Last weekend my friend and I did a cake decorating class. We have been talking about doing one of these classes for a couple of years so it was exciting to finally be there.
Here's a summary of the process that we went through.
The cakes, which are white chocolate mud cakes, had already been made. This is because it is best for the cakes to be cold when you are decorating them so there wouldn't be time, in what was scheduled to be a 3 hour class, to cook, cool and decorate the cake. As it was, the class went long.
The first thing that we did was to make fondant decorations. Whilst we only needed one for a cake there were a variety of different shapes. They had a special dehydrator in the classroom, but at home you would let them dry out on the bench overnight.
Next, we needed to slice the cakes in half using a cake wire cutter. This was one of the first pieces of equipment I ever bought, and yet I never really got the hang of using it, so there were a couple of handy hints about how to measure and then slice to get even sizes and using the wire to level the top of the cake. Normally I would try to do this with a knife.
We could then begin to build the cake, laying with the provided buttercream. We each were given around 900 grams of buttercream, which is a lot! This was then followed by a crumb coat, which is a very thin layer of buttercream which catches any crumbs so that the final finish on the cake is very clean. Once you have done the crumb coat, the cake needs to go in the fridge for around 20 minutes. Because the crumb coat is cold, it will help the final frosting layer.
Then it was time to do the outer layer of frosting. I like making cakes, but I do get impatient when it comes to decorating, so this was a good lesson for me. When I normally use buttercream, I tend to slap it on the outside and spread it using a spatula, but this time we were encouraged to pipe the icing around the side and then use the cake scraper to smooth it. I will definitely use this technique going forward.
You can hopefully see that the design was for a ragged top lip rather than a very smooth edge, and then also the swirl design on the top which was created by dragging the spatula as it is digging into the buttercream and you are turning the turntable.
Once again the cake needs to go back in the fridge to set before we add the final decorations. While we waited we got to practice piping the design using some of the leftover buttercream. Now it is fair to say, I need lots of practice when it comes to piping!
In order to create the variations in colour in the tree, we took two different shades of green and put them on clingwrap and then created a sausage with the two colours merged together.
And finally, it is time to decorate. The first thing we did was add some texture to the side of the cake. This was achieved by using a gloved hand with a little buttercream on it and then gently dab on the side of the cake.
We can then add some small sprinkles to the top, and then pipe the tree onto the side of the cake, add the sprinkles so that they look like Christmas bauble, add the fondant star and spray with glitter. I can't take the credit for how good the piping looks on my tree. I had some help from the teacher. And then it was done! All that was left to do was to try to transport it home without doing too much damage.
Originally I was thinking that Robert and I would just eat this, but in the end, it looks too good, so it is now going to be part of our family Christmas lunch which is on today. It's been in the fridge, so I just had to take it out this morning so that it comes back to room temperature. If we needed it to last a bit longer, it could be frozen without the fondant decoration. I suspect there might be leftovers, so maybe I will freeze those for when we are back from our trip
This is the first time I have done such a hands-on cake decorating class, but I already know I will be going back at some point in the future. They also do cookie decorating so maybe we will try one of those classes next time.
Have you ever done a decorating class similar to this?
To those of you who are celebrating Merry Christmas!
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner Sunday - Baked tuscan chicken Monday - Smash burgers Tuesday - Indian prawn curry Wednesday - Swedish Meatballs and mash Thursday - One Pot Pastitsio Friday - Pizza
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
A while ago now I bought a book called Advent by Anja Dunk which was an early selection of the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club . Actually, the full title is Advent: Festive German Bakes to Celebrate the Coming of Christmas. So far, I am really loving this book which is separated into 24 different chapters (one for each day of Advent) with all different types of bakes for each chapter.
The author talks about a Bunter Teller which translates as "colourful plate" and in this context means a colourful plate of Advent biscuits. She talks about how every German household would have a stock of baked goods at this time of year for when visitors arrive, and you then put out a selection of biscuits, and perhaps give some as a gift.
Part of the reason why the book is broken into these 24 different chapters is that there would be a specific order in which you bake the colourful array of biscuits.
