It's time for cake.

There's about to be a celebration. Just a little one, it'll involve going to the pub and drinking some very fine organic cider and ale. It will probably involve stopping on the way at the luxurious knitting shop and buying purple wool.



What's there to celebrate, I hear you ask? Well, a collection of little things that are about to coincide. Firstly, I think today I will finish the main writing of my thesis. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think there are only a couple of hundred words left to write. Quite the achievement for me, especially considering how much baking I've managed to fit in around it! Secondly, I'm going Up North next week to visit the folks. They've just returned from the most amazing holiday ever, and I haven't been back since December, so it's time. I want to swap holiday photos, knit and sew with Mum and steal as many of my father's amazing photography skills as possible! Finally, it's about to be the weekend. It may seem silly, but it's been "one of those weeks" and not having to get up early tomorrow is such a great and wonderful thing that I think it warrant a raising of glasses. Many glasses!

I think you should all celebrate with me, and so I bring you cake. Yep, this is the very recipe I used for the wedding cake. You should make it, you should treat yourself this weekend because I think you deserve it. It's rich, chocolatey, incredibly moist, and doesn't involve any boiling of eggs! Go ahead...

I'm afraid aside from the finished cake I don't have many photos as I was a little tied up in making everything as perfect as possible to grab the camera - and those sticky chocolatey fingers weren't going anywhere near my nikon! I have however got a couple of the filling and icing process which I'll share because for large cakes the technique I used was really helpful.

Super Sexy Chocolate Cake - serves you! (and maybe a friend or two if they're very lucky)

This recipe makes a large three layer cake, and made up the smallest "tier" of the wedding cake. To make the larger ones I just made lots and lots of this batter and hoped for the best. I also baked it at a lower temperature for longer. I totally recommend you indulge in the cake and share it with friends. Trust me, those will be friends for life! The other alternative is to make a simple two-layer cake and freeze the remaining batter. It freezes and thaws so well that it could mean in a few weeks time, when you're craving chocolate cupcakes, you've got the wherewithal sitting waiting!

I did everything in my mixer (because otherwise my arms would have fallen off I made so many batches,) but I've written it out for mixing by hand because frankly it's such an easy cake turning on the mixer might seem like effort!

3 cups plain flour
3 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

250ml Buttermilk

3 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
250ml
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line three 8" round tins (or two and keep some batter aside)

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and cinnamon, until combined. Add the butter and buttermilk and stir slowly until moistened. Once you're now longer puffing clouds of chocolatey flour in the air (I speak from experience, don't try this on high on your mixer!) you can start stirring faster until it's light and fluffy.

Whisk the coffee into the beaten eggs (the coffee must be cool or you'll cook the eggs, a big no-no!). Then add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only until blended after each time. Divide the batter among the prepared pans; each tin will take about 3 1/4 cups of batter if you're using three tins,

Bake for 38 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove and cool completely before taking out of the pans (these are really moist cakes, so heed this instruction!).

When stacking I filled mine with a layer of swiss meringue buttercream and then strawberry jam. To avoid over-spill of the jam I piped a ring of buttercream around the edge of the top of each layer, like this:

This not only stopped the strawberry jam escaping, but helped with the stacking and overall icing.

I used the following icing recipe and loved it. I was worried because lots of people say it doesn't work, but if you keep mixing it does. You definitely need an electric hand whisk, or better yet a mixer for this as you need constant whipping action. If you don't have one, and don't need the cake to last long (as if it would!) then I highly recommend whipping cream by hand into peaks and then icing the cake with that. It'll make it like chocolate, strawberries and cream, oh yeah!

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
12 oz butter, softened (the softer the better in my opinion)
1/2 cup of melted dark chocolate

4 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water (I actually used the mixer bowl as it made the whole thing quicker and easier in the long run) until you can’t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

Move the bowl to the mixer and whip the mixture until it turns white and about doubles in size. Watch for any steam or condensation, you do not want that getting into the mix or it won't whip properly (I put a tea-towel around the bowl as I lifted it to make sure)

Add the vanilla and whip to combine then add the butter a bit at a time whilst whipping (I was putting in about a tablespoon each time, I know it takes forever but it's worth it), then pour in the melted chocolate and the cocoa. Whip, whip, whip! It might seem like it takes forever to come together, (and you'll know when it does) but stick with it and you'll have a great icing and one that can withstand all sorts of pain (like travelling in a hot car!).

Oh, shiny thing!

Far too long ago for me to admit, the lovely Julia, was kind enough to send me a chocolate making kit. A Mayan Magic chocolate making kit to be exact.

Oh yes, a special kit in which you get all the raw ingredients for chocolate in separate little parcels, and you can make it yourself. From scratch. Seriously, how exciting is that. In my own little kitchen this week, I got to make chocolate. Not just melt some in a bowl, but actually mix and make it!There was only one problem. For some reason my pack was lacking instructions. At first I thought this was because the process was so idiot proof that even someone like me could manage it. However, I have now discovered that no, this was not intentional, there should have been instructions, my pack just didn't happen to have any.

