Bake Off Bake Along: Week 1 - Lemon and Raspberry Loaf

Hello, remember me? It's been far too easy over the last few months to eat all the food and not share. But, excuses aside, if there was anything that was going to blow off my baking cobwebs, then no surprises it was going to be the return of the Great British Bake Off. And boy was it good.

Initially I thought the first 2 challenges were a little on the easy side. But then I remembered the small fact that I've never dared make a swiss roll, let alone mini ones, and that my fruit is forever sinking in my cakes.

And so, I decided to ease myself in gently and try challenge one, the fruit cake. Adapted from an old favourite of mine, this lemon and raspberry loaf probably would have underwhelmed Paul in terms of its simplicity. And also the small fact that I managed to burn the top, let the berries sink AND go completely overboard with drenching it with syrup! Otherwise, all in all a great tasting loaf.

L E M O N   A N D   R A S P B E R R Y   L O A F
Makes one 2lb loaf

200g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

230g plain natural yogurt

215g caster sugar

3 eggs

zest of 2 lemons

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

120ml vegetable oil

200g fresh raspberries

80ml lemon juice

2tbsp caster sugar

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
• Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, add the yogurt, sugar, eggs, zest, vanilla and oil and gently whisk until combined.
• Fold the wet mixture into the dry before gently adding the raspberries at the very last minute.
• Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45 - 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• In a small pan, melt the additional sugar into the lemon juice to make a syrup. Prick the top of the baked loaf with a fork and pour over the syrup whilst still warm.

Bake Off Bake Along:

Week 1: lemon and raspberry loaf

Week 6: lemon pasteis de nata, egg custard tarts

Week 8: treacle rum nicky tart

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Super Boozy Gin and Tonic Cake

A drunken cake seeped in gin and plenty of sunny lemon makes for a great combination of my two loves: cake and gin. This cake can hold her booze, that's for sure, perhaps a little more than you can.

 S U P E R   B O O Z Y   G I N   A N D   T O N I C   C A K E
(Recipe adapted from Pudding Lane, makes one large 2lb loaf)

265g unsalted butter, softened

265g caster sugar

4 eggs

265g self raising flour

2 lemons

8 shots of gin

Dash of tonic water

150g caster sugar

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. 
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. 
• Beat in the eggs, gently one at a time, add in a few spoons of flour after each addition. 
• Add the flour, lemon zest of both lemons and juice of 1 and half the gin and stir together. 
• Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 
• In the last few minutes of baking, prepare the drizzle. Whisk together the remaining gin, tonic, caster sugar and juice of the remaining lemon until well combined. 
• Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and poke lots of holes into the surface. Pour over the drizzle and leave to cool fully before serving. 

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Lemon and Chia Seed Muffins

Chia seeds are a great replacement for poppyseeds in these lemon muffins.

The seeds are super nutritious, full of fibre, protein and omega-3 fats. Sourced from a flowering plant native to South America, these were a staple in the diets of ancient Mayans and Aztecs known to improve the energy and stamina of their warriors.

Onken Naturals: Mini Lemon & Pistachio Loaves

In the week I attended an event hosted by Onken where Celebrity Masterchef winner Lisa Faulkner lead a masterclass on cooking with yogurt. As part of Onken's Dollop of Difference campaign, Lisa took us through 3 easy recipes whilst nutritionist Angela Dowden was on hand to to tell us about the nutritional benefits of yogurt.

And the best part, myself and the other food bloggers got to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in. We made banana muffins, french onion dip and chicken tikka kebabs. All incredibly quick and easy to make.

Here's how I got on...

Lemon & Raspberry Easter Cake

I cannot get enough Mini Eggs. I love them so much I decided to make a Mini Eggs inspired pastel Easter cake. Maybe green wasn't the best of choice, but it's all the colouring I had in my supplies.

Mini Lemon Meringue Cake for One

      I was so excited to find a recipe to make just one cupcake. Some days there's nothing better than a home made treat. I wouldn't quite trust myself with a whole batch to myself so making just the one is ideal. Filled with lemon curd and topped with a small cloud of meringue, this mini cake is zingy and sweet.

Mini Lemon Meringue Cake
(Makes 1, recipe adapted from Sweet Road)
     1 tablespoon margarine, or softened butter
     2 tablespoons golden caster sugar
     4 tablespoons & 1 1/2 teaspoons almond milk (I used soya milk), room temperature
     1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
     3 tablespoon & 1 1/2 teaspoons plain flour
     1/4 teaspoon baking powder
     a pinch of salt
     Mackay's lemon curd
     egg white from 1 egg
     couple of spoons of caster sugar

• Heat the oven to 190 degrees celsius and grease a mini cake tray.
• Combine the margarine and sugar together until well incorporated.
• Add 2 tablespoons of the soya milk and mix.
• Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and add to the butter mixture.
• Add the remaining milk and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
• Once cool, hollow out the cake and fill with a spoon of lemon curd.
• For the meringue, beat 1 egg white until stiff on a high speed. Melt a spoon or two of caster sugar in equal amounts of water. Once melted, add to the stiff egg white by pouring down the side of the bowl so as not to touch the whisk. Continue to beat into silky and the mixture has cooled, felt by the bowl. Pipe onto the cake and give it a quick blast with a chef's torch.

