Basic

Halloween Cake

Although halloween this year may be a little different, there’s no reason not to celebrate. That’s why I’m sharing my recipe for a super simple halloween themed cake.

This is the perfect cake to make if you’re doing anything for halloween, it’s got the perfectly festive colours of purple, green and orange. It starts with 3 layers of coloured vanilla cake, sandwiched and finished with a standard vanilla buttercream and its then decorated with a white chocolate drip, buttercream rosettes and meringue decorations.

I’ll be honest, this cake is a remake of a cake I made back in 2017… I didn’t like the cake enough to share until this year when I found the old pictures and thought I could remake it and make it better. I added a white chocolate drip and meringue decorations.

This would be the perfect cake to make if you have a large household or are able to share it with your friends and family, especially if they celebrate halloween.

Anyway, lets’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Meringue decorations:

2 Egg whites.

Granulated sugar (double the weight of the egg whites).

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Cake:

375g Butter, at room temperature.

375g Granulated sugar.

6 Eggs.

2 tsp Vanilla extract.

375g Plain flour.

1 1/2 tsp Baking powder.

45ml Milk.

Food colouring paste (or gels).

Buttercream:

450g Butter, at room temperature.

900g Icing sugar.

1-2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Simple Syrup:

200g Granulated sugar.

180ml Water.

10ml Vanilla extract.

Decoration:

White chocolate spread (for the drip).

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some preparation. Weigh up all of your ingredients, line or butter and flour your cake tins/line your baking trays with parchment, preheat your oven to 130˚c/265˚f an 180˚c/350˚f (for the cakes), then grab any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer (or hand mixer) and mixing bowls.

Meringue:

To start on the recipe, I like to make the meringue decorations as they take some time to bake. Start by grabbing your clean mixing bowl and placing the egg whites into it, then beating them until they are fairly frothy.

You can then go ahead and add in the granulated sugar, roughly a tablespoon at a time, allowing the sugar to be incorporated before adding anymore sugar.

Once you have all of the sugar incorporated, you’ll want to check if the meringue is ready. Take a small amount and rub it between your finger and thumb, if you feel any granules of sugar, continue to whisk until you can no longer feel any granules of sugar.

When ready, place the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round piping tip and get ready to pipe. Onto the first lined baking tray, you can pipe small meringue kisses (and top them with sprinkles or other bits, if wanted) and onto the other tray, pipe a squiggle which should look like a ghost.

Place the trays into a the 130˚c/265˚f oven and bake for 40-60 minutes or until they peel away from the baking paper. Once baked, leave somewhere to cool until needed later on (store in the fridge if you intend on using them at a later date).

Cake:

To start on the cake, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and grab a mixing bowl. Into the mixing bowl, place the butter and granulated sugar and beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency (this normally takes about 7-10 minutes). The mixture should be smoother, lighter and fluffier (if you can see or feel any granules of sugar, continue to mix until you can longer feel them).

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

You can then add in your eggs, roughly one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Try your best not to add in too much egg at anytime, otherwise you may curdle or split the mixture.

Then you can go ahead and add in the flour and baking powder, passing it through a sieve, just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix.

Mix the dry ingredients until they are fully incorporated, then stop, try not to over mix the cake batter too much (otherwise the baked cake will be tough in texture).

Into three separate bowls, add 15ml of milk and a colour into each (make sure the colour is very concentrated. Then divide the cake batter between the three bowls and incorporate the milk and colour into the cake batter – once the cake batter is coloured and ready, transfer into your lined (or buttered and floured) cake tins.

Spread and level out the cake batter as best as you possibly can, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until well risen and when a tester is inserted into the centre, it comes out clean.

Buttercream:

The buttercream is super easy to make. Start by grabbing a clean mixing bowl and placing the butter into it, then beat on a high speed for 7-9 minutes or until the butter has become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once the butter has achieved the perfect consistency, you can go ahead and add in half of the icing sugar and mix o a low speed to start, working your way up to a high speed. Repeat this for the remaining half of the icing sugar.

Just before you finish mixing, add in the vanilla and mix until its been fully incorporated.

Crumb coat the cake with a layer of buttercream, then separate the buttercream equally between three bowls and colour each of buttercream with purple, green and orange. Cover and set aside until needed later on.

Simple syrup:

Place the water, sugar and vanilla extract into a saucepan and place on the hob over a high heat and allow to come to a boil. The mixture should thicken slightly once done.

Allow to cool before using.

Once its cooled, level your cakes and brush over your layers of cake.

Assembly:

To assemble the cake, start by taking your plate/stand and dolloping a small amount of buttercream onto the plate/stand and spreading it out. This is just to secure the cake cake in place, so it doesn’t move while you’re decorating it.

