Toffee Apple & Carrot Upside-down Cake - Suma Blogger's Network

We've had a good crop of discovery apples this year, so I've been trying to come up with different ways of using up the windfalls. This fruity upside-down cake, which was inspired by this week's episode of The Great British Bake Off, makes a lovely autumnal recipe for the Suma Blogger's Network and must almost count as a 5-a-day!

Serves 6-8

• 2-3 dessert apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
• 100g/4oz toffee sauce - I used Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding Sauce from Suma
• 100g/4oz butter
• 100g/4oz soft brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 150g/6oz SR flour
• 1 medium-large carrot, grated
• 50g/2oz raisins or sultanas
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/170C Fan/350F/Gas 4.

Grease and line and 8" baking tin.

Spread the toffee sauce over the base of the tin and then cover with a single layer of sliced apples.

Cream the butter and sugar together, then mix in the rest of the ingredients to make a thick mixture.

Carefully top the apples with the cake mixture, being sure to spread the mixture over evenly to cover all the apples.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, before turning out, to allow the sauce to soak into the cake.

Serve warm with custard, cream or ice cream.

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Ricotta and Amaretti Cake - Suma Bloggers Network

Christmas is just around the corner, so I wanted to create a new, festive recipe for the Suma Bloggers Network.  I decided on a dessert dish, which had to and taste special enough for the festive celebrations, without being too rich or heavy. As I had some amaretti biscuits from Suma, I wanted to use them in something other than a tiramisu and felt that they would add both texture and flavour to a cake.

My Italian-inspired Ricotta and Amaretti Cake is a cross between a cheese cake and a sponge pudding and has quite a  dense texture. It provides a seasonal alternative to the traditional Christmas pudding, which my daughters are not keen on it.

Serves 10

• 50g/2oz softened butter
• 1x250g/10oz tub ricotta
• 150g/6oz soft brown sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 150g/6oz self-raising flour
• 100g/4oz ground almonds
• 200g/8oz amaretti biscuits, roughly broken (from Suma)
• 100g/4oz good quality chocolate (I used Montezumas Dark Chocolate, Bean Machine, from Suma), chopped into chunks
• 2 tbsp very strong, cold coffee (2 tsp coffee granules to 2 tbsp. boiling water)

Preheat the oven to 150C/140C Fan/Gas 2/300F.
Grease and line a loose-bottomed 20cm round cake tin.

Put the butter, ricotta, sugar and eggs into a large bowl. Whisk for 5 minutes until thick, smooth and creamy. Then gently stir the coffee, flour and ground almonds.

Fold in most of the chocolate and biscuit pieces, but retain and handful of each.
Pour the cake mixture into the lined tin. Scatter with the remaining biscuits and chocolate and press lightly into the cake mixture.

Bake for around 45 minutes or until golden brown, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before turning out.
Dust with cocoa powder or icing sugar before serving.

Serve warm with cream, ice cream or custard.

Top tips: Swap the coffee for 2 tbsp of  Tia Maria or Amaretto liqueur. For a more traditional Christmas flavour, omit the chocolate and add the equivalent weight of dried fruit, pre-soaked in the liqueur.
Gluten free option: Check that your amaretti biscuits are GF. Swap the flour for GF flour and add some GF baking powder if needed.

Integrity Statement As a member of the Suma Blogger's Network, I will receive a selection of complimentary products from Suma every two months, to use in recipe development, and will blog an original recipe for the Network.   

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Super-Quick Microwave Chocolate Traybake

My microwave mug cake recipe has always been popular with my kids. Now they're teenagers, they can whip up a pudding themselves in record time and have adapted it to their own particular tastes. As they often want to entertain friends and there's a boyfriend on the scene, I thought I'd better come up with a recipe which can me made just as quickly, but can feed several hungry teenagers!

Serves 4+

• 50g/2oz peanut butter (or other nut butter)
• 50g/2oz butter or dairy-free spread
• 1 egg or equivalent vegan egg replacer
• 2 tbsp date, agave or golden syrup
• 25g/1oz unsweetened cocoa powder
• 75g/3oz SR flour
• 50g/2oz soft, brown sugar or coconut sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Toppings: your choice of chopped (dairy-free) chocolate, vegetarian sweets, dried fruit/chopped nuts, chocolate-hazelnut spread, jam, nut butter or a combination of any of these.

