Rich Tea Biscuits (Dairy- and Egg Free, with Wheat Free Option)

Is there anything quite as deliciously dunkable as a rich tea biscuit? Well, now you can make them at home!

Here in Ireland and the British Isles, these biscuits are readily available in every super market as a biscuit barrel staple; supermarkets even have their own brand versions of this crispy, plain treat. Not too fatty, not too sweet, with the perfect level of firm snap to withstand a thorough soaking in a hot cup of tea.

Essentially, a rich tea is a flat, thin, crunchy scone; it was almost exactly the same ingredients, and in nearly exactly the same proportions. If you look at the nutritional information on a pack of rich teas, you'll see that they're generally 15% fat and 20% sugar, and mostly flour. A scone is generally 25% fat and 15% sugar.

I've made this using self-raising wheat flour, and with spelt flour with added raising agents. I've noticed the ones made using shop-bought self-raising flour work the best, because it has just the right proportion of raising agents. However, I've included a recipe for homemade self-raising flour.

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

DIFFICULTY
Requires a light touch with dough

TIME

About an hour

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

Ingredients for about 14 to 16 biscuits, depending on size

5 ounces (140 grammes) self raising flour*

Good pinch of salt

1 ounce (30 grammes) caster sugar

1 ounces (30 grammes) very cold margarine, or butter if you like

Water to bind, about 1 to 2 tablespoons

* - If you want to make your own self-raising flour, sieve 1 teaspoon of baking powder into every 4 ounces (115 grammes) of plain white spelt or wheat flour

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

METHOD

• Line a one or two baking trays with non-stick baking paper, and preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2).
• In a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour (and baking powder, if using), salt, and sugar. Rub in the margarine, or butter, until you have a very fine mixture.
• Gradually add the water, bringing the dough together with your hand. Add just enough water to bring the dough together into a stiff ball.
• Wrap the dough in cling film, or place in an airtight container, and allow to rest in the fridge for an hour to relax the gluten and set the margarine.
• Roll the dough out as thin as you dare on a floured work surface, making sure the turn the dough frequently as you roll so it doesn't pull back against the rolling pin. Cut 3 inch (7.5 centimetre) circles with a glass or biscuit cutter and prick each biscuit with a fork.
• Lie them gently on the baking trays, about half an inch (1 centimetre) apart, and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are completely dry and a light golden brown.
• Transfer the biscuits from the tray to a wire rack to cool to room temperature before eating. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Madeira Cake, Two Ways! A Traditional English Tea Time Treat

👻 ❤ HAPPY WORLD GOTH DAY EVERYONE! ❤ 👻

I had had another recipe planned for today, but unfortunately it went horribly wrong and went into the bin. Oh well, these things happen! I can't get it right all the time. However, a cake with eyes is spooky enough to qualify for a Goth cake....

So you hopefully have seen my most recent pride and joy—the Polish style loaf cake with eyes—and it relies on using a nice firm cake like a Madeira or Pound cake. As such, I thought I'd share with you my preferred recipe for a nice close-textured but surprisingly light cake.

It is commonly believed that Madeira cake is an invention of Portugal, where the Madeira Islands are: old wives tales will tell you that England imported the confection from their longest standing ally during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. However, this is incorrect: Madeira cake is simple an eggier version of a traditional English pound cake, and got its name because it was frequently served as an accompaniment to Madeira wine at afternoon tea.

Madeira cake can be made in two ways: using a meringue base, or by creaming the butter. Either way works, but if you're going to use the creamed method I strongly recommend using margarine: it emulsifies a lot better than butter.

This cake can be made into a loaf cake, or this amount will also fit in an 8 inch (22 centimetre) round deep tin. If you make a round cake, split it in half, and make it into a sandwich with strawberry jam and cream, you'll make a wonderful Victoria Sandwich. Just remember to dust with icing sugar!

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

DIFFICULTY

Requires gradually adding ingredients while whisking

TIME

Roughly 1½ hours

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

2 medium (US Large) eggs, at room temperature

4 ounces (115 grammes, half a cup) unsalted butter or block margarine, at room temperature. For a cake with more moisture, you can replace a quarter of the butter with sunflower oil

6 ounces (170 grammes, three-quarters of a cup) caster sugar

6 ounces (170 grammes, one-and-a-half cups) plain white spelt flour

1½ teaspoons (7 mililitres) baking powder

3 fluid ounces (90 millilitres, one-third cup plus one tablespoon) milk

Pinch of salt

METHOD

• Grease and flour a 2 pound (900 gramme) loaf tin very well and dust it with flour. If you like, you can line the bottom with non-stick baking paper. Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F, Gas Mk.3).
• Prepare the cake to one of the methods below, and put the mixture into the loaf tin. Smooth out the top as best you can, and bake on the centre shelf for 45 minutes to an hour. Check for doneness after 45 minutes, but no sooner.
• Once cooked, allow to cool slightly on a wire rack in the tin for about 15 minutes before turning out of the tin and returning to the wire rack to cool completely.

