Baking with Elliott

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Cadbury Creme Scotch Eggs

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You read the title right, Cadbury creme scotch eggs. These are sweet, not savoury and are the perfect indulgence to treat yourself to over Easter this year!

This weeks post and YouTube video is a collaboration with my friend Dolores (aka The Baking Diva).

If you advent heard of these before, I will give a quick run down as to what they are. It’s a whole Cadbury’s creme egg, wrapped with a chocolatey cake and buttercream mixture and finished with even more chocolate, roll the balls in grated chocolate and enjoy them. They are fairly rich and very indulgent – perfect as an alternative to easter eggs, especially for a chocoholic (we all know at least one).

Before you get started on this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up all your ingredients into bowls and line your baking tray/tin with some greaseproof or parchment.

The only baking component of this recipe is the chocolate cake and it’s super easy to make. For the cake, we’ll be using the classic creaming method – this is where you cream together the butter and sugar together, then gradually add the eggs, followed by the dry ingredients. To start, place your butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat for a couple of minutes until they are well combined and have gone lighter in colour and consistency, then you can start to add your eggs and vanilla, one at a time beating well in-between each addition. Give the bowl a good scrape down, then you can add your dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve first. This is just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mixture (cocoa powder is prolific for having lumps).

Once you have sifted the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, start to incorporate them on a low-medium speed to start, add a  tablespoon of milk at a time if your mixture is a little thick. Make sure that all of the ingredients are incorporated fully, you want the cake batter to be clear (not a trace of a single ingredient is visible), then give your bowl a good scrape down just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

I then transferred my cake batter into my lined cake tin, I used a 7×10 inch baking tray but use something around this size and just watch how long it needs in the oven. All ovens are different and take various times to bake, so use my times as a guideline. spread and level out the cake batter as best you can, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.

While your cake is baking in the oven, feel free to wash up any equipment you’ve used and get started on the buttercream. To start the buttercream, place the butter into your mixing bowl and beat it on its own for a couple of minutes until its lighter in colour and consistency, then add in your first half icing sugar and cocoa powder and give a good mix until they are worked in, then give your bowl a good scrape down and add the remaining half of icing sugar and give that a good mix until its fully incorporated, give the bowl another good scrape down then add in the melted chocolate – this is optional but I like the flavour it adds. Mix that in until it’s fully incorporated and then set aside until it’s needed later on.

Once your cake is baked and out of the oven, allow it to cool completely before you intend on using it. While you wait, wash up any bits ad pieces that may need washing and you can also grate your chocolate ready for when you need it in a short while.

Once your cake is cooled down, you can then cut the cake in half and start to crumble it into crumbs, this is easy todo, just rib the cake in-between your finger tips until there are no large lumps left in the crumbs, then add in around half of your buttercream mixture and just rub the two together (like you were making pastry, rubbing the butter into the flour style). You may need to add more cake or more buttercream, it just depends on how much of each you placed into the bowl originally. Once you’ve got the buttercream and cake well combined it should be a thick but pliable consistency.

Now that you’ve got all of your components made, you can star assembling. Take a Cadbury’s creme egg and a good amount of the cake mixture and place the creme egg into the cake mixture, try to cover the egg as equally as possible using the cake mixture, then roll it between your hands to make it a more round, then roll in the grated chocolate and set onto a plate or stand and enjoy them.

These are really indulgent and are a treat that’s perfect for Easter, so if you have an event coming up that Easter themed, these will go down a treat. I will leave the Youtube video below!

Ingredients:

Cake:

200g Butter

200g Granulated sugar.

3 Eggs.

170g Plain flour.

30g Cocoa Powder.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

 

Buttercream:

150g Butter.

300g Icing sugar.

20g Cocoa powder.

50g Milk chocolate, milk.

 

Grated Chocolate:

100g Milk chocolate, grated.

Lemon Velvet Cake

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Whether you call her mom or mum, make sure you make her a special cake this mother’s day.

I now that Mother’s day is on a different date depending on where you are in the world, but in the UK its this coming Sunday. Make sure you’ve got all the ingredients in and show your mom how much you love her in cake form.

The cake isn’t just any cake, its a lemon velvet cake. It’s perfect for this recipe (and for spring in general). It’s packed with a lemon-y punch and finished with vanilla buttercream, it might not sound like it but these work really well. 

You have 3 layers of lemon velvet cake, brushed with a lemon simple syrup and then finished with a ombre vanilla buttercream coloured in 3 shades of purple – the colours are customisable to suit you better!

To start, you’ll want to make the macarons. These are normally something that can be difficult to make but if you use the method I have provided, you will find them easier. Into a large bowl add in the egg whites and the colouring paste of choice, then give it all a good mix until well incorporated. Into a separate bowl sift together the ground almonds and icing sugar a few times, this is to remove any big lumps that may be in the ground almonds. Once you’ve sifted them together, you can then add the dry mix to the coloured egg whites and give it all a good mix until everything is combined, set aside until needed later on. 

Into a small saucepan, place the water and sugar and place a medium-high heat, until it achieves 118c/.  Into a clean mixing bowl (I opted to use my stand mixer bowl), place the egg whites and whisk them up until they are frothy, then add the sugar and whisk until its incorporated and has reached soft peaks. After that pour in the sugar/water mixture (make sure you turn your mixer speed down to the lowest setting, getting this mixture on your skin would result in a burn, so be extra careful. Pour the hot mixture down the side of your bowl, avoiding contact with the whisk). On  wall of the hot mixture is in the egg whites, crank the speed up to high and whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy and the bottom of the bowl will be cool enough to touch. 

Now that you’ve got your meringue mixture and coloured almond mixture, you can combine the two. Simply spoon about 1/3 of the meringue mixture in and fold it in until it’s fully incorporated, then repeat with the remaining 2/3 of meringue. The mixture will change in colour and consistency, this is normal, it’s a sign that the ingredients are combined. Give the bowl a good scrape down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on. The place the macaron batter into a piping bag.

