Hot Cross Buns (Delia Smith's)

Happy Easter!

Easter and you think of sun and blue skies; April Showers (rain); young lambs frolicking in the fields; fluffy chicks; new beginnings; lots of chocolate and my favourite of all - Hot Cross Buns.
My mum enjoys these too and I remember making these when I was younger - they often turned like rocks the next day though.  Large supermarkets have in-store bakeries that churn out stacks and stacks of these buns so it's cheap and easy to buy them these days.

I saw something intriguing on another blogger's post, it was Cook Like A Star where a celebrity chef is chosen and participants cook any dish by the said chef.  This occasion it's the turn of Delia Smith in the spotlight.  I have watched Delia Smith on TV cookery programmes from when I was a child and some of my favourite cake recipes are in fact from one of her books.  So what better excuse to look up recipes to cook and join in the blogging and cooking fun!
(Thank you Anncoo for your delicious post on Chocolate Drop Mini Muffins with Red Noses - as that is where I saw the Cook Like A Star blog hop event!)

Hot Cross Buns (recipe adapted from Deliaonline - Hot Cross Buns)

Ingredients
450g strong bread flour
50g caster sugar
5g salt
7g easy-bake yeast
125g dried mixed fruit (raisins, sultana, currant & mixed peel)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g butter
1 egg
50ml milk
150ml water
Crosses
3 tsp plain flour
3 tsp water
Glaze
1 tsp honey
2 tsp warm water

Sift flour, salt and cinnamon into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, yeast and dried mixed fruit. Stir to mix everything together and make a well in the centre.

Melt the butter in a jug, add the milk, crack the egg in and mix together.  Pour this into the dry ingredients, add most of the water (saving a couple of tablespoons back in case dough gets too wet), mix with a spatula until a dough begins to form, then put your hand in to squeeze and bring everything together.

Transfer dough to a clean surface and knead until it feels smooth and elastic - about 6 minutes.  Pop it back into the bowl, cover the bowl with a lightly oiled sheet of cling wrap and leave in a warm place to double in size (it will take about an hour).

Turn it out and knead lightly until it has returned to original size.  Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and roll them into balls.  Place them on a lined baking sheet leaving room for them to rise.  Cover with the oiled cling wrap and leave to rise again (about 25 minutes).

Preheat the oven to gas 7 / 220 C / 425 F.

Mix the plain flour with the water in a small bowl to a smooth paste.  Use this to gently pipe crosses onto the risen buns.

Bake the buns for about 15 minutes.

Mix the honey with the warm water and brush the buns when they are hot from the oven to make them shiny and sticky.

Transfer to a rack to cool.

This is my submission to the blog hop event Cook Like A Star (March 2013) organised by: Zoe (Bake For Happy Kids), Baby Sumo (Eat Your Heart Out) and Mich (Piece of Cake)

Chocolate Sandwich Cake with Chocolate Butter Icing

This cake is quick to whip up and is extremely light and crumbly.  Bit too crumbly but not dry.  I made a Victoria Sandwich Cake this afternoon as we were going to pop over to a friend's and say "Hello."  I had told Mr Leaf (hubbs) we would have the cake to look forward to when we came home.  I actually changed my mind, wrapped it up and gave it away to friends.  I thought the boys would enjoy chocolate cake more anyway.

Chocolate Sandwich Cake

Ingredients (Cake)

115g margarine (I used Stork)

100g caster sugar

2 large free-range eggs

25g cocoa powder

90g self raising flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

Filling

30g butter (soft)

15g cocoa powder

60g icing sugar

2-3 teaspoons milk

2 x 7" sandwich tins, greased and base lined with baking parchment

Method

Pre-heat oven to Gas 4/180C.

Beat the margarine in a large mixing bowl for a few seconds until it is soft and smooth.  Add the caster sugar and cream until pale, light and fluffy.

Crack an egg into the mix and sift in the cocoa powder, lightly mix until it is all combined.  Add in the remaining egg and sift in the flour and baking powder.  Fold it all together until combined.  Do not beat the mixture as you may make the cake tough and dense.

Spoon into the prepared cake tins and level.  

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes.  (Mine took 18 minutes.)  The cake should begin to shrink from the edges of the tin when it is ready and the centre feel springy to the touch when pressed lightly with your finger.  A skewer (or toothpick) should come out clean when inserted in the cake.

