Hummingbird Bakery Classic Brownies

Well, off for a uni gathering in Bath this weekend so thought I'd do a little bake for the troops - as i'd missed all of their birthdays due to galavanting around India and determinned by January purse strings, I thought I'd treat them to a birthday esque bake!!! And what else is a winner other than the Classic hummingbird bakery brownie?!
Pressure on though as my sister in law has baked these on many occasions and they never fail!

Ingredients
- 200g Dark Chocolate roughly chopped
- 175g Unsalted Butter
- 325g Caster Sugar
- 130g Plain Flour
- 3 Eggs
- Icing Sugar

a 33 x 23 x 5cm Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper

Method

1. Prehead the over to 170 degrees
2. Line the tin with greaseproof paper
3. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and leave until melted and smooth
4. I gave it a little stir to combine the remaining butter and chocolate together to ensure it was fully mixed and smooth
5. Remove the Chocolate mixture from the heat and add the sugar - still until all incorporated.
6. Now add the flour and still well - ensuring all are coated and combined.
7.Whist the eggs and add to the mixture and stir until thick and smooth - i found that the mixture became glossy in appearance
8. Once all combined and mixed - spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake in the oven for approximately 30-35 mintues.

The recipe advised that around the 30minute mark  to check the brownie to ensure that the edges didn't become overcooked as they can become crunchy and hard. I found that 35minutes was perfect time, - flaky on the top and a soft centre (as desired) and removed from the oven and left to cool.
Once cooled i cut them up into small brownie size squares - obviously could do any size porton, but i felt the smaller brownie is always a winner as they are gloriously chocolately!
Once cooled and cut i dusted with icing sugar.

The recipe suggests that 12 are made, however as i cut mine into smaller squares I had more than 12, so set some aside for the Uni gals, and guess what - the office feeder strikes again!! I brought the rest into work - this time the Birmingham office!
Feedback - squidgy on the inside, flaky and a crunch on the outside, and a nice chocolatey flavour.

I will definitely make them again, and perhaps even attempt to rival the sister in law with them!!

Cornflake tart - nostalgic bake

As this month is nostalgic bake topic.. I opted for a cornflake tart!

For me this is steeped in memory because it is a bake that I use to have at school.. was a perk to a school lunch.. That and cowboy pie!!! It just connotes happy school memories, and as something that I haven't really seen elsewhere, it has complete school days association.

I obviously had an idea of the recipe, but searched the internet for one as the cookery books I had at home didn't have a recipe in. The recipe I used is from www.allrecipes.co.uk.

Ingredients:
- 55g Unsalted Butter
- 25g Dark brown sugar
- 115g Golden Syrup
- 85g Cornflakes
- 1 pinch of salt (I ommitted this)
- Pastry recipe/ready to use shortcut pastry
- 100g Strawberry Jam

Tart Tin

Method:
1. I rolled out the pastry and lined the greased tart tin with it - trimming the edges. I lined it with baking parchment and filled it with baking beans and placed in the oven for 20mins at 200 degrees.

2. Whilst the pastry was baking, I got to work on the ingredients. I melted the butter in the pan, and added the sugar until it had combined and disolved in the butter. I then added the golden syrup, constantly stirring.

3. I removed the pastry from the oven and removed the baking parchment to allow the pastry to become golden brown and baked for a further 5 minutes.
4. I removed the mixture from the heat and poured in the cornflakes and combining them with the mixture, ensuring that all the cornflakes are coated in the mixture. Once all coated - I put the jam on the base and spread out evenly. The recipe suggests that the jam should be warmed, however i find that warming jam makes it too liquidy, so I felt the the heat from the pastry would be enough to warm the jam without it becoming to liquidy.
Once the jam was spread out evenly, I added the cornflake mixture - spreading it out evenly across the top.
I popped the tart in the oven for 5 minutes and allowed to cool once removed.

This recipe was super easy and quick, I did wonder if the tart would taste the same or come close to the flavour profile of the one I use to have at school... and it did!! Amazing!!! The taste is just as i remember. I opted for it without custard - the classic lumpy custard at school wasn't a firm favourite, so i stuck to it plain.
Obviously it's quite a sweet tasting dessert so the custard is good to help the flavouring.