Make sure all of your baking trays are lined with greaseproof/parchment, the. You can snip the end off of the piping bag and start to pipe out the macarons, i recommend you download a free template offline and print it off, unless you’re confident. Pipe out however many you can get on your tray, then tap the tray on the countertop, this will bring any air bubbles to the surface, then leave these for 30-60!minutes, or until a skin has formed on top of the, macarons (simply touch the top and if mixture sticks to your finger, it’s not ready). While you wait for them to dry, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

Once the macarons are ready, you can place them in the oven and bake them off for around 12 minutes (give or take a few minutes, they shouldn’t colour very much). Once out of oven, you can take the parchment/greaseproof off the baking tray an allow them to cool fully before removing from the greaseproof/parchment.

Now that the macarons are made, it’s time to start on the cake. This isn’t your typical lemon cake, it’s a lemon velvet cake – if you like a strong lemon flavour, this is the cake for you.  

Do some prep work before you start baking. Weigh up your ingredients, preheat your oven and prepare your cake tins if they need it.

To start on the cake, you’ll want to get yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the butter and sugar, then beat them together until they are well combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, this is just to help incorporate any bits that may no have been fully worked in earlier on. The next stage is to add the eggs in, one at a time beating well in-between each addition, try not to add more than one at a time, otherwise you may scramble the mixture and this isn’t ideal (if you do happen to scramble the mixture, it’s not the end of the world. Simply add a tablespoon of the flour you’ve already weighed out).

Next you’ll want to add the colouring and flavourings, for me this is lemon yellow by Wilton and I’m flavouring my cakes with lemon zest, add these into the mixture and beat them until they are fully incorporated. Give your bowl another good scraping down.

Now you can start adding your dry and wet ingredients, don’t forget to start and finish with the dry ingredients, once they are all fully incorporated, give your bowl a final good scrape down. Then you can add in the bicarbonate of soda and then pour over the vinegar and allow to fizzle, then give it one last mix, just to work in the raising agent.

Take your cake batter and weigh it, the take this amount and divide by 3 and then weigh that exact amount into each cake tin. This is my preferred method of dividing the cake batter but feel free to eyeball it and guess how much is in each tin. Bake in your preheated oven for 25-27 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

While your cakes are in the oven baking, this is the ideal time to make your buttercream and simple syrup. To make the buttercream, place your butter into a mixing bowl and beat for a couple minutes until its softer and more spreadable, then scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add in your first half of icing sugar then give it a good mix for a few minutes, then scrape down the bowl again and repeat with the remaining icing sugar. Once the second half of icing sugar is added and fully incorporated, add in the vanilla extract and mix until fully mixed in, set aside until needed later on.

 For the simple syrup place the water, lemon juice and sugar into a small-medium saucepan and place on a medium-high heat and allow to come to a boil, then leave to cool down fully before use.

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

Once the cakes are fully cooled down, you can then level the top off each cake and give them all a generous brushing of the lemon simple syrup (using lemon will only enhance the lemon flavour, great if you like a strong lemon flavour). You can then layer the cakes together with a good amount of the vanilla buttercream, once layered/stacked you can then give the cake a crumb coat, this is just a thin layer of buttercream that will lock in the crumbs and not ruin your final layer of buttercream. Chill in the fridge for 30-45 minutes or until firm to the touch. 

To finish the cake, colour your buttercream into 3 colours. I opted to go with 3 different shades of purple, I start with the lightest at the bottom and finish with the darkest on top, pipe equals amounts of each onto the cake, then smooth it all out as best I can with my cake scraper, you may need to scrape the excess buttercream onto some greaseproof paper and if there are any gaps/spaces, fill them in and smooth them off until you’re happy.

You can finish the cake however you like but i piped rosettes on top (and topped them with macarons) and a white chocolate drip, the drip is optional. For the chocolate drip, I place my double cream into a saucepan and place a low-medium heat just until it’s almost boiled. Pour the hot cream over your white chcolate, allow it to sit for 1 minute, then stir until its smooth, transfer into a piping bag and use from there.

Macarons:

150g Ground almonds.

150g Icing sugar.

55g Egg whites.

38g Water.

150g Granulated sugar.

55g Egg whites.

10g Granulated sugar.

Lemon Velvet Cake:

90g Butter.

225g Granulated sugar.

2 Eggs.

Zest of 3-4 lemons.

Yellow food paste.

180ml Buttermilk.

220g Plain flour.

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

2 tbsp White vinegar.

Simple Syrup:

200ml Lemon juice.

100ml Water.

300ml granulated sugar.

Buttercream:

500g Butter.

1kg Icing sugar.

Whiter Chocolate Drip:

25ml Double cream.

25g White chocolate.

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

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This is singlehandedly one of the most bizarre flavour combinations i’ve done on my blog or YouTube channel… However it works really well. If you haven’t tried these before and like something a little different, this is the recipe for you.

To make the bacon candied, you’ll want to take your rashers of bacon and give each side a coating with light brown sugar, then place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes at 160˚c/320˚f. Once done, transfer to a plate and allow to cool fully. Keep enough bacon back to place a small piece on top of each cupcake (1 piece for 6 cupcakes or 2 pieces for 12 cupcakes).

The bacon isn’t just your standard type you’d have on your fry up – it been candied, which adds a different flavour and makes it sweet, savour and bacon-y. The first bite is a little confusing as you’re not expecting it to be sweet but it hits you with the sweet, the savoury and maple flavour. I used quite a lot of maple syrup in the recipe but it balances well with the bacon and adds a distinct flavour of its own (which isn’t a bad thing, it all ties together and turns out well).

The cupcake isn’t too different to my usual recipe, it uses light brown sugar over granulated white sugar (to add a certain caramel-y flavour to it, this works wickedly well with the flavours) and the buttercream isn’t a basic buttercream (butter, icing sugar and favouring), it’s my favourite Italian buttercream, which is richer and smoother and not overly sweet compared to a basic buttercream.

Making the cupcakes isn’t overly hard, you’ll want to use the creaming method to mix the cake. This is where you start by adding the butter and sugar into your mixing bowl and beating the two together until they are very well incorporated, you can tell when this stage is done as the mixture will be lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this can take up to 5 minutes using an electric mixer (stand or hand). Once the butter and sugar are light and fluffy, you can then add your eggs and maple syrup, beating well in-between each addition. Once the eggs and maple syrup have been fully incorporated, you can give the bowl a quick scrape down (this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in).

