Truffletastic by David!

We are still catching up with all the goings on at the third meeting of our Hot, Sweet and Yummy baking group. If you look at the column down the right hand side you can link to earlier posts to see what everyone baked for our Indulgence themed night. You can also link to all the previous posts on our Blog or search for recipes containing your favourite ingredients by scrolling down to the recipe search area. In fact, please have a good look around our Blog. You might find something sweet and yummy to tempt you on a wet and windy Friday afternoon. 

Well after our dramatic dried fruit stand off, we were ready for some sustenance and it came our way as a veritable smorgasbord of truffles from David. Known for his ability to just throw some ingredient into a bowl and pop out something hot, sweet and yummy! Well, I don't think anyone was prepared for what David had in store for us. We were, I must say, a bit truffled out after Paul's two tier tower of delicious little bites and I think david was worried that we would just have a teeny nibble at his little balls before moving onto something bigger but he didn't need to worry one bit. I was late to join in the tasting but Mmmmometer was off the scale. Jane was the loudest but it really was just a cacophony of ecstasy so I got stuck in. I think these truffles have to be tasted to be believed but they were gooey, yummy, fruity and quite simply perfect. David was worried that they weren't as firm as they normally are being left at room temperature for an hour or so but who cares we all chorused...it all goes down the same way and I was quite enjoying licking my fingers and dribbling gooey truffle down my chin! David really is the master of all things small, sweet and delicious and I am certain that he just thought these up in his head without ever referring to a recipe! David - we loved your Truffletastic balls of yumminess and what was so fab was that they were so different to Paul's that we couldn't and wouldn't even dare to compare them! I must insist David, that next time you bring something huge! We want large, sweet and yummy! Here's a wee pic or two of Truffletastic. You can see the little cherry hiding inside one of them and there were also apricots which were all gone by the time I got the camera out! The recipe is below.
Ingredients (makes about 15)
150ml double cream
1 vanilla pod or one tspn vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
25g caster sugar
150g plain or white chocolate
25g unsalted butter at room temperature
150g plain and white chocolate for coating
Method
-Place cream and vanilla into a pot and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool
-whisk egg yolk and sugar until creamy and pale
-add the two mixtures, whisk together and then return to a very low heat and stir until it starts to thicken. Do not overheat or the egg will start to cook (yuk)
-add broken up chocolate of choice to mixture and stir until it has all melted
-place into the fridge and leave for one hour.
-after an hour, whisk in the soft butter
-arrange into small balls or put into a piping bag and make some nice shapes
-melt the butter for coating in a bowl over simmering water on the hob
-roll truffles in the melted chocolate and place on a tray covered with baking parchment and return to fridge to set
David added cherries and apricots to different batches of his basic truffle mix. You can add whole nuts too and instead of coating the truffles in melted chocolate try chopped nuts or coco powder.
Enjoy. Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy xxx

The great raisin debate!

You may be wondering what else we do at our baking group meetings and you'd be forgiven for thinking that we just sit about eating cake and making noises like Meg Ryan in that movie I've never seen (apart from that scene obviously) but we do have some pretty serious chats about all things food. We also like a good bitching session and a saucy giggle! After we had scoffed the double rum and raisin cakes, Grace wondered what the difference between a raisin and a currant was. There was a short pause and then we all launched into fervent discussion as to what we thought they were. Someone also threw sultana into the debate which confused matters even more and after about 3 hot minutes, we decided that we didn't really know. We knew a raisin was a dried grape and that a currant was another dried small fruit but I think the consensus was a blackcurrant and as for a sultana well there were many weird and wonderful ideas about it. Fiona decided to whip out her laptop and get onto Wikipedia immediately as we were wasting valuable tasting time and the rest of the delights on the table were crying out to be consumed ASAP. So, this is what we found out...

• raisin - the collective name for naturally dried grapes. 
• currant - dried black Corinth grape
• sultana - not quite sure as there are so many conflicting theories but it seems that a sultana is a specific type of grape (maybe Thomson seedless) which is sulphured to dry it out and then dipped in veg oil so that it looks pale, plump and golden. 

Its quite fascinating really that something so small and insignificant could have baffled us all! That's what happens when your brain is addled by sugar. If you disagree with the above descriptions of have your own theory or info to add, please let us know by leaving a comment. Its quick and easy to do. Or leave us a message on our Facebook page.

One thing we did agree on was that we either love them or hate them but as long as they are in something hot, sweet and yummy we will eat them!

Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy xxx

Grace's double rum and raisin cakes

 At the third meeting of our Hot, Sweet and Yummy baking group, the theme was 'indulgence' and we also had a new member! Grace is a good friend and we were delighted when she agreed to come along. Grace's roots are in the Caribbean and we were all quite excited about the possibility of something tropical and exotic and weren't disappointed. Grace had been soaking raisins in something alcoholic for months for no other reason that its a good thing to do and you never know when you're going to need some boozy raisins. It was lucky that we invited her when we did as I'm sure the potency of booze soaked fruit quadruples with every passing week and therefore some of our members may have been driving home slightly tipsy!

