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| My Hogwarts Castle Cake! x Okay, so a little word about this cake. It is definitely the most involved I have ever been in making a cake before (I think I got through the entire Universal Past Masters collection of the Beatles, yes really). It was, as previously mentioned, for a Harry Potter themed Halloween Party as most of my friends are self confessed Potheads. They asked if it was possible if I could make a 3d cake like Hogwarts, and never one to shy away from a challenge - I rolled up my sleeves. If you are a bit of a creative, or as others like to call it "a nutter", you have to have big ideas and a lot of perseverance. When I was challenged to this particular cake, I knew it would take around a day and a half in work and a lot of emergency fix ups (for the cake not me). The first thing I did was watch the first film again and use the zoom button to analyse Hogwarts castle when the kids first arrive. Then I did several sketchups of Hogwarts, downsized them and looked about how to keep the same structure but to be more realistic and take a few bits out. Yes, I am aware that I sound like a nerd. The cake did taste good, when all was said and done, but I think you probably will have realised that this one was more in the appearance. By the end I was nearly crying when my smallest friend (dressed as Hagrid) was about to cut it, "It's art," I said. "Yes," they said, "but you can also eat it." Which they did rapidly. I'd say that this was probably the most rewarding cake I have ever made, I say made, but I basically mean built. Where you can see the grassy verge the castle is parked on, I made a square chocolate cake and covered it with buttercream which I had coloured green, like the grass. I then rolled out a lot of roll out icing and spread it across a massive square cake board to represent Hogwarts in the snow. The actual castle I believe comprised two cakes which I hacked up to the shapes I wanted, (the towers were basically big oblong blocks of cake which I covered in rounded icing). To cover the parts of the castle, I heated up apricot jam and spread it on the cake which I then wrapped around with icing, it was a sticky process). I then painted a light layer of black food colouring onto the white icing, because it dries in a grey marbled effect like the walls of a castle. The turrets were Askies icecream cones, along with the windows which I fixed on with icing. I also had to shove a few pokers through the towers into the verge to stop them from falling. Though they were pretty resilient after that, as I had to take it to the party five miles away in a car. I'm not going to pretend that wasn't a stressful episode, we had to drive like pensioners so the car wasn't smeared with the remainders of Hogwarts. The little details were the easiest to make, just with icing and different food colours. The base of the the mountains (to the left) was set with chocolate sauce, I used a different amount of food colouring to make the grass of the Quidditch pitch (next along) - when it came to it, we stuck pokers with hoops at the top into the pitch to represent the goals, the path was chocoballs, the forest (chocolate sauce and hand painted icing trees) and the lake blue icing with boats painted with brown icing. I wanted it to have the original effect of when all the torches are glowing in the walls when they approach it, so I stuck in a few candles around the walls to achieve it. If you have a project like this, do the research and get the universal past masters of the Beatles, that is all I will advise! KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: PULL SHAPES, THE PIPETTES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVKFLWyczI  |
Wednesday 30 November 2011
HOGWARTS CASTLE CAKE
Saturday 22 October 2011
HALLOWEEN THEMED CAKES!!!
As Halloween is coming up, what better than to turn on the gruesome cakes. Well these two below are quite harmless but ... what can you say? Me and my friends are having a Harry Potter Halloween themed bash so I have been put in charge of a Hogwarts Castle cake, spiderweb cupcakes, treacle tart and Butterbeer. Look out for me posting the Hogwarts Castle cake later in the month . But for now, use your favourite cake recipe or one from my other recipes and decorate in style!! Here are a couple of mine as examples.
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| Use different coloured piping and roll out icing to create your own Halloween cake like this pumpkin one!  use jelly sweets as spiders and pipe on the eyes and legs, or do jelly snakes escaping from a trap door - anything that captures your imagination really. |
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| This was actually a birthday cake for a Harry Potter obsessed friend but Voldemort cakes are definitely scary enough for Halloween!! Use a basic cake and basic buttercream, pipe on a message and if you are a bit of an artist use a food friendly paint brush to paint your image with black food colouring onto edible wafer paper (available after much searching in Tesco cooking section! Go Tesco ...) Use other coloured food colouring for details - like I used red for lips and eyes! Harry Potter fan? Look out for my Hogwarts castle cake later in the month .... xxx KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: HEARTBEAT SONG, FUTUREHEADS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkW0TPt2Sko  |
HOW TO MAKE A KING CHOCOLATE CAKE - EASY!
Now the origins of this cake start with my Maths skills. Which are pretty much zero. I have a Maths teacher who likes chocolate - a lot. He made us a chocolate cake on the last day of the school year last year as a promise he had made for the whole year. It was a packet mix, so I promised myself that if I achieved my C at GCSE early and therefore got to drop Maths for Year 11 I would bake him a completely homemade chocolate cake as a thanks for being such a great teacher. This is the recipe for a super rich/easy/relatively cheap chocolate cake that is better and quicker than popping to the supermarket! (Picture below). Enjoy!
To make the cake, my basic chocolate cake:
1. Cream 6oz/160g of softened butter with 6oz of caster sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually add 3 lightly beaten eggs and beat in.
2. Stir in gently 5oz of self raising flour and an ounce of sifted cocoa.
3. Put into one round medium cake tin and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides and stopped sizzling. Put on a rack and leave to cool ...