Next comes adding the plain flour, baking powder and salt but make sure you pass it through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the dry ingredients. Once in the bowl, mix them in to incorporate on a medium speed. Be careful not to over mix the cake batter at this stage, otherwise the cakes will turn out tougher in texture. Once your dry ingredients are just about incorporated, add in your chopped bacon and mix again just enough to fairly distribute the bacon in the cake batter.

Now that you’ve got your batter done, you can divide it between your cupcake cases. You can fill a piping bag with the cake batter and pipe an equal amount into each case or using two spoons, spooning equal amounts into each case, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until well risen and a tester comes out clean). Allow to cool fully before finishing them.

The buttercream takes a little longer to make but is totally worth it. Start by placing the water and sugar into a small saucepan over a medium-high heat until it reaches 121˚c/250˚f – this takes about 5-7 minutes. While you wait for the water and sugar to come to temperature, you can place your egg and egg yolks into a mixing bowl and beat them together until lighter in colour and consistency – this doesn’t take very long. Once the sugar water mixture has come to temperature and your egg mixture is ready, you can slowly and steadily start to pour the hot sugar water mixture into the egg mixture – do this on the lowest speed your mixer can go. Once all the liquid has been added, switch the mixer onto high speed and mix until you can touch the bottom of your bowl. Once the bowl is cooled down enough, start to add your butter a little at a time, allowing it to beat in well – once all the butter has been added it will look sort of like butter but this is normal, once it’s flavoured and placed into a piping bag it doesn’t look so much like butter. Once all the butter has been added, feel free to flavour it with some maple syrup, you can add more or less to suit your preference.

To finish the cupcakes, you’ll want to place your buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (I opted for my favourite open star tip but use whatever you prefer). Then go ahead and pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake, then top with a piece of bacon and optionally, drizzle over some more maple syrup.

So that’s my recipe for maple bacon cupcakes, I hope you enjoy. Don’t forget to let me know if you make one of my recipes. Don’t forget to check out my social medias and YouTube channel.

Ingredients:

Candied Bacon:

10 Rashers of bacon.

100g Light brown sugar.

Cupcake:

175g Butter.

175g Light brown sugar.

2 eggs.

45-60ml Maple syrup.

175g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

1/2 tsp Salt.

8 Rashers of bacon, chopped.

Buttercream:

35g Water.

125g Granulated white sugar.

1 Egg.

2 Egg yolks.

250g Butter.

Maple syrup (flavour to suit you).

Meringue Kisses

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These super simple meringues aren’t only quick and easy, they can also be used in decorating a cake or finishing cupcakes. What’s not to love?

If you like meringue but don’t want a lot or shop bought – this is the recipe for you! These meringue kisses only require 2 ingredients, yes you read right, 2 ingredients. They are eggs whites and sugar (any sort of white sugar, like granulated or caster will work really well), all you have to do is put some time into making them and ta-da they’re ready.

If you have horror stories of making meringue in the past or have heard others horror stories, don’t be put off making meringue. There are a few thing’s that you can do in advance to prevent any mistakes from occurring (not ruling out mistakes 100% but lowering the chance significantly). They are as follows:

  • Keep all your equipment and tools spotless – any trace amount of anything like fat or similar can have a knock on effect on how well the egg whites whip up. Keep everything as clean as possible – feel free to wipe the whisk and bowl down with some vinegar on kitchen paper.
  • Have the ingredients weighed out before you start – this is single handedly one of the best tips when it comes to baking in general and works even better when you’re working with exact measurements like this recipe.
  • Prepare your baking tray.
  • Whisk away – When it comes to whisking meringue, yes it’s possible to over whisk it but under or over whisking is an issue. So remember it will start frothy and then get thicker and thicker then start to look shiny and glossy and will easily hold its shape when piped or turned upside down in the bowl (which is often a way people test if they’ve got the meringue consistency correct).
  • This one is optional but is ideal if you live somewhere cold or your sugar is cold. You can warm your sugar before adding it to the egg whites, by adding it warmed it incorporates better – this was something I learnt while on a baking course at college. Simple line a baking tray with some baking parchment, then sprinkle the sugar all over the tray and place in a medium heated oven for a few minutes just until its warm, you don’t want to take it any further than this. Be careful not to caramelise or burn the sugar – if you do, chuck it away and restart.
  • The quantities of the ingredients are important. Remember the ratio 2:1 – 2 parts sugar to 1 part egg white.

Start by preparing by weighing up all your ingredients, preheating your oven to 100˚c/210˚f and lining a baking tray with baking parchment.

Making the meringue is really simple, all you do is get your mixing bowl (and mixer) and eggs whites. Into your mixing, place the egg whites, the beat them on a medium-high speed until they have become frothy in consistency. The ‘frothiness’ occurs as aeration occurs, this may take a few minutes but is a necessary step in making the meringue base.

Once the mixture has become frothy, you can then turn up the speed to high until the mixture has reached stiff peaks (this is where it holds it’s shape). It’s at this point you could over-mix the mixture, so try to prevent that from happening by keeping an eye on it. Once it’s achieved stiff peaks, you can then start adding the sugar a little at a time. Adding a little at a time helps the sugar to incorporate quicker, so take your time when adding the sugar.

Once the sugar has started to be added and is incorporated, you will notice a change in the consistency, this is normal and will happen. It will become thicker and much glossier than it has been up until this point – it will hold it’s shape very well and glossy to the look once fully done.

Once you’ve got the meringue mixture done, you can then transfer it into a piping bag (I fitted mine with a 1cm plain piping tip, but feel free to leave it without one if you’d like), then start to pipe them out onto your lined baking tray. Pipe the kisses from around an inch away from the parchment paper and then you can place them in your preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or a little longer if wanted. If like me you wanted to add some edible glitter lustre onto the meringue, gently tap on a small amount from a brush, you cold also use sprinkles or something similar.

To be honest with you, they don’t look all that different once they are fully baked. This kisses are ideal as last minute decoration or snack to nibble on.

Ingredients:

130g Egg white.

260g Granulated white sugar.

 

Bake your meringue kisses at 100˚c/212˚f for 35-40 minutes, once fully baked, they will pull away from the baking parchment easily.

 

 

Strawberry Cheesecake Tart

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Do you need a quick recipe for Valentine’s Day? Look no further, I’m share with you how to make this no-bake cheesecake tart.

