Basic

Vegan Brownies

It’s almost the end of Veganuary 2020, can you believe that?

Today I’m sharing my recipe for a batch of perfect vegan brownies! They’re dense, fudgy and studded with chocolate – what more could you ask for?

A lot of people think vegan baked goods are bland and boring but they aren’t. That may apply for the treats you can buy in the supermarket but you can expect so much more when you make the treats from scratch – honestly.

Due to the rise in popularity of veganism in the last few years, there are plenty of vegan ingredients readily available at most supermarkets – which is ideal if you’re looking to enjoy a plant based diet.

These brownies aren’t as thick as my traditional version but they are just as chocolatey, rich and decadent. If you were to make them for someone and not tell them they were vegan, they wouldn’t even notice!

Want the best tasting brownies? I have used a selection of products from the lovely people over Cocoarunners – I used the cocoa powder and unsweetened chocolate.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

140g vegan spread.

225g granulated white sugar.

4 tbsp ground flaxseeds + 12 tbsp water.

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

90g cocoa powder.

200g plain flour.

100g unsweetened chocolate.

Method:

Before you start making anything, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and getting any equipment you need ready such as a mixing bowl and a whisk. Don’t forget to line your 9×13 inch cake pan with parchment paper.

To start on the brownies, you’ll want to sort the egg replacement. Start by grabbing a small mixing bowl and place in the ground flaxseeds and the water, then mix together until they are well combined – set aside (it will become a little more gelatinous, the same consistency as standard eggs).

Into a large mixing bowl, add in your butter until its melted, then go ahead and add the cocoa powder and whisk the two together until well combined.

Then go ahead and add in the granulated sugar and mix it in until it’s fully incorporated.

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

Add your flaxseed egg replacement all in one go and incorporate until everything has been fully incorporated. As the flaxseed eggs are incorporated, the mixture will become smoother and glossier – this is normal.

After that you can add in the plain flour and chocolate, fold those in using a spatula (this will lower the chances of over mixing the brownie batter. Once your brownie batter is ‘clear’ from any single ingredient, stop mixing).

Go ahead and grab your lined cake pan and transfer the brownie batter directly into it. Spread and level it out as you need – then place into the preheated oven on the middle level and bake for around 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean or with only a few crumbs on.

Once the brownies are baked, leave them in the tin and let them cool fully. Then place in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight, this helps to make the brownies extra fudgy and easier to cut up – perfect, honestly.

When you’re ready to slice the brownies up, you can cut them into squares/rectangles or whatever else you’d like to, whichever suits you best.

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.

Potato and onion rolls

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

January has been a weird month already, hasn’t it? Well, take your mind off everything by making a batch of these potato and onion rolls!

If you’re looking for light and fluffy rolls that can be used as dinner rolls or burger buns, these super versatile rolls are the perfect addition for all of your bread and/or roll needs.

You haven’t had potato in bread, you’re missing out. It sounds like a weird ingredient that may make the bread heavy and stodgy but its actually the opposite… It’s light and fluffy and doesn’t add too much of the starchy potato flavour, thats where you can get creative with the flavours you add. The perfect flavours you can add are onion, garlic or even mint (the choices are endless).

You may have noticed these are completely vegan as well, which is another added bonus!

The bread is super soft and ultimately pillowy, this is due to the addition of the potato into the dough – I know it sounds weird but it also adds moisture, so you don’t need to add so much water to start with.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

15g Fresh yeast.

30g Vegan spread or White shortening.

210ml Water.

250g Potatoes (peeled, boiled and fully cooled down).

150g Red Onion, roughly chopped.

Method:

Before you get into making this loaf, you’re best to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, preparing the loaf pan with a slip of greaseproof paper and get any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a spatula. Don’t forget to peel and boil your potatoes and allow them to cool down almost fully before you use them.

To start on the dough, take your mixing bowl and place in the bread flour and salt, giving them a good mix, just until they are incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, vegan spread/white shortening and water.

