Brownie Ice-Cream Cake [BACK-DATED]

Happy birthday to my dearest husband! (Still doesn't feel real saying that...) To celebrate, we're having a delicious ice-cream cake with a brownie base!

Simon absolutely loves hot brownies with ice-cream on top, so this year I thought I'd mash the two concepts together by making an ice-cream cake. However, I learnt a few things in the process.

I made this by cooking up an 8 inch (20 centimetre) fudgy chocolate brownie and popping it in a deep 8 inch tin lined with non-stick paper. I emptied about 2 pints of good quality vanilla ice-cream on top of it and froze the whole confection together. However, this led to a rock solid base. So, in future renditions, I'll probably freeze the ice-cream into a cake shape independently of the base, then pop the two together for serving so the base is soft enough to cut without the ice-cream thawing too much.

I decorated the top with swirls of whipping cream, vanilla filled wafer rolls, and a dusting of drinking chocolate powder for visual interest! It was greatly enjoyed, but the next one will be better with the added steps.

Zesteratops: the Return of the Novelty Dinnersaurus!

Say hello to Zesteratops!

When I launched my blog back in 2013, I made a dinosaur shaped cake for my mother's birthday that year. It's my blog's most popular blog post, racking up over 1000 views so far!

As such, I thought an update of my technique was well overdue. I'm not really a novelty cake person, which you could probably tell from the fact that I've only ever done a 3D dinosaur and a 3D panda cake in the past. However, my attitude towards novelty cakes has been changing: recently my parents decided to foster an eleven year old boy, and having a child in the family again really changes to chemistry of family gatherings! (He actually named this cake: I was originally going to call it Lemonpleurodon)

Mum loves lemon or orange flavour cakes, and the previous dinnersaurus was orange flavoured so this time I went for lemon. I also decided to decorate with buttercream rather than fondant. I absolutely hate working with fondant, but I used it to design the details, like the back sails, tail spikes, eyes, and smiling face.

This project is very time consuming: from the moment I started mixing the cake, to the moment I put on the last tail spike, it took 6 hours. So keep this in mind when you go to make it!

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DIFFICULTY

Requires cake shaping and novelty decorating

TIME

About 6 hours

RECIPE RATING

Needs experience

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

To make a dinosaur cake that will serve 16 to 20 people

One deep 9 inch (23 centimetre) round lemon flavoured cake

Some rolling fondant (sugarpaste) icing, to make decorative details

Food colouring

For the lemon curd

1 medium egg

4 teaspoons (20 millilitres) cornflour

2 large lemons

4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar

2 ounces (55 grammes) unsalted butter

Pinch or two of salt

For the icing

5 ounces (140 grammes) unsalted butter

5 ounces (140 grammes) Greek yoghurt

5 ounces (140 grammes) caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon, see Method

10 ounces (280 grammes) white chocolate

Two pinches of salt

Yellow food colouring

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METHOD

• Before assembly, prepare the icing and the lemon curd. This recipe makes twice as much lemon curd as you need, so you can use the remainder for another project.

To make the lemon curd

• Zest the two lemons, and place the zest of one of the lemons into a measuring jug. Use the zest of the other lemon for the icing later.
• Into the jug, squeeze the two lemons and then top up with water to make 8 fluid ounces (240 millilitres) of liquid.
• In a small saucepan, blend the cornflour, sugar, and egg. Slowly mix in the diluted lemon juice until you have a fully combined mixture.
• Cook the mixture over medium high heat, mixing constantly, until it comes to the boil. Boil for a full minute or so until thickened and it loses some of its opacity.
• Sieve the mixture into a bowl, and then mix in the butter and a pinch of salt. To make the lemon curd taste richer, you might need to add an extra pinch of salt.
• Allow to cool to room temperature before covering with cling film, making sure the film touches the curd, and chilling in the fridge for about an hour.

While the curd is cooling, make the icing

• Follow the instructions in my Simnel cake recipe to make the icing, including the lemon zest in the cooked yoghurt and sugar mixture and omitting the lemon juice. Allow to cool as instructed.
• Tint the icing a pale yellow colour to represent the lemon flavour. Or, you can make it any summery colour you like.

Assembly

• Take the cake, and cut it in half horizontally. Don't cut off the dome: you'll need that to help the shape of the dinosaur.
• Cut each half in half vertically. Now you will have 4 semicircles: two flat ones, and two with domes.
• Take the two domed semicircles and sandwich a flat semicircle between them. Use lemon curd to secure the shapes together.

• Take the remaining flat semicircle and cut it into thirds. You will have two rounded shapes, and one long, rectangular shape. The rectangular shape will be used later for the tail.
• Take the two rounded pieces and sandwich them together with the lemon curd to make the head.

• You now have a body piece, a head piece, and a tail piece. Secure all the elements together as shown using some icing, and then trim the cake to make it more dinosaur shaped.
• After all the cutting and trimming, you'll have roughly 4 ounces (115 grammes) of cake trimmings. Use these and some more lemon curd to make some cake truffle mixture, and use this to make some legs. If you don't have enough cake crumbs to make all four legs, just make two legs and form the remaining legs out of fondant.

