Easter Buns

Happy Easter Baking. Here it comes.
This year, I decided not to put a cross on my buns as I was in a bit of a rush making these buns on the Easter day itself.  Yes, last minute baking. This is a very easy recipe and the buns taste and smell just like the British favourite "hot cross buns." Happy Easter, everyone.  :)

Ingredients

• 250g strong white flour  
• 20g caster sugar
• 7g easy-action yeast
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 50g unsalted butter softened or low-fat spread
• 80ml milk
• zest of 1 orange
• 100g sultanas
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Put all the ingredients, apart from the sultanas, in a bowl and mix together with an electric whisk with dough hooks for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes a ball. If the dough struggles to come together add 10ml more milk to make it very sticky. 
2. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough in a warm place until it doubles in size. 
   
   
3. Knock down the air and mix in the sultanas with your hands with some oil.
4. Shape the dough and place it in the baking tray and bake in a preheated oven (160c fan) for 10 minutes.
5. Turn down the temperature of the oven to 140c and bake for another 20 minutes.
6. Take the bread from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Then brush with syrup (some sugar and water). Decorate with icing.

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.  

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.

Oat and Fruit Cookies

Fancy a cuppa? My Oat and Fruit cookies may be lovely company with a cup of tea. 

Crunchy outside and slightly soft inside .... that's how I like them, but you can make them really crunchy by baking them a bit longer if you like. A lovely cinnamon aroma spreads in the kitchen when they are being baked. The dough is very sticky, so using your hands to shape them is a messy job. I used 2 spoons to make a round-ish shape and dropped it on the baking tray. I quite like this rustic look. :) 

Ingredients   

• 3 oz Brown Sugar 

  

  One of the cookies turned out a heart shape... awwww.

• 4 oz Caster Sugar

• 4 oz  Unsalted Butter (or Low-Fat Margarine if you prefer) 

• 6 oz Plain Flour

• 5 oz Rolled Oats

• 5 oz Dried Fruit (and/or some nuts)

• 1 Egg

• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

• 1/2 tsp  Baking Powder 
• 1/2 tsp  Salt    

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170°c.
2. Put the brown sugar, caster sugar and butter into a mixing bowl and whisk them together until it has become smooth.
3. Add all the rest of the ingredients into the bowl with the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Mix everything together so that it is all evenly distributed. Then shape it into a ball with your hands.
5. Lightly flour your work surface and then roll out the ball of cookie dough to a thickness of about 4mm. 
6. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and put them onto a non-stick baking tray (or one lined with greaseproof paper)
7. Put the cookies into the 170°c oven and bake them for 15 minutes.
8. When they are cooked, remove them from the oven and leave them to cool on the baking tray for 3 minutes or so before putting them on a wire rack and allow them to cool to room temperature.

   

double yolk egg muffins ... lovely!

Hey, I found a double yolked egg. :) I cracked the egg and there were two yolks in one egg.
So I baked fruit muffins with my easy muffin recipe adding 100g of dried fruit.
I baked them as usual, but somehow, they rose more than usual. Is this an effect of 2 yolks?
I don't really know.....
Anyway, it was a lovely surprise and I'm very pleased about how the muffins turned out. :)

Fruit Loaf

After baking so many muffins, I'm back to bread. It's a sweet bread.
I love cooked dried fruit because of the burst of flavour you get. For this loaf I used 100g of dried fruit.
The dough looked almost overwelmed by the quantity of fruit, but when the loaf came out of the oven and I sliced it, I thought to myself.... hmmm I could have put more fruit in it. What do you think? It's really up to personal taste, isn't it? I just love fruit, so I'll try to add more fruit next time. However, I have to be careful to make a balance between the dough and fruit as the bread needs to rise properly, otherwise the bread will end up being a heavy dumpling.
How about adding some walnuts as well? I think dried fruit and walnuts are a great combo. :)

Ingredients 

• 250g Strong Bread flower ( I used white flour)
• 1 tsp Fast-action dried yeast
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar 
• ¼ tsp Cinnamon powder
• 175ml lukewarm water
• 100g Mixed dried fruit 

