Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Fudge Icing

So here is the final post from the birthday weekend.  To accompany the citrus cupcakes I made for the fiancé, I made chocolate cupcakes for the fiancé's sister.  And, as followers of my blog may know by now, I just had to add Nutella in there somehow since the girl is a Nutella fiend!

Now I admit, I had not actually worked out what recipe I was going to use for these cakes until the day I was making them.  I knew it would involve chocolate and Nutella but that was it.  I did briefly consider making the Nutella cupcakes I had made previously but they are over-complicated and I didn't have all the ingredients.  So I figured a nice, simple chocolate cake would do the trick and I would add a Nutella frosting.  Ideally, I wanted to try and make a fudge icing using the stuff because I thought it would be really scrummy. The recipe I ended up using for the cakes was for chocolate fudge cupcakes but I decided to add a little milk to the mixture to make it slightly lighter.  The recipe for the icing came from the same book.  I just substituted Nutella in place of the chocolate and hoped it would work (which it did).

The result was very well received.  The cakes were wonderfully light for a chocolate cake and the fudge icing is fantastic!  I kept licking the remains in the bowl when I finished frosting the cakes.  The birthday girl was very happy with them.

Recipe - adapted from 200 Cupcakes

Makes 6 cupcakes 

Cakes: 

• 60g/2oz butter
• 75g/2.5oz light muscovado sugar
• 1 egg
• 50g/1.75oz self-raising flour
• 50g/1.75oz cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp whole milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 6 hole tin with cupcake cases.
2. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat together until light, creamy and smooth.
3. Divide the mixture between the six cases.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before frosting.

Nutella Fudge Icing:

• 50g/1.75oz Nutella
• 1 tbsp milk
• 25g/1oz butter
• 40g/1.5oz icing sugar
• Sprinkles for decoration

1. Put the Nutella, butter and milk into a small saucepan and place over a low heat until the butter and Nutella have melted.  Make sure to stir often to prevent burning.
2. Transfer to a clean bowl and sift in the icing sugar.  Whisk the mixture until it is smooth.
3. Leave to rest for about half an hour to allow it to firm up a little.
4. Give it a quick stir and then spread over the top of the cakes, one at a time.  Be sure to add your decoration to the cakes immediately after applying the icing otherwise it will firm up too much to do so. 

Citrus Cupcakes

So the birthday related posts continue.  I have one more to catch up on after this and then it happens to be my birthday this Sunday so there'll be another post following that featuring my birthday cake.  It's going to be fairly simple but hopefully delicious!

Anyway, I should be focussing on cupcakes!  As anyone who saw my posts last August might recall, the fiancé and his sister have birthdays which are three days apart.  Hence their Mum wanted to have a meal together where we could also do birthday presents.  And as has become traditional, I get to bake something for dessert!  I didn't think I should make big cakes as I was worried they wouldn't get eaten.  Instead, I opted to bake 12 cupcakes.  I made two different kinds based on flavours each birthday boy/girl liked.  This first set is for the fiancé and they are citrus cupcakes.  Originally, when I asked him, he wanted some more of the orange ones I had made a few weeks ago but then I floated the idea of a cake that had lemon, lime and orange all in one and he jumped on it.  So these cakes have a layer of lime and a layer of lemon and then are topped with a swirl of orange buttercream.  Very zesty and rather festive looking too!

Seeing as I can't get a hold of lime extract (does such a thing exist?) I chose to make the cakes using zest and juice.  I was determined to have juice as well as zest because I thought it would make the flavour more pronounced.  Oddly though, I found it a bit tricky locating a recipe that did that.  Thankfully, Lily Vanilli came to my rescue.  Her book had a recipe for lime cupcakes that used both parts of the fruit and I obviously adapted it to make a cake that was half lemon and half lime.

The overall result did look rather splendid.  My only concern was that I over baked them just ever so slightly.  I got distracted just around the time they needed to come out so their tops weren't quite as soft and springy as I would like.  I really need to get a new timer (the fiancé broke mine by accidentally knocking it onto the floor).  However, it did not seem to have a negative effect on the taste and they were all gobbled up.  You can taste all the different flavours and it is a lovely, refreshing cake.

