First bake: wholemeal loaf

This, surprisingly, was my very first attempt at a Proper Loaf. I’ve baked pitta and naan bread before, but never just a good ol’ loaf of bread. I’ve always preferred brown to white bread so I thought I’d ease myself into the world of loaf making by following a Delia recipe for a wholemeal loaf.

The recipe itself was pretty easy to follow and everything seemed to go according to plan, which is somewhat shocking for me! I did everything it asked for, including warming the flour beforehand – which seemed slightly faffy, but probably made for a better result somehow!

Surprisingly, the recipe doesn’t call for lots of kneading – which I suppose is why it’s a quick and easy method.

I have to say, the smell of the loaf baking in the oven was AMAZING. It was so pleasing to have this smell in my house! I think it could maybe have done with a little more baking, though, as the texture was a little dense.

However, it still tasted great – we had some thick slices with big wedges of cheese for lunch and then toasted the rest the next day. It only lasted 2 days for 2 people, but we were both very hungry (of course!) on both days, so it might last longer for others.

I think I would definitely make this again, but knead the dough more/leave it in the oven for longer to see if that helps the texture.

The recipe

On the Delia Online website here: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/bread/quick-and-easy-wholemeal-loaf.html

First bake: lemon buttermilk cake

I ended up with a lot of left over buttermilk after my housewarming afternoon tea, so I thought I’d take advantage of this by, er, baking again. The day after a massive afternoon tea for 11 people. Yeah, I know.

Anyway, I found a simple but delicious-looking recipe on the excellent Cake, Crumbs and Cooking blog that I just had to try – I love all things lemony and this looked pretty foolproof.

I followed the recipe pretty faithfully (although I did add a little vanilla extract), and did indeed end up with the same disgusting-looking mix that Caroline had. However, like her, this also rectified itself after I added the flour. Phew!

The resulting cake was lovely – the rise was amazing, and the texture was beautifully soft and light. I didn’t have enough icing sugar to make a proper icing like Caroline’s, so I settled for a drizzle-type icing instead, which made for a nicely tangy finish.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this recipe to all fans of lemon cake. It gives my much beloved lemon drizzle cake a run for its money, and that’s saying something!

The recipe

On the Cake, Crumbs and Cooking blog here: http://cakecrumbsandcooking.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/lemon-buttermilk-cake.html

First bake: raspberry and lemon layer cake

It was my turn to bake for the office last week, and after asking around I gathered that a Proper Cake, preferably with a summery theme, would be most welcome. I settled on a Delia recipe for raspberry cake, slightly tweaked to incorporate a lemon-flavoured filling – surely the embodiment of summer?!

Raspberry and lemon layer cake filling

It might have had fresh fruit in it, but this was by no means a healthy cake – the light sponge layers were sandwiched with the help of a thick layer of raspberry jam and a massive dollop of double cream, mascarpone, icing sugar and lemon curd. Unnnnngggghhh.

I changed Delia’s recipe because I didn’t have any fromage frais for her filling, and also because I was really keen to get some lemon in there – I also added some lemon zest to the sponge.

Overall, this was a rather successful cake that attracted quite a few compliments from my colleagues. The filling really is very rich, so if you’re a bit worried about that you could just halve it, or replace the double cream and/or mascarpone with low fat creme fraiche instead.

The recipe

Adapted from this Delia recipe.

For the sponge:

• 6oz/175 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 6 oz/175 g caster sugar
• 6 oz/175 g butter, very soft
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon

For the filling:

• 8 oz/225 g raspberries
• 3-4 tbsp raspberry jam
• 250g mascarpone
• 150ml double cream
•  2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
• 2 tbsp lemon curd

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas 3/170C. Grease and line two 20 cm sandwich tins.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the eggs, caster sugar, butter, vanilla extract and lemon zest and beat well until combined, either by hand or with an electric whisk. The resulting mixture should easily fall off a spoon – if it doesn’t, add a tiny bit of water and beat again.

3. Split the mix between the two tin, level the top and bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.

4. Beat together the mascarpone, double cream, icing sugar and lemon curd until well combined. Set aside.

5. Spread one of the cooled sponges with a layer of jam, then half of the cream filling. Press the raspberries into this, top with the remaining cream and place the other sponge on top, gently pressing down. Dust the top with icing sugar and serve.

