"Carry on Baking"

Hello folks,

We want to start by saying that we are so sorry that the blog has been rather neglected of late!  We have been very busy bees setting up and running our new market stall, 'Carry on Baking' in Horsham Carfax on a Saturday.

If you've been to see us......THANK YOU!

What do you think of our Market Banner?  We love it, thanks so much to Jill Spratt (@jillspratt) who found us on Facebook and designed it for us!

Our first Market day was the 27th October and there was a Halloween theme!  We are really enjoying the market experience,  we even got right in the swing of it with some 'market banter shouting' at the end of this Saturday...."come and grab a last minute tasty bargain!" etc...

We have been overwhelmed by how many lovely people have come to see us, and buy some of our goodies (some people even want photos, which is lovely)!  We have been very lucky with out local press too, who have sent lots of people our way!

Below is a link to a little vid of us on our first week!!!
http://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/videos-and-slideshows/tv-bake-off-stars-team-up-to-run-market-stall-1-4426151

"Market Mayhem"

Needless to say there is masses of baking involved, we want everything to be fresh, tasty and baked by us.  This means that we plan what we'll bake at the start of the week but only start baking late Thursday...and finish late Friday/early Saturday!!!  it's a baking marathon!!!

We plan to pull our baking socks up and start posting some of our market stall recipes here soon.

Here is an idea of what we've been baking for the stall...

Week one: Halloween

Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin goats cheese and sage pies, toffee apple cookies, Gruyere ghosts, chocolate witches cat biscuits, spiced bundt cake, scarily spicy cheese and chipotle scones, frighteningly fruity flapjack (mango,chewy banana and coconut), jammy eyeballs!!!

Week two: Bonfire night

'Cathryn' wheel biscuits, white chocolate and cranberry tiffin, rocky road bars, toffee pear cake, caramel apple loaf (gluten free), 'Sarah-Jane' cheese stars, cheese potato and chorizo pasties, chocolate honeycomb cake, bonfire buns, toffee apples, grannies sticky gingerbread

Week three: Autumn

brie cranberry thyme tartletts, apple frangipan tartletts, coffee and walnut cake, snickers cookie sandwiches, cheese and chive biscuits, apple cake with honey frosting, banana White chocolate and coconut loaf, chocolate chestnut torte, roasted hazelnut teaser bars,

Come and see us!!!

Recipes to follow soon

SJ and C

xxx

I torte you may like this recipe!

It's Chocolate Week and to celebrate this I made a chocolate torte.  Hazelnut is currently one of my fav' flavours, and it goes well with chocolate so i decided to make them into a rich, dark and moist torte.

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Rum Torte

9 inch Spring form tin

Ingredients

For the Torte
250g blanched hazelnuts
200g caster sugar
100g good quality milk chocolate
100g good quality dark chocolate
6 large free range eggs (separated and at room temp)
50g unsalted butter

For the Ganache
80ml double cream
2 tablespoons spiced rum
100g dark chocolate

To decorate
50g milk choc
a disposable piping bag, and cocktail stick
and caramel covered hazelnuts (optional)

-preheat the oven to 160c
-butter your tin, line the base with a circle of baking paper, and coat the sides with sugar (pour a little in, tip on it's side over a bowl -to catch unused sugar- and twist the tin like a steering wheel)

 -start on the torte, pop the hazelnuts in the food processor and blitz until as fine as possible (but avoid, over-blitzing as it becomes claggy and clumpy)

-tip out onto kitchen towel and set aside
-melt the chocolate and butter over a bowl of simmering water remove from the heat and allow to cool
-put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat until very light, pale and thick.  it should falls from the whisk in what looks like ribbons
-in a separate (extra clean) bowl, beat the egg whites until firm peaks
-fold the nuts through the egg yolk mixture with a large metal spoon
-then fold through the melted chocolate in the same way
-finally fold the whites through this mixture a third at a time
-pour into the tin and bake for 40-45mins(ish), test with a skewer in the middle of the torte and it should come out clean
-leave it in the tin for 10mins then turn out onto a wire rack to cool
-when the torte is cool, make the ganache, and melt the milk chocolate-(over a pan of water again)
-chop the dark chocolate very finely and pop in a bowl
-in a pan heat the cream and rum to boiling point and pour over the dark choc, leave it to malt the chocolate and the whisk together until smooth and shiny
-fill a disposable piping bag with the melted milk chocolate and snip of the end
-put the cool torte on a plate or stand
-spread the ganache over the top (well actually bottom, which is now the top..if that makes sense) of the torte and smooth
-pipe equally spaced lines of milk chocolate over the top in one direction
-use a cocktail stick and carefully drag it in lines again across the top at 90degrees to those just piped
-then if desired back the other way in between the pretty pattern just created

-add extra chocolate, or hazelnuts if desired to add to the decoration

this makes a lovely dessert at a dinner party and is nicec served with a dollop of creme fraiche to cut through the richness

Enjoy....

