Taste of Thailand: Pink Milk Bread (Dairy and Egg Free; Wheat Free Option)

กินให้อร่อยนะ!

For the first installment in my new series, Taste of Thailand, I have some delicious pink milk bread.

I don't know any Thai apart from "Sawasadee ka" and "Kop khun ka", but I do know that I absolutely loved the squishy, fluffy, pink milk bread available in 7-Eleven shops all over Bangkok and Pattaya!

This is simply a Hokkaido milk bread that's flavoured mildly with "pink milk": pink milk could either be a Thai beverage of milk and sala syrup, which is also called snake fruit syrup; or simply strawberry milk. I haven't found the answer to which one it is yet, so I use strawberry syrup because sala syrup is hard to find, expensive, and I don't want a whole bottle for one experiment.

This bread is very sweet, and would make lovely Japanese fruit and cream sandwiches. If you don't want it as sweet, leave out some of the sugar. The dough is a little fiddly too, but persevere and you'll get a fabulous, fluffy, soft bread.

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DIFFICULTY

Requires kneading a very sticky dough

TIME

Over 4 hours

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate/Advanced

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INGREDIMENTS

12 ounces (340 grammes) strong white bread flour, at least 11.5% protein*

2¼ teaspoons (1 sachet) active yeast

1 ounce (30 grammes) caster sugar
1 ounce (30 millilitres) sunflower oil

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) salt

1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) strawberry syrup, made up to 8 fluid ounces (240 millilitres) with lukewarm water

Pink gel food colouring

* - You can make this using plain spelt flour, but reduce the overall strawberry water amount to 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres)

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METHOD

First, make the dough

• In a large mixing bowl, mix half of the salt, half of the sugar, 8 ounces (225 grammes) of the flour, and the strawberry water. 
• Mix into a batter, cover the bowl with a clean tea towel, and leave in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
• When doubled in size, add the remaining ingredients and some pink food colouring to make a gentle rosy colour. Mix well with a wooden spoon and turn out onto an unfloured work surface.
• Knead well, scraping the dough off the surface with a plastic or silicone bench scraper. The dough will be sticky, but do not be tempted to dust the surface with flour: this will make the bread tough. Knead for 10 minutes by hand until the dough passes the windowpane test.
• Pop into a clean bowl, dust lightly with flour, and once again cover the bowl. Allow to proof in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes, or until at least doubled in size.

Then, shape the loaf

• Once doubled in size, turn out onto a lightly floured board and deflate. Divide the dough into three by weight, and roll each piece into a tight ball.
• Take each ball and roll out into a flat rectangle. Fold into three, turn by 90 degrees, then roll flat again into a rectangle. Roll the rectangle up and pinch closed.
• Place the three bread rolls into a greased and floured 2 pound (900 gramme) loaf tin, that has been greased and floured. Cover again with a clean tea towel and allow to rise to half an inch from the lip of the pan.

Finally, bake the bread

• Preheat the oven to 180C (350F), then bake the bread in the centre of the oven, covered lightly with foil to prevent too much browning. 
• Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow.
• Allow to cool completely before slicing to get the best texture.

THIS TIME IN PREVIOUS YEARS

2017: Valentine's Day: I ❤ Pizza! (Wheat-, Egg-, and Dairy Free Base)

2016: Yeast and Wheat Free Cinnanomnom (or just plain Cinnamon) Rolls

2015: Strawberry Crumble Bars (Wheat Free)

Happy St. Valentine's Day! Strawberry Creme Hearts

Happy St Valentine's Day! Want a cute but simple treat for your valentine? Or something sweet to nibble on after dinner? Well here are some super cute strawberry creme hearts!

I remember making peppermint cremes as a kid and never having much success: the traditional recipe is a pound of sugar with an egg white and maybe a little golden syrup and Bob's your uncle, a soft malleable fondant that can be shaped into whatever you like (usually little balls pressed on with a fork). However, it never turned out so simply. The fondant was either too sticky, or too dry, and had no dimension to it other than unrelenting sweetness.

For me, the missing ingredient was always a little bit of fat to keep everything held together and to break up the sugariness. Also the vagueness of "one egg white" meant you could only make loads of it or none at all.

