Lorna's Pecan Cake

For our Cake 'n' Bake charity picnic/tea party i decided to make a pecan cake, with fudge icing, decorated with lovely glittery butterflies! 

So shiny!

Anyway, too the  recipe;

Ingredients:

Cake:

150g margarine, softened

120g caster sugar

3 eggs

270g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 heaped tbsp golden syrup

45ml milk

50g pecans, chopped

Icing:

30g butter

15ml milk

20g brown sugar

2 tsp golden syrup

200g icing sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C, and line a deep 8" round tin (a 7" would also be fine but you'll get a tall cake).

Cream together  the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time. If you want, add a squirt of vanilla extract but it's not necessary if you don't have any in - the cake will still be super tasty! Beat in the golden syrup, then stir in half the flour along with all the baking powder. Mix in the milk, then the remainder of the  flour. Finally stir in the pecans until well distributed. Bake for 40-45 minutes (if you're using a 7" tin then increase the cooking time by 10-15 minutes).

For the fudge icing, melt together the butter, syrup and brown sugar (i blasted them in the microwave for 30 seconds). Then stir in the icing sugar and milk. Beat until smooth. It will be a little runny while it's still warm, but will solidify as it cools.

When the cake is cooked, take it out of the tine and let cool completely. Cut in half and spread your icing in the middle, then sandwich back together.

I finished my cake with some melted dark chocolate, and glittery butterflies (made from white chocolate modelling paste). You could alternatively top with more fudge icing, or just a simple glace icing.

Lorna's Danish Pastries

You'd better clear a good 4 hours for this! It's not all work, a lot of roll, fold and chill for the pastry but it does take a while.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

500g white bread flour

360g butter, softened

1 sachet dried yeast

65g caster sugar

150ml lukewarm milk

2 eggs, beaten

Fillings + Toppings:

maple syrup

caremel sauce

pecans, chopped

100g icing sugar

Method:

Mix the flour and the sugar and rub in 60g of butter. Stir in the yeast, make a well in the centre and add the milk and eggs. Mix until combined to a dough. Knead for 15 minutes on the worktop until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl covered with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.

Tip out, and roll into a 8x14" rectangle. Lay on your worktop with so it's short and wide. Take half of the remaining butter (150g) and dot the right two-thirds of your dough with it. Then fold the left third (not buttered bit) end over, followed by the right third on top of that,  to end up with 3 layers o dough with butter in between each layer.

Seal the edges of the dough, turn 90 degrees (so the sealed edges are left and right as you see it). Roll out into a rectangle again maintaining, and repeat the same process. Once folded up, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 20 minutes. Roll out, fold up and chill 3 more times (same as before but no butter).

Finally you'll have some dough you can actually use! Cut into 4 equal portions, and shape each section into one of the below:

Pinwheels:

Roll into an 8" square, and cut into 4. With each small square, cut into the corners diagonally into the centre, but not all the way. Place some maple syrup in the middle and sprinkle with pecans. Then take alternate corners and fold into the middle to create a pinwheel.

Kites:

Roll into an 8" square and cut into 4 smaller squares. In two opposite corners make 2 cuts about 1/2" in, as if to be cutting out a smaller square from the one you have, but don't go all the way around. Put maple syrup and pecans in the middle, then lift each cut corner across the middle and over to the other side.

Crescents:

Roll into a 9" circle and cut into 4 quarters. For each quarter, place some caramel sauce along the long arc, and roll fat end to thin. Curve into a crescent shape.

Plaits:

Roll into a 6 x 11" square, and cut into four 3x5.5" rectangles. With each rectangle, lay it so it looks long and thin. along each side, make 4-5 evenly spaces cuts that go a third of the way in. Put maple syrup and pecans down the middle third, then fold in each strip alternately over the pecans to make a plait shape.

Lay your pastries out on a greased baking tray, and leave in a warm place for 30min-1hour until well risen.

Wash with beaten egg and bake at 220C for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Mix the icing sugar with a few teaspooons of water so it's pourable but thick, then drizzle over the pastries.

They are best eaten fresh, and can be frozen.

Lorna's Devil's Food Cake

Been a little while since i last made a meeting due to the utter chaos of life around the holiday period, but it was lovely to be back and see everyone again! For the occasion i made a Devil's Food Loaf Cake. Nom.