I like to start by placing the purple layer of cake onto the plate/stand, then top with vanilla buttercream and jam (repeat this stage with the remaining cake).

You can then go ahead and give the cake a crumb coat, this is just a thin layer of buttercream used to lock in all of the crumbs, so none get into your final layer of icing and ruin your decoration.

Place in the fridge, just to allow the buttercream to firm ups around 40-60 minutes will be fine.

Take the coloured buttercream and place into piping bags, this will make it easier to work with the decoration.

when you’re ready to apply the final layer of buttercream, you can do it however you like but I like the correspond the colours inside with the colours outside, so I will do purple, green and orange (in that order). I start by placing my cake on to a turntable, so I can spin the cake and get a more level and consistent layer.

I pipe on all of my layers, so they are like rough levels, you can always straighten them out if they aren’t as straight as you’d like. Then take a cake smoother/scraper and level the icing all amount the cake, so it will all become smooth and level out. You may need to go around the cake a few times, just to perfect the finish.

Place back into the fridge and allow the buttercream to firm up for a bit, about 40-60 minutes should be ideal.

After the time in the fridge, you can finish the cake. I like to do the drip first, so I melt the white chocolate spread in the microwave for a few seconds until its more liquid, then place the melted spread into a piping bag and drip it from the top, down the side of the cake. You can use more spread to create a longer drip or less if you want a shorter drip. Don’t forget to spread some of the chocolate spread on-top of the cake.

You’ll want the place the cake back in the fridge for 10 minutes, just for the drip to firm up.

Once you’re ready to finish the cake, you can go ahead and take the remaining buttercream and place it all into a piping bag fitted with an open star nozzle, then pipe your rosettes onto the top of your cake, pipe as many or as few as you’d like – it’s up to you.

Then finish by placing the meringue decorations all over the top of the cake, you’ll know where a cake need some decoration.

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.

Salted Caramel Gingerbread Traybake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’ve finally got into the swing of more seasonal baking! Today I’m sharing my recipe for a salted caramel gingerbread traybake – it’s a match made in heaven, trust me on this one.

I’ve gone from not slightly seasonal straight into sweater weather in a week, it had to happen though. If you have ever made a gingerbread style cake, you may know it’s similar to a Parkin (it gets better tasting with age) but throw in salted caramel and it really elevates the recipe into another dimension – it may sound bizarre but trust me on this one for once.

If you’re really not a fan of salted caramel, you can skip the salt and use just plain caramel, it won’t quite be the same but it’ll work.

Gingerbread isn’t always associated with autumn, I know but I wanted to share something a little more festive on the build up to Christmas but don’t worry, I have plenty of autumnal themed an flavoured recipes coming up… Keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

175g Butter.

150g Light brown sugar.

50-75g Black treacle (the more you use, the richer the flavour).

200g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

3 Eggs.

30-50g Crystallised ginger (use more if you like a stronger ginger flavour).

100ml salted caramel.

Caramel:

100g Butter.

150g Light brown sugar.

100ml Double cream.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Sea salt (flakes or rocks will work well)

Method:

Before you get started on making any element of this cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, line a 9 inch cake tin with parchment and get any equipment you may need such as a medium saucepan, stand mixer and spatulas.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to make the caramel. To make the caramel grab yourself a medium sized saucepan and place in the butter, light brown sugar, double cream, vanilla extract and salt.

You can then go ahead and place the saucepan on the hob over a medium heat and allow to warm a little before you continuously stir the mixture until everything has melted and fully combined, this doesn’t take too long but you’ll want to make sure everything is fully incorporate and you’re continuously stirring the mixture so it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the saucepan and ruin your caramel.

Allow this mixture to cool fully before you use it.

To make the cake, it’s really easy. Into a large mixing bowl, place the butter, light brown sugar, caramel black treacle, crystallised ginger and eggs, then beat on a high speed until they are fully mixed together and incorporated – the mixture won’t be perfectly smooth because of the crystallised ginger.

Go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.

Then you can add in the plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the mixture.

Once all of the dry ingredients are in the bowl, incorporate them over a a medium speed, working your way up to a high speed until everything has been incorporated.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in. The mixture should be smooth and glossy.

Pour the mixture into your lined 9 inch square baking tin, and place into your preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted.

You will then want to allow the cake to cool until its almost cold, still a little warm is ideal.

Take the remixing caramel and spread it on top of the cake, as its slightly warm the caramel will seep into the cake, enriching it and enhancing the flavours. It will be similar to a Parkin as it will get better with flavour.

Wait until the following day to slice the cake up, it’s worth the wait, trust me!