Mix on low speed to start with for around 2 minutes, followed by 6 minutes on a high speed. You will notice the dough isn’t as soft as usual, this is normal and will change.

Once the dough has been mixing for around 6 minutes, stop the mixer and place in all of the potatoes and onions and then continue to mix on a low speed for around a minute, followed by 1-2 minutes on a high speed. By this time, you’ll notice the dough is looking a lot better, much lighter and fluffier.

Lightly flour your work surface with a small amount of flour, then place the dough onto it and give it a brief knead. You just want the dough to be smooth and elastic.

You can then transfer the dough into a bowl which has been lightly oiled with a splash of flavourless and colourless oil.

Place the dough into the bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm until the dough has doubled in size (which usually takes around 45-60 minutes, depending on how warm it is wherever you’re leaving the dough to proof).

While the dough is proving, it’s the perfect time to get cleaned down and ready for when the dough is proofed.

Once the dough is well proofed, you can then go ahead and flour your work surface with a small amount of flour, then you can go ahead and add the dough on to it and knock it back. Knocking the dough back is the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough.

Once the dough has been knocked back, you can bring it back into a ball shape, then take the weight of the dough and divide it by 12 – this will give you the weight for each roll.

Scale the dough to said weight and round the rolls of using your hand and the work surface. Place the rolls onto a lined baking tray leaving a small space around each roll, ensuring they have room to expand as they prove for the second time.

Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to proof for a further 30-45 minutes.

Now you can see your rolls have risen well, you can preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Remove the clingfilm from on-top of the rolls and place into the preheated oven and baked for 12-15 minutes, they should be well coloured.

Once the baking time is done and the bread is baked, remove from the tin/tray and allow to cool fully before you slice it up. If you’re not sure your bread is full baked, turn the loaf upside down and tap the bottom – if it sounds hollow, its baked.

Slice and enjoy, once the loaf has cooled down fully. This is the perfect bread for sandwiches, toast and if you allow it to go stale, bread pudding.

Vegan Shortbread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Whenever we start the year, I like to keep the recipes simple. January is usually the month where most people have indulged a little too much, spent most of their wages and want everything simple – so that’s what I’m, doing today.

Keeping things as simple as can be, I’m sharing the best recipe for a batch of vegan shortbread. If you have ever attempted baking at some point in your life, you have probably attempted shortbread… It’s super easy but it’s really easy to get it wrong. That’s why I’m sharing my foolproof vegan shortbread recipe.

It’s going to sound super strange but these shortbread has a very rich ‘buttery’ flavour, this is easy to achieve when you use a good quality plant based vegan spread. I gave these to family members in my social bubble and they didn’t even realise they were vegan.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g plain flour.

Pinch of salt.

120g vegan baking spread.

60g granulated sugar.

Additional granulated/caster sugar.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh all of your ingredients up, line a baking tray with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a a food processor.

Take the bowl of the food processor (or a bowl) and place in the flour and salt, then mix until combined.

Add in the vegan spread (which should be cold) and incorporate this just until its fully incorporated, it may start clumping together but you don’t want it to form a dough – if that happens, scrap the mess and restart again.

Add in the granulated sugar and incorporate it until the mixture starts clumping together, it should still look crumbly – this normal.

Place onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead it all together, just until a dough forms. You don’t want to over mix the dough as this will result in a touch textured biscuits, which isn’t what you want.

Bring the dough back into a fat sausage shape and wrap in clingfilm, then place it in the fridge and chill for at least an hour (the dough should be firm).

Once the end of the chilling time is approaching, you can go ahead and the

When the dough has chilled, cut the dough into 10-12 rounds and place onto your lined baking tray and then bake in your preheated oven for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

As soon as they are out of the oven, sprinkle over a dash of granulated/caster sugar and then allow to cool fully before you enjoy them.

Vegan Brown Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Well… I’m back!

I’ve taken a short break but I’m back and better than ever. I will be partaking in the remaining weeks of Veganuary – this is where you consume a plant based diet for the entire month.

