mix again briefly
10 - Whip in vanilla extract and egg until incorporated. Scrape sides and whip again
11 - Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of cheesecake mix over each cookie stack and spread on top and around cookie. (This recipe makes just enough cheesecake to cover these, so start with smaller amounts covering the tops and adding extra spoonfuls from there)

12 - Bake for 20 minutes or until cheesecake is set completely. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until completely chilled. Once ready to serve, remove paper liners and top with chocolate chips

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

2011-06-11T19:32:00.000+01:00

Last week was kinda tough for me - I made the decision to let go of someone in my life. Letting go is difficult at the best of times - especially for me as I'm a natural hoarder. I hang on to books, clothes, letters, CDs; pretty much everything - but it's even harder to let go of someone that I've fought to keep in my life in the past and if life was perfect, someone I'd never have to let go of. Anyway, c'est la vie... and enough about me. Let's talk about my baking as I intend to bake my way through my funk! Hang on, that's about me too ... ah well, we'll talk about it anyway.

I made these cookies for church. I go to this great Church called 'Equippers' and for the first time ever, I can say I actually really enjoy church! I can't wait to go on a Sunday and I feel like I've missed out if I miss one Sunday. It is a church where everyone pitches into the life of the church and for a long while, I wasn't contributing anything till recently when I started baking. We have a break between worship and the sermon for tea and coffee and whenever I can (I'm aiming for every week), I make something to eat with our teas and coffees. So far I've made Rocky Road and brownies and I'm constantly on the lookout for suitable recipes as it has to be stuff that is already portioned or easy to portion and also easy to transport. So there will be a LOT of cookies and bars in my church's future!

I love cinnamon and bookmarked these cookies as soon as I saw them. Now, I have to admit that I wasn't expecting great things from these cookies as y'know, they don't contain chocolate, or peanut butter, or Oreos (all the staples of a great ... anything) in them ... but they are AMAZING! They're soft and each mouthful is choc-full of cinnamon roll taste. And the slightly coffee flavoured icing is a stroke of genius! Thanks to Sing for your Supper for the recipe!

If I had a big enough freezer, I'd have a roll of this dough always in it, ready to cut and bake wonderful cookies!

Ingredients

For the cookies

226g unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup golden caster sugar

2 eggs

2 tsps vanilla

2 tsps cinnamon

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tsp salt

For the filling

57g unsalted butter, very soft

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the icing

2 cups icing sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 - 4 tablespoons milk

To make cookies

1 - In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt

2 - In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and eggs one at a time, and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl

3 - Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until thoroughly combined, scraping the bowl as needed

4 - Scrape the dough into a ball in the centre of the bowl, cover with cling film and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes, or in the fridge for at least an hour.

5 - Once the dough is chilled, divide it into two equal halves. Place one half back in the bowl and put it back in the fridge. On a large piece of cling film, pat the first half of the dough into a rectangle about nine inches by 12 inches and about half an inch thick

6 - Place half of the butter on the dough and spread it all the way to the edges. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar evenly over the buttered dough and press the sugar into the dough using the back of a tablespoon. Finally, sprinkle half of the cinnamon evenly over the dough.

7 - Use the plastic wrap to tightly roll the dough into a log.Place the log in the freezer for 30 minutes or the refrigerator for at least an hour.

8 - Repeat with the remaining half of the dough and filling ingredients.

9 - Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F/ Gas Mark 4. Line a baking sheet with grease proof paper

10 - After the dough has chilled again, slice each log into one inch slices (about 20 per log). Place on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing

To make the icing
11 - In a medium bowl, combine the butter and instant espresso powder.
12 - Add the icing sugar and vanilla and whisk until it just comes together.
13 - Next, add the milk, one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. It should be thin enough to drizzle, but thicker than a glaze.
14 - With the cookies on a wire cooling rack set over parchment paper, drizzle the icing over the them with your whisk. Allow the cookies to set up for a few minutes before stacking or storing.

Triple Layer Oreo Cake (Warning: You might put on weight just LOOKING at this cake)

2011-06-07T10:54:00.000+01:00

It was my mum's *cough* 40th *cough* birthday on the 27th of May and as I told you in this post, she's LOVES chocolate. So I knew I had to make her a cake that was loaded with chocolate. This cake came to mind pretty quickly because it was love at first sight as soon as I saw it but as it's such a big cake, I wanted to save it for a special occasion. And what better occasion than my amazing mum's birthday eh?

This recipe has been adapted slightly from Beantown Baker's. She's one of my favourite baking bloggers and I want to make layer cakes like her when I grow up!

I won't lie to you - this is a very involved cake. It took me about 7 hours to make but it is totally worth it in the end! I also had a few issues with the chocolate layers - my cake mixture was too watery and they rose unevenly making for very ugly uneven cakes; I'm amazed at the multitude of sins I was able to hide with the frosting! I've adapted the recipe slightly to try and resolve the issues I had but I haven't tested it yet. I'll update you guys when I do.

However, the time it takes is totally worth it. Even with their problems, the chocolate cake layers were wonderfully moist cake - I think they might be my favourite chocolate cake recipe (after Guinness chocolate cake) and the Oreo filling ... wow. It's creamy and vanilla-ey and not too sweet but still full of flavour. Yum. Yum. Yum. I'm using it to frost every cake I ever make EVER! Well. Okay. That is an exaggeration but this filling is that good! The whole cake is rich and decadent and incredible. It's just an amazing cake! And I'll stop now because I'm gushing. But you try it and see if you don't gush too!