This recipe is a twist on my more traditional no-bake cheesecake, after thinking about how I could improve or change the recipe. After being on Instagram and Pinterest for a short while, I saw there was the odd cheesecake tart, I didn’t follow any of the recipes that I found as I had the basics covered and that’s all you need. 

So I take my simple no-bake recipe and make some changes, mostly lowering the amounts of each ingredients as I don’t need as much for this tart. If you have seen any of my other cheesecakes before, you will know that they have a thick consistency but this one was slightly less so, but it still set nicely.

Before you start working on the tart, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get the pie/tart tin ready and weigh up all your ingredients. To start the tart, you’ll want to make the base (and sides) which is super simple and only requires 2 ingredients – digestive biscuits and melted butter. You’ll want to make the digestive biscuits into crumbs (it will look like sand once ready) and you can do this 2 ways – method one is the easiest and it’s to use a food processor, blitz the biscuits for a few seconds until they have reached a crumb consistency. Method two is too place the biscuits into a ziplock bag and crush them using a rolling pin, this takes longer but works equally as well.

Once you’ve  got your biscuit crumbs, you can then add the melted butter and either blitz or mix in the butter until it’s turned to wet sand colour. Place the biscuit mixture into the base of your 9 inch pie/tart tin and get yourself a cup measurement or something similar and start to compress it down, while you do that you’ll also want to press it out towards the edge and build up the sides, it may take some time to get the edges just right but it’s all worth it in the end. So take the time needed to get the base and sides as level all around as possible.

Once you’ve got the biscuit base sorted, you can then go ahead and place that in the fridge to firm up while you make the filling.

To make the cheesecake filling, you’ll want to get yourself a medium-large mixing bowl and place in the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla then give it all a good mix with either a hand whisk or a electric mixer (whichever you have or prefer to use). Once all the ingredients are fully incorporated, add in the jam (I used strawberry as I knew it would turn the mixture pink but feel free to use whatever flavour you’d like) and give it all a give whisk together until the jam has been worked in fully, if possible, try and use jam without bits, it will help the mixture to stay smooth. Add in the double cream and whisk until the mixture thickens up – mine was looser in consistency as it was warm in my kitchen but it set up alright.

Now you’ll want to take your tart case out of the fridge and add in the filling into and level it off as best you can, then place back in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight (which is preferred by me personally). The longer you allow it to chill, the more it will firm up.

The following morning, I take the tart out the frIdge and remove it from the tin. I set it onto my decorative plate but feel free to use whatever you have, a cake stand or normal plate will work well. One last thing before we finish the tart off, which is optional but seeing as Valentine’s Day is today, why not put something romantic on top, so I did. I piped the word ‘love’ with seedless strawberry jam.

You can then cut and slice it as your wish, this tart is like a cheesecake but in a different form – if you like cheesecake  recommend trying this recipe out!

Ingredients:

Base:

375g Digestive biscuits.

150g Butter, melted.

 

Filling:

400g Soft cheese.

100g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

200-250g Strawberry jam, seedless.

200ml Double cream.

 

Decoration:

Strawberry jam, seedless and in a piping bag (with no tip).

 

No baking times as this is a chilled dessert, so up to 8 hours chilling in the fridge.

 

Valentine’s Day Cake

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If you are in need of a cake to make for Valentine’s Day, look no further.

This layer cake is super simple to make and assemble. The cake is made-up of three layers of chocolate sponge cake, which are brushed with simple syrup, then filled and finished with the same Nutella Italian buttercream (which is a smoother and creamier buttercream, less sweet then basic buttercream). The cake is then finished with a white chocolate drip, meringue kisses, chocolate chips, edible glitter and sugar paste hearts.

Of course, you can personalise the cake to suit you or the person you’re giving this too, it’s really up to you. In place of the finishings I used, feel free to us chocolate, fresh fruit and/or flowers.

Before you get into the cake making, you’ll want to do some prep. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and lining your tins, if you decide to.

Once all the prep is done, you can get on with making the cakes.

Place your butter and sugar into your mixing bowl of choice (I opted for my stand mixer, but feel free to use a bowl and a hand mixer) and then beat the two together until they are well combined and have become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. Then add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. If you notice your mixture is starting to scramble, don’t worry. You can fix this by adding a small amount of your weighed out flour.

Now that the eggs have been fully worked in, stop the mixer and give the bowl a good scrape down, this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on. Then add in your dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumpy ingredients (cocoa powder can be quite lumpy). Start to incorporate the dry ingredients on a low speed to start and as you see them beginning to incorporate, you can higher the speed from low to medium-high and adding the milk in increments, this is to help with the consistency of the batter (Try not to over-mix the cake batter once the flour is incorporated, otherwise this will result in a tough textured cake).

Divide the cake batter between your 6 inch cake tins, I weigh the cake batter and divide it as equally as I can using digital scales but if you don’t have these type of scales, feel free to eye ball it and roughly estimate the amount in each cake tin. Smooth off the tops of the cake batter in the tins then place on the middle shelf in your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

While your cakes are in the oven, you can go ahead and make your Italian buttercream. I personally like this buttercream more than your standard buttercream as it’s smoother, more buttery and less sugary/sweet.

To start the buttercream, get yourself a small saucepan and place in the water and granulated white sugar, then place onto the hob over a medium-high heat until it reaches 121˚c/250˚f. Make sure you keep an eye on the temperature, don’t allow it to go above or below the required. While your sugar and water comes up to heat, place your egg yolks and whole egg into a mixing bowl (if you’re using a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment for the best results) and whisk them together until they are very well combined, you will be able to tell one the volume has increased by 3 or 4 times what it was initially and it will be paler in colour.

Once the sugar and water has come up to temperature, you can then add it into the egg mixture. Turn the speed of your mixer down to low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture in, try not to get it down the side of the bowl, if possible. Once all of the sugar mixture has been added, turn the speed back up to high and whisk for a few minutes until the mixture has cooled down. You’ll be able to tell when the mixture is cooled enough, by touching the bottom of the bowl with the back of your hand. If it isn’t too hot for you to handle, you can start adding your butter, if it’s too warm, continuing whisking for a couple of minutes. Once the mixture is cooled enough, add the butter a little at a time, whisking in between each addition. Make sure your butter is fully worked in before you stop the mixing process. Give the bowl a quick scrape down, then add in the Nutella and cocoa powder, give a good mix to incorporate. Once they’ve been fully worked in, give the bowl another good scrape down. You can then set the buttercream aside or place in the fridge until you need it later on.