I love Grace's sense of humour and was delighted to see she hadn't lost it whilst creating something for Hot, Sweet and Yummy. She had cunningly disguised her lethal raisins as Tom and Jerry cakes - genius! So beneath the innocent looking face of Jerry mouse and the sweetie pink icing lay those devilish raisins literally bursting with rum. We demolished one each no problem and all agreed that although they were definitely potent, the rum wasn't overpowering. It seems rum was the order of the evening after Jane's rum and chocolate cake. Maybe we should have a boozy themed meeting sometime soon! Anyway, we all throughly enjoyed Grace's double rum and raisin cakes and look forward to the next meeting as Grace has volunteered to cook up something savoury for us. Yummy. Grace, welcome to the group and well done on baking something completely sweet and yummy but please send us your recipe soon so everyone can enjoy some double rum and raisin cakes.
Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy x

Jane's chocolate hunk!

So after we had sampled Jan's Slovakian potato cakes and Paul's Tropical truffles it was time for something else indulgent. The theme for our third Hot, Sweet and Yummy meeting was Indulgence so we were definitely on the right track. the table was literally groaning with sweet and magnificent treats in all shapes and sizes. Jane had missed our last meeting so was making up for it by turning up with something so dark and rich and gooey that we were all a bit nervous about tasting it. I imagined we would all lose self control after one slice of this dangerously decadent hunk. I am not sure the photo does it justice but it was almost black in the middle, glistening slightly, hinting at an inner moistness. I think Jane mentioned it would be even better served hot with vanilla ice cream but there was no time for such frivolities...we were all armed with little forks and a lust for chocolate. Oooh I forgot to say it was a chocolate and rum loaf..inspired I think by the High priestess of indulgence...Nigella. The Mmmmometer was off the scale. The loaf had a sight crunchiness round the edges leading gradually into a centre of rich, sweet gooey cake. The rum was there but very subtle which is always good with alcohol. Not everyone likes rum or brandy or whatever the recipe calls for but this was just perfect. The texture was really food too. Almost smooth and velvety but a bit more robust like a manly rum drinking sailor. Ah well, I can't think of any more words to describe apart from delicious Jane, well done babe! It was a marvel and we hope you'll make it again soon and serve it with promised ice cream. In fact, when Jane returns from her little Icelandic adventure, I'll get the recipe and make it myself. Watch this space if you want Jane's yummy recipe! 

Sweet cake stand!

It was Harry’s birthday at the end of February, and one of the birthday presents he received was a gorgeous cake stand from his good friend Dave. This thoughtful present was too lovely to go unmentioned so I thought I'd post a wee pic of it. The stand is decorated with cute pictures of cupcakes and will be a welcome addition to Harry’s extensive collection of kitchen, cooking and baking equipment. It had its maiden voyage at the third meeting of Hot, Sweet and Yummy as Paul used it to display his delicious tropical truffles and velvet fudge.  Dave unfortunately lives in Livingston and makes it a bit difficult for him to become a regular member of the group.  We’ve nevertheless made him an honourary member, and hopefully Dave will be able to join us at a meeting at some point to share with us one of his own culinary creations, and join in the fun of Hot, Sweet and Yummy!  Here is a picture of the cake stand so you can see how lovely it is for yourself.

It's fudge dear but not as we know it!

Well, after hoovering up the savoury potato cakes we were ready for something sweet! This is after all a baking group first and foremost so sugar and sweetness is never far from our greedy little minds! Paul had arrived as usual with a tupperware bursting full of goodies. He nipped into the kitchen announcing 'I need some assembly time'! When he emerged there were gasps all round, not only because his little sweet nibbles were displayed on Harry's new cake stand (more about that in another post) but also because he had made not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 different sweety things for us to sample! I just loosened another notch on my belt and accepted my fate for the evening...death by sugar!
So, the first one to try was on the bottom tier and it was a dark chocolate fudge. Not fudge as we know it but an altogether much easier version. Paul has no confidence in his own abilities but I've said it before and will keep on saying it...he knows his stuff! Well we named them Paul's Velvet Fudge as this is exactly how it was...dark, luxurious, smooth with an amazing depth of flavour without being overpowering. Yum! Here's a wee pic and the recipe.
Paul's Velvet Fudge
200g plain chocolate
300g condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pop it all in a pan and heat over a low heat stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.
When smooth and velvety pour into a tin to set and cut into squares when cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to eat!
I say easy peasy - another one for me to try!
The next 3 truffles went by in a haze for me as I was still enjoying the fudge but I am well assured that they were equally delicious filled with coconut and juicy glace cherries. They were duly named Paul's Tropical Truffles AKA Paul's Cabana Balls as we all fondly remembered the retro coconut and cherry chocolate bar. He had coated them in 3 different coatings and here is the recipe. 
Paul's Tropical Truffles

75g Condensed milk

Icing Sugar

Desiccated Coconut

Glace Cherries

Coating

White Chocolate

Coconut, Chocolate Sprinkes, Chocolate Strands

• Pour the condensed milk into a bowl, add sieved Icing Sugar and mix through.  Add coconut and chopped cherries.
• Mix to a firm consistency – keep adding icing sugar until correct consistency is reached. 
• Pull off some mixture and roll into balls, then dip in the white chocolate (melted in a bowl). Then roll in the desired coating and leave to set.

