christmas concoctions part one: orange and cranberry bundt cake

hello everyone! i hope you all had fabulous christmases filled with plenty of festive cheer, food, family and presents! i know i certainly had a great time this year, probably aided my the decision made by my siblings and myself to make it a boozy one...

and now i sit listening to my newly acquired george ezra album (bliss) snuggled down in my christmas jumper and slippers ready to share a foodie delight with you all. in this weird limbo between christmas and new year (seriously, what day is it?!) more food might not seem like your highest priority, but that is where you are mistaken.

so take off your christmas leggings, grab your keys and head to the shop for these ingredients. you will not regret this delicious bake and how it will make your house smell!

but before we begin, i must begin with a thank you to twitterer Becky for the great suggestion. i was a bit stuck for what to make as the centerpiece for my christmas party and so turned to trusty twitter for the answer. other suggestions were a croquembouche (definitely on my list to make but i decided too much of a challenge for this busy time) and a giant cupcake. however Becky suggested a bundt cake, an idea i immediately took to as it seemed reasonably simple (which, as you should now by now, is my biggest draw) and slightly different to the usual christmas offerings.

after searching around a while for a recipe that caught my fancy - i wanted christmas flavours and something colourful/interesting - i chose this one from 10th Kitchen. this was in many ways a blessing and a curse, because i now cannot help but feel vastly inferior to Danguole's beautiful blog, especially her breath taking photography. so while i would not want you to leave me behind, do check her post out when you have a chance!

 i do not own one of the beautiful patterned bundt tins (if anyone wants to get me a late christmas present...) but i do have this sturdy ring tin which i have never used before.

 naturally the awkward shape means that lining with baking paper is not an option, so here is my rather messy attempt at greasing and dusting the tin

as you will be able to see from the original post, the recipe calls for buttermilk which i had forgotten to buy. but, no fear, this can easily be made yourself: you just add acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to milk and leave it for a while to begin curdling. so if you do make it yourself just remember to do it in enough time.

curdling magic

the 10th Kitchen recipe calls for lemons but suggests oranges as an alternative. i decided to run with this as i use lemons quite a lot and fancied something different - plus there is something so christmassy about the smell of oranges.

 

 making the orange infused sugar which smells incredible - you could make extra and store it for flavouring other bakes, even drinks

 

 

 

the mixture itself is very easy to bring together. but the best bit has to be adding the cranberries: just look at the contrast of the berries against the pale mixture

 

 

 it's then a case of sitting back as your house fills with a delicious christmassy smell (which was particularly welcome in our house as my sister had burnt popcorn the night before and the smell was still lingering)

 

on the day of the party i made an orange glaze to cover the cake: i used the juice of a whole orange which was FAR too much and just would not thicken up. i think half the juice would be plenty and would stop it running straight off the cake on to the plate! also, because it's christmas, i added a sprinkle of holly leaf and berry decorations.

 

 and here is the finished result! apologies for the poor image quality: i forgot to take photos before the drinks started flowing...

this cake is great: the sponge is denser than a normal sponge, i think this comes from the buttermilk. therefore the zing from the sharp cranberries adds a nice bite in contrast. likewise, the crunchy icing crust compliments the sponge. a lighter alternative to christmas cake.

up next, my less than successful attempt at white chocolate and cranberry cookies.

happy holidays bakers!

love,

nen

x

calm after the storm (& golden syrup cake)

hello lovely blog readers! apologies for my recent absence, things have been a little crazy over here: firstly there was a rather wild weekend spread between london and exeter (in particular i'm looking at emma and emily's shots suggestion), which meant my immune system took a battering and so followed one of the nastiest cold's i've had the displeasure of experiencing. having battled through to the other side of that, i came to the end of my time at cauliflower cards (sad face) and set about returning to the job hunt. but i am now pleased to announce that i will be gainfully employed come january - so everything is now a little calmer!

which gives me a much overdue chance to return to my blog and share with you a bake i've been meaning to write up for weeks.

baking w/ golden syrup: orange, ginger & dark chocolate cookies plus sticky golden syrup cake http://t.co/al5C0o2mh6 pic.twitter.com/aoOpKGX3Fc
— Ruby Tandoh (@rubytandoh) October 25, 2014

this bake followed on from a tweet from ruby tandoh (who it top value on twitter, a fabulous and refreshing mix of baking and feminism) - when i saw golden syrup in the title i knew i had to take a gander.

so what follows is my attempt at ruby's sticky golden syrup cake. (a quick note, i did not have the required soft dark brown sugar, mine was light so the cake is not quite as dark as you would expect)

 beginning with the most important ingredient, look at that glossy, sticky goodness! 

golden syrup is a notoriously difficult ingredient to work with, especially when it comes to weighing it out! my tip is to place the tin on a scale, note the weight and then work out what it needs to go down to. further advice - position this as close to the intended location of the syrup as physically possible, as it will go everywhere! as you can see from the above pictures (which i could not get to go the correct way round for the life of me) i was only 2g off the 125g aim (little victories...!)

then follows the really fun part, mixing together the butter, sugar and syrup over a low heat so that they all melt together into a small heart attack.

