bakingwithelliott

Chocolate Layer Cake

If you’ve made it to this page, welcome. I assume you came looking for a chocolate cake recipe, if so, your lucks in, I have you covered.

The cake is a pretty basic sponge cake (which tastes very nice, even on its own) but what really brings this together is the chocolate buttercream. It isn’t your standard buttercream (which is butter, icing sugar and flavouring and/or colours), this is my recipe for Italian meringue buttercream. It’s a indulgently rich and smooth alternative to other buttercreams, but feel free to use whatever buttercream you’d like.

As mentioned previously, this cake is so simple to make. The mixing process you’ll use for this cake is called the creaming method, this is where you beat the butter and sugar together until they are well combined, then gradually add in the eggs and flavourings, then sift in your dry ingredients and mix them into the mixture until a clear cake batter forms (be careful not to over mix at this stage, otherwise your cake will have a tough texture). You can then divide the cake batter between your cake tins and bake in your preheated oven. It’s even easier than it sounds!

So to start, you’ll want to do some prep work which will help you in the process. Weigh up all of your ingredients, this saves you faffing about (and saves you making mistakes), preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and prepare your cake tins, you can do it two ways. Either generously butter and flour each tin (spread a generous amount of butter on the base and around the sides, then add a small amount of flour and move it around the tin until there is good coating of flour. In place of the flour, feel free to use cocoa powder for chocolate cakes) or line the bottom of the tin with parchment/greaseproof paper.

Once you get all your prep done, you can start to make your cake batter. Place the butter and sugar into your bowl of choice, (I used my KitchenAid mixer stand bowl) and beat the two together until they are well combined. Once they have been beating for around 5-7 minutes, you will notice the mixture will become more pale in colour and lighter in consistency. You can then start to gradually add your eggs, add them 1 at a time or if you beat all your eggs together, incorporate the eggs roughly one at a time. Repeat this stage until your eggs are all fully incorporated. If you notice that your mixture has curdled, add a small amount of your weighed flour to prevent this from happening.

So the final stage of mixing the cake is to incorporate the dry ingredients. So, you’ll want to sift your dry ingredients in around 3 additions, in-between each addition of flour you’ll want to mix in the milk (I opted for whole milk but feel free to use your preference). This method produces the best cake, it’s light, fluffy and perfect for a layer cake.

Once you’ve got your cake batter made, you’ll want to divide it between the 4x 8 inch/20cm tins. You can do this by eye or for a more precise measurement you can weigh out the total amount of cake batter, using scales and divide it to get the exact amount you’ll need for each tin, for me this amount was 625g per tin. Level and smooth out the cake batter in each tin and place in your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Once baked, allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then remove from the tins and allow to cool on cooling racks until fully cool.

When it comes to making the buttercream, I would recommend making it while your cakes are baking in the oven as you’ll be able to whip up a batch in that time easily. Start by placing the water and sugar into the saucepan and allowing them to bubble on a medium heat until they reach 121˚c/250˚f. While you wait for sugar and water mixture to come to the temperature, place the egg yolks and whole egg into a mixing bowl and beat them together until they are very well combined (they will also change colour, becoming noticeable paler and the volume will roughly quadruple). Once your sugar and water mixture has reached the required temperature, gradually add the liquid mixture to your mixing bowl (over a low speed) and once it’s all been added crank the speed up to high to help the mixture cool down.

Once you can touch the bottom of your bowl, you can start adding your butter. Add the butter in small chunks, add it at a steadily pace, but don’t worry if the consistency becomes loose, once the butter is fully incorporated and it has been in the fridge it will firm up. Add in your melted chocolate and allow to beat in until its well combined. If you place it in the fridge, give it a quick mix before you use it.

Once you’ve got all your cakes are fully cooled down, you’ll want to trim them down, just to remove the outer layer of caramelisation. I use my cake leveller to make them nice and level, (but feel free to use a rule and a knife) I repeat this for all my cakes and then simple syrup them all, the simple syrup is optional but I like to flavour it with vanilla extract so you get a hint of vanilla. I then get my cake layers and start to stack my cake, spread a small amount of your buttercream onto the board (or plate) of choice, then place your first layer of cake on top, give a generous layer of buttercream and place the second layer of cake on top of that. I think you can see where I am going with this, just repeat this stage until all of your cake layers have been used, then you’ll want to add a crumb coat of buttercream to the cake (this just locks in all the crumbs, so your final coat buttercream won’t have any crumbs in it). Place in the fridge for around 30-45 minutes and then apply the final layer of buttercream.