Well done Paul as always they looked stunning and tasted magic! If anyone tries this yummy recipe, please let us know or even take a photo for us and send it to the group at Hot, Sweet ad Yummy by clicking this email link.

Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy xxx

The Mmmmometer!

We have a new invention! Not only are we a fabulously delicious baking group but we are now pioneering scientists with startling new ideas of how to measure yumminess! The Mmmmmometer is a wonderful way to tell people how sweet and yummy their baking is. In fact its the perfect gauge for anything you fancy! Our Mmmmometer is apparent at every meeting and Harry is working on a physical prototype for future meetings! He will be inspired by John Snow's Swingometer he thinks so we can't wait to see it. Anyone can have and use one...you just eat something yummy and let the Mmmmmmms flow! Go on, try it! The louder and longer, the better.
Oh and here's a wee pic of the lovely John Snow with his Swingometer! 


Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy xxx

Meeting 3 and Slovakian potato cakes!

OOh its so exciting to be back blogging about cakes again following the third meeting of the Hot, Sweet and Yummy baking group. I can't believe how quickly the time passes between each meeting. We all look forward to each meeting with a shared sense of dread, excitement and hungry anticipation! None of us are very confident about our baking skills but we all give it our best and hope we've improved since the last meeting. The third meeting was no exception and we were all doubly excited because we had changed the format slightly. Firstly, Jan was making something savoury to start with. We all discovered that we weren't eating tea before the meetings so we could save room for the cakes but this had its down side in that we all felt quite hyperglycaemic after a couple of tastings. So we thought starting with something savoury would help to combat this. Secondly, the theme was Indulgence to celebrate the end of Lent (well almost) so everyone had free reign to decide what indulgence meant to them. Thirdly, Harry and Fee were having a carrot cake-off. They had both been sent different carrot cake recipes so thought it a good idea to make one each and see what everyone thought. More about this later!

Anyhoo, the meeting commenced with the usual glass of bubbly and we all welcomed Grace as our newest member. Apologies were sent from Jan who had to work late and although we were bitterly disappointed that he wasn't there, we were all somewhat relieved that he had sent over the savoury course as promised! Fee was the hostess with the mostess and kicked off the meeting when suddenly Richard's phone trilled loudly. Richard is a high flying executive and never misses a call so he answered of course. It was Jan! He had managed to finish early and was on his way after all  - phew! We could all enjoy his savouries guilt free. We did however, very selfishly start without him! 
The potato cakes that Jan had prepared looked big, delicious and like something that we all wanted badly. He had made three different varieties..two were meaty and one was veggie for Paul. Jan is very considerate we all agreed. Everyone grabbed a bit of cake and got stuck in. I tasted all three and have to say they were really yummy. There were plenty of oohs and aaahs from round the table so I think we can safely say they were hitting the right spot! Two were a potato cake and one was a herby bread affair but all three were to die for.  I wish Jan could have been there at that point but we did congratulate when he finally arrived.  David also discovered that the outer crusts of the bread made a nice wee palate cleanser in between cake sampling but I suspect this was just another cunning way to scoff more of Jan's savouries. I don't think anyone will be surprised to hear that we don't as yet have any recipes from Jan. I suspect that Jan is checking with the 'potato cake bureau' back home in Bratislava to make sure these aren't state guarded secrets! I will of course post a picture of them in the meantime and then add the recipe when it filters through! 

Jan - your potato cakes and herby bread were gorgeous as ever. Well done and we were all so glad you made it after all. Next meeting, Jan is holding a sugar craft and cake decorating masterclass - what fun! He is very inspired by Fiona Cairns, the baking lady who supplies Harrods, Selfridges and Waitrose amongst other fine establishments.  I cannot wait to see what he'll show us but be assured there will be lots of lovely photographs of the session. Anyway, here are a couple of yummy shots of Jan's potato cakes and Jan's herby bread! Enjoy!
Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy xxx

Happy Mother's Day

Well, I hope all you Mum's woke up this morning to something hot. sweet and yummy...like a bacon butty or some home made porridge! If you didn't then never mind...there are lots of lovely cake recipes here for you to try and enjoy! In the meantime, here's a gratuitous shot of some hot, sweet and yummy men.....we can go back to shots of cake tomorrow!


Xxx

Raspberry coconut scrumptiousness!

So, this is the last delicious recipe from the second meeting of Hot, Sweet and Yummy baking group. But don't worry as our next meeting is this Monday coming and will be a cracker...the theme is Indulgence to celebrate almost the end of lent when everyone can stock up on all the goodies they have been denying themselves. We actually just wanted an excuse to gorge ourselves again and indulgence seemed like a nice name for 'loads of calories'!!
Anyway Paul, as I've mentioned before is an expert in the kitchen and is always cooking up nice, tasty treats at any opportunity. His finger buffets are indeed sumptuous and I think  he should start a catering company but he'll just poo poo that idea. he is very modest. He made a plate of gorgeous little coconut sponge hearts for this meeting and they looked so cute and tasty. I think this was also adapted from a Delia recipe but I'm not entirely sure. You'll have to ask him yourself...well we delved in as we always do and I think the plate was empty within a few noisy minutes. The flavour of these little cakes was really yummy and you could pick out all the different ingredients no problem. Paul himself admitted this was the first time he had made this recipe and thought it need slightly less time in the oven or a little more liquid to compensate for the desiccated coconut he added! Some good tips there Paul - if anyone gives this recipe a go please let us know how it turns out. Anyway, Paul's yummy sponge hearts were a delight and we all munched them down hungrily even if we had already exceeded a week's worth of calories in half an hour! If you are curious what Paul will make for our Indulgence evening then just check back here next week as all our recipes and photographs of the evening will be posted here! In the meantime, here is the recipe for Paul's Raspberry and White Chocolate Coconut Sponge Hearts.

