Orange and Vanilla Cupcakes

The fiancé has been having a rough week and a half.  This section of his work rota has him working 10 days in a row, which probably isn't so bad when he's working his regular hours.  But he's taken extra shifts, since it's very busy during the summer, and consequently is doing an extra 35 hours on top of his normal 40.  This has not been helped by his bicycle getting a flat tyre, falling off his scooter when it skidded out from under him in the rain and the general frustration of his actual job.  Plus they've forgotten to schedule breaks in for him on over half the 10 days.  Not good.  So when his Dundee friends mentioned that their mutual friend from England would be up visiting, he was initially disheartened by the fact that all the extra work would mean he wouldn't be able to see him.  That is until I pointed out that since he would finish work at 4pm on Saturday he could hop on a train and spend the evening with them.  I practically insisted he go because he was so miserable at this point that he really needed something fun, even though it meant I was completely alone all of Saturday and I hate being alone.  (I am invited to go but I'm horribly shy and didn't want to.)

And of course, I offered to make cakes because that is what I do and it would provide some entertainment for me whilst he was at work.  Since it is summer (not that the weather thinks so any more) I wanted to make a light cake.  I wasn't making the mistake of doing chocolate again.  Light usually seems to go with fruity and it had been a while since I'd baked with orange extract.  I'd also seen a lot of things about 'orange creamsicles' around recently so decided to add a bit of vanilla to the mix.  Plus it was a great excuse to finally try out my Duo Icing Kit from Lakeland (it worked really well and was easy to use, after I figured out how to piece it together).

The cake recipe is based off one for lemonade cakes, just to help me get a decent balance for the ingredients.  I tweaked a few things obviously and made the decision to add an orange syrup after baking to make them extra moist and orangey.  My main challenge was getting the vanilla buttercream to look white.  The butter I use is yellow and I don't have clear extract so my basic vanilla buttercream always comes out a pale yellow colour.  This is fine in most cases but I really wanted a much paler, whiter colour to contrast with the orange.  Apparently the main way to achieve whiter buttercream is to use white butter or vegetable shortening.  I don't buy either of those though.  Stork is what I have in my fridge.  I then read that beating the living daylights out of the butter makes it paler so figured it was worth a shot.  And I had white food gel to lighten it up even more.  It worked out rather well in the end.  Not perfectly white but certainly much paler and stood out against the orange.  

They were certainly a light cake and very citrusy.  The fiancé also said they were moreish due to their lightness.  It was easy just to eat another and then another.  The vanilla is subtle but still obviously there and provides a nice accompaniment to the orange.  All in all a very yummy cake.

Recipe - makes 12

Cakes - inspired by The Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days:

• 60g/2oz butter
• 210g/7.5oz caster sugar
• 180g/6.5oz plain flour
• 3/4 tbsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 200ml/7fl.oz milk
• 2 tsp orange extract
• 2 medium eggs

Orange Syrup:

• 3 tbsp orange juice
• 3 tbsp caster sugar 

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line a 12 hole muffin tray with muffin cases. 
2. Mix the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs and there are no large lumps of butter.
3. Put the milk in a jug and mix in the orange extract.  
4. Add the eggs to the milk and beat until combined. 
5. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the red and yellow food colouring, if using (use more yellow than red) and beat until combined and smooth, and you have a colour you are happy with.
6. Divide the mixture evenly amongst the cases, filling about two thirds full, and then bake for 20-25 minutes, until risen and springy or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Whilst the cakes bake, make the orange syrup by combining the caster sugar with the orange juice in a small bowl.  Mix together.
8. When cakes are removed from the oven, leave in their tray and poke 5 holes in each cake with a skewer.
9. Pour about 1 tsp orange syrup over each cake then allow to rest in the tray for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Vanilla Buttercream:

• 85g/3oz butter
• 170g/6oz icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• White food gel (optional)

Orange Buttercream:

• 85g/3oz butter
• 170/6oz icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• Red and yellow food colouring 

1. Make the vanilla buttercream first.  Put the butter in a bowl and beat for several minutes until very creamy and pale.
2. Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract (and white colouring if using) and beat until combined and smooth.
3. Make the orange buttercream the same way.  First beat the butter until creamy.
4. Add the icing sugar and orange extract, plus the food colouring.  Use more yellow than you do red to get a nice, orange colour.
5. Put the two buttercreams into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle, with the orange down one side and the vanilla down the other (to make life easier, I use the Lakeland Duo Colour Icing Kit).
6. Pipe a swirl on top of each cake, starting from the outside and moving towards the centre.
7. Top each swirl with a chewy orange sweet or other decoration of your choosing if you wish.

Lemon and Blueberry Ripple Ice Cream

The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse today.  Yesterday was just grey and cool, with indications that it had rained sometime in the morning.  Today is a torrential downpour accompanied by a very loud thunderstorm.  It's a little exciting I admit.  I don't feel like I've seen a thunderstorm in years.  The last one I really remember was back when I lived in Maidstone and was watching from my bedroom in the attic, which was at least 4 years ago.