Method 1: Meringue Based Method (Traditional)

One of the earliest published recipes was by Eliza Acton in her Modern Cookery for Private Families (1845), which stated:

"A Good Madeira Cake: Whisk four fresh eggs until they are as light as possible, then, continuing still to whisk them, throw by slow degrees the following ingredients in the order in which they are written: six ounces of dry pounded and sifted sugar; six of flour, also dried and sifted; four ounces of butter just dissolved, but not heated; the rind of a fresh lemon; and the instant before the cake is moulded beat well in the third of a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda: bake an hour in a moderate oven."

This recipe makes a cake that's very heavy on the eggs, and the problem with eggy cakes is that if they don't rise properly they can taste like omelette. Also, I personally find it easier to whisk eggs to full capacity if they're separated first, then mixed back together: whisking whole eggs alone can take an age, as the fat in the yolks interferes with the aeration of the protein in the whites.

Below, is my adaptation of the traditional recipe. You'll probably have noticed I quite frequently do meringue- or sabayon based sponge cakes, because getting full and proper aeration in a creamed butter mixture can take a lot of practise.

Instructions

• Set out a sheet of non-stick baking paper, and sieve the flour, baking powder, and salt out onto the paper. Set aside for later.
• In a a heatproof bowl over warm water, or in a jug in the microwave on the "Defrost" setting, heat together the milk and butter until melted, but not hot. Stir in half of the sugar, and set aside to cool completely.
• Separate the egg, and put the whites into a large mixing bowl. Stir the yolks into the melted butter mixture.
• Whisk the eggs to soft peaks, and then gradually add in the remaining sugar to make a stiff meringue.
• Take a spoon of the meringue and stir it into the melted butter to lighten it, then add that mixture back into the mixing bowl. Fold through gently but quickly with a metal spoon.
• Pour the flour back into the sieve, and sieve it into the bowl. Fold again gently but thoroughly until you have a batter of soft-dropping consistency

Method 2: Creamed Butter Method (Modern)

Every baker started with a good old pound cake recipe: quarter pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and self-raising flour mixed together with an electric mixer. The all in one method is very good for beginners, but runs the risk of being uneven or over-mixed, and the longer method of creaming the butter and sugar together and adding the egg gradually runs of the risk of splitting or curdling.

I personally have found the best way to avoid curdling of the butter and eggs is to use margarine, not butter: margarine contains emulsifiers that help bind the eggs and butter together. Also, when adding the egg, it's best to focus the beaters only on the area where the eggs are until it's completely emulsified, before running the beater around the whole bowl.

Instructions

• Set out a sheet of non-stick baking paper, and sieve the flour, baking powder, and salt out onto the paper. Set aside for later.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together very well for a full two to three minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Beat the eggs together in a jug, and add the egg to the butter mixture in 4 additions, beating well after each. As I explained earlier: focus your beaters on the butter surrounding the egg until completely mixed before running the beater around the whole bowl to mix the whole thing together.
• Sieve in a third of the flour and fold in gently but quickly until mixed. Fold in half the milk in the same way. Alternate the rest of the flour and milk, finishing with the flour.

THIS TIME IN 2017: Happy World Goth Day! (Goth Fairy Cakes)
THIS TIME IN 2015: Super Moist and Rich Chocolate Cake
THIS TIME IN 2013: Coconut Custard Creams (Wheat Free)
There were no blogs at this time in 2014 nor 2016.

Bakewell Gateau (Wheat Free, with Dairy Free Option)

My Dad celebrated his 57th birthday this year! It was a lovely day: he got some nice presents, like some new bubble baths and books on watercolors--which is a new hobby of his--and we got a lovely dinner made by my brother's fiancée (with his help).

So, to commemorate this special occasion, I decided to make a cake version of my Dad's favourite pastry: Bakewell tart! I've only had one brush with the iconic English delight on this blog in the past, and it was just a fairly straightforward traybake re-imagining to save some time on making individual pastry cases.

This cake pays homage to the delicious shortbread pastry case by encircling the whole perimeter with shortbread biscuits. The cake itself is made from two thick layers of buttery almond sponge, inspired by the dense, moist frangipane sponge usually found in a Bakewell tart. And you can't make this kind of cake without sweet fondant-style icing and glacé cherries!