Swiss Roll Sponge Ingredients

3 Eggs, at room temperature

3oz (75g) Castor Sugar,
3 ox Self-Raising Flour, sieved
2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut

Filling

Tin of raspberries in juice

1 tablespoon of sugar

melted chocolate

grated white chocolate

• Pre-heat the Oven to 220c 425F Mark 7. Grease and line a shallow Swiss Roll tin 9inch x 12inch (23cm x 30cm) with greaseproof paper.
• Whisk the eggs with the castor sugar until the mixture is light and creamy. It should leave a trail when the whisk is lifted out. Then fold in the Self-Raising Flour and coconut using a metal spoon.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth level with a palette knife. Place in the hot oven and bake for 7 to 10 minutes until the sponge is pale golden and begins to shrink from the edges of the tin.
• For the Raspberry filling I used a tin of raspberries and emptied the whole tin to a blender and pureed – then I heated this up in a saucepan, added 1 tablespoon of sugar, until it had reduced right down to a gooey consistency.
• I grated the white chocolate and mixed this into the raspberry coulis.
• I cut the heart shapes out of the sponge and sandwiched 2 together with the white chocolate and raspberry mixture, then drizzled some plain chocolate over the top.
•  This is the first time I have tried this sponge and must admit I found it a bit dry – doing it again I would maybe give slightly less time in the oven, or use a better baking tray.  I added the coconut to the original recipe so perhaps some more moisture was needed.

So, that's them all now! I hope you've enjoyed reading about our fab little baking group and I really hope you do try out some of our recipes. If you do or if you have any hot, sweet and yummy recipes of your own please email us or just post something here on the Blog. We'd love to hear from you.

Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy xxx

Unbreak my heart!

Richard tells us he only comes along to catch up on the gossip and to obviously sample our wonderful creations but we suspect that he actually enjoys our get togethers and he does go to the trouble of baking something! So in keeping with our Valentine's theme Richard made some cute little shortbread hearts filled with yummy chocolate. Richard is a high powered executive travelling all over the UK making the most of his generous expense account so I think that the recipes from Richard are going to be recipes that are deliciously tasty but can be made when time is scarce! Its a wonder he does manage with his schedule. Well, we all thoroughly enjoyed them. They were crumbly and light and buttery and the chocolate cream filing was really good. I could have easily split another one in two and licked the cream off! Yum. Next meeting's theme is Indulgence so we can't wait to see what Richard creates. Here's the recipe for Richard's Unbroken Hearts and a wee picture to get the taste buds tantalised!

Biscuit

100g icing sugar 

200g butter 

300g plain flour 

10g vanilla sugar

Chocolate filling

100g chocolate

100g unsalted butter

jam

Mix all ingredients together and cut out using heart shaped cutter then bake in a preheated oven (180 °C) for about 15 minutes.

Melt 100g of chocolate in microwave and blend in 100g unsalted butter for chocolate cream filling. 

Then sandwich together with a little strawberry jam and the chocolate cream.      

Flirty Friends

Back to the yummy cakes we ate at our second Hot, Sweet and Yummy meeting. We have already scoffed David's strawberry shortcake, Jan's Layered Love Cake and Harry's Hot, Sweet and Yummy Heart cake so you'd think we would all be full up but there were many delicious things on the table still to be consumed! Fiona had tried out a recipe she'd had her eye on for a while but never got round to doing anything about it. She decided to have a go at some Friands.....not friends! These little cakes are popular in Australia (she thinks but not sure) but originate from the French Financier sponge cake. They are predominately made with egg white and almond but you can add all sorts of flavours apparently! How odd we all thought but looking at them, we didn't think they looked at all like a meringue!!! Anyway, Fiona had made hers with blueberries and in the shape of lovehearts, instead of the traditional rectangular shape. Apparently you can buy a friand pan especially for these little delights and Fiona thinks she might just do that as her hungry hoards at home all loved them and ate quite a few before our meeting. Well, they looked lovely, dusted with icing sugar and the blueberries had swollen up and burst so the friands has a lovely purply marbled effect through them. We greedily gobbled them up and all agreed that the egg white flavour hadn't come through which was a relief for Fiona as she worried they would taste like an omelette. Fiona, these were scrummy delicious and very unusual. We hope you experiment with other flavours and we can enjoy these again. Here is the recipe..
Fee's flirty friands
100g butter
4 large egg whites (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
45g plain flour
140g pure icing sugar
85g  ground almonds
1/2 tsp almond extract - not essence
About 40g (about 30 large) blueberries
Extra icing sugar, for dusting

