7 Things for 2 Awards

A while back the lovely Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe presented me with two blog awards.

The Kreativ blogger award and the Beautiful Blogger award. Thanks Johanna! I have had the pleasure of receiving the Kreativ blogger award in the past, so I’m going to pass on the Beautiful Blogger award.

This requires me to list 7 random facts about myself before passing the award onto 7 other boggers.

Without further ado, here are the 7 facts about me (apologies in advance for my rantings, if anyone is offended by my views it was unintentional)

1) Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. Porridge, muesli, yoghurt, fruit, bagels, waffles, pancakes, muffins, toast, specialty breads and jams, granola, scrambled eggs, scones, toasted sandwiches etc etc. I love them all. It’s amazing what a wide variety of different food, tastes and texture you can have for one meal. They can be hot or cold, healthy or ridiculously indulgent. Even simple things like pouring hot milk on your cereal transforms it into a completely different breakfast experience. I normally eat quite a healthy breakfast, but the odd indulgent treat at weekends is great. I can’t understand people who miss breakfast or who eat exactly the same thing every day – yes have porridge every morning if you want but as least alter the toppings, add some fruit and cinnamon to it for a change – please!

2) Many people know that apples are one of my favourite fruits but recently I have switched my daily fruit of choice to be pears – they’ve got to be quite crisp though and eaten raw, whereas apples are good in any form.

3) I love going for long walks in the countryside but hate cycling. Walking is so relaxing and peaceful. You get to see and appreciate all the wonders of nature and can go by yourself or with a companion. Whereas cycling, to me, feel unnatural, you can’t really talk to other people while you are doing it and in the summer you get splattered with lots of little midges.

4) I’d rather be a little too hot than too cold in temperature.

5) My clothing seems to be going through a floral stage. The last three items of clothing I bought have all been covered with big prints of flowers. Not sure how this started as always used to avoid clothes like this.

6) I quite enjoy housework – ironing, hovering, washing up etc but find dusting a chore – not sure why.

7) I don’t like foods that taste too much of burnt caramel, I find it too intense and sweet. A little caramel is good, as a sauce or drizzle, but when its one of the main flavours I find it too overpowering. Hence I don’t like crème brulee or tarte tatin.

Hopefully you found those interesting and don’t think me completely crackers now. The 7 bloggers I wish to pass the award onto are:
Monica of Lick The Bowl Good – I ‘met’ Monica through The Cake Slice group and she is truly a master of creating delicious treats and cakes and has introduced me to some indulgent American bakes and pies

Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake – she has a fantastic variety of delicious fresh recipes but its her fabulous looking cookies and bundt cakes that always have me racing to the oven

Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen – a fellow cake, cookie and dessert lover. She is truly talented and are photos are stunning

Samantha of The Caked Crusader – a woman after my own heart, a true cake lover. She bakes wonderfully deep and satisfying cakes and organises the London Cupcake Challenges – which I fully intend going to myself one day soon!

Marie of The English Kitchen – has a wide range of tasty, fresh, healthy and indulgent recipes. Great mix of sweet and savoury dishes, ideal when I’m stuck for inspiration

Hilary of Let Her Bake Cake – a fellow baking enthusiast. Some divine recipes and beautiful photography

Chele of Chocolate Teapot – she is always ready with a kind comment and has a whole host of delicious recipes using fresh seasonal ingredients

Heart & Rugby Ball Sugar Cookies

I was having a sort out of my kitchen stuff and came across two brand new cookie cutters still in their little cellophane bags. Ah, yes… I had great plans for those cutters originally. Seeing them again I instantly wanted to bake something with them and realised its been months since I have baked a batch of crisp sugar cookies and enjoyed a bit of creative decorating, so I decided to do just that.

The two cutters consisted of a rugby ball and a large heart. Perfect, one for the guys and one for the girls. I used my go-to cut out cookie recipe which produces an easy to work with dough that bakes into crisp cookies which are ideal for decorating.

I coloured some fondant various shades of pink for the hearts and an assortment of colours for the rugby balls. I also cut out some mini hearts with the scrapes of leftover dough – no point wasting it. I actually think the mini hearts are the cutest.