Meanwhile, while the cake is in the oven, get cracking on the buttercream!
1. To make the icing:
Beat 600g sifted icing sugar with 200g softened butter until soft, creamy and combined. Mix in 80g cocoa powder until combined. Add 6 tablespoons of milk a little at a time and beat until fluffy, light and creamy and resembling buttercream.
Now: divide the buttercream into two in separate bowls, one bowl having about 3/4 of the mix, one bowl 1/4. The one with 3/4 in add a little more milk and a little hot water from the kettle until it has a less stiff more slightly shiny liquid consistency like you can see in the picture on the base of the cake but still spreadable. Cut your cake in half very carefully, then spread this adapted buttercream on top of one half, placing the other half on top. Then ice the top of the second half so that there is this shiny icing in the middle and on top. Put the other bowl of original unadapted buttercream in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe a ring of stars around the edge of the icing top. Decorate the top with any kind of edible and chocolate decor, I use dark, milk and white choco balls I found in a supermarket on holiday. Enjoy immensely or dedicate to a Maths teacher like I did :( (or make two and do both) :) xxx
KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY:Video killed the Radio Star, the Buggles
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| In full glory! x |
1. Cream 6oz/160g of softened butter with 6oz of caster sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually add 3 lightly beaten eggs and beat in.
2. Stir in gently 5oz of self raising flour and an ounce of sifted cocoa.
3. Put into one round medium cake tin and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides and stopped sizzling. Put on a rack and leave to cool ...
Meanwhile, while the cake is in the oven, get cracking on the buttercream!
1. To make the icing:
Beat 600g sifted icing sugar with 200g softened butter until soft, creamy and combined. Mix in 80g cocoa powder until combined. Add 6 tablespoons of milk a little at a time and beat until fluffy, light and creamy and resembling buttercream.
Now: divide the buttercream into two in separate bowls, one bowl having about 3/4 of the mix, one bowl 1/4. The one with 3/4 in add a little more milk and a little hot water from the kettle until it has a less stiff more slightly shiny liquid consistency like you can see in the picture on the base of the cake but still spreadable. Cut your cake in half very carefully, then spread this adapted buttercream on top of one half, placing the other half on top. Then ice the top of the second half so that there is this shiny icing in the middle and on top. Put the other bowl of original unadapted buttercream in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe a ring of stars around the edge of the icing top. Decorate the top with any kind of edible and chocolate decor, I use dark, milk and white choco balls I found in a supermarket on holiday. Enjoy immensely or dedicate to a Maths teacher like I did :( (or make two and do both) :) xxx
KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: PIAZZA NEW YORK CATCHER, BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
BASIC FRUIT CAKE - GET IT DOWN!!
Alright, so if you want to cast a general hand around and say, "yeah, I can do cakes!", in my book, you definitely need to have the Magic 5 nailed down: a rich chocolate cake, the humble lemon drizzle, light and airy Victoria sponge, creamy cheesecake and the stalwart fruitcake. Carrot cake, layer cake, sachertorte, battenburg, pound cake, parkins and brownies - they can wait until later my friend. The fruit cake is one of the most overlooked legendary cakes of all time. Kids rush over to grab the bright green delights of buttercream clouds and decorous french fancies, all the while leaving the uncompromising figure of the fruit cake sitting like a stocky headmistress in the corner. And yep, I'm having my midlife crisis moan around 34 years too early. But just trust me - you need this one in your locker to be a certified cake maker. A proper serious one anyway ....
Grease and line a loose bottomed cake tin. Melt 110g/4oz butter on a low heat. Add 1 American cup or 180g soft dark brown sugar and 1 American cup of water 240ml (if you have a Tala measure or a measuring cylinder, just do this part in American cups). Then add 8oz/225g sultanas, 4oz/115g currants and 4oz raisins. Chuck in 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda, 1 tsp mixed spice and simmer for 5 minutes. It'll look like this.
Take off the heat and add 2 American cups/200g self raising flour and add 2 large beaten eggs. Stir it, so it's all combined and put it in the tin. Bake for 75 minutes at 180 degrees or 160 fan until when you skewer the top of the cake, it comes out clean. Take out of oven and leave in tin until cooked. Turn out and enjoy.
KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY:Video killed the Radio Star, the Buggles
HOW TO MAKE A MAD HATTER'S HAT CAKE!!!
If you have very creative friends or family like I do, there is a massive variety of different themed cakes to make for them.I had a big Alice in Wonderland themed do a couple of years back, so I thought "what better to do than make a Mad Hatter's multilayered cake!" Here's how I did it ......
ALICE IN WONDERLAND CAKE!
Although it does take a lot of time to make all of the different flavoured cakes and buttercream, it was completely worth it in the end for the total effect! For my cake I made: a large square chocolate cake with a vanilla buttercream top for the base and a round coffee with chocolate buttercream in the middle and vanilla on top + a round orange cake with lemon icing as the hat. You can see this above with the different coloured layers on the side. This seems quite daunting, but once you get into baking it, it really isn't too complicated!
TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE CAKE SQUARE BASE OF HAT:
This is just a really basic cake, the foundations of which I used for all 3 cakes. The same rules apply for each, though they are different flavours. With a multi component cake it is handy to have a really simple, quick and delicious recipe.