• Fix the legs to the body with icing, cover the entire cake in a crumb coat, and then chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes before decorating however you like! I used a petal piping technique to make scales, but you could use fondant if you like.

THIS TIME IN 2017: American Style: Chocolate Fudge Tart
THIS TIME IN 2016: Chocolate Biscuit Cake, a.k.a: Rocky Road
THIS TIME IN 2015: Zingy Lemon Gâteau (Wheat Free)
THIS TIME IN 2013: Experiment: Homemade Sprinkles
There was no blog on this day in 2014.

First Attempt at Whoopie Pies (Wheat Free with a Dairy Free Option)

 There is now a new and improved post about Whoopie Pies here.

Today, I present to you a recipe several months in the making! Behold my own take on the American classic, Whoopie Pies!

About two or three years ago, I got a new cookery book for my birthday, which is a typical gift for me. This book, simply entitled Whoopie Pies introduced me properly to a confection that I had only heard of by name once or twice. I tried a recipe or two from the book, but wasn't a hundred percent happy with how they turned out and, as such, the book is still gathering dust on my bookshelf. 

Then a few months ago I was watching a programme on Food Network, and I saw the cook make some chocolate whoopie pies. It had been quite some time since I had last tried them and I thought Heck, why not give them another go? Seeing as the cook described them as a "mixture between a cupcake and a sandwich cookie", that's the kind of approach I took: I tried merging my basic sponge cake recipe and my chocolate chip cookie recipe together, but the results were disappointingly flat and crispy.

The real breakthrough came when I merged my basic sponge recipe with a basic scone recipe, and replacing the butter with oil: it made a very fluid mixture that puffed up nicely, but didn't spread out too much during baking. The result is a cake that has all the fluffiness and sweetness of a sponge cake, but the sturdiness of a biscuit. However, I'll probably work on this recipe in the future, because I generally am not a fan of the fact that this only uses brown sugar: I don't want my plain vanilla whoopie pies to be brown!

These lovely little sandwiches go slightly sticky on the crust the longer they stay in storage, which is ideal: I have it on good, American authority that a whoopie pie should somewhat stick to your fingers. 

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DIFFICULTY

Requires mixing and spooning out runny batter

TIME

About 2 hours

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

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INGREDIMENTS

For 12 to 14 sandwiches (24 to 28 total cakes)

8 ounces (225 grammes, 1.8 US cups) plain white spelt flour

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder

¼ teaspoon (1 millilitre) salt

6 ounces (170 grammes, 1 US cup) brown sugar

4 fluid ounces (115 millilitres, ½ US cup) sunflower oil

1 medium (US large) egg

6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres, ¾ US cup) buttermilk, or plain soya yoghurt

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

About 1 pound (455 grammes) icing filling of your choice: butter cream, ganache, marshmallow fluff, etc.

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F, Gas Mk.3), and grease and flour two flat baking trays.
• In a large mixing bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the centre.
• In a jug, beat together the buttermilk, egg, oil, and vanilla essence until smooth. Pour into the well in the dry ingredients then, using a balloon whisk or electric mixer, mix together until there are no streaks of flour and the mixture is smooth and consistent.
• Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the baking trays, about an inch (2 centimetres) apart, using the tip of the spoon to smooth the dollops into rounds. Tap the trays sharply on the work surface to flatten out the pies. I got about 6 on each tray.
• Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven when the pies spring back when touched lightly with a finger.
• Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring from the trays to wire cooling racks to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
• Pair the cakes together according to size, then sandwich together with about two tablespoons of filling. Set in the fridge for about half an hour before serving.

NOTES

• For chocolate whoopie pies: Replace an eighth of the flour with cocoa powder, and sieve in with the other dry ingredients.

• For red velvet whoopie pies: Replace a tablespoon (30 millilitres) of the flour with cocoa powder and sieve with the dry ingredients, and add red food colouring to the wet ingredients to get the shade you want.

• For pumpkin spice whoopie pies: Add in 1 or 2 tablespoons (15 or 30 millilitres) to taste of your favourite pumpkin spice or mixed spice blend, and sieve in with the other dry ingredients.

• For coffee whoopie pies: Add 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) of instant espresso powder, and sieve in with the other dry ingredients

THIS TIME IN 2017: Hot Cross Bunnies: a Cutesy Twist on a Traditional Favourite (Wheat Free)

THIS TIME IN 2016: Buttermilk Scones (Wheat Free)

THIS TIME IN 2015: April Afternoon Tea Party: Bollywood Part Two!

THIS TIME IN 2013: Black Forest Gâteau: a Retro Classic? (Wheat Free)

There was no blog on this day in 2014.

McVities Jaffa Cake Review Video

Today, I decided to dissect a Jaffa Cake on request to reveal its secrets.....