You can then finish the cake however you’d like but I fancied taking this one step further, adding a chocolate drip. The drip I intended on adding wouldn’t be a ganache one, it would be a Nutella one instead. Finish the top of the cake however you like, I piped small rosettes on top and places some sprinkles on those and in the centre of the cake, I finished with a generous amount of grated chocolate.

Ingredients :

Chocolate cake:

550g Butter, at room temperature.

700g Granulated sugar.

12 Eggs.

750g Plain flour.

65g Cocoa powder.

30g Baking powder.

A generous pinch of salt.

Chocolate Italian buttercream:

375g Granulated sugar.

95g Water.

105g Egg yolks.

1 Egg.

750g Butter, at room temperature.

200g Dark chocolate, melted and allowed to cool before using.

Simple syrup:

200g Granulated sugar.

200g Water.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Method: (I know this is quite a long post, so I’ve given you the method in a quicker to read format down below).

Cake :

Before you get started on making the cake and/or buttercream, make sure you have all your ingredients weighed up, your oven is preheated to 180˚c/350˚f and you’ve prepared all of your cake tins
To start the cake, place your butter and sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat them together until they are well combined (they will become paler in colour and fluffier in consistency).
You will then want to gradually add your eggs into the butter mix, roughly 1 egg at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Repeat this step until all your eggs are incorporated, remember if your mixture curdles add a small amount of your weighed out flour.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, then sift in 1/3 of your dry ingredients and allow that to mix in, then add a small amount of milk. Repeat this stage for the remaining dry ingredients and milk.
Once you’ve got your cake batter, divide it between your prepared pans. Either measure by eye or using scales for a more accurate measurement.
Spread and level out your cake batter in the tins, then place in your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Chocolate Italian buttercream:

Place your sugar and water into a medium saucepan and stir together, place the saucepan over a medium heat and allow to come up to 121˚c/250˚f.
While you wait for the sugar and water mixture to come up to temperature, into a mixing bowl of choice, place all of the egg yolks and whole egg and whisk them together over a medium-high speed. You will notice that the mixture will quadruple in size and become much paler, don’t worry this is completely normal.
Once your mixture has reached 121˚c/250˚f, you will then want to add it to the egg mixture. Lower the speed and steadily pour it into the mixture. Once its all added, you can then crank the speed back up to a medium-high and allow to cool down.
When you can touch the bottom of your bowl, you can start adding your butter in at a steady pace. Don’t add it too quickly or you’ll make it too liquid and won’t be able to save it. If you notice that the mixture is loose, don’t worry. Once all of the butter is incorporated it will thicken up. Place in the fridge for a bit before you intend to use it.

The assembly of the cake is really simple, spread a small amount of buttercream onto the board or plate you intend on using, then place your first layer of cake on, top that with a generous layer of icing and repeat for the rest of your cake layers. Once you’ve done all your cake layers, give the cake a generous crumb coat and set in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.
Remove from the fridge and give the cake its final layer of buttercream. You can then finish the cake however you like, I opted for a Nutella drip in place of the traditional ganache drip. On top of the cake I piped rosettes and used sprinkles and seeing as the centre was blank, I added a generous amount of grated chocolate. What more does a chocolate cake need? More chocolate of course.

This is certainly the right cake for someone who is a chocolate lover, it has chocolate in all aspects of it… Perfect! This cake was being sent into an office for a women who is a fan of chocolate cake and this went down well, I was assured of it!

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

Chocolate Hedgehogs

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you remember these chocolatey cornflake mounds from school, this recipe is going to give you a throwback!I have seen people call these ‘chocolate hedgehogs’ and ‘Chocolate cracknell’ but I have always known them as chocolate hedgehogs.

I have seen these chocolate hedgehogs and other old school bakes rise in popularity, especially over on social media. People have been posting asking for recipes and I’ve even seen people start making these from home and selling them, which is great but some of them are a bit hit and miss, if I’m honest. If you remember these, this will sure take you back to your school days.

Anyway, if you’re not sure exactly what these are, I’ll tell you. They are a really simple, no bake dessert that use to be served in schools in and around England. As always with these old school recipes, I’m never sure if they are local or national, I know they can have several names for the same bake. So basically they are cornflakes coated with a chocolatey syrupy mixture which is then scooped up into a large ice cream scoop, compressed, then placed in the fridge to chill for a short while, easy enough right? This is the perfect recipe if you’re looking for something chocolatey, crunch and sweet this might just hit the spot.