Yummy!

C

x

Late night Raspberry and White Chocolate loaf cakes

<3 Little Loaves <3

This is a recipe for 10 little raspberry and white choc loaf cakes with (what I am calling) a raspberry cream cheese glaze.  The reason for calling them 'late night' is because after a late evening shift I fancied a spot of baking....and here were the results.....

For these I used 10 cute little brown card loaf cases which I bought for £2.99 in Sainsburys,  they are really good but you could use this recipe as one large loaf if preferred.

Ingredients

For the Cake
8oz self raising flour
8oz soft unsalted butter
8oz caster sugar
4 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of baking powder
100g white chocolate (cut into chunks)
75g fresh raspberries
squeeze of  lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon icing sugar

For the Glaze/icing
100g full fat cream cheese
1 tablespoon strained raspberry jam
100g icing sugar

To decorate (optional)
75g white chocolate chips
sprinkle of freeze dried raspberry powder (I buy this online from Healthy supplies)

-preheat the oven to 170
-firstly in a small bowl mash the raspberries with the icing sugar an dash of lemon juice, set aside
-cream together the sugar, butter and vanilla until very pale, light and fluffy
-beat the eggs in a small bowl and add slowly into the butter/sugar mix (alternate with a spoonful of flour if it looks like it may curdle)
-sift in the flour and baking powder and mix to combine
-then fold through the raspberry pulp and chopped white chocolate to create a ripple effect
-I popped this into a large disposable piping bag and cut a large hole in the end and piped it into the cases (which were already on a baking tray) for ease, but you could simply spoon it in if you like
-bake for around 35mins until golden brown and springy to the touch
-the mixture has a lot of liquid in it due to the raspberries which makes the finished cakes lovely and moist, but it does mean they sink a wee bit in the middle as they cool so don't worry about this if it happens (it did to me anyway)
-whilst they cool, make the icing/glaze by putting the seedless/strained jam in a bowl and mixing until looser and smooth, then add the cream cheese and icing sugar and stir to combine
-pour this onto the cooled loaves and decorate if you want to

Enjoy <3

x



Mince Pies

There are only 80 days until Christmas so you'll have to forgive me for posting this festive recipe!

Cherry, Almond and Orange deep filled mince pies

you will need:


three pastry cutter, one for the base, one for Marzipan and one for the lid

-3 cutters
-rolling pin
-pastry brush
-food processor *should you want to -use it to make your pastry like i did!
-a 12 hole lightly greased muffin tin

Ingredients

for the mincemeat mix 
1 small jar of either shop bought or homemade mincemeat
100g chopped toasted Almonds
100g soured cherries
2 tablespoons Cherry Brandy or Amaretto
a few drops of almond extract
the grated zest of 1/2 an orange

For the pastry

350g Plain flour

200g cold unsalted butter (in cubes)
2 heaped tablespoons caster sugar

1 large free range egg

zest and juice of 1/2 an orange

tiny pinch of salt

200g Marzipan, shop bought or homemade is fine

To glaze

1 Beaten Egg

caster sugar for sprinkling

Begin by mixing together all the mincemeat ingredients

-this should be done as much in advance as possible to allow the flavours to combine and get extra yummy!

Preheat the oven to 190c

To make the Pastry...

-put the flour, sugar, butter, salt and zest in the food processor, pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

-then beat your egg in a small jug and squeeze in the orange juice.  with the processor running slowly pour this in until the dough just comes together

-tip this onto the work top,and bring together to form a disc, wrap in cling and chill for at least 30mins

-when the pastry is cold cut off 2/3, pop the 1/3 back in the fridge

-roll it out between sheets of cling film, and work quickly as it becomes very soft as the butter warms

-cut out the large circles and gently line the tin with the discs pop then pop in the fridge whilst you roll out the marzipan and cut out the smaller rounds of this (should be about 5ml thick)

-fill the cases with a generous spoonful of mincemeat

-top with a marzipan disc, leaving enough room for the lid

-then roll out the remaining chilled dough and cut out the lids

-brush around the edges with beaten egg

-pop on the lid and gently push around the edges to secure

-brush the tops with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar

-bake for around 25-30mins until golden brown

-turn them out and pop on a wire rack to cool

they are lovely served warm from the oven but also taste fab warmed days later when the flavours have settled and matured a little

Enjoy!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

P.S.  Father Christmas will be dead chuffed with one of these on Christmas Eve!

