The Cake Slice Bakers - Challenge 2 - November 2010 - Cinnamon Pudding Cake.

This month we made the cinnamon pudding cake from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman.

My first attempt came out very dry and not nice at all.  I then tried again and reduced the cooking time and it was a big improvement.  However, it wasn't a cake I would particularly cook again.  Although I liked the idea of the cinnamon cake with the lovely topping of gooey caramel, I have had far nicer ones than this.  It is simple and quick to make but I think any little extra effort to make a more traditional sticky toffee pudding is worth it.  Some of the cake slice bakers rave about it so if you fancy the idea, maybe you should try it and see if it is for you - have a look at The Cake Slice Blogroll to see some adjustments that others made to improve it.  In fact, one of our members, Felice emailed Lauren Chattman about it and got a very friendly reply.  She suggested that you could increase the topping ingredients by 50% to make more caramel or add an egg to the cake mix to make a richer cake.

  

I have just looked through my photos and found that they are blurred and horrible.  I wonder if my feelings about the cake affected the effort put into the photography?

Recipe - 

Serves 9.

Ingredients - 

For the caramel topping - 

1 cup plus 2 tbsp light brown sugar

3/4 cup water

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

For the cake - 

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method - 

Make the topping - 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/GM 4.

2. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. (Not a loose bottomed one like I did the first time!  Of course, several minutes into cooking I hear the caramel start to pour out onto the oven floor - doh!)

3. Combine the brown sugar, water, butter and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally.  Set aside to cool.

Make the cake - 

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

2. Combine the butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 mins.

3. With the mixer on medium-low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the bowl.  Add 1/2 of the milk and vanilla.  Add another 1/3 of the flour.  Add the remaining milk and the remaining flour.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 30s.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.  Pour the topping over the batter. 

5.Carefully transfer to the oven and bake until set, 45 - 50 mins.  Now, my second attempt I only cooked for 35 minutes and it was much less dry.  The other cake slice bakers seem to have found that this is a better time for cooking, too.

6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, invert it onto a large rimmed serving platter, and serve warm.

7. Let leftover squares cool completely and store in a cake keeper or airtight container at room temperature for up to one day or in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Mini Prawn Poppadoms.

Well, I'm certainly getting my money's worth from this month's Delicious.

This is a recipe for really easy canapes.  I fancied trying them so I just served them to the family for tea.  I made up for the small tea by giving them sticky toffee pudding for pudding (it wasn't homemade - I'm only a learner domestic goddess).

These were really quick and easy to make and really very tasty.  Also looked pretty cute.  I will keep them in mind for any parties.  We don't have any parties planned this year as our house is up for sale.  Can't wait to get moved so we don't feel like we're in limbo anymore but nowhere seems to be selling around here just now.

Recipe - 

Makes about 20.

Ingredients - 

1 tbsp sunflower oil

200g raw peeled king prawns

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

3 spring onions, finely sliced

20 mini poppadoms

1 little gem lettuce, shredded

handful of fresh coriander, leaves picked

lime wedges to squeeze over

Method - 

1. Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat.

2.  Add the prawns and stir-fry for a couple of minutes, then add the sweet chilli sauce and spring onions.

3. Cook for 1 minute more until sticky and glazed, then remove.

4. Arrange the poppadoms on a serving plate, sprinkle a little shredded lettuce onto each, then spoon on the prawns and spring onion.

5.  Drizzle with a little more sweet chilli, if you like, and top each with a coriander leaf.

6.  Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over.

Pork Chops With Spiced Baked Beans.

Another quick and easy recipe from this month's Delicious magazine.

We all enjoyed this one and would definitely make it again.

Recipe - 

Serves 4.

Ingredients - 

1 tbsp olive oil

4 pork chops

90g black pudding, crumbled

4 shallots, finely sliced

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp cayenne pepper

150ml white wine

400g tinned cherry tomatoes

400g tinned haricot beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

small bunch flatleaf parsley, leaves roughly chopped.

