Basic

Red Velvet Cookies

Happy Halloween!

Today I have a batch of red velvet cookies, which can be made and finished in under an hour… Perfect if you’re having a Halloween party or have trick or treaters knocking the door.

Halloween is something I like but this year and the last haven’t been the best for me to celebrate. Maybe next year I’ll be able to make more Halloween goodies to share with you.

I know these cookies aren’t exactly a Halloween exclusive bake but the bright red colour fits the theme perfectly. They are chocolate and vanilla flavoured with white chocolate chips in the dough and to finish – he perfect combo, right?

Anyway, these cookies are perfect all year round and not just for Halloween. So why don’t you join me as I show you how to make a batch of these cookies?

Let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Light brown sugar.

75g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

150g Plain flour.

25g Cocoa powder.

½ tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

Red food colouring (gel or paste).

100g White chocolate chips.

Method:

Before you get into making these cookies, you’ll want to do some prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line your baking trays with greaseproof paper/parchment, weigh up all your ingredients and prepare any other equipment you may be using.

To start making the cookies, you’ll want to take your mixing bowl (I’m using my stand mixer but feel free to use a hand mixer and a mixing bowl) and place the butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar into it. Beat them all together over medium-high speed until they are all well combined.

Once they are all combined, you can then stop the mixer and give the bowl a good scraping down. This is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been worked in from earlier on.

Add in your egg and mix on a medium-high speed, as the egg incorporates you’ll notice that the consistency changes, this is what you want. Add in the vanilla extract and mix until its fully incorporated.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in.

Add the plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into the bowl, passing through a sieve first to remove any lumps (cocoa powder quite often clumps up and causes lumps). Start the mix on a low-medium speed, working your way up to a medium-high.

Once the dry ingredients have started to incorporate, you can start adding the red food colouring. If the colour doesn’t look too red, it will darken as it develops (this is common with red and black) plus when it bakes, it will darken in colour. I recommend using a concentrated food colouring, nothing too liquidy.

Now all of the dry ingredients and food colouring have been added, you can give the bowl a scrape down then add in the white chocolate chips and fold them in by hand using a silicon spatula, mix until they are fairly distributed.

If your dough is a little sticky, cover the bowl with cling film/plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes and it should help with making the dough less sticky.

You can then take two scoops of dough per cookie. Rolling the two balls together until they form one, place it onto your lined baking tray and flatten slightly. They will spread so on a standard baking tray I place 6 cookies at a time. Adjust the amount per tray depending on your baking tray size.

Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes, I normally go with 12-13 minutes but seeing as all ovens are different, it may take more time, depending.

Now that the cookies are baked. Take from the oven and top with a few more chocolate chips, I mean who doesn’t want more chocolate in a cookie?!

Allow them to cool for around 5 minutes on the baking tray, before transferring to a cooling rack, where you can leave them to cool fully.

So, that’s how I would normally make a batch of my red velvet cookies. You get the chocolate and vanilla flavour along with white chocolate – is there anything more you could ask for?

That’s all for this week 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 next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

S’mores Brownies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you enjoy the classic campfire treat s’mores, you’ll love these brownies!

So, these brownies have all the elements of a s’more but just adjusted to make it even better… Starting with a digestive biscuit base, which is topped with a milk chocolate brownie and finished with marshmallows that toasted with a blow torch.

These will be a real crowd pleasure, cut them into squares or rectangles, put them on a plate and watch them last no time at all.

I have other brownie variations available, including jaffa cake brownies and Terry’s chocolate orange brownies (check them out if you’re interested).

Let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients

Digestive biscuit base:

250g Digestive biscuits.

100g Butter, melted.

Brownie:

140g Butter, melted.

225g Granulated white sugar.

2 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

45g Cocoa powder.

75g Milk chocolate chips.

100g Plain flour

Topping:

150-180g Mini marshmallows.

Method:

Before you get into the baking, you’ll want to make sure that you have preheated your oven to 180˚c/350˚f. prepared your 9×9 inch baking tray by lining it with greaseproof/parchment paper and weighing up all the required ingredients – I like to use individual small bowls but feel free to use what you have.