I thought I would make that very clear before I went on. The following experiment was done entirely based on what I thought I should do. For the proper version, with a rather swanky video I must say, you should head over to Julia's site. In fact, you should do that anyway, just because you can.

I decided that given there was coconut butter in one little packet, and cacao powder in the other, the most logical thing to do would be to melt the butter over a bowl of boiled water, and then beat in the powder. I then added some of the agave necter to sweeten it. I didn't add it all as I like my chocolate dark and bitter.
It seemed to go pretty well, but I must admit when I dipped my finger in to taste I rather wished I'd sifted the powder and whisked it in, as it was a little chalky.
I had promised Julia that I would make a Mayan inspired truffle with the chocolate once made, and so I decided to add a little oomph to the chocolate mixture itself and so added a small mound of cinnamon and chili. It took rather a lot of the spices to get the desired effect, but I got there in the end.
Finally, I poured the glossy mixture into a foil "mould" and left it to set in the fridge. I have only nibbled at the edge, and although it doesn't taste like any of your usual bog-standard chocolate from the shops, it's alright. In fact, pretty good considering I had no instructions and had to wing it!

I also only used half the ingredients, so now I can watch Julia's video, take notes and have another go! Hopefully this time it will be even better. All that remains now is for me to get my act together and make the truffles. Considering it's taken me over a month to review the kick, you might not want to hold your breath! I'll get there. Honest!

So yes, although I don't feel fully qualified to give the product a proper review I will say that I had great fun doing it, and the fact that you can adjust the sweetness and add flavourings whilst actually making chocolate from scratch is pretty exciting. I can't wait to have another go.

Randomville

I can't believe the bank holiday weekend is almost over. The past three days has flown past. In fact, to be honest the past week has disappeared in a haze of editing, crafting, cooking, eating, drinking and campaigning.

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about this weekend. In an unusual turn of form for us we'd decided to forgo a three day laze-fest in favour of a weekend of socialising and events. Now, don't get me wrong, we're pretty social people, and have a very lovely bunch of friends indeed. It's just, we also value some quiet time in the flat, with the cat, helping him guard the sofa, or in the garden generally pottering, or reading and crafting with a nice cup of tea. With this in mind our usual plan is to split the weekend into a day where we "do something" and a day where we don't. This weekend, all of that went out of the window as a variety of circumstances aligned to bring us a socially packed two and a half(ish) days. As a result I was a littel twitchy about losing the quiet time and starting the week already exhausted.Of course, there was no reason to worry. It was a delightful weekend, and I even managed to get some sewing done while N was in the pub catching up with a friend. This was followed by dinner with friends and a hilarious card game, then a Sunday full of dungeons and dragons, and a visit to see a friend's amazing band play, which is always a pleasure. Then, more chatting and a different friend crashing - much to Sniff's confusion, and yet another lazy communal breakfast.

All in all, a very random collection of events, but one that filled the weekend with grins and music, good food and good company.

And speaking of good food, I shall finally give you the recipe for the caramel shortbread slices that I hope lured you into this post. They look a little tempting don't they? I've been wanting to try them for months, especially given N's love of caramel, but wanted an occasion when the two of us wouldn't be left in the flat to finish them off ourselves, because believe me, I knew we would! I adapted the recipe from one in the Sainsbury's magazine and served them up with strong coffee during our DnD session. I think Kelly will be pleased to know they will definitely keep you going whilst fending off zombies.


Beware, these are very sweet, even after I used 78% chocolate on them. They are best in small doses, with a strong coffee, in my opinion. I made the full recipe because of having company, but I'm sure you could halve it or freeze them.

Caramel shortbread slices: makes between 12 and 18 slices, depending on how you cut them.

base:
100g plain flour
75g soft unsalted butter
25g caster (superfine) sugar

caramel:
150g unsalted butter
150g light muscovado sugar
400g light condensed milk

topping:
150G 78-85% dark chocolate
50g white chocolate
1 1/2 tbsp groundnut oil

Grease and line a 18cm square tin (mine was actually slightly larger, I don't think it mattered)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the base ingredients in a food processor, or rub the butter and sugar into the flour lightly by hand until the mixture is sandy, a bit like crumble. Push evenly into the base of the tin and bake for 20mins until golden. Cool.

Put the caramel ingredients into a large heavy-based pan on a low heat and stir gently until the butter has melted and sugar disolved. Increase the heat and simmer for about 10mins until the mixture is a medium dark caramel colour. Don't let it boil and stir constantly whilst doing this.

Pour this caramel over the cooled mixture, spread to even out if necessary and leave to cool for an hour.

Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water with 1 tbsp of the oil. At the same time melt the white chocolate in the same way in another bowl with the remaining 1/2 tbsp of oil. Pour the dark chocolate over the cooled caramel and spread evenly, then drizzle the white chocolate to great a swirl. Leave to cool, then set in the fridge for 4 hours, or overnight. Bring to room temperature, then cut with a sharp knife.

Goals, finally (and a quick-fire cookie too)

Last night we went to the Arsenal vs Cardiff FA cup match. I was pretty confident about it, right until we entered the stadium, then I got nervous. Which is what usually happens. All thoughts about home advantage go out of the window and I get jittery and jump up and down lots (and not always because of the cold). But last night I saw some of the most beautiful football I've seen from us in a very long time, why? Because our long lost striker Eduardo is back. He was horrifically injured last year when he has his leg broken whilst tackled, and his return has been a long time coming. Worth the wait though, oh yes.

