Easy

Chocolate Orange Mince Pies

It’s bakemas 2020!

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

The recipe I’m about to share with you, may change your festive favourite forever (seriously, I’m not kidding). How do you feel about chocolate orange mince pies? A little different but honestly, it’s a good different.

I’ve taken the classic mince pie and twisted it to make it better. Don’t get me wrong, theres nothing wrong with a mince pie but they can get a little boring, so why not add a little more flavour?

The main difference is in the pastry. Instead of plain pastry, I’ve made it a chocolate orange. The filling is almost identical, the mincemeat hasn’t changed but under the mincemeat filling I have added a button of 100% very dark chocolate – it helps balance the sweetness of the mincemeat filling and compliments the orange in the pastry perfectly.

To make this recipe even better, you’ll want to use good quality ingredients. That’s why I’ve used Cocoa Runners new baking range, including cocoa powder and unsweetened dark chocolate but they also offer milk chocolate, dark chocolate and cocoa nibs. I have also used them in my best ever brownies recipe, don’t forget to check them out if you’re interested!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 Egg.

90g Granulated sugar.

225g Butter, chilled.

350g Plain flour.

25g Cocoa powder.

A generous pinch of salt.

Zest of 1 orange

Filling:

Cocoa Runners 100% cocoa chocolate.

A large jar of sweet mincemeat (homemade or shop bought works well in this recipe).

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, grab any equipment you may need such as a food processor, muffin tin, whisk and spatula. You will also need clingfilm (to wrap the dough in) and for when the time comes, you will need to preheat the oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the mince pies, you’ll need to make the pastry. Into a small/medium bowl, place the egg and sugar into a bowl and whisk them together until they are well combined. Set aside until its needed later on.

Take a food processor and place in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, then pulse them together until they are combined.

Then add in all of your butter and pulse until it’s incorporated. At this stage it won’t come together as a dough, this is normal.

Now you can go ahead and add in the egg/sugar mixture, then pulse the mixture until it starts coming together but don’t let it fully combine. If you fully combine it in the food processor, it may overwork the gluten and make the pastry tough in texture.

Flour your work surface with flour and place the dough onto it and give it all a brief knead until everything is fully incorporated, bring the dough into a smooth round and then wrap in clingfilm. Place in the fridge and chill in the fridge for around and hour (or you can make this the day before to save time).

Once the dough has chilled for a least an hour in the fridge, you can work with it. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top of the flour, then roll it out until the pastry is around 5mm.

Using a 3 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles. Gently push these into your muffin tin, to create the main body of the pastry case. Don’t worry if they’re not perfect, you can fix this with the lid plus these don’t need to look perfect, nobody will bat an eyelid at them, especially once they try them!

You can then go ahead a generously fill the unbaked pastry cases with mincemeat. When it comes to the mincemeat, feel free to make your own or use shop bought, which ever you have to hand.

Take the excess pastry and roll it out, this will be the second roll – I don’t recommend rolling it out more than twice as it can make the pastry quite tough and not very nice to eat.

Roll the pastry out to 5mm in thickness and use a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter to cut the lids for the mince pies. Make sure you cut out the exact same amount you have for the pastry cases – for me this was 12. There should be a little bit of roll out pastry left, feel free to use a small festive themed cutter and make some decorations for the tops of the mince pies.

To assemble the mince pies ready to be baked off, place the lids on top of the mince pies and secure the lid to the pastry case by pressing down a fork into two. Repeat this for all of your mince pies.

Egg wash the tops of the pies, then place on the decoration, for me it was a snowflake shape. You will also want to egg wash the decoration, once you have done this, you can place the mince pies into your preheated oven and bake off for 20-25 minutes or until they turned a toasty brown colour.

When they are done baking, remove from the oven and allow to cool I the tray until you can remove them, then allow to completely fo cold on a cooling rack.

I will be honest, I have one that was still warm and its probably the best way to enjoy a mince pie, so enjoy slightly warm if you can.

As an optional finish, once they are cooled down, you can dust them lightly with some icing sugar.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

Today I’m sharing my take on a batch of gingerbread cupcakes – the perfect seasonal cupcake to make and enjoy!

These cupcakes are easily one of the best you can make over the festive period as they are gingery and rich, without being too much. I know not everybody likes a strong ginger flavour but these cupcakes have all the comforting flavours, so it’s not overpowering nor underwhelming – just perfectly balanced.