To make the digestive biscuit base, place your biscuits into a food processor or a Ziploc bag and pulse/crush the biscuits until they are a breadcrumb or sandy consistency.

In a small saucepan or microwave safe bowl, place the butter and melt it over a medium heat, regardless of the method you use. Take the melted butter and pour over the digestive biscuit crumbs, then pulse/mix over a medium speed until the two are well combined and have a wet sandy colour and consistency.

You can then transfer the biscuit mixture into your lined 9×9 inch baking tray. Then you can spread it out and compact it down using a cup measurement, try and get the biscuit layer as level as possible.

Set the tray aside, until it’s needed later.

To start on the brownies, you’ll want to melt you butter. You can do this on the hob, in a saucepan over a medium-high heat, allowing it to melt fully. The other way is to place the butter into your large mixing bowl and placing it into the microwave (make sure the bowl you use is microwave safe) and microwave until it’s melted, taking it no further.

Add the melted butter into a mixing bowl (I it isn’t already in a bowl) and add the cocoa powder. Whisk the two together until they are well combined, the mixture should be smooth.

Then add in all the granulated sugar and just whisk it in until it’s fully incorporated. You will notice a change in the consistency, it will become more granular. This is normal and will change as you work through the recipe.

Directly into the mixture, add your eggs. One at a time beating well in-between each addition, then you can add in the vanilla and give it a good whisk/mix until it’s fully incorporated.

Soon after you can add the plain flour and milk chocolate chips and fold them in using a silicon spatula just until they are fully incorporated, try not to overmix at this stage.

Take your digestive biscuit base, that you prepared earlier and pour the brownie batter on top of it and level it out as best you can with a spatula. Take the tray and place it in the oven and bake it at 180˚c/350˚f for 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven, seeing as all ovens are different to one another).

Transfer the baked brownies from the oven and place on top the mini marshmallows.

You’ll then want to torch the marshmallows, I used a culinary blowtorch but you can place them under the grill until they are torched. I like mine quite dark but do as much as little as you’d like.

Cinnamon Rolls

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’ll be showing you how to make cinnamon rolls, my personal favourite baked good!

October is my birthday month, so I thought I’d make a few of my favourite baked goods – starting with this week’s recipe for cinnamon rolls.

These are easily my favourite baked good, it starts with a fluffy bread dough which is filled a cinnamon brown sugar filling and once baked, topped with a cream cheese icing. If you think the store-bought ones were good, wait until you try these.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Bread:

500g Strong white bread flour.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

1 Egg,

350ml Water (Luke warm).

Cinnamon Filling:

250gg Light brown sugar.

250g Butter.

25g Ground cinnamon.

Cream Cheese Icing:

85g Soft cheese.

60g Butter.

200g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Methods:

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

Bread:

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

Then place the remaining ingredients into the bowl, then mix them all together on a medium-low speed until a dough has formed. The dough should be soft, if it’s sticky, add a little flour.

Flour the work surface with a generous amount of bread flour and place the dough onto it. Knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elasticated. This takes around 5-7 minutes, depending on how well mixed it was in the first place.

Place the dough into the lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling-film and allow to proof/prove for around 60 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

While the dough is proving, you can make the cinnamon sugar filling. Into a bowl, place the butter, light brown sugar and cinnamon into a mixing bowl.

Beat all the ingredients together until they are all well combined, they should come together and form a cinnamony-brown coloured spreadable paste.

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

Now the dough has been knocked back, onto a floured worktop, bring the dough into a ball shape and start to roll the dough out using a rolling pin. The dough may resist being rolled out, this is a sign that the gluten has formed, this is a good sign. You’ll want to roll the dough out to roughly 40cm x 60cm.

Take the cinnamon sugar filling and spread it all over the dough, until you have a generous and level amount spread on the dough.

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

Slice the dough at around 1 inch for each roll. Do this for all your rolls.

Place the rolls into a deep sided tray, my first tray I got 6 into it but you may be able to get more-or-less depending on the size of your tray.

