Jam

Jam and Coconut Loaf Cake

Today I’m showing you how to make a super easy jam and coconut loaf cake.

This recipe was one that was requested not by someone on my blog or social media but by my own nan. The combination of jam and coconut wasn’t something I had heard of before she mentioned it, so I was excited to try a new flavour combination.

Seeing as I hadn’t heard of this cake, I asked my nan what it was. It’s simply a coconut sponge cake which is topped with a layer of jam and finished with desiccated coconut. It’s a really straightforward recipe… It may not be anything special but hey, it would make the perfect snack on a afternoon with a cuppa.

In the more traditional recipes, you’d use a strawberry jam (or you could use some sort of red berry based jam) however, you can use whatever jam you like most.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Coconut Loaf:

175g Butter.

175g Granulated sugar.

3 eggs.

225g Plain flour.

1 tsp baking powder.

75g Desiccated coconut.

Decoration:

60-80g Jam (of your choice – I chose strawberry).

Desiccated coconut (don’t be stingy, be generous).

Method:

Start by doing some prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up your ingredients and prepare your loaf tin by coating with a thin layer of butter, greasing and lining a standard loaf tin with some butter and greaseproof paper and finally get any equipment you may need ready in advance, such as a mixing bowl and mixer.

To start the cake recipe, you’ll want to get your mixing bowl of choice and place the butter and sugar into the bowl and beat until the two are light and fluffy.

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

Go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl to incorporate any bits that not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Sift in your flour and baking powder then add in the desiccated coconut and mix that over a medium speed until a cake batter has formed. Try not to overmix your batter, this will result in a tough textured cake.

You’ll now want to transfer the cake batter into your lined loaf tin and level it off using an offset pallet knife. Bake that on the middle shelf of your oven for around 60 minutes (check the cake at around 45 minutes into baking and cover with foil if the top of your cake starts to darken while baking).

Bake until a tester comes out clean, for me this was 60 minutes (this time may be longer or shorter for you depending on your oven).

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the tin an allow to completely cool on a cooling rack.

Get your cake, once completely cooled. Add your jam on top of the cake and spread it around until you have a roughly consistent layer all over.

Sprinkle over a generous amount of desiccated coconut (to your personal preference) and leave for 10 minutes.

Enjoy this cake cut into slices with a hot beverage, such as tea or coffee or enjoy as a treat with custard.

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.

Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If lockdown has go you climbing the walls, why not give these strawberry and white chocolate cupcakes a go – I promise they’ll go down a treat.

These cupcakes are similar to the strawberry cupcakes I made earlier in the year, apart from this recipe was supposed to be muffins but they didn’t dome enough, so I turned them into cupcakes. The cupcake itself has fresh strawberries and white chocolate in it, which is then filled with homemade strawberry jam and topped with a strawberry and vanilla buttercream and finished with a drizzle of white chocolate spread. As you can tell, this is perfectly seasonal for the month of May!

If you cant get hold of strawberries to make your own jam, don’t worry – simply use store bought.

These were originally going to be muffins but they didn’t dome as much as they usually would, so I made the best of a bad situation and turned them into cupcakes – smart eh? haha.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

150g Butter.

100g Granulated sugar.

150g Plain flour.

2 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

3 Eggs.

100g Fresh strawberries, chopped.

80g White chocolate, chopped (or chips).

Filling:

Strawberry jam (the amount will vary, dependant on how much you use).

Buttercream:

250g Butter.

500g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Strawberry jam.

Finishing:

White chocolate spread.

Methods:

Cupcake:

Before you get into the recipe, you’re best to do some prep work. I recommend weighing up all your ingredients, lining your muffin tin with liners and preheating your oven to 200˚c/400˚f.

Start by grabbing a large mixing bowl and lacking the butter and sugar into it. Beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Next you can give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

Now you can work your eggs in, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition, ensuring they are fully incorporated before adding anymore egg. The mixture may curdle a little, this is normal for this recipe.

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

Go ahead and add in plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing through a sieve first. This is just to ensure the mixture is as lump free as possible.

Before you continue to mix the dry ingredients in, add the strawberries and white chocolate and then go ahead and fold everything together using a spatula or wooden spoon – either will work well.

