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

The Witching Hour, Halloween 2012

Her Kind

 

 

by Anne Sexton

 

 

I have gone out, a possessed witch,

 

 

haunting the black air, braver at night;

 

 

dreaming evil, I have done my hitch

 

 

over the plain houses, light by light:

 

 

lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.

 

 

A woman like that is not a woman, quite.

 

 

I have been her kind.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have found the warm caves in the woods,  

 

 

filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,  

 

 

closets, silks, innumerable goods;

 

 

fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:

 

 

whining, rearranging the disaligned.

 

 

A woman like that is misunderstood.

 

 

I have been her kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have ridden in your cart, driver,

 

waved my nude arms at villages going by,

 

learning the last bright routes, survivor

 

where your flames still bite my thigh

 

and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.

 

A woman like that is not ashamed to die.

 

I have been her kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

 

Her Kind by Anne Sexton, via http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171268

 

 

 Halloween Parties kindly hosted by Vanessa Valencia of www.afancifultwist.com, click on the website link to see her own party in full swing

 

My outfit (Leopard Witch): Nicole Farhi black dress; Hobbs shoes; lace veil from my granny Kiki.

 

I'm also proud to be a part of Visible Monday, hosted by the glamorous Patti from www.notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.co.uk, click on the website link to see her outfit and those of many others.

 

 

 

This post was idly hatched while listening to Into The Labyrinth by Dead Can Dance

 

 

 

Gluten Free Chilli Brownies for Halloween

 

 

Story has it that red chilli peppers are associated with the devil, thanks to the hellish heat they leave in one's mouth and the shape of the little peppers curving like devil's horns. These brownies can be as fiery or as subtle as you like, it just depends on the heat of the chilli pepper you use. Even with the hot peppers the crumb of the brownie still tastes sweet, soft and so chocolatey. Devilishly good. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe

Adapted from the one by Cook Vegetarian, for their recipe click here

Serves 7-8

 

 

150g plain chocolate

100g chilli dark chocolate

150g unsalted butter, room temperature

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

75g gluten free plain flour

1 small bag dark chocolate chips

half a red chilli pepper, finely chopped and deseeded

 

for decoration:

gluten free coloured icing pens, (I used Dr Oetker)

a little cherry or raspberry jam, optional

gluten free ready rolled white icing, (I used offcuts of Silver Spoon icing), optional

 

 

1. Turn the oven to 170C (150 fan ovens) and grease and line a suitable square or rectangular baking tray.

 

 

2. Break the chocolate bars into small pieces, placing the chilli chocolate chunks in a separate bowl to the plain so that you can tell the two apart.

 

 

3. Heat 100g of the plain chocolate chunks, and all the chilli chocolate, in a heatproof bowl over a pan of just simmering water. Stir carefully until the chocolate has melted, then remove the bowl from the heat and put to one side to cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the sugar into the chocolate, then add the eggs one at a time until well combined.

 

 

5. Next sift over the flour, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips, the leftover plain chocolate and the finely chopped red chilli. Gently fold these ingredients into the batter.

 

 

6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for approximately half an hour. A skewer should come out pretty clean. Leave brownies to cool in the baking tray, before cutting with a knife into even slices.

 

 

7. Give the brownies spooky style by using coloured icing pens to decorate them with images of witches, bats and spiders' webs. 

 

 

8. If you want to create ghost brownies as above, simply brush a little cherry or raspberry jam over the sides of the brownie and wrap them in cut pieces of ready rolled white icing. Then decorate with coloured icing pens, drawing ghostly eyes and mouths.

 

Serve on Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

These brownies were idly baked while listening to Abbatoir Blues by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds