Jo Wheatley “Home Baking” Book Review and giveaway

I was very excited to receive a copy of Jo Wheatley’s new book “Home Baking” in the post last week (makes a nice change from bills and junk mail!) I’m a rather big fan of Jo, she is such a lovely lady and a wonderful home cook and baker.  She  posts regularly on both her Facebook and Twitter pages and is always so gracious and friendly.

I love Jo’s first book Passion for Baking and this new one doesn’t disappoint at all.  The recipes are divided in the following chapters:

Biscuits, bars and cookies

Bread and scones

Cakes

Baking with children

Crumbles, tarts and pithiviers

Quiches, pasties, pies and savoury puddings

Quick and simple

Special occasions

Supper Bakes

Teatime treats

My copy is butter splattered and flour dusted already but I think (I hope!) Jo would be quite happy to hear that.  Here is what I’ve made so far…..

Honeycomb bars – totally addictive.  I could eat far to many of these, it’s just as well I hardly get a look in with my boys around.  A family favourite.

Chilli chocolate cookies – I was so intruiged by these because I have never tried chocolate and chilli together. They really are so good – love the warmth you get from the chilli! Gorgeous. 

 Banana, pecan  & butterscotch cake – delicious! Love the combination of banana and butterscotch. 

Anzac cookies – my boys gobbled these up in no time! Yummy.

Oat, raisin and pecan cookies – love these.  So moreish!

Oaty fruit squares – my favourite recipe from the book so far.  They are very yummy. I used up the dried fruits I had in my cupboard – dates, apricots and strawberries. Probably the nicest oat/flapjack bars I have ever tried. I will bake these all the time!  Perfect for lunchboxes

Lemon and white chocolate muffins – love the flavours in here.  I had half a punnet of raspberries that needed using up so I threw them in to the batter. Lovely.

So that’s it for now. but there are loads more recipes I want to try, including peanut butter blondie pie, honey madeleines, lemon, white chocolate & macadamia bombs, crispy minty macarons and many more.

Another winning book Jo, we thank you!  The book is available is Sainsbury’s at the bargain price of only £8….but…..I HAVE A COPY TO GIVEAWAY!!!!  Sorry, I just got excited there…my first blog giveaway and all!  Unknown to me, my lovely husband had already bought a copy for me so I ended up with two..so I decided to do a little giveaway.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and confirm you would like your name to be entered into the draw and I will select the winner at random.  This applies to UK  residents only, I’m so sorry but posting the book overseas would cost me more than the book is worth…sucks, I know!

Competition closes midnight on Friday 31st May 2013. One winner will be selected at random (UK only)

Good luck!

Bramley Apple & Custard Tea Cake

Now this is a beautiful cake.  I had been intending to make it ever since my friend Eat, Little Bird (SO much prettiness on this blog! I adore it.) wrote about it back in March 2012.

It is originally a rhubarb custard cake which I also made and was really delicious.

I found some cheap rhubarb in the supermarket (30p!) and I bought it, knowing what I was going to make straightaway.

I was left wondering why I took so long to make this cake.  It was scrummy!  This cake is a keeper.  You’ll find the recipe for this rhubarb custard tea cake right here.  Be prepared to stay a while on this blog, it’s simply stunning.

As soon as I had made this cake, as much as I enjoyed it with the rhubarb, I knew I had to try it with a different fruit.  My husband doesn’t like rhubarb and I really wanted him to try this cake because I knew he would love it.  I had some bramley apples in the cupboard so apple cake it was!

This cake turned out wonderful.  My husband and I demolished it in one day! I’ll be making another one soon

Bramley Apple & Custard Tea Cake

200g soft butter
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
185g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
40g custard powder
1-2 tablespoons milk
3-4 Bramley apples, peeled cored and cut into slices
Demerara sugar for sprinking over the cake

For the custard:
2 tablespoons custard powder
55g caster sugar
250ml milk
20g butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line the bottom of the tin with baking parchment.

Make the custard. Mix together the custard powder and caster sugar in a saucepan. Whisk in the milk slowly bring to the boil, stirring over a medium heat until the custard thickens. Take the custard off the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Pour into a bowl, place some clingfilm over the top and leave to cool.

For the cake, sift together the flour, baking powder and custard powder and set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour mixture to stop the mixture curdling. Add the remaining flour mixture then add 1-2 tablespoons of milk to loosen the batter a little.

Spread half the batter in the cake tin. Spread the cooled custard all over the batter. Drop spoonfuls of the remaining cake batter over the custard, using a small spatula to carefully spread the batter over the custard. Try and make sure that all the custard is covered with batter. Place your apple slices over the top of the cake anyway you like. Sprinkle Demerara sugar all over the cake. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until risen and golden. A skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean.

Raspberry Ripple Cake

I have not one but two posts for you today…I’ve been baking like a trooper all weekend!

