Pumpkin and spice cake

A few weeks ago the people at Silver Spoon sent me some of their decorations to make something for Halloween. I had no idea what to make but eventually decided I'd make a pumpkin cake, after all when most people think of Halloween they think of pumpkins...
Halloween is almost upon us and while I don't really celebrate it myself I do take full advantage of the piles of the bright orange Halloween pumpkins that are being sold everywhere right now.

Pumpkin can be a delicious vegetable simply roasted with butter and a few herbs or stirred into a rich and creamy risotto. Unfortunately the pumpkins sold for carving are normally grown for size rather than flavour and can be a bit bland and watery, but don't be put off, they still have there uses such as in this pumpkin cake.The recipe I used is adapted from a bundt cake recipe I found at Pinch My Salt. I've converted it to a sandwich cake and used yoghurt rather than sour cream for the batter, I don't know how but yoghurt seems to give cakes softer, lighter texture, I use yoghurt in scones too for the same reason. I've also added walnuts to the cake because they just taste so good in this kind of cake.Pumpkin and spices belong together so I've used cream cheese cinnamon icing for this cake topped with candied orange peel and some fruit jellies kindly sent to me by Silver Spoon. The finished cake is very similar in texture to carrot cake but it has a distinctive pumpkin flavour, think of pumpkin pie in cake form and you'll have some idea of what it's like.

So when Halloween is over and your jack o' lanterns are finished with maybe you could give them a second life as a delicious pumpkin cake.

Adventures in bread

When I was in year 7 (age 12) my class at school were given few 'cooking lessons' as part of our design classes. I don't remember everything we cooked but I do remember the first lesson making toasted cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate, I don't know how we did it but somehow we managed to make that class last two hours.

As the class went by things got a little more taxing, I remember doing flapjack one week and I can distinctly remember the pizza with the pre-made frozen pizza base, you wouldn't have gone back for a second slice, that's for sure.My last class was right before we split up for the Christmas holidays, and this time there was actually some cooking involved, we were going to make stollen. As you'd expect the marzipan was ready made and the dough was leavened with bicarb not yeast but still, it was cooking and I loved it!

My stollen was a disaster, the bread split as soon as I took it out of the oven, searing hot liquid marzipan gushed out across the worktop and on to the floor and I was lucky not to have been burnt! But that's not the point, I learned to love food and cooking and I've never stopped since.I'm not really going anywhere with this other than to show how far my baking has come along, I've made cakes, buns, scones, puddings and breads and more besides.

From top left clockwise: Chocolate Guinness cake, Sticky Chelsea buns, Clotted cream scones, Christmas pudding, Pumpkin bread

Although I am quite good at making simple breads I know that with a little work I could be a lot better. So I've set myself a challenge to improve my bread making as much as possible, I want to be able to make bread that's crisp on the outside but soft and chewy in the middle, the kind of bread you can buy in French bakeries that has great big air holes in it and bags of flavour. It's no easy task but I'm off to a good start, I've got myself a copy of Daniel Stevens River Cottage Bread Handbook and It's fantastic. I've already got books of bread recipes but where this one differs is that it explains why bread is made the way it is rather than just telling me to do it. No book I've had before has been so clear on what the consistency of the dough should be or how I should fold it, but those little points make the difference between good bread and great bread.These two loaves are my first attempt at making bread using the pre-ferment method, this involves making a small amount of very wet dough at least a day before the make the main batch. The pre-fermented dough is then added to the new dough giving it an amazing boost in flavour and vastly improving the texture. I actually couldn't believe how much difference such a simple technique could make until I tried it. I'll posting about my bread making every couple of weeks or whenever I discover anything new, hopefully by this time next year I'll have successfully baked sourdough and if things go really well croissants...Some other tips I picked up from the book were: -

• Use Canadian bread flour if you can get it, it has the highest gluten content that results in the best bread.
• The dough should be relatively sticky before you begin kneading it will begin to feel dryer and more elastic the longer you knead it.
• Placing a tray of hot water in the oven prior to baking creates steam which keeps the crust softer for longer and allows your bread to rise higher during baking.
• Most importantly of all, good bread takes time. Be patient!

Does anyone have any tips for making really good bread?