I've developed a simple recipe that uses only three base ingredients: icing sugar, vegetable shortening, and syrup. Not a single egg white in sight! I use glucose syrup, but white corn syrup is a perfect substitute.

INGREDIMENTS

1 tablespoon (15 grammes) white vegetable shortening

1 ounce (30 grammes) glucose syrup, or white corn syrup

4 ounces (115 grammes) sifted icing sugar

A few drops of cold water, for mixing

Salt for seasoning

Strawberry essence, to taste

Pink food colouring

Cornflour, for dusting

METHOD

• In a mixing bowl, mix the vegetable shortening and glucose syrup until creamy. 
• Stir in the icing sugar, then add in water drop by drop until you have a nice dough. It should be stiff, but not dry. 
• Knead in your flavour essences, colouring, and salt until it tastes and looks exactly how you like. You'll be surprised by how much salt you need to season it.
• Dusting your work surface with a little cornflour, you can either roll out and cut shapes like I did, or you could model it like clay.
• Allow the sweets to set for at least 2 hours, ideally 8 hours.

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.

Strawberry Malt Shake Cupcakes

Here in Ireland, there are a few American style diners, the biggest chain used to be Eddie Rocket's before there was a big fallout and the franchises fell to pieces. Now, the only Eddie Rocket's restaurants are near to Dublin, our capital.

There used to be an Eddie Rocket's in Limerick (which is Ireland's third largest city) and they used to make absolutely sinfully delicious malted milkshakes. But now the new franchise has taken over, it's just not the same.

I decided to capture my delight in these malty pink delights my making a super fluffsome fairy cake topped off with swirls of super pink strawberry flavoured Ermine icing. You can use any kind of icing recipe you like, as long as you follow the instructions below to make it strawberry malt flavoued.

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DIFFICULTY

Requires the ability to make icing

TIME

About an hour

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

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INGREDIMENTS

12 vanilla cupcakes, in pink paper cases

1 pounds (455 grammes) cupcake icing of your choice, prepared as below

Strawberry milkshake powder, for icing

Barley malt extract, for icing

Pink decorations

6 pink paper straws

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METHOD

Make a good cupcake icing of your choice, such as traditional buttercream or Swiss meringue buttercream, but replace a quarter of the sugar with strawberry milkshake powder. Add some barley malt extract to the icing a teaspoon at a time to your taste, and beat very well. Adjust the consistency of the icing with milk or cream.

Fit a piping bag with a closed-star nozzle, and pipe swirls or roses on top of your 12 cakes. A pound (455 grammes) of icing is enough to generously ice 12 cakes, but if you're in doubt you can make another half a pound (225 grammes). Decorate with pink sprinkles or dragées, and then cut the paper straws into halves or thirds to decorate the cakes.

STORAGE
These will keep an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or at room temperature for 3 to 5 days.

Ice-Cream Month: Strawberry and Coconut Ice Sundae (No Churn)

Fancy something exotic and fruity? Try out this strawberry and coconut ice sundae!

In this recipe of the series, I took my inspiration from the traditional sweet shop favourite: coconut ice. I have done a few renditions of coconut ice, like the traditional version, and a version inspired by neapolitan ice-cream, and each version is as tasty as the next! But in my ice-cream adaptation, I had to decide what the pink flavour would be, as the white flavour would obviously be coconut. I decided to settle for the good old favourite: strawberry!

Strawberry ice-cream is super easy, and made in exactly the same way as my raspberry ice-cream using a combination of jam and condensed milk. The result has a deep fruity flavour.

To make the coconut flavour, I thought it would be as simple as making a condensed milk substitute with coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. But, that wasn't the case. I had a few issues with developing this particular flavour: sometimes it wouldn't whip up properly, sometimes it froze too hard. After about four attempts, this version worked the best: it's best to whip the cream before adding the coconut condensed milk, rather than whipping them together.

It has a lovely mild coconut flavour, and it's a sweet treat that's best enjoyed in small doses.