It was my hubby’s Birthday yesterday and I wanted to make him a really special cake.  He injured his ankle last week and has been in a lot of pain.  He has also been pretty ill over the last couple of weeks so he’s been pretty down in the dumps.  I asked him what cake he would like me to make him for his Birthday and he requested this gorgeous raspberry ripple cake. I made it last year for my Birthday and it was SO good I was waiting for an excuse to make it again.   So I didn’t need to be asked twice  My lovely friend Jo Blogs Jo Bakes has also made this cake and can confirm how good it is – check out her stunning pics and I defy you not to drool

The recipe comes from Edd Kimber’s book “The boy who Bakes.”  Ed won the first series of the Great British Bake off and with creations like this its no wonder.  There are some other stunning bakes in the book including a drool worthy cinnamon and caramel cake, apple pie cake, cranberry & macadamia shortbread and orange & passion fruit loaf cake to name a few.  If you bake then you need this book in your life!

So what else can I tell you about this cake?  It’s basically raspberry ripple ice cream in cake form.  The sponge is vanilla scented and amazingly light and fluffy.  The Italian meringue frosting is so light and melts on your tongue.  It’s truly amazing stuff.

Now I’ll be honest and say that this not a straightforward cake to make but it is totally worth the effort.  If you make this be prepared to spend a few hours in your kitchen!  It’s not difficult to make but there are a few fiddly steps.  You do need a sugar thermometer and a good mixer  (unless you are actually The Rock or have his muscles!) for the Italian meringue, but that’s the only specialist equipment you’ll need.

Raspberry Ripple Cake by Edd Kimber

335g butter
335g Plain flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
400g Caster Sugar
6 eggs, Separated
3 tsp vanilla extract
185ml whole milk
80-100g seedless raspberry jam for coating the layers

White Chocolate Frosting

100g good quality White Chocolate
250g Granulated sugar
160ml Water
5 Large Egg Whites
425g Unsalted Butter
100g seedless raspberry jam (I used my favourite Tiptree seedless raspberry jam)

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan oven/gas mark 4. Lightly grease 3 20cm tins and line the bases with baking parchment.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium bowl. Set aside. Cream the butter and 300g of the sugar together until very light and fluffy (at least 5 minutes.) Beat in the egg yolks one at a time while still mixing, then add the flour mixture and milk alternately, mixing on low until the mixture is smooth and combined well.

Place the egg whites into a clean bowl (this is when having another KA bowl would come in very handy!) and whisk on medium until the mixture holds soft peaks. Increase speed to high then gradually and slowly add the 100g sugar until the mixture is very firm and glossy. You should have stiff peaks. Gently and gradually fold into the cake mixture until the mixture is smooth and well combined, then spoon into the prepared cake tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cakes are well risen and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

For the frosting, melt the chocolate slowly over a pan of simmering water. When melted and smooth take off the heat. Place the sugar and 160ml water in a medium pan. Place a sugar thermometer in the pan. Slowly bring to the boil (don’t have the heat on full throttle – you’ll end up with a blackened mess!) It’s better to have the heat on medium, it will slowly start to boil. Make sure you keep an eye on it. Meanwhile place the egg whites in a clean bowl. Whisk on medium. Once the sugar thermometer reaches 115C, start whisking the egg whites on high. Once the thermometer reaches 121C, remove it from the heat and with the mixer still running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl without touching the beaters. Continue whisking on high (My treasured KA certainly got a work out) until the meringue has cooled to room temperature. Basically when your mixer bowl no longer feels hot to the touch. This takes roughly around 10 minutes.

With the mixer still on high, gradually and slowly add the soft butter. Now I must warn you, at this stage it may look like scrambled eggs. Don’t worry. It’s not a disaster. Keep that mixer going! It will smooth out. I promise.  When the frosting is (eventually) very soft and fluffy (dream like!) divide the mixture into two bowls. Stir the melted white chocolate into one and the raspberry jam in the other. You don’t want to stir the raspberry jam in too much – you want to see those beautiful ripples!

To assemble, place one sponge on a plate. Spread generously with some of the raspberry jam. Top with a generous amount of the white chocolate frosting. Repeat with the second cake layer the place the third layer on top. Spread the raspberry jam frosting all over the top and sides of the cake. The beauty of this cake is that your frosting doesn’t have to be perfect – it actually looks better rustic. Alternating swirls of the white and raspberry frosting are a gorgeous thing here. If you have a little bit of jam leftover you can “artistically” *ahem!* place random blobs here and there, swirling them with the white frosting.

Sit down. Have a cup of tea. And bask in the sheer beauty of the epic cake you have just made.

Pink Lemonade Bars

Happy Friday! I’m so glad it’s nearly the weekend.  It’s been a busy week.  I’ve been baking quite a lot over the past few days and I have loads of inspiration for future blog posts, but today I just had to show you these divine pink lemonade bars I made last night.  The recipe is from my lovely friend Jo of the wonderful blog Jo Blogs Jo Bakes.  You’ll find the recipe on Jo’s Facebook page right here.

