baking

Pumpkin loaf
12Oct

Pumpkin Loaf

I got a little too excited when I walked into the supermarket and saw the newly built mount of pumpkins of all sizes and shapes – especially all the shapes. So I bought one too many pumpkins, which gave me the perfect excuse to try to bake as much as I could with them! I immediately thought of baking a bread, much like a potato roll, but with puree made from roasted pumpkin, you will only use about a quarter of a small pumpkin to make this recipe, but it can be doubled. It took a couple attempts to get it right, adjusting for fat and sugar ratios, and the result was a super moreish loaf. I cut slices of the dough and lined them up in the tin before baking it as it meant you could pull apart the slices. It is best served fresh out of the oven but also great to make toast. Have your butter ready! Pumpkin loaf 200g roasted pumpkin 1 egg 70ml whole milk 50g butter, melted 500g strong flour 14g instant yeast 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp fennel seeds Olive oil to grease 1. Roast the pumpkin – I quartered
3 mins read
1871 Views
Marble chocolate cupcake
13May

chocolate marble cupcakes

What are we celebrating? Certainly *not* having a cold. Healing took a lot of Lempsip, saline spray, chocolate buttercream and sprinkles. Also binging on The Office. The marbled cupcake was a recipe I wanted to recreate as it brings me so many good memories. It was a favourite at my grandmother’s house. Hot, hazy afternoons with milky coffee and a slice of marbled bundt cake. This recipe seems long but it is very straightforward. The buttercream is vegan but you can substitute the plant based butter and milk with regular butter and milk. . Chocolate marble cupcakes (makes 12) 250g butter 220g caster sugar 3 eggs 220g plain flour 4 tbsp milk 1 tsp vanilla paste 1 ½ tsp baking powder 2 tbsp cocoa + 2 tbsp milk For the buttercream: 150g chocolate 60% cocoa solids, melted 250g Flora plant butter, softened 400g icing sugar 3 tbsp cocoa powder 50ml of oat milk . 1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line a muffin tin with paper cases. 2. Beat the butter and caster sugar together until the mixture is pale in colour. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 3. Add the flour, 4 tbsp
3 mins read
2300 Views
Speckled dairy free cake with vegan buttercream
01Apr

pistachio and orange cake

The air is filled with hope. This week, after a long lockdown restrictions have start to loosen and we can now meet friends and families outdoors. Our calendars have started to fill up with picnics in the sun, and most exciting is being able to celebrate Easter with out families over the long weekend. If you are in the UK you’ll know how excited people get when Cadbury’s Mini Eggs start appearing. Those little yellow bags full of addictive crunchy, chocolate-y balls. For me they are akin to a class A drug. And this orange and pistachio cake is my second favourite thing right now. I have made this recipe many, many times and tweaked to be now one of my go-to traybakes, delicious with buttercream or just runny icing. This cake mirrors the speckled shell of the mini eggs, and apart from them this cake is totally dairy free. I made the icing using Flora 100% plant base butter and I will go as far as saying that it tasted better than actual buttery buttercream. . Pistachio and orange cake (Serves 8-10 people) 6 oranges 6 medium eggs 375 caster sugar 1 tsp olive oil 250g plain flour 200g
4 mins read
2056 Views
Quindim - coconut baked custard
23Jul

Quindim

Best described as a coconut baked custard, this sweet is traditionally made in tiny molds and eaten in one bite. The perfect little snacks that you find in traditional bakeries in Brazil. I really wish I could have made more than 3 quindins but they were an accidental bake after having some leftover yolks and not knowing what to do with them. A problem you often face after making meringues. Next time you have extra yolks forget about curds and custards – make quindim. Quindim (serves 3) 1 tbsp butter, melted plus extra for greasing 6 egg yolks 100g caster sugar, plus extra for coating 100ml coconut milk 40g desiccated coconut 1. Heat oven to 180C. Rub 3 ramekins, about 100ml capacity liberally with the soft butter. Sprinkle with the caster sugar to coat. 2. Soak the coconut in coconut milk and leave it to rest for 10 minutes. Stir in sugar and let it rest for a couple of minutes. 3. Over a medium bowl sieve the egg yolks, perforating them, letting gravity make them run through the sieve.  Add melted butter to yolks. 4. Mix yolk and coconut mixtures with a hand whisk. Pour into ramekins and place in
2 mins read
1710 Views
Chocolate orange brioche rolls
07Jun

Chocolate orange brioche rolls

This recipe is a labour of love, with the dough needing to be prepared the night before. It is a recipe to be seriously considered, especially if you would like a different take on your average cinnamon roll. I always make this brioche recipe but for the rolls I have made an adaptation. At first glance it may seem like you have to jump through hoops to get this right, and the lengthy ingredient list looks daunting. But read the recipe once over before starting and it is not as difficult as it sounds. The result is a super pillowy, moreish bun. Chocolate orange brioche rolls 400g plain flour 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp caster sugar 7g fast-acting yeast 5 tbsp warm milk 2 eggs + 1 yolk, from large eggs 120g butter, at room temperature Filling: 60g butter, melted 3 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp cocoa powder 100g dark chocolate, grated Zest of 3 oranges, grated Glaze: 200g icing sugar 2 tbsp orange juice Method: 1. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar and the yeast. Whisk eggs, yolk and milk together. 2. Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture and add the egg
3 mins read
3067 Views
Cream puffs with cheesecake filling
03Jun

Cheesecake puffs

Choux pastry is quick to make but takes an attentive eye – and ideally not to be made on a 30 degree day. I attempted this recipe on the hottest day of the year so far and it was tough to get the right puff rise….and the piping for the cheesecake filling took a few runs to and from the fridge. But this dessert turned out like such a delicious treat, especially refreshing on a hot day. So I would urge you to try it! I have made choux pastry and profiteroles before but this time I wanted try something that would take a more generous filling. I immediately thought of cream puffs, which in my mind was a bigger, creamier version of the profiterole, its choux dainty cousin. But it turns out it was all lost in translation so what I actually baked were just super sized and super filled profiteroles. But how is that a bad thing, eh? Of course you don’t have to pipe the choux pastry as big as I did, but if you do prepare yourself to be licking your fingers and lips with cheesecake filling. That’s why I ate mine under the covers, by
3 mins read
2370 Views