Butternut Squash Cake

Last Thursday I finally managed to make it to this month's Clandestine Cake Club event. The club is run by Lynn, who also runs the Secret Tea Room.

The Clandestine Cake Club is not a competition, it's an opportunity to meet at a "secret" location to eat and discuss cake. Cake being the word - it's not about cupcakes, whoopies, muffins or macarons, it's all about the good old fashioned cake! Think of it as an extension of social networking...most of the people in attendance are on Twitter or write their own blogs, so it was good to meet in person and chat about cake! I met some really lovely people and am really looking forward to the next event.

This month it was held at Primos in the Leeds Corn Exchange. The theme for this event was "Saucy Sweet or Sensual Savoury" In total I think there were 20 cakes, all of the ones I managed to try I thought were delicious. There was a good split between savoury and sweet cakes. I have to say the savoury ones were delicious! In particular I liked the pistachio and chorizo, the savoury semolina cake and also the pesto and courgette loaf. A couple of these recipes can be found on the CCC Site.

I decided to go down the sweet route, but use a savoury ingredient - butternut squash. I find that vegetables in cakes tend to give a really moist crumb and this one didn't disappoint! The butternut squash can be substituted for the more traditional carrot, but I also think that it would be really good using courgette and a lime frosting to give it some zing. (Must give this a try...)

I received some really lovely comments about my cake and I think it turned out really well, because there was so much cake, there was enough to take back home and share the people at work (along with slices of some of the other cakes I didn't get to try!)

The recipe is based on a Jamie Oliver Squash muffin recipe, but I have tweaked it slightly, adding extra spices and using my method for cream cheese frosting.

Spiced Butternut Squash Cake with Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake
400g butternut squash, skin on, deseeded
350g light soft brown sugar
4 large eggs
300g plain flour, unsifted
2 tsp baking powder
100g walnuts
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg, grated
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
Grated zest of 1 orange
175ml extra virgin olive oil (I didn't have much EV left, so just used standard olive oil)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting
500g icing sugar
125g cream cheese
125g soft unsalted butter
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to to Gas Mark 4 / 160C (fan) / 180C. Line and grease 2 x 20cm cake tins.


Either grate or whizz up the butternut squash in a food processor - set to one side.

Beat the sugar and oil until light and frothy, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each one in before the next. Then add the vanilla, the squash, walnuts and the orange zest. Beat gently

In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Fold into the Butternut squash mix.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake for approx 25 - 30 mins, but do check after 20 mins as it will depend on your oven. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack and leave until completely cold.

The quantities above actually made the 2 layers for the cake but I also got 24 mini cupcakes out of it too.

To make the frosting, combine all the ingredients in a mixer until smooth.

To decorate, sandwich a few spoonfuls of the frosting between the layers, and then using a pallate knife, spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. If you find that the frosting is getting a bit runny, then place the cake / frosting in the fridge for ten minutes or so and then continue.

I decorated the cake with a few walnuts.

Enjoy with a nice cup of tea and a chat!

I'm really looking forward to the next meet up, the theme is Vivaciously Victorian...lets get the thinking cap on then!

An Egg-cellent result at Ironcupcake:Leeds!

Last Sunday I decided to make a return to the Ironcupcake:Leeds competition. I haven't been for about 8 months sadly due to one thing and another but I decided I needed to get myself out there again....I have previously entered 3 times and won the last 2 times I entered, which gives me a 66.6% success rate...But could I do it again?? I have been keeping an eye on the competition over the past few months, and I have to admit, the competition is fierce!

(Cut to a Rocky training montage, but instead of drinking raw eggs and running up and down stairs think of me eating cake batter and chasing a cat out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon...)

For those who don't know what Iron Cupcake is, it's actually a global competition that was started over in the US (Milwaukee to be exact). It usually happens monthly and each competition has a theme and the bakers have to create a cupcake which ties in with said theme. To my knowledge there are 3 Ironcupcake cities in the UK - London (which is unfortunately taking a bit of a hiatus at the moment), Leeds and Northampton. Those who attend are either "bakers" or "eaters" the eaters also do the judging and score each cake for taste and presentation. For more info on the Leeds competition, which is held at the lovely Adelphi pub, please visit the site.