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (170 degrees Celsius fan). If you are not using a fan oven, adjust the oven rack to the middle position so the friands brown evenly.
• Grease a six hole muffin pan - I bought a silicone love heart shaped one especially but any non stick bun or muffin tin would do.
• Melt butter and set aside to cool to lukewarm.
• In a medium bowl, beat egg whites with a fork or whisk until foamy (about 30 seconds)
• Sift flour, icing sugar and ground almonds into the bowl with the egg whites.
• Stir ingredients together until just combined.
• Add the melted butter and almond extract to the bowl and stir until just combined.
• Divide mixture evenly among the holes of the prepared pan. Place about five blueberries in a cluster in the centre of each friand.
• Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the friands are a light golden colour and spring back when lightly pressed. A thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of a friand should come out without any raw-looking batter attached.
• Remove friands from the oven and allow to stand in the pan for five minutes.
• Mine turned out really easily from the silicone mould but be careful if using a rigid pan...they seemed quite delicate.
• Dust a little icing sugar over each one once they are cool.

Fiona said she was in Tinderbox in Princes Square last week and they had friands for sale. She was most surprised as she thought they were an Ozzy thing only! Don't go rushing off there to buy one though...bake your own!

Love Hot, Sweet and Yummy xxx

Here's the science bit!

I love researching new recipes, supplies and techniques online and there are millions of fabulous baking and cooking sites out there to explore. I found this one and loved this article! It really made me understand what I was doing at every stage of the baking proecess and why I was doing it! If you have a spare ten minutes, grab a cuppa and have a read. It might surprise you...or you might just want to grab a cuppa, a yummy home made cake and a trashy mag instead! Its up to you!!!!!

Article taken from Cake Baker 

So you’ve done all the mixing and folding; you’ve pre-heated the oven and put your cake in its greased and lined tin. Now you're going to pop it in the oven and hope the magic works. Keeping your fingers crossed that what is going in as a flat wet shapeless layer will come out as a soft risen recognisable cake.

Magic!

But it’s not Magic. There are very good scientific reasons for this transformation and understanding them should make you less nervous about cake-making. And if you’re more confident about what you’re doing, your cakes will be better.

So here’s a simple introduction to the science of cake baking.

Let's Begin at The Beginning

The recipe says to beat together the fat and sugar. What are you actually doing when you do that?

You’re introducing air into the mix. Sugar crystals have jagged edges that help draw air in to create little bubbles, each with a film of fat. These bubbles cause the mixture to become paler in colour – imagine it as being like foam.

Now you’ve got air bubbles in the cake you need to make sure they stay there. The egg you add next will form a layer around the bubbles. When the cake is in the oven and the temperature rises, the air in the bubbles expands making the cake ‘rise’ and the egg layer coagulates or hardens, protecting the bubble, and stopping it collapsing.

On to the flour. The plain and self-raising flour that you’ll use for most cakes is soft flour. That means it has a low gluten content. Handling flour – by mixing or kneading - makes the gluten tougher. You don’t want tough gluten so this is why cake recipes will tell you to fold in the flour as gently as possible.

The gluten, when wet, becomes stretchy and creates an elastic network around the bubbles. When it gets to the right temperature it will lose its elasticity, the shape will be fixed, and your cake will stay nicely risen.

Your recipe may tell you to add baking powder or bicarbonate of soda. When this is moistened with the cake mixture, a chemical reaction occurs and carbon dioxide is released, meaning more bubbles in your mixture. However a cake mixture is only able to hold so much gas and if too much raising agent is used, the cake, after rising wonderfully initially, will collapse. So make sure you follow recipe quantities!

Don’t open the oven until at least ¾ of the stated cooking time has elapsed. Letting cold air in can result in a drop in temperature and in your cake!

So that’s the science; now let’s look at a few other things that will affect your final product.

The Ingredients:

Naturally the best cakes will result from the best fresh ingredients being used. Organic, free-range, unrefined are all good words to look for!

• Fat

If you’re using butter, which you might choose to do for its flavour, make sure it is at room temperature before you start; soft margarine is ideal for most cakes. If oil is used, choose a light vegetable one.

• Egg?

If not specified, use standard or large eggs. You might need to use extra egg if you use small, or if you only need a little more liquid, use extra milk.

• Sugar

Caster sugar is the basic cake sugar used for its fine texture. There are, of course, a variety of brown sugars available: your recipe will specify which to use for colour, taste and texture. Honey and syrup are also used. Once you’re confident you might like to experiment with different sugars and see what the result is.

Finishing Off

How do you tell if a cake is cooked?

Small cakes should be well-risen, nicely coloured and firm to the touch.

To test if a large cake is cooked, first press it gently with your finger-tip. It should feel spongy and should spring back when you’ve removed your finger. It should also be starting to come away from the edge of the tin.

You don’t want to do this with a sponge cake but with a more substantial cake you can insert a hot skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked; if it has some mixture sticking to it, leave it a bit longer.

An alternative way of seeing if a fruit cake is cooked is to listen to it (yes, really!) If it’s whistling, it’s not ready to come out. When you’re satisfied that the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin. This will give it a chance to shrink away from the sides and it will be easier to get out of its tin before leaving it to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

And that’s cake baking explained for you. It’s not rock-cake science, is it?!