There isn’t really a whole lot to do when making these, so these would be ideal to make with kids. Anyway, melt the butter and syrup together, either in a microwave or in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted, allow to cool for a few minutes while you mix together your cornflakes, sugar and cocoa powder, then pour over your liquid mixture on top of the cornflake mixture and mix very well until its all well combined. You will notice a change in the colour of the cornflakes, this is due to the cocoa powder. Once it’s all well combined, get your ice cream scooped scoop up a good amount and then compress them down using either a spoon or a smaller cup measurement, either will work well.You will then want to transfer each your compressed mounds of the chocolate cornflakes onto a lined baking tray and once you’ve filled your tray, place in the fridge for around 30-45 minutes, then enjoy. These are quick and easy and best of all are no-bake and don’t require any baking (which is ideal as the UK is currently experiencing a heatwave and just the thought of being in a warm kitchen makes me not want to bake). These are best enjoyed on the day you make them but can be enjoyed the following day if you have left overs or are making them in advance.

Ingredients:

180g Cornflakes.

65g Granulated sugar.

25g Cocoa powder.

128g Butter.

110g Golden syrup.

Method:

Start by weighing up all your ingredients and lining your baking tray with grease proof/parchment.
Melt your butter and golden syrup together, you can do this one of two ways. Either in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted or in the saucepan over a medium heat, stirring until melted. Allow to cool slightly before using it.
Place your cornflakes, sugar and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl and stir them until well combined.
Next you’ll want to pour over the syrup mixture and give it a really good mix, you’ll want all of the cornflakes to be coated roughly the same, take your time and get them well covered.
Once it’s all well combined, using your ice cream scoop you’ll want to scoop up a generous amount and then compress that using either the back of a spoon or a smaller cup measurement will work well. Apply enough pressure so it holds its shape once out of the ice cream scoop.
Transfer the mounds onto your prepared baking tray and once you’ve got a tray full, place it into the fridge and allow them to chill until they are firm. I find that around 30-45 minute works perfectly but remember yours may need more or less time, it all depends on your fridge.
After they’ve done chilling in the fridge, remove them and enjoy them on their own. They are perfect chocolatey, crispy and can be made in under an hour… What’s not to like about these?

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

Cornflake Tart Recipe

by bakingwithelliott 2 Comments

If you’re looking for the perfect recipe for a cornflake tart, look no further, I’ve got your back.

Now I’m not sure if this is a local thing or national but if you went to school in the UK, you might recognise this. This recipe has been around for quite some time, a lot of people who went to school in the 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s should remember this! It’s super simple to make and doesn’t take that long either – what’s not to like?

This recipe is my take on the traditional version of a cornflake tart, it’s a really quick, easy and cheap recipe to make and will go down well with many who get to try it. If you’re not sure what a cornflake tart is, I’ll give you a quick run down of what exactly it is. It’s a pastry case which is topped with jam (I opted for strawberry, which is what i remember but feel free to use any berry jam) and then topped with cornflakes that have a sugary sweet syrup stirred throughout them. So, it’s 3 simple layers of shortcrust pastry, jam and sweetened cornflakes, you might even have the stuff in to make it!

If you haven’t made your own pastry before, don’t worry. I have a great recipe for my own shortcrust pastry that I use for all of my pie and tart crusts, it’s yet to fail me! Don’t be intimidated by the thought of making pastry, it’s simpler than you’d think. Here is a link to my recipe, it’s got all the information you need to know, along with tips and tricks on how to make this turn out perfect for you each and every time!

Once you’ve made your pastry and allowed it to chill in the fridge, you’ll want to take roughly about half of it and roll it out until it’s about an inch bigger than the tin you’re using, I opted for a disposable 6 inch/15cm tray but feel free to use whatever you have. Once the pastry is rolled out, I then place it in the tray and press it down so it’s in place and then trim away the excess from around the edge, then dock the bottom of the pastry using a fork, this is just to stop the pastry from having air pockets while baking. The final stage before we bake this is to place it in the fridge for around 1 hour, then bake it off at the required temperature. *I only chilled mine for a short period, so the longer you chill it for, the less it will shrink*.

While your pastry case is baking in the oven, it’s best to make the filling. Place the all the ingredients (except for the cornflakes and jam) into a small saucepan and melt them together over a medium heat, stirring well. Once it’s all melted and well combined, the mixture will be a deep orange colour. Pour this mixture over your cornflakes and stir the two together until they are well coat, it doesn’t take very long at all.

Once the pastry case is out the oven, spread a good amount of your jam on top of it, then spoon on your cornflake mixture. I like to add mine gradually so I don’t make a mess, but feel free to do it your own way. once you’ve added all the cornflakes on top of the jam, I like to gently push them down a little, so its more compact. Pop this back in the oven for a few more minutes, just so the cornflakes become more golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before enjoying.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

I have a separate recipe for the pastry – you can find it here.