Turn out on to a wire rack to cool. 

To make the chocolate butter icing, put the soft butter in a bowl and beat until smooth.  Add in the cocoa powder and icing sugar.  Slowly cream the butter with the sugar and cocoa until it has all combined.  Beat until it is smooth and fluffy.  If it seems to stiff and dry add a little milk to the mix and beat well.

When the cake has cooled place one layer onto a plate flat side up.  Spread the chocolate filling on the base before topping with the other cake (domed side up).  Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Tea Loaf Cake

I don't often buy shop-bought cake whether it is a mass-produced branded one or supermarket own brand. I find them a bit dry, a bit sweet for my liking.  Hubbs (Mr Leaf) likes them though.  When they come individually wrapped in slices they are convenient for him to take to work and on special offer - well, I treat him :p  They do a light fruit cake one which has notes of mixed spice and is rather delicious if I may admit!  I tried creating my own...

Tea Loaf Cake

150ml boiling water

1 Earl Grey Tea Bag

250g mixed dried fruit

200g soft butter

75g caster sugar

75g soft light brown sugar

3 large free-range eggs

1 zest of an orange

40g ground almonds

210g self-raising flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1.5 level teaspoon mixed spice

Put fruit into a small bowl, tuck in the tea bag and pour on the boiling water.  Leave the fruits to swell and soak up the liquid.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4

Grease and line 2 small loaf tins.  I used a rectangular aluminium foil container and a 2lb loaf tin.

Cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy.

Add an egg into the mix along with a spoonful of your measured flour, mix until the egg has been incorporated.  Repeat with the remaining eggs.

Tip the fruits along with any liquid into the cake mix, give the tea bag a good squeeze. I emptied the bag of it's leaves into the cake mix as I thought it might improve flavour.  Add the grated orange zest and the ground almonds and fold in.

Sift the flour, baking powder and spice into the bowl, fold to combine.

Spoon into the greased tins and bake.  My loaf tin took 45-55 minutes and the smaller aluminium container took 35-45 minutes.  If the cakes brown too much, lower the heat slightly.  When you are checking the cake, give the tin a shake.  If the mixture wobbles, cake is not ready and may need another 10 minutes before you check.  Use a skewer to test the cake in the centre any gooey wet mix indicates cake is not ready and may need a further 5-10 minutes.

Sprinkle a little caster sugar on top of the cake when done, or dust with icing sugar.  Leave cake in tin for 10 minutes before cooling on rack.

*** Verdict
Not the same as the mass produced one which is lighter in colour (I suspect the tea leaves in my cake give it a richer colour) and I think if I stuck with one flavour instead of Earl Grey Tea and orange with the mixed spice it might resemble the bought-cake.  Nevertheless, my mummy friends all enjoyed the cake and at least I am happy eating something I know I made (even if hubby eats the plastic wrapped version!) :)

Tomato and Mozzarella Pizza

Taken From "Healthy Food Guide" Sep 2012

(serves: 4)


Tomato and Mozzarella Pizza
250g passata

275g plain flour (or gluten-free plain flour)
7g sachet fast action dried yeast (easy bake yeast that does not require reconstituting in water)
1 tsp caster sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp sugar
Handful of basil leaves
2 x 125g reduced-fat mozzarella balls, drained, sliced
350g large vine tomatoes, sliced and drained on kitchen paper

Put flour, yeast, 1 tsp caster sugar in large bowl
Mix egg with 125ml warm water and pour into the dry ingredients. (* I add about a tbsp of olive oil in as well)
Mix well and knead lightly to make a soft dough, adding more water if needed.
Divide in two and roll out thinly. (* I try not to use too much extra flour and use a little veg oil to spot it sticking - and roll as big as the tin/tray I'm cooking it on)
Transfer to baking trays, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 30min (*GREASED TRAYS! or they stick!)

Preheat oven to Gas 6 / 200C / Fan 180C. 

Heat passata, oregano and 1 tsp sugar in a pan for 5 mins until thick. Add torn basil reserving a few leaves
Top each base with the tomato sauce, then the mozzarella and tomato slices.Season with black pepper and cook for 25-30min until crusts are golden and the cheese has melted. Garnish with the reserved basil.

