Old School

Cornflake Tart Recipe | School Cornflake Tart

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.

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.

Biscoff Rice Krispie Treats

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This weeks recipe, is a bit of a cheat as it’s a no-bake treat. Today I’m showing you how to make a batch of my Biscoff rice krispie treats – these could easily become your new favourites.

I’m trying my best to use up all the ingredients I have in the house, mostly so I don’t have to go out and risk catching anything. There was a night where I really wanted some thing sweet but easy and just plain old rice krispie treats came to mind but then I had the genius idea of making them biscoff… So that’s how I came up with these. The rice krispie treat is perfect and with the Biscoff, it just adds something special.

By making these, I was killing two birds with one stone – using what I had in the house and satisfying my sweet tooth. It’s a win-win to me!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

45g Butter.

300g Marshmallows (I used the pink and white variety, use whatever you can get).

180g Rice Krispies.

50g Biscoff spread.

50g Biscoff biscuits, roughly chopped.

8 Biscoff biscuits.

Method:

Before you get into making these treats, you’re best to do some prep work. Line a 8×8 inch square tin with greaseproof/parchment, weigh up all your ingredients and get yourself a large saucepan and silicon spatula.

To start, grab yourself a large saucepan and place the butter, marshmallows and biscoff spread. Place on the hob over a medium heat and allow to melt, then stir continuously until everything is well melted and smooth. This doesn’t take too long, don’t be tempted to use a high heat, as the mixture may catch on the bottom of the pan.

Once melted, take the saucepan off the heat and pour directly over the rice krispies.

Give it all a good mix together, try not to make a mess! it may be difficult to start with but as everything starts to get coated, it will get easier.

Once you’re about half way done with the mixing, you can now add in the roughly chopped biscoff biscuits, continue mixing until everything is incorporated and well mixed.

Now you can take your lined 8×8 inch square cake tin and place all of the rice krispie mixture into it. It may look like a lot but once its been compressed down, it will look better. Take a spatula or something similar and start to press the mixture down, levelling it off as best you can. It can be done pretty easily but I found to get it super level, using a cake decorating smoother really helps to get it level and compressing it.

Place in the fridge to firm up a bit, while you warm up the topping.

For the topping, take around 150-200g biscoff spread and melt it. I found placing the jar into some warm/hot water works really well. It should be much more liquid and easier to work with – pour directly on top of the treats and spread best you can, then place biscoff biscuits on top, if you’d like.

I like to then place the finished treats into the fridge, mostly just to firm up. As they are easier to slice when firm – it’s just a heck of a lot less messy.

Now it’s time to slice them up, cut into 8 generous portions, each slice should have a good ambit of biscoff spread and a whole biscoff biscuit. Feel free to cut them into smaller portions, so instead of 8 you get 16, it’s up to you!

Crumpets

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today, I’ll be showing you how to make a batch of crumpets – they’re really easy to make and having all the time in the world, why not knock a batch up?

I was hungry the other day and really wanted crumpets, but it’s not an essential is it? So, I found my old college work books and looked for a recipe. Low and behold, there was a recipe for crumpets! I hadn’t made these since I was in maybe first or second year of college… You’re looking a 6 or 7 years ago (yikes).

Anyway, if you’re not sure what a crumpet is, are you alright? Crumpets (or sometimes known as pikelets. I think this is a regional thing, here in the West Midlands, they are known by both names) are a small yeasted breakfast bread, which is baked on a hot plate (or frying pan). They are instantly recognisable as they have holes all over the top of them, this allows whatever you spread on them to permeate through – salted butter is the way to go with these, it’s a classic.

These are normally pretty readily available in the supermarkets but with the current Covid-19 situation, finding anything is still pretty difficult. That’s why making your own is the best thing to do – plus that way, you know what’s going into your food and it tastes a lot better!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong bread flour.

530ml Water, at 37˚c/99˚f.

25g Fresh yeast.

8g Salt.

25g Sugar.

155ml Water, at 37˚c/99˚f.

Method:

Before you get into making these crumpets, you’re best to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients and getting any equipment you may need, such as a whisk and mixing bowl.

To start own the crumpets, grab yourself a large mixing bowl and into it place the flour and salt. Then give them a good mix until they are combined.

Then you can go ahead and add in the yeast, sugar and 530ml of water. Whisk until a smooth batter forms, this isn’t like other breads as it’s a loose consistency but it’s completely normal.