Take your lined muffin tin and spoon the mixture into the liners, filling them around 3/4 or 2/3 of the way full and place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Check the cupcakes are baked by inserting a tester into the centre and it should come out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool down fully, before you finish them off.

Buttercream:

Take a mixing bowl and place the butter into it and beat for 5-7 minutes on its own, it should be lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

give the bowl a good scraping down, then add half of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed to start with, working your way up to high speed. Repeat with the remaining icing sugar.

give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate the last bits of icing sugar. Then you can add in the vanilla extract and just beat that in until its fully incorporated.

Assembly:

To finish the cupcakes, start by coring the centre out of the cupcakes and filling them generously with strawberry jam, you can eat the little bit you’ve cored out – set them aside for a few moments while you finish the buttercream.

To finish the buttercream, add a good amount t of strawberry jam into the mixture and work it in until fully incorporated. Place into a piping bag fitted with a piping nozzle (I like an open star tip, but use what you have).

Pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes and then finish with a drizzle of white chocolate spread.

Cornflake Tart Recipe | School Cornflake Tart

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

While you’ve got some more time on your hands, why don’t you give this cornflake tart a go?

I have already done a recipe for a cornflake tart but that was only a small one – this one is a large one. Who doesn’t want more of this classic treat?

I’m not sure whether it’s a local or national thing, but at my secondary school it was on the menu, alongside flapjacks and chocolate flapjacks. This recipe is even better than the ones your school could ever serve – I promise you that.

My recipe may not be exactly traditional but it’s my take on it and it’s always turned out well. If you’re not sure what cornflake tart is – are you okay? It starts with a shortcrust pastry case, which is then filled with strawberry jam and topped with cornflake mixture. You’re guaranteed to get sweet and crispy in every mouthful.

I’ll be showing you how to make your own pastry as well as the filling – its all super easy and can be made with a pretty quick turn around.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Pastry:

I already have a recipe showing you how to make pastry, I’ll link it here for you.

Cornflake Filing:

230g Golden syrup.

110g Butter.

80g Granulated sugar.

A pinch of salt.

170g Cornflakes.

250-300g Strawberry jam.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, I recommend you do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, line your 9×13 inch baking tray (only if needed, or even better, use a disposable tray), preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a saucepan and a spatula.

To keep the recipe short and simple, I’ve left a link for the pastry recipe above. Make the pastry and wrap it in some clingfilm and chill for about an hour before you use it.

Once the dough has had some time to chill in the fridge, you can take it and start to roll it out. Start by generously flouring your work surface, then placing the dough onto it.

Roll out the pastry until its roughly 1 inch bigger than the 9×13 inch tin/tray, then you can go ahead and place the pastry over the top and press it down into place. Don’t worry if the pastry rips or tears, you can fix it with the left over pastry.

Dock the bottom of the pastry with a fork, this is just to allow the steam to release and prevents the pastry base rising while it bakes – place in the fridge and allow to chill for an hour.

Once the pastry case has had an hour in the fridge, you can then go ahead and grab your strawberry jam, spreading it out until you have roughly consistent layer of jam.

Place back in the fridge, just while you make the cornflake filling.

To make the cornflake filling, grab a small saucepan and place in the golden syrup, butter and granulated sugar and salt, then place it on the heat over a medium heat.

Allow everything to melt a little and then start stirring it constantly, just until everything is fully melted and is well combined.

Grab your bowl of cornflakes and pour over the melted mixture.

Then you can go ahead and give it all a very good stir until all of the cornflakes have been well coated in the liquid mix. Once you’ve achieved this, you can go ahead and grab your pastry case filled with the jam and add all of the cornflake mixture directly on top of the jam.

Move them about until you have a consistent layer and compress them down until the are slightly compact – this is just to make sure that it stays together while it bakes and once it cools down.

Place into your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cornflakes have turned a golden brown colour. Whatever you do, don’t touch the tart until, its fully cooled down. Leave it in the baking tin/tray until it has fully cooled.

Once everything is done and dusted, you can go ahead and slice up the cornflake tart. You can cut it however you like but I went with 12 generously she portions but you could get 24 smaller bitesize pieces – its up to you.

3 Ingredient Strawberry Jam

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a quick and easy strawberry jam recipe, look no further. Today’s recipe is for my 3 ingredient strawberry jam – you read that right, only 3 ingredients.