Ingredients:

50g cocoa powder
230ml water
100g butter, softened
200g sugar
2 eggs
175g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarb of soda
1tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C, and grease and line a large loaf tin.

In one bowl mix the coca with the water to a "smooth" paste (it looks a bit frothy and weird, but just do the best you can), and in another bowl beat the butter with the sugar and vanilla then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the half the flour, the bicarb and the baking powder to the butter mix, then half the cocoa paste. Mix well, then mix in the rest of the flour and cocoa paste, stir until just combined.

Pour into your loaf tin, and bake for about 40 minutes. Leave it in the tin until completely cool, then turn out.

Lorna's Sprinkles Cupcakes!

For our first birthday, i decided to go with a good ol' classic of sprinkles cupcakes, and to make it even more "1st birthday" i put dinosaurs on the top ^_^

Ingredients:

100g margarine
150g plain flour
1.5tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
3tbsp milk
2 medium eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sprinkles (equiv. 62ml volume)

Icing sugar
Lemon juice
Orange chocolate

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Measure all ingredients except the sprinkles into a bowl, and mix with an electric mixer (i used a hand held one, although a big mixer would be equally as good). Stir in the sprinkles until well distributed, and divide the mix between each case.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and slightly golden on top. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

I made my decorations by melting orange coloured orange-flavoured chocolate and pouring into a dinosaur shaped silicone mould (so cute!!). Leave to cool in the fridge for about half an hour and the chocolates pop right out.

Mix icing sugar with a little water and lemon juice, pop a little on top of each cake, and attach a dinosaur.

Lorna's Carrot Cake Bars

For our "Not the Olympics" theme, i decided to go with; not 5 (4), not round (rectangular), raaaaandomly coloured (red, blue, yellow and green) cake bars. And because i haven't made a carrot cake in a while i chose that. I was also inspired by the fact that i spent a good 30 minutes aww-ing over some mini loaf tins in a shop and my boyfriend finally gave in and bought them; i had them for about 3 months still in the shrink wrap. Oops. Anyway, on with the show.

Ingredients:

150g plain flour/wholewheat flour mix

2 eggs, separated

175g caster sugar

85ml rapeseed oil (or vegetable oil)

125ml buttermilk

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

2tsp cinnamon

2 medium carrots, grated

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175C and grease 4 mini loaf tins.

Beat the egg whites until fluffy. Add 75g of the sugar and beat to stiff peaks. In a separate bowl beat the buttermilk, egg yolks, oil and remaining sugar together. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir in the carrot and then finally fold in the egg whites. Don't be scared of folding; the carrot will weight the batter down a fair bit so you'll lose some air. Try to be gentle but thorough until the mix is well combined.

Spoon into the individual tins and bake for 30 minutes until well risen and a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool in the tins then tip them out. I cut each loaf in half and put a layer of maple buttercream in the middle (each of a different colour).

Lorna's Lithuanian Napolean Torte

So i was given Lithuania as my country for May's Cake 'n' Bake meet so after some internet scouring i found this torte, which i edited slightly from the original although would edit more in the future... The cream recipe for the filling wasn't really a custard or pastry cream because it didn't have enough egg yolks, which may have been a typo on the site i got it from or just a bizarre cream filling... Either way, i'd advise making a buttercream or proper pasty cream (probably the latter) for the filling.

Ingredients;

200ml cup yogurt

60g. soft butter
100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 medium eggs, beaten

250g plain flour

Method:

Cream the butter with the sugar, and beat in the yogurt. Don't worry if it splits a bit - add a dash of flour to get it back together.Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the flour, baking power and baking soda. You should add enough flour to make a soft dough, that's kneadable. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for  minutes. Wrap in clingfilm and fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. 

Take out of the fridge, roll out thinly (~1mm thick if possible; you will have to be able to transfer them to a baking tray!). Cut into rounds of whatever size you like. I did mini ones, you could do one 7" cake. Aim for each cake to have 6 layers. Once you've cut out your rounds... get them back in the fridge for at least an hour. Then cook in a preheated oven (170C) for about 10 minutes until lightly golden on top. Cool on a cooling rack.