Please set aside a good 5 hours to make this: it's not technically complicated, but it's time consuming. In fact, this tastes much better the day after it's made, not on the day.

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DIFFICULTY

Simple sponge cake and shortbread making, and layer cake constructing

TIME

About 5 hours

RECIPE RATING

Experienced: time consuming

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INGREDIMENTS

Makes one deep 8 inch (20 centimetre) round cake

9 ounces (250 grammes) caster sugar

6 ounces (170 grammes) unsalted butter, or baking margarine, at room temperature

3 medium (US Large) eggs, at room temperature

1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 millilitres) almond essence, to taste

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

4 fluid ounces (115 millilitres) whole milk, or milk alternative

Pinch of salt

4½ ounces (130 grammes) white spelt flour

4½ ounces (130 grammes) ground almonds

2½ teaspoons (12 millilitres) baking powder

Jam Filling

4 fluid ounces (115 millilitres) seedless raspberry jam

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) cornflour

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) lemon juice

Shortbread Biscuits

3½ ounces (100 grammes) white spelt flour

1 ounces (30 grammes) cornflour

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

1½ ounces (40 grammes) sugar

To decorate

8 ounces (225 grammes) icing sugar

1 ounce (30 grammes) butter, melted, or coconut oil, or baking margarine

Hot water, to mix

7 glacé cherries, cut in half

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FREE FROM

Wheat, yeast

CONTAINS

Spelt, eggs, dairy (dairy free option in italics), refined sugar, nuts

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METHOD

First, make the biscuits to decorate the outside

• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and icing sugar together until smooth. Sieve in the spelt flour and cornflour, and rub into the mixture with your fingers until you have a soft dough. Wrap in cling film, flatten into a disc, and chill for about an hour.
• If you like, while the dough is chilling, you can prepare the cake.
• Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F, Gas Mk.2), and line one or two flat sheets with a piece of non-stick baking paper.
• Dust the work surface with cornflour and roll out to about a quarter inch (5 millimetres) thick. Cut into rectangles measuring 1 by 2½ inches (2½ by 6½ centimetres) with a straight blade or a fluted pastry wheel. You can re-roll the dough twice to cut more biscuits, and you should have about 20 biscuits.
• Lie the biscuits on the baking tray, about half an inch (1 centimetre) apart, and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are gently browned.
• After cooking, transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cake

• Sieve together the flour, almonds, salt, and baking powder onto a sheet of baking paper, and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together very well, until light and creamy. Using an electric mixer, this will take about 3 minutes.
• Beat the eggs in one by one, making sure to beat in each egg completely before adding the next. If you have a food processor, the eggs, sugar, and butter and be blitzed all at once for a couple of minutes.
• Beat in the essences, adding the almond essence to taste. Fold in half the flour mixture, followed by the milk, and finishing with the last half of the flour mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and bake on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. If the top is browning too quickly, but the cake isn't done through the middle, cover with a tin foil tent.
• Once cooked, remove from the oven, loosen the sides, and allow to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack.

While the cake cools, prepare the jam

• Place the jam in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it melts and begins to simmer. Mix the cornflour, lemon juice, and a few teaspoons of water together in a cup to make a slurry.
• Beat in the slurry and continue to cook for a minute or two, until the mixture thickens. Allow to cool completely before using to fill the cake.

Assemble the masterpiece!

• If the cake has a dome, cut it off. Cut the cake in half into two equal layers. Place the top half of the cake upside down on the serving plate, cover with the jam, spreading out to half an inch (1 centimetre) from the edge. Sandwich with the bottom half of the cake, upside down. Now, the flat bottom crust of the cake is the top.
• Make a thick but running icing with the icing sugar, melted butter, and enough hot water to get the right consistency.
• Cover the top and sides with a very thin layer of glace icing. Use a little bit of icing on the back of each biscuit and attach to the side of the cake to make a crust.
• If the icing has set too much, add a few drops of water and heat for a few seconds in the microwave to retrieve the flowing consistency. Pour onto the top of the cake to make a thick icing layer; the biscuits make a damn to hold in the icing.
• Decorate the top with halved glacé cherries, as you like. This cake is best made the day before serving, but if you don't have that amount of time, allow the whole confection to set for about 2 hours before serving.

STORAGE

Best eaten the day after it's made, but keeps in an airtight container for up to 10 days at room temperature.

Crumpets (Wheat- and Egg Free)

Readers of Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff, I present to you a project I have always thought about since I was very young: crumpets!