To further emphasise the coconut ice image, I made some little coconut wafers. This uses a new and improved wafer recipe, which I will be trying out in future to make full ice-cream cones.... (watch this space)

INGREDIMENTS

Makes 4 sundaes, each with a scoop of each ice-cream

Coconut ice cream

• 8 UK fluid ounces (230 milliltires) whipping cream
• One 14-ounce (400 millilitre) can of full-fat coconut milk, cold
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• A few drops of vanilla essence

Strawberry ice-cream

• 8 UK fluid ounces (230 millilitres) whipping cream
• 3 UK fluid ounces (85 millilitres) condensed milk
• 3 UK fluid ounces (85 millilitres) good quality strawberry jam

To serve

• 1 medium egg white
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 grammes) butter, melted
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) dessicated coconut
• A few drops of red food colouring
• Strawberry syrup

METHOD

First, make the coconut ice-cream

• Open the can of cold coconut milk, and scoop out the solid cream that has set on the top. Measure out 4 ounces in weight (125 grammes) of the cream. You can use the rest of the coconut cream, and coconut water left in the can, for another project.
• Take the coconut cream and place in a saucepan. Add in the sugar and cook over medium heat until the cream has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for 1 minutes. Set aside to cool completely, then chill for an hour.
• When the coconut syrup has chilled, whip together the whipping cream, and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl until it reaches firm peaks.
• Gently fold in the syrup mixture thoroughly, making sure to keep all the air. Transfer to a one-pint (580 millilitre) pudding basin, cover with the lid or some cling film. Now, prepare the strawberry ice-cream.

Then, make the strawberry ice-cream

• In a jug, mix together the condensed milk and strawberry jam until completely combined.
• In a mixing bowl, whip the cream to medium peaks. Add in the condensed milk and jam mixture, and continue to beat until it holds medium firm peaks. If you like, mix in some red food colouring to intensify the pink colour.
• Transfer to a one-pint (580 millilitre) pudding basin, cover with the lid or some cling film. Freeze, along with the coconut ice-cream, for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Early on the day of serving, prepare the wafers

• Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2). Line a flat baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.
• Take half of the coconut and tint it red with some food colouring. Use your fingertips to rub it in well.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the egg white until it becomes frothy. Add in the caster sugar and beat again until it looks like shaving foam. Beat in the melted butter, followed by the flour, until you have a smooth batter.
• Take a teaspoonful of the mixture and smooth out into a very thin circle, as thin as you dare. Sprinkle one half red, and one half white.
• Bake on the centre shelf for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are nicely browned. Allow to cool completely.

Now, assemble the masterpiece

• Place a scoop of each flavour in a bowl, top off with strawberry ice-cream syrup, and serve with a coconut wafer.

Neapolitan Cheesecake Gâteau (Wheat Free)

Happy autumn to all my Irish readers! But to everyone else, I'm pretty sure it's still summer.

This week was my little sister's 19th birthday. I remember to this day when she arrived: she was in a carry cot on the kitchen table, all little and brand new and cute. Now, she's a young woman with thick dark hair as long as an old fella's life story and sparkling blue eyes. I know I shouldn't refer to a 19 year old woman as my little sister, but she always will be; even when she's 99.

Generally speaking for her birthday cake, she asks me to make her either cheesecake (and I've done many cheesecake recipes over the years of this blog as a result) or superdy duperdy chocolate upon chocolate cake. So this year I thought why not do both at the same time?

My sister loves pink, and she loves cheesecake, and she loves chocolate, which makes my brain jump to a very specific classic flavour combination: Neapolitan.

In its beginnings, Neapolitan ice cream -- supposedly invented in Naples, as the name would suggest -- was actually supposed to look like the Italian flag: green pistachio ice cream, next to white vanilla ice cream, next to red (well, pink) cherry ice cream. When it was brought to the States by Italian immigrants, they altered it to chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla to please the American palate. Oddly enough, as I've probably mentioned in earlier recipes inspired by the flavour combination, when I had Neapolitan ice cream as a kid the chocolate part was substituted with lemon ice cream, which was nicer in my opinion.

Neapolitan combines two of my sister's favourite things: pink, and chocolate.

I decided that I was going to sandwich some luscious no-bake strawberry cheesecake in between a dense chocolate cake base and a light and fluffy vanilla cake top. Then wrap it all up in strawberry flavoured whipped cream cheese icing, and glazed with marbled dark and white chocolate.


Admittedly, this recipe is mostly chocolate and strawberry with a bit of vanilla and white icing thrown in for good measure, but I think the title is still appropriate.

