And more brownies... Triple Chocolate

(For pictures, see my Marshmallow Chocolate Brownie post - I didn't manage to get a good picture of these brownies as I was a bit rushed, but they look very similar to the marshmallow ones - just with chocolate chips instead of marshmallows!)

I fear this may be the last brownie I make for a while now, almost 100 of them have been packaged out of my kitchen these last two days for a charity brownie sale (all is explained in my Marshmallow Chocolate Brownie post and my Chilli Chocolate Brownie post). I became rather hooked on these brownies and for that reason I think I need to stop... licking the spoon should never be criticised, it is one of the key pleasures of baking, but when you make 100 brownies, the number of spoons soon mounts up. It's especially bad when you consider the number of bowls, trays and knives which all have to be scraped clean... and the odd brownie which so unfortunately fell apart! So I think a little post-brownie detox is in order, after this post I think I may move to less chocolatey creations... for one or two posts at least!

Recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Chocolate Chip Brownie recipe in her Baking Bible.

Ingredients:

Makes 12

140g margarine

190g caster sugar

2 eggs

40g cocoa powder

50g self raising flour

25g white chocolate & 25g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

Method:

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees c fan (or 180 without fan)
• Beat together the marg and sugar until pale.
• Add the eggs and beat again.
• Add all of the remaining ingredients and ensure all is thoroughly combined.
• Pour into a lined baking tin (20cm by 20cm square if possible) and cook for 30 - 40 minutes (you want the top to be crisp and to feel solid, but not sponge-like - when pressed, the brownie should give, but not feel like liquid (=undercooked) or spring back (=overcooked).
• Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

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More Brownies... Chilli Chocolate

A little later than planned, I have finally managed to sit down and write up my other brownie recipes. As I talked about in my marshmallow brownie post, a few friends and I have been raising money for charity by selling brownies. I can now safely say that it was a success - we sold out and made £142 for charity in two days. It was a little eventful as I had promised to sell on Wednesday and Thursday, thinking that we wouldn't sell them all and would need a second chance... how wrong I was! We pretty much sold out on Wednesday and I hardly had any ingredients left... and this was a problem as I live in a small village, no supermarket in sight. So I sent round an SOS text calling for brownie makers and my friends returned my plea, appearing at school the next day with their arms full of tins. I scraped together enough ingredients to make one more batch, and together we fed the masses!

The recipe here is for Chilli Chocolate brownies, they were the slowest sellers but they received praise when people were brave enough to try them. I'd say that 1tsp of chilli powder makes a mild brownie, just a subtle tingle, whereas 2tsp is fairly fiery for a brownie (but it still definitely classes as a dessert - and I'm not a huge chilli lover so serious fans could perhaps take more). I would advise that you add about half a tsp at a time and taste the mixture before you cook it - you should still be able to feel a slight tingle from the raw mixture, the heat didn't get much stronger having been cooked. The addition of the cinnamon seems to balance the heat, it gives a deeper warmth rather than just a shallow heat.

Recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Chocolate Chip Brownie recipe in herBaking Bible.

Ingredients:

Makes 12

140g margarine

190g caster sugar

2 eggs

40g cocoa powder

50g self raising flour

1 - 2 tsp chilli powder

2 tsp cinnamon

Chilli flakes, to sprinkle on the top

Method:

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees c fan (or 180 without fan)
• Beat together the marg and sugar until pale.
• Add the eggs and beat again.
• Add all of the remaining ingredients and ensure all is thoroughly combined.
• Pour into a lined baking tin (20cm by 20cm square if possible) and cook for 30 - 40 minutes (you want the top to be crisp and to feel solid, but not sponge-like - when pressed, the brownie should give, but not feel like liquid (=undercooked) or spring back (=overcooked).
• Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

Click here to see my website.