Jam

I'd like to think that one day I will be a whizz in the kitchen and besides cooking up nice, tasty treats I'll also make my own jam. Our group has already used jam in many of our recipes so I thought I'd quickly let you know which jams will work well and add depth and flavour to your cakes. I love all things French so its no surprise that my top two are both from the home of fine food and I always have a jar of each in my fridge. Bonne Mamam conserves are fun, fruity, sweet and perfect to splodge on or in anything you fancy. The strawberry is my children's absolute favourite and I'm sure its not only to do with the taste but the packaging. Its very appealing and you'll recognise their jars instantly by their red and white checked cheesecloth lid and handwritten-look label. The jam itself has nice whole fruits in it and has an unusual consistency...not runny but more like liquid fruit! It comes in many flavours including apricot, cherry, blueberry and wile strawberry...yummmm! Try it on your scones, on toast, in croissants, with a slice of emmental in a warm baguette (cheese and jam really works!) or use it whenever a recipe calls for jam. Its a little more expensive than most jams but definitely worth the extra pence.

The second jam worth buying is St Dalfour Rhapsodie de Fruits. Its a rather more sophisticated affair but just as yummy. Its a 100% fruit spread and comes in tons of delicious varieties like black cherry, pear and peach. They have a good website and hope to put up some recipes soon. I know Nigella usually uses St Dalfour in her baking...the perfect endorsement. Their jars are tall and slim and usually on the top shelf like all good adult products! The spread is much less runny than Bonne Mamam so its good for using in between sponge layers. Anyway, the best thing to do is try them out and see which one you like best. We love them both and I'm certain you will too!
Love hot, sweet and yummy x

Yummy love cake!

Harry was the host at the second meeting of our Hot, Sweet and Yummy baking group. He had thoughtfully supplied some bubbly for the occasion and had even taken the time to put Delia on display. We all love Delia and agree that any recipe ever tried is always fool proof and turns out just as it should. The book looked well used and I'm sure the pages were sticky from Harry thumbing through it searching out recipes for his various parties! Here's a wee pic for fun....
So Harry wanted to impress us all with his baking skills and had chosen an old favourite from Delia's book. It might be an old favourite but Harry put his own contemporary twist on it and iced it beautifully. It actually looked better than a certain M&S cake I once bought at huge expense but that's another story! Anyway, we decided his cake had been uneaten long enough and watched impatiently as he sliced through the pink icing and into the moist sponge below. The cake was light and fluffy and the icing wasn't too sweet but just perfect. It looked good, it tasted good and it didn't last long! Here's some shots I took...the photos don't show the true skill employed in the decoration but you get the idea. Harry - your Hot, Sweet and Yummy Heart cake was fabulous. You and Delia are a winning team.
The recipe is below...

The cake recipe is Delia Smith’s classic “All-in-one” sponge recipe, taken from the classic book, “Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course”. I used 1.5 x quantities of the cake mixture in order to make a taller three-tier cake – but following the recipe as below will work perfectly well.

For the cake:
4 oz self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 oz soft margarine, at room temperature
4 oz caster sugar
2 large eggs
2-3 drops vanilla extract*
 *original recipe states “vanilla essence”, but I recommend that pure vanilla extract, which has become available in the last 10-15 years, is used instead for better flavour.
 

For the decoration:
1 x 500g pack of fondant icing
170g strawberry jam
Few drops pink food colouring
a little cornflour or icing sugar for rolling the icing

Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3 (170°C).

Two 7 inch (18 cm) sponge tins, no less than 1.5 inches (4 cm) deep, lightly greased and lined with greaseproof paper (also greased) or silicone paper.

Take a large roomy mixing bowl, and sift flour and baking powder into it, holding the sieve high to give the flour a good airing.  Then simply add all the other ingredients to the bowl and whisk them—preferably with an electric hand whisk—till thoroughly combined.  If the mixture doesn’t drop off a wooden spoon easily when tapped on the side of the bowl, then add 1 or 2 teaspoons of tap-warm water, and whisk again.

Now divide the mixture between the two prepared cake tins, level off and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for about 30 minutes. When cooked, leave them in the tins for only about 30 seconds, then loosen the edges by sliding a palette knife all round and turn them out onto a wire cooling rack.  Peel off the base papers carefully, and leave to cool.

When cool, sandwich the layers together with jam.  To make the heart shape, form the top of the heart by cutting away segments as shown on the first picture in the diagram.  Then form the bottom of the heart by moving these pieces to the bottom of the cake – but to the opposite side of the cake from whence they came – as shown in the second picture in the diagram. These pieces can be trimmed slightly if necessary to give you a perfect heart shape.  Use some more jam as “glue” to stick these pieces to the cake.

Then spread the cake all over with the remaining jam.  Roll out the fondant icing 2-3 mm thick, dusting the rolling pin and the work surface with either some cornflour or icing sugar to prevent the icing sticking. Transfer the icing to the cake, smooth over, and trim away the excess icing. Colour the excess icing with the pink food colouring, and roll out.  Cut out small heart shapes with a heart-shaped cutter and decorate the cake with these hearts, sticking them to the cake with a few drops of water.

