Valentine shortbreads (gluten free, lactose free)

If truth be told my fiancé and I do not like the commercialism of valentines day, I can think of nothing more awkward than being in a restaurant on valentines evening. I would not say I am anti valentines, I believe in showing someone you love them, I just don't think I need a set time and day to do that, and nor do I need people cashing in on our love. Still I know many people love it, each to their own, and if it makes you happy that's fabulous.

I made these biscuits however for two reasons. One I won a bake off at work and one of my prizes was this cute letter stamp set from Lakeland. With valentines a few days away I decided shortbread lovehearts could be quite cute. Secondly the letter for this months alpha bakes is V. So that was sorted, a Valentines bake.

Oh there is a third reason to make these, they are yummy. Vanilla shortbread sandwiched with lemon or chocolate buttercream. As you know if you handle regular shortbread to much it becomes tough, this is the caused by the gluten in the flour, The best thing about using gluten free flour is that the gluten is not there, which means that you can re-roll the scraps of this dough until they are all used up and no tough biscuits occur. Actually they are fantastically short, I think they are better than shortbread I made with wheat flour, hurrah! I have used lactose free butter for that buttery taste, If anyone uses a completely dairy free spread to make shortbread I would love to know how they turn out.

You could make these biscuits in any shape you like, not just hearts, and you do not have to stamp them if you do not have stamps, they will still taste delicious.

Vanilla shortbread 

200g lactose free spread
100g caster sugar
tsp vanilla extract/paste
275g GF plain flour
1/2 tsp xantham gum

For the buttercream

50g lactose free spread
150g icing sugar
splash of diary free milk if needed
Tablespoon of cocoa powder
zest of a lemon


Beat the spread, sugar and vanilla paste together until combined and creamy, then fold in the the flour ans xantham gum. It will initially look like you have way too much flour but be patient all will be fine. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Line the baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll out the dough between two sheets of clingfilm until 5mm thick, stamp out shapes of your choosing and transfer them to the parchment lined baking sheet. Transfer the baking trays to the fridge for 15 minutes. While the cut out biscuits are chilling preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN/ gas mark 4.

Bake the biscuits for 20 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool briefly on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the buttercream beat the sugar and spread together until light and creamy, if it need a little help to come together add the tiniest splash of dairy free milk. I then split the buttercream in half. To one half I added the lemon zest and to the other I added the cocoa powder which I had made into a paste with a tablespoon of boiling water.

Once the biscuits are cool sandwich together with the buttercream. I only sandwich a few together at a time. I keep the unsandwiched biscuits in the tin and the buttercream covered in the fridge. I then sandwich biscuits as and when I need them. This way the biscuits stay beautifully crisp.

Schichttorte

What will we do on Wednesday nights now that bake off is over? The final was thrilling and I am so pleased that my favourite won, my favourite never wins... I jinx them from the start simply by liking them!

The wee before the final was patisserie week and the bakers had to create two types of baklava, two types of entremets and a schichttorte. The first two I had heard of, the last I not not. Looking it up I was instantly intrigued, a grilled cake? Would it taste different to a baked cake? There was only one way to find out.

I used the recipe from Paul Hollywood found here. I made tweaks to make it gluten and dairy free, and also had to turn my grill down and cook for 30 seconds less than stated. 

Admittedly it does have the wow factor when you cut into it, all those layers. When I first tried a slice I did not know what to expect and so was not overwhelmed with the texture of the cake, I think I prefer my cakes baked not grilled. Having said that over the next few days the cake grew on me and I have decided I do quite like it after all. Whether I like it enough to spend two hours making one again remains to be seen. Oh and the chocolate glaze is immense. 

In final week I absolutely loved how the bakers went back to basics for the technical challenge. I firmly believe a good knowledge of the basics is what makes a consistently good baker and Nancy helped prove me right by nailing it. 