Marshmallow Chocolate Brownies

At school, a few friends and I are trying to raise money for charity. Some turn to sponsored runs, we turned to the kitchen. Rather than bringing in a mismatched array of different cakes in small quantities, we decided to do one thing and do it well. Brownies. Our hopes were high as we'd previously done a similar event with pancakes, which attracted a scary quantity of students. As I stepped out of my last lesson before lunch, I thought I might need to drum up a bit of awareness of our stall, oh how wrong I was. Amidst the corridors I could hear "have you seen the pancake stall?" "do you know they're selling them with maple syrup too?"... no need for more advertising. It doesn't take a lot to gather students when food's involved. But we were a little unprepared for this demand, the staff in the school food tech rooms had pulled out at the last minute, leaving us to be more than a little creative: We sent one person to a friend's house (in the town in which our school is) to make the pancakes, then another friend acted as a pancake shuttle bus (oh the relief of being able to drive!), whilst the rest of us appeased the waiting swarms with plates of marshmallows! Every time a new tray of pancakes arrived, they sold out in minutes and our 'taxi' was sent back again. All in all, our hearts were left pumping a little faster than we'd expected for a pancake stall, but we left with sold-out stock and plenty of plans for take 2... Brownies.

Although we wanted to keep to the one item method, we decided that it'd be worth having a couple of different flavours. The first sale is this Wednesday, so I thought I'd write up the first flavour today, the second tomorrow and the third on Wednesday... and I will of course say how it went!

Recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Chocolate Chip Brownie recipe in her Baking Bible.

Ingredients:

Makes 12

140g margarine

190g caster sugar

2 eggs

40g cocoa powder

50g self raising flour

50g mini marshmallows (or regular marshmallows, chopped)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees c fan (or 180 without fan)
• Beat together the marg and sugar until pale.
• Add the eggs and beat again.
• Add all of the remaining ingredients and ensure all is thoroughly combined.
• Pour into a lined baking tin (20cm by 20cm square if possible) and cook for 30 - 40 minutes (you want the top to be crisp and to feel solid, but not sponge-like - when pressed, the brownie should give, but not feel like liquid (=undercooked) or spring back (=overcooked).
• Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

Click here to see my website.

Sweet Potato Falafels

At weekends, I find myself baking a rather large number of sweet treats and bakes. That's all well and good, but it does mean I sometimes forget lunch. As a result, this important meal ends up all too often as a scrabble around the cupboards, where baked beans are a pleasant surprise. Today I was determined to amend my ways, and these falafels came to mind. They are incredibly quick and easy to make, so if, like me, you've forgotten about lunch, you can whip these up in just over half an hour and nobody needs to be any the wiser. The recipe is also easily multiplied, so they'd make a great table filler at a buffet-type 'do' with a pot of houmous and those seemingly compulsory carrot sticks.

Recipe adapted from the BBC Good Food Sweet Potato Falafels recipe

Ingredients:

Makes 6

1 large sweet potato

1 large tbsp of houmous

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander seeds

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Small handful of chopped, fresh coriander leaves

Zest of half a lemon

40g gram/spelt flour (plain or wholemeal would still be fine)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees c (non-fan) or 180 degrees c (fan)
• Microwave sweet potato whole (pierce the skin a few times first) for 4 minutes, turn it over, then for about 4 minutes more (feel free to turn it at more regular intervals if necessary) - microwave until it's a texture that you could mash.
• Remove the skin and mash with all the other ingredients.
• Shape into 6 balls and place onto a lightly oiled baking sheet. 
• Cook for 20 - 30 minutes - turn half way through cooking to brown both top and bottom.
• Serve with mango chutney, extra houmous, coriander leaves, pita breads... or whatever takes your fancy.

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Lemon and Poppy Seed Bagels

It could just be me noticing this, but it seems that leftovers are coming to the forefront of recipe ideas. Whenever I turn on Nigel Slater's cookery programmes, he seems to be finding another wonderful way to use up the remaining ingredients from the night before. But what always seems to surprise me, is the unbelievable standard of his leftovers. When I think of leftovers, I picture a half filled jug of cream or, at best, some cold chicken. Yet Nigel was pulling out roast duck and all manner of extravagant items, to which I tutted and described the unlikelihood that such ingredients would just have been lying around. Today however, I had to eat my words. It came to my attention that smoked salmon was in my fridge, in need of eating, thus gaining the term 'leftover'. So I joined Nigel in the ranks of 'extravagant leftover owners' and I was unsure whether I felt ashamed or simply joyful at the prospect of smoked salmon. I soon decided on the latter.