If you want to see more videos like this one, check out my YouTube page and like my Facebook page for notifications!

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SweetiePieLMK
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetiePieLMK

Mr Kipling Mini Battenberg Review Video

Today, I decided to dissect a mini Battenberg cake on request to reveal its secrets.....

If you want to see more videos like this one, check out my YouTube page and like my Facebook page for notifications!

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SweetiePieLMK
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetiePieLMK

Modern Simnel Cake 2.0: "Can any cake be a Simnel cake? Or must it be fruit cake?" (Wheat Free with Dairy Free Option)

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Happy Easter all, and to celebrate here is a delicious carrot cake with super luscious cream cheese icing, decorated with cake truffles made from leftover cake and icing.

Last year, I did a raspberry and almond cake for Easter, taking inspiration from the original marzipan element of the traditional Simnel cake, but fashioning little marzipan icons for each Apostle. This year, however, the only thing Simnel-y about this cake is mixed spice in the carrot cake. And, of course, the decoration.

No-one can agree on the origin of the word Simnel, but what most people agree on is that it's made of a fruit cake with a marzipan filling and topping, and has 11 marzipan decorations on top to represent the Disciples of Christ, without Judas.

So, in reality, any kind of cake can be a Simnel cake as long as it has the 11 disciples on top: for example, this is a fairly run of the mill carrot cake with cream cheese icing, but because of its decoration, it has Easter significance.

This time, the Disciples are represented by cake truffles which I made out of crumbling the sliced-off dome of the carrot cake and some icing. Usually, the eleven decorations are just arranged on top as if it's normal, but seeing an uneven number arranged like it's nothing very irritating. So, this time I decided to make a point of the missing Disciple to give it some evenness, and also I feel it gives its greater weight and significance.

The icing I used in this recipe was a little bit of an experiment, and before I share it with you I want to do some fine tuning. When I demonstrate it in a video, I will share the updated recipe. For now, just use whatever cream cheese icing you like.

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DIFFICULTY

Requires mixing, cake slicing, and layering

TIME

About 2 hours

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

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INGREDIMENTS

For one deep 8 inch (21 centimetre) round cake

8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder

2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) ground mixed spice
¼ teaspoon (2 millilitres) salt

8 ounces (225 grammes) finely grated carrots
Zest of half an orange

4 medium (US Large) eggs

6 ounces (170 grammes) light brown sugar

4 fluid ounces (120 millilitres) sunflower oil

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

Optional: 3 ounces (85 grammes) raisins
Optional: 3 ounces (85 grammes) chopped walnuts

To decorate
1 pound (455 grammes) cream cheese icing, of your choice (see below for my recipe)
Icing sugar
Ground mixed spice

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

FREE FROM

Wheat, yeast, dairy

CONTAINS

Eggs, spelt, nuts (unless you omit them), refined sugar

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METHOD

• In a mixing bowl, sieve in the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, and salt. Stir in the carrots and orange zest, and the raisins and nuts if using, and toss through the flour.
• In a wide jug, beat the eggs with the brown sugar with an electric hand mixer for a full five minutes, until doubled in size and pale, and when you lift the beaters you can leave a trail of mixture on the surface.
• With the mixer running, gradually add in the sunflower oil and mix in well. Beat in the vanilla essence.
• Make a well in the centre of the flour and carrots mixture and pour in the whipped eggs and sugar mix. Gently fold the whole thing together with a metal spoon or rubber spatula.
• Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a cocktail stick stuck in the centre comes out completely clean.
• Allow the cake to cool completely before cutting off the dome and slicing in half horizontally.

To decorate

• Crumble the cake dome until very fine and mix with just enough icing to make a dough like texture. Roll the mixture into 11 balls, and chill for an hour until set.
• Fill and ice the cake with the remaining icing (my cake was only one layer because I made a smaller cake). Place the cake truffles on top, using the lid of a cola bottle to replace the twelfth ball.
• Dust the tops of the balls with icing sugar, and then mixed spice for visual contrast. Remove the cola bottle lid, and chill for an hour. Allow to temper to room temperature for half an hour before serving.

Mock "Cream Cheese" Icing

I made a cream cheese icing that doesn't actually have any cream cheese in, instead it had yoghurt. I find here in Ireland cream cheese varies so much in quality that it's unreliable: some days it whips up beautifully, and other days it turns to water.

To make this mock "cream cheese" icing, I melted together 4 ounces (115 grammes) each of Greek yoghurt and sugar and then simmered it for one minute (it will split slightly, but don't worry: you'll be whipping it later and won't notice it much). I removed it from the heat before adding in 8 ounces (225 grammes) of white chocolate and 4 ounces (115 grammes) of unsalted butter, in small pieces. I returned to pan to very low heat and cooked very gently, stirring all the time, until it was smooth and flowing. I then added a full quarter teaspoon of coarse salt and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to give it that salty sourness associated with cream cheese icing.