50/50 Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you eat a lot of bread and want to try something a little different, why don’t you give this 50/50 bread a try? You get the best of white and wholemeal bread in one loaf – what’s not to like about that?

This bread is perfect for those who just like bread. If you like wholemeal but find it too heavy or you like white bread but want something a little healthier, why not combine the two and get a loaf of bread thats lighter than wholemeal and a little healthier than white bread – that way you get the best of both worlds!

I know that this bread is readily available in most supermarkets in the UK (I’m not sure about else where in the world) but why buy something filled with preservatives an added nasties when you can make it yourself, pretty easily at home? It’ takes next to no time, perfect for those lazy winter days/nights that are coming up!

This is the perfect loaf of give a go if you’re new to bread making as it can be made by hand or stand mixer (no bread machines, they’re honestly a waste of time). It uses only simple ingredients, which if you’re a baker should have in anyway, so why not try something new? At the time of making this recipe the UK was in a national lockdown, so was using everything I had in storage up before I bought more (when this recipe is due to be shared, there will probably be new guidelines and some sort of lockdown, so use the time to learn a new skill).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

250g Strong White bread flour.

250g Wholemeal flour.

5g Salt.

18g Fresh yeast.

30g White shortening.

12g Milk powder.

10g Granulated sugar.

310ml Water.

Methods:

Before you get into this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, lining a loaf tin with a strip of parchment paper and getting any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and scotch scraper ready.

To start, grab your mixing bowl and place in the white flour, wholemeal flour and salt. Give them a brief mix together until they are combined.

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, white shortening, milk powder, granulated sugar and water and then mix on a low speed for 2 minutes followed by a high speed for a further 6-8 minutes, depending on how your dough is looking. The dough should be well formed and not sticky – the bowl will be almost perfectly clean.

Lightly flour your work surface with some flour and just give the dough a brief knead just to ensure the dough is fully ready.

Then place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and leave somewhere warm and leave it somewhere warm for around 60 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. Please use the time I have given as a guide, depending on the climate of your location, it may take more or less time to prove up.

While the dough is proving for the first time, its the perfect time to get cleaned up and ready to work with the dough again.

Once the dough has proved, you can then take it from the bowl and place onto a lightly floured work surface and knock it back. This is just process of removing the gases rear built up in the dough during the first proof. Bring the dough back into a ball shape and roll into a fat sausage shape, just big enough to fit into a loaf tin.

Place the dough into the lined loaf pan and cover loosely with clingfilm and prove for a second time, this time for around 45 minutes or until the dough has proofed up nicely.

While the dough is have its second proof, you can go ahead and preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Once the dough has finished its second proof, you can go ahead and remove the clingfilm from the top of the dough. Place it in the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the bread has become well coloured.

To check if the bread is fully baked, turn it out of the loaf pan and tap the bottom. When you tap the bottom, it should sound hollow. If it doesn’t, place it back in the oven to bake for a little longer.

Otherwise, you’re done! If you can resist cutting into the bread while its warm, wait until its fully cooled down and then enjoy it as if it were a loaf of normal bread.

Apple Crumble No-Bake Cheesecake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’m taking two of my favourite desserts and combining them into one! Today I’ll be sharing my recipe for a super easy apple crumble no bake cheesecake!

This cheesecake is like all of my other no-bake cheesecakes, super easy to make and takes next to no time to make it. The only downside to this style of no-bake cheesecake is that they need time in the fridge (6-8 hours is best), this is to help it firm up as it doest contain gelatine!

I wanted to combine apple crumble and cheesecake and thought about which way may be the best to achieve that, so that’s how this apple crumble no-bake cheesecake came to be. It starts with a simple but tasty buttery biscuit base, which is then topped with creamy and tangy apple cheesecake filling, which is finished with a spiced crumble mix, whipped cream and some stewed apples.

I know that Autumn is usually heaving with recipes containing pumpkin and spices but I’ve decided against that this year as there is only so much pumpkin you can handle, right?

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Base:

125g Digestive biscuits.

50g Butter, melted.

Cheesecake:

300g Soft cheese.

75g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

200ml Double cream.

150g Cooked/stewed apples.

Topping:

200ml Double cream.

1tsp Vanilla extract.

25g Icing sugar.

Crumble Topping

25g Light brown sugar.

25g Granulated sugar.

20g Oats.

35g Plain flour.

40g Butter.

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

Pinch of mixed spice.

Methods:

Before you get into any element of the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of the ingredients, preparing your cake tin with a circle of parchment paper (this is optional) and get any equipment you may use ready.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to work on the base first.

