Sweet Chestnut Swiss Roll

This Autumn seems to be a very good year for sweet chestnuts. Well, at least our local woods, Ruislip woods, have provided a lot of really good quality sweet chestnuts this year.

Collecting chestnuts is fun and we got so many. I made 2 jam jars and one ice cream tub of chestnut puree. So, I have been trying to be clever using the lovely creamy sweet chestnut puree.

Here is one of my successful attempts to enjoy this Autumn flavour. 

I spread too much puree on the sponge and, unfortunately, I could not Swiss-roll it. 

Can I still call it "Swiss roll"?

Well, let say it's "Ruislip roll." 

Ingredients:

For the Sponge

• 3 eggs
• 75g caster sugar
• 75g self-raising flour

For the Sweet Chestnut Puree

Click here for the recipe

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease and line a 23cm x 30cm/9in x 12in Swiss roll tin.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. 

3. Fold in the flour and spoon the mixture into the tin. Bake in the oven 
for 7-10 minutes, or until light and springy to the touch. 

4. Remove from the oven and turn the sponge out onto another piece of greaseproof paper. 

5. For the filling, spread the sweet chestnut puree (click for the recipe) onto the sponge, leaving a small gap around the edges. 

6. Roll the sponge. 

7. Dust with icing sugar and serve. 

Coffee and Walnut Cake

As requested I baked this for the Birthday cake.  It is full of coffee flavour and very moist. 
Butter cream is tricky to make as it almost split.... but I just managed to hold it together to make a soft creamy texture. The key points for making perfect buttercream is NEVER use butter straight from the fridge.  Be patient to make sure the butter is soft. It's also important to mix the icing sugar little by little. This apply to adding the coffee as well. Fat and water do not merge together unless you do this carefully.
Anyway, this is a great cake for any occasion. It's one of my favourites.

Ingredients

For the cake            

• 225g (8oz) unsalted butter            
• 225g (8oz) caster sugar
• 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 4 free-range eggs 
• 50ml (1¾fl oz) strong espresso coffee
• 75g (2½oz) walnuts

For the buttercream topping 

• 125g (4½oz) unsalted butter
• 200g (7oz) icing sugar
• 50ml (2fl oz) strong espresso coffee
• 12 walnut halves, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until very light and pale.
3. Add the eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, beating well to completely incorporate each egg before adding the next egg.
4. Add the espresso to the mixture and stir well.
5. Add the flour and chopped walnuts and stir well to completely combine.
6. Spoon the cake mixture into two lined and greased 20cm/8in cake tins.
7. Transfer to the oven to bake 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and the cake is golden-brown.
8. Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
9. For the buttercream topping, beat the butter and icing sugar together in a small bowl until pale and light.
10. Add the espresso and mix well.
11. Spread the buttercream over the top of each cake, then place one cake on top of the other.
12. Decorate the top of the cake with the walnut halves and serve in generous slices.

  

Just like mayonnaise and hollandaise sauce, buttercream is an emulsion of fat and liquid that can break into its component ingredients if not handled properly. You'll know when it happens because your buttercream will suddenly look like cottage cheese.

Cream together the butter/margarine until it turns light and fluffy.

Beat in the icing sugar powder gradually. Keep beating until the resulting mixture becomes smooth.

Add the coffee liquid. Only add small amounts until the icing becomes of a spreadable consistency. It is always better to add less than too much.

For the busy baker, you can use instant coffee instead. That's what I normally do anyway.
                 

Coffee Buttercream

100g/3½oz unsalted butter

200g/7oz icing sugar

2 tsp coffee granules

1 Tbsp boiling water

Just a little gift

I love baking and I love sharing something nice.  So, when I bake something nice I love to share it.

Sometimes a simple gift can be very effective if it's home-made with a bit of care. I often make cakes and biscuits for dinner party presents. The tip is making it simple so that you won't stress over it but enjoy making it. Take this is simple lemon cake for instance. I made it in the evening of the day before the Sunday lunch that I was invited to. It only takes 10 minutes to put together and the oven does the rest.
I wrapped it nicely with ribbons and a label. Nice little present. This cake recipe is one of my simplest and reliable recipes, so it's hard to get it wrong. The photo above is baked in a 2Ib loaf tin.
Here is the recipe. (click here). 

