Easter Cup Cakes

We had a bake sale in aid of The Heart Yard on Friday at work. The Heart Yard is part of Kids Company which was set up by the wonderful Camila Batmanghelidjh.  As a team from the office, we're going to be doing some gardening at The Heart Yard as part of a bigger campaign (more of which I'll write about at a later date) and we were raising money though this sale to buy the seeds and other bits for the kitchen garden. Any herbs and veg grown will then be used by the kids there during their cooking lessons and eaten by them.


These Easter Cup Cakes were my contribution to the event. I have to say I love any excuse for getting out the mini eggs and fluffy chicks so I needed no persuading to get baking! I made half chocolate and half vanilla cupcakes topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting and of course Cadbury's Mini Eggs.  I find that other miniature eggs just don't cut it for me. I recently got given a 'cupcake corer' so I used this for the plain cupcakes to take out a section of the middle and fill it with strawberry jam.  It's quite a nifty little gadget and definitely makes creating a hole in them a lot quicker and cleaner.


We ended up raising just over £200 which should go a long way to getting the kitchen garden looking good.  


This is also my entry to April's Tea Time Treats whose theme is, of course, Easter, hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. Happy Easter!


The Recipe


280g caster sugar
280g butter
5 eggs
280g self raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder


For the frosting:


200g butter
400g icing sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
dash of milk
red food colouring
strawberry jam if filling the centre of the cakes


1. Preheat oven to 180c.  Line a cupcake tin with cases (this recipe makes around 26 regular cupcakes). 
2. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Then add the adds and beat again. Finally mix in the flour.  
3. Spoon half the mixture into the cupcake cases.  Mix the cocoa powder in the remaining half of the mixture and then place the remaining mixture in the cases.
4. Bake for around 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
5. To make the frosting beat together the butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk until smooth.  I used half the buttercream to decorate the chocolate cupcakes and then added a tiny bit of red food colouring to create pink icing. I then used this on the plain cupcakes. 
6. Decorate with mini eggs, chicks etc. 

Apple & Walnut Scones

Scones are just something I don't really make but absolutely love eating, preferably with copious amounts of clotted cream and raspberry jam.  I'm not sure why I don't really make them but they just don't spring to mind ever. I was therefore pleased to see that for this month's Tea Time Treats Challenge, Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked set us the task of making scones of any variety.

The ultimate scones I've ever eaten are the apple ones served at Claridge's.  If you are ever in London and have the desire for a decadent afternoon tea then hot foot it to this Mayfair establishment and you won't be disappointed.  Their apple scones are small, light and fluffy. So inspired by gluttonous memories I looked for some apple scone recipes and came across this one on Baking Mad (this post isn't sponsored by them btw).  They turned out quite nicely and I liked the flavour and texture of the walnuts - I made them quite small but they definitely are nowhere near as fluffy as the ones at Claridge's.  I served them with a blackberry compote.   I think I do need a proper scone making lesson as the two times I've made them they have been slightly heavy.  I'm luckily going home to my parents in a couple of weeks time so will put the request in for a tutorial from my Mum.

Rob Ryan Inspired but Amended Valentine's Cake

This is my rather belated Valentine's Cake for Mr CB.  I love my silicon heart shaped cake mould but I hardly ever use it so this was a good excuse. I made a chocolate cake using my Mum's tried and tested recipe with a simple vanilla buttercream frosting. The icing was meant to be inspired by the whimsical Rob Ryan.  I just LOVE his designs and am saving up for one of his screen prints.  I think each of his pictures is like looking at a modern day fairytale - the sentiments are just so beautiful.  So I did a sketch in the spirit of his artwork but I soon realised that Silver Spoon's Designer Red Icing Tube was just not going to cut the mustard. The tube comes with 3 different nozzles and they just weren't fine enough. A bad workman can't always blame his tools either -  my icing skills are not very good by any means.  So the icing was amended and it hopefully doesn't look too bad.   I'm going to invest in some good icing equipment and practice, practice practice.  I will then do a cake one day which is a homage to Rob Ryan!