Keeping things super simple to start, with this vegan friendly brown bread. I know that brown bread can be known for being heavy and stodgy but not anymore. When you keep a recipe super simple and straightforward, you will have the best end result. No more heavy and stodgy bread, just light and fluffy bread with a far superior taste and texture over the store bought version.

Like with most baking, once you master the basics – you’re pretty set to go and work your way up to more advance stuff. The best thing about this loaf is the fact its 100% vegan – a majority of breads can be made vegan pretty easily, which is ideal.

Anyway, let’s get stated, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Brown bread flour.

40g Fresh yeast.

8g Salt.

10g White shortening.

310ml Water, warmed.

Method:

Start by doing some prep work. Weigh up all the ingredients, prepare your loaf tin (if needed) and get any equipment you may need ready. When the time comes, preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f

Into your mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl) place the brown bread flour and salt and mix the two together using a whisk.

Now you can add the white shortening, granulated sugar, fresh yeast and water. Mix on a low speed to start with for 2 minutes and then a low-medium speed for 6 minutes, so it will be mixing for 8 minutes in total.

Once it’s fully mixed, the dough should be clear (you see no traces of any other ingredients), it shouldn’t be sticky and should be well formed and hold its shape.

Give the dough a brief knead on a floured surface Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and then cover with cling film and leave to complete its first proof (roughly about an hour or) until its doubled in size. Ideally, you’ll leave this somewhere warm, it will help the yeast work.

Now that the dough has doubled in size, you’ll want to remove the dough from the bowl and place onto a floured surface and knock the dough back. This is the process of removing the gasses that have built up during the proof.

Bring the dough back into a ball shape, then bring it back into a ball and roll it out into a fat sausage shape (just big enough to fit into your loaf tin, no bigger). You can then place the sausage shape into a prepared loaf tin and cover loosely with cling film and leave somewhere warm to proof for a second time, roughly 30-45 (or until roughly doubled in size).

Now is the ideal time to preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Once the second proof is done, remove the cling film from the top and place the loaf into the preheated oven and baked for 30-35 minutes or until baked and well coloured.

A good tip for testing if a loaf of bread is baked, is to turn up upside down and tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow, its fully baked!

Terry’s Chocolate Orange Muffins

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

If it’s your first bakemas here, welcome. It is my annual mini-series in which I show you how to make a various Christmas themed baked goods – perfect if you want to impress your family and/or friends or if you’re hosting a festive get together.

It wouldn’t quite be Christmas if there wasn’t a Terry’s chocolate orange recipe, would it? Well, today I’m sharing the best ever muffin recipe! These Terry’s chocolate orange muffins are the must bake for this Christmas.

These muffins aren’t short of any flavour, you get a chocolate rush in each mouthful and a calming amount of orange – the balance works really well. There’s no need for orange extract, you get the orange flavour form the chocolate and the added zest (the best and only way to add flavour).

The added trick that makes these muffins so much better, is adding a chocolate orange ganache into the centre of the muffins, that way you get added chocolate and orange flavour – what’s not to love, honestly!

If these sound like your sort of treat, why not give them a try – just in time for Christmas!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

ganache:

75g Terry’s milk chocolate orange.

40ml double cream.

muffins:

110ml double cream.

50ml milk (use your preference, I went with whole).

75ml butter, melted.

50g dark brown sugar.

2 eggs.

175g plain flour.

1 tbsp baking powder.

30g cocoa powder

zest of 1 orange.

100g Terry’s chocolate orange, chopped.

100g milk chocolate chips.

method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients, grab a muffin tray and line it with tulip cases, preheat your oven to 200˚c/390˚f and grab any equipment you may need such as a mixing bowl, whisk and spatula.

To start on the recipe, make the ganache. Into a small bowl place in the chocolate orange, which has been chopped small – add in the cream and mix. Place into the microwave for 15-30 seconds at a time, stirring well in between each time in the microwave.