Once the cookies were cool, I simply made some royal icing to stick the fondant to the cookies and then used some more to pipe on some detail. It’s amazing what a difference a few dots can make to the appearance of the cookies. I was quite chuffed with how they turned out and it was a really enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Just me in the kitchen, singing along to the radio and decorating cookies.

I’m sure I can’t be the only one with cookie cutters stashed away, just waiting to be used. Why not dig them out and get baking and decorating. You don’t have to use fondant and royal icing, they could be dipped in chocolate or sandwiched together with jam or ice cream instead. They would make great gifts when presented in little cellophane bags or even as name tags for all those birthday presents you have to buy or personalised place names for your table. If nothing else it will justify the purchase of those currently unused cookie cutters you bought 6 months back!

Cut Out Cookies

Ingredients
185g butter
225g caster sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
350g plain flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Make sure the butter is soft and cream it together with the sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat again.
Sift over the flour and then work the mixture into a dough using a wooden spoon and finally your hands to form a slightly sticky ball of dough.
Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until required.
Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough until around 3-4mm thick.
Cut out a variety of shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a 1-2cm gap between each one.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until just turning lightly golden brown.
Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool before decorating as you wish – chocolate dipped, topped with fondant, sprinkles, sandwiched together etc.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
I got 40 cookies of various shapes and sizes.

The Cake Slice May 2010: Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Almond Frosting

This month, The Cake Slice group decided we wanted a tall and exciting cake to welcome the start of the warmer weather and voted to bake a cake from last years cake book: Sky High Triple Layer Cakes. The cake in question was a delicious sounding three layers of lemon poppy seed cake, soaked in lemon syrup and frosted with almond infused cream cheese icing. As a lemon and almond lover, I knew before I even heated the oven that this cake was going to be a winner.

The cake was very quick to put together and produced a wonderfully light and creamy batter thanks to it being made solely with egg whites and lots of buttermilk. The poppy seeds looked very pretty scattered throughout the cake layers and added a little texture without being obviously crunchy or full of ‘bits’ as they are so teeny tiny.

The lemon syrup kept the layers lovely and moist and added a real lemon zing. Don’t be tempted to leave this stage out as it’s the syrup that adds most of the lemon flavour, the cake itself is quite subtlety lemony. The lemon syrup really brings it alive.

Almond cream cheese frosting. Mmmmmm it really was as good as it sounds. This was the best bit of the cake for me, normally I’m not a big frosting fan but this smooth and creamy frosting packed a real punch of almond flavour and worked so well with the zingy lemon and slight tanginess of the cream cheese. Just divine. I even kept the leftover frosting and ate it on bread – it really was that good!

I was also thrilled at how thick and creamy the frosting was, I’ve often attempted to make creamy cheese frosting in the past and had it collapse into a liquidly mess, but not this time – it was just perfect.

My only criticism of the cake is that because it was an egg white cake the layers were a very pale white colour and the poppy seeds gave it a bit of a grey appearance, but I’m nitpicking. I decorated the cake with a ring of toasted flaked almonds around the top edge. Simple yet effective.

Overall I loved the combination of lemon and poppy seed, but it is the almond cream cheese frosting that made this cake for me. Click here to see my fellow Cake Slice bakers and their cakes.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Almond Frosting
(Recipe from Sky High Irresistible Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne)

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
360g plain flour
300g caster sugar (I only used 200g)
4½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp poppy seeds
200g unsalted butter
1 large lemon, zest only
275ml buttermilk
5 egg whites
Poppy seeds or flaked almonds to decorate

Lemon Syrup
100g caster sugar
75ml water
1 lemon, juice only

Almond Frosting (I only used two-thirds of this)
225g cream cheese
200g unsalted butter
600g icing sugar
1 tbsp almond extract

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease three 8 inch cake pans and line the bases with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix gently to combine.
Add the butter, lemon zest and 200ml of buttermilk to the flour. Beat on low until completely mixed. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1-2 minutes until lighter in colour.
In a medium bowl, combine the egg whites with the remaining 75ml buttermilk, whisk to blend thoroughly. Add the egg white mixture to the batter in 2-3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only enough to incorporate the mix. Divide the batter between the three pans.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out. While the cake layers are cooling, make the lemon syrup.