When I was much younger, I was given a book called The Book of Afternoon Tea by Lesley Mackley, which I'm sure I've mentioned many times in the past. In this book, is a recipe for crumpets. Now, if one is a half-English person living in Ireland, there are some creature comforts of England that are kinda misunderstood here: one of which is crumpets. They go in and out of the supermarkets every so often, but don't have much staying power. I don't think the locals quite understand them.

Not only are regular crumpets widely unavailable, wheat- or gluten free ones are unheard of all together. You can buy them at great expense in Marks and Spencer, but it turns out that making them at home is much cheaper, even if spelt flour has risen to an eye-watering €3.80 per kilogram (ouch!). But to make them at home you need a specific piece of kit: a crumpet ring.

Recently, as I mentioned in my last post, I was in England with my companion to collect a car from his friend. While I was there, I went looking in a local kitchen supply shop and found just the thing I was looking for: crumpet rings! I bought two in a pack for about £4.50, which isn't too bad. And on my return home, I couldn't wait to use them!

I did a little research online for the best recipe, and many recipes advise to add some bicarbonate of soda to help a) the production of the little holes, and b) neutralise some of the acidifying nature of yeast. I don't know if there's any science behind this, but I trusted the advice. As such, this recipe is basically the same one as found in the Afternoon Tea book, with the addition of bicarb.

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) salt
• One quarter-ounce (7 gramme) sachet of dry active yeast
• Half a UK pint (285 millilitres) milk, lukewarm
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) water
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) bicarbonate of soda

METHOD

• In a medium mixing bowl, mix 2 ounces (55 grammes) of the flour, the salt, the sugar, the yeast, and half the milk until is is a well combined, thin mixture. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes until all the little yeast particles dissolve.
• Mix in all the remaining ingredients, using a balloon whisk, until you get something like a thin pancake mixture.
• Cover the bowl with cling film or a clean tea towel, and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to one hour, until doubled and bubbly.

• Once it has risen, grease a heavy frying pan and two to three crumpet rings. Preheat the pan over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Place the rings onto the pan, and fill each one halfway full, about half an inch (1 centimetre), being careful to keep all the lovely bubbles in the mixture. Cook until the tops are pitted and dry, about 6 minutes. If the bottoms are browning too quickly, turn down the heat.

• One the tops are pitted, dry, and nicely full of holes, flip over and cook for a further minute. Serve immediately with butter, or jam, and any left overs can be cooled on a wire rack and stored for three days.

Bibliography: Mackley, L. The Book of Afternoon Tea. HP Trade. July 1992

THIS TIME IN 2015: June Afternoon Tea Party: "Picnic"

THIS TIME IN 2013: Vegan Banana Bread (Wheat-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)

No blogs on this day in 2014 or 2016

I've Finally Cracked It! Working with Yeast and Spelt: Iced Finger Buns (Wheat Free, with Dairy Free Option)

UPDATE 05/05/2017: I slightly altered the dough preparation method, introducing a sponge technique to help dissolve the yeast, and properly gauge the amount of flour and liquid needed.

I've done it. I've finally done it. I have succeeded after years of trying: I have at long last cracked the code to making dough with yeast and spelt! So many years of failed attempts... I'm so relieved.

So, I decided to celebrate by making a tasty batch of lovely iced finger buns! A little taste of childhood for my siblings and I.

There is nothing quite as English as spreading a load of icing on top of a piece of bread. I don't quite know why, but it fairly accurately sums up the spirit of the British approach to eating. And to make them, you need a nice, soft, pillowy bread recipe.

So what has my difficulty been with spelt and yeast? I've mentioned many times over the years, more than I can count at this stage, that spelt and yeast don't mix well. This was a believe I had formulated as a result of countless failed attempts at making yeast leavened dough with spelt flour instead of wheat flour. I thought the problem was the flour. Turns out the problem has been the yeast and the fermentation process all these years.

Ireland doesn't have a very warm climate: it has a wet, damp, humid, mostly freezing cold climate. None of these is conducive to:

1. Fermentation
Yeast needs a nice warm environment to grow in. It is indeed a living organism, a tiny little mushroom creature, that needs to be warm, well fed, and hydrated to perform like it should. I obviously haven't been getting my dough proving at the right temperature of humidity all these years, because the dough has never risen.

or 2. Yeast Lifespan
Cold damp houses aren't nice places for yeast to live. I'd say more times than not over the last few years, I've used yeast that has probably already perished under such inhospitable conditions.

I bought some new yeast, some new flour, and attempted to make yeast dough again. I summed up the courage to attempt it again, even though it may have failed miserably. This time, I was not disappointed.