FREE FROM

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

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

INGREDIMENTS

For one 8 inch (20 centimetre) round chocolate cake

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) cocoa powder
• ⅔ teaspoon (4 millilitres) baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 medium egg
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 ounce (30 grammes) sunflower oil
• 4 fluid ounces (120 millilitres) whipping cream or evaporated milk
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence

For one 8 inch (20 centimetre) round vanilla cake

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) cornflour
• ⅔ teaspoon (4 millilitres) baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 medium eggs
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 ounce (55 grammes) sunflower oil
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) milk
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

For the strawberry cheesecake filling:

• 10 ounces (300 grammes) cream cheese, chilled
• 5 fluid ounces (150 millilitres) whipping cream, chilled
• 2 to 4 ounces (55 to 115 grammes) strawberry milkshake powder, to taste
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Red or pink food colouring

For the strawberry whipped cream cheese icing:

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, room temperature (or half butter, half solid vegetable fat, like in this recipe)
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) icing sugar
• 4 tablespoons (60 millilitres) strawberry milkshake powder
• 3 fluid ounces (90 millilitres) whipping cream, chilled
• Red or pink food colouring
• Coloured sprinkles, for decorating

For the marbed glaze:

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) white chocolate
• 1½ tablespoons (23 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) whipping cream

and

• 1 ounce (30 grammes) dark chocolate
• ½ tablespoon (7 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) whipping cream

HOW-TO

First, make the chocolate cake

• Preheat the oven to 160ºC (320ºF, Gas Mk.3, warm), and grease and flour an 8 inch (20 centimetre) round cake tin.
• Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder together either in a large bowl, or onto a large piece of greaseproof paper. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg and caster sugar together by hand with a balloon whisk or with and electric beater, until it has doubled in volume, turned pale yellow, and leaves a trail when you lift the beaters/whisk.
• While beating, gradually add the oil in a slow steady stream until fully incorporated.
• Add in half the sieved dry ingredients, and fold in with the balloon whisk or with a rubber spatula.
• When almost fully mixed, but with a few dry patches, add in the cream and the vanilla essence, and fold in until almost combined.
• Add in the last of the dry ingredients, and fold in completely until you have a smooth mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until springy to the touch and a cocktail stick poked into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before turning to cake out to cool completely.

Then, make the vanilla cake,

• Wash and dry the same tin as before, and again grease and flour it. Raise the oven temperature to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4, moderate).
• Make the cake following the same technique as above, but this time there is cornflour instead of cocoa powder, an extra egg, and milk instead of cream.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a light golden brown and springy to the touch.
• Cool in the tin for 10 minutes as before before turning out to cool completely.

Now, make the filling,

• In a mixing bowl with a balloon whisk or electric beater, beat the cream cheese with the strawberry milk powder, lemon juice, and vanilla essence until smooth.
• Add in the whipping cream and beat vigorously until it has become creamy and holds stiff peaks.
• Add the food colouring a drop at a time until you get a delightful bright pink colour.
• Fill a large piping bag with the mixture, fit with a large round tip, or simply cut the end off the bag if it is a disposable one.

Now, to make the layers,

• Cut the domes off both the cakes, making sure the layers are equal in height.
• Pipe a smear of the filling onto the serving plate or cake board, and secure the chocolate layer, cut side up.
• Pipe the filling onto the chocolate cake, making a dam around the edge. Use all the filling.
• Put the vanilla cake on top, cut side down, and press gently to secure. You do not want the filling to squish out the edges.
• Put in the fridge for an hour or two to chill completely.

Once chilled, make the icing,

• In a mixing bowl, beat the room temperature butter (and vegetable fat, if using) with an electric beater or balloon whisk, until light and fluffy.
• Add the cream cheese, and whisk again until thoroughly combined
• Add the strawberry milkshake powder, and beat again until it also is thoroughly combined. Little by little, beat in the icing sugar.
• Pour the cream into the mixture, and whisk until thick and creamy, and the icing holds stiff peaks.
• As with the filling, add the food colouring a little at a time until you get a lovely bright pink colour.

Now, make the glazes,

• In one cup or small bowl, mix the white chocolate with it's allotted quantity of cream and oil. Heat very gently in the microwave, or over a pan of simmering water, until completely smooth and freely running.
• Repeat this process with the dark chocolate.