This is also my entry for this month's Tea Time Treats Challenge hosted as ever by the lovely Kate from What Kate Baked and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is of course 'Romance'. 


The Recipe


Apologies but this is in ounces which is how I always do my basic sponge mix.


6oz butter
6oz sugar
3 eggs
5oz self raising flour
1oz cocoa powder


For the frosting see here.


1. Preheat the oven to 180c.  Grease your cake tin.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs then add the flour and cocoa.
3. Bake for around 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Danish Pastry Escargots

Whenever I am travelling somewhere by train and there is a Paul bakery I always buy one of their Escargot pastries. I love their buttery raisin filled flaky dough - especially that first bite. When I saw that this month's Teatime Treats challenge, hosted this month by the inspiring Karen at Lavender and Lovage, could include any sweet pastries and breads the Escargots immediately came to mind. The fact that I'm currently having a love in with all things Danish (The Killing, Borgen, Sarah Lund's jumper collection....) also persuaded me to give them a go. My parents bought me Bo Friberg's The Professional Pastry Chef for Christmas which has a whole section on Danish pastries. While I am most definitely no where near the standard of the book's title, I have picked up some good ideas already from this huge tome, one being the honey butter I've used in the filling.


I found the recipe for the actual pastry online but combined it with this gorgeous honey butter. I also took Bo's tip of soaking the raisins in water beforehand to make them plumper. I'm glad I've made these but boy they took some work. The kneading, the rolling, the chilling, the rerolling, the rechilling ... And did I mention THE BUTTER!! There are some things in life it's best not to know and the amount of butter in these is as obscene as a Bunga Bunga party's guest list. But like Berlusconi himself probably thought, life's short so you have to have a few indulgences. Would I make them again? I'm glad I've made them once but unlikely to again - see life's too short point, especially when Paul can do all the hard work.


The Recipe


For the pastry:
450g plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom
50 g fresh yeast
250 ml milk
1 egg, beaten
300g butter, sliced (I used 250g as I just couldn't bring myself to use more than one packet!)
a few handfuls of raisins soaked in water


For the honey butter:
170g unsalted butter
55g light brown sugar
80ml honey
120ml half and half (I forgot to buy cream so I missed out this ingredient) and added a splash of milk instead.


To make the pastry:


1. Preheat the oven to 230c/gas mark 8. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar and cardamom. Mix the yeast with a little of the milk until it is creamy and stir into the flour with the remaining milk and the egg. Mix to a dough and knead until smooth and shiny.
2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle about 60cm x 30cmx 1 cm thick. Place the sliced butter over the centre strip of the dough, leaving a gap around the edges. Fold over one side of the dough to cover the butter, then fold over the other side. Chill the dough for 15 minutes. Roll out to the same size again, repeat the folding and chill for another 15 mins. Repeat the process once more. Finally put the dough in a floured plastic bag and leave to rest for 15 minutes before using.
3. Roll out the pastry to a rectangle about 40 x 15 cm. Spread with the honey butter filling (to make the honey butter just melt all ingredients together in a small pan until they come to the boil, then remove from heat) and sprinkle over the raisins. Press raisins in with a rolling pin. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the butter.
4. Roll up from the short end to make a swiss roll shape. Cut into 14 slices and place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Leave in a warm place for 15 minutes. Bake for about 10—15 minutes until golden.
5. Brush the cooked pastries with more honey butter.

Christmas Ale Fruit Loaf

I was given Home Baked by Eric Lanlard a few months ago and have finally got round to making one of his cakes. I've done the recipe for his Ale Fruit loaf but in the spirit of the season I used Harvey's Christmas Ale instead of a regular one.  The recipe also lists wholemeal self-raising flour as an ingredient.  As I didn't have any in the cupboard I used wholemeal spelt flour and added a teaspoon of baking powder to the mixture.  I do love fruit cake and Wensleydale cheese - I think that is my Yorkshire roots coming out - and this cake is perfect for that combination.  Did you know by the way that Wensleydale cheese production almost had to finish in the 1990s due to such low sales.  It was however featured in the Wallace & Gromit animations and sales shot up saving this lovely cheese which was originally created by French Cistercian monks who settled in Wensleydale in the 14th century.  In his book Eric also suggests serving it toasted and buttered with raspberry jam which would be delicious too. Either way this is a great cake for eating in front of the TV on those days between Christmas and NY just as it's getting dark outside and it's all cosy inside (or while typing up a blog post....).