Steps it takes to put this cake together
1 - Bake the cake layers. The cake layers can be made in advance and refrigerated or frozen. Layers should be completely cooled prior to assembling the cake
2 - Make the Oreo filling
3 - Stack the cake - Place 1 chocolate layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or spatula, spread the top with half of the Oreo filling. Place the Oreo cake layer on top and spread with the remaining Oreo filling. Place the last chocolate cake layer on top.
4 - Make the chocolate frosting
5 - Frost and decorate the cake. Spread frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake and decorate with Oreo cookies and reserved filling. I used mini cookies.

Chocolate Cake Layers
Butter for greasing the cake tins
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 cup freshly brewed hot coffee (I used instant)
1 1/2 packs of Oreos (about 21 cookies), cut into quarters

1 - Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4/350F.Grease and flour 2 (8 inch) round cake pans
2 - Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt
3 - In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla
4 - With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure it is all combined
5 - Stir in the Oreo chunks and pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
6 - Cool in the pans for 30 minutes and then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely

Oreo Cake Layer
57g unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup milk
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup + 2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 egg whites, at room temp
1 pack Oreos (14 cookies), cut into quarters

1 - Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4/350F.Grease and flour 1 (8 inch) round cake pan
2 - In a large bowl cream the butter until lighter and fluffy, about 3 - 5 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another two minutes. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
3 - In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt
4 - Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the milk. Start and end with the flour mix. Each time, beat only just combined
5 - Add the egg whites and beat for one more minute
6 - Fold in the quartered cookies, pour batter into prepared cake tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
7 - Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack and allow to cool completely

Oreo Filling
113g cream cheese, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup whipping or double cream
7 Oreos, cut into quarters

1 - Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar until light and creamy.
2 - Add half of the cream and beat until smooth. Add the rest of the cream and beat until it has the consistency of whipped cream.
3 - Reserve 1/2 cup to use to decorate top of cake (I forgot to do this) and place the rest in the fridge until ready to use
4 - When ready to use, stir in the Oreo chunks

Chocolate Frosting
170g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
227g unsalted butter, at room temp
1 egg yolk, at room temp
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp instant coffee

1 - Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
2 - Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium high speed until lighter and fluffy, about 4 minutes
3 - Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes
4 - Stir in the icing sugar (so that it doesn't go everywhere) and then beat until smooth and creamy, scraping down the bowl as necessary
5 - Dissolve the coffee in 2 teaspoons of very hot tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Spread immediately on the cooled cake

Weight Watchers Banana Bread

2011-05-30T17:51:00.000+01:00

Let us call a cake a cake. Banana 'bread' is cake. It is unashamedly cake. It's not even straddling the fence between cake and bread like say Brioche or Stollen. It is a cake. Someone suggested that perhaps it's called bread because it is baked in a loaf tin. But the problem with that argument is that so many other cakes are baked in loaf tins. Most of the pound cake family is baked in loaf tins and we don't go round calling them bread willy nilly.

You might be wondering why I'm so hung up on whether it is called banana 'bread' or 'cake'. What's in a name eh? I'll tell you. You call something 'bread' and in my opinion, that means it is fine to eat several slices of it for breakfast. I mean, I've only just come to accept that despite the fact that muffins are called 'muffins' instead of 'cake', there ain't no hiding the fact that they're fatty cake fully of chocolate chips and toffee and banana and all sorts of other calorific ~~goodness~~ naughty stuff and hence, I should avoid them for breakfast.

Which is why I love this recipe. While it is called a bread, it is actually a cake. It doesn't taste diet-y even though it only contains about half the butter and sugar of this other recipe, it is easy to make and a great way to get rid of very ripe old bananas and best of all, I can eat a slice or two for breakfast!

Recipe adapted from Weight Watchers UK

Propoints per slice - 5
Makes 12 slices

Ingredients
5 sprays cooking spray, calorie controlled
200g self raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75g butter, softened
75g dark brown sugar
1 level tablespoon honey
2 eggs, beaten
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
100g sultanas
1 tsp vanilla

- Spray a 450g loaf tin with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/350F
- Combine the flour and bicarbonate of soda
- Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for another 2 minutes.

Add the honey and beat for 1 more minute
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes
- Fold in the flour until combined. (Do not beat)
- Fold in the mashed bananas and sultanas.
- Spoon into the tin

Bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (Check after 45 minutes and using your judgment, every 5 or 10 minutes thereafter)
- Turn out and cool on a rack
Note
Very ripe bananas are best for all banana breads as they have a natural sweetness and mash easily

Cake Pops!!!

2011-05-23T18:18:00.001+01:00

The overwhelming response when I told people I was making cake pops was "What are cake pops?"Well my dears, in case you're asking yourselves the same question, cake pops are cake balls on a stick. Kinda like lollipops but with cake. Got it? I'd heard about and seen pictures of cake pops and would have gotten round to making them sooner or later but well, fate decided it was sooner when my friend Doyin asked me to make them for her friend's one year old's birthday party.

Now cake pops are very pretty, and pretty straight forward to make - a lot of people make them with boxed cake mixes and ready made icing - but man are they time consuming! It's more the final stage that is a bit of a pain in the butt - dipping the cake balls into your melted chocolate and decorating them. For the decoration and chocolate not to drip, you have to hold each ball upside down for a couple of minutes till the chocolate sets a tiny bit more - pain in the butt I tell ya!

