Chocolate and Beetroot Cupcakes

I promise i don't always put odd vegetables in my baking, but after the success of my courgette cake, i wanted to be a little more adventurous before i tried a classic carrot cake, which led me to these little beauties.

I think they are possibly some of the nicest chocolate cakes ive ever eaten. The rich dark chocolate mixed with the smooth beetroot, made for a deliciously moist and luxurious texture.

Enjoy this one guys.


Ingredients 
250g Dark Chocolate (I like to use Bournville)
250g unsalted butter
3 eggs
250g brown sugar
150g self raising flour
250g cooked fresh beetroot, grated.
pinch of salt

300g dark chocolate
300ml double cream

1- Preheat oven to 180C/Gas4 and prepare 24 cupcake cases in a baking tray.

2- Chop 150g of chocolate and melt together with the butter until well combined/

3- Whisk the eggs together with the sugar, add the chocolate and butter mixture and mix until smooth. Chop the remaining chocolate into chunks and add.

4- Sift the flour and salt into the mixture and fold together, then add the beetroot and fold oncemore.

5- Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cakes are just firm on top.

6- Set aside to cool, and prepare your topping, in this instance, chocolate ganache.

7- Heat the chocolate and cream in a bowl set above a simmering pan of water. When melthed and combined, set aside to cool, and when slightly firmer, spoon or pipe over the cooled cupcakes.


These cakes will keep fresh and moist for a few days if kept in the fridge or in an airtight container.

Adapted from a recipe from UKTV.

Triple Chocolate Cake

I don't need to say anymore on this cake except, enjoy.

Light chocolate sponge with a rick smooth chocolate fudge topping, dark chocolate chunks and grated white chocolate.

Ingredients 
2 eggs
100g butter (80g Trex)
100g golden caster sugar
100g self raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp hot water
1 tsp baking powder

40g butter
25g cocoa
100g icing sugar
3 tbsp milk

1- Preheat oven to Gas 4/180C and grease and line a sandwich tin.

2- In a large mixing bowl, mix the cocoa powder with the hot water until well combined and pop into the fridge for a couple of minutes to cool.

3- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, and using an electric mixer on slow/med speed, combine well for 3-4 minutes.

4- Bake for 30-35 minutes on the middle shelf, or until knife comes out clean when put into the middle.

5- Turn out to a cooling rack until at room temperature.

6- While the cake is cooling, you can make your fudgey topping. Melt the butter in a small pan.

7- Add the cocoa and leave on the heat for 1 minute until smooth, stirring continuously

8- Take off the heat and add the milk, stir well.

9- Sieve in the icing sugar a bit at a time and combine.

10- Set aside to cool, stirring from time to time until thick.

11- The cake and frosting should be cool at around the same time, so when they are, transfer the sponge to a plate, smother in the chocolate sauce, smooth out with a palette knife and decorate with dark chocolate chunks and white chocolate grated on top.


You can keep this cake in an airtight container for a few days, if it lasts that long anyway!

:)

Adapted from Mary Berry - Fast Cakes

Trex vs. Butter

The Trex vs. Butter argument.

You may have noticed that in a couple of my posts I have mentioned an ingredient called TREX. Some of you may be fully aware of what this is and how to use it and others may think I have completely lost the plot, so I shall begin by explaining what trex is.

Put simply, Trex is a dairy-free alternative to butter, margarine and lard, made from vegetable fat. 
(http://www.trex.co.uk/loved-for-generations/).  It retails at £1.28 for 500g. (Tesco, Feb 2014)

The main reason I first used Trex is because it is lower in saturated and trans fats than butter, and although I love baking, anything I can use as a slightly ‘better for you’ alternative, I am more than willing to try. It has no colours, preservatives or e numbers, which to  me is also a great selling point as unfortunately most things we buy have within them, hidden nastiness.