So such a leftover requires a similarly celebratory accompaniment. Homemade bagels seemed the obvious choice, smoked salmon + bagel + cream cheese (yes, I had that too!) = certain happiness. But this didn't seem enough, I wanted to make the most of this rare occasion and take advantage of the smoke salmon availability! So I pondered over smoked salmon's buddies... chives, dill, lemon and settled on the latter - lemon. I've seen lemon and poppy seed cakes and muffins many a time, so it seemed like a fairly simple transfer to the world of bagels.

The lemon flavour isn't overpoweringly strong, but it just adds a subtle zestiness which works nicely with the salmon, but is mild enough to match with other things if these bagels just so happen to be your next leftovers.

Recipe adapted from the bagels recipe on Emma's wonderful blog Poires au Chocolat

Ingredients:
Makes 4
1tsp fast action/instant dried yeast
3/4tbsp caster sugar
190ml warm water (you may need a little less if mixing by hand, as it is harder to kneed it all in)
Juice and zest of half a lemon
Just over 1/2tsp salt (I added a little over a half to balance out the sharpness of the lemon)
275g strong bread flour

2tbsp poppy seeds

Method:

• Mix warm water and lemon juice together.
• Mix all other ingredients (except poppy seeds) and add the liquid bit by bit.
• Combine the mixture fully using a mixer or a wooden spoon.
• Knead for 8 - 10 minutes until smooth but still a little bit sticky (it will initially feel very sticky, but the mixture should gradually begin to incorporate the water). Use a dough hook or, if kneading by hand, knead it on a lightly floured surface.
• Lightly oil a bowl, place your dough in this bowl and leave in a warm place to rise for 1hr - 1 and 1/2hrs, until doubled in size.

Above: Before rise.

Below: After rise.

• Knock the dough back (gently knock the air out of it) and cut into 4 equal pieces.
• Shape each piece into a ball (I find this is easiest against an un-floured surface as the dough sticks a little, making it easier to roll it gently in circular movements with your hand)
• Using your finger, push a hole through the middle of the ball and gently widen it (you can use a rolling pin) so that the hole is about a third of the diameter of the whole bagel.
• Place on a lightly oiled surface/baking sheet and leave to rest for 10 minutes under a damp tea towel (to prevent a skin from forming - I think!). Meanwhile, set a large pan of water to come to the boil - you want a fairly rapid simmer. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees celsius (no fan)

• Depending on the size of your pan, place 1 - 2 bagels into the water and boil for 30 seconds on each size (they should puff up and the water should boil rapidly around them - if it does not, the water is not hot enough).
• Once out of the water, place onto a non-stick baking sheet and sprinkle the poppy seeds on top.

• Cook for 20 minutes in the oven until golden brown.
• Eat as they are or serve with smoked salmon and cream cheese (the subtle lemon flavour goes particularly well with the salmon).

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Lemon and Pistachio Polenta Cake

As the only person in my school studying french, a lot of people ask me why on earth I want to do languages (french and italian to  be precise)? I have many answers to that question and I won't bore you with them all now, but there is one in particular that relates nicely to this post. I have a certain romantic love for the Italian culture and way of life, their focus on family and their seeming ability to confront even the toughest problem with an elaborate hand gesture. Times may have changed and this may merely be a naive ideal, but this enviable self assuredness and inner serenity is epitomised by a lovely italian phrase: Il dolce far niente - it was made popular in England by the book/film Eat Pray Love and   simply means 'the sweetness of doing nothing'. It is not, as it may seem, that I am seeking a life of laziness, it is more an admiration for this ability to occasionally choose to relax, to take a decadent moment to yourself and not feel guilty. It's a little mantra that I'm trying to occasionally implement, I seem to waste evenings doing random, unnecessary jobs because they make me feel purposeful, and thus without guilt. But is it really so bad to take 10 minutes and just sit, just think? To accompany this decadent moment, a suitably luxurious cake seemed necessary (eating probably breaks the rules of 'nothing' but I think it's a positive addition!). Pinching another european culture - espresso and cake in the morning, I thought that this citrusy Lemon and Pistachio Polenta Cake would be the perfect partner.