I then allowed to cool and thicken, stirring every so often, until it reached a spreadable consistency. I lightly whipped mine with a hand mixer for a lighter texture, but this is optional. This icing is stable at room temperature.

THIS TIME IN 2017: College Classes are Over! Hoorah! (Chocolate Butter Cake with Simple Fudge Icing)
THIS TIME IN 2013: Different Sponge Cake Flavours (no April Fool, it's after 12pm)
There were no blogs on this day in 2014, 2015, or 2016

Hot Cross Buns, and Iced Buns: Almost No-Knead Bread (Wheat Free with Dairy Free Option)

Today is Good Friday, and as promised I present to you Hot Cross Buns and Easter Iced Buns!

These are brought to you because hot cross buns are traditional this weekend, of course, but also in response to a conversation that I find myself having fairly frequently with other hobby bakers:

"How do you make bread without kneading?"

You don't have to knead bread if it proves overnight in the fridge

"Hmm, I don't have that amount of time. How to I make bread in a few hours?"

Well, if you want it today you'll have to knead it really thoroughly

"Okay, so how do you make bread that doesn't need kneading that I can have in a few hours?"

These people who obviously want to have their bread and eat it too.

If there is one thing that I have come to learn about yeast-risen bread, it's that to make a nice bread you have to spend time, or spend effort. There is no such thing as a no-effort bread that's ready immediately, unless you're making soda bread. As such, the less effort you want to put in the more time you'll have to spend, and the less time you want to spend the more effort you'll have to put in.

Kneading and overnight proving are both used to develop gluten in bread dough: you can develop the gluten by hand through kneading vigorously, or you can let the yeast develop the gluten overnight slowly and steadily. Here are the pros and cons of each:

• Kneading is the faster solution as you can knead a dough well by hand and have bread ready for its first rise in half an hour. Sometimes, however, when you encounter a particularly sticky dough, people get frustrated and the temptation is to add a load more flour to make the kneading easier, thus making the dough dry and tough. Also, some very sticky doughs need a good 20 to 25 minutes of continuous kneading, which can be exhausting.
• When you prove dough overnight, the kneading step and the first rise step are combined in a zero effort solution, but if you want bread today you have to start yesterday, which means you really have to plan your bread needs in advance. Also, overnight rises can make a bread that is overproofed, which leads to dense, sour loaves that stale too quickly.

So what's a baker to do? Well, I have come to inform you that there is a halfway house: bread that takes a day to make and requires only moderate kneading effort, harnessing the gluten developing powers of both the yeast and your hands in turns.

In this recipe, I use this bread dough to make a delicious and pretty Easter treat: a tray of hot cross buns, and plain buns iced with little portraits of Bibbit's springtime friends.

Follow the recipe below, and watch the video for full instructions!

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DIFFICULTY

The steps are simple, but time consuming

TIME

Roughly 3½ to 4 hours

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

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INGREDIMENTS

Makes 16 buns

1 pound (455 grammes) white spelt flour
2 ounces (55 grammes) unsalted butter, or margarine
1 rounded teaspoon (7 grammes) salt
2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
2 medium (US large) eggs
6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres) milk at body temperature, or milk alternative
Up to 4 extra tablespoons (60 millilitres) milk or milk alternative, to adjust the texture
1 quarter-ounce (7 gramme) packet of dried active yeast

For spiced dough

1 or 2 tablespoons (7 to 15 grammes) ground mixed spice, to taste, moistened with half as much warm water
3 ounces (85 grammes) mixed dried fruit of your choice
Optional: 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) orange zest
Optional: 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) lemon zest

To make the crosses

½ ounce (15 grammes) white spelt flour
¾ teaspoon (3 grammes) butter
Water, to mix

To decorate

Runny honey, for brushing
Fresh orange juice, for brushing
12 ounces (340 grammes) icing sugar, sieved
2 ounces (55 grammes) unsalted butter, or margarine
Hot water, to mix
Food colouring: pink, yellow, orange, black, blue, and green.

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FREE FROM

Wheat, yeast, nuts

CONTAINS

Eggs, spelt, dairy (dairy free option in italics), refined sugar

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POINTS TO REMEMBER

• Try not to add too much milk, otherwise it will need more rises to develop the gluten. At the absolute most, add a total of 8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres) of milk, which is half as much flour.
• The first rise will take roughly an hour and a quarter, but it could take up to an hour and a half.
• Likewise, the second rise should only be 45 minutes, but could take up to an hour.
• One thing that I forget to mention in the video is that the raw rolls need to be flattened a little bit so they don't rise in a ball shape. 
• The third and final rise should to 30 to 40 minutes: the rolls should expand by about two thirds, not double. If you poke them on the side and they spring back, they need more rising: your finger should leave a little dent in the side, but not collapse the roll.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 200°C (400°F).