Cornflake Filling :
115g Golden syrup.
55g Butter.
20g Granulated sugar.
20g Demerara sugar.
A pinch of salt.
85g Cornflakes.
100-150g Jam (I used strawberry but feel free to use any red berry jam).

Method:

Make your pastry (using my recipe, if you’d like) and allow that to chill in the fridge for 1 hour before use.
After 1 hour, roll out half of the pastry, just until its about 1 inch/2.5cm bigger than the 6 inch tin/tray you’re using.
Press down the pastry into the tin and trim away the excess from the sides. (If your pastry has ripped or torn, fix it at this stage).
Dock the bottom of the pastry, using a fork. This prevents pockets of air forming while the pastry is baking.
Chill in the fridge for around an hour, then bake in your preheated oven at 200˚c/400˚f for 15-20 minutes.
While the pastry is baking, make your cornflake filling. Place the golden syrup, butter, granulated sugar, demerara sugar and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan and place that over a medium heat until everything has melted and come together, stirring well.
Remove the liquid mix from the heat and pour over the cornflakes, stirring well until the cornflakes are all well coated in the syrup mixture.
Once the pastry case has been removed from the oven, spread over a generous amount of jam (I opted for strawberry but feel free to use your preferred flavour) and then spoon on your cornflake mix, pressing it down slightly once all the mix is in the case. Place back in the oven for a following 5-7 minutes (or until the cornflakes are starting to turn a golden brown colour).
Allow to cool completely before you enjoy it, to serve enjoy it on its own or with custard, cream or ice cream.

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

Chocolate Concrete

by bakingwithelliott 6 Comments

If you’re looking for a nostalgic recipe for chocolate concrete, you have come to the right place. I have the recipe that’ll hit the spot!

As mentioned above, this recipe is another recipe that has been around for many years and enjoyed by many people. If you were at school any time between the 1970s and the 2000s, then you should remember this being served at lunch times every now and again. If you remember this, do you remember pink custard? Chocolate concrete and pink custard are a match made in heaven.

I’m not sure if this is a local or national thing, people from (and around) the West Midlands know it as chocolate concrete and others know it as chocolate crunch, whichever you know it as, here is the perfect recipe for you to make at home. If you’re not sure exactly what it is, well… It’s a traybake biscuit x cake, it’s not one or the other, it is it’s own thing. You can enjoy it on it’s own or with a serving of pink custard.

This is probably one of the simplest things to make, like ever. It only requires a few ingredients, minimal mixing and a short time in the oven… Why don’t you make a batch? So, to make the chocolate concrete dough, place all of your ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix until a clear dough has formed. That’s it, seriously it’s that simple. You place that into your 8 inch/20cm square cake tin, bake in the oven at 175˚c/350˚f for 25-30 minutes. While your concrete is cooling down, you can make your custard. It doesn’t take that long to make, you will want to make it just before you intend to serve it. I’ll leave the full method down below, if you’re interested in making them.

Once fully baked and out the oven, you’ll want to scatter a generous amount of sugar on top and allow it to cool completely before you serve it. This is best served either on it’s own or with a generous serving of the pink custard.

Ingredients –

Chocolate Concrete:

445g Plain flour.
1 tsp Baking powder.
50g Cocoa powder.
250g Granulated sugar.
370g Butter.
1 Egg.

Bake at 175˚c/350˚f for 25-30 minutes.

Pink Custard:

200ml Whole milk.
2 Egg yolks.
20-30g Granulated sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla extract/bean paste.
1 tsp Plain flour.
Food gel (to colour).

Method:

Chocolate concrete:

Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, preheating your oven to 175˚c/350˚f and preparing your 8 inch/20cm square tin with greaseproof paper/parchment paper.
Place the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, sugar, butter and egg into your mixing bowl and mix them all together until a clear dough forms.
Once your dough is ready, transfer it from your mixing bowl to your lined tin and press it into all the corners and try and get it as level as possible by pressing it down using a spatula or cup measurement.
Place the tin in your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and scatter over some granulated sugar and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Pink Custard:

Start by weighing up all the ingredients you will be using to make the custard.
Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and place it onto the hob over a medium heat until it reaches a boil.
In a medium sized bowl, place the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract/bean paste and flour and mix until it’s well combined and become one consistent colour.
Once your milk has come to a boil, add a small amount of the milk to your egg mixture and whisk constantly. This is to temper the egg mixture so it doesn’t scramble when you add the remaining milk.
Add the remaining milk and whisk to combine. Once combined transfer the mixture back to the sauce pan.
Add a small amount of colour paste and whisk that in until combined, then return to the heat and stir is with a spatula constantly until the mixture thickens. *please note the custard doesn’t thicken very much, this is because it’s a pouring custard*.

