Easy

Valentine’s Day Cake

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cake:

230g Butter.

300g Granulated white sugar .

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

5 Eggs.

300g Plain flour.

40g Cocoa powder.

2 1/2 tsp Baking powder.

70ml Whole milk.

Buttercream:

250g Granulated white sugar.

65g Water.

70g Egg yolk.

1 small Egg.

500g Butter.

200g Nutella.

25g Cocoa powder.

White chocolate ganache (drip):

100g White chocolate.

100ml Double cream.

Red or pink food colouring paste.

Decoration:

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

Homemade Mince Pies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 Egg.

90g Granulated sugar.

225g Butter.

375g Plain Flour.

A pinch of salt.w

Mince meat recipe here

Method:

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

Fruit Cake Recipe (2 Methods)

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re here looking for a simple fruit cake recipe for whichever celebration, don’t worry I’ve got you more than covered. Today I’m sharing the 2 must have fruit cake recipes with you guys.

As soon as December comes around, everybody starts going Christmas mad (whether its food or decorations) and normally people start getting their holiday baking started, often with a fruit cake of some sort. If you wanted to make it a more traditional ‘Christmas cake’, you’d actually bake it in July and feed the cake with alcohol until you intend on serving it, however, if you’re like most people you’ll just make one in the nick of time and that’s fine.

The cakes doesn’t have to contain alcohol, so if you can’t or don’t want to use it – leave it out and feel free to make your cake closer to the occasion. If you do use the alcohol, it’s best to stick to darker coloured spirits like dark rum, brandy, whiskey or sherry.

Either of these cake recipes can be made for Christmas cakes, Simnel cake or for birthday/wedding cakes.

Anyway, here is method one –

Ingredients:

225g Currants.

70g Sultanas.

70g Raisins.

85g Glace cherries, halved or quartered.

70g Mixed peel.

50g Almonds (ground, nibbed or flaked will work well).

175g Plain flour.

3 tsp Ground cinnamon.

2 tsp Ground mixed spice.

1/2 tsp Ground ginger.

1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg.

1/2 tsp Ground allspice.

1/2 tsp Ground cloves.

150g Butter.

150g Light brown sugar.

2 Eggs.

5g Black treacle.

Method:

Do some prep work ahead of starting. Weigh up all your ingredients into bowls (there are a few different bits here’s helps save confusion later on, plus it eliminates the chances of making a measuring mistake), preheating your oven to 150˚c/300˚f and lining your cake tins with some parchment paper – set them aside until later on.
To start your cake, place the butter, light brown sugar and black treacle into your mixing bowl and beat them together until they are well combines. You are not looking for light and fluffy with this mix.

Add in your eggs, one at a time beating well in-between each addition.

Once the eggs have been fully incorporated, give your bowl a good scraping down. This is to help incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.
Sieve in your flour and spices together, straight into the bowl. combine the butter mixture with the dry ingredients just until they are combined.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl again.
Add the currants, sultana’s, raisins, glacé cherries, mixed peel and almonds and mix to incorporate – just mix until the fruit is equally distributed throughout the cake batter.

Scrape down the bowl again, just to work those last few bits in.
Divide the cake batter between the two 6 inch cake tins that you prepared earlier on.

Place the cake tins into the preheated oven and bake for 50-55 minutes (your oven may require more or less time, all ovens are different).
Once the cakes are fully baked and out the oven, allow them to cool in the tins for a short while before transferring them to cooling racks where they can cool completely.

Once fully cooled, feel free to pour over a small amount of alcohol (up to 45ml) then wrap the cakes in clingfilm/plastic wrap and feed once a week with the same amount of alcohol until you serve it.

This is much more similar to a traditional fruit cake recipe you’d see round Christmas time, it’s not exactly traditional but hey, who’ll notice?

Here is method two –

Method two is completely different, it doesn’t require you to use the creaming method (where you beat together the butter and sugar, then incorporate the eggs).

Ingredients:

300ml water.

110g Butter.

140g Light brown sugar.

170g Sultana’s.

170g Currants.

3 tsp Ground mixed spice.

2 tsp Ground cinnamon.

1/2 tsp Ground ginger.

1/4 tsp Ground cloves.

Method:

Do some prep work to save faffing around later. Weigh up all your ingredients into small bowls, preheat your oven to 150˚c/300˚f and line two 6 inch cake tins with parchment paper.
To start on the cake, you’ll want to get yourself a medium saucepan and place the water, butter, light brown sugar, fruit and the spices into it.

Place the saucepan on the hob over a medium-high heat, until everything is melted and has come together. Stir continuously once everything starts to melt. Once melted, take off the heat and allow to cool for around 10 minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled down, add in your flour and bicarbonate of soda, passing it through a sieve first. Then mix until they are fully worked in.