I also recommend making your simple syrup at this stage, as it will give it time to cool completely before using. To make the simple syrup, you’ll want to place equal amounts of granulated white sugar and water into a saucepan and allow it to come to a boil, then remove from the heat and allow to cool before you intend on using it.

Once your cakes are fully baked, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool completely before you try to trim them. Now is the perfect time to wash up all your dishes and utensils that you’ve used.

Once everything has been made and is cool and read to use – you are now ready to assemble the cake. So get all the separate parts ready and grab yourself a cake stand or plate!

Start by getting your layers of cake and level the tops of them using a cake leveller (or a serrated knife works equally as well) and generously simple syrup each layer. Set the layers of cake aside while you prep the stand – to prep the stand you’ll want to get your cake stand/plate of choice, then place a small blob of buttercream and spread it out using a offset spatula and place your first layer on cake onto it and press it into place. Top the layer of cake with a good amount of the buttercream and repeat this with the remaining cake layers. Once all the layers have been sandwiched together, you can give the coat a crumb coat. A crumb coat is a thin coat of icing which locks in all the crumbs so they don’t appear in the final layer of buttercream – once you’ve applied the crumb coat you can then set it in the fridge for a short while, just until it firms up.

Apply the final layer of buttercream and get it as smooth and perfect looking as possible – using a palette knife to spread the icing on and a scraper to smooth and level out the icing (watch the video for a more detailed view on it). You can then make the white chocolate ganache, which will be used for the drips later on. So, the ganache is really easy. Place your double cream into a saucepan over a medium heat and bring almost to a boil, then pour over your white chocolate and allow it to sit for a minute. You can then start to stir it together using a teaspoon or a small spatula until its smooth and has come together, it will have changed colour to a yellow-ish tone but don’t worry, once you add the food paste it will change. I used Wilton christmas red and it came out the perfect tone of pink for my cake but feel free to use pink food paste.

Take a teaspoon of the white chocolate and drip between 1/4 and 1/2 of it down the cake, repeat this all around the cake. For a visual effect, alter the length of the drips by making some longer and other shorter but feel free to make it suit you and your occasion.

To finish the cake, I place a few meringue kisses on top, then pipe some of the remaining chocolate buttercream at the sides of the meringues, then around the remaining exposed edge, I generously sprinkle a mixture of milk and dark chocolate chips and finish those with a sprinkle of edible glitter and for the spaces on the top and side I add a few sugar paste heart cut outs. This is how I opted to finish my cake but feel free to make your cake suit you and your occasion.

I will leave all the ingredients below, for those interested in making this recipe .

Cake:

230g Butter.

300g Granulated white sugar .

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

5 Eggs.

300g Plain flour.

40g Cocoa powder.

2 1/2 tsp Baking powder.

70ml Whole milk.

Buttercream:

250g Granulated white sugar.

65g Water.

70g Egg yolk.

1 small Egg.

500g Butter.

200g Nutella.

25g Cocoa powder.

White chocolate ganache (drip):

100g White chocolate.

100ml Double cream.

Red or pink food colouring paste.

Decoration:

I used meringue kisses (recipe coming soon), chocolate chips, edible glitter and sugar paste hearts but you can use whatever you like.

Profiteroles Recipe

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Whether you’re looking for the perfect choux pastry recipe or how to make profiteroles from scratch, this recipe has you well and truly covered.

To make these profiteroles isn’t too hard, with a little time and effort you’ll have yourself a batch whipped up in no time. People can be put off making these when they realise they have to make the pastry from scratch, well not any more. The recipe I’m about to share with you will change your mind about making choux pastry forever.

If you’re not sure what a profiterole is, well…  It’s a choux pastry bun (depending on where  in the world you are depends on what you know this pastry as. The most common names are choux and pate a choux, it’s basically the same thing), which is filled with anything from a whipped cream through to a custard, pastry custard or ice cream and is finished with a chocolate topping. What’s not to love about these?

To make the pastry, you’ll want to start by placing the water, salt and butter over a medium heat until it’s melted. You can then take it off the heat and add in the flour, stir until its combined then return it to the heat, constantly stirring until the bottom of your saucepan has a coating of flour. You can then transfer the pastry to a stand mixer or mixing bowl of choice and stir that until its cool enough for your to add your eggs, you will know when you’ve achieved this stage as you will be able to touch the bottom of your bowl without it being too hot. You can then gradually add your eggs, a bit at a time as you may not require all of the egg (or you may require more, it all really depends), the best way to tell if your pastry is done is to get a good amount on the beater and see how long it takes it to fall from the beater back into the pastry, if its between 3 and 5 seconds, you’re good to go.

Place the choux pastry into a piping bag with a piping tip which is about 1cm in diameter, then start piping small amounts onto your lined baking tray (I was able to pipe around 14 on a standard sized baking tray, so I’d recommend lining at least another 2 so 3 in total), if you want to make less then then the amount I ended up with, feel free to half the recipe or double if you need more. Once you’ve got them piped onto your lined trays, don’t forget to get rid of any peaks on top of them by dabbing them down with a damp finger, then you can give them the egg wash which will help them colour. Bake them off in a preheated oven for 20 minutes, before you open the door and release any steam that was built up in the oven. Close the door and bake for a further 10 minutes, this will ensure that they are hollow inside and well coloured and crisp on the outside. Once removed from the oven, allow to cool briefly on the baking tray before transferring them to a cool rack to cool fully.

Whip up a batch of sweetened whipped cream or whatever you’d like to fill them with whatever you’d like to (custard, pastry cream or ice cream will also work well), transfer the whipped cream into a piping bag with a plain tip nozzle and place in the fridge if you don’t intend on using it straight away. Make sure you fill as many profiteroles as possible, the make a batch of the chocolate topping. To make the topping is easy, place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan an allow them to melt, keep stirring them together until it becomes smooth and glossy. Dip the tops of your choux buns into the topping and that’s it. Super simple and yummy recipe.