Put the butter and nut butter into a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high for 20-30 seconds to melt.
Stir well and mix in the sugar, syrup and vanilla.
Beat in the egg or egg equivalent and finally stir in the flour and cocoa powder.

Grease and line the base of a microwave-safe dish (around 15cm round or square).
Spoon in the mixture and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon.
Spoon or sprinkle your topping/s over the surface of the mixture.

Cook for 3-4 minutes on high in the microwave, or until the edges are cooked and firm and the middle still looks just slightly undercooked. Check after 2½-3 minutes, to ensure it doesn't over cook.

Leave in the dish and allow to cool for 10-15 mins.
Cut into 4-9 pieces.
Remove from the dish and serve warm or cold with custard or ice cream, if so desired.

Suitable for freezing.

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Cinnamon Sugar Mini Muffin Doughnuts

When I saw Michelle from Utterly Scrummy's recipe for these delicious-looking, mini muffin-doughnuts (which are obviously not Duffins!), I just had to make them. They're really simple to make, and taste even better then they look! They have the taste and texture of those mini supermarket doughnuts.

I made a few minor changes to the recipe as follows...

• I halved the recipe (to make 24) and replaced the cinnamon in the cake mixture with vanilla extract. 
• To coat the muffins, I mixed 2 tsp of cinnamon with 6 tbsp sugar. 
• I melted around 4 tbsp butter and after dipping a couple and seeing how much butter each muffin absorbed, I decided to just dip the 'muffin tops' into the butter, but still roll the whole cakes in the cinnamon sugar.

I froze half of the batch and took a few out to defrost as and when anyone fancied one. They are best served warm and I found that a 10-15 second blast in the microwave did the job, without affecting the taste or texture.

My next challenge is to make a vegan version, so watch this space!

I'm adding this post to this month's Bookmarked Recipes over on Tinned Tomatoes.

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Coffee and Walnut Cake (Vegan)

Miss K and I made this cake as a Veganuary experiment, to try out the tub of xanthan gum I had recently bought. Xanthan gum is a binder and emulsifier which is often used in gluten-free baking - it can be found in the baking or free-from section of most big supermarkets and costs around £2.50 for a tub. I would recommend buying xanthan gum if you bake a lot of egg-free or vegan cakes.

I've made several different versions of vegan sponge cakes now, with varying degrees of success (mainly down to texture), so I based this recipe on my vegan Victoria sponge recipe and tweaked it a bit.

You may be interested to know that for my first attempt, I replaced half of the 'butter' with a mashed avocado, as avocado is supposed to be a good egg replacer, however, whilst not too unpleasant, the resulting cake had a definite taste of avocado which wasn't overly popular in the Onykahonie household! Attempt two, without the avocado was much more palatable!

As you can see, the resulting cake has a good texture and might even be firm enough to make into a giant cupcake, although I haven't tried this yet. This is my most successful vegan sponge cake yet, both taste and texture-wise, and I would challenge anyone to tell this was vegan in a blind tasting. 

I left Miss K to make the icing and ice the cake herself. I think she did a pretty good job, don't you? Of course she had to try a slice afterwards just to make sure it was fit to appear on the blog!

For the cake

• 100g/4oz dairy-free spread
• 150g/6oz soft brown sugar
• 200g/8oz SR flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp coffee granules dissolved in 200ml/8 fl oz boiling water and allowed to cool (or cooled espresso/filter coffee)
• 1 tsp. white wine or cider vinegar
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 4oz roughly chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts) - reserve 25g/1 oz to top the cake 

Make up the coffee and set to one side to cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 170C/160C Fan/325F/Gas3.

Cream the spread and sugar.

Add all of the remaining ingredients (reserving 25g/1oz of the nuts) and mix until just combined.

Divide the mixture between 2 greased and lined 7" sandwich tins.

Bake for 20-25 mins until the cakes are firm and spring back slightly if pressed gently in the centre.

Turn out onto a wire rack and remove the greaseproof paper.

Allow to cool before icing.