Ever since I started my YouTube channel and blog, I have asked multiple times whether people would be interested in a recipe for my jam and only now have I finally got around to sharing it with you.

When it comes to jam making, people assume its hard to do or you need more ingredients but this really isn’t the case. You need three simple ingredients; strawberries, sugar and water – that’s it. Making jam is seriously easy and doesn’t take too long either – this is the ideal recipe to make while you’re staying in. You can use other fruits, I recommend sticking to berries (I’ve used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries previously).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

350g Fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped.

200g Granulated sugar (any sort of white sugar will work well here).

Water (just splash to help the consistency).

Method:

Before you get into making the jam, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, grab a medium/large saucepan and wooden spoon and a sterilised jar (I used a Kilner jar but feel free to use whatever jar you have, as long as its clean and has been sterilised).

Take your saucepan and place the strawberries and sugar into it.

Give the two a good mix until they are fully combined, it will look syrupy but this is completely normal.

Before you place it on the hob, you’ll want to add some water to the strawberry and sugar mixture. When it comes to how much water you will need, that really depends on how ripe your fruit is, so start with a little and add more if it’s needed – don’t worry if you add too much water, it will evaporate from the jam as it thickens on the hob (it may take a little longer if you add a lot of water).

Now that all the ingredients have been combined, you can place the saucepan on the hob over a medium-high heat.

It may look like the jam isn’t thickening to start but give it some time. As you notice the mixture starts to get hot and bubbles, keep giving it the occasional stir, just to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.

Once it comes to almost a boil, lower the heat and leave it to simmer over a medium-low heat, until the mixture thickens. Make sure you don’t let the mixture sit for too long as it may catch the bottom of the pan and burn – this will ruin the jam (just be careful).

Now the jam is getting there, you will notice that the mixture has gone from quite a runny consistency to a much thicker one – this is what you’re looking for. Once it becomes a more ‘gloopy’ consistency or falls more chunky from the spoon, you’re done. Remove from the heat.

Go ahead and grab your sterilised jar and pour the jam directly into it (try your best not to get the jam onto your skin, it’s extremely hot and will burn you. Also, try and get it all into the jar the first time, not like me haha).

Place the lid on the jar and allow the jam to cool down completely before you place it into the fridge and use within 4-6 weeks.

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 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Cream Bun Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

These are a classic that aren’t too hard to make but will be loved by anyone who tries them. Today I’ll be showing you how to make my cream buns!

I wasn’t sure what to make this week, so I chose this cream bun recipe. A classic that is becoming harder to find in bakeries, unless they are traditional – now you don’t have to worry.

Starting with an enriched dough, which is baked and then filled with freshly whipped cream and jam – what’s not to like? These will honestly go down a treat, I promise.

How are you liking the bread series so far? I’d like to know if you’d like more sweet or savoury recipes within the series.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g White bread flour.

5g Salt.

10g Dried yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

50g Egg.

90ml Water.

90ml Whole milk.

Methods:

Before you get into the baking, it’s best to do some prep work. Start by weighing up the ingredients, lining a baking tray with some parchment paper and gathering any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer or mixing bowl.

Starting on the dough, place the bread flour and salt into a bowl and give it a good mix until they are fully incorporated.

Into the same bowl, place the dried yeast, butter, granulated sugar, egg, water and milk. Go ahead and start to mix the dough on a low speed, working your way up to a medium.

Mix until a clear dough has formed, it shouldn’t show a single trace of any ingredient and the bowl should be pretty clean once the dough is done.

Lightly flour your work surface with some bread flour and give the dough a brief knead until its smooth and elastic.

Grab a large mixing bowl and oil it lightly. Then you can place the dough into it and allow it to proof for around 1 hour (or until double in size).

After the dough has doubled, take it from the bowl and knock it back. This is the process of removing the gases from the dough that had built up during the first proof.

Next you’ll want to weigh the dough and divide the dough by 12, rounding the dough off by hand into smooth ball shape.

Place onto your lined baking tray and cover with cling film and allow to proof for a further 45 minutes or until they have poofed up.

Now is the idea time to prepare the filling.

Take a mixing bowl and place in the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract.