Take your digestive biscuits and place them into a food safe bag, then take a rolling pin and gently press it into the biscuits until they break down using a rolling pin until a crumb or sandy looking consistency is apparent. If you’re doing this by hand, its okay to have a few big chunks in the mixture, don’t worry too much.

Transfer the biscuits crumbs into a small/medium bowl and then go ahead and melt the butter, either in a saucepan on the hob or in a microwave safe bowl, in the microwave. Add the butter directly into the biscuit crumbs and mix the two together until fully combined – it will resemble wet sand.

Take your 6 inch round cake tin and pour the mixture straight into it, then compress it down using a small cup measurement or the back of a spoon, until its compressed and level, then place into the fridge to chill while you make the cheesecake filling.

Start by taking a large mixing bowl and placing the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisking them all together until they are fully combined. The mixture should be thick enough to hold its shape and not be too loose.

Now you can go ahead and add in the apple and whisk it in until its fully incorporated. Then you can add in the double cream and whisk until the cream has been worked in and the mixture has thickened – it should be able to hold its shape well.

Remove the cheesecake base from the fridge and add the cheesecake filling directly on top of the base, then spread it out to get it smooth and level as possible. I find a small cranked/offset spatula or the back of a spoon works best.

Place into the fridge and chill for a minimum of 6-8 hours but feel free to leave it for longer.

While your cheesecake chills in the fridge, you can go ahead and make the crumble.

The crumble is super easy. To start, grab a food processor and place in the flour, granulated sugar and light brown sugar – blitz everything together until combined.

Now you can add the butter into food processor and blitz until the butter has been worked in, transfer into a bowl and add in the oats, stir until everything has been combined.

Place the crumble onto a lined baking tray and place into a preheated oven and bake until its well coloured. Allow to cool down fully before you intend on using it.

Whenever you’re ready to finish the cheesecake off, you’ll want to decorate the cheesecake however you like. I went with something a little different, I added a layer/border of crumble around the edge, then a piped whipped cream around the centre, covering the edge of the inner circle and filled the centre with cooked apple but you do it however you like!

Cherry Bakewell Flapjacks

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

For this weeks recipe, I took two treats and combined them to make a super easy and tasty treat for you to enjoy. Today I’m sharing my recipe for a batch of cherry Bakewell flapjacks.

If you like the plain traditional flapjack recipe, then you should like these. It’s the original chewy and gooey flapjack with elements of a cherry bakewell incorporated… It’s honestly a winning combination.

I use some ground almonds in the dry mix, this helps to add to the flavour and texture of the bake but I also use almond extract to get the most flavour into this bake.

When it comes to the jam, I used cherry to further add to the cherry flavour, however, traditionally in a Bakewell you’re more likely to find a plum jam but you can use whichever jam you like (homemade is better but shop bought works well).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g Butter.

175g Light brown sugar.

175g Golden syrup.

1/4 tsp Almond extract

350g Oats.

50g Ground almonds

50g Cocktail or glace cherries, halved.

(up to) 200g Cherry jam.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, lining my 8×8 inch cake tin with parchment paper and grab any other equipment you may need such as a mixing bowl, spatula and saucepan. You may also want to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to grab a medium saucepan and place in the butter, golden syrup and light brown sugar and place the saucepan on the hob over a medium-high heat and just leave it for around 60 seconds, then you can start to stir it constantly until everything has melted together and become smooth. The mixture should be clear, meaning you can see a single trace of a single ingredient.

Set the mixture aside for a moment while you prepare the next step.

Into a large mixing bowl, you can g ahead and add in all of your oats, the the ground almond and just mix the two together until they are fairly well combined.

Now you can go ahead and pour the melted mix over the oats and almond mixture, giving it all a very good mix. You want all of the oats to be coated in the melted mixture, this will only help to make them taste as yummy as possible.

Just before you’re finished with mixing the dry and wet mix together, you can go ahead and add in some cherries (cocktail cherries or glace cherries work well), fold them into the mixture until they have been fairly distributed throughout the mixture.

Grab your lined cake tin from earlier on and add around half of the flapjack mixture. Spread it out and level it out as best you possibly can – I found using a small cranked palette knife works really well.

Directly on top of the bottom layer of flapjack mixture, you can add the cherry jam and spread it out to get it as level as possible – then you can place the remaining oats on top of the jam layer and spread it out to achieve a consistent level. If you can still see some jam under the flapjacks, don’t worry it’s not the end of the world.

Place the tray into your preheated oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a nice golden brown colour all over with darker edges.

Once out of the oven allow to cool down fully before you attempt to finish them off.

This is optional but on a cherry Bakewell you get a thin layer of icing, so to add that element into the flapjacks, I’ll be making a glace icing to drizzle over the cooled traybake.