Anyway, despite the lack of sunshine, thunderstorms are still a summery thing and here's another summery post with ice cream!  When I was making the cookie dough ice cream last Friday, the fiancé seemed a little down when I told him what it was going to be.  He's more of a fruity ice cream person.  So, since it was Friday and I hadn't ordered the weekly shop yet I decided to make sure I got ingredients to make some ice cream for him.  Now, his favourite of my ice creams I have previously made is lemon. However, I'd been considering mixing it up a bit for a while and since one of his favourite flavour combinations is lemon and blueberry, I thought adding a blueberry ripple to the ice cream would be fun and a bit different.  I've never made a rippled ice cream before so it was going to be interesting.

Actually, the ripple was fairly easy.  The only issue I had with it came from making it much earlier than I needed it.  So what was a nice thick syrup to begin with turned to something resembling jelly.  I mixed it up with a little water though and got something closer to jam, which worked fine.  Really, the main problem I had was with the churning of the ice cream.  My ice cream maker just did not want to churn properly.  Oh, it was moving fine, but it wasn't producing anything other than a slightly cold custard.  I had it going for over two hours before I gave up and did it the old fashioned way.  I kept the custard in the maker's bowl, with the 'whisk' that churns it and put it in the freezer.  I took it out periodically and put it back in the machine to give it five minute churns to break up any ice crystals then returned it to the freezer.  It was slow but I did eventually get a thick ice cream from it.  Not as thick as I would have gotten if the machine was churning but still good.

The fiancé loves it.  I mean, I was expecting him to like the lemon bit but wasn't sure if I pulled off the ripple right.  Turns out I did.  It runs through the ice cream rather beautifully, if I say so myself, and compliments the lemon really well.  You can really taste the blueberry but it doesn't overshadow the lemon.  Hoorah!  Maybe next time I'll try a raspberry ripple.

Recipe - Makes about 1.5L

Lemon Ice Cream:

• 2tbsp grated lemon peel
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz lemon juice
• 170g/6oz caster sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 240ml/8fl.oz milk
• 480ml/16fl.oz whipping cream

Blueberry Ripple - inspired by Valentine Warner via BBC Food:

• 225g/8oz blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 40g/1.5g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp water
  

1. Mix together the grated lemon peel, sugar and lemon juice.  Put in the fridge to chill.  The longer it has to chill the more intense the flavour.
2. Beat the salt into the egg yolks.
3. In a saucepan heat the milk until it just starts to boil.
4. Pour the hot milk into the eggs and mix well.
5. Pour back into the saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes thick and coats the back of the spoon, or reaches a temperature of 75°C/170°F. Do not let it boil.
6. Place a sieve over a clean bowl and pour the custard into it, cover with clingfilm and then chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
7. Meanwhile, make the blueberry ripple.  Place the blueberries is a medium saucepan along with the sugar and water (if using frozen, give the blueberries a few minutes in the pan to start thawing out before adding the other ingredients).
8. Bring mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down and allow the mixture to simmer, stirring regularly to prevent burning.  Cook until fruit has broken down and you get a slightly thick mixture.
9. Run the mixture through a sieve into a clean saucepan to remove the skin.  Press down on anything still in the sieve with a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible.
10. Put the new saucepan back over the heat and boil the mixture, stirring all the time, until it reduces by about half and turns into a thick syrup.
11. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
12. Once the custard is thoroughly chilled, stir the lemon mixture into the custard, followed by the cream.
13. Pour into the ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions until the ice cream is thick and smooth.  (If you don't have an ice cream maker, see instructions below recipe).
14. Put a third of the ice cream into a lidded, freezer safe container.
15. Drizzle half the blueberry ripple mixture on top.  (If your blueberry ripple has become slightly solid, add 1/2 tbsp water and give it a good mix to break it up.  It should resemble jam).
16. Cover with half the remaining ice cream, followed by the rest of the blueberry.  Pour in last of the ice cream.
17. Use a butter knife to ripple the mixture (draw zig-zags, fold some of the mixture over, etc).
18. Freeze overnight before serving.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can still do this but it takes much longer.  Once you've added the lemon and cream to the custard, place in the freezer for about two hours.  Remove and whisk thoroughly.  Place back in the freezer for another two hours.  Remove, whisk and put back for 1 hour.  Repeat freezing and whisking every hour until your ice cream is thick and smooth (it took about 10 hours for me to do this).  It won't be quite as churned as it would in an ice cream maker but still tastes delicious.  Carry on with the rest of the recipe after it is thick enough.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream

 
 

So it seems that a truly miserable spring has indeed resulted in a bright and sunny summer.  Unlike last year where spring was gorgeous and then it rained in the summer.  I remember being stuck on a bus trying to leave Edinburgh airport in early July because the roundabout had been completely submerged in water and was thus causing the traffic to slow down to a snail's pace.  Not this year.  This year we've had beautiful blue skies and sunshine and a bit of a breeze, which I have been taking advantage of and washing every single thing I can get my hands on.  I've had to buy more hangers, since apparently we didn't have enough for when all the clothes have been washed!

Anyway, it's summer and it's hot.  Too hot.  I am not the biggest fan of hot weather.  It makes me itchy; it makes me feel ill; my hayfever starts up so my eyes sting like mad; there are bugs everywhere; my chocolate cakes melt; I burn no matter how much sun cream I put on; and it makes me drowsy.  As much as I can dislike the cold, I much prefer it over being too hot.  I do love the sunshine though, so as long as I stay indoors I'm generally happy.  And what else makes me happy?  Ice cream!