Whisk them all together until the mixture has thickened and can hold its shape. Transfer the cream into a piping bag fitted with a star piping nozzle.

Place the jam into a piping bag as well, keeping both the jam and cream in the fridge until you need them.

While they are proofing, now would be ideal time to preheat your oven to 220˚c/430˚f.

Once the buns are proofed, go ahead and place them into your preheated oven and bake off for 9-12 minutes (mine turned out dark but still soft).

Now that the buns have baked, remove from the oven and take off the baking tray and allow to cool fully.

Once the buns are cooled, you’ll want to slice them. On a 45˚ angle, slice the bun almost in half, but not quite.

Open the bun and pipe on the cream, then on top of the cream pipe a small amount of jam.

Finish the buns with a dusting of icing sugar and thats it, that’s how you make my cream bun recipe.

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 Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Strawberry Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so why not make these strawberry cupcakes? They’ll go down a real treat – I promise!

Just because it’s Valentine’s Day, doesn’t mean everything has to be pink or red and have hearts on it. These strawberry cupcakes are easy and full of strawberry flavour without the use of artificial flavourings!

I use freeze dried strawberries in this recipe as they add a strong strawberry flavour without adding too much moisture, therefore meaning you can add a filling to the baked cupcake, either a strawberry jam or conserve.

There is actually strawberry in every element, freeze dried strawberries are in both the cake and buttercream and strawberry conserve in the centre as a filling.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

90g Butter.

90g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

90g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

5-7g Freeze dried strawberries, ground finely.

Buttercream:

125g Butter.

250g Icing sugar.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

(up to) 10g Freeze dried strawberries

Methods:

Before you get into making these cupcakes, you’re best to do some prep. Start by preheating you oven to 180˚c/350˚f, measure up the ingredients and get any equipment you intend on using, like a stand mixer or mixing bowl ready.

Firstly, place the butter, granulated sugar, egg, plain flour, baking powder and salt into your mixing bowl. You can then start the mixer on a low speed, working your way up to a medium high – mix until smooth, try not to over-mix.

Next, add in the vanilla.

Now you can go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bit’s that haven’t been fully incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the freeze dried strawberries. Fold them in by hand, using a spatula juts until they are incorporated.

Don’t forget to transfer the cupcake batter into a piping bag, which is simply for convenience.

Fill your cake cases about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way full, this is the perfect amount as the cake rise.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean, when inserted into the centre of the cupcake).

While the cupcakes are in oven baking, it’s the perfect time to make the buttercream.

To start on the buttercream, get yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the butter. Beat the butter on its own for 5-7 minutes or until the butter is both lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Give the bowl a good scraping down and add in around half of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high speed. Repeat with the remaining icing sugar and don’t forget to add in the vanilla extract.

Go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down again, then add in the freeze dried strawberries and food colouring and give it all a good mix until it’s fully incorporated.

Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with your choice of nozzle (I went with a star nozzle), set aside until it’s needed later on.

Once you’ve got the cakes baked and cooled along with the buttercream made, you can then start to assemble the cupcakes. Now is the perfect time to get your cupcake corer ready and get the jam ready.

Take the cupcake and core the centre out, you can discard the cored part (or eat, for recipe purpose’s of course), then fill the cavity of the cupcake with the jam, try not to over fill.

Then go ahead and pipe as much or as little buttercream as you’d like. The use of freeze dried strawberries really helps to elevate the flavour!

Anddddd that’s it. A super simple recipe for strawberry cupcakes with only natural flavourings, no artificial strawberry at all!

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 Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Strawberry Jam & Fresh Cream Filled Doughnuts

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

We are officially in February, so Valentine’s day is just around the corner. I could offer you some over the top Valentine’s day themed baked goods but why do that? Keep it simple and low key – that’s my type of celebration!

Today I’m showing you how to make a batch of strawberry jam and fresh cream donuts. You can control how much filling you have in the doughnuts, as you can tell I have a lot.

The doughnut recipe is pretty simple, it’s an enriched dough which is fried and is filled with a freshly whipped sweetened cream and strawberry jam.

When it comes to the jam, you can use either homemade or store bought – I would have used homemade but I used it in a future recipe.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Doughnut Dough:

450g White bread flour.

1 tsp Salt.

35g Fresh yeast.