 

Recipe - makes 8 cupcakes

Cakes - adapted from A Zombie Ate My Cupcake

• 60g/2oz butter
• 100g/3.5oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp lime zest (about one small lime's worth)
• 25ml/1fl.oz lime juice (about one small lime's worth)
• 1 tsp lemon zest (about one small lemon's worth)
• 25ml/1fl.oz lemon juice (about one small lemon's worth)
• 190g/6.7oz plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp whole milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Yellow and green food colouring

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole tin with cupcake cases.
2. Set out two mixing bowls and place half the butter in one and the rest in the other.
3. Beat the butter until creamy.
4. Add the lime zest and lime juice to one bowl, along with half the sugar.  Add the lemon zest and juice and the rest of the sugar to the other.  Beat each of the two mixtures until they are light and fluffy.
5. Beat the egg in a measuring jug and then divide evenly between the two bowls.  Beat until just combined.
6. In a separate bowl combine half the flour with 1/4 tsp baking powder and a little bit of salt.
7. In a cup or jug, mix together 2 tbsp milk and 1/4 tsp vanilla.
8. Add the flour mixture and milk mixture alternately to one of the bowls of batter, beginning and ending with the flour.  Beat well after each addition.
9. Repeat steps 6-8 with the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, milk and vanilla extract, adding them to the other bowl of batter.
10. Add a few drops of yellow colouring to the lemon batter and mix in.  Do the same to the lime batter with the green.
11. Divide the green batter evenly amongst the cases and smooth over so the top is flat.
12. Top the green mixture with the yellow mixture and smooth out as well, making sure the batter reaches the edges of the case.
13. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cakes are risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
14. Cool in the tin for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish.  Cakes need to have cooled completely before they can be frosted.

Orange Buttercream:

• 85g/3oz butter
• 170g/6oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp milk
• 1.5 tsp orange extract
• Orange food colouring

1. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Sift in the icing sugar, orange extract and add the milk.  Mix until combined and smooth.
3. Add a couple of drops of food colouring and mix until you get a colour you are happy with.
4. Place buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe a swirl on top of each cake.

Wholemeal Loaf

Okay, so posts are not being done as quickly as I would like right now.  I started my post-grad course last week and it has already gotten slightly on top of me.  I think it's mainly due to not having so much to do in a long time and hopefully once I get used to it I won't be quite so overwhelmed.  That's the theory anyway.  Knowing my luck I'll get to grips with things and then lose them all when I go out on placement late October.

Anyway, there are still three posts, including this one, to get done from the birthday weekend.  I want to try and get them all done by the end of the month since they are August bakes.  I like to avoid posting about something in a different month to the one it was made in.  For the most part I manage it.  So, continuing on from where I left off, today's post is about bread!

Bread may seem an odd thing to be a birthday bake but the fiancé loves bread.  Thus I decided to make him a little loaf of wholemeal bread to accompany his birthday tea of tomato soup and onion bhajis (he's not that keen on white bread).  Half ended up being eaten with said tea and the rest became toast for the two mornings afterwards.

For a change, I did not have to resort to my favoured bread book.  I found a great recipe in a different one that worked out really well.  Nice and simple and the end product was great.  I admit, I was a bit on edge due to my last adventure baking bread and was worrying about it being raw inside right up until it was finally cut open.  Turns out it was fine.  The fiancé thought it was really delicious. 

Recipe - adapted from The Baking Book
Makes 1 x 1lb loaf

• 115g/4oz strong plain white flour
• 225g/8oz strong plain wholemeal flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 225ml/8fl.oz warm water
• Vegetable oil for greasing

1. Sift the white flour into a large bowl.
2. Add in the wholemeal flour, salt, sugar and yeast and mix together.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add most of the warm water.
4. Stir together and then use your hands to shape into a soft dough.  If you need to, add some of the remaining water.
5. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until it is smooth.  
6. Grease a bowl with oil, shape the dough into a ball and place inside.  Cover with a clean cloth or clingfilm and leave to rise for about two hours, or until doubled in size. 
7. Grease a 1lb loaf tin with oil.
8. Punch the dough down on a floured surface and shape into a loaf.  Press into the oiled tin, cover and then leave to rise for another 30-60 minutes an hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8 and bake the loaf for 15 minutes.  Then turn the oven down to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until the bread has risen and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
10. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Blueberry and Lemon Layer Cake

It's going to be a busy one for posts this week.  I baked four different things this weekend, none of which I've made before and so they all have to be documented.  First up is the cake I made for the fiancé's birthday, which was Saturday.  It is a creation that has been in the works in my head for several months and for the most part it turned out the way I wanted.  It ended up looking a little sloppy due to over-active fillings causing many a problem but it still got a 'Wow!' when I brought it out so it wasn't all bad.

