I really fancied a slice of sponge cake, more specifically Victoria Sponge. But being that this is an English creation I knew I had almost no chance of finding one at the shop so I would have to get baking.

 A sponge (usually) consists of equal measures of butter, sugar and flour with a few eggs thrown in. Nice and simple. This was the recipe I used.

 Obviously when making the cake you are entitled to artistic liscence, but the filling of a Victoria sponge for me should be raspberry jam and fresh cream.

 The cake was perfect, it did not last very long.

Victoria Sponge

Ingredients

• 175g unsalted butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 175g self-raising flour

Filling

• 3 tbsp strawberry jam
• 500ml double cream

Method

1. Set the oven to 180C/gas 4. Lightly butter two sandwich tins, each with a diameter of 20cm.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and then slowly add the beaten egg.

3. Fold in the sifted flour and spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tins.

4. Bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool and then remove from the tins.

5. Whip the cream until thick and use it to fill the sponge with the jam.

6. Dust liberally with icing sugar to serve.

 Piece of cake!

 I know. I am unforgivably late (despite what my very clever time-stamp says).

 It will be an unusually short Daring Bakers post just to say; “look I did it”.

 This months task was picked by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell. It was a great choice, I tell you, the wonderful pops some people have made!

 The pops were delicious, everything went well until I made the chocolate coating which was more spreadable than dippable, but still gave that lovely crunch when bitten into and tasted lovely.

 I say visit the Daring Bakers Blogroll and see how it should really be done.

 I found the recipe for this soup on the Annabel Karmel website. It looked so tasty that I had to give it a try. Luckily it was indeed yummy. Here is the recipe if you would like to try it.

 I was inspired to make these delectable little treats when I saw this post by the lovely and very talented Tartelette. So on Mothers Day last month I picked some silicone molds for a gift. I used a different recipe as I didn’t have enough eggs to make Tartelette’s yummy looking ones.

 It was a good thing I made a big batch of the batter as it took a practice attempt first to make them right. I was so impressed by these lovely little wonders, a crunchy crust then custardy soft centre, I mean what is not to like?

I learnt this;

 Leave the batter for longer and you really do get better canneles, the last batch I made on the third day was by far the nicest. 

Just when you think they are looking a little burnt, that is when they are done, do not be tempted to take them out before as they stick to the molds and the crunch is pathetic. Now you don’t want that do you?

Canelés recipe from Chic and Charming

Kendal mint cake. Now I had heard of this before but had never tried it. It is absolutely NOT a cake, it is a sweet (or candy). Read more here.

 Traditionally made with glucose, something I don’t have. I perchance found a little book I bought a while ago called “Favourite Sweets and Toffee Recipes” a recipe book containing lots of traditional British sweet recipes. The kendal mint cake in this recipe used milk instead of glucose so I decided to give it a go.

Kendal Mint Cake

• 1 lb sugar (can be white or brown)
• 1/4 pint milk
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoonful peppermint essence OR a few drops of peppermint oil.

  Dissolve the sugar in the milk using a heavy pan over a low heat.
  Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, and cook until a little of the mixture dropped into cold water forms a soft ball when rolled between index finger and thumb. (237 degrees F/ 114 degrees C.) Remove from the heat; add the flavourings and stir until thick. Pour on to an oiled, shallow tray and mark into bars. Cut when cold.

 To me the resulting sweet is more like tablet in texture, grainy and creamy. Yummy.

 I know that a few of my friends will not be fooled by my time-stamp on this post so sorry for being late. I have a personal matter that prevented me from posting on time, nothing to worry about I guess life takes over sometimes.

 The March Daring Baker task was a pleasant surprise. Cake! This recipe has been provided by Morven and what a corker it is.

 I enjoyed the flexibility of the recipe, we were allowed to play about with it quite a lot as long as we stuck to the basics, keep the basic recipe the same but change the flavourings if you so wish. I decided to make a chocolate version (doesn’t sound like me at all does it?) and I replaced raspberry preserves for cherry. I only had one cake tin in the right size and misjudged the amounts so mine is a three layer cake rather than a four.