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

Bake in your preheated oven at 180˚c/350˚f for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

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

Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Beat together on a medium-high speed until all of the ingredients have become fully combined.

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

Set the cream cheese icing aside until its needed later.

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

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

Then to finish the rolls, you’ll want to give them a light dusting of some ground cinnamon. This is optional but I really like cinnamon, so why not?

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

Birthday Cake (Rainbow & Vanilla)

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s not my birthday today but I’m showing you how to make this two-tiered birthday/celebration cake.

This cake is two tiers, the bottom one consisting of a rainbow cake and the other a vanilla cake (originally it was going to be a sprinkle cake but the sprinkles wasn’t that colourful and baked into the cake), filled and finished with a vanilla buttercream.

The rainbow cake is colourful on the inside but the outside, has a plain sprinkle buttercream and the top tier

This cake was made for my cousins 18^th birthday. I would have experimented with flavours if this was for myself but unfortunately, my cousin is a picky eater and is a lover of all things plain. I’m not exaggerating when I say the most exciting thing she’ll eat is plain pasta with mayonnaise…

Taking into consideration my cousins preference in food, there was not going to be any jam or fillings in the cake, thanks Emelia!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

8” Rainbow Cake:

Rainbow colour pastes (red, orange, yellow, green, blue & purple or your choice of colours).

750g Butter

750g Granulated sugar.

9 Eggs.

750g Plain flour.

22g Baking powder.

2g Salt.

135-150ml Milk (I used whole milk but feel free to use your milk of choice).

2 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

6” Vanilla Sprinkle Cake:

225gg Butter.

225g Granulated sugar.

4 Eggs.

225g Plain flour.

7g Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

45-60ml Milk (Whole or your preference).

60-80g Rainbow sprinkles.

Simple Syrup:

250g Granulated sugar.

250ml Water.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Buttercream:

700g Butter (at room temperature).

1,600g Icing sugar.

Vanilla extract (as much or as little as you like).

Finishing:

White chocolate spread (for the white chocolate drip).

Methods:

Before you go ahead and start on the recipe, it’s best to do some prep. I’ll list it for you.

Start by weighing up all your ingredients.
Butter and flouring the 8-inch and 6-inch cake tins, line them piece of parchment/greaseproof as well.
Preheat the oven to 180˚c/350˚f.
Add the food colour to the milk, this helps you not to overmix the cake batter and loosen the consistency to be more spreadable.

Rainbow Cake:

Before you get started on making the cakes, you’ll want to add your milk into each bowl, add the food colouring pastes and give a good mix until the colour and milk are very well combined. Set aside until needed later.

To start on the cake, place the butter and granulated sugar into your mixing bowl and beat them together over medium-high speed until they have become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once that has been achieved, add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. The mixture will become looser in consistency, this is normal.

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

Now you can add all the dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. Incorporate them in on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high.

Once the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, you can then give it a final mix, just to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in and then transfer it into a large bowl and weigh it, then divide that amount by 6 and weigh that amount into each bowl of coloured milk. Give it all a good mix until the colour has been fully mixed in.

You can then transfer the cake batter into the prepared and lined 8-inch cake tins and bake in the oven for around 25 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Now that the cakes are baked, allow to cool in the tin for a short while before transferring onto a cooling rack.

Once the cakes are fully cooled down, you can then level the top off with a cake leveller for the best accuracy and trip the sides to make the sponges as level as possible. Set aside until needed later.

Vanilla/Funfetti Cake:

Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the butter and sugar, beat together over a medium-high speed. Beat them together until lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Now you can add your eggs, one at a time beating well in-between each addition. As you add the eggs, the consistency will chance, this is normal.

Give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that hadn’t been fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. Mix on a low-medium speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high until the flour is fully incorporated.

If the consistency is a little stiff, add a tablespoon of milk at a time to get it to the right consistency, normally around 3-4 is about right.

You can then add your sprinkles, and fold them in until they are equally dispersed in the batter.

Take the weight of the cake batter and divide it by 3 and separate the cake batter between the 3 cake tins. Level them as best you possibly can, using a cranked/offset spatula.

Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or so (or until a tester comes out clean).