THIS TIME IN 2017: Recipe Revision: Baked Cheesecake, but a large one this time! (Gluten Free Option)

THIS TIME IN 2015: Experiment: Yeast and Wheat Free Hot Cross Buns

THIS TIME IN 2013: Coffee Sponge Slice with Raspberry Fondant Icing (Wheat Free)

There were no blogs on this day in 2014 for 2016

Question: "How much chocolate and cornflakes should I use to make Cornflake Cakes?", with Video

The humble cornflake cake: a staple of every Irish household all throughout the year.

These cakes are very simple to make, and are often done as a fun baking project for small children because they only need two ingredients: chocolate, and cornflakes (or sometimes rice crispies). Mix 'em up, pop 'em in cases, refrigerate until set, and Bob's your uncle!

However, the question I sometimes get is how much of each should I use? The simple answer is melt an amount of chocolate and then add cornflakes until it's "right", which is how pretty much every Irish Mammy has done it since the dawn of time. But, if you want to know exactly how much of each to use, so that you know if you have the right amount of ingredients before you get started, here is your answer:

It's a very simple weight ratio of 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cornflakes.

That's it: melt two parts in weight of chocolate, and mix in one part in weight of cornflakes until thoroughly coated. It couldn't be simpler. If you want a little extra richness, you can replace a sixth of the chocolate with unsalted butter, but this is purely optional.

To make a dozen small cakes, you will need half a pound, or 8 ounces (225 grammes) chocolate and quarter of a pound, or 4 ounces (115 grammes) cornflakes. Decorate however you like with mini eggs, or fluffy chick toys. You can of course make fewer huge cornflake cakes if you like, or multiply the amounts to make loads of cakes; it's completely up to you.

Check out the video below, where I demonstrate how to make them.

Birthday Cake to Me! Coconut Lime Mini Cake (Wheat Free)

Here is the written recipe for the recipe featured in the first episode of "Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff" 2018 series.

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DIFFICULTY

Each step is simple, but there are a lot of steps

TIME

About 2 hours

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

For one 10 centimetre round cake

30 grammes (1 ounce) unsalted butter, soft
30 grammes (1 ounce) sunflower oil
85 grammes (3 ounces) caster sugar
1 medium egg
85 grammes (3 ounces) plain white spelt flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
30 grammes (1 ounces) desiccated coconut
60 millilitres (2 fluid ounces) light coconut milk

For the icing
115 grammes (4 ounces) white chocolate, in small pieces
40 grammes (1⅓ ounces) unsalted butter
55 grammes (2 ounces) caster sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime, mixed with water to measure 60 millilitres (2 fluid ounces)

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

FREE FROM

Wheat, yeast, nuts

CONTAINS

Eggs, spelt, dairy (dairy free option in italics), refined sugar

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

Happy 5th Anniversary, Sweetie Pie! Half a Decade of Blogging

Happy 5th birthday to Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff!!

Wow: half a decade of blogging. If this blog were a person, it'd be starting school this September. That's a long-o time to do anything on the internet!

A lot of things have happened in 5 years:

• I've moved house five times around 3 counties
• I finished a diploma, joined the world of work, and then returned to college and earned a masters degree 
• I represented my city to the Council of Europe
• I was in a band that released an EP, and one of our singles was played in the USA
• I was on national radio and television several times performing original music and church music
• Boyfriends came and went before I began dating my best friend to whom I'm now engaged
• I went from being a complete Taekwondo beginner to being nearly a black belt (pray for me: my black belt mock exam is in five weeks...)
• And last but not least: this blog grew to have over 300 individual posts, nearly 31,000 views, and over 250 likers on my Facebook page!

The difference between 22 year old me and 27 year old me is astonishing (but strangely enough quite a lot of that happened in the past 18 months), and difference between no-years old and 5 year old blog is huge as well!

Since my last anniversary, I wrote a butt tonne of blog posts: 2017 was the most prolific year of this blog since it was begun, having 50% more posts than any of the previous years. I had decided that I was going to make up for the fact that the previous year of 2016 was the least prolific year of the blog, have less than half the amount of posts of the previous year of 2015.

In 2017 I had more time to dedicate to baking because I wasn't doing any Taekwondo training throughout my masters. Sure, the masters was a lot of work, but for the first time in 4 years I had evenings completely to myself with no other demands on my time, and completely free weekends. This gave me so much more time to bake, and because my fiancé worked in a large company with lots of staff, I had people to give away my culinary experiments to so I could produce more than normal.

It was one of my most experimental and adventurous years in the kitchen, so much so that even by the time I took my (accidentally) 3 month break before Christmas — and had an unexpected break through August — I had written over 80 posts.

