Recipe: Caramel and Pecan Tart

I have a love hate relationship with pastry. I love eating it, but I don't necessarily enjoy making it. Fool-proof biscuit bases are my bag. Crush some biscuits, stir in butter and squidge into a tin. Easy as pie tart. 

This caramel tart is made with a Digestive biscuit base and topped with a generous swirl of chocolate and a few pecans. I'm already planning different variations including cookie bases and marshmallow fillings. 

I'm almost certain I love biscuits more than cake. Even more so in the form of biscuit tart bases.

C A R A M E L   A N D   P E C A N   T A R T
(recipe from McVitie's, serves 8)

For the base:

200g digestive biscuits

75g unsalted butter

For the filling:

150g unsalted butter

150g light muscovado sugar

200g condensed milk

100g plain chocolate

50g pecans

1. Blitz or smash the biscuits in a sandwich bag until finely ground. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the biscuits.
2. Use the back of a spoon to press down the biscuit mix into the base and sides of a 20cm springform tin.
3. Chill for 30 minutes to set.
4. To make the filling, gently melt the butter and sugar until dissolved. Add the condensed milk and stir continuously whilst bringing to the boil. 
5. Continue to stir for 2-3 minutes until the filling is golden and bubbling. Pour the caramel into the prepared biscuit base and leave to set in the fridge for an hour.
6. Top with pecans and swirls of melted chocolate.

Ensure you slice from chilled to get that perfect cut. Serve with boozy cream or ice cream.

Thank you to the McVitie's team for sending me the ingredients for this post.  

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14 Perfect Recipes for Autumn

Dust off your slow cookers, mornings are now fresher than ever. And by fresh, I mean I'm considering gloves, scarves and hats already. And to get myself in the mood for apple, cinnamon and pumpkin season I've rounded up the best of Autumn recipes from the blogosphere.

Plenty of pumpkin and sweet potato will help to defrost us a little before things get a little too festive. (Although for some, we're already there...supermarket mince pies, anyone?)

Autumn is my favourite season purely for slow cookers and batch cooking, much less hassle than summer cooking. Bintu's pumpkin pasta with toasted hazelnuts is a perfect example of a super speedy seasonal supper. Make my pumpkin chilli and store portions in the freezer ready for busy weeks. Lucy's beef daube stew is perfect to make in advance for a warming Sunday dinner.

And for some more comforting suppers? I can't wait to try Kate's oven-baked pumpkin & leek risotto, I'm too impatient to stir regular risotto constantly. Or maybe to dunk huge hunks of a buttered loaf into these super easy turmeric beans. Mac n cheese fan? Hannah has truly gone to town with this squash, sage and stilton mac n cheese with bacon.

Fancy a drink? Madeleine has the most perfect pumpkin spice latte recipe or for something a little healthier, this blackberry, fig and beetroot smoothie recipe should do the

I don't think I've mentioned how much I enjoy baking with pumpkin and sweet potato. It's such a versatile ingredient and great for moist, fluffy bakes. Try these spiced pumpkin and pecan mini cakes or sweet potato cake with marshmallow frosting. Emily is the macaron queen and came up with these perfect pumpkin spice latte guys. How amazing do they look?! 

Cate really is on fire over the last few weeks with no end of Autumn inspiration popping up on her blog. I can't wait to try this Autumn banana bread made with squash puree (and its dairy free too!). A hybrid between doughnut and muffins, duffins are a deceptively easy and super quick treat to make. Cinnamon apple duffins are perfect for lunchbox treats...or for sneaky weekend breakfasts! Speaking of treats, these pumpkin pie bars from Katie would go down well in the office.

I'm so excited for my next day off to do some baking now!

What are your favourite Autumn recipes?

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Upside-down Banana Cake with Maple-caramel Sauce

The sun may still be out (slightly), but as far as I'm concerned, we're well into pecan, maple and cinnamon season! When searching for a way to use up some overripe bananas I found this recipe, jumped straight into the car to get supplies and got straight in the kitchen.

I'm pretty sure you could make this in a large cake/tart tin if you don't have a big enough square serving plate. I didn't, so opted to serve it on a baking sheet!

Upside-down banana cake with maple-caramel sauce
(Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food)

100g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
8tbsp maple syrup
3 small overripe bananas and 1 very overripe banana
200g soft dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
2tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
100g pecans, roughly chopped
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp ground cinnamon
200g pot full-fat Greek yogurt, plus extra (or vanilla ice cream) to serve

For the sauce:
100g whole pecans
100g salted butter, diced
100ml double cream
100ml maple syrup

Heat the oven to 160 degrees and grease and line the bottom of a 20cm square tin.

Pour half the maple syrup (4tbsp) over the bottom of the tin, swirl around to give a good coating. Peel and chop the 3 ripe bananas in half and slice lengthways and place cut side down in the tin.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the eggs and the final very ripe banana, mixing gently. Tip the flour and pecans into a blender and blitz together until the pecans are ground. Stir the flour into the butter mixture and add the bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon. Fold in the yogurt.