Again - the office feeder strikes again - as I am in the Birmingham branch a different group of tasters to trial it on.. and the feedback was a resounding success. Flavour, consistency, and pastry all worked well together.
What I did notice that having made it the day before, the jam had obviously set better even after it had cooled, but I think that it would need to be eaten on the same day or at a push the day after due to the heavy consitency of the cornflakes - as it's a slightly wet mixture.

Katherine's lime and raspberry meringue pie

So, a tad behind schedule but May bake complete.. I decided to make individual pies rather than one large one.
After a bit of research I combined a recipe from BBC Good Food online.. Lemon and Raspberry Meringue pie http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10881/lemon-and-raspberry-meringue-tart and Delia's fail safe meringue recipe http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/meringues.html
The recipe suggests one uses lemon curd, but I had some lime curd in that I'd only used a little of, so thought I'd change the lemon to lime (waste not want not!!!)

Ingredients (tweaked)
Filling
1 jar of lime curd (411g)
2 whole eggs and the 2 yolks from the egg white mixture
250g of fresh raspberries
Pastry bases

Meringue
3 Egg Whites
125g Caster Sugar
Topping
Raspberries from the punnet used in the filling
Zest of 1 lime

Method
So firstly, getting to grips with the pastry base. I used 8 ready made pastry cases on this occasion.. Purely again because I had them in stock to use.
I preheated the oven to 190 degrees and put the pie cases on a lined baking tray.

I scattered 6 raspberries on each of the 8 pastry cases, and got to work on the filling.

Firstly I prepared the egg whites for the meringue and used the egg yolk for the filling. With the egg yolks I added two whole eggs and beat them together.
I emptied the lime curd into a non stick sauce pan and added the beaten egg mixture together and put the mixture on a low heat to simmer for 10 minutes or so. I ensured I constantly stirred the mixture as advised to ensure the mixture thickened accordingly. It took a little longer than 10 minutes..about 15 minutes to thicken. But once thickened I decanted into a glass bowl and covered with cling film and left to cool (I left the mixture to cool whilst I got to work on the meringues and completed house chores, so a good 45 minutes at least!).
Whilst the mixture was cooling I got to work on the meringue. For this is opted for Delia Smith's classic, fail safe meringue recipe. I used the egg whites that I had separated earlier and added them to the 125g of caster sugar. I used my mixer to whisk the meringue to soft peaks. To check the meringue is ready I did the old trick of putting it over my head.. Thankfully a success as I had washed my hair!!

I left the meringue whilst I spooned about 2 tablespoons of the cooled lime curd mixture onto the raspberry and pastry cases. Once all the lime curd mixture sufficiently filled the cases I spooned on about 2 tablespoons of meringue onto the mixture and created soft peaks with the back of the spoon.

The pies were ready to go in the oven, so I put them in the oven for 10 minutes at 190 degrees and then turned the oven down to 150 degrees thereafter.
Once golden brown I turned the oven off and left the meringues in the oven until cooled as advised by Delia.

Once cooled, I sprinkled the lime zest and a raspberry on top for aesthetics rather than taste.

I cut into the pie, and it was the perfect meringue - slightly guey on the inside, with a perfect cracking on top.

Taste test - as I'm not the biggest meringue pie fan, I was again, the office feeder and took these into work.
The feedback - resounding success! Meringue cooked well - crispy on the outside and Slightly guey on the inside as i had tested. The taste combination of  raspberry and lemon was apparently quite fresh and light, and the flavours complimented one another.

I would use this recipe again as it was easier than I had thought.. But I would probably play around with the flavour combinations.

Lemon Zest Cheesecake

Well, this was March/April's bake - 'Cheesecake' and I was on a cheeky trip to India, I decided to forego this challenge. However, I had bought cream cheese in the hope that I'd have time to make it before departure, unfortunately not, hence why I decided to forego the challenge.