Serving:

Slice your chocolate concrete up into squares or rectangles and enjoy it either on it’s own or with a generous amount of the freshly made pink custard on top and tuck in straight away.

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

Strawberry and White Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you are looking for a summery recipe that doesn’t require any baking, I have the perfect recipe for you. I’m showing you how to make a strawberry and white chocolate no-bake cheesecake – even better there is no gelatine in this recipe. What’s not to love?

As mentioned above, this recipe is perfect for the summer season. It’s bursting with flavour, the combination of fresh strawberries and white chocolate is always a winner but even more so with this cheesecake. Don’t worry about adding fresh strawberries into this cheesecake, it won’t change the consistency at all – it just enhances the natural flavours, meaning you don’t have to add any artificial flavourings. Now isn’t that great?

This cheesecake doesn’t require many ingredients or a lot of time to make it, the only drawback is it takes time to set. I find that cheesecakes set in 4-5 hours but leaving them overnight will yield you the best results – thats the best advice I could give you when it comes to making any no-bake cheesecake!

Anyway, this cheesecake has the most basic but iconic base in the history of no-bake cheesecakes, the buttery digestive biscuit base. It sure isn’t anything fancy but when you partner this with the creamy cheesecake, it’s a sure winner with almost all cheesecakes. On top of this buttery biscuit base lays the best and most flavourful cheesecake ever. It’s a simple recipe that doesn’t require many ingredients or for you to be a culinary expert to make it, just a little time and effort and you can knock one of these out!

What makes these cheesecakes even better is you don’t need a stand mixer, a simple mixing bowl and whisk will make this, it just requires a little more elbow grease. Granted, I opted for a stand mixer on this occasion as I wanted to make something but wanted it to be quick and easy so this fitted the bill so well. I believe that most of the ingredients I use are available around the world, but if not feel free to leave me a comment and I may be able to help you!

When I was coming up with the idea of this, I was thinking what I could partner with the strawberries. It hit me after about 3-4 hours, strawberry and white chocolate, they partner well together so why not try them in cheesecake form. To start the cheesecake you’ll want to make the base. Blitz your biscuits either in a food processor until it reaches a sandy/breadcrumb consistency, then add in the butter and mix until it looks like wet sand. If you’re doing this stage by hand, place the biscuits into a plastic food bag and bash the biscuits using a rolling pin and follow the same method as the food processor from here. Push the biscuit base down so its compact in the base of your 8 inch/20cm cake tin and set in the fridge while you make the cheesecake filling.

To make the cheesecake filling, place the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla into your mixing bowl of choice and mix until it’s well combined, then scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl. Add in all of the cream and whisk this on a medium high speed until its become much thicker in consistency, once that’s been achieved you can add the strawberries and white chocolate and fold that in using a spatula until well combined and the fruit is fairly distributed. Feel free to add a small amount of food paste in at this stage, I thought mine would turn out pinker but adding a small amount of colour paste helped me achieve this. Place this mixture on top of the biscuit base and smooth it off as best you can, then place in the fridge for a minimum of 4-5 hours or preferably overnight.

To finish the cheesecake, remove it from the tin and place onto a plate or cake stand. You can then pipe on small amounts of freshly whipped cream, top half of them with fresh strawberries and the other half with grated white chocolate. Then slice and enjoy – its fresh, fruit and creamy all in one mouthful. The perfect addition to any summer day.

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base:

250g Digestive biscuits.
100g Butter (melted).

Cheesecake Filling:

400g Soft cheese.
100g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla bean paste/extract.
200ml Double cream.
150g Strawberries, roughly chopped.
100g White chocolate, roughly chopped.

Decoration:

Whipped cream.
Strawberries (as many as you wish to use).
White chocolate (I opted for grated but feel free to use it however you like.

There is no baking required, however this cheesecake does require chilling time. Over night (8+ hours in the fridge) or for 6-8 hours before removing from the tin and slicing.

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

Viennese Whirls

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I have the easiest and most straightforward recipe for these classic treats. Today I’m showing you how to make a batch of homemade Viennese whirls.

If you’re from the UK then you probably recognise these from a well known cake brand, which is available in in most supermarkets. Forget about those, once you make a batch of these up for yourself, you will not look back!

The biscuits themselves only require 4 ingredients, so they are cheap, quick and easy to make. They can be enjoyed on their own or with the vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam fillings, which compliment the biscuits pretty nicely and the other thing to know about theses that they are fairly bigger than the ones you’d get in the box from the supermarket (I’m a greedy git), so feel free to lower the amount of filling compared to what I used.