I stock clear cellophane bags in the cupboard for present wrapping. These are very handy. I also stock some labels and ribbons which are also available online to buy. A home-made gift is a great alternative to a bottle of something if you have a little time to spare.

I was looking for a small loaf tin to bake a smaller cake to fit in my cellophane bags. 2Ib loaf tins are very common and you can find them very easily. In fact, most of the loaf tins you can find in a baking section in a supermarket are 2Ib tins.  I finally found this small 1Ib loaf tin in a small local household shop.
For my new 1Ib loaf tin, I adjusted my simple cake recipe.

• 3 oz butter (or low-fat spread) 
  
• 3 oz caster sugar (or soft brown sugar)
• 3 oz plain flower
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 eggs
• lemon or orange zest
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Put everything in a bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer. Pour the mixture into the 1Ib loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven (180c / 170c fan) for about 40 minutes.  

Revised: Coffee and Walnut Cake

I posted coffee and walnut cake before but this is a revised version.  Classic coffee and walnut cake is a must-have item in the proper afternoon tea menu.  It can be elevated by decorating with coffee butter cream and even made in 2 to 3 layers.  But my recipe is a very simple home-eating version. I made simple coffee icing by mixing strong coffee and icing sugar.  You can make this with instant coffee powder, icing sugar and water.   Sometimes, I find the simple way is the best. :) 

Ingredients

• 6oz (175g) self-raising flour  
  
• 1 level teaspoon baking powder
•  6oz (175g) low-fat spread (or butter)
•  2 large eggs
•  6oz (175g) light brown muscovado sugar
•  2-3 rounded tablespoons instant espresso coffee powder 
•  3 Tbsp milk or water
•  50g walnuts, finely chopped 

For topping

• icing sugar
• espresso coffee 
• 8-10 walnut halves

 Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC, gas mark 3
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a roomy mixing bowl. Then add the low-fat spread, eggs, sugar and coffee powder. Mix them by using an electric hand whisk for about 1 minute. You may need up to 3 Tbsp milk or water to make the mixture into a smooth, creamy and dropping consistency.
3. Fold the chopped nuts into the mixture.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and cool down.
5. While the cake is cooling, make up the topping. In a small bowl combine the icing sugar, coffee powder and some water.
6. When the cake is cool, decorate the cake with the coffee icing. 

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Believe it or not, these are "vegan friendly" cupcakes. I was searching for a cake recipe for my vegan friend and found a recipe which is totally egg-free and dairy-free.   This recipe doesn't require any unusual ingredients. I call this "absolutely cupboard ingredients cake".   I wasn't sure how the cupcakes would turn out as the recipe seemed to be too simple.   However, I was pleasantly surprised by the result.
These cupcakes are really moist, soft, light and full of flavour.   You wouldn't believe these are totally egg and daily free. I made cupcakes, but this recipe would also work as a sponge base for any decorated cake. When you bake it in a cake tin, it just bakes for longer.  
I put crushed walnuts on top before baking them.  Lovely. :)


Ingredients

• 200g (7 oz) self-raising flour 
• 200g (7 oz) caster sugar
• 4 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 250ml (8 floz) water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / gas 4. Lightly grease a 13x23cm loaf tin or a 20cm round cake tin.                 If you make cupcakes, prepare muffin cases.  
2. Sieve together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add oil, vanilla, lemon juice and water. Mix together until smooth.
3. Pour into prepared tin or muffin cases and bake for 40 minutes for cake tin or 20 minutes for cupcakes. Check it's cooked by inserting a skewer. If it's clean on withdrawl then it's cooked.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Apple and Almond Cake

To be honest, I'm not a great fan of almonds, but I love the flavour of almond in cake. 

So, here is my almond cake but this is not a kind of almond cake which doesn't require flour at all. 

It's an upside down cake. :)   It's beautiful when it is turned out because the bottom of the cake shows a pretty pattern of sliced apples .... Of course, if you laid the apples beautifully that is ...  :)

I made glaze with marmalade and lemon juice to give a shine to the cake.  