Ingredients :

Choux Pastry:

• 300ml Water.
• 125g Butter.
• 150g Plain flour.
• 4 Eggs.
• Pinch of salt.

Bake at 200˚c/390˚f for 30 minutes (20 minutes, release the steam from the oven and then bake for a further 10 minutes at the same temperature). Allow to cool before filling and finishing.

Filling –

300ml Double cream.
30g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla (bean paste or extract will work well).

Topping –

65g Butter.
30g Sugar.
65g Golden syrup.
125g Dark Chocolate

Methods:

  • Before you start the mixing process
  • To make the choux pastry, place the water, butter and salt into a medium saucepan and place over a medium heat until its melted, stirring them together well.
  • Remove from the heat and add in the flour, mixing in the flour in until its full incorporated. Return to the heat and continuously stir it to cook the flour out. You’ll know once the flour is cooked out as the bottom of your pan will have a layer of the flour/pastry there, once you’ve achieved this, take it off the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.
  • Mix the choux pastry on a high speed to cool it down. This takes a couple of minutes to achieve.
  • Once you can touch the bottom of you bowl, start to add your eggs. A little at a time until you reach a stage where the pastry takes between 3-5 seconds to fall from the beater – the amount of egg you need may depend, you may need more or less.
  • Place the pastry into a piping bag with a 1cm plain tip nozzle and pipe out small amounts on the prepared baking tray, I got 14 but you should be able to get about 15 onto a standard tray. Press down any peaks using your finger which has been dipped into some water, then egg wash each of the choux buns to get a perfect golden brown on top.
  • Place in the oven at 200˚c/390˚f and bake for 20 minutes, then open the oven door to remove the steam that’s built up, then place back in the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes then remove from the oven.
  • Allow the choux buns to cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool down completely.
  • Once your choux buns are cooled, you can fill them with your whipped cream and store them in the fridge until you are ready.
  • The chocolate topping is really simple to make. Place all of your ingredients into a medium sized saucepan and allow them to melt together but remember to keep stirring them together until it becomes smooth and glossy.
  • Dip the top of each profiterole into the chocolate topping and allow it to set before you serve and enjoy them.

Don’t forget, if you make anything using my recipes, feel free to share your creations with me over on Twitter and Instagram!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

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Do you like chocolate chip cookies? Do you like cupcakes? Why not combine the two to make these super simple and delicious  cupcakes?

These cupcakes are the perfect treat at any time of year but even better around Christmas, they are the perfect treat to leave out for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve (or scoffed down on Christmas day, I’m not judging!).

Anyway, you can make either the cookies or cupcakes first but I went with the cookies. These are the same cookies I have made in the past, they have a great flavour and are the perfect size to top the cupcakes with. By combining the two simple elements, you get a very tasty treat that isn’t too complex to make or in flavour.

Before you do any baking, you’ll want to do some prep work – this will save you time in the long run and stop you faffing about later on. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line your baking tray with some greaseproof/parchment paper, place the cupcake cases into your muffin pan and weigh up all your ingredients into suitable size bowls. Don’t forget to wipe down the counters and get your mixer ready.

I started by making the chocolate chip cookies but you can start with either, it doesn’t matter.

To start on the cookies, get yourself a large bowl and place the butter, granulated white sugar and light brown sugar into it. Mix the three together over a medium-high speed until they are well combined and you can’t see a trace of a single ingredient. Once they’ve become fully combined, give your bowl a good scraping down – this is to work in any bits that haven’t been fully worked in, then add in your eggs one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Add in your vanilla and give a quick mix to combine it – the scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl again to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in.

Sieve your dry ingredients into the same bowl, then add in your chocolate chips and mix on a low-medium speed until everything has combined, once its all come together it will be a dough that will hold it’s shape well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again, then start to scoop up the dough (granted this recipe will result in more cookies than you’ll need but you can scoop each ball of dough up, then wrap them up and freeze them, or bake them all off and have a few left over to enjoy). I only used one ball of dough for each cookie and flattened it slightly then baked in your preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around the edge.

Once out the oven, place a few additional chocolate chips on top of each cookie then allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack, to cool completely.

Now it’s time to make the cupcakes and buttercream…

Making the cupcakes is super simple, start by placing the butter and granted white sugar into a mixing bowl and beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency, this only takes a couple of minutes. Once you’ve achieved that, scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on. Add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well to incorporate each one. Try not to scramble the mixture, but if this happens, don’t worry, you’ll be able to fix this by adding dry ingredients very soon. Once the eggs have been fully incorporated, add in the vanilla and just mix to combine – scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again.

Add in the dry ingredients by passing them through a sieve first, this is to remove any lumps that may appear in the mix. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the buttery mixture over a low-medium speed to start with, working your way up to a medium speed and allow the mixture to come together until there isn’t a trace of a single ingredient to be seen, also at this point you’ll want to add in the chocolate chips- try not to over-mix the batter at this stage, otherwise your cupcakes will be tougher textured than they should be. Divide the batter between your lined cupcake cases (I used a piping bag but feel free to use  two spoons). Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes.

While the cupcakes are in the oven baking, feel free to make the buttercream. This is so simple and it requires only 3 ingredients – what’s not to love? Place your butter into a bowl and beat it until its lighter and fluffier in consistency – this takes a couple of minutes but is totally worth the time invested. Once lighter, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add in half the icing sugar, then beat on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high speed for a couple of minutes, then stopping the mixer, scraping it down and adding in the other half of the icing sugar and repeat the process. Once all of the icing sugar has been worked in, add in the vanilla and give a good mix to fully incorporate. That’s how simple buttercream is. Set aside while you’re not using or place into a piping bag fitted with your nozzle of choice.

So once you’ve got the cookies, cupcakes and buttercream made, you can assemble them all together. Start by getting your cupcake and piping on the buttercream, using your nozzle of choice. Then add a few chocolate chips around the edge of the buttercream, then top each cupcake with a cookie and enjoy!

Here are all the ingredients you’ll need and a shorter, more summarised method along with the video!

Cookies:

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

1/8 tsp Salt.

150g Chocolate chips.

 

Cupcakes:

88g Butter.

88g Granulated white sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

88g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

1/4 tsp Salt.

50g Chocolate chips

 

Buttercream:

200g Butter.

400g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Chocolate chips (optional).