Method

1. Make the dough by tipping the flour, yeast and salt into a large bowl and making a well in the middle. Pour in most of the water and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to mix the flour and water together until combined to a slightly wet, pillowy, workable dough - add a splash more water if necessary. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 10 mins until smooth and elastic. This can also be done in a tabletop mixer with a dough hook. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until doubled in size.
2. Knock back the dough by tipping it back onto a floured surface and pushing the air out. Knead in the dried fruit to the dough.  Mould the dough into a rugby ball shape and place it on a baking tray. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove for 30 mins. Dust the top of the loaf with a little more flour and slash the top with a sharp knife if you want.
3. Heat oven to 220°C / fan 200°C / gas 7.
4. Pour hot water onto the bottom of the oven or into a dish at the bottom of the oven to create steam. 
5. Bake the bread for 15 mins, then reduce the heat to 190°C / fan 170°C / gas 5 and continue to bake for 30 mins until the loaf sounds hollow when removed from the oven and tapped on the base. Leave the bread on a wire rack to cool completely. 

Banana and Cocoa Muffins

Banana and chocolate .... a winning combo, isn't it?
So, here are Banana and Cocoa muffins. I could have used a melted bar of chocolate, but I used cocoa instead for a light texture. They tasted really chocolatey and yet very light. The walnut crumble topping worked really well with the chocolate flavour. The crumble topping I used is, actually, leftover from making Apple Crumble Muffins. I made too much crumble topping that day, so I froze the leftover. It was great just to take it out of the freezer and to sprinkle it on top of these banana and cocoa muffins before putting them in the oven. These are lovely warm, but can be nicely reheated to enjoy the "just out of the oven" effect.

Ingredients                

• 200g Plain Flour
• 100g Soft Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 4 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• ¼  tsp Salt
• 100ml Milk
• 2 ripe Bananas, mashed
• 50ml Vegetable Oil
• 1 Egg

For crumble topping 

• 30g Plain Flour
• 15g Granulated (or Demerara) Sugar 
• 15g Butter (or Low-fat Spread)
• Walnuts crushed  

 Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg, vanilla, and banana then whisk well.
4. Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).    Do NOT over mix!
5. Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of each muffin. 1 teaspoon full each would be enough.                    The crumble topping can be frozen if there is any leftover.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. 

  

Fruit & Yogurt Muffins

Yes, it's muffins again. :)
I noticed that milk, one of the ingredients of muffins, can be replaced by other types of dairy products such as buttermilk, sour cream and yogurt. So, here are my first yogurt muffins. I thought blueberries would be the best match with yogurt, but there was a nice crunchy apple in my kitchen, so I used chopped apple instead.  I suppose any fresh fruit which goes nicely with yogurt would make lovely muffins with this recipe. Chopped pear, pineapple, etc.
I was just curious how the yogurt would affect the texture of the muffins. The result was ... wow, better than I expected. The muffins had a really bouncy spongy light texture and pieces of apples made them moist, but not soggy at all. The very gentle tangy flavour of the yogurt complements the apple so well. Make sure that you do not over-mix the batter. That 's the muffin rule. :)

Ingredients 

• 260 g plain flour
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt 

• 240 ml plain yogurt (regular or low fat)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 60 ml (¼ cup) vegetable or sunflower oil
• ½  teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 100 g fresh or frozen blueberries   ( Blackberries, raspberries, or cranberries …… or even chopped apple which I put in the muffins pictured here.)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 
2. In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the yogurt, lightly beaten egg, oil, and vanilla extract. In another large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Remove 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss it with the blueberries.
3. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Gently stir in the blueberries. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.
4. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 -20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
5. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan. 

Blueberry and Yogurt Muffins 31.05.2012 

Fresh Blueberry Muffins

As far as my recent muffin making is concerned, this is my personal best. :)
The texture of the muffin base is really light and moist, but not soggy at all. There is a generous portion of blueberries in each muffin which makes them so juicy.
I was wondering why blueberry muffins are so popular, but I kind of understand why after making blueberry muffins for the first time. I think it's because a blueberry has a very delicate skin which, unlike other berries, does not burst until the muffin is almost cooked, which means that the juice doesn't affect the consistency of the muffin base. It's a lovely sensation when some of the blueberries burst in your mouth. No wonder blueberry muffins are so popular.
They are best still warm, but can be frozen when they have cooled. Because they are so light and more-ish, they won't take long to disappear and you might not have any to put in the freezer.  :)


Ingredients 

• 200g Plain Flour

• 150g Sugar

• 2 tsp Baking Powder

• ¼ tsp Salt

• 100ml Milk

• 75ml Vegetable Oil  (5 Tbsp)

• 1 Egg

• Vanilla Extract

• 125g Fresh Blueberries 

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.