Despite not tasting any of these, I have it on good authority that they were amazing so go on, give 'em a go. Especially if you have kids. I think they'll love the idea of cake on lollipop sticks. Though it might leave them on a sugar high like never before ... ummm, sorry about that in advance but I blog about food not children, you really shouldn't have listened to me ;p

Ingredients

For the Cake - Adapted from (From Joy of Baking)
2 1/2 cups / 250g sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons / 15g cocoa powder
1/2 cup / 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup / 240ml buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food colouring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the frosting
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the covering and decoration
400g white chocolate
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Whatever sprinkles you want to use

lollipop sticks
a couple of blocks of florist foam

Makes about 30 cake pops

1 - Preheat oven to 175C / 350F and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour a 12 inch round cake tin. Set aside.
2 - In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside
3 - In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes)
4 - Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined
5 - In a measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk with the red food colouring.
6 - With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour until all just combined
7 - In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
8 - Pour batter into your cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean
9 - Cool cake for a couple of hours or overnight
10 - For the frosting, whisk softened butter for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and icing sugar and whisk together until you have a creamy frosting (about 5 minutes). I use my electric mixer. It would take longer by hand.

For the cake pops (Note that you can ignore the first part of this recipe and buy a cake mix and some ready made frosting)
11 - Break cake into a bowl and adding about half the frosting and smush it all together with your fingers.

Keep adding frosting and smushing (isn't this such a wonderful non-word?!) until the mixture binds to itself and not to the bowl. I used all the frosting but you might not (especially if you are not using my frosting recipe).

12 - Line a baking sheet with grease-proof paper
13 - Shape mixture into round balls and place on your baking sheet. I used a tablespoon of mixture per ball to get the size I wanted and also get evenly sized balls

14 - When you have finished shaping your balls, put them in the fridge for 30 minutes
15 - After 30 minutes, melt about 50g of the white chocolate in a bain marie (leaving the chocolate bowl in the hot simmering water). Take out your cake balls from the fridge and your lollipop sticks
16 - Dip the lollipop sticks in the melted chocolate and insert into the cake balls, going more than halfway through

17 - Repeat for all the cake balls and put them back into the fridge for about an hour
18 - Melt the remaining chocolate with the 2tsps of oil (Again leaving the bowl on the simmering water as the next part can take a while and you don't want your chocolate to solidify)

Taking each cake ball on stick, dip into the chocolate until covered, then swirl round gently until chocolate stops dripping
19 - I did this next part over the sink as it can be messy, hold the cake ball over the sink and gently sprinkle sprinkles (or whatever decorations you are using) in whatever pattern you want and then I recommend holding it upside down for a couple of minutes before sticking it in the florist foam (stick side down!) as when I didn't, the chocolate and sprinkles dripped a bit onto the foam slightly misshaping my cake pops.

20 - Repeat until your foam is full of decorated cake pops and put in the fridge for about half an hour for the chocolate to set

Voila! The prettiest things you would have made in a very long time!

My Wonky Black Forest Gâteau

2011-05-15T19:55:00.000+01:00

Hey! Hey! Sorry I've been rather, umm, delayed, on the posting front. ~~I wish I had a good excuse~~ I have great excuses; I've been lazy and busy and I've been on holiday! Whoop whoop! I went to LA and San Francisco and Atlanta. It was my first time visiting the West Coast of the US so I was very excited! Plus I got to see a couple of lovely friends get married. Have I mentioned that I love weddings? Well, if I haven't, I'm mentioning it now; I love weddings!

You probably know me well enough by now to know that I love eating when I'm on holiday. Especially in the US. And this trip was no exception. Some new things I tried were Love at first Bite cupcakes in Berkeley, California (AMAZING! One of the only times that I've found cupcakes to live up to their looks and description), In 'n' Out Burger (I'm not much of a burger person but these were incredible. Their milkshakes are great too. Plus they're a Christian company!) and Crumbs cupcakes (HUGE and great looking with lots of wonderful sounding flavour combinations but rather underwhelming). And some old favourites I just had to have; Cheesecake Factory (I had the Reese's peanut butter cheesecake and it was scrumptious. I'm going to find a similar recipe because I need it in my life!) and Five Guys burger (as good as the first time I had it!). Something else I discovered were peanut butter M&Ms. Wow! Why has nobody ever told me how amazing they are???

Anyway, before I get too carried away, back to today's post. I made this for a friend of mine who had been harassing me ever since he found out I baked to make him a Black Forest Gâteau. Now I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan of this cake. Mainly because the only way I like my cherries is fresh and washed. But after a lot of hassling, I found this recipe and gave it a go. My cake was pretty tall and it ended up rather wonky when I put it together. All in all, I wasn't too impressed with it when I had a slice later. It was rather dry, despite soaking the sponge layers in the black cherry syrup, and it just wasn't as tasty as other cakes I've had. And I've had a lot! However, if you still want to give it a go - here's the recipe. It is by Antony Worrall Thompson from the BBC Food website.

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake
340g/12oz golden caster sugar
340g/12oz unsalted butter
6 eggs
240g/8.5oz self raising flour
100g/3.5oz cocoa

For the filling
2 cans black cherries in syrup
2 tbsp kirsch

For the icing
600ml/21 fl oz double cream
200g/7oz good quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

To decorate
50g/2oz dark chocolate, for shaving

1 - Preheat oven to 170c/325F/Gas Mark 3
2 - Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed cake tin then dust with a little plain flour and shake off any excess. Line the tin with greaseproof paper

3 - For the cake, place butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time

Then fold in the flour and the cocoa powder
4 - Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin, smooth the surface with a knife and bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes until firm and springy.

