Coconut spiced caramels

This is the last of my homemade Christmas gifts. I made these for Mark who loves coconut and I liked the idea of the spicing.
It is an Annie Rigg recipe, from her amazing book Sweet Thing adapted ever so slightly considering what I had in the cupboard.

Coconut spiced caramels

vegetable oil for greasing
400ml (can) full fat coconut milk
6 cardamom pods
1 large cinnamon stick
50g dark brown sugar
100g light brown sugar
75g golen syrup
50g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
225g caster sugar
2 tablespoons dessicated coconut

Grease the base and sides of a 17cm square baking tin and line with baking parchment.

Put the coconut milk into a saucepan and add the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. Set over a low heat for 4-5 minutes to infuse the milk with the spices. Add the brown sugars, golden syrup, butter, vanilla and salt. Once the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved remove from the heat.

Put the caster sugar into a saucepan and add 2 tablespoons of water. Set over a low heat to dissolve the sugar. Do not stir. If sugar crystals form on the sides dissolve them with a pastry brush dipped in hot water. Bring the syrup to the boil and cook steadily until it becomes a pale coloured caramel, swirl the pan occasionally to make sure it caramelises evenly.  

Working quickly bring the coconut mixture back up to just under the boil. Continue to cook the caramel till it becomes maple syrup coloured. Take the pan from the heat and slowly strain the coconut milk mixture into it. Be careful, the mixture may hiss and splutter.

Return the pan to the heat and stir till smooth, and to dissolve any caramel that has hardened. Pop a sugar thermometer into the pan and bring to the boil. Stir frequently and continue to cook until the caramel reaches 118C. I used my thermospatula so the pan was not over crowded.

Remove the pan from the heat, whisk the caramel util smooth then pour into the prepared tin.

Lightly toast the coconut in a non stick frying pan over a low heat util golden. Scatter over the caramel and leave to set for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Tip out of the pan onto a chopping board and cut with a greased kitchen knife. Wrap each caramel in a piece of parchment paper, twisting the ends.

Best eaten within a week, though will keep for a couple.   

Annie adds ginger and star anise to the coconut milk along with the cardamom and cinnamon. I a) had neither of these, and b) one of my recipients is not so keen on ginger.

I do not think it mattered too much, the flavour of the spice comes through and makes a very different but delicious caramel.

I got the 'Sweet Thing'  cookbook for Christmas and I cannot wait to get properly stuck in and making some treats!

Salted- chocolate dipped- caramels

I have a few blog posts to catch up on thanks to arriving back home after Christmas to find a leaky roof and very damp bedroom....

This post is a short and sweet one. I wanted to make caramels for my parents as part of their Christmas present. Caramels that hold their own shape and can be wrapped up individually but that are definitely caramel not toffee.

There are a few recipes out there but in the end I plumped for this one from joyofbaking.com .

The only tweaks I made were to salt my caramels with sea salt and to dip them in chocolate. I actually made a mistake when buying the chocolate. I thought had bought lindt milk chocolate but when opening it I discovered I had bought their truffle in bar form. Not to worry though, it melted beautifully and I actually lightly salted the chocolate too.

I half dipped the caramels in the chocolate and left them on baking parchment to set. When the chocolate was nearly nearly set I placed an individual flake of sea salt on each caramel.

I sampled one of these, quality control you understand, and it was divine. Soft caramel with a hint of chocolate and salt, delicious. The recipients seemed to enjoy them too.

Salted caramel and dark chocolate macaroons

One day, perusing twitter I saw a tweet proclaiming that 'today is the last day to sign up to the Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap'. I was hooked at the word cookies and quickly signed up before the deadline could pass me by.

The basic premise of the swap is that you register your interest, get sent three names and addresses of other bloggers and send them cookies. In return 3 different bloggers send cookies to you. You pay a small fee to enter ($4, £2.50) and this money goes to charity, the money raised is also matched by companies so lots of money is raised. So lots money for charity and lots of cookies for me, everyone is a winner.

The cookies had to be robust enough to stand up to transport and also keep well. I initially considered biscotti, one of the toughest of biscuits. You're not allowed to send a recipe already featured on your blog but are able to send a variation. I have a few biscotti recipes already, and although I could have tweaked one I had another think.