Once the mixture is melted, it should be smooth and glossy. Place this aside until needed a little later on – you may find placing it in the fridge better.

To start on the muffin batter, combine the chopped chocolate orange with the chocolate chips. Into another bowl whisk together the cream, milk, dark brown sugar, melted butter and egg until they are fully combined.

Over the liquid mix, sift in the plain flour, baking powder and cocoa powder – add in the chocolate and the zest of 1/3 of an orange.

Fold everything together until its fully combined, there shouldn’t be a trace of a single ingredients once you’re done mixing.

Transfer the muffin batter into the tulip cases, filling them half the way and reserving the remaining until later on. Once you have half filled all of your cases, you can take the ganache out of the fridge and scoop a generous amount out and place it directly into the centre of the muffin batter and then cover with the remaining (this is what makes these muffins that bit more special.

Now they’re done, place the muffin tray into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes – they should be well rise and smell gorgeous once ready.

Remove form the oven nd allow to cool almost fully and enjoy… The melted chocolate and orange flavour will partner together really well, trust me on that.

Easiest Chocolate Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

I’m sharing the easiest chocolate cake recipe, like ever. Seriously, this is my go-to recipe whenever I’m making a chocolate cake.

Whenever I get the chance to make a chocolate cake, this is my go to recipe. It’s a simple and straightforward recipe, that only requires very simple ingredients and is the very recipe I have been using for the past 8 years – so I know it works well!

When it comes to making a basic cake, using the best quality products make the cake even better… That’s a fact! That’s why I’m using Cocoa Runners cocoa powder (it is now my favourite cocoa powder).

Anyway, lets get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

250g butter, room temp.

250g granulated sugar.

4 eggs.

1 tsp vanilla extract.

220g plain flour.

30g cocoa powder.

1 tsp baking pwoder.

up to 50ml milk.

Buttercream:

225g butter, room temp.

450g icing sugar.

30g cocoa powder.

boiling water.

1 tsp vanilla extract.

Simple syrup:

100ml water.

100g granulated sugar.

1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Filling (optional):

caramel.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining your 6 inch cake tins with parchment paper, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and grab any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and spatulas.

To start, I like making the cake (as this takes the longest). Grab a large mixing bowl and place in the butter and sugar, beating the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – I find around 7-10 minutes on a high speed works well.

Give the bowl a good scraping down and then add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. You will notice the mixture change in consistency – this is normal.

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

Into a sift, add the plain flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Then sift directly into the bowl and mix on a low speed until the ingredients start to incorporate, then you can add in some milk – this is just to help achieve the perfect consistency. Try your best just to mix all of the ingredients in without over mixing the cake batter.

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

Then transfer into your line 6 inch cake tins, split it equally (or as equally as possible) and level it out. This is to ensure even baking while in the oven – place into your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes to until tester when inserted into the centre.

While the cakes are in the oven baking, its the perfect time to make make the buttercream and simple syrup.

The simple syrup is super simple to make. Into a pan, place the water, sugar and vanilla extract and whisk together. Then you can place on the hob, over a high heat and allow to come to a boil and then remove from the heat and transfer into a smaller jar/container and allow to cool fully before using.

To make the buttercream, start on the chocolate mixture. Place cocoa powder and and boiling water into a bowl and whisk until a liquid mixture forms, then leave to cool while you continue with the next stage.

Grab a mixing bowl and place in the butter. Then beat the butter on its own until it reaches a lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this is usually achieved in around 7-10 minutes (depending on the speed and softness of the butter).

Once you’ve achieved the right consistency, you can go ahead and add in half of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high speed until the sugar has been fully incorporated – then give the bowl a good scraping down and repeat the process with the remaining icing sugar.

Then go ahead over a low speed, you can continue to add the cocoa mixture you made at the start. Mix until everything has been incorporated and the mixture looks fantastically chocolatey.

Give the bowl one final scrape down and then set aside until you need it later on.

