Chocolate Courgette Cake

Chocolate Courgette Cake

Ok so once again these cakes are not going to win any prizes for their looks, lets face it presentation is not my strong point! but these courgette cakes have a very subtle flavour neither the cocoa or courgette blow your mind they just work together to form a really moist cake and for me baking is all about the taste!

Ingredients

1 medium courgette (about 200g), peeled

150g unsalted butter 
150g light soft brown sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
2 tbsp cocoa powder 
2 free range eggs 
250g self raising flour 
1 tbsp baking powder 
2 tbsp milk

For the Icing

150g icing sugar 
1 tbsp cocoa powder 
2 tbsp milk 

Method

• Preheat the oven to 160°C then finely grate your courgette. 

• In a separate bowl beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and cocoa until light and fluffy. 

• Gradually add the eggs with a little of the flour and beat well.

• Add the baking powder to the rest of the flour, then add to the butter mix along with the courgette and milk. Mix everything together.

•  Divide between 18-20 paper cases and bake for 15-20 mins until cooked through.

• Mix the icing sugar, cocoa and milk to a smooth paste and spoon a little over each cooled cake.

Homemade Butter

Home made butter

Homemade butter is a lot easier than I ever realised the method is really simple and the ingredients even more so. What's also worth taking into account is the fact that as the butter separates from the milk you are left with buttermilk which is not always readily available in British supermarkets so it can be popped in the fridge ready to made into something yummy!

Ingredients

900ml double cream

Method

• The first important thing is to start by bringing your cream up to room temperature I am insured that this makes a big difference to the way the butter will set.

• Put your cream into your food processor and start to mix I mixed mine on a slow to medium speed, but beware as the butter starts to solidify the leftover Buttermilk will fly out of the mixer try covering your mixer with a tea towel so that it doesn't fly out everywhere.

• Beat the cream until it starts to separate and become really lumpy (it looks a bit like scrambled egg) and you have lots of buttermilk in the bowl. 

• Drain the butter through a clean tea towel (Remembering to save the milk for later) Wrap the butter in a clean tea towel and wring it out. While it is still in your cloth rinse it in icy cold water, wringing it out as you go.

• Remove your butter from the cloth into a small bowl, add a little running ice cold water and work with a fork, pour the liquid out and repeat. Do this a few times until you notice the water becomes clearer. By doing this you are separating the butter from the liquid and the water helps you wash it out, this is why the water needs to be icy cold.  make sure you wash all the whey out of the butter as this will make it last longer, add a few pinches of salt or none if you choose.  (Though the salt also increases it’s shelf life.)  
• Place in the fridge until set then enjoy!

Good luck!

Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake

This is another recipe which I have taken from my Mum's collection (Thanks Mum :o) ) I remember enjoying this cake when I was growing up but moaning about the addition of the walnuts, which she use to substitute for other toppings. 

This is the first time that I have used this recipe and I have made it for my Mum's birthday. I started to realize that this was a brave move as I didn't make any spare cake for testing and didn't want to cut into it to test it out. So I spent all evening convincing myself that I had made a mistake but as it turns out she loved it and it tasted quite good. It's an easy cake to make and can also be turned into scrummy cup cakes so why not give it a go.

Ingredients

8oz Self Raising flour 

 1 level tsp baking powder

6oz caster sugar

6oz margarine/butter

3 eggs

3 tbsp coffee 

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 190’c

• Make up some coffee with 1 tbsp of coffee and a little hot water then mix well. Put to one side and leave to cool

• Sift together the flour and baking powder into bowl

• Put all ingredients into the bowl including the rest of the coffee and mix well

• Poor into cake tins and bake for around 25 minutes (I found that around 20 was enough in my oven)

For the icing

• Add melted butter, A little coco and coffee to the icing sugar and mix with warm water until smooth. I used coffee which I mixed with a little warm water rather than straight coffee granules.

Pancakes

Happy Pancake Day! 

Here is a quick and easy pancake recipe which can be wiped together in no time. I find that the first couple are never as good as the rest but as the pan heats up and you grow in confidence they will get better and better.