Lemon Syrup
In a small pan combine the sugar, water and lemon juice. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Generously brush the cakes with the lemon syrup while they are still warm. Then allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, about a quarter at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the almond extract and then continue to beat well for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

To complete the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate and spread about a fifth of the frosting over the cake to cover evenly. Repeat with the second layer and place the third layer on top. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Garnish with your choice of flaked almonds or poppy seeds.
Makes 1 x 8inch triple layer cake. Serves 12-16

Light Rye Sourdough Bread

Sorry I have been absent for a while but my last 10 days have been very hectic. Each night I told myself ‘I will write a post tomorrow’ and yet by the time I went to bed again I still hadn’t managed it. Yesterday I actually had a free day and got to relax and decided that some therapeutic, slow rising, bread baking was in order.

One of my favourite breads is sourdough and another is rye. I just love their depth of flavour, thick chewy crusts and wholesomeness. Being able to make my own sourdough, using a starter made from scratch is something I have longed to do for a long time. I did attempt to make a sourdough a few months back but I neglected it and it failed, however for the last three weeks I have been nursing a new batch of sourdough and yesterday seemed like the perfect time to give it its first test run.

The first week of a sourdough starter does require a bit of work, you have to remember to feed it every day, but after this it only need tending to once a week which is much easier to manage. I found having a specific day to feed the starter helped me remember it.

During its resting times in between its weekly feeds it tends to separate a little as the natural yeasts and flours work their magic. It develops a dark sort of skin on top and some murky liquid underneath which is on top of the gummy flour mixture. The first time I saw this I was rather alarmed, but just give it a bit of a stir and feed it with the flour and water mix and it is perfectly alright. The little bubbles that appear on the surface let you know it’s alive and happy.

My sourdough is what’s known as 100% hydration starter. This means it contains an equal quantity of water and flour. I find this the easiest one to work with when attempting to turn it into bread.

Anyway, onto the bread. As the only yeast used in the bread is the one naturally occurring in the sourdough starter, the bread will need long slow rising compared to if additional yeast was added. This is not a problem if you have a day a home to give it the odd knead and it’s actually very therapeutic and enjoyable to see it grow and develop before your eyes.

The resulting bread is completely worth the effort! It was amazing! The best loaf of bread I have ever made. A great flavoured thick crust, a soft light crumb and divine aroma. It was good enough to rival that of any bakery bought bread. I also proved it in a well floured bread basket which helped give it an authentic slashed pattern on top. I was so proud of it.

If I’m being critical, it wasn’t quite as sour as I would have liked, but as my starter is still very young, I am sure it will get more sour as the starter matures. I’m definitely going to be baking plenty more things with it in the future so I’m sure I will find out. You don’t have to limit the use of the starter to just loaves of bread either; it can also be used for pizzas, waffles or cinnamon buns etc.

Light Rye Sourdough Starter – 100% hydration

Day 1 – 100ml water, 50g white bread flour, 50g rye flour
Day 2 – 100ml water, 75g white bread flour, 25g rye flour
Day 3 – 100ml water, 75g white bread flour, 25g rye flour
Day 4 – 100ml water, 75g white bread flour, 25g rye flour

Every week – 50ml water, 50g white bread flour OR rye flour

Method
Day 1: Mix the water and flour together in a large bowl and leave it a warm place for 24 hours.
Day 2: There should be a few bubbles visible. Mix in more of the water and flours. Return to a warm place for a further 24 hours.
Day 3: There should be some bubbles and the starter may look a little separated, this is fine, just mix in water and flour as before and leave for another 24 hours.
Day 4: Repeat as for day 3 and leave for a final 24 hours.
Day 5: By this time your starter should be well on its way. It can now be covered with clingfilm and kept in the fridge. Leave for at least another week before attempting to bake with it.