So March's theme was Chocolate Bars - I was racking my brain to think of a cake inspired by chocolate bars. I've done Malteser cupcakes before and I've also done Dime Bar ones too and I didn't want to just go with something I was comfortable with! Lunch hours have been spent staring at the chocolate aisle in the supermarket, looking for inspiration, when the thought of Cadbury's Creme Egg came to me after a conversation with my friend Heather and also whilst passing the Easter eggs in said supermarket... But how would I do it?

Mmmm Creme Eggs...

I had various ideas on how to create my cake - I thought about just filling a chocolate cake with a creme egg filling and topping with chocolate ganache, but I just thought that visually, it would just look like a chocolate cake and I wanted it to look fun, like the eggs themselves!

So I settled on incorporating the Creme Egg fondant filling within the icing, using a chocolate cake as a base. Because the fondant is so sweet, I thought a devil's food cake base would work well and also use a cream cheese icing to further cut back on the sweetness. I wanted to top the cake with a mini creme egg, but rather than just plonk a whole one on top of the cake, I wanted the icing to look like it was actually coming out of the egg, so I decided to "crack" the Creme egg open.

Creamy Eggy Chocolaty Goodness!

As part of the competition rules, bakers are asked to provide 12 cakes, with 9 of them chopped into quarters for tasting. My issue with this from previous experience in other competitions is that it's difficult and messy to chop them up at the event. I've also tried chopping the cakes up prior to arriving but the sponge seems to dry out. I thought it would be a good idea to make up 3 standard sized ones and then make up 36 minis - meaning all the eaters get their own cake and presentation wise, it means the cakes still look good!

Minis

Overall I was happy with the cake, but if I'm honest I didn't think it was a winner - I'm not sure why, maybe I'm just too hard on myself! The Eaters seemed to really like it so that's all that matters - so much so that I came first place!Yay! Success rate is now 75% - not that I'm counting.

I had a taste of a few and I really liked Zoe's Toffee Crisp. For more pictures of the other cakes, check out the Ironcupcake Leeds site and also Em's blog, All the Small Things - she entered with a lovely Bounty cupcake and also was the evening's photographer. See if you can spot the hilarious picture of me grinning like an idiot, looking like a Chinese Janet Street Porter...

Some of the other cakes - yellow number 2 was my fave, Toffee Crisp!

More of the other cakes - some of the detail on some of them must have taken forever! Check out the characters on yellow 7 - Fruit and nuts!

April's theme is Nuts and Seeds...best get my thinking cap on!

Creme Egg Cupcakes

Ingredients
For the cakes, see my Devil's Food Cake Recipe

Cream cheese frosting
500g icing sugar
125g cream cheese
125g soft unsalted butter

Creme Egg Fondant Filling
170g golden syrup
60g butter, room temperature
375g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Yellow food colouring (I use gel colouring as the liquid stuff tends to water everything down)

To Decorate

3 x bags of Mini Cadbury's Creme Eggs

Method
Preheat the oven to to Gas Mark 4 / 160C (fan) / 180C.

To make the sponges, make up the devils food cake batter and divide into cupcake tins - cook for 20-25 mins for the standards sized cakes and about 10-12 minutes for the minis. Test with a cake tester - if it come out clean, they're ready. Leave for a couple of minutes in the tines and then take out the cakes and leave to cool on a rack.

To make the fondant filling mix the butter, syrup and vanilla in a bowl - ideally you want to do with with an electric mixer, or it will take forever! Gradually add the icing sugar, then the food colouring and carry on beating until smooth. Cover and set to one side.

YUM! Cream egg yolk!!

Make the cream cheese icing - again, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract and then gradually add the icing sugar continue beating until smooth and thick. Use immediately or if not, cover and store in the fridge.

Once the cakes are cool, you can start to decorate.

To get the two-tone swirled effect, place some of the fondant down one side of a piping bag and add the cream cheese down the other side - try not to combine / mix them up too much. you want a1/3 - 2/3 ratio of fondant to cream cheese icing.

