Biscotti

I have never made Biscotti before, I have heard they are notoriously hard to make and I guess this put me off before. But on lockdown, apart from being with my boys 24/7, I have had a lot of time to look over recipes and decided I would give it a go because I love a biscotti, especially with a cup of coffee! I settled on a recipe by the King of bread himself - Paul Hollywood.This recipe is from his book "Bread". I decided to make two different batches so that if I messed up the first one I had a back up batch! I chose Pistachio & Cranberry for one and Chocolate, Orange and Almond for the other. I needn't have worried about them going wrong because both came out great - I did worry that my first dough was too sticky, Paul states that the dough "shouldn't be at all sticky", and I tried adding extra flour to no avail.But upon baking they turned out absolutely fine. I would say they are fairly simple to make, you just need to take it slowly and also set aside most of a morning or afternoon to make them but its worth it and I would definitely make them again! This recipe makes 1 batch but I have included the ingredients for both flavours. 

Ingredients

For the Biscotti Base...

250g Plain Flour (30g extra for chocolate biscotti)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
250g Caster Sugar
2-3 Eggs (beaten)

For Pistachio & Cranberry Flavour...

220g Shelled Pistachios
125g Dried Cranberries 
Finely Grated Zest of 1 Lemon

For Chocolate, Almond & Orange Flavour...

50g Dark Chocolate
135g Blanched Almonds
50g Chocolate Chips
Finely Grated Zest of 1 Orange
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

How To Make

1. Heat your oven to 140'c and line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl. Stir in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding more, you may not need all your egg. Continue until you have a firm dough, your dough should not be sticky. If you are making chocolate Biscotti add the extra flour now. 

2. Now add your chosen flavouring...

For Pistachio & Cranberry Biscotti, roughly chop the nuts and add everything to the biscotti dough. Mix by hand until everything is incorporated. 

For Chocolate, Orange & Almond, melt the chocolate and then cool until tepid. Roughly chop the almonds. Add the melted mixture to the biscotti dough and stir until evenly incorporated. Bring the mixture together to form a dough and then add the almonds, orange zest, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Mix with your hands until well combined.

3. Once you have added you flavourings, turn your biscotti dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently before dividing in half. 

4. Roll each piece of dough into a long log, about 4cm in diameter. Place both logs on the baking tray about 5cm apart. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

5. Leave the logs to cool on the tray for 10 minutes to allow the dough to firm up slightly and then transfer to a board. Cut the logs, on the diagonal, into 2-3cm thick slices. 

6. Place the slices, cut side up, back on the baking tray. return to the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the biscotti are are dry through to the middle, turning them over halfway through. 

7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Oven Scones

Ah the simple scone! Whether you believe it is jam first and then cream (me!) or cream and then jam, you just can't beat tucking into a freshly baked, warm out of the oven scone topped with sweet strawberry jam and a dollop of clotted cream...heaven! My sister is amazing at making scones and she uses this simple recipe from Good Housekeeping and it never fails. I recently got the nudge to make a batch by my friend Kirsty who, upon seeing a post on Facebook about how the Queen takes her scones, reminded me about how we were totally out voted at a Christmas meal by the our friends and other halves during a discussion about scones because they all say that it is cream first and the jam. Well it turns out Her Majesty agrees with Kirsty and I! Whoop! Anyway, I couldn't stop thinking about scones and, seeing as they are my Hubby's favourite too, I decided to make a double batch so were half plain and half were raisin and sultana. This recipe makes 8 scones.

Ingredients

8oz Self Raising Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
40g Butter (salted)
1/4 pint of Milk (plus extra to glaze)
50g Dried fruit - sultanas, raisins, currants etc (if doing fruit scones)

How To Make

1. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Rub the butter into the mixture so it resembles fine breadcrumbs. If doing fruit scones add your fruit now and stir through.

2. Stir through the milk, using a knife, to give a fairly soft dough. Gently roll out the dough, on a lightly floured surface, to about 2cm thick. Then cut out into rounds using a 6cm cutter. 

3. Place on a greased baking sheet and brush the top with some milk. Bake at 200'c for about 10 minutes until well risen and golden. Transfer to a rack to cool. 