However, as I had the cream cheese sitting in the back of my fridge, and still very much in date, I had a moment of cheesecake inspiration and decided to see if I could work in any ingredients I had at home and just step up to the challenge!
So - with the lemons, mint, digestive biscuits and vanilla essence I had in - my culinary juices started flowing and I stumbled on a very basic cheesecake - Lemon zest!! So, I searched the web for a basic cheesecake recipe - and found one in the shape of James Martin on the BBC Good Food website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lemoncheesecake_65665

Ingredients:

Base:

10 Digestive Biscuits - crushed

75g Butter, melted (using a little on the base of the tin)

1 tbsp Honey

Filling:

700g/1 1/2 lb Mascarpone Cheese*

2 Lemons - juice and zest

200g/7oz Caster Sugar

4 tbsp Icing Sugar

Mint to garnish

Notes:

- I used Full Fat Cream Cheese as opposed to mascarpone cheese as that's what I had in

- I used 2 1/2 lemons - juice and zest

- I ommitted the Icing Sugar - as I needed to replenish my stock - so I added 1 tsp of vanilla essence instead

Method:

First of all, I measured a circular piece of baking parchment out to fit comfortably in the base of the tin (23cm tin), then I measured out all my ingredients, and got to work on the base.

Whilst the butter was melting in the pan on a low heat, I put the digestive biscuits in a sandwich bag, and covered with a tea towel, and used a rolling pin to crush the biscuits into the desired specification - crumbs!

Once the butter had melted, I used a pastry brush to lightly coat the base of the tin, and placed the baking parchment on top.

Now with the melted butter, I added the digestive biscuit crumbs and the honey, and combine together. Once all fully combined, I poured the base mixture into the prelined tin (the recipe recommends a spring form tin, which I have lent out, so I had to use a basic tin - although I'd highly recommend a spring form tin!!) and smoothed out to the edges. Once complete, I popped it in the fridge to chill.

Whilst the base is chilling, I got to work on the filling - combining the cream cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla essence and caster sugar together. The recipe recommends not over mixing, so I ensured I mixed the ingredients together in a slow manner. Once all combined I poured the mixture over the chilled base and spread it out evenly using the back of a tablespoon and pallette knife. I placed it in the fridge to chill.

The recipe recommends at lea\st 2 hours - I let it chill overnight.

Now for the removal of the cheesecake from the tin! This is where the spring form tin would have come in useful! I used a hot cloth as recommended to loosen the edges - which it did, but as the tin I was using was a loose base, I had to push the base up - yes you can imagine the trauma!!

I managed to remove it in one swoop, however it did cause a little loss of 'edging' - which as you can see from the image below - made it appear a very rustic looking cheesecake.

I added a sprig of mint to garnish, and the cheesecake is complete.

Taste test.. as not an avid fan of cheesecakes, I passed the tasting mantel to my colleagues at work - and the 2 regulars are in fact great cheesecake fans (pressure is on).

Result:
The general consensus was very pleasing! 9 and 10's out of 10 - with feedback such as - just the right amount of lemon, and not too overpowering, as lemon can be somewhat bitter in some cases. The ommition of the icing sugar also seemed to make a difference, with one of the tasters saying it wasn't as 'sugary and overly sweet' as lot of cheesecakes can be.
The only critique was that the base could be thicker. I did think that when the recipe stated 10 digestive biscuits, that it was quite little, so if i was to ammend this recipe, I'd double the quanitity of biscuits because the cheesecake topping is so thick.

For saying it was a last minute step up to the plate and embrace the cheesecake challenge with a very rushed search for a recipe based on the ingredients at home, i'm very pleased with the results.

Katherine's Jaffa Cake Cupcakes

Firstly, I was most excited about January's baking theme - cupcakes! Such a diverse topic, which made my culinary thoughts go into overdrive!!
I have a couple of cupcake recipe books, and ploughed my through, with my brief (that I gave myself) of something a bit bold, classy and tasty!

After much deliberation, the answer I knew, would be found in 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cook Book'. I then went on their website, and saw that this month's special bake on sale were 'Jaffa Cake Cupcakes'. So, i knew this was the one.. the only problem.. no ingredient measurements provided, just an ingredients list. Therefore I thought I'd be a bit bold and improvise!

I selected the Vanilla Cupcake Recipe, which I would tweak ( from 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cook Book', and the Chocolate Frosting recipe from the same book.

Ingredients

For the Sponge:
40g Unsalted Butter
120g Plain Flour
140g Caster Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
110ml Whole Milk
1 Egg
The Juice of 1/2 an Orange
The Zest of 1/2 an Orange

Firstly I preheated my oven to 170 degrees and lined a cupcake tin with cupcake cases.