I had formulated the recipe by cross referencing a load of recipes together, inspired mostly by the Korean doughnuts and dinner rolls of Maangchi, and by the iced bun recipe of The Great British Bake Off's Paul Hollywood. I also followed some recommendations online about how liquid behaves differently with wheat flour and spelt flour. Armed with this knowledge, I formulated the recipe below.

I made sure the dough had a lovely house to live in while fermenting: the oven, with the heat turned off but the light left on, with a bowl of boiled water on the bottom shelf to make it nice and steamy. This made the dough rise perfectly! I was amazed: the dough looked, and smelled, incredible. Look at all those bubbills!!

Although I had a little hiccup with the oven, where the element was broken and I had to improvise with the fan assisted grill setting, they baked wonderfully! The rolls were exquisitely soft and springy on cooling, and had a deliciously present yeasty flavour. 

The butter, sugar, and eggs keep the bread soft, but not too sickly sweet or rich. In fact, I think they'd make nice hot dog rolls if the mixture were slightly re-purposed.

See the lovely soft sides, and delicious texture within? I know I'm totally fangirling over this bread right now, but I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally have a successful spelt bread attempt.

So, without any further ado, after almost four years of blogging, I present to you a recipe for soft spelt bread.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy (dairy substitutes can be found in italics)
☒ Gluten
☒ Yeast
☒ Refined sugar products


INGREDIMENTS
For 16 small buns, or 12 large buns

• 1 pound (455 grammes) white spelt flour, plus some for dusting
• 2 quarter-ounce (7 gramme) packages of dry active yeast
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) salt
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs, room temperature
• 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) hand-hot milk
• 2 or 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 millilitres) warm water, to adjust the texture if needed
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature, or margarine

For icing,

• 1 tablespoon (15 grammes) butter, or margarine
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) icing sugar
• 2 to 3 teaspoons (10 to 15 millilitres) hot water
• Optional: Food colourings and essences

METHOD

First, prepare the yeast dough.

• In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, milk, salt, and eggs. Mix in the yeast, and then add in half of the flour to make a paste. If it is too dry, add more milk or water, and if it is too wet, add some more flour. It should be like a gluey paste, not a cake or pancake mixture.
• Allow this mixture to sit for about 20 minutes, or until it starts to rise and bubble. If you like, you can allow to it rise until doubled, which will save kneading time.
• Add in rest of the flour, a little at a time, to form a dough. You can use your hands, or a wooden spoon. You may not need to add all the flour, or you may need to add some more. Bread making is not an exact science: sometimes room humidity, or even the brand of flour, can change the consistency.
• Once you achieve a dough, turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes. The dough should be soft and tacky, almost sticky.
• Then, knead in the soft butter. It will take another 3 or 5 minutes to knead in the butter, and once you're done it should be a lovely soft, supple, tacky (but not sticky) dough.
• Clean out the bowl and grease it lightly. Roll the dough into a ball and put in the bowl, tossing a few times to coat it in oil.
• Cover with clingfilm, then a tea towel, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours to at least double in size. I put mine in the oven, turned off, with the oven light on, and a bowl of hot water on the bottom shelf to make a nice warm, humid atmosphere. 

Now, make the fingers.

• Grease and flour a 13 by 9 inch (33 by 22 centimetre) flat baking tray.
• Once risen and puffed full of air, gently deflate and turn out onto the work surface. Only use a dusting of flour if it's sticking.
• Divide the dough into 16 pieces, and roll each piece into a rectangle about 4 inches (10 centimetres) wide; the length doesn't matter. Roll them up like little Swiss rolls.
• Place the rolls on the baking tray about an inch (2 centimetres) apart to allow for rising. You want them to rise into each others' sides to get nice soft sides.
• Drape a clean tea towel or the clingfilm from earlier over the rolls and place back in the warm place and leave for 45 minutes to an hour, until once again at least doubled in size.
• Preheat your oven to 220ºC (425ºF, Gas Mk.7 or 8), then bake the rolls on the centre shelf for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown on top and well risen.
• Turn the buns out, still attached to one another, onto a wire rack to cool completely before pulling apart.

I used two trays because I didn't have one big enough. 

And yes, there are 14. I miscounted my doughballs.

Once fully cool, ice the fingers.

• Mix together the icing sugar, butter, and half of the water until a smooth icing is formed. You may need to add more water to make it nice and spreadable.
• Spread about a rounded teaspoon of icing onto each roll and spread it across the top with the blunt side of a table knife, or a palette knife.
• If you like, you can decorate the tops with sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, sweets, or grated chocolate.