1. Cream 6oz/160g of softened butter with 6oz of caster sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually add 3 lightly beaten eggs and beat in.
2. Stir in gently 5oz of self raising flour and an ounce of sifted cocoa.
3. Put into one square relatively big cake tin and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides, stopped sizzling and fills your kitchen with a gorgeous chocolatey smell. Yes it really is that simple!! :)
TO MAKE THE COFFEE CAKE ROUND PART OF HAT:
1. Repeat steps from recipe above with (butter, sugar, eggs and flour).
2. Add enough really strong black coffee to flavour the mix which means lots of coffee and not much hot water, you will probably need about a teaspoon. Stir in gently.
3. Put into one round medium sized cake tin that is smaller than your square one, and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides, stopped sizzling etc.
TO MAKE THE ORANGE CAKE ROUND PART OF HAT: 1. Repeat steps from chocolate cake base recipe with (butter, sugar, eggs and flour).
2. Add one grated orange rind and a squeeze of that orange's juice and stir in gently.
3. Put into your round medium sized cake tin, and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides, stopped sizzling etc.
THE BUTTERCREAM:
To glue the three cakes together and add to the amazing flavour dimension, these are the recipes to go by, but by all means use your own flavours with the theory if you want. Plus if you want a really psychedelic feel add different food colours to the buttercream :
VANILLA: (You will need two lots, one for top of chocolate cake, one for top of coffee cake, so double up this recipe).
1. Make sure you have 4oz/ 110g of butter soft enough to combine with icing sugar. Add 8oz/220g icing sugar to the butter and combine until soft, creamy and consistent. Add a couple of drops of vanilla essence and mix in. Keep aside.
CHOCOLATE (for coffee cake):
1. Repeat vanilla method except for at the vanilla essence stage add a dessert spoon of drinking chocolate already made up with a bit of hot water and stir in. Keep aside.
LEMON (for orange cake):
1. Repeat vanilla method except for at the vanilla essence stage add half a grated lemon rind and a squeeze of lemon juice, stir in. Keep aside.
TO ASSEMBLE: (Follow detailed instructions below or simple -r flow diagram below that)
To put the cakes together in a hat shape you will either need a large quantity of black roll out icing enough to cover all three cakes or as this is difficult to find in England, a large quantity of white roll out icing and a bottle of black food colouring.
Assuming your cakes are cool, place your round coffee cake on top in the middle of your square cake and cover the square based cake with icing up to the sides of the round one. Now take away the round cake from the top and you should be left with a square cake covered in icing except for the centre which should have a bare circle where you can still see the top of the chocolate cake. Cut the very top of your coffee cake off so that it has a flat top and bottom and then cut the cake in half like you would to fill with buttercream. Ice the bottom of one half of your coffee cakes with vanilla buttercream and stick it in the central circle buttercream down. Following this, ice the top of this coffee cake with chocolate buttercream and place the other half of the cake on top of this. Top the top of this cake with more vanilla buttercream. So now you should have - chocolate cake covered in roll out icing bar a circle in the middle, on top vanilla buttercream, 1/2 of coffee cake, chocolate buttercream, other 1/2 of coffee cake, vanilla buttercream. You with me? Hopefully ...
Now you need to cut the top of your orange cake to make both top and bottom flat. Cut your orange cake in half and place one half on top of the layer of vanilla buttercream that should be what is now on the very top of your cake. Then spread some lemon buttercream on top of the assembled half of orange cake and sandwich the second half of orange cake on top. THAT IS THEN IT WITH THE BUTTERCREAM ASSEMBLING!
However, you still need to cover the rest of your hat with roll out icing. In the end you should have the square and all of the round cakes completely covered in roll out icing so that you can't see any bare cake or buttercream. If you used white icing you have the lovely task of putting a quantity of black food colouring in a bowl and using a pastry brush (possibly one of your least favourite ones) to paint black food colouring onto the white icing and turn it black. This is what I came up with when I discovered you couldn't buy masses of black icing! You will probably need a couple of layers of painting to turn it from black to grey and let it soak into the icing between stages.
FLOW DIAGRAM:
If you have found it hard to follow my crazy instructions please see this simple - r diagram below.
Chocolate base > cover with roll out except for a circle in the middle to fit your fit round cake on top> vanilla buttercream > 1/2 of coffee cake > chocolate buttercream > other 1/2 of coffee cake > vanilla buttercream > 1/2 of orange cake > lemon buttercream > other 1/2 of orange cake > cover all visible cake with roll out icing > paint black if roll out was white.
FINISHING TOUCHES:
Yay! You have now made your Hatters birthday cake and hopefully it now resembles a top hat. Use a white icing tube to pipe 10/6 on the side like the original Hatter had on his top hat * (means the hat is worth 10 shillings and 6 pence). Tie a ribbon round the middle if you so please and present to delighted friends/family. To cut: cut from the top of the hat down to the square base in a sliver like fashion, then cut the chocolate base as a separate piece of cake, see picture below. I hope this cake worked out for you as well as it did for me and suitably impressed family and friends :) xxx
ALICE IN WONDERLAND CAKE!
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| Front profile |
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| Sliced up |
TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE CAKE SQUARE BASE OF HAT:
This is just a really basic cake, the foundations of which I used for all 3 cakes. The same rules apply for each, though they are different flavours. With a multi component cake it is handy to have a really simple, quick and delicious recipe.
