Dark Chocolate Ginger Beetroot Cake

I recently had a whole load of beetroot in my veggie box and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it but had heard that you can use it in a cake. I found this recipe on the Abel & Cole website (they deliver organic veg boxes) and I’m pleased to say the results were very successful!

http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/beetroot#recipe26

The recipe is quite straight forward but you will need lots of space and a few different bowls for all the different ingredients. I made a few changes to the recipe, I used margarine instead of butter (for a lighter cake) and melted my chocolate instead of grating it. The finished cake was moist and very chocolatey, I ate mine on it’s own but I think the crème fraiche would suit it very well.

Lemon Buns

These are really easy to make and are perfect to put in your lunch box or for a teatime treat.
Ingredients
4oz self raising flour
4oz butter / marg
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp vanilla essence
1 lemon – zest and juice
2 tbsp icing sugar

Heat the oven to 180°c. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale then add the eggs one at a time and beat together. Stir in the vanilla essence, the lemon zest and a splash of lemon juice. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in to the mixture.

This amount of mixture should make 12 buns. I ran out of bun cases so only made 10 but as you can see they spilled over the sides a bit! Place a dessertspoon full of mixture in each bun case, try to get them as even as you can. Bake the buns for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
When the buns have cooled you can make the icing. This is more of a sticky glaze and is meant to be quite runny. Mix the remaining lemon juice in to the icing sugar and spread a teaspoon full over the top of each bun. Now make yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy!

Frosted Marmalade Cake

This is a Nigel Slater recipe from the BBC Food website.http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/afrostedmarmaladecak_80553.shtml

I must admit it this wasn’t an entirely successful cake, although that was mostly due to me adding large sultanas to the cake which all ended up sinking to the bottom of the tin! Everyone who had a slice did enjoy it but personally I found the frosting a bit too sweet. It is a lovely light sponge though and if you like lemon drizzle cake then you should definitely give it a go.

Ingredients

175g/6oz butter

175/6oz caster sugar

3 large eggs

75g/3oz orange marmalade

1 large orange, zest & juice

175g/6oz self-raising flour

100g/3½oz icing sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together till pale and fluffy. Beat the eggs in a little at a time, then mix in the marmalade and the finely grated orange zest. Sift and fold in the flour with a large metal spoon. Lastly, gently stir in the juice of half the orange.

Spoon the mixture into a lined tin, lightly smoothing the top. Bake for forty minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180°/Gas 4, checking it after thirty-five with a metal skewer. Leave to cool in the tin - it will sink slightly - then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Sift the icing sugar and mix it to a smooth, slightly runny consistency with as much of the remaining orange juice as it takes - probably just under two tablespoons. Drizzle the icing over the cake, letting it run down the sides, and leave to set.

Fruit Cream Sponge

This is a really simple recipe that looks great when you present it at the table. I made this on Mother’s Day recently and it was very well received!

Ingredients
6oz self-raising flour
6oz caster sugar
6oz butter / marg
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp vanilla extract

Filling & Topping
300 ml double cream
Raspberry jam
Strawberries
Raspberries
Mango
Blueberries

Start by creaming the butter and sugar together until they are pale then beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and sift in the flour and baking powder folding it gently into the mixture. Divide the mixture into two round tins that have been buttered and floured and bake in a pre-heated oven at 170°c for 30 minutes.

Cool the cakes on a rack and beat the cream until it is thick but not over whipped. Warm a little raspberry jam in the microwave, this will help it spread easily over the cake. Next spread half the cream onto the first cake and then scatter over small chunks of mango and raspberries (you can use as much or as little fruit as you like). Place the second cake on top and spread on the remaining cream and cover with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. You can use any soft fruits you like on this cake, as long as they’re ripe you can’t go wrong!

