Tiny Christmas Cakes

Hello all, yes I know it is still October and normally I refuse all mention of the C-word until at least 1st December but some things just have to be done in advance.

In the past few years I've made an 6 or 8in cake which I've shared out between family once I could bear cutting it. That said there's always enough that people get a bit fed up so this year I have made 3 small 8oz cakes from Mary Berry's book. It seems to be here normal cake scaled down so you could divide a 6in recipe by about 8 I think.

The recipe reccommends using half tins of baked beans: exhibit A

Hmm, never thought I would be putting pictures of baked beans on a cake blog!

Careful of ring pull ones though. I forgot with all of mine and had to use the tin opener anyway as they leave a ridge inside. It was quite awkward so I'd suggest using a tin opener on the bottom to get a clean edge. Also I found the Heinz tins easier as others don't seem as sturdy and they have straight as opposed to rigded sides. You prep them as normal, I used 2 layers of baking paper.The cake recipe was fairly standard. I put some dried cranberries in to give it a Christmassy feel.

And voila, 3 8oz fruit cakes

I did like only having to wait 1 1/4 hrs and not the usual 3hrs+. They also came out really easily by pulling gently on the paper cuffs. I had had visions of taking the bottoms off with a tin opener.

I'll probably make some little madeira ones in these tins for the fruit cake haters. Now just to decide how to decorate? Do I do them matching or different, I can't decide. Any ideas?

Toffee Apple Cupcakes

Oh dear, I have been neglectful! Unfortunately trying to eat healthily and baking son't always go hand in hand. I have been in the kitchen though so will try and back date my posts over the next week.

First off to put us in the Halloween mood: Toffee apple cupcakes. I got the recipe from the book 'Eat Me' by Xanthe Milton, also where the ice cream cones came from. The book has some nice simple recipes with a twist though I find them a bit style over substance they do look impressive. It's a lovely book to flick through too.

On to business. The recipe can be found here:http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/toffee-apple-cupcakes. Essentially it is standard cupcake mixture with diced apple for the sponge. I grated my apple in to be faster. I had been a bit worried about putting the mixture into muffin cases as I normally use these quantities for buns but the apple really bulks it up and they rise beautifully.

With the toffee topping I found it hard to get hold of plain toffees and not mixed flavoured ones in supermarkets. My corner shop though had loads of these more old fashioned sweets. The trick here is not to get too impatient and to keep the temperature low. About 1 tbsp of suace for each one covered the cake, then I topped up once needed afterwards. Also get the pot cleaned while it's still warm or it'll harden on and be a nightmare to get off!

Finally pop the stick in before the toffee sets. You can put them in before you put it on, but the sticks tend to get a bit messy. I also had trouble finding lolly sticks anywhere, even my local specialist cake suppliers. I decided in the end to use wooden dowells. A 30cm dowell gives 2 lolly sized sticks and I think it looks better.

To finish off and give a little authenticity I put them in cellophane bags and twisted to seal with some sellotape. It also stops everything getting sticky if they need transported.

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Ice cream buns

I seen these in a magazine and had to give them a try. They were so easy, barely more tricky than standard buns with a buttercream swirl and look great! I took them to a barbecue which seemed the perfect venue.

I used my usual bun recipe with a slight twist. It made 10 cones.

4oz caster sugar
4oz self raising flour
4oz margarine
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
also
10 flat based ice cream cones
1 quantity buttercream
hundreds and thousands
4 flakes each cut into 3

1) Take each of the cones and set in a cupcake/muffin tin. Use strips of foil and scrunch around the base of the cone to help keep the cones upright.
2) Cream the sugar, vanilla and margarine until light and fluffy
3) Mix in the eggs one at a time
4) Mix in the flour
5) Fill each of the cones with batter until they are about one inch from the top

6) Bake at 180 C for around 20 minutes until well risen and springy to the touch


7) Allow to cool and decorate with swirls of buttercream, sprinkles and of course a flake.






Transporting them was a bit difficult as they're top heavy but I settled for wedging them into the tin and hoping for the best. A bit of cardboard with holes cut in it would be perfect but not sure if they exist...

I had been a bit worried that these would be more style than substance, as the base would only be cake and cone, but they got good reviews. They did confuse people a bit though :) Next time I'd maybe put a little batter, some jam and then the rest. I think if I but it right at the bottom it would burn.


I do fancy trying a few variations, maybe mint choc chip, with peppermint flavouring and chocolate chips. Also some honeycomb in the cake mix would give a crunchy texture. Any suggestions?

