Ginger and treacle spiced traybake

Tea Time Treats is a new monthly blogging event hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from  What Kate Baked. This month's theme hosted by Karen is Ginger and Bonfire Treats. I love joining in these blogging challenges and was really excited to bake something that would fit this theme. However I don't like ginger but I was pretty sure I could find some other bonfire treats to fit the bill. In the end, I actually picked a ginger recipe as I made this for a team that I was visiting as part of my induction to my new job. I thought it would be nice to bring some cakes along and most people love ginger. Plus I wanted to try some new recipes from 1 of my many new cookbooks that I purchased recently. This recipe is from Mary Berry's 100 Cakes and Bakes. It's a really simple mix everything in one type of recipe - my favourite kind! The longest time taken was to finely chop the stem ginger. 

I do apologise for the lack of photos as it was a gift so I couldn't get a cross section of the cake. I was told that it tasted good but I didn't try any myself. It certainly smelled good - gingery and spicy.  

I am also submitting this to The Pink Whisk November challenge which is traybakes. 

 first time using black treacle and stem ginger

 ready to go in the oven

 looks and smells good 

 top with icing

 sprinkle chopped stem ginger on top

225g butter, softened

175g light muscovado sugar

200g black treacle

300g self raising flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground allspice

4 large eggs

4 tablespoons milk

3 bulbs of stem ginger from a jar, finely chopped

For the icing

75g icing sugar

3 tablespoons stem ginger syrup from the jar

3 bulbs of stem ginger from a jar, finely chopped to decorate 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Measure all the ingredients for the traybake into a large bowl and beat until well blended. 
• Pour the mixture into the tin and level with the back of a spatula. 
• Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the tin and springs back when pressed in the middle. 
• Leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack. 
• Make the icing by sifting the icing sugar into a bowl and adding the ginger syrup. 
• Pour the icing over the cake and spread it to the edges with a small palette knife.
• Sprinkle with chopped stem ginger to decorate.
• Allow the icing to set before slicing. 

Pear and Cinnamon Yoghurt Cake

This recipe is truly simple and pears are in season so I'm making this for Simple and in Season hosted by Ren of Fabulicious Food. It's a mix everything together type of cake with no fancy equipment required. The longest time taken (apart from baking) was pre-heating my oven (it's very slow) and preparing the pears. You can have this cake in the oven in 10 minutes flat, no kidding. The result - absolutely amazing in terms of smell and taste.  I love the smell of baking but even more when there's cinnamon involved!  The cake itself is light and moist and I love the crunch and sweetness of the pears. You can substitute the pears for apples or plums. 

 My cake tin is on the small side so I used the 'extra' half pear to fill the gaps 

 sprinkle with a generous amount of cinnamon and some brown sugar 

 freshly baked 

Recipe adapted from honeyandsoy
3 pears, peeled and cut into halves
2 eggs
250mls yoghurt
160g sugar
80mls vegetable oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300g flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling (optional)
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon brown sugar for sprinkling

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Grease and line a 25cm cake tin.  (Mine is only 20 cm so I had half a pear left which I used to fill the gaps)
• In a large bowl, mix together the yoghurt, sugar, oil, honey and vanilla. 
• In another bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda.
• Peel and core the pears and then cut them in half. 
• Add the flour mixture to the yoghurt mixture and combine gently. 
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
• Top with pear halves.
• Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Raspberry Ripple Cake

Today is my friend's birthday. I wanted to make an extra special birthday cake for her which we celebrated at the weekend. Warning this is a slightly long, rambly post but it was quite an effort making this cake!

I was really excited to receive my new book The Boy Who Bakes by Edd Kimber and decided I would make something from it. The first recipe is 'my ultimate chocolate cake' and I thought can't go wrong with a chocolate cake and it looks amazing so this is what I will make. Then I turn the page and see raspberry ripple cake. I got really excited and decided that I would make this instead.