Once the cakes are out of oven, allow to cool in the tins for a bit before removing from the tin and allowing to cool fully on a cooling rack.

Take the cooled cakes and level the tops off with a cake leveller and trim the sides to make them all as equal as possible.

Simple Syrup:

To make the simple syrup, into a medium saucepan, place the sugar, water and vanilla extract and give a brief mix.

Place on the hob over a medium-high heat until it reaches a boil, then take it off the heat and allow it to cool down fully before you use it.

If you don’t intend on using it once its cooled down, store it in the fridge in a container with a lid.

Buttercream:

Place the butter into your mixing bowl and beat on its own for 7-10 minutes until its lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once it’s become lighter and fluffier, you can give the bowl a good scraping down and then you can add half of your icing sugar and give it a good mix for around 4-6 minutes. The icing sugar should be fully incorporated before you add the other half – repeat with the remaining half of icing sugar.

Now all the icing sugar has been incorporated, you can add the vanilla extract and beat it in until its fully incorporated.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge if you don’t intend on using that day.

Assembly:

To start on the assembly of the cake, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got all the elements of the cake made before you start.

Simple syrup all your layers of cake now, it will save you faffing about in a little while when you’re assembling.

Get yourself a 10-inch cake board and place it onto your turntable. Take a small amount of the vanilla buttercream and spread it out in the centre of the cake board and place the purple layer of cake

Continue to sandwich the cakes together with a good layer of buttercream.

You can then give the cake a thin coat of buttercream, this is known as a crumb coat. It simply locks in the crumbs, so when you apply your second coat of buttercream, there are no pesky crumbs in the final coat.

Chill the cake in the fridge for around 45 – 60 minutes, or until the buttercream is firm to the touch.

At this point you’ll want to dowel the cake – I recommend checking out the amount of them you’ll need using an online chart. The chart I used was from college and got thrown away in the clear up of this cake.

Take some of the buttercream and add 50-60g of rainbow sprinkles to it and fold them in using a spatula.

Then apply the final layer of icing to your rainbow cake, be as liberal with the buttercream as you can scrape away any excess and use it to pipe the rosettes. Once you’ve applied the final coat and smoothed it out using a cake smoother, you can then place back in the fridge to firm up again for 45-60 minutes.

Repeat for the vanilla cake that’s going on top, but don’t add sprinkles to the buttercream, instead add a small amount of food colouring and dye the buttercream pink (or whatever colour you’d like). Make sure the 6-inch vanilla cake is on a 6-inch cake board, it’ll make it easier to move the cake around.

To secure the 2 cakes together, you’ll want to use a small amount of either buttercream or royal icing. Spread a small amount on top of the larger cake, right in the centre, then place the smaller cake on top and press it down a little just to secure it in place.

You can place this back in the fridge if you’d like or you can melt the white chocolate spread down and use it for the chocolate drip.

Pipe rosettes on top of the 6-inch cake and you can make any other changes from here, to personalise it to suit the person you’re making it for.

You can decorate this cake however you like, I just went with my typical look on the cake.

Pumpkin Spice Meringue Pie

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s now officially Autumn, so it’s officially time to have all things pumpkin spice. Starting with this pumpkin spice meringue pie, let’s get started, shall we?

Now that Autumn is in full swing, it’s acceptable to enjoy all things seasonal. Starting with autumnal food and drinks (including pumpkin spice latte), if you like pumpkin spice latte, this recipe is perfect for you.

Starting with a shortcrust pastry case, filled with a pumpkin spice pastry cream and topped with a meringue which is toasted. A perfectly seasonal recipe, believe me. The flavour combinations may not sound like they’ll work, but they do.

Let’s get start on the recipe, shall we?

Ingredients:

Pastry:

Here is how to make the pastry.

Pastry cream:

500ml Whole milk.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

2 tsp Coffee granules.

2 tsp Pumpkin spice.

100g Pumpkin puree (homemade pumpkin puree recipe also available)

120g Egg yolks.

100g Granulated sugar.

60g Plain flour.

Meringue:

160g Egg whites.