Method - 
1.  Heat the oil in a shallow flameproof casserole over a medium heat, season the chops and brown for two minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.
2. Add the black pudding and fry for two minutes or until crisp.  Set aside and keep warm.
3. Lower the heat, add the shallots and soften for 10 minutes, stirring through the garlic and cayenne pepper for the final two minutes.
4. Pour over the wine and bubble until reduced by half.  Stir through the tomatoes, beans and worcestershire sauce.  Season.
5. Return the chops to the casserole and simmer for a couple of minutes or until the pork is cooked.
6. Divide the bean mixture among 4 plates with a chop on top.  Scatter over the black pudding and parsley to serve.

Yorkshire Pudding With Syrup And Cream.

Well, I was reading Comfort Bites and Jo had made home-made Yorkshire puddings.  I immediately started to crave them but then I got chatting and it reminded me of Nigella's idea in How To Eat for eating them as a pudding with cream and syrup.  I had been meaning to try them this way for so long and don't know why I have never got round to doing it.  I realised that I had nothing much planned for tea tonight except some soup and there was no reason why I couldn't finally get on and try this out.  So I did.

Recipe - 

It's just a normal Yorkshire pudding recipe and then just some cream and syrup poured over afterwards so nothing fancy.  I'll tell you Nigella's recipe, though - she says it is a recipe from Jane Grigson.

She says this serves 8 and if you had had a substantial meal, it would easily do that as it is very filling.  We, however, only had soup for our tea so we polished off half of this between the two of us.

Ingredients - 

300mls milk

4 eggs (luckily I had proper fresh eggs in the house given to me by a friend with hens)

250g plain sifted flour

Method - 

Mix all the ingredients except the flour beating well together (electric mixer, rotary or balloon whisk - whatever).  Let stand for 15 minutes then whisk in the flour.  Meanwhile put the dish (she uses an enamel dish about 30cm by 19cm and 7cm deep, I use my large Le Creuset casserole) with 1 tbsp or so of oil in a very high oven.  Pour the batter into the intensely hot pan, cook for 20 minutes.  Serve with a jug of golden syrup and a jug of double cream.

Well, it was lovely.  Gooey, sweet, warm and extremely indulgent.  And so easy and quick to make!  I think it might be a bit dangerous now that I know I can whip that up anytime and I will certainly usually have all the ingredients in the house.  I think if I put on 20 stone this winter, I'll blame Comfort Bites for putting the idea in my head!

Roasted Squash, Chickpea and Chorizo Soup.

One more recipe from the pumpkin and squash book before it goes back to the library.  Had to go with this soup as I cannot resist chorizo.  Lovely soup - very filling and tasty.  Kids loved it and I am happy when they eat up all their lunch especially if it is packed full of veg like this soup is and plenty of protein too.

Recipe - 

Serves 4-5.

Ingredients - 

450g squash, peeled, deseeded and diced (I used one butternut squash)

5 tbsp olive oil

1-2 pinches dried chilli flakes

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery sticks, sliced

180g chorizo (cooking), peeled and diced

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, stalks and leaves separated, both chopped

1 tsp each crushed cumin and coriander seeds

2tbsp chopped oregano or 1.5tsp dried

1 x 200g tin chopped tomatoes

1 x 400g tin chickpeas

1.2L vegetable stock

freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste

salt and pepper

Method - 

1. Preheat the oven to 190C, 375F, gas mark 5.

2. Put the squash on a baking tray and toss with 2tbsp of oil.  Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the chilli flakes.

3. Roast in the preheated oven, stirring once or twice, until tender and browned, about 35-40 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan and add the onion with a pinch of salt.  Turn the heat to low, cover and cook gently, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes until tender.

5. Add the carrots, celery and chorizo and cook, uncovered, for a further 5-7 minutes until beginning to brown.

6. Add the fresh chilli, garlic, chopped parsley stalks and crushed spices.  Stir-fry for another 4-5 minutes.  

7. Add the oregano, tomatoes, chickpeas and stock and bring to the boil.

8. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

9. Stir in the roasted squash.

10. Liquidise about half the soup to give a coarse puree then return it to the saucepan and reheat.

11. Check the seasoning, adding more salt and/or lemon juice to taste.

12.  Finally, stir in the chopped parsley leaves and serve piping hot.

Thai-style Root Vegetable Casserole.

