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Sunday, 7 October 2012

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes for Macmillan Cancer Support

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes

I thought I'd show you the baking I did for the Macmillan Cancer Support 'World's Biggest Coffee Morning.  We didn't have our coffee morning on 28th September, we had ours on Friday 5th October.  There are three different buildings where I work and usually all the bakes would be brought together in one of the buildings.  However, staff in the building where I work were having a staff meeting at the time of the coffee morning, so I agree to keep my bakes in our building so they could make their donations and enjoy the baking.  I'm pleased to say that the cakes raised £30 and along with the sale of raffle tickets and some additional donations, we raised a total of £85.


Mini Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes
I made some teeny tiny cakes for those who wanted a small sweet treat.
Rum and Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
This cookie recipe is in the Great British Bake Off book 2. I used Old Jamaica chocolate which is a dark chocolate with rum and raisins. These were very popular especially with men!
Lorraine Pascale's Party Time Chocolate Fridge Cake
These sweet treats went down well at the coffee morning,  adding maltesers to a chocolate 'tiffin' recipe is a great idea from Lorraine Pascale and the recipe is in the 'Little Book of Treats' sold by Marks and Spencer on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support.

 

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes

for 12-16 cupcakes

180g (6 1/2oz) pitted and chopped dates
180ml (6 1/2 fl oz) boiling water
80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened
150g (5 1/2oz) soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
180g (6 1/2) plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1tsp vanilla extract

for the buttercream
75g (3oz) butter, softened
225g (8oz) icing sugar, sieved
3 tbsp milk

for the decoration
Toffee or fudge pieces

1. Place the chopped dates in a bowl, pour over the boiling water and leave to soak for about 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F, Gas 5 and line a muffin tin with cases
3. Beat the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy.  Break in the eggs, one at a time and mix well.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg and butter mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.
5.  Add the vanilla extract to the date mixture, add this and mix by hand until evenly dispersed.
6.  Fill each case about 2/3 full with the mixture.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and springy to the touch.  Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and place on a wire rack to col completely before icing.

 Buttercream
1. Place all the ingredients together in a bowl and beat until they are smooth and blended, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Fill a piping bag and using a Wilton 1M star nozzle, pipe from outside to the centre of the buns.
3. Decorate  with toffee or fudge pieces



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posted by Janice @ 10:53 13 Comments

Saturday, 22 September 2012

Lemon Drizzle Cake with Berry Compote


Today was a beautiful sunny day.  The day started very cold with a hint of ground frost, but as the sun gathered strength it felt warmer than many of the days we have had this summer.  I was beginning to despair of picking any blackberries as we don't seem to have had two dry days together, but  this afternoon I managed to gather a reasonable quantity and I can see that there are many more to come, if the weather is kind to us.

I wanted to serve the berries with some kind of cake and decided that this was  a good opportunity to find a recipe for the combined challenge from Dom (Belleau Kitchen):  Random Recipes and  Karen (Lavender and Lovage) and Kate (What Kate Baked): Tea Time Treats, the result is  Tea Time Random Recipes


For my Random Recipe I decided to pick the two 'Little Book of Treats' that Susan, from A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate ,sent to me.  Both Susan and Karen have fabulous recipes featured in the 2012 edition of the book, which is sold at M&S Cafes in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.


  With the World's Biggest Coffee Morning only a few days away, this seemed like a great chance to use one of these books.  In the end I chose the 2011 book, mainly because I didn't want to publish a recipe from this year's book.  So much for a Random choice of book!  I did randomly pick the recipe though, the book fell open at the stapes in the centre to reveal....

 



I was delighted to see that the recipe I'd chosen was for Lemon Drizzle Cake, both because it would work perfectly with the Berry Compote and also because I could try out the George Wilkinson Great British Bakeware, 1lb loaf tin.  I've never had a 1lb loaf tin, always used a 2 or 3lb tin.  The recipe was for a 2lb loaf tin, so I halved the quantities in the recipe, and it worked perfectly.