But, I know, you're not really all that interested in Eduardo's amazing performance, and the lightening connections he made with the midfielder, Nasri. You want to know about these:
It's become tradition to have something to keep us going at half time, and at five last night I suddenly realised I hadn't baked anything and had to leave in an hour and a half. NO! I frantically threw on an apron and began opening cupboards, and browsing blogs for inspiration. I came across these. They sounded pretty simple, but tasty, and easy to throw together with few ingredients and little time on my hands. So I propped the laptop on the side, whacked the oven on and began assembling ingredients. That was when I discovered I'd used up the last of the plain flour over the weekend when making pancakes (recipe coming I promise). I had also used up all of the strong white making bread (which sometimes sneaks into recipes when I use up the plain flour). What now?

Improvisation is my friend. Since I can't help but adapt any recipe that crosses my path I decided to do the same with this one. I only needed a half batch (I am desperately trying to cut down the tempting treats in the house...then again, when am I not!) so I only needed a cup and a half of flour, problem is, I didn't have this of any one flour. The result? A mixture of wholemeal, self-raising and ground almonds! I have to say I think the result was rather nice, and at least made it a teensy bit healthy with the wholemeal in there. They were more moist though, and since I didn't have time to chill the dough before rolling (except about ten minutes in the freezer) it did need more flour than usual when rolling out, and needed a palet knife to get them onto the baking sheet in one piece.

They still need a bit of work (probably with the flour ratios, I don't know, I'm just guessing, hehe), but they went down well last night and I packed some up for friends today and they seemed pleased. I'd like to experiment with adding spices too. So many ideas, so little time.

Brownie Cookies - Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

My mix made about 20 medium cookies.

1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
pinch baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 softened butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 180C and line two baking sheets with parchment.

Whisk together the flours, almonds, baking powder and salt. Then, in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the egg, butter, cocoa and vanilla until combined well. Gradually add the flour mixture and continue mixing until the mixture is smooth and combined. It might be a bit wet, so feel free to add a bit more flour - I would have added plain. Chill the dough for an hour in the fridge, or fifteen minutes in the freezer (I recommend the fridge if you have time, I didn't). Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface and cut into shapes. I used circles. Place on the lined baking sheets and bake for about ten minutes, or until the edges are just hardening and they've risen slightly. Cool on a wire rack, then enjoy.

I will probably return to this recipe and fine tune it...




p.s. coming soon perhaps? The "From a North London Kitchen" shop. *ponder ponder ponder*

Let the "pain" commence - part deux

Today N had his breakfast the European way: coffee and a pastry. A homemade pastry to be precise, because I did indeed master the intricate rolling, folding, resting, rolling, folding, rising, of croissant dough. My results weren't as flaky as a French croissant, they were slightly more doughy, but that suited me as the Italian ones we had were more bread-like and as I'm sure you've gathered by now we LOVE bread in this flat! I did however keep the very dark, almost bitter chocolate that the French tend to prefer. In Italy they use Nutella, or something similar. It's nice, but a bit too sweet and indulgent for me really. I prefer the more adult kick you get from a really bitter bite of chocolate. Perfect to shock you awake alongside your coffee!

I'm afraid I'm not going to post the recipe, not only because I didn't adapt it in any way, but also because it's two pages long and I can't be bothered. Shame on me, but I'm lazy, and probably should be actually doing work rather than blogging. Oops. Instead you'll just have to make do with the pictures. Sorry.

Let the "pain" commence.

I have begun a bit of a challenge.

Whilst in Italy N and I really enjoyed having just a pastry and coffee for breakfast. So much so that N pondered about having it at home. Cue me to hunt out the recipe for pain au chocolate, or brioche con cioccolate as they call it in Italy. "How hard can it be?" I thought to myself.

Apparently quite hard. I looked at lots of blogs about croissants and every single one seemed to say what a nightmare they are to make; time consuming and fiddly. Hmm...perhaps I was a little too quick to suggest I have a go.

However, a friend recently surprised me by treating me to Bake by Rachel Allen. As I eagerly flicked through I noticed that the lovely ribbon bookmark was coincidentally marking the page for croissants. It was a sign, a baking omen, and fortunately her recipe looked manageable. So today, with N back at work (boo) and me all alone in the house again, forced to do work (because the cat just wants to run about in the falling leaves chasing his tail) I decided to venture into the experiment of intricate foldings of butter and dough.


So far I'm about three hours in. It seems to be going pretty well, but then all I've done is roll out some dough, place some butter in it and roll it out and fold it again. The real test will come when I actually bake them.

I shall keep you posted...

More please.

I have no will power. I was supposed to hold off and not make these until the weekend. But this week has been a tough one. N and I have both been pretty exhausted, he's been working late nights again and I've been finding the writing difficult. So on Wednesday afternoon in celebration of having actually written a decent amount I decided that we needed not just a little treat, but a huge sugar rush!