 Below is the recipe which I have adapted to how I made it;

PERFECT PARTY CAKE
Courtesy of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours (page 250).
Posting date Sunday 30 March.

For the Cake

• 2 ½ cups cake flour ( or 2 ½ cups of all purpose with 5 tbsp removed)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 tbsp of cocoa + 1 tbsp milk
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar cocoa and tsp of milk in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).For the Buttercream

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¼ cup melted dark chocolate ( mashed/combined with the butter)

To finish; 2/3 cup cherry jam stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable. Cocoa to dust.

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
 Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the chocolatey butter a little at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Dust heavily with cocoa.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.
It tasted gorgeous although I would add more chocolate to the buttercream next time. If you would like to see more variations of this fabulous cake visit the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

 I know that I tend to mainly blog about baking, but I love this stew so thought it deserved an entry too. This is a recipe from my much used Tana Ramsey book. It’s so warm and comforting, perfect with a big bowl ‘a’ mash. Oooh I could eat a bowl right now!

 Stew and Dumplings

serves 6

• 14oz carrots
• 14oz parsnips
• 14oz shallots
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1lb diced stewing steak (I use nice lean steak)
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 2 1/2 pints water
• 1 quality beef stock cube
• 1 tbsp malt vinegar
• 1 level dsp soft brown sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 small bunch of thyme, tied
• salt and pepper

For the dumplings

• 6 oz self raising flour
• 3 oz suet
• 3 tbsp of fresh parsely, finely chopped
• salt and pepper
• water as needed

1. Preheat oven to 170c.
2. Peel carrots and parsnips and slice into inch lengths then peel shallots.
3. Heat oil in a casserole dish/pan on the hob and brown the beef. Once browned remove steak and put to one side leaving the residues behind in the dish.
4. Add the veg to the dish and fry for 5 minutes until they have colour but are not burned.
5. Return beef to the casserole then sprinkle the flour over stirring to coat everything. Cook for a few minutes before adding the water. Do this gradually and gently stirring as you do to prevent any flour lumps. Reduce the heat and add the stock cube, vinegar, sugar and herbs. Season cautiously with salt and pepper.
6. Put lid onto casserole and cook in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. After this time increase the temperature to 200c and cook for another 30 minutes.
7. Next make the dumpling mixture. Combine flour, suet and parsley, season then add the water until you achieve a smooth elastic paste. Roll little balls (size is your preference).
8. After the stew has cooked for 2 hours check the seasoning, add the dumpling mixture, dotted on the top.
9. Return to the oven without the lid and cook for a further 30 minutes until dumplings are crusty and golden.
10. Enjoy! mmmmmmmmmmmmm

If you don’t get suet in your part of the land then someone told me you can use grated butter, or just use your own dumpling recipe.

 Seriously. This bread is essentially another no knead bread, remember the Jim Lahey Bread?

 This bread is, if possible even easier. I am not sure if it is as tasty as the other bread, mainly due to the amount of salt. I think next time I will halve the amount as it was a little too salty. It is however beautiful looking bread.

 If you want some good bread quickly and without much effort then this is the bread recipe for you. The dough looks a real mess just as you put it away to rise but does rise beautifully, I found it a little hard to cut a piece off with a knife as suggested as the dough seemed too loose, it came up trumps and cooked just fine so I needn’t have worried.

 This is the No Knead Recipe by Jeff Hertzberg.

Simple Crusty Bread

Adapted from ”Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007) Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising

• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (reduced from origional recipe)
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough
• Cornmeal.

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.
Recipe: Simple Crusty Bread Adapted from ”Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007) Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising

 Delicous toasted with Marmite!

 There are many food bloggers out there that will be in the same position as me at the moment and have a few too many leftover egg-yolks.

 My solution was to make a bread and butter pudding which sure helped me get rid of six of those yolks and gave me a much needed comfort food fix.