1. Cream 6oz/160g of softened butter with 6oz of caster sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually add 3 lightly beaten eggs and beat in.
2. Stir in gently 5oz of self raising flour and an ounce of sifted cocoa.
3. Put into one square relatively big cake tin and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides, stopped sizzling and fills your kitchen with a gorgeous chocolatey smell. Yes it really is that simple!! :)
TO MAKE THE COFFEE CAKE ROUND PART OF HAT:
1. Repeat steps from recipe above with (butter, sugar, eggs and flour).
2. Add enough really strong black coffee to flavour the mix which means lots of coffee and not much hot water, you will probably need about a teaspoon. Stir in gently.
3. Put into one round medium sized cake tin that is smaller than your square one, and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides, stopped sizzling etc.
TO MAKE THE ORANGE CAKE ROUND PART OF HAT: 1. Repeat steps from chocolate cake base recipe with (butter, sugar, eggs and flour).
2. Add one grated orange rind and a squeeze of that orange's juice and stir in gently.
3. Put into your round medium sized cake tin, and cook at 160 degrees fan oven/ 180 normal oven for 45 mins. It is done when it has come away from the sides, stopped sizzling etc.
THE BUTTERCREAM:
To glue the three cakes together and add to the amazing flavour dimension, these are the recipes to go by, but by all means use your own flavours with the theory if you want. Plus if you want a really psychedelic feel add different food colours to the buttercream :
VANILLA: (You will need two lots, one for top of chocolate cake, one for top of coffee cake, so double up this recipe).
1. Make sure you have 4oz/ 110g of butter soft enough to combine with icing sugar. Add 8oz/220g icing sugar to the butter and combine until soft, creamy and consistent. Add a couple of drops of vanilla essence and mix in. Keep aside.
CHOCOLATE (for coffee cake):
1. Repeat vanilla method except for at the vanilla essence stage add a dessert spoon of drinking chocolate already made up with a bit of hot water and stir in. Keep aside.
LEMON (for orange cake):
1. Repeat vanilla method except for at the vanilla essence stage add half a grated lemon rind and a squeeze of lemon juice, stir in. Keep aside.
TO ASSEMBLE: (Follow detailed instructions below or simple -r flow diagram below that)
To put the cakes together in a hat shape you will either need a large quantity of black roll out icing enough to cover all three cakes or as this is difficult to find in England, a large quantity of white roll out icing and a bottle of black food colouring.
Assuming your cakes are cool, place your round coffee cake on top in the middle of your square cake and cover the square based cake with icing up to the sides of the round one. Now take away the round cake from the top and you should be left with a square cake covered in icing except for the centre which should have a bare circle where you can still see the top of the chocolate cake. Cut the very top of your coffee cake off so that it has a flat top and bottom and then cut the cake in half like you would to fill with buttercream. Ice the bottom of one half of your coffee cakes with vanilla buttercream and stick it in the central circle buttercream down. Following this, ice the top of this coffee cake with chocolate buttercream and place the other half of the cake on top of this. Top the top of this cake with more vanilla buttercream. So now you should have - chocolate cake covered in roll out icing bar a circle in the middle, on top vanilla buttercream, 1/2 of coffee cake, chocolate buttercream, other 1/2 of coffee cake, vanilla buttercream. You with me? Hopefully ...
Now you need to cut the top of your orange cake to make both top and bottom flat. Cut your orange cake in half and place one half on top of the layer of vanilla buttercream that should be what is now on the very top of your cake. Then spread some lemon buttercream on top of the assembled half of orange cake and sandwich the second half of orange cake on top. THAT IS THEN IT WITH THE BUTTERCREAM ASSEMBLING!
However, you still need to cover the rest of your hat with roll out icing. In the end you should have the square and all of the round cakes completely covered in roll out icing so that you can't see any bare cake or buttercream. If you used white icing you have the lovely task of putting a quantity of black food colouring in a bowl and using a pastry brush (possibly one of your least favourite ones) to paint black food colouring onto the white icing and turn it black. This is what I came up with when I discovered you couldn't buy masses of black icing! You will probably need a couple of layers of painting to turn it from black to grey and let it soak into the icing between stages.
FLOW DIAGRAM:
If you have found it hard to follow my crazy instructions please see this simple - r diagram below.
Chocolate base > cover with roll out except for a circle in the middle to fit your fit round cake on top> vanilla buttercream > 1/2 of coffee cake > chocolate buttercream > other 1/2 of coffee cake > vanilla buttercream > 1/2 of orange cake > lemon buttercream > other 1/2 of orange cake > cover all visible cake with roll out icing > paint black if roll out was white.
FINISHING TOUCHES:
Yay! You have now made your Hatters birthday cake and hopefully it now resembles a top hat. Use a white icing tube to pipe 10/6 on the side like the original Hatter had on his top hat * (means the hat is worth 10 shillings and 6 pence). Tie a ribbon round the middle if you so please and present to delighted friends/family. To cut: cut from the top of the hat down to the square base in a sliver like fashion, then cut the chocolate base as a separate piece of cake, see picture below. I hope this cake worked out for you as well as it did for me and suitably impressed family and friends :) xxx
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| Slice like this!! KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: Ever Fallen in Love, Buzzcocks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51OB2YoC4sg  |
Monday 15 August 2011
HOW TO MAKE A TOP CLASS INDIAN BANQUET!