Whenever you want to assemble, take the cakes and remove them from the tins and level them off using a knife or a cake leveller (keep the scraps, we’ll need them later on).

For this cake, I halved my cake layers so I had 4 layers in total.

With the cake layers, you’ll want to generously brush them over with the simple syrup.

Take your board/stand/plate and smear a small amount of buttercream into the centre and place down your first layer of cake (pressing down to secure) and add a small amount of buttercream and spread it out until you have a consistent level – don’t forget, as an optional filling, you can add and spread a small amount of caramel into the centre. Repeat this with the remaining layers of cake.

Then apply a crumb coat of buttercream, this is just a thin layer of buttercream to lock in those pesky crumbs. Smooth it out as best you can, then place in the fridge for 30-45 minutes or until the buttercream is firm to the touch.

Whenever you’re ready, apply the final layer of icing and smooth out the sides as best you can, leaving it a little more untidy on top. Using a small cranked palette knife, you can go ahead and make the swirl on top. To do this, slightly dig the palette knife into the buttercream on the outer edge, swirling the cake around on the turntable, taking the swirl into the centre.

Then to finish, simply take some chocolate sprinkles and apply them around the bottom edge, to add a flair of colour and to hide any imperfections. Then to the out edge on top of the cake, you can sprinkle some of the cake crumbs (which have been crumbled into a fine consistency) – use as much or as little as you’d like.

Then place back into the fridge until the buttercream has firmed up.

Whenever you need the cake, you can slice it up and enjoy!

Iced Fruit Cake Slices

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

Today’s recipe is for a really simple iced fruit cake slice – this way you’re having the element of a fruit cake without having a whole fruit cake this is the perfect treat to make and give to friends and family wrapped up as a present or just to share with them, as it tis the season to share.

Even the people who don’t like fruit cake will like this you have a semi traditional fruit cake which is topped with a thin layer of marzipan, which is then topped with a thin layer of icing sugar and finished with a sugar paste holly leaf.

Like most people are feeling right now, it doesn’t feel very festive at all. 2020 has been the weirdest year of my life (as it has for many others), however you’re celebrating Christmas it wouldn’t quite be Christmas time without some form of fruit cake and that’s why I’m sharing my recipe today. It’s a little different he’s not a traditional it’s more of a twist on a traditional so I hope you don’t mind that.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

150g butter.

150g light brown sugar.

3 eggs.

125g plain flour.

50g ground almonds.

1 tsp ground cinnamon.

½ tsp ground mixed spice.

A dash of ground ginger, cloves, all spice and nutmeg.

450g mixed dried fruit.

Decoration:

150g marzipan.

150g white sugar paste.

25g green sugar paste.

apricot glaze.

water.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of the ingredients, lining an 8×8 inch square cake tin with parchment and grabbing any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and spatula. Don’t forget to preheat the oven to 150˚c/300˚f.

To start on the cake, grab a bowl and place in the butter and light brown sugar – beat the two together until they are combined. You’re not looking for he mixture to be light and fluffy, just well combined.

You can then add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Don’t worry if the mixture curdles a little, we’ll correct it now.

Over a sieve, add your plain flour, ground spices and ground almonds and sift that into the mixture. You can then go ahead and add in the fruit.

Mix everything together until everything is incorporated – try your best not to over-mix the cake batter, otherwise the end result will be tough.

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

Then transfer the cake batter into your lined cake tin and spread/level the cake better out until its smooth and level, them place into your preheated oven and bake for 60-90 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully (while still in the tin).

Whenever the cake has cooled and you’re ready to decorate – you can remove the cake from the tin.

Dust your work surface with a small amount of icing sugar and place on the marzipan and roll it out until its big enough for the top of the cake. I eyeballed this but feel free measure and be more accurate.

Take a small amount and apricot jam and melt it in the microwave/on the hob until smooth and spreadable. Brush this generously on top of the cake and then place the rolled out marzipan on top – set the cake aside while you prepare the final layer.

