Choc Chip Cookies and Nest Cakes

This is my favourite choc chip cookie recipe and is very easy, perfect for Kids. You can vary it by adding some nuts instead of choc chips or combine the two. To make these cookies ‘eastery’ I put a mini egg on top of each dollop of mixture, not a total success as you can see some of these cracked.

Also included is a photo of some Easter cup cakes I made this week. They are iced to look (loosely) like nests complete with mini eggs, but here the piece de resistance(s) are the very kitsch wire chicks that I remembered from my childhood and couldn’t resist buying in a pound shop.

Choc Chip Cookies - makes 16-20

125g / 4oz Butter or Marg

50g / 2oz soft brown sugar or golden caster

1 egg beaten

150g / 5oz Self raising flour

175g / 6oz plain chocolate chopped or chocolate drops (I find that 100g of chocolate drops and 50g of nuts like hazel nuts is enough)

Instructions

Heat the oven to 180^oC and grease two baking sheets

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Beat in the egg

Sift in the flour and mix

Add the chocolate chips and nuts if using

Put teaspoons of the mixture well spaced on the baking sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool, they are a little fragile warm but will firm up as they cool.

Savoury Cake (Ham, Parmesan and Olive)

I had an unexpected day at home this week and so decided it was time to make a savoury cake having come across a recipe in a weekend paper.  I suspect this idea may have been around for a while if it has made it into a Sunday paper and has just past me by so far, but it was new to me. The recipe is by Hugh F-W. As I wasn’t terrible confident I made half the amount suggested and put it in a small loaf tin – it didn’t rise much. I also had to modify the recipe because I had black olives instead of green and no thyme.

The result? Not bad,  like a less dense savoury scone.  It is nicely flavoured  I think enhanced by the use of some baked Christmas ham which I had in the freezer.  Good with bit of salad for lunch.



The Recipe
Liquid ingredients
150ml olive oil
150ml milk
4 eggs lightly beaten

Dry Ingredients

250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp paprika
1tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
100g parmesan – grated
180g cooked ham chopped
130g green olives stoned and chopped.

Directions

1.       Heat oven to 200^oc
2.       Grease a 1.5 litre loaf tin and line with paper
3.       Sift flour, baking powder and paprika. Add the remaining dry ingredients.
4.       Whisk the liquid ingredients together and combine with dry ingredients. Stir until just combined and put in the tin.
5.       Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
6.       Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out to cool.

Sunflowers and Icing

Today’s post is mainly about icing, specifically chocolate ganache, a versatile icing that can be poured on a cake while runny as a glossy covering (as I did for my wedding cake) or used when more solid as a piped icing. To illustrate its use here is a picture of some sunflower cupcakes I made the impressionists garden party I previously made gingerbread ladies for.

I dyed flaked almonds yellow with food colouring and left them to dry on greaseproof paper.

Then having put a dollop of chocolate ganache on the cupcakes I put the almonds around the edge.

The recipe

Chocolate Ganache -  Makes 250g mixture enough to fill and cover a 8 inch cake

175g / 6 oz           Plain Chocolate broken into pieces

4 tablespoons    Single Cream

50g / 2oz              Butter  in cubes

2                            Egg yolks

1 tablespoon      Rum

I adapt this as given my very fecund friends I don’t like to add the egg yolks in case I am feeding pregnant women ditto for the rum. Also if I haven’t got single cream in the fridge I milk instead but a bit less volume. Apart from that you can see I follow the recipe closely...

Instructions

1. Beat the chocolate with the cream in a small pan over a gentle heat
2. Cool slightly then beat in the butter bit by bit
3. Beat in the egg yolks and rum if using

Either use runny or wait for it to cool and beat for a thick pipe-able icing

Devil’s Food Cake

This is my second favourite chocolate cake recipe.  It is less complicated than the "best ever" one, but still very chocolatey. There is quite a lot of cocoa powder in it which makes it a really dark earthy chocolate colour and the texture is quite springy. The lack of density means it is isn’t ideally suited for cutting into novelty cakes but it does make good cupcakes. I realised when I looked at my cook book that I have been making this recipe for 20 years so it must be a good one.