For my final bake along with bake off bake I am going to make scones, mini victoria sandwiches and some form of mini patisserie and aim to make them all perfect. I will do this next weekend when my parents come see my new flat for the fist time,after walking the hills of Edinburgh I am sure everyone will be ready for a cup of tea and a cake or two!

Chocolate and pecan traybake (gluten and dairy free)

This is a simple to make and deliciously chocolatey traybake, that's probably thanks to the 200g of dark chocolate in here! We enjoyed this so much that we finished it within days of it being made, saying that it does keep well. If you can eat dairy and gluten feel free to use butter and regular plain wheat flour.

 Definitely one to add to the collection, I can see this being made again with different flavouring and nuts for variety,

Chocolate and pecan traybake

200g dark chocolate
100g DF spread (I used pure)
85g golden caster sugar
4 eggs, separated, the whites into a greasefree bowl
85g ground almonds
75g GF plain flour (I used Dove farm)
1/8 tsp xantham gum
Pecans for decoration, anything from 50-100g

Preheat the oven to 160C/180C FAN/gas 4 and line a 25cm square cake tin or brownie/traybake tin with baking parchment. 

Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water and heat gently, stirring every now and then until the chocolate and butter has melted. When cool, but still melted, stir in half the sugar and the egg yolks.

Whisk the whites to firm peaks, add the remaining sugar, then whisk again until glossy. Stir a spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mix along with the ground almonds, flour and xantham gum then fold through the rest. Transfer to the tin and top with lightly broken pecans. 

Bake for 25 minutes, cool in the tin for 10 mins, then lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Gluten free nutella bread

Thus is me catching up with my bake off posts. This is from last week where the contestants had to make an enriched loaf. I tweaked this challenge slightly as their loafs involved fruit and I did not want fruit, I wanted chocolate.

The recipe for the braided nutella bread comes from the delightful Gluten-Free on a Shoestring blog and the recipe can be found here.

I did have to make my own nutella as shop bought contains dairy and I will share this recipe below.

The finished load does look beautiful and is the nicest gluten free bread that I have made so far. It was perfect warm from the oven with a little extra nutella and a pot of tea for a special weekend breakfast.

Homemade nutella (Dairy and Gluten free)

100g hazelnuts (skinned)
2 tbsp good cocoa powder (I used green and blacks)
4-5 tbsp of hazelnut milk (Or use almond or soy milk if you cannot get hold of hazelnut)
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar or maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Blitz the hazelnuts in a food processor until they from a smooth-ish paste. Add all the other ingredients and continue to blitz until combined and as smooth as possible. Transfer to a sterile jar and keep in the fridge, eat within a couple of weeks. 

This nutella is a more grown up version, it is a little more intense, darker and not as sweet. I really like this however should you wish to make it sweeter simply add more sugar/maple syrup until it as sweet as you desire. This nutella is quite thick, add a splash more milk if you desire.

As well as the bread this nutella is great on toast topped with a sliced banana! 

Chocolate orange cake (Dairy and gluten free)

I have braved making a cake in my new oven (well not NEW new, I just moved flat)! A different oven is a mystery of a thing, is it a 'hot' oven, a 'cold' oven, is there hot spots? As well as this I had to get used to a gas main oven as opposed to electric.

I have worked out that it is cool oven, I actually prefer this to my old 'hot' oven that used to really brown the edges of my cakes!It has a little hot spot but not as bad as my last oven, so now my cakes rise ever so slightly unevenly as opposed to completely uneven So all in all a bonus.

This cake tastes like a terry's chocolate orange in cake form, really it does. The frosting is amazing I could literally eat it straight from the bowl forgoing the cake BUT if I did that I would miss out on cake so I managed to restrain myself.

I have made this cake completely dairy and gluten free, obviously if you do not have these requirements you could use butter and regular flour and leave out the xantham gum.

