Sticky Toffee Pudding

A slightly wintery one but lets not pretend that British summer time is not slightly autumnal at the best of times. A classic sticky toffee pudding is one of the ultimate comfort foods and even in the summer if served with ice cream is perfect. 

Ingredients:

Sponge

4 tea bags

450g fresh dates

1 tsp cinnamon

1 whole nutmeg (grated)

170g butter

340g self raising flour

170g caster sugar

170g muscovado sugar

4 eggs

Caramel Sauce

250g butter

125g muscovado sugar

125g caster sugar

50ml rum

300ml double cream

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cover the tea bags with 300ml of boiling water and leave to steep for 3.5 minutes. Then destone the dates and then put in a processor with the cinnamon and half a nutmeg. Pour the tea over the dates and leave to soak for 10 minutes. Blitz to a puree. 

Butter a 26cm bundt tin. Cream the butter and sugar together and beat in the eggs one-by-one then stir in the flour and fold in the pureed dates. Pour the pudding mixture into the tin and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. 

For the sauce, cube the butter and melt in a small pan on a medium heat. Add both the sugars, then, once nicely mixed, carefully add the rum and double cream.Bring to the boil the simmer until a deep golden colour. 

Once out of the oven flip onto a plate and brush all over with enough sauce to form a delicate, crispy surface but also keep your sponge bouncy. Serve with a jug of sauce and cream or ice cream. 

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.

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

John Whaite Bakes

Tomorrow is the Great British Bake Off quarter final, it is getting serious now! *cue screams*

So in celebration of the fact it is nearly the GBBO quarter final and the woes that I can never enter, I did a selection of bakes from last years winner's book, John Whaite Bakes. 

Also apologies in advance about the picture quality, it is appalling and I don't really know why, except camera troubles. 

I started off by baking his "Simple Strawberry Tart" - as, let's face it summer is coming to a close...or is over altogether. 

The tart is a shortcrust pastry base filled with creme patisserie and then covered in strawberries. It was a sweet and delicious tart which I know that when summer returns, if summer returns, I will definitely be baking this again. It also meant I had to make creme pat for the first time, exciting!

I then attempted to create a plaited loaf. Which soon became two plaits of three strands which is slightly less impressive. For some reason, the dough was a complete and utter failure. And although it tasted ok, the strands didn't become one in the oven and the texture was a bit off. I don't like making bread!

In a quest to find a simple thing to bake I turned to his Caramel Shard Cookies which involves making a simple cookie dough and a slab of caramel, which is smashed. They are then combined, to make a rather dangerous cookie dough mixture. 

The odd thing about this recipe is that they are baked as balls, they are not shaped before they go in to the oven, but suprisingly enough they baked perfectly. 

They were fab and I was eating them for a whole week, the vision of health that I am. 

 Doesn't it look beautiful!

 John Whaite, if you are reading this, your book is gold, I love it. Everyone should buy a copy just for the recipes I have mentioned above, if nothing else.

I cannot wait for Bake Off, as sadly enough, along with Downton Abbey, it is the highlight of my television week.

And with that all that remains to be said is, on your marks, get set, bake!