320g Granulated sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Methods:

Before you get into making any element of the pumpkin meringue pie, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, preheating the oven (before its needed) and getting any equipment you may need ready, so it’s at hand.

Pastry:

Start by following my recipe on how to make the pastry.

You can then bake the 8-inch pie case off at 180˚c/350˚f for around 20 minutes, then remove the baking beans and egg wash, then bake for a further 10-15 minute until golden brown.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully, before you intend on using it.

Pastry Cream:

To start on the pastry cream, get yourself a medium or large saucepan and place in the whole milk and vanilla then whisk to combine. Then you can add the coffee granules, pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree, whisking well in-between each addition.

Place the saucepan onto the hob, over a medium-high heat, allow it to come to a boil. Then into a separate medium sized bowl, place the egg yolks and sugar and whisk together until they are well combined (the mixture should be smooth, not granular and paler in colour), then you can add in the plain flour and whisk to combine.

Once a boil has reached, remove from the heat and pour around a third of the hot milk mixture over the egg mixture and whisk the two together until they are fully combined. You can then steadily pour the remaining milk over egg mixture until the two separate mixtures are fully combined.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place back on the hob over a medium-high heat, stirring continuously until the mixture has thickened (you’ll know when it’s ready when the whisk trails remain there after you’ve moved the whisk). You can take the mixture off the heat and pour onto a shallow sided baking tray and cover with cling film/plastic wrap making sure it touches the surface, preventing a skin from forming. You can then place this somewhere to cool down fully, before you either use it or place it in the fridge (never place anything hot/warm in the fridge).

Meringue:

To make the meringue topping, you’ll want to place the egg whites into your bowl and whisk them together until they are foamy/frothy.

At this stage, you can start adding your granulated sugar, roughly 1 tablespoon at a time. Whisking well in-between each addition, ensuring the previous amount of sugar has been fully incorporated. Repeat until all the sugar has been incorporated, it should be a smooth and glossy mixture.

Add in the vanilla extract and whisk until it’s been fully incorporated. Use immediately, only make the meringue before you intend on serving.

Assembly:

Take your pastry cream and scrape it from the shallow sided tray and place into a small-medium bowl and whisk it just until it’s a spreadable consistency. Add into the baked pastry case and smooth it out as best you can, using an offset/cranked palette knife, set in the fridge until it’s needed, later.

Make the meringue topping. Then you can place it on top of your chilled pie or feel free to do it the way I did mine, by placing the meringue mixture into piping bags and pipe different shapes on top.

Torch the meringue topping using a culinary blowtorch or place under the grill for a few minutes until toasted.

Serve and enjoy – best eaten on the day it’s made.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Tray Bake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Autumn is just around the corner, so why not prepare by making yourself a tray of this sticky toffee pudding tray bake?

This is the perfect recipe to make when you have a little extra time, not loads just enough to make dinner and cake, y’know? It’s a quick tray bake cake, packed with dates and sultanas, then topped with a pecan caramel sauce. You can enjoy this fresh from the oven or the day after, reheated. Either way, it’ll taste good!

The addition of pecans isn’t all that traditional or important but I like the taste and texture they add, so feel free to skip these if you don’t like or can’t have nuts.

Without any further ado, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Sticky Toffee Pudding:

150g Sultanas.

300g Stoned dates, chopped small.

2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

50g Butter.

400g Light brown sugar.

4 Eggs.

400g Self raising flour.

Caramel Sauce:

50g Butter.

350ml Double cream.

400g Light brown sugar.

50-100g Pecans.

Method:

Before you get started on any element of the recipe, it’s best to do some prep work first. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line your 9×13 baking tray, boil the kettle and weigh up your ingredients.

Start by working on the sticky toffee pudding, place the chopped stoned dates, sultanas and bicarbonate of soda into a small/medium bowl, then pour enough boiling water in to cover the contents of the bowl (You place the fruit and bicarbonate into the water to help soften the skin, making it not so chewy and easier to digest, so it’s an important step. Don’t skip it).

Place the butter and light brown sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until they are combined. They won’t be light and fluffy; the ratios aren’t correct for this to work.

