Bûche de Noël

Happy Christmas everyone! 

Here is my Christmas log.  This is a great alternative to the traditional Christmas cake. I made the sponge a day before and rolled it in baking paper. It was easy enough to fill with whipping cream and decorate with chocolate ganache.  Oh, and don't forget the holly leaves. 

      Ingredients

For the chocolate sponge

• 4 large free-range eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 65g self-raising flour
• 40g cocoa powder

For the chocolate ganache topping

• 150ml double cream
• 150g dark chocolate (around 35-40% cocoa solids), broken into small pieces

For the filling

• 150ml double cream, whipped
• bramble jelly 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Lightly grease a 33x23cm/13x9in Swiss roll tin, and line with non-stick paper or baking parchment, pushing it into the corners.
2. For the sponge, in a large bowl whisk the eggs and sugar using an electric hand whisk until the mixture is pale in colour, light and frothy. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and carefully cut and fold together, using a spatula, until all the cocoa and flour are incorporated into the egg mixture. (Be careful not to beat any of the air out of the mixture).
3. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and spread evenly out into the corners. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 8–10 minutes, or until well risen and firm to the touch and the sides are shrinking away from the edge of the tin.
4. Place a piece of baking parchment bigger than the Swiss roll tin on the work surface. Dust with icing sugar generously. Carefully invert the cake onto the paper and remove the bottom lining piece of paper.
5. Cut a score mark 2.5cm/1in in along one of the longer edges. Starting with this edge, begin to tightly roll up the sponge using the paper. Roll with the paper inside and sit the roll on top of its outside edge to cool completely.
6. While the cake is cooling, make the ganache topping. Heat the cream in a pan, just so as you can keep your finger in it. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until it is melted. Cool to room temperature, then put into the fridge to firm up (this icing needs to be very thick for piping).
7. Uncurl the cold Swiss roll and remove the paper. Spread the bramble jelly and whipped cream on top, and re-roll tightly. Cut a quarter of the cake off from the end on the diagonal. Transfer the large piece of cake to a serving plate and angle the cut end in to the middle of the large cake to make a branch.
8. Withe spatula, cover the cake completely with the chocolate ganache. Create rough bark texture with a fork.
9.  Dust with icing sugar and garnish with fresh holly.

Very Berry Muffins

These little beauties are my all time favourite.  They are so easy to make and great for breakfast... and well, really nice to eat any time. I found frozen berries are so useful for this recipe. It's not only because you can make them whenever you feel like it but frozen berries keep their shape better than fresh berries when you mix them. I like using mixed berries rather than one kind. It's lovely to enjoy different berries in every bite. Literally bursting in flavour.  I posted this recipe in the summer as these berries really are summer berries, but as I suggested using them frozen, they really are "any time berries". So I always have a bag of frozen berries in the freezer. They really are handy.

Ingredients (8 muffins) 

• 200g Plain Flour

• 150g Sugar

• 2 tsp Baking Powder

• ¼ tsp Salt

• 100ml Milk

• 60ml Vegetable Oil  (4 Tbsp)

• 1 Egg

• ¼ tsp Vanilla Extract 

• 1 tsp  Lemon juice 
• 125g Frozen mixed berries   

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200c (180c Fan)  and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Then add the frozen mixed berries. (DO NOT defrost the berries. When the berries are added do not mix until the wet mixture is added)  
3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla, then whisk well.
4. Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined. The mixture will be lumpy.  Do NOT over mix.    
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

"Ruby" cranberry flapjack

I was invited to a Ruby Anniversary lunch party.  I was wondering what I should bring.
It was a friendly "just bring your self" party, but I wanted to give the couple something cute.
The idea of this "Ruby Flapjack" using cranberries came to my mind when I was looking at the invitation card which had pictures of ruby stones.  So, here they are, my little gems in the Ruby flapjack.
I hope they bring a smile to the faces of the happy couple. :)

Ingredients 

• 7oz butter or margarine 
• 2oz golden syrup
• 2 tsp black treacle
• 7oz muscovado sugar
• 12oz porridge oats
• 3oz plain flour
• 1 lemon (or orange), finely grated zest
•  pinch of salt
• 3oz dried cranberries 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 20cm/8in square baking tin with baking paper.
2. Mix the dry ingredients, (oats, flour, sugar, salt and cranberries) in a bowl. 
3. Melt the butter or margarine in a medium pan over a low heat. Dip a brush in the butter and brush the baking tin with a little bit of it. Add the golden syrup, black treacle and sugar to the butter and heat gently. Once the sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the mixed dry ingredients and lemon or orange zest. 
4. Pack the mixture into the baking tin and squash down. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
5. Once cooked, remove from the oven, leave to cool for 15 minutes, then turn out on to a chopping board and cut into squares. 

