Chelsea Buns...

These are the Chelsea Buns featured in the GBBO, they're made using Paul Hollywood's recipe which can be found in the new GBBO recipe book or click here to find it on the BBC Food website.

I can't recommend this recipe highly enough, they taste so good and I now have the dilemma of finding a home for the remaining 9 that's not my tummy!

Cookies..

I've finally found the perfect cookie recipe thanks to Guardian Online. I've tried a few variations of my own with the basic recipe and this is my favourite so far..

Chocolate, Orange and Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients

120g salted butter, at room temperature
75g light brown sugar
75g granulated sugar
1 egg
240g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Grated Zest of 1 Orange
200g dark chocolate (or milk if you prefer it)
150g cranberries

Method

Using a wooden spoon, a food mixer or an electric whisk, beat together the butter and sugars until just combined. Add the orange zest, then the egg, and beat in well.

Sift together the flour and bicarbonate of soda, then add to the mixture, stirring until it just comes together into a dough. Add the chocolate and cranberries, and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper, and divide the mixture into golf-ball sized rounds, spacing them well apart. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden, but not browned.

Allow to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes, before moving to a wire rack to cool completely (or eat whilst still a little a bit warm).

Gradated Lemon Layer Cake..

I experimented with gradated layers to make this lemon sponge cake a bit more interesting and although it did work, I'm not sure it was worth the extra faff for the overall effect (see pic below)! The homemade lemon curd was a really nice addition and it's worth making a little extra to enjoy with something other than cake. 

For the Sponge Layers:

6 Eggs
12oz/340g SR Flour

12oz/340g Caster Sugar

12oz/340g Softened Unsalted Butter

1 tbspn Baking Powder

3/8 tspn Yellow Food Gel (Meaning, 1/4 tspn and 1/8 tspn)

Rind of 3 Lemons

For the Lemon Curd:

Juice of 1 large lemon
1 Large Egg
2oz/56g Golden Caster Sugar

2oz/56g Butter, cut into small cubes

For the Lemon Buttercream:




Method...

You'll need to make the three sponge stages so that you can add the colour separately:

For the first layer...

2 Eggs

4oz/113g SR Flour

4oz/113g Caster Sugar

4oz/113g Softened Unsalted Butter

1/3 tbspn Baking Powder

Rind of 1 Lemon

Combine the ingredients above in the mixer and pour into a greased and lined circular tin and set to one side.

For the second layer...

2 Eggs

4oz/113g SR Flour

4oz/113g Caster Sugar

4oz/113g Softened Unsalted Butter

1/3 tbspn Baking Powder

Rind of 1 Lemon

1/8 tspn Yellow Food Gel

Combine the ingredients above in the mixer and pour into a greased and lined circular tin and set to one side.

For the third layer...

2 Eggs

4oz/113g SR Flour

4oz/113g Caster Sugar

4oz/113g Softened Unsalted Butter

1/3 tbspn Baking Powder

Rind of 1 Lemon

1/4 tspn Yellow Food Gel

Combine the ingredients above in the mixer and pour into a greased and lined circular tin, then place the tins into the oven and bake for 20-25 mins.

Remove and set aside to cool.

(If you only have two tins, make the mixture for the final layer whilst the first two are baking).

Whilst the sponges are baking, you can make the lemon curd:

Lightly whisk the egg in a small saucepan, the add that remaining ingredients and place over a medium heat. 

Whisk continuously for about 7-8 mins until the mixture thickens.

Lower the heat and allow to simmer, whilst continuing to mix.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Click here for the full recipe from Delia Online

Whilst the lemon curd is cooling, make the lemon buttercream:

Here's the finished product, hopefully you can make out the different coloured layers...

Raspberry & White Chocolate Ice Cream...

Probably the best ice-cream you'll ever eat!

I made this with a borrowed ice-cream maker, I think there are ways to do it without one but I don't think I'd have the patience for that! This is just really creamy and flavoursome and you can experiment with different flavour combinations too...

