Top 10 posts of 2011

So I’ve seen quite a few bloggers listing their top 10 most popular posts of the previous year, and I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon and do the same.

I only started this blog in April, so it isn’t a full year’s worth of baking, but I’ve been literally amazed by the number of people who have visited and viewed my posts – seeing it go up month on month has been pretty exciting!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit, read, and comment – hope you’ve all had a great 2011 as well!

Top 10 posts of 2011

10: Chilli Chocolate Orange Torte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9: Coconut and Raspberry Loaf Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8: Camp Coffee Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7: Nutella Swirl Cupcakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6: White Chocolate Raspberry Rose Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5: Malteser Birthday Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4: 1,000 Calorie Chocolate Caramel Lion Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3: Apricot and White Chocolate Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2: Super Chocolate Gateau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1: Frangipane Mince Pies

Chocolate and cranberry Christmas wreath

This month I attempted my second ever Fresh From The Oven baking challenge – a Christmas Wreath.

I changed up the flavours a bit to suit what I had and what the friendly pony would like to eat – chocolate and cranberry with an orange glaze rather than fruit and nuts – but I think it was quite a festive combination.

I was really happy with how this turned out – I’m still no bread expert and I found the dough quite wet and tricky to work with, but the taste and texture were great, and I thought the twisting pattern looked pretty when the slices were cut!

Chocolate and cranberry Christmas wreath (recipe adapted from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families):

Serves 8-10

For the dough:

• 3 tsp dried yeast
• 315ml lukewarm milk
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g softened butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 420g plain flour

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until combined. The recipe says to knead on a floured surface, but I found the dough really wet and sticky so I just kneaded it in the bowl, for about 10 minutes.

Cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.

For the filling:

• 50g softened butter
• 25g plain flour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 100g dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl. Tip the dough out onto a well-floured surface, knead for a couple of minutes then roll or stretch out into a large rectangle, mine was about 30cm x 20cm. Spread the filling evenly onto the dough, then roll the dough up from one of the long sides.

Cut the roll in half, lengthways, then twist the two halves together and bring the ends around so it creates a ring. Pinch the ends together, then leave on a baking sheet to rise for 45 minutes, or until doubled again.

Brush with milk then bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees, or until golden and cooked through.

You can use any icing you like to glaze, but I made a simple orange one with 1/2 cup of icing sugar and 1 1/2 tbsp orange juice, and drizzled on top. Cut into slices and serve while warm.

Chocolate Yule Log

This is a proper, traditional chocolate yule log.

I’ve seen some very fancy looking ‘Buche de Noel’ recipes floating around this year, but I have a feeling that unless you’re from a family of pastry chefs they’re probably not the chocolate log that graced your table at Christmas as a child.

I’m talking about the retro supermarket spectacular, chocolate swiss roll with chocolate buttercream and crisp chocolate coating. This is what the pony wanted for Christmas eve dessert, and I am actually really proud of how it turned out – exactly how we remembered!

It’s really simple but will definitely be coming back again next Christmas!

Chocolate Yule Log (vaguely adapted from a BBC Good Food roulade)

Serves 8

For the sponge:

• 5 eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 25g self raising flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 50g ground almonds

Whisk the eggs and sugar together for about 5 minutes with an electric whisk. They should have trebled in volume and leave a trail when you lift the whisk out. Sift in the rest of the ingredients and fold in lightly, being careful not to overmix. Line a 30x20cm shallow baking tray with greaseproof paper or baking sheet and spread the mixture in, taking it right to the corners. Bake at 190 degrees for 12 minutes.

Turn out immediately onto another sheet of greaseproof paper, dusted with cocoa powder. Peel off the paper the sponge baked on, then roll up, starting from one of the long sides, keeping the cocoa dusted sheet of paper in the roll. Leave until completely cool.

For the icing:

• 50g dark chocolate
• 50g butter
• 150g icing sugar
• 1tbsp cocoa powder
• 1tbsp milk
• 200g milk chocolate

Melt the dark chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water and set aside. Beat the butter to soften, then gradually add in the icing sugar, adding a little milk if it gets too sift. Beat in the melted chocolate and cocoa powder.

