Stuff yer bake

Having seen a lot of failed attempts at Chocolate fondant puddings on Celebrity Masterchef this week, I thought I would like to give one a try. I have had shop bought ones before and relished their divine rich taste. To me they are the ultimate of decadent puddings, and the worst things for you always taste the best.

The recipe I followed from the BBC Food page seemed simple enough but I fell at the final hurdle of timings and ended up with a runny, albeit delcious, mess served with orange and vanilla ice cream. I remained undeterred, though, had another go the following night and left them in for a few minutes longer, which was much more successful but still not quite done enough. They still tasted absolutely divine, but I will keep trying until I get the perfect consistency. It’s a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it!

I have seen quite a few recipes for panna cotta recently and since I have never tried to make it, I wanted to give it a go. I found this recipe and thought it looked nice and simple and now that the strawberries in my garden were starting to blush into a vibrant red colour, I wanted to serve them with it.

I first of all made the lemon thyme sugar. I bought a bunch of lemon thyme the other day to go with squid but I don’t actually like it much in savoury things as I think it tastes a bit soapy so I wondered whether I could make something sweet with it. Basil sugar seems to be very fashionable at the minute so I thought I would try and do the same with lemon thyme.

Pick the leaves off a small bunch of lemon thyme and blitz in a blender with about 6 tablespoons of caster sugar. It should go a nice green colour but will also be a bit damp so spread it out on a baking sheet and put in a very low oven for about 10-15 minutes until it has dried out. You can then keep your sugar in a sealed container and use it whenever you like. 

I made the panna cotta next and left it to cool in the fridge for an hour or so. 

Next take a couple of handfuls of fresh ripe strawberries (you can pretty much use any fruit you like here) hull and halve them and put into a saucepan with a tablespoon of icing sugar and about half a tablespoon of Limoncello liqueur. Warm the berries until the juices start to run but don’t let the strawberries go too soft. Take off the heat and leave to cool. 

Once the panna cotta is set, loosen it from it’s mould and turn out onto a plate, scatter the strawberries around and garnish with the lemon thyme sugar.

The texture and taste of the panna cotta was lovely but the only thing I didn’t like was that all the vanilla seeds sunk to the bottom of the mould and made the panna cotta look burnt and I also need to work on getting them cleanly out of the mould. I think my blowtorch may have to be used. I will definitely have another go at making panna cotta and might try a few different flavours too. 

I bought this months BBC Good Food magazine and was very excited when I came across a recipe for cherry vodka. The other half and I are partial to the odd gin, but haven’t really drunk much vodka for years. I knew I had a bottle in the cupboard that had been untouched for some time, so I thought a revamp of it’s flavourless, colourless contents would be a tremendous idea and in a few weeks time we would be able to able savour it’s luscious sweet flavours in a cocktail or two sat in the sun (hopefully). 

I took 400g of ripe red cherries, slit them, but not completely through and then added them to a saucepan of 200g caster sugar and 150ml of water. The cherries were then heated gently to dissolve the sugar and release the juices, then popped into a large jar and 700ml vodka added. I then sealed the jar, gave it a shake and will now wait patiently for four weeks until it is ready.

I wanted to make a cake for my friend who was going off on maternity leave last week so I thought I would try and make a baby out of sugar paste and put various baby paraphernalia around it to jazz it up a bit. When I made the baby I somehow managed to make it look like it had mild learning difficulties and having run out of time, couldn’t really remedy the situation. I tried to think of various things to put with the baby and considering it’s unfortunate appearance a pair of calipers and a wheelchair seemed most appropriate. I thought that the baby looked a little naughty as well as slightly retarded so making a big mess on the top of the cake was probably best and also didn’t require too much technical skill or worry of messing it up. I was actually reasonably happy with the result and everyone really liked it. Another happy customer, just two more to cater for in the next week.

P.S. I apologise for the rubbish picture, I was rushing before I took it to work.

I made some shortbread and chutney for people to have at Christmas this year. I had had a go at making shortbread before, but it didn’t really turn out quite as expected. I found a Jamie Oliver recipe, which he claimed was the best shortbread recipe in the world. Even though I didn’t quite buy his bold statement, I do like his easy to follow recipes and thought that I couldn’t go far wrong. This was a basic shortbread recipe which I tinkered with slightly (I can never leave things alone) to give it more of a festive edge.

