Madeira Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

Mary Berry’s Madeira Cake was this week’s Weekly Bake Off challenge. Mary describes it as a’rich, densely textured sponge cake’ in her 100 Cakes and Bakes. It was straightforward to make using Mary’s favoured ‘all in one’ method and contained ground almonds and lemon zest. The recipe produced a lovely, light cake but I had some difficulty with Mary’s suggested topping. The recipe asks you to place a slice of citron peel on top of the cake after 30 minutes cooking. What is a slice of coitron peel? In the accompanying picture it looks like chopped peel sprinkled on top. I tried to compromise by slicing a piece of the lemon peel used for zest in the cake, then chopping this up and sprinkling over the cake. It burnt and looked awful so I took most of it off and then sprinkled some lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar over the top of the finished cake! This had the effect of enhancing the taste of the cake – making it more lemony but I have to say the cake was fairly plain and boring and I would have preferred a proper lemon drizzle cake. It has kept well throughout the week although that in itself shows it’s not one my most popular bakes :)

http://weeklybakeoff.blogspot.com

 

Apple Blossom Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

With all the beautiful blossom on the trees recently I started to think about making an apple blossom cake. I searched for recipes but couldn’t find one that used actual apple blossom and then I discovered that it should only be eaten in moderation as it could be poisonous! With a lack of other flowers in the garden at the moment I decided to continue with my apple blossom theme, making a light sponge with apple and Calvados buttercream filling and decorating with sugarpaste blossom. It makes me feel spring is here even though it was too dull a day to take a decent picture!!!

I used a basic sponge recipe:

175g SoftenedButter

175g Caster Sugar

3 Large Eggs

175g Self Raising Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

I followed the usual method for making a sponge and then baked in two 7″ tins for 25 minutes until firm to the touch and golden brown.

I then made an apple puree using four Pink Lady apples, peeled cored and chopped. I put the chopped apple in a pan with a little water to cover the bottom of the pan and 1 tablespoon of caster sugar. I simmered gently until they were soft and then mashed them until resembling a puree.

I also made Calvados buttercream using 150g butter, 200g icing sugar and 2 tablespoons Calvados. Beating gently at first and continuing for about ten minutes until really soft and creamy.

When the cakes were cool I used the apple puree and some of the buttercream as a filling and placed the cakes one on top of the other. I then used the rest of the buttercream to cover the top and sides of the cake, smoothing well. The cake was then placed in the fridge for a few minutes so that the buttercream hardened a little.

I then rolled out enough sugarpaste to cover the cake and placed this over the top of the cake and down the sides. Finally I used blossom cutters in four sizes and three colours to make the decorations.

The sponge was deliciously light and the apple and Calvados buttercream had a gorgeous flavour – I would totally recommend trying this! The flavour combination would make lovely cupcakes too :)

Tea Time Treats

This month Lavender and Lovage  is hosting the Tea Time Treats event and the theme is Floral Flavours and Flowers. Although this bake isn’t floral flavoured it is decorated with flowers and is inspired by apple blossom so I’m entering it into the Tea Time Treats roundup. What Kate Baked and Lavender and Lovage run this monthly event and it’s really worth a look at all the lovely entries!

Rhubarb and Rosemary Cupcakes

by Blissfully Vintage

I have decided to join this month’s Simple and In Season cooking challenge hosted for May by Urvashi at The Botanical Baker. I love finding recipes that use freshly home-grown or locally grown ingredients so I’m looking forward to joining this recipe link-up!

http://thebotanicalbaker.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/simple-and-in-season-may-recipe-link-up/

http://www.renbehan.com/simple-and-in-season

I wanted to use ingredients from my own garden as I have lots of herbs growing at the moment and my lovely old rhubarb plant inherited from my grandmother!  I found some inspiration from Shaheen at Allotment2Kitchen (another of my favourite blogs) who had made delicious rhubarb and rosemary scones.

http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/rhubarb-and-rosemary-scones.html

Rhubarb and Rosemary Cupcakes

I made the cupcakes using a basic cupcake recipe and stirring in a tablespoon of Rhubarb and Rosemary Jelly (see recipe below) . When the cupcakes were taken from the oven they were brushed with more Rhubarb and Rosemary Jelly while still hot.  They were then topped with a buttercream icing with Rhubarb and Rosemary Jelly added and a tiny amount of pink food colouring.

Rhubarb and Rosemary Jelly

400g – 600g Rhubarb washed and chopped into small chunks

A good handful of Rosemary, washed

1 large Lemon, washed and roughly chopped

Place the above in a pan and cover completely with water. Bring to the boil then simmer very gently for about an hour to allow the flavours to infuse into the water. Strain the liquid through muslin, squeezing every drop of liquid through and save this. The pulp can be discarded.

