Stacey's Gingerbread Cupcakes

Ho Ho Ho!

I'm getting really excited for Christmas now... only 9 sleeps to go! I think that "ginger" can officially be classified as the flavour of Christmas -so many of us went for a recipe containing ginger!

If you're baking all varieties, I'd bake the Mini Christmas Cakes first, as they both take the longest to bake and will keep fresh for longest. Then bake the Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes, as these stay moist for ages and take a little longer to decorate, and finally the Gingerbread Cupcakes which are the quickest to make, but also dry out faster than the others.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 15-18 minutes
Makes around 12 cupcakes


Ingredients:
150g margarine
150g soft light-brown sugar
2 medium eggs
150g self-raising flour
2 heaped teaspoons ground ginger
small pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp milk


For the icing:
100g soft cream cheese
50g vegetable shortening
250g icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Sprinkles, for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4, and line a bun-tray with cupcake cases
2. Beat the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add one of the eggs, and beat well until you have a creamy batter, then fold in half of the flour and all of the spices. Repeat with the remaining egg and flour, then finally stir in the milk.
3. Place a heaped teaspoon of the batter into each cupcake case (you may find you have a little leftover...) and bake in the centre of the oven for 15-8 minutes, until golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
4. Once cooled, create the icing by mixing together the cream cheese and shortening. Beat in the icing sugar a little at a time, followed by the lemon juice. Be careful not to over-mix this one, as the cream cheese and lemon juice can make it quite runny - mix until all the ingredients are combined and you have a nice consistency, but not much more than than! If yours does get a little runny, just pop it in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm it up a bit. :-)
5. Pipe or spread the icing onto the cooled cupcakes, and decorate with sprinkles as desired. 

Sally's squishy orange & spice cookies

 

 

Ingredients

Serves: 18

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 170g unsalted butter, melted
• 200g dark brown soft sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 325g chocolate chips (I used Green & Black's Maya Gold 100g bar, G&B's Burnt Toffee 100g bar, and almost all of G&B's milk chocolate cooking chocolate 150g bar)
• Zest of 1 orange
• Juice of half an orange
• As much mixed spice as you want (I think I used about 1-2 teaspoons)

Preparation method

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 15 mins

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas mark 3. Grease baking trays or line with parchment.
2. Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough (for smaller cookies, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful and adjust baking time as necessary). Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Stacey's Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

I was a bit cheeky this time round, and decided to do a whole bunch of baking all in one go for Cake'n'Bake Club, but also for friends, family and colleagues' Christmas pressies! I ended up making 24 of each variety, so I've halved the quantities below, however don't be surprised if you end up with slightly more mixture than required for 12 cupcakes (as I recall I had a little bit left over for each!)

If you're baking all varieties, I'd bake the Mini Christmas Cakes first, as they both take the longest to bake and will keep fresh for longest. Then bake the Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes, as these stay moist for ages and take a little longer to decorate, and finally the Gingerbread Cupcakes which are the quickest to make, but also dry out faster than the others.

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Baking time 12-15 minutes

Makes around 12-14 cupcakes 

Ingredients:

65g cocoa powder

100g plain flour

pinch of salt

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp baking powder

60ml water

60ml milk (plus up to 60ml more for the filling/frosting, if required)

75g butter or margarine

150g granulated sugar
1 medium egg

100g box of "peppermint thins" (After Eights)