The mixing process is easy, it doesn’t matter if you’re using a wooden spoon, electric hand mixer or a stand mixer. It’s the piping that can be a bit difficult and this is because of the amount of flour which is used in these biscuits, it’s a lot. The dough can easily be handled with your hands but to get the signature piped look on top you need to use a piping bag and star tip nozzle, I recommend using a open/wide star tip as to a closed star. If you find your dough hard to pipe out, use the warmth from your hands to warm the dough through the bag (if you try and pipe the dough while it’s too stiff then you will be pushing too much pressure towards the bottom of the bag and it will more than likely split open plop a good amount of the dough out of the bag).

So to get started, you’ll always want to prepare your baking tray, I drew around a circle cutter so my biscuits would be roughly accurate in size to one another, this is ideal if you’re not sure on sizing them. Also, don’t forget to weigh up your ingredients and preheat the oven to 190˚c/375˚f. Now you can start by placing the butter and icing sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat the two together until well combined. Then add in your first weight of flour and mix that until well combined, scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, then add in the second weight of flour and mix it in until well combined and thats the dough done. Place a open star nozzle into a piping bag and add around about a handful or so of the biscuit dough. If the dough isn’t piping well, use the heat of your hands to warm it up just enough to pipe out your rosettes. These don’t really spread in the open so feel free to pip quite a few onto one tray and place them in your preheated oven and bake for around 18-20 minutes (or until they start to colour around the edge.

As for the filling, I have recommended using vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam but feel free to replace those if you don’t like my choice. Make your buttercream while your biscuits are baking, start by placing the butter into a bowl and beating until lighter in colour and consistency. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl and place roughly half the amount of icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated, repeat this stage with the remaining icing sugar. Once all the icing sugar is fully incorporated, add in the vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste an mix until well combined, if your buttercream is a little too thick, add a splash of milk just to get it to a more spreadable consistency. As for the jam, feel free to use whatever you’ve got, homemade or shop bought will work well here.

For the assembly of these biscuits, pair your biscuits up and onto one half of them, pipe on a good amount (or a generous amount if you have a sweet tooth) and then pipe on a small amount of jam in the centre of the buttercream and gently place the other biscuit on top of the filling, sandwiching them together. Just before you tuck into one, you’ll want to give them a justing of icing sugar to finish them off, now sit back and enjoy one of these.

Ingredients:

Biscuits:
225g Butter.
45g Icing sugar.
115g Plain flour (1).
145g Plain flour (2).

Bake them in your preheated 190˚c/375˚f for 18-20 minutes.

Filling:

Buttercream:
150g Butter.
300g Icing sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla extract/bean paste.
(optional – milk).

Strawberry jam (but feel free to switch this to a jam or spread you might prefer).

Method:

Biscuits:

Weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 190˚c/375˚f and line your baking trays with greaseproof/parchment paper.

Start the biscuits by placing the butter and icing sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat them together until well combined and lighter in colour.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, to incorporate any bits from earlier on. Then add in your first weight of flour in and mix that in until just combined.

Scrape down the bowl again to incorporate any bits that have worked up the bowl. Add in the second weight of flour and just mix that in until its just combined.

Prepare a piping bag by placing a 12mm open star nozzle at the end and place a good amount of the dough into the piping bag.

Pipe out the dough onto your lined tray (draw some templates if you want to get your biscuits more uniform), these don’t spread very much while in the oven so leave a small space in-between each biscuit. Place the tray in your preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes (or until they start to colour around the edges).

Once fully baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking tray, then transfer them over to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Buttercream:

Weigh up your ingredients in advance.

Place the butter into a mixing bowl an beat it over a medium-high speed until lighter in colour and consistency.

Once lighter, you’ll want to add in around half of your icing sugar (make sure you’ve sifted it first, to remove any big lumps) and beat that on a low speed working it up to a high speed, scrape down the bowl and repeat this stage for the other half of the icing sugar.

Add in the vanilla (and milk if the buttercream is too stiff, this will help loosen the buttercream down) and mix until well incorporated.

Place the buttercream into a piping bag with a 12mm star nozzle and set aside until its needed.

Assembly:Pair your biscuits up with

Italian Buttercream

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’ll be sharing my recipe for a super simple buttercream like no other… It’s my Italian buttercream, I know you’ll love it!

This buttercream is super simple to make and it only requires minimal ingredients, which is perfect. It’s different to other types of buttercream as it doesn’t require any special ingredients or method and at the end, you will have one of the best buttercream you’ll ever make.

