1 year on and an adventure into Choux

So... It's been a while...

Since I last updated this I have completed my first year of university which took up a substantial part of my time but it is little excuse as students do basically nothing all the time. Anyway, I have just finished my first year studying History at the University of Birmingham and it has been the best year of my life although it has been severely lacking in baking.

As the summer has come and has nearly gone, I decided to give this whole cooking thing another whirl and when term starts in a month or so I will be attempting to keep it up but maybe a little different than it used to be. As I am away from home and the ample baking supplies that it offers, the baking has been limited, however the cooking has not.

Thus (ooo fancy) over the next year I am going to attempt to keep this up but with the addition of recipes for main meals on a budget which should hopefully be helpful to students and all of those who want to save a bit of cash in general.

Anyway this is all to come, for now I have access to baking products so I made profiteroles.

My adventure into choux pastry begins.

I used the recipe by John Whaite which you can find HERE.

Choux pastry is unlike any other in many ways. One, it uses a ton of eggs.... well not a ton but a lot. And it is in part made over a hob which while being very satisfying is also very bizarre.

Once the pastry was made according to John's recipe, I piped the choux into balls of about 5 cm diameter as they seem to puff up amazingly.

They also last quite well so once baked if you put them in an airtight container you can leave them for a while if you don't have the time or the energy to deal with them at that point.

When I was emotionally ready... I cut them all in half and filled the middle with vanilla ice cream which while is not usual in England is lovely, perfect for summer and works very well with the hot chocolate sauce that you then have to make.

To make the chocolate sauce I just mixed dark chocolate and cream over the hob before pouring over the piles of profiteroles and serving with raspberries.

So the return of the blog is underway...Hopefully I will be updating all again in a week or so but if life gets in the way again, I will see you in a year xoxo

Apple and Almond Tart

Right then, you make a sweet short crust pastry with 15g of almonds as a replacement to some of the flour which just gives it that little extra bit of almond loveliness. This must then be blind baked at 170 degrees heat for 20 mins with the little beans in the case.

This is then filled with a almond frangipane mixture, or a kind of almondy sponge... I think that's a lie but that is what it reminded me of so that is how I will describe it. This makes it think and delicious and warming and fab.

You pour this mixture in to the pastry case and cut up an apple, with or without the skins on, I left mine on as I like the colour that it adds to a slightly beige pudding but feel free to peel them off as there doesn't seem to be an affect on the actual cake.

The cake/tart is baked for another 30-35 minutes or until risen and golden at the same temperature.

You can then dust a sprinkling of icing sugar over the top to make it look all snowy and slightly nicer than before.

I have found that this can be a little dry, it tastes nice but the sponge can be a bit claggy. So until I find a way to combat this, leave a comment below with your idea if you have one, cream, custard or ice cream are great for making it a little lighter.

Caramel Milk Tart

Wow long silence. Exams. Excuses. Excuses. I have been baking but not blogging so over the next few weeks expect a few!

Anyway first up here is a custard tart with a caramel crumble topping.

Ingredients:
Pastry:
250g plain flour
50g icing sugar
125g cold butter
1 egg
A splash of semi-skinned milk

Filling:
600ml milk
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 knob of butter
2 eggs
2 tbsps of cornflour
1.5 tbsps of plain flour
75g caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Caramel:
130g caster sugar
3 tbsps water

Method:
Rub cubes of butter into the flour and icing sugar until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg and work together before adding a splash of milk so that the pastry forms a scruffy ball. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill for 2 hours.

Grease a 24cm tin and roll the pastry to 0.5 cm thickness. Put pastry into the tin and prick the base then freeze for 20 mins.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Then fill the pastry case with baking beans on a layer of grease-proof paper. Then bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and then bake for another 10 minutes.