When I was concocting this cake, I knew from the start that I wanted to do blueberry and lemon, although rather than doing a lemon cake like last year and filling it with blueberries, I wanted to make the blueberry part the cake.  I wanted the sponge to taste of blueberries too, not just have blueberries in it.  Luckily I had freeze dried blueberry powder sitting in my cupboard for just such an idea.  Question was, how was I going to use it.  Last time I use freeze-dried powder I based it off a vegan recipe and whilst the result did taste of strawberries it was a little bit close in texture.  I wanted my cake to be lighter.  So surely I did the research and found an ideal solution?  Nope.  I just decided to go with my gut and do whatever I felt like.  In this case, I added it in to my favourite vanilla cake recipe.  And you know what, it turned out brilliantly!  It was a wonderfully soft cake and rose really well.  This also pleases me because now I know what to do when making the strawberry layer for my wedding cake next year.

Now, originally I was only going to fill the cake with buttercream, as well as cover the whole thing in the stuff too.  However, the closer it got to the day of making, the more ideas I had.  I finally managed to track down a cake recipe I had found a couple of years ago but lost when my laptop was stolen.  Whilst I knew who had made it, they have revamped their site and I was struggling to find it again.  Thankfully Google Images and a Yummly list of fruity cakes helped me locate the page again.  Looking at it again made me want to add some extra layers.  I definitely wanted to do the lemon cream it used.  A bit of extra lemon wouldn't hurt.  And then I decided to add blueberry jam, which turned into making my own blueberry compote instead.

Admittedly, I may have overdone it.  Making all the components for the cake was simple and they all turned out great, until I tried to put it all together.  I had too much filling and it all kept escaping from between the layers, which didn't really want to stay stacked in a straight line but preferred to try and be the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  There was a fair bit of fighting, a lot of wiping up and maybe a little bit of a tantrum when it was being made.  After I stopped the filling escaping, I had to contend with the buttercream suffering under gravity and constantly sliding down.  Clearly I should not have added that tiny bit of milk, it just made it a little too runny.  It had to keep going in the fridge to firm up between coats to finally get it to stay together.

The decorations were also a last minute addition to the plan, after seeing the idea somewhere on the Internet.  I thought it would add a nice bit of alternate colouring to the outside.  It also tasted rather lovely too.

So despite all the nonsense during assembly, the fiancé loved it.  Though he'd been thoroughly stuffed with a birthday lunch of pancakes and a birthday tea of soup, homemade bread and onion bhajis that he didn't have room to eat any until the following day.  When he did though he seemed ecstatic.  The sponge is lovely and light, like I hoped, and despite their attempt to escape (and apparent success as I was struggling to see them), all the fillings could be tasted.  The two different lemon fillings are distinct from one another, as one is flavoured with extract whilst the other uses actual lemons.  Overall, it was quite successful.

For the write up, I made a point to halve the amounts for all the fillings because there was far too much of the compote and the lemon cream and a fair bit went to waste, which is a shame.

Recipe - makes 1 x 15cm/6inch round, 3 layer cake

Cake - inspired by The Good Food Channel

• 4 large eggs
• Caster sugar - weight equal to that of the 4 eggs in their shells
• Unsalted butter - weight equal to that of the 4 eggs in their shells
• Self raising flour - weight equal to that of the 4 eggs in their shells
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 75g/2.5oz freeze dried blueberry powder
• 250g/9oz fresh blueberries 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line 3 15cm/6inch round cake tins. 
2. Wash and dry the fresh blueberries.  Once dry, put some of the flour in a bowl and toss the blueberries in it to coat them.
3. Beat the sugar and butter together in a large bowl until smooth and creamy.
4. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks together with the vanilla extract until foamy.  Add to the sugar butter and fold in gently.
5. Add the remaining flour and the blueberry powder and fold in too. 
6. Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks.
7. Add a small amount of the whisked whites to the batter and fold in.
8. Add the rest of the egg whites and fold in.  When it is almost fully incorporated, add the floured blueberries and continue to fold until no egg white is visible.
9. Divide the mixture evenly between the three tins, making a small well in the centre of each with a spoon to help them bake level.
10. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and they are soft and springy to the touch. (Whilst you wait, I recommend making the lemon cream or the blueberry compote).
11. Allow to rest in their tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Lemon Cream - adapted from Sunshine's Kitchen