You will need to measure the liquid you are left with and for every ml, you will need to add a gram of granulated sugar. Add back to the pan and bring  back to heat, stirring to melt the sugar into the liquid. Then bring to the boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. (I test a little on a cold saucer to see if it sets.) Once ready, pour into sterilised jars and seal.

This jelly would be equally delicious served with savoury dishes.

Dark Indulgent Chocolate and Walnut Brownies

by Blissfully Vintage

I have to admit I was a little scared when I went to buy the ingredients for this week’s Weekly Bake Off challenge. I came home with four bars of chocolate (350g needed) and 225g chocolate chips and that’s alongside 225g butter and 225g caster sugar! I really love chocolate but I thought I might be preparing myself for a heart attack particularly after just finishing off the yummy chocolate cheesecake from last week! Actually I have to say the finished result was quite delicious, having a ‘rich, grown-up flavour’ as Mary Berry states in her book 100 Cakes and Bakes. I just had to follow Mary’s own advice (told to me by Lauren at http://aroundtheworldin80bakes.com who actually met her!) of having just a small slice myself. I packaged the rest into a pretty box and delivered it as a scrummy gift!

To join in the challenge http://weeklybakeoff.blogspot.com

Family Recipe Challenge

by Blissfully Vintage

I have once again volunteered to be a judge for Very Good Recipes challenge! Each month a different group of judges decide on a theme and post their own recipe as an example. A prize is offered – this month a cookery book of your own choice for the top three recipes chosen. The theme for May is Family Recipes and since this an international challenge it will be very interesting:)

My recipe is:

Rhubarb and Orange Cake

This is a cake made from a recipe handed down by my grandmother. Scribbled on a piece of paper, I’ve had it for years and don’t know where it came from originally. My grandmother was well-known for her delicious cakes and I remember her often making them for her W.I. She had joined the W.I. as a young woman during World War 2, making cakes and pies, jams and other preserves to help the war effort. She had then continued to bake regularly and this recipe particularly reminds me of her. Although she passed away a few years ago, I still have a healthy rhubarb plant in my garden which was a part of hers – dug up, divided and shared when it had spread too much for her garden. I love that the cake has a big dollop of orange marmalade in it too as her marmalades were the best tasting ever! I’ve attempted to make my own and it’s fine for the cake but not a patch on hers. :)

Ingredients:

400g Rhubarb

150g Golden Caster Sugar

50g Demerara Sugar

150g Butter, softened

3 Eggs, beaten

250g Self-Raising Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

Zest 1 Orange

2 Tablespoons Orange Juice

1 Tablespoon Orange Marmalade

Method:

Turn the oven to 180c / Gas 4

Grease and line an 8” round cake tin.

Chop the rhubarb and place it in a bowl, covered with the 50g demara sugar for half an hour.

Cream the butter and sugar together then add the beaten eggs, slowly.

Sieve the flour and stir in the baking powder then fold this into the egg/sugar/butter mixture.

Finally, stir in the orange zest and juice and marmalade.

Pour the mix into the tin and cook for about 40-45 minutes or until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin then when turned out onto a plate dust with icing sugar. Alternatively this cake is also delicious served warm with cream or yoghurt.

Rhubarb is actually a vegetable although we often use it as a fruit in cakes and puddings. It is a good source of fibre and Vitamin C. Oranges are also a good source of fibre and Vitamin C, are helpful with the digestive process and stabilise blood cholesterol.

More about the challenge:-

Family Recipe Challenge by Very Good Recipes

Please enjoy and share! :-)

Welcome to the 6th recipe challenge organised by Very Good Recipes!  http://verygoodrecipes.com/family-challenge

The theme for this challenge has been selected by 5 food bloggers. Each judge is also presenting his or her own recipe of the theme they selected. The judges will select the winners at the end of the challenge (and of course they cannot win).

The Judges

The judges for this month are:

Theme

Since Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are celebrated in May in many parts of the world, the judges decided on a theme that celebrates family. The theme for this months is Family Recipes. To participate, you need to share with us a recipe that was handed down to you by your mother or father, your grandmother or grandfather, or someone else from your family.

It will certainly a great opportunity to discover wonderful recipes that daughters and sons and granddaughters and grandsons remember fondly! Don’t forget to tell us who gave you the recipes and the story behind it!

Participating

The challenge is open to everyone, whether you have a food blog or not.

In order to participate, you need to enter a recipe on the theme “Family Recipes”: a recipe that was handed down to you by a member of your family.

  • If you have a food blog registered on Very Good Recipes, you just need to publish your recipe on your blog with a link to the challenge page http://verygoodrecipes.com/family-challenge in the text of your recipe. It will then be automatically listed on this page. (if you don’t see it after 30 minutes, please e-mail me)
  • If you have a food blog (or a blog with a recipe category or label) but are not yet registered on Very Good Recipes, you can register in 30 seconds.
  • If you do not have a blog, you can participate by sending me your recipe with one or more pictures. I will publish your recipe on Very Good Recipe’s blog so that it can be displayed on the challenge page.

