Farmersgirl Kitchen

Monday, 29 September 2014

Chocolate Cherry Brownies and The #Bakeface

Welcome to THE BAKE FACE! It's what happens when a delicious Billington's bake meets a face, and the face just doesn't know what to do with itself. Here's my BAKEFACE!

You can vote for my BAKEFACE at the Billington's site
voting closes 05/10/14

Billington's Brownies

Prep 12 minutes
Cook 35 minutes
Serves 12

Prepare
250g Billington's Unrefined Dark Muscovado Sugar
200g unsalted butter
350g 70% dark chocolate, chopped into pieces
3 medium free range eggs
50g self-raising flour
100g Billington's Natural Glace Cherries (optional)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C (170C Fan)/gas mark 5, and line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
3. Whisk the eggs until pale and fluffy. Add the dark muscovado sugar and whisk until thick. Gently fold in the chocolate mixture.
4. Sift in the flour and fold in until the mixture is smooth. Mix in the glace cherries.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, until you see a paper-like crust on top. There should still be some movement in the centre of the tin.
6. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then cut into squares.

These are really squidgy brownies, I think if I was making them again I would give them a little longer, they are more like a dessert than a cake, very rich and indulgent - gorgeous!

Follow @BillingtonsUK #bakeface

I received a hamper from Billington's to make these Brownies

Labels: BAKEFACE, Baking Mad, Billington's, brownies, cherry, chocolate

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

We Should Cocoa - Chocolate and Cherries

When Choclette, of the Chocolate Log Blog and co-owner of the 'We Should Cocoa' challenge, asked me to guest host while Chele of Chocolate Teapot was taking a break, I jumped at the chance. Then the panic set in. What would I choose to go with chocolate? There have been a frightening number of WSC challenges and they cover a multitude of flavours. I scanned the list and realised that there had been no challenge using CHERRIES!

If you haven't heard about We Should Cocoa before, scroll down to the bottom of this post for details.

My entry is this gorgeous Chocolate Cherry Cake baked to a recipe by Jason Atherton from the Baking Mad.com website. It's a bit like a cross between a giant chocolate brownie and a black forest gateau! It's worth noting that it gets better with keeping, so make it a couple of days before you want to eat it.

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Preparation Time 25 minutes
Baking Time 25 minutes
Portions Serves 8-10

200g 70% cocoa solids chocolate broken
125g butter, unsalted, cubed
50g ground almonds
100g self raising flour (Allinson Nature Friendly)
4 Free Range Eggs, Large
125g Silver Spoon Homegrown Caster Sugar
2tbsp cherry jam
Fresh cherries to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180C/gas 4. Place chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Melt, then cool and stir in ground almonds and flour. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, then fold the egg mixture into the chocolate.

The egg mixture should look pale and frothy like this (above)

2. Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper and spoon in the cake batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until set but slightly soft in the centre. remove from the oven, allow to cook in the tin then transfer to a wire rack.

Spread with warm cherry jam and top with fresh cherries.

The cake was made using British homegrown Silver Spoon Sugar

Silver Spoon sugars are made from sugar beet which is a large pale brown root crop, similar to parsnip which grows in the temperate climates of Europe and North America. The sugar beet that goes into Silver Spoon sugars travels a short distance to the factory (an average of only 28 miles) direct from the fields around Bury St Edmunds in East Anglia. Silver Spoon work with 1,200 local farmers to grown the beet, which is then made into their range of homegrown sugars for families all over the country.

Silver Spoon are committed to reducing energy use, emissions and waste at every stage. All raw materials in the factory are aimed to be transformed into sustainable products.
Disclaimer: Baking Mad supplied me with the ambient ingredients for this recipe, I was not required to write a positive review and any opinion expressed is my own..

The idea is to make something with chocolate each month. You can use any sort of chocolate or cocoa substance and use any ingredient that you like. But you must include the special ingredient or ingredients selected by the host. It can be sweet or savoury, simple or complicated; be as creative as you like. You can use anyone’s recipe (acknowledging the source of course) or make up your own.

What to do?

1. Post your recipe on your blog – accompanying photographs would be nice.

2. Mention “We Should Cocoa” in your post and link back to Farmersgirl Kitchen Chocolate Teapot and Chocolate Log Blog.
3. Add your entry to the Linky Tool below

4. Entries should be submitted no later than midnight of the 25^th of the month.

5. The round up of entries will be posted on the relevant host’s blog on or before the last day of the month.

6. The new challenge will be posted on the 1^st of the month.
7. If mentioning on Twitter you can use the tag #weshouldcocoa and I will endeavour to retweet.

Add your entry to the Linky Tool below

Labels: August 2012, Baking Mad, British, cake, challenge, cherries, chocolate, Homegrown, Silver Spoon Sugar, We should Cocoa

Monday, 5 March 2012

Maple Pecan Sticky Bars

On the 5^th March at 12:05pm on Channel 4 series two of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard begins! This series sees Eric, the master of all things sweet and beautiful, at home in his kitchen conjuring up quick baking recipes alongside his signature glamorous desserts. Each 30 minute episode will also feature three members of the public who will come to his cookery school, Cake Boy, to demonstrate their baking skills and take part in a 'Bake Off'.

I was asked to try out one of the recipes from the new series and chose to make these Maple Pecan Sticky bars. The recipe is easy to follow and the result is a gloriously sticky sugar hit!

Maple Pecan Sticky Bars

Ingredients:

Filling

175g toasted pecan nuts, roughly chopped

100ml pure maple syrup

200g light muscovado sugar

1 tbsp. whipping cream

150g unsalted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Base

100g unsalted butter, softened

75g golden caster sugar

1 egg yolk

175g plain flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Mark 4. Butter a 23x23x5cm cake tin.

To start, make the short crust pastry base. In a large bowl mix together the butter and sugar with your hands, and finally add the egg yolks and mix. Add the flour and beat until a soft dough is formed. Gather the dough together and press it into the bottom of the tin and 2cm up the sides. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the oven, but leave the oven on whilst you make the filling.

To make the filling; in a medium saucepan combine all the ingredients except the nuts and vanilla extract. Bring to the boil, stirring until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, then mix the nuts and vanilla extract.

Pour the hot filling over the crust and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until the filling is bubbling in the centre.

Allow to completely cool in the tin where the filling will become firm, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours.

When chilled, cut into bars with a large sharp knife.

I didn't have a tin 23cm x 23 cm mine is more like 21cm, so my pastry is a tad too thick and I think I could have baked the filling for a little longer as the maple syrup started to ooze out when it was cut, however that just means I'll need to make it again!

I took some up to my son when I visited him in his flat and both he and his flat mate gave them the 'hollow-legged young man' seal of approval.

Labels: Baking Mad, Channel 4, Eric Lanlard, Maple, Pecan, traybakes

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