Cream

Lemon Cream Buns

Today I’m sharing a simple recipe for a batch of lemon cream buns.

These were something new to me until my mom mentioned them to me, so thought why not make a batch and share them with you?

If you don’t know what a lemon cream bun is, it’s basically a sweetened bread roll, filled with freshly whipped cream and lemon curd then topped with a simple icing. They’re super simple but the flavours work really well!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Buns:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

1 Egg.

175ml Water.

Filling:

300ml Double cream.

50-75g Icing sugar.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Lemon curd.

Icing:

Icing sugar.

Water or lemon juice.

Yellow food colour (optional).

Method:

Buns:

Before you get into making these buns, you’ll want to do some prep. I recommend starting by weighing up all your ingredients, lining your baking tray with some parchment paper, oil a bowl with some flavourless oil and getting any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a silicon spatula.

To start on the dough, grab yourself a large mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl) and place the bread flour and salt into it. Give the two a brief mix until they are incorporated.

Then you can go ahead and add in the yeast, butter, sugar, milk powder, egg and water. Mix the dough on a low speed for 2 minutes, followed by 6 minutes on a medium-high speed. The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky, this is because the dough is enriched.

Flour your work surface with a good amount of bread flour, then place the dough onto the floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, bring the dough back into a ball shape.

Take your lightly oiled bowl and place the dough into it, then cover with clingfilm and leave to proof for around hour or until doubled in size.

Once your dough has finished it’s first proof, flour your work surface with a small amount of bread flour. Then place the dough onto the floured surface and knock it back – this is simply the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first proof, the bring the dough back into a ball shape.

Take your ball of dough and weigh it, then take that weight and divide it by 12, then you have the weight you need to scale the dough off at. Take your dough and scale the dough off into the required weight, ensuring the dough is covered with clingfilm at all times (otherwise a skin will form on the dough).

Round and smooth the balls of dough until they are all equal looking, then place onto your prepared lined baking tray in the configuration 3 x 4. Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to proof for a further 45 minutes or until they have doubled in size (they may batch and this is completely fine).

While the dough is proofing, you can preheat your oven to 210˚c/410˚f.

Once the second proof is done, you can then remove the clingfilm from on top of the dough and place the tray straight into the preheated oven and bake for 13-15 minutes (or until the buns are well coloured).

Cream filling:

To make the whipped cream filling, you’ll want to start by grabbing a mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl) and pouring in the double cream, adding in the icing sugar and vanilla and then whisking it up on a medium-high speed util the cream has thickened and it holds it shape well.

Once the cream is done, you can transfer it into a piping bag fitted with your nozzle of choice. Keep refrigerated until needed later on.

Decoration and finishing:

To finished the buns off, you’ll want to start by making the icing that goes on top. For the icing, simply grab a medium sized bowl and place in the icing sugar and a small amount of water or lemon juice. Whisk together until you have a thick yet spreadable consistency – you may need to add more icing sugar or water to achieve the perfect consistency.

Using a small spatula, take a good amount of the icing and dollop it onto the top of the bun and spread it until theres a level and consistent amount of icing on the bun. Spread it out until the top has a good coating – now leave it for a while, just to firm up.

Now that the buns have been iced, feel free to slice them in half.

Take the buns and pipe the cream into them, how you decide to do this is completely up to you. I like to pipe around the edge then pipe a swirl in the centre but you can pipe the cream however you like.

Then you’ll want to pipe in the lemon curd, use as much or as little as you’d like. I went with a fairly generous size but it depends on how much you like the lemon curd flavour.

I recommend making the buns on the day you intend on serving them, the same applies to the filling as fresh cream spoils quickly.

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.

Oreo No-Bake Cheesecake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you are looking for a sweet treat that doesn’t require baking, I’ve got your back. Today I’m sharing my recipe for a Oreo no-bake cheesecake.

As mentioned above, the cheesecake is no-bake, which obviously means you don’t need any sort of heat source. This can be made the night before you need it, that way them you’re not waiting around for the cheesecake to firm up… Which is a win-win in my eyes.

To stabilise the cheesecake you need something to thicken the mixture up, that’s where I used whipped cream. It helps to stabilise the cheesecake filling and also lighten it up, mostly so its not so heavy – you may find that some cheesecakes use gelatine, which just doesn’t taste right to me.

This cheesecake is heavily flavoured with Oreo, so if that’s not your favourite flavour, this cheesecake isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a different flavours, check out my other no-bake cheesecakes, starting with Neapolitan cheesecake, Mini Egg cheesecake, Reese’s peanut butter cheesecake, salted caramel cheesecake and trifle cheesecake.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Base:

125g Original Oreo’s.

35g Butter, melted.

Filling:

300g Soft cheese.

50g Icing sugar.

50-75g Original Oreo crumbs.