Simple drizzle over the icing in whichever pattern you’d like and place in the fridge for 20 minuets just to allow the icing to firm up.

Whenever you’re ready, you can slice them up. How you do this is completely up to you – I went with 16 bitesize pieces of flapjack but you could always half that and yield 8 more than generous portions but its up to you.

Sourdough Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This week for the bread recipe, I’ll be sharing my recipe for a super easy sourdough loaf at home!

You may remember that last week, I shared my sourdough starter recipe with you – this is a very important component in sourdough bread. So, if you want to make a batch of sourdough bread, you will need to make a starter.

This style of bread has gained popularity over the past few years, even being sold at smaller craft/artisan bakeries but what’s the point in that? You can make it home with some time and effort… Don’t get me wrong, it may take you a couple of attempts to get a loaf that looks like a bakery style version but trust me, it’s fully worth it.

The thing I love about this bread is how easy it is to make and the simplicity of the ingredients you need to make such a recipe. All the ingredients I mention below are pantry essentials, so you should have most of them in. This is honestly one of the perfect recipes to make if you’re looking for something to make that doesn’t require a lot of your time, the perfect weekend bake!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

250g Strong white flour.

4g Salt.

125g Sourdough starter.

125ml Water.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep. Make sure that you have made a sourdough starter and it’s at the perfect place to work with, weigh up all your ingredients and grab anything else you may need like a mixing bowl and a scotch scraper.

To start on the dough, you’ll want to grab your sour starter and test it to ensure its ready to be used. All you need to do for the test is get a small bowl of water and scoop a teaspoon or table spoon of the sour starter into it – you’re looking for it to float. If it doesn’t, then your starter isn’t correct and you will need to make it again.

Into a clean large mixing bowl, you will want to add the water and sourdough starter and mix together until combined using a spatula or a whisk (whichever works best for you).

Then you can go ahead and add in the bread flour and salt and mix the dough by hand until everything is fully combined and a dough has formed. The thing to note about this dough is the fact it’s fairly wet/loose – this is normal and will partially fix itself later on.

You can the cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it at room temperature to ferment for about 60 minutes (or until it has risen well).

Take the dough and place it onto a lightly floured or lightly oiled work surface and use a scotch scraper to round and smooth the dough out – you will want to try and not to handle the dough too much, use a scraper to do most of the work. Once you have achieved a smooth ball, set aside for a moment while your prepare the next stage.

For the net stage, you can use a fancy proofing basket which cost £25+ online or a simple hack is to use a medium sized bowl and place a clean cotton tea-towel inside. Flour the tea-towel well with some bread flour. Place the ball of dough into the tea-towel upside down, so the bottom of the dough is showing, then flour the side of the dough you can see with more bread flour and cover with the remaining tea-towel.

Leave somewhere at room temperature and leave to proof until the dough is almost touching the top of the bowl, around 40-60 minutes was the sweet spot for me but that time may vary, depending on the climate of where you live.

When the dough has almost reached completion, you can go ahead and preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f – you can also place a small baking pan of water onto the bottom of the oven at this point.

Once it has proofed, you can then go ahead and line a baking tray with paper and place them directly on top of the bowl, then flip it over so the tray is on the work surface and the bowl is on top. Remove the bowl and gently remove the tea-towel (if you didn’t flour the tea bowl very well, it will stick to the tea-towel and ruin all of the work you have put into it).

Take a sharp small blade or knife and cut the dough however you like. I went with a super simple and straightforward cut across the middle.

Then you will want to take a metal bowl, one thats ovenproof and big enough to fit over the dough and place directly over the dough and place into the oven, then bake.

After about 20 minutes, you’ll want to remove the tray of water and the metal bowl from on top of the bread, them bake for the remainder of the time.

Once it is out of the oven, you can then leave it cool completely on a cooling rack.

Slice into it and enjoy!

Apple Crumble Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

You know what’s better than one baked good? Two of them combined into one!

Today I’ll be sharing my recipe for a batch of super simple apple crumble cupcakes… If you give these a go, I promise that you won’t regret it. They are like a bite of autumn in each bite.

A light and flavourful apple brown sugar cupcake, filled with a homemade chunky apple filling, topped with a creamy vanilla buttercream and finished with a homemade brown sugar crumble and more of the chunky apple filling.

Now the weather is cooling down, it’s the ideal time to make more filling and comforting foods – these cupcakes are perfect. The use of spices, brown sugar and apple really make these cupcakes feel a little more seasonal.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Apple Filling:

1 Large cooking apple, chopped into small cubes.

30-50g Granulated sugar (use the amount of sugar that suits you best).

15-30ml Water.

Cupcakes:

90g Butter, room temperature.

