bakingwithelliott

Chocolate Fudge Cake

This is one of the best classics you’ll ever make – a chocolate fudge cake.

I’ll be honest, this is one of the easiest cakes you’ll come across. It’s a classic and tea time favourite all at the same time, which is perfect – right?

You’ll know this cake as it’s one of the most popular box mixes available on the supermarket shelves, which is where most of use remember it from. I have been making a version of this cake for many years with my mom and nan – now I’m sharing with you to make memories as you make it with your friends and family.

If you’re looking for a simple cake that doesn’t take too long or too many ingredients, this is the one for you. Quick and easy to make and better shared with people you love.

To make this cake even better, I used the dark chocolate and cocoa powder from the lovely guys over at Cocoa Runners. They also offer milk chocolate, unsweetened chocolate and cocoa nibs. If you use my links, you’ll save 10% on your order – what’s not to like?!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

175g butter.

175g granulated sugar.

3 eggs.

45g golden syrup.

40g ground almonds.

175g plain flour.

1 tsp baking powder.

40g cocoa powder.

Icing:

225g dark chocolate.

55g dark brown sugar.

225g butter.

75ml evaporated milk.

1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Decoration:

Any sort of sprinkles or chocolate chips you’d like.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, lining a 8 inch round cake tin with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and spatula needed. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the recipe, make the icing first as it requires time to firm up in the fridge. Into a saucepan place the milk chocolate, dark brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk and vanilla, before placing over a medium-low heat.

Allow the ingredients to melt a little before you start to stir them all together – after a couple of minutes, the ingredients should have started to melt together and start to easily combine. You’re looking for the mixture to be smooth and glossy – transfer into a clean bowl and place in the fridge and allow to firm up to reach a spreadable consistency.

For the cake, take a mixing bowl and place in the butter and sugar, beating the two together until they are very well combine – reaching a lighter and fluffier colour and consistency.

You can then go ahead and add in the eggs, roughly one at time, beating well in-between each addition. Once all of the eggs have been added, give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Now add in the golden syrup and ground almonds, mixing them in just until they are fully incorporated – then give the bowl a good scraping down again.

Take the bowl and place a sieve on top of the bowl and pass through the dry ingredients – this helps to remove any lumps and keep the mixture as smooth as can be. You can use a little milk to help you achieve the perfect consistency, only if needed.

Transfer the cake batter into the lined cake tin and smooth/level it off as best you can. Then place the cake tin into your preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Once the cake is baked, allow to cool fully before you intend on finishing it off. Now is also the ideal time to remove the icing from the fridge, so it has time to become the perfectly smooth spreadable consistency.

When you’re ready to finish the cake off, you’ll want to level the cake, just to remove the dome on the top and then in half so you have two layers of cake – which is what you need. Take your cake stand/plate/board and smear a small amount of icing in the centre, then top that with the first layer of cake. Onto the first layer of cake, place a generous amount of the icing and spread out until level and consistent.

Top with the final layer of cake and use the remaining icing to coat the sides and top, finish it however you’d like. As optional finish, use sprinkles or chocolate chips.

Allow the cake to firm up a little, then slice it up and enjoy it on its own or with a hot beverage – whichever you like!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

Banana Blondies

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How do you feel about blondies? However you feel, these banana blondies may just be the best version I’ve made to date.

I love a good blondie as they are quick, easy and the perfect alternative to brownies. By adding the banana in to the blondie batter, you can use it as an egg replacement and it’s perfect for helping achieve that gorgeous dense and fudgy texture. The other big advantage is that the banana helps flavour the batter naturally – no need for that nasty artificial banana flavouring.

These are the perfect bake to make, especially considering the seasons have changed and the weather is finally warming up and you’re now able to meet with your friends and family – it would be rude to go empty handed, right?

When I made these, I made a double batch, as I had ingredients I needed to use up and thought ‘why not’ as these have been consistently brilliant when I was doing the practices – to help add to the banana flavour and texture, I used some banana chips on top (Lio Bites if you were wondering). I made this a while back, using up the odds and ends I had in the cupboards.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

400g White chocolate.