The order in which they are baked acts as a calendar; a countdown measured in biscuits. The butter-less biscuits, many of them old-fashioned varieties such as Lebkuchen, which keep the longest, are baked first, followed by nut biscuits, then macaroons and meringues. We bake butter-rich ones such as Vanillekipferl after all of the aforementioned, and finally the last things we make are all the sweets and truffles. The biscuit are usually stored in a towering stack of tins kept at the ready to plate a selection up whenever neighbours and friends pop round.
It's my kind of advent calendar, although not if I have to do ALL the cooking!!
As an idea, here are some of the different chapters. The second chapter is for several different versions of lebkuchen including how to make your own spice mix, lebkuchen hearts (filled and unfilled), old-fashioned honey lebkuchen and more.I have made a soft gingerbread biscuit several times previously which is inspired by lebkuchen. I tend to take them to work to share with my colleagues and they are always a hit! I shared this recipe a few years ago! They are honey and orange-y morsels of goodness! However, in this chapter, you will find the real deal.
Chapter 8 is all about Stollen, from full cakes to Stollen bites. Chapter 10 is full of spiced biscuits, from Spekulatius to the famous Pfeffernusse. Did you know that pferffernusse can actually be either white or brown. The difference is the kind of pepper that you use. I swear I have only ever seen the white version. Chapter 16 is all about meringues, including very sweet meringue mice and chapter 22 is all about marzipan sweets. There was an earlier chapter about marzipan biscuits too.
Throughout the book, the chapter divides are Christmassy lithographs which the author created herself, and all the photos are her own as this book was created during lockdowns. As I flick through the book there are so many things which look utterly delicious. There are cakes, biscuits, desserts and more. It's a lovely book! And the cover is gorgeous too. It has a fabric cover with gilded word and decorations, and a lovely yellow ribbon for a book mark. I do love it when a cookbook one of those!
What I will say, is that, maybe unsurprisingly, there are a lot of nut heavy recipes in this book, so if you have any allergies in your house maybe this might be an issue. The big guy, who used to be referred to as the little chef many years ago on this blog, has a tree nut allergy, but most of the time he won't eat what I bake anyway, so I can get away with it a bit! Just have to make sure he knows not to eat any of them.
I chose to make two recipes out of the chapter that is titled Makronen (macaroons). The first was Schokokusschen, which are chocolate kisses. In effect they are not dissimilar to chocolate meringue kisses although you do add in some flour. The other recipe I have made is Kokosmakronen- coconut macaroons, which are super simple to make! These should both keep for a couple of weeks in an airtight container!
Schcolkusschen (Anja Dunk) Chocolate Kisses
2 egg whites
90g soft light brown sugar
Pinch of fine sea salt
1/2 vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced/350F and line a large baking parchment.
Put the egg whites into the bowl of a free-standing electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use a mixing bowl and electric hand-held whisk) and whisk for a couple of minutes on high speed until stiff peaks form. Turn the speed down and add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, whisking all the while, until it is all incorporated and you have a glossy meringue. Now add the salt and vanilla extract and whisk for a further couple of seconds before adding the remaining ingredients. Whisk for a final 30 seconds so the flour and spices are incorporated.
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm/ 3/8 inch star shaped nozzle. Alternatively, use a plastic freezer bag, which you have snipped the corner off to leave the same size opening.
Pipe little peaks of 1.5cm /1/2 inch diameter onto the sheet; they don't spread all that much so you only need a little space between each one.
Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes until firm to the touch but not browned. Cocoa powder does have a tendency to burn easily, so make sure you check them after 15 minutes. The longer you leave them in the oven the crisper they will be.
Allow to cool completely on the sheet before storing in an airtight container, where they will keep well for up to a month.
Weekly meals
Saturday - egg and chips Sunday - Honey Pepper chicken Monday - Sausage mash beans and gravy Tuesday - Out for dinner Wednesday - Nothing Thursday -Baked Tuscan Chicken (new) Friday - Takeaway
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
When Jamie Oliver announced this book as the November selection for his Cook Book club, my initial reaction was do I really want another baking book to sit on the shelves. To be fair, I think that most months and then I end up buying the book anyway, which is what happened with this one. It turns out that this is a baking book that I needed! Not just wanted...needed.
The structure of this book is quite unusual. The first third of the book is all about techniques and ingredients, and really gets into the details. Then there is a chapter which is the base recipes, and then we get to recipes at around page 140.