Layered love

At the second meeting of Hot, Sweet and Yummy baking group, we feasted on many luscious, romantic treats and Jan's Layered Love Cakes were no exception. In true continental style, Jan wowed us with these gorgeous looking chocolate delights and had even decorated his plate beautifully too. The man's patisserie prowess is becoming legendary in these parts so we asked him how he was able to create such masterpieces. He modestly revealed that he once won a national Slovakian competition for best cake decorating so its no wonder. I just love that Slovakia has a national competition involving cakes...wonder who the lucky judges are?
Well in true mysterious Jan style I don't yet have his recipe...another state secret no doubt but as soon as I have it I will let you know. Here is a picture or two to let you see how delicious it looks in the meantime. Look at the cute little lovehearts adorning the plate, never mind the chocolate icing. Jan was eager to show me the inside of his little cakes so I made sure I took a shot of the layers of yumminess to show everyone too. I think we were all impressed when we realised that inside each heart were layers of moist sponge, fresh cream and jam so without a word we were soon munching away. I don't think I could do them justice by simply writing about them. I think you either need to come and join our baking group and hope that Jan makes them again or visit Slovakia and learn the sacred art of cakery for yourself. Well done Jan, we can't wait for the next meeting and your next yummy creation.
Love hot sweet and yummy xxx

P.S - here's that shot of the layers.....drool!
Added 8.3.10  -Jan has sent the recipe! 

Sponge:

4 eggs- separated

100g caster sugar

100g flour

Butter cream:

150g butter

50g icing sugar

Vanilla essence, jam and chocolate

Preheat oven to 200°C Gas

-      Put the yolks into the bowl with half the sugar and beat until it is thick. In the other bowl put the egg whites with the caster sugar and beat until it is thick and foamy. Pour the egg yolk mix into the egg white mix and mix slowly together with the flour.  Pour this onto a baking sheet and spread it out to about 1cm thickness 

-      Bake in the oven for only 5 minutes until the dough is golden. If it is overbaked it will really dry out. Allow to cool.

-      Meanwhile beat the butter with the icing sugar and the vanilla essence until it resembles a medium thick cream.

-      Take your heart shaped cutters and cut out 3 hearts. Spread one with jam, then some butter cream and then sandwich anther on top. Repeat this and then cover all the edges (sides, top and bottom) with buttercream. Keep cutting out sets of three hearts until all the sponge is gone. Repeat the jam and cream process each time. Put them all in the fridge.

-      Heat a pan of hot water on the hob. Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt over the boiling water until it is runny.

-      Take your heart sandwiches and balance one on a knife over the chocolate bowl. Scoop up some chocolate and smother the heart in it.  Put onto a wire rack to set.

-      Once set – decorate as desired.

Thanks Jan - I'm really going to try this!

Hot, sweet and yummy second meeting!

Valentine's weekend passed with the usual cards and kisses but for the members of Hot, sweet and yummy baking group we had bigger things on our minds like what to bake for the second meeting! The theme was Valentine's and whatever cakey thing we associated with that most romantic of days! The venue was at Harry's house and we all arrived clutching our various tins and tupperware dying to show off our latest culinary creation! Harry's heating was also on the blink so he had left his oven on low and convened the meeting in the kitchen! Harry has a fabulous kitchen and it was the perfect size for our group even although we were two down from last month. Harry opened proceedings and welcomed us all along. Apologies were received from Jane (she was off celebrating some fabulous job news!) and Heather was at home in Devon so we knew she wouldn't be there. There was however an exciting envelope waiting to be opened. It was addressed to 'The Baking Club' and when we opened it there was a lovely card wishing us good luck with our meeting and a fabulous Valentine's Day recipe for us to try! Thank you so much Heather; what a lovely idea. The recipe is for Lover's Carrot Cake and I will post it here soon but first...bring on the cakes!!!!!!!!

First up was David's strawberry shortcake with cream and malibu coulis! Wow - I probably don't need to even post a picture to have you dribbling at the thought of this creation, but I will. The shortcakes had real pieces of strawberry in them and the smell wafting up from the plate was too much for most. We all grabbed a loveheart and started dipping and slurping. We all agreed another triumph for David and as usual he modestly told us he had made the recipe up in his head. I loved the way the strawberry pieces had gone all chewy and the malibu tasted lovely in the coulis. Well done David! Here's the recipe...




Shortbread
4oz butter
2oz caster sugar
7oz plain flour
6 fresh strawberries


Preheat oven to 160C/325F or gas mark 3 * Cream sugar and butter 'til light and fluffy * chop strawberries to the size of raisins and mix into the butter mix * sift the flour into this and mix until combined * knead the dough and add a tiny bit more flour if the mixture is too sticky * roll onto a floured surface to appox 1/2" thickness * cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter and place on a greased baking tray * bake for 30-40 mins until golden * remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.


Coulis
Chop up 10 strawberries and place in a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon of sugar * bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins 'til strawberries are mushy * place in a sieve and allow the coulis to drip through * then press the remaining strawberry pieces through the sieve * add a dash of malibu


Cream
whip 100ml double cream with 2 tsp oft brown sugar until soft peaks form * add a few drops of strawberry essence * add one drop of red food colouring


Arrange your shortbread on a plate with the coulis and cream in a messy pile in the middle. Enjoy!

Mix it up!