*** I make my own tomato sauce.
1 400g tin toms (can be chopped or whole)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
dried herbs
tom puree
1 tsp sugar
salt, pepper

Put the onion, garlic in a pan with 1 tsp (or so) oil and cook gently for a few mins until soft.
Add the tinned toms (if whole, chop up with spatula/wooden spoon - I don't mind chunks of tomato), add in the dried herbs (oregano / basil / mixed herbs - whatever is in cupboard), add in sugar and a squeeze of tom puree (about a tbsp). Cook on a gentle blip until excess water has evaporated and sauce is thick. Season. Cool slightly before topping pizza.
Does make extra sauce which you can freeze and use in pasta sauces...etc...

I made the above dough and made 3 pizzas:
a small 6" Cheese and Tomato pizza for my son (watch it when cooking as it may not need as long in oven - I think I cooked for around 15 mins).
a medium sized Pepperoni and Red Onion Pizza for Mr Leaf
a medium sized Veg Pizza for me (red onion, green pepper, mushroom, fresh sliced tomato and once cooked,  topped with wild rocket leaves) 

The dough is quick and easy to prepare, and is wonderfully light and crispy.  I have made it using gluten-free flour too and it works brilliantly!

You can adapt the pizzas anyway you like, Ham & Pineapple; Cooked Chicken and Pesto Sauce; Goats Cheese and Red Pepper; Bacon, Mushroom & Tomato....the permutations are endless :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day !

Almost didn't have one - both boys been terribly ill here past 2 weeks and although it was nice to prepare what I wanted to eat to begin with.  Watching the boys hardly eat, drink and just nap all day soon sapped my appetite from me.
So hard to find inspiration to cook when people have diminished appetites :(

Hoping they are now on the mend and so I cooked Mr Leaf's favourite food - Duck Breast.  As we were going to have it on rice, I made the sauce a Chinese inspired one with Chinese 5-Spice and Honey.

Both my boys are chocoholics.  What better dessert than Hot Chocolate Sponges?

Hope you had a good evening with your loved one if you celebrate Valentine's Day :)

Happy 2013 !

A simple design of ice blue fondant and sparkly snowflakes.
(Photo does not reflect the true colour or the sparkly effect )

A fun snowball scene

Crikey! How time flies!

Three years ago I started this blog to record my odd ramblings, my son growing up, my baking endeavours and gardening adventures.  Garden hasn't had a lot of exposure on here - probably due to a lack of me being in it! Baking, well - I'm always in my kitchen baking away :p

Here's a look back at our Christmas 2012 seeing as I was too busy baking to stop and blog :(

No icing or marzipan for this one - dried fruit and nut topping

Gold Star Wreath

I made several Christmas Cakes this year to gift to friends and family. Each one has been decorated differently and it was a joy to do!

Home-made mincemeat and home-made gluten-free pastry

I had a pre-Christmas Meet with some of my Mummy friends - we met because we were expecting our little people 2 or so years ago and have stayed firm friends and our little ones play together too!  One of my friends is gluten intolerant and vegetarian so I made these Gluten-Free Mince Pies so she could indulge in the festive season!

The package on right is Gluten-Free Biscotti ~ Apricot and Almond

I do like to bake and share so I have been biscotti crazy again this Christmas concocting different combinations of fruits and nuts into biscotti so I can package and give to friends.  It certainly guarantees a smile on people's faces!

It was fun decorating these trees with my son 

I try not to leave the little people out where I can so I made some Gingerbread Trees and People for a few of my friends - oh and of course, for the little person here too :D  Although I secretly think my son enjoys the  "Smarties" (Chocolate Beans) more than the gingerbread itself! 

My personal project this Christmas was to create a Gingerbread Scene - 3D of course!

My Gingerbread Display I made for my son and niece - we ate the gingerbread after Christmas!

Thank you to you all for reading!

May 2013 bring you much baking / cooking / crafting / gardening adventures!

French Madeleines

Perfect little cakes for afternoon tea, with friends or for little fingers!