For the vegan butter-cream icing/frosting

• 1 tbsp coffee dissolved in 3 tbsp boiling water
• 200g/8oz icing sugar
• 50g/2oz dairy-free spread, softened

Soften the spread in a bowl and stir in the icing sugar. 
Mix together, adding just enough of the coffee to make a thick, spreadable icing.
Spread in the middle and on top of the cake.
Decorate the top of the cake with the remaining nuts.

Suitable for freezing.

Alternatives: To make a chocolate cake, swap the cold coffee for almond milk or water. Use 175g/7oz flour plus 25g/1oz unsweetened cocoa powder. Swap the nuts for 100g/4oz dairy-free chocolate chips. For the icing, swap the coffee for boiling water and add 25g/1oz unsweetened cocoa powder to the icing sugar. 

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Mint Chocolate Dragon Cake

This cake was made as an entry to a competition on Mumsnet, which sadly didn't win, but I thought it was too good, not to blog! Miss Kahonie came up with the design for the cake after being inspired by a similar one in Kids' Party Ideas (which used After Eights for the spines), and helped me to make and decorate it.

Before anyone else mentions it, this is the exception to the rule about not eating anything with a face!!!

For the cake
First we made a 3-egg chocolate sponge cake and baked it in the top half of my giant cupcake tin. You could also bake this in a greased and cocoa-dusted heat-proof bowl.

• 150g/6oz butter/spread
• 150g/6oz sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 150g/6oz SR flour
• 50g/2oz cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs then stir in the remaining ingredients.

Pour into a well greased tin/bowl which has been sprinkled with a little sieved cocoa.

Bake for around an hour in a pre-heated oven at 150C/140C Fan/Gas 2/300F

Allow to cool in the tin/bowl for about 10 minutes before turning out.

Slice in half once cold.

For the icing
We then crumb-coated and iced the cake with peppermint butter-icing, and added fondant icing details.

• 100g/4oz butter/spread, softened
• 250g/10oz icing sugar
• 1-2 tsp peppermint extract
• green food colouring
• 2-4 tbsp boiling water
• 500g/1lb pack of fondant icing
• 1 bag of chocolate pebbles, giant chocolate buttons or similar

Cream the icing sugar and butter together, adding enough boiling water to make a soft, spreadable icing. Add the flavouring to taste and enough food colouring to get a good, strong, green colour.

Spread a couple of tablespoonfuls of the icing on one half of the cake and sandwich the two halves together. Crumb coat the whole cake (spread thinly with about half of the remaining icing and chill to set). Rough-ice the cake with the remaining butter icing, making peaks in the icing to look a little like dragon scales!

Colour ¾ of a block of fondant icing with food colouring (the gel/paste type is best) and divide into 4 pieces:

• Roll one piece into a long sausage shape for the tail.
• Make 2 flattened circles for the legs.
• Remove a little of the icing from the last piece and make the triangular point for the tail plus an ear and an eyebrow; make a flattened oval for the head from the rest of this piece, making one end of the oval more narrow, for the snout.

Push the legs and head into place onto the butter icing.

Attach the tail to the back of the cake and wrap around the front of the cake over the legs.
Add the ear and eyebrow to the head, sticking down with a little water if needed.

Using the end of a teaspoon or icing nozzle, make semi-circular imprints into the fondant icing to represent more scales.

On white card, draw and cut out: a puff of smoke, 2 wings, an eye and some sharp teeth. Poke these into the icing in the appropriate places! 

Finally, poke the chocolate sweets into the icing along the dragon's back and tail for the spines.

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Bread Pudding (Vegan)

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This is a vegan and virtually fat-free version of my mum's traditional bread pudding (if you haven't eaten bread pudding before, it's more of a fruit cake than a pudding and tastes nothing like bread and butter pudding!)
This tastes almost identical to the original, but does tend to go stale a little quicker, so it's best eaten within 2 days of making. It's very cheap to make and is a good way to use up leftover stale bread.

Makes 12-16 pieces 

• 250g/10oz stale bread (a couple of days old)
• 75g/3oz soft brown sugar
• 275ml/½ pt cold water or dairy-free milk
• 2 tsp Orgran egg replacer or similar binder (corn flour would probably work)
• 100g/4oz dried fruit
• ½ tsp mixed spice plus ½ tsp ground cinnamon (or more, to taste)
• 2 tsp Demerara sugar to sprinkle

Break the bread into small pieces and place in a large bowl.
Add the cold water/milk and mix well.

