Easy Luxury Cranberry Jelly with Port and Orange

by Blissfully Vintage

I thought I was ahead with my christmas planning as I started in november but as usual time has taken over and is going way too fast! There are so many things I’d like to bake but I don’t know if I’ll fit it all in. This cranberry jelly is quick and easy and totally luxurious as it has a full bottle of port in it – great for a special home made gift.

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I started with a 400g bag of frozen cranberries placed in a pan, added the juice and zest of 1 orange and poured over them a full bottle of port. These were simmered gently until the cranberries were really soft. I then added 400g granulated sugar and continued to heat gently, stirring to allow the sugar to dissolve fully. I then turned the heat up to boil rapidly for a few minutes – testing regularly by taking a little on a teaspoon and pouring onto a very cold saucer. When it started to set it was poured into small jars – I had an assortment of sizes I had collected and it filled 7 small jars.

BS Edge

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Fruity Flapjack Lattice Tart

by Blissfully Vintage

Once again I was truly inspired during the summer by the fabulous bakers on Great British Bake Off on BBC2. Series 3 was just as addictive as the first two and each week I was amazed at how the contestants coped with the pressure and challenges. There were a few bakes I thought I would be able to manage but many that I had never attempted and wouldn’t know where to start! They really were a brilliant bunch of bakers and I have the utmost respect!

In an attempt to try to improve my baking I’ve bought the accompanying book ‘The Great British Bake Off – How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers’ and intend to try lots of different bakes. My first attempts were a Pear and Ginger Tart Tatin and a Fruity Flapjack Lattice Tart. I made the Tarte Tatin by following the recipe in the book for Apple Tarte Tatin but using pears and ginger rather than apples. The Fruity Flapjack Lattice Tart was a twist on Mary’s Treacle Tart and the recipe is below…

Fruity Flapjack Lattice Tart

Ingredients:-

Pastry:-

300g plain flour

175g cold butter

Ice cold water to mix

Fruit puree:-

knob of butter

350g cooking apples

175g dried apricots

25g light muscovado sugar

zest and juice of 1 orange

Topping:-

400g golden syrup

juice and zest of 1 orange

400g golden syrup

200g oats

Method:-

To make the pastry cut the cold butter into cubes and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then use a little ice cold water to mix until it is a soft but pliable consistency. Wrap in clingfilm and put into the fridge for about half an hour.

Set the oven to 200c to heat up and grease a 9″ loose bottomed flan tin.

To prepare the fruit puree peel and chop the apple and place in a pan with the knob of butter and light muscovado sugar. Brown the apple a little and melt the sugar then add the orange zest, juice and apricots and cook gently until soft. Cool a little and the blend. Set aside to cool completely.

To prepare the topping gently heat the golden syrup, orange juice and zest in a pan. Then remove from the heat and add the oats, stirring to mix well. Set aside.

Take the pastry from the fridge but leave a third to one side for the lattice top. Roll out the other two thirds and line the bottom and sides of your flan tin. Return to the fridge if the toppings are not cool yet or they will melt the pastry. Then firstly add a layer of fruit puree to your pastry base and top with the syrup/oats topping.

Finally roll out the last third of pastry and cut 10 strips, long enough to cover the top of the tart. Weave the pieces onto the top of the cake to make a lattice pattern. This can be done directly on the cake as long as the pastry is very cold and firm and the topping has cooled. Brush with a little milk and bake for 10 minutes at 200c then reduce the oven temperature to 180c for about 25 – 30 minutes.

Serve warm with cream, creme fraiche or yoghurt or enjoy cold to accompany an afternoon cup of tea!

Related Articles:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9613036/The-Great-British-Bake-Off-final-BBC-Two-review.html

To apply for Series 4 Great British Bake Off http://www.thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/applications.php

Salted Caramel Tarte Tatin (underthebluegumtree.com)

Halloween Caramel Layer Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

Halloween is here and yet another excuse to bake a cake! (Not that I need an excuse really :) ) This is a spooky spider web topped cake complete with two spiders!  I’m entering it into this month’s

Calendar Cakes

Each month Calendar Cakes has a theme and is hosted by Rachel at Dolly Bakes and Laura at Laura Loves Cake alternately. This month’s theme is of course ‘halloween’ and is hosted by Dolly Bakes. Take a look at all the great halloween ideas here: http://www.dollybakes.co.uk/p/calendar-cakes.html

You can still check out all the lovely cupcake entries for September at http://lauralovescakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/calendar-cakes-september-round-up.html

Recipe for Caramel Layer Cake

Ingredients:-

175g softened butter

175g soft light brown sugar

3 eggs, beaten

3 teaspoons vanilla exttract

175g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder.