Enjoy x.

Ingredients

200g Plain Flour

2 Eggs

600ml Milk

1 Tbsp Caster Sugar

Method

• Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, add in the egg and whisk. Next gradually add small quantities of the milk whilst whisking.

• Heat oil in a hot flat pan and add the batter swirling the pan to ensure an even coverage. Once heated all the way through loosen at the edges with a spatula and flip.

• Serve with a topping of your choice. 

John's Birthday!

John's third and final birthday choice was Cheese Scones which I made using the recipe which I posted last weekend I also added a handful of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds both to the mixture and sprinkled on top along with some extra cheese.

So with all of the baking complete we are ready for our picnic. Sandwiches made from fresh uncut bread with the gammon left over from Sunday lunch. Cheese scones with butter and extra cheese. Brownies and flapjack for afters. 

All we need now is a drink for us and bottle of water for the dog. Wellies, raincoat and water proof trousers (it is the UK after all) and were off to explore the south downs.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll see you all next week

Happy Baking

X

Chocolate Brownies

Welcome to John's second choice for his birthday goodies, Gooey chocolate brownies. 

I have not made these before but they have turned out to be a really gooey yummy brownie. I used 72% coco chocolate and we both found it to be a touch on the bitter side.

Ingredients

188g of good quality dark chocolate 

250g of caster sugar

188g of butter

122g of plain flour
3 eggs

A pinch of salt

A dash of vanilla essence

Method

•    Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and butter it. I buttered the tray too to make sure that the paper says in place

• Break up the chocolate and cut the butter into small chunks, then melt both together.

•  In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs with the sugar and add the vanilla essence and salt. 

•   Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir again.

• Finally, stir in the flour.

• Poor the mixture into the tray and spread to the corners.

•    Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes on 180ºC until the top has gone golden brown, but the centre is still gooey.

• The brownies will solidify over time, to re-moisten, microwave for a few seconds and sprinkle over some icing sugar to serve 

Flapjack

Welcome to another weekend of yummy baking!

On Monday morning my long term boyfriend John turns 30! A big mile stone which needs celebrating. So with this in mind I have made an agreement with him that during this weekend I will bake (or attempt to bake) any treats of his choosing. His first choice is a recipe that has been passed on to me by my Mum and Dad and was a staple food when I was growing up. I can't remember a time when I raided my Mum's kitchen cupboards and this wasn't filling one of the tins. This recipe is a simple flapjack which can be thrown together in minutes and usually gets eaten just a quickly so give it a go and enjoy!

Ingredients

170g caster sugar

170g margarine

340g porridge oats

3 tablespoons golden syrup

Method

• Melt together the golden syrup and margarine then take off of the heat

• Add all of the other ingredients into the pan and mix

• Put into a greased tin of your choosing

• Bake for 20 mins at 180'c (160'c Fan assisted)

• Leave to cool for a few minutes and then cut into sections and enjoy!

Iced Buns

Iced Buns / Sticky Willy

This is my first attempt at iced buns and as you can see from my pictures they are not going to win any prizes for tidiness and regularity but what they lack in looks they make up for in taste. I have surprised myself with how nice they taste for a first attempt! It's up to you now to show me up and make yours look as pretty as you can make them :-)

 

Ingredients

For the dough

500g Strong White Flour

50g Caster Sugar

40g Unsalted Butter, softened

2 Eggs

2 x 7g sachets instant Yeast

2 tsp Salt

150ml Warm Milk

140ml Water

For the icing

200g Icing Sugar

5 tsp cold water

method

• Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl, holding back a quarter of the water. Stir the mixture (I used my Chef with a dough hook), and then slowly add the remaining water to form a dough and knead in the bowl for about four minutes.

• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 5 -10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for around an hour.

•   Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, then roll into balls and shape into fingers about 13cm/5in long.

• Place the dough fingers onto a greased baking tray, leaving space for them to double in size, then set aside in a warm place for 40 minutes. They should just touch each other when they've risen. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then set them aside to cool.

• For the icing, sift the icing sugar in a wide bowl and gradually stir in the cold water to form a thick paste.