Dust your work surface with some icing sugar and roll out the sugar paste to be big enough for the top of the cake. To secure the sugar paste in place, brush over a small amount of water and then place the rolled out sugar paste on top.

Roll out the green sugar paste and cut out holly leaves and dampen the back, then secure to the top of the cake .

The you can slice them up into 16 generous portions and enjoy, this is the perfect recipe to make and share with friends and/or family.

Eggnog Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

Keeping things chilled this Monday with a batch of eggnog cupcakes.

You may remember a couple of days ago, I make some eggnog – you will need it for this recipe.

These cupcakes are super easy and perfect festive – they have the perfect boozy eggnog flavour without it being too much. Starting with a classic vanilla cupcake, which is filled with a homemade eggnog pastry cream and topped with a creamy eggnog buttercream – what’s not to like?

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

175g butter.

175g granulated sugar.

2 eggs.

175g plain flour.

1 tsp baking powder.

pinch of salt.

uptown 50ml milk.

Eggnog Pastry Cream:

200ml eggnog.

1/4 tsp vanilla extract.

30g egg yolk.

25g granulated sugar

15g plain flour.

Eggnog Buttercream:

125g butter.

250g icing sugar.

eggnog pastry cream (as much or as little as you’d like).

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of you ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line a muffin pan with cupcake cases and get any equipment you may need such as a stand mixer, sauce pan and whisk and of course spatulas.

To start on these cupcakes, you will want to make the pastry cream (as this takes the longest to make).

Grab yoru saucepan and place in the eggnog and vanilla extract. Place this on the hob over a medium-high heat, allowing to come to a boil.

Into another bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk them together until they are well combined – the mixture should be pale in colour and the volume should have increased. Add in the flour and whisk until its fully combined into the mixture.

By this point, the milk should have reached a boil. Pour around 1/3 of the milk mixture over the egg mixture and whisk until incorporated. Then gradually add the rest, as you whisk it in.

You can then transfer it back onto the heat and continuously whisk the mixture until its thickened considerably. Once thick and smooth, you can then go ahead and transfer into a small baking tray and spread it out until its a pretty thin layer, then cover with clingfilm, ensuring the clingfilm is touching the top of the pastry cream.

Try you best to ensure that a skin doesn’t form on top – allow to cool down fully.

While you wait, you can make the cupcakes.

Grab a mixing bowl and place in the butter, granulated sugar, eggs, plain flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Beat them all together until everything has become well combined and the mixture is lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. You may find the mixture a little stiff, add in milk, roughly a tablespoon at a time until you achieve the perfect consistency.

Transfer the cake batter into the lined muffin pan and fill the cast around 2/3 or 3/4 of the ways full and then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until well risen, golden brown and when a tester is inserted into the centre, comes out clean.

Allow the cupcakes to cool fully before you try to work with them.

Now is the idea time to get started on the buttercream.

Into a large mixing bowl, place the butter and beat it on it’s own until it’s lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this usually takes around 7-10 minutes, depending how soft your butter was and what speed you have your mixer on.

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

Then add in the first half of your icing sugar and incorporate it over a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high – everything should be well combined and almost fully incorporated. Repeat with the remaining half of icing sugar.

You’ll want to give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits tat may not have been fully worked in from earlier on – set aside until needed later on.

Now everything has been made and you can prepare to finish the cupcakes off.

Take the pastry cream you made earlier on and scrape it from the baking tray and into a bowl. Whisk it all together until its less gelatinous and more spreadable. Transfer into a piping bag and set aside until its needed later on.

Using some of the left over pastry cream, add it to the buttercream and just mix until everything is fully combined, then transfer the buttercream Into a piping fitted with your choice of nozzle.

Now to finish the cupcakes, core the centres out and generously fill with the pastry cream and then pipe the buttercream on top and finish with sprinkles and sugar paste snowflakes (or whatever you’d like).

That’s how you make a batch of eggnog cupcakes!

