Scottish delights - shortbread

Part two of my scottish baking bonanza involved the classic favourite, shortbread. I followed Maw Broon's recipe, which this time was much more straightforward, except that there was no suggestion as to how many this would make. I think it made around 12 - check the picture! It turned out well but was a little floury to taste, but nice and light and it did have a good texture that melted on your tongue.

• 200g plain flour
• 100g butter (I ended up using about 115g)
• 50g caster sugar (plus some extra to dust)

Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub together with the fingertips at room temperature. Knead well until it forms a dough and roll out on a cutting board with a rolling pin. Cut out rounds or shapes with cookie cutters. Prick with a fork, for the authentic shortbread look, and bake on a lined baking tray for 15 minutes at 175 degrees or gas mark 4. Once baked, dust immediately with sugar and allow to cool before moving them onto a plate - or straight into your mouth!

Scottish delights - Tablet

With Burn's day this week, I decided it was the perfect time to get stuck into the Broon's Cookbook that I got from my parents for Christmas. And what better way to start than with some melt in the mouth tablet and a batch of sugar dusted shortbread?

However, this also highlighted some flaws in the cookbook's design concept. It's all very well being cute and quirky by pretending to be a collection of Maw Broon's notes and newspaper clippings, but not when it's at the expense of important details in the recipe! For the tablet, it missed out a major step, which almost proved fatal to my efforts, and it assumes in a lot of places that you already know roughly how to make these things (e.g instructions such as 'grain the mixture'?). The issue with the tablet was that it said to bring the mixture to the boil at 118 degrees. It didn't say that you had to keep it boiling for 15-20 minutes! My tablet looked pale and refused to set until I cross referenced it by looking up recipes on Google and realised that this needed to be done. After this it turned to a lovely warm, honey colour and became the deliciously soft, melt in the mouth vanilla fudge we know and love!

Helensburgh Toffee (Tablet)

• 500g granulated sugar
• 125ml milk (or water)
• 50g butter
• 1 dessert spoon of golden syrup
• 200ml condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla flavouring

Melt the butter with the milk in a large saucepan. Stir gently and add the golden syrup. When dissolved, add the condensed milk. Stir all the time and when it begins to boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and allow to settle and then add the vanilla flavouring.
Beat for around 5-10 minutes until it thickens, but not to the point where it is too difficult to stir (in the recipe it talks about graining, but I'm not sure what that means - perhaps so you can see the sugar crystals?). Pour into a greased tin, 15-20 cm in size.
Leave to set in the fridge for 3 hours and then cut into squares and eat them all up - but these are surely terrible for your teeth so it may be good to share!

Maw Broon's Kitchen Notebook

Following on from my recent lack of success with Macaroon bars, I now have the wise words of Maw Broon to guide me through some Scottish recipes through Maw Broon's Kitchen Notebook! I got this as a Christmas gift from my parents who must want me to remain true to my Scottish (if not culinary) roots through learning how to cook up tattie scones and shortbread, now that I'm in London.

This differs from other recipe books in that it is written in character, as though it really were a jotter compiled by Maw Broon from cuttings from the newspaper, cookery magazines and her own family recipes and tips. It also contains images from The Broons books and in character scribblings from other members of the family relating to the recipes.

More of an introduction to basic cookery than a true recipe book, it covers everything from boiling an egg, using up leftover potatoes and making soup to baking a simple cake and planning a party. While some of the main courses are a little lacklustre (pot roasted beef) and the vegetarian recipes particularly lacking in imagination (vegetable stew or casserole), this book really comes into its own when it comes to what Scotland does best - sweets and puddings!

All of the sweet recipes sound delicious and are surprisingly simple. I will definitely be dabbling in some tablet making and whipping up some easy shortbread on a rainy Sunday afternoon! For the more adventurous there are peppermint creams, carrot cake and some yummy jams to get your teeth into after some summer berry picking.