Allow to soak for at least ½ an hour.

Mix the bread with the rest of the ingredients (except the demerara sugar).

Pour into a greased square baking tin.

Cook at 180C/170 Fan/gas 4/350F for about 1 hour, until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Sprinkle with the demerara sugar while warm. 

Allow to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes, before cutting into squares. 
Serve warm or cold.

Suitable for freezing.

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The English Cheesecake Company - a review and giveaway

Mother's Day is coming up, and I've had the arduous task of sampling a chocolate and vanilla seashell cheesecake from The English Cheesecake Company, to see whether it would make a suitable Mother's Day gift. Being a mother myself makes me more than qualified for the job in my opinion!

Now, my family and I know a good cheesecake when we see/taste one and are cheesecake connoisseurs, so shop-bought frozen cheesecakes just don't do it for us! The English Cheesecake Company desserts are a cut above the rest though (and almost all are suitable for vegetarians).

The cheesecake was delivered frozen, packed in a polystyrene box with dried ice. I was a little worried that the cake would be starting to defrost by the time it was delivered, but no...it was well and truly frozen. There didn't appear to be any instructions on what to do with the cake once it was unpacked (I found the instructions online after we'd eaten it though!). As I hadn't removed the cake from the box before defrosting it in the fridge, it did suffer from a bit of condensation on the chocolate seashells. This didn't detract from the flavour but did spoil the appearance a little.

The cake was piled high with Belgian chocolate seashells which looked fabulous, but had to be removed before slicing and then replaced to serve. I must admit I was a little disappointed that they were solid chocolate rather than praline-filled seashells, but they still tasted delicious. Overall, we were all very impressed with the luxurious taste of the cheesecake. The base was crisp and chocolaty and was topped with smooth vanilla cheesecake filling and a chocolate-fudge sauce. It sliced really well and we got twelve slices out of it rather than the recommended eight.

I think it would make an amazing Mother's Day gift, or indeed would be a great alternative to sending flowers or chocolate for almost any occasion.

Being the kind and considerate person that I am, I have of course, managed to persuade the English Cheesecake Company to offer an identical cheesecake for one lucky person to WIN! All you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter entry form, visit the English Cheesecake Company's website and leave me a comment to tell me which your favourite cheesecake is.

The cheesecake we tried was the 6" Chocolate Seashell which serves eight large portions and retails at £22 including delivery. Buy direct online from www.englishcheesecake.com and your carefully packed cheesecake will be delivered frozen to your door. Defrost when needed and eat within four days.

Integrity Statement
I received a 6" seashell cheesecake to review and 1 to give away on my blog. I did not receive payment, and was not required to write a positive review in return. The views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family.

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Chocolate Microwave Mug Cake (Vegan)

It's a hard job, but someone has to do it... perfect an easy recipe for a vegan microwave mug cake that is! Of course, this took many attempts and I inflicted the varying results on my poor children, not that they complained at the prospect of eating yet another chocolate dessert. 

This is a very economical pudding to make and takes literally 5 minutes to prepare and cook, so it's a great one for kids to make. You can mix the ingredients together in the mug, but I find it easier to mix them in a jug and pour into a mug before cooking.

I adapted this recipe from the standard 4 tbsp non-vegan version (available in various forms on the inter-web) which makes a larger cake. Unfortunately, none of my mugs were big enough to hold the cooked mixture and I ended up with a Vesuvius type eruption in my microwave on one occasion! Half of the standard mixture gave a small cake, which only ¾ filled the mug and looked a little feeble.

This version fits an average 250ml/½ pint mug and serves one teenager/adult or can be split between 2 children.  As you can see, the cooked cake sinks a bit after cooking, but this doesn't affect the flavour. 

• 3 tbsp self raising flour
• 3 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder, sieved
• 1 level tsp Orgran No Egg (or similar egg replacer) - add this dry to the flour  
• 3 tbsp/45 ml dairy-free milk (water would probably work too)
• 2 tbsp vegetable/sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp peanut butter, vegan chocolate/hazelnut spread (or an extra tbsp of oil)
• 1 tbsp dairy-free chocolate chips
• ½ tsp vanilla or coffee extract or a good pinch of ground cinnamon.

Mix all of the dried ingredients together in a jug.