I have been making this buttercream ever since I made it for the first time at college to decorate a cake with. I love it because its super smooth and rich but very stable and easy to work with. It’s super versatile as you can flavour it with extracts like vanilla or feel free to add in melted chocolate or even spreads and it will still be the perfect buttercream to decorate your cakes, cupcakes or traybakes with.

The only thing to know about this buttercream is that you will need a food/sugar thermometer and a copious amount of butter, I’m talking a James Martin amount.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Granulated sugar.

125ml Water.

140g Egg yolks.

1 Whole egg.

1000g Butter, at room temperature.

2 tsp Vanilla bean paste/extract

Method:

Before you get started on any aspect of the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I recommend starting by weighing up all of your ingredients, grabbing your stand/hand mixer and don’t forget to grab a spatula and thermometer.

To start on the recipe, grab a small-medium saucepan and place in the water and granulated sugar and mix the two until combined, then place on the hob over a medium-high heat. You want this mixture to reach 121˚c, it takes a short while.

While you’re waiting for your mixture to come up to temperature, you can work on the egg part.

Whisk together the egg yolks and whole egg over a medium-high speed until everything is combined and the mixture is a pale yellowish colour and increased a significant amount.

Once your sugar mixture has come up to 121˚c, you can remove it from the heat and steadily pour it over the egg mixture over a low speed. Once all the mixture has been added, crank the speed upto a high and whisk until you can touch the bottom of the bowl with the back of your hand.

Now that the mixture has whisked together and is cool enough, you can start adding your butter, piece by piece. At first, you may notice the mixture looks quite loose and this is normal. As the butter is added and incorporated, the mixture will thicken and start looking like a buttercream.

Add in the vanilla and whisk until everything has been fully incorporated.

If you think the mixture is too loose, don’t worry. Continue to mix it over a high speed until it thickens and place in the fridge and chill until firm.

You can then use this buttercream to decorate your cakes, cupcakes and traybakes. If you make the full recipe, it’s enough for a large cake, I’d half or quarter the recipe for cupcakes and traybakes.

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.

Royal Icing

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Keeping it simple with this baking staple – today I’m showing you how to make a batch of royal icing.

Whether your using royal icing to pipe decorations on biscuits or to decorate a Christmas cake, you’ll need a recipe that works without fail and that’s what I’m bringing to you today!

This recipe is perfect as its easy to make and only requires 4 ingredients, all of which you can buy from the supermarket. The one thing I will state, this recipe makes quite a lot.

If you have never made royal icing from scratch, theres some things you have to know about it. Keeping it covered with clingfilm at all times, otherwise it will go crusty and start to solidify and ruin the batch.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

4 Egg Whites.

900g Icing Sugar.

15ml Lemon Juice.

10ml Glycerine.

Method:

Before you get started o the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients and grab any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer, mixing bowl and spatula.

To start on royal icing, take your egg whites and place them into the bowl. Whisk them until they are frothy, they shouldn’t be developed than frothy, otherwise there might be too much air beaten into the mixture (this isn’t ideal).

You can then go head and add in around 1/3 of the icing sugar and whisk until that has been fully incorporated.

Add in another 1/3 and whisk unto it has been fully incorporated.

Then go ahead and add in the lemon juice and again, whisk that in until it’s been fully worked in.

Now you can add in the final 1/3 of icing sugar and whisk that until it has been fully incorporated – at any stage during this recipe, you’ll only want to whisk for as long as necessary. This is to prevent beating in too much air, which can make the royal icing much harder to work with.

Give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been worked in fully from earlier on.

Then go ahead and add in the glycerine and whisk that in until it’s fully incorporated.

Transfer the royal icing into a suitably sized bowl and cover with clingfilm, ensuring the clingfilm is touching the top of the icing.

I recommend using this within in a couple of days of making it, ensuring its covered with clingfilm and where possible a damp tea towel.

Pumpkin Pie

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s officially autumn! The days are shorter, leaves are falling from the trees and it’s now acceptable to add baking spices to everything possible, including today’s recipe, which is for a pumpkin pie.

Although it may not be the official start of autumn at the start of September, I’m all for embracing the influx of pumpkin and spices because why not? It’s only for a couple of months each year, so sure, gorge yourself on the autumn flavoured goodies!

This is a staple pie for most Americans over thanksgiving but its not so common here in the UK, so making your own is something you have to do. A slice of pumpkin pie with some whipped cream is the perfect treat on a cold evening – trust me.

I’ll be sharing my own pastry recipe along with the pie filling recipe. Whether you’re looking for something new to try or for a recipe that actually works, why not give this a try? It’s all very easy to make and will honestly make the perfect dessert this autumn.

