Cake Pops!

Cake Pops/Cake Balls/Cake Popsicles - After seeing these on the internet (Bakerella, of course, is the original cake pop queen) and in magazines, I have decided to give them a go! If you haven't seen them, then cake pops are basically balls of crushed up cake mixed with frosting, dipped into chocolate on sticks and decorated with various glittery colourful decorations. I'm making them this weekend as a trial run as for my birthday (in a couple of weeks time), instead of my usual cupcakes, I'm going to make cake pops and decorate them with flowers and have them standing out of a flower pot! 
You can make cake pops out of fresh cake but they tend to work better with day-old cake that's a bit drier - a good way of using up leftover cake. I'm being lazy and using Betty Crocker devils food mix and Betty Crocker Chocolate cake frosting but you could make a homemade cake and frosting. If you don't have lollipop sticks to stand them up, then you can just make them as 'cake balls' that look like truffles.


Ingredients -
Chocolate cake (made from a mix like Betty Crocker or handmade)
Chocolate frosting (you can either make a buttercream or use Betty Crocker's chocolate frosting)
Chocolate Scotbloc to melt
Lollipop sticks
Decorations/Sprinkles


1. Make the cake according to the packet's instructions. With B.C mix, you just add 3 eggs, oil and water and mix it. Bake in the oven. Leave to cool completely.








2. In a bowl, fork the cake into crumble it into tiny pieces. Then stir in part of the frosting (a little at a time until it turns into a paste, you don't want them to be too sticky) and mulch up with your hands. When all combined, shape into about 2inch balls and place on a tray.





3. Chill the balls for at least 30minutes in a fridge. 






4. Then melt the chocolate/scotbloc in a microwavable bowl on a low heat. When all melted, dip a lollipop stick into the chocolate and then push into one of the balls, this will act as a glue. Leave to set.




5. When the stick is secured in the ball, dip a ball in the chocolate and cover with a spoon. When covered, gently spin or tap until the excess drops off (don't do it too hard or the ball will split or fall off). Then decorate with sprinkles or flowers while the chocolate is still wet. Stand up to dry (some chocolate may drip off a little bit). Leave to set, ideally in a fridge or a freezer if you can fit them in.  - see tip below.

6. Then either give them as a gift wrapped in cellophane and a ribbon. Or serve at a party! I'm going to have mine coming out of a flower pot, standing in an oasis block to look like flowers. 

- Note that as these are a trial run, I haven't got a proper picture of them all standing up. I'll post one from my party in a couple of weeks time!

- Some extra advice - It's really difficult to use normal chocolate to cover the cake balls as it doesn't set quick enough. My Mum came up with the idea of using Scotbloc which sets much quicker and gives a glossy finish. I think this is the UK equivalent of 'treebark chocolate' which is in all of their pop recipes.  Happy Baking :)

- I wrapped a cake ball up and gave it to my friend for her birthday.

Best Ever Chocolate Brownies -

Since Costco has stopped selling my favourite brownie mix (see previous post), I have been on the hunt for a new favourite. I tried the recipe from the Green and Black's cookbook which was really good but I'd heard so many good things (thanks to 'Lazylol' who commented on the G&B brownies) about a recipe from BBC Good Food which claimed to be the 'best ever'. So on this rainy depressing Saturday in February, I tried it out. Obviously it's been a few weeks since the Green and Black's brownies so it's hard to make a direct comparison but I think these may just have the edge. 
These brownies are made slightly differently to the usual method. I usually just melt the chocolate/butter and then mix everything together with a wooden spoon. But these require a little more attention, whisking the eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer and then sifting the flour, folding the chocolate etc. But they are worth the wait. However, they should come with a warning, they're extremely rich. With other brownie mixes, I could, if left to my own devices, probably eat rather a lot before feeling a bit sick and sugar-rushey. But with these, I had a headache after just a small square! I think it's the large amount of dark chocolate with a lot of cocoa and then having chocolate chunks in the mix too. But they were definitely a hit with the rest of the family. They have a great crispy top with such a fudgey centre, yet they were firm enough to cut and serve (a fault with the old costco mix, you literally had to eat it with a spoon from the tin). I like my brownies to be almost under baked, but if you want yours a bit more cakey then leave them in the oven for a bit longer.

