Heart Loaf Cake

I'm going to start this post by making a big apology to everyone! I've had a bit of time off blogging due to a slightly crazy few months (working, moving house, starting college etc.). I've been meaning to upload this post for so long now, I drafted it back in July and finally I'm sharing it with you all! I have been suffering quite badly with my migraines, so unfortunately blogging is going to have to be put on hold for a little while. I will be back in the New Year with lots of new recipes, I'd also really like to do some lifestyle or general chatty blog posts too, and I've love to know your thoughts on that. 

Anyway, I'll stop waffling now, onto the recipe...

This cake is something a little different... I was looking for inspiration for something to make for my Dad and Stepmum’s first wedding anniversary, and as soon as I saw this recipe I knew it would be perfect!

I've only slightly tweaked the original recipe that I found, but I think that this works perfectly.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter/baking spread

200g golden caster sugar

3 large free range eggs

235g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

150g raspberries

1tsp bright red food colouring/1 x 10g tube bright red gel food colouring

40g mascarpone*

60g Greek yoghurt

4 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for sprinkling 

*For my Dad's cake I used a traditional buttercream instead of the mascarpone, Greek yoghurt and icing sugar which worked well, but I thought that this original recipe was a little bit unusual and worth sharing with you.

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4.

- Grease and line a 16cm cake tin and a 1lb loaf tine (the loaf tin needs to be at least 6cm deep so that the hearts can fit). 

- In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. I have recently become the proud owner of a Swan kitchen mixer, so I’ve been using this to get the desired result much quicker!

- And the eggs one by one, beating well in between each one.

- Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in until you have a smooth cake batter.

- In a small bowl crush 25g raspberries with the back of a fork. 

- Put 200g of the cake mix into a separate mixing bowl and add in the crushed raspberries and food colouring, mix it all together until you have a your red/pink cake batter (add a little more food colouring for a stronger colour).

- Meanwhile ensure the remaining cake batter is covered with cling film and set to one side.

- Pour the pink cake batter into the 16cm cake tin and bake in the oven for 12 minutes. 

- Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before using a 3cm heart cutter to stamp out 10 hearts (you could use a different shape if you’d prefer, or carefully use a knife and cut them free hand ensuring that they’re all the same size). Don't chuck away the scrap cake pieces at this step, they make a lovely snack - they taste incredible!

- The original recipe didn’t include this step, but I then put the cake hearts in the freezer for 20 minutes to prevent them drying out too much when back in the oven.

- Spoon 5 tablespoons of the cake batter into the bottom of the loaf tins, place the 10 hearts on top facing upright so that they are all touching each other (see the picture below if you’re unsure). Then carefully spoon the remaining cake batter around and on top of the hearts. Try to get the batter to go in between the hearts and the baking paper at either end of the tin. This way no one will no the hearts are there until they cut into it.

- Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes until risen and golden brown on top.

- Cool for 10 minutes in the tin then remove and leave to cool completely.

- In a mixing bowl crush another 25g raspberries with the back of a fork. Add in the mascarpone and Greek yoghurt, then sift in the icing sugar and mix until smooth. Spread this over the cake. Top with the remaining raspberries and a final sprinkle of icing sugar and enjoy!

Keep your eyes peeled for some new blog posts in 2018!

Blackberry Bakewell Tart

Bakewell Tart is a British classic, and one of my personal favourites, especially served with a huge scoop of clotted cream. I’ve decided to mix this recipe up a little bit, by using blackberry jam in stead of the traditional raspberry, and by adding in some fresh blackberries.

I think that this combination is absolutely delicious, and as it’s now reaching blackberry season here in the UK, it’s the perfect time to go picking!

Ingredients

For the pastry

280g plain flour

170g unsalted butter

70g golden caster sugar

30g ground almonds

1 medium egg

1 medium egg yolk

Pinch of salt

For the frangipane filling

250g ground almonds

110g golden caster sugar

120g fresh blackberries*

5 medium eggs

2 tbsp bramble jelly*

20g flaked almonds to sprinkle on top

*You can make a traditional Bakewell Tart by substituting the bramble jelly for raspberry jam, and missing out the fresh blackberries.

Method

- Start by making the pastry. In a large mixing bowl add the flour, salt, sugar, butter and ground almonds and rub together with your hands until you have a breadcrumb like consistency. 

- In a small jug beat the egg and egg yolk, then pour this into the bowl, combine this all together to form a smooth dough.

- Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and leave to cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4, then grease and lightly flour a 23cm tart tin/dish. I like to use a metal tin with a loose-bottom and grooved edges.

- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to cover the tart tin.

- Line the tin with the pastry and push it gently into the groves of the tin, be careful when handling the pastry as it is very short, and will break easily. Trim any pieces that are hanging over the edge. Prick the base a few times with a fork, then place a piece of baking paper over the top and fill with baking beans. If you don’t have baking beans you can use uncooked rice instead.

- Bake the pastry for 15 minutes, then remove the baking beans and bake for a further 2-5 minutes if necessary until the base is cooked through. Be careful when removing the baking beans, they will be very hot.

- Reduce the temperature to 165C/145C fan/330F/Gas 2.

- Whilst the pastry is cooling in the tin, put the ground almonds and caster sugar into a clean mixing bowl and stir together. 

- In a jug beat the 5 eggs well and pour them on to the sugar and almonds, and combine well. 

- Once the pastry is completely cool add the jam and spread it evenly across the base, place the blackberries on top of the jam in an even layer. I chopped the larger blackberries in half. 



- Pour the almond mixture over the top and roughly level it out using a wooden spoon.

- Finally sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the filling is golden brown on top and cooked through (it should be firm to the touch). If you feel that the top is browned enough, but the mixture is still slightly under cooked, place a piece of foil over the top of the tart and bake for a further 5 minutes.

- Remove from the oven and enjoy this tart hot or cold. I personally prefer it fresh out of the oven, but you can leave it to cool completely and it will keep for a few days if kept in an air tight container.

Let me know what you think of this tart, I love adding a slight twist to well known recipes, and I think that in this case it really works! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

🍰

Granny's Millionaire's Shortbread

This has been one of my favourite treats for as long as I can remember, my Granny has always made it, and it has become quite famous amongst our friends and family! She has no idea where the recipe came from, but I'm sure it's just a recipe book somewhere... all I know is that it's absolutely delicious!

It's also really easy to make, and serves so many people! 

But I'm warning you that it's incredibly more-ish, so I wouldn't blame you for eating the whole tray...

Ingredients

For the base

280g self raising flour

140g unsalted butter

115g caster sugar

For the filling

115g unsalted butter *

115g caster sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 large can sweetened condensed milk (397g)

For the topping

140g plain chocolate **

* I've used baking spread in place of butter

** you can use any chocolate you'd like, I just like using plain chocolate as it isn't overly sweet, but it's quite nice using two types of chocolate and marbling them

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4. Grease a large baking (12” by 9” if best).

- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

- Sift in the flour and work the ingredients together.

- Once completely combined, with a crumbly texture, press the mixture into the base of the prepared tin.

- Bake for 15 minutes and leave to cool completely.

- Heat a large saucepan over a low heat and add in all of the filling ingredients, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted.

- Increase to a medium heat, then boil for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. (Try not to let any of the mixture stick to the base of the pan).

- Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for a minute.

- Pour the mixture over the base and leave to set.

- Melt the chocolate (I do this by breaking into pieces in a heat proof glass bowl, and heating over a pan of boiling water, stirring gently, being careful not to burn it).

- Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel, my Granny usually uses a fork to mark the chocolate in a decorative pattern.

- Leave the chocolate to set, slice the Millionaire's Shortbread into slices, and enjoy!

I really hope you love this as much as I do! Let me know if you try it out.

♥️

Homemade Nutella

I originally found this recipe online, but I've modified it to suit my tastes and to create a much nicer, thicker consistency.

It’s such a simple and incredibly easy recipe, it might not be much healthier than shop bought Nutella, but sometimes it’s nicer to know exactly what’s going into your food. I also find this recipe much less artificial tasting than Nutella, and if you miss out the straining step you can have a delicious, crunchy texture too! 

I love spreading this on toast, or with a big slice of banana bread (which I’ll be posting a recipe for very soon).

Ingredients

250g hazelnuts

250g milk chocolate

1/2 tbsp coconut oil *

2 tbsp icing sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

*you can't taste the coconut oil once it's all mixed together, but you could use vegetable oil if you prefer.

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4

- Line a baking tray with baking parchment and roughly lay out the hazelnuts in a single layer.

- Bake for 10 minutes, or until the skins start to crisp and peel away from the hazelnuts.

- Leave them to cool slightly, then rub them between your hands, or kitchen paper, to remove the skins. This can take a little while, and the skins don't always come off completely (I always get a bit lazy and give up after a while, but as long as the majority of the skin is off you’ll be fine).

- Once the hazelnuts are cooled completely, tip them into a blender and blitz until they’re as fine as you’d like.

 

- Add the oil, icing sugar, cocoa, vanilla and salt into the blender and blitz until completely combined with the hazelnuts.

- Break the chocolate up and melt it over a medium heat (I do this by placing a heat proof glass bowl over a small saucepan of boiling water). Be careful not to burn it.

- Pour the chocolate into the blender and blitz a final time to mix everything together.

- I like to pour this straight into a jar whilst it’s still runny and leave it to cool, but you could strain it first if you prefer to get any lumps of hazelnut out (this will give you a much smoother consistency, but I prefer it to have a bit of crunch). It will appear very runny at first, but it will set as it cools.

This Homemade Nutella doesn’t need to be refrigerated, just keep it in an air tight container and keep it for up to two weeks.

I really love this recipe, please let me know if you try it out, it’s also delicious if you substitute the hazelnuts with an alternative, such as cashews or almonds.

🥜🍫

Gluten Free Crumble and Custard

This is a British classic, and by using different fruits you can completely alter this recipe to suit your tastes. This is my go to crumble topping recipe for any gluten free crumble, and serving it with homemade custard makes all the difference. 