For the filling heat the milk with vanilla extract and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and then stir in the butter until it melts. In a bowl mix the eggs with cornflour, flour and sugar and then when the milk has cooled gradually whisk into the egg mixture. Tip back into the pan and place over a low hear until thickened, whisking constantly. Pour in to pastry case and dust with cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake for 20 minutes.

Melt the sugar in a non-stick pan with water over a medium heat until lightly golden then pour onto a sheet until it cools. Then smash the caramel into pieces and crumble over the top.

New York Cheesecake

*WARNING: This will ruin your post-Christmas healthy eating attempt*

I have made a cheesecake in the past, a Passionfruit cheesecake which was refrigerated rather than baked. You can find the recipe here: http://girlbaking.blogspot.com/2013/07/passion-fruit-cheesecake.html

While the ingredients will make your heart stop, the end result is delicious. 

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

85g plain flour

40g ground almonds

50g caster sugar

85g unsalted butter

For the filling:

850g full-fat cream cheese

270g caster sugar 

2 medium eggs, 1 egg yolk

420ml whipping cream

50g plain flour 

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

Grated nutmeg

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius fan. Grease a 23 cm tin.

Mix the ingredients for the pastry together in a bowl and press the mixture onto the bottom of the tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden, the set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan. 

Combine the cream cheese and sugar. Add the eggs, yolk and cream and lightly mix. Fold in the flour with the vanilla extract and nutmeg. 

Bake in the oven for around 1 hour. The cheesecake should have slightly risen at the edge and should wobble slightly when moved. Leave the cheesecake to cool and   then remove from tin.

Cover with tin foil and leave the chill overnight. 

I served it with berries and some chocolate Flake, sprinkled on the top. 

Happy Baking! Gx

Christmas Cake: Round 2

My own Christmas cake recipe which I did last year but with some improvements which should make it better than ever.

Ingredients:

500g Raisins
400g Sultanas
125g Cranberries
110g Glace Cherries
120g Mixed Peel
120ml Limencello (you can use sherry/brandy if you prefer)
225g Butter
195g Brown Sugar
Zest of 2 oranges
4 eggs
2 tbsps Orange Marmalade
295g Plain Flour
55g Ground Almonds
1 tsp Almond Essence
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Mixed Spice
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Method:
1. Put all your dried fruit into a bowl, pour the limoncello over the top, cover and leave to soak for about an hour.

2. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees / gas mark

3. And line your tin. Now this is more complicated than it sounds... Wrap brown paper around the outside of the tin so it stands above the top of the tin by 10cm, secure with string wrapped around it. Then line the tin as normal with butter and baking paper.

4.Cream the butter and sugar together.

5.Beat in the orange zest

6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one, and then the marmalade.

7. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the dried fruit until all is combined.

8. Add the almond essence and mix thoroughly.

9. Put the cake mix into the cake tin and bake for about 3/3.5 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. If your oven is quite savage, like mine, I would advise making a hat for your cake out of tin foil to prevent the top from burning.

10. When the cake is finished wrap in foil and put into a tin immediately to cool so that the steam is trapped and keeps the cake moist on the top.

11. Then re-wrap in tinfoil, (don't cover the top this time) and return to the tin.

12. You will need to "feed" your cake with a liqueur of choice regularly in order to preserve the cake and add extra flavor.

And with that, good luck! 

Halloween Monster 18th!!

Earlier this week it was my friend Mimi's 18th birthday and I was asked to make the cake for her party which was on Halloween.

After much dithering and planning and deciding, we chose a monster cake and this is how we did it... 

All you need is one Victoria sponge and one load of buttercream in a colour of your choice. You then need a Wilton tip #233 pipons nozzle or a grass nozzle and some piping bags. 

Once you have made your buttercream, sandwich your sponges togother and cover the whole lot in a thin layer of icing. 

Then begin piping. You can either do short sharp bursts against the cake or if you just squeeze and go in random motions from  above to create a crazy hair like creation. You can do this anyway you want and depending on how stiff your buttercream is you might find different techniques to work better. 

