Fat Friday #51 Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Friday everyone! I can't get enough of cookies! There have been so many cookie recipes lately. I can't really get enough of them, however I never thought to do a traditional cookie but make it vegan friendly. If you aren't vegan then that's ok, you can use unsalted butter and regular chocolate chips instead of margarine and dairy-free chocolate. 

Also, I have to say these cookies are very...cake-like. So they will be a nightmare to get off the baking sheet. Be patient and just make sure that you wait until the tray goes cold, then remove them.

Recipe: Makes 24 cookies (Adapted from Mom on Time Out)

Ingredients:

• 240g flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp of cornflour
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 ripe bananas
• 120g golden caster sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 180g dairy free chocolate chips* (or regular chocolate chips)
• 50g margarine (or unsalted butter)

*I couldn't find dairy free chocolate chips so I chopped up a slab of chocolate into chunky bits.

Equipment:

• Bowl x 2
• Wire rack
• Handwhisk/Wooden spoon
• Baking sheets lined with silicone paper x 4 (Or just use two and wait for each sheet to cool down)
• Fridge

1)Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

2)Cream the margarine, bananas, and sugars together and super light and fluffy.

3)Stir in the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until just combined.

4) Add the chocolate and pop in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until firm. 

5)Preheat your oven to 375f/GM 5/190C

6) Roll the dough into 1 inch little balls and place on a baking trays.

7) Bake for 10 minutes or until they turn a light brown.

8) Let the cookies cool on they tray for about 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

9)Eat like a boss. 

Happy Friday Peeps!

Fat Friday #49 Natural Red Velvet Cupcakes

I've always loved the look of red velvet cakes and cupcakes. I've made them before but was always a little off put by the amount of red food colouring. I stumbled across this recipe in one of my favourite books and wanted to try it for a group of friends who were coming over for afternoon tea. Its made with beetroot and raspberries (there is a little food colouring to add a rich colour but you can omit this if you like) so its as natural as it can get. 

Recipe Adapted from Primrose Celebrations by Lisa Thomas and Martha Swift
Beetroot Puree :

• 1 raw beatroot
• 35g frozen raspberries
• 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 
• 1/2 tablespoon cold water

Equipment:

• Blender
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Peeler
• Bowl

Method:
1) Peel and chop the beetroot into cubes. Place in the blender with the other ingredients.
2)Whizz for 5 minutes, scraping the sides from time to time to make sure that the puree is really smooth.
3)Once smooth place in a bowl to one side. 

Buttercream Ingredients:

• 80g unsalted butter
• 160g cream cheese
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 560g icing sugar

Equipment:

• Handwhisk
• Bowl

Method:
1)Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix with a hand whisk until light and fluffy.

Cupcakes Ingredients:

• 185g self-raising flour
• a pinch of salt
• 30g dark chocolate
• 60g unsalted butter
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 55ml milk mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon natural red food colouring
• 115g of the beetroot puree

Equipment:

• Cupcake tray lined with cupcake liners
• Wire rack 
• Bowl x 2
• Hand held electric whisk
• Saucepan filled with hot water with a heatproof bowl on top/Microwave
• Sieve

Method:
1)Pre heat oven to GM 4/350f/180c.
2)Sift the flour and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. 
3) Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or on the heatproof bowl with hot water in a saucepan. Make sure the chocolate doesn't burn.
4)Place the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in another bowl and mix until light and fluffy. 
5)Add the melted chocolate to the egg and sugar mixture, and whisk again.
6)Pour in the milk and lemon liquid and food colour and mix on a low speed. Then add the beetroot puree and mix again!
7)Add the dry ingredients to the batter, mix and divide into the cupcake cases, filling them about 2/3 full.
8)Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Once cool you can decorate as you like! I like to use a palette knife or a piping bag fitted with a circle nozzle. Of course sprinkled with some cute little sprinkle thingies too. 
Happy Friday! 

Fat Friday #47 Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Oh yeah! Cookie dough! One of my guilty pleasures. I never eat cake batter or biscuit doughs as I want to eat the baked product. But cookie dough is another thing, if there isn't enough to make a full cookie, I will eat it. When I saw this recipe for cookie dough inside a cupcake, it was definitely one for a Fat Friday.  Although, you'll need to start the day before to make the cookie dough so they have enough time to freeze. 

Recipe (Adapted from Primrose Bakery Everyday by Martha Swift) 
Cookie Dough Ingredients:

• 50g unsalted butter
• 75g golden caster sugar
• 75g flour
• 30g dark chocolate chopped into pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment:

• Electric hand whisk/Wooden spoon
• Freezer friendly plate or tray
• Bowl

Method:
1) Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined
2) Using a set of scales (hopefully you used some to weigh out the ingredients!) weigh out 20g of cookie dough and roll into balls. (Note: they maybe a pain to roll but its worth it)
3)Put in the freezer to freeze overnight. 