• 2 medium eggs
• 50g/2oz caster sugar
• 45ml/3fl.oz lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1.5 tbsp lemon zest
• 70g/2.5oz butter

1. Cut the butter into cubes and set aside.
2. Place a bowl in a container filled with ice water.
3. Put the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a saucepan and place over a low heat.
4. Stir the mixture continuously for at least 10 minutes as it cooks until the mixture thickens.  You should leave a trail when you run your spoon through it.
5. Add the cubes of butter one at a time, waiting until each cube is absorbed into the mixture before adding the next.  Stir all the time as you do this.
6. When all the butter in incorporated, pour into the prepared bowl and leave to cool.
7. Once cooled, cover with clingfilm and leave to set in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Blueberry Compote - adapted from James Martin via BBC: 

• 125g/4oz blueberries
• 50g/2oz caster sugar
• 2 tbsp water

1. Wash the blueberries and place them in a saucepan with the sugar and water.
2. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved, the berries have broken down and the mixture has started to thicken.
3. Remove from the heat and leave aside to cool and thicken.  Usually about 2 hours.

Lemon Buttercream: 

• 200g/7oz butter
• 400g/14oz icing sugar
• 2 tsp lemon extract
• Yellow food colouring

1. Cream the butter in a large bowl until it is smooth.
2. Add the icing sugar, lemon extract and a few drops of colouring and beat until fully incorporated and you have a nice smooth buttercream.

Blueberry Chocolate Decorations:

• 100g/3.5oz white chocolate chips
• 1.5 tbsp freeze dried blueberry powder

1. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, being careful not to let the water touch the bowl.
3. Once melted, add the blueberry powder and mix until fully incorporated.
4. Put chocolate into a piping bag fitted with a small, round nozzle and pipe shapes onto the paper.  I did stars.

Assembly: 
I recommend doing this away from the plate you intend to serve it on due to potential spillage of fillings.  However, make sure you have a way to transfer the finished cake to the plate when you're finished.  I used a flexible cutting board but ideally you'll want a cake lifter (got to get myself one of those).

1. If the cake layers did not bake flat, first level them off with a serrated knife.
2. Put a layer of lemon cream on top of the first layer of cake.  Do not overdo it and leave an inch gap around the edge as it will spread when the other layers are put on top.
3. Next apply a thin layer of compote.  I recommend leaving a bigger gap around the edge as this is the worst offender for spreading and spilling out over the sides.
4. Cover the underside of the second layer with a thin layer of lemon buttercream, again leaving an inch gap.  Gently place layer 2 on top of layer 1, pressing down slightly and making sure they are aligned.
5. Do the same for layers 2 (cream then compote) and 3 (buttercream), making sure you still have lemon cream left to go on top.
6. When layers are stacked and aligned, cover the sides of the cake in a very thin layer of buttercream to act as a crumb coat.  Also coat around the edge of the top but leave a large circle in the middle.
7. Put cake in the fridge for about 15 minutes to help crumb coat set.
8. Bring out and cover the sides of the cake in a thick layer of buttercream, making sure to keep some back to decorate the top with.  If you find gravity keeps making it droop down the sides, put it in the fridge for a bit to firm up and then spread it back up the cake.  (You may have to do this a couple of times).
9. Put the remaining buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.  Pipe rosettes around the top edge of the cake, followed by a ring around you circle.
10. Fill the uncovered circle with lemon cream.
11. Put back in the fridge for 30 minutes.  
12. Decorate with your chocolate decorations.

Peach Melba Ice Cream

I have been aware of various blog baking challenges existing for a few months now.  However I've not felt entirely keen on trying to sign up to any.  This is mainly down to their rules or how they work.  For example, baking a specific recipe and it being compulsory to take part in so many of the challenges each year.  As much as I would like my blog to get more traffic, I felt these kind of things were really restrictive.  What if I didn't like the sound of the recipe?  Or didn't have anyone that could eat it and therefore it would go to waste?  Or I just didn't have time to take part because my schedule got unexpectedly busy?  Then the challenge would feel like a chore and not something fun, which is what baking is for me.