These bars are so good and they couldn’t be easier to make.  You have a refreshing raspberry-lemon curd topping on a crumbly shortbread base.  So good! The only thing I did differently was to mix all the ingredients for the filling in the food processor, then if you wish you can push the mixture through a sieve to get rid of the raspberry seeds. Taste the mixture before you pour it onto the shortbread base.  If it is too tart for your taste, add a little more sugar.

So good! Highly recommended.

Lemon Glazed Madeleines

I’ve been meaning to make Madeleines for years.  I’m a little slow on the uptake at times.  I bought a lovely Madeleine tin in Lakeland in 2009 with the usual good intentions but it sat in my cupboard untouched.  Until today.

A Madeleine is a traditional small, dainty cake from the Lorraine region in Northeastern France.  Recipes can vary enormously, but they are made from a genoise cake batter which involves beating together the eggs and sugar vigorously until the mixture is very thick and pale.  Now I have no idea if  this recipe is traditional or authentic  but I can tell you it made beautiful, light, buttery, lemony cakes that were a joy to eat!  I finished my madeleines off with a lemon glaze, inspired by a recipe from David Lebovitz.

Lemon Glazed Madeleines from The Australian Women’s Weekly Home Baked

2 eggs
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
35g Self raising flour
35g Plain flour
75g butter, melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 200C/180 fan assisted. Grease a 12 hole madeleine tin.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

Beat eggs, sugar, sifted icing sugar and lemon zest together with an electric mixer until the mixture is very pale and thick. Sift the flours over the egg mixture. Pour the butter and lemon juice down the side of the bowl then fold ingredients together, taking care not to knock too much air out of the mixture. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into your tin. My madeleine tin seemed quite shallow so I only needed a teaspoons worth of mixture in each hole.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove tray from the oven and tap the hot tin firmly on the workbench to release the madeleines. *I was a little scared to do this…but it worked perfectly! As long as you grease your tin well it should be fine…I used Dr Oekter cake release spray*

For the Glaze

75g Icing Sugar
1/2 tablespoon Lemon juice
1 tablespoon water

While the cakes are baking, simply mix the ingredients for the glaze together until smooth. When the madeleines are cool enough to handle, dip each cake in the glaze, turning them over so they are coated on both sides. Scrape off any excess glaze with a butter knife.

Most madeleine recipes tell you to rest the batter for a few hours but this particular one doesn’t mention doing so. However I still popped the batter in the fridge for an hour because it suited me at the time…my madelelines didn’t have the “hump” (!!) you often see (apparently due to the the cold rested batter being placed in the hot oven) but they were definitely
none the worse for it.

Best eaten the day they are made, but I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that…:-)

I’m entering these madeleines in the Classic French April challenge, organised by Jen of Blue Kitchen Bakes Thank you Jen for giving me the push I needed to finally christen my madeleine tin!

Chocolate Cookies with Smarties & White Chocolate Chips

I love these cookies.  Just looking at them makes me happy.  Maybe it’s the rainbow of colours from the Smarties that put me in a good mood.  Smarties remind me of my childhood.  Is it me or do they taste different now?  It must be something to do with them changing to all natural colourings and flavorings.  I’m afraid I was brought up What’s your favourite colour in the packet?  Mine’s Orange, always has been.  It’s still my favourite even though I wish they still tasted just like they did when I was little.

Chocolate Cookies with Smarties & White Chocolate Chips

200g Butter, softened
150g soft light brown sugar
150g Caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
350g plain flour
50g Cocoa Powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g Smarties
100g White chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together. Add to the butter & sugar mixture and fold in, stop when the dry ingredients disappear into the batter. Stir in the Smarties and white chocolate chips.

Form the dough into balls roughly the size of a golf ball. (For smaller cookies, go with the size of a walnut.) Place the balls onto a greased and lined baking tray and space them about 3cm apart to allow for spreading. Lightly flatten the cookies and stud with extra Smarties. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Leave on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before cooling on wire racks.

Chocolate Orange Sandwich Cookies

These gorgeous cookies are perfect for the cookie monsters in your life!

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  I’ve been living very quietly – around two weeks ago I had a nasty fall and badly sprained my knee.  I’ve also had a very irritating chesty cough so I really haven’t been in the mood for doing much baking or proper cooking.

One thing I did manage to rustle up for my boys last week was these very yummy chocolate orange sandwich cookies from the April issue of Sainsbury’s Magazine.  I have to admit I do love the Sainsbury’s magazine – it’s such a good read and always packed full of yummy sounding recipes. I love curling up with the latest copy and a mug of tea – the simple things in life make me happy

This recipe is by Joanne Wheatley and lets just say it was a roaring success with my boys and their friends who happened to call by the house that day.  The cookies by themselves are so good – they are thick, chewy on the outside and soft in the middle. They taste of vanilla and are loaded with chocolate chunks (I used a large bar of Cadbury’s Milk chocolate).

What really takes these cookies to another level is the chocolate orange ganache you fill them with.  I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of the filled cookie sandwiches.  I did take one but I can’t find it right now.  But you’ll see them on the link below.  They really are gorgeous.  Wish I had one right now!

Want to try the recipe?  You’ll find it right here on the Sainsbury’s blog