After trawling the internet I found some European biscuits that for some reason made me think of English coconut macaroons. And that was that. English macaroons fit the bill perfectly, the keep very well and are robust enough to send.

The basic English macaroon is coconut, flour and condensed milk, shaped into mounds and baked until golden.

I decided I would jazz up my macaroons and make them a little less sweet and more sophisticated. I made salted caramel macaroons and dipped the base in dark chocolate.

Salted caramel and dark chocolate coconut macaroons

makes 40-45

225g caramel (from a tin or make your own)
sea salt to taste
one tin of condensed milk (390g)
500g coconut
120g plain flour
100g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 160C/140C FAN and line a baking sheet or sheets with baking parchment.

First gently warm the caramel and add sea salt to taste stir till dissolved. I salted a little more than I usually would, almost too salty. I wanted it to be able to stand up to the sweetness of the condensed milk and coconut.

Mix the condensed milk with the salted caramel. Add in the flour and the coconut and mix well until everything is thoroughly combined.

Using a tablespoon put heaped mounds onto the prepared baking sheets. Leave a few centimetres between each one, you will need to bake these in a few batches!

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. They will firm up as they cool.

Once the macaroons are completely cold melt the dark chocolate and dip the base of each macaroon. Leave the macaroons upside down for the chocolate to set then devour!

Thankfully I had a few spare macaroons, so I could sample some, for quality control you understand! I really liked the texture of these, caramelised on the outside, soft in the middle, and the caramel chocolate combination helped temper the sweetness.  I hope that my recipients enjoyed them as much as we did here.

I would like to express my thanks to Merunnisa from Come.Con.Ella. for her delicious brownie roll out cookies. Pat from Pat's Kitchen for her seriously moreish Chocolate frostbite cookies. And finally Victoria from Victoria Sponge, Pease Pudding for her lovely festive Brandy soaked cranberry, Golden pecan and Dark chocolate Christmas cookies.

Toffee apple cake

This cake is based on a delicious cake already on the blog, apple and almond cake, it is regularly requested by Mark. I adapted the recipe not because it is not already perfect but because I waned to utilise ingredients I had left over from the salted caramel and pecan cupcakes posted earlier.

Not that the cupcakes were not lovely but this was definitely a case where a recipe to use up leftovers was better than the original recipe the ingredients were called for.

Toffee Apple Cake

makes 1 cake

For the apples

3 dessert apples, I used gala
25g caramel (mine is from a tin on this occasion)

For the cake

150g butter
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
75g self raising flour
75g ground pecans (simply whiz pecan in a food processor)
100g ish caramel
Grease a 20cm springform tin and line the base with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 170C/150C FAN.

Core the apples and cut into 4, slice each quarter into 3 wedges. Put the caramel into a frying pan and warm gently. Add the apples and cook gently for about 5 minutes until starting to become lightly caramelised and tender. Put aside for a few minutes to cool. 

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add one egg and beat again. Add the second egg and a tablespoon of the flour and beat until fully incorporated. Add the remaining flour and the ground pecans and fold in with a spatula. 

Place 2/3 cake batter into the prepared cake tin and level with a spatula, drizzle over a layer of caramel, and smooth into an even layer with a spatula, carefully dollop on the remaining cake batter and smooth with a spatula Arrange the apple on top, adding a final drizzle of caramel if you still have some to spare. 

Place in the preheated oven and bake for ~45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before releasing and allowing to cool on a wire rack. 

This cake is best warm from the oven, with warm caramel throughout the cake and yummy amazing caramelised edges.

I am not suggesting of course that you eat the entire cake in one sitting. Instead keep the cake in an airtight tin and reheat slices in warm oven for 5 minutes before tucking in.  

Pecan and salted caramel cupcakes

Pecan nuts seem to be a very autumnal nut. They go with all the spicy, apple-y, toffee-y flavours around at this time of year and appear at bonfire night and thanksgiving in varying guises including pecan pie.

I had a cupcake craving so quickly made these with cupboard ingredients, I love the deep nutty flavour the nuts give the cake and love the contrasting crunch of the nuts on the top of the cake.