Ingredients 

• 180g butter, at room temperature, (or low-fat spread) 

• 140g caster sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 3 eggs, at room temperature

• 100g ground almonds

• 150g self-raising flour (or plain flower with 1 tsp baking powder) 

• 50ml to 80ml milk 

• 2 small Royal Gala apples, quartered, cored & thinly sliced  

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas mark 3. Brush around 22cm (base measurement) cake tin with melted butter to grease. Line base and side with baking parchment.

2.  Beat butter, caster sugar & vanilla in a bowl for 8 mins or till pale and creamy (by hand or electric beater). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

3.  Stir in ground almonds. Add half the flour and half the milk. Use a wooden spoon to stir until well combined. Repeat remaining flour and milk.

4.  Arrange the apple, slightly overlapping, over the base of the prepared tin. Spoon mixture into the tin and smooth the surface.

5.  Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6.  Set aside in the pan for 10 mins to cool slightly before turning onto a serving plate. 

Very Yellow 3 egg yolk Cake

I was planning to make some macaroons with 3 egg whites. 
Obviously there would be 3 leftover egg yolks.  I thought to myself, what could I do with the leftover egg yolks?  Making mayonnaise, extra rich pastry, carbonara spaghetti, etc. ... but I wanted to make a cake.  
So I searched to find out if there was any recipe which only uses egg yolk because I didn't want to waste the leftover egg yolks. Then, I came across the cake called "yellow cake" which doesn't require egg white at all. I amended the recipe for my 3 egg yolks and created a recipe for a very yellow lemon cake. 
I also added zest of an orange to the batter to make citrus flavoured cake. Then, I made lemon syrup with fresh lemon juice and sugar, and poured the juice over the cake when it was still warm in the cake tin.  
The resulting cake was unexpectedly good, very moist and yet light and fluffy in texture.  
Ironically, I spectacularly failed to make macaroons. Everything went so wrong and it was absolutely disastrous.  So I ended up wasting the precious ingredients of the macaroons as most of them were badly stuck to the baking paper and I couldn't remove them.
Well, I have to admit that I was defeated by macaroons, but I was rescued by this leftover cake. 
However, I won't give up making macaroons. So watch this space. :)

Ingredients

• 150g  plain flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 85g butter (or low-fat spread)
• 130g sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 120ml milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 degrees F).
2. In a bowl sift or whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft and creamy (about 1-2 minutes).  Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes).  Add egg yolks, in two batches, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
4. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture (in three additions), and milk (in two additions), beginning and ending with the flour.  
5. Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Bake 22 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake just comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre.  

simplicity is the ultimate sophistication

Here is the super low-fat chocolate birthday cake for the person who is concerned about... .you know...

Banana & Cocoa Cake

This banana cake has a very different texture compared to the one I normally bake. Very spongy and light... and yet very moist. Is it because I changed some ingredients or method? I'm not so sure. One thing I did very differently from my normal method was to use an electric hand blender which I use for making smooth soup. Blitz ..... By  mixing the wet ingredients by blender, the mixture became very fluffy and smooth.... like a banana smoothy texture. Anyway, this cake contains sunflower oil instead of butter or margarine, so it keeps the moisture longer... so I heard. 

Ingredients

• 175g caster sugar
• 175g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 80ml sunflower oil
• 70ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 bananas (200g ish)

For crumble topping

• 30g Plain Flour  
• 15g Granulated Sugar (or Demerara Sugar) 
• 15g Butter (or low-fat margarine) 
• walnuts  

Method

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
2. Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, and cocoa in a large bowl.
3. Mash the banana in a bowl and add oil, milk, lemon juice and eggs. Then mix thoroughly with the electric hand blender.
4. Put the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix gently.
5. Pour the mixture in the tin and sprinkle the crumble topping. (put the all ingredients for the topping in a bowl and make a breadcrumb like texture using your finger tips)
6. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  

Apple "Cake" Tatin

Good old British Cox apples are now in season. I love the sweet but slightly tangy flavour of Cox apples. They are great just as they are and fantastic for cooking. So, to celebrate British Cox,
I wanted to bake "Tart Tatin"... Well...it's not a tart, it's a cake. So, it's upside-down apple caramel cake. :) Enjoy the fresh flavour of apple and sticky caramel.