I decorated mine with some coffee flavoured icing, and some plain icing in white and pink. Look forward to more experiments with spelt bread in the future, but for now make these and enjoy them for up to two days, as long as they're kept airtight.

Spotted Dick: a Traditional English Pudding (Wheat Free, Egg Free, with Dairy Free Option)

Since I made the Christmas pudding in a quarter of the time, I have had an itch for making steamed puddings. So, I've started off my series of experimentation with an English classic, though unfortunately named for nowadays audience, Spotted Dick.

Nobody does stodgy, heavy puddings like the English (well, Indian desserts are also fairly stodgy), and it's something that's kind of lacking in Irish cuisine. In fact, desserts aren't really a feature in Irish cuisine in general, except for the odd bread and butter putting, fruit scone, or "goody", which is a porridge made of white breadcrumbs, milk, sugar, and dried fruit (it's truly disgusting); we like dairy products big time, and most desserts here tend to be milky rather than bready or cakey.

Whereas across the Drink -- the land to which I owe half of my heritage -- desserts and puddings are a national pastime. Whether it's a dense and fruity Chelsea bun (which is a personal favourite of mine) or a steamed suet and syrup pudding, it's all about the stodge; filling every corner of the tummy.

My brother and I often talk about the stark contrast of the cakes section in Dunnes Stores (an Irish supermarket) and Tesco (an English supermarket that has stores in Ireland): the Tesco cakes and desserts section is far more comprehensive, including a whole section dedicated to steamed puddings, ready to eat custard, and evaporated milk.

Steamed puddings are the business, however, they're not truly understood by Irish people of my generation; maybe of the generation before us, but not folk my age. Golden syrup puddings are nice, but nothing is nicer than Spotted Dick.

Yes, you can giggle at the name, but essentially it's a like a plain sponge cake spotted with dried fruit, boiled for a few hours. The long cooking process gives it a beautiful caramelised golden crust, and a lovely dense moist centre. Traditionally, the dried fruit used is currants -- and sometimes citrus peel -- but here currants are expensive so I use chopped raisins.

It's really very simple to make: just flour, raising agent, suet, sugar, milk, and dried fruit. Now, because suet that you buy from the shop is neither vegetarian nor wheat-intolerance friendly, I use grated lard, or grated butter for an extra level of indulgence.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres) milk
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) vegetable lard or block butter, very cold
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) raisins, chopped into small pieces

If using unsalted butter, add 2 pinches of salt.

METHOD

• Lightly grease a 2 pint (1 litre) pudding basin with a little butter.
• In a mixing bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, and caster sugar together until blended. 
• Using a box grater, grate the lard or butter into the dry ingredients, dipping the grated side in the flour between grates. Using the fingertips, slightly break up the strands of lard or butter.
• Stir in the raisins, and then mix in the milk. Mix gently without beating to a thick batter.
• Pour into the pudding basin and smooth off the top with the back of a metal spoon or the tip of a rubber spatula.
• Cover the top of the basin with a sheet of aluminium foil, crumpled underneath the rim, or if your basin has a lid, use that. If you don't have aluminium foil, use a square of greaseproof paper with a pleat in the middle, and secure underneath the rim with some twine. Cook as instructed below.
• After cooling slightly on the rack as instructed, remove the cover and turn out onto a plate for serving.

To cook in a pressure cooker:

• Place the pudding in the cooker's steaming basket, or on an upturned side plate on the bottom of the pan. Fill the pan with boiled water to half way up the side of the pudding basin.
• Cover and lock, and bring to full pressure. If your cooker has pressure options, put it on high pressure.
• Once brought to pressure, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 45 to 55 minutes. After 45 minutes, vent to release the pressure and check the doneness of the pudding with a knife or a skewer: if there is any sticky under cooked mixture stuck to the skewer or knife, cover again and bring to pressure to cook for an additional 5 or 10 minutes.
• When cooked, vent to release the pressure, take the pudding out of the pan with oven mitts, and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

To cook in a normal saucepan:

• Find a saucepan big enough to accommodate the pudding. Place the pudding in a steaming basket, or on an upturned side plate on the bottom of the pan. Fill the pan with boiled water to half way up the side of the pudding basin.
• Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce to a vigorous simmer, and cook the pudding for 2 to 2½ hours, checking for doneness after 2 hours.
• When cooked, turn off the heat and take the pudding out of the pan with oven mitts, and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

This pudding is best enjoyed immediately after cooking with heated custard or pouring cream. It doesn't keep very well -- 2 days in the fridge at the most before it goes bendy -- so eat it quick!

Buttermilk Scones (Wheat Free)

There's nothing nicer than a lovely fluffy, freshly baked scone; it's one of life's simple little pleasures.