This recipe is in this month's Sainsbury's Magazine (Nov 2010).

  This is a really tasty dish, warming, comforting and very healthy.  Pretty cheap to put together too.  The only problem is that it takes ages to peel and prepare so much root veg.  I think her quantities are slightly strange also.  She says it feeds 6 and she lists a whole swede in the ingredients and three sweet potatoes.  I used two sweet potatoes and half a swede and still there was a little too much of each of those.  Don't know where she's getting miniature swedes from.  She also gives good directions for making this dish so far and then freezing so I would recommend doing that although we didn't bother and are just having it two nights running.  The first night we had it with white rice.  I would usually have wholemeal as it is tastier but w had some left over basmati from the kedgeree we had a wee while ago.  Tonight we are having it with freshly baked crusty rolls.

Recipe - 

Serves 6. 

Ingredients - 

3 sweet potatoes, peeled 

1 swede, peeled

4 carrots

3 parsnips, peeled and any woody cores removed

2 turnips, peeled

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped (oh and I added a little celery as you can see in the picture as I had some to use up)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

50g root ginger, peeled and finely chopped (I omit ginger from all recipes - it's the only thing I don't like)

1 red chilli, finely chopped

6 sticks of lemongrass, trimmed and tough outer leaves removed, the rest finely chopped (I didn't have any so didn't bother with this)

200ml hot vegetable stock

6 tbsp soy sauce

1 X 400ml tin coconut milk

2 handfuls chopped coriander

Method - 

1. Preheat the oven to 190C, fan 170C, gas mark 5 (UK).

2. Cut the sweet potato, swede, carrots, parsnips and turnips into large chunks.

3. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and cook the sweet potato until lightly browned.  Transfer to a large flameproof casserole dish and set aside.

4. Add a dash more oil to the pan, if needed, and brown the swede, carrots, parsnips and turnips in batches, removing them to join the sweet potato as they are done.

5. Add a little more oil to the pan and reduce the heat to low-medium.  Fry the onions, ginger, garlic, chilli and lemongrass for 10 mins until the onion has softened.  Transfer to the casserole and pour over the hot stock and soy sauce. You may need to add a little more water - the liquid should half cover the vegetables.

6.  Bring everything to simmering point on the hob, then stir and cover with the lid.

7. Cook in the preheated oven.  If you want to freeze, cook for 15 minutes, cool completely, transfer to a plastic container, cover then freeze.  To reheat, stir in the coconut milk and cook in the oven at 180C, fan 160C, gas mark 4 for 45 minutes.  Adjust the seasoning and stir in the coriander.

8.  Or do as I did and just leave in the oven for about half an hour then add the coconut milk, cook for another twenty minutes then stir in the coriander before serving.

Stovies.

So stovies are a very traditional Scottish dish.  This is proper warming fuel food for sustaining farmers on a cold day.  So let that be a warning that it is very calorific.  Stovies varies around the place but this is how we make it around Aberdeenshire.  The photo of my finished version is pretty unappealing.  I used gravy granules and too much gravy at that so it doesn't look as good as it usually would.  It still, however, tasted very fine!  This dish is something we will quite often make to use up left over roast beef from a Sunday dinner.  As you can see, I am not in my own house.  My Mum has taken my Dad to Geneva for his birthday so we are house- and dog- sitting for a few days.  And before they left Mum made a birthday dinner of roast beef so we have all the lovely leftovers to ourselves.

Stovies is served around these parts with oatcakes and pickled beetroot.

A friend of mine was buying me lunch one day in a cafe and I told her I would like some stovies with beetroot.  She thought the beetroot was just something weird I did and was a bit taken aback when the waitress offered her beetroot with her stovies as if reading her mind.  

