Tom's Flower Bread

1lb strong flour (I used 3:1 white/wholemeal for this)

Half a sachet dried easy-bake yeast

Pinch salt

2 tblspns Oil

1 very big teaspoon of honey

10 floz warm water

To make it fruity and flowery add a few handfuls of dried fruit (rasins, sultanas are good) and dash of seeds (sesame and sunflower are good). I also grated some marzipan into the mixture to add that extra dash of sugary sweetness (like a flower!).

Dissolve the Honey in the water then mix it all up and knead it well for about 10 minutes.  It should form a slightly sticky firm dough.

Put back in the bowl, cover with a tea towel, and leave to rise for 2-3 hours in a warm place; it should approximately double in size.

Knock back and split into 7 equalish sized parts.  Arrange in a flowery shape; one in the middle and the others arround it in a ring, on a greased round baking tray.  Leave a small gap between all the pieces as they will rise again.

Leave to rise once again for about an hour, until the pieces have joined and the flower shape is obvious.

To make it more like a flower I made a red glaze by mixing a bit of red food dye with some milk and icing sugar and painting the outer pieces (the 'petals') with it.  I also sprinkled some seeds on the centre piece.

Cook in a moderate (about 190°C) oven for about 25 minutes.

The bread recipe is adapted from my Mum's - and has been well tested over the years! For a normal loaf use some molasses instead of the honey to get a deeper flavour, and adjust the white/wholemeal balance to taste (1:1 is good).  Each pound of flour produces a 2lb-loaf-tin loaf.

Sarah's Chocolate Guinness Cake

Makes 12 Slices

For the Cake:
250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa
400g caster sugar
142ml sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 1/1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the Topping:

300g Philadelphia cream cheese
150g icing sugar
125ml double cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degree/gas mark 4, butter and line 23cm loose bottom/spring form tin
Pour Guinness into a large saucepan and add the butter and heat until the butter has melted then whisk in the cocoa and sugar into the melted mixture.
Beat in a separate bowl the eggs, sour cream and vanilla then pour onto the brown, buttery, beery mixture and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
The batter will be very wet - do not be alarmed, this is what gives the cake the very moist texture.
Pour the cake batter into the lined tin and bake for 45mins-1 hour. Mine took 1 1/2 hours - I kept checking mine with a skewer until I was satisfied with the texture.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin until completely cold.
Whilst this is taking place you can make the topping.
Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, add the icing sugar and then the cream and beat until spreadable. Do not over mix the mixture as the cream will turn grainy.
Top the cake with the mixture either by piping, or by smoothing on. You can if desired draw a shamrock on the top.

Happy baking!

Stacey's Flowerpot Bread

Baking in clay flowerpots was great fun - although if it's the first time you're using the clay pots they need to be "seasoned" - and that can take a fair amount of time! I did mine whilst my dough was proving, but in hindsight I'd probably do them the day before. For that reason, I'm going to start by telling you how to season your clay pots.

You will need:
5 11cm clay flowerpots
a pastry brush
a LOT of vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3. Brush each clay pot with oil, inside and out, (and paying special care not to miss the rim!) then place your pot in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the oil has baked dry. Carefully remove the pots from the oven and leave until cool enough to handle, then repeat the process 5 or 6 times to create a smooth, non-stick surface.
Once you've used the pots, if they are rinsed with warm water (rather than washed with soapy water) they will retain the "non-stick" layer and can be re-used without seasoning again.

I'm very new to bread baking, but wanted to use Cake'n'Bake Club as an opportunity to challenge myself, so decided to give it a go this month. The recipe below is based on The White Cottage Loaf recipe on page 285 of Mary Berry's Baking Bible, and chose it because it seemed nice and simple, and Mary Berry said it was good.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Proving time: 2-3 hours
Bake time: 20-25 minutes
Makes 5 flowerpot loaves

Ingredients:

650g strong white bread flour
10g yeast
1.5 tsp salt
60g melted butter or margarine
450ml warm water
1 large egg (to glaze)
50g poppy seeds
Vegetable oil (to grease the bakeware)

1. Measure all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and beat until combined to a sticky-ish dough.
2. Tip the dough out onto a well floured surface, and knead for 10-12 minutes until the dough is soft, pliable and still a little sticky. Place the dough in a large oiled bowl and cover tightly with cling film. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
3. Tip the dough back out onto a well floured surface, and knock it back by hand. Once the dough is smooth split it into 5 equal portions. Tuck the ends of the dough underneath itself and drop each piece into a greased flowerpot.
4. Place each flower pot inside a large plastic food bag and seal the end. Put the flowerpots in their bags back into the warm place to rise for around 45 minutes, again until it has doubled in size.
5. Preheat the oven to gas mark 7. Beat the egg, and brush a little of this over the top of each loaf, then sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top and baked through.
6. Serve with lots of cheese and red onion marmalade! 

Happy baking!

Charlie's Lavender Shortbread

Ingredients:

125g/4oz butter

55g/2oz caster sugar

180g/6oz plain flour

1/4 tsp dried lavender

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius/gas 5.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth (I added the lavender to the sugar and mixed before combining with the butter).

3. Stir in the flour until it forms a smooth dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out until 1/2 inch thick.

4. Cut into rounds or fingers and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Sprinkle with icing sugar and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

5. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Stacey's Sweet Red Onion Relish

Ok, ok, I know that this isn't STRICTLY a baking recipe. But - it IS something I made to go with my bake for March's Cake'n'Bake meeting, and Lorna asked for the recipe so I thought I'd post it here. To cut a long story short, I really wanted to have a go at baking bread this month, but didn't relish the thought of serving plain bread. I'd also decided that I'd quite like to have a go at jam-making/preserving at some point this year, so the most sensible solution seemed to be to make some sort of savoury jam to serve with my Flower-pot Bread.

I scoured the net and read various recipes, and then decided to attempt my own sticky-sweet onion relish, based on the knowledge gained in my research. One thing that did stick out was that most of the recipes I found said to leave the relish sealed in a cool dark place for 1 month to mature before serving. I only had 10 days to allow mine to mature... but it tasted yummy all the same. (To be honest, I'd have happily started eating it as soon as it was ready!)

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 75-90 minutes
Makes around 650g relish (3 and a bit medium jars)

You will also need 4 medium sized jars

Ingredients:
1kg red onions
3tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch of salt
Pick of black pepper
75g golden brown granulated Sugar
75g soft light brown Sugar
186ml red wine (one of the mini/one person bottles available in supermarkets)
30ml balsamic vinegar
30ml red wine vinegar

1. Peel, halve and finely chop the onions. Place them in a large saucepan with the onions over a low heat. It's important to keep the temperature low so that the onions go soft and gooey, rather than brown and crispy. Heat the onions for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent them from burning.
2. After 15 minutes, add the salt, pepper and both kinds of sugar to the pan and stir until all the sugar has melted. Cook for another 15 minutes, maintaining the low heat.
3. Once the onions are soft, translucent and sticky, stir in the red wine and both vinegars. Increase the heat slightly and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally for 45-60 minutes until the liquid has reduced.
4. Whilst the relish is simmering, sterilise your jars. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, and place a wire rack on the middle shelf. Wash the jars and lids in warm soapy water, then rinse under the hot tap. Place upside down (lids too!) on the wire wrack in the oven to dry whilst your relish cooks. 
5. Once your relish is ready, remove the jars from the oven being careful not to touch the inside of the jar/lid. Carefully spoon the relish into the jars and place some greaseproof paper over the top. Place the lid on whilst still hot and make sure to seal the jar tightly. Once cooled, leave the relish to mature in a cool dry place until you need it.
6. Serve with Flower-pot bread and lots of cheese! Yum yum yum!

I'll be posting my recipe for Flower-pot Bread soon, but until then - Happy Baking!

March - Baking in Bloom

For our March meeting, we decided to welcome in the Spring by setting ourselves the challenge of baking something with a floral theme.


This time we welcomed two new members, Olly and Lou, who made some Vanilla Cupcakes decorated with fondant roses, and some Mojito Cupcakes (respectively). As for the regulars: Angel baked some Flower Cookies, Charlie baked  Lavender Shortbread, Joy baked Sunflower and Sesame Seed Flapjacks, Lorna baked Lemon and Poppy seed Cookies, Sally baked some Poppyseed Bagels, Sarah baked a Chocolate and Guinness Cake (Guinness is made from hops, and hops are flowers!), Stacey baked some Flowerpot Bread, and Tom baked some Bread in the shape of a flower!

This month both Tom and Stacey decided to take on photography responsibilities - yet even with two of us doing it we still didn't manage to get a photo of all the bakes together - so here's a photo of a plate full of goodies!

To give you an update on the valentines competition we entered - we came third!

See http://www.bakingmad.com/blog/2012/02/valentines-blogger-competition-winners/ for full details, including the AMAZING 1st place cupcake and cake pop bouquet!
Everyone agreed that it was great fun to do, and that we'd like to get together to do something similar again, so watch this space!