These cupcakes could topped with a spiced buttercream but that could be a lot, so have kept it simple with a basic vanilla buttercream.

If you like gingerbread biscuits, then you might just like these gingerbread cupcakes – give them a go today!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients: (makes 6)

Cupcakes:

225g Plain flour.

1 1/2 tsp Baking powder.

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

1 1/2 tsp Ground ginger.

90g Butter.

90g Light brown sugar.

90g Black treacle.

90g Golden syrup.

1 Egg.

150ml Milk.

Buttercream:

125g Butter.

250g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla buttercream.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to start by doing some prep. To start, weigh up all of your ingredients, line a muffin pan with cases/liners, grab a mixing bowl along with a whisk and spatula. You will also need a small/medium saucepan and don’t forget to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the cupcake recipe, grab your saucepan. Into the saucepan, place the butter, light brown sugar, black treacle and golden syrup, then place over a medium heat on the hob. Allow them to melt, then start whisking continuously until smooth and well combined.

While you wait for the ingredients on the hob, you can continue. Into a jug or small bowl, place in the egg and milk and beat together, then you can sift the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger together and set aside until needed later on.

Take the saucepan off the heat and allow to cool a little. Then go ahead and whisk in the milk and egg mixture until its fully incorporated – now add this into the dry mixture and fold everything together until the mixture is smooth and you can’t see a trace of a single ingredient.

Transfer the cake mixture into the cake cases and fill around 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full, this is the perfect amount of batter to fill cases. Then you can bake in your preheated oven for 20-22 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

While your cupcakes are in the oven, it’s the perfect time to have a good clean down and make the buttercream.

To make the buttercream is really easy. Grab a mixing bowl and place in the butter and beat it on its own until its lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Give the bowl a good scraping down and add in the first half of the icing sugar. Mix it in on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a high – everything should be incorporated and be a ‘whippy’ consistency. Repeat with the other half of the icing sugar.

Once all of the icing sugar has been added, add in the vanilla extract, the mix in until everything has been incorporated. Then you can give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Place the buttercream into a piping bad fitted with your nozzle of choice.

Now the cupcakes are baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.

To finish the cupcakes off, pipe the buttercream over the cooled cupcakes and finish with your choice of sprinkles.

Fresh Cream Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

That’s why today, I’m sharing another super easy cake recipe with you – here’s my take on a fresh cream cake.

It’s nothing super fancy, just two layers of soft vanilla sponge cake, filled with winterberry jam. Filled and coated with freshly whipped sweetened cream, finished with a desiccated coconut coating, a few rosettes top and they’re topped with some raspberries (feel free to use other berries).

If you’re looking for a cake to make to share with those you’re celebrating the holidays with, this may be the perfect addition at your celebration this year.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

250g Butter.

250g Granulated sugar.

4 Eggs.

1-2 tsp Vanilla extract.

250g Plain flour.

1 1/2 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

Milk (optional – only use if needed).

Filling:

Jam or spread of choice (I used winterberry jam, any filling is optional).

Finishing:

Whipped cream:

600ml Double cream.

50g Icing sugar.

1-2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Approx 200-250g desiccated coconut.

Optional – raspberries (or other berries) to finish.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredient, grab 2x 6 inch round cake tins and lined them with parchment or butter and flour them, then you can go ahead and grab any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and mixing bowl or hand mixer and a mixing bowl – spatulas will be essential during this recipe, so grab at least one of them. Don’t forget to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the cake, grab your mixing bowl and place in the butter and granulated sugar. Beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – around 7-10 minutes over a medium-high speed.

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

Now you can add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. As you add in the eggs, you will notice the consistency change and become looser, this is normal, don’t worry.

Add in the vanilla extract and mix it in until its fully incorporated.

Now you can give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been incorporated earlier on.

Grab a sieve and pass though the flour, baking powder and salt. Sifting the dry ingredients ensures you have no lumps in your cake batter – lumps in your batter are the last thing you need.

Place the mixing bowl back onto the mixer and start to incorporate the dry ingredients over a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high until everything is combined and fully incorporated.

If you find the cake batter is a little stiff to work with, don’t worry. Use a little milk, roughly a tablespoon at a time until you achieve the perfect consistency.

Finally, give your bowl a good scraping down. Just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Now you can grab your prepared cake tins and divide the cake batter between them, trying to get it as equal as possible if you’re eyeballing it like I was. Smooth and level it out, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

While your cakes are baking, it’s the perfect time to clean up and start on the cream filling and coating.