Feels like ages since I've made ice cream but this was one I've been wanting to do for a while.  In fact, the main reason I've not really done so until now is due to lack of space in my freezer.  The bowl for my ice cream maker is quite chunky and has to be kept in the freezer for at least 12 hours before it can be used.  Not having much in the way of space means I don't get the luxury of having it in there very often.  But last week, after the shopping arrived, I did have space so in it went.  And then stayed for most of the week because I was busy until Friday.

It was a pretty easy recipe.  The only mistake I made was I initially put in the wrong sugar.  Despite the fact that I had bought brown sugar, I automatically grabbed the caster and tipped it in with my egg yolks.  Oops.  I was able to salvage the yolks though by tipping it into a sieve.  Sugar went through, eggs, mostly, stayed in the sieve.  A little yolk did escape but it was fine.  I also decided to use my sugar thermometer to check when my custard was ready, rather than relying on the spoon trick, namely because the mixture already seemed thick enough to leave a coating.  I'm thinking it's because the custard was made with cream, rather than milk like I'm used to.

It is so yummy!  It's kind of hard to describe.  My experience with raw cookie dough is that it always has a bit of a taste of flour, which I'm not keen on.  This recipe obviously doesn't contain flour so doesn't have that taste.  Initially I thought it tasted more like vanilla but there's a slightly more caramel taste to it. The chocolate chips are also a nice addition.  It is quite delicious so I'll be eating all of it up myself.  Cookie dough doesn't appeal to the fiancé.  Good thing I've got something different planned for him. 

Recipe - adapted from Take A Megabite
Makes 1 Litre
 

• 45g/1.5oz butter
• 500ml/17.5fl.oz double cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 100g/3.5oz dark brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 375ml/13fl.oz whole milk

1. Put the egg yolks and brown sugar in a medium bowl and beat until pale and fluffy.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan until it is golden brown in colour.
3. Add the cream to the butter and heat until it is almost boiling.
4. Add half the heated cream to the egg mixture a little at a time, stirring it the whole time.
5. Add the salt and mix.
6. Put the mixture back in the saucepan and add the vanilla.
7. Gently heat the mixture, stirring all the time to prevent burning, until it reaches 75°C/170°F, or the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
8. Transfer the custard to a clean bowl and then chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
9. Add the milk to the custard and whisk in.
10. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions until the ice cream is churned but still soft.
11. Remove ice cream to a bowl and mix in the chocolate chips, trying to spread them fairly evenly through it.
12. Put the ice cream in a lidded freezer safe container and allow to chill in the freezer overnight before serving.

Nutella Mortar Board Cake

 

 

The fiancé's sister graduated from university this month and Sunday was her celebratory party.  I was asked to provide the cake.

I knew immediately that that cake would be Nutella flavoured.  The fiance's sister is a Nutella addict and she was very fond of the Nutella jar cake I made her back at the start of the year.  Then I had to idea to turn the cake into a mortar board.  It would be quite simple: just add a sheet of square chocolate on top with a decorative, edible tassel.  I could even attempt to make modelling chocolate since I had found a tutorial for the stuff and had ordered liquid glucose weeks ago.  I also decided I would sandwich my layers with Nutella buttercream and attempt a Nutella ganache to give the cake a bit of extra oomph.

I ended up hating this cake.  So many things went wrong.  For a start, I was intending to bake it during Saturday whilst the fiancé was at work.  But my ingredients hadn't been delivered yet and, due to circumstances, I didn't receive them until after 4pm.  Then there wasn't enough of certain things so the fiancé had to run out and get more.  That and the need for dinner meant I didn't get to start baking until around 7pm and didn't stop until after midnight.  So I was already stressed and tired and fed up.  Then the chocolate square melted thanks to it being a summer night and just generally hot in the kitchen due to the oven having been on.  All the corners drooped and set that way, despite my desperate attempts to reshape them with straws and a fan.  And to top it off, I'd already put on the tassel and was reluctant to remove it.  The whole thing looked more like a fez than a mortar board but it was late and I didn't think there was much I could do, so I put it in the fridge and went to bed.

I had to plan and sleep in Sunday but I woke up agitated, knowing I had to fix the cake.  I couldn't take it as it was.  I guess that's the problem with being a perfectionist.  So after breakfast and a shower I went straight back to work.  I carefully cut away the tassel, then chopped off the droopy corners in a somewhat less careful manner.  I melted more chocolate, changing what I used slightly so I could get a colour that matched the ganache, and remade the square.  I kept the fan going the whole time and had the window open.  I wasn't taking any chances.  It worked, thankfully.  It's a shame the cake is not as pretty as I would have liked but it certainly looked better than it did.

There were a couple of things I was happy with.  The ganache, despite being runnier than I would have intended, went over the cake nicely and tasted yummy.  Then the modelling chocolate cake out so well!  Despite putting the liquid glucose into the chocolate too early and getting an oily mess to begin with, the tutorial I was using was so helpful that I was able to fix it and make a successful batch!  I'll be making it again, that's for sure.