4. Serve warm, split and filled with jam and clotted cream. 

Coconut Cake

I absolutely love coconut, I love the smell, the texture and the taste but coconut cakes can often be disappointingly dry. It was my Nan's 80th birthday last September and she was having a big family party at my Mum's and I was tasked with making her birthday cake. Her favourite cake is lemon, which I did for the bottom tier but her favourite smell and taste, like me, is coconut. So I really wanted to make a coconut cake for the top tier but one that was moist and flavoursome. After trialling many I finally struck gold on a website called "Sally's Baking Addiction" and found a recipe for the most delicious coconut cake, one that is moist, light and fluffy but equally packed a punch with coconut flavour - mainly down to the fact that it has 3 types of coconut based ingredient in it! It is really easy to make and worked well with my light coconut buttercream icing. My Nan absolutely loved her cake and so many people commented on how much they loved the coconut layer. Makes two 7 inch sponges.

Ingredients

275g Plain Flour

170g Butter

330g Granulated Sugar

2tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp Salt

240ml tinned Coconut Milk

5 Egg Whites

120g Sour Cream

2tsp Vanilla Extract

1tsp Coconut Extract

80g Desiccated Coconut

How To Make

1. Preheat the oven to 170'c and grease and base line two 7 inch cake tins. Sift together the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt into a bowl. 

2. In your mixer beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg whites,vanilla, coconut extract and sour cream. At this point the mixture will look curdled but don't panic! 

3. Then on a low speed gradually add the dry mixture and then the coconut milk. Lastly fold in the desiccated coconut and mix until well combined. 

4. Split the batter between the two tins and bake for 20-25 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to rest in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

5. I decorated my Nan's cake with a coconut buttercream, using coconut extract for flavour and tinted it a lavender colour. I then topped the cake with a white chocolate drip and then, in line with the pastel "vintage tea party" colour theme of the decorations, I topped the cake with homemade mini meringues, party rings, marshmallows, pink fudge pieces and wafers daisies and butterflies. 

Rainbow Cake

I have always loved the look of a Rainbow cake, when you cut that icing and inside are beautiful bright layers of sponge - its so pretty! For Christmas I got a set of rainbow cake tins and, after a few practise runs, my first project was to do a Paw Patrol themed cake for my youngest sons 2nd Birthday. I decided to do 6 layers, one for each characters colour, and used a simple vanilla sponge recipe as I didn't want to risk flavours tampering with the bright colours. When it comes to colouring the sponge I found it doesn't really fade during baking so whatever shade it is in your bowl will be the colour it comes out.Also don't use liquid food dye as you would have to add too much to get the right colour and then the sponge would be too wet. Use gel or paste colours. When the cake was cut I was so happy to see 6 bright layers of sponge revealed and I had one very happy little boy with his paw patrol birthday cake. This recipe will make a 6 layer 7 inch rainbow cake.

Ingredients

20oz Margerine
20oz Caster Sugar
10 Eggs
20oz Self Raising Flour
3tsp Vanilla Essence
3.5 tsp Baking Powder
3.5 tbsp Milk
Food colourings

How To Make

1. Preheat your oven to 180'c and then grease a baseline 6 tins.

2. Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a little flour each time. 

3. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder and then mix in the vanilla and milk. Split the mixture evenly between 6 bowls and then colour each one to the desired strength. I chose pink, yellow, blue, green, red and orange. 

4. Place into the prepared tins and bake for 20 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. 

5. Once the cake has completely cooled assemble the layers using buttercream between each layer. Once its assembled ice the outside however you wish. I covered mine with white fondant and then decorated with fondant paw prints and a spray that I also made myself. 

Good Old Vanilla Sponge

Vanilla sponge, the simplest and probably one of the most baked cakes! Everyone has their own recipe and this one is mine, passed down from my Mum and adapted slightly by me. I could bake this with my eyes shut I think and it makes a wonderful light, fluffy sponge every time! This is my go to sponge for birthday cakes, cupcakes and classic Victoria Sponge. This recipe makes two 7 inch round cakes or approximately 18 cupcakes or 24 fairy cakes. The pictures on here all used this recipe for the actual cake itself. You have Banana Split Cupcakes that I made yesterday, vanilla sponge with Banana Split flavour buttercream icing (icing sugar available from Sugar & Crumbs). A Salted Caramel Drip Cake that I made last year for my Husbands birthday, vanilla sponge with Salted Caramel Buttercream Icing (again Sugar & Crumbs), caramel drip and topped with homemade meringues, honeycomb, dark chocolate shards and popcorn. And also my Flower Topped Cake (my first attempt at my own flower-paste flowers) that I made for my Mum's birthday this year, a vanilla sponge cake topped with vanilla buttercream and homemade sugar paste flowers. 