To make the cream filling and coating, take a clean mixing bowl and place in the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract, then beat over a medium-high speed until your cream has almost reached stiff peaks. It should easily hold its shape and be the perfect spreadable consistency.

Keep that refrigerated until needed later on or if you’re not decorating the cake that day, save whipping the cream until you need it.

Once the cakes are baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully, when you can, remove from the cake tins and leave on a cooling rack to cool fully.

Later on, once you’re ready to finish the cake, make sure you have levelled the top of the cakes. This just helps to keep everything level and consistent when finishing the cake off.

To start the assembly, grab your plate/stand/board and smear a small blob of fresh cream into the centre of it and place the first layer of cake onto it, pressing down to secure it in place.

On top of the first layer of cake, dollop and spread a good amount of cream and spread it out until its level, then optionally add some jam (I use winterberry but use your preference). Place the second layer of cake on top, then press down just to secure it in place.

You can then go ahead and give the cake a generous coating of the whipped cream, you will only be applying the one coat so be fairly generous.

Once you have a generous coat of cream, you can then go ahead and coat the cake with a layer of desiccated coconut, ensuring the cake has a good coating.

Pipe on the rosettes of cream, they may not stay in place due to you piping on top of the coconut but don’t worry. Then you can top them with your choice of berry, I chose raspberry.

Place in the fridge to firm up for about 45-60 minutes, then enjoy!

White Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

Today I’m sharing my recipe for a simple no bake white chocolate cheesecake. It’s rich, creamy and indulgent – the perfect accompaniment to your holiday celebrations.

The best thin about this cheesecake is that you can make individual portions, like I have or you can make it in a 8 inch round cake tin and even better – its no bake. The festive period is already stressful and with how different your celebrations may be this year, you don’t need added stress when it comes to the baked treats you offer.

I love this cheesecake as it can be made a day before you need it, best made the night before you need it as it doesn’t contain any gelatine but uses cream to set and firm up the cheesecake – so time is your best friend here.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cheesecake Base:

250g Digestive biscuits.

100g Butter.

Cheesecake Filling:

600g Soft cheese.

100g Icing sugar.

2 tsp Vanilla extract.

150ml Salted caramel sauce.

300ml Double cream.

Topping:

White chocolate chips.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, grabbing your glasses/8 inch round cake tin and grab any equipment you may need such as a hand mixer and mixing bowl/stand mixer and bowl.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to work on the base. Take your biscuits and crush them into a fine crumb, it should resemble sand – I used a food processor but feel free to place the biscuits into a food safe bag and crush them until you get a sand like consistency.

Now add the melted butter and combine the two until they are fully incorporated – you’ll know once they are combined as the mixture will now resemble wet sand.

Scoop the mixture into your glasses (or the base of the cake tin and compress using a spoon/cup measurement or something similar) and place into the fridge while you make the cheesecake filling.

To make the filling, place the soft cheese, icing sugar, melted white chocolate (that has been allowed to cool significantly) along with the vanilla extract into a bowl and beat until they are fully incorporated. All of the ingredients should be well combined and the mixture should be pretty thick – being able to hold its shape.

Now go ahead and add in the double cream and whisk until the mixture is thicker in consistency, it should be able to hold its shape well and be a white/off white colour.

Place the cheesecake filling into a piping bag and piped it into the glasses, this is the most convenient way to do it if you’re using glasses.

If you’re using a 8-inch cake tin, feel free to scoop or pour the mixture into the tin and level it out using a cranked/off-set palette knife and smooth it off the best you can.

You can place these in the fridge to firm up for a couple of hours (I recommend making this the night before you need it, that way you’re not just waiting for the cheesecake to set).

To finish the cheesecake, use a good selection of white chocolate chips and just play them on top of the cheesecake. If you don’t like the idea of white chocolate chips, feel free to use whipped cream – whichever works best for you.

The Best Ever Chocolate Brownies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Looking for the best brownies you’ll ever make? Look no further, I’m sharing the best recipe with you today.

Be honest with yourself, brownies are easily one of the best things you can bake. It can be hard to find a recipe that genuinely works well – especially achieving that perfect dense and fudgy texture.

I found that using a mixture of milk and dark chocolate along with cocoa powder will help you make the best ever brownies, seriously, trust me on this one (I’ve made enough brownies to tell you that).