Ingredients 

• 4 oz plain flour 
• 4 oz soft brown sugar 
• 4 oz low-fat margarine  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 Vanila extract 
• 2 apples sliced
• Caramel: 85g Caster sugar + 1 tablespoon water  

Method

Making Caramel sauce 

•  Warm the pan gently over a medium heat for a few moments then place white caster sugar in the pan, still over a medium heat. Leave the sugar and keep an eye on it, until it begins to melt. After about 5 minutes the sugar will start to melt and turn liquid around the edges.  Do not stir!
•  Give the pan a good shake and leave it again until about a quarter of the sugar has melted. Using a wooden spoon, give it a gentle stir and continue to cook until the sugar has transformed from crystals to liquid and is the colour of dark runny honey – a dark amber colour.
•  Take the pan off the heat and add 1 tablespoon of tap-hot water – the caramel will splutter and steam so protect your hands with a cloth and take care. Stir well – you may need to return the pan to a gentle heat to re-melt any lumps of caramel that have formed. The caramel is now ready to use.

1. Preheat oven to 170 °C.  Place greaseproof paper in the cake tin.
2. Put all the ingredients, apart from apples and sugar for caramel, in a bowl and mix with the electric whisk.
3. Make caramel sauce ( see above for the method)  
4. Pour the caramel sauce into the cake tin.
5. Place the sliced apples and then pour the cake mixture on top.
6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. When the cake cools down turn the cake tin upside down and gently peel away the greaseproof paper.

Very Sticky Upside-down Banana Ginger Cake

Here is a banana cake with a bit of attitude. 2 whole bananas are in a cake without being mashed. 

So if you like banana, this is your cake. :)   

Making caramel is a really tricky job and I made a very sticky mess in a sauce pan the first time I tried it. Unfortunately most of the unsuccessful caramel went down the sink :(   I think the key to making a good caramel is the timing.  You need patience to wait for the sugar to melt and quick action when adding water at the right time. When you have made a good runny caramel to cover the bottom of the cake tin, you are almost there. Making the sponge is the easy bit.  

Ingredients 

• 200g plain flour 
• 150g soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 80ml vegetable oil
• 150ml milk
• 1 egg
• 2 Bananas sliced
• Caramel: 85g Caster sugar + 1 tablespoon water

Method

1.     Preheat oven to 170 °C.  Place greaseproof paper at the bottom of the cake tin.

2.     Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

3.     Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

4.     Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Mix everything together gently.

5.     Make caramel sauce: 

•  Warm the pan gently over a medium heat for a few moments then place white caster sugar in the pan, still over a medium heat. Leave the sugar and keep an eye on it, until it begins to melt. After about 5 minutes the sugar will start to melt and turn liquid around the edges.  Do not stir.
•  Give the pan a good shake and leave it again until about a quarter of the sugar has melted. Using a wooden spoon, give it a gentle stir and continue to cook until the sugar has transformed from crystals to liquid and is the colour of dark runny honey – a dark amber colour.
•  Take the pan off the heat and add 1 tablespoon of tap-hot water – the caramel will splutter and steam so protect your hands with a cloth and take care. Stir well – you may need to return the pan to a gentle heat to re-melt any lumps of caramel that have formed. The caramel is now ready to use.

6.     Pour the caramel sauce into the cake tin.

7.     Place the sliced banana and then pour the cake mixture on top.

8.     Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. When the cake cools down turn the cake tin upside down and gently peel away the greaseproof paper.

Apple Crumble Muffins

Apple crumble is a classic pudding that goes with a good old English Sunday roast and everybody's favourite, isn't it?  Here is a muffin version of apple crumble.  You can enjoy the very moist but light sponge, juicy apples and crunchy crumble topping. I used brown sugar to get a toffee like rich flavour, but you can use white caster sugar for a lighter finish. Do not forget to add cinnamon to both batter and topping mixture as the cinnamon flavour is the key to this muffin.... well, of course, if you like cinnamon. Anyway, I think apple and cinnamon is an unbeatable combo. 

I also added walnuts to the topping mixture to create an even crunchier texture. 