Add all of the liquid ingredients and mix well, making sure there are no pockets of dried ingredients.
Pour batter into a standard mug (it should be no more than half full). 
Microwave on high/full power for 2-2½ minutes or until until firm to the touch - I found that 2 minutes gave a moist, brownie texture and 2½ minutes gave a more traditional sponge cake texture...both tasted good! Watch as it cooks, as it will rise a lot, but don't open the microwave until it has finished rising.
Carefully remove the mug from the microwave using oven gloves...the mug will be HOT!!!
Allow to cool in the mug for about 5 minutes before eating.

Top tips: This cake needs to be eaten warm and does not keep. 
You can easily double the ingredients to make two cakes, but only cook one at a time.

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Mini Fruit Cakes

If you've got some dried fruit left over from Christmas why not whip up a batch of these mini fruit cakes? They're really quick and easy to make and are the ideal size for a lunchbox treat or after-school snack.

• 100g/4oz butter, softened
• 100g/4oz soft brown sugar
• 125g/5oz SR flour
• 2 medium eggs
• 200g/8oz mixed dried fruit
• 50g/2oz flaked almonds or chopped glace cherries
• ½ tsp each of cinnamon and mixed spice
• 2 tbsp milk

Pre-heat the oven to 160 C/150 C Fan/325 F/Gas 3.
Put all of the ingredients into a bowl or food processor and mix well.
Spoon into a well greased muffin tin and flatten the mixture slightly with the back of a spoon.
Bake for around 20-25 minutes, or until firm to the touch.
Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

Suitable for freezing.

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Farewell and bon voyage!

image from istockphoto

This is a sad post for me to write. I'm about to lose one of my oldest and closest friends (I'll call her Scarlet as I think she'd like that!), as she's emigrating with her family to Australia today. Well, I suppose I'm not really going to lose her as we'll be in regular contact thanks to the modern wonders of Skype and Facebook, but that's how it feels. 

Scarlet and I met at uni many years ago and soon realised we both had a similar outlook on life and taste in music (and luckily not a similar taste in men!). 

During our uni days, we passed many a happy hour at the student union when we probably should have been studying at the library or writing assignments, and while other friends moved on to pastures new, we remained living in the same town after we graduated. Our lives changed quite drastically over the years, but we were there for each other through the highs and the lows. 

We often moaned about our jobs and gossiped about our respective work colleagues, either over the phone or over a cup of tea and a piece of cake. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding and my girls were bridesmaids at hers; we celebrated our 30th birthdays together and commiserated when we hit 40! 

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I'm not sure if she's ever read my blog (she knows I write one, but I haven't told her what it's called!), but if you do, Scarlet, I'm really going to miss you and my girls will miss your children just as much.

To make this post slightly food-related and slightly less self-indulgent, here's a photo of the Bon Voyage cake I made for Scarlet and her family!

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Black Forest Muffins (with a vegan option)

Baking Mad asked if I would like to test out another one of their recipes, this time using Silver Spoon Homegrown sugar, which is the ONLY sugar grown in Britain. As I already buy Silver Spoon products, I was happy to oblige.

"Silver Spoon sugars are made from sugar beet . The sugar beet that goes into Silver Spoon sugars travels a short distance to the factory (an average of only 28 miles) direct from the fields around Bury St Edmunds in East Anglia. Silver Spoon work with 1,200 local farmers to grown the beet, which is then made into their range of homegrown sugars for families all over the country."   The first 10,000 people to register with Baking Mad before 30th September 2012 will receive a free Silver Spoon mystery gift (UK only).  

I decided to go for the rather indulgent looking Black Forest Muffins, as cherries are cheap and plentiful in the UK at the moment. These are quite time consuming to make (compared to simple muffins), with the cherry pitting and soaking, but worth the effort for a special dessert. I cooked two batches - one non-vegan and one vegan - as I didn't want my lovely vegan readers to miss out on these (the vegan variations are in italics). Of course, that meant a lot of muffins to eat, but my family bravely stepped up to the mark and helped out!