Ingredients:

225ml Whole Milk

175g Granulated Sugar

450ml Double Cream

100g Raspberries

Method:

**Before you start: Most ice-cream makers require you to place the barrel in the freezer 24 hours before use, make sure you do this, otherwise your ice-cream is liable to turn into milkshake!**

Pour the milk and sugar into a bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.

Stir in the cream and vanilla and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Turn the ice-cream maker on and pour the mixture into the freezer bowl, leaving it to thicken for 20-25 mins.

Toward the end of the freezing process, crush the raspberries and pour them into the mixture. 

Transfer the soft mix into and air tight container, top with some raspberries and chopped&grated white chocolate and freeze overnight.

Remove from freezer 20 mins before serving.

Watch this space for some different flavours..

'Fat-free' Blueberry & Almond Cake..

A very light sponge made without butter..so technically fat free!

Ingredients:

4 Eggs

100g Plain Flour

25g Ground Almonds

25g Flaked Almonds

125g Golden Caster Sugar

1 tspn Almond Extract

50g Blueberries

Method:

Whisk the eggs, almond extract and sugar together with an electric hand whisk (or electric mixer), for about 6-8 mins until light and fluffy.

Slowly sift in the plain flour, combined with the ground almonds and fold in with a large metal spoon.

Add the blueberries and pour into a greased and lined springform tin.

Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

Bake in the oven at GM6 for 25-30 mins, dust with icing sugar and serve either hot, or cold.

(This cake won't keep for longer than 2-3 days because of the low-fat content so you'll have you to eat it up quickly!)

Swiss Roll...

A quick and easy summer pudding...

For the Sponge:

125 g Plain Flour

4 eggs

125 g caster sugar

2 tbsp warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:

6 tbsps of Raspberry or Strawberry Jam

Handful of Raspberries/Strawberries

225 ml Whipped Double Cream

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C/GM 5. 

Line the base of a 25 x 38cm swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper and grease the sides with softened butter.

Whisk the eggs and caster sugar together in with an electric hand mixer or food mixer until light and fluffy, then add the water and vanilla extract (whisking should take about 6-8 mins)

Sift in the flour, about one-third at a time, and fold it into the mixture using a large metal spoon. 

Pour the mixture gently into the prepared swiss roll tin and bake in the oven for 12–15 minutes, or until the centre of the cake is slightly springy and the edges have shrunk away a little from the sides of the tin. 

Spread out a piece of greaseproof paper (slightly larger than the tin in size) on a work surface and sprinkle evenly with caster sugar (this stops the roll from sticking to the paper). Turn the Swiss roll tin onto the sugared greaseproof paper, then carefully remove the tin and greaseproof paper from the bottom of the cake. 

Place a slightly damp, clean tea towel over the cake and leave to cool for 30 minutes – this will prevent it drying out and cracking when you roll it. 

When the cake is cool, cut the edges with a sharp knife (this will make it look tidy when you roll it up), then score a line about 3cm from the inside edge of one of the long sides of the sponge.

Spread a layer of the raspberry jam, followed by the whipped cream leaving a 2 cm border around each edge of the sponge, then top with the berries.

Beginning with the scored edge of the sponge, roll up the Swiss roll away from you, pressing in tightly as you go. 

Sprinkle with caster sugar or dust with icing sugar to finish.

(Adapted from a Rachel Allen recipe: found here)

Chocolate & Raspberry Cake...

Yummy! And here's the recipe...

For the sponge layers:

6oz/170g SR Flour

2oz/56g Cocoa Powder

8oz/226g Caster Sugar

8oz/226g Softened butter

2 tbspns Soured Cream

1 tspn Baking Powder

4 Eggs

Line and grease 2 baking tins and preheat the oven to GM5/190c

Sift all the dry ingredients and thrown into the mixer, once combined add the eggs, one at a time and finally, add the soured cream to the mix.

Divide between the two tins and place in the middle of the oven for 20-25 mins.

Allow to cool then cut each sponge in half so that you have 4 thin layers.