Are you having trouble finding the cans/tins of pumpkin puree, don’t worry, I have a recipe for that! Don’t forget to check out my recipe for pumpkin puree.

Anyway, lets get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

425g Pumpkin puree.

250g Light brown sugar.

2 Eggs.

30g plain flour.

354ml Evaporated milk.

1 tsp Ground cinnamon.

1/2 tsp Ground ginger.

1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg.

1/4 tsp Ground cloves.

1/2 tsp Salt.

Method:

Before you get started on this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, grabbing any equipment I may need, such as a 9 inch pie dish, spatulas and a large mixing bowl.

For the pastry, I recommend you check out the shortcrust pastry blog post I have, it goes into detail about how to make it.

Once you have the pastry made, you can then go ahead and and roll it out until its around 5mm thick and drape over your 9 inch pie dish. You can then press the pastry into place, trimming away the excess (don’t throw it away).

You can take the excess pastry and use it to make a decorative trim. I used some leaf cutters I bought from eBay, which were the perfect size to fit around the edge of the pie. This is optional and if you’d like, you can leave the edge plain. As for the left over pastry, you can re-roll the pastry into a ball shape, wrap in clingfilm and place in the freezer.

Place your unbaked pastry case into the fridge while you make the pumpkin pie filling – you’ll also want to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

Into a large mixing bowl, you will want to go ahead and place in the pumpkin puree, light brown sugar, eggs, plain flour, ground spices and salt. Whisk it all together until its combined, it should be smooth and one consistent colour.

Then you can go ahead and add in the evaporated milk and whisk that in until its fully incorporated, this doesn’t take very long but ensure that it’s fully whisked in, otherwise your pie filling will bake streaky looking.

Take the pie case from the fridge and have your pumpkin pie filling to hand. Then you can go ahead and pour the pie filling into the pie case, trying your best not to get any on the trim.

Then you can place in the preheated oven and bake for around 60 minutes, once baked you can test if the pie is done two different ways. The first is to insert a knife into the centre, when removed it should be clean and the second way is to gently jiggle the pie, if the filling doesn’t jiggle, the pie is baked. As the pie is cooling down, sometimes a crack will appear on top of the pie.

Once fully baked, allow to cool fully before you serve and enjoy it.

When it comes to serving this pie, just some freshly whipped cream is needed (perhaps a pinch of pumpkin pie spice on top of the cream). You can enjoy it however you like.

Jam and Coconut Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’ll be showing you how to make a super simple jam and coconut sponge cake.

This recipe is the one you’ll see craft bakeries and may remember from your school days. It’s a simple coconut sponge cake (which is light and fluffy), topped with your choice of jam and finished with a sprinkling of desiccated coconut.

As I’ve already mentioned, its a simple sponge cake which is easily elevated by the jam. If you like the sprinkle sponge cake, you may like this one as they are fairly similar and they will certainly give you a nostalgic feeling as you eat them.

If you’re looking for other school or retro recipes, don’t forget to check out chocolate concrete, sprinkle sponge cake and chocolate hedgehogs. I promise that these recipes will unlock memories you’ve forgotten.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

230g Butter.

230g Granulated sugar.

230g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

4 Eggs

150g Desiccated coconut.

Milk (only if needed).

Topping –

60-80g Jam (whichever flavour you like)

80g Desiccated coconut (use more or less, whatever takes your fancy).

Method:

Before you get started on making this cake, you’re best to do some prep work. Start by lining your 9×13 inch tin with parchment paper, weigh up all of the ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you may need such as a mixing bowl and spatula.

To start, take a mixing bowl and place in the butter and granulated sugar. Then beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Now you can add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Doing it this way lowers the chances of the mixture curdling.

You can then go ahead and add in the plain flour and baking powder, passing them through a sieve first (this just helps the cake to be lighter and fluffier). Then you can go-ahead and add in the desiccated coconut – mix it all together until a clean cake batter has formed.

Go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, this will just incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from before.

Take the cake batter and transfer it into your lined 9×13 inch cake tin and spread it out until its fairly consistent. I like to use a offset palette knife, but the back of a spoon would work equally as well.

Then you can take the cake tin and place into your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean, when inserted into the centre. The cake should have risen a good amount and be a consistent golden brown colour on top.

Allow the cake to cool fully in the tray before you finish the cake off.

To finish the cake, you’ll want to make sure your jam is spreadable. You can give it a good mix or warm for a few seconds in the microwave, then add the jam on top of the cake and spread it out, ensuring there is good coverage, you can use more jam is you feel it’s needed. Then to finish the cake, take he desiccated coconut and sprinkle it on top of the jam.

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