Once combined, add your eggs one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. You will notice that the consistency of the cake batter becomes much more liquid like, this is completely normal.

Next, it’s time to add the flour, but first you’ll want to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, this is to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in.

Now you can add the flour, passing through a sieve first. Mix in on medium-high speed.

Drain the water out of the fruit and then add the fruit into the mixture and fold/mix it in until its well distributed.

You can then take your cake batter and add it all to the prepared 9×13 cake tray, levelling it out using a small cranked/offset palette knife. Then place into your preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean when inserted).

Once the cake has around 5-10 minutes baking remaining, it’s the perfect time to make the caramel sauce. To start on the sauce, you’ll want to get a small-medium saucepan and place in the butter, double cream, light brown sugar and pecans. Place it on the hob over a medium-high heat. Stirring occasionally until everything is melted and started to combine, then you can start stirring continuously until you have a smooth (and nutty sauce).

Once the cake is out the oven, pour over the hot caramel sauce. Spreading it out as best you can using a silicon spatula, you can enjoy this now while it’s warm or enjoy the following day either cold or reheated.

How To Make Traditional Bread Pudding

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I know this may not be for everybody but today I’ll be showing you how to make traditional bread pudding.

My traditional bread pudding contains light brown sugar, eggs, ground mixed spice and ground cinnamon alongside an abundance of dried fruit (currants, raisins, sultanas, mixed peel and glace cherries). This is one of the things whenever I make it, it doesn’t last very long.

You don’t need an awful lot of ingredients and if you have some day old (or stale) bread, you’re ready. Using day old/stale bread allows it to absorb more of the milk, which only makes this taste better- it’s moist.

I got 12 very generous portions from my 9×13 tin, but if you cut it differently, you may get more or less pieces from the bake, depending how you slice it. If you’re using a 9×13 inch tin, make sure its deep sided, otherwise it’s a waste of time.

If you like bread pudding, this recipe might be for you. I know that depending on where you are from in the UK, your take on bread pudding may vary. I’m from Birmingham and traditionally its quite light but mines a little darker from the spices and sugar I use.

Now you’ve got your bowl ready, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

1kg Bread (day old/stale white bread), chopped.

1,200ml Whole milk.

400g Raisins

300g Currants.

300g Sultanas

100g Mixed peel.

100g Glace cherries.

2 tbsp Ground mixed spice.

4 Egg.

280g Light brown sugar (plus additional for sprinkling on top before baking).

Method:

Before you get into making the bread pudding, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by getting your oven preheated to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up your ingredients and lining your 9×13 inch tray with some parchment/greaseproof.

To start on the actual bread pudding, place all the chopped bread into the largest mixing bowl you have, then add in the milk and combine the two using your hands. It may take about 5-7 minutes to get them well combined, once done it should be quite mushy and sloppy (I know, not the best words to use but it’s honestly what it’s like).

Once that has been achieved, you can then add in the raisins, currants, sultanas, mixed peel, glace cherries and ground mixed spice. Then mmix all of those ingredients in by hand, this doesn’t take too long but you want them to be equally distributed between in the mixture.

Add in all your eggs and light brown sugar, then mix it in again until they are fully worked in and you can’t see a trace of a single ingredient, if you do, continue mixing until you can’t.

Take your lined 9×13 inch cake tin and pour the bread pudding mixture into the tray and level it out so it bakes evenly.

Sprinkle over a small amount of light brown sugar, this is to add a crunchy top, so feel free to leave it out if you don’t want it.

Place into the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, you will know once it’s done as the top will look perfectly crunchy and will be firm to the touch.

Allow to cool down completely before slicing up, its best enjoyed cold on its own. Well, that’s how I choose to enjoy it personally.

Coffee and Walnut Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m showing you how to make a simple but classic coffee and walnut cake, this is always a winner when made. What are you waiting for?

I know it’s not officially the start of Autumn (unless you follow meteorological season) until later in the month but as soon as August end and September starts, it’s basically autumn… Don’t even come for me.

A coffee and walnut cake may not be the most seasonal cake, especially seeing as its made all year round by most but the colours that make up the cake are for me seasonal… I’ll be honest, this cake isn’t my favourite but I know others who enjoy it.