Also, before I post the recipe, a little tip on lining the tin. My boyfriend lined the tin today and he made a really cool net of baking paper with slits in the corners so it could easily lift out of the tin (see the photo for a better understanding). He did it by having the paper overlapping each side of the tin by about 2 inches, then fold all of the edges in evenly to make a square the size of the tin then unfold and cut every other slit. 


The recipe - I've really condensed this recipe as the one on the BBC good food site is so ridiculously over complicated that it's confusing! I mean, it's a brownie mix for god's sake! So I've made it simple:


Ingredients -
185g unsalted butter
185g dark chocolate (I used half Sainsbury's cooking chocolate and half G&B 70%)
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
50g white chocolate, chopped into small chunks
50g milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks
3 large eggs
275g golden caster sugar


1. Preheat the oven to 160c (fan oven). Line a tin with baking paper. 
2. Put the butter and dark chocolate into a microwavable bowl and melt on a low heat for a minute before stirring, then if not fully melted, continue. Leave to cool to room-temperature.
3. Meanwhile, chop the white and milk chocolate into chunks. Then break the eggs into a bowl and tip in the sugar. Using an electric mixer on the maximum speed, whisk until the eggs look thick and creamy and have nearly doubled in size.

4. Then pour the chocolate mix over the egg mix and gently fold with a spatula until the 2 mixtures combine. Try not to knock out too much of the air.
5. Then sift the cocoa and flour mixture into the chocolate/eggs and fold in gently until all incorporated. Don't over fold. Then stir in the chocolate chunks and pour into the tin. Place in the middle of the oven and cook for about 25-35 minutes. This will depend on your oven, I usually put a timer on for 18 minutes and then check it every couple of minutes after. I use a skewer to test if it is ready. You want it to still have a slight wobble and a tiny bit of chocolate still on the skewer as it will continue cooking for a few minutes after coming out of the oven. It should have a shiny, papery crust with the sides just beginning to come away from the tin.

6. Leave the brownie in the tin to cool and then lift the baking paper up to get the whole brownie out to serve. I cut it into 4 x 4 squares, but you could easily cut these in half again due to their richness. Keep in an airtight tin. 

Valentine's Cupcakes and Meringue Kisses

Many people think that Valentine's day is a product of commercialism, an excuse for restaurants to charge more and for shops to fill the gap between Christmas and Easter. But I love Valentine's day and while we should show our loved one's how special they are everyday, it's nice to make an occasion out of it. Plus there are so many pretty heart inspired products in the shops around this time of year. Food is an important aspect for Valentine's day, as the old saying goes 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach'! With my boyfriend this year we are cooking in rather than going out to a restaurant. In addition, I've baked these cupcakes and some meringue 'kisses', 2 small piped meringues sandwiched together with chocolate.


Cupcakes -
For me, any special occasion wouldn't be complete without cupcakes! I've made these using the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook (see this link to my previous post) using chocolate sponge and vanilla frosting. I added a handful of chocolate chips to the sponge mixture so that they'll be extra chocolatey. I used cases with little hearts on and decorated them with a range of toppings. I used heart shaped jelly beans from M&S, some pink love heart sweets and a mixture of sprinkles.

Meringues -

Meringues are always popular with me as we always have so many eggs to use up (from our lovely chickens) so when I saw a recipe by Lorraine Pascale in the Sainsbury's magazine for chocolate meringue kisses, I thought it would be a great idea for Valentine's day. These meringues are the best I've made yet, the lemon juice and cream of tartar added when whisking really stabilises the mix, making them easier to pipe and their texture at the end is perfect. She uses chocolate buttercream to sandwich hers together but I just dipped them in melted chocolate and she also adds some toasted (175g) pecans to the meringue mix but again, I wanted to keep them simple. The cute meringues would be great for a light pudding at a dinner party or as part of an afternoon tea. To pipe the meringues, I find it easiest to use a sandwich bag and cut the end off and then put the piping nozzle in that. It's then easy to throw away the bag rather than waste hours washing your piping bag.