3. Measure milk, oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg and vanilla, then whisk well.

4.  Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined. Mixture will be lumpy.     Do NOT over mix!

5. Gently fold in blueberries.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top

Easy Muffins

Since I got this new muffin baking pan, I can't stop baking muffins. :)
Apple muffins, Savoury Muffins were successful, but, to be honest, there were some unsuccessful ones when I tried to create a new recipe. It's not easy to make nice and fluffy light textured muffins.
The 1-egg Muffin recipe in my blog has been my favourite, but it's a bit time consuming as I have to make a bread-crumb like mixture from flour, butter and sugar with my fingers before adding wet ingredients.
It's a messy job. I enjoy this when I have time to do it as I know the result has been good so far.
But I just wanted to make quick muffins. After a few trials, I came to settle with this recipe. This is a very basic muffin recipe, so you can add whatever you like ... chopped apple, berries, chocolate chips, nuts and various dried fruit. The very important tip of making soft and fluffy muffins is not to over-mix the batter.
I must confess that I have made very dense heavy muffins by over-mixing them.
Once you add the wet mixture to the dried mixture, don't mix too much! Less is better.


Ingredients 

• 200g Plain Flour

• 150g Sugar

• 2 tsp Baking Powder

• ¼  tsp Salt

• 150ml Milk for muffins with dried fillings like nuts, chocolate chips and dried fruit.  if you are making muffins with fresh fruit 100ml milk will be enough as the fruit contains moisture. 

• 50ml Vegetable Oil

• 1 Egg

• Vanilla extract

• Fresh/Dried Fruit, Nuts… 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 and mix the dried ingredients well.

3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg and vanilla, then whisk well.

4.  Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).        Do NOT over mix!

5. Gently fold in fruit, etc.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

  

Making your own muffin cases

There are lots of lovely muffin cases you can buy in shops and on-line. Beautifully shaped, coloured and patterned stuff is available. I've noticed that the rustic look muffin wraps are becoming popular alongside the traditional ones. Some people call these wraps, "tulip muffin wraps." Ah, yes, they look like tulips don't they? These are seen in coffee shops or deli counters. They seem to be for American style eating rather than English afternoon tea. I discovered that you can get ready-made rustic look muffin wraps, but as they look so "home-made", you might as well make them yourself.
Lorraine Pascale shows how to make your own muffin cases using baking paper in her pumpkin and rosemary muffin recipe. Have a look at how she does it on her video. Anyway, here is how you can make your own muffin wrap. I also think greasing the paper is quite important as the muffin sticks to the paper if you don't grease it. This is the Apple Crumble Muffin which I baked the other day. I forgot to grease the paper, so it fell apart when I tried to remove the paper. Still, it tasted good. :)

1. Cut out 5-inch square pieces of baking paper. 
2. Spray the muffin tin with vegetable oil cooking spray to hold the paper in place. 
3. Spray each piece of paper. 
4. Place 1 piece of paper into 1 cup of the tin, pressing along the folds to crease. Repeat with other cups and paper pieces. 
5. Scoop batter into cups, and bake.

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.

Pizza

Once you've made your own pizza from scratch, you will know how enjoyable it is to make and eat.
It's seriously good. :) My pizza dough is half the quantity of my basic loaf recipe for a 12 inch round pizza. It's plenty for 2 people. It doesn't take as long as you may think. I got home at 5:30pm today and had this pizza dinner at 7pm. Actually, it's a de-stress exercise as you need to punch the dough to make the pizza's lovely chewy texture. :)    Anyway, once you make the pizza dough, the topping options are endless.
My topping list tonight is as follows.

• Caramelised onion (cook the thin sliced onion with olive oil for 15 minutes with low-heat. Splash with  balsamic vinegar at the end)
• Roasted vegetables (aubergine and courgette roasted in the oven with olive oil)
• Mushrooms
• Anchovies
• Green olives
• Low-fat Mozzarella cheese
• Tomato paste (It works well if you don't have time to cook tomato sauce. I always use this.)