Bourbon Biscuits

I must confess, I am not a huge fan of the bourbon biscuit. However, a colleague recently scoffed at the idea of being able to make biscuits at home and so to prove to him it was possible I offered to bake a batch of his favourite biscuit. You guessed it, the chocolate bourbon!
For the biscuits
2oz butter / marg
2oz caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
4oz plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
For the icing
3oz icing sugar
2oz butter / marg
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp black coffee
1oz dark chocolate

First cream the marg and sugar together until pale and creamy then beat in the syrup. Sift in the flour, cocoa and bicarb and mix together into a stiff paste. If you find the mixture is too dry you can add a couple of drops of water. Knead the ball well, squash it in to a flattened ball and put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, this will stop the biscuits spreading in the oven.

Roll the dough quite thinly on a floured surface to a thickness of a biscuit and cut out the individual rectangle shaped biscuits with a knife. I added the regulation 10 holes on the top with the blunt end of a bamboo skewer before putting the biscuits in the oven at 160° for 15 minutes. If cutting out identical rectangle shapes and poking them with little round holes sounds a bit labourious then you can just cut out round biscuits instead (see below).

To make the icing, beat the butter into the icing sugar, cocoa and coffee. When the biscuits have cooled you can sandwich them together. And hey presto, you’ve made bourbon biscuits!

Rocky Road

This is a recipe I’ve adapted from Nigella’s Christmas Rocky Road recipe (see below) The great thing about Rocky Road is you can swop and change any of the ingredients to get your ideal mix as long as the amount of dry ingredients stays the same.http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/christmasrockyroad_90624.shtml
Ingredients
8oz dark chocolate
3oz milk chocolate
3 tbsp golden syrup
6oz biscuits
4oz nuts
4oz raisins
2oz mini marshmallows
2 Crunchie bars

Put the chocolate, butter and syrup in a saucepan and melt over a low heat. Put the biscuits (I used half digestive and half Rich Tea) in a freezer bag and bash them up a bit with a rolling pin. You want some big bits and smaller crumbs as well.
I used almonds and Brazil nuts, I left the almonds whole and chopped the Brazil nuts in half. Chop up the Crunchie bars into small chunks and if your mini marshmallows are not very mini, you can cut them up with a pair of scissors.
Now all you need to do is chuck everything into the melted chocolate mixture and give it a good stir. Pour the mixture into a square tin that’s been lightly greased and lined with paper. Now the difficult part...... waiting for it to set! It should take about 2-3 hours and when you take it out of the tin you can cut it into squares – I got 16 out of mine. This chocolatey treat is best kept in the fridge and will easily last up to a week. I’d recommend getting it out about an hour before you want to eat it so it starts to go a little bit soft – yummy!

Choco Chunk Birthday Cookies!!

My very good friend Jane came back from India this week, and to celebrate this and her Birthday I made her my extra special choco chunk cookies! These buttery treats were so easy and cheap to make (great if your on a budget!) and went down a storm at Jane's Birthday party :) I used a recipe I have been doing since I was a child and it goes something like this

Ingredients:
125g plain flour
70 g butter (softened)
1 egg
50 g soft brown sugar (Demerara)
50 g superfine / caster sugar
160 g chocolate chips (see notes)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Now, Jane HATES nuts so I left them out this time, but usually i add 50g Hazelnuts for an extra crunch in the cookie. I also use chopped chocolate bar because you can then decide how BIG or small you want your chunks!! I like them BIG!! You can use white, dark or milk depending on your taste.
I start by mixing together the sugar, flour, butter (make sure you leave the butter out on the side for at least an hour before starting) bi carb and vanilla in the food processer until it is well combined.
Next I add the rest of the ingreadients and mix well.
Putting the mixture in the fridge for as long as you can stand (at least an hour) is the best tip I can give as this prevents the cookies from spreading into pancake like specimens in the oven and also gives them a good crunch.

Set the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4.

Put a generous teaspoon sized ball on a greased baking tray trying not to handle the mixture too much as it needs to be cold. Space each cookie ball about 4cm away from each other and tap down slightly with the spoon.

Place in the pre heated oven for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven (just keep checking until golden brown).

Place on a cooling tray but definatley try one while they are stil warm and the chocolate is gooey!