Spelt, walnut and plum cake

We have a farmers market once a month here in Leicester, it has a small but growing range of stalls some good, some not so good and some fantastic. My favourite stall undoubtedly is Woodhouse Farm, they raise all their own animals and produce the most amazing meat, the pork is possibly the most flavourful and succulent I have ever tried and the bacon is to die for.

The last market was two weeks ago, all the usual stalls were there, the pie stall, the organic farm, the chili stall and a new stall that I had never seen or heard of before. Elizabeth's Bakery had a small stand on the end of a row, like all the best bakeries they had a range of cakes that was so beautiful and looked so mouth wateringly delicious I couldn't pull myself away. What I really liked about Elizabeth's was the baker himself (I don't know where Elizabeth was), he was just so enthusiastic about everything he sold, for every cake he would tell me exactly what was in it, how he made and why it was absolutely the best cake ever and I just had to buy some!

There were fruit tarts, meringues, sachertorte, and individual blueberry cheesecakes all of which looked beautiful. I however took home a square of spelt, plum and walnut cake, I'd never seen a cake made with spelt flour before and was really interested to see how it came out, plus I love walnuts and plums so in the end the choice was a no brainer.

I don't know whether it was the spelt flour or the skill of the baker but the cake was unbelievable, it had a soft and tender texture, it was extremely moist and the plums and walnuts added lots of flavour. The cake was so good I had to have a go at making it myself. Unfortunately bakers aren't so enthusiastic about giving away their recipes so I scoured the Internet for ideas and inspiration. As is so often the case the prolific and ever brilliant Nigel Slater came up trumps, he has created a recipe for a spelt cake that used damsons and spelt flour, although his final cake wasn't quite the same as the cake from the market it gave me some idea of where to start.

Ready for the oven

My cake is a combination of Nigel Slater's recipe, the cake from the market and my own ideas. It turned out so much better than I ever thought it would, I'd almost go as far as say it was the perfect cake. I used Victoria plums for my cake, they're coming to the end of the season now but there are still a few around and are well worth buying if you find some otherwise any good plums will be fine. I finished the cake with an apricot glaze and dark chocolate, I wasn't sure about adding the chocolate thinking it might be one ingredient too far but it actually works really well, the bitterness of the chocolate sets off the sweet cake perfectly.

The finished cake

Spelt, walnut and plum cake (makes 9-12 squares)

Ingredients:

• 150g Butter
• 150g Light soft brown sugar
• 3 Medium eggs
  
• 120g White spelt flour (I used Doves Farm organic flour, available from Sainsbury's and Waitrose in the UK, you can substitute with plain flour if you can't find any spelt although it won't be quite the same)
  
• 75g Ground almonds
• 2tsp Baking powder
• 9-10 Plums halved and stoned
• 70g Walnut pieces
• Apricot baking glaze or smooth apricot jam
• 30g Dark chocolate (I used Green and Blacks cooks chocolate)

Method:

Grease and line a 22cm square cake tin with a removable base and preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C.

In a mixing bowl or in an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then one at a time beat in the eggs until everything is smooth and well combined.

Next sift in the flour and baking powder and add the ground almonds and half of the walnuts, fold everything together gently. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and smooth down the surface with a spatula. Lay the plum halves on top, place them close together as they will shrink during cooking and you want to be sure there is plum in every slice, scatter the remaining walnut halves over.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, it's done when it feels firm to the touch. Leave the cake to cool on a rack before removing from the tin. Spread the apricot glaze over the top of the cake, be quite generous with it. Melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over some warm water then drizzle over the top. Once the chocolate has set the cake is ready.

Honey glazed Bara Brith

Bara Brith is a classic and very traditional Welsh fruit bread. The name Bara Brith literally translates as "speckled bread" as it is liberally speckled with raisins, currants, sultanas and mixed peel, it is made with brown sugar and flavoured with a mixture of spices such as cinnamon.Bara brith is sold in bakeries and tea shops all over Wales and is available in two varieties, one is risen with yeast which gives a more bread like texture, the other is risen with baking powder which results in a cakier texture. The yeasted version is the more traditional of the two but they are both equally good, if you ever find yourself in Wales make sure you stop by a tea room and order a slice.