Then add in your egg, mix that in until it’s fully worked in.
Divide the cake batter between your lined cake tins, you can do this by weighing the cake batter out, then dividing it by two. This method is much more accurate, as long as you’re using digital scales. The other method is to simply eye ball the amount you’re putting into each tin, if you’re feeling more confident.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for around 40-45 (but check yours anytime after 40 as they may need more or less time).
Once out the oven and fully baked, allow to cool in the cake tin for a short while, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, you can pour over a small amount of alcohol (up to 45ml) then wrap them up in clingfilm/plastic wrap and feed once a week with the same amount of alcohol until you intend on using the cake.

So, I hope you have enjoyed this blog post, I will leave the video tutorial down below, if you’re interested checking it out!

Mince Pie No-Bake Cheesecake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Are you looking for a no-bake cheesecake with a difference this holiday period?

Look no further, I have you covered. This mincemeat cheesecake is both festive and weird because why not?

If you know me and my baking (or no baking) habits, you’ll know that no-bake cheesecakes are one of my favourite things to make and eat, simply because of how easy they are to make and simple they are to make.

Today’s cheesecake is well… possibly the weirdest flavour combination possible. Mincemeat is somewhat like marmite, you love it or hate it – most people hate it. I like mincemeat and cheesecake so why not have a crossover between the two? Have I taken it too far?

As with all cheesecakes, it’s all about the base. I used a spiced digestive biscuit base, I’m not sure these exist but it’s just a combination of ground spices and digestive biscuits. As usual, you blitz the two together, then add the melted butter and blitz again to combine. You can do this using a food processor or place the biscuits and spices into a food zip bag and use a rolling pin to crush the biscuits, transferring the biscuit crumb into a small bowl, adding in the melted butter and giving it a mix with a spoon or silicon spatula. Use whichever method works best for you.

Transfer the buttery biscuit base into a deep sided 8-inch cake tin, you can line the base if you’d like too. Once all the buttery biscuits are in the tin, you’ll want to press them down as best you can using either a cup measurement or the back of a spoon until its tightly packed into the base of the tin. Place in the fridge and allow to chill in there while you make the cheesecake filling.

To make the cheesecake filling is super easy, into a large bowl place your soft cheese, mincemeat and spices and mix them all together using a whisk. Keep whisking it together until it’s all come together and is well combined, then you can add in your double cream and whisk it into the mixture until it’s become thicker in consistency and can hold it’s own shape.

Place the cheesecake filling on-top of the biscuit base, once it’s all in the tin, try and level it off as best you possibly can using a small offset palette knife or the back of a spoon, once level, set in the fridge and allow to chill for around 6-8 hours (or overnight).

The next day, remove the cheesecake from the tin and place it onto your plate or cake stand of choice, now it’s time to finish/decorate the cheesecake. I kept it simple by piping rosettes of fresh cream all the way around the edge of the cheesecake and place a good amount of mincemeat in the centre but feel free to finish the cheesecake however you like, it’s yours to customisable.

Ingredients:

600g Soft cheese (full fat).

300g Mincemeat.

2 tsp Ground cinnamon.

½ Ground mixed spice.

½ tsp Ground cloves.

300ml double cream

Additional mincemeat.

Methods:

Weigh up all your ingredients and line your tin with parchment paper (if you choose to use it).
To start on your cheesecake, you’ll want to start on the base. Crush your biscuits into crumbs using either a food processor or a rolling pin and a food zip bag.
Melt some butter in a saucepan over a low-medium heat or in the microwave, then add to the biscuit crumbs and mix them together until they are fully worked together.
Transfer the biscuit mixture into the cake tin and press it down using a cup measure or the back of a spoons will work equally as well. Press down the mixture compressing it well.
Start on the cheesecake filling by placing the soft cheese, mincemeat and spices into your mixing bowl of choice and whisk them all together until they are fully incorporated.
Add in all of your double cream and whisk until the mixture is thicker in consistency, if you’re doing this by hand, you’ll notice that the mixture becomes “heavier” to mix.
Once you’ve got the filling thickened, place it on top of the biscuit base and level it off as best you can using a small offset palette knife or the back of a spoon should work as well.
Set the cheesecake in the fridge and allow it to chill there for around 6-8 hours.
The following day, I removed the cheesecake from the cake tin and set it on my plate (feel free to use a cake stand or board, if you’d prefer.
To finish the cheesecake, I pipe rosettes around the edge and fill the centre with mincemeat – this is fully customisable so feel free to make it work for you.