It seems that I have introduced a new favourite cake with my son - French Madeleines.  They are little shell-shaped cakes that are buttery and very delicious!  They usually have a characteristic 'bump' too - like a fat belly!  I struggle to achieve the bump on my cakes but they taste nice all the same!  Oh, and to my son, these shell-shaped cakes are "little boats" :)

The recipe I have used is adapted from BBC website "Madeleines with lemon curd" - but there are many around on the 'net.  Use whichever one you like the sound of :)

The closest I can get to achieving a "bump"

Orange Scented Madeleines

3 free range eggs
100g caster sugar
200g plain flour
10g baking powder
1 orange (grated zest)
20g honey (I used a set honey but otherwise a runny one will be fine)
60ml milk
200g butter (melted, cooled)

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until pale and thickened.

Add the milk and honey to the melted butter and mix.

Pour the melted butter mix into the egg batter but down side of bowl.  Be delicate with the whipped egg & air mixture! Add the grated orange zest.

Sift in half the flour and baking powder and fold gently.  Sift in remaining flour and baking powder and fold.

Leave the batter to rest in the fridge for an hour or overnight.  (Not sure why - but different sites say it helps achieve the "bump" on the madeleines.)

If you are like me, you cannot wait to bake your little nuggets of buttery delights. ;)
So turn on oven to Gas 5/190C/375F.  While oven is heating up, butter and flour your madeleine tin.  I have a silicone ones in different sizes.  I also use a mini-teddy bear tin.  The flour is very important as it makes it easier for the cakes to fall out from the tin after baking.  Trust me on that one!  I made the mistake of only greasing the teddy bears one morning and YUP! Half the teddies stuck to the tin DESPITE it being "non-stick".

For my larger madeleine shells, I put about a dessertspoon of mix in each shell.  You are aiming for 80% full and not too worry about making it even as the baking levels it out.  For mini-madeleines or mini-teddies, then I go for a teaspoon of mix.

Bake for 7 minutes, then turn oven off for 5 minutes (apparently, this creates the "signature bumps" - mine do get a small bump not a great big one).  Turn oven back on but this time at Gas 3/160C/325F.  Bake for a further 7 minutes.  The shells should just be tinged brown on the outsides.  For my mini-sized moulds I bake 5 minutes, rest 5 minutes then continue with a final 5 minutes.  Cool the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.  The silicone madeleines should fall out easily but a prod from the underneath helps any disobedient cakes.  For my teddy tin (as it's metal) a sharp tap on the cooling rack sends any teddies tumbling out of their beds!  (Provided I greased and floured the tin!)

Baking these little cakes in a metal tin gives a more evenly brown colour than in silicone

You can just make out the little bear's face 

A fat belly appearing on the bear!

I usually bake a batch of madeleines so my son can munch on them.  The remaining mixture is placed in a bowl, covered with cling film and is baked the following morning.  The tin should be washed and dried before re-greasing and flouring when baking another batch.

* Greasing and flouring.  I rub butter using fingers or a piece of buttery paper in the nooks and crannies of the tin.  I sprinkle flour in each indentation and shake the tin in every direction to coast the buttery surface with flour.  Finally tap any loose flour away.
With a silicone mould, I do the same buttering process but to distribute the flour I fold the silicone mould in half and shake/clap the mould to get the flour coated inside.  Shake any excess flour off before filling.

I have made these with lemon zest before and with green tea powder (I added about 1 teaspoon of ground green tea with the flour).  I haven't tried chocolate as yet but I would substitute 25g flour for 25g cocoa powder.

Swiss Roll (filled with cream and fresh fruit)

I don't make Swiss Rolls because I am awful at them.  My late Grandfather (mum's side) was a baker and would make Swiss Rolls filled with Buttercream and sell them to the local Chinese Supermarket.  When he came to visit us I would love to watch him whip eggs sugar and flour into fluffy creations.  I did not possess his skills.

Determined not to resort to a shop-bought cake for hubb's (Mr Leaf) birthday, I was trying to come up with a cake that wouldn't be too sweet or too large.  Whilst internet browsing I came across a Raspberry Swiss Roll recipe by one of my favourite chefs James Martin.  I had intended to make this at my mother's yesterday (hubb's actual birthday) but was too busy.  So I set to work in the kitchen today.