Once smooth, you can go ahead and cover the bowl with some clingfilm (or like I have, a plastic food bag because I ran out of clingfilm) and leave somewhere warm to ferment for 40-50 minutes.

You will notice that the mixture will have risen well and look a little messy, that’s perfect. The fermenting time is done.

Go ahead and add in the second weight of water, which is 155ml and whisk until the water has been fully incorporated and the batter is perfectly smooth.

The mixture needs between 5-10 minutes to rest, so just leave uncovered on the side while you prepare the frying pan.

Grab yourself a small/medium frying pan and a 10cm/4 inch egg ring/bottomless cake tin. My egg rings weren’t deep sided enough, so made a slightly bigger crumpet using my 4 inch cake tin.

Lightly grease your frying pan and the ring you’re using and place the ring in the drying pan over a medium heat on the hob..

Once the frying pan is preheated, you can go ahead and pour the batter in, filling the ring about 1/3 of the way full as these do rise a little while baking.

You will think nothing is happening at first but as they start to bake, you’ll notice bubbles start to form all on top of the crumpet, thats perfect. This happens over a few minutes, once they are almost done, you should be able to burst a bubble in the centre and it won’t fill back in, if it does, it needs longe.

Once they have done on the one side, remove the ring and flip onto the other side just to colour and finish them off.

Now that it’s done, transfer onto a cooling rack. Although these can be enjoyed while fresh, I preferred to let mine cool fully and then reheat them in the toaster and slather in butter.

From this amount of batter, you should be able to make around 10 generously size crumpets. These are way better than the ones you can buy from the supermarket – let me tell you.

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.

Traditional Hot Cross Buns

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Seeing as Easter is just around the corner, why don’t you give these easy hot cross buns a go? I promise, they’ll beat the ones you can buy at the supermarkets.

If you like hot cross buns, this is the recipe for you. Although these are more traditionally eaten on Good Friday, you can get a practice batch or two made so you can serve up the perfect ones when the time comes.

If you don’t know what a hot cross bun is, I’ll give you a brief rundown. They are basically a sweet bun, which is spiced and studded with dried fruit. They are traditionally eaten on Good Friday to celebrate the end of Lent – the cross on top of the bun is to represent the crucifixion of Jesus.

When you consider all of what’s going on in the world at the moment, making a batch of these up to be enjoyed with your friends and family, may just be the best idea, especially if you’re in isolation.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Buns:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

175ml Water, warm.

175g Dried fruit.

2-3 tsp Ground mixed spice

Cross paste:

Small amount of flour.

Water (as much as needed).

Method:

Before you get into the baking, it’s best to do some prep. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, getting your equipment such as your mixer ready and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Into your mixing bowl, place the strong bread flour along with the salt and mix the two together until they are well combined.

Next, you can go ahead and add in the yeast, butter, granulated sugar, egg, water and ground mixed spice.

Mix on a low speed until a clear dough has formed. Then you can go ahead and add the dried fruit and mix until it’s fairly distributed into the dough (try not to over mix as it may crush the fruit).

Flour your surface with bread flour and pie the dough a brief knead, then go ahead and round it off and place into an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm.

Allow the dough to proof for about an hour or until roughly doubled in size. If possible, place the dough somewhere warm, it will help the yeast work.

While you’re waiting for your dough to proof, you can have a little tidy up and wash up the dishes. It will save you time later on plus it doesn’t hurt to be organised.

Once the dough has proofed, flour your surface and knock the dough back. This is simply the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough during the first proof.

Shape the dough off into a ball shape and weigh it. Take that weight and divide it by 12, so for me it was 90g per bun. Scale off dough off at 90g each (make sure to keep the dough covered, to prevent it skinning over).

Round the balls of dough off, so they are more rounded and bun shaped, if that makes sense. Place onto a standard size baking tray, which has been lined and place them in a 3 across by 4 down format, this way, they’ll batch up a little while baking.

Give the dough room to proof up, so make sure the spacing between the balls of dough is roughly equal. Now is the perfect time to consider preheating your oven to 220˚c/430˚f.

Cover them with some clingfilm and allow to proof up a second time for around 30-45 minutes or until they have proofed up to be touching/batching.

