Alphabakes Round-Up 2015: B

 

The letter B means brownies for many of you, judging by the number of chocolate brownie entries we had for Alphabakes this month - from myself included! If you are indeed a fan of chocolate brownies check out my other blog which I have recently started as a way of experimenting with Wordpress and of course celebrating the fudgy chocolatey snack - http://ift.tt/1c260D1

Shameless plug aside it was great to see lots of entries this month, and they weren't all brownies. Bundt cakes are brilliant - they can be any recipe as the name comes from the ring-shaped tin which I believe originates from Germany. Ness at JibberJabberUK had some bananas to use up and created her own recipe, adding carrots, dried fruit and spices, and decorated the cake with mini eggs. A great cake for Easter or any time!

These banoffee eclairs from Helen at Fuss Free Flavours are a creative twist on a traditional bake. She added some dulce de leche to the whipped cream and used bananas in the filling, and they are beautifully decorated - much neater than the eclairs I've made before! The photograph is so good too.

Another bundt decorated with mini eggs - which seems to have been a trend this Easter! This pretty speckled egg white chocolate bundt comes from Dominic at Belleau Kitchen. He says the lemon zest stops the cake from being too sweet and it's very easy to make, which is the beauty of bundts as they don't even have to be filled.

My Alphabakes co-host Ros at The More Than Occasional Baker made these 'cinnabunnies' for Easter, using ready-made cinnamon bun dough and arranging them in the shape of rabbits. Aren't they cute?

Laura at I'd Much Rather Bake Than made these amazing brownies with mini Galaxy Caramel eggs - some of my favourite chocolate. She made these to celebrate getting accepted to do a PhD - congratulations! Don't these look amazing?

 

Bananas also inspired Stuart at Cakeyboi who made these banana maple nut waffles. He has a new waffle iron but his secret is toasting the waffles after they have come out of the machine - I might have to try that!

More buns, this time from Jen's Food. These are flavoured with saffron and glazed with a lemon  icing and look really spring-like so perfect for this time of year. She says they have a soft and light texture similar to brioche.

Jas at All That's Jas sent us this wonderful Easter bunny cake that is a lot of fun and almost looks too good to eat - but I'm sure I could! She says she has a family tradition of making something bunny-related at Easter which is a nice idea.

Jas also made these banana upside-down mini cakes, a quick and easy favourite where she always has the ingredients at hand. I'm curious to know if other people have go-to recipes like this?



That's not all from Jas - she also sent in this beef soup with semolina dumplings. It's nice to have a savoury recipe for Alphabakes and one that is so beautifully presented. It looks like it might take a while to make but I think it would be worth it!

Ros from the More Than Occasional Baker is back with these banana and berry lemon muffins - a flavour combination I wouldn't have guessed worked, but clearly it does! They look very colourful and pretty I think.

B is for buttermilk birthday cake, in this post from Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary and I urge you to read her account of treasure hunting on St Ninian's Isle and how the birthday cake was served in a cave!

Some more brownies, this time from Suelle at Mainly Baking; she made brownies with hazelnut praline crust and I think the crunch of the crust would contrast really well with the softness of the brownies.

 

My mum sent in three B cakes this month - a blueberry sponge, chocolate brownies and a very pretty blue iced bundt. She must have been baking up a storm!

These hot cross buns from Kate aka The Gluten Free Alchemist look really good, and the flavour - apple, cherry and sultana is an unusual twist. She ate them with homemade lemon curd so look out for that recipe on her blog too!

Kerene, the Dream Baker, made these mini cheesecakes with blueberry compote which she says is a recipe that just can't go wrong - sounds good to me! They would be perfect for afternoon tea or a summer party.

Jean at Baking in Franglais used a chocolate brownie mixture as a base for a cake in this sticky pear and chocolate brownie cake. She was baking at a friend's house while her kitchen is being finished which she has unfortunately had a few problems with - hope you have your lovely new kitchen soon, Jean!



When I saw the title 'buns' in this post I thought Kerene at The Dream Baker had made iced buns - but in fact she produced these chicken curry buns. A bit like a spicy chicken pie, these have bread dough instead of pastry and look very enticing!

 You can never have too many brownie recipes... these chocolate and pecan brownies come from Kat the Baking Explorer, who was using up store cupboard ingredients before moving to a new flat. Hope the move went well!

 

I think Lisa at United Cakedom may have coined a new word - bruffins! These are brioche muffins with white chocolate chips and dried fruit and look delicious.

 

 I've never made brandy snaps before but Alexandra, aka the Lass in the Apron, makes it look so easy I might have to try! These are filled with a brandy-spiked cream and look amazing.

