Charity Bake #4 - Raspberry surprise cupcakes

Hi everyone,
Here I am again with another charity bake. Today I took my inspiration from springtime, which was brought on by the gorgeous pastel spotty and stripy cupcake cases I spotted in Lakeland on Saturday.

Raspberry surprise cupcakes

Makes 12 (I made double quantity)

Ingredients:
For the cakes:
175g softened butter
175g caster sugar
175g self raising flour
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp milk
Approx 60g seedless raspberry jam

For the icing:
150g softened butter
280g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk

Equipment:
1 12 hole muffin tin

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / Gas 4, and place 12 cupcake cases into a cake tin.
2.  Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat until pale and fluffy.
3.  Beat the eggs and then add gradually, beating well to combine. With the last addition add a little flour to stop the mixture from curdling.
4.  Add the vanilla extract and beat well to combine.
5.  Add the flour a little at a time and fold in gently. Add the milk and fold in gently until the mixture is a "dropping" consistency.
6. Fill each cupcake case  1/2 - 2/3 full of mixture; then bake in oven for approx 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and top of capek springs back when pressed gently.
7. Cool in tin for approx. 10 minutes then turn cupcakes onto wire rack to coll completely.
8. Core top of each cupcake using a corer or sharp knife, and fill cavity of each cupcake with 1/2 - 1 tsp of seedless raspberry jam.
9. Make buttercream by placing butter into a bowl and beating til very pale and soft, then adding sifted icing sugar gently, interspersed with a little milk until desired consistency is reached.
10. Ice top of each cupcake with buttercream and decorate as desired ... I used pastel sprinkles to match my cupcake cases - dots for the spotty cases and sugar strands for the stripy!! :-)

Observations:
I made a double batch of these as they were for a charity bake, and it did mean I struggled a bit with my timings and where was best to place them in the oven. I also didn't have quite enough icing sugar to make double quantity of icing so I had to skimp a bit on that, and still left a couple of cakes uniced! .. and I STILL CAN'T get the hang of piping ... I ended up in a complete mess with a split bag which I then had to try to scrape out and spread on the cakes with a palette knife!! waaah!!

However I DID make good use of the leftover sponge "cores" by having  them as pudding with a spoonful of cream and jam - nice!

I would like to enter these into this month's Calendar Cakes challenge hosted by Rachel (Dollybakes) and Laura (Laura Loves Cake) - the theme for March is spring, and I think these bright pastel colours are very spring-like :-)

That's all for now ... back later with a fundraising update.

Update: I was amazed and delighted with the popularity of these cupcakes ... they were all gone in an hour and I was beating off disappointed customers (who didn't make it to the kitchen in time) with a mucky stick!! 

Amount raised: £21.00

Hugs,

Happy birthday with an extremely chocolatey cake!

Yesterday was my darling husband's birthday; and he went out the evening before to a concert so I decided to make him a surprise birthday cake!! As I only started baking last August this is the first birthday of his that I had opportunity to surprise him like this :-)

Here's what I made ...

Mary Berry's Very Best Chocolate Cake

Serves: recipe says 6 (!) but I would say at least 12 !!

Taken from Lakeland website (with slight adaptations as I used sandwich tins instead of pushpans).

Ingredients:

For the cake:

50g (2 oz) cocoa

6 tbsp boiling water

3 eggs

2 tbsp milk

175g (6 oz) self raising flour

1 rounded tsp baking powder

100g (4 oz) softened butter or baking spread (I always use butter!)

300g (10 oz)  caster sugar

For the icing/filling:

150g (6oz) dark chocolate broken into small pieces

150ml pouring double cream

3 tbsp apricot jam

1 small bar white chocolate (optiopnal) - I used white chocolate curls from the supermarket)

Equipment

2 * 8" loose-bottomed sandwich tins

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4

2. Grease 2 x 8" sandwich tins and line the bottom with baking parchment.

3. First measure the cocoa and boiling water into a large bowl, and mix well to make a paste. 

4. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until combined. 

5.  Divide the cake mixture between the prepared tins. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes until well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tin. 

6. Cool in the tin for ten minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. For the icing and filling, pour the double cream into a saucepan and place over a medium heat until just simmering.

8. Remove from the heat, then add the chocolate and stir well until the chocolate is melted and the mixture smooth. Set aside and allow to become cold and almost set.