When it comes to the chocolate and cocoa powder you use, a good quality brand will really help elevate and intensify the flavour and texture. That’s why I’m using 44% cocoa milk chocolate and 100% cocoa dark chocolate (the combination of the two balance very well).

For quality chocolate, you should check out Cocoa Runners. They have a great selection of chocolates on offer, including milk, dark and unsweetened (100% cocoa). They also offer cocoa powder and cocoa nibs, which are perfect for all of your baking needs. The best thing about Cocoa Runners products is not only the quality but how much better the farmers are treated and paid for their product – you can tell the difference between these and the readily available at the supermarket. Sometimes you have to appreciate that its quality over quantity.

If you’re interested, don’t forget to check out Cocoa Runners and their excellent range of baking products. If you do, why not enjoy 10% off using code BakingWithElliott10.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

200g Butter.

100g Milk chocolate.

100g Unsweetened chocolate (100% cocoa).

100g Plain flour.

50g Cocoa powder.

3 Eggs.

300g Granulated sugar.

Method:

Before you get into the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work first. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, place a saucepan with a small amount of water onto the hob over a medium heat, weigh up your ingredients, line a 8 inch square tin with parchment paper and get any other equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a silicon spatula.

To start, take a heatproof bowl (one thats big enough to fit on top of the saucepan of simmering water) and place in the butter, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Place the bowl over the heat and allow to melt, once you can see it melting, you will then want to stir the mixture until it’s smooth and no traces of a single ingredient can be seen. Once you’ve achieved this, set aside, allowing it to cool down bit before you use it.

Now you can go ahead and take a medium sized bowl and sift in the plain flour and cocoa powder. Once sifted into the bowl, you can take a whisk and just combine them a little further – set aside until needed later on.

Into a large mixing bowl (I sued my stand mixer and mixing bowl), place the eggs and sugar. Whisk them together until they are lighter in colour and consistency- it should be a pale yellow-ish colour and is smooth in texture.

Turn the speed to a medium and gently pour in the melted chocolate butter mixture, then once it’s incorporated, mix for a short while afterwards, just until it’s fully incorporated.

Next you can add in the sieved dry mix, then fold it in using a spatula or metal spoon, just until the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Try your best not to over-mix at this stage.

Add the brownie batter into your lined cake tin and bake in your preheated oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes or a tester comes out with a few crumbs on.

When there is about 10 minutes remaining, remove from the oven and finish them off with some more of the chocolate buttons, I used milk and unsweetened along with some cocoa nibs, which add a little texture and flavour.

Once they are baked,

Then cool in the tin until they are fully cooled. To make the texture and flavour even better, place in the fridge for as long as possible – this is probably the best recommendation I have when making good brownies even better

Now they are cooled and ready, slice up into 8 bars or 16 bitesize portions

Pumpkin Ring Doughnuts

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m taking things back to basics, well a seasonal basic – pumpkin ring doughnuts.

Doughnuts are always a good idea, that’s a straight fact. These doughnuts are almost identical to a regular ring doughnut but have a less than secret ingredient in them to make them a little different – pumpkin of course (otherwise these wouldn’t be pumpkin ring doughnuts, would they?).

The doughnut dough is an enriched dough as it contains butter, egg and milk but theres also another ingredient which helps enrich the dough – pumpkin puree. On it’s own, pumpkin puree doesn’t have a very strong flavour but it helps to keep baked good moist and add a richness, you’ll understand what I mean if you’ve ever had any sort of pumpkin baked good…

I didn’t add any ground baking spices into the dough, as I found it was easy to over do the spices, a little went a long way. So instead of adding spices into the dough, I thought why not coat these doughnuts in cinnamon sugar? Trust me, that makes up for the lack of baking spices in the dough, honestly.

If these doughnuts sound like your sort of thing, why don’t you try them this autumn? I promise, you won’t regret it.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Doughnuts:

450g Strong white bread flour.

1 tsp Salt.

35g Fresh yeast.

60g Butter.

1 Egg.

100ml Milk + 50ml Water (lukewarm).

100g Pumpkin puree.

Coating:

200-250g Granulated sugar.

Ground cinnamon (use as much as little as you’d like).

