ORANGE POPPY SEED BUNDT CAKE

I made this Bundt last year and forgot to blog about it. So as I've been meaning to do a recipe post for some time I thought I'd tell you about it now.

As I've mentioned on previous posts I am part of the Borough Belles and am in charge of making sure there is something to eat at the meetings, whether it be Jamaican Patties or Oreo Brownies! I'm in charge of drumming up interest and excitement in the other Belles to bake for the odd meeting however sometimes people are unable to make it at the last minute, so it always good for me to have an emergency cake in the freezer to prevent lack of cake!

This cake is perfect for such an occasion. It keeps really well in the freezer and if you get it out the night before, it leaves plenty of time to whip up the icing just before serving.

Funny how my emergency freezer cake is also my emergency blog post too!?

ORANGE POPPY SEED BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients:

• Melted butter, to grease
• 125ml (1/2 cup) fresh orange juice
• 130g (1/2 cup) Greek-style natural yoghurt
• 60g (1/4 cup) poppy seeds
• 250g butter, at room temperature, chopped
• 270g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar
• 2 tbs finely grated orange rind
• 4 eggs
• 340g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 orange

For the Icing:

• 150g icing sugar
• Juice & Zest of 1 Orange

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour your Bundt tin.

Combine the orange juice, yoghurt and poppy seeds in a small bowl.

Use an electric beater to beat the butter, caster sugar and orange rind in a large bowl until pale and creamy. 

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until just combined.

Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture. 

Add the yoghurt mixture and use a large metal spoon to fold until just combined. 

Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. 
Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

Leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out. 

To make the icing simply beat all the ingredients together until smooth. Then drizzle over the top. Using a proper zester will allow you to get those longer zest stripes that look great on top. Leave for 20minutes to set before serving.

This cake freezes very well (un-iced) and can keep for up to 3-4 days in an air tight container.

Deep Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Courgette Cake

Another event another cake to bake!

This weekend was the FUSS craft market and considering I've been a bit slack with FUSS recently due to work commitments and also stretching myself thin - doing stuff for the WI, and DIY stuff in my flat, I decided I should make up by baking a load for the market...

Fortunately I have started baking on random nights I have free and freezing them straight away. Which has turned out to be a godsend for such situations! So I pulled out an Apple & Banana Bundt out of the freezer yesterday and last night baked a batch of my mum's famous flapjacks and also a chocolate courgette cake. Again something my mum used to make when I was a kid. Ironically we never really had carrot cake but instead had chic courgette cake, which I found out today was pretty unheard off!

I love recipes that have a story, a bit of history to them.. I ended up combining my mum's recipe with an american bundt recipe, thus the 'cup' measurements.

NOTE: This cake was devoured off the FUSS stand rather quickly!

1/2 cup Stork Margarine

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup caster sugar
3 medium eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 cups grated unpeeled Courgettes (about 2 smallish, or 1 large)
3/4 cup Plain chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180°C and oil a Bundt pan & lightly dust with flour. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar on high speed with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add a third to the butter mixture and beat just until blended; add half the sour cream and do the same. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the sour cream, and the rest of the flour. Stir in the zucchini and the nuts and/or chocolate chips, if you’re using them, and pour the thick batter into the pan, smoothing the top.

Bake for an hour & 10mins, until the top is cracked and springy to the touch. 

Invert onto a rack and allow too cool or pop on a cake stand & serve with creme fraiche while still warm! 

Or you can make a Sour Cream Chocolate Ganache (as seen on the bundt below!)

Still working in cups....

1 Cup of chocolate (dark or milk or both, whatever you have to hand)
3/4 Cup of Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Break up the chocolate into pieces into a heat-proof bowl.
Bring a pan of water to boil, pop a heat-proof boil over the top and turn off the heat.
Leave for a while (good point to look at the horrific mess you've created in the kitchen and potentially clean it up). Enough faffing...
Mix the vanilla essence into the sour cream and then pour into the melted chocolate. Beat until you get a smooth consistency and then pour over the cake and dust with cocoa powder.

Serves 8-16.

Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake Success!

It's taken me quite some time to get this post on the blog. Better late than never.

I found this fabulous recipe on http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com it is so incredibly moorish and the caramel graze just takes it to the next level! (I nearly didn't do the glaze, big mistake if I hadn't) Plus it's full of fruit, so it's got to be slightly ..healthy?? ;)

I first made this cake for ELF cafe and blinked and it was gone. So if you want to make a winner this is the recipe for you! Oh now I went and got myself a set of 'cups' as I was ending up making so many recipes with that were measured using cups, it just seemed sensible. I have just made it a second time, just now. But instead of using white plain flour I used wholemeal self-raising flour - it's in the oven now, so it'll be interesting to see how it comes out.