Thank you for checking out my recipe for this (weird) chreesecake recipe – I hope you get to make it soon.

Fresh Cream Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Are you entertaining over Christmas? Need a fresh cream cake that’s fully customisable? Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.

I thought for today’s recipe, I would share my recipe for the quickest and most customisable fresh cream cake. I use a vanilla cake with sweetened whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam, what’s not to like about that?

You could use a chocolate cake or make yourself a black forest gateau (I have a recipe for this here). This cake is pretty simple and straightforward to make but when it comes to the filling and decoration, you can fully customise it to suit you or your occasion (using chopped nuts in place of the chocolate or using fresh fruit on top of the cake instead of kinder Bueno, the opportunities are endless).

For the cake I used a simple cake recipe, which will yield you two layers of vanilla cake (feel free to double the recipe and make yourself an indulgent treat) which is made using the creaming method, this is where you cream together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs and dry ingredients. So to start the cakes, place your butter and granulated white sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat the two together until they are well combined have become paler in could and lighter in consistency.

Once it’s become lighter in colour and consistency, give the bowl a quick scrape down (this helps to incorporate bits that haven’t been fully incorporated from earlier on) and then add your eggs and vanilla, one at a time beating well in-between each addition. If you try and add too many eggs in one go the mixture will scramble, so take care when adding the eggs.

Once the eggs are fully incorporated, you’ll want to add in your dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve first so any large lumps are caught. Incorporate the dry ingredients on a low-medium speed until there is no trace in the main mixture (there might be a small amount that has worked it’s way up around the bowl, just incorporate it by using a silicon spatula). Add your milk/water in a teaspoon at a time.

Divide the cake mixture between your prepared cake tins, I like to use digital weighing scales to get a much more accurate measurement but feel free to eye ball it (if you’re confident). Level it off as best you can using a small offset palette knife or the back of a spoon (whichever you have or works best for you). Place the tins in the preheated oven on the middle shelf and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean). While your cakes are baking, make your simple syrup which is super simple to make. Place the water, granulated sugar and vanilla into a saucepan and place over a medium-high heat and allow to come to a boil, then set aside until cool.

Once the cakes are baked, allow them to cool in the tin for around 10-15 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before using. Once your cakes are cooled, whip your cream up, again this is easy and doesn’t take too long. Pour all of your cream into your mixing bowl of choice (if you have a stand mixer, it will come in handy at this point otherwise an electric hand whisk will work equally as well. If you’re doing this by hand, you’re braver than me…) and add in the icing sugar and vanilla and whisk together on a high speed until you notice some changes in consistency, it will start holding its shape. Stop whisking once you reach that stage as you can over-whip cream very easily and end up with a grainy whipped cream (which isn’t pleasing on the taste or appearance), so keep checking If you’re unsure. This batch of whipped cream will be the only batch you need. You’re best to whip the cream up just before you intend on using it this ensures freshness.

Once your cakes are cooled, level the tops off using a cake leveller and give each of the cakes a generous amount of the simple syrup, then you can fill the cake with a good amount of the whipped cream and strawberry jam, then place the second layer of cake on top and start to add the whipped cream onto the sides and top of the cake, giving a generous coating as this is the only coat that we will be needed.

One the cake is coated with the cream, take your grated chocolate and add it to the side of your cake, I found using a scraper the best way to do it but feel free to wear gloves and pat on the chocolate – this is up to you. You should have some cream left over, place it into a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice and pipe it around the top edge of the cake, this helps to hide the edge of the chocolate that’s on the side and makes it look slightly better (in my opinion anyway), top the piped rosettes with chocolate or whatever you’d like to (fruit or nuts would work well here also).

I had some remaining cream left over, so piped some shells around the bottom edge of the cake, this is optional but works well with the cake.

Ingredients:

Cake:

280g Butter, at room temperature.

350g Granulated white sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract/bean paste

6 Eggs, medium size at room temperature.

450g Plain flour.

15g Baking powder.

25ml milk or boiling water

Simple Syrup:

250g Granulated white sugar.

250ml Water.

1 tsp Vanilla

Filling:

600ml Double cream.

100g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract/bean paste.

Jam (whichever you like).

Finishing:

Grated chocolate (chopped nuts would also work as an alternative).

Chocolate (or fruit would work well here also).