90g Dark brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

90g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon.

1/4 tsp Ground mixed spice.

20g Freeze dried apples.

Buttercream:

125g Butter, room temperature.

250g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Crumble:

35g Granulated sugar.

35g Dark brown sugar.

30g Oats.

50g Plain flour.

60g Butter.

Method:

Before you get started on they recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of the ingredients, grab any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and food processor and line your trays/cupcake tray with parchment/cases. It’s also the perfect time for you to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f

You can start where you like regarding the recipe, I would recommend that you make the apple filling to start, as it will need time to cool down.

To make the apple filling, take a large cooking apple and peel, core and cube. Then place into a medium-large saucepan and add in the sugar and water, heat over a medium-high heat and just cook until the apples have soften and the sugar/water have made a thickened syrupy consistency.

Transfer the apple filling into a jar until it’s needed, later on.

To start on the crumble, you’ll want to place the plain flour, granulated sugar and dark brown sugar into a bowl and mix them together.

Once they are combined, you can then add the butter, which is in small pieces. Once all the butter has been added, you can rub it together until the butter has been incorporated and the mixture has become crumblier looking – now you can add in the oats, stir until they have been incorporated.

Remove the crumble from the bowl and place onto a lined baking tray. If your crumble has lumps that are large, use a silicon spatula to break them down into smaller bits. Bake the crumble in the oven until it’s well coloured – around 10-12 minutes.

Now you can start on the cupcake, which is super easy. Take the butter and dark brown sugar and beat together until they are well combined – they’ll be lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Then you can go ahead and add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix that in until it’s fully incorporated.

You can then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Add the the plain flour, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon and ground mixed spice along with the freeze dried apple pieces. Mix it all together until everything is combined and there isn’t a trace of a single ingredient.

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

Grab your cupcake tray you lined with cases earlier on and spoon the cupcake mixture into the cases – filling them around 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full. Then you can place them into your preheated oven and bake fr 20-22 minutes (or when a tester comes out clean, when inserted into the centre).

While your cupcakes are in the oven, it’s the ideal time to make buttercream (which is really easy).

Take a mixing bowl and place in the butter and beat that until its lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency (around 5-7 minutes), then you can scrape the bowl down and add in half of your icing sugar – mixing until it has been fully incorporated, then scrape down and repeat with the second half of the icing sugar.

Add in the vanilla extract and mix until its fully incorporated – set aside until you need it later on. I like to place my buttercream into my piping bag, fitted with a nozzle.

Now that everything is made, wash up and have a general clean up. Allowing everything to cool down fully before you use it.

Once everything has been made and has cooled down, you can start to finish the cupcakes off.

I like to start by coring out the centres of my cupcakes using a cupcake corer (feel free to use an apple corer, which works just as well). Then taking a generous teaspoonful of the apple filling and filling the centre of the cupcakes – repeat this for all 6 cupcakes.

On top of the filled cupcakes, you can pipe on your buttercream – you do this however works best for you. I just went with a very straightforward and simple swirl.

While the buttercream is still tacky, you can take spoonfuls of the crumble mix and press it around the edge of the buttercream, ensuring theres a good coating of the crumble.

Then to finish, you can take a small amount of the apple filling and spoon some on top of the cupcakes and you’re done!

Sour Starter

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This week I’m showing you how to make a sour starter. Although this isn’t exactly a bread recipe, it’s a starter for all things sourdough.

If you don’t know about sourdough, I’ll give you a little rundown on it. Sourdough bread is a fermented bread that doesn’t contain added yeast, it replies purely on the naturally occurring lactobacilli and yeast. The bread does have a more ‘sour’ taste and that comes from the lactic acid that comes from lactobacilli.

This style of bread has become more popular over the years and during the lockdown that occurred in 2020, supplies were short in demand, so sourdough became a popular bread to make at home. This is mostly because you don’t need yeast and its super easy to make.

The starter is probably the most time consuming element of this bread, as it takes 6 days to make a starter that can be used… It sounds like a long time but it’s well worth it. All you need is a container, bread flour and water… It’s honestly so simple.

Every other day, you’ll be emptying about 70% of the mixture (which is called sour discard and can be used in other recipes such as pancakes and muffins), adding fresh flour and water and allowing it time to work. You’ll know it’s working as the starter will rise and bubble and start to smell more sour.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Day 1 –

500g Strong bread flour.

375ml Water.

Day 3 –

250g Strong bread flour.

188ml Water.

Day 5 –

250g Strong bread flour.

188ml Water.

Day 6 –

250g Strong bread flour.

188ml Water.