If you haven’t tried this cake before, I’ll tell you a little about it. It’s a sponge cake that is flavoured with coffee and has walnuts in it, filled and topped with coffee flavoured buttercream and an optional finish is to pipe rosettes on top and top them with some more walnuts.

Almost 3 years ago, I made this cake in cupcake form. I’ll link the coffee and walnut cupcake recipe, if you’re interest in it.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Coffee:

15g Instant coffee.

45ml Boiling water.

Cake:

175g Butter.

175g Plain flour.

3 Eggs.

2-3 tbsp coffee mixture.

75g Walnuts, chopped.

Buttercream:

200g Butter.

450g Icing sugar.

2-3 tbsp coffee mixture.

Methods:

Coffee:

To make the coffee mixture, you’ll want to add the instant coffee into a bowl and boil the kettle of water until its boiled.

Into the bowl with the instant coffee, add in the boiling water and give it a good mix until the coffee is fully dissolved in the water. Set aside until cool enough to use.

Cake:

To start on the cake batter, you’ll want to get yourself a mixing bowl and into it place the butter and sugar. Beat the two together on a medium-high speed until they are very well combined.

Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl, this is to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.

Now you can start adding your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Don’t add the eggs too quickly, otherwise you may scramble the mixture.

Next, you can add in the coffee mixture and mix it in just until its incorporated. If the mixture scrambles here, don’t worry too much, the dry ingredients will fix it.

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

Add the dry ingredients into the bowl, passing them through a sieve first. Doing this removes any lumps in the dry mix and helps to create a lighter cake texture. Mix on a low-medium speed until the dry ingredients have been fully worked in.

Once the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, add in the chopped walnuts and mix until they are fully incorporated.

Split the cake batter between your 2 x 6-inch cake tins and level it out using a cranked/offset palette knife. You can then place the cake tins into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester when inserted comes out clean).

Buttercream:

To make the buttercream it’s easy. Place your butter into a mixing bowl and beat it until its lighter and fluffier in both colour and consistency.

Then add half of your icing sugar and beat it well until its fully incorporated, repeat with the other half of the icing sugar. Add in the vanilla and give it a good mix until it’s fully incorporated.

At this point you can add your coffee mixture, roughly a tablespoon at a time, you will want to add the right amount so not only the flavour is there but the consistency doesn’t change too much. That’s why I recommend using 2-3 tablespoons, you can vary the amount.

Once you’ve made the buttercream, you can use it or store it in the fridge for a few days.

Assembly:

Take your cooled cakes out of the tins and set aside while you transfer the buttercream from the bowl into a piping bag. Using a piping bag is my personal preference, feel free to spread it out on the cake using a cranked/offset palette knife, whichever method works for you.

Take your first layer of cake and pipe or spread over a generous amount of the coffee buttercream, then layer the second layer of cake on top, pressing down slightly to secure it in place. Then on top of that, you can pipe or spread out the buttercream and add walnuts (oh and I added chocolate sprinkles purely for decoration but this is completely optional).

You can decorate this cake however you like, I just went with my typical look on the cake.

Blueberry Pie Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Summer may be coming to end, don’t fret, I have recipe which is perfect for the end of the season. Today I’ll be sharing with you how to make a blueberry pie!

This recipe can be made all year around, seeing as most supermarkets stock frozen blueberries in the frozen foods section but if blueberries are in season, use fresh or frozen either works well (the ones I used were bought fresh then frozen).

Earlier in the week I uploaded a video to YouTube and a blog post showing you how to make my pastry recipe, honestly, it’s the best one, it doesn’t require any strange ingredients or special equipment if you don’t have it. I’ll link it here. I recommend that you use my recipe but you can use your own if you want, I don’t control you.

When it comes to pies, personally, I like to have more pastry on top, I know that some people like it whereas others don’t. Instead of putting a pastry lid on this pie I decided to place some cut out stars on top of pie, so you have the element of pastry there but not fully, if that makes sense.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Pastry:

Here is how to make the pastry.