C

xxx

A low fat cake??!!!

Mum's fruity tea loaf

This is a recipe for something that is so simple I almost feel embarrassed even writing it down!  Its really delicious though and is something that we have a lot.  It freezes brilliantly and keeps for about a week sealed in an airtight container. 
The beady eyed amongst you will notice that it has no butter in it, which makes it relatively low fat, which is great, except that its at its most delicious when its smeared with lots of soft unsalted butter!
You need really to start this a few hours before you're ready to bake or even better, the night before.

Ingredients

200g raisins
100g sultanas
100g ready to eat apricots, chopped
200ml hot tea (I love Earl grey)
100g demerara sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling
1 large egg
1 tbsp. milk
225g self raising flour
1 tbsp. mixed spice

You will need a 1lb loaf tin, greased and lined with baking parchment.

First of all, place the fruit and sugar in a large bowl and pour over the hot tea.  Cover up with a plate and leave for at least 2 hours for the fruit to soak up all the lovely tea.

When you're ready to make the cake pre heat the oven to 140° and mix all the other ingredients into the fruit.

Pour into the tin and sprinkle a little extra demerara sugar over the top.

Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in the tin then wrap in baking parchment and foil to store.

Enjoy!

x


(Picture to follow!)

Cherry and Almond Biscotti

I've been wanting to make biscotti for ages, but have never got round to it, until today!  I guess I thought that it took ages and that it wouldn't really be worth it when you can buy such lovely ones in fancy coffee shops, how wrong was I!

Give these a go, they're really yummy and work out so much cheaper than those you get in the previously mentioned coffee shops!

Ingredients

2 Eggs
150g caster sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
250g plain flour
1 tsp. baking powder
100g dried cherries
150g whole almonds

Pre heat the oven and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Whisk together the eggs and the sugar until they are very fluffy and ribbons of mixture are left behind when you lift the beaters out.

Beat in the orange zest.

Mix together the flour and baking powder and then carefully fold into egg and sugar mixture.

Fold in the cherries and almonds.

Flour the worktop well and tip out the dough, it will be quite sticky and wet so make sure you have extra flour to hand!

Shape into a long flattish log shape and then transfer to the prepared baking sheet.  You will probably need to re shape the dough when its on the baking tray as it will stretch a bit when you pick it up.

Bake in the pre heated oven for 30-40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes, then slice into pieces about 1 cm thick and place back on the baking tray.  Bake again for 10 minutes, turn them over and bake for another 10 minutes.

Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an air tight container.



These look amazing gift wrapped in a cellophane bag, tied with ribbon and given as a Christmas pressie!

P.s I made 2 batches of these, the second had 150g roasted whole hazelnuts and 100g dark chocolate chips instead, which also worked really well, we just can't decide which are our faves!

Enjoy!

x

Hazelnut, brown sugar and vanilla Shortbread

One of my fav baking books is 'British Baking, Peyton and Byrne',  it is a beautiful book full of amazing recipes, some classic some a bit different.  I really love it.

Yesterday I made shortbread based on a recipe from this book, my children had it with stewed apple (bramley apple, sugar, cinnamon and sultanas) and custard- this was yummy, here it is....

250g soft unsalted butter
100g soft light brown sugar
350g plain flour
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste/extract
75g toasted chopped hazelnuts
2 tablespoons demarera sugar to sprinkle over

20cm lined tin

Preheat the oven to 170

cream the sugar, butter and vanilla together until very soft, light and fluffy

sift over the flour and salt

add the hazelnuts

cut the mixture together with a metal table knife until it comes together, do not 'over work' *said in a Paul Hollywood like fashion*

pour into prepared tin (good to have paper over the tin edges to lift shortbread out later)

pat down

prick all over with a fork

chill in the fridge for 15-30mins

sprinkle with demarera

bake for 40mins

remove from the oven and cut into triangles, (mine were all sorts of sizes, some smaller for lunch boxes, others larger for bribes/rewards/treats!)

when cool, lift out the tin with the paper

can be kept up to 10days in an airtight container

Enjoy!

Cx

The Cake and Bake show

So...on Saturday we were so very lucky to be allowed to attend The Cake and Bake show at Earls Court!  It was a truly amazing day.  So many people wanted to have pics with us and we signed lots of 'autographs'...needless to say this was unbelievable, so unexpected and flattering, we couldn't believe it! If you were there and saw/spoke to us..."hi, and thank you" such an overwhelmingly wonderful response from people

We met up with our gorgeous fellow baker John for a little potter around! 