Method:

Before you get started on the sour starter, you’l want to do some prep work. You should start by weighing up all of your ingredients and grabbing any equipment you need such a container (feel free to use glass or plastic, glass works better for smaller amounts) and a silicon spatula.

This recipe takes almost a week to make but once you have a starter going, you’ll be well away to keep it going ultimately forever. This is perfect if you intend on making sourdough bread more often in the future.

To start on the sour starter, take your clean container and add in the bread flour, followed by the water and mix until a loose dough forms. Then you can place the lid on the container and leave somewhere at room temperature for 2 days.

You may not notice much difference on day 2 and this is completely normal but by day 3, you should see the mixture has grown a fair amount and has become fairly bubbly.

Now you’re on day 3, you can take the lid off the container and give the starter a good mixture, then into a jar (or bowl) pour out about 70% of it. This is known as sour discard and it can be used to enhance the flavour in many other baked goods such as muffins and brownies. Store the discard in a contain in the fridge and use within 2-3 days.

Into the starter, add day 3’s flour and water and mix until a loose dough has formed, place the lid back on container and leave again at room temperature for 2 days before you interact with it again.

On day 5, you will basically repeat what you did on day 3. Grab a jar or bowl and pour out about 70% of the starter (again, this is the sour discard). You can then go ahead and add in the flour and water and mix until a loose dough has formed – place the lid back on and cover for 24-48 hours.

If you are intending to make sourdough bread on day 6, you’ll only want to leave the starter for 24 hours. After the 24 hours, you can repeat the same steps as in previous days. Empty out about 70% of your starter into a jar or bowl and then go ahead and add in the flour and water then mix until a loose dough has formed.

Leave the starter for about 6-8 hours and then you can use it. This 6-8 hour window is what works for me, you may be able to be flexible either way.

That’s it for this weeks recipe, join me next week when I’ll be showing you how to make a simple sourdough loaf.

Red Velvet Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This American classic cake is a super simple and straightforward one to make. Today I’m sharing my take on a red velvet cake! I’m not going to try and claim this cake as a traditional version, as it isn’t – it’s my interpretation.

The cake is a staple in most bakeries, cafés and coffee shops. Almost all of them will have this for sale by the slice which is nice but why do that when you can make the cake at home and have fun while doing it?

You may know this cake for being a little different… It uses bicarbonate of soda as the raising agent and has both chocolate and vanilla flavours as well as a bright red cake finished with a thick and creamy cream cheese icing – the perfect combo!

If you like the tangy flavour of the brightly coloured cake partnered with the rich cream cheese icing, this is the cake for you!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

Red Food paste/gel.

20g Cocoa powder.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

125g Butter.

300g Granulated sugar.

3 Eggs.

190g Plain flour.

1/4 tsp Salt.

125ml Buttermilk.

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

1 1/2 tsp White vinegar.

Simple syrup (optional):

100g Granulated sugar.

100ml Water.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Cream cheese icing:

375g Icing sugar.

70g Butter.

105g Soft cheese.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep. I recommend you start by weighing up all of the ingredients, lining the 6 inch round cake tins with some parchment paper (or butter and line them), preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and grab any equipment you may need, such as a mixer, mixing bowl and silicon spatula.

To start on the cake, you’ll want to grab a small mixing bowl and place in the red food colouring gel/paste, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Mix everything together until you have a dark red thick paste and set aside until you need it later on.

Then in another bowl place the butter and granulated sugar, then beat together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

You can then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Now you can take the red cocoa powder mixture you made earlier and add all of it into the mixing bowl and mix on a medium-high speed until the mixture has become a solid red colour.

Add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Once all of the eggs have been added and are incorporated, you will want to give the bowl a quick scraping down.

Then you can go ahead and add around a third of the flour, mixing that in until its fully incorporated then alternate with the buttermilk until you have none of either left over. One thing to note is that you should start with dry and end with dry.

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

Then you can go ahead and add in the bicarbonate of soda and directly on top add the white vinegar – this should fizzle and react (this is completely normal, it’s a chemical reaction. Fold those two into the cake batter until it’s been fully worked in.

Split the cake batter between your two lined cake tins and place into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until they are well risen (and a tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre).

While the cakes are in the oven, you can make your simple syrup. To do so, grab a small-medium saucepan and place the sugar, water and vanilla extract, giving them a good mix to combine.

Then place on the hob over a high heat and allow to come to a boil, then simmer for around 1 minute and then remove from the heat and transfer into another bowl/cup to cool down fully.

Now is also the perfect time to make your cream cheese icing!

To start on the cream cheese icing, grab a clean mixing bowl and place in the icing sugar and butter – mix the two together until they come together and the mixture is ‘crumbly’ looking.