Every week, even if not using, you need to remove the starter from the fridge and feed it with 50ml of water and 50g of white or rye flour. I like to use white and rye flours each alternative week. This keeps the starter alive and keeps a good light rye flavour.

After a week the starter will probably have developed a slight skin on the surface with a murky pool of liquid underneath and then a gooey mixture at the bottom. Don’t be alarmed, this is perfectly normal. Just give it a stir and feed it and it will be quite happy.

When used for baking, add 100ml water and 100g flour to the starter to help it maintain its bulk. When stored like this and fed regularly starters can literally be kept and used for decades. The longer they are kept, the more the flavour they develop and the moister and more sour your resulting bread.


Light Rye Sourdough Bread

400g white bread flour
100g rye flour
300ml lukewarm water
180g sourdough starter – 100% hydration
10g salt

Method
In a large bowl combine the flours, water and starter together (don’t add the salt!) Mix for 2-3 minutes until combined, it will be quite sticky. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, add the salt and knead in well. Continue to knead for 3-4 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and a little less sticky. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm again. Leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hour.
Knock back the dough and fold it from the corners into the centre, turn it over and repeat the folding process twice more. Then recover and leave for a further hour before repeating the process.
Generously dust a bread basket or shallow bowl. Shape the dough into a round ball and place into the floured basket. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 1½ to 2 hours until risen.
Preheat the oven to 245C and place a sturdy baking tray in the oven to heat up. Fill a shallow tray with water and place in the bottom of the oven to create a damp steamy atmosphere in the oven.
Once the bread has risen, quickly remove the baking tray from the oven and invert the bread out of the basket and onto the tray. Do not attempt to move it once on the tray.
Place the dough into the oven and reduce the temperature to 230C. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove the shallow tray of water from the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes. Then prop the door open slightly using a wooden spoon and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the bread is a deep golden colour with a crisp crust. (The steaming helps develop a thick chewy crust, the dry heat helps it brown and the bit of air towards the end makes it lovely and crispy).
Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before slicing.

Makes one large loaf. Keep well for 4-5 days.

Rhubarb & Rosewater Breakfast Sundae

I made this for breakfast this morning and just had to share it with you. It was a spur of the moment thing, well sort of. I had made the roasted rhubarb the night before and left it in a bowl in the fridge. I find roasted rhubarb much better than stewing it as it retains its shape and texture. I love all the different colours too. Pearly pinks, pastel greens and dark ruby reds. I didn’t have any real intentions for it apart from using on top of porridge, spooned over some leftover cake or with a bit of ice cream for dessert.

When I woke up this morning, it was still very early but I got up anyway and opened my curtains and was greeted by a stunning morning sunrise. The sky was mottled pink and yellow and the sun was just peeping over the trees and glowing a deep golden orange. I couldn’t help but smile.

In the kitchen I remembered the roasted rhubarb I had made the night before and opened the fridge in search of breakfast inspiration. Porridge just wasn’t going to cut it on such a bright and sunny morning. My eyes settled on some fromage frais and I decided that rhubarb, fromage frais on some cereal sounded nice, but as I gathered together the ingredients my mind got to work and I detoured away from the bowl cupboard and towards the glasses – the idea for a breakfast sundae was forming and in my head it looked delicious.

I started off with a generous spoonful of the rhubarb. I adore its pretty pink colour, just stunning. I had roasted it in the oven with just a scattering of sugar and then stirred through some rosewater to give it a lovely summery floral note. Rosewater may sound an odd ingredient to add, but to me the rhubarbs shiny pink juices and its sweet tangy flavour just seemed the perfect combination to the rosewaters musky fragrance. It certainly smelt heavenly, the colour and aroma of summer.

Next I added a layer of fromage frais and a generous scattering of muesli before repeating the steps until I had my layered rhubarb and rosewater scented breakfast sundae!

As the rhubarb was already prepared putting it all together was the work of moments. It was one of the tastiest breakfasts I’ve had in ages. I like my rhubarb quite tangy so I hadn’t added too much sugar during cooking meaning it was soft and tangy, the rose sweeping in with a subtle floral perfume before the cool milky fromage frais soothed the taste buds ready for the next spoonful. The muesli added a lovely texture, some mouthfuls crispy, others complemented with a chewy raisin or a toasted hazelnut. A most delicious and tranquil way to start the day.