Method:-

Preheat the oven to 170c and grease and line two 6″ cake tins.

Cream the butter and sugar together well. Then mix in all the other ingredients – beat for a minute to combine but don’t over beat. Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for about 35 minutes or until they are golden brown and firm to touch.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes and then turn out onto a rack. When they are completely cool each one can be cut into half horizontally. They can then be layered together with a caramel buttercream filling. The buttercream was also used to cover the cake.

Ingredients for the buttercream:-

150g softened butter

2 tablespoons caramel

300g icing sugar

Beat the ingredients together well for a few minutes.

To finish the cake

I melted 50g dark chocolate and then allowed it to cool a little. I drizzled it over the top of the cake in a spiral pattern (roughly) and then used a cocktail stick to make the spider web pattern. This is shown clearly in the fabulous Great British Bake Off book ‘How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers’. They have a different recipe for a caramel cake which I’m looking forward to trying too.

Finally I made two spiders from chocolate ‘roll out’ fondant icing. I made two small round balls for their bodies and added some silver balls for eyes. I then rolled out two long thin sausages and cut each into eight for the legs. I just stuck the legs into the buttercream around the spider body – folding slightly.

 

Lemon, Lavender and White Chocolate Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

This is just a simple sponge cake but the flavour combination is delicious!

Recipe

Ingredients:-

150g caster sugar

150g softened butter

3 eggs, beaten

150g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

zest of 1 lemon

small handful lavender flowers (fresh or dried)

100g bar white chocolate

Lemon Syrup:-

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon caster sugar

Lemon and Lavender Curd to fill the cake:-

For the lemon and lavender curd, I made lemon curd as I have previously made it but added a small handful of lavender flowers into the mixture whilst cooking. It can be made prior to baking the cake or while it is cooking but will need to cool completely before using.

(55g butter, 115g sugar, juice and zest of 1 lemon – stir together in a double saucepan or bowl over a pan of boiling water and when melted add 3 beaten eggs and continue to stir over the heat until the mixture thickens. Pot immediately and leave to cool.)

Method:-

Pre heat the oven to 175c. Grease and line the base of two 6″ sandwich tins.

Cream the butter and sugar for a few minutes until really creamy. Add the beaten eggs very slowly and continue to beat the mixture.

Sift the flour and baking powder together and and add the grated lemon zest and the lavender flowers. Fold in this dry mixture into the butter, sugar and egg mixture.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until light golden brown and firm to touch.

While the cake is baking, prepare the lemon syrup by heating the lemon juice and sugar together in a pan until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil for about two minutes and then leave to cool.

When the cakes are baked, prick a few small holes in the top of one and pour over the lemon syrup. Leave the cakes in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

While the cakes are cooling melt the white chocolate in a double saucepan or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Then leave to cool a little.

Assemble the cake by placing the cake soaked in lemon syrup on top of the other, sandwiching the two together with a layer of lemon and lavender curd (or you could use lemon curd;  lemon buttercream; or cream with some lavender flowers added to it).

Finally, while the chocolate has cooled a little but not hardened, drizzle this over the top of the cake. Leave to cool completely until the chocolate is set before cutting the cake.

Lemon and lavender is such a delicious combination and I can also recommend using it in madaleines and shortbread – you could add the white chocolate drizzle to these too!

Double Chocolate Harvest Festival Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

My double chocolate Harvest Festival cake was inspired by Fiona Cairn’s Vegetable Plot cake in her Birthday Cake Book. She uses a spiced apple cake in her book and decorates the top to look like an allotment. My cake was for a chocolate lover’s birthday so I used a lovely double chocolate cake recipe adapted from several recipes I have used in the past. I then used chocolate buttercream, chocolate sugar-paste and chocolate matchmakers to decorate this cake making it a chocolate lover’s delight!

Fiona’s Vegetable Plot cake was also demonstrated on her TV series ‘Home of Fabulous Cakes’ – details of which you can find on her website:- http://www.fionacairns.com/news_new-tv-series-announcement-9

You can also find out more about the series and Fiona Cairn’s cakesand recipes on her Facebook page:- http://www.facebook.com/fionacairnscakes

This is how I made the double chocolate cake:-

Ingredients

225g softened butter

400g caster sugar

4 eggs, beaten

100g self raising flour

275g plain flour

75g cocoa powder

1 1/12 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

350ml milk

100g chocolate chips

Method

Prepare an 8” square cake tin and heat the oven to 180c.