Method:

Before you get into the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, cut squares of parchment paper (for the doughnuts to sit on, while proving) and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and a bench scraper.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to work on the dough. Grab a mixing bowl and place in the bread flour and sale, give them a brief mix until they are incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the remaining ingredients, starting with the yeast, butter, egg, milk, water and pumpkin puree. Then mix everything together for 2 minutes on a low speed, followed by 6 minutes on a medium-high speed. A dough should form and be fairly soft, this is normal – this occurs due to the dough being enriched.

You can then place the dough onto a floured work surface and give it a brief knead. This is to incorporate a little more flour and alleviate the stickiness of the dough. Try your best not to incorporate too much flour, as it will ruin the texture of the doughnuts later on.

Bring the dough into a ball shape and place into a lightly oiled bowl and the leave somewhere warm to prove for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. The amount of time this take will vary on how warm it is wherever you place the dough.

Once the dough has doubled in size, you can knock it back. This is simply the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough during the first prove. You may find lightly flouring your work surface to knock the dough back on will be easier to work with.

After the dough has been knocked back, bring it back into a ball shape and divide by 12, these will look like regular doughnuts but don’t worry we will make them ring doughnuts easily. Make sure you round the balls of dough off and cover them with clingfilm while you turn them into ring doughnuts.

To make them ring doughnuts, take a ball of dough and roll it out until its about 1 cm in thickness, try your best to keep the doughnuts round in shape. Then using a standard piping nozzle, cut out the centre and place onto a square of parchment paper and onto a baking tray and cover loosely with clingfilm and prove until they have almost doubled in size, around 30-45 minutes should be perfect.

The one thing you should know with doughnuts its that its better to underprove them rather than overprove them, thats one of the things I remember my bread lecturer saying.

While the doughnuts are proving, you should heat the oil to 180˚c/350˚f – make sure it’s at this temperature, otherwise it’ll ruin the end result.

When your doughnuts are ready, you can place them into the oil and fry for about 60 seconds on each side – this is the perfect time for me so use that a guideline.

Once they have been fried, place onto some kitchen paper to absorb the excess grease. Leave them to cool fully, before you finish them off.

To make the cinnamon sugar, you simply place the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon into a bowl and mix together until they are fully combined.

Take your doughnuts and roll them in then cinnamon sugar, ensuring they have a good coating and then enjoy.

These doughnuts are perfect for the current time of year as they’re seasonal but these can be made all year round.

Apple Crumble Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing my take on an apple crumble layer cake – this is the perfect cake to make and enjoy during the long autumnal days/nights.

This cake came to be after experimenting with flavours and preventing waste, plus why not combine a classic apple crumble with cake to make this perfectly seasonal apple crumble cake. Try not to get this cake confused with a crumble topped apple cake, which is equally as delicious.

I’ll be honest with you, this cake was an accidental creation. I had been making a apple crumble no-bake cheesecake and apple crumble cupcakes and had left over ingredients. So, to prevent food waste, I made this delicious cake. If you like sponge cake and apple crumble – you’ll love this cake.

The cake is made up of 2 layers of apple cake (made with fresh and dried apple), filled and coated with a cinnamon buttercream and finished with a crumble topping as decoration – it’s my take on a combination of an apple crumble and cake.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

200g Butter.

200g Brown sugar (you can use either light or dark, whichever you prefer or have available).

3 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

200g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

75g Cooking apple (peeled, cored and chopped).

10g Dried apple.

Buttercream:

250g Butter.

500g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Ground cinnamon (flavour to your preference).

Crumble:

35g Granulated sugar.

35g Dark brown sugar.

30g Oats.

50g Plain flour.

60g Butter.

Simple syrup:

100ml Water.

100g Granulated sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Apple Filling:

1 Large cooking apple, chopped into small cubes.

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

15-30ml Water.

Method:

Before you get started on any element of this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I recommend starting by weighing up all of your ingredients, getting any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer, mixing bowls and spatulas. You will also want to preheat your oven to 180˚f/350˚f and line your 6 inch cake tins with butter and parchment paper.

Cake:

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to start on the cake. Grab your mixing bowl and place in the butter and light brown sugar and beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this takes around 7-10 minutes on a medium-high speed.

You now start adding your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. If you add your eggs too quickly, you may split the mixture and this sin’t ideal. You will also want to add in the vanilla extract, mix until it has been fully incorporated into the mix.

Don’t forget to give your bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Then you can add in the dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve first. This will help remove any lumps that may be in the dry mixture, meaning you won’t have any lumps of raw flour in your finished cake.