Anyway, here's how to make it (I don't think there is an actual recipe for the stuff as everyone makes it differently and just bungs together what they have so no quantities or timings given) - 

So you need some tatties, an onion or two, your leftover roast beef, some beef dripping and your leftover gravy (we had no leftover gravy so I used gravy granules and made up some quick gravy, but obviously it's better with homemade gravy or beef stock).  You can obviously use any fat you prefer but beef dripping gives the best flavour by far.

Melt the dripping in a large pan, Peel and cut your tatties into slices of about £1 coin thickness, chop the onions.  Throw into the pan and leave covered on a low heat, stirring every now and then until the tatties become translucent and soft.

Chop your beef into bite sized pieces.  I like my stovies chunkier than this usually but I cut everything up smaller for the kids if I'm feeding them too.  As you can see, my parents like their meat well cooked!

Serve hot with the beetroot and oatcakes and a steaming cup of tea.  Mmmmmm.

Even Little Rufie Helped Me.

We made an Apple Tea Cake from Little Kitchen yesterday and both boys helped me out with it.  We had the cake warm with vanilla ice-cream for pudding.  The cake underneath was a light buttery sponge, then there was a layer of meltingly soft apples, and this was topped with a crisp, cinnamon and sugar layer.  

Rufie putting in the baking powder. 

Joint effort to rub the butter into the flour.

Rufie whisking the eggs and milk while Lolly (Adam's blue and white dog) supervises.

Serious work.

Very comforting.

I think it was lighter than the Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze we made a couple of weeks ago although for a treat I would prefer the one with the glaze.

Recipe for Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze.

Anyway, we had my Dad here today helping us out with some DIY so we made another of the cake with brown sugar glaze for him as he particularly liked it.

This time I made a much runnier glaze and didn't cook it for so long so it all soaked into the cake rather than sitting on top.  Dad said he preferred it this way.  I'm not so sure.  It made the cake really squidgy and fudgy.  It was very decadent but quite filling.  I wish I could make them both at the same time so I could compare directly.  I guess it's nice to have different ways of doing it so I can choose depending on my mood at the time of cooking!

Okay, so enough with all the apple cake!  That's the Pitmedden apples all finished now so we'll maybe try something different at the weekend.

For lunch today, we tried the Carrot and Courgette Slice from the Little Kitchen book too.  It was tasty but unfortunately I hadn't cooked it long enough and it was still a bit squidgy in the middle.  I'll try again, though as it was very tatsy and obviously full of good stuff.  Next time I'll fill the loaf tin less.  Here's how it looked from the outside but I didn't photograph the inside as it all just fell apart.  Watch this space for perfect looking slices next time (hopefully).

  

Jam Roly-poly.

I love all the old-fashioned suet puddings so I got my son to help me make a jam rolypoly for the nostalgia of it.  Perfect timing too as it has recently turned very autumnal here and a bit chilly.  

Recipe from BBC GoodFood Oct 2010.

Serves 6

Prep 15 mins.

Cook 1 hr.

50g salted butter, cold and cut into chunks

250g SR flour

1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out

50g shredded suet

150ml milk

100g raspberry jam

1. Put a deep roasting tin onto bottom shelf of oven with another shelf directly above it.  Fill two thirds with boiling water.  Heat oven to 180C/gas 4.

2. Tear off a large sheet of foil and greaseproof paper (about 30X40cm).  Sit the greaseproof on top of the foil and butter it.

3. Tip flour, butter and vanilla into a food processor and pulse until butter has disappeared. (We don't have a processor so we just rubbed the butter into the flour.)  

4. Tip into a mixing bowl and stir through the suet.  Pour in the milk and work together with a cutlery knife to get a sticky dough.

5.  Tip out onto a floured surface.  Pat together to smooth then roll out to a square roughly 25X25cm.

6.  Spread the jam all over leaving a gap along one edge.  Roll up from the opposite edge.  Pinch the jam free edge into the dough where it meets and pinch the ends too.

7.  Carefully lift onto the greased paper, join-side down.  Loosely bring up the paper and foil around it and scrunch together along the edges and the ends.

8. Lift directly onto the rack above the tin and cook for one hour.