In North American countries, I believe these are more commonly known as biscuits and are eaten as part of a savoury meal, with stew or sausages and gravy. Here, they're served for breakfast, as a mid-morning snack, or an afternoon tea treat with butter and jam, and in the UK they can be eaten with clotted cream or honey.

Scones are supposed to be light and fluffy, but here in Ireland they tend to be solid and stodgy and sit in your stomach for hours. For years I've been experimenting with different recipes, but they've always been too dense and use a load of ingredients that aren't necessary.

What is necessary, however, is the combination of baking powder and baking soda. These two raising agents work together: the baking powder is a fast acting agent, that begins working as soon as they hit the oven's heat, and once it's finished working, the slow acting effect of the baking soda kicks in to continue the rising process. This is why they're super fluffsome!

Essentially, scones are baby soda breads with the addition of butter and a little sugar. They're lovely and fluffy, and best enjoyed with butter and jam. These are made using a handful of very simple ingredients: flour, raising agent, butter, buttermilk, and a hint of sugar. These are best enjoyed on the day they are baked.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy

INGREDIMENTS

For eight medium sized scones

• 12 ounces (340 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) baking powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 8 to 10 fluid ounces (230 to 285 millilitres) buttermilk
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) block butter, cut into cubes
• 1 or 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 millilitres; 15 to 30 grammes) caster sugar

If using unsalted butter, add 2 pinches of salt.

METHOD

• Lightly grease a baking sheet with butter or sunflower oil. Preheat the oven to 220ºC (450ºF, Gas Mk.9).
• In a mixing bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar together until blended. Grate in the butter, then break it up a little with your fingertips; if you can still see pea-sized pieces of butter, that's enough breaking.
• Add the buttermilk bit by bit until you get a soft workable dough, mixing with a knife. Don't over handle it, or the finished scones will be tough.The dough might be a little uneven, with some bits dry and some bits sticky, but that's how it should be.
• Turn out onto a floured working surface, fold and flatten a few times to even out the consistency a bit. Flatten with your hand to a thickness of about an inch (2.5 centimetres). Using a 3 inch (7 centimetre) cutter or glass dipped in flour, cut out the scones. Do not twist the cutter: just go straight down and straight up. Twisting will make the scones turn out weird. I didn't make the rules here.
• Gently squish together the scraps and flatten out again to cut some more. You should get about eight or nine scones.
• Place the scones on the baking sheet so they're slightly touching. It helps as well to line them in a 3-2-3 pattern, as opposed to two lines of 4. This way, they help each other rise in the oven. Brush the tops with beaten egg or with melted butter.
• Cook them in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and well risen.
• Break apart and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before eating. They're best straight from the oven, but they do keep well in an airtight box for up to a week.

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Peppermint Ice (Totally not a rip off of Kendal Mint Cake at all. I promise)

My companion and I were having a conversation about my sugar crafting abilities recently, and Kendal Mint Cake came up in conversation. As such, I made a a batch, that he ate promptly and reported to his sister. She also wanted some, so I obliged.

Kendal Mint Cake is a glucose sweet flavoured with peppermint oil that originates from Kendal in Cumbria, England. It is popular among climbers and mountaineers as a source of energy. It is based on a traditional recipe known as mint cake, peppermint tablet or peppermint ice. It is also a standard part of the 24-hour ration pack issued to the Irish Defence Forces.

There are a few brands of this kind of sweet, all made in Cumbria, and some are covered in chocolate or made with brown sugar. This, however, is the good auld traditional way.


INGREDIENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) caster sugar
• About 4 or 6 tablespoons (60 to 90 millilitres) water, for dissolving
• 1/4 teaspoon of white vinegar, lemon juice, or cream of tartar
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of natural peppermint essence, depending on how strong you want it

METHOD

• In the saucepan, add the water, sugar, and vinegar (or lemon juice or cream of tartar). Over a low heat, gently stir and dissolve all the sugar in the water until it's a clear liquid. Make sure that no little grains of sugar stick to the sides of the pan.
• When every little grain of sugar has dissolved, increase the heat and bring the syrup to a rough simmer, just about boiling. If you have a sugar thermometer, attach it to your pan now, and cook to 115ºC/240ºF. If you do not have a thermometer, you will need to do traditional cold water testing.
• After 5 minutes of cooking, you can begin to test the syrup in cold water. Take a teaspoon of the syrup and drop it into the cold water: if the syrup sets enough to pick up and roll into a little squishy ball, the syrup is read. If it's still to runny, cook for another minute or two and test again. Keep cooking and testing until the texture is right.
• Once you have got the right texture, remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to cool until the syrup forms a skin and the pan is cool enough to touch.
• Add in your peppermint essence, and then stir the mixture with a spoon quite vigorously until it turns cloudy and thickens a little. Working quickly, pour the mixture into the tin, scraping the edges of the pan as little as possible; if you don't work quickly enough, the mixture could seize up into a big, solid lump.
• Allow the mixture to cool and set up completely, about 1 or 2 hours. Take out of the tin and break into pieces.

