Absolutely Fabulously Squishy Soft Iced Buns

I am over the moon that I have found a fantastic recipe for this kind of bake, Iced Buns, Chelsea Buns - I can think of lots of yummy things I can experiment with using this dough. It is so soft and sweet and squishy, you WILL be blown away. Well, I was. Make sure you try one straight from the oven after you have finished icing them - Heaven. I found this recipe on a blog I stumbled upon this week called 'English Mum', and I am so glad I did.

You will need:
450g Strong, White Bread Flour, Sifted
1tsp Salt
75g Caster Sugar
1 x 7g Sachet Dried Yeast
150ml Milk - I use Whole Milk
150ml Water
50g Unsalted Butter

Icing:
4 or 4 Tbsp Icing Sugar
1/2 Tsp Liquid Glucose (Optional -it just keeps the icing runny but I didn't use any)

1. Add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl and stir to combine
   
2. Warm the Milk, Water and Butter in a saucepan over a low heat until the butter has melted and take off the heat.
   
3. Add the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients (the liquid should be no more than blood temperature when you add it to the dry ingredients) stir with a knife until it comes together as a light dough. The stickier, the better. But, you can add a little flour if it is too sticky to handle.
4. Put the dough on the work surface and knead for around 5 minutes by pushing it across the surface, bringing it back into a ball and repeating It will start to come together and be less messy. 
   
5. Put the dough into a large bowl and cover the dough with cling film and put it in the airing cupboard or the tumble dryer after it has been on or anywhere else warm until it has doubled in size.
   
6. Now you need to 'knock it back', I just punch the dough ball while still in the bowl a few times until the air has escaped. Now separate the dough into 8 equal balls - you can just place them on a baking tray but as 'English Mum' instructs, using a spring form, loose bottomed tin is brilliant for this. So, I arranged them in a 10inch round tin and cover and let them rise again in a warm place.
7. When they have risen again - bake them in a preheated oven at 180 for 15-20 minutes - I left them in for the 20 minutes to ensure they were cooked throughout to avoid them being heavy and wet inside.
8. While they are in the oven, make the icing - sift your icing sugar into a bowl and add a few drops of boiling water until you get a thick consistency that you can still pour over the buns.
9. When they come out of the oven, pour over the icing and let it dribble all over the gorgeously soft buns.

Now eat one, because they are just so tasty when they're warm!

Mint Choc Chip CAKE

So, it is my younger sister, Brit's 18th birthday at the end of the month and she's throwing a cocktail party. I have decided to start my biggest project yet and make her a tiered birthday cake - oh goodness! I am very scared, but scared is good. So I have drawn up a list of flavour combinations for the cakes and I am going to be trying a few out and doing some taste tests with the family each week leading up to the big day. So, this is the first:

I absolutely LOVE Mint-Choc Chip ice cream - it is one of my very favourite flavour combinations ever. So, why on earth had I not thought of putting it into a cake before now? I'm baffled. Tasting this cake was like going to Chocolate-Chip heaven. I think I am going to be making this a lot - everyone who tried some also fell completely in love with it.

For the chocolate cake I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe adapted from one of Sweetapolita's recipe's. It is rich tasting but ever so light and oh so chocolaty - I always use it when I need a chocolate sponge. Oh, it is also incredibly simple! For this cake I split the mixture into two, 6-inch pans rather than 3 (which the original recipe calls for) because I didn't want to overload on the mint choc chip frosting with an extra layer. However now after tasting the cake - 3 would work just fine. 

So - get ready to fall in lurveee. You will need for the cake:

180g Plain Flour
275g Caster Sugar
60g Dark Cocoa Powder - I use Bournville which gives a fab chocolate flavour
1 & 1/4 Tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
1 &1/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
140ml Buttermilk
130ml Strong, Hot Brewed Coffee - I use 2 heaped tsp of Millicano instant to make the coffee (A normal sized mug makes more than enough)
75ml Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs - lightly beaten
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1. Preheat oven to 180. Grease 2 or 3, 6-inch tins (depending on how many layers you fancy) line the bottom with grease proof paper and butter the whole tin and sprinkle the sides with flour and tip out excess flour.
2. In your electric mixer bowl - sift all of the dry ingredients
   
3. Add all other ingredients to the dry ingredients and using the paddle mixer, mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Pour your mixture into your tins - weigh out mixture for even sized layers.
5. Put in the oven and set a timer for 20 minutes, don't open the oven door before 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick after 20 minutes, if it comes out clean your done, if not put it back in the oven and set the timer for 5 minute bursts until the toothpick comes out clean. Mine take around 30 mins when split into 2 tins.
6. Cool on a wire cooling rack for 20 minutes and then remove from tin and leave on racks to cool completely.

As with most of my frosting's, I do make them up as I go along. Also, the amount will depend on how many layers you baked.

So you will need:

Unsalted butter

Icing Sugar

Peppermint Flavouring or Extract (Mint Flavouring or Extract is meant to be better but I couldn't find it anywhere!)