The cake tasted good!  The sister's fiancé really liked it, as did the fiancé and their Mum.  There were mixed opinions as to whether you could taste the Nutella.  I could, and so could the fiancé's sister.  His Mum said she couldn't tell but that the cake did have something that made it taste different and lighter than just chocolate.  I wish more people at the party had eaten it.  Unfortunately, someone else made desserts too and everyone seemed to choose those instead, which was really disappointing.  Admittedly, chocolate cake probably wasn't the best choice to make in summer.  The fiancé said as much, saying it might be a bit heavy for summer.  I was thinking afterwards that I should have made a cool mortar board mousse cake instead.  Still Nutella flavoured but the mousse would have been a lighter option than chocolate cake.  Live and learn I guess.  The fiancé's Mum has cut it up to freeze though, so she can serve it as a dessert to other guests at a later date.

Recipe:

Cake - adapted from Chef in Training

• 55g/2oz unsweetened cocoa powder
• 250ml/8.8fl.oz hot water
• 250ml/8.8fl.oz buttermilk
• 425g/15oz caster sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 125ml/4.4fl.oz sunflower oil
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g/10.5oz plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 180g/6.3oz Nutella
• 125ml/4.4fl.oz double cream

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line two 20cm/8inch round cake tins.
2. Sift the cocoa into a medium sized bowl and pour in the hot water.  Whisk until it is combined.
3. Add the buttermilk and the sugar and whisk until smooth.
4. Add the eggs, vanilla and oil and whisk again.
5. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk together until it is smooth with no lumps.
7. Melt the Nutella in a saucepan, stirring it all the time to prevent it burning.
8. Add this and the double cream to the cake batter and stir until evenly mixed together.
9. Divide the mixture evenly between the two cake tins.
10. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the sponge is springy and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
11. Allow to rest in the tins for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

 Nutella Buttercream Filling:

• 60g/2oz butter
• 115g/4oz icing sugar
• 50g/1.5oz Nutella

1. Cream the butter in a bowl until it is smooth.
2. Melt the Nutella in a saucepan, stirring as you do to prevent burning.
3. Add the Nutella to the butter and sift in the icing sugar.  Beat until smooth.
4. Cover the top half of one of the cake layers in the buttercream.
5. Place the other half on top.

 Nutella Ganache Glaze:

• 300ml/fl.oz double cream
• 50g/1.5oz milk chocolate
• 100g/3.5oz Nutella

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a medium sized bowl with the Nutella.
2. Heat the cream until it just starts to boil.
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate and Nutella and allow to sit for a couple of minutes.
4. Whisk the ganache until it is smooth.
5. Allow ganache to cool for about 30 minutes so it is a bit firmer but still pourable.
6. Place a tray covered in greaseproof paper under the wire rack that the cake is sitting on. (This is important to catch excess ganache which can be re-used for the chocolate board.)
7. Pour ganache over the the cake, starting in the centre and working your way out.  Make sure all of the sides are covered. 
8. Leave to set.

Mortar Board and Tassel:

• 150g/5.5oz milk chocolate 
• 100g/3.5oz dark chocolate
• 60g/2oz white modelling chocolate (made from 60g/2oz white chocolate and 10ml/0.35fl.oz liquid glucose, following this tutorial)
• Tiny bit of Nutella for fixing

1. Melt the milk and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water.
2. Meanwhile, line a 26cm/10inch square tin with greaseproof paper.
3. When chocolate has melted, mix to combine the two types and get an even colour, then pour into prepared tin and tip about to get chocolate to cover the entire base of the tin.
4. Leave to set.
5. Once set, remove from tin and place on top of the cake.
6. Leave to set.
7. Get the modelling chocolate to a pliable state by kneading it.
8. Break off a piece about the size of a walnut and run it through a garlic press to get strings of chocolate.  Cut the strings away from the press with a knife and then carefully mould into a ball shape.
9. To make the tassel's tail, break off 3 or 4 pieces of modelling chocolate and run them through the garlic press one after the other.  Do not cut off the strings between pieces.  Just keep adding them in and you'll end up with a long tassel tail.  When all the pieces are through, cut with a knife and press one end against the stringed ball shape.
10. Break off a tiny bit of modelling chocolate and roll into a thing sausage.  Wrap around the join between the ball and the tail.
11. Break off three more pieces and roll into sausages.  Braid the pieces together to make a plait.
12. Use a bit of Nutella to fix the tassel on top of the mortar board, with its tail trailing over one side.  Attach the plait in the same manner, making sure one end is pressed against the ball of the tassel.

 

Banana and Cinnamon Loaf

I was not intending to bake today but as I was cleaning my kitchen it occurred to me that I still needed to use up the last of my bananas.  They were looking very ripe at this point and since I would be busy over the weekend making a cake and attending a party, today was really the only day I could do it.  Not like I had anything else to do aside from the laundry and this ended up being a pretty simple bake.

I had asked the fiancé what he would like earlier in the week, since he would be the one who actually be eating it.  He sort of shrugged and said, "Banana bread?".  Well, why not?  I know I made banana bread cupcakes quite recently but I thought it might be nice to make an actual loaf.  

My original plan was going to be to ask the fiancé's Mum for the recipe that she uses for banana bread, since I know he likes that one.  I never got around to it asking for it though.  Ah well.  Instead I decided to raid my books and see what I could find.  Mary Berry was my first pull from the shelf and ended up being my only one, since she had a nice, simple recipe that looked perfect.  I even got lucky with certain ingredients, like the flour, and had just the right amount needed.  Clearly it was meant to be.