Recipe adapted from Anna Jones' Pistachio Yoghurt and Elderflower Cake in the May/June Jamie Magazine 2011

Ingredients:

Cake

125g margarine

125g caster sugar

75g roughly chopped pistachios

50g ground almonds

100g polenta

1tbsp natural yoghurt

1 and a half large eggs (sorry, I know that's awkward, 2 small would probably work - I had halved the recipe so as to create a traybake rather than a sliceable cake)

Zest and juice of half a lemon

Drizzle Topping

4tbsp caster sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 fan and grease & line a 20cm/20cm square cake tin
• Beat sugar and marg until light and fluffy.
• Add all other ingredients (except topping) and combine)
• Pour into tin and cook for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 150 degrees and cook for a further 20 minutes.
• Prick the top with a fork and pour over the topping (having stirred the two ingredients together).
• Leave to cool completely and slice to serve.

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24 hours in Bath

Just one of Baths' many pretty buildings (this one is on Henrietta Street - at the little roundabout on Great Pultney Street, as you head towards the bridge and the centre).

I've never really been one for big tourist sites: In Rome, I'd rather queue for gelato than a tour bus; and in Paris, I'd prefer to seek out the best croissant than scale the Eiffel Tower. Some may say I've got it all wrong, what's the point in going on a city break if you don't have some suitably touristy snaps to prove you were there? Well for me, I find that you miss the city if you spend your limited holiday in tourist lines and following umbrellas... I want to simply wander, soak up the atmosphere and the flavours.

That being said, I cannot claim to be the next great discoverer, I do seek recommendations when I go on city breaks - I like to plan a start point and then mooch from there... otherwise I have a slight habit of wandering about in the wrong places. With that in mind, I decided to write this 24hrs in Bath post, my recommendations for how to spend that disorientating first day - then once you've found your feet, you can explore on your own. Equally if you're only going for one night, you could quite happily just follow this plan, or have it as a back up if your own wanderings go awry.

2pm

Check in at The Windsor Guest House and collect your parking permit if you've travelled by car (£12/day - on street parking, usually max stay 2hrs for non-permit holders). This hotel is the perfect base, on Great Pultney Street, it's setting is beautiful and barely a 2 minute walk over the river to the centre. The rooms are really clean and comfy, it's not quite as personal as a little family run 2 bedroom B&B, but the staff are friendly and you get all the perks of a small hotel.

2.30pm

Having dropped your bags and orientated yourself, it's time to explore. Book in for dinner at Same Same But Different, it's always nice to know that the end of your day is sorted. As you walk over Pultney Bridge to the centre of town, you'll pass Blue Quail's Deli - start as you mean to go on with a slice of homemade cake or a light lunch. Run by husband and wife team Peter and Glenda Botes, you'll find an aray of tempting deli treats to ogle at whilst you sample their delicious bakes.

Wander from here into the centre town - Upper Borough Walls Road, Queen Street and New Bond Street are great for mooching in and out of lovely shops. The Royal Crescent is only a short walk away if you fancy acting out 'Who will buy?' from Oliver.

6pm

Pop back to the hotel to change, or stay out if you're just having too much fun. Then head out for dinner at Same Same But Different - an award-winning small daytime cafe, which serves sophisticated but well-priced and unpretentious food in the evenings. Their balsamic glazed pan fried calves livers with mash were particularly stunning, and the thick triple-cooked chips with garlic aioli were the best I've tasted to date (served with the organic burger). The desserts menu was small but well thought out, the gran-marnier chocolate tart oozed out a glossy chocolate sauce - the taste of orange liqueur was barely noticeable, but I thought that this was a good thing - the alcohol aided the silky texture, rather than overpowering the flavour. For the two of us, including a glass of wine and bread and oils to start (this was my only quibble, bread had to be ordered separately - but I soon forgot this little complaint) our bill came to £37.50.