The original recipe

50g / 2 oz                            Cocoa Powder

200ml / 1/3 pint                 Boiling Water

175g / 6oz                           Plain Flour

¼ teaspoon                         Baking Powder

1 teaspoon                          Bicarbonate of Soda

125g / 4 oz                          Butter (or Marg at a push)

300g / 10 oz                        Caster Sugar (Golden is good)

2                                          Eggs, beaten

Makes one 20cm / 8 inch sandwich cake or 24 cupcakes (small paper cases not muffin cases)

Cook at 180 ^oC  45-50 mins for cake ~20-25 mins for cupcakes but check after 15 mins

Instructions

1.       Blend Cocoa with ½ the water then stir in the rest and leave to cool

2.       Sift flour, baking powder and Bicarb

3.       Cream butter, sugar and 3 tblesp of cocoa  & water until light and fluffy

4.       Beat in eggs to butter and sugar

5.       Fold in flour and cocoa alternately, don’t worry if it curdles

6.       Divide into 2 lined sandwich tins or 24 small paper cases

7.       It is done when a skewer comes out clean, but leave in the tins to cool for about 5 mins as it is a bit fragile when hot.

Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe

As an antidote to my favourite but slightly complicated cake recipe, I was sent this easy chocolate cake recipe. I tried it and it is easy (only 3 steps) and tastes nice. I made it into cupcakes and tried to put all the mixture into 12 cupcake cases which was too much, I estimate it will make 15-18 cupcakes.  My only objection is that I don’t often have crème fraiche in the fridge, but that is quite a small quibble. See what you think.

The decoration was for my brother-in-law who is addicted to tea and also likes this MoPed! song 

Ingredients:
    * 8 oz self-raising flour, sieved
    * 3 tbsp cocoa
    * ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
    * 6 oz caster sugar
    * 3 eggs
    * 150ml crème fraiche
    * 150ml sunflower oil
    * 3 tbsp golden syrup

Method:
Tip the dry ingredients into a bowl or food processor and mix to combine.

In a jug, whisk the eggs until pale, then add the crème fraiche, sunflower oil, and golden syrup. Whisk together thoroughly, then tip the mixture into the dry ingredients and beat or blend to combine.

Pour the batter into a 2 greased 8” round tin, and bake at 140 degrees C, for 40 mins-1 hour. Cool on a wire rack.

The Best Ever Chocolate Cake Recipe

My Wedding Cake made from this recipe

This is genuinely the best chocolate cake recipe ever. In the search for a suitable chocolate wedding cake recipe I baked a lot of cakes and this is really chocolately, very moist, it freezes well and can be cut into shapes, making it perfect for shaped birthday cakes. I didn't create it, but found it on an america website and now it doesn't seem available. Here it is translated into english for you.


The instructions are long and I haven't worked out yet how strictly you have to stick to the order. I still haven't tried what happens if you just use self-raising flour - if you find out let me know.

The full recipe makes three  9x2inch or three 8x2inch rounds or 42 cupcakes

Cook at 160 degrees C / 325 degrees F

1.      Melt chocolate and let cool to room temp.

2.      Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then sift in cocoa powder

3.      Add vanilla extract to milk ( I use vanilla caster sugar)

4.      Beat butter until soft then add sugar beat for 2 min until light yellow and fluffy

5.      Add the eggs one at a time beating in between

6.      ‘temper’ the chocolate by adding a teaspoon of the butter/sugar/egg  to the chocolate a teaspoon at a time until about ½ cup has been added and then add all the chocolate to the butter/sugar/ egg mixture.

7.      Whisking at a low speed add the flour in 3 portions alternating with the milk in 2 equal portions. After adding the last bit of flour mix for 3o sec, don’t over mix

8.      Divide the batter into prepared tins (should be ½ full). The recipe says bake for 25-40min but I’ve always found it needs a bit longer. A skewer should come out with a few moist crumbs on it but not batter, a bit of cracking on the top is normal.

9.      Let the cakes sit for 10-15 mins before unmolding it is quite fragile when warm

If you freeze it then when defrosting make sure that you take the wrapping off before you leave it to thaw.

	American	Metric	(2/3rds)
Flour – plain	3 ½ cups	420g	280g
Cocoa	½ up	60g	40g
Baking powder	2 teaspoons	2 teaspoons	1 1/3 teaspoons
Baking soda	½ teaspoon	½ teaspoon	1/3 teaspoon
Salt	1 teaspoons	I teaspoon	2/3 teaspoon
Milk	2 cups	¾ pint	½ pint
Butter	1 ½ cups	336g	224g
Caster Sugar	2 ¾ cups	550g	360g
Eggs	6 large	6 large	4 large
Plain Chocolate	12 oz	12 oz	8 oz
Vanilla extract	1 tablespoon	1 tablespoons	2 teaspoons