Fifteens

Sometimes the easiest things are just what you need. Fifteens aren't even baking, simply mixing and chilling but everyone seems to love them. I suppose it's the nostalgia from school dinners!


The recipe is quite simple:

15 Mashmallows cut into quarters
or 30g mini mashamllows
15 glace cherries halved
15 digestive biscuits
175g tube condensed milk
75g dessicated coconut


1) Crush the biscuits in the food processor or with a rolling pin
2) Add the mashmallows and glace cherries along with the biscuits to a large mixing bowl
3) Stir in the condensed milk, mixing well and adding a little milk if it's too dry
4) Form the dough into a log shape and roll in the cocunut. Your hands will get messy!
5) Wrap in cling film and chill for a few hours before slicing

Jammy coconut buns

I made these recently as they are family favourites. Very easy and they look great. They're simply normal buns with jam spread on the bottom and dipped in dessicated coconut.

I made a dozen buns in silicone moulds, as you end up removing the wrapper anyway. Warming up some jam in the microwave for around 20 seconds makes it easier to spread. I have tried dipping these into jam, but it's much easier to use a knife. You will get jam on your fingers by the way! Turn the bun upside down and cover the sides and base, then dip into a bowl of coconut. I used about 20g of coconut, but if you have more it makes it easier to get on the bun. Mine are strawberry and lemon curd but you could use anything: blueberry, marmalade or blackcurrent for example.

Looking at these I couldn't work out what was missing, before I realised that if I can be bothered I pipe a small swirl of buttercream on the top and add a small sweetie. It enhances the pyramid shape and is sweeter to.

Mateser traybake

I made these as a special request, but it was torture as I'm off biscuits and chocolate for Lent. No licking the bowl or eating the crumbs. I'll maybe make them again for Easter though...

The recipe is from my friend Ruths page over on Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. It made around 24 traybakes.

400g milk chocolate

250g unsalted butter

5 tbsp golden syrup

250g digestive biscuits

250g maltesers

250g white chocolate

1) Crush the digestive biscuits in a food processor or put them in a plastic food bag and crush with a rolling pin.

2) Melt the milk chocolate in a bain marie. I started it off in the microwave and then put the bowl over another bowl of boiling water. It's a lot of chocolate so break up into small pieces and be patient,

3) Melt 200g of butter and 4 tbsp of golden syrup into the chocloate.

4) Stir in the biscuits and 175g of the maltesers mixing well.

5) Spread into a swiss roll tin lined with baking paper (it'll look like it's too small but it's not) and squash down into the corners. Pop in the fridge while doing the topping.

6) Melt the white chocolate, 50g of butter and 1tbsp of golden syrup, stir well and spread onto the base. It'll be a bit tricky to spread, so is better to put on in small spoonfuls and join them up.

7) Crush the maltesers with a rolling pin, or pulse in a food processor and spread over the top, squashing slightly into the white chocolate topping.

8) Pop in the fridge for a few hours to set.

9) When cutting lift out of the tin and use a sharp knife to cut long straight lines. Make sure you get right through to the base or they'll stick together. I tried to cut mine in the tin but the bits at the corner stuck toegether and I had enough left over to make another bun!

***Edit, if you take them out of the fridge about an hour before you cut them they are softer and easier to cut. Any trimmings can be pressed onto the bases again***

I love the cross-section of the Malteser!

Lemon Meringue Pielets

Making a proper sized lemon meringue pie recently I wondered what to do with the offcuts of the pastry (I never seem to roll in the right shape!) Remembering my contemplations on using my mini muffin pan I decided to combine the two. I made mini lemon meringue pies in a muffin tin and a mini muffin tin and named them pielets. I'm sure these exist somewhere, but I'm keeping it for now. The tiny ones are perfectly bite sized!

As these were an extra I'm not sure how the pastry/custard/meringue quantites would work out, and from what I can see you get a bit more pastry and a bit less lemon but the overall combo is still there.

A few notes on adjusting the recipe:

- The pastry was cooked for 10 minutes, not 20

- The meringue stayed in for the full time of the normal sized pie.

- I used a fluted cutter to givea nice curly edge

- Make sure the meringue touches the edge of the pastry the whole way round otherwise the top comes off. Still tastes good though.

I might try making a full set of either size to sort out the recipe and numbers. Someone suggested these would be good for a dinner party, having a trio of desserts like in a restaurant but they're a bit fiddly and time consuming only to make 4 odd of plus 2 other desserts!