Chocolate orange cake

3 eggs, weighed with shells, room temperature
Same weight of dairy free spread (I use Pure)
Same weight of sugar

Tsp vanilla paste

zest and juice of one orangeSame weight of gluten free plain flour minus 30g

30g cocoa powder2 Tsp gluten free baking powder baking powder

1/2 tsp xantham gum

100g dairy free spread

zest of one orange

30g cocoa powder

200g icing sugar

1 tbsp Boiling water

Grease and line the base of two  20cm cake tins, if like me you do not have two make the cakes in batches. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C FAN or Gas mark 3.


Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy then beat in the vanilla, orange zest and eggs for a further minute. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and xantham gum and beat until just combined. Do not overbeat


Divide the mixture equally between the tins and bake for. 25-30 mutes until springy.
Leave to cool in the tins for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cakes are cool sandwich them together with the frosting, method below.

To make the frosting melt the butter in pan over a gentle heat then add in the orange zest, add the cocoa powder and cook for 1 minute whilst stirring. remove from the heat and beat in the icing sugar, it will look terrible, like it has split, never fear, add in a tablespoon of boiling water and beat well,  the frosting should now be thick  and smooth, with no sign of splitting, add a tiny touch more water if you feel it necessary. 

Fudgey chocolate squares (dairy, gluten free)

Thank you to anyone who has looked at my blog over the past month it has been a busy time due to writing my PhD thesis and organising a house move.

To add to the business I have not been well, and to cut a long story short I can currently eat no gluten or dairy. This does not make baking impossible but it does mean a little more planning.

I have made a simple Victoria sponge and that turned out beautifully and so I advanced a little more with fudgey chocolate squares. 

I hope to get back into my blog, a week volunteering and the move may slow me down a bit but i am back and ready to bake!

These fudgey chocolate squares are truly amazing. You honestly would not know that they lack either gluten or dairy. They are fudgey, chocolatey, rich, decadent and delicious. The frosting is amazing. 

I am going to enter these into this months alpha bakes, the letter is D, and these contain dark chocolate, dark cocoa powder and are dairy free!

Fudgey chocolate squares

Makes 18

200g dairy free spread, I use 'pure' sunflower

200g dark chocolate, check some dark chocolate contain dairy, even 70% ones

300g golden caster sugar

50g gluten free plain flour

1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder

1 tsp xantham gum

50g cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

4 medium eggs

For the frosting

100g dairy free spread

30g cocoa powder

200g icing sugar

Boiling water

Walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN and grease and line a brownie tin with baking paper.

Gently melt the butter and dark chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Add in the sugar  and mix to combine. Add in the flour, baking powder, xantham gum and cocoa powder and mix well.  Finally mix in the vanilla and the eggs until you have a smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and level the surface, I found this easiest with a metal spoon dipped in hot water. 

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin, when cold use the baking paper to lift from the tin and place on a baking rack.

To make the icing melt the butter in pan over a gentle heat, add the cocoa powder and cook for 1 minute whilst stirring. remove from the heat and beat in the icing sugar, it will look terrible, like it has split, never fear, add in a tablespoon of boiling water and beat well, add in a second tablespoon and beat well. The frosting should be thick  and smooth, with no sign of splitting, add tiny touch more water if you feel it neccessry. 

Smooth the frosting over the top of the cooled traybake and press in the walnuts. The walnuts are optional but add a nice textural contrast.

Try to leave for an hour our two before slicing otherwise frosting will go everywhere! These keep well for at least 5 days in an airtight tin.

Chocolate brownie cookies

This is a complete winner of a recipe from waitrose. Well I made one change, I did not let the cookies cool then drizzle in chocolate. No no no. I kept the roll of dough in the fridge and cut a few of over a few days. I tucked in to them about 10 minutes after they came out of the oven for complete warm cookie/brownie bliss. I imagine if you left them to completely cool they would lose some of that fudgey goodness. If you are more patient than me and do let them cool, let me know what they are like!

Chocolate brownie cookies

150g dark chocolate

110g butter

100g golden caster sugar

100g light brown sugar

1/2 egg

1/2 tbsp golden syrup

Tsp vanilla extract

150g plain flour

60g cocoa powder

Tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Gently melt half the chocolate and set aside to cool a little. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, syrup, vanilla and melted chocolate until combined. Add the remaining ingredients including the remaining chocolate (chopped)' and bear until everything is incorporated. 