Pecan and salted caramel cupcakes

makes 12

125g butter
70g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
55g salted caramel
2 eggs
75g self raising flour
50g pecan nuts ground to a flour like consistency in a food processor

50g butter
160g icing sugar
60g salted caramel

Extra caramel and pecans for the top

For my salted caramel I simply gently warmed up some of a tin of carnation caramel in a pan and added salt to taste. Now what to do with the leftovers...

Preheat the oven to 160C/140C FAN and line a cupcake tin with liners.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy. Beat in the caramel and eggs until fully incorporated. Finally, with the mixer on slow,  beat in the flour and ground pecans until just incorporated.

Divide the mixture evenly between the cases and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

When the cakes are golden and springy remove from the oven and transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cakes are completely cool they can be frosted. To make the frosting beat the butter and icing sugar together until very light and fluffy. Beat in the caramel till incorporated. 

Dollop the frosting onto the cooled cakes and swirl with a palette knife. Top with drizzles of caramel and chopped pecans.

Snickers cupcakes

I have to admit that I am a recent covert to the amazingness that is a snickers. This is largely in part to my recent liking of nuts.

Making cupcakes for work I knew I wanted a chocolate-y one, its just what went with the chocolate. That is when I decided to take the snickers and make it into a cupcake. Now I know for a fact that the idea of a snickers cupcake is not original but I came up with this mish mash myself, though like I said there are probably hundreds of similar variations out there.

For this cake you will need your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe. Chocolate cupcake recipes vary a lot and everyone has their favourite way of making them. Make them and let them cool.

You will also need a caramel, you do not need much, a couple of heaped tablespoons at most. I confess to, in this instance, using it from a jar. Some salted peanuts. I also confess to not weighing these. I simply chopped up enough so that once stirred into the caramel there was a good peanut to caramel ratio.

You will also need to make the buttercream. I was just going to make peanut buttercream. Then, whilst looking at other baking books I thought about whoopee pie filling. That marshmallow fluff gives a sort of nougat-y quality so I decided to add that in. It works a dream, it is my current favourite frosting (this changes regularly, it has to be said).

Frosting for 12 cupcakes

50g butter
50g smooth peanut butter
250g icing sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
125g marshmallow fluff. 

Beat the butter and peanut butter together. Add in the icing sugar and milk and beat until very light and fluffy, this can easily take 5 minutes. Finally add in the marshmallow fluff and beat to combine. 

To assemble the cakes, core the middle of each cake and add a good heaped teaspoon of your peanut caramel mix. Replace the cone, trimming to fit as necessary. 

Pipe the frosting on top, if you have no piping bag simply swirl onto of the cakes. 

I decorated the top with a sprinkling of chopped salted peanuts and a slice of snickers.

These cupcakes were frankly amazing. I am a little sad that I gave the majority to work and more are being made soon!

Salted caramel cupcakes

To celebrate my recent engagement (hurrah!) I of course took cakes into work. I decided to make 3 different flavours of cupcakes because there would then be something that hopefully everyone would like, not that my work as ever turned down any cake. Ever.

I made white chocolate and raspberry, the recipe can be found here, snickers, which I will post in a few days and salted caramel.

I'll start with the salted caramel. I used a caramel cupcake recipe by the hummingbird bakery. To convert it to salted caramel I simply gently warmed my caramel, from a tin, and added sea salt until it had that yummy salted caramel taste. I was not convinced the caramel in the cake would have much flavour (and I still think that I was right on this) so I hollowed out the middle after baking and added a generous spoonful of the caramel.

On the top is my version of salted caramel butter cream, a drizzle of more slated caramel and some chopped up caramel buttons. The ones I used were from silver spoon and I found them in the baking isle at the supermarket.

Salted caramel cupcakes

makes 16

for the cake

80g butter
250g golden caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
240ml whole milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste/extract
tin of carnation caramel
sea salt to taste

for the frosting

150g butter
375g icing sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
leftover caramel (from cake ingredients)
caramel drops (optional)

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C FAN and line two cupcake trays with liners. If you only have one, like me, simply bake the cakes in two batches, mine turned out fine. 

Pour all the caramel from the tin into a saucepan and gently heat while stirring. Add sea salt to taste. Make sure the caramel is warm enough to dissolve the salt but it does not need to be hot. Set aside to cool.

Whisk the butter, sugar, flour and baking powder together until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Whisk the eggs milk and vanilla together in a jug.