Beat the butter and sugar together until soft. Sift the dry ingredients and stir together. Add the beaten eggs to the butter and sugar mixture very slowly. Fold in the dry ingredients. Pour the cake into the prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes.

To decorate:-

I cut a template the same size as the cake tin out of greaseproof paper. I folded this in quarters diagonally. I then rolled out and cut 4 pieces (triangles to fit inside each of my quarters) of chocolate roll-out fondant icing. I then decorated each of these 4 triangles with various vegetables made from sugar-paste.  (Fiona Cairns gives instructions on how to do this in her book.) I also made some sugar paste leaves, using cutters, to decorate the bottom of the cake.

Gluten Free Lemon Sponge

by Blissfully Vintage

I was recently asked to make a wedding cake for my niece. She had an elegant black and white theme for her wedding but other than that I had free reign to come up with a design. I made a three tiered cake in a simple but elegant style in black and white. I made the top tier gluten free as I knew at least one guest to be gluten intolerant.

I adapted the recipe from one printed on a packet of Dove’s Farm gluten and wheat free plain white flour blend.

I used a 5″ round cake tin for my top tier so greased and lined the loose bottomed tin first and set the oven to 180 c.

Ingredients:

150g soft butter

150g caster sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 tspn gluten free baking powder

3 tbspn milk

150g gluten and wheat free plain white flour blend

Grated zest from 1 lemon

I beat the sugar and softened butter together well until light and creamy. I then added all the other ingredients and beat for only 45 seconds but ensuring it was mixed well. I then poured the mixture into the prepared tin and baked for about 30 minutes (or until firm to the touch and golden brown in colour, and a skewer tester comes out clean).

When cooled, I cut the cake across horizontally and filled it with home made lemon curd. I also had to cut a little from the top to make it straight. I then made some buttercream and added a little juice from the lemon and then used this to cover the cake completely before covering it with sugarpaste.

All three cake tiers were covered with white sugarpaste and decorated with royal icing piping and embossed hearts. The roses topper was made with sugar flower paste.

Cupcake cupcakes

by Blissfully Vintage

This week is National Cupcake Week and although I’ve been incredibly busy I couldn’t let the week pass without making a few cupcakes. Recently I was lucky enough to win a copy of the gorgeous ‘Sweet Bitesize Bakes’ by Sarah Trivuncic- one of the ‘bake me I’m yours’ series. This little book is right up my street as I love vintage china and the pretty mini bakes suit my cake stands perfectly. I tried Sarah’s madaleines a couple of weeks ago and they were perfect so I decided to try her cupcake recipe.

I  decided to make some coffee and walnut cupcakes and then had what I thought was a brilliant idea to make coffee cupcakes and then make mini walnut cookies to go on top. I made cupcakes using Sarah’s vanilla cupcake  recipe but sustituting 1 teaspoon of dissolved coffee rather than vanilla and topped them with coffee buttercream. I have a mini cupcake shape cutter  and used Sarah’s gingerbread cookie recipe but substituted the ginger with 60g chopped walnuts. The cookies were absolutely delicious and were just a perfect bite size to go with the coffee flavoured cupcake!

My coffee cupcakes and walnut cookies may not look very pretty but they didn’t really hang about long enough to be photographed properly! They were absolutely yummy. The basic cupcake  recipe will be used many times and I have to say the cookies were some of the best I’ve eaten in a very long time. Sarah’s book of tiny treats has quickly become one of my favourites and I’m looking forward to making lot’s more bite size bakes as there are some lovely projects too.

Here is some more about the book  http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/sweet-bitesize-bakes-launch/

Calendar Cakes

This month’s Calendar Cakes Challenge is being hosted by Laura at Laura Loves Cakes and the theme is Cupcakes inspired by National Cupcake Week. I’m entering my cupcakes and I’m looking forward to seeing all the other cupcake ideas. Calendar Cakes is hosted alternately by  Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes.

 

Chocolate Bucket Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

A Chocolate Bucket Cake for Calendar Cakes

I was very happy this month to discover that the Calendar Cakes Challenge hosted by Laura Loves Cake and Dolly Bakes was British Summertime as I had the perfect cake in mind. I chose to make a bucket cake from Fiona Cairn’s ‘The Birthday Cake Book’. What could be more perfect for British Summertime than a trip to the seaside with a bucket and spade and this cake was designed to look like a bucket on the beach – topped with sand and shells!

