orange and raisin scones

This one is for Dad as I know he's partial to scones.  I have rather a lot of whipped cream left over from St George's Day so a good way to use some up.


to make about 8 scones
225g self raising flour
50g butter
2tsp baking powder
25g caster sugar
1 egg
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
*50g raisins


Combine the flour, baking powder and sugar, and rub in the butter.  Beat the egg and make up the amount of liquid to 130ml with the orange juice and a bit of milk if need be.  Add the orange zest,  raisins, egg and juice to the flour mixture and form a soft dough.  Gently roll it out to about 15-20mm thick and cut up using a 60mm cutter - don't mess it about too much as you want them to be light.  Bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes at 220c.

Serve with too much jam and whipped cream


* I always soak my dried fruit it boiling water (or tea without milk) for at least 10 minutes before using them as it makes them a bit more succulent.


So scones...the fastest cake in the world...

breast-ever birthday cake

Making a birthday cake for a friend who is 60 this week.  What does a 60 year old man like?  Hmmm?  I had a few suggestions from other people but decided to do a boob cake.  This is my first attempt at a novelty cake.

Initially I tried to make the entire cake in a 1lt pudding basin to get the right shape but the sponge wouldn't cook properly all the way through.  I was left with an uncooked centre so the outside was munched on with a cup of tea whilst I thought about what to do next.  Second attempt was still in the pudding basin but cooked in the microwave.  Whilst this cooked properly and had a good shape I'm not so keen on the texture of microwave sponges.  They seem more like steamed sponges and have a tendency to go a bit dry once cooled.  That one is now in the freezer ready to make a trifle.  Third (and final attempt) was a basic Victoria sponge, half in the pudding basin for the round top and the other half in a 7" round sandwich tin.

Per boob (as I only did one at a time)

175g stork cake margarine
175g caster sugar
175 self raising flour
1 1/12 tsp baking powder
3 eggs

Beat together margarine and sugar.  Add eggs.  Beat well, then add flour and baking powder.  Pour equally into a greased pudding basin and lined sandwich tin.  Bake at 180c for about 25-30 minutes.  I found the pudding basin section took a longer than the tin.

Leave to cool and do it all again.

I used butter icing and home-made blackberry jam in the middle.  For the butter icing I used 200g butter and 400g icing sugar.  Beat well and try not to eat too much.

For decorating, (after a bit of googling to get some ideas I found a lovely pair by Little Pickers)  I reserved some of the butter icing and covered the cake completely with a thin layer to ensure the icing stuck.  I also made sure the gaps where the two cakes joined were covered to ensure a smooth finish.  To make the flesh colour I used a tiny bit of red food colouring and an even tinier bit of yellow in a block of white ready made icing.  Smooth it over and then go mad on the bra.  The lace was just thin bits of black icing slightly crumpled.

Note to self: make sure you cut your finger nails quite short before doing icing again!

Very pleased with these.

pineapple upsidedown cake

A seventies special today.  I had a pineapple that was starting to look a bit past its best so pineapple upsidedown cake it is.  Haven't had this for absolutely years and never made it before.

for the pineapple top/bottom
4 thick slices of pineapple
50g light brown sugar
50g butter
glacé cherries

Cream together the butter and sugar and spread over the bottom of a 20cm square lined tin.  Arrange the pineapple in a pretty pattern then put cherries in the centre of the rings and dot some round.  Try not to eat too many cherries!

for the cakey bottom/top
150g stork for cakes
150g self raising flour
150g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3 tbsp of some liquid*

* use the syrup out of the tin if using tinned pineapple, or honey, or (as I did today) some toffee ice cream sauce left over from the banoffi cupcakes.

Cream together the margarine and sugar.  Beat in the eggs, then the flour, baking powder and liquid.  Pour over the pineapple and bake for about 40minutes at 160c.  Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes to let the syrup set a bit then flip it over and get out the flares.

Easypeasy

choccy bunnies and easter chicks

Easter next weekend so I think some biscuits are in order.  Choccy bunnies for Boris and some yellow chicks on orange biscuits.

for the biscuits
100g softened butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg
275g plain flour
zest of 1 orange

Cream the butter, sugar and orange zest.  Beat in the egg.  Add the flour and mix together until a soft dough is formed.  I found it was still a little too crumbly so added a squeeze of orange juice.

Roll out until about 5mm thick and using cutters, make into bunnies and chicks.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 190c for about 15-20 minutes until just golden brown.  Leave to cool.  I then popped them bake in the oven for a few minutes just to crisp them up and biscuits should traditionally be cooked twice*

for the orange topping
about 100g icing sugar
a squeeze of orange juice
a couple of drops of yellow food colouring

Mix together until just liquid but not too much so.

for the orange topping
50g dark chocolate
a squeeze of orange juice

Decorate the chicks with yellow icing and the bunnies with chocolate.  Leave to set in a cool place.