Lemony Hazelnut & Blueberry Muffins

   Even though I haven't baked or blogged for a while I have still been indulging in many a sugar filled treat. Giant Jaffa cakes, dairy milk, speculoos and custard creams to name a few. So when I saw recipes for nourishing cakes filled with fruits, nuts and natural sugars in this months Women's Health, I thought I'd give one a go.

   I chose to make the lemony hazelnut and blueberry cake as it sounded similar to the Hummigbird blueberry and lemon bundt that I love baking. My brother always asks for the 'one with blue spots'!

   With blueberries and hazelnuts these cakes are packed with vitamin E and anti oxidants, perfect for skin. Something I struggle with being a sweet treat fiend!

Lemony hazelnut & blueberry cakes
(Adapted from Women's Health May/June 2013)
     60g hazelnuts
     130g soft unsalted butter
     110g white spelt flour
     1tsp baking powder
     2 large eggs
     65g honey
     65g maple syrup
     Finely grated zest of 1/2 a lemon

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a muffin tray with cases
• Toast the hazelnuts in the oven for 5 minutes. Leave to cool for a few minutes before removing any skins and blitzing in the blender into a fine meal. 
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. With an electric hand mixer, beat in all of the other ingredients. Be careful not to overmix to keep the cakes light and fluffy. 
• Divide between the muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes or unil a skewer comes out clean. 

Honey yoghurt topping

     175g fat free fromage frais

     1tbsp honey

     Few tbsps of blueberry jam

     Handful of blueberries

• Lightly whip the fromage frais until thick, drizzle in the honey and whisk again until incorporated
• Swirl in blueberry jam and top the cooled muffins with some of the yoghurt mix and fresh blueberries. 

The recipe in the magazine makes a sandwich cake, but I decided to divide the mix into a dozen muffins to try out my new Wilton muffin tray!

Passionfruit, Blueberry & Poppy Seed Muffins

   Passionfruit is a new favourite of mine, and since getting a jar of curd I've attempted to put it on most things. With night shifts looming this weekend, I decided to bake some muffins from Gizzi Erskine's new book.

Passionfruit, blueberry & poppy seed muffins
(From Skinny Weeks and Weekend Feasts) Makes 16 small muffins
     225g self raising flour
     50g oats
     75g caster sugar
     1tsp baking powder
     1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
     a pinch of sea salt
     2tbsp poppy seeds
     zest of 2 lemons
     200ml milk
     75ml lemon juice
     125g unsalted butter, melted
     1 egg
     250g passionfruit curd
     150g blueberries

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Mix flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, poppy seeds and lemon zest together in a large bowl.
• In another bowl mix the milk and lemon juice, slowly adding the butter, egg and 100g of the curd.
• Pour into the flour mix and combine well.
• Gently stir in the blueberries.
• Divide between the muffin cases.
• Using a piping bag, pipe about 2 teaspoons of curd into the centre of each muffin.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and the curd has sunk a little.

You can also use lemon, lime or orange curd.

My other passionfruit recipe can be found here, passionfruit cupcakes with white chocolate icing.

LoveTea: Paksong Oolong Cupcakes

   If its not obvious, I love cake. You may therefore be surprised to hear that I also love tea, just as much as cake. I've not baked with tea much, other than my honey tea bread, so when the guys at LoveTea sent me some Paksong Oolong tea I was excited to try it out in a bake.

   LoveTea is a genius idea. It gives tea lovers the opportunity to try different gourmet teas each month. This month's tea comes from the only tea garden in Laos, The Paksong Tea Garden. Seeds from wild growing trees on the Lao-Chinese border were used to plant the garden and were highly prized on their quality by Chinese Emperors; they even saved it for the imperial family and court dignitaries. Sounds like my kind of tea!

   The dry leaves of this tea smell like strawberry jam and once infused produce a delicate buttery floral flavour. I thought that the flavour would be complimented with lemon to add a little freshness to this golden tea.

Oolong tea infused cupcakes
(adapted from Black Dog blog)
     285g plain flour, sifted
     400g sugar
     2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
     1 teaspoon baking powder
     1 teaspoon salt
     300ml buttermilk, shaken
     100ml sunflower or vegetable oil
     2 large eggs, room temperature
     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
     1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
     1 teaspoon lemon juice
     1 cup hot oolong tea

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees and fill a cupcake tray with cases.
• Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients, except the oolong tea, together.
• Slowly add the wet to the dry ingredients. Add the tea last and stir well to combine.
• Divide between the cupcake cases and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and a tester comes out clean.

   I opted for chocolate buttercream because I had some spare in the fridge that needed using up. A mascarpone frosting would go just as well. Or even a white chocolate and thyme frosting as suggested on Black Dog. 