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 250g unsalted butter
• 125g semolina or cornflour
• 125g golden caster sugar
• Finely grated zest of two oranges
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod (put the pod into a bag of caster sugar to flavour it after use or use in vanilla ice cream)
• More caster sugar and flour for dusting
• 8 inch square tin, greased

Simply cream the butter, sugar and orange zest together until light and fluffy, then sift in the flour and cornflour. Mix together lightly and then bring the mixture together with your hands and pat into a ball. Roll the mixture on a floured surface until it is the right size for the tin and press into the tin. Prick the top all over with a fork and cook at 150 deg centigrade for 50 minutes until slightly golden brown on top.

While the shortbread is cooking mix together a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar with the cinnamon and vanilla seeds. Once the shortbread is cooked sprinkle this over the top (it will give off the most amazing aroma). When the shortbread has cooled a little, cut into squares.

I really love trifle but I hate the ones with jelly in them. I’m probably being a bit snobby but I think jelly is a bit tacky and I also don’t really like the texture. This recipe is really quick and easy, which is a must for around Christmas when you have run out of time or can’t face any more slaving over hob.

Ingredients

• 1 box of Trifle sponges
• 500ml ready made custard (get the best stuff you can or make you own if you like)
• 250g Mascarpone cheese ( I found a reduced fat one which made me feel less gluttonous)
• Ground cinnamon
• 280ml Whipping cream
• Frozen berries 300g (anything you like)
• Brandy
• Juice and zest of 1 orange
• 4 tblsp Golden caster sugar

First cut the trifle sponges in half and use them to line the bottom of the trifle bowl. Put a splosh of brandy (it is really up to you how much you want to add) into a bowl and add half the juice of the orange and the zest. Pour this over the trifle sponge base and leave to soak in. Put the berries into a saucepan with the caster sugar and heat until the berries have melted and the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool and then pour over the trifle sponge base. Take the custard and add the mascarpone cheese and a couple of tsp of cinnamon, whisking together until combined. Pour this over the top of the fruit and let the trifle set in the fridge for a while. Whip the cream until soft peaks and use to decorate the top of the trifle. Serves 6-8

I’ve had a couple of orders for cakes recently and this is a picture of one of them. It’s a lemony Madeira cake sandwiched with raspberry jam and butter cream icing, which went down very well at work. I am definitely getting better at icing sponge cakes after the disaster of the first one as it went on neatly first time and I didn’t have to go through three Kg of sugar paste.

I love winter, it’s my favourite time of year. I really enjoy snuggling up when it’s really cold outside and the wonderful colours in the garden, but it’s also an excuse to get cracking with some warming winter puddings. I spotted this steamed orange and stem ginger pudding whilst rummaging through and cataloging my vast collection of food magazines.

Serves 6

100g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

100g caster sugar

3 medium eggs, room temperature

60g stem ginger, finely chopped

1 heaped tblsp plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tblsp freshly squeezed orange juice

125g fine cut marmalade

150g fresh breadcrumbs

1 heaped tsp freshly ground cinnamon (I just used powdered)

For the dark ginger sauce

210g caster sugar

4cm piece of fresh root ginger, finely grated

juice of 1/2 lemon

Grease the pudding basin, which should be about 1 to 1.3 ltr capacity. Mix together the butter and sugar until fluffy and then add them one at a time beating after each addition. Mix the stem ginger with the flour and in a separate bowl mix together the baking powder and the orange juice. Add these both to the butter sugar and egg mixture with a pinch of salt and the remaining ingredients. After mixing well, spoon into the pudding basin and level the surface. Grease a piece of foil and fold a pleat into the middle. Place greased side down over the top of the basin and tie tightly with a piece of string. Put the basin into a deep pan of boiling water that comes two thirds up the side of the bowl. Cover and simmer for 1 and 1/4 hours until the pudding is firm to the touch.

To make the sauce put the sugar and 135ml of water in a wide saucepan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and simmer without stirring until it turns a dark caramel colour. Add 135ml of water slowly and stir to get rid of any lumps, simmer for five minutes, then add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Once the pudding is turned out onto a plate pour the sauce over to soak in before serving with some thick cream, with a dash of alcohol if you like.