Rhubarb & Rosewater Breakfast Sundae

Ingredients
4 tbsp roasted rhubarb & rosewater (see below)
4 tbsp fromage frais or Greek yoghurt
3 tbsp muesli

For the Rhubarb
8 sticks of rhubarb
6 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp rosewater

Method – Roasted Rhubarb
Heat the oven to 170C.
Discard the leaves from the rhubarb before chopping it into 2cm long chunks. Place into a deep baking tray and scatter over the sugar. Mix gently to allow the sugar to coat the rhubarb.
Bake for 15 minutes until soft, tender and some sweet sticky juices have been released. Gently stir through the rosewater and allow to cool in the pan before using. Store in a bowl in the fridge until required.
Will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Note: this will yield more rhubarb than you need for the sundae, but leftovers are great on cereal, porridge, desserts, cake, with custard or ice cream etc.

Breakfast Sundae

Have ready 4 tablespoons of your rose scented rhubarb and some of the juices into a small bowl.
Place a third of the rhubarb into the base of a tall glass and drizzle with a little of the juices. Cover with a third of the fromage frais or yoghurt and half the amount (a generous scattering) of your favourite muesli or granola. Top with another third of rhubarb, more yoghurt and the remaining half of the muesli.
Finish with the final spoonful of yoghurt and the last few chunks of rhubarb and its pink juices.
Eat with a tall spoon and enjoy a fresh, fragrant and tasty start to your day.

Doughnuts

Recently I did something I have never done before but always longed to – I made doughnuts! Normally I am not a doughnut person. I don’t particularly enjoy the taste of cold greasy dough, crystallised sugar and meagre fillings you often get from shop bought doughnuts, however, freshly made still-hot-from-the-pan doughnuts – now those are entirely different. A warm freshly baked doughnut is divine!

When I was younger and used to catch the bus back from school which involved catching two buses. I had to change buses in town and often had a 20 minute wait for the connecting bus to arrive. Rather than sit in the bus station I used to wander off around the town. In the winter months there used to be a mobile dinky doughnut stand run by a little Italian woman. The smell of hot frying doughnuts was so inviting on a cold day and so, couple of times a month, I used to give in and buy a little bag of dinky doughnuts. You had to wait while they were baked fresh in front of you before being generously dusted in sugar and handed over in a little paper bag. Eating those little warm fried doughnuts paid for with my pocket money used to be such an indulgent and comforting experience. The Italian woman who ran it was very talkative and I soon learnt that if you talked with her and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ she used to give you an extra doughnut for free! It may only have been a mobile stand in the town centre but she was the woman who showed me how a good doughnut should taste and shop bought ones have never compared.

I forgot about the lady and her dinky doughnuts for a few years until recently when I was out in London exploring and smelt the smell of frying doughnuts again and it made me hanker after some freshly baked doughnuts once more. This time I knew I had to try making them myself. These doughnuts are the results and they certainly satisfied my doughnut craving.

I made three different types. Large doughnuts filled with strawberry jam and nutella (not together), ring doughnuts dusted in plain sugar and doughnut holes coated in cinnamon spiced sugar. My favourites were the doughnut holes – the perfect little doughy bites and of course I can’t resist anything with cinnamon.

I used a new gadget for filling the large doughnuts, it’s a food syringe! It worked for the jam but the nutella was rather too thick to pipe properly – messy but fun. I loved biting into one of the big doughnuts and seeing a generous pool of jam seep out. The nice thing about making them yourself is that you can fill or flavour them any way you choose, curd, jam, cream, fruit, custard? Icing, chocolate, sugar or sprinkles on top?

It was so rewarding seeing them bob about and puff up in the hot oil. Once sugar dusted they had a paper thin golden crispy exterior and a springy doughy centre. Best enjoyed while still warm.