Unroll the sponge and spread the icing all over the inside. Roll it up again, without the paper, then trim the ends to neaten it up.

Melt the milk chocolate, then spread a strip as long as the log onto a piece of baking paper. Place the log on top of the strip of chocolate, then pour the rest of the chocolate over the top and spread to cover the whole thing. Use a fork to create lines in the chocolate, for the authentic woody look! Then dust lightly with icing sugar and leave to set.

Mini Christmas cakes – Part 2

After a month or so of regular feeding with whisky, my little baked bean tin Christmas cakes were ready for decoration.

I won’t go into loads of detail, the photos hopefully speak for themselves, so here we go!

First, cut off the tops of your cakes so they’re level. Don’t throw away the scraps, they can be made into truffles!

Roll out the marzipan about 3mm thick. Cut out a round the same size as the cake top, and a long strip that can wrap around the sides.

Brush the cakes all over with melted apricot jam, then place the marzipan on top, pinching together where the top and sides meet. Leave for a day before icing.

Brush the marzipan all over with vodka (or water). Roll out the white icing using a lot of icing sugar to stop it sticking. Measure the cake up each side and across the top so you know how large a circle of icing you need – i went a lot bigger to be on the safe side!

Drape the icing over the cake, then smooth down on the top. Cup your hands to smooth down the sides until you get to the bottom, then cut around the cake. If you’re cutting out any shapes like I did, you can do this from the scraps around the outside of the cake.

You can decorate these cakes any way you want, but I went simple with cut out stars and white icing (from a tube!).

As I’m giving these as gifts I wrapped in cellophane, tied with a ribbon and added a gift tag. They look prettier in real life than in the picture!

Orange shortbread thumbprints

For my last day at work this week, baked goods weren’t just expected, but demanded. I made some marzipan chocolate cupcakes which I will post about soon, but as I wasn’t sure if they would be to everyone’s tastes I decided I needed something else that I could whip up fairly quickly as an alternative.

As I still had some homemade orange curd to use up, I decided to give thumbprint cookies a go, as they always look so pretty and I’ve never tried them before.

The recipe I was planning on using needed an egg, which I didn’t have, so that led to me making them with shortbread instead so I wouldn’t need to go to the shops (laziness can lead to the best creations!)

They turned out really well, a lighter alternative to the cupcakes with a nice fruity tang. They were really easy to make, so I would definitely make them again, maybe trying out a few different fillings…

Orange shortbread thumbprints (my own recipe!)

Makes about 20 biscuits

• 75g caster sugar, plus extra to dust
• 150g butter, cubed and softened
• 200g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• Roughly 1/3 jar orange curd

Beat the butter to soften, then add in the caster sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Sift in the flour and cornflour, then run together with your fingers to make breadcrumbs, then knead into a soft dough. Roll into a fat sausage shape, wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Take the dough out the fridge, then slice the log into rounds. Roll each into a ball, then roll in the extra caster sugar to cover them. Place on a baking sheet, then make an indentation in the middle of each with your finger or thumb – so they look a bit like this:

Spoon about half a teaspoon or orange curd into each shortbread, filling them not quite to the top as the curd will bubble over when they’re in the oven. Bake at 170 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until they’re firm and just about to start turning golden. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack.

Fudgy coconut brownies

With all the hectic Christmas baking that’s taking place at the minute, I needed something quick, easy and chocolatey to feed the friendly pony.

He hasn’t been best pleased, seeing me make biscuits, truffles and cakes to be given away as gifts, rather than eaten by him, so I wanted to make something that he could have all to himself.

Enter these fudgy coconut brownies, from the BBC Good Food site.

I’ve had them bookmarked for a while, but never got round to making them – I’m always seduced by more complex looking recipes!