230g Butter.

320g Granulated sugar.

380g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Salt.

4 Eggs.

100g Banana, mashed (with some lumps).

200g White chocolate chips.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, lining a 9×13 baking tray with parchment paper, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and don’t forget to get any equipment you may need, such as a heat proof bowl.

To start, place a large saucepan with a small amount of water on the hob – allowing the water to reach a rolling boil. Then into a large heat proof bowl, place in the butter and white chocolate, then place the bowl on top of the water and allow the ingredients to melt. Once they start to melt, stir until the mixture is completely melted and combined.

Remove from the heat and add in the granulated sugar and whisk it in until its fully incorporated.

Then you can go ahead and add in the plain flour and salt (sift is needed). Fold in the dry ingredients just until they are incorporated – this doesn’t take long and it gives you more control on how much you work the gluten.

Now add in your eggs, one at a time, whisking well in-between each addition. As you add in the eggs, you will notice the mixture’s consistency change – this is normal and shows that the recipe is going right.

Don’t forget to add in the banana and just whisk it into the mixture until its fully incorporated. You’ll also want to add in the white chocolate chips and just mix them in until they are fully incorporated.

Transfer the blondie batter into your lined 9×13 baking tray and level out the batter before baking in the oven for 25-30 minutes. After the 25-30 minutes, remove from the oven and top with the banana chips and bake for a further 5-10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully, before you place them in the fridge overnight and allow them to become the densest and fudgiest blondies possible.

Whenever they have been in the fridge for more than a couple of hours, you can go ahead and remove them from the tray and slice them up to enjoy them however you like – I went with squares but you can choose whatever shape you like.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

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Today I’m sharing my take on a batch of chocolate bread pudding – this is super simple and decadently chocolatey, what’s not to love?

You may not have seen my latest recipe, which was for a batch of triple chocolate hot cross buns – that’s what we need for today’s recipe. For the best results, use day old or slightly stale hot cross buns.

This may not be the traditional bread pudding but it’s an intensely chocolatey version – perfect for those who like a lot of chocolate – perfect for over easter, right?

I only made a small batch, seeing as this is very rich and a small portion is more than adequate. This may be the recipe you need to try, why not give it a try over easter and share with friend and family.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g triple chocolate hot cross buns.

600ml whole milk.

30g cocoa powder.

100g white chocolate chips.

100g milk chocolate chips.

100g dark chocolate chips.

100g light brown sugar.

2 eggs.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and line a deep sided 8 inch square cake tin.

To start on the recipe, take a large mixing bowl and place in all the roughly chopped bread and then pour over the milk. Combine the two by using your hands and rubbing them together, until the are combined enough that theres no large lumps. This may take about 5-7 minutes but you want to make sure the milk is fully incorporated into the bread as any bits that aren’t fully worked in will show and ruin the perfect texture in the end results. It should be a mushy consistency.

Next you can go ahead and add in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips, then mix these in until they are fully incorporated, just mix everything together using your hand.

Lastly, add in your eggs and light brown sugar and mix them in until its fully incorporated.

Go ahead and grab your lined cake tin and pour in the mixture – level it out to ensure a consistent bake. As an optional finish, sprinkle over a small amount fo light brown sugar.

Place into your preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.

When available, place the bread pudding into the fridge to chill overnight – this enhances the flavour and makes it easier to slice up.

You can slice these up however you like but I went with squares as this is very rich and a little goes a long way.

Triple Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

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Imagine, a classic hot cross bun but reworked into a chocolate version but not just any chocolate version, it’s triple chocolate.

I know that Easter has become much more of a commercial celebration and is already brimming to the top with chocolate, so why not add more chocolate to the occasion? Chocolate is always a good idea.

A few years back over on my YouTube channel, I made double chocolate hot cross buns and they were great but this year, I needed to vamp up the chocolate element and make these the most chocolate packed buns possible.