For the muffins:

• 450 g fresh cherries pitted and halved
• 2-4 tbsp kirsch, white rum or cherry brandy
• 150 ml water
• 110 g dark chocolate chips (Silver Spoon Create) - v.o dairy free chocolate
• 225 g unsalted butter, softened v.o dairy free spread
• 175 g caster sugar (Silver Spoon Homegrown)
• 3 free range eggs - v.o option Orgran No Egg or similar egg replacer
• 400 g plain flour 
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 140 ml sour cream - v.o dairy free vanilla or plain yogurt

For the topping:

• 400 ml double cream
• 3 tbsp caster sugar (Silver Spoon Homegrown)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Vegan topping:

• 200g icing sugar (Silver Spoon Homegrown)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Boiled water to mix

Plus:

• 12 cherries to decorate
• Chocolate shavings or chocolate chips, to decorate - v.o dairy free chocolate

Method
Combine cherry halves with the kirsch, cover and set aside over night or for at least 2 hours. 

Heat the oven to 180°C/170 °C Fan Oven/350°F/gas 4.

Place paper cases in a 16 hole muffin tin.

In a small pan, over a low heat combine the water and chocolate chips. Heat, stirring frequently until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

(For the vegan option, at this stage cream the sugar and dairy free spread, then add the remaining muffin ingredients including egg-replacer and mix until just combined. Then continue as for regular muffins.)

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the cooled chocolate, scraping the sides of the pan and mix thoroughly.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in batches, alternating with the soured cream, mixing on low speed to incorporate.

Spoon half of the mixture into the paper cases, add a spoonful of cherries - about 6 halves - (reserving the liquid) and top with the remaining cake mixture, so that the paper cases are filled to the top. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes; turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Using a skewer or cocktail stick, poke several holes in the top of the muffins. Drizzle or brush the reserved cherry liquid over the top of the muffins and allow to soak in.

Toppings
For the whipped cream: whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and whisk until incorporated. Place a spoonful of whipped cream on top of each cupcake. 
For the vegan topping: Mix the icing sugar with the vanilla and just enough water to make a thick, but spreadable icing.
Decorate with fresh cherries and shaved chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The Verdict
Not bad at all! The vegan muffins were a pretty good match for the non-vegan ones both in appearance and taste. In my photos above, you can see the slightly more bumpy-looking vegan muffins in the plain cake cakes and the non-vegan ones in the patterned cases.I found that both batches were a little drier than expected though, so I've reduced the amount of flour in the recipe above (compared to the original recipe from Baking Mad). I also felt that the original mixture didn't look dark/chocolaty enough, so I also added some cocoa powder. When I bake these again, I'll  mix the cherries and kirsch into the batter so they're distributed through the cakes rather than in one layer in the middle, as I think this will improve the taste and moistness of the cakes.

Integrity Statement
This is a sponsored post. I received free cooking ingredients (sugar, flour, chocolate chips and vanilla extract) in return for mentioning Silver Spoon Homegrown Sugar and Baking Mad. Original recipe courtesy of Baking Mad.

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Easy Vegan Cupcakes/Fairy Cakes

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I found Orgran No Egg on special offer recently, so I bought some to test it out and review it; One box of No Egg costs around £2.50 and replaces the equivalent of 66 eggs, so it's good value for money. It contains the following ingredients:Potato starch, tapioca flour, calcium carbonate, citric acid, vegetable gum (stabiliser): methylcellulose and is also gluten free.

Following the success of my vegan Victoria sandwich cake, I thought I'd try adapting my usual (non-vegan) sponge cake recipe by using the egg-replacer instead of eggs. I made some cupcakes to see how the two recipes compared. The results were very pleasing, and I actually preferred the resulting texture and flavour of these cakes compared to my vegan sponge cake. The cakes were very light and crumbly, and kept fresh for a few days in an airtight container.

Makes 12

• 150g/6oz dairy free spread/margarine
• 150g/6oz sugar
• 150g/6oz SR flour
• 3 heaped tsp Orgran No Egg mixed with 6 tbsp water (or use a similar egg-substitute)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the spread and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined.
Spoon the mixture between 12 paper cake cakes in a bun tin, filling quite generously.

Bake at 180C/170C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4 for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Cool on a wire rack.

When cold, top with vanilla butter cream/frosting...

Vegan butter icing

• 50g/2oz dairy free spread/margarine
• 125g/5oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1-2 tsp boiled water

Soften the spread.
Mix in the vanilla.
Beat in the icing sugar gradually, adding a little boiled water as needed to make a soft, spreadable mixture.