Summer berry cheese cake pot

We've been enjoying a proper sunny summer this year in the UK for a change.
It's great to see blue sky and sun shining everyday. :)  Fantastic for a BBQ in the garden, but not for baking cakes in a small kitchen like I have.  The heat is just so unbearable.
Ah, but I've got a banana and chocolate cake in the freezer and I've found some frozen mixed berries.
Now, all I have to do is make a cheese cream filling and assemble these ingredients together in tumblers to create this cool summer desert.
They look quite impressive but are really easy to make.

Ingredients 

• some left over cakes (chocolate cakes, brownies go well)
• some frozen mixed berries
• a few drops of raspberry jam (lemon curd is also good)
• 200g cream cheese
• 100g creme fraiche 
• 1 Tbsp icing suger 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
• grated chocolate for garnish 

Method

1. Mix cream cheese, creme fraiche, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth. 
2. Cut the cake in pieces and place in the bottom of the tumblers and drop some jam on top.
3. Drop the cream cheese filling and then add some berries. 
4. Make layers of berries and cream cheese filling.

Walnut bread

I love walnut bread. I used to run to my favourite bakery in Japan at the time when the walnut bread came out of the oven.  This has a very crusty crust with flaky and slightly bitter walnuts.
As you munch, the walnuts crumble away. I'm more than happy with this freshly baked and still warm walnut bread with some chunky slices of gorgonzola cheese. :)
To make a rustic texture and flavour, I used wholemeal and rye flour in my bread mixture.
You can add as many walnuts as you like as long as the dough can hold them, but I used about 60g of walnuts for this loaf.

Ingredients 

• 200g strong white + 200g strong wholemeal + 100g rye flour 
• 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• up to 350ml lukewarm water
• a little sunflower oil for greasing
• 50-100g crushed walnuts

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. 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. Knead crushed walnuts into the dough until the walnuts have integrated into the dough evenly. 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. Pour hot water onto the bottom of the oven or into a dish at the bottom of the oven to create steam. 
4. Bake the bread for 15 mins, then reduce the heat to 190C/fan 170C/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.

Chocolate & Orange Cake

This chocolate cake is very easy to make. I could have put the batter into two cake tins and made a chocolate victoria sandwich, but I decided to put the batter into one cake tin for a nice thick cake. 

There is an range flavour all through the cake.  If you like a chocolate and orange combo, this is the cake for you. Certainly it's for me, too. :) 

The secret of evenly baked cake is putting an oven tray in the oven when preheating the oven. 

Then the cake goes on top of the piping hot oven tray. This helps to bake the cake from the bottom very well.    So, no soggy bottom. :) 

Ingredients 

• 50g good quality cocoa powder
• 6 Tbsp boiling water
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 3 eggs
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g soft butter or low-fat spread
• 300g caster sugar 
• zest of 1 orange

for icing and filling

• good quality marmalade mixed with warm water 
• icing sugar
• cocoa powder
• orange zest

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 (fan oven 175C) and grease and line a 20cm/8in round cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Put the cocoa powder and boiling water into a large bowl and mix well to make a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until combined. This can also be done in a food processor, but take care not to over whisk.  Bake for about 40 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 160C and bake for a further 10-20 minutes or until it is well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tin.
3. Meanwhile, for the filling, mix marmalade with some warm water. For the icing, mix icing sugar, orange zest and cocoa powder with tiny drops of water to make a spreadable consistency.
4. Once baked, remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely. Spread the top of the cake with the marmalade and water mixture. Then pour the chocolate icing to cover the cake. 

No-Knead Mediterranean Olive Bread

This is basically ciabatta bread .... well, at least as far as the texture is concerned, this is ciabatta bread. 

I had never tried to make ciabatta bread as it seemed to be a very complicated and messy job. 

However, when I came across this "no-knead" recipe, I thought I would have a go. It was so easy to make. 

It doesn't need any effort at all, it just needs plenty of time. I left the dough overnight for 14 hours before shaping the dough into a flat rugby ball. The result was so much better than I expected. The loaf has a bubbly interior which ciabatta bread should have, and a very moist and chewy texture. 

It would be quite impressive if you presented this at a dinner party saying "I baked this, actually." 

Ingredients 

• 400g strong white flour 
  

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast

• zest of 1 lemon

• 120g your choice of olives

• 1 Tbsp (15ml) olive oil

• 350ml water

Method 

1. Mix flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl.
2. Add thyme and lemon zest and mix.
3. Add roughly chopped olives to the dried mixture and mix.
4. Pour olive oil and water and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula to form a ball in the bowl.
5. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 12 to 24 hours.  
6. Flour the worktop and tip the dough out of the bowl and shape it as a ball, but you don't need to knead nor knock down the air.
7. Either cut the dough in two and make two oval shapes or simply keep it as one long oval shape.
8. Place the dough on parchment paper and cover the dough with a tea towel and prove the dough for 1 ½ hour.
9. Meanwhile, put a clay pot with a lid (or any baking pot with a lid) in the oven and preheat the oven as hot as you can. I preheated to 230C .
10. Take the hot baking pot out of the oven and place the dough in the pot with the parchment paper and put the lid on.
11. Place the pot in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Then take the lid off and bake for another 10 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.