I’ve stripped my traditional hot cross bun recipe back and added chocolate in every possible element – the welcome additions are cocoa powder and chocolate chips. Each roll is generously studded with a mixture of white, milk and dark chocolate chips – these are the perfect bake for the chocoholic in your life.

If easter and chocolate are you sort of thing, why don’t you give these a try? They’re the perfect way to spend an afternoon and who doesn’t want a tasty treat?

While making these, I made a double batch as they are that good – like honestly they are. I will leave the recipe don below for a batch of 12 hot cross buns, which is ideal but can be halved if needed.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Bun dough:

450g strong white bread flour.

5g salt.

25g cocoa powder.

50g fresh yeast.

15g milk powder.

75g butter, at room temperature.

75g granulated sugar.

1 egg.

175ml water, at blood temperature.

100g white chocolate chips.

100g milk chocolate chips.

100g dark chocolate chips.

Crossing Paste:

A small amount of strong white bread flour.

A small amount of water.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining a 9×13 Ince cake pan with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and spatula.

To start on the dough, take your mixing bowl and place in the bread flour, salt and cocoa powder, then mix until everything is incorporated.

Then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, milk powder, butter, sugar, egg and water.Mix on a low speed to start with for approx. 2 minutes, followed by a further 4-6 minutes on a high speed – stopping around half way through the high speed, to add in all of the chocolate chips allowing them to become equally distributed throughout the dough.

Take the dough and give it a brief knead on a lightly floured surface, just until its smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, covering with clingfilm, allowing it to prove until its doubled in size (which takes roughly about an hour, in a room which is moderately heated).

Once the dough has doubled in size, you can go ahead and knock the dough back. This is the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough during the proving period. Bring the dough back into a ball shape and process it straight away.

As the dough doesn’t require any time to rest at this stage, you can go ahead and weigh the dough, then divide that amount by 12 and you’ll have the weight for each hot cross bun – scale the dough for each bun and roll into a smooth rounded ball and place into your 9×13 inch tray. Allowing each bun to have a little room around it as these expand while having the second prove – these are supposed to batch up, it’s normal.

Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm for a further 45 minutes or until the dough has proved up well.

Now is the ideal time to preheat your oven to 200˚c/390˚f and now make the crossing paste. Simply place a small amount of flour and water into a bowl and mix until you have paste – transfer the mixture into a piping bag.

Take the clingfilm from on top of the dough and pipe over your crossing paste over, so each bun has a ‘+’.

Place into your preheated oven and bake for around 15-18 minutes (check them at 15 minutes and judge whether they need more or not).

Remove from the oven and brush over with a simple syrup glaze and allow to cool fully and the enjoy them.

Cadbury creme egg cookies

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Easter is just a matter of weeks away, so why not get started on practising those easter treats to share with your friends and/or family?

Today I’m showing you how to make a batch of chunky Cadbury creme egg cookies – these are honestly next level. This recipe is also a great way to use up those creme eggs you have sitting there… Don’t even try telling me that you haven’t been eating them since January this year, I know you’re telling fibs!

The way I have formulated the recipe, you should have around 1 1/2 creme eggs in each cookie, which is perfect. You have half on top and the rest in the cookie – what’s not to like?

Anyway, these cookies are chunky and perfectly baked to ensure you get that perfectly baked texture, studded with milk chocolate chips and chopped creme egg then finished with half a creme egg and drizzled with Cadbury milk chocolate spread. Sound like something you’d like? Get your ingredients ready and dive into this recipe.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g butter.

125g granulated sugar.

225g light brown sugar.

2 eggs.

1 tsp vanilla extract.

400g plain flour.

1 tsp baking powder.

pinch of salt.

250-300g milk chocolate chips.

2-3 creme eggs, roughly chopped.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all of your ingredients, line your baking trays with parchment paper and get ay equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer (with a beater attachment), spatula and ice cream/cookie scoop.

To get started on the cookie dough, take a mixing bowl and place in the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar. Then beat them all together until they are well combined. – the mixture should be lighter and fluffier.