These no-bake malteaser slices are evil and wonderful, so much so that N asked me to make them again, soon and not to stop! He's very supportive of my baking obsession and always compliments me on whatever baked good I put in front of him, however it's rare that I get an outright request for more of what I've made immediately.

This time I got "these are such a winner,*munch munch munch* you should make more of them, *munch, munch, munch* you should make them all the time, *munch munch swallow smug grin*"

If I'm honest I thought they were a bit rich, even after I'd used a darker milk chocolate and less butter. But it didn't stop me from polishing off half of one at lunchtime yesterday, another half with a mid-afternoon coffee and then shared another with N as dessert. See, I told you they were evil.

I might try the next batch with dark chocolate, because yes, there will be a next batch, N says so! It may be that I finally manage to get N to "bake" something all by himself as I don't think it would take much persuading to get him to make more of these!

Recipe: Malteaser tray bake - Makes lots as you'll need to cut them small, they're so rich. Also, I quartered this recipe in the hope of not eating too many. Clearly I should have made more!


400g milk chocolate (I used green and blacks which is less sweet than other brands)
200g unsalted butter
4 tbsp golden syrup
250g digestive biscuits
175g maltesers
250g white chocolate
50g unsalted butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
75g maltesers, crushed


Crush the digestive biscuits to make fine crumbs. Melt together the milk chocolate, 200g butter and 4 tbsp golden syrup. Mix in the crushed biscuit and maltesers and stir well. Spread out in a brown pan and compact the mixture in the pan. Melt together the white chocolate, 50g butter and 1 tbsp golden syrup. Pour the white chocolate over the top of the compacted biscuit mix and spread evenly. Pour on the crushed maltesers and spread over the top pushing gently into the melted chocolate. Leave to firm up in the fridge for a couple of hours then slice into portions.

Black and white cockney leit-motifs

As I have pointed out before the cockney leit-motif of "have a banana" has seeped into the cookie experience in Our Lovely Flat. Now I cannot make the aforementioned baked item without N and I referring to it as a ba-cookie, not only is it a ba-cookie, but it is said using the tone of the song, you know what I mean, I know you're doing it in your head now. Once it's there it just can't be removed, which is much the same as the wish to make ba-cookies. The idea gets into my head and cannot be shifted until I've got a batch cooling and the bowls soaking in the washing up. It's a dangerous situation.

I can't remember how ba-cookies came up this week, but they did. I think because I was craving something sweet and N asked if we had any biscuits in the house. Needless to say we didn't - why would I buy some when I could use not having them as an excuse to get the mixing bowls out?! - but that put the itch in my mind. I had spotted a recipe for white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies on a blog I read. I'm not one to usually fancy cookies - as you will have seen I am much more likely to make muffins or cakes - but the recipe tempted me. I think I liked the idea of a pure white cookie, with the sweetness of the chocolate and buttery nuts. Then N got the ba-cookie idea in my head and I knew the inevitable was going to happen.

I stopped at a fruit and nut stall whilst in town on Thursday to pick up the nuts and was distracted by the fact that they had dried sour cherries. Now I LOVE cherries, and dried sour ones are so delicious. I have fond memories of first discovering them in Italy on a market near Florence. I could eat them by the handful all day. When I saw them I just couldn't resist, I had to buy some. As I was asking for them an idea suddenly popped into my head, I could make dark cookies with cherries in too! Then I would have black and white ba-cookies to accompany our trip to the Oval to watch the cricket.

So suddenly I had managed to persuade myself to once again bake at the weekend, and to make not one thing, but two. So much for my "eat less baked things over summer" resolution, so much for my "only bake on baking day" idea. Black and white ba-cookies it was.



I found a recipe for dark chocolate cookies and adapted it to suit the cherries (adding melted chocolate to the batter as well as cocoa to make it darker and richer, and adding large chunks of dark chocolate along with the cherries so match the idea of the white chocolate and nut recipe). I then adapted the white chocolate and nut recipe to use plain (rather than roasted and salted) macadamia nuts, to cut down on the salt in the recipe.

Although both ba-cookies turned out well it was the white chocolate and macadamia nut that were the real winners. They were perfectly indulgent, yet not too sickly - a worry I have with white chocolate. They also coped well with being stored, whereas the dark ba-cookies became slightly too chewy after a day in a tupperware. I think this was because the batter was too dry, N pointed out that if they had rum in they'd be much better so next time I will be dutifully soaking the cherries in rum! The darker ba-cookies were a slightly larger batch so I have frozen a bunch of them and plan on serving them warm with a rum sauce at some point in the future. I'm sure that'll help them be more moist!

Here are the recipe's I used for the ba-cookies:

I made really large ba-cookies, so my baking times were almost double those for the tablespoon sized ones:

White chocolate and macadamia nut ba-cookies.
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup light muscovado sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate, chopped into large chunks
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 180C

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

Beat butter and both sugars until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. Add flour mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in white chocolate and macadamia nuts.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart, on two ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until golden around edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower oven racks halfway through baking. With wide spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Dark chocolate and sour cherry ba-cookies:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup golden caster sugar
1 egg
1 ounce melted dark chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 chopped dark chocolate
3/4 cup dried sour cherries (feel free to soak these in rum overnight!)

