Invitation to The Mad Tea Party 2013

 

 

 

Psssst! Said the White Rabbit, News just in!

The marvellous Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist has invited us to her 6th annual Mad Tea Party!

 

With cakes, and sweets and oh so many delights, it's going to be the blog party of the summer!

 

I'm already making plans for the Idle Bakes party feast, it's going to be scrumdidlyumptious! 

Do hope you can visit us online come the 13th July, and even feel inspired to join in the fun by throwing your own Mad Tea Party too!

 

More details of how to throw your own party are given at A Fanciful Twist, it's oh so easy, you know you want to....

Raspberry Bakewell Cake

 

This is a variation of the Bakewell cake I've baked before, but this time with a raspberry flavour instead of the original cherry gluten free version posted here. If you ask me it tastes of May, holidays and sunshine (as well as almonds and raspberries of course).

Recipe Serves 8 -10
Adapted from the recipe at BBC Good Food Online, see the recipe here


150g ground almonds
150g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter
150g self raising flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond extract
250g fresh raspberries
2 tbsp flaked almonds
1 tbsp icing sugar for decoration

1. Heat oven to 180 (160C Fan) and line and grease a 20cm spring form cake tin.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3, Add the first egg, and beat well before adding the second into the mixture. Beat again, before throwing in the ground almonds and almond extract.

4. Next sieve in half the flour, and stir gently with a metal spoon until well combined.

5. Sift in the rest of the flour and stir.

 

 

 

6. Pour half the batter over the base of the cake tin, before placing the cherries evenly over the top. Then add the rest of the batter ontop, spread and smooth down with a spatula. Make sure that all the cherries are covered by the batter.

7. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the cake, then put in the oven to bake for approx 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean.

8. Take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin for at least half an hour.

9. When the cake is completely cool, remove from the tin and dust a little icing sugar over the top. Serve immediately.

 

 

 

This cake was idly baked while I listened to REM's album Automatic For The People

 

 

 

Raspberry & Blood Orange Nest Cupcakes

These scrumptious little cupcakes are just the thing to bake when you need to bring some sunshine into your life. and as this cruelly cold winter drags on, sunshine is something I'm missing terribly. The raspberries cut through the sweetness of these richly iced cupcakes, and taste fresh and spring like with the blood orange citrus crumb.

Recipe

My own, makes 12 small/medium sized cupcakes

for the base:
125g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
125g caster sugar
45g ground almonds
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed blood orange juice
finely grated zest of 1 blood orange
12 fresh raspberries, washed and dry


1. Turn the oven to 180 (160 fan) and place medium cupcake cases in a 12 muffin baking tray. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, until smooth and fluffy.

2. Throw in the eggs one at a time and beat in, adding a spoonful of flour after each one. Then stir in the orange zest and the of freshly squeezed blood orange juice.

3. Next sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture, stirring gently until the batter is well combined.

4. Spoon the batter into each cupcake case, until they are approximately two-thirds full (you want to leave enough room for the cakes to rise). Press a raspberry face down into the top of each cupcake batter.

5. Place in the oven for 20 minutes. You'll know the cakes are done when a skewer comes out clean.

6. Take out of the oven and leave for a few minutes, before moving the cupcakes in their cases to a wire rack or plate to cool.

 

for the icing and topping:

200g unsalted butter, room temperature

400g icing sugar

45ml milk

about 3 pin pricks of food colouring paste (I used Ruby tint, by Sugarflair)

36 fresh raspberries, washed and dry
approx toasted or untoasted flaked almonds

 

 

8. Beat the butter until creamy. Stir in the milk and mix together.

9. Sift half the icing sugar into the mixture, and stir thoroughly, before adding the other half and continuing to stir until it is a thick paste. Take care stirring the icing sugar, as this is a bit messy, I tend to wear an apron as I've been known to accidentally drench myself in it when stirring too vigorously!

 

10. When the icing is combined, the only thing left to do is to colour it. Add about 3 or 4 pin pricks of colour tint paste before stirring it in to give the icing a beautiful strong raspberry colour.

 

11. Get a pint glass and place a piping bag with a nozzle inside the glass, so that the nozzle is on the bottom of the glass. Fold the piping bag edges over the glass rim. Spoon the paste into the piping bag, then carefully take the bag out of the glass and twist the end of the bag so that the icing is well contained.