While the buns are proofing, now is the best time to make the cross paste (which is really easy). Into a mixing bowl, place a some bread flour and add a small amount of water and mix until a thick but pliable paste is formed. I recommend adding a little water to start with as you can always add more but can’t take away.

Place the paste into a piping bag, not fitted with a nozzle (you’ll just snip the end off later, once it’s needed.

Once the buns are proofed, remove the clingfilm from on the buns, then you can take your piping bag with the paste in, and cut a small hole in the end. Pipe a line through the centre going horizontally and vertically.

Place the buns into the preheated oven and bake for 14-16 minutes or until they are golden brown.

While they are in the oven baking, you can quickly make the glaze. Into a bowl place equal parts boiling water and honey and give it a mix until combined. You’ll want to have this made just in advance as it goes on the buns while hot.

Now that they are baked, remove from the oven and straightaway brush the glaze over, then allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool fully.

That’s how you make hot cross buns, pretty easy right? with a little time, you can have these Easter favourites homemade. Is there anything better than homemade bread?

So, 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.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a traditional style soda bread, look no further. Today I’m sharing my recipe for a brown soda bread.

There are plenty of varieties when it comes to soda bread, so it’s not a one size fits all kind of situation. You can get soda breads made with white, brown and wholemeal flour and even a mixture – I really think it depends on where you’re from as they have their own variation.

This bread does have a different texture and taste to other breads but thats what makes it special. The other thing to note is that this bread doesn’t contain any yeast but does contain bicarbonate of soda as a leavening agent and the use of buttermilk in place of water – these small differences make the bread unlike many other products.

If you make this loaf, make it in advance. Then you can have a full Irish breakfast and enjoy the bread to help soak up that hangover.

For the wheat bran, take some wholemeal flour and sift it. The bits left over in the sieve are what you’re looking for, keep them in a bowl until needed later on.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Brown bread flour.

20g Wheat bran.

15g Black treacle.

3g Salt.

30g Bicarbonate of soda.

15g Granulated white sugar.

40g Butter or shortening.

390ml Buttermilk, cold.

Method:

Before you get into the making and baking, you’re best to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, line a baking tray with a piece of parchment paper and get any other equipment ready, like a stand mixer or spatula.

Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the brown flour, salt and butter and mix over a low speed for about 1 minute.

Add in the bicarbonate of soda, black treacle, granulated white sugar and butter milk, then mix on a low-medium speed for 3-4 minutes until a dough forms.

You’ll know the dough is perfectly mixed when it’s similar to scone dough.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and give it a brief knead, just to help work the final few bits in. Bring it into a ball shape.

While it’s on the counter top, flatten the ball shape into a disk, turning to keep it as circular as possible.

Place onto a lined baking tray and rearrange the shape if needed.

Now you can cut the dough in either a ‘+’ or ‘x’, cutting all the way through, so this using a plastic or metal scotch scraper.

Dust the top of the loaf with the wheat bran and leave on the counter top for 20 minutes, then you can place the bread in the oven and bake it off at 220˚c/430˚f for 25-30 minutes.

Once baked, the bottom of the bread should sound hollow. Remove from the baking tray and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Slice the bread into slices and enjoy it on its own with butter or as part of a full Irish breakfast.

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.

Iced Buns | Iced Fingers

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you have grew up in the UK at any point, you may recognise these – they are a classic.

Today I’ll be sharing my recipe for iced buns/iced fingers (if you have another name for them, let me know), these are a simple yet classic treat.

It starts with an enriched bread roll, which is topped with a sweet white icing. It’s such a simple yet sweet treat. If you ask you grandparents, parents or other family members, they’ll remember these. It’s almost like they are irresistible – if you want to take them one step further, you could add a spot of jam into the middle of each of them!

Sharing a recipe like this shows you how simple and straight forward these treats are, no fancy equipment is needed and with a little time you can have a nostalgic bake done. If sweet breads aren’t your thing, don’t you worry. In the coming months I’ll have a selection of savoury breads to share with you all!

I really hope you get the chance to make these buns, they are much better than the ones you can buy in the supermarket!

There is one thing I wanted to add into the intro as it does explain something. The day I was making these I had an food delivery booked with a supermarket and just as I was about to place these buns into the oven, I realised there would be more than enough time for these to bake before the delivery slot but with me being me and my luck, the delivery driver came early and my buns baked for a little extra… Moral of the story, manage your time better! 😂

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Bread:

500g White bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

175ml Water, warmed.