Preheat oven to 180C, line two baking sheets with parchment.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa and salt.

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, vanilla and melted chocolate until combined. Slowly blend in the flour mixture until combined, stir in the cherries and chocolate. If the batter is too stiff add a little milk to thin it slightly - or if you're using rum soaked cherries add a very little milk and a little rum!

Place tablespoons of dough a few inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes; until cracks form on the top of the cookies.

Baking Day! (June): brownies, cupcakes and biscuits

Although there have been bits and pieces of baking going on, it feels like a very long time indeed since the last baking day. In the end it turned into rather a mammoth day, with me making not one, but three things! Clearly I had been feeling deprived.



I've been craving brownies all week for some reason. I'm not sure why because they are rarely something I think about eating of baking. Perhaps I just felt the need for a pure chocolate hit. So whatever was going to happen brownies would be made. However, I also wanted to make some biscuits. Ages ago I bought a moose-shaped cookie cutter and still hadn't gotten around to using it. N kept reminding me of it, and this week my new hoodie arrived in the post, complete with moose design and "mooses like peanut butter too..." slogan. So I knew I had to get the cutter out and give it ago, moose shaped peanut butter biscuits it had to be!

But, then I was faced with a real dilemma. I already had to things I wanted to make, but three new cookbooks on my reading pile. It felt rude not to try something from them, particularly as the Ottolenghi has such an impressive and extensive baking section. Also, N had commented in a cafe recently that their chocolate cake looked really good, and that he reckoned the only reason he thought so was because it was decorated with bits of Cadbury's Flake! I of course, replied with a sarcastic comment about now having to top anything I baked for him with Flake to make it appetising. Another challenge for my baking day, I had to make something I could stick a bit of flake on to continue the joke.

It occurred to me that I also hadn't indulged my cupcake love for a while too, and what would be more perfect than cute little cakes topped with flake. Fortunately Ottolenghi not only includes two cupcake recipes in his book, but I had all the ingredients for one of them.

Thus began the baking day adventures. My mission, to make low-fat brownies, peanut butter cut-out biscuits and hazelnut cupcakes topped with flake!

The brownie recipe came from Baking Bites, a blog I not only read twice a day (because she manages to update so often) but rate really highly. It not only talks about recipes, but reviews products and give tips and advice. It really is everything you'd want from a food blog. There had been a post on their previously about double chocolate brownies, that looked great, but then a few days later she posted about low-fat brownies. Now what with needing as low fat a diet as possible because of my back this immediately caught my eye, especially as her comments said that it didn't lack anything taste and texture wise die to being low fat. I eagerly copied down the recipe and decided to give it a go. The batter was really thick, and hard to spread in a parchment lined baking tray (I had to get N to hold the paper in place while I struggled with the spatula) but it did settle out whilst baking. I wasn't sure what the result would be like, especially as I managed to overcook it slightly and so it didn't come out as gooey as I had hoped. However, the taste was great. Rich and cakey (due to overbaking, next time I'd baked for less time to get it fudgey) and with a nice chocolate flavour that wasn't too sweet. Plus you definitely wouldn't know it was low fat.




Low-fat chocolate brownies (makes 8)

preheat the oven to 180C and grease/line a 10" by 6" baking tin

3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2oz dark chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp fromage frais of low-fat yoghurt
1 egg
1 egg white
1tsp vanilla essence

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl melt together the butter and chocolate. Whisk this mixture with the sugars and yoghurt and when combined whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Gently mix in the flour. The batter will be really thick. Bake for about 20mins until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool then cut into eight.

The peanut butter biscuits posed slightly more of a problem. I couldn't find a recipe anywhere for a peanut butter cookie recipe that you could roll out and cut shapes with. In the end I decided to just experiment. It could go horridly wrong, but that was a risk that would be worth taking! I used a basic recipe for cut-out biscuits and used peanut butter rather than butter. I also only used an egg yolk, since I had one left from the brownies. This meant the dough didn't really come together, so I had to add a bit of water, but in the end it rolled out fine and made some nice biscuits, not too sweet with a subtle peanut flavour. I glazed them with some of the icing I was going to use on the cupcakes.


Moosey peanut butter biscuits. (Makes 8-10 large biscuits)

Preheat oven to 190C and line/grease a baking sheet

125g plain flour
63g peanut butter
63g brown sugar
1 egg yolk (or 1/2 beaten egg)
water to make up to a dough

Beat the butter and the sugar and add the egg. Sieve the flour into the mixture and mix into a dough, gradually adding enough water to make it roll-able. Roll out and cut into shapes. Bake on a high shelf for aprox. 15 mins.

Finally I made the hazelnut cupcakes. I halved the recipe to make only six since there was already a rather large amount of baked goods in the house. Instead of using the cream cheese icing suggested in the book I used a whipped chocolate ganache, and plonked a hunk of flake on top.

Now you have all these delicious goodies, settle down in front of the cricket with a cup of tea and enjoy!

Healthy cake - I kid you not! or; it's easier and tastier to be vegan than you think

This weekend I was mostly baking...vegan cakes!