Bara Brith is one of those strange foods that's right on the line between bread and cake. On the one hand it is sweet and full of fruit like cake, on the other hand it contains no added fat and can be toasted like a bread. Whatever you call it it is undeniably delicious and just perfect with a good cup of tea.The recipe I used comes from North Wales Tourism, I figured if ever there was an authentic recipe this would be it.
The first part of this recipe is also the most important, the mixture of dried fruit must be soaked in strong tea until it has become swollen, plump and juicy. It is vital that the fruit is soaked so that the finished bread is tender and moist not dry and crumbly. Once you have soaked your fruit the recipe is a doddle to make, just mix the ingredients together and bake in a greased pan, the mixture takes a long time to bake so you may need to cover it with foil halfway through to prevent the top from burning. Once cooked give the top a liberal brushing with honey and leave to cool. Serve spread with butter, Welsh of course!

The recipe can be found here.

Chocolate Guinness cake for St. Patricks day

St Patrick's day isn't really a big celebration here but I couldn't let it pass by without a mention, especially as I had found the perfect recipe for it.

Anyone who knows me could tell you that I love chocolate and I love Guinness so the idea of combining the two together in a cake had instant appeal, the fact that I had all the ingredients and it's st Patrick's day left me with little choice but to try this recipe out.The cake itself has a whole cup of Guinness in it as well as cocoa, flour, butter and an alarming amount of sugar. I hope you can see from the photo just how moist soft and rich it is, you really can taste the Guinness too which I was particularly pleased about. The topping is a simple cream cheese affair of the kind you'd put on a carrot cake, I've flavoured mine with Irish whiskey but you could also use Baileys to good effect.I've made a lot of chocolate cakes in the past and I can safely say this is one of the best, it's deep flavoured, rich and not at all dry. Perfect!

There are recipes for this cake all over the Internet, I found this one over at Moveable Feasts who got it from the New York Times. It looks like originally it came from Nigella. I should have guessed...

Recipe

For the cake:
Butter for pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the topping:
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
A splash of Irish whiskey to flavour

1. For the cake: heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

2. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

3. For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add the whiskey and mix until smooth and spreadable.

4. Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

Winemaker's grape cake

A few years ago I planted a grape vine against the wall in my garden. At the time I didn't really expect it to do that well, England isn't isn't known for it's grapes after all!

I couldn't have been more wrong, it seems that in cold damp England grape vines can thrive, mine has gone wild climbing up the wall, over the windows and along the washing line! What's made me really happy is that it's also produced a bumper crop of beautiful purple grapes.Although the grapes were deliciously sweet enough to eat out of hand I'd seen a few recipes for grape cakes that sounded really interesting. We don't really cook with grapes in England so this idea was totally new to me.

The recipe I settled on was from Epicurious.com called winemakers grape cake, what really drew me to this recipe was the use of olive oil rather than butter which not only gives the cake a wonderful texture but a delicious flavour too.The lived up to all expectations being both perfectly soft and moist but full of flavour too, the little grapes were like bombs of flavour that exploded when you bit into them. A fantastic cake!

You can find the recipe HERE.

Toffee apple muffins

Autumn is well and truly upon us now, the leaves are falling and there's definitely a chill in the air. It's not all bad though, with Autumn comes Autumn fruits, blackberries, plums, pears, and of course apples.

Bramley apples are undoubtedly one of the best varieties for cooking, they have a fantastic slightly sharp flavour which becomes sweeter and milder with cooking. They are perfect for adding to cakes and muffins which is exactly what I did.Toffee and apples is a truly delicious combination and it works fantastically well in these muffins.

I made a traditional muffin batter to which I added big chunks of peeled chopped apples, pieces of soft toffee and of course cinnamon. To give the muffins a nice crunch I sprinkled the tops with demerera sugar.Supermarket muffins are so often disappointing, being bland, doughy and with hardly any fruit. These muffins are so easy to make there's really no need to buy them again, they taste great too!

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 350g plain flour
• 2 Tsp baking powder
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 200g Caster sugar
• 2 Large eggs
• 120ml Vegetable oil
• 120 milk
• A large handful of soft toffees chopped into chunks
• 3 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped (you could use other apples, try Cox or Granny Smith)
• Demerera sugar for sprinkling

Method:

• Preheat your oven to gas 4/180c and line a 12 hole muffin tray with muffin cases
• In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar)
• Add the wet ingredients (eggs, oil, milk) to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix to a batter, a few lumps don't matter so don't over mix
• Add the chopped apples and toffees to the batter mix in well then divide the mixture between the muffin cases.
• Sprinkle the tops with the demerera sugar and bake for about 30 minutes
• serve warm or cold
  

Maple syrup and walnut scones

When I think of scones I think of summer, I think of sitting outside in the sun, of jam, of strawberries, and of cream. At least, that's what I normally think of, these maple and walnut scones have a more autumnal feel to them. I sweetened the scones with maple syrup rather than sugar, added chopped walnuts to the dough and used half wholemeal half white flour, altogether this gave the scones a more rustic hearty feel, no less delicious than more traditional scones just different!