Housewarming afternoon tea

Nearly three months after moving into my first house, I finally got round to holding a housewarming do last weekend. Rather than opt for a standard party that would probably result in lasting damage to my new investment, I decided to hold a family afternoon tea – the perfect excuse to bake an awful lot.

My boyfriend and I split the baking duties after coming up with what seemed like a reasonable list of goodies to make for 11 people, including 2 small children who probably wouldn’t eat much. We both started preparations the day before, and must have put in almost 24 hours of graft between us altogether!

All of our savoury options were vegetarian, due to me being a pescetarian and my boyfriend being veggie. However, my mum brought the savoury stars of the show, some chicken samosas (not pictured), to appease those with meatier appetites. She also brought some onion bhajias for us non meat eaters – despite suffering from some horrible jet lag after a recent trip to India. What a trooper!

Sandwiches – egg & cress, or possibly savoury cheese

More sandwiches

Mini caesar salads

My favourite part was, of course, the sweet baking…

Victoria sponge

Toffee brownies

Plain and fruit scones. Served with clotted cream and a choice of raspberry or strawberry jam.

Brandysnaps

Viennese whirls, with some Viennese fingers lurking behind them

Another pic of the Victoria sponge, just because. Along with some cucumber sandwiches. Making a starring guest appearance: ELEPHANT TEAPOT

The tea of choice was some loose Ceylon from Whittard’s, which I would highly, highly recommend for its fresh, delicate flavour – the perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea.

All in all, the event was a huge success, as evidenced by the coma-like silence as everyone sat around clutching at their stomachs towards the end. I was worried about there not being enough, but there was so much left over that we held another afternoon tea with the leftovers for some friends the next day! And there was STILL a lot left over from that, so I made everyone take some goodies home with them.

Below is a list of everything that was made and, where relevant, where the recipes came from and links to any previous posts about them:

• Savoury cheese sandwiches and egg and cress sandwiches – boyfriend’s own recipes
• Cucumber sandwiches – The Ritz London Book of Afternoon Tea
• Mini caesar salads – Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Vegetarian Cookbook
• Chicken samosas and onion bhajias – my mum’s own recipes
• Victoria sponge – BBC Good Food (blog)
• Brandysnaps – Baking
• Viennese whirls – Hairy Bikers (blog)
• Viennese fingers – adapted from the above recipe and dipped in Dairy Milk chocolate
• Toffee brownies – BBC Good Food 101 Cakes & Bakes (blog)
• Scones – BBC Good Food

First bake: tiramisu brownie cake

A friend of mine celebrated her birthday the other week, but I rather shamefully only got round to baking her a cake a few days ago. I hoped the fact that it combined two of her favourite things (as much chocolate as humanly possible and tiramisu) would persuade her to forget its belatedness.

Tiramisu brownie cake mix

This was actually a little bit of an experiment – I’ve been meaning to make BBC Good Food’s brownie cake for bloody ages (a massive brownie??? Genius, I say!), and only made ‘normal’ tiramisu (albeit with a white chocolate spin) a few weeks ago. I do love the combination of coffee, chocolate and almonds, but just don’t seem to indulge in it that often!

Anyway. I followed the Good Food recipe pretty much to the letter, but tweaked it a bit to add a dash of coffee to the mix. I can’t say I really tasted the coffee in the brownie, but that was ok, because the icing very definitely had a distinctive coffee flavour.

This was more of my own concoction – mascarpone, amaretto, very strong coffee and a mixture of brown and icing sugar. It did end up a little wet and had soaked through the brownie cake after a day or so, but I don’t think that was a turn-off for the recipient! However, next time I make this (and there WILL be a next time) I’ll make the icing more like a buttercream so it’s a little more stiff and doesn’t seep through the cake.

All in all, this was a HEAVENLY cake. The brownie cake was dense, chocolatey and decadent, and the coffee mascarpone icing was just mmmnfgh. It really was. Apart from adding more icing sugar to the icing and maybe sprinkling over some flaked almonds as a finishing touch, I don’t think any major changes are needed to the actual flavours. Huzzah.