Mini Stollen

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

Today I’m sharing my take on stollen – if you haven’t tried this bread before, you’re for sure missing out.

This bread is the perfect addition to any festive celebrations you may be having this year. It’s sweet, rich and indulgent – the perfect bake to bring to the table. I have taken inspiration from a traditional stollen that you’d find in Germany – it’s commonly eaten around Christmas time when it may be called Weihnachtsstollen.

Starting with an enriched dough, studded with a selection of dried fruit. A marzipan centre and finished with a generous amount of melted butter and a copious amount of icing sugar.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Dough:

375g strong bread flour.

1 tsp salt.

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg.

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.

60g butter.

45g granulated sugar.

30g fresh yeast.

175ml milk.

1 egg.

1 lemon zest

85g currants.

55g raisins.

35g mixed peel.

55g glacé cherries.

40g flaked almonds.

175g marzipan.

Finishing:

melted butter.

icing sugar.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining baking trays with parchment paper and grab any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer, mixing bowl and spatula.

To start on the bread, grab a large mixing bowl and place in the bread flour, salt, grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon. Whisk these together until they are combined.

Then you can go ahead and add in the butter, granulated sugar, yeast, milk, egg and lemon zest. Mix everything together over a low speed to start with for 2 minutes, followed by 6 minutes over a high speed. The dough will come together but will be soft, this is because it’s enriched.

When there is about a minute left to the mixing time, you can go ahead and add in the dried fruit and flaked almonds – just mix these in until they are fully incorporated and fairly distributed throughout the dough.

Transfer the dough from the mixing bowl and place onto a well floured surface and give it a brief knead, just to incorporate some flour to help with the stickiness of the dough. Bring it back into a ball shape and place into a lightly oiled bowl, covering with clingfilm and then leaving it somewhere warm to prove for around and hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Once the dough has had its first prove, you can go ahead and remove it from the bowl and knock it back. The process of knocking the dough back is to remove the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first prove – ring the dough back into a ball shape.

Weigh the dough and divide that amount by 6 – this will be the weight for each stollen. So scale the dough to said weight and cover with clingfilm while you work on them.

Take the marzipan and divide that by 6 and form little batons – this is the centre of the stollen.

Roll your balls of dough out to be about 1cm in thickness, then on the one side place the baton of marzipan with a small space to the outer edge. Roll the dough over the marzipan until its covered and theres only a little flap on the other side (this is how I was taught to make them at college while I was there).

Repeat the process with the remaining dough and marzipan batons and then place onto lined baking trays and cover loosely with clingfilm and allow to prove until they have proved up well. While they are having the second prove, preheat your oven to 180˚c.

Now they are finished with the second prove, you can go ahead and remove the clingfilm from on top of the dough and then bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until well coloured.

Once baked, remove from the oven and place straight onto a cooling rack and generously brush with melted butter, then you can go ahead and dredge them with icing sugar, don’t be tight with the icing sugar.

Then they are ready to eat, I’d allow to cool down before you try to eat them.

Biscoff Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

I’m sharing my recipe for a biscoff layer cake.

If you haven’t heard or tried of biscoff, where have you been? The flavour is unique – it’s spiced and warm, similar to a gingerbread but in its own league. You can get biscuits and spread and best of all, we use both forms in the cake!

3 layers of biscoff biscuit flavoured sponge cake, filled and finished with a biscoff spread buttercream and the finished with biscoff biscuits… Sounds like too much of a biscoff flavour, right? Wrong, it’s amazingly balanced.

If you know someone who likes or loves biscoff, this cake is honestly for them – show them how much they mean to you by making them this cake!

Anyway, lets get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

250g butter, room temp.

250g light brown sugar.

4 Eggs.

250g plain flour.

2 tsp baking powder.

pinch of salt.

100g Lotus biscoff biscuits, crushed into crumbs.

Milk (optional).

Buttercream:

350g butter.

700g icing sugar.

200-300g Lotus biscoff spread.

