Chocolate caramel shortbread

This week the friendly pony decided to take a break from dinosaur flapjacks (usually at least one is consumed per day) and tasked me to make something else.

I decided to make something I don’t particularly like, so I wouldn’t be so tempted to steal some for myself. As much as I would love to be able to eat baked goods all the time, it really wouldn’t be good for my waistline!

I decided on chocolate caramel shortbread, because caramel is a bit too sickly for me, but perfect for the pony’s sweet tooth.

I had a few problems making this, firstly that it called for a 9×9″ tray, which I don’t have. I improvised by creating a foil barrier in a rectangle tray, which actually surprised me and worked!

The shortbread itself is absolute simplicity to make so no problems there, but when it came to the caramel I came a bit unstuck.

I very gently heated all the ingredients with no problem, but the recipe then said to bring it to the boil, which immediately caused it to burn on the bottom of the saucepan, no matter how furiously I stirred. I took it off the heat, passed it through a sieve to get rid of the brown bits, then started again in a different saucepan on a lower heat. Frustratingly the same thing happened again and I have absolutely no idea why, so i repeated the sieve procedure, then heated for a THIRD time until it was finally thick enough.

It didn’t quite reach the golden brown colour I was hoping for, and did have a few brown specks in if you look closely, but it was good enough.

Patience is definitely not one of my virtues, so I put the tray in the freezer to firm up so I could get the chocolate on as quickly as possible. Unfortunately this meant that the chocolate set super quick so I couldn’t spread it as neatly as I would of liked, and it had a slightly matt finish instead of being glossy.

Nonetheless, I think these bars turned out ok – the pony declared them ‘NICE!’ and certainly hasn’t had a problem getting through them…

Chocolate caramel shortbread (from 1001 cupcakes, cookies and other tempting treats):

• 115g butter
• 115g plain flour
• 55g caster sugar

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until it goes past the breadcrumbs stage and starts to come together. Flatten down into a greased and lined 9×9″ tin and bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, until just golden.

• 175g butter
• 115g caster sugar
• 3tbsp golden syrup
• 400ml tin condensed milk
• 200g dark chocolate

Place all the ingredients apart from the chocolate in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then simmer until thick and golden (in an ideal world!) stiring constantly. Pour on top of the shortbread base, and leave in the fridge to set.

Melt the chocolate over simmering water then spread over the caramel. Cut into squares before putting back in the fridge, as the chocolate will be easier to cut and won’t crack.

Further adventures in apricot and white chocolate…

 

Following making my apricot and white chocolate cookies for the July We Should Cocoa challenge, I had leftovers of both key ingredients, so I decided to have a go at turning them into muffins.

I actually think I prefer these to the cookies, although that might be in part down to the fact that it was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day yesterday, so I actually had good light for the photos, which is very rare!

I adapted a recipe for blueberry muffins and probably put a slightly high proportion of chocolate and apricot in, as in addition to making the 12 promised muffins, I had an extra 20 mini cupcakes which are now being used in a muffin freezing experiment…

Yes, I am messy when I bake...

The mixture was pretty runny, but still held the weight of the chocolate and apricots so it they didn’t all sink to the bottom. I think the only mistake I made was not filling the cases high enough – as you can see in the photos the filling level varied, but the most full ones definitely looked the best.

I served these at a family lunch and they went down very well, so I would definitely make again!

Apricot and white chocolate muffins

• 280g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 150g caster sugar
• Approximately 100-150g chopped soft dried apricots
• 175g white chocolate, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 250ml milk
• 6 tbsp sunflower oil
• Zest of 1 lime

Sift together the flour and baking powder into a bowl then stir in the sugar, apricots and white chocolate. Mix the eggs, milk, oil and lime zest in a jug, then pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir in until just combined. Pour into 12 cupcake cases and fill to fairly near the top, then bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden.

Apricot and white chocolate cookies – We Should Cocoa

This is a special month in my baking world, as it will be my first attempt at a We Should Cocoa challenge.

We Should Cocoa is alternately hosted by Chele at Chocolate Teapot and Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog, and each month an ingredient is picked to be paired with chocolate.

The July challenge hosted by Chele was apricots, which was a funny coincidence as my first post of the month was an apricot upside down cake (no chocolate included though).

I had planned to use fresh apricots, but when I discovered that 4 apricots cost £2.60, I had to think again and went for dried!