So, all in all a charming book with a good sense of humour and plenty of easy recipes, particularly if you have a sweet tooth!

Treats from Moomin Valley

After something of a break from baking anything new or interesting, the perfect solution to my baker's block arrived through the door yesterday morning - The Moomins Cook Book! It's filled with 150 savoury and sweet recipes and is billed as 'an introduction to Finnish cuisine', which it certainly seems to be, as it covers breakfast, lunch, evening meals, summer meals, garden party foods, picnic foods, autumn and winter meals, and birthday treats. So, expect some updates over the coming months, particularly as it includes many seasonal recipes such as 'Cold Comfort' to warm you up when suffering from winter chills, and plenty of winter soups and spiced treats that will be perfect for the Christmas period. But, what makes this book stand out from other cook books is that it is peppered with wonderful illustrations by Tove Jansson showing the Moomins and their friends enjoying various feasts, campfires, picnics and baking activities. There are also selected quotes from Moomin books that show where the inspiration for the recipes have come from and highlight just how important fresh foods and baking are to Moomin culture. As one quote suggests, "everything fun is good for the stomach" - I think that should be my new motto!

Tardy cake

Apologies for the delay in posting the recipe for the spice cake. I have no explanation other than that I had some relaxation to be done in the wake of a flurry of uni work and then had to get my dissertation underway. I have some good news though in that the oven has been 'de-goosed' by the electrician and is in full working order for future cakes and other baked goods. Next up: a Norewgian flag cake to celebrate Norwegian Constitutional Day on 17th May (in honour of our trip to Oslo and love of all things Scandinavian)! Then, there are plans afoot for some cookies that should resemble the main characters in Lost for the end of show finale party that Margaret, Andy and I are having on May 24th. But for now, here is the Araby Spice cake recipe:

Ingredients:
(for the cake)

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 and a half cups of sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups plain white flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa poweder
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

(for the frosting)

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1 and a half teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 and a half teaspoon hot coffee (plus extra in case)

Instructions
(cake)
preheat the oven to 180c (350F). Grease and line a 9 inch cake pan or 10 inch tube pan with baking paper.
Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar, mixing until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each.
In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and cocoa together. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine the buttermilk, vanilla, and lemon juice. 
Add 1/2 flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat together. Then add 1/4 buttermilk mixture and beat again. Continue until all the mixtures are blended together. Beat for a futher 1 minute.
Pour the mixture into the baking pan and cook for 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cake pan. Leave to cool completely.

(frosting)
cream together the butter, egg yolk, icing sugar, cocoa and coffee until smooth. Spread over the top and sides of the cake. Enjoy!

Easter Spice Cake

Yum, yum, yum. The Araby Spice Cake, which I'm currently referring to as the Easter Spice Cake, has been successfully produced and cosumed. The oven problem was not resolved (and who knows when it will be) but we were able to make it in Chris's kitchen with the help of a few ingredients and utensils from my place. It was quite an easy cake to make, and it looked perfect, like an experienced baker might make. I'm not sure how many cakes we have to make before we can describe ourselves as experienced bakers though? Perhaps when we can bake without a book and can make any cake whatever the difficulty if we want to.

Thanks to 'All Cakes Considered' for this one!

Although it isn't a heavy cake, it will have you buzzing around on a sugar high if you eat a big slice as it contains quite a few cupfulls, particularly in the icing (3 cups of icing sugar). But who cares? Cakes are supposed to be sweet and make you feel happy and high. The cake is a delicious blend of sugar and spice with a sticky sweet topping contrasting nicely with the hints of nutmeg and cinammon in the base. We upped the sweet stakes even further by throwing a few Cadbury's mini eggs on top to make it more easter like, but it would be just as good without. A top tip is to leave the cake for a few hours in the fridge before you dig in, although it will require will power not to get munching straight away.

Here are some pictures of the loveley cake. I'll put up the recipe too:

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

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