Cakes & Bakes: Elderflower shortbread

It’s elderflower season again – one of the classic smells and tastes of summer!

We see those frothy white flowers growing wild all around and can’t bear to see them going to waste.

We’ve already made a large batch of elderflower cordial which will last us a good few months. In the past, there’s also been elderflower champagne and elderflower cakes too. This week, we decided to try some biscuits – elderflower shortbread to be precise.

There are various methods for incorporating the flowers’ flavour into the biscuit. We experimented with three – using cordial as one of the ingredients, infusing the sugar with elderflower bunches and finally incorporating the tiny petals into the biscuit mix itself.

We found that cordial made the biscuits a bit hard, crystalline and possibly too sweet. The infused sugar runs the risk of lots of creepy crawlies escaping into the sugar (even if you shake carefully) – and the resulting elderflower flavour wasn’t intense enough for us. The last technique worked best for us – by quite a long way actually, so that would be our recommendation. The resulting shortbread was moist and crumbly with a wonderful distinctive flavour – give them a go before those flowers disappear!

Elderflower shortbread

2018-06-24 11:57:15

Serves 8

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 10 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 10 min

Ingredients

3 elderflower heads
75g/3oz caster sugar
175g/6oz plain flour
75g/3oz fine semolina
175g/6oz butter

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Instructions

Make sure the elderflower heads are free of insects and brown bits
Using scissors, carefully snip off the little flower heads add to the sugar and stir in. Allow to infuse for about an hour
Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2
If using a mould, sprinkle it with semolina to prevent the dough from sticking
Put the elderflower-infused sugar, flour, semolina and butter into a food processor and combine for about 30 seconds or until lumps begin to form
Turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured work surface and bring together into a ball
Press the dough evenly into your mould (or baking tin). If using a mould, turn the dough out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment
Prick the top with a fork to prevent it from rising
Bake for about an hour or until the shortbread just begins to brown
Remove from the oven on to a wire cooling rack
While still a bit warm score the top with a knife into petticoat tails/portions
Once cooled completely, remove from the tin and cut into pieces
Store in an airtight container for up to a week

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Cakes & Bakes: Coconut shortbread

Shortbread is my favourite biscuit. Sweet, crumbly, buttery and great with a cup of afternoon tea. What could be better? This coconut shortbread gives an old classic a bit of a twist.

Just take the basic shortbread recipe – butter, flour and sugar – and add an egg, dessicated coconut and a little cold water.

A great effort to reward ratio. Sweet, crumbly, buttery and now coconutty… and still great with a cup of tea!!

Coconut shortbread

The multi-cultural cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean

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Cook Time 45

Course Snack

Cuisine Caribbean

Ingredients

225 g/8oz butter
200 g/7oz caster sugar
350 g/12oz plain flour
70 g/2½oz dessicated coconut
1 egg
pinch of salt
3 tbsp cold water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/gas mark 2
Grease a 33 x 22cm/13 x 9-inch baking/brownie tin (or baking sheet if using a mould)
Cream the butter
Add the sugar, flour, dessicated coconut, egg and salt and pulse the food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (less than a minute)
Add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture just begins to come together
Tip the mixture on to the baking tin and press down firmly and evenly especially at the corners & edges (if using a mould, bring the mixture together to form a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes before moulding)
Sprinkle the top with a tablespoonful or so of caster sugar
Cook for 45-50 minutes or until the shortbread just begins to turn golden brown
Slice into fingers/petticoat tails while still warm before allowing to cool on a wire rack

Keyword biscuits, coconut, shortbread

Cakes & Bakes: Red velvet cake

For ages I’ve admired all the images of red velvet cakes that show up in my Pinterest stream. The cakes, which are an American phenomenon, look amazing but I had no idea what they tasted like.

When we were sent these heart-themed baking accessories by Meincupcake, I decided that the day had arrived for me to embark upon my red velvet cake challenge!

As far as I could tell from the photos I’d seen, most red velvet cakes adhere to certain rules; layers, cream cheese frosting and a propensity towards flamboyance!

I need to point out, I used the Rowntree cocoa that I already happened to have in the store cupboard. It was Dutch processed, meaning that during production, it has been ‘alkalised’ to give it a smoother flavour. I could tell by looking at it that it had been processed because it’s quite dark brown. Unprocessed cocoa is often referred to as cacao and is much lighter in colour.

Unprocessed cocoa is called for in the recipe (although it’s not absolutely necessary) as all kinds of alchemy are involved in the making of the cake! The cocoa, buttermilk, baking soda and vinegar all commingle to produce the most moist, light, heavenly cake you’ve ever tasted – with the brightest, reddest crumb!

Now that I’ve got the Dutched versus un-Dutched details out of the way, let’s get on to the business of cake-making!

As I mentioned before, there’s a lot of science involved in making red velvet so the order in which the ingredients get added really makes a difference.

The buttermilk and the vinegar add acidity to the mix producing a bubbly chemical reaction with the alkaline baking powder and helping make the red colour really bright.

The eggs are separated and the egg whites whipped into peaks and gently folded in at the end to add even more lightness to the sponge.

I think I mentioned previously that big cakes are just too much for just the two of us (even with me being a greedy cake eater!). So, instead of making a 4-tiered cake, I made a large 2-tier and a smaller 2-tier cake, giving one of the cakes away to friends.

I wanted to use both my newly-acquired accessories in this recipe, so I thought I’d use the pastry cutters to make red, heart-shaped shortbread biscuits to adorn the cake.