Now then, the nitty gritty, what is it like to use? Well, in my experience, it’s not half bad! I have used it so far in a bit of baking and general cooking, and my overall result has been pretty positive.
With any recipe you follow and replace your butter for Trex, you are supposed to use only 80% of what it asks for. This can be a little confusing and annoying to get your head around at first but is very simple to get to grips with. And let’s face it, who follows a recipe to the T? I know mine swap and change slightly every time!
When used to make cakes, biscuits or sponge, I have found that there was absolutely no difference in finished texture or taste; it’s just the mixing which is a little odd. Trex doesn’t cream as well as butter would do, so takes a bit more working. I usually would use it from the fridge, so maybe at room temperature it could be better to work with.
For frying and roasting, I think trex is excellent. I am a massive fan of olive oil, but sometimes find the taste can overpower some flavours. But a small amount of trex does the trick, doesn’t burn as butter does, and is complexly tasteless.
Tomorrow hopefully I shall be trying it with Pastry, so we shall see how that works out.

Now, the negatives.
While it is excellent for a wide variety of cakes and biscuits, I have found anything that you would normally want a rich buttery taste with, butter was far more appropriate. Pretty obvious you may think to yourself, or maybe add some vanilla essence to bring a bit of flavour back in? Tried. Failed.
In my personal opinion, I think some things are best not messed with. Stick to the original and don’t change too much. But there’s still no reason as to why you can’t change it, just a little
Trex can be used just as well alongside butter. ½ and ½ . Then you get some of the beautiful buttery flavours, but with not quite as many calories. 

I gave it a go in buttercream, as i thought it would make it whiter, instead of cream coloured. And yes it does, and the flavour is okay. In this instance i would certainly stick to old fashioned butter! But if you are wanting a flavoured frosting, such as chocolate, go for it!!!

All in all, I think it is a pretty cool thing to have in the fridge. Next time you are at the supermarket, pick some up and give it a try. Who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised. Although I wouldn’t recommend it on you toast!
If anyone has any feedback to this, or any further queries or comments, then please do not hesitate to speak up.

Chocolate Swiss roll

So while I was waiting for my bread earlier I thought I would make a Swiss roll.  

It's my dad's favourite, so always a winner on a Sunday afternoon, as well as being nice and quick to bake. 

Ingredients

3 eggs

1/2 cup golden caster sugar 

1/4 cup plain flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup double cream 

1 tbsp icing sugar 

1 tsp vanilla essence 

1- Preheat your oven to 200C/Gas 5 and line a deep baking tray with greaseproof paper. 

2- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and add the sugar.  Using an electric mixer, whisk for 4/5 minutes or until smooth and thick. 

3- To this, sieve the flour and cocoa and use a metal spoon to mix well. 

4- Pour into your lined tray and move around to make sure it gets into all corners. 

5- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until just cooked. 

6- While this is in the oven, place another piece of greaseproof paper onto your work surface and sprinkle with a little more sugar.  

7- Whisk together your cream, vanilla and using sugar until soft peaks are formed and put into fridge to keep cool. 

8- When your cake is baked, turn out almost immediately to your sugared paper, remove your baking paper, trim the edges to make a neater rectangle. 

9- Using the edge of the paper to help you. Roll up nice and tightly and leave on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. 

10- When cooled slightly, unroll and leave until at room temperature. 

11- Spread your vanilla cream onto your cooled sponge and re-roll. Chill in the fridge for half an hour to set.

12- Finish off with a small dusting oficing  sugar. 

It's as easy as that folks.  

If you were wanting to do something similar but without fresh cream, maybe with jam, then you wouldn't need to leave to cool to room temperature.  You could just spread almost immediately.

Much better than Swiss roll from the shops I think. 

And quite good fun to make. 

:) 

Parmesan and sun-dried tomato loaf

Phew, how long does bread take? I think I was a little naive about the amount of waiting around that's involved. But by lord, it's definitely worth the wait. 

Absolutely delicious still warm with a good knob of butter. Enjoy baking this one guys. 

This is a recipe I have created myself using a basic loaf recipe as my guide. 

Ingredients

500g strong white flour 

300ml warm water 

50g grated Parmesan

50g sun-dried tomatoes 

2 tbsp oil from the sun-dried tomatoes

2 tsp sugar 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried yeast 

1- Firstly and most importantly we need to activate our dried yeast. To do this, add the yeast and sugar to the water. Give a little stir and set aside for about 10 minutes. 