You may wonder what on earth there is to talk about in 140 pages before you get to recipes. I promise you, there's a lot. For example, in the chapter about flour, Lamb gives us an explanation about what a wheat kernel consists of, about the development of gluten, about the role of starch and more. Similarly, in the section about sugar, we get descriptions of the role of sugar and what happens when you add sugar and water together and then about adding salt to the equation. There are also chapters about eggs, fats, how things rise (for example in pastry) and so much more. It's often said that baking is a scientific and this is where we have the opportunity to learn the science.
The base recipes provided including meringues, choux, craquelin, brioche and so much more.
When it comes to the recipes, I love how the author not only gives you the recipe but she also points you back to the reference section. For example, in the recipe I have shared below, she points us to the base choux bun recipe for the technique of making the choux. She also tells us that the techniques we are using are Starch Gelatinisation and Egg Coagulation, along with the page numbers where we can find the information. In other words, she is always pointing us back to the science. It's very clever and I've never seen a book laid out in exactly this way.
Even the way that the recipes are grouped together is different. They are sorted into 3 different sections. The first is recipes that you can make in an afternoon. The next group can be made in a day and the final group are recipes that are more complicated and that you can make in a weekend, including a wide range of different viennoiserie. An example of a recipe that could be made in the weekend is Tiramichoux, which is choux buns with craquelin that is then filled with mascarpone custard, salted brown butter coffee sauce and even has a savoirdi biscuit in it. There is a summary which talks about what you can do on Day 1 and how long it should take, and then what you should on Day 2.
When I went through the recipes there were many which I wanted to make but the four that stood out the most were:
Brown Sugar Custard Tart
Rhubarb and Custard Crumb Cake
Secret Chocolate Cake
Mango Shortcake with Candied Lime.
Oh, and there are some savoury recipes as well.
One of the cool things in the book is right at the back where there is something called the Matrix of Joy. The idea is that it is a table with various techniques on the vertical and other recipes from the book on the horizontal, and that by looking at the various intersections tells you how you can combine the two to come up with something new. For example, by combining choux buns with a pastry cream, you now have Custard Choux Buns or by combining Puff Pastry with Frangipane, then you now can create Galette des Rois.
The one recipe that I kept coming back to over and over was the Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka, which is also known as a Polish Mountain Cake so that is what I have been making today. All the components are now cooling and once I have put it all together I will add a picture.
I will say that I had to use canned whole plums, as it is not plum season here.
Update - this was so delicious! Thumbs up from the husband.
Plum and Mascarpone Karpatka (Polish Mountain Cake)
Choux base
65g whole milk 65g water 65g butter 15g caster sugar
90g self-raising flour or 90g plain flour with 4g baking powder
300g whole milk 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk (75g total) 60g caster sugar 30g cornflour 2 tsp good quality vanilla extract 250g mascarpone, at room temp
Instructions:
For the choux, preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan. Make the choux according to the master choux method on page 136, (traditional choux method) adding the baking powder in with the flour if using plain flour.
Line the two tins with baking paper at the bottom only. Spread 200–225g of choux paste in each tin, leaving the top slightly rough and wavy and using a palette knife to help. If you only have one tin, bake one at a time.
Bake for 35–40 minutes until well peaked, golden and crisp. Leave to cool completely in the tins on a cooling rack, then remove.
For the plums, cut the plums into six. In a small saucepan, combine the plums with 50g of the water, the sugar and vanilla. Heat over a medium heat, occasionally stirring so the plums are well coated. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat to low and cover the saucepan with a lid. Steam for 4–5 minutes. If the plums are still firm, cook for a further 2 minutes. Mix the cornflour with the remaining water to create a slurry, then stir into the hot liquid. Bring to a bubble so it thickens. Pour into a clean container and leave to cool.
For the mascarpone custard, heat the milk until simmering. Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolk, sugar, cornflour and vanilla. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture whilst whisking constantly to temper, then return the custard to the stovetop. Cook for 3–4 minutes over a medium heat until boiling, whisking the whole time. Pour into a clean container, then set aside to cool and gelatinise – make sure you put clingfilm or baking paper on the surface so it doesn't form a skin. You want it to be totally cold and firm before continuing with this recipe.
