christmas concoctions part two: white chocolate and cranberry cakies

so this post may be a little out of season, but we'll roll with it!

life has been a little crazy recently: the post christmas/new year period is always a bit of a blur and then on monday i started my new job. it's going really well so far and the people in the office are really nice and welcoming! but it does mean i have been coming home, having dinner, working out and crashing!! hopefully i'll get back in to the swing of things soon - three weeks off means i am a little rusty!

so this week's post is a hangover from the festive season, but these will taste good all year round - especially now when it's still dark and cold. however, as the title might suggest, these did not go 100% to plan! i'll reveal all as we go along but i have definitely created a new bake!

this was a hummingbird recipe, i think i have made them before (with greater success!). i made them for my christmas party (which went really well).

ingredients ready to go

 the recipe is nice and simple, building up a cookie dough in stages

 

at this point there was a very narrowly avoided disaster! our spices have big letters on the top of the jars and i had (stupidly) reached in and grabbed the first 'C' that i could find.

thankfully i was waiting on my mum to get back from the shop with the flour so i put the 'cinnamon' in a separate bowl ready to mix in, at which point i thought, this looks rather dark! double checking the jar confirmed that i had picked up coriander rather than cinnamon!! i was so close to making, what would probably have been, some of the worst cookies ever!

 a very close call! 

 coriander free dough coming together

 love, love the contrast of the cranberries!

 

pretty hard to resist eating it at this stage!

 so we get to this stage with my cookies all ready to go. the dough felt right, it's normally stiffer and stickier than a cake mix and then it spreads out as it cooks to form the round, flat cookie shape. however, as you can see from the oven picture below, this process did not happen! i'm not entirely sure why this happened, a little googling suggests something to do with the flour or raising agent.

the resulting bake was a new creation (or at least so i am claiming), ladies and gentlemen i present to you: the cakie

 a strange bake the exists somewhere between the realms of cake and cookie - probably most closely related to a rock cake!

of course the important thing (as always) is taste over appearance and these still tasted scrummy - i mean white chocolate and cranberries! obviously the texture was not the gooey, chewy cookie goodness i was hoping for, but it was novel! and they still went down well, so no complaints!

next time i'll give you an option for what to do with the post-christmas selection boxes you probably have lying around!

until then, have a good week!

love,

nen

x

cat-got-the-cream carrot cake.

as i write this i am still riding the high from watching beyonce's half-time superbowl performance, ah-maz-ing! seriously, if you haven't seen it go and watch it then proceed to dance around your room to her hits!

but now onto a more cakey note... this weekend april and i furthered our baking adventures and made a carrot cake (to kid ourselves that if was perfectly acceptable to eat two slices of it a day...)

this is a cake i discovered later than most other types, because like most people the idea of a vegetable based cake was not top of my list. however once i discovered it i was an instant convert - it's so moist and light and then there's the cream cheese topping... (insert drool here!)

surprise surprise this was another hummingbird recipe, from the first book though as i think the one in cake days looks a bit fiddly.

ingredients and recipe book all ready to go

the use of oil rather than butter means this recipe has much less fat than most cake recipes. it also makes the sponge lighter, which is great combined with the texture of the chopped walnuts.

use a long bladed knife for chopping nuts. place the tip in the centre of the board and, resting your palm on the top of the blade, lift up and down without lifting the point from the board. work from side to side and occasionally rotate the board.

mix the grated carrot and walnuts in by hand so as not to overwork the mixture.

the recipe book said to bake the cakes for 20-25 minutes which, before we even started, seemed hopelessly optimistic. it took much closer to an hour. remember it is important that the cake is cooked! if the tops are catching turn the oven temperature down and cover them with foil. similarly it is best not to cook cakes on the top shelf as they are likely to catch.

another tip is to buy cake tins of the same size! makes constructing the cake much easier...!

while the cake is in the oven it's a great opportunity to make the cream cheese frosting (which does still have butter in it!)