2- I prefer sun-dried tomatoes in oil for this recipe as I find they are easier to work with and you have the advantage of the beautiful oil they come in to add into your mixture.  Drain them, set aside the oil, and chop finely.   

3- In a large bowl, combine  the flour, cheese and salt and mix well. Then add the yeast water, oil and tomatoes and mix well until combined and starting to form a soft dough.  

4- Knead well on a lightly floured surface for about 10-15 minutes until well worked, smooth, elastic and supple. 

5- Place in a slightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and place in a warm place for about 30 minutes for the first proving. 

6- When the dough has doubled in size, remove from it's bowl and turn out onto a floured surface and work for a further 5 minutes. 

7- Roll out a little and fold ends inwards to form a neat loaf shape, ensuring the 'fold marks' are on the bottom. 

8- Place in your oiled loaf tin. Cover and leave to prove again in a warm place for about an hour, or until again doubled in size. 

9- Set your oven to 180C/Gas 4. Score 5/6 lines in the top of your completely proved loaf and sprinkle with a little flour. 

10- Bake in the middle of your oven for 30-35 minutes. 

11- Turn out to a wire rack for cooling and enjoy warm or at room temperature with butter. 

For my first attempt at bread, I am pretty damn proud with how this has gone. 

My loaf could of done with 5 more minutes in the oven, so I have adjusted the timings on here accordingly.  

A wonderful bread to have as a snack or would taste great with cold meat and mustard.  

:) 

  

Courgette and lime cake

I would like to start with how ecstatic I am about how well this cake turned out.  It's the first time I have near enough made up a recipe. And it's like nothing else I've ever done, and best of all, it's yummy! 

Tonight I have for you a courgette cake with a lime infused cream cheese topping and crushed pistachio nuts.  

Very similar to a carrot cake. But personally I think it's tastier, and the fact it has a tinge of green is very fun. 

It's something a little different and I'm sure will impress your friends and family when you have them over for tea and cake. 

Ingredients 

250g grated courgette

3 medium eggs 

100g trex (you can use 125 butter)

150g golden caster sugar 

225g self raising flour 

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1/2tsp baking powder 

Zest of 1 lime 

200g cream cheese 

150g icing sugar 

Juice of 1 lime 

50g chopped pistachio nuts 

1-Heat the oven to 180C/Gas4 and line a cake tin with baking paper. 

2- Add the eggs, sugar and trex (or butter) to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined and smooth.  

3- Add the sieved flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to the mixture and mix well. It should become quite heavy and sticky. 

4- If you haven't already, grate your courgette with a traditional grater and press between kitchen towel to remove excess moisture and add to your bowl along with the rind of a lime. 

5- Transfer the batter to your cake tin, ensure it is all the way to the bottom by tapping the edge of the tin on the work surface.  

6- Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until risen slightly, golden brown, and a skewer comes out clean from the centre. 

7- Turn out to a cooling rack while you prepare the frosting. 

8- Put the cream cheese, icing sugar, and juice of half a lime to begin with into a bowl and using an electric mixer, whisk until smooth and thick. Add more lime depending on your taste. 

9- Pop in the fridge to set slightly.  

10- When the cake is cooled, spread the frosting over the cake and sprinkle on the crushed pistachios and serve immediately. 

This cake will keep in an airtight container for a few days, if it lasts that long. 

I'd love to hear what you think about this recipe and if you have tried it. 

Look forward to any feedback.  

Thank you. 

:) 

Lemon Drizzle Squares.

Evening all.
Tonight's treat, lemon drizzle cake. I don't actually like lemon puddings, so i am not entirely sure why i did. Whatever the reason, i am so glad, they are delicious. If you're looking for something that isn't too technical or doesn't involve a great deal of washing up, then this is the one for you.

Ingredients 
6oz spread for baking (I used trex here, i will write a post about trex shortly)
8oz self raising flour
1tsp baking powder (i actually forgot to add this, oops, but i would recommend to for a lighter cake)
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
3tbs milk
1 1/2 lemons
6oz granulated sugar

1- Preheat oven to 180C/Gas4

2- Grease and line a tray suitable for your tray bake. I used my brownie tin.