Carefully spoon over the bananas, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean.

To make the sauce, toast the pecans for a few minutes in a pan before adding the rest of the ingredients. Cook on a low heat until all of the butter has melted. Leave to bubble for a further 5 minutes whilst the sauce thickens.

Once the cake is cooked and straight from the oven, poke it half way down with a  skewer all over. Pour over the remaining 4tbsp of maple syrup and leave it to soak in for a few minutes. Upturn the cake onto a serving plate. Reheat the sauce, and serve with Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Whiskey Marmalade & Pecan Brownies

   Here's my recipe for Mackays #christmaswithmackays challenge. Super fudgey brownies with a whiskey marmalade kick and topped with pecans to give a little crunch.

   I used Smitten Kitchen's cocoa brownie recipe for two reasons; it's cold outside and I wasn't feeling brave enough to walk in the rain to the shops to get lots of chocolate bars and because Huffington Post deems it as 'the only brownie recipe you'll ever need'. With my addition of marmalade and some stray chocolate chunks I found in the cupboard, I can confirm that this is the ONLY brownie recipe you'll ever need.

Whiskey marmalade & pecan brownies
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Makes 16)
     140g unsalted butter
     250g caster sugar
     65g unsweetened cocoa powder
     1/4 tsp salt
     1/2 tsp vanilla extract
     2 large eggs
     65g plain flour
     4tbsp Mackays Orange Marmalade with Whiskey
     100g milk chocolate chunks
     75g walnut pieces, lightly chopped

• Heat the oven to 160 degrees and line an 8x8 inch square baking tin with baking paper.
• Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a medium heatproof bowl. Melt either in the microwave or over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot. Set the bowl aside to cool.
• Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter is thick, shiny and well blended, add the flour and mix well. Smitten Kitchen then advises to beat vigorously again for 40 strokes.
• Stir in the marmalade and chocolate chunks before filling the prepared tray with the batter. Smooth out the top with a knife and scatter over the chopped pecan pieces.
• Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the top is shiny. Leave to cool completely in the tin before removing and cutting into 16 squares.

Pumpkin & Pecan Praline Cake

I made this cake quickly after work for a family birthday, on Bonfire Night!

I decided to go for full on autumn flavours with a pumpkin sponge and pecan praline topping. All helped with a good smothering of dark chocolate ganache.

For this I used a combination of Marta Stewart recipes, including the pumpkin sponge I made into mini cakes here, and the pecan praline. The ganache was my first attempt and a bit of guestimating!

Pumpkin cake, with dark chocolate ganache & pecan praline
(Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)
     2 cups plain flour
     1tsp bicarbonate of soda
     1tsp baking powder
     1tsp salt
     1tsp ground cinnamon
     1tsp ground ginger
     1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
     1/4 tsp ground allspice
     1 cup packed light brown sugar
     1 cup granulated sugar
     1 cup butter, melted and cooled
     4 eggs, lightly beaten
     1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (I used Libby's)

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease 3 regular sandwich tins.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice; set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and eggs. Add dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the pumpkin puree,
• Divide the batter evenly between the tins. Bake until golden and the tops spring back when touched, roughly 25-30 minutes. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate ganache

     200g dark chocolate

     300ml double cream

     2tbsp golden caster sugar

• Chop the chocolate into small chunks and tip into a heatproof bowl.
• Heat the double cream in a pan, add the sugar and heat until it is about to boil.
• Take off the heat and pour over the chocolate chunks.
• Continue to stir until all chunks have melted and the mixture is smooth.

Pecan praline

(Recipe from Martha Stewart)

     vegetable oil, for baking tray

     1 cup golden caster sugar

     1 cup whole pecans, lightly toasted

• Lightly coat a baking tray with vegetable oil and set aside.
• Mix together the sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. Cover and cook, without stirring, until an amber coloured syrup has formed, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the pecans. Pour mixture onto prepared baking tray and leave to cool completely.
• When the praline has cooled, coarsely chop. 

To finish, I sandwiched the three layers of pumpkin cake with lashings of chocolate ganache. Then, poured the rest over the top. Did a little tidying up and sprinkled over the chopped pecan praline.

There was enough praline left to cover one more cake...Martha advises to store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Spiced Pumpkin Mini Cakes

Spiced pumpkin mini cakes
(From Martha Stewart, makes 24)
     2 cups plain flour
     1tsp bicarbonate of soda
     1tsp baking powder
     1tsp salt
     1tsp ground cinnamon
     1tsp ground ginger
     1/4 freshly grated nutmeg
     1/4tsp ground allspice
     1 cup packed soft brown sugar
     1 cup caster sugar
     1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
     4 large eggs, lightly beaten
     1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease trays and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice; set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, caster sugar, butter and eggs. Add dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
• Divide batter evenly among the trays, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, or a cake tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

I had some chocolate custard left over from my Brooklyn Blackout cupcakes, which goes perfectly with the spicy pumpkin cake. Recipe here. Then topped with some blitzed cake crumbs and a pecan half.