Doughnuts

Ingredients
15g fresh yeast
100ml milk
45ml water
1 egg
300g plain flour
Approximately 500-700ml oil for frying

Dusting Sugar
Cinnamon sugar - 60g caster sugar & 1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed
100g plain icing sugar or caster sugar

Fillings
Lemon curd, Strawberry jam, Nutella etc

Method
Warm the milk and water together until warm to the touch but not hot. Crumble in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the flour and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Whisk the egg with a fork to combine the yolk and white and then pour over the flour followed by the yeasty liquid mixture.
Use your fingers to bring the mixture together to form a sticky dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until well combined, smooth and elastic.
Lightly grease a bowl, place the dough into the bowl and cover the top with clingfilm. Leave it a warm place until tripled in bulk, about 1½ hours.
Once proved, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out until half an inch/1.5cm thick. Cut out large rounds, rings or small balls of dough in your desired doughnut shape. (If you make ring doughnuts, don’t discard the middles, they make great doughnut holes when fried).
Lay the doughnuts on lightly floured baking trays and leave to prove for 15 minutes while you heat the oil.
Heat 2inch/5cm oil in a large deep pan until it reaches around 180C. If you don’t have a thermometer, drop a little piece of bread into the oil and if it turns brown in 30-60 seconds then it’s ready. Whatever you do, DO NOT WALK AWAY and leave the oil.
Carefully drop the doughnuts into the hot oil in batches – no more than three large doughnuts at a time. They should float to the top when ready to be flipped over, do this using a large metal spoon and allow to fry for one minute more until golden brown.
Remove the doughnuts from the oil using a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper to drain.
While the next batch are frying, toss the doughnuts in the plain or cinnamon sugar. Fill any large doughnuts with jam, curd or chocolate of your choice with the help of a food syringe or piping bag.
Eat and enjoy while fresh and preferably still warm.
Makes 10-15 doughnuts depending on size.

Tip: Have the sugars ready in zip-lock sandwich bags. This way you can add the hot doughnuts and shake them easily without getting sugar everywhere.

Daring Bakers April 2010: Traditional Steamed Suet Pudding – Spotted Dick

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Suet puddings are typically British and for many years have been a highly popular feature on many a households and restaurants menu. Unfortunately they have become less popular in recent years, but they do seem to be starting to creep back onto menus as a revival of old British classic dishes are starting to become fashionable again. Suet puddings in the UK can be sweet or savory. Savory suet puddings often involve the suet being made into a type of pastry which is used to line a pudding basin before being filled with a meaty stew and steamed, for example, the very English Steak & Kidney Pudding. A sweet version can also be made in this way, such as a Sussex Pond Pudding, which involves a whole lemon being backed inside a suet crust. However, more commonly sweet suet puddings resemble steamed sponge puddings, where the suet replaces the butter in the recipe and the puddings are steamed in a pudding basin.

Suet comes in the form of little white pellets and is similar to lard – but for Vegetarians, such as myself, there is now a vegetable fat alternative, much more appealing, particularly in a sweet pudding. Suet melts at very low temperatures meaning it easily melts into the puddings resulting in a very moist textured sponge, even more so when the pudding is traditionally steamed rather than baked. They are naturally denser than a normal sponge pudding – but we Brits are rather fond of our stodgy puddings, particularly when topped off with lashings of custard!

You must remember that suet puddings have been around for over a hundred years and in times of no central heating people often relied on foods such as this to see them through cold hard winters. Suet is also a cheap ingredient and even the sweet puddings contain no butter, eggs and very little sugar meaning they made cheap meals on which to feed your family, so before you go turning your noses up, stop and think about their history!

For this months Daring Bakers challenge we were allowed to chose between sweet or savory suet puddings and also what type of suet pudding to make. I was delighted by this and unsurprisingly decided to go the sweet suet sponge route. I knew instantly what classic traditional British suet pudding I wanted to make – Spotted Dick!