For the eyes of your monster you can either just do roll out icing which we used for the mouths and the eyes of the smaller monster or you can do what we did and use cake pops... 

Make one batch of cake pops and cover in roll out icing. We found the best way to do this was to wrap the cake in roll out icing, then smooth with a damp finger. Then roll in icing sugar and the palms of your hands so it becomes a smooth ball. 

Then using black writing icing, draw on the pupils. 

Using cake pop sticks attach the eyes to your cake and add any other features using fondant icing. 

Then you are done! 

 

Happy Baking!
Gx

Coffee in Covent Garden

Peyton and Byrne in Covent Garden is a lovely place for tea and cake and this is what it was like.

Look how much cake they have! But it was first thing in the morning so I decided instead to have one of their blueberry and yogurt muffins. 

Next time you are in the Covent Garden area be sure to check it out. 

Halloween Cake Pops

With Halloween in a couple of days I wanted to create some easy but delicious treats that one could serve at a party or just for fun.

The basic recipe is for caramel cake pops then decorated into pumpkins, you could also design them to be eyeballs, ghosts or other such like depending on what you have.I have always associated caramel with autumn as it is such a warming flavor.

Ingredients: (for 20 cake pops)
60g caster sugar
60g butter
1 egg
60g self raising flour
1 tsp caramel flavoring (just for ease)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Mix in a bit of the egg, then a bit of flour, then a bit of, then a bit of flour until all the egg is gone and there is half of the flour remaining.

Add the flavoring and mix.

Fold in the remainder of the flour, get as much air as possible in to the mixture.

Grease your cake pop tin and fill the bottom half of the mold with cake mix.

Put the lid on the cake pop tin and bake for 10 minutes so that they fill the tin.

Then leave to cool.

For decoration:
4 tablespoons Icing Sugar
1 tablespoon water
Orange gel coloring- to effect
Orange sugar crystals
Mixed peel
Green food coloring

Mix the water, sugar and coloring together so that it is thick paste. Pour over the cake pops and then cover in the sugar crystals.

For the stalk I used a piece of mixed peel which I painted green with food coloring. 

Happy Baking and Happy Halloween!

Gx

Top 5 Baking Books to Swear by....

This is a post I have wanted to do for a while but never got round to actually doing.... sorry about that.... Better late than never?

Although I make up my own recipes there is nothing I love more (other than the actual cake of course) than a good baking bible. So, whether you are looking to start a collection or just have the urge to buy more here are my favorites....

5. John Whaite Bakes by John Whaite

Most of you will know him as that guy that won Bake Off a few years ago. Well, this is the first of his currently two baking books. This is a book full of fun and simple recipes which often have a twist on an old classic. The only thing I don't like about it is the way it is organised; mood... It just doesn't make sense to me... but perhaps that is just me...

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/linda+collister/the+great+british+bake+off3a+how+to+turn+everyday+bakes+into+showstoppers/8782849/

4. The Great British Bake Off: How to turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers by Linda Collins, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood

For the novices among us this book could save you. Taking you slowly by the hand it gives you one basic recipe and then builds it up through three recipes until you reach the showstopper level. This is frankly, I think,amazing. Even if you're not a beginner this can give the perfect inspiration. 

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/linda+collister/the+great+british+bake+off3a+how+to+turn+everyday+bakes+into+showstoppers/8782849/

3. Annie Bell's Baking Bible by Annie Bell

This was the first cookery book I bought with my own money and to be honest it is still heavily relied upon. If you look right back to the first blog posts in 2012 (what?!) I mention it constantly and I still think it is great. There are bakes which I have never heard of before but the recipes are written simply and clearly so that it is almost impossible to go wrong. Ignore the red velvet cake meat fiasco..... (if you want to see it you can find it....) 