9. Spread the top of each cake with apricot jam. Sandwich the cakes with half the icing and spread the remainder on top. Shave the white chocolate into curls with a potato peeler and arrange over the top of the cake to decorate.

Observations:
This was really easy - I think it was actually more or less Mary's tray bake in a different shaped tin! It also had a richer taste as the chocolate ganache was dark rather than milk chocolate, and there was more of it per slice - yum!

This whole baking experience was somewhat hilarious as I was quite late getting started, so I was really against the clock to get everything completed and out of sight before my husband came home ... rushing around madly washing equipment and utensils, and trying to wipe up crumbs from the worktop as I went along!! I finally shoved the last of the washed-up utensils hastily into its drawer and ripped off my apron ONE MINUTE before he walked in the house ...phew!!  Luckily despite the fact that I later discovered I had chocolate on my face (no doubt from licking the spoon!!) he didn't notice anything untoward, and was delighted the next morning when I presented the cake! Apparently it went down very well with his colleagues at work, and he saved a bit to bring home so I also got to sample it :-)

All in all a pretty good outcome ... good old Mary Berry has helped produce another winner!!

hugs,

Charity Bake #3 - Mary Berry's Rich Chocolate Traybake

I haven't done any baking for a little while for one reason or another, so I  thought it was well overdue for me to make another charity bake.

One thing I've never tried until now is a traybake ... a couple of weeks ago I identified this shortfall in my baking equipment so I got me a Mary Berry with Lakeland traybake tin ... so what could be nicer to christen it with than a Mary Berry recipe??  This one was in a pull out in last week's Mail on Sunday ... and is taken from Mary Berry Cooks - the book to accompany Mary's new TV series.  I just changed the topping slightly, and made it with gluten free flour for no other reason than I had some in the house, and I know a couple of people in work who can only eat wheat free :-).

Mary Berry's Rich Chocolate Traybake

Taken from: Mary Berry Cooks by Mary Berry.

Serves: recipe says 21 slices, but I cut it into 16 (each slice 3" * 2" in a 12" * 8" tin)

Ingredients:
For the cake:
50g (2oz) cocoa powder
6 tbsp boiling water
100g (4oz) softened butter (I used unsalted)
275g (10oz) caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
125ml milk
175g (6oz) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3-4tbsp warned apricot jam (recipe says sieved, but I didn't bother!)

For the icing:
100ml double cream
200g (7oz) baking milk chocolate, finely chopped.

Equipment:
30cm * 20cm (12" * 8")  traybake tin.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C /160°C fan / Gas Mark 4. Grease traybake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
2. Measure cocoa into a bowl, add boiling water and mix to a smooth paste.

3. Add butter and beat into cocoa until smooth

4. Then add the sugar, eggs, milk, flour & baking powder, and mix until combined.

5. Pour mixture into tin, spread evenly and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until well risen, just firm to the touch and shrinking away from the sides of the tin.

6. Leave in the tin to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and peel off the baking parchment. Brush the top of the cake with warmed jam, then leave cake to cool completely.

7. Meanwhile, make the icing by warming the cream in a small pan until hot (not boiling) then add the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Leave to cool until a thick pouring our fudgy consistency, then spread over the top of the cake with a large spatula or palette knife.

8. I decorated the cake very simply by sprinkling first with dark chocolate spaghetti (which lies flat) then with white chocolate curls. Tip: use the sprinkles while the icing is still wet so they will stick easily.

Observations:
This really was sooo easy to make ... and the chocolate batter was so delicious that I was tempted to just sit there spooning it all into my mouth and forget about putting any into the baking tin! (I managed to resist but it was a close call!)

This cake is for my charity baking challenge (apart from 1 piece each for me and my husband to sample); but I think I'll be baking this for home before too long ... apparently it can freeze well for up to 3 months though I doubt it would last that long!!

That's all for now ... back later with a fundraising update.

Update: amount raised - £15. This one seemed to go down very well .. I went off to a meeting leaving it in our works kitchen, and when I returned there was just a tray of crumbs left!!
Hugs,

Charity Bake #2 - With This Ring ....

Hi everyone, Well here I am again with my second Charity bake for Ashgate Hospice ... I'm not sure where the past couple weeks have gone to, but I hope it will be easier to get into a baking rhythm once the nights start getting lighter!!