Beat the mascarpone until smooth – it does have a tendency to be a bit lumpy, so you just have to be prepared to work it. Once that’s ready, set aside and beat the custard until smooth and no longer jelly-like. The easiest way to do this is in a stand mixer bowl if you have one.
Now, fold/mix the two together - it should make a very thick cream. You can also do this in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Leave it in the fridge until ready to join.
To assemble, line one of the cake tins with acetate or baking paper. This will help you get a smooth edge. Place your less cute choux disc in the base. Pile in half of the mascarpone custard, then spread the stewed plums on top. Top with the other half of the custard. Place the most mountainous choux disc on top. All the cake to settle/reset by resting it in the fridge for at least an hour.
Before serving, remove the cake from the tin and dust with icing sugar. It will keep in the fridge for 3 days and will get softer over time.
Note from the author
You can also use your favourite jam in the middle of this! Thanks to Marta Beimin, who makes the most stunning Karpatkas, for inspiring the juicy stewed plums in this recipe!
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Recently I have tried two different types of buttercream, so today I thought I would post about some of the different types of buttercream techniques.
American Buttercream
The most common type of buttercream/frosting is American buttercream. In it's most basic form it is a mixture of butter and icing sugar (which is powdered sugar for my American friends). To this mix you can add flavour and colouring as desired. For example, you can add in vanilla essence and whatever colouring you like
250g unsalted butter, softened
450g icing sugar
Place butter in bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium-high speed for 6-8 minutes until pale and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and flavour, folding to combine. Return to mixer and beat until combined, approximately 2-3 minutes.
Here I made my son a green flamingo cake which is covered in buttercream.
Swiss Buttercream
This is the first of the egg based buttercreams. It is trickier to make but it is also silkier than the basic buttercream above
6 large egg whites 1 2/3 cups caster sugar (310g) ¾ tsp (3g) salt ¼ tsp cream of tartar 565g unsalted butter, softened
Fill a pot with at least 4cm of water. Bring to a boil, then adjust temperature to a gentle simmer.
Combine egg whites, sugar, salt and cream of tartar in bowl of a stand mixer. Set over simmering water, ensuring that the bowl doesn't touch the water, stirring and scraping constantly with a spatula, until egg whites hold steady at 80°C – approx. 10-12 minutes
Once ready, transfer to stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whip at high speed for 10 minutes, until meringue is glossy, stiff, and cool - around 32°C.
With mixer still running, add butter, 1 - 2 tablespoons at a time. Volume will initially decrease, but as cool butter is added, it will begin to thicken and cool. Buttercream should become thick, creamy, and soft with the temperature being around 22°C
Here it is used as the frosting for an Emoji Cookie Dough Cake
French Buttercream
This buttercream is made using eggs and then slowly adding in a hot sugar syrup in. I've definitely made French meringue using a similar technique, and I think I have made buttercream but I can't remember which cake it was!
250g sugar 1/4 cup water 6 large (95g) egg yolks, at room temperature Pinch salt 255g unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed into 1-tablespoon pieces 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and place it on the stove over medium heat. Use a wet pastry brush to brush down any stray sugar crystals around the rim and sides of the pot. Bring the sugar mixture to a gentle boil until the sugar reaches 115°C which should take around 6 minutes.
Meanwhile add the egg yolks and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk the yolks over medium speed until they are a very pale yellow color and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Decrease the mixer’s speed to low and slowly stream sugar mixture into whipped egg yolks, trying to avoid the sides of the bowl and whisk attachment.
Once the sugar has reached 240°F (115°C), add it to the whipping egg yolks. Pour the sugar in a thin, steady stream into the bowl taking care to avoid the sides of the bowl and the whisk. After all the sugar syrup has been added, increase the mixer’s speed to high and continue whipping the egg and sugar mixture until the outside of the bowl is at room temperature
Decrease the mixer's speed to medium-low, then begin adding the butter, a tablespoon at a time until each piece is incorporated and then add the next piece of butter
After all the butter has been added, scrape down the bowl and add the vanilla extract. Turn the mixer back up to medium-high speed and whip the buttercream for 3 additional minutes.