Simple syrup:

100ml water.

100g granulated sugar.

1 tsp vanilla extract.

Decoration:

biscoff biscuits.

biscoff spread

Methods:

Before you get started on any element of the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of the ingredients, lining/buttering and flouring your 3 x 6 inch cake tins, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and getting any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and spatula.

To start, make the cake.

Grab a bowl and place in the butter and light brown sugar and beat together until lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. You will want to allow this to mix on a medium/high speed for around 7-10 minutes, that’s the amount of time I find perfect but always use this as a guideline.

You can then start adding your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. As the eggs are incorporated, you should notice the consistency change – don’t be alarmed, this is normal.

If you find your mixture is looking curdled, don’t fret. This sometimes happens while you’re adding moisture into the mixture. If it’s particularly bad, add a spoonful of your weighed out flour into the mix and incorporate.

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

Now you can go ahead and add in the plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first, just to remove any lumps that may be in the mixture. Don’t forget to add in the biscoff biscuit crumbs and then mix everything in until its fully incorporated. Try your best not to over work the ingredients, otherwise this will result in a tough textured cake.

You may find your cake batter isn’t too smooth and a little stiff, add in a tablespoon of milk until you achieve the perfect consistency.

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.

Then take the cake batter and divide it between your prepped cake tins, I just eyeballed the amounts in each cake tin but for more accuracy, weigh it into each tin. Smooth and level out the batter and then bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre.

While your cakes are in the oven, you can get ahead and make the other elements.

To make the buttercream, grab a clean mixing bowl and place in the butter. Then beat over a medium-high speed for around 7-10 minutes or until it is lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once you achieve that consistency, give the bowl a good scraping down, then add in the first half of your icing sugar. Then you can beat that in on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a high and mix until everything is incorporated. Repeat with the other half of icing sugar.

Just before you finish the buttercream, give the bowl a good scraping down. This will ensure those last bits of icing sugar will be incorporated, it’s also the perfect time to add in the biscoff spread and mix until its fully incorporated.

Now everything has been added and the buttercream is ready, give the bowl a final scraping down. If you’re using it within hours of, cover and keep at room temperature otherwise, cover and store in the fridge.

For the simple syrup, grab a medium saucepan and place in the water, sugar and vanilla extract. Give them a brief mix to combine, before transferring the pan onto the hob over a medium-high heat, allowing to come to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before you intend on using it.

Once the cakes have baked and been removed from the oven, allow to them to cool fully before you try to work with them – otherwise, it may get messy.

Now that the cakes and simple syrup are completely cooled down and the buttercream is made – you can assemble the cake.

To start the assembly, generously brush the simple syrup over the layers of cake.

Take your board/plate/stand and smear a small amount of buttercream into the centre and place the first layer of cake on top of it and press it down to secure it in place. Top that with some buttercream and spread it out until its level and consistent – repeat this with your remaining layers of cake.

Once the cake has been stacked, you can then go ahead and give the cake a crumb coat – this is just a layer of buttercream that will lock in the crumbs so they don’t ruin your final coat and look messy. Once you’ve applied the crumb coat, place in the fridge to chill for 45-60 minutes or until its firm to the touch.

While you wait, have a clean down and prepare to finish the cake off.

Apply the final layer of buttercream and get it as smooth as you possibly can, then place it back in the fridge for 30 minutes.

I always chill the cake before I apply the drip but thats just for me. I take some biscoff spread and warm it through, until its smooth and melted. Place into a piping bag an then carefully pipe small amounts on the top edge of the cake and let them run down – you can create drips of varying lengths, it looks quite pleasing to see different drips. Don’t forget to fill the top in, so the top has biscoff spread over it too!

Set in the fridge just until the drip has firmed up, then take the remaining buttercream and place into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice and pipe rosettes on top of the cake and finish with biscoff biscuits.

That’s how I make my biscoff cake! It’s quick, easy and looks pretty impressive – why not try it?

Basic

Footer