baking joy
there are a handful of recipes that i have been promising to write down for various people so i guess i should really stop being lazy and actually post them...
besides, i was woken at about 10 this morning by a text from moonlettuce asking about one of the recipes and at this moment she should be out buying ingredients with the expectation that when she gets back there will be a recipe for her to follow :D (that, or she is still in bed reading porn on the iPad which is where i left her...)
the first one is for chocolate and cherry brandy cupcakes and is from a wonderful cake book called red velvet & chocolate heartache by harry eastwood and is full of awsome cakes, all with one vegetable or another in them.
i posted another recipe from the same book a while back chocolate full stops. well, the chocolate and cherry brandy cupcakes are *even better*, if not particularly elegant to eat. they are so gooey that you kinda have to eat them all in one or be really careful about how you bite into them. either way to end up licking stickiness off you fingers :)
ingredients
2 medium eggs
180g demerara suger
200g butternut squash, peeled and grated
100ml cherry brandy
50g white rice flour (if your supermarked doesn't have it, try an indian or chinese grocers)
100g ground almonds
50g cocoa powder (NOT drinking chocolate powder)
2tsp backing powder
1.4tsp salt
12tsp chrry jam (sour cherry jam if you can find it)
& for the icing
150g icing sugar
2tbsp cherry brandy
1tbsp boiling water
30g cocoa powder
small pich salt
12 whole or half cherries, i use glacé but what ever works :)
instructions
- preheat the oven to 180degC/350degF/gas mark4
- line a 12 cup muffin tray with standard fairy cake paper cases (if you have a 12 hole deep muffin tray this works best but if you only have a shallow yorksire pudding/mince pie type tray it'll do at a pinch. just putting the paper cases on a flat tray will not work too well, the mixture is so wet that it will try and spread sideways a lot before it sets and the paper cases aren't string enough on their own to hold the shape)
- whisk the egg and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and doubled or quadrupled in volume (the recipe says quadrupled, i've never got that much volume but it still works fine). *please* use an electric whisk if you have one or your arm will want to drop off :)
- add the brandy and the squash and whisk in to the egg/sugar. BTW: i usually end up covering the bowl in a tea towel and sticking the whisk in under the edge to stop the very wet batter splashing everywhere :)
- mix in the flour, ground almonds, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until well combined.
- spoon 1 heaped tbsp of the mix in each case. add a tsp on cherry jam on top. fill up the cases with the remaining batter, it should come nearly to the top of the case.
if you have left over batter, fill some extra cases or put small amounts of batter in little petit four cases, they make for lovely little bite size bits of goo.
- bake for 30 mins in the centre of the oven until risen and bouncy to the touch. take out & leave to cook for 10 mins in the tray before trying to move them.
- while the cakes are cooling, combine the icing ingredients into a smooth paste.
place a good tsp+ of icing on each cake. the back of a teaspoon dipped in hot/boiling water is good for spreading the icing and leaving a lovely sheen. add a cherry on top and feed to unsuspecting people who don't like vegetables.
second up mexican corn muffins
this is a recipe from paraboobizarre via beren-writes for lovely cheesy spicy muffins that are amazing hot from the oven and keep really well in the fridge for a few days.
american measures i'm afraid but a bit of googling will give you translations and muffin recipes are robust enough that a bit of variance won't matter
1 cup corn flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 table spoon baking powder
1 tea spoon salt
1/2 tea spoon baking soda
1/2 tea spoon sugar
1 onion
Chili - depending on how spicy you want the muffins to be
1/2 green paprika (never found fresh paprika yet, i just use whatever green hot pepper i can find)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 vegetable oil (I usually use about only 1/4 or else it gets too oily for my taste)
200 gr grated cheese
1 small can of sweet corn
In one bowl mix together the corn flour, normal flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
Cut the onion, paprika and the chili, throw everything together with the sweetcorn in another bowl, add the eggs, buttermilk and oil.
Pour the veggie, buttermilk mix into the bowl with the dry ingredient and stir till it's all nice and mushy, then stir in the cheese.
Fill the dough into your muffin pan and bake for about 25 mins at 210°C
BTW: this batter (and most muffin batters survive quite well being kept between mixing and baking. i have kept a box of this mix in the fridge for a few days before, just baking enough muffins when wanted which is really nice.
last one... tomato soup cake (yes really)
this one came from a poster on the earth box forums. i really liked this one but some victims testers though it was a bit heavy on the clove so be careful.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg, cloves, salt, cinnamon
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup Tomato Soup (i used heinz cream of tomato)
1 cup dates, cut up
1 cup chopped nuts (i used walnuts, almonds and pistashios, 'cause that's what i had in the fridge)
Melt butter. Add sugar and cream well. Add spices and salt. Sift flour and baking powder together. Dissolve baking soda in soup and add alternately with flour to sugar mixture. Beat well. Add dates and nuts, slightly floured. Bake in two 9-inch buttered layer cake pans in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until cakes test done. Cool on cake rack when turned out of pans. Spread with icing.