I was pleased with the outcome as it did not crack or split on rolling :)  I didn't see bubbles of flour on the base of the swiss roll (as in previous efforts).  I hope my Grandad would be proud of me :)

My mum has raspberry bushes in her garden and they are in season now - I was going to put fresh raspberries in the filling with the cream but seeing as I forgot to pick any to take home I had to rumble in the fridge to see what we had.  This Swiss Roll is filled with Homemade Raspberry Jam, Vanilla Cream, White peach and Mango.

The sponge for the swiss roll is simple, just 3 ingredients; eggs, caster sugar and self-raising flour.  It's very light and spongy but is fat-free so does not keep well.  It is not as moist and pillowy as a chiffon either - makes the addition of cream and fruit seem less guilty! Heh Heh Heh!

Recipe for the Swiss Roll is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/raspberry_swiss_roll_08757

Tiger/Giraffe Bread

I love Tiger Bread!  It's a loaf with a special coating on which you can get in the fresh bakery section of the major supermarkets here in UK.  A distinctive aroma which reminds me of toasted Marmite which means it's yummy in my opinion!  It has a lovely crackly crust which is usually on bloomer shaped bread.  I've seen a supermarket call its Tiger Rolls, Tiger Paws!  The baguettes are Tiger Tails of course! :D

One supermarket chain changed the name to Giraffe bread after a little girl wrote in saying it resembled giraffe more than tiger.  She's not wrong!

Seeing this recipe posted on Jo's Blue Aga, I had to give it a try.  I follow Jo on her Facebook page too :)  As well as entering her monthly baking competitions!

With a cupboard stocked with strong flour (for bread baking) and a fresh packet of dried yeast I thought I was good to go.  I assumed I had rice flour in but my luck was out.  Rice flour is the magic topping ingredient here too!  I had everything but that!  Plain flour; self-raising; gluten-free flour; tapioca flour; potato starch, glutinous rice flour and cornflour!  None of which I have seen suggested on the internet as a substitute for rice flour!

Determined to try Tiger Bread, I thought I'd grind my own.  First I used the food processor attachment on my electric hand blender.  Next, good ol' mortar and pestle.  Finally, the coffee grinder which has never ground a single coffee bean in it's life of sitting on the kitchen shelf looking pretty!  After sieving the flour through it resembled semolina you roll pizza dough out with.  I still gave it a try but only made a quarter of the  topping.  I used this to spread on one of my loaves which was proving nicely after my battle trying grind rice grains!  The other loaf I left plain in case the home-ground rice flour topping was a complete disaster!

The resulting bread was definitely not like the Tiger Bread you buy in shops.  It lacked the toasty aroma and I struggle to get the nice crunchy crust on my home baked loaves.  It also didn't crackle very much.  Despite all that, it was a very nice tasting loaf, soft and springy.  It's amazing what 'still within date' dried yeast can do compared with 'hiding in the cupboard too long' yeast can do!

A Passion for Baking - Basic White Bread Competition

Competition Number 3 by Jo Wheatley of Jo's Blue Aga - and it's the Basic White Loaf, again from her book, A Passion for Baking.

This came in great timing as I fancied making bread and had just stocked up on strong bread flour (it has higher protein content which helps the structure of the loaf), shame I didn't have sense to buy some instant yeast as what I had in the cupboard had been knocking around for a bit :p  They say it deteriorates quickly and loses its ability to rise well.  *Shrugs*  Ah well :p

It was a simple recipe to follow and we had option of using stand-mixer or by hand.  Well, I pulled out my trusty Kenwood and made it work :p  I do have an almost 2 year old to entertain too you know! ;)

I was pleased with the small but evenly sized bubbles in my loaf - felt quite moist and springy too!

Maybe my shaping of the loaf before it goes in the tin needs perfecting as the bread rose unevenly during baking and resembled an odd shaped mushroom :p  I had forgotten how delicious the aroma of bread baking in the oven was :D  It was hard resisting temptation to slice into the loaf whilst warm - but I think that just tears the bread.

Oh, I can't cut fresh bread - I always managed to get wonky slices that resemble door wedges! :p  There is an upside to that that though, my correcting slice was too thin to be a regular slice of bread and so I sampled that with some butter and some home-made raspberry jam!  Ahem!  I mean I had to have a slice with butter and jam for the photo shoot of course!  *Wink Wink!*

MmmMMm!  Fresh bread!  YUM YUM!