150g vegetable shortening

250g icing sugar

Peppermint flavouring, to taste

Sprinkles to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and line a bun tray with cupcake cases.
2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder together into a bowl and put to one side. In a second bowl or jug, mix together the water and 60ml of the milk. In a third (and final - I promise!) bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the egg and beat until combined to form a smooth batter.
3. Fold half of the dry ingredients mixture into the batter, then add the milk and water, followed by the remaining dry ingredients, stirring until combined between each addition.
4. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the mixture into each cupcake case and bake for 12 - 15 mins until firm and spongy. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Whilst the cupcakes are cooling begin to prepare your filling. Bring a pan of water to the boil, then reduce the heat as low as it will go. Put the peppermint thins into a glass bowl and rest this in the pan of boiling water, being careful not to get any water into the bowl. Stir this continuously until the mints have melted. They will probably form a gloopy ball at this stage, don't worry! Keeping the bowl in the hot water, stir milk into the chocolate a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency (it should be a ganache-like mixture, smooth enough to pipe but not too runny). Place this into a piping bag and put to one side to cool slightly.
6. Cut a well into the centre of each cupcake, pipe a generous amount of the chocolate peppermint ganache into the well, then replace the top of the cupcake. (Don't worry if these stick up a little, that will be hidden by the frosting!)
7. Once the cakes are completely cool, make your frosting by mixing the icing sugar into the shortening a little at a time. If your frosting is too stiff, add a little milk until it reaches the desire consistency, then add a few drops of peppermint flavouring. Spread or pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then finish with sprinkles.
8. Take a big bite of one of them, just to make sure they are super tasty ;-)

Joy's Nut Roast Tartlets

I feel a little ashamed to admit to using shop-bought pastry after Sarah's post!

You will need:

Puff pastry (block/pre-rolled, whichever you prefer)
Half a finely diced onion (I use red because they're tastier & prettier)
1 garlic clove
Couple of finely diced mushrooms and/or any other veg that you want to use. Peppers, sundried tomatoes & olives work well too.
1/2 tsp flour
150ml veg stock
85g chopped mixed nuts
85g breadcrumbs
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt, pepper & herbs to taste. I think I used basil, parsley, cumin & rosemary.
Something to stick the nut roast to the pastry and prevent them being too dry: this was a last minute thought & unfortunately the Co-op didn't have cranberry sauce so I went for apple sauce in some & tomato puree in others.

Method:
1. Stew onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic & mushrooms.
2. Sprinkle on flour. Add stock, stirring continuously.
3. Bring to the boil & simmer for 2-3 mins.
4. Add remaining ingredients & allow to cool slightly.
5. Meanwhile, roll out your pastry & cut desired shapes. I used a traditional pastry cutter and stars.
6. Put pastry shapes into lightly greased (or Frylight-ed) bun tins and press down to form a cup.
7. Spoon in a small amount of sauce, and add a pressed ball of nut roast mixture.
8. I cut out little stars from my pastry offcuts & added these to the top to make them look more festive!
9. Bake at 220ºC until pastry is browned nicely, about 15-20mins I think.
10. Enjoy!

Sarah's rough puff pastry

I thought it easier to just give the recipe for the pastry as so many of you enjoyed it! It is pretty simple and gives a fantastic quick and easy alternative to puff pastry. It can be used for anything as well, sweet, savory, pies tarts etc.

Ingredients

450g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
large pinch salt
375g cold butter/block marge, cut into cubes
250ml cold water

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the butter. Mix the butter around with a large metal spoon to coat it in flour - do not rub in the butter like short crust pastry recipes.

Pour two thirds of the water into the flour and butter mixture.

Using a round-tipped knife, cut across the contents of the bowl several times, turning the bowl continuously as you chop the butter into the flour, until the dough comes together.

When the dough has come together as a loose lump, tip it onto a lightly floured work surface and quickly shape it into a thick slab, roughly the dimensions of a house brick.

Flour the work surface and roll the dough out to a rectangle.

Fold one-third of the dough to the centre, then fold the other third over that. Roll the pastry out again. Fold in exactly the same way again.

Rotate the pastry a quarter turn and repeat. Continue rolling, folding, pressing and turning a quarter-turn 3-4 more times. Don't worry too much if the butter oozes through the dough occasionally.

After the last folding stage, wrap the pastry in cling film and place into the fridge to chill for several hours, preferably overnight.

When ready to use, if the pastry is very firm, allow it to warm in the room for a few minutes before using. (You can freeze this pastry for up to six weeks)

Any questions, just ask! Wednesday night's sausage rolls were my first ever attempt at rough puff - so give it a go and don't be afraid!

Charlie's Gingerbread Biscuits

Very Easy Gingerbread Biscuits

Ingredients:

350g Plain Flour

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 tsp Ground Ginger

115g Unsalted Butter, chilled and diced

175g Light Muscovado Sugar

1 Egg

2 tbsp black treacle or golden syrup (I used golden syrup!)