Icing for Tomato Soup Cake
1-3 ounce package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla or lemon juice
Mix thoroughly and spread on cake.
now the baking bug is back in full flow. i have beren's pear and silton bread rising in the kitchen and am contemplating banana bread too...
besides, i was woken at about 10 this morning by a text from moonlettuce asking about one of the recipes and at this moment she should be out buying ingredients with the expectation that when she gets back there will be a recipe for her to follow :D (that, or she is still in bed reading porn on the iPad which is where i left her...)
the first one is for chocolate and cherry brandy cupcakes and is from a wonderful cake book called red velvet & chocolate heartache by harry eastwood and is full of awsome cakes, all with one vegetable or another in them.
i posted another recipe from the same book a while back chocolate full stops. well, the chocolate and cherry brandy cupcakes are *even better*, if not particularly elegant to eat. they are so gooey that you kinda have to eat them all in one or be really careful about how you bite into them. either way to end up licking stickiness off you fingers :)
ingredients
2 medium eggs
180g demerara suger
200g butternut squash, peeled and grated
100ml cherry brandy
50g white rice flour (if your supermarked doesn't have it, try an indian or chinese grocers)
100g ground almonds
50g cocoa powder (NOT drinking chocolate powder)
2tsp backing powder
1.4tsp salt
12tsp chrry jam (sour cherry jam if you can find it)
& for the icing
150g icing sugar
2tbsp cherry brandy
1tbsp boiling water
30g cocoa powder
small pich salt
12 whole or half cherries, i use glacé but what ever works :)
instructions
- preheat the oven to 180degC/350degF/gas mark4
- line a 12 cup muffin tray with standard fairy cake paper cases (if you have a 12 hole deep muffin tray this works best but if you only have a shallow yorksire pudding/mince pie type tray it'll do at a pinch. just putting the paper cases on a flat tray will not work too well, the mixture is so wet that it will try and spread sideways a lot before it sets and the paper cases aren't string enough on their own to hold the shape)
- whisk the egg and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and doubled or quadrupled in volume (the recipe says quadrupled, i've never got that much volume but it still works fine). *please* use an electric whisk if you have one or your arm will want to drop off :)
- add the brandy and the squash and whisk in to the egg/sugar. BTW: i usually end up covering the bowl in a tea towel and sticking the whisk in under the edge to stop the very wet batter splashing everywhere :)
- mix in the flour, ground almonds, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until well combined.
- spoon 1 heaped tbsp of the mix in each case. add a tsp on cherry jam on top. fill up the cases with the remaining batter, it should come nearly to the top of the case.
if you have left over batter, fill some extra cases or put small amounts of batter in little petit four cases, they make for lovely little bite size bits of goo.
- bake for 30 mins in the centre of the oven until risen and bouncy to the touch. take out & leave to cook for 10 mins in the tray before trying to move them.
- while the cakes are cooling, combine the icing ingredients into a smooth paste.
place a good tsp+ of icing on each cake. the back of a teaspoon dipped in hot/boiling water is good for spreading the icing and leaving a lovely sheen. add a cherry on top and feed to unsuspecting people who don't like vegetables.
second up mexican corn muffins
this is a recipe from paraboobizarre via beren-writes for lovely cheesy spicy muffins that are amazing hot from the oven and keep really well in the fridge for a few days.
american measures i'm afraid but a bit of googling will give you translations and muffin recipes are robust enough that a bit of variance won't matter
1 cup corn flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 table spoon baking powder
1 tea spoon salt
1/2 tea spoon baking soda
1/2 tea spoon sugar
1 onion
Chili - depending on how spicy you want the muffins to be
1/2 green paprika (never found fresh paprika yet, i just use whatever green hot pepper i can find)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 vegetable oil (I usually use about only 1/4 or else it gets too oily for my taste)
200 gr grated cheese
1 small can of sweet corn
In one bowl mix together the corn flour, normal flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
Cut the onion, paprika and the chili, throw everything together with the sweetcorn in another bowl, add the eggs, buttermilk and oil.
Pour the veggie, buttermilk mix into the bowl with the dry ingredient and stir till it's all nice and mushy, then stir in the cheese.
Fill the dough into your muffin pan and bake for about 25 mins at 210°C
BTW: this batter (and most muffin batters survive quite well being kept between mixing and baking. i have kept a box of this mix in the fridge for a few days before, just baking enough muffins when wanted which is really nice.
last one... tomato soup cake (yes really)
this one came from a poster on the earth box forums. i really liked this one but some victims testers though it was a bit heavy on the clove so be careful.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg, cloves, salt, cinnamon
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup Tomato Soup (i used heinz cream of tomato)
1 cup dates, cut up
1 cup chopped nuts (i used walnuts, almonds and pistashios, 'cause that's what i had in the fridge)
Melt butter. Add sugar and cream well. Add spices and salt. Sift flour and baking powder together. Dissolve baking soda in soup and add alternately with flour to sugar mixture. Beat well. Add dates and nuts, slightly floured. Bake in two 9-inch buttered layer cake pans in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until cakes test done. Cool on cake rack when turned out of pans. Spread with icing.
Icing for Tomato Soup Cake
1-3 ounce package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla or lemon juice
Mix thoroughly and spread on cake.
now the baking bug is back in full flow. i have beren's pear and silton bread rising in the kitchen and am contemplating banana bread too...