Italian Buttercream
Italian Buttercream is similar to French buttercream but it uses egg whites instead of egg yolks
5 large egg whites at room temp 1 1/4 cup (250 g) castor sugar, divided 226 g butter at room temp and chopped into tablespoon-sized pieces 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup water
Boil 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water over medium heat until it reaches 245 F or the firm ball stage.
While the sugar is cooking, pour the egg whites into the bowl you plan to whip the icing in, then wait for the syrup to come to about 230F-235F. Whip egg whites with the whisk attachment in a stand up mixer on high until soft peaks form which should take about 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle in 1/4 cup sugar and beat
Slowly pour the hot syrup into the meringue steadily with the mixer still on high.
Beat the frosting for 7-10 minutes until the outside of the bowl is room temperature
Beat in butter by the tablespoon using a medium speed. The butter will deflate the frosting a bit. After all of the butter is added, turn the speed up to high for 7-10 minutes until smooth.
German Buttercream
This is a custard based buttercream or more precisely creme patissiere based. I made a vanilla cake a few weeks ago which I covered with German buttercream and it was delicious. I could eat this off the spoon by itself! So yum!
The first step is to make a creme patissiere. You will need about 600g.
600g creme patissiere, cooled to room temperature.
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbspn vanilla bean paste
Combine ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat for 3-4 minutes until the mixture is smooth.
Russian Buttercream
I got very excited a couple of weeks ago when I heard about Russian Buttercream icing for what I thought was the first time. However, as I was looking through my old Bake It Box recipes, I realised that I had made a version of it before when I made a Spooky Ghost Cake which is really a Yoghurt and Raspberry Cake with raspberry coulis and Russian buttercream icing. It is a very simple recipe, very tasty and smooth but not overly sweet! You can also add vanilla and a small amount of salt if you like
Last weekend I made a vanilla cake and covered it with this. I have been told that I can make this one again!
400 g Butter (soft ) 320 g sweetened condensed milk
Place the softened butter cut into pieces in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed for about 8 minutes until it is light and fluffy
Add 1/3 of the condensed milk, beat to combine. Repeat until all the condensed milk is added.
Change the whisk to a flat spatula and beat on low speed for 2 minutes to smooth out the buttercream
Ermine Buttercream
There is one other version of buttercream that I know of that I haven't tried yet (although as demonstrated earlier my memory sometimes fails me!) which is Ermine Buttercream. This one is different as it uses flour as one of ingredients
4½ tbsp plain flour 1 cup caster sugar 1 cup milk 230g unsalted butter, cubed and softened at room temperature
Pinch of salt
Whisk together flour and sugar in medium saucepan. Whisk in milk. Place saucepan over low heat and bring to a boil, whisking continuously, then cook for 1 minute.
Remove from heat. Pour pudding onto a clean heatproof plate or shallow container. Cover immediately with plastic wrap, pressing wrap directly against pudding surface. Allow to cool.
In a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter until smooth, fluffy and lightened in color, Add cooled pudding one tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add any flavourings and salt and beat until buttercream looks thick, smooth, and creamy which should take about 3 minutes
Phew....that's a lot! Do you have a favourite buttercream recipe, or do you know of another version that I haven't mentioned here?
Weekly meals
Saturday - Chicken Friccasee
Sunday - Baked potato with bacon and mushroom
Monday - French Sausage and Bean Casserole
Tuesday - out for dinner
Wednesday - Eggs on Toast
Thursday - Chicken kiev with mashed potato
Friday - Enchiladas
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
For a person who doesn't particularly like honey, I seem to be cooking with it quite a bit at the moment. The most recent recipe that I have tried is a Polish Honey Cake from In Belinda's Kitchen by Belinda Jeffery. This book was chosen as the Lambs Ear Cookbook Club book of the month a couple of months ago but I hadn't yet had the opportunity to cook from it. Given that I need to return it to the library I needed to get to cook something asap!
In addition to the honey, one of the other key ingredients in this recipe is dates. This is an ingredient I haven't cooked with a lot either. The combination of the honey and dates, along with the spices was a winner, and we will definitely having this one again.