Pipe out the frosting on a plate until the two tone effect comes through and then ice the cakes. To decorate, I used 1 mini egg per standard sized cake and a 1/4 of a mini egg per mini. Allow the fondant centre from the eggs to spill over the top of the cake...

Feel free to eat in whatever way you wish!

Pie and Beer

I have already written about my love of pie. All types of pie. as long as there is lots of pastry and lots of filling, then I'm there. I also love beer. Proper beer. Real ale. As far as I'm concerned the two go hand in hand.

This weekend was the annual Bradford Beer Festival. One of the highlights of my year. Local friends and London friends all descend upon Saltaire to sample the finest beers that the UK breweries have to offer. To mark the occasion I decided to bring a pie. A pork pie. I've been obssessing over making my own pork pie for weeks and decided that it would be perfect to bring one along with me.



Beer + Pie = Perfect combination!

Now I know that a pork pie is something that not very many people tend to make at home these days - quite possibly because it is so easy to buy decent pies. However, I'm always concerned about what has actually gone into the pie so by making your own means you know exactly what's in it. Using good quality meat is a must.

There was something really enjoyable about the whole process. The making of the soft, tactile pastry and the meticulous chopping of the meat. This pie needs time, I made it over 2 days...but you will be rewarded, and I highly recommend you try it.

It was bigger than anticipated but it did really well in feeding around 12-15 people - washed down with beer it was amazing.

The recipe comes from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat book, on page 444.

Hugh's Pork Pie

Ingredients

For the pastry:
550g plain flour
100g butter
100g lard
200ml water
2 eggs
1 1/2tsp salt 

For the filling:
1kg pork shoulder - chopped into 5cm dice (takes time and a sharp knife is a must!)
250g streaky bacon - chopped finely
250g pork belly - minced. I whizzed it up in the food processor
2 large sprigs of thyme, finely chopped
12 sage leaves, finely chopped
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
1tsp white pepper
1/2tsp mace
A pinch of cayenne pepper

For the jelly
200ml chicken stock
1x 15g sachet powder gelatine

Melt the butter and lard together in the pan, with the water. While the fats are melting, mix 550g of plain flour and one and a half teaspoons of salt together in a large bowl, form a well in the flour and then break two eggs into the bowl. Mix the eggs into the flour slightly and then slowly pour in the fat and water, mixing all the time. I used my mixer and a dough hook, but can easily be done my hand.


The dough will come together. You may need to add more flour or water, depending on whether it feels too sticky or dry. the dough will be very soft and pillowy! Briefly knead the dough, then wrap it in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for an hour or so.

For the filling, mix all of the ingedients thoroughly in a large bowl. The reason for the different cuts of meat is for texture, the shoulder provides a "meaty" texture, the bacon flavour and the belly provides much needed fat, and also act as a glue for the meat mixture.

Now to assemble the pie. Cut off about a third of the pastry and put it to one side for the lid, then roll out the rest into a large round, appox 1cm thick. Slide the pastry into a greased cake tin with a loose base and press it down so that the pastry reaches the top of the tin. I used an 18cm cake tin with high sides, the original recipe asks that you use a 20cm tin. so if you use a 20cm, then make sure the pastry reaches approx 3/4 up the sides. By using a spring form tin with a clip on the side will make the ‘getting the pie out’ operation much simpler.

Now, getting the pastry into the tin seems much simpler than it sounds - the pastry is very soft a slippery and it will try to fall down, be vigilant and confident with it. Make sure there are no holes in the pastry walls.

Then fill the casing with the filling. Really cram it in until it can't take any more. Remember, the pie filling will shrink up on cooking.

The roll out the remaining pastry into a lid and crimp it onto the top of the pie - make sure you use a beaten egg to seal the lid, as it is the only thing strong enough to keep everything in the pastry. For an extra bit of decoration I cut out a couple of leaves from the leftover pastry. Make sure you also cut a 1cm hole in the middle of the lid for steam to escape.