Roll the dough into a long sausage shape

What I really love about scones is how amazingly quickly they come together, within half an hour of reading this you could be taking a tray of freshly baked scones out of the oven. What's more you probably already have all the ingredients too!

I served my scones with whipped creap and maple syrup

I served these with whipped cream and more maple syrup drizzled over the top. Delicious!

Maple and walnut scones

Ingredients (makes 8 huge or 12 normal scones):

• 225g white self raising flour
• 225g wholemeal self raising flour (if you can't find wholemeal self raising use plain wholemeal and add two teaspoons of baking powder)
• 100g butter
• 60g maple syrup
• 75-100g chopped walnuts
  
• 225ml of buttermilk (substitute milk or yogurt)
• demerera sugar for sprinkling

Method:

• Preheat your oven to gas 7/220c/425f
• In a large bowl mix the two flours together
• Rub the butter into the flour until no lumps remain
• Stir in the walnuts
• Make a well in the centre and stir in the maple syrup and buttermilk, mix everything together to form a soft dough
• On a floured board roll the dough into a long sausage shape and cut into rounds
• Lay the rounds on a lightly floured baking tray, brush the tops with a little milk or buttermilk and sprinkle with the sugar
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden

Spanakopita - A foray into Greek cuisine

Although I really enjoy Greek food I very rarely cook it. Greek food is simple and healthy using fresh vegetables and herbs, fish and meat, it shares many of the characteristics of my favourite cuisine of all -Italian- most notably it's wide use of olives and olive oil.

Clearly something had to be done about my lack of Greek cooking experience, and what better place to start than with one of Greece's most famous dishes, Spanakopita.Spanakopita is a spinach and feta pie made using filo pastry. Filo, meaning leaf or sheet is a type of pastry that unlike other pastries comes in wafer thin sheets which are layered up before being filled and baked. The resulting pastry is very light and wonderfully crispy and crunchy.

Normally I would make my own pastry but when it comes to filo there's no shame in buying it ready made. For the filling I used spinach, feta, spring onions, dill, eggs and a little nutmeg, it's probably not very authentic but hey, it if tastes good...

Ingredients:
A packet of filo pastry
olive oil
A couple of handfuls of spinach blanched, chopped and excess water squeezed out.
A small bunch of dill chopped
2 eggs
2oog feta crumbled
5-6 large spring onions/scallions, chopped
A grating of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Tip: Once you have opened the packet of filo you should keep it covered with a damp tea towel to stop it drying out - it dries out really fast!

• For the filling mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, season and set aside.
• Take a baking dish and lightly brush with olive oil, lay a sheet of filo on top and brush with oil. lay another sheet over the first and continue to layer up. Filo sheet, oil, filo sheet, oil until half the pastry is gone.
• Fill the lined dish with the spinach mixture and top with the remaining pastry brushing each sheet with a little oil as you go.
• Bake at a medium heat about 180c until golden and crispy.
• Serve with buttered new potatoes and steamed vegetables.
  

Tomato and basil bread

For me fresh bread still warm from the oven slathered with melting butter is one of the greatest culinary joys there is, it's just one of the reasons why I've almost entirely stopped buying bread from the supermarket. Not only does fresh homemade bread taste amazing but it's also cheaper to make and much better for you than most supermarket breads.

Normally I just make plain white or wholemeal loaves, all purpose bread that's as good with Nutella as it is with a big wedge of cheddar. Every now and then though I like to be a bit more creative by adding different flavours to my bread or making it using new methods and techniques to make it. A few weeks ago I came up with an idea for making tomato bread, instead of adding water to the flour to make a dough I used a tin of chopped Italian tomatoes.The result is this beautiful loaf of bread not only did it taste amazing and have a fantastic soft texture but it also had a brilliant reddish colour, I only used white flour so all the colour you can see is purely from the tomatoes. I added some basil simply because it works really well and is one of my favourite combinations.This would make the perfect accompaniment to soup, especially something Italian such as minestrone, it also works really well with cheese, ham and obviously tomatoes!