Pour about 3/4 of the wet ingredients into the dry and beat until they are incorporated and the batter is thick. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the remaining dry ingredients and 150g of your salted caramel. Beat again until the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter evenly between the cases. Fill your cases no more than 2/3 full, these cupcakes really do grow!

Bake for ~20 minutes util golden and springy. If you are baking more than one tray swap them around halfway through baking. Once baked transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting beat the butter, icing sugar and milk together for ~5 minutes until very light and fluffy. Add 100g of the salted caramel and beat to combine.

Once cool remove a cone from each cake and fill with the leftover caramel. Place the cone back, trimming to fit. Pipe the frosting onto the cakes however you like. Finish by topping the cakes with caramel drops and a drizzle of any remaining caramel.

These cakes certainly look pretty, they were the ones catching peoples eye at work and everyone said that they enjoyed them.

Toffee bakewell cupcakes

The book for this months Cupcake book club, hosted by Kelly over at American cupcake in London, was Hot cakes by Kim Newman-Wood.

I am not entirely sure what to think of the book, It started off well enough and I was enjoying it. By the end though, I am not sure that I entirely liked any of the characters which was rather odd!

The cupcake recipes however sounded delicious. There was one that I had to make otherwise I think Mark would have kicked me out of the house and changed the locks. So I made the toffee bakewell cupcakes but there is perhaps one more I will make before the deadline for this month is up.

These cupcakes intrigued me. I often make cupcakes, and once they are baked, remove a cone and add a filling. This recipe however added the caramel to the centre of the cake before baking. I.e. half fill the case with batter, add a teaspoon of caramel, add the remaining batter to cover the caramel then bake. I could not help wondering would it work?

Answer, yes it did. Saying that, although I put the caramel in the centre, it definitely sank during baking, so I would maybe add the caramel two thirds of the way up to combat this.

The cake is an almond flavoured sponge with a caramel filling. I swirled almond and caramel buttercream over the top.

Its a little hard to tell but the buttercreams are different colours. I finally drizzled caramel on the top. For the caramel, you can make it using condensed milk, or carnation handily sell tins of ready made caramel now.

Salted caramel banoffee pie

Hello, I hope everyone had a lovely Easter  I myself had a fantastic, much needed break in Ireland but as such was away from the internet for a week so have a lot of catch up posts to do.

First up is a salted caramel banoffee pie, one of the two (yes two) desserts I made for Easter Sunday.

Its very easy and I made it the day before so to ease the Sunday work load.

If you like leave the salt out and make a more traditional banoffee pie, I do find the salted caramel adds a sophisticated edge and cuts through the richness ever so slightly.

Salted caramel banoffee pie

100g butter
250g chocolate digestives

100g butter
100g brown sugar (light or dark)
tin of condensed milk
sea salt

2 large bananas
standard pot of double cream

First of all grease a springform tin with butter, line the base with baking paper and grease the paper too.

Bash the biscuits in a bag or bowl, with a rolling pin, until they are fine crumbs. Alternatively use a food processor. Gently melt 100g butter and pour over the biscuit crumbs and stir to combine. Tip the mix into the prepared tin and level the top. Pop in the fridge to set for ~ 30 minutes.

To make the caramel melt the butter gently in a pan over a low heat. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the condensed milk and gently increase the heat, stirring all the time. Bring the mix to the boil and allow to boil for at least a minute. This is important to make sure the caramel sets nice and thick and squidgy! Add sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until salted to your liking.

Allow the caramel to cool slightly for 5 minutes then pour over the biscuit base. Pop the pie back in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so.

Slice the bananas and arrange over the top of the caramel.

 Finally whip the cream and use it to top the pie. Pop the finished pie back in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

I kept this pie in the fridge and it was just as good on Easter Monday.

Salted caramel cupcakes

The book for this months cupcake book club, run by Kelly from american cupcake in London, was 'Cupcakes at Carrington's' by Alexandra Brown.

The main character Georgie works at Carringtons and enjoys nothing more than sinking her teeth into a sweet creation from the cafe, run by her best friend. It was an enjoyable book and I would happily read the upcoming ones in the series.

Georgie's favourite cupcake is the red velvet. I have not made this for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is lent, so no chocolate for me. Secondly I love chocolate and the red velvet never really does it for me, I do not want mild chocolate flavour, I want full on chocolate!