 

Methods –

Cookies:

  • Prepare by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, lining your tray with greaseproof or parchment paper or generously buttering the tray and weighing up your ingredients.
  • Place the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into your mixing bowl of choice. Beat them all together over a low-medium speed until well combined. Feel free to use a wooden spoon, electric hand mixer or stand mixer.
  • Once well combined, add in your egg and vanilla extract and mix on a low-medium speed until well combined.
  • Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, this is to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated from earlier on.
  • Add in your plain flour, baking powder and salt. Pass them through a sieve to remove any lumps and then once all of the dry ingredients are in the bowl, fold/stir them in using a spatula just until the flour is almost fully incorporated. Add in your  chocolate chips and stir/fold these in until the dough is clear.
  • Once you’ve got your dough, you can then use a cookie or (small) ice cream scoop to scoop up small amounts of the dough then round them up using your hands, then flatten them (they will spread a little but not a lot while baking, you can freeze at this stage if you like).
  • Bake them off in your preheated oven for 10-12 minutes (I found 11-12 minutes was perfect for me).
  • Remove the tray from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the tray for 4-5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. This recipe makes 24 cookies.

Cupcakes:

  • Do some prep work before you start by weighing up all the ingredients needed, check your oven has been preheated to 180˚c/350˚f and line your muffin tray with some muffin/cupcake cases.
  • Place the butter and granulated white sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat them together for a couple of minutes until they are well combined.
  • Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, then add in your egg and beat it over a medium speed until its fully incorporated. Add in the vanilla and mix to incorporate.
  • Give your bowl another scrape down then add in dry ingredients but passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the mix and in the chocolate chips . Incorporate the dry ingredients in over a slow-medium speed to start, then a medium-high speed until fully incorporated – try not to over-mix, this causes the cakes to be tougher textured.
  • Split the cake batter between your pre-lined muffin pan, I find using a piping bag works the best but using two spoons works equally as well. Use whichever method works best for you.
  • Bake in your preheat oven for around 18-20 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).
  • Once fully baked, remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool for a short while in the muffin pan, then transfer onto a cooling tray and allow to cool completely.
  • Make you buttercream.
  • Finish the cupcakes however you like but I piped on a good amount of buttercream, added a few chocolate chips onto the sides of the piped out buttercream, then placed a cookie onto each cupcake. Serve and enjoy!

Buttercream:

  • The buttercream is really quick and easy to make, to start, place the butter into a bowl and beat it for around 4-6 minutes  or until it’s lighter in colour and consistency.
  • Once you’ve achieved that, add in roughly around half your icing sugar and mix that on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high once the icing sugar is incorporated and beat or a short while until fully incorporated. Repeat this stage with he remaining half of icing sugar.
  • Give the bowl a good scraping down and add in the vanilla then mix on a medium speed and mix to incorporate.
  • Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of choice or place in a airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. This buttercream can also be frozen if you don’t intend on using it straight away.

Thank you all so much for checking out the blog post (and video if you watched it)!

Homemade Mince Pies

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Whether you like them or not, its mince pie season, regardless.

These tasty little treats are sweet, spicy and fruity all in one bite. Which can be overwhelming or downright confusing, especially if you haven’t them before.

If you’re from somewhere in the world that doesn’t have these easily accessible, don’t worry. Despite the name, the mincemeat is sweet (made most of dried fruit, sugar, spices and alcohol) and doesn’t contain a single gram of meat. Many years ago they would have been meat based but they have evolved to become what we know and love today.

I thought that mincemeat was available around the world, but it isn’t. Don’t worry I have already uploaded a recipe on how to make mincemeat here (which is actually super easy, it just needs some time to mature).

Some prep work won’t go amiss here. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up your ingredients and get any equipment you may need ready.

The pastry isn’t exactly hard to make, all you need to do is beat the sugar and egg together, then set it aside until later on. Into a bowl or food processor place the flour, salt and butter then combine them together by either rubbing the butter into the flour or pulsing them together in a food processor (I went with the food processor method on this occasion. Mostly because I as short on time and my hands are warm and often heat up the butter, which isn’t what you want while making pastry).

Once they are combined, add in the egg/sugar mix and work it into the flour/butter mixture. This will bind the dough together, work them together until almost fully combined then tip out onto a floured surface to knead the pastry together. You’re looking for a clear dough, with no traces of a single ingredient. Wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap then chill in the fridge for around an hour, this is to allow the butter to firm up and the gluten to relax.

After the hour in the fridge, take your dough out of the fridge and chop it roughly in half, keeping half out and rewrapping the other half and placing back in the fridge until you need it later on. Roll out your dough until you’ve achieved 5mm in thickness, once achieved, cut out your circles of pastry for each pie. Use a 3 inch cookie cutter, this gets your the perfect shape/amount for each cup on the cupcake pan. I only made 6 but you could easily make around 8-10.

Once you’ve got your pastry cases in the cupcake tin, you’ll then want to fill them with a generous amount of the homemade mincemeat, you can go as far as just a few millimetres below the top of the case (the more the better I say, but go with your preference). You can then work on the ‘lids’ which is a smaller circle cut out (around 1.5 – 2 inches), then place on top of each mince pie and secure in place by crimping the side of the pastry case and the pastry lid together with a fork, repeat for all your mince pies. You’ll want to egg wash your pastry (this helps to make your pastry bake a better golden brown colour), to make the egg wash, crack an egg into a small bowl and beat until its all combined. Use your pastry brush and give the tops of the mince pies a generous coating with the egg wash.

Just before you use the last of the pastry, stab a hole into the centre of each mince pie, this is to release any steam that may build up while they bake. You can then partially cover the hole with small cut out pastry decoration, I used a small plunger cutter do this but its completely optional. Egg wash the little cut out, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown.

 

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 Egg.

90g Granulated sugar.

225g Butter.

375g Plain Flour.