Ready for the oven

Bake at 180c for half an hour, then reduce the heat to 160c and continue to cook for a further hour and a quarter. After this time, take the pie out of it’s tin and brush the top and sides with beaten egg, returning it to the oven for another quarter of an hour to brown.

Then you'll need to wait for the pie to cool before adding the jelly. Probably an hour or so, but as it was 11pm by the time the pie came out of the oven, I left it to cool overnight, then put it in the fridge until the evening.

The recipe details stock made from pigs trotters, boiling them down for a couple of hours. I didn't really have the time, so I bought a tub of ready made fresh chicken stock, heated it up gently and dissolved the gelatine into it.

Once the jelly is ready, you'll need to pour it into the hole - use a turkey baster if you have one - I poured it in using a measuring jug. Pour it in slowly, giving it time to settle in the pie, filling in the cavities left by the shrunked meat. Pour it in until you can't fit in any more.

Filled with jelly

Now the subject of jelly in a pork pie is a contentious one - some people hate it, but I think it is integral to a good pork pie - it is there to fuse the meat to the pastry and without it, the pastry just falls away from the meat once cut.

Once the pie is filled refrigerate, until the jelly is set - ideally overnight but it should be ready after 5 hours.

The pie will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks - I think the next time I make it I might add in a few boiled eggs. If you don't want to make a huge pie, then you could make individual pies by lining a muffin tin. After the first 30 minutes of cooking time, take them out, brush with egg and cook for a further 25 minutes.

Thanks Hugh!

F.E.A.R.

This is just a quickie...for the past few months / weeks I have been thinking about attempting macarons. Macarons scare the living shit out of me. The stuff of nightmares, well them and soufflés, oh and scary clowns. And ventriloquist dummies. Sob sob sob.

Now I love a good cake - cakes are easy, they're quirky and if you botch it up then cover it up with frosting and no-one would ever ever know. But macarons - they are refined and delicate and if you mess it up then EVERYONE can see and then I'll get upset and embarrassed. Me? perfectionist? No....

However, because I am just so stubborn and want to learn to be a better baker, I bit the bullet and decided just to give it a go. This was spurned on my the fact that my boss kindly brought me back some amazing macarons from Angelina in Paris whilst he was there last weekend... They were slightly battered, but delicious! Light, crispy, chewy and eaten on one sitting...all by me.

Ta Steven!

Anyway, to the macarons. As I said, I have been doing a lot of reading over the past few weeks and found a really good number of tutorials, a couple of which being from Food Nouveau, Bakerella and The Pink Whisk.

Across all 3 the recipes / techniques are pretty similar, using a French macaron recipe. I won't post the recipe details now as I want to follow up with a full and thorough post on method, etc. once I really feel that I have nailed it.

I ended up making chocolate ones, I added cocoa to the shells and filled them with chocolate ganache.

I thought they looked good, chewy and slightly crispy on the tops of the shells. I think that the next time I make some I will tweak them slightly - I thought the almonds could do with being finer and I might not have mixed the meringue in enough, for fear of knocking all of the air out... But hey, overall I was pleased!

As I said, going to make some more this weekend so macarons will be back...

Meal for One

The Husband has been working strange shifts for the past few days and also over weekends so I have often been cooking just for me in the evenings. Because it's just cooking for one, I tend to make something that's quick, but I also try to be relatively healthy too.


Continuing on a fishy theme, this week I made a very quick but tasty prawn linguine with chilli, lemon and parsley.

Prawn Linguine with Chilli, Lemon and Parsley (Serves 1)


Ingredients
200g raw tiger prawns (you can use pre cooked if you can't find any)
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped finely (depends on how much you like)
1 red chilli, chopped (seeded or deseeded depending on preference) 
Zest and juice of half a lemon
2-3 tbsp chopped tomatoes or a small handful of cheery tomatoes, chopped roughly
1 tbsp Olive oil
Small bunch or parsley, chopped
100g linguine

Cook the linguine in a large pan of salted boiling water until al dente (approx 8-9 mins).