3- Simply add all ingredients apart from the lemon and granulated sugar into a bowl along with the grated rind of lemons, and mix with a hand whisk for 2 minutes or so or until smooth.

4- Pour into prepared tin, smooth down the top.

5- Place in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden, coming away at the edges and springs back when pressed.

6- Combine the juice of the lemons with the granulated sugar and set aside for now.

7- When the cake is baked, place on a cooling rack until completely cooled.

8- Turn out onto a plate, smother in your drizzle, and slice into squares.


I cannot wait to have another one of these tomorrow and share them with my friends.
Give these a go, i would love to see how they turn out.
:)

Fruit scones

Well, I'm starting to feel a bit better and had a bit of time to kill this afternoon, so I thought, what the hell, I'll make some scones. 

I've never made them before so checked online for a basic recepie and went for it. Making small alterations along the way.  

So here we go. 

Ingredients

230g self raising flour

60g cold butter 

3tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

30g caster sugar 

50g sultanas 

150ml milk

1 egg

1-Preheat oven to 205C/Gas6/400F and line a tray with baking paper and grease well. 

2- Sieve the flour into a bowl and add the baking powder, salt and butter and rub between fingertips until the mixture is like breadcrumbs. 

3- Add the sugar and fruit and mix well

4- Make a small well in the middle and add the milk a little at a time, combining it into the mixture with a butter knife until dough is pliable. (If at this stage it is too sticky, add a little more flour)

5- Transfer to a floured board and work the dough a little until smooth. Roll out until 2/3cm thick. 

6- Using a cutter approx 2inches, make rounds and place onto baking tray. 

7- Beat the egg and a little of your milk to make an egg wash and brush over the top. 

8- Plave in top of the oven for 12-15 minutes or until well risen and golden. 

9- Transfer to cooling rack. 

And that's all there is to it. 

I was very surprised not only of how easy they were, but how well they turned out. 

Everyone here loved them, especially with some butter and black cherry jam. 

Yum yum. 

:) 

 

Oat and Raisin cookies.

Hey. Hope everyone's well on this chilly Sunday evening. 

Got a little scrummy treat to share with you all. 

Oat and raisin cookies have always been my favourite and I didn't realise how easy they actually were.  

I took this recipe from Nigella.com. 

It states 'serves 6-8' but as you can see from the pictures, it looks like they can feed more like 60-80! 

Ingredients

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup softened butter

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups rolled oats

½ cup raisins

1- Preheat oven 190C/gas 5/375F and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2- In a large bowl, combine sugars and butter and beat until light and fluffy.

3- Add the vanilla and egg and blend well.

4- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt then mix well.

5- Stir in the oats and raisins. 

6- Make balls from the approx 2cm across and place them on a baking tray 2 inches apart.  Press down slightly. 

7- Bake for 7-10 minutes until edges are a light golden brown colour. Cool for 1 minute then remove to a rack and let cool completely.

Nothing more to it than that guys. And they are absolutely delicious.  Going to keep my friends and family happy all week I think.  

:) 

Chocolate Dinobiscuits

Good evening everyone.  Hope you're well. Not feeling too fabulous over here, but I still managed to perk myself up to do a bit of baking. 

Dinosaur biscuits.  

Now, ordinarily I wouldn't make things in shapes, but on this occasion I am, for 2 reasons. My friend has a birthday coming up and he is obsessed with Diplodocus. 'Dippy'. (Google it, you will know what it is when you see it). And secondly to take to my friend Nina's house because I am forcing a love of dinosaurs upon her, her partner and her 12 week old son, my little Olliebob.  

I found a recipe online, which I have to admit is one of the strangest recipes I've ever followed in my life.  As I was putting it all together I was very unsure of what the hell was going to happen, but, they worked a treat and I would like to share with you all. 

Original recipe is from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

(I made a couple of alterations) 

1 cup (2 sticks/220g) butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2 cups golden caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups s/r flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

1- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. 