Blueberry Filling:

750g Blueberries (fresh or frozen, dust with plain flour).

100ml Water.

30g Plain flour.

A pinch of salt.

¼ tsp Ground cinnamon.

100g Granulated white sugar.

Method:

Before you get into the baking/pie making, you’ll want to do some prep. Start by making your pastry, weighing up the ingredients, preheating the oven to 180˚c/350˚f and preparing any equipment you may need to use.

To start on the blueberry pie filing, get yourself a medium sized saucepan and into it, place the water, flour, salt, ground cinnamon and sugar, then give it all a good mix until its well incorporated.

You can then add in the blueberries and mix them in the mixture until they are well coated, then transfer the saucepan onto the hob over a medium heat and cook the mixture until it’s a clear filling, you don’t want to see a trace of any ingredient, the mixture will have thickened (this is normal and what you’re looking for).

Allow that to cool while you sort the pastry out.

Take your pastry and roll it out until it’s just slightly bigger than the pie dish you are using (mine was 8 inch). Drape it over your tin, pressing the dough into the tin, just to fit the shape, trim away any excess from the edge.

Don’t forget to dock the bottom of your pastry, this is just to prevent the base rising while baking.

You can then fill the pastry case with the blueberry filling you made and allow to cool for a little while. It should be thicker as it cools, so you may or may not need to level it out with your wooden spoon or spatula. Set aside in the fridge for a bit while you make the topping.

For the cut outs of dough, take the remaining dough and roll it out to the same thickness as your pie crust and cut out as many as possible. Once you have them cut out, you can then start to place them on top of the pie filling. I started on the outside and worked my way in but feel free to start in the centre and work your way out, whichever way works best for you.

Egg wash the edge of the pastry and the cut outs in the middle of the pie, sprinkle some light brown sugar over the cut outs, just to add colour and texture.

Place in your preheated oven and bake for around 40 minutes but I recommended checking it at 35 minutes and checking every 5 minutes as it may need extra time. One thing to remember is that all ovens are different, so use the time as a rough guide.

Once it’s out of the oven, allow it to cool down fully before you try cutting it, otherwise it could get messy. Enjoy with a scoop of ice cream or with some whipped cream.

How To Make Shortcrust Pastry

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today, I’ll be showing you how to make a recipe staple – shortcrust pastry. If you want to make a sweet pie or tart, this is the recipe for you.

This is my recipe for shortcrust pastry, its’s quick and easy, what’s not to like?

If you have ever made a pie and followed a recipe, just for it to go wrong and it can really put you off making pastry again – believe me, I’ve been there. This is the must use recipe for all bakers to have in their recipe collection.

The key with pastry is to keep it cool, you really don’t it to warm up too much, this is where issues can start to occur. If like me you have warm hands, I recommend that you use a food processor, this will ensure that you don’t warm up the butter too much. Oh and one final tip is to ensure that once the pastry is made, wrap in cling film/plastic wrap.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

1 Egg (large is possible, medium will work)

90g Granulated white sugar.

225g Butter, cold.

375g Plain flour.

A pinch of salt.

Method:

Before you get into making the pastry, you’ll want to do some prep. Start by weighing up all your ingredients and getting any equipment you may intend on using.

To start on the pastry, get yourself a small bowl and place in the egg and sugar. Give them a very good mix, mostly until they are fully incorporated. You will know once you’ve achieved this as the mixture won’t be granular in any way, this may take a few minutes to achieve. Set aside once done.

Into your food processor place the plain flour, salt and butter, then pulse until all the ingredients have combined. You will know once the butter has been incorporated as the mixture will have a slightly yellow-ish tint to it.

Next, you can add the sugar/egg mixture that you made earlier. Once it’s all been added, you can then pulse it again until the sugar/egg micture is fully incorporated and a dough has started to form, you can them stop and continue kneading the dough on a floured surface.

The pastry should be smooth once done, you can then wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge to chill for about an hour or overnight.

There’s not much else to say about this recipe, it’s really that simple. You only need a handful of ingredients and a little time then you have a pastry recipe that has never failed me before.

Basic

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