A lot of people love Indian food, and why not? It's packed with flavour and spices and when pulled off, is so authentic you feel transported to the exquisite culinary world of India. Tonight I made a 3 course Indian meal, the curry was especially authentic, and one of the first curries I have made that made me feel like it was genuine Indian food instead of British takes on curry. Thankfully my mum, who lectures on Indian religion and has been to India many times and a handful of Indian ceremonies, agreed! I love a relaxed atmosphere in my kitchen, so if you are of the same mind and do not like dashing around the kitchen with a million and one pans in the sink, slipping on the milk that you just spilt on the floor and looking up to see expectant hungry faces, set aside most of your day to prep these recipes, so that by the time your dinner is, you can serve up in style. I would recommend making the samosas and the chutney the day before, then you have less to stress about. Below I have composed a menu and below that I will continue to put their recipes and pictures. Feel free to add and subtract, put on the music and relax in a sea of spices...
STARTER - Spiced cauliflower soup (in the pictures I made tomato and coriander soup, but I felt that cauliflower had a more palate cleansing balance in hindsight), with vegetable samosas and tomato and chilli chutney.
MAIN - Red butter chicken curry (I am a vegetarian, and chopped quorn fillets defrosted were fine as a sub), but if not just go with chicken, with spicy cottage cheese baked potatoes (great with cottage cheese but paneer would probably look more attractive if you wanted to sub) and mint raita.
DESSERT - Caramel custard with fresh fruit (the showstopper of the meal. I thought it would be a bit precarious but it turned out beautifully and was a silky cross between creme brulee and egg custard).
DRINK - Lassi. I made mango but add your favourite fruit as a different twist. Creamy and cooling beside the curry and very popular in the heat of India. (Sad to report we do not have quite the same problems in England).
I MADE MY CURRY FROM THE SAM STERN RECIPE BOOK REAL FOOD REAL FAST. SAM STERN IS AN ADVOCATE OF TEENAGE COOKING AND HIS BOOKS HAVE SOME OF THE HIGHEST SUCCESS RATE RECIPES THAT I HAVE EVER KNOWN. IT IS WELL WORTH INVESTING IN ONE FOR A FIVER FROM AMAZON.
DRINK - Lassi. I made mango but add your favourite fruit as a different twist. Creamy and cooling beside the curry and very popular in the heat of India. (Sad to report we do not have quite the same problems in England).
I MADE MY CURRY FROM THE SAM STERN RECIPE BOOK REAL FOOD REAL FAST. SAM STERN IS AN ADVOCATE OF TEENAGE COOKING AND HIS BOOKS HAVE SOME OF THE HIGHEST SUCCESS RATE RECIPES THAT I HAVE EVER KNOWN. IT IS WELL WORTH INVESTING IN ONE FOR A FIVER FROM AMAZON.
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| SEE BELOW FOR MORE SAM STERN BOOKS - THESE ARE THE PARTICULAR ONES THAT I OWN.  A VEGETARIAN AND IT IS HARD TO GET BOOKS THAT AREN'T JUST FULL OF SALAD AND STRANGE CHEESE AND AUBERGINE CONCOCTIONS. THIS GIVES YOU GOOD FOOD THAT YOU WANT TO TASTE NOT JUST LETTUCE!  THE BOOK THAT I MADE ALL OF THE REST OF THE RECIPES FROM WAS THIS BRILLIANT FAT FREE INDIAN BOOK WITH RECIPES BY SHEHZAD HUSAIN AND WITH BEAUTIFUL PICTURES BY MANISHA KANANI. I STUMBLED ACROSS IT BY CHANCE ONCE WHEN I WAS IN DEVON A FEW YEARS AGO, SO I THINK IT WOULD BE QUITE HARD TO FIND - BUT THEN AGAIN AMAZON ALWAYS SURPRISES YOU!  BELOW ARE THE PICTURES OF THE THREE COURSE MEAL I MADE FROM THE TWO BOOKS. |
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| STARTER |
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| MAIN COURSE |
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| DESSERT |
RECIPE - RED BUTTER CHICKEN CURRY - you will want to make this as your last dish, then keep it heated while eating starter.
1. Melt 75g butter in your largest pan, add 1 finely diced medium sized onion, 4 cloves of garlic (or adjust according to taste) and a pinch of salt. Cook for a couple of minutes then add ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, ½ tsp chilli powder, 3 tsps paprika, 2 tsps garam masala, 2 tsps ground coriander, a cinnamon stick and 4 crushed cardamom pods, then cook until onion is soft.
2. Add 700g passata (fresh tomato sauce in a pint bottle) The Best is good from Morrisons, 2 tbsps tomato paste/puree whatever you want to call it, 2 tbsps red wine vinegar and a tbsp grated ginger and stir together. Bring to boil, (turn up heat should start bubbling), then simmer (reduce heat for ten minutes).
3. Add 4 diced skinless chicken breast or Quorn breasts if (v), stir to coat. Tip in 200ml double cream and 150 ml natural yoghurt. Cook at gentle simmer until chicken is cooked white through, or Quorn is soft. Stir in some fresh coriander and serve. Should be a creamy, saucy curry.