2- Add in the four, salt, baking powder and cocoa and mix until incorporated and smooth, with no remaining flour streaks. 

3- Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

4- Roll the dough out to 1/4" for thicker cookies or 1/8" for thinner ones. Cut shapes, transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake on 350F/gas 4/180C  for about 10 minutes.

5- Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

I have to admit, the dough was very sticky and hard to work with, but adding flour to my board and rolling pin, it made my life a lot  easier. 

This mixture also made enough dough for about a million biscuits, but I have popped the remainder in the fridge for quick baking next time the mood takes me.  (Probably tomorrow). 

The original recipe called for plain flour and baking powder.  But I ran out of plain flour, so replaced for self raising. This was a bit of a risk but worked perfectly.  

I made thinner ones with a bit more of a crunch to them,  but I look forward to making thicker gooier ones in the future. 

Another fun thing about the Dinobiscuits is that it called for 'cups' instead of g/oz's. 

This was particularity exciting because I was given a gift, only this week by Nina, of measuring cups. 

They are super cute and let's be honest, much more fun than weighing things out. 

 

And finally the cutters were courtesy of the Natural History Museum.  I think they are plain amazing.  

:) 

 

Simple Homemade Lasagne.

Hello everyone.  Just thought I would share with you a little dinner I put together a couple of days ago.  

I was searching the cupboards and fridge for inspiration as to what to make. And seeing as it's after Christmas, we have half used this and that knocking about.  I decided on a nice simple Lasagne .  

Although the ingredients used perhaps would not be in the quantities I would usually do, it worked very well and was probably one of the most delicious Lasagne's I've made in a long time.  

For this I used...

Half carton passata (approx 150g)  

2 large tomatoes 

1tsp Sea Salt 

1tsp Black Pepper

1tsp Sugar 

1tbs Dried herbs 

Drizzle Olive oil 

Squeeze tomato purée 

Small pack of Turkey mince (500g)

1 clove Garlic 

Drizzle of Olive oil 

Knob of butter 

Plain flour 

3/4 pint whole milk 

2oz strong cheddar cheese 

Lasagne sheets 

Cheese for topping 

1- Preheat the oven to Gas6

2- Chop your tomatoes into small chunks, add to a pan with a little olive oil, and add in the sugar, salt and pepper.  Cook down until the tomatoes have softened and reduced slightly. 

3- While the tomatoes are cooking off, heat a little oil in anther pan and add in the garlic clove, chopped finely, and the turkey mince. Cook until browned slightly.  

4- Add the passata to the tomato reduction and in this instance I added a little tomato purée to thicken and add a richer flavour. 

5- Combine the tomato sauce with the browned mince, add the herbs and simmer for a few minutes and set aside.  

6- For the beautiful cheesy white sauce, melt a knob of butter in a pan on the stove.  

Add plain flour a little at a time, mixing continuously with a whisk, until the butter and flour mixture creates a stiff paste. 

7- Add the milk to the paste mixture, again a little at a time, and whisking continuously.  

Bring up to the boil. 

8- You should notice your white sauce is beginning to thicken as the mixture heats. 

Add in your grated cheese and keep mixing until all cheese has melted and sauce is a nice thick silky consistency and set aside. 

9- Now you are ready to construct your Lasagne.  Layer up in the way you would usually. 

I tend to go for tomato/meat mixture.  Layer of lasagne sheets.  White sauce.  Layer of lasagne sheets. Tomato/meat mixture. Etc etc until your chosen dish is full to the top, ensuring your white sauce is on top. 

10- Sprinkle with remaining cheese and cook in the middle of the oven for 30-40 minutes depending on the the depth of the dish. 

I like it to be served as it is, with a little rocket salad and balsamic vinegar.  

I hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe as much as I do.  

Happy eating. 

Hannah xx

Hello!

Just a little note to say hello all!
I'm going to get to grips with this blogging business over the weekend and begin my journey next week with a bit of luck.
If there's anything you would like to see my try then please do mention it.  At this point I am welcoming any input or suggestions.

Thankyou all. <3