Find my chocolate buttercream recipe here.

   If you fancy sampling some gourmet tea then Matthew, Master Brewer at LoveTea, is offering a 40% discount to you lovely readers. Just pop discount code 'SLF40' at the checkout over at LoveTea.

Devilishly Delicious Deserts: Limoncello Syllabub

   I really love spending time in the kitchen, but sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to spend stirring, whisking and folding. On Saturday night, I really was not in the right frame of mind to be creating fancy deserts for visiting family members. Instead, I spent 10 minutes making a Limoncello Syllabub. Sounds impressive, I know...

Limoncello Syllabubs
(serves 6-8)
     500ml Devilishly Delicious Sicilian Lemon Pot
     250g Mascarpone
     75ml Limoncello (or similar)
Pour the lemon pot pack into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer on a low heat for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the Limoncello and mascarpone until soft peaks are formed. Fold the lemon into the cream and pour the mix into desert pots or ramekins. Leave to chill for 2 hours, or even overnight.

Just before serving, I swirled some lemon curd on each, sprinkled with lemon zest, blueberries and mint leaves to finish.

Within minutes, my family had finished these and no one even suspected that they were a vegetarian and gluten free desert. If I hadn't have told them, they wouldn't have even doubted that I'd made them.

These syllabubs were so light and fresh, perfect after a big meal. The Limoncello cuts through the cream and gives a strong lemon warmth. My family are Limoncello fans and always order a desert similar to this at our favourite local Italian restaurant, their only comment...next time more Limoncello! It is entirely optional though, as is the mascarpone.

Devilishly Delicious are a brand that create restaurant quality desert packs for consumers to be able to create their own deserts at home. All you do for each desert is heat in the pan for a few minutes, pour into ramekins and chill for 2 hours. But, you really have the chance to get creative.

The four desert packs in the range include; Sicilian Lemon Pot, Pot au Chocolat, Crème Brûlée and Panna Cotta. They also have a range of fruit coulis available in; Mango, Sour Cherry, Raspberry and Green Apple.

You can find them in Lakeland, selected Waitrose stores or Ocado online. Alternatively, use their store locator found here.

Although Devilishly Delicious kindly sent me these sweet treats, I really enjoyed both the making and eating of them. I can honestly say that I am going to buy some and keep them in the cupboard for those last minute moments. And for every other moment because I've been dreaming of their chocolate pots ever since...

Next, I'll post my Amaretto Chocolate pot recipe!

Hummingbird Blueberry Bundt

     In my university days, this was my most successful bake...I put a lot of time into the kitchen to avoid writing about Fourier Transforms. Surprisingly...nearly two years on...I couldn't tell you now exactly what an FT is, but, I can bake and I did learn that the sour cream in this makes for a really moist bake. Handy.

     This cake is an ode to these days in my wee little flat, and the beautiful cake stand I once had for this cake to perch upon (it got smashed by some new, not so nice, flat cohabitants).

     I didn't make the frosting in those days as I thought the blueberry studded top looked so impressive on its own. (The blueberries sink to the bottom of the cake mix whilst basking in the oven...when you up turn the bundt the top is studded with blueberry jewels). However, this time I decided to go all out with frosting and to add a little twist...

     After buying The Flavour Thesaurus I've been thinking a lot about flavour pairings. I was trawling the internet, magazines and books for the perfect blueberry recipe before finally realising I had it all along. With a few tweaks to the Hummingbird  Bakery's blueberry cake, this time I now have frosting and zesty lemons!

Blueberry cake:

     350g unsalted butter, room temperature
     350g caster sugar
     6 eggs
     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
     450g plain flour
     2 tablespoons & 2 teaspoons baking powder
     280ml sour cream
     250g fresh blueberries & extra to decorate

Cream cheese frosting:

     600g icing sugar, sifted
     100g unsalted butter, room temperature
     250g cream cheese, cold
     Juice of half a lemon
     Zest of half a lemon, for sprinkling on top

25cm bundt tin, dusted with flour.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs to the mix one at a time, ensuring each addition is well combined.

Beat in the vanilla, flour and baking powder.

Add the sour cream and mix well before gently folding in the blueberries.

Pour the mixture into the prepared bundt tin and smooth the top with a palette knife.

Bake for 40 minutes, until golden the sponge bounces back when you give it a little prod.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Whilst the cake is cooling, beat the icing sugar and butter in a mixer on a medium speed until well combined.

Add the cream cheese and lemon juice and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Approximately 5 minutes...be careful not to over beat.

Once fully cooled, cover the top and sides with frosting. Add some fresh blueberries, lemon zest and a dusting of icing sugar to serve.

A few handy tips -

• make sure you prepare the bundt tin with plenty of flour to make it easier to release after baking
• don't worry if disaster strikes and the cake doesn't come out in one piece...the frosting makes for perfect cake cement, no one will know any different!

And here are my original flat friends...hello to you both!xx