Transfer the dough to parchment paper and shape into a rough sausage 20cm long. Wrap in the paper, twisting the ends and chill for at least an hour.

When ready to eat the cookies preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice cookies off the sausage about 1cm in width. 

Place on the prepared sheet and bake for ten minutes. Remove from the oven and leave on the sheet for ten minutes, they will be very very soft. After 10 minutes remove the cookies from the sheet and either transfer to a wire rack to cool or eat.

A few notes, the slices may not hold together, just squish them back together or place the pieces like a jigsaw on the baking sheet, the pieces will merge during baking. Do not attempt to remove the cookies from the sheet early, they are just too soft. Oh and I implore you to eat them while warm, fudgey and delicious. 

Banana peanut cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting

These cupcakes came about as I found a dairy free chocolate frosting, that did not contain margarine that I wanted to try and while I could eat it from the bowl with a soon this is perhaps not the most elegant solution.

A root round the cupboards yielded a rather ripe banana and a jar of peanut butter. Banana and peanut work well together and chocolate happily marries well with both, thus this cupcake was born.

A moist flavourful cupcake topped with an insanely dark chocolate frosting, what's not to love?

Banana peanut cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting

makes 12

60g butter or dairy free alternative
60g banana40g peanut butter (no added sugar preferably)
125g golden caster sugar
tsp vanilla paste/extract
2 eggs
125g self raising flour
tbsp milk

160ml of coconut cream
75g dark choolate, I used green and black

Begin with the frosting, heat the cream until just below boiling, pour over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool then put in the fridge to firm up.

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

Cream the butter,banana, 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.

Whip the frosting, it will be smooth and shiny and then put back in the fridge for another hour or so. Whip again, the frosting will lose its shine and become fluffier, looking very much like a standard chocolate  frosting.

Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and enjoy.

These cupcakes will keep for a few days in an airtight tin. If it is very hot this frosting could melt, so keep in the fridge and allow to come to room temperature before tucking it. 

Double chocolate cookies (vegan)

Some days only chocolate will do and my word are these cookies chocolately. These may not be for you if you like super sweet milk chocolate cookies, these are dark and very intense. Of course here is no reason you cannot like both!

These are vegan but I am almost certain you could use an egg in place of the egg replacer. I would not make any other substitutions though, 1) because they taste divine the way they are, and 2) because I have no idea how the wet to dry ratio would be affected.

They are intensely chocolately with a crisp outside and chewy interior, what is not to love?

Please do not let the photos put you off, this is what happens when it is dark and miserable in Scotland. No light at all!

Double chocolate cookies (vegan) 

makes 1 dozen

180g oats
egg replacer, I used Orgran egg replacer (holand and barret) and followed the instructions on the box to replace 1 egg
50g coconut oil (solid not melted)
50g peanut butter
60g golden caster sugar
60g brown sugar (I used dark, its what was in my cupboard)
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
45g cocoa powder
75-100g dark chocolate (vegan friendly, not all are), chopped into small chunks

Preheat the oven to 175C/155C FAN and line a baking sheet with parchment. 

To begin put the oats in a food processor and pulse until a coarse flour is formed, I still like some oaty bits in my cookie. Set these aside.

In a bowl put the egg replacer (or egg), coconut oil, peanut butter, both sugars and the vanilla extract, beat until combined and creamy. Add in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sea salt, cocoa powder and processed oats. Beat on slow until thoroughly incorporated. Finally stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Shape the dough into equal balls, roughly the size of golf balls. Place on the baking sheets well apart they will spread a lot,  I baked in two batches. Flatten the cookies with your hand until only 1cm thick. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Remove and allow to cool on the sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Chocolate fondant

I have wanted to make (and EAT) chocolate fondant for a while but have not quite got round to it. With it being valentine day on Friday and my only ramekins being red and heart shaped I thought I may as we'll make them then.