* * *

I baked the loaf last Thursday but to spare you the suspense of waiting to find out who won, I have waited until today (Tuesday) to publish this post.  Winner was announced this morning - not my entry but I enjoyed taking part and seeing other people's entries :)

Winning loaf is here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=429968647046652&set=a.210358729007646.49812.194356760607843&type=1&theater

Christening Cake

Sometimes I get asked to make a celebration cake for a special occasion.  It's not very often and it's usually from someone I know.  I rarely decline the request as I feel it's good practise for me :)

I was lucky enough to make some really great friends when pregnant with my son and although we've only known one another for two years, we do not fail to meet up regularly.  I truly feel that we will stay life-long friends too!  I call these special girls my Mumma Friends.

Given the opportunity to make a cake for one of them gives me great pleasure and I was honoured to be the baker for the Christening Cake pictured above.  This Mumma Friend always gives me creative reign only specifying colour or a general idea.  Oh, and of course, choosing what type of sponge the cake is to be :)

This cake was made back in March and I'm struggling to remember what I'd filled it with!  If I recall correctly, it was a 10" round Vanilla Sponge, sandwiched with Vanilla Butter-cream (Swiss-Meringue) and quite possibly, home-made raspberry jam.  Covered in white fondant and decorated with fondant mini-roses and calla lilies.

Cake was a bit of a whopper in the end and really should have sat on a slightly bigger cake board - but then again, it wouldn't have fit in the box!  Technical details aside, friend loved it and that's what matters!

A Passion for Baking - Custard Cream Competition

Following Jo Wheatley's popular competition, she decided to host another!  This time Custard Creams (a biscuit sandwiched with vanilla custard) sweet but an old British classic :)   Again, the recipe is taken from her book, A Passion for Baking.

This was a fun recipe to do but I did find the biscuit dough tricky to handle.  My tip is to keep it between sheets of cling film to roll out. :)

These biscuits were a hit with my son (he's only an almost 2 year-old toddler and; quite the biscuit connoisseur!) and my mummy friends. :)

As you can see from the first two photos, they were taken outdoors.  I had forgotten part of the competition rules which stipulate the book must be present in the photo.  Hence, I had to do a second bake as it was only when I was about to upload my photo for the competition, that I discovered my error.  As luck would have it, the 'nice-looking' biscuits were eaten :p

The last photo is an indoor shot and I only just managed to get baked, biscuits arranged and uploaded before time ran out! :p  Even had me nipping out in darkness to snip a few lavender stems to prettify the photo!

A Passion For Baking - Cake Competition

Jo Wheatley is the winner of Great British Bake Off Series II (2011).
The show takes non-professional bakers and puts them through a series of challenges and each week a contestant is eliminated.  The next series is due to be aired in a few weeks time and I am looking forward to watching it!

Jo has recently published her book, A Passion for Baking and it's a well written book.  No long and fancy ingredient lists and most of all, I love it when the author adds a note about the recipe, whether it's one of a family member's favourite or a creation for a get-together with friends.  It is like the author is sharing a bit about their life and I like that friendly touch. :)

So, to celebrate her book launch, Jo hosted a competition ~ the prize was to win a day on one of her Masterclasses that she runs from her home.  We were to bake the Chocolate Birthday Cake from her book and include the book in the photo to show that we had followed her recipe.

Here was my take on it:

I made modelling chocolate with dark and then white chocolate which I used to hand make some roses, leaves and butterflies.  Modelling chocolate I've said somewhere else before is really odd stuff.  Its stiff and hard yet gets greasy when warm.  Not fun at all.
The cake was filled with chocolate ganache which piped in rosettes and attempted piped roses (like they do on cupcakes with butter-cream) I don't think my nozzle is quite the right shape :p  I decided last minute to make some  honeycomb (also known as cinder toffee, hokey-pokey).  This was fine except that overnight in a cake it kind of melts and ends up being like chewy toffee.

It was a great recipe but I think my execution was wrong.  I don't think my oven works that well and when I checked the cake after its allocated baking time it was definitely not ready.  I ended up over-baking it :(
Piped chocolate ganache swirls was a bad idea too as its pretty firm on cooling and it meant the cake was hard to slice.  The knife couldn't cut through the ganache and so would drag it down squashing the cake.  Perhaps I should have used a hot knife?

