Baileys Chocolate & Banana Cake

I was originally going to make plain chocolate brownies, but then I realised that I had a couple of bananas that needed using, and I also spotted the bottle of baileys, and I thought hmm... bet I can make something out of that. And it turned out I could. So here is a really simple cake, made a bit more grown-up and different by the addition of booze. You can use any liqueur, but I would stick to the same one both for drizzling the cake and in the glaze.

Makes about 18 squares

For the cake

125g butter

210g granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 large bananas (about 260g)

185g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tablespoon baileys (or any other chocolate/coffee liqueur)

For the glazing

200g icing sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

15ml baileys (or any other chocolate/coffee liqueur)

25ml water

Popping candy for decoration

Pre-heat your oven to 180^oC.

Beat the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir well. Peel the bananas and break them into pieces before adding them. (If you’re using an electric mixer you can add them in pieces, but if you are whisking by hand it’s a lot easier if you mash the bananas before adding them.)

Mix the dry ingredients and sift them into the batter. Carefully stir until you have an even and smooth mixture. Finally melt the butter and add to the mixture and stir in.

Pour into a baking tray lined with greased baking parchment.

Place in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when you do the skewer test.

Take the cake out of the tin, and leave to cool on a wire rack. When the cake has rested for about 5 minutes, sprinkle the baileys over it.

When the cake is completely cooled, make the glazing by sifting the dry ingredients together, then adding the baileys and as much of the water as is needed to make a runny but not too wet glaze.

Pour over the cake, and decorate with popping candy or other small sweets if wanted. 

Lemon & Chocolate Fairycakes

As easy and effortless as these are I really don’t know why I don’t bake more often. Although I suspect the answer has something to do with the bathroom scales... Anyway, today was a really hectic day at work, so I decided we all could do with a little reward and cheering up, and so when I got home this evening I whipped these up in no time at all.

Makes 12 fairycakes

For the fairycakes

130g butter

130g granulated sugar

the zest of ½ large lemon

20g milk chocolate

2 medium eggs

150g plain flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon lemon juice

For the icing

75g cream cheese

30g butter

180g icing sugar

the zest of ½ large lemon

½ teaspoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon yellow food colouring

sweets for decoration

Pre-heat your oven to 180^oC

Cream the sugar and butter in an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Alternatively, do it by hand. This takes a little while, but it is worth getting the mixture as light and as fluffy as you can, as this improves the texture of the cakes.

Zest a lemon, and add half of this to the cake mixture. As always when zesting lemons; make sure you don’t get any of the white pith in with the zest, as this is very bitter.

Also grate the milk chocolate on a fine grater, so that you have a fine powdery result.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir well until you have an even mixture.

Mix the flour and baking powder and sift these into the mixture. Carefully stir until you have a smooth cake dough. It’s worth being careful here, as you don’t want to overwork your mixture. This releases the gluten in the flour, and makes the cakes more rubbery.

Finally add the lemon juice and mix it in.

Fill 12 cupcake cases and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean after being inserted into the middle of a cake.

To make the icing; mix the butter, cream cheese and icing sugar in a large bowl. When the mixture is smooth; add the lemon zest, lemon juice and food colouring. Mix well, and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Squirt the icing onto the fairy cakes, and decorate with sweets. 

The Cake & Bake Show - London 22 & 23 September 2012

After a weekend of strolling round the ‘Cake and Bake show’ at Earl’s Court, London, I had rather sore feet this Monday morning. And sore arms, for that matter. I hadn't planned on spending any money, and so I hadn't brought anything for carrying heavy items in – and thus the long arms from carrying my goodies.  I'm not complaining though, there were some good deals on offer; both on cookbooks, cake carriers, sugar craft moulds and much much more.

I’d bought tickets for both days, thinking that since I had to go all the way down to London I might as well stay for the full experience. The tickets had sold out well in advance, and the demand had been so high they had increased the opening hours on the Saturday, and with it released more tickets for the evening only. And I do believe those were sold out as well.

On the day of the opening I arrived early, having misjudged the distance from my hotel (it turns out those guides online that tell you how far things are, and how long it takes to get there are rather careful with their timings, and I used a third of the time they suggested). So the only sensible thing I could do was to join the steadily growing queue of people waiting to get inside. By the time the doors opened I could no longer see the end of the queue, but bearing in mind it was 5 persons wide, I think there were quite a lot of people there. Luckily the sun was out, and people were mostly friendly and chatty, looking forward to the show. 

With a sudden surge people were moving forward, and it wasn’t long before I was inside. The ticket checker was a bit baffled by my ticket being valid for two days, but soon I was on my way up the escalator and into the fun. Momentarily confused I took a minute to get my bearings, but then headed towards the nearest stalls. Soon I found someone selling a programme, and I headed towards a quiet corner for a read. It seemed other people had the same idea, and soon there were programme reading people everywhere. Having made sense of the layout I headed for the ‘Edible Beach’ competition area. This was an area where people who had signed up to take part in the competition had brought in and exhibited their cakes. As the name suggested, the theme was beach. And what beaches they were; one more stunning than the other.

After some gazing I moved on to the stalls, which had quickly filled up in the time I had spent by the beaches. Thinking I couldn’t be bothered with the crunching and queuing by the stalls, I moved on to the other end of the hall, where the wedding cake stands and chocolate area was. I have to admit I had expected a bit more than a table with a few cakes on it from the wedding section, but the chocolate section was better. There were people selling chocolate, and there were classrooms advertising talks throughout the days. Moving on I located the other classrooms, and also the large demo area. The classrooms required tickets, but the demo areas were free for all. Having brought a marker pen I made a strategic plan using my programme, and made a move to catch the first talk.