8am the next day (or earlier/later depending on how you feel - it is a holiday after all!)

Head down for continental breakfast at the hotel (included in the £109 room rate). We avoided paying extra for cooked breakfast as we knew we'd be sampling futher treats throughout the morning. Continental was ordered form a menu, with a selection of juices, cereals, toasts and compotes. I went for orange juice (definitely not from concentrate I'm pleased to say), dorset cereals muesli, natural yoghurt and a homemade fruit compote.

Head out again into the centre, we got waylaid on route at the Oxfam shop on the bridge - more like a boutique than a charity shop - we came away with a fab shabby chic lantern/vase for £3.99 - almost identical to one I'd seen for £50 in a far more 'I saw you coming' type boutique.

10am

Pop into the Bertinet Bakery on New Bond Street (the cafe, not the cookery school) to peruse over their wonderful selection of fresh breads and pastries. Head upstairs to the airy, big-windowed cafe to sample some with a coffee. Cookery classes are also offered at his cookery school - something for a longer stay perhaps (advance booking is essential).

For further wandering, Milsom Street houses plenty of better-know stores in pretty honey-coloured buildings. However, Milsom Place hosts some smaller shops such as The Salcombe Trading Company, where you can find some lovely interior design treats, or at least some inspiration.

1pm

On pretty, cobbled Queen Street, you will come across a colourful bike outside a little cafe called Wild Cafe - I urge you to go in. Well thought out salads such as Wood Pigeon with roast beetroot and garlic are highly recommended, but they also have a heartier lunch/dinner menu including dishes such as Roast Lamb with Puy lentils. The setting is relaxed and informal (but clean - these attributes sadly don't always go hand in hand!) and their brunch menu looks equally delicious if you're still in the breakfast mood (the maple and bacon pancake stack had me salivating). A selection of cakes (made in house) is also worth being tempted over - why not, you are on holiday after all.

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Lemon Curd... and a speedy pud!

In January and February, I seem to return from school most days to the smell of sugar and sevilles - it's marmalade time. But whilst my dad was busy making batch no. 3, I decided to buck the trend and use citrus and sugar in a different recipe - Lemon Curd. There's nothing particularly ground breaking about this recipe I'm afraid but, in my books, when it works a treat, why change it? 

What I love about lemon curd is that it's a great beginners recipe for preserves - it's much safer than jam or marmalade to make with children as the mix is cooked over a pan of simmering water, so the heat is less intense... and the inclusion of butter and eggs means that the mixture does not form a crazy, bubbling caramel mass (although it is still fairly hot, so don't be too care-free!). It's also really versatile once it's made, lemon meringue pie obviously comes to mind quickly, but it's also great as a substitute for jam in sponges, jammy dodgers or tarts. 

For a really speedy pud (as shown in the picture) I just crush up 1-2 digestives into the bottom of a glass, top with a small tablespoon of lemon curd and a large one of natural yoghurt... and a little grating of lemon zest if you want to make it a little fancy. Incredibly easy, wonderfully quick - and a great way to use up your lemon curd if you've over-catered (curd won't keep as long as jam once opened, I'd advise using it within a week or two). I'd recommend stacking these up at the last minute if you can, as the biscuit is best when it's still crunchy (unlike a cheesecake base, I didn't add melted butter, so the biscuits don't seem to hold up as well under the moisture of the curd).

Recipe from The Preserving Book by Pan Books (it's fairly old and I couldn't find it on amazon - hence the lack of hyperlink)

Ingredients (makes about 3/4 of a kg - I found that it made just over a jar):

140ml lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

Zest of 3 lemons

3 medium eggs

100g unsalted butter

250g caster sugar

Method:

1. Sterilise a couple of jars (wash in boiling water then leave to dry in a hot oven)
2. Set a pan of water to heat and find a bowl which can sit on top, without touching the water.
3. In this bowl (before putting it over the heat), lightly beat together all of the ingredients to ensure that the eggs are fully combined.
4. Place the bowl over the pan of gently simmering water and stir until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon - this should take about 30mins.
5. Pour into your jars, put the lids on immediately and leave to cool before storing in the fridge.