Now, for the final assembly,

• Fit a piping bag with a medium or large star tip. Fill the bag with the icing.
• Pipe stripes up the side of the cake, and pipe a border around the edge of the top of the cake. 
• Smooth out with a palette knife, the blunt side of a table knife, or an icing smoother (you can also use an old bank card or the like, making sure to wash it thoroughly before use). This technique means there's no unnecessary spreading around of the icing, which could dislodge the layers.
• Cover the top of the cake with the white chocolate glaze mixture. The border you piped earlier will prevent the glaze from spilling over the edge. Use the dark chocolate glaze to make a pattern on the top: you could marble or feather, or just add splotches. Whatever you please!
• Finally, pipe rosettes around the edge of the top of the cake, and dust with sprinkles.
• Allow to chill in the fridge for at least 2 full hours before serving. Allow the cake to temper to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

This cake takes an awful lot of assembly, as you can see, but it's very worth it. It's not something you want to try if you haven't made at least on layer cake before.

This time in 2015: Something Savoury: Tomato Soup with Cheese Buns (Wheat-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)
This time in 2014: No-Gelatine Chilled Cheesecake: Chocolate
This time in 2013: Soft Vanilla Fudge

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, my dear blog,

Happy birthday to you!

For my blog's second birthday, I made a pretty cake: a coffee layer sponge with mint white chocolate icing. 'Twas decent.

This year I thought I'd try something a bit different:

That's right! It's my face! I don't think I've ever done a blog post where you have seen what I look like (unless you follow me on Facebook, where you see me often enough). But I thought I'd take the opportunity to dress up nice and take a pichur!

This year, I made a lovely chocolate and strawberry cake, and it turned out very well. I have a lovely mini cake tin (which is actually a re-purposed tin from a shop bought steamed pudding) and it works perfectly for a cake mixture made with one egg.

So, to round up the past year, these were the most popular recipes:

1. Cheat Croissants (Wheat and Yeast Free)
2. Battenberg Birthday Cake (Wheat and Dairy Free)
3. Vanilla Fondant Fancies (Wheat Free; Dairy Substitute)
4. Turkish Delight (Naturally Free From Everything)
5. Zingy Lemon Gateau (Wheat Free)
6. Something Different: Koeksisters (Wheat- and Dairy Free)
7. Tiramisù Mini Cheesecakes (Wheat Free)
8. Danish Pastries: Dinosaur Paws (Wheat Free with DairyFree Option)
9. Recipe Revision: Doughnuts (Wheat-Free with Dairy Free Option)
10. Treacle Tarts, without Breadcrumbs (Wheat Free)

2015 was a good year for trying new things, and I had a lot of great successes. I was very pleased with myself for learning how to do puff pastry, marzipan, and Turkish delight, and also I noticed how far I've come with my icing technique.


The combination of chocolate cake and strawberry icing was absolutely delicious, I'll definitely be making it again!

FREE FROM

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

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

INGREDIMENTS

For the sponge cake:

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) white spelt flour
• ½ ounce (15 grammes) cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 medium egg
• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) sunflower oil
• 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) milk, or milk alternative
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

For the icing:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, soft
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) milk
• 4 tablespoons (60 millilitres) strawberry milkshake powder
• Sprinkles, for decorating

HOW-TO

• Make the cake mixture according to this recipe, using a greased and floured 4 inch round cake tin. I use a tin from a shop-bought steamed pudding. Bake at the recommended temperature for about 25 to 30 minutes.
• Bake according to the recipe, then once it is out of the oven immediately drop onto the work surface from a height of roughly a foot (30 centimetres); that will reduce the chances of it shrinking. Allow to cool completely.
• Make the buttercream according to this recipe, if you don't know how to make buttercream already, making sure to mix the milkshake powder with the milk before adding to the icing.
• Cut the dome off the cake, cut it in half, then place upside down on the serving platter so the base is now the top. Fill and crumb coat then chill for an hour, then coat with a second coat, leaving about 3 ounces (85 grammes) of icing to pipe the rosettes around the top and bottom.
• Before you pipe the rosettes, cover the top of the cake with the sprinkles, leaving about half an inch of a border (about a centimetre), then pipe the rosettes on top.
• Allow to set completely, either in the fridge for up to an hour, or on the work surface for up to 3 hours.