I mixed together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, then adding the butter (which I chopped into small cubes to ensure it combined with the flour mixture better) and using a hand held whisk I started to combine all the mixture together.
I then added half of the milk (the original recipe stated 110ml of whole milk, but as I was adding the orange to the mixture I didn't want it to be too runny, so substituted 10ml of milk for orange juice) to the mixture and used an electric whisk to combine. Once this was incorporated, I mixed togther the milk, beaten egg, zest of half an orange, and then juice of half an orange, then slowly added it to the rest of the mixture and whisked together, ensuring that the mixture was smooth, yet not over worked.

I used 2 tablespoon measures to fill the cupcake cases to two thirds full (which they recommend on the hummingbird bakery application). Once all cupcake cases were full, I put them in the preheated oven for 20-25minutes as stated.
I set my timer to 20minutes as my oven is rather hot and didn't want them to burn.

Whilst the cupcakes were cooking (which may I add, the smell of the orange was quite something!) I got to work on the Chocolate Frosting.

Frosting Ingredients
300g Icing Sugar, sifted
40g Cocoa Powder (I used Bourneville Cococa Powder)
80g Unsalted Butter
30ml Whole Milk
10ml Juice of 1/2 an orange

With the above ingredients, I combined them together until light and fluffy, adding the juice of 1/2 an orange for the extra flavour.

Once the cakes were sufficiently cooled, I got to work on the the centre of the cake. For this i used a teaspoon so remove a small 5 pence piece size (in circumference) hole from the sponge, and about half way down - to enable the filling to sit perfectly in the centre and ooze out when bitten - but not seap out of the bottom of the cupcake. I repeated this step on each cupcake - discarding the sponge that was removed. I then used a teaspoon measure of thick cut marmalade and filled the holes made in the sponge. Once all filled with the marmalade I added the chocolate frosting and completed them with a mini jaffa cake.

The taste test proved quite popular, and many were unaware of the marmalade centre - so were more than pleased with the little cupcake surprise.

I would definitely make these again, as they were easy to make, just a tad fiddily, but with the end results and feedback that I received, were highly worth it.

Katherine's Bakewell Tart

Firstly, what a glorious bake this month!

Derbyshire pride at stake though, so the challenge was definitely set!

This bake is one that I have made before, and therefore tweaked the recipe from previous experience.

The recipe I used was from Waitrose Recipes online.

Ingredients for the filling:

1. 100g Unsalted Butter (softened)
2. 3 Large Eggs, Beaten
3. 6 tbsp Strawberry Jam
4. 125g Caster Sugar
5. 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
6. 150g Ground Almonds
7. 25g Flaked Almonds

To Decorate: 1 tbsp Icing Sugar, sifted
(For the Pastry: 200g Plain Flour, 100g Unsalted Butter, chilled & cubed, 2 Large Egg Yolks, beaten)

Firstly, I had all good intentions to make the pastry, however due to timing issues I decided that bought pastry is just as good, so I opted for a nice short cut pastry.
I preheated the oven to 190 degrees, and rolled out the pastry to approximately 3mm as suggested (however, ensuring that it wasn't too thin). I greased the pastry tin, and fitted the pastry to the tin ensuring that it fit comfortably into the tart rivets, to ensure a nice tart shape when removed.
I then pricked the pastry using a fork, lined the pastry with baking parchment, and then filled it with baking beans and placed in the oven for 15 minutes.
I found that i had leftover pastry, therefore I decided to make mini ones, and fill a muffin tin with the pastry and followed the same procedure with the baking beans.
Once baked, I removed both items and removed the parchment and baking beans as instructed and baked for a further 5 minutes, at an adjusted heat of 180 degrees - but ensuring I monitored it, so to not overcook.
Whilst the pastry was cooling I got to work on the filling.