Make a filling (your favourite pastry cream recipe) and sandwich the layers into towers of 6 layers each. Fridge (if using pastry cream rather than buttercream) to firm up for a few more hours.

Best of luck!

Lorna's Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns

This is basically the same recipe as for the "Healthy" Hot Cross buns (posted around here somewhere) but with the addition of the zest of one orange (added when you combine the flours) and the replacement of dried fruit and raisins/sulatanas with 100g chopped chocolate (a mix of white and dark; whatever you prefer) aaaaand a handful of peanut butter chips (Reeses is what i have but there may be other types around). Nomnomnom. Basically add whatever you like; nuts would work too.
I did the standard white cross on top although you could do a white chocolate one to go with the theme.

I don't think i mentioned it on the original post, but both types of buns freeze really well (make sure they're fully cooled first though).

Lorna's Gluten Free Orange and Coconut Cake

I've got a couple of friends who are gluten-free. One out of choice which really doesnt make sense; choosing to give up cake! But anyway, every now and then i send cake to their work via my fella to keep them happy. This is the latest to make the trip

Ingredients:
100g ground almonds
70g shredded coconut
150g fine cornmeal/polenta
2tsp baking powder
juice and zest of 2 oranges
270g butter
270g caster sugar
4 medium eggs


Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease an 8" round deep cake tin, lining with greaseproof as well if you want. In a large bowl, mix together the almonds, coconut, polenta and baking powder. In a separate bowl beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffly, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Don't worry too much if it splits a bit - a tablespoon on polenta should bring it back together as with a regular cake. Beat in the orange zest.
Pour the dry mix into the buttery mix and add in the orange juice. Mix until well combined. Pour into the tin and bake for about an hour. I baked for 45mins then covered the tin with foil so the top didnt go too brown and baked for another 25 minutes. Poke with a skewer to check if its done. Pop out of the tin and leave to cool on a cooling rack.
When he's nice and cool you can cut him in half and ice with any icing you want. I had a packet of Polish Dr Oetker icing in the cupboard (for reasons i fail to remember) which, from my apt skills on Google Translation, i made up as instructed. I did confirm it was gluten free first. Tasted a bit like hot chocolate, but not so hot...

Cake'n'Bake Easter Baking Competition

The deadline for entries to our Easter competition has now passed, and we had five wonderful and very different recipes submitted. Now it's time to pick our favourites!

Each member of the club, plus a few extra special judges who have very kindly agreed to give their time, will be asked to vote for one recipe based on the following criteria:

Which of these recipes would you most like to make for your family, friends (or as an indulgent treat for yourself) this Easter?

The overall favourite recipe (based on number of votes) will win 1st prize which will include a bundle of baking goodies, plus one of Eric Lanlard's recipe books and a signed copy of Cake Wrecks. Two runners up will also receive baking bundles.

The recipes are listed below, in order of submission, and the winner will be announced here on Monday 2nd April, 6pm UK time.

Until then, Happy Baking!

• Sarah's Easter Magic Chocolate Cake
• Jaymes' Polish Easter Mazurek
• Lorna's "Healthy" Hot Cross Buns
• Katrina's Chocky Easter Cupcakes
• Stacey's Easter Carrot Cake

Lorna's "Healthy" Hot Cross Buns

It’s almost Easter and once again we’ve gone a bit Baking Mad! We decided to run a little competition in the club this month – to bake and blog about an Easter themed recipe. The favourite recipe(s), as voted by our club members and a few special guest judges would win a bundle of baking goodies. We’ve also submitted all of these recipes to BakingMad.com, to join their excellent selection of Easter recipes, such as Hot Cross Buns, EasterCakes, Cake Pops and more! 

This is my entry for the Easter competition. I was trying to think of something that wasn't just decorated in an Easter fashion, and this was practically shouted at me from my boyfriend; i think he's a fan of hot cross buns... They're "healthy" because they contain both dried fruit and wholemeal flour. Let's not mention the syrup on top...