150ml Double cream.

Decoration:

150ml Double cream.

25g Icing sugar.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Whole original Oreo’s (as many as you’d like to use).

Original Oreo crumbs (1-2 Oreo biscuits crushed).

Methods:

Before you get started on cheesecake, you’ll want to do some prep. Start by weighing up your ingredients, get your 6 inch cake tin and get any equipment such as a stand mixer and a food processor.

To start, you’ll want to make the base. Grab a food processor and place the Oreo biscuits into it, the pulse them down until they are a fine crumb. This should only take seconds using a food processor.

You can then go ahead and add in the butter, then pulse until the butter has been incorporated and has taken on the consistency of wet soil.

Grab your cake tin and pour the biscuit mixture into it and compress it down using the back of a spoon or a small cup measurement (whatever works well for you). Once the base is done, place in the fridge until you need it later on.

To make the cheesecake filling, grab yourself a mixing bowl and place the soft cheese, icing sugar and Oreo crumbs. Then take your whisk and beat by hand until all the ingredients are well combined – you should notice that the mixture is a grey-ish colour.

Now add in the double cream and whisk in until the cream is fully mixed in and the mixture is thicker and holds it shape very well.

Take your base out of the fridge and place the cheesecake mixture into the tin, on top of the base. Level and smooth of the mixture as best you can, I find a small cranked/offset spatula works best but feel free to use whatever you have.

Place it back into the fridge and allow to firm up, I find 8 hours or overnight works best.

Before you intend on serving the cheesecake, you’ll want to make the whipped cream.

Take your double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract and place into a mixing bowl. Whisk together until all of the ingredients are combined and the cream is thick and can hold its own shape. Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice (I chose a medium open star tip).

Pipe rosettes all around the edge of the cheesecake, that’s how I chose to do mine but feel free to finish it however you like.

Once the rosettes are piped on, I added some whole original Oreo biscuits and in-between the Oreo’s, I sprinkle some of the biscuit crumbs and then you’re done.

Feel free to personalise the decoration to suit you better, I kept it simple to be honest.

Tiramisu Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s been a a quite a while since i made a cake, so I thought now would be the perfect time to share this recipe for my take on a tiramisu cake.

Okay, its not a traditional tiramisu but I’ve taken the idea of one and turned it into a celebration cake – this is ideal for those who are looking for an alternative to a buttercream cake.

The cake is straightforward to make, it starts with two coffee flavoured sponge cakes, which are filled and decorated with a sweetened whipped cream, then finished with a dusting of cocoa powder. It’s got most of the elements of a traditional tiramisu, well enough for you to know what the cake and flavours are anyway.

There is one thing I want to say before I get into the recipe, this cake was made back at the start of February, so getting ingredients was easier to achieve.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Coffee Cake:

380g Butter.

500g Granulated sugar.

8 Eggs.

566g Plain flour.

4 tsp Baking powder.

115ml Cold coffee

Cold Coffee:

30g Instant coffee.

90ml Boiling water.

Coffee Simple Syrup:

250ml Water.

250g Granulated sugar.

25g Instant coffee.

Decoration:

900ml Double cream.

125g Icing sugar.

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Cocoa powder (to dust).

Methods:

Before you get into making any part of this cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients up, lining and/or preparing your 2 x 10 inch cake tins with some parchment paper and butter, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and getting any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and mixing bowls.

Cold Coffee & Coffee Simple Syrup:

To make the coffee mixture, simply boil the kettle and add the 90ml of boiling water to the 30g of instant coffee and mix until they are fully combined, allowing it to cool fully before you intend on using it. This can be made the day before you intend on making it, just ensure its at room temperature when you intend on using it.

For the coffee simple syrup, grab a saucepan and place the water, sugar and instant coffee. Place on the hob over a high heat and leave it to come to a boil and simmer briefly, then you can take it off the hob and allow to cool. The mixture should have a thicker consistency than plain water.

Coffee Cake:

Into a mixing bowl, place the butter and granulated sugar. Beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this may take some time but is important to achieving the perfect sponge cake.

Once the butter and sugar are combined, you can go ahead and add your eggs. One at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Try not to add the eggs too quickly, otherwise the mixture may split/curdle and thats not what you’re looking for, if it does happen, add a small amount of your weighed out flour.

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

Now you can add in the plain flour and baking powder, passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the mix. Once all of the dry mix is in the bowl, mix over a slow speed to start with, working your way up to medium-high speed.

Just mix until almost all the flour has been incorporated, then start to add the coffee mixture, a tablespoon at a time, until there is no more of the coffee mixture left.

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

Take the cake batter and divide it between the two prepared 10 inch cake tins, you can eyeball this or weigh the cake batter and divide more equally using a pair of scales – either method works well.