 I recently discovered the Clandestine Cake Club; and although it was too short notice for me to join in my first meeting at one of the branches I have joined (Warrington), I was nonetheless inspired by their theme of beautiful bundts.  Having discovered the existence of this type of cake I just had to try making one, and I have also been very much inspired by the fantastic recipes, hints and tips by Rachel at Dollybakes - she really has got  bundts on the brain!!. (For any non-baking readers who have followed my charity email link, a bundt is a ring shaped decorative cake with a hole in the middle!)

So I decided to start getting in the mood for Valentine's Day with a bundt, taking as my theme With This Ring ... (Yes I know it's a terrible pun but I just had to do it!).

My recipe is very closely based on Rachel's basic recipe at Build a Bundt, with slight variation in topping and decoration to fit my lovey-dovey theme.  I have given full credit to Rachel but copied out the steps and stages so I can show my pics of work in progress!! :-)

"With This Ring" Valentine Bundt

Recipe from Dolly Bakes - Build A Bundt

Ingredients:
For the cake:
225 g butter, softened
450g golden caster sugar
4 medium eggs
350g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
250 ml vanilla yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the icing:
300g icing sugar
Small amount of water
A few drops of pink food colouring
Sugar heart sprinkles to decorate (mine were from Asda).

Equipment:
10 cup/ 2.4 litre Bundt tin. (I googled around and as I'm a beginner I didn't splash out for a posh Nordicware tin  (yet!!) ... I bought a Lakeland fluted cake ring).

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan)/ Gas mark 3
2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat on a low setting (I always beat my eggs first and then pour in the liquid a little at a time).The mix will get noticeably fluffier (with my new KMix this was very true!!)

4. In a separate bowl, measure / sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda.
5. Mix the yoghurt and vanilla extract together in a bowl/jug.
6. Sift 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the main mix and fold in gently, followed by 1/3 of the yoghurt mix. Repeat until all the flour and liquid are incorporated.  Fold in gently - Rachel advises that over-mixing at this stage will result in a heavy cake and can cause air channels which can ruin the decorative shape.
7. Give it all a mix on a low speed for a bout ten seconds until smooth.

8. Grease and flour your bundt tin, or grease with cake release (that's what I did).

9. Spoon the mixture into the tin evenly....

10. ...and bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cake is slightly shrinking away from the tin. It's stable after about an hour for checking / turning.  Mine was done after  about 1 hour and 8 minutes.

11. Leave the cake to cool for about ten minutes and then remove from tin.

12. Allow to cool completely before icing.
13. For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a jug, add the water a little at a time and mix together until the icing reaches a  pouring consistency. Add a drop or two of food colouring until you reach the desired colour. Pour slowly over the cake and decorate with sugar hearts.  Tip: place the cake on serving plate before pouring over the icing, or you'll make a mess and find it difficult to move the cake when iced.

Observations:
This really was very easy to make - Rachel's directions were flawless. I did have a momentary holding of breath when it came to turning it out of the tin, but it turned out very easily with virtually no sticking - yay! I'm very pleased for my first attempt.

I had never made glace icing before, and I was surprised by how much icing sugar you need to get a decent amount of icing (best not to think of the calories!!) .. I used 300g of icing sugar and with hindsight the cake  really could have done with a bit more.

I would like to enter this attempt into a few baking challenges for February, namely

Calendar Cakes - Oh L'Amour! 

(hosted by Dollybakes & Laura Loves Cakes)

Love Cake - Baking With Passion

Update:
Amount raised - £15

I did try a piece of this and was pleased with it for a first attempt - the cake was nice and moist and didn't even dry out being out on the table during the day. I retract my earlier statement though about more icing ... maybe a bit thicker (more opaque) but it would ahve been overwhelmed by any greater quantity - so that's all good! :-)

That's all for today - thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Charity Bake #1 - Three layer Victoria sponge

Hi everyone,
Well here I am with my first charity bake .... I thought I would start simple with a classic Victoria sponge but with a bit of a twist ... I decided to make three layers instead of two, and to fill it with both raspberry jam (bottom layer) and lemon curd (top layer), with buttercream.

Three layer Victoria sponge

Ingredients:
For the sponge
300g self-raising flour (* see Tip)
300g butter, softened
300g caster sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
Raspberry jam
Lemon curd

For the buttercream
100g butter, softened
200g icing sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract

Tip: weigh your eggs, and then use exactly the same weight for each of your flour, butter and sugar. My 5 eggs weighed exactly 300g - adjust your own weights slightly to corresond with your eggs.