200 Recipes! Strawberry Fairy Cakes (with Meringue Buttercream)

Happy 200th Recipe!!

Today marks the 200th recipe (technically the 201st post, but the first post I ever wrote was an introductory one), so I thought I'd do something that I've always wanted to do but have actually never done: strawberry cupcakes.

When I was in college, the canteen served these super cute pink-iced fairy cakes. They had tooth-achingly sweet buttercream, flavoured with strawberry and coloured pink, and were decorated with little pink and white heart shaped sprinkles (like the ones I buy from Lidl; I think you've been rumbled, catering company!). The cake was just simple vanilla sponge. There's something wonderful about synthetic strawberry flavour: it conjures up images of childhood, and even as an adult who knows it's cheap and nasty I just can't help but love it.

I know you're all thinking, how can you have been running a bakery blog for nearly 3 years and never have done a simple strawberry cupcakes recipe? Unfortunately, here in Ireland strawberry essence is hard to come by, and usually very expensive, so I just forgot about it for quite some time.

However, the other day I was catching up on my YouTube channel subscriptions, and saw a woman making icing using strawberry milkshake powder, and I suddenly felt like a bit of an idiot: that stuff is super cheap and easy to come by, and I actually had used it once to make icing when I was a teenager.

So, I went to the shop to buy some, and inspected the ingredients: it's pretty much all sugar, except for less than one-percent strawberry powder, and some flavouring. This makes it easy to swap out for sugar in icing recipes.

This is my first foray into meringue buttercream, and I will say, it's harder than it looks. I based my creation on this recipe, halving the butter and adding it in in thin slices instead of chunks, and increasing the sugar. It made some delicious icing, but the making of it was quite complicated. I will in the future be tampering with it and trying to find a way to make it easier: I found that it kept collapsing and I had to refrigerate it to make it whip-able.

I also decided to chance putting some jam into the middle of each cake before baking, but the jam was heavier than the cake misture, so it sank to the bottom. It still tasted nice, though!

INGREDIMENTS

For 12 large cupcakes

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cornflour
• 1½ teaspoons (7 millilitres) baking powder
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, or block margarine
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) strawberry jam, sieved

For the meringue buttercream (EXPERIMENTAL; correct recipe to follow)

• 2 medium egg whites
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) strawberry milkshake powder
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) white caster sugar
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter at room temperature, cut into thin slices

HOW-TO

To make the cakes,

• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with large paper cases, and preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate).
• Make the cake mixture following this recipe (leaving out the jam). Divide equally between the 12 cases: they should be about three-quarters full. Swirl half a teaspoon of strawberry jam in each cake, and tap the pan off the work surface to release all the bubbles.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until well mounded and springy to the touch. Take out of the oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing,

• Put the strawberry milkshake powder, caster sugar, and egg whites in a large heatproof mixing bowl. Heat over a saucepan containing about an inch (2 centimetres) of simmering water. Stir until hot to the touch, and when you rub the mixture between your fingertips you can feel no grains of sugar.
• Take off the heat, and beat with an electric whisk until you have a super fluffy, big, soft meringue that is completely cold; it should have at least tripled in size. This can take anywhere from 7 to 15 minutes, depending on the strength and quality of your whisk.
• With the whisk still running, add in a slice of butter at a time; each slice should be no more than half an ounce (15 grammes). Once the first slice is completely beaten in, add the next one, and so on. Take it slowly: otherwise it might collapse.
• If it does collapse, no worries: finish adding the butter, then refrigerate for about 20 to 30 minutes and beat again, and it should be lovely and fluffsome.
• Put into a piping bag fitted with a close star nozzle, and pipe onto the cooled cakes as you please. Decorate with sprinkles of your choice!

As you can see in this picture, I also made some chocolate ones, which were fabulous. The meringue buttercream is much lighter and creamier than traditional buttercream, so I actually prefer it, however I need to work on my technique. Watch this space...

Neapolitan Cheesecake (Wheat Free)

It was this August bank holiday weekend, 2015, that my little sister turned 18 years old, and was no longer little. For her birthday she requested cheesecake, and cheesecake I provided!