I also decided to spice things up a little, literally, by adding some cinnamon.  I had read banana and cinnamon go well together and the fiancé does like cinnamon.  Admittedly, it is another one of those things he was a bit sceptical of when I talked about the idea but where's the fun in playing it safe?  Not that adding cinnamon is particularly wild but oh well.  I decided to do it as a layer of cinnamon sugar running through the centre of the loaf with more sprinkled on top, rather than mixing cinnamon into the batter itself.  So I guess it's a little bit like a cinnamon bun in a way.  I didn't have as much cinnamon as I wanted to put in but I've put what I would have used in the recipe.

The fiancé really liked it and is currently scoffing it down.  He says the cinnamon isn't very noticeable though, despite the fact that you can see it and smell it.  I put that down to not having enough in the sugar mix though.  Like I said, I've upped the amount in the write-up. 

Recipe - adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible

• 2 ripe bananas
• 100g/3.5oz butter
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 225g/8oz salf-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 75g/2.5oz granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 23x10cm/9x4inch loaf tin.
2. Mash the banana in a large bowl.
3. Add all the ingredients except the granulated sugar and cinnamon and then beat until smooth and there are no lumps of butter.  You can do this by hand but I would recommend an electric whisk.  It makes things much easier and the mixture ends up smoother.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon.
5. Spoon half the mixture into the loaf tin and use a spatula to smooth it over.
6. Cover the exposed batter with a layer of cinnamon sugar.
7. Spoon in the rest of the batter and smooth over.  Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
8. Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Allow to rest in the tin for a few minutes before turning it out, removing the greaseproof paper and letting the cake finish cooling on a wire rack.

Malted Milk Cupcakes

I was in two minds about what I wanted to make for this week's Dundee cakes.  On the one hand, I had been wanting to bake with malted milk powder for ages.  I've had a tub on the stuff sitting in my cupboard for several months now.  On the other hand, I'd seen a fascinating cake with layers flavoured with vanilla, caramel and chocolate and thought that could make for some cool cupcakes.  However that would mean having to make up some caramel to use and I was feeling a little lazy.  So malted milk it was!

The recipe for the cakes comes from one meant for malted cake balls, which starts off by making a 10inch cake.  I figured that would be enough for 12 muffin sized cupcakes, and I was right: it was exactly the right amount.  The buttercream gave me the most problems because it just refused to firm up.  I made two batches.  The first used a lot of milk and I thought that was the cause of the runny-ness so I only used a little in the second batch.  It still turned out runny, though less so than the first.  I just decided to go with it, especially as my malted milk balls were quite large and probably would have squashed down a buttercream swirl anyway.

Speaking of the malted milk balls, they were such an easy thing to make!  I know a number of people aren't keen on making them using the white chocolate and malt powder method but I think the end result is fantastic.  True, they don't have the crunch that the store bought ones do but they are still delicious.  They taste like a chocolate Malteser!  I am definitely making them again at some point and probably will do them as gifts for people in the future.

The fiancé refers to these as Malteser cakes, since that is what they taste like.  They went down very well with my test group but apparently the malt balls were the true favourites of the evening.  Can't say I disagree with that verdict.

Recipe - makes 12

Cakes - adapted from Ella Valentine via Baking Heaven Volume 2

• 190g/6.5oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 65g/2.25oz malted milk powder (Ovaltine)
• 55g/2oz butter
• 60ml/2.25fl.oz sour cream (or 60ml/2.25fl.oz milk with 1/4 tsp lemon juice that has been allowed to sit for 10 minutes)
• 100g/3.5oz caster sugar
• 100g/3.5oz dark muscovado sugar
• 2 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tray with muffin cases.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and malted milk powder together in a medium bowl and then set aside.
3. Beat the butter with the sour cream in a large bowl.
4. Add both the sugars and beat again until smooth and creamy.
5. Add the flour mixture to the sugar-butter and mix.
6. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl or jug until they are frothy.  Fold them into the cake mix.
7. Divide the batter evenly amongst the cases.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Leave to rest in the tin for about 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Malted Milk Buttercream - adapted from Food.com

• 115g/4oz butter
• 280g/10oz icing sugar
• 30g/1oz malted milk powder
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat the butter until creamy.
2. Sift in the icing sugar and add the malted milk powder, milk and vanilla extract.
3. Beat until smooth. 
4. Put the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large, star nozzle and pipe a flat spiral on top of each cake.

Malted Milk Balls - adapted from various sources
Makes 16 large or about 35 small-ish

• 150g/5.5oz white chocolate
• 90g/ oz malted milk powder
• 100g/3.5oz milk chocolate

1. Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water and prepare a tray by covering it with greaseproof paper.
2. Mix in the malted milk powder until combined.
3. Roll the mixture into balls (size is up to you) and place on the tray.
4. Put the tray in the fridge to allow the balls to firm up slightly.  Leave for about half an hour.
5. Melt the milk chocolate in the same manner as the white.
6. Dip the balls in the chocolate and then place back on the tray.  Leave to set.

Banoffee Biscuits

Why yes, this is another banana based bake.  I have bananas left over from last week that need to be used up.  This recipe used one banana so I still need to find something to do with the other two.  Hmmm....