Tomato bread recipe

Ingredients:

• 500g Strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• A 7g Sachet of dried instant yeast
• 2-3 Tablespoons of oil
• A 390g Tin of chopped tomatoes

Method:

• In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Mix well.
• Make a well in the flour mixture and add the tomatoes and oil, bring everything together to form a dough using either you hands or a wooden spoon. Alternatively use a stand mixer with a dough hook attached. You may need to add a little more flour if your dough is too wet, it should be slightly sticky but not cling to your hands.
• Knead the dough (by hand or in the mixer) for around 10 minutes then cover with a piece of clingfilm which has been smeared with oil (this stops the dough from sticking to the clingfilm) and leave to rise for around half an hour or until doubled in size.
• Once the dough has doubled in size knock it back and knead for a few minutes more then, either shape the dough however you want it and place it on a baking tray or place it in a loaf tin.
• Cover again and leave until it has doubled once more then bake in an oven preheated to gas 6/200c/400f for about half an hour until the top is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
  

Light ricotta cheesecake

You've probably seen ricotta cheese used in pancakes to give them a light, fluffy texture but did you know it could be used in cheesecakes with similar effect? Cheesecake is normally about as far from light and fluffy as you can get, but trust me this cheese cake is much lighter but every bit as delicious as it's richer denser counterparts.

Unlike most cheesecakes this one has no biscuit or cake base, the cheese mixture is poured straight into the tin to be baked.

The recipe is adapted from one of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's, he used home made goats curd cheese for his version. As I don't have any goats of my own and I couldn't get any goats curd cheese in the shops I used ricotta which made the perfect substitute.

The finished cheesecake was creamy and light with a subtle lemony flavour in the background, a raspberry sauce made the perfect accompaniment.

The original recipe can be found here. The recipe below contains my adaptations.

Ricotta Cheesecake

Ingredients

•750g Ricotta cheese
•45g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
•3 tablespoons medium oatmeal
•a good pinch of salt
•75g caster sugar
•2 eggs, lightly beaten
•Grated zest of 2 small lemons, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice

For the raspberry sauce
•250g raspberries
•75g caster sugar
•A tablespoon of water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3 and butter a 20-23cm springform cake tin.

Beat the cheese with a wooden spoon until smooth, then add the melted butter, oatmeal, salt, sugar, eggs and lemon zest and juice. Mix well. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for about 25 minutes, until just set.

For the sauce put all the raspberries into a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and the sugar, bring to a simmer and cook for a couple of minutes. You can serve it as it is or pass the raspberries through a sieve for a more refined sauce.

Serve the cheesecake hot, warm or at room temperature with the raspberry sauce and cream if you like.

Victoria cream sponge

The company that I work for is celebrating it's anniversary this year, to mark the occasion a buffet was laid on and there was a huge cake to share. Just in case we hadn't had enough cake already they also sent us home with a 'cake making kit', in it were all the ingredients (except the eggs) for making a Victoria sponge, flour, butter, sugar and jam.

It's hard to improve on a classic like a Victoria sponge but by adding whipped cream I found a way. Of course cream is entirely optional but it is highly recommended, your cake won't keep as long but in my house at least, that's not a problem...I use the traditional method for making sponge cakes, first I weigh all of the eggs in their shells, I then use an equal weight of butter, sugar and self raising flour. For example if I use three eggs that weigh 50g each then I'll use 150g of butter, sugar and flour.

Maths lesson over it's time for the recipe...

Victoria sponge recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 Large eggs
• Butter
• Sugar (I used golden caster sugar)
  
• Self raising flour
• Vanilla extract (homemade if you have it)
• Jam and whipped cream for the filling
  

Method:

• Preheat your oven to gas 4/180c/350f and grease two 7 inch sponge tins.
• First weigh all three eggs together in their shells, make a note of how much they weigh.
• Whatever the eggs weigh add the same weight in butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat well together until light and fluffy, this will take a few minutes.
• Next beat in the eggs followed by an equal weight again of self raising flour, add a few drops of vanilla and mix well together.
• Divide the mixture equally between the two sponge tins and bake for around 25 minutes. Check they're cooked by inserting a skewer into the cake, if it comes out clean they're done.
• Cool the cakes on a rack, once they have cooled fill with jam and whipped cream and enjoy!