…and just to go with my bucket cake a picture of my favourite row of beach huts at Lyme Regis…

For my Bucket Cake I didn’t follow Fiona Cairn’s recipe for Neapolitan Cake which would have been lovely – I was short of time so opted to make a quick chocolate version. I baked two 6″ chocolate cakes and when cooled sandwiched them together with chocolate butter cream. I then put them in the freezer for a short time so that they were easier to carve into the shape of a bucket. I then followed Fiona’s instructions for covering the cake with a layer of buttercream then sugarpaste and decorating with crushed digestives for sand and filling with chocolate shells!

To take a look at this month’s Calendar Cakes entries hosted by Dolly Bakes please look at http://www.dollybakes.co.uk/p/calendar-cakes.html

Last month’s amazing Olympics entries are at http://lauralovescakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/drum-roll-please.html

I made my Bucket Cake as a  gift for two gorgeous little boys whose parents were getting married and had asked me to make their wedding cake. They had a beach theme for their wedding held at the stunning Haven Hotel at Sandbanks Beach so my cake had to reflect their theme as well as to include their chosen colours. The little bucket cake fitted into the theme too and the boys were delighted with their own cake!

I made a three tier chocolate cake at their request and decorated it with shells made from sugarpaste using a mould. I then made the topper of two larger shells from sugarpaste by copying a shell from the beach! The cupcakes were all vanilla with various sugarpaste toppers to match the cake.

 

Afternoon Tea Party Baking

by Blissfully Vintage

Now that the sun is shining and the summer is truly here afternoon tea parties are a perfect way to get people together outside in the garden. A cup of tea in vintage bone china is always refreshing along with the cooler drinks like elderflower cordial; and of course home made cakes are perfect at any time!

I was very happy to be hosting an afternoon tea party recently for a special celabration – any excuse to get baking! I’ve been looking forward for some time to having a go at Fiona Cairns’ Coconut and Chocolate Stripy cake from her ‘The Birthday Cake Book.’ She uses dark chocolate buttercream to cover the coconut and chocolate flavoured cake in piped roses. I opted for white chocolate piped roses to cover my cake and although it looked ok I had a few problems getting the roses to stick on the side of the cake! I’d like to make it again but with a nice smooth buttercream finish all over and the piped roses on the top only.

I made a celebration fruit cake and covered it with sugarpaste then decorated it with piped royal icing and sugarpaste roses. I then made elderflower cupcakes and decorated them to match the main cake. I also made some coconut cupcakes topped with a piped white chocolate buttercream rose and served them in tea cups.

Recipe for Elderflower Cupcakes

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter

150g caster sugar

3 tablespoons elderflower cordial

2 large eggs, beaten

120g self raising flour

2 tablespoons cornflour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

Mix all the ingredients together, beating for no more than a minute. Bakein cupcake cases in a preheated oven at 160c for about 20 minutes.

For Elderflower buttercream:

130g softened butter

300g icing sugar

6 teaspoons elderflower cordial

Mix the ingredients together well for about 5 minutes then pipe onto the top of the cupcakes.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

by Blissfully Vintage

This week’s Weekly Bake Off challenge was Mary Berry’s Chocolate Mousse Cake from her 100 Cakes and Bakes. The sponge was a challenge to say the least although it turned out well. It is a Genoise cake recipe and involves whisking the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy, then adding flour, cocoa powder and cornflour and cooled melted butter. The whisked eggs make the mixture really light but it needs a very gentle touch to prevent it from sinking! The cake was baked for 35 – 40 minutes and I was quite relieved to see it hadn’t sunk. The next part of the recipe involves cutting the cake in half, returning the bottom half to the cleaned tin and filling with a chocolate mousse then placing the other half back on top and chilling in the fridge. Sounds lovely and looks lovely but I’m really not sure about the mousse – is it really ok to eat raw eggs? The mousse was made with melted plain chocolate, brandy, powdered gelatine, egg yolks, whipped double cream and whisked egg whites -  all mixed together – poured on top of the sponge in the cake tin – covered with the other half of the sponge – placed in the fridge to set – but not cooked. I was so traumatised by the thought of wiping out my entire family with food poisoning I decided not to decorate the top with lots of cream and white and dark chocolate swirls as Mary did to make it pretty. I left it plain in the hope that it wouldn’t look very tempting. Unfortunately it still looked delicious and even worse it was delicious. It’s all been eaten and nobody’s been sick. I should have trusted that Mary Berry knows what she’s doing – another of her recipes that turned out really well. Having said that I don’t know if I could put myself through that again so would make the sponge again but not the mousse. I’d fill the middle with chocolate and whipped double cream and then decorate the top with peace of mind!

Weekly Bake Off http://weeklybakeoff.blogspot.com