Once you’ve achieved that consistency, you can then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition – you will notice the consistency change as you add the eggs in, this is completely normal and you shouldn’t worry about it too much, unless the mixture has scrambled (which it shouldn’t do).

Don’t forget to add in your vanilla.

Then go ahead and give the bowl another scraping down, again just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Now add in the plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first, just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. You can then add in the chocolate chips and roughly chopped cream eggs.

Go ahead and start mixing everything together over a low speed to start with (unless you want dry ingredients and chocolate chips all over the kitchen) and work your way up to a medium-high speed, only mix until a clear dough has formed. Try your best not over mix the dough, as it will ruin the texture of the cookies.

As the dough doesn’t need chilling, you can process it straight away. Take your scoop and scoop up a generous amount of the cookie dough, ensuring its’s level with the scoop – then roll it in your hands until its smooth, then round it off using a circular cookie cutter and place onto your lined baking tray. Repeat this process until you have no dough left.

When you place the cookies onto the baking trays, allow them to have space around them as they do grow and expand while baking and you ideally don’t want them to batch together.

Once you have your trays filled, you can go ahead and place them into your preheated oven and bake for 18-22 minutes. I recommend checking them at 18 minutes but they may need more time.

Although it may be tempting to eat these straight from the oven, you’ll want to partially finish the cookies off. Simply place half a creme egg on top in the centre and allow them to cool to the stage where you can pick them up at least. They are best enjoyed warm or at least reheated!

Once fully (or almost full) cooled down, you can finish the cookies off with a drizzle of Cadburys milk chocolate spread and then enjoy them.

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookie Bars

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Easter is just around the corner, so why not use that excuse to buy and use all of the readily available holiday themed chocolates?

I’m jumping on the bandwagon this week with a batch and sharing my take on a batch of mini egg cookie bars – with easter being just a few weeks away, it’s the perfect time to start getting those easter bakes made.

Cookie bars are always good idea, mostly because they’re quick, easy and super versatile – you can customise them to suit you and/or your occasion, which is perfect right?

For these I used a mixture of milk chocolate chips and mini eggs, which work perfectly together and when combined into the cookie dough – it all marries and comes together wonderfully.

If this sounds like a recipe you’d like to try, why don’t you give it a go? You have nothing to lose, only yummy cookie bars to gain.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g Butter, at room temperature.

175g Granulated sugar.

175g Light brown sugar.

2 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

350g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

A pinch of Salt.

100g Milk chocolate chips.

150g Cadbury mini eggs.

Method:

Before you get into the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep. Start by weighing up all of the ingredients, lining a 8 inch square cake tin with parchment paper and grab a mixer and spatula. Don’t forget to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the cookie dough, grab your mixing bowl and place the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into the bowl and beat for a couple of minutes or until lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once that’s been achieved, you can give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Then you can add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition – followed by the vanilla extract. You may notice that the consistency changes once all of the wet ingredients have been added and thats normal – don’t worry about it.

You’ll now want to give the bowl a good scraping down, again to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated.

Next, you can add in the plain flour and baking powder, passing them through a sieve first. This is just to make the dough as smooth as possible, removing any lumps that may occur in the dry ingredients.

Now you’ll also want to add in the chocolate chips and mini eggs. You can always incorporate everything using a spatula but I find using my stand mixer works just as well – use whichever method works best for you.

Once you have batter formed, give the bowl a good scraping down to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated.

Then you can transfer it into your line 8 inch cake tin, spreading it out to get it as level as you can – this is to help with the bake consistency. You’ll want to then bake this 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven and top with a selection of mini eggs and place back into the oven and bake for a further 2-3 minutes or just until they are golden brown around the edges.

If you can resist, try not to cut these util they are fully cooled down. To make them fudgier and easier slice, once cooled down, place into th fridge for 6-8 hours or overnight. Trust me, that really helps to enhance the flavour and texture.

Lemon Rolls

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Keeping things super simple and laid back this week with a batch of homemade lemon rolls.