1. Preheat the oven to 180. Grease 2 or 3 large baking sheets.

2. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and diced butter into the bowl of the food processor. Process until the mixture begins to resemble fine breadcrumbs.

3. Add the sugar, egg and treacle or syrup to the food processor and process the mixture until it begins to form into a ball.

4. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, and knead until its smooth and pliable.

5. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface (I kept the dough quite thick as I like gooey biscuits - but roll to thickness of your choice!). Cut out shapes using cutters, then transfer to the baking sheets. Re-roll any trimmings and cut out more shapes.

6. Bake for 15 minutes (I did 12 as a) I have a fan oven and b) I like gooey biscuits!!!) until slightly risen and starting to colour around the edges. Leave for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Decorate as you wish!!

December - Fabulously Festive

Delicious Festive Treats

For our December meeting we went with what only seemed natural for this time of year: "Fabulously Festive". Various festive bakes were made - including some savory ones this time - and we had a good old Christmas shindig, complete with cheesy Christmas songs, crackers and paper crowns! We also had a bit of a growth spurt this meeting - clearly baking is everyone's cup of tea!

There are a mixture of experienced and beginner amateur bakers in the group, but yet again the quality of the bakes were astounding. Craig's second ever attempt at baking was equally as successful as the first, with some lovely cinnamon and almond puds. Charlie's gingerbread biscuits were both delicious and beautifully decorated, and Joy's nut-roast tartlets went down a treat! Stacey bought in a few "cupcake selection boxes" containing 3 different varieties of Christmassy cupcakes. As for our new-comers, Rosie and Angel, being of Swiss and Bulgarian descent (respectively) bought us some traditional festive treats based on their mother's recipes- from Rosie a Swiss chocolaty biscuit and from Angel a Bulgarian feta-filled pastry (both of which I've forgotten the real names of, but I'm sure Rosie and Angel will update!) Sally baked some amazingly gooey spiced chocolate orange cookies, Catherine treated us to some pear and cranberry pies as well as some traditional gingerbread, and Sarah blew us all away with her sausage rolls, veggie rolls and cuter then cute reindeer cupcakes!

Doggybag time!

Although there were more mouths to feed this time, there were also more bakers present so we ended up with a lot more leftovers, and each took away a decent sized doggy-bag!

Looking forward to next time already!

Joy's (very easy) stained glass bakewell hearts

I chose these for the first bake off as biscuits were probably the first thing I learnt to make as a child, and I still use my mum's old recipe today, hence why it's in ounces!

Ingredients:
4oz butter/margarine (works equally well with vegan margarine if you're that way inclined)
3oz caster sugar
6oz plain flour
Any boiled sweets, I used Cherry Drops
Anything else you want to add! For these I added a couple of drops of almond essence and a shake or 2 of cinnamon.

Method:
1. Cream butter & sugar, add vanilla/almond/orange/lemon essence
2. Sieve in flour & cinnamon and mix to combine
3. Roll mixture to about half to 1cm thick on a floured work surface, and cut out desired shape. I find it's easiest to transfer them to a lined baking sheet before cutting out the hole where the sweets will go, as it helps them retain their shape.
4. Fill the hole with crushed boiled sweets (I used half a cherry drop per cookie)
5. Bake at 170oC for 10-15mins or until the sweet fills the hole & the cookies are nicely browned.
6. Enjoy!

Charlie's Banana Muffins

225g Plain Flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

110g butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 bananas (mashed up)

55ml milk, or buttermilk (I use normal old semi-skimmed!!)

2 eggs

115g caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 190/gas mark 5

2. Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together

3. Put the butter and vanilla in a separate bowl and beat together until it's creamy

4. Gradually add the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time beating each time.

5. Add a bit of milk at a time, then a bit of dry mixture, then a bit of banana to the cream mixture - beat well each time and keep doing this until you only have one bowl of mixture!

6. Fill a cupcake tray of cases 1/2 full as they rise quite well, bake for about 20 minutes. Leave to cool in tray for 5-10 minutes.

Stacey's Rainbow Cake

This is my signature bake from the November meeting-lemon flavour Rainbow Cake! Firstly, I apologise from the poopy photos - I had no idea we'd be publishing a blog so I didn't really give the cake photography the time and effort it deserves. Secondly, I wanted to point out that my cake got a bit squished in transit - please ignore the bottom half of the frosting in the first photo!