Part 1 - the sponge went well. It rose beautifully and I could tell it was going to be light and moist. This recipe requires you to separate your eggs and fold in the egg whites at the end. 

Part 2 - frosting. Disaster part 1! This is my first time making essentially what is a cooked buttercream frosting where you have to whip the egg whites then add boiling sugar syrup and continue whipping. I'm not sure where I went wrong as the frosting turned out lumpy and almost curdled? Or like the fat had separated? I don't know how else to describe it. I used fresh eggs from the market and I tested the eggs for freshness before using. Does anyone have any idea/suggestions/tips about this? 

However the next morning, I kept whipping the frosting and the white chocolate frosting became nice and smooth but the raspberry half remained slightly lumpy.

Part 3 - decoration -Disaster part 2 - I ambitiously planned to make a sugar collar after seeing it on Lorraine Pascale's baking show on BBC. Sadly, it didn't quite work and yet Lorraine made it look so easy on TV! It didn't really set and as I was running late I decided not to wait and just bring the cake as it was. I piped some jam on top to have some sort of decoration. Sometimes less is more, right?

Fortunately, the cake itself turned out well. Everyone loved it including the birthday girl. It was a really light and moist sponge and I loved the jam between the layers. The frosting was not too sweet and quite smooth. I will definitely make this cake again but probably only for a special occasion as it was quite an effort and when I've left myself enough time. On the plus side, no one has been taken ill after eating this cake! 

If you're still reading, thank you for staying with me till the end. It really does end well :) To depart from tradition, I will not be posting the recipe on my blog as I think it would be nice to support Edd Kimber by buying the book and I can definitely recommend it. Don't let my attempt put you off, its not the recipe, it's the baker! Look out for more baking with recipes from the boy who bakes. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE!! 

sponge 

 cooking the sugar syrup for the frosting using my new thermometer 

 spreading jam between the layers 

 my 3 tiered cake 

 you can just see the raspberry frosting below- its supposed to be swirled for the raspberry ripple effect but I really didn't like the texture or look of the raspberry frosting so decided to cover it up. 

 I love the layers! 

 My attempt at 'graffiti collar' for the cake. Perhaps I didn't boil it to the right temperature or just needed to wait for it to set. 

Cookies and Cream Cookies

If you don't already know, I'm a huge fan of oreos and I love baking with them. I've already blogged about 12 oreo bakes on my blog and I'd like to add this to the list. Oreo cookies within a cookie - what else could you ask for? I came across this recipe from an American Cupcake in London - which is a really cool blog so do check it out if you haven't already. It's a really simple recipe and very quick to put together. If you're anything like me then you will already have these items in your cupboard. 

 mixing in the oreos - yum! 

Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies 

113g butter

75g caster sugar

75g brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

156g flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 Oreos

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Grease and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. 
• Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and vanilla extract.
• Slowly add the flour mixture.
• Crumble oreo cookies and stir in by hand. 
• Drop heaped tablespoonfuls of dough (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto a lined baking tray, spaced well apart. 
• Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges turn golden brown. 
• Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Popcorn, chocolate and nut slice

I made these months ago but have not had a chance to blog about it until now. It's such a simple and effective recipe, I've like to share it with all of you. I went to a friend's party many years ago and the co-host is a chef. Most of her friends are chefs and I had the best food at this party. The thing I was most impressed with however was a chocolate biscuit slice. Essentially it's like a fridge cake and you can put whatever ingredients that take your fancy. I asked the co-host for the recipe and she kindly shared it with me. I'm sure she was probably expecting me to ask for the recipes of all the other delicious and amazing food there but I just wanted this one. It's simple, no bake and tastes absolutely amazing.
Now, each time I make this, everyone asks me for the recipe! My favourite combination is rich tea biscuits and dried cranberries which I have given in the recipe below.
However,  for this occasion, I had to make it gluten free for my colleague and was looking around my kitchen and spied some popcorn (I still had a box leftover after making popcorn cake ages ago), cherries from my pineapple upside down cake and flaked almonds from my plum and almond crumble slice. Result - good use of my leftovers and a gluten free delicious dessert.

