Oven S.O.S

Tension mounts in the days running up to the day for baking the Araby Spice Cake for easter - the oven is broken! It's been hard enough coming up with exciting meals you can make in the microwave or on the hob for a whole week, but not being able to bake a delicious cake is a major problem! Someone is coming to take a look at the useless piece of metal today, and hopefully restore it to its former glory. Fingers crossed!

There is the option to bake it at Chris's of course, if all else fails. But that seems to take away from the drama.

Lost in Chocolate

Last night I enjoyed a big slice of gooey chocolate cake courtesy of my flatmate, Margaret, via Chris and myself. We gave Margaret the recipe for the cake a few months back after baking what is probably the best chocolate cake, home made or store bought, that I've ever had. But we can't claim all the credit, it's the Bruce Bogtrotter cake from the Roal Dahl cookbook that should get the accolades here. But it's some compliment that Margaret enjoyed our incanation of the recipe so much that she asked for the recipe so that she could bake a birthday cake for her sisters. I have to say, even though I am probably a little biased, that our version had a slightly better consistency and was more attractive, but both were heavenly! I mean, how bad can any attempt at mixing copious amounts of chocolate, cream and sugar really ever taste?
Pictures of our delicious, quickly gobbled and friend winning cake are below.

The cake comes from the book Matilda. click here for Matilda cake scene from the film

Here's the recipe. Top tips: use half dark chocolate, half milk chocolate and leave the icing in the fridge for 30mins -1 hour to make it easier to spread over the cake, and so that it looks better. Yum!

Bruce Bogtrotter's Chocolate Cake

Serves 10-12

Ingredients
For the cake
8oz/225g plain chocolate
6oz/175g unsalted butter, softened
8oz/225g caster sugar
4tbsp/60ml/quarter cup plain flour
6 eggs, separated
For the coating
8oz/225g plain chocolate
8oz/225g double cream

Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Grease and line an 8" cake tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or on low heat in a microwave. Once melted mix in the butter and stir until melted. Remove from the double boiler.
3. Mix in the sugar, flour and lightly beaten egg yolks.
4. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until white and stiff.
5. Gently fold half of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Then fold in the rest.
6. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 35 minutes. There will be a thin crust on the outside and when tested using a skewer, it most likely won't come out clean as the inside will still seem uncooked, however the cake gets more firm when it has cooled.
7. Allow to cool for a while until the tin can be handled and the cake removed safely. Remove the greaseproof paper. The cake will most likely sink slightly, mine deflated from a large dome to a level top.
8. Set up a new double boiler and melt the chocolate and cream together until well blended. Leave to cool for a little while then spread smoothly over the top and sides of the cake.

All Cakes Considered!

I have a new addition to my cookbook shelf that may even cause the others to develop an inferiority complex. The title of this cake baker's bible? 'All Cakes Considered' by Melissa Gray. Ok, so I gave it away in the title of this post but I'm no good at keeping secrets!
Chris and I saw this book in Urban Outfitters a few weeks back and were mesmirised by the beautiful, hunger inducing photos of cakes of all shapes and sizes within. We planned to buy the book at some point, but to my surprise and delight, he bought the book for us and presented it this week, complete with christmas wrapping paper. The book covers an array of cakes baked over 1 year by the author for her office to munch on once a week. She must have been super popular with her colleagues! They vary in level of difficulty, cost, and access to ingredients, so it will be an adventure to try them out.
We decided there wasn't a moment to lose in selecting the first recipe, and with easter just around the corner, we had the perfect excuse occasion to get baking. So, we picked the araby spice cake, which has a middle eastern influence and seems like a good tie in with the easter story, being set in Palestine and all. So, watch this space to see how our first attempt at exploring the sweet, iced gems of this treasure trove of goodies turn out!

you can buy the book on Amazon here:
All Cakes Considered at Amazon.co.uk

Pancakes

This morning for breakfast Chris and I made some delicious american style pancakes. This is the 3rd time we have followed this recipe (apart from Canada day and pancake day) and it's a really easy, scrumptious way to enjoy something sweet for breakfast, or just as a snack. We served ours with butter and maple syrup, but you can try any topping you like. You can also try adding blueberries, raisins, cinammon, nutmeg or vanilla to the batter before you cook it. Chocolate chips might be a good idea too, but I haven't tried that myself. Maybe next time. Keep them warm in a low oven while the other cook. Yum!

• 200g plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 240ml milk
• pinch salt
• butter for frying

Happy St Patrick's Day!