Equipment:
3 * 8 inch loose-bottomed sandwich tins (I recently bought mine from Wilkinsons - well reviewed, and so cheap you don't feel bad about buying three!!)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 160°C fan.
2. Place the butter in bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add the sugar and beat until well combined and fluffy.
4. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
5. Fold in the sifted flour a little at the time and beat until just combined. Do not overbeat.
6. Lightly fold in the milk until just combined. mixture should drop easily from the spoon / beater.
7. Lightly grease three 8 inch loose bottomed sandwich tins, and spoon the mixture evenly into them.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until the tops are golden and spring back when pressed, and the cake is shrinking from the side of the tin. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
9. Leave to cool in the cake tin for approx 10 minutes., then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
10. Meanwhile make the buttercream by besting the softened butter until pale and fluffy, then beating in the sifted icing sugar a lttle at a time. Beat for several minutes to make the mixture light and fluffy. If it is too stff add a little milk.
11. When the cakes are completely cold, sandwich together with the buttercream, jam and lemon curd. Sprinkle a little sifted icing sugar on top.

Observations:

This is only the second Victoria sponge I have ever made, and the first with my new stand mixer. Although I was careful not to overbeat the mixture when adding the flour, the sponges did not rise as well as my previous hand mixed effort - I guess I need to get full used to my new mixer over time. Also the edges of the sponge were slightly crisp where they had touched the sides of the cake tin so I did cut them off.

Overall the sponges didn't rise completely evenly which is often a problem with Victoria sponges, but as they were not very tall I couldn't really cut them to level them, so the final effort is a bit wonky!

Finally, I spread the jam first followed by the buttercream ... this meant it was impossible to spread the buttercream thinly without making a mess ... so I think I somewhat over filled the cake.  I'm pretty sure it tastes ok though ... I definitely need to work on the aesthetics as the year progresses! Hey ho, It's all a learning experience! 

That's all for today. Hope my colleagues will eat it in a good cause!

Update: 

Amount raised - £11.00

My colleagues have been really positive about my new venture, with several supportive emails received :-) Several colleagues also praised the cake, saying it tasted "lovely". Yippee! I was clearly over-worrying about the cake looking a bit untidy .. but i will still be trying to improve as the year goes on!

hugs,

My first baked cheesecake - tastes better than it looks!!

I love cheesecake, but before I started my baking adventures it would never have occurred to me to make one! I decided that it was time to rectify this oversight, so I was determined to have a go this weekend.

I didn't have a suitable cake tin, and debated whether to by a springform cake tin or one of Lakeland's non-stick "pushpans" which are supposed to be leakproof so can be used in a water bath without wrapping in foil. After quite a bit of deliberation I decided to purchase  20cm and 23cm pushpans, and I was ready to go!

Blueberry Ripple Cheesecake

Taken from: Step-by-Step Baking, by Caroline Bretherton

Serves: 8

Ingredients:
50g (1.75 oz) unsalted butter
125g (4.5 oz) digestive biscuits
150g (5.5 oz) blueberries
150g (5.5 oz) caster sugar, plus 3 tbsp extra
400g (14oz) cream cheese
250g (9oz) mascarpone cheese
2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp plain flour, sifted

Equipment: 
20cm (8inch) springform cake tin or Lakeland non-stick pushpan
Food processor with blade attachment

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas 4. Grease the base and sides of cake tin.
2. Put the biscuits into a food bag and crush with a rolling pin to make fine crumbs.

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, then add the biscuit crumbs and stir until they are coated in butter.
4. Remove from the heat and press the crumbs into the base of the tin, pushing them down with the back of a spoon.

5. Put the blueberries and 3 tbsp of sugar into a food processor and whizz until smooth. Boil in a small pan and then simmer for 3-5 minutes until thickened and jammy. Set aside.

6. Place the remaining sugar plus the rest of the ingredients into mixer and beat until smooth and well combined.

7. Spoon the mixture onto the biscuit base and smooth the top with a palette knife.

8. Drizzle over the blueberry compote and swirl with a metal skewer.

9. Boil a kettle and place the cake tin in a water bath using a deep sided dish. Note: if using a springform cake tin wrap it in tin foil to stop leakage - this isn't necessary with a pushpan as they are leakproof.