These muffins make a lovely Sunday breakfast with a big mug of coffee. :) 

Ingredients for 8 Muffins       

• 200g Plain flour
• 100g Caster sugar
• 50g Soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon powder 
• ¼  teaspoon Salt
• 90ml Milk
• 80ml Vegetable oil
• 1 large Egg, beaten
• 5 drops Vanilla extract
• 2 large Apples - peeled, cored and chopped

   

 for Crumble Topping

• 30g Plain flour
• 15g Granulated sugar or Demerara sugar
• 15g Soft butter or Low-fat spread
• Cinnamon and crushed Walnuts, ( Oats, Hazelnuts, Sesame seeds, Pumpkin seeds ...... etc.)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).

3. Gently fold in chopped apples and spoon mixture into muffin cups. Sprinkle Crumble topping on top of each. 
4. Rub together the flour, sugar and butter (or low-fat spread) until the mix resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle over top of each muffin. 
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

6 oz Cake

When you bake a cake for the first time, obviously you may chose the easiest recipe to follow. The recipe has the basic items that you can find in your cupboard and fridge. Nothing fancy.
Here is my "6 oz Cake" whose main ingredients are fat, flour and sugar in equal measure of 6oz.    Some people call this type of cake "Pound Cake" which I remember I saw in a shop in Japan. But I had no idea what this really meant. Anyway, you can find lots of recipes of this easy to follow basic cake and I have one, too.   My recipe is based on Delia's "all-in-one sponge" which was in my first cookery book I bought in Britain.   My version follows the same principal of "equal amounts of fat, flour and sugar", but I changed other  ingredients over the time I have been baking this cake.
Now, for me, this is the formula which works perfectly. Very light but moist... and low-fat.
This cake is very versatile. You can add dried fruit, chocolate chips, cocoa powder.... etc. to change the flavour.... endless potential. :) 

Ingredients

• 6 oz Low-Fat Spread
• 6 oz Caster Sugar
• 6 oz SR flour (or Plain flour)
• 1 tsp Baking Powder (if you use the Plain flour, increase the BP to 2 tsp)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Lemon or Orange zest
• 1 Tbsp  Milk
• 1 Tbsp  Lemon Juice

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven 160-180 °c      
2. Put all ingredients in the food processer and mix well. Or put all  ingredients in a bowl and mix with  electric hand mixer.
3. Bake it in the oven for 40-50 minutes
4. When the cake is baked, let it stand for 5 minutes, then turn it out on a plate.

       *Decorate with lemon juice + icing sugar mixture   

Really Fruity Tea Cake

 I was looking forward to baking this cake last night when I was soaking the dried fruit in my favourite Earl Grey tea.... 
When I came across the fruity tea cake recipe in BBC Good Food, I couldn't resist trying this out immediately. Sadly, I didn't have "dried berries and cherries" that the original recipe suggested and I didn't particularly want to rush to the shop to buy them at 10pm. So, I emptied all my dried fruit jars and got 250g of mixed dried fruit, apricots and prunes. Well, That's all I had. So, I adjusted the original recipe for tea soaked dried fruit. I used Earl Grey tea instead of normal tea because I love the flavour. 
Next morning, I found all the dried fruit looked plump and juicy and ready for me to bake a cake with them. 
The cake was really rich in flavour and moist.... and really really low-fat.  Look at the independents. :) 

Ah, and it would be even nicer if I added some kind of  liqueur, like brandy, cointreau or cherry liqueur to be a bit naughty. :)  Perhaps I could add some spice such as cinnamon and cloves to make a version of Christmas cake.  

Ingredients

250g mixed dried fruit, apricots, and prunes

200ml hot Earl Grey tea

Juice of 1 orange (about 75ml/2½fl oz) plus zest

50g butter (or Low-Fat spread)

100g light brown sugar

1 egg

225g self-raising flour

4 tbsp demerara sugar

Method

1.     Place the dried fruit in a bowl and pour over the hot tea, orange juice and zest. Cover with cling film, then leave for at least 4 hrs or better still overnight.

2.     Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base of a 2lb loaf tin. Beat together the butter (or low-fat spread) and sugar until creamy, then beat in the egg followed by the flour. Carefully stir through the fruit mixture including the tea and the orange juice. Spoon the mixture into the tin, then smooth over the surface with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle all over with a thick layer of demerara sugar.

3.     Bake for 1 hr or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out.