However, we didn't quite follow the serving suggestions. Last weekend I cooked this on Saturday morning thinking we would have it for dinner, but we ended up going to watch my son play basketball. It was at an odd time so we got takeaway for dinner on the way home. Then we were out for breakfast and dinner on Sunday so there was no need for cake. This meant we didn't actually try it until Monday, and then we proceeded to have it as breakfast during the week. So for us this is a Polish Honey Breakfast Cake!
There are a couple of other recipes that I do still want to try out of the book, so I might need to reborrow the book. We'll see!
It certainly looks like Max gives this book his seal of approval
Polish Honey Cake (Belinda Jeffrey)
¼ cup (20g) flaked almonds 400g unsalted butter 1 cup (350g) honey, plus extra to drizzle 1 firmly packed cup (200g) brown sugar 3 cups (450g) plain flour 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 1½ tsp ground ginger 1½ tsp ground cinnamon 300g pitted dates, roughly chopped 2-3 tsp very thinly sliced glace ginger 1 egg, lightly beaten ¼ cup (60g) sour cream ½ cup (125ml) hot black tea 2 tsp vanilla extract Thick cream or vanilla bean ice cream to serve
Preheat oven to 160º. Grease a 25cm non-stick bundt pan well, then press almonds into base and a little up the sides.
Place butter and honey in a saucepan over low heat, stirring, until the butter has melted. Stir in brown sugar.
Meanwhile, combine flour, soda, ground ginger and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add dates and glace ginger and toss to coat.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream, hot tea and vanilla, then whisk the egg mixture into the melted butter mixture.
Make a well in the centre of flour and pour in butter mixture. Lightly whisk to a loose batter, then pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert onto the rack and cool completely.
Slice and serve drizzled with extra honey, with cream or ice cream.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Takeaway
Sunday - Out for dinner
Monday - Smoky pork chops with mash, broccoli and gravy
Tuesday - Steak with roasted baby potatoes
Wednesday - Pork Nachos
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Chicken Friccasee
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month and it was a pretty busy baking month. My husband had surgery last month so we were spending a bit of time at home so I had a bit of time to bake.
Last month I mentioned that I was going through a bit of a fixation on making sponge rolls. I started the month with making another honey sponge roll as we had a friend coming over for lunch. It didn't roll particularly well this time, but it was still delicious!
I do also like trying different recipes. This month I tried a Almond, Olive and Raspberry Loaf Cake from a cookbook called Honey: Recipes from a Beekeeper's Kitchen by Amy Newsome. I feel like this recipe title is missing a word as there are definitely no olives in it because I wouldn't cook it if there was. There is, however, olive oil in it! This was very tasty and I will make it again. There is another variation of the recipe which is Orange, Yoghurt and Cardamon so I might try that one too!
I have posted before about how much I love cheesecake. I was intending to post about this traditional Corsican cheesecake recipe during Paris in July and in celebration of National Cheesecake Day which was on 30 July. It is a very, very simple recipe, only 4 ingredients, and you basically just mix it up and cook it. I will try and post about it soon when I have a gap in my planned posts!
I bought two new cookbooks this month. The first one is the one I mentioned above. I wasn't sure about buying it because I'm not the biggest honey fan, but it has been very interesting to learn about different flavours of honey, and there are several things I want to make.
The second book is the Rice Table cookbook which I had borrowed from the library last month but I decided to buy.
We also succumbed to the attractions of the middle isle of Aldi and purchased some new ramekins and also this cast iron tea pot which has the strainer inside. I have quite a few different types of loose tea leaves but I generally use bags so this is an opportunity to use some of the other flavours.
The final thing to share this month is pretty self explanatory - a cookbook stand!
I am sharing this post with the In My Kitchen event hosted by Sherry at Sherry's Pickings.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Cottage pie
Sunday - Roast chicken and gravy rolls
Monday - Bacon, zucchini and mushroom pasta
Tuesday -
Wednesday - Chicken Parka
Thursday - Takeaway
Friday - Out for dinner
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month and it was a pretty busy baking month which is surprising as I have a new job and my husband had surgery this month.
I have noticed that I tend to get a bit .....I want to say obsessed but that feels too strong....I tend to make several versions of the same thing quite regularly until i then move onto the next thing. This month it is roulades/swiss rolls. Who knows what the next one will be!