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/annie+bell/annie+bell27s+baking+bible/9180387/

2. The Penguin Cookery Book by Bee Nilson

It was published originally in 1952. Yep 1952. My edition is from 1973 but still, it's old. This book provides 995 recipes, not all of them baking, which are all gold. They are foolproof and fabulous and everyone needs one in their life. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Penguin-Cookery-Book-handbook/dp/0140460179

1. How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

If you haven't heard of this book I don't know where you have been. This should be staple in any home and if you are going to buy one baking book it should be this one. I love this book so much and many of the recipes in it have often inspired my own, my Lemon Drizzle recipe was based on this one for example. Lovely Nigella covers every single base so that by the end of that book you should be able to bake anything. Yes anything. 

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/nigella+lawson/how+to+be+a+domestic+goddess/10348756/

Well those are my favorites, I hope this has inspired you too shop or to bake because let's face it those are two of the best things to do in the world. Leave a comment telling me any book I have left off but other than that...

Happy Baking!

Gx

Back to School Series: Granola Bites

Now coming back to school means that I tend to eat more biscuits... if that is even possible. And trying to come across healthy biscuit/cereal bars is very difficult. HOWEVER, in Tesco they sell these things called "Seedy, Crispy, Nutty Bites" or something along those lines.

But they are ridiculously expensive for something so small and cheap to produce, thus I had to recreate them with my own little twist.

Ingredients:
100g raisins/sultanas
120g rolled oats
40g brown sugar
150g chopped mixed nuts
25g sunflower seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
20g desiccated coconut
115g butter
60g honey
60g golden syrup

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Heat the syrup, honey, sugar and butter in a pan

3. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and pour the melted mixture in to the bowl and combine. If the mixture doesn't look dense enough add a tbsp more oats.

4. Shape the mixture into small balls and place on a greased tray.

5. Bake for around 8 minutes and leave to cool.
6. Allow to cool and then remove from tray.

Now, I would have a beautiful array of pictures of the end product but unfortunately there were some technical difficulties...

Anyway, although these aren't the most healthy snacks in the world, they are better for you than chocolate chip cookies so to me they are the epitome of health.

Until next time,

Gracie x

Back to School Series - New year round 2?

We are coming into a new school year, my final school year - weep, and this is the time for change and self-improvement. The second chance for all of us who have clearly failed our New Years resolutions. Remember those from January? Yeah thought not...

 Back in January I was going to run more, drink more water and be super organised with work and go to bed earlier each night. Guess how long that lasted? Approximately until the evening of January 1st when it reached midnight and I was still watching YouTube videos rather than sleeping.

For round two I am going to set myself the challenge with a deadline of sorts and a step I have taken to achieve it. I am hoping that this is a bit more effective than the random declaration "I WILL EAT MORE FRUIT" which poses the question- but how?

So let's go. New Years resolutions round 2:

Run more

I have new trainers which fit so I am hoping that this will act as a form of encouragement... Hopefully... 

By the 1st November I will have run 24 times.<- gaaaah scary 

Be in bed at 10 every single school night

I have set a timer so that my phone, iPod and laptop will turn off at 10 so that I will only be able to read and will be forced to avoid screens!

Stay organised

Normally at this point in the academic year I decide that I will do every piece of work when it is set and that will be that. This never lasts and so I have gone for a more open option which I hope will be helpful.

Blog more

I don't use this enough. This is mainly down to the fact that there is not enough time in the world to do both bake and blog. But to remedy this I am going to do a few more posts and this is the start of my back to school series over this week and next. So stay tuned for that.

Anyway- if you are going back to school, good luck you will be awesome and if it doesn't go as planned- just eat cake.

Grace x

Banana Muffins

We had three bananas just wasting a way on our counter so I was requested to put them to use as they reached the point when no one wanted to eat them. So muffins were the answer- I have slightly edited a Nigella Lawson to suit the quantities I had and the way that I wanted them. 