Clotted cream scones

I know my posting has been a bit slack recently, I have been very busy with work which means I've had barely any time to cook anything. Of course I still have to eat and when you're short on time super quick recipes are very attractive.Recipes don't come much quicker than these yogurt scones from Chocolate and Zucchini, ten minutes to prepare, fifteen to cook and they're done, ready to eat straight from the oven. I ate my scones outside in the sunshine served with clotted cream and jam, they made a delicious treat before I hopped on my bike and went back to work.

Hopefully normal blogging will resume shortly...

For the recipe head over to Chocolate and Zucchini.

Hot Cross Buns

Q: What do you get if you pour hot water down a rabbit hole?
A: Hot cross bunnies!

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

As Easter is now fast approaching I thought I would share with you the recipe for one my favourite Easter treats, hot cross buns.

So what are hot cross buns? They are spicy, fruity bread buns which are made and sold for Easter. They have a cross marked on top, usually made of flour dough but sometimes icing or pastry is used. Traditionally they were made for Good Friday but these days they are available throughout Easter, some supermarkets have even started selling them year round.Hot cross buns are fantastic toasted, spread with melting butter they are just sublime, in fact I wouldn't eat them any other way.

Of course you can just buy them from any good bakery and I'm sure they would be fine but there's something special about making them yourself, homemade just tastes that bit better. Making your own also means you're free to tinker with the recipe, you can choose your favourite fruits and spices, and you get them at their freshest, straight from the oven. I've adapted my recipe from this one, it's a good recipe, the buns were spicy, fruity and delicious!

They do take a lot longer to rise than the original recipe stated, I left mine for a good 90 minutes before baking. You may also need to add a little more flour than is listed, your looking for a dough that is slightly sticky but you should be able to handle it without it clinging to your hands.

Hot cross buns recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Caster sugar
• 1 sachet (7g) of easy blend yeast
• 1 lb plain flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 oz Raisins, sultanas or other dried fruit
• The finely grated zest of an orange
• 2 oz mixed peel
• 4 fl. oz. Water
• 4 fl. oz milk
• 2 oz melted butter
• 1 beaten egg

For the Cross (optional)
Mix these together to form the paste that is piped into the buns

• 4 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons water

Method:

• In a large bowl add the sugar, yeast, flour, salt and spices. Mix well
• Add the dried fruit, zest and peel to the bowl and mix
• Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the water, milk, butter and egg, bring the mixture together with your hands to form a dough. If it feels too sticky add more flour now.
• Knead the dough on a hard surface for 10 minutes until it fells smooth and elastic.
• Put the dough back in the mixing bowl and cover, leave to rise until it has doubled in size, up to 2 hours.
• Knock the dough back until it is the original size and split into 12 pieces.
• Roll the pieces into buns and place on an oiled baking tray, cover and leave to rise for around 90 minutes or until they have doubled in size.
• To make the cross mix the flour sugar and water together in a bowl, put the mixture into a small plastic bag. Snip the corner off the bag and pipe the mixture in a cross shape onto the buns.
• Bake in a preheated oven at gas mark 7/220c/425f for 15-20 minutes.
• To glaze warm some honey or golden syrup and brush over you buns with a pastry brush

Fantastic focaccia bread

Focaccia is a delicious Italian flat bread which can be topped with all kinds of delicious things, herbs, olives or cheese are common toppings and a great place to start. What I really love about focaccia, what makes it really special is the olive oil which is both mixed into the dough and drizzled liberally over the top before baking. This is THE recipe for using that expensive bottle of extra-virgin you've got stashed away in the cupboard, nothing will show off it's flavour quite so well.
Recipe:

For the dough:
350g/12oz Strong white bread flour
200ml warm water
50ml Extra virgin olive oil
One 7g sachet of quick action yeast
1/2 tsp Salt

For the topping you can use whatever you like although the olive oil is essential and the salt highly recommended, I used:
1 Small onion cut into wedges
A handful of black olives, halved
Mixed Italian herbs
Extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt flakes

To make the Foccacia:

• Mix the flour yeast and salt together in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and water.
• Bring everything together to form a dough (it will be quite sticky) knead for a few minutes on a well floured surface (you will need to rub some flour on your hands too, it is sticky!)
• Cover the bowl with oiled clingfilm and leave to in a warm place to rise for at least 1 1/2 hours but preferably overnight.
• Once the dough has risen knock it back and press out onto a large baking tray (you could make smaller breads by cutting up first)
• Pre-heat your oven o gas 6/400f/200c
  
• Using your fingers press dimples all over the surface of the dough, this will stop all the olive oil running off.
• Sprinkle over your toppings, drizzle generously with olive oil (don't be stingy with it!) and sprinkle over some sea salt.
• Leave to rise again for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
• Bake for around 30 minutes.
  

The BloggerAid cookbook

If you've not heard of BloggerAid you should head over to their page and take a look. They are a group of food bloggers who are committed to fighting world famine. How? By raising awareness, holding fund-raisers, drawing media attention and now in their biggest and most ambitious project yet, by writing a cookbook.The project was unveiled by Ivy of Kopiaste.. to Greek Hospitality , Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen and Val of More Than Burnt Toast and in their words "We have announced our largest fundraiser to date ever!!!! ..., we will be publishing a cookbook with 100% of the profit from sales being directed to our chosen agency. The funds we raise will be directed to specific programs of The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations frontline agency. The needs are great and choosing a specific effort is currently being negotiated."

And YOU can contribute! but you'll have to be quick, the deadline is the 12th of February, that's tomorrow!

"The cookbook is targeted for sale on Amazon by November/December 2009. There is a great deal of work involved in delivering this project and we will rely on you to help in any way you can. We will keep you informed every step of the way on Bloggeraid !!!!"

I thought it was a great Idea and definitely want to be a part of it, if you do too click here!
My submission to the cookbook is a pear and ginger upside down cake, it's a twist on one of my favourite childhood cakes, pineapple upside cake. I was inspired to make this as the weather here is very cold at the moment. In fact it's the coldest winter we've had in 20 years so I was aiming for a really warming, spicy cake. I scored a hit with this recipe, sticky, spicy and moist, perfect! I chose to submit this recipe because it's quite simple, the ingredients are widely available and I think everyone will love this cake.

I can't share the recipe here as they are exclusively for the cookbook, so if you want the recipe you'll have to buy the book!

Nigel Slater's Ginger Cake

I don't think there is any cake as suited to winter as ginger cake, a slice of this dark, sticky, spicy cake is just what I want when it's cold and dark outside. Ginger cake is quite an old fashioned cake, the kind your Grandma might make. It doesn't look much, in fact it looks positively dull but looks can be deceiving, just wait until you taste it!This version by Nigel Slater contains both ground and stem ginger so it has a real spicy kick to it, the Golden Syrup is what makes this cake so sticky and delicious. What I really like about it is that it only gets better over time, it's hard to resist taking a slice right away but if you can I would recommend that you leave it at least one day in an airtight tin before cutting in to it.I would like to try this recipe again substituting the golden syrup for treacle/molasses to make an even darker cake, lemon zest would make a great addition too.

Recipe (Original here)

250g self-raising flour
2 level tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
200g golden syrup
2 tbsp syrup from the ginger jar
125g butter
3 lumps of stem ginger in syrup (about 55g)
2 heaped tbsp sultanas
125g dark muscavado sugar
2 large eggs
240ml milk

You will need a square cake tin measuring approximately 20-22cm, lined on the bottom with baking or greaseproof paper.

Set the oven at 180°C/gas mark 3. Sieve the flour with the ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Put the golden and ginger syrups and the butter into a small saucepan, and warm over a low heat. Dice the ginger finely then add it to the pan with the sultanas and sugar. Let the mixture bubble gently for a minute, giving it the occasional stir to stop the fruit sticking to the bottom.

Break the eggs into a bowl, pour in the milk and beat gently to break up the egg and mix it into the milk. Remove the butter and sugar mixture from the heat and pour into the flour, stirring smoothly and firmly with a large metal spoon. Mix in the milk and eggs. The mixture should be sloppy, with no trace of flour.

Scoop the mixture into the non-stick or lined cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean. Unless you are serving it warm, leave the cake in its tin to cool, then tip out on to a sheet of greaseproof paper. Wrap it up again in foil and leave to mature for a day or two before eating.