They have a reputation for being tricky but really they are not, as long as you set the oven correctly and time them correctly they will be melting in the middle.

They are oozy lovely and perfect. What's not to love about hot melting chocolate? I served them with whipped coconut cream as I cannot have dairy but feel free to serve with cream, ice cream etc.

Chocolate fondants

50g dark chocolate

50g butter

Tsp vanilla paste extract

Tsp liquor of choice, I used brandy

1 egg

1 egg yolk

50g sugar

50g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Grease ramekins with a little butter and dust with cocoa powder. If you happen to run out of cocoa powder icing sugar works just fine. 

Put the chocolate, butter, and vanilla into a heatproof bowl, place over a pan of simmering water and heat gently until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the liquor, set aside to cool for a few moments.

Beat the eggs and sugar until light and thick. Sift over the flour and baking powder and fold in with a spatula or metal spoon. Gently fold through the chocolate mix a third at a time. 

Divide between the prepared ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN and bake the fondants for 8 to 10 minutes. Leave to stand for one minute.

Turn out onto a serving plate, add whatever sides you desire and tuck in immediately.

Vegan chocolate torte

This is yummy, a nutty biscuity base, topped with a dreamy, creamy, smooth intense thick chocolate mousse.

There is just one slightly odd factor which, have you not tried it, you may freak out. The mouse is made of dark chocolate, maple syrup and.... avocado. A lot of avocado.

Now don't panic, the dessert is not a weird green colour, and you cannot taste avocado. I could not quite bring myself to tell my partner what it contained, so I simply told him it was a mousse-y chocolate torte. He loved it and did not even enquire/notice any odd ingredients.

The arrowroot in this recipe is essential, it will thicken the chocolate mousse without being heated, do not use cornflour. Arrowroot is in all the supermarkets and is under a pound, go buy some!

So chocolate is good for the soul and avocados are good for the body, a perfect dessert I think!

Vegan chocolate torte

75g plain flour

50g ground almonds

100g caster sugar

50g light brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp arrowroot

1 tsp salt

70g coconut oil

30g golden syrup

120ml almond milk

200g vegan friendly dark chocolate

350g ripe avocado

80ml almond milk

150g maple syrup

1 tbsp arrowroot

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla extract/paste

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN and line a brownie pan with baking parchment.  For the base of the torte mix all the dry ingredients together (from plain flour to salt). Next gently warm the coconut oil in a pan until melted whisk in the golden syrup and almond milk then add to the dry ingredients and mix till thoroughly combined. 

Tip the base batter into a brownie tin and level, it will be a little tricky, the mixture is sticky! Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden. Remove and allow to cool. 

For the topping melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water then set aside to cool. Blend all the other ingredients in a food processor until super super smooth, you may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times. Finally add the chocolate, a little at a time, to the processor and blend until thoroughly incorporated. Spread on top of the cooled base then freeze for at least 2 hours before slicing and eating. 

They keep well for at least a week in the freezer. Maybe more but they were all gone by then! I liked to take them out of the freezer 20-30 minutes before eating them, I thought the texture was better this way.

Jumble cookies

I absolutely love to bake. Since I have been diagnosed lactose intolerant I have managed to keep baking pretty well, tweaks include using almond milk, lactose free spread, soya yoghurt etc.

When searching for dairy free recipes I more often than not come across vegan baking. Vegan baking is a whole new challenge that scares me though, why? The lack of eggs, eggs are normally a glue that binds everything together, how will my baking turn out? Still some of the pictures of the vegan recipes made me want to eat my computer screen, they loked so good. Mind you looking good is all very well but what about the taste.

I decided I wanted cookies and so looking round a few blogs I ended up making these jumble cookies. A mix match of a few recipes and what was in my head.

Oh my god. These are one of the best cookies I have eaten. I can't say for certain that it is solely down to the fact that they are vegan. The flavours together are simply divine. Oats, pecans, chocolate, raisins, vanilla. I am very surprised that the texture is so good without any dairy but I am so so pleased with them.