Mix all of the dry ingredients in on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high speed until the flour has been fully incorporated. Once the flour has been almost fully incorporated, you can add in the apple and mix on a medium speed until they are fairly distributed through out the cake batter.

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

Divide the cake batter between your two cake tins and level it out as best you can using a small cranked or offset palette knife. You can then place them into the preheated oven and bake off for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Misc:

While your cakes are in the oven baking, you can make the buttercream and apple filling.

For the buttercream, grab your clean mixing bowl and place in the butter and beat for 5-7 minutes or until it has become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

You can then go ahead and add in the first half of your icing sugar and beat on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high until the icing sugar has been fully incorporated. Repeat this stage with the remixing icing sugar.

Now you will want to add in the vanilla extract and mix until it has been fully incorporated. Give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Add in some ground cinnamon and mix until you have the desired flavour. The amount of cinnamon is up to you, I like quite a lot as I want to be able to taste the cinnamon.

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

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

Now may also be the ideal time to make the simple syrup, which is probably the easiest thing to make in this recipe. Place the water, sugar and vanilla extract into a saucepan and mix together until they are combined. Place on the hob over a medium-high heat and allow to come to a boil, then simmer until the mixture has reduced and thickened slightly. Allow to cool fully before you intend on using it.

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

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

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

Assembly:

Now you have every element of the cake made, you can assemble it. To start, level your cakes – I remove the un-level top of the cakes and generously brush the layers of cake with the vanilla simple syrup I made earlier on.

Then grab the plate/board/stand you intend on using to serve the cake on and onto the centre of it, place a small blob of buttercream and smear it out and place the first layer of cake onto it, pressing down to secure it in place. This step acts as the glue, ensuring the cake is secure and won’t move around while you’re working with it.

Place a decent amount of buttercream onto the first layer or cake and spread out, leaving a slight lip on the outer edge, then add in the apple filling and place the second layer of cake on top, pressing down to secure it in place a bit better.

You can then go ahead and add a generous layer of buttercream to the entire cake, encasing the cake in the cinnamon buttercream. Usually, I’d suggest doing a crumb coat but this cake didn’t really need one as I wasn’t looking for a perfect finish. If you are looking for a more perfect finish, you can go ahead and do a crumb coat before applying the final layer of buttercream. If you do a crumb coat, chill in the fridge for around 45-60 minutes before applying the final layer.

Make sure you keep the sides smooth and have a little more buttercream on top of the cake, so you can use a small cranked/offset palette knife to make a swirl on top of the cake. This is probably the simplest and easiest way to decorate a cake – well I think so anyway. Feel free to decorate however you like!

To finish the cake off, I use the crumble mix around the outer edge of the cake just to add some decoration, colour and texture. You can incorporate the crumble a different way, if the way I mentioned doesn’t suit you.

That’s it. You can eat the cake straight away or chill in the fridge for a short while before you enjoy it.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Blondies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Autumn is one of those times of the year which seems very short compared to spring and summer, that’s why you have to get all the autumn flavours you can while baking. That’s why I’m sharing my recipe for a batch of pumpkin cheesecake blondies.

I’ll be honest, I hadn’t planned on making these blondies – they kind of just happened on the day. I didn’t have enough soft cheese for a cheesecake and wasn’t going back out just for that, especially seeing as the UK was coming to the end of the first lockdown.

These are the perfect treat to make on a day when the weather is dark and miserable or while doing a spot of weekend baking. If you give these a go, don’t forget that this is like 2 desserts in 1… Who doesn’t like more dessert?

You have the classic white chocolate blondie, which is good on its own but when you add in a pumpkin cheesecake swirl, it elevates it to another level, seriously. You don’t have to believe me but I will tell you, it adds a different flavour and texture to the end baked good – plus it’s perfectly seasonal.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Blondies:

200g White chocolate.

150g Butter.

160g Granulated sugar.

3 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract

190g Plain flour.

1/4 tsp Salt.

100g White chocolate chips.

Cheesecake swirl:

100g Soft cheese.

80g Pumpkin puree.

1 Egg yolk.

20g Granulated sugar.

20g Plain flour.

1/4 tsp Ground mixed spice.

1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon.

Dash of ground cloves and all spice.

Method:

Before you get started on any part of the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients, line your 8 inch square baking tin with some parchment paper and grab any equipment you may need such as heat proof mixing bowl and whisk.