It took me a while to decide what to bake, and several ideas came up including the Moro chocolate apricot tart or some sort of muffins, but I settled on these white chocolate and apricot shortbread cookies.

I was intrigued by the idea of a cookie dough made with cream cheese, and as I had some left over from the Nutella cheesecake squares it seemed perfect.

At first the dough was a bit too sticky to properly roll into balls, and the resulting cookies were a bit mis-shapen and brown around the edges.

For the second batch though the dough had been in the fridge for 20 minutes and I used a bit of flour to roll them, and being actual ball shapes definitely seemed to make a difference to how they cooked.

The cookies were soft, a bit chewy and the white chocolate and apricot worked really well together. I personally liked the first batch which had a bit more crunch, but the friendly pony thought the soft ones were perfect, and is keen for them to be made again.

Thanks to We Should Cocoa for inspiring me to make these!

Apricot and white chocolate cookies (adapted from La Fuji Mama’s recipe)

(Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 4oz cream cheese
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup chopped white chocolate
• 1/2 cup of chopped dried apricots

Cream together the butter and sugar, then beat in the cream cheese. Stir in the flour, apricots and chocolate until combined. Chill in the fridge if necessary, then roll into balls on a floured surface. Place well spaced out on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 160 degrees. Leave to cool until firm enough to move to a wire rack, then enjoy!

Camp Coffee Cake

This is a slightly sad coffee cake. I made it last weekend to take to my dad, as our beloved 20 year old cat sadly moved on to cat heaven and I thought he could do with some cheering up.

Coffee cake is his favourite, and I quite like it too, so I’ve made lots of versions over the years. This time I decided to try using Camp coffee essence instead of real coffee to see if that made any difference.

I think the sponge itself was quite subtly flavoured, especially since it turned out quite dark so I thought I’d be getting a big coffee hit. It rose well though, meaning I had to do a bit of carving to level it off…

The buttercream on the other hand was great, I didn’t have to use too much to get a good flavour and it combined easily into the mixture (I’ve had problems in the past with liquid coffee splitting the buttercream, disaster!)

I think I’d make the butter cream again, but probably go back to a proper coffee sponge. Still turned out pretty nice though!

RIP Ami the cat

Camp Coffee Cake

• 225g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp camp coffee essence
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, slowly so as not to curdle the mix. Beat in the coffee essence, then sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mix. Divide the mixture evenly between 2 greased and lines 8″ round cake tins, and bake for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees.

• 125g butter, cubed
• 250g icing sugar
• 1tbsp camp coffee essence

Beat the butter to soften then add in the icing sugar, beating until it comes together and has no lumps left. Add in the coffee essence and mix until combined. Trim the bottom layer of the cake if necessary, then spread the icing on top. Top with the second cake layer and dust with icing sugar. Delicious!

Nutella cheesecake squares

A few weeks ago, this post appeared on Freshly Pressed, and as soon as I saw it I knew Nutella cheesecake layer bars were going straight on my to-bake list.

The recipe calls for graham crackers, which I don’t think you can get in the UK, so I looked around and ended up using this recipe from Coconut and Lime. Thanks is still due to the Midnight Baker though for being my inspiration!

After making the base for the cheesecake, I decided it didn’t look thick enough, so I doubled the quantity. I think this was a bit of a mistake as the cheese bit should really be the star of the show, but no one else seemed to think it was a problem.

Although I followed the recipe to the letter, there was no way my cheesecake mixture was going to be spread nicely in two layers.

I ended up pouring in the plain cheesecake as per the recipe, then slowly pouring in the nutella mix in a spiral to create a sort of swirly pattern, which actually worked quite well.

These cheesecakes went down really well so I would definitely make again, although I would probably try a different base, maybe a traditional biscuity one…

Malteser birthday cake

Last weekend was my lovely friend John’s birthday. He has been kind enough to say some very nice things about my cakes in the past, so I couldn’t let the occasion pass without baking something special.

When asked what type of cakes were his favourite, he said ‘sweet, not fruity’ so naturally I took that to mean chocolate.

I looked around a bit before settling on this chocolate malteser cake.

I decided to make it more birthday-ish I would double the icing so I could cover the whole thing as well as the inside and top, and arrange the maltesers in a more decorative pattern.