For the vanilla cream and raspberry jelly filling:

150g Icing Sugar

75g  Softened Butter

1 tspn (High Quality) Vanilla Extract/Vanilla Paste

6 Tbsps raspberry jelly (or jam if you don't have jelly)

Mix together the softened butter and sifted sugar with a wooden spoon and add the vanilla.

Spread the jam onto 3 of the layers of the cake and cover with the vanilla cream and stack, leaving the very top layer bare.

For the raspberry and chocolate ganache topping:

200g Dark Choc

284ml Double Cream

Handful of Fresh Raspberries.

Heat the cream on low, don't allow to boil. Once simmering, turn off the heat and add the chopped up chocolate. Leave to sink in for about 5 mins.

Using a hand-whisk, combine the chocolate and cream until you get a glossy sauce.

Leave to cool for about an hour, once thickened, pour over the layered cake.

Top with fresh raspberries.

And in case you were wondering, here's the view from the middle...

Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins...

Recipe courtesy of the lovely Ruth Buie:


(Makes 12 large muffins)

100g butter
150ml sour cream
100ml milk
2 eggs
130g brown soft sugar
300g plain flour
1 tsp bicarb
2tsp baking powder
Raspberries
White chocolate


Melt 100g of marg/butter. Let it cool slightly before adding 100ml of milk, 150ml of sour cream, and 2 whisked eggs. Add in 130g of soft brown sugar and 300g of plain flour. Add 1 tsp of bicarb and 2 tsp of baking powder. 
Add in a punnet of raspberries and bush up a little. Lastly add in chunks of white chocolate..depending on how chocolately you want them!
Sprinkle with brown sugar and cook in muffin cases for 25 mins at gas mark 6 or 180 degrees. 

Strawberry & Raspberry Jam..

I think jamming is going to be my new summer hobby! 

Click here for my basic jam recipe.

Rhubarb & Raspberry Crumble..

                                                                                                             

It's always nice to use some of the produce from my Dad's allotment and I think rhubarb and raspberry is a good combination.

To make rhubarb and raspberry crumble..

For the filling:

1kg chopped rhubarb

100g caster sugar

300g raspberries

1 tsp vanilla paste

For the crumble:

300g plain flour

180g caster

200g butter/baking margarine

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Place the chopped rhubarb in a large pan with the sugar and vanilla paste and cook on a low heat until soft.

Combine the sugar with the flour and rub the butter in until it forms a crumb, then add the lemon zest.

Take the rhubarb off the heat and add the raspberries, add sugar to taste.

Pour into a large baking dish and allow to cool the top with the crumble mix.

When you're ready to cook, place in a preheated oven for about 20 mins on GM7/220c.

Banana chocolate muffins with Mars Bar topping..

Recipe from http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-banana-muffins-5158, I chopped up a Mars Bar and sprinkled it on top before baking, but I'd recommend pushing them down into the mix to avoid burning.

French fruit tart..

A quick and easy dessert. For this, I just rolled out some pre-bought puff pastry, glazed the edges with a beaten egg and baked on GM 7 for 20 minutes. Whipped up 250ml double cream with 1 tsp vanilla paste and 2 tbsp icing sugar. Spread over cooled pastry. Topped with some mixed berries and glazed with some warm apricot jam..et voila!

Chocolate tarts (with ready made cases!)

Ok, I feel quite bad about using pre-made cases but my pastry skills aren't quite up to standard yet so watch this space! On the plus side, this is a brilliant recipe if you're a bit short of time but don't want something shop bought.

For the filling:

Melt 100g dark chocolate and add 1 tsp vanilla extract (or paste which I prefer)

Whip 200 ml double cream until stiff

Add melted chocolate and fold in until fully incorporated

Fill the tarts (this was more than enough for 8 little cases)

Refrigerate for about 3 hours

Remove from fridge about 30 mins before serving and grate with chocolate 

Chocolate muffins with chocolate sauce..

This is the best chocolate muffin recipe I've come across, it's from http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2011/03/chocolate-muffins-and-the-perfect-chocolate-cake-recipe.html.  