In honour of Ireland's patron saint and all things green and lucky, here is a link to some Irish recipes in BBC's Good Food Magazine. BBC Good Food St Paddy's Day Recipes

Roald Dahl's Completely Revolting Recipes

The most influential book of all time, for me, has to be Roald Dahl's Completely Revolting Recipes, which I got Chris for Christmas. Ok, that's an exaggeration of epic proportions (there's another one). But it has taught me that cooking can be fun, easy, messy and yummy all at once.
A collection of recipes inspired by Roald Dahls books and poems from the chocolate cake in Matilda, and cider in Fantastic Mr Fox, to worm spaghetti in The Twits, there is something for Roald Dahl enthusiasts of every age and taste. Yum!
buy the book on Amazon.co.uk

Eggnog recipe

Ok, so not strictly baking but here is the eggnog recipe I used to make Chris's Christmas Eggnog. I actually called it Eggnog-ish because I've never had eggnog and wasn't sure that this actually related to the drink of the same name. However, Chris assured me that it was yummy and quite like the real thing. Enjoy:

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 and 1/3 cup milk (550ml)
• 1/4 cup extra thick double cream (60ml)
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinammon        
• This is alcohol free but you could add a dash of bourbon.                                                                      mix vigorously in a  mixing bowl or blender, pour into a jug or large jar and put into the fridge for 24 hours. Serve with a dash of nutmeg (best to stir before drinking).

why make your own when you can have THIS!

yuletide yumminess

Our first real foray into the baking world came at Christmas. We held our own Christmas dinner, about a week before Christmas, because Chris would be going home for the real event. Some time prior to the big day, we made a trip to our favourite store - IKEA - where we bought some cookie dough (ok, another cheat). I also prepared some eggnog to allow Chris to feel more at home, although it is possibly the most awful fluid known to man. Well, maybe not the wost, but close. Chris prepared some delicious Nanaimo bars according to his mother's (no longer) secret recipe and we were all set for a day of guzzling!

On 'Christmas eve day' we got out the cookie cutters and baked the Ikea dough. We thought it was gingerbread but I think it was actually some kind of Swedish pepper dough but it was fantastic and the best ever cookie ginger/pepper combo I've ever had! We proceded to eat all 24 of them within 24 hours. Hey, why not!? Christmas comes but once a year.

Coolest cake of ALL time!

This has to be the coolest cupcake of all time!

The South London Cake Committee recipe | Recipes - Times Online

The South London Cake Committee recipe | Recipes - Times Online

birthday cake cheats

Back in September it all began when Chris and I decided to make a cake for Andy's birthday. Firstly we trawled through cook books and websites in search of an easy birthday cake recipe. Armed with a simple sponge recipe we hit Sainsbury's to gather the ingredients and left soon after with....a packet mix and some premade buttercream chocolate icing. Somehow, in the process of browsing through the assortment of flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla essence etc we became convinced that there was too much risk involved in trying to bake our first cake from scratch as a birthday gift. There would be nothing worse than presenting the birthday boy with a mound of burned sponge covered in a runny chocolate puddle. Instead, we opted to cheat and made a super easy chocolate covered sponge with chocolate buttons that went down a treat.
What did we learn?

1. You can give someone a cheat birthday cake and still provide them with a happy feeling of getting a homemade cake.
2. You feel kind of immoral for not having crafted something you can truly be proud of.
3. Baking a cheat cake, seeing the glee that can come with baking, and feeling bad that you didn't create it yoursef completely encouraged us to start from scratch next time.

Here is a photo of the yumminess with the birthday boy:

The Baking Bunch

I'm starting this after spending some time researching blogs for a university paper and wanted to give it a go myself. I've always thought, what on earth would I have to write about that would be of any interest to myself, let alone anyone else? But, in the past 6 months I have had a new interest in baking - mostly experimental but largely successful - and thought that sharing the progress of this could be interesting, at least for myself. I hope to track my metamorphosis from rookie cookie baker to amateur chef. I read an article in the Times some time ago about a cake club in London and thought it looked like something that would be exciting to be a part of. I can't find the original article just now but here is a link to another one. However, I also think I would at least need some confidence in my basic ability to bake first, so here is the diary of that process. My ultimate goal would be to build to a point where I would have the confidence to be in such a club. Well, actually my ultimate aim is to live in London, which is the main precursor to joining a baking bunch. That's what my club would be called - the baking bunch!

More info on baking clubs:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/related_features/my_dinner_party/article6930021.ece