It was a spectacular show, with so much going on.  Highlights included seeing the very very lovely Paul Hollywood (sadly we didn't see Mary as she was there on the Sunday) who cheekily watched a little of one of our demos from the sidelines (this added to the nerves but was a huge honour).  We also met and saw so many other amazing people.

We did two demos, one for The Grain Chain:

grainchain.com is a curriculum linked education resource for teachers and parents to inform school-aged children about the story of grain-based food - from the farm to mill to plate. Find tailored teaching materials, worksheets, videos, quizzes, recipes and activities about farming, milling and baking.

We showed some recipes great for baking with and for children and here they are.....

Monkey Bars

Ingredients for the base:

16 plain digestive biscuits

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

75g unsalted butter

For the filling:

6 large ripe bananas

50g milk chocolate chips

50g white chocolate chips

For the sponge:

170g unsalted butter

170g caster sugar

170g Self raising flour

3 eggs

1tbsp milk

80g desiccated coconut

For the topping:

50g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

You will need a Swiss roll tin lined with greaseproof paper.

Preheat the oven to 160 °

First make the base by crushing the digestive biscuits, either with a rolling pin or in a food processor.

Sprinkle in the cinnamon.

Melt the butter and pour over the crushed biscuits. Mix well until all the crumbs are coated with butter.

Press the crumbs into the base of the tin in an even layer and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the base is cooking, chop up the bananas.

When it’s baked, take it out and arrange the bananas in an even layer over the whole thing.  Sprinkle over the white and milk chocolate chips.

Make the sponge by first creaming together the butter and caster sugar. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour and baking powder, set aside.

Add one egg at a time to the butter and sugar mix with one tablespoon of the flour mixture.  When all the eggs are incorporated add the remaining flour and the milk.  Stir until just combined.  Carefully fold in the coconut.

Spoon the sponge batter over the top of the bananas and chocolate chips and spread flat with a palette knife.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

While the cake is cooling, melt the milk and white chocolate. Then drizzle over, first milk and then white and leave to cool and harden completely.

Cut into bars and serve.

Pizza and flat breads

For the base/breads:

500g strong white bread flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast

300ml warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

For the sauce:

1 carton Creamed tomatoes

1 onion

1 clove garlic

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Pinch of sugar

For the toppings:

Grated mozzarella

Mozzarella balls

Cherry tomatoes

Sweetcorn

Red and yellow peppers

Chorizo

Fresh basil

*or any other preferred

For the flat breads:

A large handful of raisins

A knob of butter to griddle

Sugar and cinnamon to dip in when hot

Preheat the oven

Put the flour, sugar and yeast in a bowl and mix

Dissolve the salt in the warm water, add the oil and then add this to the flour

Bring together, knead for 10mins, put in an oiled bowl, cover and leave for an hour or so (until doubled in size)

Make the sauce, prepare the toppings

When the dough is ready, divide in half.  One half to use for pizzas and the other which will be used for the sweet flat breads

For the pizzas

Pat, press and pull the dough into shape on baking paper

Turn oven up to maximum with trays in ready

Top the pizzas

Transfer on the paper to the hot trays and bake for 15mins

Add some fresh basil and serve

Meanwhile for the flat breads

Knead in the raisins

Divide and shape

Heat large flat griddle pan

Add a little butter

Shape and cook the flat breads for 2mins each side

Dip in cinnamon and sugar

We then went onto the even bigger stage 'Cake Kitchen' where the most incredible people had been giving demos all day.  we had an incredible turn out! We made a (slightly disastrous) very delicious Autumnal apple cake with pecan praline and mini toffee apples

PLEASE TRY THIS RECIPE IT REALLY IS GOOD!

after this demo I note the '5 P's'....Planning and Preparation Prevent a Pants Performance!!!!!