12. Pipe the icing over the cupcakes . To pipe a rose or a nest, you start piping in the middle of the cupcake and work outwards. Top each cupcake with 3 raspberries, and add a few flaked almonds.

 

 

 

These cupcakes were idly baked while listening to Beck's album Mutations

Westcountry Apple Cake

 

 

I've been meaning to blog this cake for months, so it's no longer entirely seasonal, but better late than never eh! Apples can be found any time of the year now anyway, particularly if you're looking to use up the last of your autumnal bounty, and in this recipe they work their magic to create a most scrumptious cake, and a thrifty one at that.

Adapted from the recipe given at http://www.allotment.org.uk
Serves 8


225g eating apples, washed, peeled, cored and diced
225g plain flour, sifted
1 and a half teaspoons baking powder
115g unsalted butter, room temperature, diced
1 egg, room temperature (beaten)
juice of half a lemon (or lime)
115g light muscovado sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

for the topping:
half a teaspoon ground cinnamon
50g demerara sugar


1. Turn the oven to 180 C (160 fan ovens), and grease and line an 8cm round cake tin.

2. Cover the apple pieces with the lemon juice, and put to one side to soak.

3. Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour and baking powder in a large bowl, as if making a crumble topping. You want to create the consistency of crumbs.

4. In a small bowl, beat the egg until frothy, then add it to the flour and butter crumbs, stirring gently.

 

 

 

5. Stir in the muscovado sugar and butter, beating the whole mixture together. Add the milk a spoonful at a time, stirring until the batter is a soft doughy consistency. Finally, remove the apples from their lemon soak, and stir them gently into the batter until combined.

 

 

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin, smooth over the top and put to one side.

 

 

7. Then quickly make the cake topping, by mixing the demerara sugar and cinnamon together, and sprinkling the crunchy topping liberally over the cake.

 

 

8. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Take out the oven, then leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack or plate.

 

 

9. Eat on its own, or with lashings of westcountry cream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cake was idly baked to the sounds of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds No More Shall We Part

 

 

 

Honeyed Plum Pavlova

 

I baked this heavenly pavlova for our New Year's Eve dessert. As it was the first time in many years that all my family could get together for the New Year, the evening was to be a source of much celebration and laughter. This wintry pavlova with honeyed plums and berries was a massive success, with many people going back for third helpings, and by the time the clock struck midnight it was all gone, filling our bellies nicely as we continued to party into the early hours of the morning.

 

Meringue recipe adapted from the recipe given by Olive Magazine, see it at the BBC Good Food website here. Topping adapted from a recipe by Sophie Dahl for Christmas SugarPlum Syllabubby mess torn out of an old Waitrose Magazine, see similar at the Waitrose website here.

Serves 8 plus extra helpings

4 large egg whites
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar


1. Turn oven to 180C (160 fan ovens), and grease and line a large baking sheet or tray. If you like a neat meringue then you can trace around a 20cm cake tin base, in pencil on the back of the parchment paper, before placing the paper pencil side down on the greased baking sheet.

2. In a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Bear in mind the bowl needs to be totally clean - any little piece of dirt or dust could stop the whites stiffening.

3. Next add the sugar, a tablespoon at time, and once all used up beat again for 3-4 minutes until the mixture is glossy and stands up in stiff peaks.

4. Whisk in the cornflour, vanilla essence and vinegar.

5. Spoon the meringue mixture onto the prepared baking tray, spreading it out to be a circle of about 20cm diameter, making a hollow in the centre of the mixture to form a nest.

6. As soon as the meringue goes into the oven, turn the oven right down to 120C (fan 100C). Bake in the oven for an hour and a half, then turn off the oven. Leave the meringue to cool in the oven, and only remove when totally cool. I baked mine in the evening and left it to cool overnight in the oven ready to eat the next day.

7. Once cool, gently peel off the parchment paper and place on a plate or dish. It doesn't matter if the meringue cracks a bit.


for the compote & cream topping:
60ml water
150ml double cream
125g greek yoghurt
3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
4 tablespoons runny honey
5 plums, washed hulled and chopped
approx 200g blueberries, washed


8. To make the fruit compote, warm the fruit and honey with 60ml water in a small pan over a medium heat, for about 8 minutes or until softened.