For the filling I beat the sugar and butter together in my new mixer (very exciting!!!) until light, fluffy and pale, (the mixer made it all so speedy.. the muscle work with a wooden spoon can move over!!) and gradually added the beaten eggs a little at a time. Obviously this is to prevent any curdling!
I then added the almond extract, however from previous experience I found that 1/2 a teaspoon wasn't quite enough, therefore I added 1 and 1/2 teaspoons to give it a nice almond kick, yet not too overpowering. I then folded in the ground almonds, ensuring all was combined.
The filling is ready, so now I checked the pastry was cool, and added the strawberry jam. On previous bakes I have used different jams, cheap ones, fruitier ones, but I have to say that the jam does make the difference, and the conclusion was that the best jam to use was Bon Marme, and it really is worth it. The recipe suggests 6 tbsp, however, I ended up using a whole jar (obviously adding to the mini tartlets). I added the filling to the top, and ensured it was spread evenly, and decorated using the flaked almonds - to be honest, I did this by sight rather than the 25g measurement suggested as I like it to be covered in almonds - all personal preference.
In it went to the oven for 35 minutes.

Once cooled slightly in the tin, I removed and cooled further on a cooling tray.

Tasting test.. I took both the mini tartlets and slithers of the main tart to work, and received a resounding success. The bakewell tart was moist, and flavoursome. I experimented and put a couple of slices in the fridge, and my 2 regular tasters felt that it tasted even better, and remained moist.

I will definitely make again, and MAYBE just maybe, might attempt making the pastry!

Katherine's Victoria Sponge

The classic victoria sponge - so recognisable in taste, the pressure was on to ensure the perfect bake - so here goes...

I've obviously baked this before, and having always used Delia Smith's recipe from 'Delia's Complete Illustrated Cookery Course - Classic Edition' (a firm favourite of the Mother!), and found no issues with the recipe, I don't usually deem it necessary to deviate. However, I thought I'd use my new cookery book - 'Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook' and give this a test drive (I did have Delia on hand to compare and contrast).

Firstly I measured everything out into one bowl - something I don't usually do, as I usually do it a step at a time, but it seemed to work just fine. The tweak I did make though was cutting the butter up into small cubes before adding to the mixture - a tip I picked up for a celebrity chef programme (I think it may have been Lorraine Pascale), as it helps combine the mixture quicker than one large lump.

I poured the mixture as evenly as possibe into the tins - and tapped them on the work surface (a Gordon Ramsey tip to release any air bubbles) and popped them in for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
With a prod and a glance, I removed the cakes, and left them to cool in their tins, before removing and putting on a cooling tray.

Whilst they were cooling I got to work on the butter cream - a recipe handed down from the mother - so probably from a cookery magazine from yester year! I started off by creaming the butter and icing sugar together with a electric handwhisk (mod con that I thought I'd give a whirl) - I used Lorraine Pascale's tip of putting a clean tea towel over the top of the whisk and bowl to ensure the cloud of icing sugar didn't fill my kitchen - which worked a treat (thanks LP!). After getting the mixture going, I decided to get the trusty wooden spoon, and get creaming by hand - very strenuous work, but a light fluffy mixture was a happy result!

Once the sponges were cooled out of their tins, I spread the buttercream onto the bottom layer, and the Strawberry Jam on the other sponge, and quickly (whilst crossing everything and holding my breath) sandwiched the two sponges together! Added a strawberry 'garnish' and a dusting of icing sugar, and the taste test could commence!

My tasting panel was my housemate Jen - I served hers with a piping hot cup of tea, and she commented on the moistness of the sponge, and the nice flavours coming through. The others on my panel were colleagues at work, they commented on the flavours and thickness of the sponge, getting a varying of results - 8.5, and a 9.5 out of 10.

As I hadn't made this for a while, and had a bad experience with a Victoria Sponge at Jubilee (I don't like to talk about it!), I was pretty pleased with the result, although my even distribution of cake mix wasn't quite a success with one sponge slightly larger on one side.

(For my birthday soiree, I had an afternoon tea theme in the day and baked the sponge again, using the same recipe, and methods, and I am pleased to report, we had no wonky sponges! This time however, I whipped up some cream, and layered that with some strawberry jam for the filling, and topped the cake with more whipped cream and an array of fruit on top. It definitely was aesthetically pleasing! I also made some Mini Victoria Sponges and used the same recipe, but splitting them into 12 victoria sponge holes - a tin designed especially for this purpose (I was on a waiting list for this tin at Lakeland!!!) 6 Lemon Curd and Buttercream, and 6 Classic Victoria Sponge with Strawberry Jam and Buttercream - both a resounding success!)