If hot cross buns aren’t your thing, don’t worry – give these less than traditional lemon rolls a try. They contain a lot of natural lemon flavour, mostly coming from the zest and the super easy homemade lemon curd filling (don’t worry, you can always use shop bought if you’d like to).

I’ll be honest, these rolls came around after having a look through instagram and Pinterest. I wasn’t going to actually make them but once I did and I tasted them – I knew I had to share them with you.

These are perfect to make, as they can be customised to suit you and easily shared with others, as they just tear away from one another – ideal if you’re celebrating Easter or other special event soon. Who doesn’t like a delicate lemon flavour? It’s not going to knock you over with citrus flavour but it also won’t underwhelm you.

If you’re not sure what these are, well, starting with a zesty enriched dough, generously filled with homemade lemon curd and finished with a simple cream cheese icing – this is ultimately the spring version of a more autumnal cinnamon roll, right?

Anyway, let’ get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Bread:

500g Strong white bread flour.

8g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

Zest of 1 or 2 lemons.

1 Egg,

175ml Water (Luke warm).

Filling:

Lemon curd – homemade or shop-bought (whichever you prefer).

Cream cheese icing:

85g Soft cheese.

60g Butter.

200g Icing sugar.

Method:

Before you get into any baking, you’ll want to do some prep work first. Weigh up all the ingredients, lightly oil a bowl and get any equipment ready, such as a stand mixer and spatula. When the time comes, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the the recipe, you’ll want to start on the bread dough, place the bread flour and salt into a bowl and give it a good mix to incorporate the two together.

You can then go ahead and add in the yeast, butter, sugar, milk powder lemon zest, egg and water – then mix everything together on a low speed for 2 minutes, followed by a further 6 minutes on a medium-high speed. Once completely mixed, the dough should be soft, if it’s overly sticky, add a little flour.

Flour the work surface with a generous amount of bread flour and place the dough onto it. Knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elasticated.

Place the dough into the lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling-film and allow to proof/prove for around an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

While the dough is proving, it’s the perfect time to get cleaned down and make the lemon curd filling (if you’re making your own, recipe here).

Once the dough has completed its first proof/prove, you’ll want to generously flour your work surface and place the dough onto it. You can then knock the dough back, this is just the process of removing the gases that had built up.

Now the dough has been knocked back, bring the dough into a ball shape and start to roll the dough out using a rolling pin. The dough may resist being rolled out, this shows the gluten has formed, its all good. You’ll want to roll the dough out to roughly 40cm x 60cm – it’ll be rectangular.

Take the lemon curd and spread it all over the dough, until you have a generous and level amount spread on the dough.

Take the long side of dough (the one nearest you) and start to roll it up. Start by rolling around 2cm of the dough into the first roll and then just continue the rolling until you’ve fully rolled the dough. Make sure that you keep each roll of the dough tight.

Slice the dough at around 1 inch for each roll – repeat for the remaining dough until you have all if your rolls.

Place the rolls into a deep sided tray 9×13 inch tray, they should all comfortably fit into this tray.

Cover the tray/s with cling film and allow to double in size. Prove for around 30-45 minutes – these will batch while baking, this is normal.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

While your cinnamon rolls are baking in the oven, it’s the perfect time to make the cream cheese icing which will top the rolls.

Into your mixing bowl, place the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar. Mix together using a spatula or whisk until all of the ingredients have become fully combined – this doesn’t take very long at all.

Once you have been mixing the cream cheese icing together for around 4-5 minutes, you should notice that the mixture goes from a yellowish colour to a lighter yellow but more white colour and should be much lighter and fluffier in consistency. Set the cream cheese icing aside until its needed later.

Now that the lemon rolls are baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool down, almost fully before you finish them off.

Once the rolls are almost cooled down, you can start to add the cream cheese icing on to the buns. I start with a little on each and adding more as its needed – add as much as you’d like.

Then to finish the rolls, you’ll want to zest over the zest of a lemon. This is optional but I really like lemon, so why not?