Nevertheless, I entered the competition.  I didn't win or get chosen as one of the six finalists.  The cake looked pretty though :p  Oh, I think it coincided with Father's Day as well as my neighbour's birthday so we shared some cake with our neighbour too :)

Cherry, Almond and Apricot Loaf Cake

I wanted cake.  I needed cake.

Supermarket cakes just won't do.  On the occasion when I've wanted a small celebration cake and haven't had chance to bake, the resulting bought cake has not been too my liking.  Too sweet, not moist enough and usually too much sickly sweet butter icing.

Flicking through some of my favourite cake recipes and baking books I thought I'd bake a Cherry and Almond Cake.  I knew there was a tub of glace cherries in the cupboard and I always have a block of butter in the fridge for impromptu baking.

When it came to gathering ingredients, I discovered the glace cherry tub was already opened so I wouldn't have enough.  Hmm...what to do?  I found some dried apricots and so, Cherry, Almond and Apricot Cake was born!
 

Cherry, Almond and Apricot Loaf Cake

200 g butter (softened, but not melted)
175 g caster sugar
75 g ground almonds
Few drops of almond extract (optional if you like a stronger almond flavour, swap for vanilla if you prefer or omit)
3 large eggs
200 g self-raising flour
100 g glacé cherries (quartered)
100 g dried apricots (snipped into quarters or sixths)

Cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is lighter in colour and fluffy.  (I like to do this by hand in a bowl and a wooden spoon as I find a hand-mixed cake has a lighter texture than if I use my stand-alone mixer.)

Add the ground almonds and the almond extract if using and mix in before adding eggs in one by one and mixing until just combined.  With the last egg, add a tablespoon from your measured flour when you are mixing it in.  It stops mixture from curdling which can result in a dense and heavier cake.

Toss the cut dried fruit with a tablespoon of your measured flour.  This stops the fruit from sinking.

Sift the flour into the cake mix and fold in with a large metal spoon.

Tip in the fruits and the remaining flour if any and fold in.

Spoon mixture into a greased and lined loaf tin (mine is a 2lb loaf size) and bake in a preheated oven at 170 deg C, Gas 3 for 70 minutes.  Cake should be well rise, golden and spring lightly when pressed with a finger.  If the cake wobbles in tin, then it is not ready.  Test cake with skewer ensuring no wet crumbs.

Cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.


*     *     *

Cake was wonderfully moist from the ground almonds as well as being rich and creamy from the butter.  I think next time I might reduce butter to 175 g as some fruit still sank in my cake :p  I wonder if that's because when you are spooning mix in, the fruits tend to go in first and when I scrape bowl clean with spatula, its plain cake mix that tops the cake off?

My son loves this cake - although he won't eat the fruit.  :p  This cake disappeared in 2 days so I tried to make a similar cake with vanilla, white choc chips and fudge bits.  It didn't work.  The choc and fudge bits sank to the bottom and resulted in a chewy and sweet bottom layer :p  Son still ate it but hubbs (Mr Leaf) didn't take extra helpings.  The cake took longer to disappear too :p

Birthday Cakes

Just a few pictures of some of the Birthday Cakes I've made...

This is a marbled vanilla and chocolate Rose Cake covered in Pink Strawberry Chocolate Ganache.
Sweet for a 9 year old's birthday :)

This was made for one of my friends.  As you can tell it was her daughter's 1st birthday.  I like when people aren't too specific with their cake demands as being a novice - I'm not sure what I can create!
This had the requirements of being pretty but not pink!  I enjoyed making this one - even cutting up a large rectangular cake into a number one shape! 
The cake is a fondant iced, vanilla sponge filled with home-made jam and buttercream. 

Close up of Butterfly and Daisy

This was a surprise for my husband's work colleague.  I wanted to try out a chocolate cake recipe and practice modelling chocolate for the first time.  Not sure I enjoy working with modelling chocolate.  Very strange substance.  Was the first time using chocolate pouring ganache but that was fun!

I have also made some novelty cakes in the form of characters - but I will have to find those photos :)
Oh, & I must find you photos from my son's first birthday - last year :p  He will be TWO soon!!!