Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cake

It is so difficult to choose if you want chocolate cake or vanilla sponge, I find anyway... 

If this is the same for you, this cake is the answer to all of your problems! The cake is chocolate and vanilla mixed together so you get both in one slice. It is perfect and really really easy. I also bake mine in a bundt tin which I think makes it look a bit nicer too.

Ingredients:

300g butter

300g caster sugar

6 eggs

150ml milk

280g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

60g chocolate chips

25g cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Then add the eggs bit by bit, followed by the milk. At this stage the mixture may look curdled but it will recover!

Divide the mixture between two bowls. Mix the flour and baking powder together. 

Fold 155g of the flour to one bowl along with the vanilla extract and chocolate chips.

To the other bowl add fold in the remaining 125g of flour and the 25g of cocoa powder. 

Spoon the chocolate mixture in to the base of your greased bundt tin (obviously you can use a different one but I prefer a bundt for looks). Then make a slight trough and pour the vanilla mixture on to the top. 

Bake for about 45 mins or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in to the top of the cake. 

Madeleine Madness

As I mentioned in my last post, I have recently acquired a Madeleine tin and since then I have gone a little over board in baking them.

THEY ARE JUST SO EASY! and delicious!

So here are a couple of recipes which I think are fab...

Lemony Madeleines -  this is inspired by Michael Roux Jr's recipe

2 eggs
100g caster sugar
100g plain flour
1 lemon, juice and zest
3/4 tsp baking powder
100g butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 5

Using a pastry brush, cover the molds in melted butter so they cakes come out of the tin all nicely.

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until frothy like shaving cream and then whisk in the remaining ingredients. 

You can leave this to stand for 20 minutes if you wish, but I have found that it is not really necessary. 

Pour the mixture in to the molds so that they are 3/4 full, this gives them space to rise.

Bake for around 10 minutes, or until spongy and a cake tester comes out clean.

Eat quickly!

Honey and Almond Madeleines

2 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

65g caster sugar

25g runny honey

100g plain flour

50g ground almonds

100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons of flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 5

Using a pastry brush, cover the molds in melted butter so they cakes come out of the tin all nicely.

Whisk together the eggs, honey, vanilla extract  and sugar until mousse-like.

Fold in flour and ground almonds.

Drizzle melted butter over the mixture and mix until there are no more buttery streaks.

Pour the mixture in to the molds so that they are 3/4 full, this gives them space to rise. Scatter flaked almonds over the top.

Bake for around 10 minutes, or until spongy and a cake tester comes out clean.

These can be kept for up to 4 days in an air-tight container. 

I personally prefer the first recipe as I love lemon and I think it makes a really nice fresh sponge. But try both!

Recent Baking Purchases and Gifts

As you should all know, it was Christmas a few weeks ago... if you didn't know that.... Well you do know and I don't know how you managed to avoid it.

Anyway I received a selection of baking delights and treats in my stocking and the like. I then went to stay with my close friend Eve in Woodbridge which is a lovely village in Suffolk. Made all the more lovelier by one of the best baking shops I have ever been in to. This shop has EVERYTHING, and I mean everything. We tested it.
I have been searching John Lewis, a department store, for months trying to find a madeline tin with no luck and this baking shop had one. For under a tenner and everything! Needless to say that was not my only purchase in that shop

So this blog post is basically, a what I have recently acquired and by extension what sort of recipes you can look forward to over the course of the year....

First Christmas...

1. Icing Modelling tool set- so I am going to try and develop my icing and general decorating skills as I think that we are all aware that they are not the best.

2. Cake Tester- just a cute little present as I always lose the skewer that we have. 

3. Star Shaped Cake Tin- I am thinking that this will be really cute for making upside down cake as the fruit on top will all be patterned and pretty.

4. Camera Lens Timer- just lovely cute gifty present

5. Food Colouring Paste - obviously I have liquid food colouring but many recipes work better with solid food colouring so I think it might be time for another try at red velvet cake...

6. Edible Glitter - just a nice decorating thing for cupcakes and the like

7. Tartlet tins - mmmm tarts 

I also got a spatula but I didn't think that was that interesting....

I also got this great great great apron which was personalised and everything! just having photo issues at the moment... will show it in the next post!

I got a few cookery books as well....

The Cupcake - Marks and Spencer

The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers - Linda Collister

On to the great baking shop....

A mini bundt tin - Yes a singular mini bundt tin I know this is not that practical but it was SO cute that I just couldn't resist and I am very excited about using this and making lots and lots and lots of little tiny bundts...

Nylon Icing Bags- what it says on the tin

3 mini nozzles- for decorative piping on biscuits and stuff... I will just have to start practicing with them haha

So that was it...  was slightly different to usual but I thought I would just try something new...

Let me now what you think in the comments.