Anyway, I saw this really simple recipe in my 2012 summer issue of Baking Heaven.  I find a lot of things I want to try in that particular issue, though I rather enjoy flicking through the five other ones I own.  I wish I could afford to buy more issues but since I'll be off to university again after the summer I really need to reserve my money for important things like food and electricity.  And train fare.  So much train fare... 

I should stop side tracking.  Biscuits!  Right, so the recipe was for either banana biscuits or strawberry ones.  Obviously, since I had bananas I wanted to make the banana ones.  I decided to add to them though by including toffee chunks since banana and toffee is a common and much loved combination.  Plus it would make them a little more interesting.

I had to modify the recipe slightly because I used too much banana.  I didn't want to use just some of the banana because then what would I do with the other bit?  So I put it all in and of course the dough ended up very sticky.  It is meant to be sticky but not that much.  Hence I compensated by adding some extra flour.  It doesn't seem to have had any sort of negative effect.

These were fun to watch in the oven as all the toffee starts bubbling when it gets hot and it's like mini volcanoes.  You do get a fair amount of toffee spilling out of the cookies as they bake, which I removed after they were finish to keep the nice, rounded finish.  Plus the toffee that spilled cooked a lot faster and therefore burnt slightly and I'm sure most people wouldn't like burnt toffee.

The end result is a slightly soft biscuit.  The edges are crunchy, as is the toffee.  The fiancé isn't that keen on soft biscuits but he said the crunchy toffee makes up for the bits that are soft and so texture wise it is really nice.  You can taste the banana throughout and it goes well with the toffee.  He does recommend taking your time with them though and not trying to eat the whole thing in one mouthful or you'll end up gumming your mouth together.

Recipe - adapted from Biscuit via Baking Heaven volume 2

Makes about 20

• 100g/3.5oz butter
• 100g/3.5oz golden caster sugar
• 150g/5.5oz banana (about 1 banana)
• 240g/8.5oz plain flour
• 75g/2.5oz hard toffee sweets

1. Mash the banana in a large bowl with a fork.
2. Add the butter and sugar and beat together until smooth and creamy.  If it starts to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.
3. Crush the toffees into small pieces and add them and the remaining flour to the mixture.  Beat together until a soft, sticky dough forms.
4. Form dough into a rough ball and wrap in clingfilm.  Chill in the fridge for about an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line 2-4 baking trays (I only own 2 but ended up doing 4 batches) with greaseproof paper.
6. Shape the dough into balls about the size of a walnut and then squash the balls flat so they are about 5mm/0.25inches thick.  Place on the trays spaced about 3cm/1.5inches apart.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges of the biscuits are golden brown.  The centres will still be a little soft.
8. Allow to rest on the trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.  (Once mine had cooled I broke off any hanging bits of toffee that spilt out during baking).

Banana Cupcakes

Well, I did say I wanted to bake with bananas again.  I didn't think it would be quite this soon though.  Last week one of the lovely ladies I worked with at Markinch asked me if I would bake 24 cupcakes for her.  She quite liked the idea of having them be banana flavoured and with only a little bit of icing.  Obviously I said yes.  I love baking for other people.

I immediately settled on making a banana icing, or buttercream, for the cakes because I knew I could use milkshake powder to flavour it.  It worked so well for the strawberry buttercream after all.  And of course, I was asked to make them banana flavoured so in that case I just had to find a recipe that looked good.  I trawled through many and saw plenty of interesting combinations.  I disregarded all the ones used chocolate, as I wasn't asked for that.  A number included cinnamon, stating that it is an amazing pairing and it certainly sounded interesting but I didn't know if that would be appreciated so I decided to squirrel that idea away for another day.  In the end, I settled on a recipe from one of my cookbooks that I've not really used before.  It's actually for banoffee cupcakes, rather than straight up banana but the cake part contained banana with no extra spices and using brown sugar and melted but to add a slight toffee flavour to the bake seemed like a lovely thing to do.  So I did.

This bake doubled up really easily and I was able to divide it pretty evenly amongst my cases so I got very equal looking cupcakes.  I've found a good, secondary use for my measuring cups.  The 1/4 cup dealt out the perfect amount of mixture for each cake.  I got special yellow cases to go with the cakes and also decided to buy bananas sweets to sit on top of the little swirls of buttercream for a bit of extra decoration.  It's a shame I didn't check my packet to see exactly how many I had.  There were only twenty bananas in the bag, so I was four short!  Consequently I ended up cutting them in half lengthways and having skinny bananas on top of each cake instead.  Ah well, if that's the only thing I can consider going wrong, I can't really complain.  

My only other gripe is that the shop I usually buy my cardboard cake boxes from doesn't seem to sell them any more!  I went to town specifically to get some since it would make the cakes easier to transport only to find there were none.  I was so disappointed.  I did have some left, but only one 12 box so the rest ended up divided between two 6 boxes.  They are also all different patterns so it makes me feel like they should have different types of cake in each one.  I'm going to have to see if I can get more on eBay.  They were just such great prices at Home Bargains!  It's such a shame they aren't there any more.

So, taste?  Well, I made an extra cake for the fiancé to try and since his sister was over as well, she had half of it.  My main fear was that the banana in the cakes would not be very noticeable since there was only two bananas used in a batch of 24 cakes.  It is there, if subtle.  But that's okay.  They were clearly banana cupcakes and they said the subtleness worked with the buttercream because it might have been too overpowering otherwise.  They also said the cakes were nice and sweet.  The lovely lady that ordered them was very complimentary of their appearance when she picked them up today.  Hopefully they go down well at her party.  I will update when I get feedback from her.