Ingredients:
Makes 12

250-300ml warm milk
50g melted butter
250g strong wholemeal bread flour
250g plain flour
7g (one sachet) fast acting dried yeast
1tsp salt
70g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
50g raisins or sultanas
50g dried fruit (apricots, pineapple, orange peel etc. - whatever you like)

cinnamon (the amount is up to your taste - i suggest 2tsp, but others would say just the one)

75g plain flour
1tbsp golden syrup

Method:

Mix the melted butter with the milk, and make sure the mix is only lukewarm (so you don't kill the yeast). Put the flours, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid mix and the beaten egg. Don't pour all of it in; about three quarters first because all flours absorb different amounts of liquid and you dont want it to be too sticky!

Now the thing i do to combine the flour and liquid is to use the wrong end of a spoon and mix - i figure it's a bit like a dough hook on a mixer... Seems to work for me at least! So yes, mix until it's nearly all combined (you may need to add more liquid) then turn it out onto a floured surface and get kneading.

I pop the telly on at this point and just knead away until i've got a nice smooth elastic dough; it'll take between 5 and 15 minutes depending on how quick you are. No rush of course (that's why the telly's on). When you're done, pop the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and put in a nice warm, cozy place for about an hour until doubled in size.

When he's proved (i always think of my dough as a "he", maybe i should see someone about that...), knock him back (i.e knead a bit again to get the air out) and split into 12 equal portions. Put a small handful of the dried fruit and raisins on each portion and squish in (technical term!). Make sure they're relatively well distributed but try not to have too many poking through the top of the dough as they might catch in the oven. Make 12 rolls like this, and then leave them on a tray, covered with oiled cling film in that cozy place again for another hour

Righty, so you're almost there. Preheat the oven to 200C. Now mix about 75g of plain flour with 6tbsp of cold water - mix in about 4tbsp straight away, then half a tbsp at a time, until you have a smooth paste (it needs to be quite thick). Pipe crosses on top of the rolls - i forgot the picture at this point, sorry! You'll need to do it slowly because the mix is rather elastic and you don't want to pull it off as you go along. I used scissors to cut the paste at the ends when i'd finished a row to keep it neat.

Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes or until they're nice and golden and sound hollow when tapped.
When they're done, microwave the golden syrup for about 20 seconds so its nice and runny, and brush on top of the rolls (i used a pastry brush). You could alternatively use jam in the same way. Leave to cool on a cooling rack if you can resist them straight from the oven! They go very well with home made lemon curd, but that's a story for a different post. Here's some with some good ol' butter:


PS - this recipe will also be submitted to http://www.bakingmad.com/ideas/easter-baking  - so keep an eye out for it there! 

Baking Mad! Valentine's Cheesecake

We entered a Baking Mad Valentine's bloggers competition, and were ecstatic to be selected as one of 15 blogs to receive an assortment of Silver Spoon and Nielsen Massey baking goodies with which we had to create a baked Valentine's spectacle. We found out on the afternoon of our February meeting that our blog had made it through to the "final 15", and the very next day the following wonderful goodies arrived:

We had to use at least three of these lovely products to make something we'd love to receive for Valentine's Day, so each of us dug around our recipe books and the interwebs to put forward our suggestions. Everyone in the club was offered the opportunity to vote for the recipe we entered into the competition, and the very clear favourite was a cookie dough cheesecake which included two types of ganache and Oreos; all the trimmings a good cheesecake should have! (We found our inspiration at the Willow Bird Bakery). We chose this because it's a really indulgent treat, which should only be eaten on special occasions, and which we'd all LOVE to receive on Valentines Day! 

The recipe might sound complicated, but that's simply not true; it was fun to bake and contrary to popular belief too many cooks do not spoil the broth, (5 of our club members got together to bake this special treat!) We christened our version the Baking Mad Cheesecake, as it contains a bit of everything, and - just like love itself -  is a bit mad.

You'll need a bit of room in your fridge or freezer before starting, a 6" springform tin - trust us a 6" cheesecake is enough - some tin foil and a baking tin to fit the cheesecake in for when it's in the oven (a lil Bain Marie so it cooks evenly).

Ingredients:

Base:

2 packets of Oreos (28 biscuits in total)

50g butter, melted

pinch of salt

Milk Chocolate Ganache:

300g Silver Spoon milk chocolate cake covering

100ml double cream (or elmlea)

Filling:

500g cream cheese (full fat if possible)

200g caster sugar

75g plain flour

1 sachet Silver Spoon vanilla paste

2tsp golden syrup

3 large eggs

Cookie Dough:

100g butter, softened

150g light brown sugar (although white caster will do)

125g plain flour

Silver Spoon Giant Snownies, broken
white chocolate chips

White Chocolate Ganache:

100g Silver Spoon easy melt white chocolate

50ml double cream (or elmlea)

You'll also need some Silver Spoon duo chocolate hearts and Silver Spoon white chocolate letters for decoration.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C and make sure your shelf is in the middle; you don't want it too high up.