So: here are the Top 5 Posts of 2017:

1. Red Velvet Cake, with Traditional Cooked Milk Frosting (Wheat Free, with Dairy Free Option)
2. Happeee Birthdaeee, Mumeee!: Lemon Meringue Layer Cake
3. Something Savoury: Bacon and Onion Quiche (Wheat Free)
4. Simple Danish Pastries (Wheat- and Yeast Free)
5. I've Finally Got It! French Macarons, with the help of Kawaii Sweet World (Gluten- and Dairy Free)

And, here are the 10 Runners-Up:

1. Ice-Cream Month: Arctic Roll, a Retro Classic? (Wheat Free, with Dairy-Free Option)
2. Yeast Risen Cinnamon Rolls (Wheat Free)
3. Recipe Revision: Baked Cheesecake, but a large one this time! (Gluten Free Option)
4. Hot Cross Bunnies: a Cutesy Twist on a Traditional Favourite (Wheat Free)
5. Something Different: Doboš Torte (Wheat Free, with Dairy Free Option)
6. Easter Celebration: a Modern-Style Simnel Cake (Wheat Free)
7. Crumpets (Wheat- and Egg Free)
8. Southern States Caramel Cake
9. No Crack Swiss Roll Recipe (Wheat Free, with Dairy Free Option)
10. Ice-Cream Month: Chocolate and Pistachio Brownie Sundae

In retrospect, 2017 was a good year for ice-cream...

So, What's Happening in 2018?

2018 will be another jam-packed year for Sweetie Pie Bakes stuff: I have so much planned! I will admit, however, that this January and February were a difficult time for me as I was suffering from a bout of depression caused by my unemployment and I considered giving up the blog entirely for a few weeks. I was just lacking so much in motivation, and couldn't see how much great work that I'd done, that I nearly threw in the towel because "no-one cares about my blog". I now understand that that isn't true: a lot of people care and read my posts and enjoy my photos.

So, to finish this uber-long post, I want to thank every single person who has liked, read, shared, commented, eaten, and otherwise supported my blog over the past 5 years. It's been a absolute blast!

Here's to the future! xoxo

Death By Chocolate Trifle, Ditch the Jelly and Sherry!

I absolutely, completely hate trifle: the jelly (which I hate in general) soaked into the sponge fingers has the most revolting texture, the canned fruit cocktail is abysmal, and cold custard.... oh, cold custard. My brother and my Dad love it (sans the sherry, because neither of them drinks), but I find it disgusting.

However! There are alternatives to traditional trifle for those who, like me, despise its very existence. At the end of the day, a trifle is simply a layered dessert which includes cream, cake soaked in a flavoured syrup, and some sort of other filling like custard and/or jelly and/or mousse. Once you know the basic formula, the ideas generate themselves.

In this trifle, I chopped two chocolate brownies into little cubes and sprinkled them with a simple syrup flavoured with peppermint vodka (which I made myself). I prepared some chocolate custard following this recipe.

I made a rich chocolate mousse by separating one medium (US large) egg, placing the white in a bowl for whipping, and setting the yolk aside. In a heatproof bowl over a pan of warm water I melted 1 ounce (30 grammes) of plain chocolate and 1 ounce (30 grammes) of unsalted butter. I then quickly beat in the egg yolk and heated it while stirring for a minute.

I whipped the egg white with 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar to form a stiff peaking meringue. I folded a third of the meringue into the chocolate, then poured the now-lightened chocolate mixture into the rest of the meringue and folded through completely.

In two 10 ounce (280 millilitre) high-ball glasses, I divided the mousse and allowed it to set in the fridge for about half an hour before adding in the brownie pieces, the custard, and then finally some whipped cream with I had lightly sweetened with caster sugar and swirled with a little red food colouring for a festive feel.

One of these trifles is enough to share between two people, so you can divide the mixture among four tumblers or dessert glasses if you prefer!

If chocolate isn't your thing, you can:

• Make individual tiramisu desserts, soaking lady fingers in coffee- and rum flavoured simple syrup, a traditional light marscapone mousse, and some whipped cream.
• Layer slices of jammy Swiss roll with strawberry mousse (like Angel Delight) and cream.
• Gently sprinkle some gingerbread slices with rum and layer with some thick caramel and whipped cream.

However you make your trifle, be sure to keep it in the fridge for no more than 3 days.

Fröhliche Weihnachten! Individual Sacher Tortes (Wheat Free)

Glücklicher Internationaler Sachertorte-Tag!

Our festive tour continues throughout central Europe, stopping off in Austria for a slice of their famous chocolate and apricot jam sponge: Sachertorte!

December the 5th is international Sachertorte day, coincidentally, so what better way to celebrate than sharing my own version of this iconic dessert. Invented by Franz Sacher in 1832 in Vienna, this cake has been an Austrian speciality ever since. Traditionally, it is made with two light and soft cocoa sponge layers, sandwiching sweet sour apricot jam, with two outer layers: one of apricot jam, and one of chocolate icing, made with sugar syrup and dark chocolate.

There is a lot of dispute over which is the definitive Sachertorte, and some recipes even include a double layer of apricot jam under the chocolate icing--which is iced on, rather than glazed on as is typical nowadays--and other versions use melted chocolate in the sponge itself, resulting in a denser, moister cake more like a brownie. But, I personally prefer a simple chocolate creamed sponge with a ganache coating made with chocolate and butter, rather than chocolate and syrup.