A pinch of salt.w

Mince meat recipe here

 

Method:

  1. Start by doing some prep work by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up your ingredients into small bowls and prepare any equipment you’ll need to use.
  2. Start the recipe by making your pastry. Crack an egg into a small bowl then add the sugar and mix the two together until the sugar has dissolved in the egg, set aside until later on.
  3. Into a large bowl or food processor, place the flour, salt and butter then combine them by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients or pulsing them together.
  4. Once they are fully combined, add in the egg/sugar mix from earlier on. Mix in or pulse together until they are almost fully combined, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead until a clear dough forms. Once you’ve got a clear dough, wrap the flattened ball of dough in clingfilm/plastic wrap and place in the fridge for an hour to chill. This give the gluten in the dough time to relax and for the butter to firm up.
  5. After about an hour, take your pastry out of the fridge and cut in half. Keep one half out and wrap the other back up and place in the fridge until you need it later on.
  6. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until its about 5mm in thickness (this is the ideal thickness). Take a 3 inch cookie cutter and cut out your circles. I made 6 mince pies but with this amount of pastry you could easily make 8-10.
  7. Take your pastry circles and place them into the cupcake tin. Work and manipulate the dough to fit into the shape of the cupcake tray, repeat until you’ve got all your pastry cases done.
  8. Fill each mince pie almost to the top with the homemade mincemeat. Repeat this for each mince pie.
  9. With the remaining pastry, roll it out until slightly thinner than 5mm then cut out some more circles but this time they are smaller, around 1.5-2 inches (whichever fits just right on top of the mince pies).
  10. Crimp the pastry case and the lid together using fork. This secures the lid on top and stops it from popping off while baking. Once the lids are on, egg wash the top of each mince pie (the egg wash is just a beaten egg in a small bowl).
  11. Stab a hole in the centre of the mince pie, this is to allow the steam to escape. Then partially cover the hole with a small pastry cut out that has been made with a small plunger cutter. This is optional but adds a homemade touch to the mince pies. Egg wash the cut outs if you use them.
  12. Bake the mince pies in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown colour.
  13. Once baked and cooled, just before serving you can give them a dusting with icing sugar and enjoy on there own OR serve with some cream or ice cream.

Terry’s Chocolate Orange Brownies

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Have you got a spare Terry’s chocolate orange or two? Why not make a batch of these brownies? I can guarantee that these will go down a treat with whoever gets one!

I know that Terry’s chocolate oranges are available all year round, so not all that festive, I know.

The combination of chocolate and orange will always be a winner, that’s a fact. So partnering the Terry’s chocolate orange with  the brownies was a great idea (especially if you like the combination). It’s not secret, I like chocolate, so who wouldn’t want to put more chocolate into the brownies?!

Anyway, these brownies don’t take too long to make and will go down a treat, so let’s get into how to make these brownies.

As with all my recipes, I recommend doing some prep work before you actually get into the recipe. Doing these few extra steps can save you time and prevent you from mistakes later on, nothing worse then wasting ingredients is there? Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up all your ingredients into small bowls and line your 9×13 inch baking tray. These small additional steps can save you making major mistakes and faffing around.

To start on the brownies, you’ll want melt your butter. You can do this two ways, either in a small saucepan over a medium heat or place into a microwavable bowl, either method works. Transfer the mixture into a bowl, if needed then add in the cocoa powder and give a good mix until the two are fully incorporated, using a whisk is the best thing to use at this point. Allow the mixture to cool for around 10 minutes before continuing.

After the 10 minutes, you’ll want to add in granulated sugar and give it a good mix until they have come together and are well combined. You will notice a change in the consistency but don’t worry it will change as you incorporate the eggs. Add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Once you’ve got all of your eggs fully incorporated you’ll notice that the consistency of the batter has changes and become much runnier and smoother, don’t worry, this is what you’re looking for.

Add in your flour but pass it through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be within the flour, then give it a brief mix, then add in the chopped Terry’s chocolate orange and mix until the flour and chocolate is fully incorporated. Don’t mix the batter anymore than you need to, otherwise you’ll over-mix the batter and result in a tougher textured brownie (which nobody wants, seriously).

Once the brownie batter is complete, you can then transfer it to your lined 9×13 baking tray, getting as much as the batter in there as possible. Use a silicone spatula to scrape the bowl down, then level the batter out as best you can using a small offset/cranked palette knife or even the back of a spoon will work well. Get it to one level layer of batter, then add the 9 pieces of Terry’s chocolate orange on top (alter the amount if you’re cutting these smaller to serve at a party or something, add more if wanted. The portions I offered were large).

Place the baking tray into your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or when a tester comes out with just a few crumbs on it. One thing to remember is that all ovens are different, so check at the 25 minute mark and then determine whether you need more time or not.

Once the brownies are fully baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for a short time before removing to cool completely on a cooling rack. Once they are fully cooled down, you can then cut them into portions and enjoy. They are great served on there own, they don’t need any accompaniment.

Anyway, here is a (slightly) condensed version of the instructions and ingredients.

Ingredients

  • 280g Butter, melted.
  • 450g Granulated white sugar.
  • 4 eggs.
  • 180g Plain flour.
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract.
  • 90g Cocoa powder.
  • 100g Terry’s Chocolate Orange, roughy chopped.

Instructions

  • Start by doing some prep. Weigh up your ingredients into small bowls, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and line your 9×13 inch baking tray with some parchment/greaseproof paper.
  • Start your brownies by melting your butter either in a small saucepan over a low/medium heat or in the microwave until its fully melted, either method will work well.
  • Into the saucepan/bowl melted butter, add the cocoa powder and mix it all together until it’s well combined and smooth in consistency. Transfer the mixture to a bowl if needed – allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.
  • Once the mixture has cooled down, add in all of the granulated sugar and mix until they are combined. The texture will change, becoming more granular but this will change later in the recipe.
  • Add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. As you incorporate the eggs, the consistency will change to become more liquid-like. Once the eggs have been fully incorporated, add in your vanilla and mix to incorporate.
  • Into the bowl, add in flour but pass it through a sieve to remove any lumps that may be in the flour. Then give a brief mix and add in the chopped Terry’s chocolate and mix them together until everything is well combined and you can’t see a trace of a single ingredient.
  • Transfer the brownie batter into your lined 9×13 baking tray and level it out as best you can using a small cranked/offset palette knife (or the back of a spoon will work just as well). Once level, add 9 pieces of Terry’s chocolate orange onto the top of the brownie batter, then place into the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven, seeing as all ovens are different to one another.
  • Once fully baked, allow to cool down in the baking tray for a while, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • Once cooled down, cut your brownies into rectangles and enjoy!