• The advise I received was to dip the top of the fingers into the icing when cool, then smooth with your finger but I used a desert spoon to spread mine. Be careful not to make the icing too thin as it will run down the sides (and thicker icing tastes best) then leave to set on a wire rack.

Crumpets

Homemade crumpets

These crumpets are a bit of effort but they make quite a large batch which you can store and cook up when needed. You could also try freezing them for later 

Ingredients

450g plain flour, sifted
½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1x7g sachet fast-action dried yeast

300ml / ½ pint warm milk

300ml / ½ pint warm water

vegetable oil

4 crumpet rings or 7.5cm/3in plain pastry cutters, greased

Method

• Place the flour and salt into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and yeast making a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and water and mix to give quite a thick batter. Beat well until completely combined and cover with a tea towel or cling film.

• Leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour until it's a light, spongy texture. Stir well to knock out any air and pour into a large jug.

• Heat a non-stick frying pan over a very low heat with a drop of oil. Wipe the pan with kitchen paper to remove excess oil. Sit the greased crumpet rings in the pan and leave to heat up for a couple of minutes.

• Pour in enough mixture to fill the rings just over halfway up the sides. Leave to cook until plenty of small holes appear on the surface and the batter has just dried out. This will take about 8-10 minutes.

•  Remove the rings and turn over the crumpets to cook for a further minute or two on the other side. Sit the first batch of crumpets on a wire rack while continuing to cook the remaining mixture.

• When you are ready to eat the crumpets toast as normal.

I always find that the more I make the better the crumpets are, so don't get disheartened if the first couple don't come out how you had expected.

Soft Oaty Cookies

Soft Oaty Cookies

Although these cookies have a whole list of ingredients they are well worth the effort for a soft gooey indulgent treat.

Ingredients

60ml vegetable oil

75g   butter (softened)

100g caster sugar

110g  light brown sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

100g porridge oats

150g plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate soda

½ tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

150g  plain choc chips

Method

• Pre heat oven to 180’C

• Combine the oil, butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl and cream until smooth. 

• Beat in the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, then stir in the oats

• In a separate bowl, sift the flour with bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir the flour mixture into the buttery oat mixture together with the choc chips. Stir until just combined.

• Drop round tbsp sized balls of dough, 5cm (2in) apart, onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, until the surface is set and the centre slightly soft. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely. 

• The cookies will firm up slightly while cooling, so don’t over cook. 

Don't forget to be brave and take them out them out of the oven even if they don't look completely cooked. they will carry on cooking while they cool. This makes the gooey centre

Cheese Scones

Cheese Scones

Ingredients

450g self raising flour

pinch of salt

110g butter 

90g  mature cheddar cheese, grated (plus extra for sprinkling on top)

300ml milk

Method

• Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

• Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter. Stir in the cheese and then the milk to get a soft dough. Beware you don't always need all of the milk so add a little at a time. (You can also throw in a few seeds of your choice at this point)

• Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly. Pat out to around 2cm thick. Use a 5cm cutter to stamp out rounds and place on the baking sheet. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough and stamp out more scones to use it all up.

• Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk sprinkle over some extra cheese (you can also add seeds such as poppy seed or sesame seeds). Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Cheese Bites

Welcome to my new blog for sharing my recipes for yummy cakes and bakes please feel free to take these recipes give them a try and leave your comment. Any suggestions for improvements will be gratefully received. 

Thank you and Happy Baking

Lets get stuck in!

Cheesy Bites

Ingredients

150g Plain Flour

150g Mature Cheddar (Grated)

150g Diced butter

1 Egg yolk

Method

• Place the flour and cheese in a bowl and mix together add the butter and rub in with your fingers until combined.

• Stir in the egg yolk and mix into a dough

• Wrap the dough into cling film and chill in the fridge for around 30 minutes

• Pre heat the oven to 200C and dust baking try with flour

• Roll out the dough thinly onto a lightly floured surface and cut into rounds (Stars, hearts, flowers the choice is yours) and place onto your baking  tray

• Bake for around 10 minutes until lightly brown

• Cool on a wire rack then enjoy!