Smooth and level off the batter in the tins, then place them in he preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until they are fully baked (a tester when inserted, should come out clean). Allow the cakes to cool in the tins until you can handle the tin, then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool fully.

Once the cakes are cooled, you’ll want to trim away the sides and level off the tops, so the end result is more consistent.

Whipped Cream:

Into a clean mixing bowl, place the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk them together over a medium-high speed, just until it reaches stiff peaks. It should easily hold its shape but still be smooth and the perfect piping consistency.

You will visually see the cream getting thicker as it whisks, so take extra care to ensure it doesn’t become over whisked – otherwise it will have a grainy mouthfeel and that’s not what you’re looking for.

Decoration & Finishing:

Take your layers of cake and give them a generous brushing of the coffee simple syrup (I like to do this as it adds flavour and helps to keep the cake fresh).

Grab yourself a 12 inch cake board or stand (whichever you’d prefer) and add a small blob of cream in the centre, then place the first layer of cake on-top, pressing down a little just to secure it in place.

Add a good amount of the whipped cream on top and level it off as best you possibly can, then add your second layer of cake. With the remaining whipped cream, give the cake a generous coating of the whipped cream, smoothing it out and getting it as consistent as possible. It may take a few attempts but you’ll get there.

You’ll want to keep some whipped cream back, simply place the cream into a piping bag fitted with a plain piping tip. I recommend placing it in the fridge until its needed.

Once you have the cake as smooth as you’d like, you can take the piping bag of cream and just pipe blobs on top of the cake, so the entire top of the cake is covered, you can pipe whatever size blobs you like, I went with a medium-ish size.

If you’re serving the cake straight away, you’ll want to dust the top of the cake with a liberal amount of cocoa powder. I would personally recommend dusting the cocoa powder on top before you serve the cake, it looks better but you can add it whenever you want to.

Fresh Cream & Custard Doughnuts

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you like filled doughnuts, this is the recipe for you. Today I’m showing you how to make your own custard and/or fresh cream finger doughnuts.

These doughnuts are ideal if you want to make a change from the more traditional filled or ring doughnuts, this way you’re still getting a filled doughnut but you’re able to see the filling.

I remember seeing these in some supermarkets and craft bakeries but not all that often – we made these at college quite a lot and thats where I got the inspiration from. I found an old picture of some doughnuts I made at college which has fresh cream and jam, custard and apple (I couldn’t make the apple variety as apples seem impossible to get ahold of).

The one thing I should say, is the custard in these doughnut is a simple creme patisserie. In the ones at college it was a cold custard but either works really well.

While you have the time and might be able to get in the ingredients, why not make a batch of these up and share them with your friends and family (at a locally safe distance of course).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Doughnut Dough:

450g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

35g Fresh yeast.

60g Butter.

60g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

100ml Water.

150ml Milk

Fillings:

Whipped Cream:

200ml Double cream.

25g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Strawberry/raspberry jam (in a piping bag).

Custard:

For the custard filling, make sure you check out the creme patisserie/pastry cream blog post.

Method:

Before you get into the doughnuts, you should go ahead and do some prep. Weigh up all your ingredients, get your deep fat fryer or ‘chip pan’, cut some parchment rectangles and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a mixing bowl.

To start, take your mixing bowl and place in the bread flour along with the salt and give them a good mix, just until they are incorporated,

You can then go ahead and add in the fresh yeast, butter, sugar, egg, water and milk. Mix on a low speed to start for roughly 2 minutes. The dough should have formed but it will be very soft. Mix for a further 4 minutes on a medium speed or until you have a clean and soft looking dough.

You can go ahead and generously flour your work surface with bread flour. Place the dough onto it and give it a good knead to incorporate some of the flour, which should help the dough become smooth and elastic, as you knead it.

Once the dough is smooth and elastic (it will be soft, as its enriched), place into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm and allow the dough to proof.

Proofing is simply the process of allowing the yeast to do its job.

After roughly about an hour (or once the dough has doubled in size), flour your work surface and place the dough onto it and knock it back. The process of knocking the dough back is simply to remove the gasses that have built up during the first proof.

Bring the dough back into a ball and cover with the clingfilm. Scale the dough off at 70g per doughnut, round the dough off using the palm/side of your hand and the worktop and then roll into a sausage shape. Place onto a rectangle of parchment paper and place onto a baking tray, making sure they’re loosely covered with clingfilm.

Allow the doughnuts to proof for around 30-45 minutes, they should be doubled in size.

While the doughnuts are proofing for the second time, get your deep fat fryer or chip pan and heat the oil to 180˚c/350˚f.

Once the doughnuts have proofed up well, depending on how big your fryer is you may be able to fry more or less (remember when you add the dough to the oil, it will lower the temperature). I was able to fry off doughnuts at a time. Fry them on each side for roughly 1 minute or until well coloured on each side.