Rules:

  • There must be at least one picture in your recipe, and both the recipe and picture need to be your own. If your recipe is inspired by another, please mention it in your recipe.
  • You cannot use an already published recipe to participate in the challenge, you need to publish a new recipe (otherwise there’s no challenge!)
  • We would love to have participations from all around the world, including from blogs in languages other than English. Please do include an English translation of your recipe in your post though. :-) If you need help with the translation (proofreading etc.), we will be glad to help if we can.
  • You can participate with at most 3 recipes.

You can participate from May 4th 2012 until May 31st 2012 included.

Prizes

The judges will select the winning recipes.

1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place

I will offer a cookbook of their choice to each of the 3 winners (up to $30 value). Shipped to your place wherever you are!

I am looking for sponsors to offer prizes for the next challenges. If you have contacts of potential sponsors who could offer cool prizes (or if you would like to offer a prize yourself), Please let me know!

Laurels and badge

All the participants will receive a badge with laurels that will be displayed on Very Good Recipes (on their page and in the huge list of food blogs). You can also display it on your blog or your challenge recipe if you want to.

Feel free to add the badge to your recipe (HTML code below):

<div style=”text-align:center;”>

<img src=”http://verygoodrecipes.com/images/badges/family-challenge/1.90×120.png” width=”90″ height=”120″ />

<a href=”http://verygoodrecipes.com/family-challenge”>Family Challenge</a><br />

on <a href=”http://verygoodrecipes.com/”>Very Good Recipes</a>

</div>

Please add the link and/or badge only on the participating recipe, not on the side column of all your blog, so that only your participating recipe be listed on the challenge page. Thank you!

Winners will get gold, silver and bronze laurels.

American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake

by Blissfully Vintage

This week’s Weekly Bake Off challenge is American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake (pg 176 of Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes) and I have to say I couldn’t wait to make it! I’ve had my eye on this for a while as it looks totally yummy in the book. As usual, Mary didn’t disappoint and this was one of her extremely easy but totally delicious bakes. It’s incredibly unhealthy with chocolate digestives, a bar of dark chocolate and quite a lot of full-fat soft cheese but it’s good for the soul! I will absolutely make it again – it looks great to serve at a dinner party with it’s gorgeous swirls of chocolate or just eat it all yourself! :)

To feast your eyes on this week’s lovely chocolatey delights visit http://weeklybakeoff.blogspot.com

 

 

Ginger and Treacle Spiced Traybake

by Blissfully Vintage

Mary Berry’s Ginger and Treacle Spiced Traybake was this week’s Weekly Bake Off Challenge. I love ginger and treacle so was keen to make this one. Mary used the ‘all-in-one’ method for this bake. I’m always wary of using this incredibly easy  method but her recipes always seem to work perfectly and it did this time too. It uses chopped stem ginger and treacle to give that slight sticky, moistness so delicious in ginger cakes. I  found Mary’s tip to weigh the treacle on top of the sugar, to stop it sticking to the bowl, useful as I usually get in a sticky mess trying to weigh it! My only criticism is that for me it it didn’t really need the icing and chopped stem ginger on top as it was tasty enough without it and I found it made it too sweet. I only iced a portion of the cake and left some un-iced, putting some in the freezer as Mary says it freezes very well. Definitely a ‘make again’ for me – maybe I will share some next time too! :)

Recipe taken from Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes pg 79. Weekly Bake Off – http://weeklybakeoff.blogspot.com

Elderflower Honey Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

Elderflower Honey Cake

I have a friend who keeps bees. They collect pollen predominantly from elderflowers and so their honey has a light elderflower flavour. He very kindly gave me some of his elderflower honey and I decided to make a cake with it. I found a lovely recipe for Devonshire Honey cake by Geraldene Holt. To enhance the elderflower flavour I drizzled some elderflower cordial over the top of the cake as it came out of the oven instead of drizzling more honey over the top as she suggests. This was a very simple, clear recipe to follow and made a delicious light cake.