Whilst the pasta has about 4 minutes to go, get another pan on a high heat and add the olive oil. once the oil is hot, turn it down slightly and then add the chilli, garlic and lemon zest. Be careful they don't burn in the heat of the oil and after 30 seconds throw in the prawns and cook until they turn pink. Add the lemon juice and the tomatoes, season to taste and then throw in the parsley. Take off the heat as you don't want the prawns to overcook. 


NB - if you are using cooked prawns, throw these in at the end of making the sauce and warm through.


Drain the pasta, then add to the sauce.


Serve with or without parmesan (I do) and maybe some crusty bread (I didn't). A nice dry white would also go really well, perhaps a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Love is in the air...

Bit late with this blog post, but unless you've been hidden under a rock for the past week you'll know that it was Valentines day on Monday.


Now, those of you that know me will know that I have a heart of stone and romance isn't my thing. I am a bit of a cynic about the whole valentines thing. Quite possibly because I NEVER got that card or flowers (Of course I do now being happily married!) BUT this year I thought I would try and do something to get in the whole spirit of St Valentine.


I've never made red velvet cupcakes before and with them being pretty much the cupcake of choice at this time of year, I thought I'd give it a go...

Ahh my heart's softening up already!

For those who don't know what red velvet cake is, it is an American cake which is flavoured with cocoa and vanilla and is always topped with a creamy white icing, usually made with cream cheese. However, the most distinctive feature of red velvet is that the cake is bright red due to the use of red food colouring. The use of food colouring is a more recent things, originally the cakes gained a red hue due to the reaction of cocoa, vinegar and buttermilk, which all feature in this recipe. For more info, check out the Wikipedia page.


Anyway, history lesson over. I have a number of red velvet recipes but I decided to choose Nigella's from her most recent book Kitchen as I have heard a lot of good things about this recipe. Because the recipe uses cocoa, I thought I could sneak this post into Forever Nigella too.

The recipe itself is pretty straightforward to make. I think I was most apprehensive about adding the food colouring - it calls for 1 tbsp of gel colour...usually you only need a teeny tiny amount of this colouring but I listened to Nigella and the result was the most fabulous coloured batter.

The recipe is said to make 24 cupcakes - I managed to squeeze out the 24, but 12 minis and 12 standard sized cakes.

Once baked, the cakes aren't quite as vibrant, but a more muted shade.

The sponge had a lovely moist crumb which wasn't too sweet. I think what really made the cakes was the brilliant lemony cream cheese frosting - Nigella gives the option of using cider vinegar or lemon juice in the frosting. Obviously I went for the lemon option as the thought of vinegar freaked me out slightly.

I piped the frosting on the cake, and although the looked nice - I thought they needed an extra something, an extra bit of love. So what better than some love hearts? Sometimes a little bit of schmaltz can be good! Is that my heart melting a bit? Maybe...

Go go gadget go!

I have a confession to make. I am a bit of a kitchen gadget whore! A few years ago I would have lusted over the latest Miu Miu or Marc Jacobs handbag, or spent my last £5 on a copy of Elle magazine. Then with the onslaught of my 30's came sensible flat shoes and copies of Good Food magazine.

I've rambled on before about how much I love my Ina, my Kitchenaid - quite possibly the most beautiful thing I own in the kitchen other than Maud, the old, battered ceramic chicken, who was left in our care by the previous owners of our house and I can't bear to throw away.

Lovely Maud

The newest addition to the kitchen is our new Nespresso CiTiz machine. Yes, I have succumbed to a very pretentious pod coffee machine, but I absolutely love it. there are a number of pod machines out there on the market but the Nespresso pods are considered to be the best. I'm not a massive coffee expert, all I know is that I like mine dark, short and strong!

The pods are only available online / mail order through the "Nespresso Club" and there are a range of coffees to suit your taste. I am quite a lazy person by nature so to be able to stick a pod in the machine and press a button is brilliant for me.

However, aside from the ease and convenience, it's also very very pretty! Not that I'm shallow of course... I think the only disadvantage is that my intake of coffee has increased dramatically.

I think I need to curb my purchasing habit for a while, but I did see a lovely pasta attachment for Ina...