I have a very dear friend who is vegan. I don't see her anywhere near as much as I would like, which is silly considering she is only in Brighton. Annnyway, this Sunday we were off to visit friends in Lancing to catch up and continue our game of D&D. Lancing being only eight miles from Brighton it seemed rude not to pop in on Q. I had raved to her a little while back about the vegan cheesecake I had tried out, and promised to make her one for the next time I saw her. Not being one to break such baking promises I knew that even though we'd only be seeing each other for a few hours, and that would be over dinner, it just wouldn't do to turn up empty handed. So a vegan cheesecake had to be made. Oh, what a hardship says the baking obsessive!

I then decided to go one better. The tradition for D&D sessions is that whoever is the visitor brings cake. I'm not sure quite how is started, but last time round we were presented with a beautiful carrot cake, and when the five of us couldn't finish it, it was kindly left behind. I wanted to return not only the favour, but the cake tin! and so set about trawling recipe books for something suitable. Having been so concerned about the fat in my diet after a holiday of such weird food and some twinching sciatic moments, I wanted something as low fat as possible, without any compromise in the taste. A tough ask I know, until I stumbled on this site. I couldn't believe it. A fat-free vegan recipe for chocolate and orange cake. Perfect. I could even make one big cake, and steal out some of the batter to make a mini one for Q. She'd get two tasty vegan treats, and we'd get a healthy cake. Yep, a healthy cake. Sconto!

The outcome would also allow me to use the two mini cake tins I'd bought earlier in the week, totally justifying their purchase! hehe.

I won't post the recipe for the chocolate-orange cake as I used it exactly as the site says, and you can just enjoy browsing there. The only difference was that I used an 8" deep cake pan rather than a bundt tin, as I couldn't find one anywhere in time. It worked well to start with, but whilst cooling it sank. The mixture was clearly too light to hold up all the way through. I probably should have split the mixture and made a layer cake. However I iced the cake anyway and it didn't make any difference to the taste, except that the icing that pooled in the middle looked interesting and made it more moist. Despite the sinking it was alright, more moist than I expected, not gooey, but moist with fruit juice (and icing!). However I did think it was slightly chewy and although there was certainly no way you'd be able to tell it was fat-free I couldn't help thinking a regular chocolate cake might have been a better idea. It might be one to experiment with. Hmmm...


The vegan cheesecake was very well received and is fast becoming one of my new favourite desserts. Since it's made with tofu and yoghurt it's lower in fat and calories than normal cheesecake, but still tastes great. It's also so easy to make. Unlike my last attempt at a tofu cheesecake which only needed to be egg-free, this one had to be fully vegan so I did make some changes to the recipe I had. I couldn't get vegan cream cheese, so used soy yoghurt instead. This actually made a much better texture and was, of course, even lower in fat. I also needed a base that was fully vegan, so opted for store bought vegan digestives, mixed with toasted hazelnuts and blended with apple sauce. I had some left over blackberries so whacked those in with the the tofu mix, topped the whole thing with a blackberry puree and voila! Vegan blackberry cheesecake!


I think that my next vegan cheesecake experiment will be chocolate. I think the combination of really dark chocolate and the creamy tofu will work perfectly. Again I won't post the recipe because it is essentially the same as the previous one except with yoghurt rather than cheese and the addition of blackberries.

Hurrah for vegan low-fat baking!

Belated birthday cupcakes.

It was K's birthday in February and I had promised to make her birthday cupcakes. Problem is, she lives in Oxford and we've both been pretty busy this year already, so I didn't have a chance to see her until this week. We were off to see Blood Red Shoes at the Oxford Zodiac (part of her present!). Even though I was on the bus and wasn't sure if we'd have time to go back to her house before the gig I knew I couldn't let her down and still wanted to surprise her with some birthday cupcakey goodness.

So in the morning I dutifully wrapped her other presents and then set to work on the baking. I wanted to make something ultra indulgent. I decided on Uber double chocolate cupcakes with a dark chocolate ganache icing. I also decorated them with bright star sprinkles to give them an extra ounce of celebration and fun. I thought it would be just the thing to celebrate her birthday in style and keep us going after the gig!

I managed to find a wine box that fit them in perfectly and that I could both wrap and keep upright in my bag. It all worked out perfectly and she loved them.

Happy (belated) Birthday K!

Since I am currently curled up on the sofa watching a film there is no excuse not to post the recipe, which I adapted from the 500 cupcakes and Muffins book by Fergal Connolly.

Uber double chocolate muffins (makes six to eight muffin sized cupcakes)

Preheat the oven to 175C and line a muffin tray with papers.

4oz Softened butter
4oz caster sugar
4oz Self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3tbsp cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
50g dark chocolate chunks
50g white chocolate chunks

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until the chocolate chunks are evenly distributed in the batter. Spoon it into the cases and place in the middle of the oven. Bake for 25 mins. They should rise until just level with the top of the cases. Allow to cool fully before decorating.