RECIPE - HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN SAMOSAS - this recipe uses frozen filo pastry, I would use Jus-Rol personally. They still taste delicious, but when you are making a three course dinner, this is a handy cut on time.
1. Make sure that your filo pastry is defrosted before you begin. It sounds simple, but I can't count the number of times that I have had an idea that I am going to make something and then I forget to get the butter out of the fridge or unthaw something from the freezer. You will need 14 sheets of filo pastry to make 24 samosas, but you can adjust accordingly depending on the numbers in your family and the level of greediness or 'food appreciation' ...
Take the pastry out of the package. Do this very carefully as filo is extremely fragile and thin, and sometimes they put them in the package all folded together, so look out for where the pastry uncreases rather than tearing it to shreds and wasting your money and shopping trip. Lay the sheets out in front of you, they are normally floured in the packet but if you are a bit of a worrier, by all means flour your table. Cut each sheets of pastry down the middle lengthways so you get two long strips. Fold each piece in half lengthways and lightly brush with vegetable oil (or whatever oil you have in).
2. To make the filling, toss these ingredients into a bowl: 3 large potatoes boiled and coarsely mashed (you don't want it smooth and creamy so leave a few small chunks), 75g frozen peas, 50g sweetcorn (drained), 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1 tsp dried mango powder (amchur) if you live near a shop or deli specialising in Indian foods great, if you don't it still tastes fantastic without, 1 small onion finely (chopped), 2 green chillies finely (chopped), 2 tbsp coriander leaves (chopped), 2 tbsp mint leaves (chopped), the juice of one lemon and salt both to for you to taste with. Make sure they're all mixed in.
3. Using one strip of pastry at a time, place a spoonful of mix at the end of a strip and diagonally fold the pastry up to make a triangle, folding the other side so you are basically wrapping the mix up in a triangle of pastry. This seems hard, but when you get the knack of it, you impress yourself and it also happens to be great fun. Well ... it was for me. Brush the samosas with oil to make them crispy and golden on top and bake in the oven for 10-15 mins until golden brown at 200 degrees c. As always, know if your oven needs to be reduced in temperature. If you have any scraps left over that fell of in the packet or you ripped before you got the hang of it, you could always convert them into mini samosas for you to taste before the meal. BELOW, SEE MY PICTURE STEP BY STEP GUIDE FOR A CLEARER IDEA:
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| Lay the pastry out on the table |
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| Fold, cut and brush pastry with oil. |
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| Put mixture at the bottom of the strip |
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Fold the pastry up in a triangle over the mixture.    but to see the end product take a look at the pictures of my starter! RECIPE - BAKED POTATO WITH SPICY COTTAGE CHEESE - A bit of a triumph, but paneer might look more attractive than this - good stuff all the same... 1. Here is just a bit of a warning. Whether you take note or not is completely your choice, but I'm just saying that I thought baking the potatoes in this way was a little bit unnecessary, so I'd say bake them in your own way, you know, the way you normally just shove them in the oven and they come out fine. But anyway, I know there are people out there and I am probably one of them who would get annoyed that I was subtracting from the real recipe. So here is the book's original way to bake the taters. Wash, dry and make a slit in the middle of 4 medium baking potatoes. Prick a few times with a fork, wrap individually in foil and bake in the oven directly on the shelf for an hour until soft and generally resembling a baked potato. Mine didn't take an hour - in fact two did which my mum and dad ate, but luckily my sister isn't eating carbs at the moment and I didn't mind waiting a bit while I ate my curry. Saying that it'll probably work out great for you and you'll wonder what I've been going on about. But you know, you have been warned if it doesn't! 2. Put 225g low fat cottage cheese or paneer if you so wish into a heatproof dish (rhymed). In a separate bowl, mix together 2 tsp tomato puree, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp chilli powder and 1/2 tsp salt. 3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small saucepan for a minute. Add 1/2 tsp mixed onion seeds and mustard seeds and 3 curry leaves and stir about. When the leaves turn darker and give off aroma, pour the tomato puree mix in and turn the heat down. Add 2 tbsp water and mix gently. Cook for a further minute, then pour the cottage cheese into the tomato mix. Before this stage, my tomato mix was a really beautiful jewel like red colour if you want any guidelines or I just want to tell you.. Mix the two mixes together. 4. Check your potatoes are done, the flesh should be soft when prodded about (strictly in culinary terms!) If they are, unwrap them and insert the mix into the middles. If you are making the curry at the same time, it would be a great idea to keep it hot and time your potatoes so that they are ready at the precise time you want to serve your main. You will probably know this information, but I am the sort of person who has to sit down and write a schedule up of what goes in the oven when. And if you are, great and if you aren't, also great. Everyone has their own ways of remembering! KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: Joe's Head, Kings of Leon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y30Wii_70c 
RECIPE - MINT RAITA - this is a cooling way to cleanse the palette after eating a spicy curry.
1. Pour 475ml low fat natural yoghurt into a bowl and whisk it well, (a hand whisk is fine). Add 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar and 1 and 1/2 tsps of mint sauce, I prefer Colmans. Taste, if it is not sweet enough for you add a little honey, everyone has their own preferences.