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 170g unsalted butter
• 170g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 170g self raising flour
• 45ml milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment:

• Electric hand whisk/Wooden spoon
• Cupcake tin lined with 12 cupcake liners
• Bowl
• Wire rack

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to GM 4/180c/350f. Line the cupcake tin with cupcake wrapper.

2) Cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. 

3) Add the eggs in one at a time and mix until incorporated. 

4) Throw in the flour, milk and vanilla extract and beat again until no flour lumps are present.

5) Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases until they are 2/3 full.
6) Grab the frozen cookie balls that you made the day before, and place one ball in each of the cupcakes. You won't need to press them in, the batter should bake over them. 
7) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cakes are golden brown on the top. 
8) Leave in the tin to cool for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Buttercream Ingredients:

• 150g unsalted butter
• 350g icing sugar, sieved
• 100g golden caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 60g sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 35g dark chocolate pieces, chopped

Equipment:

• Electric hand whisk/Wooden spoon
• Sieve
• Bowl
• Piping bag fitted with a large circle nozzle/ palette knife

Method:

1) Place all the ingredients in bowl and beat until combined.

2) Once the cupcakes have cooled down, pipe a swirl on top or use a palette knife to spread onto each cupcake. 

Happy Friday!

Fat Friday #45 Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've finally sorted out my recipe book and finally found an old recipe I've never tried before. A cookie recipe that I found jotted down on a sticky note was hidden in the recipe book page. If its worth writing down, then its worth a try, right? It actually worked out really well. The perfect cookie, just chewy in the middle and crispy around the edge. Great to start a weekend, or ruin a diet. 

Recipe: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 12-15 cookies (Found in my recipe book, not sure where it came from) 

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 2g baking powder
• 170g unsalted butter
• 220g brown sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 335g chocolate chips (I used a mix of white, dark and milk chips)

Equipment

• Baking sheets lined with baking parchment x 2 
• Sieve
• Bowl x 2
• Microwave
• Wooden Spoon
• Wire Rack 

1. Preheat the oven tp 325f/165c/ Gas Mark 3. Grease and line the cookie sheets. 
2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside. 
3. In a separate bowl, melt the butter in the microwave until a liquid. 
4. Add both sugars to the melted butter and mix throughly. 
5. Beat in the egg, the egg yolk, vanilla extract until fluffy.
6. Mix into the dry ingredients into the batter until combined. 
7. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
8. Flour your hands a little, then roll the batter into 1 inch balls. Space them 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. 
9. Bake for 15-17 minutes in the oven or until the edges are lightly toasted. The middle should be soft but not gooey. 
10. Once you remove the baking sheets from the oven, leave the cookies to cook for a further 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. 

Happy Baking!

Rules of Baking #1

Its been a while since I've been posting and I wanted to share some rules I go by when I fancy baking!

Double check you have all your ingredients

Before you even weigh out a single gram of flour. Read the recipe all the way to the end and then re-read.

Baked things are temperamental, so if you stay calm the cake/cupcake/baked thingy will turn out just fine. 

If something doesn't work, then don't worry. It can be made again and it should be done with  more determination then before. Don't give up, just try again.

If you're using molds for sugar paste then make sure that they are safe for food. 

No matter how badly you want to check on your cake and open that oven. DONT! Wait the correct amount of time and then open your oven to check your cake/bakey thing. 

Never be discouraged when a recipe looks to complex or sounds really posh. Until you try, you'll never know.

Gluten Free cakes can be tasty so don't be put off with making them!

Have loads of patience.

Come to terms that if you bake, you will put weight on and so will all your friends and family.

Penny's Top Ten Tips: Autumn Activities:Part 2 With Friends

 Hello and welcome to the second part of the Autumn Activities post I did last week, however this week are ten fun things to do with other people while the weather is not at its best.

1. Dinner Party-
Inviting friends for a dinner party is a good way of chilling out while the weather is cold. Mulled wine is optional. 

2. Get Cooking-
Or if cooking is your thing then get your friends to cook a meal together for a dinner party instead. 

3. Book Club- 
Starting a book club with you friends is a good excuse to chill with a good book. Once a month, a group of us discuss a book over Skype and to have a general catch up. 

4. D and D night-
I have a secret to tell you... I love playing Dungeons and Dragons! It's my latest obsession and again its a great excuse to grab your party and go on an adventure, without even leaving your living room. (If your interested I'm a level 4 Gnome Sorcerer called Elphaba.) 
  5.Movie or Series Binge-
Watching a set of movies like the Alien franchise or binging on American Horror Story is a good way to spend time as a group. Just grab some blankets, pillows and plonk on the sofa.

6. Game Night-
Get some snacks ready, and grab that deck of Cards Against Humanity and Articulate set up for a night of laughs.   