To test if the cake is done, insert a clean skewer into the middle of the cake - if it comes out clean then the cake is ready
5 - Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before turning out onto a wire rack
6 - Drain the cherries, reserving 200ml (7 fl oz) of the cherry syrup. Add the kirsch to the reserved syrup

7 - Use a large serrated knife to slice the cake horizontally into three equally sized rounds
8 - Place each round on a chopping board and spoon the cherry syrup evenly over each disc and leave to soak in
9 - For the icing, heat 200ml (7 fl oz) of the double cream to scalding point then add the chocolate pieces. Remove from the heat and stir gently until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool in the refrigerator, to thicken slightly
10 - Whip the remaining double cream until thick. Spread one of the cake discs with half of the cream then cover with half of the cherries, pressing them in lightly.

Top with the second disc of sponge and repeat this process, finishing with the third disc left plain on top. Gently press the whole cake together with the palm of your hands

11 - Remove the chocolate icing from the fridge and give it a quick stir. Use a palette knife to thickly spread the top and sides of the cake with the icing, starting with the top first. This way, if the chocolate oozes down the sides of the cake, it won't matter.
12 - Garnish with chocolate shavings. I pressed them into the sides of the cake
13 - Leave the cake to set in a cool place then slice into large wedges and serve

Light Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-04-15T11:51:00.000+01:00

Ahem, so I know I said I would be posting some healthier baking recipes but ummm, the thing is ... that I've been too busy making full butter, full sugar, full chocolate recipes to fit in any healthy baking. *sigh* I'm just one of those people who would much rather have a small piece of something decadent and thoroughly bad for me (though I hardly ever stop at one piece), than a huge chunk of something healthier but not as tasty! But I know I'm going to have to readjust my attitude a bit and there are some advantages to healthier baking. For example, whereas I try to have the naughty stuff I bake only on weekends, I could have one of these muffins every day during the week without feeling guilty and still enjoying some sort of treat.

So I'll bake more healthy stuff more often. I promise. Or I'll at least try really hard!

These muffins from Weight Watchers "Seriously Satisfying" cook book are pretty good. Apart from the low fat margarine and skimmed milk, everything else is normal, full fat stuff. And like most muffins, they're very easy to put together, so give 'em a go. I'm glad I did.

ProPoints value per recipe: 46
ProPoints per muffin: 4
Makes 12

Ingredients
200g plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
75g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
200ml skimmed milk
25g low fat spread, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod
40g dark chocolate chips
40g white chocolate chips

1 - Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6/200C/fan oven 180C
2 - Line the muffin tin with the muffin cases
3 - Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and salt
4 - In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, milk, low fat spread and vanilla

5 - Add the egg mixture to the flour with the chocolate chips and stir together until just combined. As with all muffins do not over stir; it is better to have a slightly lumpy texture
6 - Spoon into the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and risen

7 Cool on a wire rack

Come Dine with Vickii - Dessert!

2011-04-09T20:15:00.000+01:00

You must know me well enough by now to not be surprised when I tell you that my dessert was the first part of my 'Come Dine with Me' menu I decided on.

And I was pretty set on these Crème brûlées from the get-go. The story with these is I went round to my sister's a couple of years ago (co-incidentally after they had just done their 'Come Dine with Me'. Their group scored though. And they won!) and she had a few of these left over in the fridge. And I might have maybe eaten ~~a couple~~ all of them. This is why I always go and visit my sister when I'm in Birmingham. Her and her husband are total foodies and they see me rarely enough that they still consider it a treat so they ALWAYS feed me.

Side note: Sometimes people think that because I bake and cook, I might be overly critical of other people's cooking or just prefer to do the cooking myself. NOT TRUE. I love love love being cooked and baked for and never ever think 'I could do this better' or any thoughts along those lines. So please; let the dinner invites roll on in.

A few months after I first tried this wonderful dessert; my sister and brother-in-law were hosting a pre-Christmas dinner and I begged for them to make these; thereby forcing them to make two desserts. It was a tough job eating them both but someone had to do it ;p ~~And I might have maybe helped some other people finish theirs; I don't recall~~. After that though, she wised up, gave me the recipe and told me to make them myself. They're so easy to make and pretty damn amazing! I think it's up there with the best of the Crème brûlées. And there's none of that fiddly stuff that usually goes along with making custard. They're also really good without the caramelised sugar on top. I guess they wouldn't be called Crème brûlée then but they're still something pretty damn amazing; albeit nameless.

I went to some posh Michelin-starred restaurant once and they served their Crème brûlées with two warm, gorgeous biscuity things on the side. I couldn't remember what they were called (I believe the name starts with an 'M' though) so I decided to look for an alternative to serve mine with. I settled on these Nigella-style macaroons from her 'Nigella Express' book as I liked the simple flavours and they were quick to make. They were alright. I think they went well with the Crème brûlée but I don't think they're wonderful enough to make on their own. Yet another recipe from this particular Nigella book I'm not too impressed with.

I hope you've enjoyed my 'Come Dine with Me' series. Till next time :D

White Chocolate Crème brûlée (I got this recipe from my sister and I'm not sure what the original source is so if I'm plagiarising; I'm sorry!)

Makes - 6

1 punnet raspberries

400ml thick double cream

1 vanilla pod or 2 tsps vanilla essence

150g white chocolate (I would recommend really good quality chocolate)

A few tablespoons golden caster sugar

6 egg yolks

1 - Divide washed raspberries into 6 ramekins

2 - Melt white chocolate in a bain marie

3 - Take melted chocolate off the heat and stir in the egg yolks until combined

4 - Put cream in a saucepan, add vanilla and bring to boil over a low heat; stirring regularly to prevent a skin forming on top

5 - Add the chocolate and egg mixture to the cream and simmer; whisking continuously until it is custardy and coats the back of a spoon

6 - Divide custard among the 6 ramekins; allow to cool then chill in the fridge for a few hours (I usually leave them overnight)

7 - A few hours before you serve them, take them out of the fridge evenly sprinkle the tops with a layer of caster sugar

8 - If you're lucky enough to own a torch; torch the tops until the sugar melts, browns and bubbles slightly.