 Any bread will do, although stale bread is known to be more effective at soaking up the lovely custard. I used raisins instead of sultanas and pre-soaked them in whisky for half an hour to soften them up. I think this recipe would be lovely with  a chocolate liquer like Baileys added to the custard.

 Here is the basic recipe that I played about with.

Bread and Butter Pudding    

• 6 slices well buttered Bread/ one long thin baguette
• 50g/2oz Sultanas/ or raisins soaked in whisky
• 6 Egg yolks
• 25g/1oz Sugar
• 600ml/20fl.oz. Milk
• A little extra Sugar
• Grating of nutmeg
• tsp of cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 170C.  Grease a 7.5cm/3 inch deep ovenproof dish.

2. Remove the crusts from the buttered bread and cut into quarters (triangles or squares) or slice the baguette into thin slices. Reserve 4 quarters for the top and arrange the rest in layers in the dish, sprinkling the sultanas/raisins between each layer. Top with the reserved quarters.

3. In a saucepan, heat the milk to hot but not boiling. In a large bowl, mix together the egg yolks and sugar then add the hot milk, stirring well.

4. Slowly strain over the bread and fruit, being careful not to dislodge the top layer of bread. Gently push a plate onto the the top so that the liquid rises but doesn’t overflow. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.

5. Sprinkle with a little sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the top is browned and crispy.

When I discovered the blogging event LiveSTRONG with a Touch of Yellow I knew I had to participate. The event is for Live STRONG day which will take place on May 13th.

Grandad on his wedding day October 11th 1958.

  My reason for being a part of this is my Grandad who lost his battle against prostate cancer in October 2004. Even now, even as I write this I still get teary. To die at 68 seemed too young to me, especially as he was such a fun, young-minded person. He was the life and soul of everything and everyone who knew him loved him. We all miss him terribly.

 My Grandad started experiencing symptoms a while before he went to see the doctor. He left it until he got really uncomfortable and then complained to my mum and Auntie about the symptoms and they made the appointment and made him go. Unfortunately by then the cancer had already spread and it was only a matter of how long. He had between a year and two, I can never quite remember. So, men, if you feel unwell go to the doctors, no matter how trivial you think it may be. Seeing my Grandad deteriorate like that was so soul destroying, it was devastating.

 The task is to simply cook up something that contains something yellow. Easy right? I made these lemon ginger muffins because obviously lemons=yellow plus I love anything with lemon or ginger. I also made candied peel to decorate the top. I have never made this before but it was much easier than I thought. I also got to use my new muffin molds that I received on Sunday for Mother’s Day.

Lemon and Ginger Muffins

First combine;

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Then in another bowl;

• Juice of 1 large lemon or 2 small (peel with a potato peeler and put peel to one side)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup plain yogurt
  2/3 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 1tsp vanilla sugar

Add liquid to flour mixture and mix briefly until smooth.

Divide muffin mixture into 12 muffin cups.

Bake at 200 C until toothpick comes out clean, 12 to 15 minutes

Let cool 2 to 3 minutes before removing from pan/molds.

Leave to cool completely before icing.

Decorating

In the meantime you can make the candied peel. Recipe here.

Candied Peel;

• 3 firm, ripe lemons or oranges
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Using a potato peeler peel the lemons making strips. With a sharp knife then cut into long thin strips.
Place the strips in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, drain, and refresh under cold running water.Return to the saucepan, add the sugar and 1/2 cup water and cook over moderate heat until the liquid has evaporated and the peel is bright and shiny. Spread peel on a sheet of foil to cool, separating the strips.

For the Icing;

• 3 cups of icing sugar sifted
• 3 or 4 tbsp of lemon juice

Add the lemon juice to the icing sugar and stir until smooth and thick enough to drizzle down the sides when muffins are iced.

The icing was lovely and sharp, the muffin had a lovely mellow flavour with only a hint of ginger, next time I feel I might add extra ginger powder and even some preserved ginger to the muffins. mmmmm

Visit winos and foodies on the 13th of May to find out what other participating folks have come up with.