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

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

good old fashioned pancakes and coconut loaf!

There are still many delicious recipes for us to post here so I better crack on. Its snowing quite heavily outside and it made me think of Jane's Mum's yummy coconut loaf and all the desiccated coconut that went into it to make it so! Jane was the hostess with the mostess for our inaugural get together so she decided to impress with two recipes! Jane says her Mum has a battered little book full of old fashioned baking recipes handed down through the females in her family and she trawled through it for inspiration. Jane makes really good comfort food anyway so it was no surprise that her coconut loaf was simple, tasty and just the way it should be! She also made some pancakes but I'll get to those in a minute. It was utterly unbelievable that we all had the propensity to consume any more cake but we were all up for it! Jane lovingly sliced her loaf and brought it through to more oohs and aahs! It was quite amusing really - the universal language of food! We scoffed half of that load in a blink of an eye! Jane told us the basic recipe and method and although there was quite a lot of sugar in the recipe it didn't taste too sweet at all. I'd also imagined that the desiccated coconut dries things out but it was moist and lovely and I wanted more! I also knew that the hungry masses back at home would go crazeeee for some of this - as well as everything else!  So, here's a little pic to tantalise your taste buds and the recipe will follow!


Jane's Mum's coconut loaf

• 1 cup of self raising flour
• 1 cup of des coconut
• 1 cup castor sugar
• 1 egg made up to same cup with milk, slightly beaten

Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Add egg and milk mixture and beat in well.  Pour into well greased and lined 2lb loaf tin for approx 45 min.  Oven temp 150 - 160 deg cent.  Think I had my fan assisted oven at 150.  You can use a skewer to test if ready - prod in middle - if comes out clean then it's ready, if comes out sticky bake a little longer.

Next came Jane's Gran's pancakes. I defy anyone not to be tempted by a little round patty of batter smothered in butter! Its the most simple of recipes but probably the one that everyone, without exception loves! I doubt, however that we make them as often as we should. I'm just thinking what a great after school snack this would be...especially on a cold day like today. So, this recipe was handed down from Gran to Jane's Mum to Jane and now to all of us! All the other cakes looked so naughty that we only had small bites but nobody asked for just half a pancake! They just looked to innocently delicious lying on the plate that we just shrugged our shoulders and dug in! The only thing missing for me was a cuppa! Pancakes need a cup of tea! Anyway, they were really nice and I'm sure even nicer hot and straight from the oven! The picture here shows how lovely and golden they were. I'm sure there are other titles for them such as Scotch pancakes or drop scones but these will always just be Jane's Gran's pancakes!!! Here's the recipe...


Jane's Gran's pancakes

• 6oz self raising flour
• 2oz caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt

Sift flour, sugar and salt together.  Beat egg lightly with milk.  Gradually add to the flour mixture and beat well.  Bake on a hot girdle or frying pan.

Tip - dollop a spoonful of pancake mix into the pan, look out for bubbles forming on top - then it should be ready to flip over.  Keep made panckes warm by wrapping up in a tea towel then smother in butter and golden syrup.

I will check with Jane what size of cup she uses here. With the loaf recipe it doesn't matter as long as you use the same cup for all the ingredients but I wonder if this is a teacup or maybe a proper cup measure. Jane has a few nifty little measuring gadgets! 

I know that I am going to make pancakes this avo...if they are half as good as these I'll be delighted! 

Love hot, sweet and yummy xxx