When it doesn’t quite go to plan…

I know I haven’t updated in a while, crap excuses of being too busy, too ill, too everything but I’m here so I’ll be more positive!

Anyway, I have been baking my cotton socks off and had mostly positive outcomes, however, the Swiss Roll went..well a bit wrong.

At Waitrose, on the way out there is a small stand where you can browse a selection of recipe ideas and some are great and have become firm house favourites and others…well not for me! I’ve tried lots and lots of these cards and have a deck holder now and so far have only had two bad experiences. Though I tend to adapt the recipes more often than not to suit my tastes or to change an ingredient around so it will work better. (And usually does.)

Coconut cream and Double Raspberry Swiss roll have been failed experiments and costly. Coconut Cream is supposed to be a desicated type sweet which never set and then Stewart informed me he didn’t really like desicated coconut! Double raspberry Swiss roll failed horribly today in that it just wouldn’t set when baking so I binned it and started again but made changes. The original recipe is as follows:

3 eggs, beaten

100g gold granulated caster sugar

100g self raising flour

200g raspberries

The above is to make the roll part, the eggs were beaten for well over 10 minutes with the sugar to create this gorgeous whipped creamy mixture and the flour was sifted and folded into the mix with a metal spoon.The raspberries, I felt were too heavy for the mixture and sank and just wouldn’t blend together well. So the new version I omitted the raspberries and changed the sugar for just plain white caster sugar and so far I have a very springy roll waiting to be filled.

The filling is supposed to be just raspberry conserve but I’m going for a whipped cream and fresh raspberry approach instead! So once it is constructed I shall post pictures!

The other cake for lunch tomorrow is carrot cake. I’ve spent so long trying to find a quick and easy recipe and have found one that takes less than 20 minutes to prep and 35 minutes to bake. It’s a good old Waitrose favourite at home and though originally to make mini versions, you can make a good 8 or 9inch cake it just needs baking a bit longer.

Carrot cake with orange zest

2 large eggs

175g caster sugar

150ml sunflower oil (I changed this for groundnut oil, lovely taste)

200g self raising flour

3 tsp mixed spice (I use All spice when I run out and makes it a bit spicier)

2 medium carrots, grated

1 tsp vanilla extract

grated zest of 2 oranges

200g tub of cream cheese

50g icing sugar (sometimes I use golden to give it a nice warm colour)

200g butter at room temp

1. Preheat oven to 180c or gas 4. Line your chosen tin (8inch round or a good 2lb bread tin)

2. Put eggs, sugar and oil in a large bowl and whisk until fluffy and light (I normally do this for 5 minutes)

3. Using a metal spoon gently fold in the sifted flour, spices, grated carrot, vanilla extract and half the orange zest until thoroughly combined. Spoon mixture into tin and bake for 35 minutes or until cooked, well risen and browned.

4. Frosting: Beat the icing sugar, cream cheese and butter together until combined. spread over the cake and sprinkle the remaining zest over the top. Chill until ready to serve.

I used to use a Paul Rankin carrot cake recipe but it was so faffy and took an hour to prep that the above works a treat and is very moist without being heavy. I like the cake to have some crunch so I’ll throw in a handfull of chopped almonds sometimes and that gives it a lovely texture.

Also on my travels I have discovered mushroom ketchup and I love it. You add it to stocks, savory pies and puddings, gravy and things that need some flavouring without using salt. Today I made home made onion gravy using the mushroom ketchup and it is gorgeous. Very strong on its own (well I had to try it!) but a lovely alternative to an oxo cube if you need to make a quick stock up.

I have also added photos of the second attempt at New York Blueberry Cheesecake. It’s a recipe from Marks and Spencers cook book organiser. Very different to how I normally make it, where I tend to bake the whole lot in one go this new recipe involves baking it in sections.

New York Baked Cheesecake

85g butter

200g crushed digestive biscuits

400g cream cheese

2 large eggs

140g caster sugar

1 1/2tsp vanilla extract

450ml soured cream

1. Preheat oven to gas 5/grease an 8inch-20cm tin.

2. Melt butter and add crushed digestives then press into the tin base, chill for 10 minutes to set.

3. Whiz cream cheese/eggs/100g of the sugar and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract until combined. Pour into tin and bake for 30 minutes or until set. Take out, cool but leave oven on.

4. Meanwhile, whizz soured cream with remaining sugar and vanilla, spoon over set cheesecake and bake for a further 10 minutes. Cool and then chill overnight.

Compote:

55g caster sugar

4tbsp water

250g blueberries (or preferred berries)

1tsp cornflour or arrowroot.

1. Combine all ingredients into a pan and heat gently letting the compote thicken. Cool and then spoon over chilled cheesecake when ready to serve.

Right I’m done for today! Ciao!