9 - I put mine under a hot grill, turning every minute or so and keeping a very close eye on them

10 - Put back in the fridge until they are ready to serve

Chocolate Macaroons

Makes about 25

2 egg whites

200g ground almonds

30g cocoa powder

175g icing sugar

1 - Preheat the oven to 200C/ Gas Mark 6 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2 - Mix egg whites (unbeaten) with the ground almonds, cocoa powder and icing sugar until you have a sticky but cohesive mixture

3 - Fill a large bowl with cold water and dip your hands in to wet them before rolling the mixture into little balls the size of small walnuts. You will probably have to redunk your hands to keep wetting them as you go

4 - Arrange the macaroon-balls on the lined baking sheet and put them in the oven to bake for 11 minutes.

It's hard to tell when they're ready, as they will seem squishy but they harden up a little as they cool and should be damp within; that's what makes them chewy, so don't worry that the underneaths of the macaroons look sticky.

Come Dine with Vickii - Greek Salad

2011-03-29T21:29:00.000+01:00

Wow! I'm writing a blog post. About salad. Who woulda thunk it? Definitely not my mum who if she is reading this, will be reading it open-mouthed and wide eyed with disbelief. And she'll definitely call me after to say "Wow Vickii, you wrote about salad. I'm very impressed". Actually this is a great test for whether she regularly reads my blog or not - mama, if you read this, call me and tell me how proud you are of me for eating green food!

I do ~~eat~~ force down salads. Just not regularly. And usually for no other reason other than I know they're good for me. That, my friends, should be proof positive of just how good Greek salad is. In Greece, almost every meal is accompanied by a Greek salad; tomatoes full of the taste of summer, beautiful red onion, creamy Greek feta cheese all drizzled with Greek extra virgin olive oil. Y-U-M-M-Y. And bread. Did I forget to mention that Greek salad (and all Greek meals generally) are always accompanied by fresh french stick-style bread cut into chunky slices? The best part of any such meal is the end when all the salad is gone and all that is left is the tomatoey, feta-ey, salty olive oil flavoured juices at the bottom of the salad bowl just begging to be mopped up with a crusty piece of bread ... please give me a minute, I've just been transported to my Yaya's balcony in Xilocastro with the bread and salad juices...

... Okay, I'm back.

I made this to accompany the Pastitsio for my 'Come Dine with Me' but unfortunately, I gave the bread a miss as I thought my meal was pretty carb-heavy already. I decided to use the recipe in 'My Greek Family Table' as even though I know all the ingredients and usually wing it, I wanted to do it the right way - and I have to say, this was my best effort at a Greek Salad.

ps: You'll find this on most Greek menus as 'Horiatiki salata' which translates into 'Villager's salad'

pps: I'm half Greek, hence the fall back on a Greek menu and references to Greece - I'm not just some strange Greek-o-phile (yeah, yeah, I know it's not a word)

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 large ripe tomatoes

1 cucumber

1 large red onion

18 Kalamata olives

200g Greek feta, sliced through to make two thin slices

sea salt

dried oregano, to taste

extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

1 - Wash and dry the tomatoes and cucumber. Cut the tomatoes into quarters. Cut the cucumbers into thin rounds

2 - Peel the onion and slice into thin rounds

3 - Combine the tomato, cucumber, onions and olives in a large bowl, sprinkle sea salt and oregano to taste and mix through

4 - Balance the pieces of feta on top, sprinkle a bit more oregano over the feta and drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil

Come Dine with Vickii - Pastitsio

2011-03-25T16:12:00.001Z

Pastitsio in four words. Like. Lasagne. But. Better.

Pastitsio. What can I say about Pastitsio? I guess I can start by saying it is a traditional Greek dish and one of my favourite foods of all time. Maybe I could tell you that every time my mum and/or yaya have guests, they ALWAYS make Pastitsio as one of the meals. Although the question should be 'what don't they make?' seeing as they always make FIVE times as much food as required for the number of people they're feeding! Guess who has to eat left-overs for a week after? But that's a whole different post. It's interesting that they say you turn into your parents, because I find that Pastitsio is my go-to meal for dinner parties for the simple reason that EVERYBODY LOVES IT! No matter where they're from, everybody thinks this is yummy!

I must point out here that my recipe probably isn't as traditional as say, if you had it in a small family owned restaurant in Greece, as I like my mince slightly spicier and full of flavour but it's pretty damn good all the same (even if I do say so myself).

My lovely friend Anna (I need to refer to her like that or she might stop getting me books ;p) got me a Greek cook book for Christmas which is great as I have a few recipes passed down from my yaya but there are so many more Greek foods that I love and haven't got a clue how to make. It's called My Greek Family Table by Maria Benardis. I got the wonderful tip of mixing egg whites into the pasta so that it doesn't fall apart when served from this wonderful book!

Without further ado, here is my Pastitsio recipe :)

Ingredients
750g penne pasta
2 egg whites

For the mince meat sauce
500g lean minced beef
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 chicken/beef stock cubes
Herbs and spices (including but not limited to) 1 tsp curry powder, 1 tsp dried chili flakes, 2 tsps oregano, 2 tsps freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp ginger
salt, to taste

For the bechamel sauce
100g butter
10 tablespoons plain flour
800ml whole milk
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
salt, to taste
2 eggs

1 - Put olive oil, mince, onions and garlic into a non-stick frying pan or wok over a medium/high heat.