Ingredients

6oz Self Raising Flour
6oz Caster Sugar
6oz Butter (I use Stork)
3 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder (if making cupcakes)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract (not essence!)

How To Make

1. Preheat your oven to 170'c and grease and line two 7 inch cake tins (or whatever size cake it is you're making).

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then, one at a time, beat in the eggs adding a tablespoon of flour with each egg to prevent the mixture curdling. 

3.Then fold in the rest of the flour, baking powder (if making cupcakes) and vanilla and once combined give the mixture a quick beat so its light and fluffy.  

4. Bake in the oven for about 20mins until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in its tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. 

Chocolate Cake

This recipe was given to me by my friend Becky Miles, who is an amazing baker and has her own cake business called Fondant & Frosting. I had been after a really moist, chocolately sponge cake recipe and so when she passed me this little gem I had to try it out! I did wonder at first if it was going to be worth it after buying all the ingredients but once I tried a slice I knew it was worth every penny! It's dark, rich, moist and oh so chocolatey! I now only ever make this recipe when making a chocolate sponge. The other perk of this recipe, apart from the amazing taste, is that it makes a lot of batter. This mixture normally gives me two deep 10 inch sponges and a loaf cake, or two deep 7 inch sponges and 2 loaf cakes or a tray of cupcakes. It freezes really well too and so the extra cakes are great for popping in the freezer for another day. Icing-wise anything goes, I have tried it with white chocolate buttercream, milk chocolate buttercream and also fondant - as you will see in the pictures below of my eldest sons birthday cake and also my sisters Giraffe birthday cake. But one of the best toppings - and a bit of a cheat - is spreading a loaf cake with Nutella and then letting my boys garnish it with sprinkles and smarties galore! 

Ingredients

325g Plain Flour
325g Butter (I use Stork)
325g 70% Cocoa Drak Chocolate
50ml Strong Coffee (I use Espresso)
1.5 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
475g Light Brown Soft Sugar
5 Eggs
284ml carton of Sour Cream

How to Make

1. Heat the oven to 160'c and grease and line your cake tins. Melt the butter and chocolate over a low heat and then add the vanilla and coffee and remove from the heat.

2. In a mixer combine together the bicarb, baking powder, flour and sugar. Beat the eggs and sour cream together and then add this to the dry mix.

3. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and stir together until smooth. Pour into the tins and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until firm and a skewer test comes out clean. 

4. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. 

S'Mores Cones

I can't remember exactly how this recipe came about... We had a family BBQ planned at our local woods for my cousins graduation and I was asked to do a pudding but it needed to be something easy to transport and that didn't require more than a cool bag to keep it chilled. I thought about toasting marshmallows but that to me wasn't a pudding, then I thought about S'mores and somehow I came up with my own version - S'mores cones! My eldest had great fun helping me stuff the cones with all the filling. These are so fun, simple and adaptable - you can use any fillings you like but I'd say you definitely need either marshmallows or chocolate (preferably both) for gooey-ness. They can also be made in advance and kept in the fridge until you're ready to BBQ them. Makes 10.

Ingredients

10 Waffle Cones 

10 Strawberries (quartered)

2 Bananas (sliced) 

100g White Chocolate Buttons

100g Milk Chocolate Buttons

100g Mini Marshmallows

How To Make

1. There is no strict rule for stuffing the cones here, simply stuff the cones with each of the ingredients. Approximately 1 strawberry (4 quarters), 2-3 slices of banana and 10g each of buttons and marshmallows. Make sure you push the filling all the way to the bottom and alternate which ones you put in so you've not got all strawberry at the bottom for example.

2. Once they are all stuffed, carefully wrap each one in foil and twist the top to seal the cone in. Store in the fridge until needed.

3. When you're ready to cook them, simply pop them on the BBQ (preferably on low, or in a cooler spot if using charcoal). Leave them on there for approximately 5-10 minutes, turning every so often. They are ready when the marshmallow is gooey and the buttons have melted (open the twist at the top to check).