After they have been fried, place onto some kitchen roll (this will help absorb some of the excess grease). Allow them to cool fully before you finish them off.

Now the doughnuts are cooled, slice them downtime middle and then grab a bowl of sugar (I have a container of sugar specially for doughnuts) and roll the doughnuts in the sugar, so they have a good coating of sugar – repeat this stage for all of the doughnuts.

For the whipped cream, simply grab a mixing bowl and place in the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk together until the cream starts to reach stiff peaks. Try not to over whip the cream as it will have a gritty texture and unpleasant taste.

Place the custard and whipped cream into a piping bah, fitted with a open star nozzle.

Open the doughnuts and pipe in the filling in a shell pattern, this is what looks most pleasing to the eye, but feel free to pipe it however you like.

Finish the cream doughnut by piping a line of jam down the one side, this just adds a little colour and flavour – the flavour of the jam is completely up to you!

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 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.

Simple Syrup:

200g Granulated sugar.

200ml Water.

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, make and prepare your tins if needed.

I also recommend you make the simple syrup at this point. Take a saucepan and place the sugar and water into it, giving it a good mix and then place on the hob over a medium-high heat and allow to come to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes (until the mixture has taken on a thicker consistency), then transfer into a bowl and allow to cool down fully before you use it.

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).

Salted Caramel No-Bake Cheesecake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you like salted caramel and cheesecake, this recipe is the one for you. Today I’ll be showing you how to make salted caramel cheesecake, let’s get started shall we?

I’ll be honest, I love salted caramel but if you don’t, feel free to make the caramel without the salt and you’ll have the basic caramel sauce recipe covered. This cheesecake has the perfect amount of sweet and salty, it balances pretty well (again, you may want to alter the amounts, I don’t consume huge amounts of salt normally so a little goes a long way for me personally).

Anyway, this cheesecake is as easy as any other I’ve made on my YouTube channel or blog before. If you don’t own a food processer or stand mixer, don’t worry, it can all be done with other tools. Example, when you’re crushing the biscuits for the base, feel free to put them in a Ziploc bag (or similar) and crush them by using a rolling pin, it takes a little longer than using a food processor but yields as good as result and the same goes for the filling. If you don’t have a stand mixer, no worries, you can use a hand whisk – this works just as well, it just requires a little more time and mixing. I used a hand whisk this time around, so feel free to do it whichever way suits you best.

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

I don’t make the salted caramel sauce in this video but already have a video up on it, check it out here.

Cheesecake:

250g Digestive biscuits.

100g Butter.

600g Soft cheese.

100g Icing sugar.

2 tsp Vanilla extract.

150ml Salted caramel sauce.

300ml Double cream.

Finishing:

200ml Double cream.

1tsp Vanilla extract.

25g Icing sugar.

Salted caramel sauce, in a piping bag.

Sea salt flakes, optional.

Method:

Before you get started, do your prep work, weighing up the ingredients, lining your tin and getting any equipment you need ready.

Take your digestive biscuits and crush them up, I used a food processor but feel free to use Ziploc bag and rolling pin (whichever works best for you).

Once you’ve got them looking like crumbs or to a sandy consistency, you can add the butter which has been melted and mix until the two ingredients are fully incorporated.

Scoop the mixture into your glasses (or the base of an 8-inch round cake tin and compress using a cup measurement or something similar and set in the fridge until needed later) and feel free to compress the mixture a little using the back of a spoon, set in the fridge while you make your cheesecake filling.

To start on the filling, place the soft cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and salted caramel into a bowl and beat until they are fully incorporated, this doesn’t take very long.

You can then 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 beige-brown colour once it’s done and ready to be used.

I placed the cheesecake filling into a piping bag and piped it into my glasses, this is the most convenient way to do it but you can just scoop up the mixture and place it into the glass if that works for you (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 set these in the fridge to set/firm up for a couple of hours (overnight works really well).

When you intend to serve the cheesecake, you’ll want to finish them off. To make the whipped cream that goes on top of the cheesecake, get yourself a medium sized bowl and add the double cream, vanilla extract and double cream and whisk them together until the ingredients are fully incorporated and the cream holds its shape well (don’t over whisk the cream, otherwise it will have an unpleasant mouthfeel, it may turn grainy). Place the cream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (or whichever you like) and place in the fridge until you intend to use it, you can also place some of the salted caramel into a piping bag, ready to drizzle over the top.

Pipe your whipped cream on top of each cheesecake, I went right in the centre of the cheesecake but you can be abstract about it if you’d like.

Drizzle/pipe over the slated caramel sauce, use as much or as little as you’d like and as an optional finish you can sprinkle over a small amount of salt, just to enhance the ‘salted’ element of the cheesecake.

Pineapple Cream Tarts

by bakingwithelliott 4 Comments

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.

Cream

Footer