60g Butter.

1 Egg.

100ml Water, warmed.

150ml Milk, warmed (I used whole milk but other alternatives work as well).

Fillings:

350ml Double cream.

50g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Strawberry jam (as much or as little as you’d like).

Methods:

Before you get into the baking, you’re best to do some prep work. Firstly start by weighing up the ingredients, secondly prepare any ingredients you need such as a stand mixer/mixing bowl. It’s now the perfect time to prepare your oil for frying the doughnuts off later on.

Firstly, into the mixing bowl, place the bread flour along with the salt and give it a good whisk together until fully combined. Next you can go ahead and the remaining ingredients.

Now you can start to mix the ingredients together until they form a dough. This usually takes around 5-7 minutes, dependant on the speed you’re mixing on.

Once a clear dough has formed (that means there are no traces of a single ingredient), place the dough onto a floured surface and give it a brief knead to help make it smooth and elastic.

Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and allow it to proof for around 60 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

Now the dough has doubled in size and is ready. Flour a surface with some bread flour and place dough onto it and knock it back – this is simply the process of removing the gasses that have built up while it was proofing. Once the dough has been knocked back, bring back into a ball shape and cover with clingfilm.

Weigh the ball of dough and divide that amount by 10 – this will be the amount that each individual ball of dough should way. Go ahead and scale the dough up and round the dough off using the palm of your hand and surface.

Place each ball of dough onto a square of greaseproof/parchment paper, this is simply to help with moving the dough once it’s ready.

Now leave it and allow the doughnut to proof for a further 30-45 minutes or until they have poofed up a bit.

While your doughnuts are proofing, heat your oil to 180˚c/350˚f. You can use a deep fat fryer or a hob top version – whichever you prefer or have.

Once your oil has come up to temperature and the doughnuts have finished the second proof, you’re ready to fry them off. Place 2 doughnuts into the oil and fry for 60-90 seconds on each side, until golden on each side.

Eventually, once they have fried, you can remove from the oil and place onto kitchen paper (to absorb the excess oil). Allow to cool down fully.

Repeat with the remaining doughnuts.

In time, you’ll be able to make the filling. To start on the filling, place the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla into your mixing bowl and whisk on a high speed until the cream holds it’s own shape.

Place the freshly whipped cream and strawberry jam into separate piping bags and set in the fridge until needed later on.

Take a doughnut and make a hole in the side of it, using something long and thin.

To fill the doughnuts, start with the cream, then some jam and followed with more cream. Coat them with sugar by rolling them in some granulated sugar and set aside until they are ready to be eaten.

There you go, a simple and straight forward recipe on how to make cream and jam doughnuts – I hope you enjoy making these. I promise you wont look back once you start making your own doughnuts.

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 Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Black Forest Gateau (2019 Update)

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today, I’ll be showing you how to make a black forest gateau. This is a classic that will always go down a treat.

If you have ever visited my Instagram or watched my YouTube channel, you will know that this cake is something I make several times a year, in one shape or another.

This cake happens to be my mom’s favourite, so each year for her birthday, I’ll make one. Each year I’m trying to make it different to the last because who wants the same cake year after year? I know I don’t and I don’t like others to either.

You may remember that last year I made a black forest cakewhich was rectangular in it’s shape. That was the biggest difference I had made to the cake since I started to make them 6 years ago… Other black forest cakes I’ve made including black forest cake (2017 recipe), black forest cake (2018 recipe)and black forest cupcakes(check them out).

Anyway, I’m rambling now. Let’s get started, shall we?

Cake:

375g Butter.

375g Granulated white sugar.

5 Eggs.

325g Plain flour.

3 tsp Baking powder.

50g Cocoa powder.

Filling & Coating:

600ml Double cream.

100g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Cherry jam (I usually use homemade but this time I used M&S cherry jam).

Decoration:

300-350g Dark/milk chocolate, grated or curled.

Whipped cream (for the rosettes).

Maraschino/fresh cherries (whichever you like or is available).

Method:

Before you get started on the baking, you’ll want to do some prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up your ingredients and prepare your tins if needed.

To start on the cake batter, place your butter and sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in consistency and colour.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl and start adding your egg. Add your eggs one at time, beating well in-between each addition. Make sure that when you’re adding your eggs, the mixture doesn’t scramble. If it does, don’t stress too much. Just add a small amount of your weighed out flour.