So I cannot tell you how excited I was when I stumbled across The Lady Behind The Curtain's Dessert Challenge.  It sounded so wonderfully simple.  Each month you're challenged to bake something that includes two particular ingredients, and it has to be a dessert.  That's it.  Oh, and it can't have been on your blog before.  What's the fun in doing something you've already done?  Plus, there's no obligation.  If the ingredients aren't your cup of tea then no worries, just sit the month out.  I loved the sound of it so I had to sign up.

And that's what today's post centres around.  This is my first entry into the Dessert Challenge.  This month's ingredients: peaches and cream.  Admittedly, I was actually considering not doing it this month as I had no idea what I would do with those ingredients.  I am not that keen on peaches and pretty much everyone else I know was on holiday or I wouldn't see until after the post was due to go out.  It wasn't until Thursday last week that it hit me that I could make ice cream with it.  That way, even if the fiancé and I decided it wasn't our kind of thing, the stuff would keep and we could serve it up to someone who would like it at a later date.  It even turned out that my lovely ice cream book that I got for practically nothing at The Works had a recipe for peaches ice cream too, although I ended up mixing it together with the recipe for plum ice cream because, as always, I wanted a custard base.

I decided to add a little something extra to the recipe as well and put a raspberry ripple through it, which was inspired by the dessert Peach Melba (ice cream, peaches and raspberry sauce).  I used the same method as I had done with the blueberry ripple (though messed with the amounts slightly) and actually got an even better syrup than last time.  This one stayed syrupy even after sitting on the side for several hours whilst I waited for the ice cream to firm up.  I was quite pleased.  Maybe I slightly overcooked it last time?

Really, my only problem with this, again, was that my ice cream maker wouldn't freeze the mixture as it churned.  The kitchen wasn't even hot this time so I'm now wondering if the freezer isn't cold enough.  We adjusted the temperature for the fridge a couple of weeks ago because it kept freezing everything on the bottom shelf, but it seems that gauge is also connected to the freezer so it's now less cold in there too.  Still freezes things fine but apparently isn't so good for the ice cream maker's bowl, which is rather annoying.  So I had to do it the old fashioned way again and consequently ended up with a few ice crystals in my ice cream.  Oh well.

Despite the ever so slight crunch, it is still yummy.  The fiancé calls it refreshing because whilst it is creamy it is also juicy thanks to all the peach purée.  The peach and raspberry go really well together too.  All in all, a fairly successful recipe that will get eaten by us.

Recipe - makes 0.6L

Peach Ice Cream - adapted from Best Ever Recipes Ice Cream

• 400g/14oz tin peach halves in light syrup
• 65g/2.5oz caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 150ml/5fl.oz whole milk
• 150ml/5fl.oz double cream

Raspberry Ripple:

• 150g/5oz raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp water 

1. Put the peaches and syrup in a saucepan, along with 40g/1.5oz of the caster sugar.  Heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.  Set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining 25g/1oz caster sugar until the mixture is pale in colour and resembles mousse.
3. Put the cream and milk in a saucepan and heat until it just starts bubbling around the edges.
4. Slowly pour the cream mixture over the egg mousse, whisking as you do so.
5. Transfer back into the pan and place over a gentle heat.
6. Cook the mixture to a custard, stirring the whole time without letting it boil.  You either want the mixture to reach a temperature of 76°C/170°F or so it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
7. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
8. Once the peaches are cooled, blend them into a purée and add them to the custard.  Stir until they are fully combined then put the mixture in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
9. Once the mixture has chilled, churn according to ice cream maker's instructions.
10. Meanwhile, make the ripple by combining the raspberries, sugar and water in a saucepan.
11. Cook over a medium heat until the fruit has broken down, stirring regularly to prevent burning.
12. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a clean pan to remove the seeds.  Press down on anything left in the sieve with a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible.
13. Return the new pan to the heat and bring to a boil.  Cook the mixture until it reduces to a thick syrup.  Set aside to cool.
14. Once the ice cream has churned but is still soft, put a third into a freezer safe container.  Drizzle on half the ripple syrup.
15. Repeat with a second third of the ice cream and the rest of the syrup, then top with the last of the ice cream.
16. Use a fork or butter knife to ripple the two mixtures together.
17. Put in the freezer and freeze overnight.

Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Cinnamon and Raisin Bagels

I've always been a bit wary of the idea of making my own bagels.  Admittedly, it had never occurred to me to even try doing so until it came up on last year's series of The Great British Bake Off, but that's where I saw the thing that concerned me: poaching.  I've never poached anything before, not even eggs, so I really wasn't sure if I would be able to do it.  Consequently I put it out of my mind until about a month ago, when I had a sudden craving for bagels.  I didn't have any though and didn't feel like going out to get some.  That's when I started considering trying to make my own.  I've gotten better at baking since starting this blog so I could do with branching out a bit.  So I began looking about online and in books for recipes, for plain ones mind because I'm very boring in my tastes.

Well, as you may have assumed by my lack of previous posts about bagels, I never did get around to making them.  I couldn't really find a good time to do them and then I just ended up ordering some with my weekly shop.  But here we are, a month later, and I have finally made some! 

Since these are cinnamon and raisin, they're clearly not for me.  I made them for the fiancé as he enjoys having them for breakfast but I hadn't gotten any in the shopping (despite asking him if he wanted anything thee times) and the local shop didn't have them.  Well, seemed a good enough excuse to give making them a go at last so I did.

I decided to work off a plain recipe, opting for a Nigella one I had already bookmarked back when I was originally looking for recipes.  I then modified it by adding the cinnamon and raisins, picking my own amounts based on what looked and smelt right, as well as switching the caster sugar with dark brown sugar.  I messed about with the amounts of ingredients slightly too, since I only wanted to make 5, not 15, and the numbers didn't divide easily by 3.  Plus I don't have a measuring spoon that'll do 1/3 tbsp.  All worked fine though.  Clearly I'm getting better at making stuff up.

Turns out it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.  Poaching was easy.  The hardest bit was kneading the dough due to it being a very dry dough and thus very hard to work.  My arms were so tired afterwards.  I also ended up decimating most of the raisins in the process but never mind, they're still noticeable in terms of both sight and taste.  My only other issue was that I couldn't get my oven quite hot enough and so had to keep them in longer.  As a result I ended up burning the bases but some very vigorous scraping with a bread knife got rid of that.

The fiancé thought they were a lovely surprise to come home to (I didn't tell him I was planning to make them) and promptly cut one up and toasted it.  He said they are really yummy cinnamon bagels and just as good as the store bought ones.  I was pleased that the inside looked right, with a close crumb.  So hooray for me!  I shall be making them again in the future and maybe I'll even get around to trying to make plain ones.

Recipe - inspired by How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Makes 5

• 330g/11.5oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for kneading
• 1 tsp salt
• 7g/0.25oz easy bake yeast
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
• 170ml/6fl.oz warm water
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 70g/2.5oz raisins 
• 2 tbsp sugar for poaching

1. Put the flour, salt, yeast and ground cinnamon into a bowl and mix together.
2. Combine the sunflower oil, water and brown sugar together in a jug or bowl and mix.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet.  Mix slightly.
4. Add the raisins and start to bring together with your hands until you get a stiff dough.  The dough is very dry and that's the way you want it.
5. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead it, adding more flour to it as you go.  It's a very tough dough to work and you'll likely pulverise the raisins in the process of kneading.  Do not add more water.  You're aiming for a smooth, elastic dough so expect to be kneading for at least 25 minutes.
6. Coat the inside of a bowl with oil.  Shape the dough into a ball and place in the oiled bowl, rotating a couple of times to coat it.  Cover the bowl with clingfilm and then leave dough to rise for at least an hour.
7. When the dough has risen, knock it back (give it a good punch) and knead it again for about 5 minutes.
8. Break the dough into five equal sized pieces and each piece into a rope about 25cm/10inches long.
9. Curl each rope around to form a ring, overlapping the ends and pinching them together to seal them.
10. Place the rings on an oiled baking tray and cover with a clean tea towel.  Leave them to rise for about 30 minutes, until they are nice and puffy.
11. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/Gas Mark 9.  About 10 minutes before the end of the rising time, put a large pot of water on to boil.
12. When the bagels are puffy and the water has boiled it is time to poach them.  Add the 2 tbsp sugar to the boiling water.
13. Put a bagel into the water and poach for 1 minutes, turning it over with a spatula after 30 seconds so both sides poach evenly.  Remove with a slotted spoon so that the water drains off and return to the oiled baking tray.
14. Repeat with remaining four bagels.
15. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until they are shiny on top.
16. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.