10. Bake for 40 minutes until set but a bit wobbly. Turn off the oven and wedge the door open.
11. After an hour remove cake from oven and remove sides from tin. Slide a cake lifter or fish slices between the base of the cake and the tin, and slide onto a serving plate. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Observations:
I found my  cheesecake pushed out easily from the pushpan. However I did take the precaution of testing it in a water-bath before use and it DID leak the first time: I had to try again ensuring I had pushed the base down very firmly inside the pan.

I had to bake this in my second (non-fan) oven as the timing overlapped with cooking the dinner in the main fan oven. Due to the size of the oven it wasn't so easy to keep an eye on, and when I took it out after 40 minutes the top was burnt!! Hence the final picture doesn't look great (but I did say at the outset this was a "warts and all" blog!!).

After cooling for an hour in the oven with the door open the cheesecake wasn't very well set and was pretty difficult to slide off the base of the cake tin, resulting in some cracking - think I need a bit more practice with that!!  I also realized afterwards that I had forgotten my 2 tbsp of flour - not sure what difference that made as most of the cheesecake recipes in my cookbook didn't have any flour in them!!

Despite my tribulations I'm happy to report that it did taste excellent despite the over-browned top - light and fluffy :-)   I guess next time I will bake in my fan oven, and I may also try one or two different combos of recipe and temperature. Hopefully next time I post a pic it will be rather prettier!

That's all for now.

Winter Warmer

Up to now all my baking efforts have been focused on sweet treats; but with the cold days, and after the Christmas sugar rush I fancied trying out something savoury. I saw this yummy looking recipe for red pepper & goats' cheese muffins in a leaflet I got inside the newpaper, and made them yesterday as thought they would be the perfect thing with soup on a cold winter lunchtime. It's also my first attempt at a Paul Hollywood recipe!!

Red Pepper & Goats' Cheese Muffins

Taken from: Daily Mail leaflet adapted from The Great British  Bake Off: Everyday by Linda Collister (with recipes by Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood).

Makes:12 (so they say .... I made 10 :-) )

Ingredients:
135g (4.75 oz) log style goats' cheese, crumbled into approx 1cm chunks
1 medium red pepper - cored, seeded and cut into 1cm chunks
300g (10.5 oz) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I omitted this as I didn't have any, and used black pepper instead)
1 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh basil or parsley (I used parsley)
225ml (8 fl oz) buttermilk, at room temperature
1 medium egg, at room temperature
100ml (3.5 fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil.

Tip: If you don't have any buttermilk (I don't and don't know where to get it) you can make your own by adding 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar to 225ml of milk, beat slightly to combine, and leave for 10-15 minutes to curdle.

Equipment:
12 hole muffin tin, lined with paper muffin cases.

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas Mark 5.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and pepper into a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped basil or parsley, red pepper and goats' cheese and stir thoroughly using a wooden spoon.
3. Lightly beat the buttermilk with the egg and olive oil in a measuring jug just to mix, then pour into the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined (I did my best to "fold" this in).

4.Spoon into the paper cases evenly.

5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes until muffins are golden brown and feel just firm when pressed in the centre.

6. Leave to cool in the tray for 2 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack. Eat warm or at room temperature the same or next day. Once cold, store in an airtight container.

Observations:
This recipe really was very easy to make. The hardest bit was getting the paper muffin cases to behave themselves while I spooned the mixture into them ... they seem to move about a lot more than normal cupcake cases,and I did slop a bit of mixture onto the points of the cases ... but it didn't affect the taste ;-).

Being a fairly novice baker still, I was nervous of not having to beat the mixture to make it light and fluffy as I do with cakes; but I guess this is because it is made with oil rather than butter.

Originally I baked these for 25 minutes and they did seem to be done; but in hindsight I think they were still fractionally undercooked. I was in a real rush to try them and ate one with my soup while still very warm ... it stuck quite badly to the paper, crumbled and seemed a teeny bit greasy and undercooked. As they were still hot I popped them back in the oven for 3 more minutes and then let them cool completely ... when I ate a room temperature one today it was much better ... no sticking to the paper case or crumbling, and the texture seemed much better.

I do wonder though whether I might experiment with different oils when I get a bit more confident  ...  I have used a light vegetable oil (rapeseed oil) for making carrot cakes and might have a go with that. I'm also thinking about trying a version with sundried tomatoes and olives as I think that would lend a nice tang ... watch this space!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Hugs,