2. Add roughly 2 tbsps of chopped coriander to the mix with a finely chopped green chilli, a diced medium sized onion and 50ml water. Whisk again so that everything is mixed in evenly and pour into a serving bowl. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Yes, it really is as easy as that!
RECIPE - LASSI - Lassi is a drink that is available at roadside cafes in
1. Place 300ml low fat yoghurt into a jug and whisk until frothy. Add 2 tsps sugar or enough so that you have it at your personal desired sweetness. Often in
2. Pour in 300ml water and 2 tbsp of pureed fruit. I did mango and pureed it in a food processor, but add your favourite fruit instead, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries would work just as well. Continue to whisk for two minutes. It is important that you serve the lassi chilled as it is supposed to be very cooling, so keep it fridged until you need it. If you don't have someone nut allergic in the family, like me, decorate the tops with crushed pistachio nuts to finish.
RECIPE - TOMATO AND CHILLI CHUTNEY - eat as an accompaniment to your samosas if you so wish. Makes about one and a half jars so you have loads left over for future lunches and picnics - definitely a bonus! You do I'm afraid need a food processor for this one, I'm sorry. Before I had my Kenwood Multi Pro FP735 3 litre food processor, which is now incidentally my baby, I used to get really frustrated at recipes that I didn't have the equipment to make. It is really worth buying one of the food processors however, they do rapidly speed up many processes like making cakes and bread and on the subject of this recipe, chutney. My Grandma bought me one last Christmas as a surprise, my friends would go, "yeah I got an iphone 4 for Christmas what did you get?" and I'd go, "Well ... I got this really amazing food processor that has a julienne function, a metal twin-geared whisk, a mill and a citrus press", and they would go "okay then Becca ....." and zone out for the next ten minutes. So if you have one fantastic! But if you don't have and aren't considering investing in one any time soon, there is a great range of chutneys such as 'Geeta's lime and chilli chutney' and 'Sharwoods smooth mango chutney' that would go great with the samosas. If you don't have one and are looking to invest in one, look no further than Amazon, the one I have is on a great offer at the moment reduced from £109.99 to £79.99 with free delivery and I think you'll be hard pressed to find another one of such good quality in this kind of price range. Click the link for a better look:
So here goes:
1. Roughly chop 4 big tomatoes, a red pepper, 2 green chillies and a garlic clove. Chuck it all in a food processor along with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp chilli powder, 3 tbsp tomato puree and 1 tbsp of fresh coriander. Remember to check all your parts are fixed on because I always seem to chuck in my ingredients without putting in the knife blade first. Not.a.good.and.very.messy.idea! Mental note: make a big notice to stick above food processor to help me remember...
2. Add 2 tbsp water to the mix and process until fairly smooth but a few chunks are visible. Fridge it until you need it, in old jam jars etc. I bet that took you less than 5 minutes or more if like me you glide around the kitchen mouthing along to Adele with a sharp knife in your hand - which is definitely not a good idea.
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RECIPE - SPICED CAULIFLOWER SOUP - this soup will start off your meal with a kick.
1. Put 1 large diced potato, 1 small chopped cauliflower and 1 chopped onion into a large saucepan with 1 tbsp oil and 3 tbsp water. Heat until hot and bubbling, then cover and turn the heat down. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
2. Add 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 tbsp grated ginger, 2 tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp black mustard seeds and 2 tsp ground coriander stirring well and cooking for another 2 minutes. Pour in a litre of vegetable stock, which you can do the oxo cube way or the - I've got much more time on my hands because I set the alarm and happen to have these ingredients in my fridge way.
This is the latter:
Put 3.5 litres of water, 2 sliced leeks, 3 sticks of chopped celery, 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped parsnip, 1 chopped yellow pepper, 3 crushed cloves of garlic, fresh herbs, salt and pepper and 3 tbsp light soy sauce into a pan. Slowly bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 mins, stirring from time to time. Cool. Strain discarding the vegetables. Use as indicated in the recipe.
3. Season well, then bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 mins or so. If you are serving as a starter, I would recommend making in the morning and putting in the fridge at this stage, but if you are serving straight away, stir in 300ml low fat yoghurt, adjust the seasoning - don't underestimate the power that salt and pepper can bring to your dish and serve garnished with coriander. If you are making it in the morning, leave it until just before you serve to do these steps as I am always a bit dubious about reheating yoghurts and creams. Let me rephrase that - seriously don't reheat anything with cream or yoghurt in EVER. Enjoy!
RECIPE - CARAMEL CUSTARD WITH FRESH FRUIT - a great way to round the meal off with a spectacular and grand finale. Tastes a bit like egg custard with the silky smoothness of a creme caramel. A great Indian pudding served in little clay pots in India
1. To make the caramel, place 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp water in a heavy based pan and heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbling and pale gold. I hate to be a nag, but it is really important that you dedicate your sole (not soul) and undivided attention to this process and don't do the washing up while it's doing because burnt caramel really isn't too great. I'd get a chair though and sit down next to the pan, it does take rather a while and you may as well be seated. When it is this colour and don't wait too long because it easily darkens and burns, pour carefully into a 1.2 litre/2 pint soufflé dish and leave to cool. I had to make two batches of caramel to cover the base of my dish as it is quite important that it is covered, and the caramel harden extremely quickly when you try and pour it out and when it has done that all you will get out of scraping the pan may be spun sugar. SO, if you deem it very necessary and have time because the resources aren't very extravagant I would make another batch to cover the base of the dish.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c or whatever your oven needs. To make the custard, simply break 6 medium to large eggs into a mixing bowl and hand whisk until frothy. Stir in 4 drops of vanilla essence and gradually add 9 tbsp sugar and 750ml of semi skimmed milk, whisking continuously - so, great if the milkman came today. You should get something about the colour of custard but runnier, you really don't need to whisk for too long to be honest it only took me about a minute. Pour the custard over the caramel.