Here is the recipe

Autumnal apple cake

For the cake:

3x 8inch sandwich tins, lined with baking parchment

5 Bramley apples

1 lemon

6 eggs

350ml sunflower oil

200g caster sugar

200g soft light brown sugar

400g plain flour

200g dried apple

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Grated zest of ½ an orange

For the icing:

350g cream cheese

100g unsalted butter (very soft)

500g icing sugar

100ml maple syrup

For the pecan praline:

250g caster sugar

100g pecans

For the miniature toffee apples: *optional as quite fiddly

5 granny smiths (melon baller needed, which we can bring)

Lemon

Icing sugar

Caramel (x2 one for toffee apples one for praline)

200g catser sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

2 tablespoons water

Few drops of vanilla extract

Cocktail sticks

Preheat the oven to 170˚c

Core and roughly chop the apple, pop in the processor along with the dried apple, put in a bowl and squeeze over lemon juice

Beat the oil and sugar until combined and smooth

Gradually add the egg

Squeeze most of the juice from the apples and stir this, orange zest and chopped dried apple through the mixture

Sift the flour, b.powder, bicarb and cinnamon into the bowl and fold through with large metal spoon, making sure its all incorporated

Divide into the three lined tins and bake at 170 for 35mins

Meanwhile make the praline and icing

To make icing, cream the sugar, butter and syrup until light fluffy and smooth, then add the cream cheese and beat until just combined (don’t over beat or it goes runny)

Now make mini toffee apples, ball the apples popping into lemon water

Dry, and pop in the freezer briefly, make the caramel, bring out the apple balls spear, coat in icing sugar and dip, pop on greaseproof paper to set

Cool cake

make caramel by putting ingredients in a heavy based pan, stir ONLY UNTIL SUGAR DISSOLVES, then leave to heat to 'hard crack' stage (if no sugar thermometer just until a golden caramel colour is fine!!! and pour over pecans on a lined baking sheet, allow to cool/harden

using the same caramel method dip the apple balls in when ready and pop on greaseproof paper to harden

Blitz praline

Ice and layer the cake, covering top, middle and sides

Pat the praline around the sides

Finish with mini toffee apples and icing sugar dusted pralines!

The Cake and Bake show will be in Manchester on the 5-7th April 2013...don't miss it!

 

The infamous reese's peanut butter cup pie

The infamous American Pie!!!



Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Pumpkin pie/ Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inspired Pumpkin pie 20cm fluted loose bottom tart tin For the Pastry 175g Plain Flour 50g icing sugar 50g Cocoa powder Pinch of salt ½ teaspoon baking powder 150g Cold Unsalted Butter cubed 3 medium Free-Range Egg Yolks For the Filling One small pumpkin  or squash to have 300g when cooked and scooped out 150g Smooth Sunpat Peanut Butter 125g Full Fat cream cheese 100g light brown sugar 1 large Egg Yolk ½ Teaspoon vanilla extract ¼  teaspoon cinnamon ¼  teaspoon ground ginger pinch freshly grated nutmeg For the topping 100g milk chocolate 50g dark chocolate (around 50% cocoa) 25g butter For the Peanut Brittle 100g salted peanuts 100g caster sugar

Recipe Preheat the oven to 220˚C Cut the Pumpkin/Squash in half and place cut side down on a baking tray and bake for 50mins Meanwhile make the pastry, firstly sift the flour, sugar, cocoa and salt into the processor and pulse to combine, add the cold butter in cubes and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs, pour in the 3 beaten Egg yolks and mix until it just comes together and forms a ball of dough Wrap this in cling film and chill for 30mins Now make the peanut brittle by putting the 100g caster sugar in a heavy based pan over a medium heat until the sugar is a golden caramel (swirl the pan to ensure all sugar is dissolved and doesn’t catch round the edges) When caramel is the correct colour (a nice dark golden brown) add the peanuts and then carefully pour onto a greaseproof paper lined baking tray and leave in a cool place to harden Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll thinly between sheets of cling film until thin and then line the flan tin using the cling film to assist.  Push into the edges gently and then remove the cling film and trim the edges (fill in any holes with the excess pastry) Fill with greaseproof paper, then a layer of baking beans and bake blind for 15mins. Remove from the oven and then remove paper and beans pop back in the oven for 5-10mins until the bottom dries out be careful the edges don’t colour too much Remove and leave to cool When the pumpkin has cooked, remove from the oven and turn it down to 180˚, then remove the pips and then scoop out the soft flesh with a spoon Weigh out 300g of the scooped out flesh and then puree this in the food processor until very smooth Put the puree in a bowl and sit in another bowl of ice cold water to help it to cool more quickly Once cooled add this to the other filling ingredients (except the eggs) and beat in the freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth and combined, then add the eggs and mix in Pour into the cooled chocolate case and bake in the oven for 30mins While cooking break up the peanut brittle ready for decorating When cooked, remove from the oven and cool (in the fridge if needed) Using a pan and bowl melt the chocolate and butter Pour the chocolate onto the cooled pie in a thin layer and leave this to set Now serve with the peanut brittle so if you're brave enough to give this a go, let me know what you think... you pea-nutters!!! C xxx