Top tip: Warning - do not open the oven to check until at least 15 minutes have passed (unless you can smell them burning!), as the egg-replacer takes longer to set than eggs would. I found this out whilst cooking my first batch and they sunk in the middle!

Alternatives: Divide between two greased and lined sandwich cake tines and bake for 30-35 minutes. I haven't tried this yet, so please do let me know if it works!

Swap the vanilla for lemon zest to make a lemon cake, 1 tsp coffee granules mixed with 2 tsp boiling water for a coffee cake, or swap 25g/1oz of the flour for unsweetened cocoa powder to make a chocolate cake. Add the same flavourings to the butter cream icing.

Integrity Statement
I have not received any payment or free products in return for this review and the views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family. 

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Vanilla Giant Cupcake

© A cake fit for the Queen (well almost!)

We recently had a Jubilee celebration at work and my contribution was a giant cupcake.. they loved it! This recipe was adapted from my giant chocolate cupcake recipe using the Wilton/Lakeland giant cupcake tin. As I made a Jubilee cake, I decided to colour a third of the mixture blue and a third red (although it turned out pink!) using a little food colouring. 

Serves 20

• 250g/10oz butter/dairy-free spread
• 250g/10oz sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 250g/12oz SR flour
• 5 tbsp milk/water
• 1 level tsp baking powder

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Pre heat the oven to 160C/150C Fan/Gas 3.Grease the cupcake tin and sprinkle with a little sieved flour.
Cream the butter and sugar and beat in 3 of the eggs.
Add the flour, baking powder, milk, and remaining eggs and mix until just combined.
Spoon half of the mixture into each side of the cupcake pan.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the cake has risen and is firm to the touch (in the centre).  If the cake is browning too quickly, turn the oven down by 10C.
Once cooked, leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully. Trim a little of the top of the cakes with a sharp knife (once cold) if needed.

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To cover the base in fondant icing

Roll out some fondant icing on a board sprinkled with icing sugar, into an approximately 25cm/10" circle - I use a non-stick pastry mat.
Spread a little of the butter cream (recipe below) onto the base and sides of the cupcake bottom...it doesn't need to look neat!
Place the cupcake base into the centre of the fondant and gently ease the fondant up around the sides and over the top of the cake (there should be enough icing to overlap the top slightly.) Press into each groove of the base with your fingers or the back of a teaspoon.
Top the base with a good dollop of butter cream (and some jam if you want to) before placing the top section on.

Icing the top of the cake
I've found that the butter cream doesn't stick to the cake very well if you pipe it straight on, so I crumb-coat it first (roughly spread a little butter icing all over the top section using a palette knife), and chill the cake for about half an hour, before piping the remaining icing on.
Pipe around the join between the two cakes.
Once iced, decorate with sprinkles etc. while the icing is still soft.

Vanilla Butter Cream/Frosting

• 150g/6oz softened butter/dairy-free spread
• 350g/14oz icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp boiling water, if needed

Cream the butter and icing sugar.
Add the vanilla and just enough boiling water, if needed, to make a soft, spreadable butter cream.

Alternatives: The 5 egg mixture I use doesn't quite fill the tin. You can make an even bigger cake in the same tin, by upping the ingredients to 300g/12oz butter/sugar, 350g/14oz flour and 6 eggs. Keep the amount of the remaining ingredients the same.

If fondant icing the base sounds too tricky (I'll admit it did take me two attempts), then just tie a ribbon around, or make a paper cupcake holder to cover the base.
You could also spread the butter icing onto the top of the cake if you aren't confident at piping.

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Simnel Cake

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I know it's a bit late to post a Simnel Cake recipe, but I didn't have time to make it any earlier. This might not be a traditionally decorated cake in the Christian sense, but as my family doesn't celebrate Easter as such, Miss Ony and I made a welcoming in the spring cake instead! She decorated the cake with her own design, which I think looks lovely, and suitably seasonal.