Whole Milk

100g Packet of Chocolate Chips

Green Colouring

Beat the butter in a mixer until light and fluffy - it will start to go a lighter shade the more you beat it - this is good. The more you whip your frosting, the lighter the frosting with be. Add sugar and a few drops of milk until you have your desired taste and consistency - some people like it slightly buttery, some people like it very sweet and sugary. When you have mastered your frosting base, you can start to very slowly add drops of the peppermint extract and green colouring until again, it meets your desired taste. Be very careful not to add too much extract at this point.

Now, assembling your masterpiece - 

I placed a layer of sponge onto a plate and topped with half of the mint frosting and spread - I then sprinkled chocolate chips over the frosting and placed the next cake layer on top. You can always squish some more chips into the gap if you want to make them more visible. 

I then added the remaining chocolate chips to the frosting and mixed them in - and now it will look like the ice cream! You can add all of the chips at the beginning - it's completely preference. Then just spread your remaining frosting onto the top of the cake. 
Now, try the delicious creation!

Simple & Beautiful Lemon Cheesecake

To accompany my SUCCESSFUL profiteroles I also made individual lemon cheesecakes - just in case the profiteroles didn't go quite to plan (But they did so we had 2 puddings - never a bad thing).  This cheesecake recipe is SO simple - I have been using since I was about 14! It's great when you have a recipe that always works, is incredibly easy and tastes splendid! The base of the recipe will work with any flavour - just add whatever you fancy at the end! I also changed the original digestive biscuit base for ginger nuts as I was making a lemon flavoured top and lemon and ginger is a fabulous combination.

So, you will need:

Simple Profiteroles With White Chocolate Cream

Every Sunday me and the other half go to my mum's for dinner - which is always a fabulous roast may I add. Anyway, she pretends she cant make puddings but she makes fab puddings. She also pretends she doesn't enjoy making puddings but again she does really! Which is why I rarely get to do it. Anyway, I got in there first last Sunday, - not that I knew what I was going to make. I REALLY wanted to try making Profiteroles because it's a challenge, I have never tried it and heard many horror stories. But I LOVE a challenge. 

Choux Pastry - a scary thought but I was pleasantly surprised and much too excited  when they came out of the oven, cooled, and didn't go flat! I thank Nigella. After the incredible Lemon Cake (which I have made 3 times in the last week!) I felt I should go to her for the profiterole recipe after I had done some Choux research! Although the Hot Chocolate Sauce which was also a Nigella recipe was way too thick to pour over the profiteroles but this is just trail and error to find your perfect chocolate sauce.
Instead of just piping cream into the gorgeously light little buns, (I'm not a huge lover of cream) I jazzed it up by  making it white chocolate cream - now that's my kind of cream.

So, here is the recipe I used for the buns. You will need:
75g Unsalted Butter
175ml Water
1/2 tsp Salt
100g Plain Flour
4 Eggs

Preheat your oven to 200c and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Sift the flour into a bowl. Put the butter, water and salt into a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted, bring to the boil and then remove from the heat.

Add all of the sifted flour into the saucepan and whisk vigorously until the batter comes away from the sides of the pan. 

Return the pan to a very low heat and beat for 30 seconds more to dry the batter out.

Add 3 of the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after you add each one. Beat the last egg in a small bowl and add to the dough until soft and shiny.

Now, Nigella puts the dough into a piping bag and squeezes the dough out onto the baking sheet - which I followed, however, this was extremely messy as my dough was very wet. Next time I will just scoop the dough onto a baking sheet - which I later read sometimes gives a nicer finish to the buns anyway. Make sure you allow room for spreading. 
I find this is the best way to fill a piping bag: pop it in a glass and fold the top over - 

This is where the messiness began:

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden - if you're not sure if they are cooked inside, take one out of the oven, tear it in half and check the consistency inside - if it's still wet, put them in for a little longer otherwise they will sink when they start to cool.

Poke a hole in the bottom of each bun when it comes out of the oven to let the steam out so that they do not sweat. - This will later be the hole you pipe cream in to.

For the White Chocolate Cream you will need:
450ml Double Cream
75-100g White Chocolate
3 tbsp Icing Sugar

Melt the white chocolate and leave to cool down - about 10-15 mins.

Whip the icing sugar and cream into a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer) and beat until soft peaks - I did beat for a little longer to get a better whipped effect, like you would normally find in a profiterole. Add the cooled melted chocolate and whip to combine.

Put the cream into a piping bag and pipe into the steam holes of your profiteroles.

Stack the profiteroles up and drizzle with your favorite chocolate sauce. - You're a kitchen goddess!

Amazing Lemon Drizzle Cake

I am so very happy I found this recipe. I have never tried to make Lemon Drizzle Cake before so I was doing some research and looking for a good looking recipe. This recipe is apparently from Nigella Lawson originally but I found it on 'Bake & The City' a blog I have recently come across which I love. Her name is B, she lives in London, and collects recipes in an envelope of everything she wants to bake - just as I do. We also have another similarity - her partner also isn't a massive baked goods fan and rarely eats what she bakes - I also have this problem which leads to me eating the whole batch - how terrible. This Lemon cake however he adores! This recipe caught my eye because of the lemon syrup you pour into the tin as soon as the cake comes out of the oven which makes a gorgeous crisp sugar glaze coating all over the cake when it is cooled and removed from the tin.