Call me the allergy-friendly baking queen

It feels slightly wrong to post the above picture and following recipe as technically it is not my handy work. I shall explain. I have a friend who has recently been told she shouldn't be eating gluten. I was horrified at the news as there are so many foods I love, and would love to share with her, that are just full of the stuff. So many things have gluten in them, basically anything that uses flour, as well as lots of other random things that you wouldn't even think of.

As you'll have realised from the previous post about egg-free desserts I am always up for a challange, especially a baking one. I love it when my vegan friend visits, not only because she is one of my favourite people in the whole world, but because it gives me a chance to experiment with all sorts of fun things.

Saying "I'm giving up gluten" just sounds like a challenge to me. So in return for her showing me the amazing delights of Columbia Road flower market, and not only humouring my decision to buy a lemon tree, but helping me back with it, I promised her a gluten free baking session. We relocated to my North London Kitchen (which is considerably larger than hers) thanks to a lift from the musician boyfriends (who couldn't help mocking the lemon tree, swearing the fruit on it was glued on and the lemon scent just kitchen cleaner that had been sprayed over it), and donning our wonderful girly aprons we set to work.

She wanted something chocolate and cute so I suggested cupcakes and she jumped at the idea. An hour and a half later, and one curry and pizza delivery later (the poor musicians hadn't had lunch and were starving and we'd monopolised the kitchen with mixing bowls and chocolate wrappers) we had gluten free cupcakes. All the mixing and decorating are down to her, I just helped cream the butterceam icing and fill some of the cake cases.

We used roughly this recipe adapted from 500 Cupcakes and Muffins by Fergal Connolly. It made 12 regular cupcakes and 4 muffin sized ones.

300g gluten-free plain flour
175g caster sugar
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
2 beaten eggs
4 tbsp melted butter
300ml milk (I used soya milk)
1 tsp vanilla
210 g chopped chocolate (we mixed white and dark)
3tbsp cocoa

Preheat oven to 200C

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar and baking powder. In a large bowl beat the eggs, then add the butter milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined, then add the chocolate. Spoon the mixture into the cases until they're about 2/3 full. Bake cupcake sized ones for 20 minutes, muffin sized for 25 mins. leave to cool before decorating.

We used a white chocolate buttercream for the filling and decorating.

I think you could adapt this recipe and swap in dried fruit or nuts etc for the chocolate, leaving out the cocoa.

Cute fairy cakes were definitely the perfect way to end a fantastic day and a busy weekend.

Easter treats part two: egg nest vanilla cupcakes

As the photo shows the kitchen was rather busy on Thursday afternoon. Having finished my work for the day I started making all the Easter treats at around 3pm. I had ciabatta proving, roast tomatoes cooling, hot cross bun dough resting and the came the cupcakes. Oh yes, there had to be cupcakes!

Having just posted about how rarely I use the Kenwood I have to admit that it got a good outing on Thursday. All stages of the cupcakes called for it. I think it must have felt rather smug to have usurped the bowls (which to be honest were full of hot cross bun-y goodness!). I wanted to make a plain cupcake that I could decorate with a predictable Easter theme, egg nests.

I chose the Magnolia Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe that everyone raves about as the base and decided that I would finally attempt a ganache icing. N's birthday is coming up and when asked about what sort of cake he might want he said there was a certain type of icing he would really like. I have spent the last few weeks pointing to pictures on the front of food magazines, cakes in the windows of shops and photos on the web and finally figured out that it is probably a chocolate buttercream ganache. In order to be sure about this I thought that I could use it on my Easter cupcakes, as the colour and swirled piping would make it perfect for imitating a birds nest, and it would allow N to try it and confirm I was right.

So I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes and then mixed a ganache, piped it on and added mini-eggs. The result, a lovely textured but plain cupcake with a nicely rich cute topping. The plain cupcakes meaning that the overall combination wasn't too over the top. I was really pleased.


N was also delighted, not only because he got cupcakes, but because the icing was indeed what he hoped for. We took them away with us on our country break to sustain ourselves. A good job too because it snowed and there is nothing like curling up in front of Match of the Day with a cup of tea and indulgent cupcake, with the snow swirling outside the window.

I also made six mini-cupcakes and iced them, this time adding a variety of sprinkles rather than eggs. I hide them in an egg box and presented them to N this afternoon as a treat for in front of the football. It was so quaint I couldn't resist!

And now for the recipes:

Vanilla Cupcakes: Adapted from Magnolia Bakery recipe (I don't actually have their book yet, but I am hoping to pick it up asap)

Makes 12. (I cut it down to this as the original made 24 and that was way too many for me)

1/2 + 1/4 cups self-rising flour
1/2 + 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cups sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Line a 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Ganache:

(I actually halved the following and it made enough to ice 6 large and 6 mini cupcakes)

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup butter , room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
2. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.
3. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
4. Add butter to the chocolate (make sure its soft and at room temp) and stir until combined.
5. Whisk together sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in another bowl until combined.
6. Pour the sugar mixture onto the chocolate mixture, then stir until combined and smooth.
7. Let sit at room temperature until thickened.
8. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.
9. Pipe onto cupcakes when they're completely cooled.

Happy St Patrick's Day...fancy a pint?

Guinness and chocolate cupcakes. Need I say more?!

