Thursday, April 29, 2010

Baby Guinness Cake!

To clarify things this is not made with guinness! After a crazy night out last Friday night at the Relaunch of Upstairs at The Roundy , I decided to make a cake in honour of the shot we were drinking for the whole night :) I must have had 12 of the things and I was working haha. The shot is Tia Maria with a Bailey's head on it, so I made a Coffee cake with Bailey's Buttercream Icing... preeeetty good if I say so myself :)


6oz butter, 6oz caster sugar, 3 eggs, 1tsp vanilla, 2tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 3tbsp warm water, 7oz self raise flour, 2tbsp cocoa

Dissolve the coffee and leave to cool. Beat the butter vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour & cocoa and pour in the coffee mix, then beat gently in. Transfer to a greased and lined tin (20cm) and bake @ 180C for 20-25mins


Ice with Baileys Buttercream
200g soft butter, 100g icing sugar, tsp baileys and tbsp cream/milk.
Beat all ingredients together well, until smooth and no sugar lumps

Chocolate Melting Moments :)

Serious lack of posting lately!! Been up the walls making birthday and confirmation cakes, and they've all been chocolate mayo based so I havent been posting any new recipes :( But hey I'm not complaining, people are loving my cake so life is good!

Choc Melting Moments are little chocolatey "shortbread-like" biscuits that melt in your mouth and are so delicious with a glass of milk :)

125g butter, 50g icing sugar, 50g cornflour, 25g cocoa, 100g self raise flour and a dash of cream

Cream the butter and add all the dry ingredients. Beat together and add a little bit of cream to bring the mixture together. It will seem pretty crumbly and dry but keep beating :) Make small balls, put them on an baking tray(ungreased). Flatten down with a fork and bake for 10-12 mins @170C.



Enjoy :)

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Monday, April 12, 2010

A birthday in April

Flan!!

This was one of the things that always worked when I first started baking, no matter what I messed up or what turned out completely wonky, my flan's always saved the day :) Made this for the first BBQ of the year on Sunday, it was a glorious day with glorious food and company! Oh and lots of sparkling wine.. Yay!! The only chance I got to get a pic was when it was half devoured haha

Simple ingredients;
4eggs, 4oz caster sugar, 4oz self raising flour and a 1/2 tsp baking powder

Whisk the eggs and sugar until light and creamy and a figure of eight stays on top
Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in lightly to keep the air in the mixture.
Pour into a prepared flan tin and bake in 180C oven for 20mins.Cool on a wire rack.

Top with freshly whipped cream and fruit of your choice. I went with madarin apple and choc chips cuz we ate all the strawberries with our wine a little earlier on!!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Sinead's Ultimate Chocolate Birthday Cake

This is definitely number one on my list of requested cakes! Chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, aero bubbles, milkybar moments, white and milk chocolate fingers. You'd only want a sliver of this for your whole weekly intake of chocolate..... that's we cut huge slices!! :)



Sunday, April 4, 2010

Dad's Lemon Meringue Birthday Pie!

Usually when making a birthday cake for my dad, it involves coffee, hazelnut and chocolate, but this year he wanted something different, something zesty for spring! He even suggested lemon meringue pie himself........ suited me that I didn't have to come up with the idea this time! :)

I used Rachel Allen's recipe for Seville Orange Meringue Pie, but replaced the orange curd with my own homemade Lemon Curd and it turned out wonderfully , if I do say so myself haha

Recipe:
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

300g plain flour, 150g butter, 1tbsp icing sugar, 1egg and a tiny dash o milk
Whizz the flour sugar and butter in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs. Beat the egg and the little bit of milk and add to the flour mix. Whizz briefly again until it just about comes together. Flatten the mix into a ball of dough and wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge to chill for 30mins.

Lemon Curd
150g caster sugar, 75g butter, juice and rind of 3 lemons, 2 eggs + 1egg yolk
Put the sugar butter juice and rind in a pot over a low heat, until the butter is melted. Beat the eggs and extra yolk together and pour into the sugary mixture in the pot. MAKE SURE ITS LOW HEAT OR YOU'LL HAVE LEMON SCRAMBLED EGGS :) :) Keep stirring until it thickens and when its done it'll coat the back of a teaspoon. Set aside and leave to cool slightly

Meringue Top
4egg whites and 225g Caster sugar
In a spotless bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff, then beat in the caster sugar bit by bit until stiff peaks form. When the meringue is whisked enough you should be able to turn the bowl upside down and it'll stay in it. I like to do this over my brothers head haha as you can see!!


Preparing the Pie
Grease a tart dish, and line with the pastry. Bake blind for 20 mins at 180C. Then turn down the oven to 150C. Pour the lemon curd onto of the par baked pastry, and spoon the meringue on top. Smooth the meringue, and with a knife use a dabbing technique to create peaks. Bake for a further hour at the lower temperature. Serve warm or room temperature and obviously with a bit of whipped cream :) YUMMO!

Happy Easter Everyone!!


What a great time of year :) Spring is really setting in, the evenings are getting bright and you can eat chocolate ALL day without feeling bad! (well maybe a little bit bad but sure....who cares!)

I made these Easter cupcakes using the chocolate mayo recipe, as usual, cuz I love love love it! I topped them with bright yellow vanilla butter icing, crushed Cadbury's flake and Cadbury's mini eggs. These are the best cupcakes I think I have ever made... they were delish !


Just posting the picture as the recipe can be found in the recipe index under choc vanilla cupcakes