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

Place all your dry ingredients into a bowl and mix them together, then pass them through a sieve just to make sure there aren’t any lumps. I sieve my dry ingredients directly into the mixing bowl.

Mix the dry ingredients in over a low-medium speed. Make sure that they are fully incorporated then you can then turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.

Transfer the cake batter into the prepared tins and spread it out as evenly as possible. I used a small cranked/offset spatula to get it as level and smooth as possible but use whichever utensil may work best for you.

Place the tins into your preheated oven and bake for around 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. The time will depend on your oven, so the time may need to be adjusted.

Once fully baked, allow them to cool completely. Then you can level and trim them in whichever way the cakes may need.

Whip up a batch of the whipped cream, placing the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract into your mixing bowl and whip until it reaches a firm/stiff peak. Try not to over mix at this stage as it will ruin the cream.

It’s at this point you can simple syrup your cakes if you decide to do it. I chose to do it on this cake, to help keep it moist and fresh.

Take your board/plate/cake stand and spread a small amount of the whipped cream onto it and gently press a layer of the cake on top of it. Repeat this stage with the next layer of cake but for the final layer keep it plain.

Next, you’ll want to do a crumb coat using a small amount of the whipped cream. This is to lock in the crumbs that now won’t ruin your final coat of whipped cream. Once crumb coated, place in the fridge for 30-45 minutes until slightly firmed up.

Once it’s firmed slightly, apply a generous final coat, here is the perfect time to use a most of the whipped cream up (reserve a small amount for the rosettes).

Now that you crumb coat is done, you’ll want to coat the outside of the cake with the grated chocolate (use whatever you have or prefer). Make sure you use a good amount of the chocolate on the finishing. Once fully coated, place in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.

To finish the cake, you’ll want to pipe out rosettes on top, I piped rosettes all around the edge, alternating between some taller ones and some shorter ones. Top each of the rosettes with a maraschino cherry.

You may remember that earlier in the post, I mentioned about making the cake different each year. There is no difference now and to prevent food waste, I used up some choux buns that I had left over (click here for my standard profiterole recipe) and filled them with some of the whipped cream and cherry jam, then finished them with a drizzle of dark chocolate.

Place on top of the cake and refrigerate until needed. I promise this caeke will always go down a charm – make it for yourself and share with your friends and family!

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

Strawberry and Cream Profiteroles

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

The weather has finally started to pick up, so why not enjoy a batch of homemade strawberry and cream profiteroles?

This recipe and flavour combination will hit the spot, strawberry and cream is a match made in heaven combination, that’s for sure.

The base is a choux bun, many people get put off by making it from scratch as it’s pretty easy to go wrong but if you use my recipe, you’ll get the perfect choux every time (I promise)!

The strawberry jam used as a filling is homemade (a video will be coming soon on how to make a couple types of jam and other sauces/preserves) and the whipped cream is sweetened to make it taste even better.

As with all my recipes, before you get started, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get your ingredients measured/weighed up, prepare your baking tray (if you want to, I didn’t line mine with greaseproof paper but feel free to do with yours)and get any equipment you may need ready. Taking these few extra steps can lower the chance of making a mistake.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry:

300ml Water.

125g Butter.

150g Plain flour.

4 Eggs.

Pinch of salt

Filling & Topping:

500ml Double cream.

50g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

300g Strawberry jam (homemade or shop bought).

Large strawberries, halved (as many as you need).

Method:

Before you get into making the choux pastry, you’ll want to do some prep. Preheat your oven to 200˚c/390˚f, weigh/measure up your ingredients and prepare your baking trays (as well as any other equipment you’ll need) and get ready to start.

To make the choux pastry, place the water, butter and salt into a medium saucepan and place over a medium heat until its melted, stirring them together well.

Remove from the heat and add in the flour, mixing in the flour in until its full incorporated. Return to the heat and continuously stir it to cook the flour out. You’ll know once the flour is cooked out as the bottom of your pan will have a layer of the flour/pastry there, once you’ve achieved this, take it off the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Mix the choux pastry on a high speed to cool it down. This takes a couple of minutes to achieve.

Once you can touch the bottom of you bowl, start to add your eggs. A little at a time until you reach a stage where the pastry takes between 3-5 seconds to fall from the beater – the amount of egg you need may depend, you may need more or less.

You will notice the pastry become looser as you add your eggs, this is normal, it should be a nice pipe-able consistency. Place the pastry into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain tip piping nozzle.

Place the pastry into a piping bag with a 1cm plain tip nozzle and pipe out small amounts on the prepared baking tray, you should be able to get about 15 onto a standard tray. Press down any peaks using your finger which has been dipped into some water, then egg wash each of the choux buns to get a perfect golden brown on top.

Place in the oven at 200˚c/390˚f and bake for 20 minutes, then open the oven door to remove the steam that’s built up, then place back in the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes then remove from the oven.

Allow the choux buns to cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool down completely.

Once your choux buns are cooled, you can fill them with your whipped cream and strawberry jam then pipe an amount of whipped cream onto the top of each profiterole and once you have done that, top each of them with a strawberry halve. If possible, add the whipped cream and strawberry finishing before serving (purely for freshness).

Cherry Bakewell Blondies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This weeks recipe is for cherry bakewell blondies. If you are unsure or don’t think you’ll like these, trust me. Add these to your list of things to do this weekend, they’ll go down a real treat.

This recipe has been one I’ve worked on for a while, who’d have thought that white chocolate would be so hard, huh? The one thing I did learn in college was about how temperamental white chocolate is. It isn’t really chocolate as it doesn’t contain cocoa solids but we are using it anyway.

The moral of the story, take extra care with white chocolate. It’s super temperamental.

Another thing to remember is, these aren’t brownies. The ratio of butter to sugar is completely different, so they will have different texture/mouthfeel. To be honest, these blondies are more on the cakey side, slightly dense but more cakey, for sure.

I’m using store bought cherry Bakewell’s as they are pretty readily available here in the UK but if you’re outside of the UK you may have a hard time getting these. Feel free to use the next best thing, something like individual frangipane tarts would work pretty well.

As with all my recipes, before you get started, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get your ingredients measured/weighed up, prepare your tin (if you want to, I didn’t but you know your tin) and get any equipment you may need ready. Taking these few extra steps can lower the chance of making a mistake.

Let’s get started shall we?

Ingredients:

200g White chocolate, roughly chopped.

130g Butter.

160g Granulated sugar.

190g Plain flour.

½ tsp Salt.

3 Eggs.

2 tsp Vanilla extract.

60g Cherry jam.

Sliced almonds (as many or as few as you’d like).

Method:

Before you get into making the blondies, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, line your 8 inch square tin and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you intend on using.

Into a bowl, place your butter and white chocolate and melt them over a bain-marie, keep the heat at a medium and no higher (you can also use a microwave on 15 second burst, this isn’t the best method as it can get the chocolate too hot, which isn’t ideal), take extra effort not to get the mixture too hot.

Once the butter and chocolate are melted, add in your sugar straight away and whisk it in until fully incorporated.

Then you can add in your eggs, one at a time. Beating well in-between each addition, the mixture shouldn’t scramble (if this happens, start over).

Next you can add in the plain flour and salt, you’re best to incorporate them using a silicon spatula, this is what I find the best to work with. Once you can’t see a trace of the flour/salt, stop mixing, you don’t want to overmix the batter.

Finally, before you’re done, add in the vanilla and stir that in until fully incorporated.

Pour the blondie batter into your lined 8 inch square cake tin and level it out using your silicon spatula.

Get your cherry jam and add around 5 dollops and swirl it around the tin using a butter knife (you can add a few more dollops if you feel it needs it, I did).

Sprinkle over some sliced almonds, the amount depends on your preference, I went with a fair few but alter it to suit you.

Place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, before removing from the oven to add in the cherry Bakewell’s (I used 5 which had been chopped into quarters), you may need to push them in towards the edge. Place it back in the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until a tester when inserted comes out clean.

Once baked and out of the oven, allow to cool fully before you try to cut them.

Now they are fully cooled, you can cut them into slices. From this I get 8 generous portions. From the one side, I cut it 4 equal times, then once down the centre, so I get 8 portions. You can cut them however you like, so you get more or less portions, it’s up to you.

Jam

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