Before I go on to tell you the recipe I thought I'd mention a useful piece of equipment you may want to get when baking American style recipes that use 'cups' as a measuring device. To save time working out conversions these set of measuring cups really help. Most catering shops sell them but you can also get them online.

Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze

Makes one 12-cup Bundt or tube cake (or can be baked in two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans)

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 5 to 6 ounces vanilla or plain yogurt (one standard-sized small container; Greek yogurt is preferred, sour cream may be substituted)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon mixed all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 large bananas)
• 1 cup finely diced apples (1 medium apple; I used one unpeeled Gala apple)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup Bundt cake pan or tube cake pan very well with cooking spray (I use Pam For Baking with Flour and it worked so well for me that this cake literally fell out of the pan while I was beginning to inverting it before I was properly set up to catch the cake on a cutting board) or grease and flour the pan; set aside.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power. To the melted butter, add canola oil, yogurt, eggs, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cloves (all spices should be added to taste and if you don’t have all of them on hand, not a big deal to omit some) and whisk until batter is smooth and silky, about 1 minute of vigorous whisking. Add the bananas, apples, and stir to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix and over-develop the gluten, which would result in a tougher cake. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 39 to 43 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean (or insert a sharp long-blade chef’s knife and it should come out clean). Allow cake to cool in pan for at least 15 minutes before inverting it and removing cake.

While cake is cooling, make the caramel sauce. Optionally, while cake is cooling poke approximately 25 holes in the top surface of the cake with a chopstick or popsicle stick. The holes will allow the glaze to seep into the cake’s interior, creating a delicious caramel-apple flavor; the drawback is that it’s not quite as pretty when sliced, but since you’re not likely going to take pictures of the cake’s interior surfaces, I’d poke the holes.

Vanilla Caramel Glaze

• Makes about 1 cup glaze, enough to generously glaze the cake
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (half of 1 stick)
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons cream or milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups+ confectioners’ sugar, sifted (must be sifted)

Note: This is a fast moving recipe; have everything in place before you begin.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring nearly continuously. Allow the mixture to boil quite rapidly for 2 minutes, stirring nearly continuously. Remove the pan from the burner, allow it to cool for about 1 minute, and add the cream, taking caution because the mixture could bubble vigorously. Whisk aggressively to incorporate the cream and calm the bubbling.

After the bubbling has subsided, add the vanilla and whisk to combine, using caution because the alcohol in the extract could cause the mixture to bubble up again. Add the confectioners’ sugar one-half cup at a time, until desired sauce consistency is reached (I absolutely recommend using sifted sugar so the glaze is whisks up smooth, silky, and free from lumps). Pour glaze over cake and allow it to set up for a few minutes if desired; or slice and serve immediately. Cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature. If there is extra unused glaze, it can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month; gently reheat it in the microwave prior to glazing another dessert.

I finished this all off with a splattering of melted dark chocolate ;)
Hmm was soo tasty think I shall make another one this weekend!

My day at E.L.F Cafe

On Saturday 23rd February I helped out at my friends 'pop-up' cafe in Stoke Newington.

Chance Kellner, herself is worth writing about. She is an actress, musician and enthusiastic cook.

In between castings, playing her fiddle at theatrical productions & shooting short films for Red Nose Day, she decided she'd open a cafe. Why not...

She went into ELF (East london Furniture) and asked if she could open / run a cafe aside them selling coffee... and they said yes. So for the past three weeks she has been running a cafe in E.L.F selling their coffee (NUDE Coffee beans) and her own homemade treats. 

After hearing the story I couldn't help but feel completely inspired. The saying 'if you don't ask you don't get' is really quite true. Chance has never run a cafe before but has the enthusiasm and enough charisma for it not to be an issue. Every hurdle she has been presented with she's has taken in her stride and then overcome.

It is so refreshing to see someone who enjoys doing something go out and just do it. Why not!

Anyway enough waffling.. Chance dropped me a line asking for ideas for recipes and just a chat really. After a bit of thinking, excitement took over and before she even asked I was up for rolling up my sleeves and just helping out.

When I said I'd help out for free, I think she thought I was a little bit nuts... Well why not, I used to work as a waitress for quite a long time as a youngster and really enjoyed it.