To start on the recipe, I recommend you make the cheesecake swirl.

Place all of the cheesecake swirl ingredients into a medium sized bowl and whisk together until the mixture is smooth and everything has been combined. If the mixture isn’t a very bright orange, feel free to add a little orange food colouring gel/paste (avoid the liquid variation, it will only ruin the mixture), whisk that in until its fully combined, then set that in the fridge while you make the blondie.

For the blondie, place a small/medium saucepan filled with a small amount water over a low heat, reaching a simmer.

Into a heatproof bowl, place the butter and white chocolate and place over the saucepan of simmering water. Ensure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water, otherwise it may ruin the butter and chocolate mixture. Allow the two to melt a little then stir until smooth and combined.

Remove the chocolate mixture from the saucepan and place onto your work surface and add in all of the granulated sugar and whisk together until fully combined. The mixture may look a little more granular, this is normal and will smooth out later in the recipe.

You can now add in the eggs, one at time whisking well in-between each addition. Once all of the eggs have been added , you should notice the mixture is much smoother and glossier – this is what you’re looking for.

You can then go ahead and add in the vanilla extract, just whisk until it has been fully incorporated.

Next add in the flour, salt and white chocolate chips. Fold everything in until the flour and salt have been fully incorporated and the chocolate chips have been equally distributed throughout the blondie batter.

Pour the batter into your lined baking tin and level off if it’s uneven. Now you will need the cheesecake mixture you made earlier, so grab it from the fridge.

Take dollops of the cheesecake mixture and place on top of the blondie batter and take a butterknife to swirl the cheesecake through the blondies. Once you’re happy with the swirls, place into your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes (or until the blondies have gone golden brown around the edges and the cheesecake doesn’t jiggle excessively anymore). Allow to cool down fully.

For the best and easiest results, I like to place the blondies I the fridge to chill for as long as possible. This helps in more than one way, it makes the blondies more fudgy and the cheesecake smoother and it make them easier to slice up. You can work with them right away, if that’s all the time you have.

When it come to cutting these up, however many slices you need or want is up to you. I like to work with 8 bigger portions of 16 more bet size portions – whichever suits you best!

Apple Pie

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This weeks recipe is for a simple apple pie – nothing fancy about the recipe, just a standard but tasty recipe for you try during the autumn period or any time of year.

I know that apple pie isn’t the most autumnal pie but when else can you enjoy pies? September-November is honestly pie season for me (even more so than pumpkin spice, fight me…).

For this recipe, I’ll be using my basic shortcrust pastry recipe. It’s a sturdy and reliable recipe that has never failed me – nor should it fail you (trust me on that, it’s one of recipe must haves). Inside of the pastry, you’ll have the apple filling (duh), which is simply apple, sugar and spices – the key to a good apple pie is keeping it simple! This way the apple won’t be completely mushy, they’ll be perfectly cooked, with a slight crunch!

I won’t lie, this recipe was made back in August of 2020 while I was having a baking session where I also made a red velvet cake, banana bundt cake and salted caramel gingerbread traybake amongst other bits – check out the recipes, you might find something you like!

The key for this weeks recipes, keeping it simple. Sometimes making things super complex doesn’t do anything but muddy the water…

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Pastry –

Don’t forget to check out my shortcrust pastry recipe.

Apple filling:

750g Apples.

125g Light or dark brown sugar (whichever you prefer).

1 tsp Ground cinnamon.

1-2 tbsp Water (optional, only if needed).

Additional bits :

1 Egg, for egg wash.

Brown sugar, to sprinkle on top the pastry

Method:

Before you get started on any part of this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I recommend starting with making the pastry (this can be done 1-2 days in advanced), weighing up all of your ingredients and grabbing any equipment you need, such as a mixing bowl and a sharp paring knife.

As mentioned above, you will want to make the pastry, which can be made in advanced, saving you precious time and effort on the day you want to make the apple pie. I won’t be sharing how to make the pastry as I have recipe which has more detail on there, which I’ll link here.

Once the pastry has been made and chilled, you can go ahead and work with it. Onto your work surface, sprinkle a small amount of flour, then you can go ahead and place the dough onto it. You’ll then want to roll the dough out to be around the same thickness as a pound coin, which is perfect for this recipe as you’ll need to roll the pastry out to be bigger than the tin and if you use a 10 inch pie tin like me, it all falls into place perfectly.