Still there are plenty of other cupcakes and sweet treats mentioned in the book. One cupcake mentioned is a salted caramel cupcake. This is my sort of cake, I love salted caramel!

I made a vanilla cake with a spoonful of peanut butter in the batter to give a salty element. I filled the cake with salted caramel and topped the whole thing off with salted caramel buttercream. I think Georgie would approve of the clouds of buttercream!

Salted caramel cupcakes

makes 12

75g butter
50g peanut butter (no added sugar preferably)
125g golden caster sugar
tsp vanilla paste/extract
2 eggs
125g self raising flour
tbsp milk

75g white caster sugar
75ml double cream
sea salt to taste

80g butter
200g icing sugar
tbsp milk


Line a cupcake/muffin tin with liners and preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN.


Cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla paste together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl in-between and beat for a further couple of minutes.

Add the flour and beat on slow until just combined. Finally add the milk and beat for a further minute. Divide the batter between the liners and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden and springy.

Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.

To make the caramel gently heat the caster sugar in a pan until dissolved and deep amber in colour. Remove from the heat and, stirring quickly, add in the cream. Return the pan to the heat and cook until the caramel has thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Add sea sat a little at a time until the caramel is salted to your preference. Set the caramel aside to cool.

When the cupcakes and caramel are cool the assembly can begin! Remove a cone from the cupcakes with a sharp knife. Fill the cavity with a teaspoon of the salted caramel before replacing the cone, it may need trimming to fit. 

Finally for the buttercream beat the butter, icing sugar and milk together until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes or so. Beat in some of the cooled caramel a little at a time until the frosting is well flavoured with the salted caramel.

Pipe or swirl on the frosting with a palette knife.

I am pretty certain Georgie would approve of these cupcakes. The are sweet and salty, with plenty of buttercream. Mark certainly approves, declaring the frosting 'the best ever'.

Chocolate and salted caramel tart

Yesterday I went on a 'Cooking with Chocolate, day at the Edinburgh new town cookery school. It was a fantastic day and I would recommend their Saturday workshops to everyone.

During the day we made sirloin steak with a port and chocolate sauce, chicken mole (chicken in a chilli and chocolate sauce), marbled chocolate cheesecake, brownies and a chocolate and salted caramel tart.

The chicken mole was delicious and it will certainly be made again in my house. The cheesecake and tart were also amazing. Today I will share the tart recipe with you and the cheesecake will make an appearance soon.

Chocolate and salted caramel tart

makes 3-4 individual tarts

For the pastry 

115g plain flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
50g butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the caramel

125g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
60g butter, cubed
50ml double cream
sea salt to taste

For the chocolate layer

1 tbsp sugar
1 small egg
50g plain chocolate
35g butter, cubed

To make the pastry, put the flour, sugar and cocoa in a processor, add the butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, water and vanilla and whiz until the dough almost comes together, Tip into a bowl and bring together with your hands. Shape into 3-4 discs, wrap into clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile make the caramel. Dissolve the sugar and and cream of tartar with 21/2 tbsp of water in a saucepan. Do not let it boil until the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar s fully dissolved bring to the boil and add in the butter. Keep boiling until the mixture is a golden toffee colour. Be patient this whole process can take up to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in  1/2 the cream, once the bubble subside add the remaining cream. Add a good pinch of sea salt and leave to cool. 

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry discs fairly thinly and line your tart cases. Chill for 30 minutes. Put the oven on to preheat at 200C/180C FAN. 

Prick the base of the pastry case with a fork and line with baking parchment and baking beans. Bake for 12 minutes, removing the baking parchment and beans for the last couple of minutes. Set aside to cool. 

Turn the oven down to 170C/150C FAN. 

To make the chocolate layer gently melt the butter and chocolate together. Beat the egg and sugar together until thick and pale custard coloured. Pour the chocolate mixture over the egg mixture and bat together until smooth and glossy.

Spread the caramel over the base of the tartlets (if the caramel is too hard it can be warmed VERY gently) and spoon the chocolate layer over the top. Bake for 12 minutes until set then leave to cool in the tin.

Once cool remove from the tin and devour!