7. Spa Evening-
Instead of having a pamper evening on your own, grab a couple of friends and have an old school sleepover style girly evening. 

8. Coffee Morning-
or tea morning if you're not a coffee lover or strapped for time. A quick catch up is nice on its own. 

9. Cake decorating-
Bake a batch of cupcakes, whip up a some various buttercreams or whipped creams, good some food safe colours and grab some edible decorations. Then simply decorate! You can all experiment with colours, different piping skills or go nuts with sprinkles.

10. Chill and Catch up-
This is kind of an obvious one, but invite your friends over, order a take-away and just catch up. This also works if you both don't want to go anywhere, just use a phone. (Pyjamas are optional.) 

Happy Baking!

Fat Friday #40 Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies

Its only 2 more weeks until October and already all I hear and see is pumpkin spice. Pumpkin Spice. Pumpkin. Spice. Spice with Pumpkin. EVERYWHERE! But I'm a fan of pumpkin spice, so I'm so happy with all of its sweet and spiceness in my life. 
This weeks recipe is a spiced pumpkin brownie, it takes a long while to bake as with most brownies but the result is worth it.

Recipe: Makes 30 small brownies (adapted from an old recipe I found in my recipe file.)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Mix:

• 85g cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 112g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 220g pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1 tablespoon plain flour

Brownie Mix:

• 187g plain flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 168g dark chocolate, chopped
• 170g unsalted butter
• 506g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 60ml milk

Equipment:

• Brownie tin lined with silicone paper
• Mixing bowl x 3
• Saucepan with hot water and a heatproof bowl on top
• Spatula
• Hand held electric whisk/wooden spoon
• Large spoon
• Wire rack

1. Preheat oven 325f/160c/Gas Mark 3. Grease and line the brownie tin.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese:

2. In a mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and 1 tablespoon of butter until well combined. 

3. Add the sugar and beat again until fully incorporated. 

4. Beat in the egg, pumpkin puree and spices.   

5.Stir in the tablespoon of plain floor and set aside this cream cheese mixture for later.

Brownie Mix:
6. To melt the chocolate, place in a heatproof bowl above a saucepan of boiling water and stir it occasionally.  
7. While you wait for the chocolate to melt, in another bowl add all the dry ingredients and set aside.
8. In the final bowl, add the sugar and eggs to whisk together until it becomes pale. 
9. Once the chocolate has melted, add to the egg mixture. Beat in the milk.
10. Beat the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture. The brownie mixture is complete.

To Finish: 
11. Spread the brownie mixture into the tin. Spoon the pumpkin cream cheese on top of the chocolate mixture and swirl through.
12. Bake for an 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the middle is just set when shaken. Its best to check it after an hour depending on your oven. 

13. Cool the whole tin on a wire rack until cool. Cut, and serve up the spiced pumpkin goodness. 

Love pumpkin so much? Check out this pumpkin list! 

Pumpkin Bakes

Need that hit of pumpkin now that autumn has hit? Check out our list right here!

1.Pumpkin Spice Syrup- Because we need this in every hot drink for the rest of autumn!

2.Horror Film Gory Cupcakes-These cupcakes are both adorable and horrific at the same time.

3.Pumpkin Pecan Bars-These always go down well at parties and are so moist. 

4. Pumpkin and Cheese Muffins- We needed a savoury one right?

Great for a snack or a super light lunch. 

So, I won an award!

Good Morning everyone! I know its not a Fat Friday post again this week but I have some amazing news. 

Firstly, lets get the bad news out of the way. The reason I haven't been posting very much lately, especially on Fat Fridays is that, I've been very very sick lately and haven't had the energy to bake at home. At college I have been working hard on my centrepiece, which is consuming much of my time at college, so baking time is hard to squeeze in. Also, I've been financially struggling, in terms of buying ingredients to use for JUST for Fat Fridays, rather then just baking for a special occasion. 

Moving onto good news, I've finally moved onto moving video. I've started up two Youtube channels, one of which is my personal Youtube channel for this blog and the other is for my cake business called The Pastry Girls. I'll try to upload whenever I can, much like the blog at the moment. I'm still getting used to the video editing software, so the videos aren't the best but I'm working on them to improve my skills. 

Lastly, I'm very happy to announce that myself and one of my business partners were both nominated for student achievement awards for the Institute of Hospitality (Southern Branch). I'm proud to say that I got second place in 'Hospitality services' and Chloe (business partner) won in her category of 'Food service'! (You can check out my award video submission and Chloes submission video) 

Congrats Chloe, you deserved it and all your hard work was well deserved! It was a great evening (even though I was coughing and sneezing all over the place.)

That's all the news so far and I'll keep you all posted!

Have a great weekend!