Decadence

Tonight was a celebration: My father has been offered a job for September! Whoo! So we decided to have an indulgent evening in the flat. We immediately cracked open a bottle of wine and out came the recipe lists. Yes, they are mostly on my mac still. Makes a nice kitchen scene doesn't it!


I've been craving chocolate this week and feeling a bit down (I think my work is getting to me and I really feel the need of a break - bring on Easter weekend), so I decided to go uber decedent and make a chocolate cake. This is technically a food adventure too as although I have made plenty of brownies and cookies in my time, I have never attempted a chocolate cake.



I wanted it to be a little bit special so instead of using the coffee suggested in the recipe I added Kahlua. Unfortunately it clearly wasn't enough, as I couldn't really taste it when the cake came out, but I don't think it really mattered in the end.



I timed it perfectly to come out of the oven just before half time in the UEFA cup match we were watching, so by the time it came to half time I could whip some cream without the cacophony of the Kenwood getting in the way of the match, and could serve, with the cake still slightly warm, just in time for the second half.

N was so pleased with his slice he insisted it was the one I photographed! Needless to say it went down very well, and has certainly satisfied my chocolate cravings for a very long time! It was dark and indulgent and not too sweet with a very satisfying crunch to the top. Another success in the North London Kitchen.

Chocolate Mud Cake

200g butter
200g dark chocolate
25g cocoa powder
4 tbsp Kahlua (this wasn't enough in my opinion, I'd add more next time, maybe double)
1 tsp vanilla
200g caster sugar
3 eggs115g self raising flour

Method
Grease and line an 8inch/20cm springform cake tin and set to one side. Preheat the oven to 160C.
Put the butter, chocolate, cocoa powder, Kahlua and vanilla into a saucepan and place over a low heat to slowly melt. Stir from time to time to ensure even melting. When completely melted, remove from the heat and set to one side to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar together for 3-4 minutes until pale, thick and creamy, then beat in the flour. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture in a thin stream, beating all the time. Then beat for a further 30 seconds until light. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 55-65 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out relatively clean. (I baked for an hour and it was probably a little too long as it gave the cake a crusty top and side, which I love but I can understand people who want their chocolate cake all goo).

I served still slighty warm with whipped cream. It was probably a bit too much for me, but it was an evening of indulgent celebration and I wouldn't have been allowed to get away with not whole-heartedly taking part!

P.S. I should mention that we had a nice light main course of balsamic onion puff pastry trays with dressed salad. It too was very nice indeed, and will no doubt become a regular for us when there are plenty of onions to be used up!

My new cupcake obsession

We woke up this morning to bright February sunshine and finally the need to turn the heating down slightly. I was even able to open the blinds and let the kitchen flood with natural light. Ah, what a perfect beginning to a Sunday.

Since the temperature is rising slightly and another month draws to a close we knew it was time to get properly started on the garden. However, before we got going with all that I had even more important things in mind: cupcakes!

I have become slightly obsessed with the idea of cupcakes recently. I just love the pretty decorations and outrageous icing colours you can lavish on them. They are also so versatile, there are so many different flavours or combinations of flavours to choose from I don't think you'd ever get bored. So last week I splashed out and ordered some posh paper cupcake cups and a range of exciting sprinkles (I also bought cookie cutters which will no doubt make an appearance sooner or later!). The package of baking goodness arrived yesterday. I tried to hold out until Baking Day - which is next week, so not exactly ages away - but I just couldn't resist.

So this morning whilst listening to Desert Island Disks on Radio Four I began my cupcake experiment:



I had a vanilla cupcake recipe and decided to adapt it to make it chocolate in order to top them with coffee icing and little bear sprinkles. I also thought that to indulge my decorating needs even further I would make some bright red vanilla icing and add some chocolate star sprinkles, thus continuing the red theme I have adopted.

I think the results came out rather well, and they were just the thing with a cup of tea after a hard afternoon's work clearing the garden.






Mocha Cupcakes: (this mix makes 12, but I halved it - there's only so many two people can eat and we're trying to be good!)

For the chocolate cupcake batter:

125g self-raising flour
125g caster sugar
125g soft unsalted butter
2 eggs
1⁄2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
six squares of very dark chocolate (melted)
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk, approximately

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/ and line a 12-muffin pan with paper cases. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time with a little of the flour. Then add the melted chocolate, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and fold in the rest of the flour, adding the milk to get a dropping consistency. It will look as if the mixture is not enough to make 12 cupcakes, but it is as they will rise well so you only need to fill each cup by two-thirds full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes are cooked and golden on top (it took me 20 mins for six as the chocolate make the mixture stickier). As soon as bearable, take the cupcakes in their cases out of the tin and let cool, right way up, on a wire rack. Decorate the cupcakes after they’re completely cool.

Mocha Icing:

50g butter (softened)
100g Icing sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Camp coffee (or to taste)

Cream together the butter and sugar until stiff and smooth, add the vanilla and mix, then add as much of the coffee as you require for taste.

I also made the plain vanilla icing. This time replacing the coffee with 1/2 tsp of red food colouring.

Ah cupcakes, so many possibilities, so little time!