Oy! You in the corner, stop sniggering! There is nothing to smirk over – Spotted Dick has been a great British classic pudding for well over a century! It’s been around long before any sexual connotations could be related to it – it was a purer and more innocent age. For anyone who doesn’t know, Spotted Dick is a steamed suet pudding containing currants and a little spice, served hot and always religiously accompanied by lashings of custard. ‘Spotted’ refers to the currants which are studded throughout the light coloured sponge and ‘Dick’ is through to be derived from the word for dough. The first documented recording of Spotted Dick appeared in the recipe book The Modern Housewife, dating back to 1850! So you see it really is part of our heritage and something your granny and generations before her have undoubtedly been tucking into.

In the last 10 years the name Spotted Dick has come under scrutiny due to childish and immature people finding its name highly embarrassing, childishly humorous or even “impure” due to the sexual connotations the modern word has linked to the word ‘Dick.’ Rather than smile and brush the silly remarks aside, some companies have felt the need to change the name of our great British pud. From 2001 – 2009 various groups including Gloucestershire NHS Trust, Flintshire County Council, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have renamed Spotted Dick as Spotted Richard (as Dick can be short for Richard when referring to a persons name) or even demoted it completely and labeled it simply Sultana Sponge, which personally I think it outrageous!!! This is wrong on so many levels, not only does it make us appear ashamed of our heritage and loose the puddings very identity, but to call it Sultana Sponge makes it sound very drab and ordinary – plus it should contain currants not sultanas! Thankfully thousands of other people agreed that this was political correctness gone made and most puddings have now been restored to their rightful titles. We should be proud and protective of our puddings and food heritage, not bow to the occasional immature remark. Ok, rant and history lesson over – onto the actual pudding!

The puddings were incredibly quick and easy to put together. All that’s required is a bowl and a wooden spoon and in a matter of minutes your puds are ready for the steamer. The recipe I used came from an old Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine and was one of the most authentic ones I could find – most of the modern recipes I found didn’t even use suet. This recipe has been updated slightly as it also includes a little diced Bramley apple – but as this is a very traditional English ingredient I was happy to use it. The thing I liked about the recipe was how it didn’t use any butter or eggs and very little sugar – these used to be very expensive ingredients and so were used sparingly. The pudding gets most of its sweetness from the currants and uses milk to mix the pudding together. A little lemon zest and mixed spice are added for flavour but it’s a remarkably simple pudding considering it tastes so good.

I decided to make my puddings in individual pudding moulds rather than a large basin for ease of serving. They puddings are placed into a shallow pan of simmering water and left to steam for 1½ - 2hours and then they are done. Simply turn them out, douse in liberal amounts of thick custard and enjoy a taste of English history. Very moist and tender, lightly sweet with little bursts of chewy fruitiness in every bite. They are quite dense and filling, but no more than bread pudding and they should be light enough not to feel like a brick in your stomach! Always enjoy piping hot with pools of creamy custard. Apologies if anyone thinks I have been getting overly passionate about a pudding, but I think it’s important not to forget our old fashioned puddings and cooking techniques. Long live Spotted Dick I say – a delicious slice of our traditional English heritage – a pud to be proud of.

P.S. Make it next time your grandmother comes for a visit – She’ll love it! Click to see how my fellow Daring Bakers dealt with their suet puddings.

Steamed Spotted Dick with Bramley Apple
(Recipe courtesy of Waitrose)

Ingredients
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp mixed spice
75g vegetable suet
50g light brown sugar
75g currants
1 small Bramley apple
½ lemon, zest only
150ml milk

To Serve
Lashing of custard

Method
Place a large pan filled with 1 inch of water on the hob and bring to a simmer.
Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a bowl. Stir in the currants, suet and sugar. Peel, core and finely dice the Bramley apple. Add to the mix along with the grated zest of ½ lemon.
Pour over the milk and use a wooden spoon to mix it all into a thick lumpy batter.
Divide the mix between 6 individual pudding basins or 1 large 1.2litre basin.
Cover the top of each pudding with a layer of greaseproof paper and cover tightly with foil.
Place the puddings into the pan of simmering water, ensuring the water does not come more than half way up the sides of the basins. Cover with a lid and leave to gently simmer for 1½ hours for individual puddings, or 2½ hours for a large one.
Remove from the pan and peel off the foil and greaseproof paper (they will be moist and a little sticky to touch).
Run a knife around the edge of the puddings and invert out into a bowl.
Serve immediately with lashings of hot custard.
Makes 6 individual or 1 large Spotted Dick
Any leftover puddings can be reheated for a few seconds in the microwave the following day.