They are so insanely good that the two of us have managed to polish off 28 in 4 days.

Jumble cookies

makes ~28

100g pecans
180g oats
75g plain flour
tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sea salt
100g light brown sugar
30g coconut oil
tsp vanilla paste/extract
100ml maple syrup
2 tablespoons almond milk
35g dark chocolate
50g raisins

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

Toast the pecans in a frying pan until they are releasing their fragrance. Add the pecans and half the oats to a food processor and pulse until the texture is that of coarse sand.

Tip this into a mixing bowl along with the remaining oats, plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and light brown sugar.

Gently warm the coconut oil in a pan until it melts. Remove from the heat and add in the vanilla, maple syrup and almond milk. 

Mix the wet ingredients briefly into the dry ingredients. Add in the raisins and chocolate and mix until evenly distributed. 

Roll tablespoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets and then flatten with you hands. 

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden. When done remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

I am really rather sad that these cookies are gone and will definitely be making them again. Perhaps with different nut and fruit combinations.

Now I am all out of cookies, its time to bake again and I might just get adventurous and try some more vegan baking very soon.

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.

Chocolate orange brownies

Happy New Year! Now before you all embark on detoxes and healthy eating here is a truly delicious, indulgent recipe. I suspect many people will have got Terry's chocolate oranges for Christmas and may have them left over if they have had other goodies to eat, if not many supermarkets are now selling them off.

I myself was requested to make brownies for a boxing day party. I decided to make them 'christmas-y' by adding the chocolate orange and was very happy indeed to find them by one get one free. One for the brownies one for me! I used a white chocolate orange for a nice contrast but use any variety you like.

A low oven really does make for the best fudgey brownies. My parents oven is not like my crazy super hot oven and resulted in the best brownies I have made for a long time. I will be turning my oven down even further when I go back home.

Chocolate orange brownies

200g dark chocolate

175g butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

tablespoon strong coffee

300g caster sugar

115g plain flour

15g cocoa powder

3 eggs

1 chocolate orange, each segment broken into 3

Preheat the oven to 170^oC/fan 150^oC and line you brownie pan with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate and butter until smooth (I did this in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water).

Once melted, remove the butter chocolate mix from the heat and stir in the sugar, vanilla and coffee until fully incorporated.

Add the flour and cocoa powder to the bowl and mix until combined.

Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and add to the bowl, mix until smooth and then finally stir through the chocolate orange.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and cook for 30-35 minutes until lightly flaky ontop but not overcooked.

Leave to cool in the pan then cut into chunks

Chocolate and hazelnut cake

I miss baking! In my last post I mentioned that I had been away with work. When I got back the oven was (temporalily) broken and then I went away on holiday. Holiday was very nice but I do miss the act/smell taste of some baked goods. I am away this weekend too (brownie camp) so I doubt October will be very fruititous in the baking department.

Still I did find time when I was away to make this, quite frankly, delicious cake. It was devoured fast enough by my fiances family and myself.

This cake is a cross between a maryland cookie, ferrero rocher and a cake. If that has not convinced you to give it a try nothing ever will.

A vanilla and hint of coffee sponge, packed with hazelnuts and dark chocolate, topped with a chocolate glaze and more hazelnuts. Yum.

Chocolate and hazelnut cake (recipe adapted slightly from Nigel Slater)

makes one deep cake

250g butter (I used lactose free spread)
100g demerara sugar
100g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of coffee, made and set aside to cool slightly
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
200g chopped hazelnuts
250g of dark chocolate, chopped

30g butter
1/2 tablespoon golden syrup
tablespoon of double cream

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. Grease a 23cm spring-form tin, line the base with baking parchment and flour the sides.

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the coffee. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt until almost combined. Finally fold in the hazelnuts and chocolate, reserving 30g of each, until no streaks of flour are visible and the chunks of nut and chocolate are evenly distributed. 