Despite not being able to decide between a chocolate or a strawberry cheesecake, she had very specific instruction that the cheesecake be of the chilled variety, and definitely not baked. She spent so much time umming and aahing about which flavour she wanted, that I decided to make both.

Now, as I have mentioned in my previous Neapolitan adventures, here in Ireland it's vanilla, strawberry, and lemon, not chocolate. However, to fit in with my sister's request, I did the typical white pink brown combination.

I didn't really know how to decorate it once I had made it, but at the moment sprinkling biscuit or cake crumbs onto the finished cake is in vogue, so jumping on the bandwagon kinda worked this time. You can decorate your cake however you want, though.

Taking the recipe I used to make her cheesecake last year, I decided to play with it a little to see if I could make it more of a formula instead of a static recipe, dividing the ingredients into parts and ratios. It worked very well: in fact, there was an opinion among the consumers that it was one of my finest cheesecake creations.

This recipe has been slightly edited so that the chocolate and strawberry layers are equal. In my cake, the chocolate layer was a little deeper than the strawberry one.

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

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy

INGREDIMENTS

For biscuit base,

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) porridge oats
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cocoa powder
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• Pinch of salt

For chocolate layer,

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 fluid ounces (120 millilitres) whipping cream, cold
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) good quality milk chocolate
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 2 to 4 tablespoons (30 to 60 millilitres) caster sugar, to taste

For strawberry layer,

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 fluid ounces (120 millilitres) whipping cream, cold
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) strawberry jam, at least 50% fruit content
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) lime juice, or 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) of lemon juice
• 2 to 4 tablespoons (30 to 60 millilitres) caster sugar, to taste

For white chocolate icing,

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) whipping cream
• 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, in small pieces
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

First, make the base.

• Line the sides of an 8 inch (20 centimetre) round loose bottomed tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4).
• In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, oats, cocoa, salt, and caster sugar together until blended. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients to make a coarse crumbly mixture.
• Tip the mixture into the tin and even out with the back of a spoon, pressing very gently. 
• If you want, you can take a tablespoon or two of the crumbs and bake separately to make the topping: just sprinkle them on a small ovenproof dish and bake alongside the main crust
• Bake for 10 minutes, only enough to set the crust. Take out of the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the base is cold, make the chocolate layer.

• In a bowl or jug, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 1 minute intervals on the Defrost setting, mixing between each spin in the microwave. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate traditionally in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate until fully mixed. Add the sugar to taste: you may not need all the sugar.
• In a separate bowl or jug, whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Fold gently but quickly into the chocolate cream cheese mixture. Taste for sweetness again, adding more sugar if you want, but working quickly to not deflate the mixture.
• Pour into the tin on top of the crust and smooth out evenly. Chill for an hour before adding the strawberry layer.

To make the strawberry layer,

• In a small bowl, beat the jam to make it smooth and to even out the texture.
• As before, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl, then fold in the jam until fully mixed. Add the lime juice, and then add the sugar to taste.
• Whip the cream in a separate jug or bowl until it forms stiff peaks, then fold into the strawberry cream cheese mixture. Taste for sweetness again, adding more sugar if needed.
• Pour on top of the chocolate layer, smoothing out with a spoon. Put in the fridge to chill overnight.

Also make the whipped white chocolate icing,

• Put the broken white chocolate in a small mixing bowl or large jug.
• Heat the whipping cream either in a saucepan over medium heat, or in the microwave, until it reaches simmering point: little bubbles should appear around the edges and it should be steaming hot.
• Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate and let it stand for about 2 minutes. Then, mix thoroughly with a spoon or balloon whisk; the heat of the mix will have started to melt the chocolate.
• Allow to cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge to chill overnight with the cheesecake.

The next day, assemble the master piece.

• An hour before you intend to serve your cake, you will need to ice it. Take the white chocolate cream and whip it until it makes soft peaks.
• Use half of the cream to ice the sides very carefully. Make sure that your icing utensil, whether it's a palette knife, table knife, or the back of a spoon, only touches the icing layer, and not the cheesecake layer: this will prevent smearing.
• Put the remaining half in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe a rosette design around the edge of the top.
• Sprinkle the biscuit crumbs on the top, if you like, or leave it plain.

