Cakes & Bakes: Lemon and blueberry drizzle cake

This is a classic flavour combination that I’ve never attempted in this form; it’s a lemon and blueberry drizzle cake.

We usually have a bag of blueberries stored in the freezer; in the winter, we love a bowl of blueberry porridge for breakfast and in the summer we love them in a refreshing smoothie. Just make sure that they’re defrosted before they go into the batter otherwise they may affect how well the cake cooks in the middle.

The resulting cake is sweet, moist and delicious; made even more moist with the addition after baking of the lemon syrup.

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Lemon and blueberry drizzle cake

2020-02-13 10:08:25

Serves 10

Cook Time

40 min

Cook Time

40 min

Ingredients

175g/6oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
175g/6oz caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons, and juice of 1
3 eggs
175g/6oz plain flour
1tsp baking powder
150g/5¼oz blueberries
3tbsps granulated sugar

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4
Grease a 20cm/8" round cake tin and line with baking parchment or cake tin liner
Beat the butter and caster sugar with an electric whisk/stand mixer for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy, then beat in the zest of 1 lemon
Beat the eggs together in a jug with a fork, then slowly mix into the batter, adding a spoonful of flour if the mixture starts to curdle
Sift together the flour and baking powder before folding into the mixture until just smooth
Spoon a thin layer (about 1cm deep) of the mixture into the tin
Set aside a handful of the blueberries, then fold the rest into the remaining cake mixture and spoon into the tin
Scatter the reserved berries on top
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean
Cover it loosely with foil if it starts to brown too much on top
As soon as the cake is removed from the oven, pierce the top all over with a skewer
Mix the lemon juice and remaining zest with the granulated sugar and spoon all over the top
Cool completely in the tin before removing and serving

Notes

This cake can also be made in a 900g/2lb loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour, covering loosely with foil after 45 minutes if it begins to brown too much on the top

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Hazelnut chocolate meringue

We were in the supermarket this week, when I noticed cartons of pasteurised free range egg whites reduced from £3.10 down to just 93p. I immediately thought I could do something with that… hazelnut chocolate meringue.

I only needed the equivalent of 7 whites for this recipe, so I used the rest to make a couple of egg white omelettes for lunch the following day.

I’ve never used ‘pre-separated’ egg whites before, so I was surprised by how quickly they formed stiff peaks -barely a couple of minutes… and my mixer wasn’t even going full pelt!

I had a bit of leftover meringue, so I made a couple of tiny ones to use as garnish. They’re also lovely as a little nibble to accompany a cup of coffee.

I like my meringue quite gooey and not at all chalky – these rounds were just that. The added ground hazelnuts gave it a little extra bite and a lot of extra nutty flavour.

The addition of the Nutella chocolate sauce carried on the hazelnut flavour; if you don’t have any in your store cupboard, you can make your own!

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Hazelnut chocolate meringue

2020-02-05 11:28:12

Serves 6

Cook Time

40 min

Cook Time

40 min

For the meringue

150g/5¼oz chopped hazelnuts, toasted and ground
385g/13½oz caster sugar
7 large free-range egg whites
½ tsp white wine vinegar

For the cream

600ml/21fl oz whipping cream
3 tbsps caster sugar

For the chocolate sauce

3 tbsps Nutella
1 tbsp of the whipping cream

To finish

20g chopped hazelnuts, toasted and/or 8 chocolate-covered whole hazelnuts

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For the meringue

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F/Gas mark 4
Draw 4 x 18cm/7" diameter circles on baking/parchment paper, then use to line 4 lightly-greased baking sheets
Put the egg whites in a spotlessly clean mixing bowl and whisk with an electric hand/stand mixer to to the stiff peak stage
Add the caster sugar to the whites a tablespoon at a time, whisking back to stiff peaks each time Once you've added half of the sugar, start adding in larger quantities, whisking back to stiff peaks each time
Once all the sugar has been added, whisk in the vinegar to form stiff peaks, then fold through the ground hazelnuts with a metal spoon or balloon whisk
Spoon or pipe the meringues forming circles onto the baking paper to give 3 flat circles and the fourth circle swirled a bit thicker (this will form the top layer)
Bake for 40 minutes until the edges are crisp and set and the insides are still gooey
Take out to cool for 20 minutes on their trays, then carefully transfer to wire racks to cool fully

For the cream

Before whipping, reserve 1 tbsps of the cream (it will be used in the chocolate sauce)
Using the whisk attachment of an electric hand/stand mixer, whip the cream and sugar to stiff peaks
Set aside

For the chocolate sauce

Soften the Nutella by pinging it in the microwave on a couple of 10-second bursts or over a bain-marie
Gently stir in the whipping cream until combined
Set aside

To build

On a large serving plate/cake stand, dab a spoonful of the whipped cream into the middle to hold the stack firm
Place one of the meringue rounds on top of the dollop of whipped cream
Pipe/spoon a ¼ of the whipped cream on top of the meringue
Drizzle a ¼ of the chocolate sauce over the cream
Repeat stages 2-4 until all the meringue rounds, whipped cream and chocolate sauce is used up

To finish

Garnish with a sprinkling of chopped, toasted hazelnuts and/or chocolate-covered whole hazelnuts

Notes

Keep covered and refrigerated

Adapted from delicious. magazine

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Bara gwyn

We bought this fab farmhouse loaf tin in an antique shop this week; I love it so much, I wanted to make use of it ASAP!