The recipe

For the brownie base, follow the recipe on BBC Good Food here – you can add some instant coffee granules to the mix if you like: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3431/chocolate-brownie-cake

While the cake is cooling, make the icing by beating together the following until smooth:

• 250g mascarpone
• 50ml very strong coffee, cooled
• 3 tbsp light brown soft sugar
• 2 tbsp amaretto (or a teaspoon of almond extract)
• 3 tbsp icing sugar (I would recommend adding a lot more and omitting the brown sugar if you want a drier icing)

Spread the icing in one deliciously thick layer on top of the cooled cake and sift a little cocoa powder over the top. I decorated my cake with edible silver balls, but flaked almonds and/or grated white chocolate would also work well.

Re-bake: cherry, white chocolate & coconut traybake

Sometimes, all you want is something baked and sugary, PRONTO. This flourless recipe is perfect for just this craving, as all you have to do is stir everything together and bake. Easy! Of course, this recipe is also perfect if, like me, you have a penchant for the holy trinity of white chocolate, cherries and coconut.

I’ve made this once before and stuck religiously to the recipe with a very nice result. This time, I was forced to improvise a little as I didn’t have quite enough dessicated coconut (I have been baking with it quite a lot recently!). I instead made up the difference with some roughly chopped flaked almonds.

White chocolate, cherry, coconut and almond traybake mix

The chocolate was a mixture of Aldi’s Choceur (I think that’s how it’s spelled!) white chocolate and Tesco Value white chocolate. The Aldi version definitely wins hands down in terms of flavour – the Tesco stuff was just far too sweet and not white-chocolatey enough. If that even makes sense.

Once baked, you end up with a baking tin full of gooey chocolate combined with coconut, glace cherries and almonds… yum! However, it’s worth resisting the urge to dive straight in with your spoon and let it cool. Once cold, it’ll be nicely set and you can slice it up into neat little bars.

I have to say, the addition of the almonds is a definite winner – they add a wonderful crunchy texture that goes perfectly with the soft coconut and cherries. This is a very sweet recipe, so it’s only really recommended if you can hack all the sugar – which I most certainly can! *ignores toothache*

The recipe

From the BBC Good Food website here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1269637/

First bake: chocolate fudge brownies

Ah, brownies. Along with cheesecake and pecan pie, brownies are surely one of America’s most ingenious culinary inventions. I was drawn to this recipe thanks to the intriguing soft cheese layer running through the middle of them – chocolate and cheese is definitely a match made in heaven!

I followed the recipe pretty faithfully, for a change! I used the last of my Valrhona cocoa in the cake and some bog standard cocoa in the frosting. For the cheese layer, I used a tub of light Philadelphia. I failed to take any photos of the mix because I was eager to get it in the oven, but it was fairly standard for a brownie mix – the key, as always, is not to stir it too much.

The brownies had to be left to cool for a bit before slapping the icing on, which I somehow managed to do with great self-restraint. I made the frosting a bit too early and it had solidified by the time I came to ice the brownies, but I just slightly heated it up again to loosen the icing.

All in all, these are some rather delectable brownies – extremely chocolatey, just the right texture and some nice contrasting flavours with the pecans and cheese. Definitely a winner in my book!

The recipe

From a chocolate baking book from Next of all places, called Oh So… Guilty: Indulgent Chocolate Treats:

Makes 16

• 200g/7oz low fat soft cheese
• 0.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 225g/8oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 85g/3oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 100g/3.5oz self-raising flour, sifted
• 50g/1.75oz pecan nuts, chopped, plus extra to decorate

For the frosting:

• 55g/2oz butter
• 1 tbsp milk
• 75g/2.75oz icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Lightly grease a 20cm/8in square cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

2. Beat together the soft cheese, vanilla extract and 5 tsp of thhe caster sugar until smooth, and set aside.

3. Beat together the eggs and the remaining caster sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Place the butter and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the butter melts and the mixture combines, then stir it into the egg mixture.

5. Fold in the flour and pecans and stir until just combined – do not overmix.

6. Pour half of the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Carefully spread the cheese mixture over it, then top with the remaining cake mix.

7. Bake in the oven for 40-45 mins and let cool in the tin.

8. Make the frosting by melting the butter in a small pan with the milk. Stir in the icing sugar and cocoa.

9. Spread the frosting over the cooled brownies and decorate with pecan nuts. Let the frosting set, then cut into squares.