(please excuse the scruffy hair)

once again this is a hummingbird frosting recipe so it makes sooooo much! similarly it's a nightmare to make without a cloud of icing sugar enveloping everything (including hair, clothes and glasses...)

stirring in the cream cheese

all ready to go (minus a few 'tasters'....)

another note: wait for your cakes to cool! (yeah we were impatient again!) this is important, especially with frosting and even more so with cream cheese in it. we did hold out for longer this time but the frosting between the two sponges definitely melted a bit...

the finished product







the cinnamon and chopped walnuts sprinkled on the top make a great finishing touch

going quickly...

first slice (complete with melted frosting, but hey sacrifices can be made for warm cake...)

this has definitely been one of my most popular bakes to do (i'm looking at you jamie...!) and it was claimed to be the best carrot cake someone had ever tasted! you can't ask much better than that, and it has been demolished in two days.

i'd really recommend this as something slightly different from your standard vanilla or chocolate sponges - it is so different from what people expect and i'm sure you could create a few converts!

have a good week everyone!

love,

nen

x

not so perfectly punctual pies.

well there goes my 'post a week' resolution - but i'm only a few days out so i hope you can forgive me!

for this post we are harking back to a bakesoc social from last term - pie night! this was another of our bake & bring socials, held at a swanky bar in exeter. the requirements were simple - anything vaguely pie related was allowed, sweet or savoury.

i teamed up with my history girls to create a dual pie offering - pecan and apple.

for the pecan pies we adapted a hummingbird recipe (by adapted i think we didn't have treacle as well as golden syrup so just used more of the latter, this explains why they aren't perhaps as dark in colour as expected).

a while ago i bought some individual tart cases in a sale and this was the first chance i've had to use them - it's nice to make individual portions and they can look great when arranged on a plate.

here they are fresh out of the oven

personally i am not  huge fan of pecan pie but i am assured that these were really good (although when given compliments we did have to confess that we had used ready made pastry but let's keep that on the down low!)

our second offering was puff pastry apple pies - from a lorraine pascale recipe (again we cheated with the pastry) but we did make the apple filling ourselves.

unfortunately in the rush of making two types of pie on a short deadline i completely forgot to egg wash them (having even beaten an egg in preparation...!) so they don't have the golden outside as seen on lorraine's. however they tasted really good. i love apple pastries and puff pastry is always such a treat!

note the artistic apple scored into the top!

about to go in the oven (minus the egg wash - whoops!)

on display at the social (student economy of transportation and display device in one tin!)

at the social itself there were so many gorgeous different types of pie that we all felt quite sick at the end from the amount we had eaten!

in this photo you can see the pecan pies but also the grasshopper pie and mince pies made by our presidents.

the grasshopper pie is an american creation and is quite like a cheesecake. i absolutely loved it - it was like mint choc chip ice cream in a creamy pie form (and that is one of my favourite ice cream flavours!)

the mince pies were equally scrummy - they contained cranberries and almonds which added a refreshing twist and everyone who knows me knows i do love a good mince pie!

another of the other offerings was savoury. apologies for the odd looking photo but these were shaped like mini pasties and contained spinach, feta and sun dried tomatoes (if i remember correctly!). they were moreish and i could have easily polished off many of these. (i'm still trying to hunt down the recipe).

well i hope this has made you sufficiently hungry for lunch and perhaps inspires you to make a pie of your own. they are so easy to make, especially if you buy ready made pastry (i certainly won't be judging you!)

love,
nen
x

scrummy snickerdoodles.

one of my new discoveries from last term was snickerdoodle cookies. discovered in (you guessed it) hummingbird's cake days these are an absolute delight. i was drawn to them for their cinnamony sugar coating and upon further reading the recipe was really easy to follow. these are perfect when you don't have a lot of time (the dough does need to rest in the fridge for half an hour, but you can go off and do something in that time) but want a baked treat. the cinnamon flavour is perfect for warming your cockles on a cold winter afternoon.