Makes enough for about 30 small slices

150g good quality dark chocolate
50g good quality milk chocolate
75g golden syrup
125g unsalted butter
100g Rich Tea biscuits crumbled into chunks, not powder
100g dried cranberries or raisins
icing sugar for decoration (optional)
(You can also substitute or add nuts, marshmallows, etc but total weight of 'extras' should not exceed 200g)
Note: the exception to this is popcorn which takes up volume but not much weight. For this recipe I had to judge how much popcorn could be covered with my chocolate mixture

• Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup together in the microwave in 30 second increments until almost melted.
• Stir to melt fully (be careful not to let the mixture get too hot).
• Allow to cool a little then stir in the biscuits and cranberries or other 'extras'.
• Pour into a small rectangular or square tin lined with parchment paper. 
• Chill in the fridge overnight. 
• Sprinkle with icing sugar (if required) and cut into small squares. 

Chocolate Mug Cake

It's late at night and it's cold outside. It's been raining most of the evening and I'm drowning in work.  The chocolate craving hits but a normal bar of chocolate or chocolate ice cream just won't cut it. Sometimes I just want cake. Preferably chocolate cake. Greedy as I may be, I can't really eat a whole cake myself (err.. ok maybe I can but that's not in question here!) I thought about whipping up a small batch of cupcakes and then I remember that I read about a microwave mug cake somewhere. I scrolled through my bookmarked recipes and there it was - the Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake by Not Quite Nigella 2009. This is an amazing recipe and it really does take 5 minutes to make and minimal washing up.  It tastes just like a baked chocolate cake and definitely satisfied my chocolate cake craving. 

It's really dangerous knowing I can make cake so quickly and simply. I'm already thinking of different flavour variations - vanilla cake, lemon cake, extra chocolate cake (I think I'll put chocolate chunks next time), cinammon cake, caramel cake.... 

I'd also like to submit this recipe to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jac of Tinned Tomatoes, founded by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. 

 Thought I had to get my 'cake' mug out for this 

 mix dry ingredients 

 add wet ingredients, mix and top with more chocolate chips 

 cake! 

 cross section of cake 

 add a small  scoop of ice cream 

Makes 2 mugs 

(Adapted from Not Quite Nigella)

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

pinch of salt

1 egg, lightly beaten 

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips, plus 2 tablespoons extra 

splash of vanilla extract 

• Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a mug. 
• Add egg, milk, oil and chocolate chips.
• Stir well. 
• Top with the extra tablespoon of chocolate chips (1 for each mug) 
• Cook for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. My microwave is ancient and only has a cook or defrost function so took just over 2 minutes. If it's not cooked, just put it back and check every 10-15 seconds as you don't want to overcook it. 
• Note: I didn't cover my mug and there was no over-spill. I also used self raising flour as I'd run out of plain flour. 
• Serve with some ice cream straight from the mug.

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Halloween Candy

The last of my halloween baking this year. I made these for the trick or treaters who couldn't believe that I made these myself! I went to Hobbycraft at the weekend for the first time - how have I never discovered this before?! Anyway, better late than never right? I spent more than an hour there browsing and filling up my basket very quickly. I bought supplies for my cake pops (tip 1: candy melts here are cheaper than if you buy from amazon or other online stores; tip 2: buy oasis floral foam blocks to hold your cake pops) and came across this halloween candy making kit which was on sale. Of course I had to buy it and it was the last one! 

It comes with 3 moulds, wilton candy melts (light cocoa, orange, white and red), 20 lollipop sticks, 4 disposable decorating bags, 1 decorating brush and 20 party bags.  All for £9.99! I was really pleased with the final results. Will definitely be making more of these next year. 

 melt the candy melts in the microwave using the disposable decorating bags