Methods:

Cake:

Do some prep work by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, lining your 8-inch cake tins and weighing up all your ingredients.
Place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl of choice (I went ahead and used my stand mixer bowl) and beat them together until they are well combined and have become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.
Once you’ve achieved the consistency, start adding your eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. This is to prevent the mixture from curdling, if that happens, don’t worry too much towards the end of adding your eggs.
Sift in about a 1/3 of your dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, then mix them in over a low-medium speed, then add in around a 1/3 of your milk/boiling water. Repeat with te remaining ingredients. Try not to overmix at this stage.
Give your mixing bowl a good scraping down and divide the cake batter between your cake tins, you can do this by eye or measuring the amount of cake batter and halving it to get a much more accurate amount into each tin – this is best done with digital scales.
Level and smooth off each cake as best you can with a small offset palette knife or the back of a spoon will work equally as well.
Place your cakes in your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean when inserted).

Simple Syrup:

This is quick and easy to make; the only downside is the cooling time which takes the longest.
Place the water, sugar and vanilla into a small or medium saucepan and place on the hob over a medium-high heat and allow to come to a boil, then remove from the heat and allow it to cool down to room temperature, or chill in the fridge if you don’t intend on using it straight away.

Filling:

Into your mixing bowl, place your 600ml of double cream along with the icing sugar and vanilla extract/bean paste.
Whisk them together on a medium-high speed just until it starts to hold its own shape/stiff peaks. Over whisking the cream at this stage is easily done, if you do it will be grainy and look rough.
Once it’s whipped, use it straight away or store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Once your cakes are fully baked and cooled, level the cakes using a cake leveller or a knife and rule. You can then simple syrup the 2 layers of cake, ensuring they have received a generous amount of the simple syrup.
Pipe or place a generous amount of the whipped cream onto 1 of the cake halves and then add a good amount of your choice jam (I went with strawberry).

Finishing:

To finish the cake, sandwich the 2 layers of cake together and then coat the top and sides of the cake with the remaining whipped cream – use a generous amount at this stage. Any left-over whipped cream can be placed in to a piping bag (fitted with your choice of nozzle).
Place your cake on to a upside-down bowl over a large baking tray or something similar and coat the sides with some grated chocolate. I used milk chocolate for this cake but feel free use white, milk or dark – whichever takes your fancy. I used a cake scraper to work the chocolate up the sides of the cake but if you’re confident you could do this by hand.
Once the sides have been coated with the grated chocolate, take the piping bag with the remaining whipped cream in it and pipe rosettes around the edge of the cake – this helps to hide the imperfections and helps to make it look more professional.
Top some or all of the rosettes with some chocolate or fresh fruit (or a mix of both will work well also).

There is my recipe on how to make a fresh cream cake. It’s fully customisable to suit you and your occasion – I hope you enjoyed the recipe.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a triple chocolate cookie recipe, look no further, I have you covered.

That’s right, these cookies are triple chocolate, who wouldn’t want more chocolate?

These cookies contain white, milk and dark chocolate chips which are studded throughout the chocolate dough. If you like chocolate, you will LOVE these cookies.

As mentioned above, these cookies are super simple to make and don’t require a lot of time or ingredients to make a batch. You’ll have your baked cookies all done in under 60 minutes, who doesn’t want cookies that don’t take a long time to make? Who wants to spend a majority of the day in the kitchen? I know I don’t and can guess that you don’t want to either, if you use my recipe, you won’t have to!

Before you get into making the cookies, you’ll want to do a bit of prep work. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all your ingredients, this will stop you from making mistakes later on and faffing about and finally, line a baking tray with some greaseproof/parchment paper and set them aside.

To start on the cookies, you’ll want to place your butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar into your mixing bowl of choice (I went ahead and used my stand mixer bowl but feel free to use whatever you have or prefer) and beat them together just until combined, this doesn’t take very long. You can then add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Make sure you allow each egg to fully incorporate into the mixture before adding the next egg, otherwise you may curdle the mixture. Once your eggs have been fully incorporated, give your bowl a good scrape down, this is to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.

Next you’ll want to add in your plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first to remove any big lumps that may not pass through easily. The mix in the dry ingredients over a low-medium speed just until a dough forms, then stop, you don’t want to over-mix the dough. Add in roughly about 3/4 of your white, milk and dark chocolate chips and mix them in just so they are well distributed (reserve the other 1/4 to finish them).

Take your cookie scoop and scoop up two balls of the cookie dough and roll them together into one larger ball and place onto your lined baking tray, leaving space in-between each cookie as they will spread while baking (they don’t spread a lot but enough anyway). Onto a standard baking tray I place 6 balls of cookie dough but place them accord to your tray, you can then place the tray into the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes or until they are well spread and look a little more baked around the edge compared to the centre.

When they are baked, remove from the oven and place onto your worktop and while they are still hot/warm, you’ll want to finish them. To finish the cookies all you need to do is place the reserved chocolate chips onto each cookie, for me I place around 3 of each chocolate chip onto each cookie, but use what you have left regardless of whether its a lot or none.

Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack, to cool completely cool.

Once the cookies are cooled, you can enjoy them. They are best enjoyed on their own or with a hot drink.

Ingredients:

150g Butter.

150g Granulated sugar.

150g Light brown sugar

2 Eggs.

320g Plain flour.

30g Cocoa powder.

1 tsp Baking powder.

1/4 tsp Salt.

100g White chocolate chips.

100g Milk chocolate chips.

100g Dark chocolate chips.

Method:

Do some prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f , weigh up all your ingredients and line your baking trays with greaseproof/parchment paper.
To start the cookies, place your butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into your mixing bowl and beat them together, just until they are combined.
Add your eggs into the bowl, one at a time beating well in-between each addition. Repeat with your second egg.
Once your eggs are fully incorporated, you’ll want to add your dry ingredients in but first, you’ll want to pass them through a sieve. Into your sieve add in your plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, this helps to sort out any big lumps that wouldn’t pass through.
Once all the dry ingredients have been added, incorporate them by mixing them in over a low-medium speed just until a dough has formed, try not to over-mix.
Add in 3/4 of your white, milk and dark chocolate chips, reserving a 1/4 to finish them off once baked. Mix them in over a low-medium speed just until they are well dispersed throughout the dough, then you’re finished mixing the dough.
Take your cookie scoop and scoop up 2 balls of dough per cookie. Roll the dough between your hands to round it off and place it on your lined baking tray – I got 6 onto a standard baking tray but work with what trays you have.
Place the baking tray into the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes (remove one they look more baked around the edges, so check after the 10-12 minute mark and see. All ovens are different and will vary with baking times so keep an eye on them.
Once fresh out the oven, place a few each chocolate chips onto the top of each cookie just to add some more chocolate, because why not? (do you really need a reason to add more chocolate into triple chocolate cookies? Hmmm…)
Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying (although they are amazing while slightly warm).

Thank you so much for checking out this recipe, I hope you enjoy it and get to make it soon!

Millionaires Shortbread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re here looking for a super simple recipe on how to make millionaires shortbread, I’ve got you covered.

If you don’t know what millionaires shortbread is, its basically a layered traybake. The layers consist of a shortbread biscuit base, which is topped with a rich caramel layer and finished with a chocolate layer on top. What’s not to like about it? 🤔

Anyway, I’m going to share my recipe on how to make the millionaires shortbread. It’s quick, easy and doesn’t require many ingredients, which is always a good thing!

The process of making the different parts isn’t exactly hard, nor do they take a lot of time to do. Making the shortbread will vary, depending on the method you use. There are two ways to make the dough, method 1 is using a food processor and method 2 is making it by hand. Both methods will work equally as well but method 1 is quicker than method two, however, method 2 is ideal if you don’t have a food processor or prefer to be hands on when making doughs.

Before you get into making this, you’ll want to do a small bit of prep. Measure out all of your ingredients in advance, this just saves you making mistakes and faffing about. Also, don’t forget to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f. The baking tin I’m using is 11×7 inches but feel free to use a 9 inch square.

To make the shortbread layer, place your flour, sugar and butter into either your food processor or mixing bowl and pulse/rub in until its combined. Once you see a clear dough has formed, stop mixing and set aside while you prepare your tin, lining it with some greaseproof paper. Place your shortbread into your prepared tin and press it out until you have a level layer, I found using my hands and a small cup measurement really helps to spread it out and get it level. Do whatever works best for you. Bake in your preheated oven for 20-22 minutes (or until slightly coloured around the edge. While your shortbread is baking, feel free to make the caramel layer.

To make the caramel layer, it’s really easy. Get a small-medium saucepan and place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk and place on the hob over a low-medium heat and continuously stir it until it melts, it will then become darker in colour, it should be a golden brown colour, no lighter or darker. Once you’ve achieved the right colour, pour the caramel over the baked biscuit base and level it off as best you can using a silicon spatula or cranked palette knife. Place this in the fridge until its cooled down, it should be firm to the touch. This doesn’t take very long.

The final layer is the chocolate layer. This is probably the easiest and most simple layer to do plus you can customise it to suit you. I chose to use dark chocolate (as it was all I had in) but feel free to use milk chocolate, if you’d prefer to. All you need to do is melt your chocolate, my preferred method is to melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stirring it often until melted. If you don’t like using this method, feel free to microwave the chocolate on 20-30 second intervals, stirring well in-between each interval, be careful not to burn the chocolate. Pour the chocolate over the top of your cooled and firmed caramel and level the chocolate off as best you can using a offset/cranked palette knife, place the baking tray back in the fridge and allow the chocolate to firm up.