For Geraldene’s Devonshire Honey Cake recipe:- http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1840/devonshire-honey-cake

For a delicious looking Lavender and Honey cake that I have also noted to make: http://charlotteskitchendiary.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/lavender-and-honey-cake/

Our bees are struggling for survival and need support as they play an incredibly important part in our ecosystem. For more information about bees and how to support them:-

Friends of the Earth Bee-Cause http://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/the_bee_cause_35033.html

The Ultimate Chocolate Roulade

by Blissfully Vintage

This week’s Weekly Bake Off challenge is Mary Berry’s Ultimate Chocolate Roulade. The roulade is made without flour so is very light but was quite rich in chocolate flavour. I added raspberries to the cream filling as Mary suggests in her book, 100 Cakes and Bakes, and the fruit added a lovely sharpness to complement the rich sweetness. The roulade itself was simple to prepare and baked in a Swiss roll tin. In the book Mary says you should leave the baked roulade overnight in the tin, covered with a cooling rack and a damp tea towel. I wasn’t really sure why it had to be left overnight and noticed that the recipe is shown on bbc.co.uk recipes without this recommendation so who knows? http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_roulade_79152

Overall, the recipe was easy to follow and the result was delicious although possibly not one of my favourites as I found it a little too rich. Mine looks a little messy compared to Mary’s lovely, neatly rolled roulade picture in her book but this didn’t deter my tasters who demolished it pretty quickly! :)

For more lovely roulades http://weeklybakeoff.blogspot.com

Cupcakes or Pies?

by Blissfully Vintage

Banoffee Pie Cupcake and Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcake – Cupcakes or Pies?

Very Good Recipes set a recipe challenge for April – this month’s theme is: April Fool.

April Fool’s Day is of course on April 1st, but this challenge will last all of April 2012!

The challenge is to publish a recipe of a dish that looks like something but is actually made out of something completely different.

‘April Fools’ Day is celebrated in many different countries on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools’ Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other’. (Wikipedia)

It’s origins are uncertain, some think it was to celebrate the start of the new year, some that it was the adoption of a new calendar and some think it may be a celebration of the new spring season.

Whatever the reason for its celebration, April Fool’s Day is a light-hearted, fun day!

 

http://verygoodrecipes.com/april-fool-challenge

My recipes are actually not really made from something completely different but have a surprising twist and I hope they will qualify for April Fool’s bakes!

I made Banoffee Pie Cupcakes and Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes – they look like cupcakes but the pastry base holds a lovely moist pie filling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For both bakes I started by making a pastry base. I cut  fluted circles  from the pastry a little larger than the base of a cupcake. These were pressed into the base of a greased muffin tin to make little tartlettes.

The Banoffee Pie Cupcakes were then made by filling the tartlette base with ‘toffee’, then sliced bananas, then a cupcake mixture was poured over the top. These were then baked until set and golden brown. When cooled they were piped with whipped double cream and sprinkled with a little grated dark chocolate.

The Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes were made by filling the tartlette base with a lemon mixture. The cupcake mixture was poured over the top and they were then baked  until just golden. The cakes were topped with a piped on meringue and put back into the oven for a further 20 minutes until the meringue was cooked.

These cakes have the appearance of a cupcake without the paper case but are incredibly deceptive! On biting into them you have a light, crumbly pastry base with a surprising, hidden soft pie filling, topped with a light, tasty sponge and a topping – not quite a cupcake and not quite a pie but a delicious combination of both!

Ingredients:

Banoffee Pie Cupcakes

Makes 10

For the pastry:

225g plain flour

115g butter, cold, cubed

A little water to mix

Rub the butter into the flour until resembling breadcrumbs and add a little water to bind. Roll out and cut approximately 10 round tartlette bases. Push into the holes in a greased muffin tin, ensuring you have enough to come up the sides a little to form the little tartlettes. Bake blind at 180c for ten minutes.

For the toffee:

397g tin of condensed milk, heated gently in a pan until golden brown and thickened a little.

Allow the toffee sauce to cool a little then pour into the cooled, baked tartlette bases (still in the muffin tin). Slice 1 banana finely and place slices over the toffee bases.

For the cupcake mixture:

2 medium eggs, beaten

100g butter, slightly softened

100g caster sugar

100g self- raising flour, sieved

1 banana, mashed

Beat all the ingredients together with an electric mixer for a minute or two until combined but not over beaten then pour the mixture over the top of the tartlettes. Return to the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown, firm to the touch and risen.

Allow to cool before piping with whisked double cream and sprinkle over some grated dark chocolate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes

Makes 10

For the pastry: as above

For the filling:

397g tin of condensed milk

4 egg yolks

Juice of 2 lemons

Zest of 1 lemon

Beat the ingredients together and pour into the cooled, baked pastry tartlettes (still in the muffin tin). Bake at 180c for about 15 minutes until just set.

Add a cupcake mixture using the same ingredients as for the Bannoffee Pie Cupcakes but leaving out the mashed banana and adding the zest of 1 lemon. Pour this over the cooked lemon mixture and put back in the oven for about 20 minutes until the cakes are firm to the touch and golden brown.

For the meringue:

Turn the oven down to 160c. Whisk 4 egg whites with 225g caster sugar until stiff and pipe over the baked cakes.  Put back in the oven for about 20 minutes to bake the meringue topping.  Sprinkle a little lemon zest over them if liked and allow to cool fully in the tin.