More fool me, as these were great – thick, dense, chocolatey and definitely fudgy, with the coconut adding a subtle flavour and also some chewiness to the texture.

You’d never guess that they were made with cocoa rather than melted chocolate – a definitely winner!

Fudgy coconut brownies (from BBC Good Food):

Makes 16 squares

• 100g cocoa powder
• 250g butter
• 500g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 100g desiccated coconut
• 100g self raising flour

Grease and line an 8×8″ square tin. Put the butter, cocoa and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until melted – keep stirring so it doesn’t stick on the bottom. When the butter has melted and sugar dissolved, beat in the eggs one at a time, then fold in the coconut and self raising flour. Pour the mixture into the tin, then bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes – the top should crisp up and a skewer should come out with damp crumbs. Leave to cool, then cut into squares and serve.

Chocolate crunchie bites

When thinking about bite-sized bakes I could package up nicely to give as Christmas gifts, these chocolate crunchie bites were pretty high up the list.

They’ve always gone down well when I’ve made them before, they’re one of the pony’s favourites, pretty much foolproof, and they’re incredibly easy to make – no baking required! They should also keep quite well in the fridge, if you can keep greedy hands off them…

Chocolate crunchie bites (adapted from Jam and Clotted Cream):

• 75g dark chocolate
• 75g milk chocolate
• 65g butter
• 1 1/2 tbsp golden syrup
• 110g digestive biscuits
• 2 Cadbury’s Crunchie bars
• 30g cranberries

Prepare an 8×8″ tin by lining with baking paper, creating a pleat so that the tin has a divider 2/3 of the way across (basically, you need the tin to be approximately 8×5″).
 
Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan over a low heat. While that’s melting, put the digestives and crunchie bars in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin, until mostly crushed but with a few lumpy bits remaining. Pour the crushed biscuit mix into a large bowl, add in the cranberries, then stir in the melted chocolate mixture until well combined.

Spread the mixture into the prepared tin, then leave to set. I tend to leave mine to set a room temperature for a few hours so it’s easier to cut, but you can speed it up by putting it in the fridge. Trim the edges (feed the offcuts to an impatient hungry boy), cut into small squares, then dust with icing sugar to serve.

Makes about 24 mini squares.

Chocolate orange banana bread

When Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog announced that this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge was orange, I was pretty happy as I already had several bakes in mind using the combination, as it just seems so festive.

I intend to make a chocolate orange cheesecake for Boxing Day, but that will be too late for the WSC deadline, and I was also considering some sort of orange flavoured chocolate truffle as a one of the food gifts I give this year, but again that might be pushing it a bit for time.

What I’m actually submitting came about more by circumstance than design. I had over-ripe bananas that needed to be used, and homemade orange curd that hadn’t quite set thickly enough, so I decided to make a chocolate chip banana bread, throw in some orange curd and hope for the best.

Luckily, it turned out great! I adapted a recipe from The Goddess’s Kitchen, which already included orange zest, and ended up with a moist, dense loaf, with both the banana and orange flavours coming through equally, and the dark chocolate chunks adding a nice texture contrast (and of course essential chocolate deliciousness!)

I’m yet to find a go-to banana bread recipe, and although I don’t think this is it as I don’t normally have orange curd going spare, I might try it again just as plain banana and chocolate because the texture was spot on!

Chocolate orange banana bread (recipe adapted from The Goddess’s Kitchen)

• 4 ripe bananas (this was about 400g for me)
• 250g self raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 150g caster sugar
• 100g butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp orange curd
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped

Sift together the flour and baking powder, then add in the sugar and butter and rub until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork, then mix in the eggs, vanilla, orange curd and chocolate. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Pour the mixture into a lined 2 lb loaf tin, then bake at 170 degrees for about an hour and 10 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool overnight if possible, then slice and serve!

I look forward to seeing what everyone else does with the chocolate-orange combo, and keep an eye out for more variations on it from me!

Frangipane mince pies

I have a confession. Until this time last year, I had never eaten a mince pie.