Fat Friday #38 Funfetti Cake

I wasn't really sure what a funfetti cake was, until google helped out. Its a cute confetti style cake, its super colourful and bright and makes an excellent cake. Rob asked me to whip one up for his architect studio for the end of term meeting. My suggestion is to use the large confetti dots as they won't bleed into the cake batter. Decorate with lots more confetti dots for the full rainbow effect.

Cake Ingredients (Recipe adapted from Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes) :

• 8 eggs
• 400g sugar
• 400g unsalted butter
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 600g self raising flour
• 50g Confetti Sprinkles
• A small amount of jam (we used blackberry jam to cut across the sweetness of the buttercream)

Equipment:

• 8cm Cake tins x 3
• Wire rack
• Bowl
• Wooden spoon/ Handheld whisk
• Sieve
• Turntable
• Serrated knife
• Cake board
• Cranked pallet knife

Buttercream:

• Buttercream recipe and method here
• 30g Confetti sprinkles to decorate

1.Butter and line three 8cm tins. Pre-heat the oven to 190c/375f/Gas Mark 5.
2.Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, beating between each addition. The mix may curdle a little but add a tablespoon of flour if this happens.
3.Stir in the vanilla extract and sieve in the flour and fold through. Add the confetti and fold again.
4.Divide the mix between the 3 tins and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and well risen.

5. Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin to cool completely.

6. In theory, you should have some amazing crazy colour bits in your cake!

To assemble:

1. Level all the cakes off with a knife and mentally work out which cake you would like to assemble.

2. Place a little buttercream on a cake board and place the bottom tier of the cake on top of the buttercream to hold in place.

3. Spread a little jam on the top of the bottom tier and follow with the buttercream.

4. Place the next cake layer on top and repeat the last step.

5. Place the last layer on top and make sure its stacked straight.

6. Crumb coat the whole cake with the vanilla buttercream and place in the fridge for 15 minutes.

7. Using the turntable, coat the whole cake in a layer of buttercream. Then carefully sprinkle the confetti halfway up the cake or decorate like a crazy rainbow!

Have an excellent weekend!!!

 

Happy Birthday (to me!) Cakes!

Yay today is my birthday! Woo!! Happy Birthday to me! I'll be doing a follow up post on what I did for my birthday later in the month. But for the today here's my ultimate list of drool-worthy birthday that I would love to receive (hint).

Princess Mini Cakes

 

 Gluten Free Chocolate Suit Cake

 

 Red Velvet Cake with Blue Lace Butterflies

 

Gluten Free Chocolate Birthday Cake 

 Citrus Birthday Cake

 The Hidden Heart Cake

 That Burger Cake

 

Cherry Blossom and Vanilla Cake

Fat Friday #37 Sacher Torte

First of all Happy Birthday Sofia!! Its her birthday and it falls on a Fat Friday which is totally awesome! So happy birthday Sof! I'm sure she would approve of a dark chocolate sacher torte. Its more like a brownie then a cake, which makes it horrid to cut, but with the dark glaze it tastes amazing. Its not a cake that you can keep moonching on, its a rich cake so take it easy. But it IS Fat Friday so go for it!

Torte (recipe kindly provided by my pastry tutor) ingredients:

• 6oz bitter chocolate
• 3oz butter
• 4 egg yolks
• 4oz sugar
• 5 egg whites
•  ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup of flour
•  A little apricot jam to brush on the cake and put in the middle of the cake

Glaze Ingredients:

• 6oz dark chocolate
• 1oz butter
• 2oz double cream
• Plus a little extra melted white chocolate or milk if you like to pipe on top of the cake.

Equipment:

• Whisk/handwhisk
• Heatproof bowl
• Pan of hot water
• Wooden spoon
• 9 inch cake tin lined with silicone paper
• Pastry brush
• Piping bag
• Serrated knife

Cake Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4/350f.
2. Combine the chocolate and butter and melt over a pan of water
3.Whisk the yolks with 1oz of the sugar until pale.
4.Beat the egg and sugar mixture into the melted chocolate.
5.Whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar to create a meringue.
6.Combine 1/3 of the meringue to the chocolate then gently fold the remaining meringue.
7.Pour into a 9 inch cake tin and cook for 40 minutes. Once cooked leave to cool on a wire rack.
8.Cut into 2 layers with the serrated knife and, using a palette knife, spread a little layer with apricot jam. Assemble the cake back together and brush of the crumbs.

Glaze Method:

1.Combine the chocolate and butter and melt together.
2.Boil the cream and fold in the chocolate mixture.

To Complete:

1.Place the cake on top of the wire rack with a tray underneath to catch the glaze.
2.Using a spoon and a palette knife spread the glaze on the cake and let it drip down the sides of the cake. Wait until the glaze has set. 
3.Traditionally, you can pipe ‘Sacher’ on the top of the cake using extra chocolate and a piping bag.

Happy Birthday Sofia! Have a great weekend!