In the afternoon the hall started to thin out, before there was a slight increase in numbers again. Presumably these were the lucky ones who had got tickets for the evening. I was also heading home around that time, when suddenly it was nearly eight o'clock and the show was closing.  

The next morning I knew not to arrive so early, and I joined the queue of people just before opening hours. The weather had changed overnight, and instead of the lovely sunshine that had accompanied us the day before, we were threatened by large black clouds. Thankfully the organisers redirected the queue indoors, so there was only a short sprint in the rain.

The second day took on much the same pattern as the first day, with me walking from one talk to another. There were a lot of very interesting things to see and hear, but I have to admit that I thought some of the guest speakers were a waste of time. Hopefully some of those will be weeded out before the next show. But overall, the presentations and demonstrations were very good.

Eventually it was time for me to catch my train home, and I cast a last glance over the hall before heading towards the doors, where a very nice team was handing out goodie-bags to the leavers. A nice touch, I thought. 

Raspberry Cake with Buttercream

When I needed to make a cake for my friend's birthday this weekend, I wasn't quite sure what to make. I knew I wanted to make something a bit special, but that was as far as I'd got in my planning a few days before the party. The it suddenly struck me that since it is autumn, and fruit and berries are in season, I could make something seasonal. And it would work well because not everyone who would be at the party have a sweet tooth. So off I went searching through my recipe books for inspiration. I found several tasty-sounding recipes, and what I ended up with was a great success, very tasty and not too sweet. 

Serves up to 12 people

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC and grease a 20cm diameter round baking tin.

For the cake
350g caster sugar
125g butter
3 eggs
300ml crème fraiche
500g flour (I used Dove's Farm gluten free white bread flour)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum - but only if your flour does not already contain this
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon glycerine
1 tablespoon red food colouring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g raspberries

For the buttercream and decoration
450g cream cheese (full fat)
180g butter
1.1kg icing sugar
125g raspberries

Whisk the sugar and butter until they are light and fluffy, and then add the eggs one at a time, stirring well between adding each egg. Add the crème fraiche, and again stir well.

Measure out the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and sift these into the mixture. Stir well and add the glycerine, colour and vanilla extract. Finally add the raspberries and stir well. 

Pour the mixture into the cake tin, and bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when you do the skewer test. 

Take the cake out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack. After a few minutes; remove it from the baking tin. Leave the cake to cool.

Slice the cake into four layers, using a sharp bread-knife.

To make the buttercream, mix the ingredients and mix well until you have a smooth mixture without any lumps. Using a palette knife, spread some of the buttercream on the bottom layer. Place another layer on top, and repeat until all four layers are stacked. Use the remainder of the mixture to cover the cake in cream. Decorate with the raspberries.

Butternut Squash and Wensleydale Cheese Soup

For such a simple soup this is remarkably tasteful. I was going to add some exciting spices, but at the last minute I decided not to, as my friend was a bit poorly and a ‘safe’ soup was needed.

If you don't have access to wensleydale cheese, then you can use any other mild and crumbly cheese. 

Serves 2

1 tablespoon butter

1 large leek

1 large butternut squash

600ml water

1 teaspoon salt

100g wensleydale cheese

Finely chop the leek. Melt the butter in a large thick-bottomed saucepan. Add the leek, and sweat for a few minutes while you peel and finely chop the butternut squash. Add this to the leek and stir well. Add the water and salt, and bring to the boil.

Simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Mash them with a potato masher (or an electric mixer if you’re lucky enough to have one).

Grate the cheese and sprinkle it into the soup. Stir, and serve. 

Chocolate, Banana & Maple Syrup Cake

Yet again I found myself with a bunch of over-ripe bananas that really needed using sooner rather than later. Sadly there was no flour or any other useful ingredients in the house, so my friend and I headed towards the local shop to hunt for provisions. Unfortunately their stock was rather limited, so some improvisation was needed. We secured a handful of ingredients, and set off for home. Once there I set to work, and soon we had cake to enjoy.

100g butter

40g corn-flour

100g ground almonds

60g cocoa powder

50g sugar

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

4 ripe bananas (about 250g)

50ml maple syrup

Grease and line with baking paper a 22cm round baking tin.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Leave it to cool down while you sift the corn-flour, almonds, cocoa powder, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Stir carefully with a spatula. Add the butter and stir slowly until the mixture is even. Add the eggs and stir again.

Mash the bananas with a fork, and add to the mixture. Finally add the maple syrup.

Pour the mixture into the tin, and place in the middle of the oven on 180^oC. Bake for about 30minutes until a skewer comes out clean when you perform the skewer test.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then serve. It is delicious with some custard or vanilla ice cream. 

Marsbar Crispies

The cafes at work make these lovely and slightly addictive sweet things, and I thought since it’s a long weekend I’d try to make a treat. They’re really really simple to make, the hardest part is being patient while the chocolates melt, so it doesn’t burn.

These things are ideal snacks for kids’ parties and at other times when non-sticky snacks are a good thing. They’re much more caramelly than the original chocolates, and yummily chewy.

Makes 9 squares

 

200g mars-bars

40g crisped rice

Scrunch up some grease-proof paper, and line a tin with it. Scrunching the paper makes it more cooperative and easier to use. It doesn't matter if your tin is a bit too big, as the mixture won’t run.

Slowly melt the mars-bars in a thick-bottomed saucepan, over low heat. Stir occasionally to make sure it isn’t sticking or getting burned. When the chocolates have transformed themselves into sticky glup, add the crisped rice and stir well with a metal spoon.

Pour the mixture onto the lined tin, and pat it flat with a spatula. Leave to cool for about 30 minutes. Cut into squares, and enjoy.

Can be stored for a few days in an airtight container.