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and level the top, bake for 70-80 minutes until golden and cooked through. Mine took 75 minutes, after 1 hour I covered the top with foil. 

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Leave the cake to completely cool. 

To make the topping put the butter, golden syrup, cream and reserved chocolate in a pan, heat gently, stirring occasionally  until the chocolate has melted and all the ingredients are combined. Remove from the heat and set aside for 15 minutes to thicken up slightly.

Spread over the cooled cake and sprinkle with the reserved hazelnuts. 

I should say that I had no electric whisk just a wooden spoon and elbow grease and it turned out lovely.
I would say this is a special enough cake for any occasion, but it matters not if this occasion is simple because it is a Tuesday.

This cake contains chocolate and as 'C' is the letter for this months alpha bakes I am going to enter this cake, I suspect Ros is going to get a lot of entries with chocolate in this month...

Chocolate, courgette and pistachio cake

Carrot cake is a common household cake now a days. Its becoming increasingly common to see other vegetables appearing in cakes though some may turn their noses up!

Veg in cakes are a great thing, they add moisture, can impart deep flavour,for example carrot or beetroot, though not always as with the cake below. Having the veg present often reduces the fat and sugar content of the cake making the bake healthier.

I saw the recipe for this cake and was instantly intrigued, plus there is the added bonus of the veg been hidden so if you have fussy eaters you just need not tell them!

Chocolate, courgette and pistachio cake

100g shelled pistachios
3 medium eggs
175g light muscovado sugar
300g courgettes, peeled and finely grated
120g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

100g butter
100g icing sugar
50g cocoa powder
vegetables a chance in your cakes.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN  and lightly oil 2x 18cm sandwich tins, lining the base with baking parchment. 

Blitz 75g of the pistachios in a food processor until they reassemble flour, the finer the better. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl for 2 minutes until pale and fluff. Beat in the courgette and pistachio followed by the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Make sure that everything is well mixed. 

Split the cake mix evenly between the two tins. then bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool for a minute in the tin then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing beat the butter until softened. Then beat in the icing sugar and two tablespoons of boiling water. Beat until a paste is formed then beat for a further minute until the mixture doubles in volume. Beat in the cocoa powder one tablespoon at a time. Once all the cocoa has been added beat for one final minute until the mixture is fluffy.

Roughly chop the remaining 25g of pistachios. Use half the icing to coat one of the cakes, sprinkle on half the pistachios. Set the other cake on top. Ice the top with the remaining icing and sprinkle with the remaining pistachios.

This is a nice squidgy chocolate cake, with  lovely flavour and the icing is amazing. Why don't you give vegetables a change in your cakes?

Chocolate madeleines

Following on from my earlier bake off post.

This week was interesting, not much baking actually, lots of stove top work, until we got the petits fours. There was some beautiful little creations going on. I wanted to eat Becas's beautiful baby macarons and Ruby's shortbread white chocolate creations.

These are one of my petit four from the weekend. Perhaps my least glamorous one but absolutely delicious.

Enjoy.

Chocolate madeleines

makes 16

1 egg
120g golden caster sugar
1/2  tsp vanilla paste
80g plain flour
15g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp finely ground instant coffee or a tablespoon of freshly made coffee
80g butter
25g white chocolate

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C FAN and lightly grease your madeleine tin. Gently melt the butter, then side aside to cool. 

Whisk the egg, sugar and vanilla until thick, moussey and very pale in colour. Add the flour, coffee and cocoa powder and gently fold in with a metal spoon. When the flour is almost incorporated add about a tablespoon of the melted butter and fold in. Add half the remaining butter and continue to fold in, once it is incorporated add the remaining butter and fold in. You should be left with a lovely glossy mix.

Fill the prepared tin with the mix, you can use a spoon, I used a piping bag to pipe a line into each tin, this way I hoped to get them similar sizes. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Melt the white chocolate, put in a piping bad and snip off the corner, pipe a zig zag, or design off your choice, on each madeleine. 

These were more chocolatey than I thought they could be and really really good with a cup of tea or coffee.