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Station eats... The exploding bakery

Photo taken from the webpage of The Exploding Bakery - I was too excited by the food to take any pictures myself I'm afraid.

Looking for lunch at a train station? WH Smith, M&S if you're lucky - both fit the bill, but not really worth writing home about. But just outside Exeter Central, there's something much more interesting to be found - 'The Exploding Bakery'. They mainly bake fab traybakes for wholesale, but they also have a  little cafe and take-away corner for us regular punters. When I was there they had a lovely potato tortilla (much more flavoursome than many I've tried), a spiced chickpea soup, monmouth coffee and a selection of cakes (particularly notable was a really moist carrot & orange cake, as well as a raspberry & white chocolate bakewell). The interior is also worth a mention with great rough-wood worktops and a sort of un-frilly bachelor pad chic - I don't know if that's a real term, but it seemed to sum it up for me. The wholesale bakery 'production zone' sits unashamedly next to the cafe area (a good sign I think!) so you can watch the traybakes being sliced and sprinkled as you deliberate over the tempting options. The staff all seem genuinely passionate about what they do as well - I ended up comparing flapjack technique as I placed my order - something I am yet to experience in any chain coffee-house!

I bought a slice of tortilla, spiced chickpea soup and a slice of carrot cake (to share all 3 with my mum) and we paid £7.50 in total. There is also a very small car park in front of the station (and right next to the bakery) where you can pay 50p for 15mins (or 80p for 30mins) - perfect if you just want to dive in to grab lunch en route to someplace else!

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Cream Cheese and Orange Biscuits

Another recipe from my beloved One Girl Cookies cookbook - the book from the owners of the bakery of the same name in Brooklyn, NY (see my post on it here). Whilst scribbling in my diary yesterday, I realised that this time last year I was jetting off on a plane to NY with 50 school friends (as school trips go, it was hard to beat!). After dispelling my envy for those who are about to go this year, I decided to do something more productive - bake!

I owed a friend a birthday present, having turned up embarrassingly empty handed to the party on saturday night (I never quite know the etiquette with big parties, it seems to ruin their fun a little if you drag them off the dance floor to hand them a poorly wrapped bath bomb... but then I always feel weird turning up without anything). As party etiquette goes, I was already failing miserably having not turned up until 11pm - although I have to confess, a part of me was a little proud as I'd managed two 18th's in one evening and, as a girl who is normally found making jam or doing other un-teenager-like things, this was a step towards 'coolness'. But incase you fear I've changed, I can reassure you that I was back on true form making marmalade the next day with my dad.

So I decided to make these biscuits to take in as a present - as the recipient most definitely shares my love of all things food! They'd work really well as party favours too, as they're dainty and rather decorative with their sprinkling of desiccated coconut.

Recipe converted from the Orange Butter Drops recipe in One Girl Cookies - quantities converted from cups to grams and I've very slightly tweaked the glaze from the original.

Ingredients (makes about 16):

Biscuits

50g caster sugar

Grated zest of half an orange

165g plain flour

130g cold, cubed, unsalted butter

Half tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp cream cheese

Glaze

Juice of just under half an orange

70g icing sugar

40g desiccated coconut, toasted (watch out, it toasts quickly)

Half tbsp cream cheese

Method:

• Mix together the sugar, zest and flour.
• Beat in the butter (by hand or with a paddle attachment on a mixer).
• Beat in the vanilla and cream cheese until it comes together as a dough (should be pretty quick).
• Shape into small balls (about the size of large cherry tomatoes) and place on a lined baking tray, about 1 inch apart.

• Cook in the oven at 180 degrees c (I used fan, but I'd stick to the same temp if you don't have fan, they may just need a little longer) for about 15 - 18mins (until golden around the edges).
• Leave on a wire rack to cool completely whilst you make the glaze.
• Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and enough orange juice to form a fairly thick, glue-like paste.
• Dip the top half of each cooled, cooked biscuit into the glaze and then into the toasted coconut.