9. Strain the mixture using a sieve with a bowl underneath, and make sure you keep the juice from the bowl. Put the fruit to one side to cool.

10. Heat the juice in the saucepan along with the sugar for approx 10 minutes, on a low temperature, until it becomes syrupy. Then take off the heat and leave to cool.

11. Once fruit and syrup are cool, it's time to prepare the creamy topping. In a large bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the fruit syrup into the double cream. Once it has started to thicken, whisk in the greek yoghurt until well combined and the cream is whipped.

12. Spoon creamy mixture over the meringue, and then add the honeyed plums and berries. Finish by drizzling some of the reserved syrup over the top, then serve!

 

 

 

 

This pavlova was idly baked while listening to Nine Horses album Money For All


 

Berry Red

early morning frosts still the world

air cold enough to turn your breath to great gusts of steam.

 

in the kitchen, you sprinkle icing sugar like frost over little christmas muffins

warm yourself by the spice of a gingerbread, or the sweetness of coconut cake filled with cherry jam.

 

wrap up well for a walk through the fields

then out of the oven comes an upside down cake, cranberry red and hot to the touch,

 

 

 

make delicious christmas presents for the ones you love

 

 

 

and douse the fruit cake with booze 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then sit by the fire with a brandy shot to watch the flames flicker and dance.

 

 

 

 

 

outside the leaves have set like glass

 

 

 

 

 

 

as the sun goes down on midwinter Christmas eve.

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Cake: Skull & Blood Raspberry Jam Cake

 

My apologies for the delay in posting my Halloween Cake! Here it is in the full scrumptious goryness.

Recipe
My own recipe
Serves 8-10



For the white chocolate skull, mice and hands etc:
approx 300g white chocolate, broken into pieces


1. Make the chocolate in advance. Gently melt 250g of the chocolate over a bain mairie, a heatproof bowl over a pan of just simmering water. Stir the chocolate, and when melted, add the extra 100g, taking it off the heat but continuing to stir until melted.

2. When all the white chocolate has melted smoothly, carefully spoon it into silicone moulds. Place the filled moulds on a plate in the fridge for half an hour, before unmoulding. Don't touch them too much when unmoulding as the heat of your hands may soften them. When unmoulded, place the figures back in the fridge on a plate until ready to use.

You can make the hands by just spreading melted chocolate onto a baking tray and refridgerate in the same way, without the use of moulds.



for the cake base:

200g unsalted butter, room temperature
200g golden caster sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated zest of half a lemon
3 tablespoons raspberry jam


3. Turn the oven to 170C (150C fan ovens), and grease and line a normal baking tin.

4. Cream the butter and sugar together for at least 3 minutes until smooth and fluffy.

5. Add the first egg to the creamed mixture, then sieve in a little of the flour and beat well. Once combined, add the 2nd egg one with tablespoon of flour, and beat again. Add the last egg, beating hard until the mixture is light and frothy.

6. Stir in the lemon zest and the vanilla extract.

7. Next sift in the rest of the flour, stirring in a bit at a time. Remember to add the baking powder! I forgot, resulting in a rather flat cake.

8. Stir in the lemon juice, combining into the batter.

9. Spoon half the batter into the prepared baking tin. Then dot the raspberry jam into the batter, using a skewer or teaspoon to swirl it around. Spoon the rest of the batter ontop, before smoothing it down evenly with a spatula.

10. Place in the oven to bake for about 45 minutes, checking it briefly after 35 minutes. Cover with foil if the top is browning too quickly in the final 10 minutes. You'll know it's done when the top bounces back under your finger and a skewer comes out clean.

11. Once baked, let the cake rest in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove to continue cooling on the rack.

for the raspberry compote topping:
400g raspberries, washed
300g caster sugar


12. When the cake is cool, put the raspberries in a pan with the caster sugar, and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat down to simmer gently for approx 6 minutes until the raspberries are giving out their lovely pink juice. Squash them with a fork and then push them through a sieve with a bowl underneath to catch all the juices.

13. Spoon the raspberry compote over the cake, letting it drip down the sides.

Or of course, you could just spread more jam over the top of the cake.

14. To finish, place the white chocolate skull, mice and hands firmly onto the cake. Serve with creme fraiche or cream.

This cake was idly baked to Joy Division's album Still