Icing:

400g Icing sugar.

Water or milk, enough to get a consistency which spreads but holds it’s shape.

Method:

Before you get into the baking, make sure to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients, lining your baking tray with parchment paper and get any other equipment you may need like a mixing bowl or a spatula.

Into your mixing bowl, place the flour and salt and whisk the two until well combined. Then you can go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, butter, granulated sugar, egg and water.

Mix on a low speed for about 1 minutes before working your way up to a medium low until a clear dough forms, which is about 4-5 minutes.

Transfer the dough from the mixing bowl onto a lightly floured surface and give a brief knead until its smooth and elastic. You can then go ahead and place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film and allow it to proof for 45-60 minutes or until roughly doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and place onto a lightly floured surface and knock the dough back. This is the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough while it was proofing.

Bring it back into a ball shape and weigh the dough, then go ahead and get a total weight, then divide it by 10 – weigh up those individual amounts of dough.

Take the mounds of dough and round them off using your hand and work surface, then roll out into a sausage shape, just big enough to sit two within close proximity on the tray.

Place them all onto the tray and cover with cling film and allow to proof for a second time but this time for 30-45 minutes (or until they can be gently pushed and it springs back out).

When there is about 15 minutes remaining to the second proof, you can preheat your oven to 200˚c/390˚f. When the times right, remove the clingfilm from on top of the proofed dough and then place into your preheated oven and bake off for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown (not like mine but you know, haha).

To make the icing, place the icing sugar into a mixing bowl and add a small amount of water at a time, mixing until it achieves a consistency which allows it to spread but also hold its shape.

Place it into a piping bad and pipe the icing over the buns, now you can control how much or how little icing each bun has.

Allow the icing to harden up a little before you enjoy them!

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.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Hearts

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Left a Valentine’s Day treat until the last minute? Don’t you worry, I have you covered!

Today I’ll be sharing my recipe for a batch of chocolate chip shortbread hearts, buttery with the perfect amount of chocolate. Although what’s not to love?

These are ideal to make as a last minute snack or as part of a bigger gift. Feel free to change the chocolate, I went with milk but dark or white would work well too!

If you’re looking for other Valentine’s Day recipes don’t forget go check out macarons (Italian meringue method), pink velvet cupcakes, red velvet cupcakes and chocolate valentines day cake.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g Plain flour.

120g Butter.

60g Granulated sugar.

Pinch of salt.

100g Chocolate chips (I opted for milk).

Method:

Before you get into the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up the ingredients, line a baking tray with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need like a mixing bowl or food processor ready.

When it comes to making the dough, you can do it one of two ways. One will be suing a food processor and the other is by hand, I went with the food processor method for convenience and I have really warm hands, nevertheless, which ever method you choose will work just as well.

Method one (by hand) – into a large mixing bowl, place the flour, salt and butter. In-between your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until they are combined. It will resemble a sand like consistency, this is what you’re looking for.

Add in the granulated sugar and start to form dough, because of making the dough by hand you have the advantage of not over-mixing the dough.

You can then go ahead and add in the chocolate chips and work them into the dough.

Method two (food processor) – into the door processor place the the flour, salt and butter. Then pulse until they have combined and the mixture should have a sandy look about it, this is perfect.

Go ahead and add in the granulated sugar and pulse until the mixture starts to come together, try your best not to let the dough develop too much!

Lightly flour your work surface and transfer the dough onto the floured surface. Add the chocolate chips and briefly work them into the dough, the less you work the dough, the better.

Regardless of the method you chose, you will want to take the dough and get into a thick disk shape, then wrap it in clingfilm and place in the fridge for about an hour.

Once the hour is up, flour your work surface and remove the dough from the fridge. Take your rolling pin and proceed to roll the dough out until its around 1cm in thickness. It’s also the ideal time to preheat your oven to 190˚c/375˚f.

Take a 1.5-2 inch heart cookie cutter and cut out as many as possible from the first roll. I recommend that you only re-roll the dough only once, as after that the dough becomes overworked.

Now you can take your lined baking tray and place the cut outs onto it, I managed to get 15 on my tray but that amount will vary for you. In saying this, my baking tray is just a standard size, yours may be bigger or smaller.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minute or until they start to go a nicely baked colour around the edges.