Well, that’s how you make lemon rolls my way. They are quick and easy to make, which makes them more enjoyable. If you make too many, bake them off, then wrap them with some cling film and place into the freezer. You can keep the rolls in the freeze for up to 3 months, just make fresh cream cheese icing when you take them out.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

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Whether you like it or not, carrot cake is a classic bake. Today I’m showing you how to make my take on carrot cupcakes with an orange cream cheese icing – sound good?

I know that carrot cake is in the classic cakes, like a coffee and walnut cake (or coffee and walnut cupcakes, if you fancy) but it’s not for everybody – which is perfectly understandable. That’s why I’m sharing my carrot cupcakes, smaller, easier to share and perfect if you only want a small amount of cake instead of a slice (or 2, I’m not judging).

For me, carrot cake has that spring or easter vibe to it and I can’t quite explain why. It’s different to most other cakes, especially considering it has grated carrot in. This helps add flavour, texture and moisture to the cake – which is important. Remember that carrot cake should be moist, not dry – so many shop bought or other recipes end up being dry and unpleasant but not this recipe.

Once you give this recipe a try, you won’t look back. To make this cake even better, I used a classic cream cheese icing but made it better by adding in orange zest – trust me, this simple little addition elevates this cake to the next level – so, what’s stopping you making these soon?

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

150g butter.

150g light brown sugar.

3 eggs.

150g plain flour.

1 tsp baking powder.

dash of cinnamon.

85g walnuts (optional).

100g raisins.

150g grated carrot

icing:

300g icing sugar.

50g butter.

125g cream cheese.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll eat to do some prep work. I recommend starting b weighing up all of your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line a muffin tray with cupcake cases and get any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and spatula ready.

To start on the cupcakes, take your mixing bowl and place in the butter and light brown sugar. Beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Give the bowl a quick scraping down, just to work in any bits that may to have been fully worked in.

Then add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in-between each addition, ensuring each egg is fully incorporated before adding in another egg. the consistency of the batter will become more liquid like, which is normal.

Give the bowl another quick scraping down, just to incorporate any of the bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

After you have done this, you can then go ahead and add in all of the grated carrot along with the raisins/walnuts – then mix this in until its fully worked in.

Directly into the bowl, sift in the plain flour and baking powder – you can also add in the ground cinnamon.

You can then go ahead and mix all the ingredients together until a batter forms – it won’t be completely smooth seeing as there is carrot in the mic but you shouldn’t be able to see a trace of a single ingredient.

Divide the cake batter between your cupcake case and bake for 20-22 minutes in your preheated oven (the cupcakes should be risen and when a tester is inserted into the centre, comes out clean).

While your cupcakes are baking, you can make the cream cheese icing.

The icing is really easy to make. start by grabbing a large mixing bowl and placing in the icing sugar, butter and orange zest – then mix these together until they are combined, they won’t come together fully as the mixture is too dry at this point. By now, the mixture should be clumping together.

Add in the cream cheese and mix on a medium-high speed. At the start, the mixture may look very liquid – don’t worry, as you whisk it together, it thickens and becomes a much more stable icing to work with.

You’re looking for the perfect spreadable/pipable consistency, it should hold its shape but still be pliable enough to work with. Once you achieve this, you can transfer the icing into a piping bag fitted with your choice of nozzle and set aside until needed later on.

As an optional spring/easter themed topped, you could make a couple little sugar paste carrots to sit on top.

Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled and the icing has been made, you can go ahead and finish the cupcakes off. Start by taking the icing and piping however you like on top of the cupcakes, I used a 1M Wilton tip but you can use whichever nozzle you like.

If you’re using any sort of topper, you can place them on now and serve the cupcakes – it’s that easy.

Lemon Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Spring is almost here, so why don’t you zest up those flavours and give these lemon cupcake a go?

Lemon is always a good flavours, especially around Spring. It’s sharp and tangy flavour, is always a crowd pleaser – when your partner a light lemon cake, a homemade lemon curd filling and topped with a freshly whipped sweetened cream… Tell me that doesn’t sound good.