Sure, I had tried the odd nibble – enough to know they are something disgusting that I definitely would never like – but I’d never eaten a whole one.

That all changed last year, when my colleague Jenny brought mince pies into the office. I felt I ought to try one out of politeness, as she always tries all my bakes, but I was certain I wouldn’t like it.

Jenny’s mince pie was a revelation. It wasn’t your average mince pie, but one with a frangipane topping rather than a pastry lid. And it was delicious.

This year I decided to have a go myself and I wasn’t disappointed – frangipane mince pies are the future! Make these immediately, even if you hate mince pies!

Frangipane mince pies (adapted from A Spoonful of Sugar’s recipe, with my own recipe for the pastry)

Makes 12

For the pastry:

• 170g plain flour
• 30g icing sugar
• 80g butter
• 1 egg yolk (save the white for glazing)
• zest and juice of 1 orange

Put the flour, sugar, butter and orange zest in a food processor, then blitz until it looks like a breadcrumb-like texture. Add in the egg yolk and half the orange juice, blitz again. It should come together in a nice, soft dough, but if it looks a bit dry add the rest of the orange juice and mix again. Chill for half an hour, then roll out to about 3-4mm thick and cut into 12 rounds to line a cupcake tin, and use the leftovers to cut out 12 stars to go on top. Chill again while you make the filling.

For the filling:

• 150g-ish mincemeat
• 1 egg
• 45g caster sugar
• 45g melted butter
• 45g ground almonds

Whisk the egg and sugar together until light and airy. Add in the melted butter while still whisking, then fold in the ground almonds. Spoon about a teaspoon of mincemeat into each of the pastry cases, then top up with the frangipane mixture. Place one the star lids on each and lightly glaze with the leftover egg white. Bake at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the frangipane has puffed up and browned.

Serve while still warm, dusted with a little icing sugar.

Garlic and cheddar tear-and-share bread

I don’t venture into the world of breads too often, but last weekend something pretty amazing happened – I gave the pony the option of choosing absolutely anything for me to bake, and he chose bread.

This is the same pony who can devour an entire chocolate cake in one day, and could pretty much live off chocolate given the chance, so for him to choose a savoury bake was a bit of a surprise!

To be fair, The Pastry Affair’s Garlic and Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread does look pretty tempting, and is something I’ve been wanting to try for a while, so I was quite happy to oblige.

I made a few changes to the original – I didn’t think the two of us could manage an entire bundt tin of bread, so I halved the recipe and baked it in a loaf tin, and I substituted the parmesan as we don’t eat non-veggie cheese.

The results were pretty delicious – I’d even go as far as saying this is the best bread I’ve made yet! And definitely better than any of the tear-and-share breads you can buy in the supermarkets.

On another note, my photos have not been going well recently – there’s just never any daylight when I’m at home! If anyone has any ideas on how to make the best of artificial light, please let me know!

Garlic and cheddar tear-and-share bread (recipe adapted from The Pastry Affair):

• 210g bread flour
• 1tsp dried yeast
• 1tsp salt
• 2/3 cup lukewarm water
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 50g butter
• handful of fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic
• 50g grated cheddar

Mix together the yeast and water, and set aside for 5-10 minutes, until it’s starting to froth. Sift together the flour and salt, make a well in the centre and add the olive oil and yeasty water. Mix together with a wooden spoon, then tip out onto a floured surface and need for about 10 minutes. Put back in the bowl, cover over with oiled clingfilm and leave to double in size (about 2 hours for me, but my house is freezing).

While the dough is proving, melt the butter in the microwave and add the chopped garlic and parsley. When the dough is ready, knowck it back down then tear off walnut-sized balls, dip each into the buttery mixture, then place in the tin. Once you’ve done one layer, sprinkle half the cheese on top, add the rest of the butter-dipped dough balls, and then add the rest of the cheese.

Leave to rise again, for about half an hour or until it’s doubled in size again, then bake at 175 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and it easily releases from the tin. Serve with anything, it’s delicious!