NOTES
If you plan on making mint cake often, I would recommend buying the organic peppermint essence from the health food shop, which comes in 100ml bottles and is about €8. It will last for ages, and is made using natural essential oil of peppermint, mixed with a flavourless carrier oil. However, the peppermint essence in little bottles from the supermarket will do if you're making this recipe once off, but I prefer not to use it because it's artificial and the flavour fades over time into a nasty plastic taste.

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Battenberg Birthday Cake (Wheat and Dairy Free)

As of today, my blog has 7000 views! I am super pleased, and a big thank you goes out to everyone who reads and makes use of my recipes. This is yet another thing to celebrate this weekend, as it was my companion's birthday yesterday, and also the big day out with my youth group. And celebrations need special cakes: say hello to the Battenberg Gateau!

Through a lot of surreptitious questioning and hinting, I discovered that my companion's favourite cake it Battenberg: a delicious rectangular loaf of almond flavoured sponge, arranged in a checkerboard of yellow and pink, apricot jam for gluing, and a marzipan coating, traditionally scored in a crosshatch pattern.

Now, mine was different in a few ways: a) because it is round and not a rectangular loaf, and b) because I used raspberry instead of apricot jam. It still used the traditional combination of natural and pink sponge with marzipan, but I held off on luminous yellow colouring for the marzipan.

So, let's start with the sponge itself. I made two 7 inch (18 centimeters) almond flavoured sponges in the same way I made the sponge for my Fondant Fancies; for each I used 3 medium eggs and scaling the rest of the ingredients up accordingly, and added ½ teaspoon of almond essence, and tainted one of the cakes pink with some red food colouring. I baked them each for 35 to 40 minutes at 170°C (325°F/Gas Mk.3); bigger cakes take more time on a lower setting.

This recipe makes a super light and fluffy cake, which is just like the cake found in a commercially made Battenbergs. You can, however, use which ever sponge cake recipe you like.

Once cooked, each cake was a little over 2 inches (5 centimetres) tall, and gave two 1 inch (2½ centimetre) slices, with the dome coming off the top. If you measure up from the bottom and then cut the slices, the dome will just be left behind. 

I then used the same concentric circles technique as I did for this checkerboard cake when arranging this, cutting each slice with a 4½ inch and a 2½ inch (12 centimetre and 6 centimetre) round cutter of some kind, or cut around bowls or glasses that are the same size. I used three layers in total, and as such I had a slice left over for nibbling.

I fused the concentric rings together with sieved raspberry jam, sandwiched all the three layers together with the sieved raspberry jam, and then spread jam around the outsides of the cake, too. I coated the cake with marzipan, which I rolled out to a quarter-inch (half centimetre) thickness, gently scoring the top with a crosshatch patter; I then used the excess to cut some decorative shapes.

You can buy marzipan from the shop is you like, or you can make your own, which is done by mixing equal quantities of ground almonds and icing sugar, bound with enough water to make a dough. To coat this cake, I used 3 ounces (85 grammes) each of ground almonds and icing sugar, but in hindsight, I think 4 ounces (115 grammes) of each would have made a better, thicker coating, as mine was just under quarter of an inch, as you can see in this picture.

This was really delicious, and I'm already considering making another one just for me to have at home, because the big one was demolished by the guests at our impromptu celebration for my companion's birthday.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts
☑ Dairy

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS
Makes one 8 inch (20 centimetre) gateau

For the natural sponge cake:

• 4½ ounces (130 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) cornflour
• 1½ teaspoons (8 millilitres) baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 3 medium eggs
• 4½ ounces (130 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) sunflower oil
• 3 fluid ounces (90 millilitres) water
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) almond essence

For the pink sponge cake:

• 4½ ounces (130 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) cornflour
• 1½ teaspoons (8 millilitres) baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 3 medium eggs
• 4½ ounces (130 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) sunflower oil
• 3 fluid ounces (90 millilitres) water
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) almond essence
• A few drops of red food colouring

For the marzipan and assembly:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) ground almonds
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) icing sugar
• About 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) of water to bind, only more if necessary
• Few drops of almond essence
• Sieved raspberry or apricot jam, for assembly

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