Although there’s lemon zest in the cupcake and the filling, it’s surprisingly well balanced and this is due to the freshly whipped cream in place of the buttercream (if these were made with a buttercream, it would become too sweet and possibly overwhelm the lemon flavour).

How about making these for the important women who raised you? Seeing as Mother’s Day is just around the corner here in the UK.

These cupcakes would make the perfect bake to share with your friends and family (following all rules and measure, of course).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Cupcakes:

150g plain flour.

170g granulated sugar.

1 tsp baking powder.

70g butter.

150ml milk (use your preference of milk).

1 egg.

The zest of 3 lemons.

30-45ml lemon juice.

Cream:

250ml double cream.

35g icing sugar.

1 tsp vanilla extract.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll meat to do some prep work. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all of your ingredients and getting any equipment you may need ready, such as a mixing bowl and spatula.

Take your mixing bowl and place a sieve on top, then pass through the flour, baking powder and granulated sugar. You’ll also want to add in the butter at this stage and just use a spatula to rub the butter into the dry ingredients, as if you were making pastry – it should reach a sandy/breadcrumb consistency.

Once that’s been achieved, you can go ahead and add in the lemon zest and mix until its fully incorporated throughout the mix.

Now add in the lemon juice, milk and egg and mix until all the ingredients have become combined and you have a smooth cake batter (it won’t be completely smooth, due to the lemon zest).

Then you can grab your muffin tray which has been lined with 9 cupcake cases (this recipe makes slightly less than usual cupcake recipes but they’re well worth it).

Divide the cake batter between the cupcake cases, ensuring you’re filling them around 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full and then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes.

While your cupcakes are baking in the oven, you can go head and get cleaned down.

I fill my cupcakes with a homemade lemon curd, if you want to try your own.

Once the cupcakes are baked and have been allowed to cool, you can start to finish the cupcakes off. Place the lemon curd into a piping bag and make the whipped cream topping.

Into a large mixing bowl, add in the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk everything together until the cream starts to hold its shape, take it a little further than this as you’re looking for stiff peaks (but try your best not to over whisk your cream, otherwise it will have a granular mouthfeel).

Transfer the cream into a piping bag fitted with your nozzle of choice (I went with a 1m wilton tip).

Core out the centres of the cupcakes, not all the way down though, you still want there to be a little bit of cake at the bottom to support the filling. Then pipe the cream on top of the cupcake (however you’d like) and that’s pretty much it.

Seeing as these cakes have cream topping in place of a more standard buttercream, it’s highly perishable and must be eaten the day you make them.

NYC Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’m finally sharing my take on a batch of these chunky chocolate chip cookies, a baked good that I mostly relate to…

These aren’t your grandmas cookies, they’re much better than that. They’re much thicker, packed with chocolate chips and have the most perfect gooey centre (with a crisp outer) – the only way cookies should be, in my personal opinion.

I have seen this style of cookie grow in popularity over the past 18 months, out with the more ‘standard’ cookie and in with the thicker and chunkier cookie – which I’m all for!

Let’s be honest, cookies are always a good idea, right? I wasn’t sure whether to call these NYC cookies, chunky cookies or bakery style cookies but whatever you call them, they’re delicious!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g butter.

125g granulated sugar.

225g light brown sugar.

2 eggs.

1 tsp vanilla extract.

400g plain flour.

1 tsp baking powder.

pinch of salt.

250-300g milk chocolate chips.

Method:

Once you’ve achieved that consistency, you can then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

Then go ahead and give the bowl another scraping down, again just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Now add in the plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first, just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. You can then add in the chocolate chips.

When you place the cookies onto the baking trays, allow them to have space around them as they do grow and expand while baking and you ideally don’t want them to batch together.

Once you have your trays filled, you can go ahead and place them into your preheated oven and bake for 18-22 minutes. I recommend checking them at 18 minutes but they may need more time.

Although it may be tempting to eat these straight from the oven, allow them to cool to the stage where you can pick them up at least. They are best enjoyed warm or at least reheated!

bakingwithelliott

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