This cake is very rich and indulgent, and this cake can serve up to 16 people, so eat with caution. It will keep in the fridge, covered, for about 3 to 5 days.

THIS TIME IN 2014: How NOT to Make Hazelnut Ice-Cream
THIS TIME IN 2013: Traditional Coconut Ice

February Afternoon Tea Party: 3 Recipes!

This Monday I'll be brightening up the start of your working week with pictures of what I made for my monthly Afternoon Tea Party event!

I work in a community centre which is run as a "fresh expression" of its mother church (Methodist Church Ireland); a fresh expression church "seeks to transform communities and individuals through championing and resourcing new ways of being church". Through this model, I run a lot of interesting projects from community film groups to my monthly Afternoon Tea party event, which is a social group that revolves around baking and sharing, and is usually attended by women. The aim of this event is to bring people of similar interest together and to give them a social outlet in a non-judgmental and safe environment, but it also gives those who attend a creative outlet.

This month's theme was Valentine's Day, as it was actually on that same day (Saturday February 14th), so I made a selection of Valentine themed goodies:

• Bouquet of spicy chocolate cupcakes with buttercream roses (gluten- and dairy free)
• Dark chocolate dipped strawberries (Dairy free)
• Caramel shortbread with heart-decorated chocolate topping (Wheat Free)

Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Roses (Gluten- and Dairy Free)

These were made with a nice and simple recipe, which is basically my basic sponge recipe but prepared slightly differently. Using basically the same ingredients in the similar quantities, I prepared them as follows (using the same oven temperature): 

DRY

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) of self-raising gluten-free flour (or gluten free plain flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa power
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

WET

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) sunflower oil
• 3 fluid ounces (90 fluid ounces) warm strong coffee
• 3 medium eggs

I sifted the dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl, and in a jug I mixed the wet ingredients, adding the eggs in last one at a time. I beat the wet ingredients well, then added them to the dry, folding gently until well combined. This made 12 cakes, but I only used 8 for the bouquet. There are countless of tutorials online for the method, but instead of a styrofoam ball (which I could not find for love nor money) I used half a red cabbage wrapped in cling film. Did the same job!

I used a traditional buttercream, loosening with a little warm water and flavouring with a few teaspoons of cocoa powder, but instead of butter I used margarine to make it dairy free. I had to use about half a teaspoon of red gel colouring to get this colour, but my food dyes are old so maybe a brand new bottle would need less. Using a closed star tip, I made the roses by starting in the centre of the cake and spiralling out, applying consistent pressure to the bag; again, many tutorials for this technique can be found on YouTube.

These turned out beautifully, and I even managed to get my brother and his girlfriend involved when they expressed an interest in trying out the piping technique! The only issue I had is that buttercream made with margarine can sometimes split, but I think it gave the roses a slightly wild look.

Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries (Dairy Free)

 

This is a simple one, and especially so when there's two 300 gramme punnets of strawberries in the reduced section in Tesco. To cover a pound (450 grammes) of strawberries, I simply melted 3 and a half ounces (100 grammes) of dark chocolate with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in the microwave and dipped the washed and dried strawberries in. I allowed them to set for ten minutes, then gently reheated the chocolate to running consistency and re-dipped the strawberries. I also dipped some cherries and white grapes for myself to eat later with my Valentine (or, in other words, my mate Niamh who was doing nothing that evening).

Caramel Shortbread with Heart-Decorated Chocolate Topping

Using this recipe, I made a triple batch of shortbread. I made such a big batch because I had a bake sale on Thursday too, so I just made on massive batch and donated half for the sale, and kept half for myself. In addition to the milk chocolate topping, I melted some white chocolate topping at a 4:1 ratio (chocolate:sunflower oil) with 2 ounces (55 grammes) of chocolate and dropped dots of the white onto the milk. Then, using a cocktail stick, dragged the tip of the stick through the middle of each dot, making a heart shape. Simples! 

These were very successful, both at the bake sale and the Afternoon Tea Party. The day you make these, the caramel is super chewy, but over the days in storage is becomes a little more creamy and fudgy as the sugars crystalise.

All in all, I was very pleased with myself and how the event went. The women were full of chat, brought along some delights of their own, and a great time was had. I did, however, have lots of leftovers which I'm currently palming off on friends and siblings...