So my first bake for the month was supposed to be the Chocolate Swiss Roll from First, Cream the Butter and Sugar. This used a different technique to the normal technique that you see in recipes for roulades/swiss roll/sponge rolls - whatever you want to call it. For me, the technique didn't work. When I tried to roll it the sponge broke so we ended up with a very skinny three layer cake. It did taste nice though.
I then needed to prove that I could make a sponge roll style cake so I went back to a recipe I first made 6 years ago - Honey Sponge Roll. This used the normal technique and worked a treat. It was interesting to go back and read that post. This was something I made for my husband when he was still my boyfriend!! I actually made this recipe again today.
Great Australian Bake off is back and in the first show, they made a raspberry and black pepper cake but it appears as though it is not going to be possible to find the recipes from the show. I was therefore looking at various different recipes when I had the brainwave to make a raspberry roulade. The best part of this is definitely the filling which is cream cheese and cream - almost a cheesecake filling.
The next thing I made was the vanilla cake from First, Cream the Butter and Sugar. Again, this used a different technique than I am used to (reverse creaming). We really enjoyed this, but the part I was raving about is the buttercream. This is a German butter cream which is made using creme patisserie so it has a custardy taste. I would be more than happy to just make a big bowl of that and eat it!
A couple of years ago, my fixation (that's a better word than obsession) was on self-saucing puddings. We had a friend come for dinner and we tried a new recipe but for dessert I made this Spicy Ginger and Apple Self Saucing Pudding which I posted about here.
It was my birthday in June, so I did get some baking equipment as gifts. I have expanded my collection of bundt tins. I am keen to try doing the mini bundt cakes. Just need to find a recipe to make in them
I continue to borrow cookbooks from the library. These are the books I borrowed this month:
I am sharing this post with Sherry from Sherry's Pickings for her In My Kitchen event.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Ham and cheese toasties
Sunday - Creamy Tuscan chicken pasta bake
Monday - Beef stroganoff
Tuesday - Greek Lemon chicken and rice
Wednesday - Pork Nachos
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Takeaway
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month. I did manage to do some baking again this month. What I didn't manage to do was to take photos of everything I made! Whoops!
A couple of years ago during lockdown I attempted to make 2 ingredient cake which was made of cake mix and a can of soft drink. I tried to make a couple of flavours. One was vanilla and passionfruit and the other was chocolate and cola. Neither was particularly successful, which you can read about here.
Recently, I heard about another 2 ingredient cake, and this time I have been pleasantly surprised. The two ingredients this time are a packet of cake mix and 400 grams of canned fruit. I used vanilla cake mix and a can of mixed fruit. I have seen a number of different versions of this recipe. Some say not to use the juice from the fruit, others say that you do need to use it. I kind of hedged my bets and put some juice in, and then added a bit more as the mix looked a bit dry. You basically dump both ingredients in a bowl and mix it, then put it in the oven.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one. It is perfect for a mid week treat and you could easily mix up the flavours with different cake mixes or fruit flavours. Add some custard and/or cream and you are ready to go!
This month I tried making Blueberry Galette. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of this one. I liked it, especially the blueberry filling but I was a bit distracted and left the galette in the oven too long so the pastry was a bit overdone. I will be trying this one again at some point.
I mentioned in last week's post that I put on an afternoon tea for my husband's birthday. I made my grandmother's Melting Moments, banana bread and scones
I didn't do any baking last weekend as I was away for the weekend. I attended a readers retreat organised by Australian author Rachael Johns. There were many readers and authors in attendance which was awesome.
The retreat was in a small town in the Adelaide Hills called Hahndorf. There are lots of foodie experiences to be had in the immediate area around the town, but I didn't have a huge amount of town so I was only able to visit Beerenberg Farm where I picked up some jam samples and a jar of goulash sauce which I am looking forward to trying. I also picked up the spatula which has a conversion chart on it which is interesting. I haven't seen that before!
Here was the food and drink related haul from the weekend. I also got pens, notebooks, bookmarks and all sorts of other goodies!
I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.
Weekly meals
Saturday -
Sunday -
Monday -
Tuesday -
Wednesday - Kebabs, baked potato and slaw
Thursday - Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Mayonnaise
Friday - Takeaway
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
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