My Favourite Lemon Drizzle Cake by Michael Mann (Little Book of Treats 2011)


110g/4oz butter or margarine (I used Pure, Sunflower spread)
110g/4oz caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
Finely grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
110g/4oz self-raising flour

Drizzle
Juice of 1 lemon
40g/1 1/2oz caster sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 10C/fan 160C/gas mark 4.  Grease and line a 450g/1lb loaf tin (I decided not to line and grease to test the Glidex non-stick on the George Wilkinson tin)
2. Beat the butter or margarine and sugar together until pale and fluffy.  Slowly add the eggs.  Sift the flour, add the lemon zest and fold gently until mixed.
3. Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the top.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a thin skewer comes out clean after being inserted into the cake's centre.
4. Leave the cake to cool a little in it's tin. Mix the lemon juice and sugar together.  Prick the warm cake all over with a fork or skewer, then pour over the drizzle.  Leave in tin until completely cool.


The cake baked perfectly with a nice little crack on the top.  Once it had sucked up all the lemon and sugar drizzle and cooled down, I removed it from the tin.  I was a bit worried that the sticky lemon drizzle would cause problems getting it out of the tin, but it came out pretty easily.  I only had to ease it round the edges with a palette knife and out it came.

It also sliced very well, even when still slightly warm.  

Berry Compote

1 punnet strawberries (I used 'value' strawberries from the supermarket, they were ideal for this type of compote)
Approximately half the quantity of blackberries to strawberries
2 dessert spoons of sugar
A splash of water

1.  Gently heat the blackberries with the sugar and water until the juices start to run but the berries still hold their shape and colour.  Remove from heat and leave to cool a little.
2. Hull the strawberries and half or quarter depending on size, place in a serving bowl.
3. Pour the blackberry compote onto the strawberries while still warm as this will draw the juices from the strawberries.
4. Cover with clingfilm and leave to cool completely.  

Serve the Lemon Drizzle Cake with the Berry Compote and either Greek yogurt, cream or ice cream according to your preference.

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posted by Janice @ 20:34 20 Comments

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Win an Eric Lanlard Hamper with Silver Spoon and Macmillan Cancer Support



On the 28th of September this year the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is going to be taking place. This is a fantastic one day fundraising event hosted by Macmillan Cancer Support to raise money for people with lives affected by cancer.
Silver Spoon, the homegrown sugar people, are the official sugar sponsor for the event, and this year have decided to launch a fantastic competition as part of their activity. On the 24th August 2012 Silver Spoon and Macmillan are launching Silver Spoons Little Local Hero Awards. They are scouring the country for local heroes under the age of 18 who have done something truly special. Your local little hero could have looked after their little sister when they were ill, gone to great lengths to make Mother’s Day very special, or done something fantastic to raise money for charity.
If you know someone under 18 in your local area who you think would be a worthy winner, just follow this link and explain in less than 100 words who you are nominating, why, and what you would bake them to say thank you www.macmillan.org.uk/littlehero



Master Pâtissier Eric Lanlard, star of Channel 4’s Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard, will choose a Silver Spoon National Little Hero and to celebrate he will bake them a special cake of their choice! 10 runners up will also receive a Silver Spoon Baking Hamper packed full of exciting treats.



There are sure to be some amazing stories from our local little heroes all over the country, but in the meantime don’t forget to register to hold your own coffee morning on the 28th September, just follow this link and you can help to raise money for people with lives affected by cancer. http://coffeeregister.macmillan.org.uk/2012/register.asp

We have a Macmillan coffee morning at work every year which I am singularly bad at finding time to bake for, mainly because it is generally at the end of the week and I do my baking at the weekend. However I do go along and EAT the cakes and make my donation.  If you would like some inspiration for what to bake for The World's Biggest Coffee Morning, then pop over to the Round up of the Cake Stall Cakes and Bakes for Tea Time Treats at Lavender and Lovage.  There were 68 entries, so there is bound to be something to suit your baking taste and ability.



Part One - Cake Stall Cakes and Bakes

Part Two - Cake Stall Cakes and Bakes

Tea Time Treats is run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked

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posted by Janice @ 19:55 1 Comments