Bake

Chocolate and marrow cake

I was kindly given a marrow from a colleague at work and after making marrow chutney I had some marrow left over. After looking for recipes I found a lovely recipe for courgette and chocolate cake and so decided to have a go replacing the courgette for my marrow. Sounds strange but it was tasty and went down well at work. All you need is...

170g Pain flour

1tsp Baking powder

30g Cocoa powder

1/2 tsp mixed spice

90ml Olive Oil

190g Light brown sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla extract

250ml Marrow/courgette

70g hazelnuts or chopped nuts.

Set oven to 160C

Toast chopped nuts

Grate marrow in a jug

In another bowl combine flour, baking powder, coca, mixed spice and a pinch of salt.

Add the oil, eggs (beaten) and vanilla.

Fold in the marrow and finally fold in the toasted buts.

Add to a prepared and lined tin.

Cook for 40-50 minutes.

A great way to indulge and still get one of you five a day ! :-)

Bake

Summer fruits Pavlova

We went over to our friends place for a BBQ to watch the England match. I didn't want to rock up without any nice food and noticed we had lots of lovely free range eggs in the fridge. The best Summer pudding has to be a Pavlova...my Mum taught me how to make the best meringue. The ingredients are simple but they key is being patient and letting it bake in a cool oven for several hours. It made it here in one piece but needless to say we came back with nothing....it went down a treat.

Meringue

3 egg whites

6oz caster/ granulated sugar

Whipping cream

Summer fruits

Whisk the egg whites until they make soft peaks

Slowly add the sugar and continue to whisk

Line a baking tray with greaseproof- I also add a layer of rice paper to stop it sticking

Add the mixture onto the tray and bake in cool oven 100c for around 2 hours.

Whip the cream and spread over meringue (when cool).

Add the Summer fruits and grab a spoon and enjoy!!

Bake

Pain au chocolate and chocolate custard bake

It was my Mum's birthday yesterday and I decided that we would pop over and start the celebrations early by having a birthday breakfast. I wanted to do something different and came across this lovely recipe. I guess it designed for puddings but it was so nice for breakfast with fresh, juicy strawberries. It went down a treat, so much so Mum had some for lunch too!! Its a bit calorific but it was a special occasion. Here's how easy it is.

4-6 Pain au chocolat (or use choc croissants)

100g chocolate

300ml 1/2pint milk

285ml double cream plus another 285ml of milk

4 large egg yolks or 5 medium

170g tube of condensed milk

Grease oven proof oven dish

Cut each pain au chocolat into three pieces and arrange in dish.

Place chocolate, cream , milk in saucepan and gently heat until the chocolate has melted.

In large bowl whisk together the egg yolks and condensed milk, and then gradually beat into the hot chocolate cream.

Pour mixture over pain au chocolat and leave to stand for an hour.

Cook for about 30 minutes in oven at 180c until set .

Dust with icing sugar.

Yummy!!

Bake

World Cup Cakes

My hubby has football fever and is counting down the days until the big kick off. He is even organising a Subbuteo World Cup- don't ask!! So I thought I would be a good wifey and bake some cup cakes. I thought I'd better have a trial run before sending them over to the boys so I had a quick baking session yesterday afternoon. I chose a vanilla cupcake recipe and they were delicious....proof is that we don't have many left! Give the recipe a go.....

Cupcakes

113g unsalted butter- room temp makes it easier to mix

130g granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

195g Self raising flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

60ml milk

Butter cream frosting

230g Icing sugar

113 g unsalted butter- again better at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

With an electric mixer beat butter, and sugar until soft and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one by one and then beat in the vanilla extract

With mixer on slow add the sifted flour, baking powder, alternating with the milk.

Evenly fill the muffin cases and bake for 18-20 mins until nicely brown.

Remove and cool.

To make the frosting use the electric mixer to beat butter until soft, add vanilla extract and the with mixer on slow speed gradually add the sifted icing sugar.

Add the milk and beat o high speed until light and fluffy.

Add a little more milk or icing sugar if required.

Decorate the cakes with the frosting using a knife or spatula and add decorations to your desire.

Happy baking!!

Bake

Grandma Nell's Rock cakes

My hubby has been studying hard for the last few weeks ready for his Accountancy exams so I thought I would reward his hard work with his favourite cakes which are rock cakes. My Grandma always used to make them when I was little and they always remind me of her when I make them. Simple yet delicious- needless to stay they didn't last very long at all. The recipe is so easy:

225g Self raising flour

115g butter or marg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mixed spice

50g caster sugar

115g raisins and cherries ( I always add much more than this as I love a fruity rock cake)

1 large egg

2 tsp milk

3 tsp demerera sugar to sprinkle on top of cake

Sift flour, salt and mixed spice

Rub in butter until you have breadcrumbs

Add sugar and raisins

Beat egg and milk together and slowly add to mix bit by bit

Mix to make a dough

Divide into ball shapes onto baking sheet

Sprinkle with demerera sugar and bake for 15 at 200c

Bake

Treacle Flapjacks

I have been struggling to master the art of flapjacks- they may be the easiest things to bake but I kept on going wrong. My main issue was using the wrong size baking tray. Not one to give up I decided to continue until i succeeded. A friend at work gave me a recipe for some yummy treacle flapjacks and so I set to it. I was so happy that they actually worked out and my colleagues were happy to as they were able to sample the delights. Well worth a go. The recipe is easy:

250g butter

250 light brown sugar

175g black treacle

500g rolled oats- the smaller the better

Set oven to 180c

Add butter, sugar and treacle into a pan and melt on low heat

Pour mixture into oats and mix well

Tip mixture into a lined tin and press down well.

Bake in the oven for 40 minutes

Remove from oven and mark into fingers/squares

When cold cut or break along the marked lines