Then you can go ahead and add in the soft cheese, start the mixer on a low-medium speed just to allow that cream cheese to incorporate. Once it has been incorporated, crank the speed up to high speed and mix for as long as needed to achieve the perfect consistency – which is when the icing holds its shape. If your cream cheese icing seems a little too thin, add a little more icing sugar and mixing helps to achieve the perfect consistency

Once your icing is made, you can then set that in the fridge until you need it later on.

Now that your cakes are made, you will want to allow them to cool fully before you do anything with them – this gives you time to get washed and cleaned, ready to ice and decorate the cake in a little while.

A couple of hours later, you should be more than ready to finish the cake off. You should start by removing the cakes from the tins and levelling them off but don’t forget to keep the bits you’ve cut off as we will need some of the crumbs later on.

Brush each of the cakes over with the simple syrup on a cooling rack and give them a few minutes.

Take your cake stand/plate/board and spread a small amount of cream cheese icing into the centre of it and place on top your first layer of cake (pressing down slightly to secure in place) and top that with a good amount of the cream cheese icing and then sandwich the second layer of cake on top.

Usually for cake Is like to do a crumb coat but I hardly ever do it with this cake, theres no real reason. I just take my icing and generously slather it on to the sides and top of the cake and roughly smooth it out – it doesn’t have to be perfect. You’ll want to make sure theres enough icing on top to do the swirl… This is commonly seen on a lot of bakery style cakes (its a simple and professional way of finishing the cake).

Then with some of the cake crumbs from earlier on, sprinkle them around the top edge of the cake, like a border of red velvet crumbs.

That’s how I make my red velvet cake – easy right? Why don’t you try it soon – its always a crowd pleaser whenever I make it!

Banana Bundt Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This week I’m sharing my recipe for a basic banana bundt cake – this has become an essential bake in 2020.

It’s been a couple of years since I have made a bundt cake, mostly because I never usually have much luck with the pan… The cake breaks and gets stuck in the crevices. When I found my bundt pans again, I just knew I had to use them as they have been neglected in recent years.

Plus, when the coronavirus lockdown was implemented in the UK, it seemed like everybody and their mother were making banana bread… So, I’m jumping on the trend months too late.

Banana bread is always a winning idea, right? Who doesn’t enjoy a slice with a cup of tea or coffee.

The amount of batter this recipe yields the perfect amount for a standard bunt pan

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

200g Butter.

350g Granulated sugar.

4 Eggs.

4 Ripe bananas.

450g Plain flour.

2 tsp Baking powder.

1 tbsp Ground cinnamon.

Up to 4 tbsp Milk (only if needed).

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I recommend by starting with your ingredients and weighing them up in advance, greasing your bundt pan with some butter (or release spread, I found some on Pinterest), preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a silicon spatula.

To start on the recipe, take a large mixing bowl and place in the butter and granulated sugar and beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency (around 7 or so minutes should work. Just keep your eye on it).

Once your have achieved lighter and fluffier, you can then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, Thai is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.

Next you can start to add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. As you add the eggs into the mixture, you’ll notice it becomes looser in consistency and this is normal, if it looks a little split or curdled, don’t worry too much.

Then you can go ahead and add in all of the mashed banana and fold that in until its fully incorporated. Once the banana has been incorporated, you may noticed that the mixture has split and this is normal as the amount of moisture from the banana is too much but don’t worry – it will be corrected in the next stage.

You can then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, again just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in.

Now you can take your plain flour, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon and add them into the mix, passing through a sieve first o remove any lumps that may be in the mix.

Mix on a low speed to start, working your way up to a meidum speed and mix until almost all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated, then stop mixing. You don’t want to over work the gluten as that will result in a tougher texture cake.

If you find the cake mixture to be a bit too firm, feel free to add a small amount of milk to help loosen the consistency.

When you’re ready, you can then grab your prepared bundt pan and add the cake mixture into the bundt pan, then level it off as best you possibly can.

Now place the bundt tin into the oven and bake for around 50-55 minutes. A tester should come out clean when inserted into the centre of the baked cake. Allow to cool for around half and hour (or until you can handle the tin.

Once you’re ready to remove the cake from the tin, you can place a cooling rack on top of the tin and flip it around so the bundt pan is on top and the coming rack is underneath – you should have heard the cake move and fall (in one piece I hope) onto the cooling rack. Then you can cautiously remove the tin and see if your cake has come out in one piece or not.

This is normally the nerve wrecking stage for me, not any of the other stages just this one. It’s right at the end and can be really off putting if it doesn’t turn out correctly.

Anyway, you can let the cake cool fully and then enjoy it. I like a slice on its own but you can also enjoy it with some cream or ice cream, if you’d like!

Basic

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