I followed this recipe exactly and it is perfect - it doesn't need a single thing changing. 
So, you will need:
5x9in Loaf Tin
125g Unsalted Butter
175g Caster Sugar
2 Large Eggs
Zest of 1 Lemon
175g SR Flour
Pinch of salt
4 Tablespoons Milk (I used whole milk)
I added some Poppy Seeds too

Syrup:
Juice of 1 1/2 Lemons
100g Icing Sugar

Drizzle:
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
150g Icing Sugar

Line your loaf tin with baking paper and grease with butter 
Preheat oven to 180 C
I used my stand mixer to cream together the butter and sugar then add the zest and the eggs - beat in well
Gently fold the flour and salt into the mixture - mix thoroughly and add the milk and poppy seeds and mix thoroughly again.

Pour the mixture into your tin and bake for 45 minutes - In my oven 45 minutes exactly was perfect.

When your loaf has 5 minutes left in the oven, gently heat the syrup ingredients in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved.

When the cake comes out of the oven - puncture holes all over the loaf with a skewer or toothpick and poor the syrup over the loaf - it may seem a lot but it will soak in and doesn't make the sponge wet.

Leave the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin.

When your cake is cool, combine the drizzle ingredients in a bowl until smooth - I then put the icing into a freezer bag, gathered it all into one corner and snipped the corner off to make a piping bag. Then drizzle!! 

Iced Easter Muffins

Yes, iced muffins... Muffins are, in fact, exceedingly good when they're iced, or maybe that's just me having an addiction to butter frosting? Anyway I used my muffin recipe because I prefer it to any cupcake recipe I have come across - (I'm not actually a HUGE cupcake fan - but they are just so pretty). Obviously these little gems needed to be iced and decorated because it's Easter and I searched the whole of the county to find Mini-Eggs so close to Easter Sunday. (Next year I am going to stock up when they hit the stores in February!)

Ok, this muffin recipe is my absolute favorite - it's from Bakerella and when I stumbled upon it I had to try it - I have never found a muffin recipe that taste's and feels like proper muffins. I have converted the measurements into grams and ml for us English folk who don't use US cups!

So, if I am using regular cupcake cases this recipe makes 12 and if I want proper, huge, gorgeous muffin sized muffins it makes 9. (These Easter cakes are the larger variety)

You will need:
192g Plain Flour
100g Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
177ml OR 175g Sour Cream
60ml Milk
2 Eggs
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract 
57g Unsalted Butter melted and cooled slightly
150g Chocolate Chunks

Preheat your oven to 180°
In a bowl (not your KitchenAid bowl) sift the dry ingredients and combine

In a Stand Mixer or separate bowl stir wet ingredients until combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine.

Add your chocolate chunks - I find a mix of white and dark is THE best combination but of course you can add whatever you fancy to muffins.

I bake them for 18 minutes but this will vary with your oven, usually 18-20 minutes - keep an eye on them

Yes muffins are fabulous like this, hot out of the oven but like I said it's Easter and that means Mini-Egg decoration...

For the Frosting - I just used buttercream, I don't have a recipe I use for buttercream because I think it completely depends how you like it - and what it is going onto. If you like it light and fluffy - make sure you cream the butter for a good 5-10 minutes in a stand mixer. If you like it more solid and crunchy - keep your cakes in the fridge (I love icing straight from the fridge) If you it rich - add some melted chocolate and cream with the butter and icing sugar. I usually add a tablespoon or two of full fat milk too.

And these are my Iced Easter muffins with plenty of frosting and Mini-Eggs - Heaven.

The strangest Swiss rolly kind of cake ever

This is a strange one - I wanted to try and re-create the white sponge with glace icing and sprinkles we had at school, a request from Joel. So I started researching into how to make a very light, plain sponge - this cake didn't have much flavor but it is just great and makes me feel all nostalgic. I found a recipe on another blog which looked very interesting - the method was so whacky I just had to try it. The result wasn't exactly what I had imagined, firstly, I remembered when I got it out of the oven that this cake is more of a tray bake anyway - I had just baked mine in a round tin... Secondly, it tasted like Swiss Roll sponge - which I do really like and with the icing poured on top and some fabulous sprinkles I am thoroughly enjoying making my way through this sponge this evening, on the eve of Easter Sunday.
The method - This is what drew me in, (and the fact it uses 6 eggs!) you mix the yolks and other ingredients together and set aside. You then whisk the egg whites and sugar - like meringue, to form soft peaks.

You then fold the meringue mixture into the yolk mixture and bake. This recipe is definitely one to experiment with - it has intrigued me.

Anyway if, for some reason you want to give this sponge a go and taste the weirdness - I followed the recipe exactly from Colleen's page Heavenly Palate. There is a strong possibility that I did something wrong but who knows - I still like it and here is how mine turned out. - For the icing, I just used a simple Glace icing - Mix sifted icing sugar with a few teaspoons of boiling water and mix and pour over the cake.