Ingredients

For the crumble

150g gluten free plain flour*

100g soft brown sugar

100g ground almonds

25g porridge oats (double check that they’re gluten free)

25g flaked almonds for sprinkling (optional)

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

150g unsalted butter

*you can substitute this with regular plain flour if you're not making this recipe gluten free

For the filling

600g soft fruit of your choice, roughly chopped 

1 tsp cornflour

Juice of 1/2 lemon

25g soft brown sugar sugar

*I used 300g strawberries (I chopped the larger ones in half and kept the smaller ones whole) and 300g plums that I stoned and roughly chopped

For the custard *

1 pint / 570ml full fat milk 

50 ml single cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 egg yolks

1 tbsp cornflour

50g golden caster sugar

*if you don’t want to make your own custard you could buy a pre-made carton from the supermarket, or enjoy the crumble with a lovely rich vanilla ice cream or cream instead.

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4.

- In a large mixing bowl toss together all of the filling ingredients and set to one side.

- In another bowl add all of the crumble ingredients, besides the flaked almonds if you’re using them. Rub it all together until it forms a bread crumb like consistency (if you’ve made crumble before you’ll realise that the consistency isn’t as fine or as dry as regular crumble, this is because the almonds provide a lot more moisture).

- Pour the fruit mixture into a large ovenproof dish (I used a 24 x 20cm pyrex dish), and gently shake to level out the fruit.

- Tip the crumble mix over the top of the fruit, and gently push it into the corners so that the fruit is completely covered (don’t push down too hard as this will lose the crumbly texture).

- Sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top of and place in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until until the crumble is golden brown.

- Remove the crumble from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

- Meanwhile, heat the milk, cream and vanilla essence together over a medium heat until just before boiling (small bubbles will begin to appear on the surface). 

- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together until smooth.

- Pour the heated milk over the egg mixture and stir well.

- Strain the mixture into a clean saucepan and heat for a few minutes, stirring continuously, until you have a lovely thick custard. I like to leave it to cool slightly for a few minutes and serve it straight away, but you could leave it to cool completely and store it in the fridge for a couple of days.

- Serve yourself a big slice of the crumble, pour over the delicious custard, and enjoy!

🍎🍒🍇🍓 

This recipe seems to go on forever, but it really is incredibly easy. Nothing tastes as good as homemade custard!

Lemon Drizzle Loaf

This is one of my all time favourite loaf cakes, and it always gets demolished in minutes. I made this recipe with regular flour for my Granny’s birthday, but I’ve made a note of how you can make a gluten free version too, the texture will be slightly different but still delicious! 

This really is an incredibly straight forward recipe, and once you have all of your ingredients ready it is only a matter of minutes before it is in the oven.

Ingredients

For the cake

200g unsalted butter

200g golden caster sugar

200g self raising flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp whole milk

3 eggs

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

For the drizzle

Juice of 2 lemons

115g caster sugar

*for the gluten free version I substituted this flour with 125g gluten free self-raising flour and 50g ground almonds

Method

- Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/gas 4.

- In a large mixing bowl cream sugar and butter until the mixture is pale and fluffy.

- Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl, then add the eggs, lemon zest and milk.

- Beat the mixture together until smooth and thick.

- Pour the mix into the prepared loaf tin and level off slightly.

- Bake for 40-45 mins, or until well risen and firm (mine actually took about 50 minutes to cook through this time, but usually 40-45 is about right).

- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a little while before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I was very envious watching everyone enjoy this at the weekend, but I’ll definitely be trying out the gluten free version for myself soon!

Sorry that the post haven't been quite as regular over the last fortnight, it has been a bit hectic, but I'm getting back on top of it again. Let me know if you make this recipe, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

🍋🍋

Tarta de Santiago

This recipe is slightly different to my other posts, it is one of my favourite continental "cakes". It’s a very unconventional cake recipe, and it’s also gluten free, as it is primarily made from almonds an sugar, no flour in sight! I can remember visiting Santiago as a child, and trying my first slice of this cake in a small cafe down a narrow, little cobbled street in part of the Old Town, it was absolutely delicious.

I have been looking forward to posting this recipe for weeks, whilst researching for this post I found that most Tarta de Santiago recipes are very similar, but I think that the addition of cinnamon gives this recipe a slight edge.

Ingredients

250g ground almonds

250g golden caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

6 medium eggs

1 tbsp brandy

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp icing sugar to decorate

Method

- Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/325F/Gas 3.

- Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

- Separate your eggs (whites in one bowl, yolks in another). 

- Whip the eggs yolks and sugar together (I used an electric mixer for this), continue to whip until they're pale and thick, gradually add in the lemon zest, orange zest, cinnamon, ground almonds and brandy. Continue to gently whip until completely combined.

- In the other bowl whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks (I used an electric whisk again for this, on a slow speed). Fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture, be careful not to lose too much air.

- Pour the mix into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes.

- Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before carefully removing it and finishing it off by adding the Cross of St James. I used a paper template (you can print a template off yourself using this link - cruz-de-santiago.jpg) and sprinkled over some icing sugar.

- Enjoy!

If you haven’t tried this cake before and you make this recipe then please let me know your thoughts! I think it’s delicious, and I’d love to hear what you all think.

♥️