I love cream cheese frosting, especially on carrot cake. Next time though, I’ll tweak the recipe so the mixture is firmer and less runny.

It’s delicious either way, but when it’s firmer you’re able to pipe the frosting on the top and have a thicker layer of it in the middle.

The resulting cake was so MASSIVE, we didn’t have a big enough plate to hold it!

I think I remained very restrained with my cake embellishments – I was considering red edible glitter, hundreds & thousands… in the end, I just studded it with a few little chocolate beans.

I’m really happy with my first attempt at red velvet cake and can’t wait to have another go!

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Red velvet cake

New York Times

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

For the cake mixture

475 ml/16fl oz vegetable oil
3 large eggs separated
1½ tsp vanilla essence
6 tbs red food colouring
450 g/15½oz granulated sugar
440 g/15½oz self raising flour
60 g/2oz cocoa powder preferably not Dutch processed
1½ tsp salt
250 g buttermilk
2 tsp baking soda
2½ tsp white vinegar

for the frosting

280 g/10oz cream cheese
125 g/4½oz butter softened
250 g/9oz icing sugar sifted to remove any lumps
2 tsp vanilla essence

For the shortbread

125 g/4oz butter
55 g/2oz caster sugar
180 g/6oz plain flour
1 tsp red food colouring

To decorate

chocolate beans glimmer sprinkles or heart confetti (all completely optional!)

Instructions

for the cake

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease cake tins well (I used the 25½cm/10-inch and 30½/12-inch heart-shaped cake tins)
Separate the eggs and set aside
In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegetable oil and sugar until dissolved
Mix in the egg yolks before carefully adding the food colouring (you don't want to splash red all over yourself!)
In another mixing bowl, combine the flour cocoa powder and salt
Add these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two batches, alternating with adding the buttermilk
Using an electric mixer in yet another mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed. Set aside
In a small bowl or teacup, mix the baking powder and vinegar
Add to the batter
Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter
Divide the batter between the cake tins
Bake for 40-50 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes away clean
Allow to cool completely in the tins
Carefully remove from the tins and slice each cake in half horizontally using a large serrated knife (like a bread knife)

For the frosting

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese
Gradually add the icing sugar until completely mixed in
Cover with cling-film and keep refrigerated until you're ready to use

For the shortbread biscuits

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar and food colouring together until smooth
Add the flour and mix until the the colour is uniform and the dough comes together into a large ball
Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently roll out thinly until the mixture is about ½cm/⅕in thick
Form into shapes (I used the smallest size heart-shaped pastry cutter) and place onto a greased baking sheet
Sprinkle liberally with caster sugar before chilling in the fridge for about 20 minutes
Bake for 5-8 minutes, or until pale pink
Allow to cool on a wire rack

Keyword cake, heart, red velvet

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Cakes & Bakes: Nutty millionaire’s shortbread

This nutty millionaire’s shortbread tastes SO much better than any I’ve ever bought from a shop. I happened to have bags of whole almonds and hazelnuts in the larder, but it would be equally as good if you made it using pecans, Brazil nuts or walnuts. Cashew butter instead of peanut in the shortbread could be a good alternative to try too!

Nutty millionaire’s shortbread

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Ingredients

For the shortbread
125 g/4oz butter softened
2 tbs peanut butter smooth or crunchy
75 g/3oz caster sugar
75 g/3oz cornflour
175 g/6oz plain flour
For the topping
397 g/14oz tin of sweetened condensed milk
100 g/3½oz mixed nuts I used ½ & ½ hazelnuts and almonds
125 g/4oz plain dark chocolate

Instructions

To make the caramel topping, put the unopened tin in a heavy-based saucepan and completely cover with water. Cover the saucepan with its lid and boil for about 1½ hours, topping up the water level if needed.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350F/Gas mark 4, 10 minutes before baking.
Line a 22cm/8inch square cake tin with parchment/greaseproof paper
Cream together the butter and sugar until light
Sift in the cornflour and plain flour and mix to form a smooth dough
Using the back of a dessert spoon, press the mixture evenly into the lined cake tin and prick all over with a fork
Bake for 20 minutes or until just turning golden brown
Put the nuts on to a baking tray and toast them in the oven for 10-15 minutes
Remove the shortbread from the oven and set aside on a wire rack
Remove the nuts from the oven and wrap them in a clean tea towel. Rub the nuts together to remove most of the skins (especially if you're using hazelnuts or 'red skinned' peanuts)
Reserve 9 of the nuts, roughly chop the remainder and sprinkle them evenly across the shortbread
Open the tin of boiled condensed milk (if the contents are quite rigid you can soften it by warming slightly in a saucepan on the stove or decant into a microwaveable container and heat for 20-30 seconds). Pour the caramel over the nuts and spread evenly. Refrigerate while you prepare the chocolate
Break up the chocolate into pieces and put them into a heat-proof bowl
Using a saucepan small enough not to allow the bowl to touch the bottom, fill the bowl with just enough water so that it doesn't come into contact with the base of the bowl
Simmer the saucepan of water until the chocolate has just melted
Pour the chocolate evenly over the top of the caramel
Place the whole nuts on top of the chocolate, one for each portion
Allow to set before slicing into squares & serving

You can parboil the tinned condensed milk in advance and the caramel can be stored for months & months before use. I always have a few cans of 'cooked' condensed milk stored in our larder.