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Bread Pudding

This is comfort food at it's best - squidgy and stodgy in all the right ways, and with a warming hint of mixed spice to finish it off. Perfect for chilly February afternoons. This recipe is another one of the family oldies I found whilst sorting through my recipe books - mum can still vividly remember her granny making it, and she always requested the crunchy corner piece! As with most old recipes, there was no picture, and this led to a slight mistake on my choice of cake tin - I went for a loaf tin, but I was later informed that a traybake is the better option - this is because you get more surface area, and so more crunchy Demerara sugar topping per slice (wow, that was almost scientific, Heston would be proud!). So, you'll see my loaf cake version in the picture, but I'd advise that you use a traybake tin of about 20cm/20cm (you want to be able to fill it at least a couple of inches deep).

Ingredients:

225g stale wholemeal bread

225g mixed dried fruit (get a mix that includes dried peel if possible, as this adds a great hint of citrus)

50g light soft brown sugar

50g margarine

1 and 1/s tsp mixed spice

1 egg

1 heaped tbsp demerara sugar to scatter on the top

Method:

1. Break up the bread into chunks (including the crusts), put it in a bowl, cover with water and stir it around for a couple of minutes to soften the bread. Put it into a sieve and push out the excess water (you may need to do this in two batches).
2. Put the soaked bread into a dry bowl and stir through all other ingredients (except demerara)
3. Grease your chosen tray (see comment above) and spoon in the mixture.
4. Push the mixture down and sprinkle the demerara sugar on the top.
5. Cook in the oven at 160 degrees celsius fan / 180 non fan for 1hr.
6. Leave to cool in the tin, then remove to store in an airtight tin.

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Banana Loaf Cake

This cake has been my staple 'healthy lunch box treat' for a couple of years now - ever since I found it in the 'Cook Yourself Thin - Quick and Easy'. It's great for those days when you feel you've eaten a few to many bakes but can't face the idea of the day without one! I've always stuck exactly true to the recipe, but this time I decided to go off-piste. The recipe calls for walnuts but, being without them, I turned to pecans. These always lend themselves to a more toffee-like flavour so I thought I'd make a few adaptions to continue this idea: the addition of chewy sultanas and the substitution of some of the light soft brown sugar for dark molasses. I also substituted half of the white flour for wholemeal - adding depth and making them that little bit healthier - I don't think this takes anything from the flavour... otherwise I wouldn't have added it, as flavour comes first of course!

Ingredients (makes 7 slices in a small loaf tin - about a 500g one if you can):

50g margarine

40g light soft brown sugar

45g mollasses/dark soft brown sugar

1 egg

150g mashed banana (peeled weight - about 2 bananas)

50g self raising wholemeal flour

50g self raising white flour

15g chopped pecans (plus about 5 halves for the top)

50g sultanas

Method:

1. Beat margarine and sugar until light and fluffy (this will take a fair bit of beating with the molasses!)
2. Beat in the egg.
3. Fold in all remaining ingredients apart from the pecan halves.
4. Grease and line a loaf tin and pour in the mix.
5. Top with the pecan halves then cook in the oven for 45mins - 1hr (check it and remove when a skewer comes out clean).
6. Remove from the tin when fairly cool, then leave on a wire rack to cool completely before storing in an air tight cake tin.

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Orange and Lemon Drizzle Cake

Not many students will admit to enjoy going to school, but on a Friday, I will happily do so openly... it's 'Cake Friday'! It seems teachers have accepted the fact that concentration levels are dismally low on a friday afternoon, and that a short interlude of cakey hapiness leads to a much-needed energy boost afterwards. Today was my turn to bake and, one again, I saw it as a chance to experiment. I really fancied making a lemon drizzle cake but, with a class full of fairly fussy eaters, I thought I'd need to steer away from anything too sharp or bitter. To do this, I made it a predominantly orange drizzle cake as this gave a slightly sweeter flavour, but still keeping a certain level of sharpness. I did however weaken on the drizzle topping - pure orange juice and sugar was just too sweet, so the addition of a little lemon juice balanced it out... if they didn't like it, I'd eat it! (Fortunately they did like it, so no problems there!)

No picture today I'm afraid - this was all made in a bit of a rush (as I'd forgotten that it was my day until very late the night before). Nevertheless, I'm very pleased with the results.