Just peachy

A Pithivier is a French pastry or pie with an almond frangipane filling, very similar in fact to a British Bakewell tart. Although it looks plain from the outside it contains a filling that is sticky, sweet, nutty and altogether delicious.

There are plenty of variations on the recipe both sweet and savoury, my own twist was to add peaches both for colour and to cut the richness of the frangipane. I was slightly worried that the juice from the peaches would turn my pastry into a soggy mess but I needn't have worried. The peaches worked brilliantly with the almond filling, my only regret is that I didn't add more!
I used this recipe by Wolfgang Puck as a guide, I simply added tinned sliced peaches (in the summer I would use fresh) in between layers of frangipane filling.

Creamy Mango Cheesecake

I know I haven't been blogging that much recently, Christmas and new year has been busy with not much time to cook or do anything with my blog really, so if you left comments and I haven't replied I wasn't ignoring you I promise! things are getting back to normal now though and today I had time to do some baking.

I've mentioned before that I get a box of organic fruit and vegetables delivered every two weeks, during the winter when fresh fruit is a bit scarce they often send imported tropical fruit. This week we had two beautiful fresh mangos which I thought would make a great cheesecake. And they did!I chose to make a baked cheesecake rather than no-bake version, mainly because I wanted to cook the fruit within the cake, I served it with a simple sauce made by blending sugar and mango together. The result was a dense rich cheesecake that was perfectly contrasted by the fresh mango and tasted great!

For whatever reason it cracked as it cooled, I think I probably cooled it too fast, next time I'll turn off the oven and leave it there to cool gradually.
Recipe Ingredients

• 175g/6oz digestive biscuits(If you can't get digestives another plain sweet biscuit would work, try shortbread)
  
• 50g/2oz butter , melted
• 600g/21oz cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
  
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 175g/6oz white sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 150ml/1/4 pint Sour cream
• 1 Mango peeled, stoned and diced

Method

• Preheat your oven to 350f/180c/gas4.
• Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin into fine crumbs, mix with the melted butter and press the mixture into the base of a 20cm springform tin. Bake the base for 5 minutes.
• Beat all the remaining ingredients except the mango together with a whisk until smooth.
• Add the diced mango to the cheese mixture and pour over the biscuit base, bake for 40-50 minutes. It should be just slightly wobbly in the centre when it's cooked.
• Leave to cool completely in the tin then serve.
  

Traditional mince pies

Mincemeat is a Christmas essential in the UK, it just wouldn't be Christmas without it. Made from a boozy mixture of fruits, spices, sugar and alcohol it's most common use is in traditional mince pies.

It is a good idea to have a good supply of these on hand, ready for unexpected Christmas visitors. They are delicious served still warm and even better with an unhealthy amount of brandy butter and a generous glass of mulled wine!

My home-made mince pies

So here it is, the recipe for mincemeat. Possibly the easiest recipe ever!

Mincemeat (makes around 4lb)

Ingredients
12 oz Apples – Grated
2 oz chopped mixed peel
18 oz mixed dried fruit, e.g. raisins, currants and sultanas
6 oz shredded suet (I used vegetarian suet)
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp mace
1 oz flaked almonds
6 oz soft brown sugar
Zest and juice of a lemon and an orange
2 ½ tbspn Brandy or rum

Method

Put all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl and stir until well mixed. It should look something like this.
Pack the mixture into sterilised jars and leave to mature for at least 1 week. It will become darker and stickier over time. (It should keep for quite a few months)

Mince pies

For the best flavour use and all butter pastry for making mince pies, it has the best flavour.

I can't remember where I found this recipe but it is excellent. Makes enough pastry for 24 pies.

All Butter Crust for Sweet and Savory Pies (Pâte Brisée)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 6 Tbsp ice water

Method

Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and salt until well incorporated.
Drop by drop add the ice water and work into a dough, try to handle the mixture as little as possible.
Rest the pastry in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
To make mince pies

Preheat your oven to 350f/180c/gas 4.

Roll out a third of your pastry, using a pastry cutter cut 24 discs of pastry and line two twelve hole shallow pie trays.

Place a teaspoon of mincemeat in each pastry case.

Roll out the remaining pastry and cut out smaller discs for the pie lid, top each case with a pastry lid.

Dust the pies with icing sugar and bake for around thirty minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!
What foods do you cook for Christmas?