 

I made this lemon cake for a baby shower - so I am slightly cheekily entering it in Alphabakes as a baby cake - which I decorated with a teddy bear and a bow I made on a cake decorating course. The cake was really light and moist and lemony.

My Alphabakes co-host Ros at the More Than Occasional Baker has really been busy baking this month, and sent in these banana, cashew butter and chocolate chip muffins. She made these to try out a new protein supplement and says they are great for breakfast.

The last entry this month is another one from me: caramel-filled chocolate brownies. I got the idea from the Comic Relief Great British Bake Off and I can assure you these taste amazing!

Thanks to everyone who entered the challenge this month and sorry the roundup is a little late! Ros has already revealed which letter we are baking with in May so head on over to The More Than Occasional baker to find out!

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Cheesy Chips with Bacon and Onion

Ever since I went to the Diner in Spitalfields I've been daydreaming about their fries with crispy onion, bacon bits, cheese and burger sauce. I've never had anything like it - incredibly calorific but they tasted amazing. Often when you get cheesy chips in this country, they have had cheddar melted over them, and left to harden, so you end up with most of the chips plain, and a few with congealed cheese on them - not something I particularly like. At the Diner however the cheese stayed melted- it was more like a sauce. I was aware you could buy something called Cheez Whiz in America which is a sauce in a jar that you could use on chips if you wanted, but I didn't think you could get anything like that in the UK. Until I saw this Squeeze Cheese online - I think it was on Tesco's website but I can't find it there any more, though I think you have also been able to get it in Sainsbury's. You can heat the bottle in the microwave so you can squeeze it out, but it still comes out like toothpaste which is a bit strange so I then had to spread it a little - and to be honest I wasn't a big fan of the artificial taste.

I did the bacon and onion to go with it, in this new frying pan I was sent for review - the Green Earth frying pan by Ozeri. Aside from the fact that I love the colour this is a brilliant pan. It's 20cm which is a little smaller than my other frying pans but just right if you are cooking for one or two people and don't want to waste energy heating a bigger pan that is half empty.

It has a natural ceramic coating so is non-stick and a better conductor of heat than other pans but has no harmful chemicals. It works on my induction hob which is great.



It has an unusual textured surface which apparently makes the food less likely to stick and to cook evenly; it made a good job of my bacon and onions!

I cooked the chips in the oven and when they were ready squeezed over some of the cheese and spread it around a little, and chopped the bacon and onion and sprinkled it over the top. I realised afterwards it wasn't quite the same as I'd had in the Diner as I forgot the burger sauce! And as I said I don't think the cheese was as nice as whatever they used. This is definitely an occasional treat and not something you should have every time you had chips, but as we had this on a Saturday evening before the cinema - when my boyfriend would have preferred to go out to a burger restaurant - I didn't think it would do too much harm. Back on the salads tomorrow!

Thanks to Ozeri for sending me the frying pan to review. All opinions are my own.

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Mini Ginger Madeleines

I've always associated madeleines with Proust's 'A la recherché du temps perdu' (I studied French literature at university) but have never actually eaten let alone made them before Madeleines are a French cake made with a genoise batter, making them lighter than other cakes, and are baked in special shell-shaped moulds. I was offered a selection of products to review by Cake Mart, and spotted they had this madeleine tin which is a very pretty piece of equipment.

Madeleines often have quite delicate flavours but I thought it would be interesting to see how they fared with a more robust flavour and a bit of a kick. I came across a recipe using cardamom and was sure I had some ground cardamom in my cupboard but couldn't locate it - and when I came across the ginger I decided that might work instead!




I based it on a recipe from Martha Stewart but changed the flavour and left off the glaze as I was in a hurry - I made these in the morning when I was driving down to Hampshire (my first time doing a 'proper' drive other than locally!) that day to see friends. Next time I make madeleines, which I will do now I have this lovely tin, I will try a glaze!

Mini ginger madeleines - an original recipe by Caroline Makes

Makes about 30 mini madeleines
You need:
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 175C. Melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat and add the honey and vanilla. Set to one side to cool.

Mix the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer in a large mixing bowl then sift the flour. Add the ginger and fold in.

Pour in the melted butter and fold in.

 

Grease the madeleine pan - I used Cake Release - and carefully spoon in the mixture so it fills about 3/4 of each mould - this only took about 1 heaped teaspoon of mixture for each one.

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes - they don't take long as they are so small. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool and grease the pan again (being careful as it is hot) ready for the next batch.

I packaged these in pretty boxes I'd bought from Poundland to give to my friends as gifts.