Ingredients - 
5 large egg whites
a squeeze of lemon juice
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
275g caster sugar
Chocolate or a chocolate butter cream to sandwich them together.


1. Preheat the oven to fan 100c and line 3 baking trays with nonstick baking paper. Using a whisk, whisk the egg whites and lemon juice to stiff peaks.
2. Whisking all the time, add the cream of tartar and sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. Keep on whisking until you have a stiff, shiny meringue. Then spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe 50 x 3-4cm blobs on the baking trays.
3. Bake for an hour and then leave to cool on the trays. I leave them in the oven with the door ajar to reduce cracking.
4. Then once cooled and dry, carefully lift the meringues off of the baking paper and sandwich together then leave in the fridge for a while to set properly. If using buttercream, sandwich a couple of hours before (no earlier). 

Happy Valentine's Day <3 

I'll be posting what we cooked in the next couple of days. 

Double dessert part 2 - Swiss Meringues

This is part 2 of the double desserts using the left over egg whites from the Crème Brûlées. These meringues are made from a recipe in Eric Lanlard's 'Home Bake' cookbook and look like the ones often seen piled up in the windows of patisseries. I don't think mine quite match up to that standard but they taste good, nonetheless! And people are always so impressed if you make meringues rather than buy them. I swirled the mixture with melted chocolate before to give a marbled look and also drizzled melted chocolate over the top. These would be delicious with some ice cream and fresh fruit like raspberries or strawberries. Or you could crush up to make an Eton-mess by mixing them with whipped cream and fresh fruit. 


Also, if you haven't made meringues before then here are some tips: 
 - Make sure your bowl and whisk are scrupulously clean and free from any grease/traces of fat. I do this by scalding them in boiling water. 
- Don't over or under whisk your egg whites. If they are under whisked and not 'peaky' enough, they haven't incorporated enough air so will sink. But if you over whisk, they will go flat too. So that's why folding in the last 1/2 of the sugar is good to avoid the over beating.
- Finish making the meringues quickly and put them in the oven almost straight away. 
- When cooked and ready to lift off the baking sheets, use a flat palette knife to get right underneath and carefully prise up. 


Ingredients - 
4 egg whites
225g caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 100c and line 2 baking sheets. 
2. In a large bowl, using an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Whisk half the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time into the mixture until stiff. Carefully fold in the rest of the sugar using a large metal spoon. 
3. Carefully drop spoonfuls of the mixture spaced well apart, onto the paper. Bake in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours until dry and the meringues can be lifted easily from the paper. Leave to cool in the oven with the door ajar. 


Extras:
Raspberry swirl meringues - Mix 2 teaspoons framboise, 2 -3 drops raspberry extract and a small knife point of food colouring paste. Mix well and then swirl through the finished meringue mixture just before baking. 
Chocolate swirl - Melt 100g dark chocolate and swirl with a wooden spoon through the mixture just before baking and drizzle some on top.
Caramel - Use Golden caster sugar instead for a caramel taste.

Banana Loaf

If you have any mushy, overripe bananas that you're about to throw away, keep them and transform them into a banana loaf. This recipe is one that my Mum has been making for years, it's on a little yellow laminated card that my Dad got given in a gym cafe (the recipe claims to be high in fibre and banana goodness - potassium, and low in cholesterol) and it's now been passed down to me. The mushy bananas make the loaf really moist. You need a 900g/2lb/similar sized loaf tin and I've just discovered the lazy way of lining the tin - loaf liners!


Ingredients - 
350g ripe bananas
200g self raising flour
1/2tsp salt
1/4 tsp bicarb of soda
50g butter
175g light soft brown sugar
2 eggs
75g raisins
- You could add some chopped walnuts.