OK, before I type the recipe, time for a little cake-science. The reason the colours of the cake curl around each other is purely down to the fact it was baked in a bowl! when baking in a Pyrex bowl it's the bottom and sides that cook first, and as they cook they also rise, forcing the top colours down into the middle of the bowl - pretty cool, right? If you were to bake this recipe in a flat tin, your lines would all be even and you wouldn't get the swirls (the cake would still look and taste great though!)

Ingredients

For the cake:
300g margarine
300g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
300g self raising flour
2 tbsp lemon juice
red, yellow, and blue food colourings (I used gel food colourings as I find you get a vibrant colour without watering down your mixture!)

For the frosting:
150g shortening
300g icing sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice
black food colouring
edible glitter (I used "white hologram")

Prep time: 30 mins
Bake time: 50-60mins
Serves 8-10

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line a round Pyrex (or other oven-proof) bowl with foil.
2. Beat the margarine and sugar together until creamy. Beat in one of the eggs until well combined, then fold in a third of the flour. Repeat until all of the eggs and flour have been used up and you have a thick, smooth batter. Gently fold in the lemon juice.
3. Separate the mixture into 6 even portions, and colour each red, orange, yellow, blue, green and purple. (In cake-land, indigo and violet merge to become "purple".) As a reminder, you mix a red and yellow to make orange, blue and yellow to make green and blue and red to make purple!
4. Carefully place the red mixture into the bottom of the bowl and level with the back of a spoon. Layer each mixture on top of the other, spreading gently to the edges after each layer.
5. Bake for 50 - 60 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the bowl for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Once the cake has cooled prepare the frosting. Mix the icing sugar into the shortening a little at a time until a smooth paste has formed. Mix in the lemon juice to taste, then spread evenly onto the cake. Place a little black food dye into the remaining frosting, then pipe a line across the cake. Add another drop of black colouring into the remaining frosting, and pipe a second line next to the third. Repeat for another two lines so you end up with a grey-scale rainbow. Sprinkle with the edible glitter to finish then serve!

Sarah's Chelsea Buns

This is the recipe for the Chelsea Buns I would have made for Novembers signature bake. They are great fun to make and look and taste great. However, they can be a bit timely with the process but they are quite simple to make.

Chelsea Buns

Makes 12

500g White bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
50g softened butter
75g caster sugar
1 tsp dried yeast
225ml hand-hot milk
1 egg, beaten
For the filling:
25g melted butter
115g sultanas
25g chopped mixed peel
25g currants
25g light brown sugar
1tsp mixed spice

For the glaze:
50g caster sugar
5ml orange juice

1. Combine flour and salt, then rub in butter.
2. Make a well in the middle of the ingredients and add the milk and egg. Mix and kneed for 10 minutes.
3. Allow to prove until doubled in size, then knock the dough back.
4. Lightly grease a 23cm square cake tin.
5. Roll out the dough into a square, measuring about 30cm.
6. Brush the dough with the melted butter leaving a 1cm border along one side.
7. Evenly spread sugar, spice and fruit over the buttered area before rolling the dough up in the style of a Swiss Roll.
8. Cut the roll into 12 pieces and place cut side up in the cake tin.
9. Cover with oiled cling film and allow to prove again for 30-45 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Bake the buns for 15-20 minutes or until well risen and golden all over.
11. Leave to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.
12. Gently heat the sugar and orange juice and brush generously over the warm buns.

Happy Baking!

November - The Signature Bake

In order to get to know each other at our first ever meeting, we decided to go with "The Signature Bake" as a theme. The Cake'n'Bakers were invited to bring along something they had a bit of a reputation for baking, or otherwise their favourite cake to bake (or eat!)

Charlie brought along some amazing banana muffins, Craig baked a gateaux (which was extremely brave for his first ever baking attempt!) Joy came with some yummy stained-glass-window cookies, and Stacey contributed a rainbow cake! The quality of the bakes was fantastic - and we all left with very full tummies!

Next time we'll be going with a festive theme, but in the mean time our recipes will be coming this way soon!