As you can see in the pictures, I'm not 100% amazing at glazing cakes: using pourable icing is not my forte. If I were to do this again, I'd wait until the icing is spreadable and ice it onto the cakes over the apricot layer. I also used a wax seal stamp to make individual chocolate decorations, inspired by this Honey Fondant Cakes with Chocolate Wax Seals blog by Heather Baird at Sprinkle Bakes. She explains the entire process of making chocolate wax seals, and I dusted mine with gold fondant dust.

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DIFFICULTY

Each step is simple, but there are a lot of steps

TIME

About 2 or 3 hours

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

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INGREDIMENTS

Makes roughly 8 small cakes

2 medium (US Large) eggs

4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, or baking margarine

6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar

5 ounces (140 grammes) flour

1 ounce (30 grammes) cocoa

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder

4 fluid ounces (115 millilitres) milk, or milk alternative
 1/8 teaspoon (1 millilitre) salt

To decorate

Roughly 4 to 6 fluid ounces (115 to 170 millilitres) apricot jam

6 ounces (170 grammes) plain chocolate, or dairy free chocolate

3 ounces (85 grammes) unsalted butter, or baking margarine

4 tablespoons (60 millilitres) whole milk, or milk alternative

8 chocolate coins, or stamped chocolates (shown below)

Gold fondant dust

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FREE FROM

Wheat, yeast, nuts

CONTAINS

Eggs, spelt, dairy (dairy free option in italics), refined sugar

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METHOD

Before you begin the cakes, make the chocolate decorations

• Prepare the wax seal chocolates as instructed in Sprinkle Bakes' article, and set in the fridge. Use a soft brush to dust the chocolates with dry gold fondant dust. If you don't have the means to make chocolate seals, simply unwrap some chocolate coins and dust with gold.

Then, make the cake

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF/Gas Mk.4) and grease and flour a 4½ by 8 inch (11 by 20 centimetre) loaf tin, or you can use a silicone one which doesn't need greasing or flouring. Try to use one with fairly straight sides.
• In a mixing bowl, or food processor, cream the soft butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, making sure to beat well between each egg, and continue beating (or running the blade) until the mix is well incorporated.
• Sieve in half of the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder, fold through until mostly mixed, then add in the milk. Again, fold through until mostly mixed before adding the rest of the dry ingredients and folding through completely.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and bake on the centre shelf for 25 to 30 minutes, until the surface is springy to the touch and a cocktail stick comes out clean when stuck in the centre of the cake.
• Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before turning out and cooling completely on a wire rack.
• When cold, level the cake by cutting off the dome, then cut in half into two layers. Spread a layer of apricot jam, roughly 4 tablespoons (60 millilitres), onto the bottom layer, then sandwich on the top layer. Turn the entire cake upside down, so the flat bottom of the cake is now the top. Chill for about 30 minutes.
• Once the cake is chilled, trim the crusts off and cut into 8 small cakes. Spread a layer of apricot jam over the tops and sides of each cake. Return to the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

Now, make the ganache glaze to finish the masterpieces!

• Break the chocolate up into small pieces, or cut up with a sharp serrated knife. Heat the butter and milk together in a jug in the microwave until the milk is hot and the butter is melted.
• Add the chocolate to the jug and allow to sit for 3 minutes before mixing with a small whisk or fork. Beat vigorously until it becomes a thick ganache. If needed, heat in the microwave for about 20 seconds to help the chocolate melt.
• Put the cakes on a wire rack and set the rack over a baking tray or large square cake tin. Pour the ganache over each cake, paying particular attention to the square corners.
• While the ganache is still wet, decorate each cake with a gold chocolate seal, or coin. Allow to set completely in the fridge before serving.

STORAGE

Keep these cakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. Alternatively, freeze for up to 3 months.

Buon Natale! Orange Amaretti: Italian Almond Macaroons (Gluten- and Dairy Free)

And thus, our Advent-ure (get it?) around Central Europe will begin with a trip to Italy! Here is my take on a simple Italian seasonal treat: amaretti, with a hint of orange!

Essentially, an amaretto is an almond macaroon and a lot of Central European countries have a version of nut macaroons and coconut macaroons. In Germany, there are kokosmakronen (coconut), mandelmakronen (almond), and haselnussmakronen (hazelnut); in France, you have the iconic macarons, which are much more delicate and technical than its cousins in other countries; and in Hungary, there are kókuszcsók (coconut). Here in Ireland, coconut macaroons are definitely more popular than the almond variety.

Making amaretti doesn't really need a recipe, as it's just a combination of egg whites, sugar, and almonds. To make them, simply make a stiff meringue with 3 ounces (85 grammes) of caster sugar for each medium (US large) egg white. Add in orange zest and almond essence to taste, and enough orange food colouring gel to get a nice pastel shade, and then fold in 3 ounces (85 grammes) of ground almonds for each egg white.