1. Preheat the oven to 180c and grease and line the 2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper (or just pop a liner in). 
2. Peel and mash the bananas. 
3. Sieve the flour with the bicarb and salt. Then beat the butter with the sugar until creamed. Lightly beat the eggs and then gradually with them in with the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the raisins. 
4. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and level. Bake for about an hour, but the exact time will depend on your oven - make sure it is risen and golden. 
5. Turn out to cool on a rack and it's best served warm!

Leek, Bacon, Gruyère & Maille Dijon Mustard Quiche

I saw this recipe in a magazine in an advert for Maille mustard about a year ago now and finally decided to make it for a family gathering we've got at the weekend. It's always SO much nicer to have something home made rather than buying a quiche and it's not a lot of effort for a lot of gratitude! You can also make it a few days in advance (I've made it today - Thursday to keep until Saturday). The ingredients are anything but fat-free but it's Christmas so everyone can indulge!
The other food that we're (My Mum and I) are making for Saturday is a beef lasagne, a big green salad, a baked glazed ham, part-bake bread, a cheese selection, pickled baby beetroot and some nice little Waitrose canapés. My Auntie is also bringing a Chicken Pesto Lasagne, my other Auntie is bringing a pudding and my Grandma will bring her mince-pies (see previous post). And we'll have the trifle (also blogged) and Christmas Cupcakes that I'm going to make tomorrow (look out for the post). So it should be a great feast! - Touch wood that the snow forecast doesn't ruin it!


Ingredients -
Ready roll short crust pastry - enough for a 24cm base
2 leeks, thinly sliced
4 bacon rashers, finely chopped
2 tbsp Maille Dijon originale mustard
80ml cream
150g Gruyère cheese, grated
Butter
3 eggs


1. Roll out the pastry into a flan dish and bake blind (I used ceramic baking beans)
2. Gently fry the leek and bacon in butter until the leek softens 
3. Whisk eggs, mustard and cream together. Then add the cheese, season and pour into the pastry case. 
4. Then bake in the oven at 160c for about 20minutes until set.


Then either serve straight away or leave to cool and chill, then you can either reheat it or serve it cold.

Grandma's Mince-Pies!

My Grandma is famous for 2 great things - 1. Her apple pies/crumbles and 2. Her Christmas mince pies! And at this time of year, with the tree up and family coming over, what better than to freshly bake some mince pies. She (and I) cheat a little with using ready-made mince meat from Sainsbury's with some added brandy, and then make the short-crust pastry to her perfected recipe. 
Ingredients - Makes 2 dozen pies.
20 oz self-raising flour
5 oz lard
5 oz butter
2 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
5 tbsp cold water
Large Jar of Mincemeat mix (I used Sainsburys)
Good splash of brandy
Egg wash


1. Add a good splash of brandy to the mincemeat in a bowl (preferably leave overnight)
2. For the pastry - cut the fat into small cubes and rub into the flour, stir in the sugar once the mix is like breadcrumbs.
3. Add the water and bring the pastry together (don't be tempted to add more water, it will come together eventually, this is what keeps it 'shortcrust') Then wrap in foil and if possible refrigerate over night, if not at least for a couple of hours. 
4. Cut the pastry in half and roll out for the bottom with a large fluted cutter (approx 1/2 cm)
Place the bottoms in a non-stick tin, add a teaspoon of mincemeat (don't overfill them)

5. Then roll out the other half of pastry and cut the tops out (either using the same size cutter or a slightly smaller one) and then at this point - you can freeze them in the tin for a couple of hours until they're hard enough to carefully lift out the tin and put into a box to keep them in the freezer for a few weeks.
6. Or cook straight away at about 150c for about 20-25minutes until golden.


Then dust with icing sugar and serve with festive cheer!

Chocolate and Pistachio Fudge (Another thrifty Christmas gift!)