I agreed to bake something and bring it along on the day. Obviously I decided to test out some new recipes. A Spiced apple and Banana Bundt cake and a Spinach and Squash Tart, I'll post about in the next post...

Chance will only be running E.L.F till the end of March, so you'd better get there quick! However there are murmurs of Chance and her boyfriend, Ben, are going to do Sunday Specials at ELF. Music to Work Too, the idea is that Chance with a melody of other musicians will play in the background whilst onlookers can work on their illustrations, knit their scarves or write an song.... Ben will take over serving the coffee and a friend will be serving up some delicious food! Sounds good doesn't it ;)
I shall let you know when more is confirmed, but at the moment the idea is that it will be between 3pm-8pm on a Sunday....

I myself will definitely be bobbing along!

E.L.F - East London Furniture

197-199 Stoke Newington High Street

E.L.F

This SATURDAY 23rd February

 NEVER EAT WOBBLY JELLY

 is popping up in a

POP-UP Cafe in Stoke Newington!

I will be helping out at E.L.F Cafe, which is situated inside East London Furniture's shop. 

So you have the added bonus of sitting on and testing out furniture which if you like you can buy! Gotta love "test before you buy". Oh and you even get the added bonus of seeing the furniture being designed

and created in the back of the premises.

Chance Kellner, the creator of the CAFE inside E.L.F, will be dishing out fresh coffee made with NUDE coffee beans and homemade cakes and treats. It is a 'true' pop-up venture and you could easily walk past it without realising the hidden gem is inside.

I'll be rolling up my sleeves, helping out, baking a few treats and most probably getting to grips with the washing up!

I shall be doing a post about the cafe and my day helping out soon. But please do pop in, it will only be there till the end of March - SO DON'T MISS OUT!

E.L.F Cafe is open 10am - 4pm on Saturday, and I shall be there from 12noon to 4pm - so do pop by and pop in to the pop-up!

E.L.F

197-199 Stoke Newington High Street

Here are few links:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/112511792263159/permalink/117841668396838/

http://www.wearepopup.com/p/meanwhile-in-stoke-newington/

And a bit about East London Furniture:

http://www.eastlondonfurniture.co.uk/contact.html

Moroccan Honey & Mint Bundt Cake

If like me you have loads of left over fresh mint and dozen of eggs in the fridge that  need using up, this is the recipe for you!

I have to say this is the first cake I have ever baked that contains fresh herbs and I like it! Why have I never done this before?! It just shows that is always worth a good google when you have an abundance of particular ingredient. You end up finding unique new recipes.

The original recipe had a lot more coconut and no ground almonds in it. But due to a limited amount of coconut, I improvised and it seemed to work.

Here is the recipe I used:

Moroccan Honey & Mint Bundt Cake

Ingredients

For the cake batter

160g butter, softened

310g sugar

1½  teaspoons dried or fresh chopped mint

6 eggs

100g desiccated coconut

130g ground almonds

210g self-raising flour

10-15 Cup Bundt Tin (or you can use 20cm spring-release cake-tin with baking paper)

Method

Preheat the oven to 150ºC.

Beat the butter, sugar and mint until they begin to change colour. Add small quantities of the egg, coconut, ground almonds and flour, beating well between each addition to prevent the mixture from curdling. Repeat until you have used these ingredients up.

Butter a large Bundt cake-tin and then lightly dust with flour. Pour the batter in. Bake for 1–1½  hours (you can make the Mint Syrup during this time).

Check the cake is baked by inserting a skewer in the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 5–10 minutes.

For the Mint Syrup

200ml water

180g sugar

1½  cups roughly chopped fresh mint

Place the water, sugar and mint in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to ensure the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 30–45 minutes. Strain through a sieve and discard the mint leaves. Use the syrup as directed.

To finish

75g butter

180g honey

180g flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 170ºC.

With the cake still in the tin, prick 60–70 holes in the top. Pour the Mint Syrup evenly over the cake, allowing it to soak in. Once soaked in fully, turn cake out onto a lipped baking tray.

Place the butter, honey and almonds in a saucepan and melt together, stirring until well combined. Do not allow to boil. Remove from the heat and immediately spread this topping on the cake.

Place the cake back in the oven and bake the topping to a light amber colour, approximately 10-15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool in the tin for 20–30 minutes.

Remove the cake from the tin carefully and remove the baking paper gently while still warm.

Dust with icing sugar before serving warm with a blob of creme fraiche.

Have to say it's great to be back back blogging and I plan to do a lot more this year. Hopefully I stick to this promise this year!

Tap soon....