The sponge didn’t come out quite as well as I’d hoped, it wasn’t exactly dry but it wasn’t as moist or light as I would have liked either.

I don’t know if this is because I substituted the 3 medium eggs the recipe required for 2 duck eggs, but they had been given to me by one of the friendly pony’s colleagues and were too fresh and delicious not to use.

I also used less almonds and buttermilk than the recipe called for, purely because of the size packs they come so I wouldn’t have to waste any.

If I made it again I’d use a different sponge recipe, but the icing worked well and the birthday boy was happy, so overall it was a success.

Chocolate Malteser Birthday Cake

For the sponge:

• 3 medium chicken eggs, or 2 duck eggs
• 200g brown sugar
• 60g cocoa powder
• 150g plain flour
• 150g ground almonds
• 50g melted butter
• 250ml buttermilk
• 2 tsp baking powder

Whisk the eggs and sugar for 4 minutes or until they have trebled in size. Add in all the other ingredients and mix to combine. Split the mixture between 2 greased and lined 7″ round cake tins, and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. Leave the cakes to cool while you make the icing.

For the icing (makes enough for the cake and 6 cupcakes):

• 250g marscapone
• 250g icing sugar
• 60g cocoa powder
• 1 large sharing pack maltesers

Beat the marscapone until smooth then gradually sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Add a little milk if the mixture it too thick to beat.

At this point I put the sponges, icing, maltesers and cake tools into a box (along with some cupcakes and ice packs), as the birthday celebrations were taking place 45 minutes away from my house and I wasn’t sure the cake would make the journey. Handily the pony’s parents live near by, so I borrowed their kitchen to assemble the cake.

To assemble, first chop the maltesers roughly in halves. I separated the neat looking ones to go on top and used the rest inside the cake and to decorate some cupcakes.

Spread a layer of icing on top of one of the sponges, then scatter chopped maltesers on top. Add the other sponge on top, then coat the top and sides with the rest of the icing. Leave in the fridge to cool for a while, then arrange the maltesers on top in a pretty pattern. Enjoy!

Snickers Bar Brownies

My computer has returned! I am very happy about this, and over the next week will hopefully catch up on blogging some of the things I’ve baked recently.

First off, Snickers Bar Brownies. Partly because I only have one photo so it’ll be quick, and partly because they’re really, really delicious.

I used a recipe from the brilliant Poires Au Chocolat who has an amazing blog full of delicious looking treats – meaning that when she describes a recipe as “the best brownies I’ve ever made” you know they’re going to be good.

I took half the batch to a girls night and the other half to a barbecue, and both went down really well with a couple people asking for the recipe. Providing you don’t think about calories, these are sure to be a success!

Snickers Bar Brownies (slightly tweaked from this original recipe)

• 110g  butter
• 50g dark chocolate
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 110g light brown sugar
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 50g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40g extra dark chocolate
• 2 normal sized Snickers bars

Chop the 40g dark chocolate into chunks, and chop the Snickers bars down the middle lengthways, and then into slices. Melt the butter with the 50g dark chocolate, then beat in the eggs, sugars, flour and baking powder. If it’s really hot let it cool down a little, so the extra chocolate wont melt. Mix in the chopped chocolate and Snickers bars, then spread the mix into a lined 8×8″ square tin. Bake for 25-30 mins at 180 degrees.

Leave to cool (if you can wait!) then slice into squares and serve.

My ‘to-bake’ list

I am at a bit of a loss at the minute as my computer, along with all my baking photos, has been shipped off to the apple hospital for a bit of minor  surgery.

This means for the next week or so I won’t be able to update with any of the things I’ve been baking (including a malteser birthday cake, snickers brownies and nutella cheesecake – hello tooth decay!).

To keep myself busy I’ve decided to compile a list of all the things I’ve always wanted to make and not quite got round to – a sort of ‘bucket list’ of baking I suppose.

I’m planning on updating this list every time I see or think of a new recipe, and hopefully it’ll be a useful go-to when I can’t decide what to make.