It's best to start at the bottom, so crush up the Oreos in either a food processor or just attack them with a rolling pin (I'd advise you put them in a food bag first). Then pour in the melted butter and a pinch of salt, and mix til they're all combined. Press into your well greased springform tin, being sure to make sides for the cheesecake too so you get more of that tasty biscuit base. The Willow Bird Bakery provided a great tip to use a glass to press in the corners of your biscuit base, which worked a treat! Then pop the tin in the fridge whilst you make the milk chocolate ganache.

Break up the Silver Spoon milk chocolate cake covering to small pieces. Heat the cream to just simmering, then pour over the chocolate, mixing until all combined into a smooth glossy goo. Pour over the base, and return the whole thing to the fridge (or freezer) until it's set. This should coincide with when you've made the filling.

For the filling; beat the cream cheese and sugar together with either a wooden spoon or use a food mixer. Then beat in the flour (sifted if you fancy it), and eggs one at a time. Finally add in the Silver Spoon vanilla paste (reserve a little of the packet for your ganache later!) and golden syrup and give it all a good beat. When the base is set; pour this in to just below the top. Wrap the tin in foil tightly, then place into your baking tray (a brownie tin is good). Fill the baking tray with hot water so it goes about an inch up the outside of springform tin. Put it in the oven for an hour and a half, until it comes out with a slight wobble, and is golden all over.

Now you have some time for a cuppa, a sneaky Oreo dipped in some left over ganache, and i suppose some time to make the cookie dough. Cream the butter and sugar together, add in the flour and salt, and some water to get it to a nice consistency. Finally stir in the Silver Spoon snowies and white chocolate chips. Press out into a 6" round on some greaseproof paper, and pop in the fridge until needed.

When the cheesecake is cooked leave it in the tin until cool. You'll need to make the white chocolate ganache while this happens. This time melt the Silver Spoon easy melt covering in a bowl of hot water (as instructed) and pour into the remaining cream, along with a little more vanilla paste. Mix until combined and the place in the fridge to set slightly. Once you're ready to use the ganache remove it from the fridge, whip it up until you have a nice fudge like consistency, and place into a piping bag.

You're nearly done; honest!

Now using the white chocolate ganache, pipe a nice decoration around the edge (or just do some squiggles if decorations aren't your strong point,) and decorate with Silver Spoon duo chocolate hearts and Silver Spoon white chocolate letters. (We also decorated ours with a few sugar roses we had left over from our last meeting!)

Phew, done.

Put the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 2 hours before eating, and if possible overnight... If you can resist!

Thank you to Silver Spoon and Nielsen Massey for providing these wonderful products to for us to play with, even more thanks to Baking Mad for picking our blog to sample the products, and another thank you to all the members of Cambridge Cake'n'Bake Club for taking part!

Impromptu Rose and Lemon Shortbread

We decided to whip up a batch of simple shortbread to try out the rose water & lemon icing that Baking Mad kindly sent us, and to pass the time whilst waiting for the cheesecake to cook!

You will need:

6oz plain flour
4oz butter/marg
3oz caster sugar
A generous splash of Neilson Massey Rose Water
Silver Spoon lemon flavour icing sugar
15ml water
Approx 1 tbsp of marg

1. Cream butter & sugar
2. Add rose water & flour
3. Combine, form into a ball and generously flour your work area!
4. Roll out to approx 3-5mm and cut desired shapes. You may wish to turn the remainder of the mixture into a GIANT HEART.
5. Transfer to a lined baking tray & bake at 170ºC for 10-15mins or until browned to your taste. (Tom and Charlie had very differing opinions on this but luckily we ended up half soft & half crunchy!)
6. Whilst they're cooling, make up the icing as directed on the pack. We used less marg than suggested to keep a relatively thick consistency.
7. Sandwich them together with the icing.
8. Enjoy!