Fit a disposable piping bag with a half-inch (1 centimetre) round nozzle, and fill the bag with the mixture. Pipe the biscuits onto non-stick paper lined baking sheets, making each biscuit into a mound about an inch or so tall and wide.

Bake in an oven preheated to 150°C (300°F, Gas Mk.2) for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the biscuits are crisp and dry to the touch. Allow to cool slightly on the trays before gently peeling off and tranferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with a little icing sugar to serve.

These keep very well in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

メリークリスマス! Japanese Christmas Strawberry Shortcake

So, on my Facebook page, I recently announced that this December would be one without traditional dried fruit recipes: no mince pies, no fruit cake, no pudding, et cetera! This led me to do an awful lot of research into the Christmas food traditions of various nations from all over Eurasia, particularly Central Europe, and I was considerably educated!

However, before we delve into the Christmas traditional vitals of the central Europeans, here is an offering from the far East: Japanese Strawberry Shortcake!

From my superficial research, I was surprised to discover that mainstream Christmas celebrations weren't common in Japan until the American occupation after World War II, as such Japan doesn't have much of a Christmas food culture. Christmas is a primarily commercial affair to the mostly-Buddhist Japanese, and there aren't many particular foods that are associated with the event.

In all of my Pinterest surfing and Google searching had one cake in common, however: strawberry shortcake, called いちごのショートケーキ (ichigo no shōtokēki). This confection comprises of two light fluffy sponges (sometimes tinted pink) brushed with liqueur-scented syrup, sandwiching a sweetened whipped cream and fresh strawberry filling, iced with more cream and fresh strawberries.


While soaking cake in alcohol is very much a Christmas thing, the rest of it is something I'd associate more with a summer time dessert. And even the name is not fully correct, as the word "shortcake" refers to a cake which has a high butter or fat content, which this cake certainly does not as a (mostly) fatless sponge. Most articles say that this cake is a common generic celebration cake in Japan, and as such is eaten at Christmas as a celebratory food. I suppose this is a case of East is East, West is West, and ne'er the twain shall meet.

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DIFFICULTY

Each step is simple, but there are a lot of steps

TIME

About 2 or 3 hours

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

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INGREDIMENTS

For one 7x11 inch (18x28 centimetre) rectangular cake

3 medium (US large) eggs

3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) sunflower oil

3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) milk, cream, or Baileys Irish Cream, or milk alternative

3 ounces (85 grammes) plain spelt flour

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

A few drops almond essence

Pink or red food colouring

Simple syrup

2 tablespoons (30 grammes) caster sugar

2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) water

Optional: 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) liqueur of choice: Kirsch, rum, brandy, amaretto, Baileys Irish Cream

The liqueur can be replaced with a few drops of almond essence

Whipped cream and strawberry filling

3 ounces (85 grammes) strawberries, stems removed and cut into quarters

1 teaspoon (5 grammes) caster sugar

9 fluid ounces (250 millilitres) whipping cream

2 tablespoons (15 grammes) icing sugar

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence

A few drops of almond essence

6 whole strawberries, stems removed and cut in half

Optional: 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) Baileys Irish Cream

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FREE FROM

Wheat, yeast, nuts

CONTAINS

Eggs, spelt, dairy (dairy free option in italics), refined sugar

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METHOD

First, make the cake

• Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4). Lightly grease a 7x11 inch (18x28 centimetre) rectangular tin, and line with non-stick baking paper.
• Prepare the cake according to this recipe, adding the essences and enough food colouring to make a delicately pink mixture. Once baked, remove the paper and allow to cool completely.

Prepare the syrup

• Mix the sugar and water together in a jug or mug, and heat in the microwave for 1 minute on high, until the sugar has dissolved completely in the water.
• Mix in the liqueur, and allow to cool slightly until just warm. If you don't want to use alcohol, add in a few drops of vanilla and almond essences.

Prepare the strawberries and cream

• In a bowl, toss the quartered strawberries with the caster sugar and allow to sit for 10 minutes. The sugar will transform into a delicious syrup and the strawberries will become juicy.
• Whip the cream with the icing sugar, vanilla, and almond essences to soft peaks in a cold mixing bowl. Take about 3 ounces (85 grammes) of the cream and fold into the juicy strawberries.
• Keep the remaining cream and the strawberry cream in the fridge while you prepare the cake for assembly.

Now, assemble the masterpiece!

• Cut the cake in half to make two 7x5½ inch (18x14 centimetre) cakes. Brush liberally with the simple syrup to soak the surface. 
• On a serving plate, sandwich the two cakes together with the strawberry cream, spreading the filling to the edges. Press together gently, and chill for an hour.
• Take out of the fridge and trim the crusts; your cake will be reduced in size to roughly 6x5 inches (15x13 centimetre). Enjoy the cut offs!
• Ice with the remaining cream, smoothing to your liking, and then decorate with the halved strawberries.
• Chill for about 2 hours before serving. This cake can be cut into 12 little squares, or 6 fingers.

STORAGE

This cake will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days.