OK, so they're not brilliant but they make me happy!

* The name biscuit is derived from the Latin words bis (twice) and coquere, coctus (to cook, cooked), and means "twice-cooked".  This is because biscuits were originally cooked in a twofold process: first baked, and then dried out in a slow oven.

hot cross buns

Last week's attempt at hot cross buns wasn't too successful.  I forgot to allow for the fact my oven is fan assisted and managed to burn the tops.  They also ended up a bit too hard so this week is second try.

450g strong plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp mixed spice
14g yeast (I always use Dove's Farm for consistency)
50g caster sugar
50g melted butter
150ml milk
75ml water
1 egg
*100g currants
50g mixed peel

 *I soaked the currants in some tea before I started as I find they can be a bit too chewy otherwise

Put the flour, salt, spice, yeast and sugar in a bowl and mix. 

Melt the butter.  Warm the milk and water slightly and add to the butter (this cools the butter down slightly which is good.  At this stage you don't want anything too hot to upset the yeast).

Pour the liquids into the flour and add currants, peel and egg.  Work into a soft dough until smooth and elasticy - about 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in the Kitchenaid.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave to prove in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.

Knock the dough back and divide into 12 balls.  Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.

Leave to rise for another half hour on a baking tray then slash a cross on the top with a knife just before putting them into a pre-heated oven at 220c or 200c for a fan assisted for about 15 minutes.

For the glaze
2 tbs granulated sugar
2 tbs water

Melt the sugar in the water over a low heat and boil gently until it's really syrupy.  On my first attempt I didn't boil it enough so it stayed quite wet and sticky.  This time was much nicer.

As soon as the buns are done, brush with glaze and leave to cool if you can.  They smell sooo good!

Check out my buns!

banoffi cupcakes

Some rather squidgy bananas in the kitchen that really needed eating but I can't stand them once they get the slightest bit of brown on the skins so cupcakes it is with a nod to Ian Dowding's Banoffi Pie.  Banoffi Pie was originally made at The Hungry Monk in Jevington not far from me.  Sadly I never got the chance to visit and it has recently closed.


for 12 cupcakes
2 over ripe bananas
125g stork margarine
*60g Tate & Lyle golden syrup sugar
60g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs (mine were really small so I used 3)
pinch salt
150g flour
2 tsp baking powder


for butter icing
125g butter
250g icing sugar
** 2-3 tbs toffee sauce

to decorate
more toffee sauce
50g melted dark chocolate

Beat the  marg and sugars together.  Add the bananas and beat until smooth.  Beat the eggs up separately from the banana mix until light and fluffy. Add to the banana mix along with the flour, salt, vanilla and baking powder and mix well.

Pour into cases and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180c for about 25 minutes.  Allow to cool

Make the butter icing and decorate with toffee sauce and chocolate.

* I found this in Waitrose - never seen it before but thought it would add a bit extra toffee-ish flavour to the cupcakes

** The toffee sauce is for ice cream.  If they still made Ice Magic I reckon that would be great on cupcakes too.  I wonder if it would set so hard?

over the top neopolitan cake

Time for a birthday cake and I've always liked neopolitan ice cream so thought I'd give it a go in cake form.  So, a layer each of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla sponges, filled with buttercream and covered with pink, yellow and brown icing.  Sounds delicate and simple....

for chocolate layer
2 eggs
100g stork margarine
100g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbs cocoa powder

for strawberry layer
2 eggs
100g stork margarine
100g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp strawberry flavouring
a few drops of red food colouring

for vanilla layer
2 eggs
100g stork margarine
100g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract
a few drops of yellow food colouring

to make the cakes, cream together the margarine and sugar.  Beat in the eggs then add flour, baking powder, colouring and flavouring.  Pour each into a greased and lined 15cm loose bottom sandwich tin and bake for about 20 minutes until risen and nicely done.

for butter icing
200g butter
400g icing sugar

Cream together and sandwich the layers together keeping a bit back to smear over the cake to ensure the icing sticks.  I also used a bit of homemade blackcurrant jam between the layers just in case there wasn't enough sugar already.

after everyone had tucked in

For the icing I used ready made icing and added cocoa powder for the brown, strawberry flavouring and red colouring for the pink, and vanilla extract and yellow colouring for the yellow.  No holding back on sugar and artificial colourings on this cake!

I had this crazy idea that stripes would look good so wound the icing round the cake in layers, finishing with concentric circles on the top.  It wasn't until later that I realised that this cake looks like it has a nipple on top.  Maybe not the best looking cake I've every made but certainly the most amusing!