Once the chocolate has firmed up, remove the millionaires shortbread from the tin (you may need to run a knife down the sides) and cut it up into slices, I cut mine into squares but feel free to cut yours into slices that suit you best.

Ingredients:

Shortbread:

115g Butter.

175g Plain flour.

55g Granulated sugar.

Caramel Filling:

175g Butter.

115g Granulated sugar.

45g Golden syrup.

400g Condensed milk.

Chocolate Topping:

300g Chocolate (dark or milk, whichever you prefer best).

Methods:

Do some prep work now, weigh up your ingredients, this saves you making mistakes later on and stops you faffing about later.
Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

Shortbread:

When it comes to making the shortbread, you can do it 2 ways, using a food processor or by hand. Either method will get you the results you’re looking for, I used the food processor method.
Place the flour, sugar and butter into your food processor or mixing bowl of choice and pulse/rub them together until a clear dough forms. Be careful not to over-mix it at this stage, otherwise your shortbread will be tough once baked.
Line your baking tray with a piece of baking paper/parchment and place the shortbread dough into the prepared tin, feel free to do this by using your hands or a small cup measurement, try and get the layer of shortbread as level as possible.
Once level, place your shortbread into the preheated oven and bake for around 20-22 minutes or until slightly coloured around the edge.

Caramel Filling:

I recommend making your caramel filling once your shortbread has been in the oven for round 10-15 minutes.
The caramel is really easy to make, get yourself a small-medium saucepan and place the butter, granulated sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk into your saucepan and place on the hob over a low-medium heat, once it starts to melt, you’ll want to continuously stir the mixture. You’ll notice it goes from a yellow-ish colour to a golden brown colour, this is when you know it’s done.
Once your caramel filling is done, pour it over the baked shortbread base and level out the caramel using a spatula or cranked/offset palette knife then place in the fridge to set completely cool and firm up. This doesn’t take very long.

Chocolate Topping:

Once your caramel layer has set, you can melt your chocolate. For the chocolate, feel free to use milk or dark chocolate, choose your preference.
You can melt the chocolate 2 different ways, method 1 is placing the bowl of chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring often once it starts to melt. Method 2 is placing the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and microwave the chocolate in 30 second intervals until melted. Either method will work, I chose method 1 as this is my preference.
Pour the chocolate on top of the firmed caramel layer and spread it out using a cranked/offset palette knife or the back of a spoon and level out the chocolate as best you can.
Place back in the fridge and allow the chocolate to firm up completely.

To finish the millionaires shortbread, all you need to do is to remove it from the tray and cut it up into slices, I chose squares but feel free to cut them up however you like.

White Chocolate & Fudge Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’ve come looking for a recipe on how to make these super simple white chocolate and fudge cookies, I’ve got you covered.

As stated above, these cookies are super simple to make and don’t require a lot of either time or ingredients. These cookies are perfect for almost any cookie craving, it starts with the perfectly baked cookie, which has a generous amount of white chocolate chips and fudge pieces studded throughout them. Oh yeah, did I forgot to mention that they have a fudge filling? That’s right, even more fudge packed into them, what’s not to like?

I understand that you might not be able to find white chocolate chips or fudge pieces where you are, so feel free to improvise by using a chopped up bar of white chocolate or chopped up soft fudge. For the fudge centre, I recommend using butter fudge as this is softer than other fudges and works perfectly in this recipe but feel free to use whatever you have or can get your hands on.

Anyway, the mixing process doesn’t require a whole lot, a little time and effort and you can have yourself a batch of amazing cookies! The longest thing in the whole process is actually the baking period, why must you take so long to bake?! This recipe wasn’t intended for this week, but they were really tasty and thought I should share these with you as soon as possible.

All jokes aside, you don’t need any fancy equipment and these would make the ideal recipe to make with kids. To start this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up all of your ingredients (this saves you time and prevents you from making a mistake with the exact amounts) and prepare your baking tray by lining it with either baking parchment/greaseproof paper and set that aside until its needed a little later.

To start the cookies, you’ll want to get your mixing bowl of choice and place your butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into a bowl and beat them together over a low-medium until they are well combined, you can tell once its done as there won’t be a trace of a single ingredient. Once the mixture has come together, add your egg and vanilla and mix that again on a low-medium speed until the egg and vanilla are very well incorporated. Give your bowl a good scrape down and then add in the plain flour and baking powder and mix them in over a low-medium speed until the dry ingredients are almost fully incorporated, then add in your white chocolate chips and fudge pieces and fold these in using a spatula, do this until the cookie dough has become clear (no traces of a single ingredient, all fully worked in to one another. You can then give your counter a wipe down and get your prepared baking tray ready.