These are very richly and simply delicious. The individual tarts we made on the day were in my eyes very big. One easily served the two of us. A little ice cream on the side was a good accompaniment to cut through the sticky caramel.

Salted caramel brownies

The book for this months cupcake book club, kindly organised by Kelly at an America cupcake in London, was certainly thought provoking.

Rose is able to taste feelings in food, the feelings of whoever has baked it. She comes to hate food and the secrets it divulges, preferring to stick to factory processed pre packaged goods.

It certainly got me thinking. I love to bake at any time, and do, but sometimes I use baking when I am stressed or busy as a way to calm down. Yesterday I had one of those days where lots of little things were all going wrong (it all started when I broke my favourite mug) and I just wanted to go home and comfort bake. Brownies, with their chocolatey rich indulgence, are a perfect comfort bake.

When Rose tries brownies a character in the book has baked she immediately knows that they are depressed. Now I was not that bad but I imagine Rose would find mine 'busy' 'conflicted' 'tired' and maybe a little 'upset'. Ugh they do not sound pleasant.

Thankfully I and my boyfriend do not possess any such tasting talent. Mark declared them delicious and I have to say I am inclined to agree. And, with a cup of tea and the Great British Bake Off, they were medicinal in their ability to boost my mood!

Salted caramel brownies

makes ~16, depending on what size you cut them

for the caramel

80g caster sugar
75ml double cream
5g butter
sea salt, taste


For the brownie

200g dark chocolate 
125g butter
50g groundnut oil
250g caster sugar
130g plain flour
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C FAN. Grease and line a brownie tin with baking parchment.

First make the caramel, gently heat the sugar in a saucepan until melted, you can swirl the pan but do not stir. Allow it to become a golden brown and then remove from the heat. Immediately add in the double cream, it will bubble up quite violently, and stir well. Put the pan back over a low heat and gently warm until thickened slightly, it should coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and sea salt, add the salt a little at a time, tasting as you go. Set aside while you make the brownie mix.  

Place the butter, oil and chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water. Allow to melt, stirring from time to time. When fully melted remove the bowl from the heat and mix in the sugar until full incorporated. Next stir in the flour until no more remains visible. Finally add the eggs one at time and stir until fully combined. 

Pour half the brownie mix into the prepared pan and level out with a spatula, or the back of a spoon. Drizzle over the caramel in an even ish layer. Nb this is not a thick separate layer of caramel, instead a substantial swirly throughout the centre.

Pour the rest of the batter over, making sure all the caramel is covered.

Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes until flaky on top but not overcooked, you want a nice fudgey centre! Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for at least an hour this will make removal  much easier. 

A little bit of caramel tries to escape!

Using the baking parchment to help you, lift the brownie from the tin and transfer it to a wire rack. When fully cool cut with a sharp knife into whatever size brownie pieces you require.

Salted caramel victoria sponge

This is a simplified mini version of a cake in the newest book to accompany the Great British bake off series.

I did not want a big cake for the two of us but I have to say a big one would be a hell of a lot easier to decorate! Mine are a little scratty but I am going to claim that I am going for the home baked rustic look!

In the book they have a salted caramel layer and a chocolate caramel layer. I did not want to even attempt to cut my little cakes into 3 and so I just made the salted caramel. Although I also coated the top of the cake I did not coat the sides, as I would a big cake, as the cake to caramel ratio would be not right.

Little salted caramel victoria sponges

makes 5

for the cakes


75g butter
75g caster sugar
tsp vanilla paste/extract
1 large egg
75g self raising flour

for the salted caramel

55g butter
110g light brown sugar
45 ml double cream
90g icing sugar
sea salt, to taste
dark chocolate for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. Lightly grease a mini victoria sponge tin with loose bottom (available Lakeland).

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until very light and fluffy, it will lighten in colour, this will take about 5 minutes. Beat the egg and add about half to the creamed mixture, beat gently to incorporate. Add a tablespoon of the measured flour and mix until no longer visible  This will stabilise the mix and should prevent curdling when the rest of the egg is added. Add the remaining egg ad beat gently. Fold in the remaining flour by hand.