As recommended in the recipe, I use a Masterclass Flavour Injector which I bought from Lakeland to get the chocolate sauce inside, I've tried other methods but they're quite fiddly so would recommend buying one of these if you intend on making these regularly! See http://www.lakeland.co.uk/13463/Flavour-Injector;jsessionid=F16E0D6AADF0220BE41A131D8E52490A.app1

(The tulip cases were from Sainsbury's, £2.99 for 12. Alternatively, you can use standard muffin cases which will probably fill about 16+)

Raspberry Cake...

I think this is my favourite sponge cake at the moment. My dad has an allotment so I like to use his raspberries when they're in season but when they're not in season I tend to buy frozen ones as they're usually cheaper and you won't end up wasting them. 

The batter is a simple sponge cake mix:

8oz SR flour

8oz caster sugar

8oz softened butter

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp baking powder

Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder and butter and once combined add the eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla extract. Add the milk at the end.

Lay the raspberries (about 200g) on the bottom of two a pre-lined and greased tins, I don't tend to weigh out the raspberries but make sure they're neither touching nor sparsely spread.

Cover with equal amounts of batter.

Bake in a preheated oven at GM6 for approximately 40 minutes. You'll need to check the mix after about 30 minutes or so as the moisture from the berries can make the baking time a little unpredictable. The standard way of checking is to insert a skewer (or something small and narrow) into the middle of the cake, when it comes out clean, it's ready.

Once cooled, you can either fill it with whipped double cream, or use a cream cheese frosting which will keep for a couple of days.

For the cream cheese frosting:

Whisk 300g Philadelphia cream cheese until soft, add in 150g sifted icing sugar then 300ml double cream. Whisk together until 'stiff'.

This should be enough to cover the top and middle of the cake, if you wanted to cover the whole cake the recipe should be doubled.

'Jamie' Dodgers..

These are great, for kids or for adults! Recipe from: http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=jamie-dodgers

The strawberry jam is homemade and very easy:

Wash and quarter your strawberries/raspberries (a punnet will generally make a jar or just over)

Weigh out the strawberries and add the same amount of granulated sugar (you can also use jam sugar which has added pectin, this is normally found in the sugar aisle in most supermarkets)

Place on the hob on a medium temperature and bring to the boil

Once boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer for about 10-15 minutes keeping a close eye on it to avoid the sugar burning

Remove from heat and allow to cool a little before either using on a cake or placing in a sterilised jar

Chocolate Guinness Birthday Cake..

This is a good chocolate cake recipe for people who aren't that into chocolate..and don't be alarmed by the addition of Guinness, the only thing it does is enhance the moistness of the cake and add a subtle flavour.


It's another Nigella recipe that you can get from http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086/. I used my own ganache covering for this due to the occasion but I'd normally use her cream cheese frosting as it tastes great. 


I often use this recipe for Guinness cupcakes, it makes enough for a batch of 12 (including the frosting).

Baked Vanilla Cheesecake..

This is such an easy recipe and turned out really well. It's from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3636/baked-vanilla-cheesecake and I'd recommend customising it in your own way.

Cherry and Almond Bundt Cake..

I can't quite remember which recipe I used for this one but will add it as soon as I can.

Heart cakes..

Aka Valentine's Day cakes ;-)


These were made using a basic vanilla sponge recipe, for cupcakes I do tend to alternate between the Hummingbird bakery mix and my own, although another good alternative I've also used is Nigella's: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cupcakes-146.


My vanilla cupcake recipe is:


8oz/225g SR Flour

8oz/225g Caster Sugar

8oz/225g Butter (or baking margarine)

4 Eggs

1 tspn Baking Powder

1 tbspn vanilla extract

1 tbspn milk

Preheat oven to GM6/200C

Place 24 cupcake cases into 2 bun trays

Combine the dry ingredients and the butter in the mixer, add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla extract and once combined, add the milk

Fill the cases evenly and place in the oven for about 20 mins (I often check halfway through and quickly swap the trays around to ensure even baking)