You can then drape the pastry over the pie tin, I find rolling the pastry onto a rolling pin the easiest and safest way to work with the dough but you do it however you need to.

Press the pastry into the grooves of the pie tin, be gentle as the pastry may be delicate to work with (but don’t worry if you tear the pastry, you can patch it up easily). Then using the sharp paring knife, you can then go ahead and trim away the excess from around the edge of the tin – make sure you bring it back into a ball shape, wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge – we’ll use this up later.

Don’t forget to dock the bottom of the pastry case and place into the fridge to chill while you make the apple filling (which only take a few minutes, so chill the pastry case for 30 minutes, then work on the filling).

To make the apple filling, its super straightforward. Grab a large bowl and place in the brown sugar and cinnamon (you can also add other spices, if you’d like to) and give the two a good mix until well incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the apple slices, ensuring that they all get fairly coated in the brown sugar mixture then you can add them all in to the chilled pastry case – it may look a lot and bulge up, don’t worry, they’ll shrink as they cook.

Place it back in the fridge for short while, just while you make the top.

For the top of the apple pie, you can do it however you like, leave it plain, a lattice or just a plain top, like I’m doing. Roll the pastry out to be the same thickness as the pastry case and then drape it on top, crimping the edge, so the lid is secured to the case – just use a fork. Don’t forget to slice 2 slits in the middle of the pie, to release any steam that will occur while baking.

To use up the last of the pastry, feel free to give the edge and centre a more decorative finish. I went with some oak leaves to go around the edge of the pie, as well as a few in the centre but this is completely optional.

Give the whole pie a good egg wash, ensuring a good coating is applied – then you can go ahead and sprinkle on some sugar, I like to use brown sugar but use whatever you want to.

Bake in your preheated oven for 45-50 minutes – It should be well coloured and smell great, once ready.

Once the apple pie has baked, I recommenced leaving the pie to cool fully. It can be reheated later on and served with cream or custard.

Wholemeal Bloomer

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

While we are in the midst of autumn (and a second national lockdown pending), homemade bread is one of those simple pleasures. That’s why I’m sharing my recipe for a super simple wholemeal bloomer.

If you’re not sure what a bloomer loaf is, it’s a loaf of bread thats baked on a baking tray rather than in a tin. It’s shaped but finds its way into the perfect bloomer shape while proving – it’s not complex at all, it’s very simple.

Wholemeal bread for me just gives more of an autumnal feeling, in the strangest way it’s ‘warming’. A couple of thickly sliced bloomer with some soup – what a winning combination – give it a try and tell me otherwise.

If this sounds like something you’d like to make – grab your ingredients and have a lazy afternoon as you make this.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Wholemeal flour.

8g Salt.

25g Fresh yeast.

30g White shortening.

10g Granulated sugar.

310ml Water.

Method:

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

To start on the recipe, grab a mixing bowl and place in the wholemeal flour and salt – whisking the two together until they are well combined.

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, white shortening, granulated sugar and water.

Mix the ingredients together on a low speed to start with for 2 minutes, followed by 6 minutes on a medium-high speed. Once finished with the mixing process, the dough should be easy to work with (maybe a little soft/sticky, this will go away).

Now sprinkle flour onto your work surface with a small amount of wholemeal flour and place the bread dough onto it and knead until it has become smooth and elastic.

Bring the dough back into a ball shape and place into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm to prove for around 60 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

Once the dough has finished its first prove, you can go ahead and flour your work surface and knock the dough back. This is the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough during the first prove.

After the dough has been knocked back, bring back into a ball shape then roll out into an oblong shape – cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to prove again for a further 45 minutes or until it has pretty much doubled in size.

While the dough is proving, you can get tidied up and preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f. You’ll know the dough has done proving as you’ll be able to gently press the dough and it’ll spring back.

After the second proof, you can remove the clingfilm from off of the dough and make score the dough. I think more traditionally its around 7 cuts but I went with 6 – if you’re making this for home, you can make as many or as few cuts as you’d like. Bake in the preheated oven for around 30-35 minutes.

To test if the bread is done, turn it upside own and tap the bottom – if it sounds hollow, thats a good sign and shows the bread is baked, remove from the oven and take off the baking tray and place onto a cooling rack to cool down fully.

Once cooled down, you can then go ahead and slice the bread to your desired thickness and enjoy it however you like.

Easy

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