My to-bake list:

Cakes

• Coconut nutella cake
• Carrot Cake
• Chocolate orange cake
• White chocolate gateaux
• Red velvet cake
• Chocolate Torte
• Marble cake

Bars / Biscuits

• Blondies
• Raspberry and white chocolate cookies
• The PERFECT brownies
• Hobnobs

Desserts

• Tiramisu
• Lemon meringue pie
• Chocolate fondants
• Ice cream
• Nutella tart
• Baked alaska
• Banoffee Pie

Other baking

• Croissants
• Tiger bread
• Homemade Nutella
• Coconut cream cheese icing
• Profiteroles
• Jam
• Crumpets

There are probably loads of things I’ve completely forgotten about (especially as the loss of my computer also means the loss of all my bookmarked recipes!) so I will probably keep adding to this as I think of more.

If anyone has awesome recipes for the things I want to make, then please feel free to share!

Apricot upside down cake

In previous years, I’ve never really been too interested in apricots – when they’re competing with the likes of peaches and strawberries there’s usually no competition!

But this year I feel like I’ve been seeing them everywhere, and when I saw punnets were half price in my local supermarket I couldn’t resist.

I made this cake almost two weeks ago, and I sort of wish I’d waited – as apricots were chosen as the July theme for We Should Cocoa, a blogging event I’ve been following and wanting to get involved with for a while.

This cake doesn’t involve any chocolate, but on the plus side it means I have an excuse to bake with apricots again later in the month, which can’t be a bad thing!

Apricot Upside Down Cake (original here)

• 200g plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 200g butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 10 apricots
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 100g caster cugar
• 300ml water

Heat the water, sugar and vanilla essence in a large saucepan. Halve and stone the apricots, add to the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn off the heat and leave while you make the cake mix. Beat together the butter and sugar, followed by the eggs, then fold in the flour and baking powder.

Grease and line a 10″ springform cake tin. Place the apricots cut side down in concentric circles (or whatever nice pattern will fit!) then carefully spread the cake mix on top. Bake at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes, then remove from the oven and turn out on to a plate. While the cake is cooking, boil the water left over from the apricots down to a thick syrup. Pour this all over the cake, then serve warm with ice cream.

Strawberry meringue roulade and other baking disasters

This week has not been a good one for baking in the hinny house.

I started the week with enthusiasm, ready to bake chocolate coconut profiteroles. It’s been a few years since I last made choux pastry, and I’ve never made creme patissiere, but I was still fairly confident – how hard can it be?

Well the answer to that is very.

The choux pastry was too thin,  so the profiteroles came out as domes rather than balls – although they did have the right taste and texture, so they could have been used were it not for the creme patissiere…

Attempt 1 completely burnt onto the bottom of the pan – immediately thrown into the bin.

Attempt 2 I thought was going well, until I went to pour it an discovered the rather unappetising lumps at the bottom – a moment’s consideration, then into the bin.

Following this massive failure (which i was too traumatised by to take photos) I was left with 4 egg whites – so naturally my next baking attempt was meringue.

Pavlova seemed a bit easy (I know, the previous disaster taught me nothing…) so I decided to go for a meringue roulade. A strawberries and cream meringue roulade, to be precise.

The above picture shows said attempt at a roulade, but as you can see what I actually got was a sloppy strawberry mess.

I’m really annoyed, because I knew before doing it that I was making a mistake, but decided to place my trust in the original recipe… error!

The recipe called for the roulade to have the fillings put in and be rolled up straight away. The fillings inlcuded whipped cream, which predictably melted on contact.

As i rolled it, the cream flowed out, taking several strawberries with it.

Despite it’s slightly unconventional look, it did actually taste ok, and the friendly pony thinks ‘sloppy’ is the best thing a food can be, so it wasn’t an absolute failure.

The recipe works, as long as you dont try and put cold cream on hot meringue straight away!

Strawberry meringue roulade (loosely based on this one)

• 4 large egg whites
• 220g caster sugar
• 150ml double cream
• 50g icing sugar (estimate)
• 100g strawberries (estimate)
• 3 tbsp strawberry jam

Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until thick and stiff. Whisk in the sugar, a spoonful at a time, until glossy. Line a 30 x 20 cm baking tin with greaseproof paper and spread the meringue to fill it. Bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until crisp and lightly golden on top.

Turn the meringue out onto another piece of greaseproof paper, dusted with icing sugar. LEAVE TO COOL!!!!

Whip the cream until thick, then fold in icing sugar, a bit a time, to taste. Spread a layer of jam on the meringue, followed by a layer of cream, and then scatter the strawberries all over before rolling up from one of the long edges.

Your slice of delicious meringue roulade should look far neater than this one!