This time in 3 weeks, it will be Christmas Day! And while I'm going to make this fail-proof fudge a couple of days before Christmas for presents, I thought I'd better post it now in case anybody wants to make it before. I'm going to make a big batch and bag it up in these presentation bags I got from Lakeland - http://www.lakeland.co.uk/50-presentation-bags/F/product/12007 and tie the bags with ribbon. 

The Macaroons I posted last week will be for the girls and the fudge can be for the guys (Nearly all grandpas love fudge!). 

The recipe is from Nigella, I saw it on her Christmas TV programme a couple of years ago and it's so quick and easy to make yet looks really good. The photo below is from her website, I'll post mine when I make it and bag it all up.

Ingredients - Makes about 70 pieces)

350g Dark Chocolate, chopped (minimum 70% cocoa)

1 x 397g can condensed milk

30g butter

Pinch of salt

150g pistachios

Put the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy-based pan on a low heat. Stir to melt.

Put the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin until broken into rubble (both big and little pieces)

Add the nuts to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.

Pour the mixture into a tray 23cm square, smoothing the top.

Let the fudge cool and put in the fridge until it has set. Then cut it into small pieces. Cutting 8 x 10 lines in the tin.

One cut, it can be kept in the freezer, no need to thaw just eat. (Or keep it in bags for a couple of days maximum like I'm going to do)

p.s Put the Christmas tree up today at my parents house ->

Toffee and Apple Sauce Muffins

The cookbook's photo

While I should have been revising... I got distracted with my new cookbook again - Home Bake by Eric Lanlard. I saw a recipe for toffee and apple sauce muffins and seeing as I'd just bought a huge tub of apple sauce, it seemed like a good idea. I don't know if they've come out as well as I'd hoped they would, they look a bit different to the ones in the book (see photos later) but they taste really good so I guess that's the main thing! Yours will probably come out better, let me know if they do!

Makes 12 large muffins


For the apple sauce (if making it or use a shop variety) - 300g brambley apples (about 1 large), 100g soft light brown sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 2tsp Calvados (optional)






For the muffins - 275g plan flour
100g caster sugar
1tbsp baking powder
75g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
125ml milk
100g home made or bought fudge, chopped into small chunks
2 tbsp cinnamon sugar (2tbsp soft light brown sugar mixed with 1/4tsp cinnamon)
Icing sugar, for dusting


To make the apple sauce, peel and core the apples and cut into small cubes. Place the diced apple in a saucepan with the sugar, cinnamon, Calvado and 1tsp water. Cook over a low heat until the apples are tended but not mushy, leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 200c/180 fan and line a muffin tin with muffin cases
Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large bowl

How mine turned out. Not bad but not the best.

Beat the butter and eggs together then add milk. Stir this mix into the flour along with the fudge, until just incorporated. Don't overstir, it's fine if it's a bit lumpy.
Spoon half the mixture into the muffin cases then spoon over 2/3 apple sauce. Cover with the remaining batter and with a small spoon, make a swirl of apple sauce in the top and dust with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake in the oven for 20-25mins. Cool on a wire rack. Serve dusted with icing sugar. 

Scones!

Had some friends over last weekend so baked some scones to have with jam!
I used a Mary Berry recipe - 
(Makes 12 scones)
225g Self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g butter
25g caster sugar
1 egg
Milk


Pre-heat the oven to 220c. Lightly grease 2 baking trays
Measure the flour and baking powder into a bowl, then add the butter and rub in with the fingertips until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
Break the egg into a measuring jug then make up to 150ml with milk. Stir the egg and milk into the flour - you may not need it all - and mix to a soft but not sticky dough. (I added some raisins and chocolate chips at this point) Turn out on to a lightly floured work surface, knead lightly and then roll to a thickness of 1cm.
Cut into rounds with a fluted 5cm cutter and place them on the prepared baking trays. Brush the tops with a little extra milk or any egg and milk left in the jug and bake for about 10mins until they are a pale golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and eat them as fresh as possible. (Note - if you have some left over the next day, microwave them for a few seconds to revive them).