This cake is also my entry into December's Tea Time Treats, a monthly baking challenge hosted alternatively by What Kate Baked and Lavender and Lovage.  The theme this month is, of course, Christmas and is being hosted by the fab Kate.

The Recipe (my version)


390g mixed dried fruit (out of interest can someone tell me why Sainsbury's normal mixed dried fruit is £1.54 for 300g and their luxury dried fruit £1.53 for the same amount?!)
1 x bottle (250ml) ale
100g soft brown sugar
85g self raising flour
100g wholemeal spelt flour
1 tspn baking powder
3 tsp's ground mixed spice
2 eggs, beaten


1. This is the easiest cake ever to make.  Firstly, the day before you want to make the cake, place the dried fruit in a saucepan with the beer and heat gently.  Place in a bowl, cover and leave overnight to soak.
2. The next day preheat the oven to 40c/gas mark 1.  Grease and line a loaf tin.
3.  Put the soaked dried fruit and all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Place in the loaf tin and cook.  The original recipe says to cook for 1 1/4 hours but mine took more like 1 1/2 hours.  Cool in the tin before turning out.  


According to Eric, you should wrap the loaf in cling film and it will keep in a cool, dry place for up to 6 weeks.

Gingerbread with Lemon Glaze

I have been on holiday the last couple of weeks in South Africa, hence the lack of posts.  It was an amazing holiday whose highlight was seeing a whale do a triple jump in the wild. The South African food was pretty fantastic too which has led to sightings of a whale in the South London area since my return!  I was keen to be back to the baking for my blog but have to say it isn't the ideal diet for the latter described whale.


This gingerbread is my entry for this month's Tea Time Treats Challenge which is hosted alternatively by two fantastic bloggers - Karen at Lavender & Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked.  This month's theme is Ginger and Bonfire Treats and it is Karen's turn to host.  You have to visit her blog just to see the wonderful gingerbread house she has made.  


I love ginger, bonfire night and all related treats.  I decided to make gingerbread as firstly I love it and haven't made it for ages and secondly as I  wanted to use my mini bundt tins. One of out two ain't bad!  The mixture just didn't work in the bundt tins as it was too crumbly so I ended up using mini loaf tins instead.  The cake itself was from a recipe I had jotted down ages ago so I'm not sure where I originally found it - probably on the internet as it's in cups. I have made some changes to the recipe which include using Wholemeal flour instead of plain and substituting stem ginger for the original ginger powder.  I love getting little bits of stem ginger when you eat a cake.  When I took it out of the oven it smelt just like Thornton's treacle toffee and tasted like Jamaican Ginger Cake (I used to love that cake especially the sticky topping). I think I read a blog the other day where someone had made a cake which reminded them of this classic cake too.  I've added a lemon icing glaze for some contrast to the ginger. 


Ummm delicious!


The Recipe


1 2/3 cups wholemeal flour
1 1/4 tspns bicarb of soda
2 stem gingers finely chopped
3/4 tspn cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup black treacle (licking of spoon after getting it out of tin obligatory)
1/2 cup rapeseed oil (I added some of the stem ginger syrup to this measurement too)
1/2 cup boiling water


1. Preheat oven to 180c.  
2. Sift the flour and bicarb into a town.  Add the spices, salt, sugar, egg and treacle. Mix together until combined.  Add the oil and boiling water and mix well together until it makes a smooth batter.
3.  Place in your choice of tin (square would probably work well) making sure you grease and flour it. Bake for about 30 mins until springy.
4. To make the icing mix together icing sugar and lemon juice so you have a thickish icing consistency. Drizzle over the cake while still warm.