• 150g/6oz softened butter or margarine
• 150g/6oz soft brown sugar
• 3 medium eggs, beaten
• 150g/6oz plain flour
• ½ tsp each of cinnamon and ground mixed spice 
• 400g/1 lb mixed  dried fruits (eg: raisins, currants, sultanas, glacé cherries and mixed peel)
• 4 tbsp amaretto or your choice of spirit or liqueur 
• zest of ½ lemon
• 1 block of marzipan

Soak the dried fruit in the spirit/liqueur for 2-3 hours or over night.

Preheat the oven to 160C/150C fan/Gas 3

Roll out the marzipan (on a board sprinkled with icing sugar) and cut 2x7" circles using the cake tin as a cutter/template.
Grease and line a 7" round cake tin.

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add all of the remaining ingredients (except the marzipan, of course) and the soaked, dried fruits and mix well.

Spoon half of the mixture into the cake tin.

Place the marzipan onto the cake mixture and press down.

Top with the remaining cake mixture and smooth with the back of a spoon.

Bake for around 1½ hours, or until firm to the touch and brown on top.

Cool in the tin for an hour, then turn out onto a wire rack until cold.

Brush the top of the cake with a little warmed apricot jam or golden syrup.

Place the remaining circle of marzipan on top of the cake and press down.  At this point, or when the cake is fully decorated, you may wish to brown the marzipan under a hot grill/broiller (or use a blow torch as I did).

Get the kids to roll the left over scraps of marzipan either into 11 balls (for a traditional cake) or cut out whatever spring symbols you like (flowers, bunnies, chicks etc). Stick these to the top of the cake with a little water.

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Butternut Squash Cake

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I received 2 butternut squashes instead of one (by mistake) in my online shopping delivery this week, so instead of boring the family with squash-filled savoury dishes every day, I thought I'd try baking with squash, in a carrot-cake type recipe. Miss Kahonie wasn't too keen on the idea though. 
"Vegetables should not be in cakes" she protested.
"But squash is a fruit not a vegetable, so you'll love this" I sneakily replied "...and it'll count towards your 5-a-days!".

• 200g/8oz peeled and grated butternut squash
• 100g/4oz butter/marg
• 100g/4oz soft brown sugar
• 150g/6oz SR flour
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 100g/4oz mixed dried fruit (I used chopped glacé cherries, raisins and sultanas)
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 170C/160C Fan/Gas 3
Cream the butter and sugar.
Add all of the remaining ingredients except the dried fruits and mix well.
Fold in the dried fruits.
Spoon the mixture into a greased and lined baking tin (approx 18-20cm/7-8" sqaure).
Bake for 30-40 mins until firm to the touch.

Allow to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes, before turning out and cutting into squares.
Serve warm (with custard or ice cream) or cold.

Suitable for freezing.

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Vegan Victoria Sponge Cake

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This was a bit of an experiment for me, as I've tried a few vegan sponge cake recipes in the past, and they've all sunk horribly in the middle after cooling; Despite tasting good, they didn't look great.
I wanted to make a sponge that didn't use egg-replacer, or other fancy ingredients, but still looked and tasted like real sponge cake!  As you can see it turned out pretty well, although the texture was more chewy than a regular sponge cake.

• 100g/4oz dairy free spread
• 150g/6oz caster sugar
• 200g/8oz SR flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 200ml/8 floz Provamel sweetened almond milk or equivalent 

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Preheat oven to 180C/170C Fan/Gas 4
Grease and line two 7"/20cm sandwich tins.
Cream the spread and sugar until soft and then beat in 3 tbsp of the milk.
Add the remaining milk, flour, vanilla and baking powder and beat until smooth.
Divide mixture between the two tins.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Cool in the tin for 2-3 minutes before turning out and removing the greaseproof paper.
Sandwich together with vegan butter icing and jam (jelly) when cool, and sprinkle the top with caster sugar.

Vegan butter icing

• 2 tbsp dairy free spread
• 75g/3oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Soften the spread.
Mix in the vanilla.
Beat in the icing sugar gradually, adding a little boiled water if needed to make a soft, spreadable mixture.

Alternatives: If you have a nut allergy sufferer in the family, just swap the almond milk for a suitable nut-free alternative.
Swap the vanilla for lemon zest to make a lemon cake, 1 tsp coffee granules mixed with 2 tsp boiling water for a coffee cake, or swap 25g/1oz of the flour for unsweetened cocoa powder to make a chocolate cake.
Try this recipe if you have egg-replacer available.


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