I am a sucker for anything gorgeous and gadgety for the kitchen and love the range of products from Joseph Joseph. I spend many a wasted hour in the basement of John Lewis eyeing up their stuff and somehow trying to justify the not so cheap price tag! Well, I spotted these in Fraser's the other day and love love love! They are cute, colourful and look oh so handy!!!! Don't tempt me!

Love hot, sweet and yummy xxx
p.s if you find anything gorgeous and vaguely baking related please please let us know here xxx

\mother in law sends some sweetness!!!

My dear mother-in-law is a wonderful cook and a brilliant baker and always always prepares us delicious things when we visit! She has tons of cook books and collects recipes all the time! I have been looking for a really nice carrot cake recipe that is moist but not too sweet for ages! Christina has tried this one and assures me it is totally fool proof (good thing for me) and that it is 100% gorgeous! So here you are...let us know if you try it and how it turns out!

Christina's Recipe for Carrot Cake

8oz self raising flour       
1 and a half teaspoons baking powder               
1 and a quarter teaspoons cinnamon [sieve this and the baking powder together]
1/2 teaspoon salt           
3 eggs beaten                                         
6oz sugar
6oz vegetable oil            
7oz grated carrot                                    
7oz chopped walnuts

Beat eggs till thick,add sugar and oil. Fold in flour, carrots and nuts. Divide into 2 x 8inch tins, greased. Bake for 35mins 300F/150C/Gas2.

Topping
4oz cream cheese [must be full fat]                    
2oz melted butter                       
8oz icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence                               
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Beat together. Can be sandwiched together or iced separately to make 2 cakes with icing on top only. Decorated as you desire!!!

Happy eating!!


Love hot sweet and yummy xxx
p.s this is only a stock picture of another carrot cake!

all bran and cheatin' tarts!!!

So, if you haven't found a recipe that has inspired you yet on here...maybe one of these ones will! Next week is our second baking group night and we are having a Valentine inspired night. Everyone has to bake something with this most romantic celebrations in mind so I suspect there will be lashings of chocolate, some love hearts sprinkled about and maybe some strawberries thrown in somewhere along the way...anyway, we hope that the sheer variety of treats baked by our group will suit every taste!!! Until then, lets get these last delicious recipes on here! Heather is David's sister and she lives in Brighton. She was up visiting and thought she'd come along as an honorary member! Its a shame we might not see her for a while but she promised to keep in touch and send us regular updates about her cooking!!!! She was another one who pretended she just baked something easy but if you'd tasted this load you'd know she was used to baking up treats and was a rather accomplished kitchen dweller!!! Here is her recipe for 
Heather's all-bran loaf
Ingredients
2 cups All Bran cereal
2 cups soft brown sugar
2 cups dried fruit (raisins, sultanas..or any other combination of dried fruits)
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 pint milk

METHOD
Place All Bran, sugar, fruit and milk into a large mixing bowl and leave to stand for 1 hour.
Then, mix in the flour.
Grease and line a loaf tin and turn mixure into the tin. Do not fill mixture more than 3" as loaf will rise while cooking!
Bake in preheated oven at 180oC/350oF/Gas Mark 4 for 50-60minutes.
Cooking times will vary depending on appliance. Check to see if loaf is cooked by inserting knife into middle. If knife is dry, then it is ready.
Turn onto cooling rack and leave to cool. 
Isn't it amazing that such a healthy and sometime despised breakfast cereal can turn into such a yummy and moist cake! I think Jane spread butter on the slices we each devoured but I can't remember as they disappeared so quickly!!!
Last and by no means least were Richard's tarts! We were all eyeing them greedily and somewhat in awe of his little party cases. I would never attempt pastry but it seemed that Richard had pulled out all the stops and rustled up something way beyond the norm!!! Well it didn't take long until Richard came clean and admitted that the cases were in fact bought and I have to say I was relieved and delighted to find out that you could still create something completely amazing by being clever and not necessarily baking from scratch! I, for one am a huge fan of ready made pastry anyway but this was something I had never thought of. Richard renamed them his Cheatin' tarts which was very apt and we al enjoyed them even more knowing that Richard was indeed human and just like the rest of us! I wonder though, if we might have a pastry themed night soon and learn how to make out own pastry...apparently you need cold hands to work the dough so that's me out for one!!!! Anyway, here's how to make cherry chocolate perfection!
Richard's cheatin' tarts
Ingedients:
8 individual tart cases(shop bought if you want to cheat!)
200g Nutella
1 small jar of wild Italian cherries in light syrup (or similar compote or fresh banana)

4 teaspoons of icing sugar and a handful of crushed walnuts

Put the fruits in the bottom of the pastry cases along with a sprinkling of crushed walnuts. Mix the the nutella with the icing sugar to make a stiffer consistency otherwise it will be too runny when finished. Melt the nutella mixture for 10 seconds in microwave on high power until runny to aid pouring. Pour into the cases and smooth over the fruit with a knife. Lightly refridgerate until serving.
Voila - a quick and easy tart! 

I think you'll agree that the picture makes you just want to grab one and eat it in one mouthful! Oh and Richard got his wild cherries from Sarti's Italian Deli on Wellington Street in Glasgow.
I have to sign off now but I can't wait to BLog about our next group and tell you all about the yummy things we all created!!!
Love Hot, sweet and yummy xxx