(aforementioned light brown sugar) 

 

attempted action shot so you can see below the butter on the surface

the dry ingredients are then mixed together in preparation for the big coming together

 this recipe is wonderfully simple to follow

 

 i finished the batter off with a whisk in order to achieve a smooth consistency - and then in to the oven it goes

 

 

ruby's tip of a tin foil hat (rather poorly executed by myself) to keep the moisture in as it cools

does that not make you want to dive in?!

and so to the finished result: unfortunately i kept my cake in fractionally longer than was required (getting used to a new oven) so it was not quite as moist as i had hoped but that was entirely my own fault. this is definitely one of those cakes to serve warm with a generous helping of custard (much like one of my winter pleasures, jamaican ginger cake, mmm....) i took this one in to the office with me, it was still lovely cold but if you have the chance go for the custard! 

 

what are your favourite winter warmers? have you started thinking about what to bake for this festive season? i would love to see your baking efforts and hear about your favourites!

finally, i would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to my manager, Jo, who gave me two wonderful tea cups and saucers as a leaving present. it was so thoughtful and brought a little lump to my throat!

until next time bakers...

love,

nen

x

bbc good food show round up

so yesterday i met up with two of my uni housemates for a food related jolly in kensington - the bbc good food show to be precise. this is my fourth visit to one of these shows (i like to defy the predominant middle age demographic). they are always a good day out; lots of food (and alcohol...) samples, celeb spotting and a generally fantastic atmosphere.

this year was no exception (possibly even better being the first time i was able to get on the alcohol samples, i think by 1pm i had sample gin, wine, vodka and irish cream - whoops!). i had never been to the olympia venue before, so it was also nice to see a different part of london - the big glass ceiling/windows are a really cool feature.

our day had a definite GBBO off theme - we had our tickets ready to see paul and mary's demonstration in the supertheatre. this was great fun, they are just as quick and witty in person! plus the cameraman was up to all sorts of mischief which got the audience going! there was a controversial moment when paul interacted with the audience: when asking if we had watched GBBO he was (obviously) greeted with a loud cheer. then he asked if we thought the right person had won - a far smaller cheer followed by a tense 'oooh' reverberating around the crowd! he did a cheer-o-meter poll which saw nancy get a small cheer, luis a much more sizeable one - but then the crowd (myself included) erupted for richard! although paul and mary did do a good job of justifying their decision, you could tell the public's choice was very clear.

 

 

we also got the chance to listen to mary berry being interviewed. i got a bit flustered that she was right in front of me - i mean, it's bezza! and i loved hearing that lemon bakes are among her favourite since lemon drizzle is mine - we're practically twins...

 

 loving tiny mary with her massive bodyguard! 

rocking a stylish ensemble as always,

our final GBBO encounter of the day (and by far the most embarrassing) was when i spotted 2014 finalist luis in the middle of the hall. at which point i hissed to my friends to stop. he walked past and i blurted out something mostly incoherent - how do you greet people who you feel you know from tv?! not the way i did, that's for sure! but he was very charming, asking us if we were enjoying our day and i managed to pull myself together enough to congratulate him on getting to the final. to say i get starstruck is an under statement...

but moving away from the celeb portion of the day, let's get to the really important part - the food! here are a few of my highlights from the day!

first up is the brownie bar - i will pretty much let the photos speak for themselves. LOOK AT ALL THE BROWNIES. this was such a stressful decision. eventually i went for chocolate and raspberry which was sooooo good and greatly improved my train journey home. having had a stalk of their website they are based in the north east (sad face) - but do also trade at events so have a look on their website to find out when they will be close to you. they are definitely worth making the effort for.

 

my chocolate and raspberry brownie - delish!

 

 next up - the meringue girls. my friend hannah had already heard of these guys and made a prompt beeline for their stall. it was absolutely stunning (serious food porn) - it was impossible to walk away without making a purchase. i got a passionfruit kiss (so cute) which was perfectly crisp with a slightly gooey-er centre, and a lovely exotic hint.

 

 

 

my last purchase was from olivier's bakery (who are usually located at the borough market in london). stalls of fresh, crispy bread like this are my kryptonite. i bought a lovely rosemary focaccia which i have just been enjoying for lunch.

 

i hope you've enjoying my highlights - if you ever get the chance to go to a good food show, i would highly recommend it. the tickets are very reasonably priced and you more than get your money's worth with everything going on! did any of you visit this weekend? share your pictures and favourite stalls!

love,
nen
x