The pan makes them come out perfectly - it's a robust metal tin that is easy to clean and should last for years so I will be experimenting with some more flavours!

Thanks to Cake Mart for sending the madeleine pan for review.

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Meal Planning Monday - Week 18

This week I'm trying to use up stuff from the freezer so I don't have to buy too much fresh stuff, as we are going on holiday soon!
Monday
Lunch: pasta
Dinner: sandwich before cake decorating course

Tuesday:
Lunch: salad
Dinner: spaghetti bolognese

Wednesday: my birthday!
Lunch: out with work colleagues
Dinner: out with my boyfriend

Thursday
Lunch: salad
Dinner: pork casserole with veg for me, sausage and mash for him

Friday - working from home
Lunch: salad
Dinner: burger and chips for him, salmon burger and homemade chips for me

Saturday
Lunch: bacon sandwich/sausage sandwich
Dinner: may go to my boyfriend's mum's to see her before we go on holiday; she often likes to cook stir-fry

Sunday
Lunch: fry up with leftover bacon and hash browns for him and something a bit less calorific for me
Dinner: TBA, maybe some sort of chicken tray bake

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Restaurant Review: Heston Blumenthal's The Perfectionists' Cafe

Since starting to post restaurant reviews on my blog I’ve made a real effort not to visit the same place twice – unless it was somewhere I really loved. The same applies to airports – when I was in my 20s I would take a sandwich to eat before a flight but these days having a meal at the airport is part of the holiday. It’s just a shame that food there is so expensive and in some cases not that good.

  

When we went to Vienna a few months ago we wanted to get breakfast at the airport, and since for a change we were flying from Heathrow’s Terminal 2, there was only one place I wanted to go: Heston Blumenthal’s Perfectionists’ Café. I’ve never eaten in any of Heston’s establishments – while the idea of the Fat Duck is appealing, I’ve checked the menu and there is almost nothing on it I would eat and considering how much it costs, that means I won’t be going there! But his Perfectionists’ Café at Heathrow doesn’t have a fancy tasting menu and instead serves fish and chips, burgers, full English breakfasts – and ice cream made with liquid nitrogen.

  

The restaurant stands out as looking quite upmarket, with nicely upholstered seats and an extensive modern bar; the waiting staff also wouldn’t be out of place in one of his more expensive restaurants.

The menu gives a lot of information about the provenance of the food and an explanation of the ‘three finger rule’ – you can’t fit more than three fingers into your mouth at once which means a burger needs to be squashable down to this thickness so you can taste all the layers at once! I bet you’re seeing how many fingers you can fit into your mouth now, right?

Much as I would have liked to have tried some of the main courses – and indeed the ice cream – I didn’t want any of them for breakfast. I decided to go for my standard airport breakfast, a sausage sandwich; priced at £5.75 it wasn’t really any more than I would have expected to pay elsewhere. The sausages are good quality – free range pigs from the Blythburgh estate, according to the menu – and I was half-hoping Heston’s culinary genius would be demonstrated in some way (perhaps an ipod to listen to the sound of the pigs squealing?!) but really there isn’t much anyone – even Heston – can do to jazz up a sausage sandwich (if I’m wrong and you have a great recipe, please let me know in the comments!). It was a good sandwich but I think I would break my habit and return to this restaurant if I was at the airport again so I could try their lunch menu.

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Caramel-filled Chocolate Brownies

These are based on the salted caramel brownies that Alexa Chung made on the recent Comic Relief Great British Bake Off. I made them for my boyfriend's birthday as I wanted him to have something nice in his lunchbox at work; they also made for a quick dessert that evening at home (we had his family over for dinner). And they tasted amazing!

I followed the recipe which is here, though as I was short of time I used a tin of Carnation Caramel as the filling, which worked perfectly. I also added a little condensed milk to the brownie mixture as I had a tin open from another recipe and thought it might be nice!

Brownie mixture coming together

After preheating the oven, I spread half the brownie mixture into a greased pan and spread the caramel on top.

 

 

Then cover with the rest of the brownie mixture so there are no gaps.

Bake in the oven

When it has cooled, drizzle with melted white chocolate

You can see here the caramel in the middle - it tasted amazing!

Plenty for my boyfriend to enjoy in his lunchbox

I'm sharing my brownies with Alphabakes, the blog challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter I have chosen is B.

I'm also sharing this with Kitchen Clearout over at Madhouse Family Reviews, which is a roundup of dishes and recipes made from things found lurking at the back of the cupboard - which was the case with the Carnation caramel.

The theme for this month's Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Jane at The Hedgecombers, is chocolate.

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