Divide the mix between the greased cake moulds and level the top. Bake i the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and springy when lightly pressed. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the caramel melt 40g of the butter, all the light brown sugar and the cream over a gentle heat until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved. Bring to the boil with continuous stirring then turn down to a simmer for 5 minutes with frequent stirring.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof mixing bowl. Beat in the icing sugar a little at a time until the mix is light and fluffy and cool. Finally beat in the remaining g of butter and sea salt to personal taste. Leave to thicken for 10 minutes or so.

The top of the cakes will need levelling if they are not already (guess who gets to eat the off cuts!)

Divide the cakes into two, as level as you can, otherwise the cakes will slide a bit (yes talking from personal experience!).

Spread a good layer of the caramel onto the bottom layer then gently place the top layer of the cake on top. 

Spread more caramel on top of the cake. If you wish melt a little dark chocolate and pipe circles on top of the cake and then drag a cocktail stick through the circles, from the centre out, to decorate.

Maybe not quite the neatest work but these cakes are truly delicious  and have convinced me that it is definitely 100% worth making the full sized version next time I need a decadent celebration cake.

Peanut and salted caramel cupcakes - Cupcake book club

This months book for the cupcake book club was Rosie Hopkins sweet shop of dreams. I loved the book, especially as it is set in two different time periods. The only downside of the book is that I had constant pick and mix cravings!

Deciding on a cupcake to make was a little harder, I was not going to make a liquorice or aniseed flavoured one that's for sure. The book does talk about peanut brittle and soft caramels a lot and so I combined the two to come up with my cupcake.

I made a peanut butter cupcake with a salted caramel centre. I topped it with salted caramel buttercream and homemade peanut brittle.

Slight confession, I did not make my own caramel. I used dulce de leche from a jar, heated it in a bowl over simmering water and added in sea salt until I decided the caramel had been salted enough. It was delicious and I had already stickyed up enough pans making the brittle.

Confession number two, the first time I made the brittle I did not let the caramel get quite hot enough and decided to put it BACK on the heat AFTER I had added the butter. I did not end up with brittle. More of a fudgy/tablet thing with peanuts in, still, someone who shall remain nameless is polishing it off so its not all bad. My second brittle was much better!

Peanut and salted caramel cupcakes


makes 12


For the brittle


90g caster sugar
50g golden syrup
25ml water
65g peanuts (I used salted)
10g butter
2g baking powder


For the cupcakes


75g butter
130g peanut butter (I used crunchy)
100g caster sugar 
75g brown sugar 
1 tsp vanilla paste 
2 eggs 
120g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder 
60ml milk 


dulce de leche (about 2/3s of a jar)
sea salt 


For the frosting


80g butter
250g butter
2 tablespoons milk
reserved caramel


Peanut brittle


Have everything weighed out ready before you start and butter a baking sheet.


Put the sugar, golden syrup and water in a pan and bring to the boil. Once boiling add the peanuts, keep boiling, stirring frequently until a sugar thermometer reads 150C. If, like me, you do not have a sugar thermometer drop a little of the caramel into cold water, it is ready when it forms very hard, brittle strands. 


Take of the heat and immediately stir in the butter and baking powder. Tip onto your prepared sheet and leave to cool.

Once cool snap into pieces. 

Peanut and salted caramel cupcakes


Line a cupcake/muffin tin with liners and preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN.


Cream the butter, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla paste together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl in-between.


Mix the flour with the baking powder and add a third of it to the butter mix. Mix utill combined then add a third of the milk and mix until combined. Continue this way until all the flour and milk has been incorporated.


Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden and springy.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.


While the cakes are cooling sort out the caramel. Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and add the dulce de leche to the bowl. Heat gently and add a little sea salt. Stir to dissolve and incorporate the salt. Taste. Add a little more salt a pinch at a time. When the caramel is salted to your liking, stop.


Set the caramel aside to cool.


When the cakes are fully cold, make a little hollow in each one, reserving the cone.

Fill the hole you have just created with the (cooled) salted caramel. Pop the cone back in, trimming it to fit. 

For the frosting, beat the butter and sugar until it comes together (yes I know, the icing sugar will go everywhere). Add the milk a tablespoon at a time and continue beating until very light and fluffy. Beat in the caramel a spoonful at a time until it is incorporated and the frosting tastes enough of caramel for your liking.

Top the cupcakes with the frosting, I used a palette knife, and a piece of the brittle.  Enjoy.