Once you’ve got your cookie dough ready and baking tray, you’re good to go. The dough doesn’t need to be chilled before being used, so you can use it straight away. Scoop up 2 balls of dough per cookie, onto one of the dough balls, place a piece of butter fudge and place the second ball of dough on top of that one and round them up using the palms of your hands and then place them onto your baking tray. I places 6 cookies onto a standard baking tray but feel free to configure how many you can place onto a baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven for around 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

As soon as you remove from the oven, place a generous amount of white chocolate chips and fudge pieces on top of each cookie and allow to cool slightly before eating them. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack, allow to cool for as long as you’d like (or can resist) and then enjoy them. They are best enjoyed once out of the oven for around 10 minutes – they are best enjoyed with milk or alone.

I will leave all the ingredients and measurements down below along with a brief version of whats above, if you want to save yourself some time reading exactly what you have to do.

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

50g White chocolate chips.

50g Fudge pieces.

12 pieces butter fudge (or other variety of soft fudge).

Methods:

Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all your ingredients and lining your baking tray with baking parchment/greaseproof paper.
Start by getting your mixing bowl ready and placing your butter granulated white sugar and light brown sugar into the bowl and beating over low-medium speed until its combined.
Once combined, you can add your egg and vanilla and beat that over a low-medium speed until they have been incorporated into the mix.
Scrape down the bowl and add in your flour and baking powder. Mix this in on a low-medium speed until its almost fully combined, then add in the white chocolate chips and fudge pieces and fold these in by hand using a spatula. Do this until a clear dough has formed.
Once a dough has formed, get your prepared baking tray and scoop up your dough. For each cookie, you’ll want to get 2 scoops of dough, onto one half of the dough place a piece of butter fudge and place the second dough ball on top, then round them off using the palms of your hand. Place onto your baking tray and fit around 6 cookies onto a standard baking tray.
Place your cookies into the preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes (or until golden brown).
Straight out the oven, place a generous amount of the white chocolate chips and fudge pieces on top of each cookie and allow to cool slightly on a cooling rack before eating.
Once cooler, enjoy by itself or with a glass of milk.

Scone Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a simple and straightforward recipe for plain scones, I have the perfect recipe for you right here.

These are really quick and simple to make, you can whip a batch up in under 60 minutes, what’s not to love? Incase you haven’t ever tried a scone before, I’ll give you the rundown on what they are exactly. Scones are a slightly sweetend confection, which are that interesting on their own, however, when they are partnered with clotted cream and jam it makes them a whole lot more interesting.

These scones are smaller than the ones you’d get in tearooms but are roughly the same size as the ones you’d find in supermarket bakeries here in the UK (which is still a decent size, it’s bigger than bitesize but smaller than the giant versions). The filling is also pretty simple, it’s just clotted cream and jam (I went with strawberry jam as I think this is the most traditional plus it’s what I had made not to long before this recipe) and depending on where you are will depend on whether you place the jam first or the cream first… To be honest, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, you’re still going to eat it either way.

The process behind these scones isn’t hard at all and best of all, you don’t even need any specialist equipment. All you need are your hands, this is the best way to make them but feel free to use a food processor if you have one.

To start, you’ll want to weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 200˚c/400˚f and prepare your baking tray with greaseproof paper/baking parchment.

place your milk into a small-medium bowl and add in the sugar and mix until the sugar is fully dissolved, then set aside (ideally in the fridge, until you need it. Try and keep the cold ingredients as cold as possible). Into a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and give a brief mix, then add in your cold cubed butter and work it in by rubbing the butter and flour together until they come together. To tell if this stage is done, you’ll notice a slight change in colour (a slight yellow-ish tint) but the most noticeable change would be the consistency, it will become more of a bread crumb or sandy texture. Once the correct consistency has been achieved, you can then add in your milk/sugar and mix this in using a spatula or you can do this by hand. Try not to overmix at this stage, as it’s very easy to do, so once a dough forms, you can stop mixing it.

Generously flour your counter, then add your scone dough onto the floured surface and knead a bit of the flour into your dough if its sticky. Just knead until the dough becomes smooth, try not to overmix as this will result in a tough textured scone. Roll out your dough slightly, it won’t take many rolls to get it to the right thickness (the right thickness would be around 3cm) you can then cut out your scones, I chose the plain edge but feel free to use the crinkled edge if you want to (use the 2 1/2 – 3 inch cookie cutter). Transfer your cut outs onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and brush the tops of the scones with egg wash (the egg wash I recommend using is simply a egg beaten in a small bowl) and then bake them in your preheated oven for around 15-20 minutes, they should be golden brown once they are fully baked. Once baked, allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once they have cooled completely, you can then slice them in half and place your clotted cream onto once half and the jam onto the other half. Sandwich the two together and finish the scones with a dusting of icing sugar. They are really that simple, nothing to complex about them at all, so I really hope you get to make a batch soon!

