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.  

Strong Bread Flour for Cake Making??

Grrrr. Oh my goodness. I’ve just added strong flour instead of plain flour....

Well, I was making cake …. Not bread.  However, I put strong bread flour in the bowl instead of plain flour.

I was using an all-in-one method which means putting all the ingredients (butter, sugar, flour and eggs) together in one bowl to mix.  The flour was the last item in the bowl, so I couldn’t take it out. I only realized what I was doing when half of the flour was in the bowl, but I managed to stop.  What should I do? I was in a panic, so I grabbed the plain flour bag and poured the other half quantity….. So there was half strong flour and half plain flour in my cake mixture.   I knew there is a reason not to use strong flour for cake.  It makes it heavier, rise less and liable to sink.

Strong flour is made from 'hard' wheat varieties which are high in gluten. This makes it ideal for bread-making where dough needs to expand and rise well and create a chewy texture. Strong flour is not suitable for cake recipes because cake shouldn’t be chewy but light and short.

Ok, but it was too late and I didn’t want to waste all the ingredients.

So, I added a little more baking powder than usual and tried very carefully not to over mix it. This should have stopped gluten stands forming to some extent.

The result? Surprisingly good.  It didn’t sink much and rose quite well. Best of all it had a nice slightly spongy texture which I don’t normally have in plain flour only cake mixture. 

Pity that I can’t show you the photo of the cake when it came out from the oven. However, there were only 2 slices left within a few hours, so this may tell you how good it was.

Anyway, here is the recipe. Try it if your are curious. However, do not over-beat when you mix it. :)

Ingredients 

• 6 oz Low-Fat Spread (or butter if you prefer)
• 6 oz Castor Sugar (or light brown sugar
• 3 oz Strong bread flour + 3oz Plain flour
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Lemon or Orange zest
• 1 Tbsp  Milk
• 1 Tbsp  Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Vanilla paste or extract  

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 °c  (fan: 160°c)
2. Put all ingredients in the bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer. (Do not over-mix it.)
3. Bake it in the oven for about 50 minutes
4. When the cake is baked, let it stand for 5 minutes, then turn out on a plate.
5. Decorate with lemon juice + icing sugar mixture

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.