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.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Tray Bake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

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

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

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

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

Ingredients:

Sticky Toffee Pudding:

150g Sultanas.

300g Stoned dates, chopped small.

2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

50g Butter.

400g Light brown sugar.

4 Eggs.

400g Self raising flour.

Caramel Sauce:

50g Butter.

350ml Double cream.

400g Light brown sugar.

50-100g Pecans.

Method:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Bread Pudding/Traditional Bread Pudding

by bakingwithelliott 2 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ingredients:

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

1,200ml Whole milk.

400g Raisins

300g Currants.

300g Sultanas

100g Mixed peel.

100g Glace cherries.

2 tbsp Ground mixed spice.

4 Egg.

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

Method:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pineapple Cream Tarts

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This week I’m sharing a super straightforward recipe for a batch of classic pineapple cream tarts.

These tarts are made up of only 4 different components; starting with the shortcrust pastry, a layer of pineapple jam, freshly whipped cream then a simple icing for the top (and more traditionally, you can add a few green 100’s and 1000’s on top but this is optional).

I’ll be completely honest with you, I hadn’t heard of these before my mom asked me to make them. I had to get her to tell me what they were and did a little bit of research on the internet (which didn’t result to much).

They aren’t that hard to make as all the components are pretty easy to make and with a little time, you’ll have a batch of classic pineapple creams in no time.

Anyway, lets get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Pineapple Jam:

432g Pineapple pieces, juice drained and reserved.

50g Sugar.

50g Water.

Cook on the hob over a medium-high heat.

Pastry:

1 Egg, large.

90g Granulated sugar.

225g Butter, cold.

375g Plain flour

Pinch of salt.

Once the dough is made, wrap in clingfilm and then chill in the fridge for about an hour, roll out to 5mm thickness then cut out 3 inch rounds and place into your cupcake tin. Bake the off at 180˚c/350˚f for around 25-30 minuets (or until golden brown round the edges).

Cream:

200ml Double cream.

50g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Icing:

300g Icing sugar.

Pineapple juice (add a little at a time until you achieve the required thickness).

Yellow food paste (to colour the icing).

Methods:

Before you get into the recipe, you’re best to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you may need, such as a saucepan and wooden spoon as well as a cupcake tin.

Pineapple Jam:

For the “jam”, you’ll obviously need pineapple. Seeing as it was winter when I made this recipe and fresh pineapple wasn’t in season and the one’s available in the supermarket weren’t very nice, so I went with canned/tinned pineapple pieces, these work equally as well.

Take your pineapple pieces and place into a sieve/drainer to separate the pineapple juice from the fruit – don’t discard the juice as you’ll need some later on.

Add the pieces of pineapple into a saucepan and then add in the water and granulated sugar and give a quick mix, then place this onto a medium heat and allow to come to a simmer.

You may notice that the fruit breaks down and this is normal. Once the mixture has become soft and will break when ‘mashed’ with a spoon.

Pour into a jar and allow to cool completely before you intend to use it.

Pastry:

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, purely for convenience plus I have warm hands).

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 cling film/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.

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 you the perfect shape/amount for each cup on the cupcake pan.

I made 12 tarts but feel free to make more or less to suit your occasion – bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (or until golden brown).

Once your pastry cases have baked, you’re best to allow them to cool completely before using.

Cream:

For the whipped cream, start by grabbing a medium size bowl, add in your double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract and give it all a good whisk together until it’s stiff peaks.

This only takes a couple of minutes, so try not to take it too far otherwise you’ll over whip the mixture and it will have a granular mouthfeel and not look smooth.

Once whipped, place into a piping bag until needed later.

Next you can take your pastry cases and the pineapple jam (which is easiest to handle once it’s in a piping bag, but feel free to use spoons) and place a small amount of the mixture into the base of the case (you can use more pineapple but this will result in a smaller amount of whipped cream).

Then on-top of the pineapple, you can pipe on the whipped cream and level/smooth it off as best you can so you can finish them off.

Icing:

To make the final part of these tarts, you’ll want to get yourself a large bowl and place in the icing sugar and add a small amount of the pineapple juice that you reserved from earlier on and mix.

Then add a small amount of yellow food colouring paste. Add just enough liquid so the mixture is thick enough to flow but will hold its shape when piped on top of each tart. Allow the icing to set, then they are ready to eat.

Old School

Footer