Recipe - makes 24

Cakes - adapted from Good Housekeeping: Baking Book

• 200g/7oz butter
• 350g/12oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 300g/10oz light brown sugar
• 300g/10oz banana (about 2 bananas)
• 5 large eggs (or 6 medium)
• 150ml/5fl.oz buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line two 12 hole muffin trays with 24 muffin cases.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and then set aside to cool slightly.
3. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a large bowl and mix together.
4. Mash the bananas in a small bowl using a fork.
5. Add the buttermilk and eggs to the melted butter and beat together until combined.
6. Pour the butter mixture, along with the mashed banana, into the dry ingredients and beat together until just combined.
7. Divide the mixture amongst the cases and then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until cakes are risen and springy and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Leave to cool in their tins for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Banana Buttercream:

• 115g/4oz butter
• 225g/8oz icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp banana milkshake powder
• Yellow food colouring (optional)
• 24 banana sweets (I used Sainsbury's Foam Bananas)

1. Put the butter in a bowl and beat until creamy.
2. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until the buttercream is fluffy.
3. Add the milk and milkshake powder, plus a couple of drops of colouring if using, and beat until smooth.
4. Put into a piping bag fitted with a large, round nozzle and pipe small swirls of buttercream in the middle of each cake.
5. Top with a banana sweet.

Ferrero Rocher (Chocolate and Hazelnut) Cake

It was the birthday of one of the fiancé's friends yesterday and so I offered to make a birthday cake for the occasion.  Well, actually I offered to make it last week with the intention of having it done for Saturday since that is when they were having their birthday party.  A Ferrero Rocher cake was requested, since the cupcakes I made had been a favourite of theirs.  I thought this would be an interesting challenge because ideally I still wanted a nut and nutella filling in the centre of every cake slice, rather than just having a layer of nutella and nuts between the cake layers (though I did end up doing both).  And then I had the idea to make it spherical!  I had invested in some hemisphere pans from Lakeland at the start of the year and so far had not had an excuse to use them.  This could be perfect and then the cake could look like a giant Ferrero Rocher!

Now, I bet you're thinking, 'But Becca, that cake in the picture isn't spherical.  That's a standard, round cake.'  Well, you're right, it isn't spherical.  It's not spherical because the spherical cake was a disaster.  When I set out, all seemed to be going well though I did discover I had lost the accompanying sheet of instructions for the tins and therefore was not sure how much to fill them by and since I was working from a cupcake recipe, I was going to have to work out the timing as I went.  My initial guess at the amount to fill the tin by was way off, since I put the entire amount in, and the thing overflowed.  In spite of that though, the cake itself came out pretty perfect.  A lovely hemisphere indeed, especially after I cut off the overflow.  It did take forever to cook all the way through but it was beautifully moist and no part of it was overcooked.  I was rather pleased as I whipped up a second batch of mixture, with the intention of only filling the tin with half of it this time.  

This is where things started to go wrong.  I only have one of each size of tin, so I had to bake the two halves one after the other in the same tin.  On the first one, I took the time to both grease the tin and line it with greaseproof paper.  As you can imagine, this is really quite fiddly.  However, I'd found a review of the pans whilst the first half was baking (to help me work out how much I should fill it so it didn't overflow again) that said the instructions only called for the pan to be greased.  No paper should be needed as it was supposed to be non-stick, something that would improve over uses due to a natural patina building up.  Well, cool, I thought and on the second go I only greased the pan.  I bet you can guess what happened?  The cake stuck.  According to what I had read, a couple of shakes was all that was needed to release the cake from the tin.  My couple of shakes caused the centre of the cake to fall out.  Oh dear.  I was not happy but I still had batter left so I cleaned the tin, lined it with paper this time and put the rest of the mixture in.  It would be fine, if getting late in the day as it was about 11pm by this point.

The third attempt didn't even get to finish cooking.  Whilst attempt two had been in the oven, I had decided to start filling the first half of the cake.  I cut out a 'tunnel' in the flat side of the hemisphere and filled it with nutella and hazelnuts.  My intention was to mirror it on the other half so once they were sandwiched together and then sliced, there would be a 'core' that ran through each slice.  I'm sure it would have been awesome...if the cake had not collapsed in on itself, with my assistance.  The cake had been fine with its filling until just after I put in attempt three.  It was then that I noticed a split had occurred on one side of the first half.  Concerned, I tried to patch it with nutella but I needed something to hold it together.  So I moved it to sit inside a slightly smaller hemisphere pan.  It certainly squeezed the crack shut, but it also caused the centre of the cake to drop out and all the filling to spill.  It was in pieces and therefore ruined.  The fiancé had to pause his running of his online RPG to come comfort me after he heard the wail from the kitchen.  I then proceeded to turn the oven off and sulk on the sofa for the remainder of the evening before the fiancé finished up and we went to bed.

Looking back, I think I know what my major mistake was.  I should have let the cakes cool in the tin.  It's something I usually do but have never given consideration as to why.  You do it because it improves the cake's structure.  I'm not sure how (I should find out), but it does.  Many a cake collapse can be put down to not cooling in the tins.  Also, gravity didn't help and I should not have essentially suspended my cake during my attempts to save it.  But really, if it was cracking under its own weight, it would definitely not have been able to support the top half of the sphere when it got put on anyway.

