Thursday 23rd May - Cake 2 - Chocolate Fudge Cake

 

Chocolate Fudge Loaf Cake:

My second cake of the week, and to help bring in the weekend, had to be chocolate! I'll admit to being pretty anxious about baking with chocolate, it's never gone well in the past, but there's only one way to get good at anything.

This recipe comes from my mother, who got it from her mother - and before that? who knows! My gran owned her own little café for travellers and truckers alike back in the day, and there's many a recipe us grandchildren will need to look after!

So, pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4 (350F or 180c,) and line yourself a medium loaf tin this time.

Ingredients:

175g self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
100 ml milk
50ml water
1 tablespoon golden syrup

Method:

Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix well by hand. Making a well in the centre of the mixture, add the syrup, the eggs (beaten,) oil, milk and water. Beat well with electric whisk until mixture is smooth and light.

Fold mixture into lined loaf tin and bake for 30-35 minutes until mixture has risen and is firm to the touch.

Always check with skewer or thin knife that mixture is cooked all the way through by inserting into the centre of the cake and withdrawing. If blade is clean and hot, the mixture is ready.

Leave cake to cool in the tin before turning out onto wire rack.

Try and not nibble at it, I know it's hard!

Having strawberries and cream left over from Monday night, I served the chocolate cake with one dollop of whipped up cream and a few sliced strawberries to take make desert lighter and easier to digest!

Enjoy the remnants of this cake.  I took more than half of it into work with me at the weekend and shared it out. Yum!

Monday 20th May - Cake 1

SPANISH ALMOND CAKE

So my first attempt was a cake already made in the family, but never by me. Whilst visiting an aunt in January whilst away at University - you know, to get my washing done, have a few home-cooked meals - she made this specific cake for desert after our Sunday roast.

She has been gluten free now for a number of years, so this cake is perfect for you or a family member if that's the case for you too. Not a single crumb of flour goes near this cake, relying solely on eggs and sugar.

I am, of course, talking, in this moment, about the Spanish Almond Cake that I confess to have fallen in love with. It's light, it's easy to make, it's gluten free and it tastes amazing. Perfect for the summer and perfect, too, for those barbecue nights we'll all be partaking in.

Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4 (160c or 340F) and line an 8" round cake tin with greaseproof paper. Of course, a shallower tin can be used if necessary.

Ingredients:

6 medium eggs (size is important as the consistency needs to be right.)
300g/11oz caster sugar
300g ground almonds
Zest of 3 large lemons

Method:

With your sugar in the bowl, mix in the eggs one at a time with an electric whisk. An electric whisk is more efficient, as for this recipe you need as much air in the mixture as you can get. Whisk for at least two minutes, or until the mixture is fluffy, slightly foamy and has risen considerably in the bowl - this will be your indication as to the air inside.
Next, gently fold in the almonds and zest, carefully so as not to lose the air created.

That's it! Easy, all that's left to do is fold the mixture into your pre-lined tin and shove it in the oven.

Bake for around 50 minutes before taking out and leaving to cool on a wire rack and dusting the top with a little icing sugar.

To get that summer feeling - see picture - steep around 200g of fresh strawberries in some sugar before cutting up and serving with the cake.

Enjoy!

May 2013 - Welcome!

Hello to anyone out there!

I've set up a new blog to document a little challenge I've set myself.

Many of us know the changes between term time at university and suddenly finding yourself in summer with months off and nothing to do!

Thankfully, I have myself a full-time job to help me save up for the travelling I want to do when I graduate, but for those nights I have off -  I work in a restaurant in a busy city-centre hotel - I found I wanted something more than just watching TV to do with my time.

I write by day, you'd find it difficult to pull me away from my keyboard and journal where I scribble my hand-written notes, but by night, well, by night I've set myself a wee challenge to bake something new each night. It has to be something different each time and it also has to be something  I've never made before.

Without bringing shame to my mother I have to tell you now that I don't bake often, so the list of things I've done before is not very extensive.

So, at twenty years old, I bring to you my little bake-off blog. Who knows maybe I'll even take requests if this goes anywhere, I do enjoy a challenge!

See you soon!