115g grams butter (melted)
325 grams self-raising flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
175 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon honey
3 large bananas 
3 medium eggs
190 ml milk
30g oat

Preheat oven to 190c

Leave melted butter to cool

Mash the bananas well

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, oats, cinnamon and nutmeg into a bowl. Add the sugar and mix well. In a second bowl, with a folk, beat together the eggs, vanilla extract, honey, butter and milk.

Add the bananas to the egg mixture and stir.

Make a well in the dry mixture and add the egg mixture. Stir roughly with a folk. (Don't stir too much - its meant to be thick and lumpy!)

Grease a muffin/cake tin well and fill each space with the mixture. 

Put in the over for 20-25 minutes.

Once golden brown and firm remove from oven leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin and then 5 minutes on a wire rack.

Brush some honey over the top and sprinkle with oats. 

Cupcakes, tarts and meringues for 50

Last weekend with an emergency gazebo purchased and two vats of curry on the hob, we threw a little party with over 50 guests in our garden. 

As it had been due to rain, my father made a quick fire dash to Argos and purchased a very fetching forest green gazebo with white detailing... ooooh stylish. But typically, once you spend £40 to protect your guests from rain it doesn't so now we are left with a glorified tent taking up valuable cupboard space... great!

Anyway the main point of this was that for the party I whipped up 70 custard and strawberry tarts and 55 cupcakes designed to look like "99" ice creams, along with a few dozen meringues. 

Strawberry Custard Tarts

These tarts are made up of rich shortcrust pastry which is baked blind which are then filled with custard and topped with sugar dusted strawberries. 

Rich Shortcrust Pastry
1 egg
125g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
125g salted butter

Whisk the egg, extract and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved.

Stir the flour in to the mixture until it has an almost sandy texture.

Add the butter in cubes so that the dough can come together easiliy and knead gently for a few seconds.

Refrigerate for as long as possible, I left mine for about 24 hours and the pastry was considerably better for it! 

Roll out in to small discs and place in the buttered molds, cover the mold with grease proof paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Then bake for about 15 mins.

Once the pastry cases are done fill with the custard....

Custard

4 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
40g cornflour
500ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
25g butter

Whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture is slightly paler in colour. Add the cornflour and whisk well making sure that there are no lumps remaining.

Then heat the milk and the vanilla extract until the milk is on the point of boiling. Mix half the milk into the egg bowl, whisking continuously until the milk is well combined. Then pour this mixture into the rest of the milk on the heat and whisk constantly until the custard is thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

Remove from the heat and stir for another minute before adding the butter. Stir until the butter is melted.

Pour until a bowl and let it cool a little bit before covering the bowl with cling film until you are ready to use it.

End
Scoop a spoonful of custard in to each pastry case and add one or two sugar dusted strawberries as decoration.

Summer Cupcakes

Sponge

• 125g caster sugar

• 125g soft unsalted butter

• 2 large eggs

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

125g self-raising flour

• 1 tablespoon milk

Icing 

140g butter

280g icing sugar

Some "Flakes" and sprinkles

Cream the butter and sugar together then slowly add the eggs, extract and half the flour in an alternating pattern. 

Fold in the remainder of the flour and if the mixture is still stiff, add the milk and mix.

Dollop a spoonful of mixture into each cupcake case and bake for about 12 minutes. Once out of the oven, leave to cool while you make the icing. 

For the icing, whisk the butter so it is smoother and slightly paler. Once it has reached this point slowly add the icing sugar until there are no lumps of butter. 

Put the icing into a piping bag fitter with a medium star shaped nozzle and pipe in a circular motion on to the cupcake. 

Cut up each "flake" into thirds and place in the icing of each cupcake. Then cover with some sprinkles.

I then used the egg whites left over from the custard to make meringues....which you can find a recipe for here...  http://girlbaking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/perfect-meringue-recipe.html

For chocolate ones, add a tablespoonful of cocoa powder to the mixture at the end and then dust before baking. 

All these recipes make considerably less than I actually made but as a general guideline, I hope they are good! 

Enjoy and happy summer!