I looked in my new favourite Welsh cook book for a simple, rustic loaf recipe and quickly found one for bara gwyn which translates as, ‘white loaf’. The directions – as I have found previously with this particular book – can be on the sketchy side. It states that you should bake the loaf in a ‘moderately hot’ oven for ‘1 and a half hours’.

I found that my oven cooked my loaf in about 50 minutes. A ‘moderate’ oven to me is around 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4. I suggest you keep an eye on your loaf and pull it out when it’s a lovely golden brown on the top and the bottom sounds hollow when you give it a tap with your knuckles.

I’ve bought fresh yeast in Morrisons – it’s available in little trays of 4 cubed portions – too much for one baking session, but it can be successfully frozen and defrosted as and when needed. I’ve also seen it for sale on Amazon and eBay. If you can’t get hold of any, I’ve included the amount of dried yeast you should use instead.

I was in two minds if I should score the top of the loaf before putting it into the oven. I decided not to, this time. I really like the natural blow out that occurred.

The notes that accompany the recipe explain:

On bread baking day, some housewives would keep a little dough and bake a small batch on the bakestone or griddle. This batch loaf would be eaten fresh for tea on that day. It was known as bara planc (Cwm Gwuan), bara mân (Bryn, Port Talbot), picen ar y lychwan (Tonyfrefail), adopting the Welsh name used for the bakestone in specific areas. Bara prwmlid was the name given to it in Pen-prysg, near Pen-coed.

Similarly, small batches would be baked on the floor of the oven. Their sizes varied and the Welsh name by which these loaves were known again differed e.g. bara bricen (Pen-gwyn), cwgen (Brynberian), torth gwaelod popty (Rhydymain), torth ar fflat y ffwrn (Ystalyfera), torth ar llawr y ffwrn (Kenfig Hill), sôts (Dowlais) and hogen (Bwlch-llan)

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Bara gwyn

Welsh Fare: A Selection of Traditional Recipes

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Cook Time 1 30

Course Bread

Cuisine Welsh

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

530 g/ 1lb 3oz plain flour
1 tsp fine salt
1½ tsp sugar
285 ml warm water
9½ g/1⅓oz fresh yeast or 3g instant yeast / 4g active dry yeast

Instructions

Put the salt and flour into a warm mixing bowl
Cream the yeast and sugar and pour into a well in the centre of the flour
Cover the yeast mixture with a little of the flour and leave in a warm place until it becomes frothy
Proceed to mix the dough, adding the warm water gradually
Knead well for about 10 minutes until the hands and sides of the bowl are free of dough
Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled its original size
Turn it out on to a floured board and mould into a loaf according to the size of the tin
Put the loaf into the warm, greased tin and leave to rise again for another half hour
Bake in a moderately hot oven for approximately 1 and a half hours, according to size

Keyword bread, loaf

Cakes & Bakes: Vegan, gluten-free brownies

These vegan, gluten-free brownies were one of the sweet treats (the other was vegan, gluten-free shortbread) that I took to my last Women’s Institute meeting.

The original recipe used coconut oil as the shortening ingredient; however, I had some remaining Trex that I’d used for the shortbread. I don’t think it detracted from the taste. In addition, I didn’t have a lemon to add to my soya milk to make the buttermilk; instead, I used lime. If you have neither, a tablespoon of white wine or cider vinegar will suffice.

The resulting brownies were rich, chocolaty, gooey and sweet with that lovely crackle top that brownies should always have. They were so sweet, in fact, that I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe – perhaps down to 300 grams.

I brought the few portions that hadn’t been eaten by the ladies back home. I had one of them the following night, reheated in the microwave and a generous amount of thick cream dolloped on top. It was lovely!

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Vegan, gluten-free brownies

2020-01-22 16:22:23

Serves 16

Total Time

50 min

Total Time

50 min

Ingredients

275g/9¾oz gluten-free plain flour
85g/3oz cocoa powder
400g/14oz granulated sugar
1½tsp baking powder
½tsp salt
1tbsp instant coffee granules
240ml/8½fl oz vegan buttermilk (1 tbsp lemon juice + soya milk up to the 240ml/8½fl oz line
240ml/8½fl oz vegan block margarine (e.g. Trex), melted
1tsp vanilla extract
150g/5¼oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 350°F/Gas mark 4
Line a 9-inch square baking tin with parchment paper
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and cocoa powder
Add in the sugar, baking powder, salt and coffee powder and mix together
Add the vegan buttermilk, melted margarine and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and mix into a thick batter
Add the chocolate chunks and stir in
Transfer the batter to your prepared baking dish and smooth down with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 40 minutes
Allow them to cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then lift the tray of brownies out by the parchment paper
Place it onto a wire rack and allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting. If they’re still warm when you slice them, they're more difficult to cut
To cut, heat up a kitchen knife by dipping it in very hot water (from the kettle), dry it off with a towel and slice from one end to the other. After each cut, dip the knife back into the hot water, dry it off again and repeat. This allows you to cut perfect squares and also melts the chocolate along the edges as you cut the squares

Notes

Serve as is, on their own, warm or cold, with vegan cream or vegan ice cream

Adapted from Loving It Vegan

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/