So that's why the cake is just a regular, round cake.  I was tempted to try the sphere again but I decided I would risk it on something that wasn't meant to be a gift for someone else.  I already messed up by not providing a cake for the party (and he was so nice about it too) I was not going to let anyone down a second time.  A small part of me thinks that not having the sphere cake done for said party was probably okay since it turned out there were more people than I had thought.  I had assumed it would just be the fiancé's usual group but turns out there were 14 people in total instead.  I don't think the sphere would have been big enough in the end. Plus it probably would have been a pain to try and get it to Dundee on the train.  It wouldn't have fit in my cake transporter and if it went in one of the large tupperware boxes I'd probably have to pad it to stop it rolling about the place.  In future I shall save spheres for cakes that are not travelling very far.

I have to say, I was rather pleased with the finished product.  For a plain looking cake it still looked inviting, especially with that gold ribbon wrapped around it.  I thought that added a nice touch of flair and could represent the gold foil of the Ferrero Rocher.  Those of you who saw the cupcake version will probably have noticed that I took things a step further in this cake, as I decided to coat it in melted chocolate just to drive home that it is meant to be a Ferrero Rocher cake.  Part of me thinks I should have made a ganache but I don't always seem to have much success with it.  I attempted to make a chocolate and raspberry tart last week but it failed miserably, and part of that was down to the ganache splitting for unknown reasons.  Honestly, ganache seems like such a simple thing to make on paper but I never quite get it right.  I will conquer you one day you wretched beast!  So yeah, melted chocolate it was.

So the verdict on the taste is?  Well, one person said it was the best cake they've ever had in their life.  One was lost for words and had been 'reduced to a drooling caveman' and the birthday boy thought it was amazing.  I got phoned up to be told personally rather than waiting for the fiancé to get back and relay the result.  Obviously I am unbelievably chuffed with that response. 

Recipe:

Cake - adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days

Makes 2 x 20cm/8inch round layers

• 80g/3oz butter
• 280g/10oz caster sugar
• 200g/7oz plain flour
• 40g/1.5oz cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 240ml/8fl.oz milk
• 50g/1.75oz hazelnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and grease and line two 20cm/8inch round cake tins.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder until you get a mixture that resembles sand in texture.  To get the last of the lumps of butter out you may wish to rub it in with your fingers.
3. Put the eggs and milk in a jug and whisk together.
4. Pour three quarters of the egg milk into the dry ingredients and mix in until incorporated.
5. Scrape down the edges of the bowl and add the rest of the liquid, beating until smooth and even.
6. Crush the hazelnuts and beat into the mixture.
7. Divide the mixture between the prepared cake tins and then bake in the oven for  30-35 minutes until risen, springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Allow to rest in the tins for about half an hour before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.  Cakes must be cooled completely before decorating. 

Filling:

• 340g/12oz Nutella
• 100g/3.5oz roasted hazelnuts   

1. Once the cakes have cooled, place them with the topside of the bottom layer and the underside of the top layer facing upwards.
2. Use a knife to trace around a 15cm/6inch circle (I used a cake tin) in the centre of each cake layer, being careful not to cut very deep.
3. Do the same again with a 9cm/4inch circle.
4. Now carefully remove some of the cake between the two sets of knife lines so you have a  dipped, circular ring running around the cakes about 5cm/2inches away from the edges.
5. Put the Nutella in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring all the time until it reaches a runnier consistency.  Fill the rings with Nutella and then use the rest to cover the remaining tops of the cakes (the very centre and the two inch border around the edge).
6. Top the Nutella inside the rings with whole hazelnuts.
7. Crush the remaining hazelnuts and sprinkle over the rest of the Nutella.
8. Carefully but quickly turn the top layer over on top of the bottom layer. Make sure you have one hand under the base and not both holding the sides or it will cave in on itself before you get a chance to flip it.  If it lands a little lopsided (mine did), gently adjust it.

Chocolate Buttercream:

• 200g/7oz butter
• 400g/14oz icing sugar
• 155g/5.5oz milk chocolate
• 175g/6oz roasted hazelnuts

1. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl placed over a pan of lightly simmering water (but not touching the water).
2. Beat the butter in a bowl until creamy.
3. Sift in the icing sugar and mix in until your buttercream is pale and fluffy.
4. Pour in the melted chocolate and beat until evenly incorporated.
5. Use a butter knife to apply a very thin layer of buttercream to the top and sides of the cake to create a crumb coat.
6. Use a rubber spatula to cover the cake with the rest of the buttercream and make sure it is smooth.
7. Crush the hazelnuts with a rolling pin and press the pieces into the buttercream, covering the whole cake.
8. Put in the fridge to chill and set the buttercream.

Chocolate Shell:

• 200g/7oz milk chocolate

1. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl placed over a pan of lightly simmering water (but not touching the water). 
2. Remove the cake from the fridge and sit it on a wire rack suspended over a tray.
3. Pour on top of the cake in the centre and then coax it towards and over the sides so that it covers all of the nuts and buttercream.  You can use a rubber spatula to help smooth the chocolate out but be gentle in case you dislodge the nuts.
4. Leave to set.