Cook until onions have softened and mince has browned. Continue to cook, stirring regularly until mince has produced some of it's own juices and those juices are absorbed.

2 - Pour in the tin of tomatoes and reduce heat till mince is simmering.
Crumble in the stock cubes, add in the herbs and spices and stir.

3 - Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Taste and add more salt or spice according to your taste.

4 - Cook pasta in salted, boiling water according to manufacturer's instructions. I suggest cooking for one minute less than is recommended as it will cook further in the oven.
5 - While pasta is boiling, whisk egg whites until foamy

6 - When pasta is cooked and drained, transfer back to the pot and stir in the egg whites.
7 - Once egg whites are stirred in, drain again in case there is excess liquid from the egg whites.
8 - Transfer half the pasta into your baking dish or tray (approx 35 x 22cm), making sure it is spread in the baking tray in one even layer

9 - Layer the mince meat sauce over the pasta in an even layer covering all of the pasta and right up to the edges of the dish

10 - Layer the rest of the pasta over the mince meat sauce, again in an even layer. Place to one side while you make the bechamel

11 - Melt the butter in a saucepan over a very moderate heat. When melted, take it off the heat, add in the 10 tablespoons of flour and using a whisk, mix in until well combined. The French call this the 'roux'.
12 - Put saucepan back on the burner and start to add the milk a little bit at a time. It's difficult to say exactly how much to add each time but using time, I'd say pour for 2 seconds.
13 - Whisk after each addition of milk till sauce thickens slightly, then add more milk. (Making bechamel can be slightly tedious as it requires you to whisk constantly over a low heat, making sure you're reaching the edges of your saucepan. Dont' panic if you end up with a lumpy bechamel, just stick it in the blender till smooth)
14 - After you've added the last of your milk, continue to whisk over the heat till sauce is thick enough that when you pour it over the pasta, it remains in a layer over the top rather than running through to the bottom of your dish.
17 - Take it off the heat and add the pepper and salt - it should be quite tasty :)
18 - Whisk in your two eggs into your bechamel until thoroughly combined.

Pour over the top layer of pasta making sure you get it right up to the edges and using a spatula to level it out.

19 - Place in a preheated oven at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 35 - 45 minutes or until the top is browned

Cut into squares and serve with a Greek salad; recipe coming your way next post.

Come Dine with Vickii - Cherry Tomato Tarte Tatin

2011-03-20T21:12:00.000Z

Can we please take a moment to acknowledge that I baked something savoury? It is momentous, no?
Only kidding. Obviously I don't live on cupcakes, brownies and pumpkin pie! Well, not all the time ...

Anyway, back to the point of this post. Does anyone watch 'Come Dine with Me'? If you don't (and you live in the UK), ~~what rock do you live under?~~ it's a show where 4 or 5 strangers take it in turns to host a dinner party every night for a week. At the end of each dinner, they each score the host for the evening, and at the end of the week, the person with the highest score wins £1000.
The omnibus on Sundays is the reason why any of my ironing gets done. Sunday evenings finds me in the lounge with a pile of ironing and 'Come Dine with Me' on the TV.

Enough about my exciting life! Four friends from work and I decided to do our own 'Come Dine with me'. In the beginning, we were going to score but we decided it was too much pressure and stopped scoring. However Jo and Eleanor; who were the first two to go, were really good! So much for easing off on the pressure *sigh*.

My menu was:
Starter - Cherry tomato tarte tatin
Main - Pasticio with Greek Salad
Dessert - White chocolate and Raspberry Creme Brulee with Chocolate Macaroons

Over the next few posts, I'll share the recipes for my menu.

First off, cherry tomato tarte tatin - recipe from Lorraine Pascal's 'Baking Made Easy'. I hit a few road blocks with this - first off, I decided to make my own puff pastry (which tasted absolutely delicious raw - please don't ask what I was doing eating raw pastry) but it didn't puff as much as I would have liked and also didn't cook all the way through. So despite taking meticulous photos of my pastry making, I think I'll try to master it a bit more before sharing it.
Also, when I turned the tarte tatin over, some of the tomatoes stuck to the baking dish as did most of the bread crumbs. So I painstakingly put the tomatoes back in their place and distributed the moist breadcrumbs in bits over the pie. Just to recap, when you make it, it hopefully won't have those white blobs all over it like mine does.

However, despite my set backs, and apart from the not-entirely cooked pastry, I thought it was really nice and I'll definitely be making it again. The honey and breadcrumbs tasted amazing with the tomatoes. And if you use shop bought pastry (as I will next time), it's easy peasy!

Serves 8

Ingredients
500g ready-made puff pastry
40 vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp vegetable oil
pinch sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp honey
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
plain flour, for dusting
1 egg, lightly beaten
small bunch fresh basil
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 - Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6
2 - Place the tomatoes into a 20cm/8in oven proof frying pan (or round cake tin like I did) and sprinkle with the vegetable oil, salt and pepper and honey. Arrange together as tightly as possible and sprinkle with breadcrumbs

3 - On a well-floured work surface, roll out a circle of puff pastry the same size as the top of the frying pan.
4 - Place the puff pastry over the tomatoes, tucking it around them so the tomatoes are encased.

5 - Brush the pastry with the lightly beaten egg on the top only

6 - Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the puff pastry is well puffed and golden brown.