Ingredients  
for 12in round Pizza dough

• 250g Strong Bread flour 
• 3.5g sachet fast-action dried yeast (1 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp dried mixed herbs 
• up to 175ml lukewarm water
• 
  

Method

1. Make the dough by tipping the flour, yeast, salt and dried herbs into a large bowl and making a well in the middle. Pour in most of the water and use your fingers or a wooden spoon to mix the flour and water together until combined to a slightly wet, pillowy, workable dough - add a splash more water if necessary. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 10 mins until smooth and elastic. This can also be done in a tabletop mixer with a dough hook. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until doubled in size.
2. Heat oven to 220C/ fan 200C/ gas 7. Knock back the dough by tipping it back onto a floured surface and pushing the air out. Stretch the dough on the pizza oven plate. Cover it with the oiled cling film. Then leave it for about 10 mins. 
3. Bake the dough on the oven proof pizza plate for 15 mins.
4. Take the dough out of the oven and spread the tomato paste, then put toppings on the dough
5. Bake the pizza for another 10 minutes or so until the cheese begins to bubble.

Golden Syrup Cake

Here is the regular loaf tin version of the Golden Syrup Cake on the BBC Good Food.

I wanted to bake a very sticky syrupy cake.
Yes, this cake is seriously sugary... and it actually becomes even stickier the next day.
Well, certainly this will cheer you up when you are very tired and a bit fed up.
Go on.
Have a cuppa and a slice.   :)

Ingredients 

•  4 oz Butter (or Low-fat spread)
•  4 oz Sugar (light muscovado adds depth but caster is fine)
•  8 oz Golden syrup
•  8 oz SR flour
•  1 Egg
•  150 ml Milk

Method

1.     Preheat the oven to 140C/fan (or 160/C - gas mark 3). Grease the tin and line the base with baking paper leaving a little to cover the bottom corners and sides. Press into place.

2.     Place butter (I used low-fat spread), syrup and sugar into a large pan and heat gently until the ingredients are just melted together, stirring occasionally. Leave to cool for 10 minutes (it helps if you place the pan away from the hob during this time since it will remain warm).

3.     Beat the eggs with the milk. Add the flour and milk/egg mixture to the cooled syrup mixture in the pan and beat steadily with a wooden spoon until all the lumps have gone. This may take a few minutes so you will need a little patience. Pour the mixture into the tin.

4.     Bake for around 50 minutes to an hour. The cake will be well risen and springy, but still very moist. After a few minutes cooling time, pierce the cake all over with a skewer and spoon the extra golden syrup over the top. Leave to cool completely in the tin.

This cake keeps for a week and only improves with time! 

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.

Chocolate and Walnut Swirl Bread & Butter Pudding

Chocolate and Walnut Swirl Bread was a hit. Really tasty, but I left some slices for this. Yes, great leftover desert, good old bread and butter pudding. I had some slices of Chocolate and Walnut Swirl Bread that I baked yesterday and I needed the eggy mixture.
I googled it and found an interesting article. "How to make perfect bread and butter pudding" hmmm. I suppose everybody has an opinion of how they like their bread and butter pudding.
However, it's always safe to go back to Delia if you're not sure.
Her eggy mixture contains 3 eggs, 275ml milk, 60ml double cream and 50g sugar for 8 slices of bread. I had small slices of Chocolate and Walnut Swirl Bread, so I made the mixture with 2 eggs, 220ml milk and 30g sugar. I didn't add double cream because I didn't have it in my fridge.

Chocolate and Walnut Swirl Bread

Fancy a slice of sweet bread? 

How about Chocolate and Walnut Swirl Bread?

I noticed a large jar of chocolate spread hanging around in the cupboard when I was waiting for my bread dough to be proven. I thought to myself, why not use half of the bread dough for sweet bread.  I normally make 2 loaves with my basic bread recipe. 

So, I left one half for normal bread and I had fun with the other half. I made the second half of the dough flat and spread 3 generous spoonfuls of  chocolate spread on the dough. Then I sprinkled chopped walnuts and rolled the dough as if making Swiss roll. I put both the normal loaf and this sweet loaf in the oven, then baked as usual.
A great weekend lunch with home-baked bread, ham and cheese, then this sweet bread for desert.
Why not? It's the weekend after all. :) :)