Happy Birthday To Me!

These are some coffee pecan cupcakes made in preparation of my birthday today. My family are taking me out for lunch at a Vegetarian Indian restaurant to celebrate, well I might be partly dragging them with me as they are not veggies. I love Indian food so I can’t wait to go to a restaurant where I can eat everything on the menu!

The weather is meant to be glorious today too. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

The Cake Slice April 2010: Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

When April’s winning cake was announced I was happy but not overly excited. Banana cake with chocolate frosting… sounds nice but pretty standard. The banana cake didn’t even have any nuts, chocolate chips or spices in it, so I was feeling rather nonplussed when I set about making this cake. All that changed when it came to tasting it though.

I didn’t want a large cake this month and so I halved the recipe and baked it in my latest baking tin purchase – do you know what one of these is?

It’s an éclair tin! Apparently you pipe the choux pastry into the tin and end up with perfectly shaped éclairs. However, me being me didn’t buy it to make éclairs – I bought it with the sole intention of using it to bake interesting shaped cakes! This month’s recipe was the perfect excuse to try it out and half the recipe filled the moulds perfectly.

The banana batter baked up lovely and springy and pleasingly golden brown. I could tell before they were even finished baking that I was on to a winner. I tasted a little of the raw mix and it was very light and creamy and obviously banana flavoured. I hate cakes that claim to be banana but have only the merest hint of banana, not so with this mix. If anything the lack of extra additions, that I was grumpy about earlier, actually let the banana shine through and be the star of the show.

I loved the shape of the cakes once they had finished baking, each one the perfect one person portion but much more interesting than a regular cupcake or loaf pan shape.

My frosting gave me a few problems. It was meant to be thick and spreadable but even after letting it cool it was still quite sticky and gooey. I tried spreading it as a middle layer inside one of the cakes but this just made it slide around and so I decided against doing a middle layer and instead used the frosting to coat the entire top and sides of the cakes. This worked well and the frosting actually set into a thick chocolate coating glaze.

In order to jazz them up a bit I melted some white chocolate and did a few arty drizzles over the top which I think makes them look much more elegant and rather like éclairs – only much more tasty in my book.

The flavour of the cake was wonderful. Very intensely banana with the sweet chocolate frosting being a perfect contrast. It wasn’t too thick or rich and provided a great outer shell to the sponge and helped keep them moist. The sponge itself was very light and springy and incredibly moist thanks to the use of buttermilk in the cake. So what started out as potentially being a bit of a plain Jane, turned into an unexpectedly delicious cake. Hurrah!

Click to see my fellow Cake Slice Bakers.
Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting
(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Banana Cake
240g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
150g butter, softened
300g caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
110ml buttermilk*
300g mashed ripe banana

Chocolate Frosting
100g butter
40g cocoa powder
85ml evaporated milk or normal milk
500g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

* If you don’t have buttermilk you can make your own by stirring 1½ teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice into 110ml of milk and leaving for 10 minutes.

Banana Cake

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to combine well.
In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat well, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then the vanilla. Beat well for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally until you have a smooth batter.
Using a large spoon, stir in half the flour just until it disappears into the batter. Stir in the buttermilk and then the remaining flour the same way. Quickly and gently fold in the mashed banana and then divide the batter between the 2 cake pans.
Bake at 180C for 25 to 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Cool for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks. Then turn out onto the racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

Combine the butter, cocoa and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes, until the cocoa dissolves into a dark shiny essence. Remove from the heat and stir in the icing sugar and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at low speed until you have a thick smooth frosting.

To Assemble

Place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate and spread about a third of frosting evenly over the top. Cover with the second layer placed top side up. Spread the rest of the frosting evenly first over the sides and then covering the top of the cake.

Makes 1 x 9inch cake. Serves 10-12