i'm not sure where the name comes from (hello research project...) and they are not at all like cookies. perhaps somewhere between a biscuit and a macaroon? regardless they are super tasty!

they are also therapeutic to make. you shape the dough into walnut sized balls and then roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. i find this really relaxing and helps take my mind off stressful thoughts!

in the oven they go (yes it needs a clean!)

the finished result!

leave them to cool slightly (you don't want to burn your tongue and ruin the taste) but not for long as these taste best still warm, with a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

to make them even more delicious dip the warm snickerdoodles in the left over sugar for a crunchy coating!

love,

nen

x





christmas chocolate cupcakes and cranberry cookies.

phew, with that extensive example of alliteration out of the way let me begin this last post of 2012 by wishing you all a happy new year. i hope it is your best yet! this year has certainly had its ups and downs for me, but starting this blog and the enthusiastic response i've had has really carried me through so thank you all so much. especially now that the views have surpassed 1000 - thank you, thank you, thank you!

this last post reflects back on the christmas binge we're just emerging through (after one last night before the detoxing and dieting begins - for some at least!). i went to my ever trusted hummingbird Cake Days for the festive season, they have a whole section dedicated to christmas and it was almost impossible for me to decide what to bake!

back to making a mess in the kitchen - i'm sure my mum has missed me really!

my first choice was a cookie classic - white chocolate and cranberry. popular all year around, this flavour combination is a particular hit at christmas when we go crazed for cranberries! the recipe was simple to follow and resulted in some seriously scrummy cookies! when transferring them to the cooling rack one broke up which meant i just had to eat it while it was still hot and gooey - shame!

cranberries and white chocolate weighed out and ready to go

scrummy cookie dough coming together

folding in the cranberries and chocolate before baking

the finished result!





the second choice was guided by one of the popular gifts at christmas - the chocolate orange. these are ridiculously tasty - to get myself through my horrific project last term i scoffed a selection box! so when i saw the chocolate orange cupcake recipe i just had to give it a go. these made the house smell sooooooooo good and with a christmas cd on in the background helped me to get into the festive spirit. a small warning though - they are very rich so i have taken to serving them with a drizzle of cream (hey, tis the season of indulgence!) although as often happens the hummingbird frosting recipe makes a crazy amount so there is now a sizable bowl of chocolate orange frosting sat in my fridge - any takers?!

the mix that actually made it into the cakes ready to go

it looked like i was having a heston style dry ice moment when the icing sugar cloud erupted

my mum was in charge of icing these festive treats

so that's it from me in 2012. i hope you all have a fantastic night and a fabulous new year full of many baked treats!

love,
nen
x







classic cupcakes.

once again my apologies for the gap in posts - i spent a few days away with a few of my friends from university which was really lovely! however it does mean i've had this post brewing for a while and some photos that need sharing!

possibly my favourite thing to bake are classic vanilla cupcakes. as usual i follow the hummingbird recipe!

my bible!

this involves making a mixture like breadcrumbs with the dry ingredients and butter before slowly adding the milk and egg. my mum has a freestanding mixture so i had the excitement of using that!

i like to create a variety of sizes when making cupcakes - partly as an excuse to use different patterned cases! but i also think it looks nice on a stand or display when there is difference. i especially love making teeny tiny cakes!

these cases are so beautiful!

the best part of making cupcakes is the decorating! i always take a while to decide on my icing colour and decoration combination - of course taking into account the pattern/colours on the cases! (it's a very complex operation...) this time i went for blue and yellow and combined this with raspberry sherbet and hundreds and thousands respectively.

possibly my favourite thing ever - buttercream! 

blue with pink sherbet

yellow with hundreds and thousands

baby cakes with sugar butterflies

experimenting with different designs and looks is so much fun - i hope the girls in my house next year are prepared for becoming my new guinea pigs!

love,
nen
x