This recipe is adapted from the Lemon Drizzle Traybake Mary Berry's Baking Bible (again!). Aside from the orange/lemon swap, I also swapped the 2tbsp of milk in the cake mixture for 2tbsp of orange juice to heighten the flavour.

Ingredients:

Cake

110g marg
110g caster sugar
140g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
Zest of one orange (and 2tbsp of the juice)

Crunchy Topping

90g caster sugar
Remaining juice of the orange and the juice of a quarter of a lemon.
 - mix these together and add a splash of water/more juice if it's too stiff to pour onto the cake.


Method:

1. Beat the marg and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Beat in the eggs.
3. Carefully fold in the remaining ingredients.
4. Grease and line a 20cm by 20cm square tray tin (or a loaf tin if you'd prefer a deeper cake - you'd need to watch the cooking time if you did this as it may take longer to cook through the middle).
5. Pour the mixture into the tin and cook in the oven at 160 (fan) or 180 (no fan) for about 30 minutes (until a skewer comes out clean).
6. Most recipes tell you to remove the cake from the tin once cooled, then pour on the lemon/orange/sugar whilst it's cooling on a wire rack. I don't do that - whilst the cake's still slightly warm, remove it from the tin (so that it doesn't stick), then place it back into the tin. Make a number of stabs in the top of the cake to help the drizzle soak in. Now pour over the drizzle mix, right to the edges of the tin and leave to set. Once cooled and set, carefully remove from the tin and serve/store in a cake tin. This method means you won't waste any drizzle mix as it pours off the side, but if you're worried about it sticking, just do it following the original method.

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Spiced Apple Cake

When experimenting with recipes, I have the habit of cooking tiny quantities - to avoid the likelihood of gaining about a stone in weight and using up twenty eggs a week. Today however, only a big cake would do. I wanted something I could slice a hefty wedge out of, not another dainty cupcake-sized trial. With it still being a bit wintery, I fancied something with a bit of spice and fairly dense.  I found two spiced apple cake recipes which looked worth a try, so I thought I'd combine the two. This recipe has been adapted from Mary Berry's Apple and Cinnamon cake in her Baking Bible, as well as Gordon Ramsay's Spiced Apple Cake in Healthy Appetite. I used Mary Berry's recipe for instruction on quantities and method, but I looked to Gordon for inspiration for a few flavour tweaks. I found Gordon's recipe included a more varied range of spices and he used all wholemeal flour rather than just white. I set on a 50:50 ratio for the flour as I thought a bit of wholemeal would give it a slightly nuttier flavour, but I didn't want to make it too dense by using all wholemeal. I also added mixed spice to the cake mix, rather than just adding cinnamon to the apple filling, as in Mary's case - I fancied that warming flavour spreading the whole way through.  For my own personal adaptation, I removed the walnuts from the cake mixture in Mary Berry's recipe, reserving them only for the top - this was only because my dad's not a fan of nuts in cakes, so I substituted them for extra sultanas - but you could just as easily add them back in (by using 100g each of sultanas and walnuts, rather than 200g sultanas).

Method and Ingredients:

Grease and line a deep, loose bottomed 23cm cake tin.

Beat together 225g light soft brown sugar and 225g butter or spread.

Add 3 large eggs, 200g sultanas, 100g self raising wholemeal flour, 125g self raising plain flour, 2 level teaspoons of baking powder and 2 level teaspoons of mixed spice.

Fold it all together and spoon half the mixture into the tin.

Peel and core the apples then chop them pretty finely (I diced rather than sliced) and combine them with 1 level teaspoon of cinnamon.

Tip this apple mixture into your tin (yes, it does look a lot!) and spoon on the remaining half of the mixture.

Sprinkle with some more light soft brown sugar (or I imagine demerara would work really well - I would have used it, but I ran out) and bake in a 180 degrees c oven (or 160 if you use fan) for 1 and a quarter to 1 and a half hours.

Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Dust with icing sugar to serve (and I'd recommend serving it with creme fraiche, greek yogurt or cream whilst warm).

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