7 - Remove from the oven and leave to sit for a few minutes, then tip away the excess liquid (if any) and put a large plate upside down on the frying pan. Using oven gloves, press the plate down hard and then quickly flip the whole thing so the frying pan is upside down and the plate is on the bottom (perhaps do this over the sink as there is sometimes some leakage).
8 - Remove the frying pan. Once the tart is cold, rip up some mint or basil leaves and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.

Going Out with a BANG - Malteser Cupcakes

2011-03-09T14:23:00.000Z

Did you know that Lent this year will last 46 days and 45 nights? That means that I'm giving up sweet stuff for 46 long, possibly cold, whole days! I don't really care about nights because I don't eat in my sleep. Or at least not that I know of. And if I don't know that I'm eating, it wouldn't count anyway, right? But 46 days of no sweet stuff?? Wow!

You're probably wondering what this will mean for my weekly baking and blogging? Because I cant possibly bake and not at least taste the product of my labour. It would be unprofessional. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Well, it means it is about time I start baking some savoury stuff; bread, pizza, more bread, savoury pies ... I'm not exactly sure what yet but rest assured, continue to bake I will, and continue to blog, I will too :)

It was my friend Fade's birthday on Saturday and on Sunday and we had girly brunch to celebrate her ahem, 20-something years of life - Happy Birthday again Fade! I asked her what kind of cake she would like and she said she was craving red velvet but also really liked the Irish Car Bomb cake. But, she ended with, "surprise me". I found out later that she intended that to mean "I want red velvet". I, on the other hand, took that to mean, "opportunity to try a new cupcake!" But Fade is fussy you see? She doesn't like caramel, toffee and a whole host of other good stuff so I settled on Malteser cupcakes and decided to sort of make them up as I went along using bits and pieces from other recipes.

One of my bright ideas was that instead of crushing Maltesers into the cake for fear of it dissolving and not making an impact, I would put a layer of Maltesers in each cake. I can't say that made much of an impact either but I'd probably do it again next time, just with bigger chunks of Maltesers.

Okay, I'm off to lunch now. With no dessert. Then I'll have a cup of coffee at 4-ish. Without a biscuit. Are you feeling sorry for me yet???

Makes 22 cupcakes

Cupcake

Adapted from these Vanilla Cupcakes from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook

2 ¾ plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

200g softened unsalted butter

1 cup caster sugar

¾ cup dark brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

2 sachets Malteser hot chocolate (25g each)

135g bag Maltesers, crushed lightly (you want some large pieces still remaining)

Chocolate Mousse Filling

Also adapted from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook

150g dark chocolate

½ cup double cream

½ cup of whipped cream

Malteser buttercream
Adapted from Maison Cupcake

135g bag of Maltesers (set 22 aside for topping the cupcakes, the rest get blitzed)
500g icing sugar
200g softened butter
50-75mls milk or cream

For the cupcakes

1 - Preheat oven to 170ºC. Line two 12-hole muffin trays with cupcake papers

2 - Mix together the flour, hot chocolate and the baking powder. Mix both sugars together

3 - In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1 - 2 minutes. Add the sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

4 - Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined

5 - Add a third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half the milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the remaining third of the flour and beat thoroughly until combined; do not over-beat as this will toughen the mixture

6 - Spoon (I used a disposable frosting bag with the tip cut off) a small amount of mixture into cupcake papers, just enough to cover the bottom. Then sprinkle a layer of the crushed Maltesers in each cupcake, before topping with the remaining mixture till three-quarters full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean

7 - Remove cupcakes from trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting

For the chocolate mousse filling

8 - Chop the chocolate up into small pieces and put in a heat proof bowl

9 - Heat the cream in a saucepan on low heat until it starts to boil. Stir every few minutes to prevent a skin from forming on top

10 - Pour the cream over the chocolate pieces. Leave for a minute for the chocolate to soften and then stir till all of the chocolate is dissolved

11 - Leave to cool to room temperature and in the meantime whip your cream till it stands in stiff peaks

12 - When ganache is cooled to room temperature, fold in half of the whipped cream till just combined. Then fold in the rest until combined.

For the Malteser Buttercream
13 - Set aside 22 Maltesers to top the finished cupcakes (and a couple to pop in your mouth at random intervals). Blitz whatever is left in a food processor or crush finely. (Note that if you don't blitz them entirely, you'll have problems piping the buttercream using a star nozzle as the Malteser bits get stuck in the nozzle)
14 - Using your mixer, beat softened butter for two minutes.
15 - Add the icing sugar and Maltesers, beat for a further 6 - 8 minutes, scraping down the bowl every few minutes to make sure everything is combined.

Assembly
16 - Cut out a cone shape in the top of your cupcakes and using a piping bag or small spoon, fill with with the chocolate mousse.

17 - Pipe or use a spatula to spread your buttercream over the the top of the cupcakes.
18 - Eat and enjoy!

Irish Car Bomb Cake and The Great British Bake-Off

2011-02-27T18:49:00.000Z

"Irish Car Bomb"?? I hear you ask.

Well, lucky for you, I am here to enlighten and educate :) An Irish Car Bomb is a drink. It is made up of a shot which is half Baileys and half whiskey; Baileys on the bottom and whiskey on top. Then you pour 3/4 of a pint of Guinness and let it settle. And now for the best part! You drop the shot into the pint of Guinness and chug for your life! If you don't drink quickly enough, the drink will curdle and become pretty disgusting to drink. Mmmmm yummm! Not. What is yummy though are these cupcakes inspired by the drink from cupcake queen Annie's Eats.