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

45g butter

45g sugar

150ml milk

1 egg (for egg wash)

Methods:

Start by preheating your oven to 200˚c/400˚f, weighing up your ingredients and preparing your baking tray with greaseproof paper.
To start the scones, place the milk into a small-medium bowl and add in the sugar. Whisk the two together until the sugar is dissolved in the milk, you can then set this aside (I recommend placing it into the fridge until you need it).
Into a large bowl, place your plain flour, baking powder and salt and give it a brief mix.
Into the dry ingredients, add in the butter and rub the dry ingredients and butter together until they become combined. You can tell when this stage is achieved but checking the colour of mix (if it’s got a slight yellow-ish tint, then you’re good) or the most obvious way is to check the consistency. If its a bread crumb or sandy texture, that’s what you’re looking for.
Once you’ve reached the correct consistency, you’ll want to add in the milk/sugar mixture and stir it in using a spatula just until a dough forms (try not to overmix at this stage, otherwise it will result in a tough textured scone).
Roll out your dough so its roughly 3cm thick, then using either a plain or crinkled edge cookie cutter (thats between 2 1/2 inch and 3 inch works well) cut out your shapes and place on a baking tray (if you re-roll the dough, make sure you only do it once, you should yield between 8-10 scones.
Once your scones are on the baking tray, brush the top of each scone with the egg wash and then place in your preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the scones to cool for a few minutes on the tray before transferring them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Once fully cooled, slice the scones in half and top one half with the clotted cream and the other with your jam and sandwich them together and finish with a dusting of icing sugar.
Make yourself a hot drink and enjoy your freshly finished scone.

So thank you for reading my blog post today, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please show your support by sharing this recipe with your friends and family. If you do make any recipe of mine, don’t forget to share your pictures with me!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe that won’t disappoint, you have come to the right place.

This recipe is super simple to make and best of all doesn’t take too long to make either, you’ll be able to have a batch of these made up in under an hour. What’s not to like about these?!

As I mentioned above, these cookies are quick and easy but are also budget friendly. Another great thing about this recipe is that it freezes really well, you can make the dough and get your scoopfuls done and freeze them and whenever you want to pull them out the freezer you simply place them onto a baking tray and bake in your preheated oven (a great idea around the holiday season or for school bake sales, it’ll save you time when you haven’t got it!). The other way is to bake the cookies off and then freeze them if you don’t intend on eating them right away (best to place them into a freezer bag) and whenever you want them, you take them out and defrost them. That way you can have your cookies whenever you like!

Just like the minimal ingredients, then method if the same. Just a few simple steps and you’re done!

Before you get into making these, you’ll want to do a bit of prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, prepare your baking tray by either lining it with greaseproof/parchment paper or generously buttering the tray and the final bit of prep is to weight up all your ingredients (this eliminates the chances of getting the measurements wrong and save you faffing around while making the dough.

Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the butter and both sugars and beat on a low-medium speed until they have become well combined. Once combined, you can then add in your egg and vanilla and mix that again on a low-medium speed until its well combined. Next you’ll want to add in your dry ingredients but before you go dumping them into the bowl, you’ll want to sieve them. Sieve them directly into the bowl and then fold them in using a spatula until almost fully incorporated, this is where you’ll want to add your chocolate chips in and mix until you have a clear dough. (by a clear dough, I mean there are no traces of any of the ingredients, they are fully incorporated.

Now that you’ve got your dough, you’ll want to use a cookie or (small) ice-cream scoop, (these are readily available online for pretty cheap) and scoop up the mixture filling the scoop all the way. Remove the dough from the scoop and round it up using your hands, then flattening into a disc shape. If you want to get even more chocolate into these, add a few more chocolate chips on top, pressing them down lightly (here is where you could freeze them to bake off at a later date). Place onto your prepped baking tray, I used a standard size one and got 12 onto it. You can then place the tray into the oven and allow to bake for 10-12 minutes (I found that around 11-12 minutes was perfect for me).

Remove your cookies from the oven (add some more chocolate chips on top, pushing them into the cookies while they are warm, maximise the amount of chocolate) and allow to cool on the tray for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack so they can cool completely. You can enjoy them slightly warm or completely cool. These will be best eaten on the day they’re made but will last for up to 3 days in a airtight container (at this stage you can freeze them.

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

1/8 tsp Salt.

150g Chocolate chips.

Method:

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

Easy

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