Now for the second part of my story. A friend on Twitter sent me the ad for 'The Great British Bake-Off' and suggested I apply. At first, I was adamant I wouldn't. I barely like photos so I definitely don't want to be on TV. Plus I have never seen the show and was convinced there's no way I'd be good enough. However, I decided to apply thinking I'd never get through and so I had nothing to lose. So I filled in the 6-page application form, e-mailed it off and forgot about it! A few weeks later, I got a phone call and spent 45 minutes talking to a lovely lady called Cheryl about baking. And another couple of weeks after that, I got another phone call asking me to come and meet the judges with two samples of my baking; one sweet and one savoury. Now, those of you that read my blog must know that savoury baking isn't something I do often so I was a bit stumped as to what to make. Since I wanted to make things I had made before and liked; I decided to make Nigerian meat pies and Guinness cake. However, I decided to take inspiration from Annie's Eats and sandwich my Guinness cakes with her Baileys ganache and cover with her Baileys buttercream frosting. I hadn't made them before but I didn't think ganache and buttercream would be too much of a risk.

The day dawned bright and sunny and I wandered off to Holborn to meet Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry. Under bright lights and video cameras, Paul asked me if I had ever baked bread. I said 'no' and they proceeded to try my meat pies first and labelled the dough too salty, and too tough. Mary said I used too much water and Paul said that I should practice my bread making as that would help me with dough. Then they tried the cake and had nothing but good things to say (phew!). They said it was incredibly moist, the combination of the Guinness and Baileys went very well together and was altogether "very good cake". Unfortunately they didn't put me through to the next round because they thought I'd fall at the first hurdle due to my inexperience with bread but that was fine. They didn't say anything I didn't already know; that I'm good with sweet baking and not so good with savoury! And on the plus side, I got to take my cake home and taste it!

Anyway, that's been my interesting couple of weeks. I leave you with pictures of my cake!! And I can confirm what they said, it is VERY GOOD CAKE! If you'd like to try it, use my Guinness cake recipe and Annie's Eat's ganache and butter cream recipes.

The Best Brownies in the World. Ever.

2011-02-22T18:06:00.000Z

I know this is a grand claim but I really believe it to be true! I LOVE brownies! But I rarely eat brownies out. Because I am always disappointed. The only other brownies I like are 'Two-bite brownies' made by Safeway in Canada. Sods law, I only know one person who lives in Canada but whenever we meet up, she very wonderfully brings me a few bags of them. Apart from those, no other brownies ever live up to these ones. And I know because I've tried lots of them.

However, these brownies did not come by their title easily. They were first made by my sister about 7 years ago and the original recipe was an Anthony Worrall Thompson recipe for triple chocolate brownies. And while they were quite oily, wouldn't always cook all the way through and difficult to cut into defined squares, we still loved them and made them every chance we got. Slowly, Kitty (who by the way is a total domestic goddess! I highly recommend you all befriend her and get her and her husband to invite you round to dinner!!) and I made a few adjustments to the recipe. And then I moved to London and introduced it to my cousin who fell in love with them and also made an adjustment to the recipe. And then I made more adjustments to the recipe and voila, the best brownies ever! They're choc full (pun intended) of chocolate but also the perfect combination of cakey and fudgy which is just how I like my brownie. And they're the brownie that keeps on giving - they're wonderful as dessert just out of the oven with with vanilla ice cream and I personally think at their peak a day or two after with a glass of milk.

Anyway, as I've been promising for months, here is the recipe. I made these for a bake sale at work. I always make brownies for bake sales because they're a crowd pleaser, easy to transport and oh so simple to make! Let me know what you think of them if you give my recipe a go :)

Ingredients

300g dark chocolate (At least 70% cocoa solids)
250g unsalted butter
100g milk chocolate cut into large chunks
100g white chocolate, cut into large chunks
175g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsps vanilla essence
200g dark brown sugar
125g caster sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

1 - Preheat oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3
2 - Grease and flour a 30x20x3.5cm tin
3 - Break the dark chocolate into pieces and melt with the butter in a bain marie

4 - Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl and put aside
5 - When chocolate and butter is melted, remove from bain marie and stir in the sugars and instant coffee granules (because brown sugar can be lumpy, make sure you break up any lumps and mix sugar in properly)
6 - Stir in the eggs and vanilla essence
7 - Fold in the flour
8 - Lastly, fold in the chunks of white and milk chocolate, give it one turn and pour mixture into the prepared tin - do not stir too much as you don't want the chunks to melt

9 - Bake in the oven for 25 - 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out pretty much clean.
10 - Allow to cool in the tin and then cut into squares

Forever Nigella: Glitzy Chocolate Puddings

2011-02-13T21:07:00.000Z

I am taking part in my very first food blogger event and I'm very excited!!! This one is hosted by Maison Cupcake and the theme is 'Seduced by Chocolate'! Factor in the fact that I have a foodie crush on Nigella and that I'm totally obsessed with chocolate and this month's theme couldn't be any more perfect!

On an aside, I've named my new mixer (who features proudly in some of the photos) Nigella. Oh, I should probably mention that I'm someone who names my stuff - my laptop is called Ella Mac, my spider plant Granola (my ex-boss named her) and now Nigella, the latest addition to my kitchen! I hope Nigella would be flattered, it is meant as the highest compliment.

I leafed through my three Nigella books for a recipe before finally settling on this one from 'Nigella Express'. Firstly because I liked what they were called. Secondly because thinking that I had left this till the last minute (I thought the deadline was today instead of next Sunday) as well as thinking I had two other things to bake this weekend, I wanted something relatively easy, and thirdly because I liked what they are called. Oh, hang on, I think I said that already ;p You can find the recipe on Nigella's website and I leave you with my pictures.