3. Cook in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes on the middle shelf. It should be kind of golden-y and a little bit wobbly like a soufflé. Remove from the oven and leave to cool until the mixture is set. Keep somewhere cool like a conservatory/fridge and lay a piece of foil across the top to stop flying creatures from sampling.
4. When you are ready to serve and this is truly a moment of triumph (if something hasn't gone unfortunately wrong by this stage), gently run a knife around the sides of the custard to slightly loosen. Get a pretty serving plate, one made of glass would be pretty, and place it face down on the top of the soufflé dish. If you have done this manoeuvre before you will know what is coming with some knowledge that you are already a practised hand. Place one hand under the soufflé dish with a safe grip, the other on top of the plate and turn so that the plate is the right way up and the dish is the wrong way up and put down on the table. At this point, the pudding will slide from the sides of the dish onto the plate and upon releasing carefully the soufflé dish you will see your pudding (as in my pictures above). It will have run out caramel juices onto your plate, but don't wipe this up as they soak into the fruit deliciously. Then arrange an array of fresh fruit in a tasteful manner around the side of it, I used banana, orange, strawberries, blueberries, nectarine and mango. You can choose your own favourites to display. And voila! Cue impressed faces from the members of your family and friends.
KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, The Animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2FT4FprxDg
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM - INTERESTED YET?
HUMMINGBIRD BAKERY CHOCKIE CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM:
Yes, now is definitely an appropriate time to introduce to you a recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery, a celebrity cupcake haunt in London which is delicious but probably charges inordinate rates for a cupcake (which some people are very willing to pay and I am very happy for them). But if you have a lovely friend who goes to London and buys the baking book for you, something magical happens. You can make them in your own kitchen without having to get on a train to sample the goodies! Brilliant, isn't it? I will continue to post recipes from this tiny book of splendour, if when I make them they continue to be as good. Which I don't doubt that they will be.
RECIPE: Warning: This recipe is for a food processor, but it is equally delicious if you make it by hand, just cream your butter and sugar, add the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients and beat like you would usually.
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Basically, just make sure your oven is hot enough to cook the cakes, that would be a good starting point. If you know, like me, you have to reduce the heat of your oven by a number of degrees do so.
2. Put 100g plain flour, 2 and a half tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 and a half teaspoons of baking powder, 140g caster sugar, a pinch of salt and 40g butter in a food processor and beat until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. (You don't want to beat it to death, but you don't want big lumps and stuff in it).
3. Whisk an egg, 120ml milk and a couple of drops of vanilla essence together in a bowl then pour HALF into the food processor and beat to get rid of lumps. Turn the processor down and and pour in the rest of the milk mixture and mix until smooth, but don't overmix.
4. Spoon into paper cases of your choice, until two thirds full and bake for 20-25 mins, until the cake bounces back when you touch it and a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
5. To make the icing: (also by processor, but easily done by hand if you follow the usual methods) -
Beat 300g icing sugar (sifted), 40g cocoa powder (sifted) and 100g butter in the processor until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
6. Turn the processor down and add 3 tablespoons of milk a little at a time. When it is all incorporated, turn up to high speed and beat until fluffy, light, creamy and looks like it belongs on top of a cup cake. When the cakes are cool, because otherwise you'll get a melty, soaky, slidey mess and a bad mood, spread, pipe or top your cakes with the buttercream and dazzling extras: sprinkles, dragees, silver balls or anything you can find in the house. Scoff or save.
KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: Daydream Believer, Monkees http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okQe_lmM8OI  |
The Yummy Food Blog
So, now hopefully you've read a bit about the blog (or skipped it because you reckon it looks boring and just WANT TO SEE THE CAKES FOR GOODNESS SAKE), but all in good time dear reader. In this Blog, I am going to submit some of my most fail safe recipes that coincidentally and luckily happen to taste good too. I am definitely not professing to be an expert, no, not by any means whatsoever but if you are a likeminded person who enjoys baking and whipping up a dinner for your family in the safety of your own home (or even just wants to learn a basic repetoire), AND get more than appropriately excited when you see a range of complicated looking culinary utensils, I may have some recipes that interest you. Probably not blow torches and nitrous oxide though...
Some of the stuff will be dead basic, some a little trickier for when you want to pull out all the stops and say with a knowing look in your eye:
"Oh yes I do haute cuisine. Gastronomy and all that..."
I hope you enjoy cooking my recipes and borrowed recipes with fantastic results!
An introduction to the Yummy Food Blog:
Okay, firstly, before I embark upon writing this blog, I have one thing to say. If you are reading this, you are potentially just as good a cook as me. (Unless of course you happen to be Michel Roux, and um in that case you definitely are a lot better - and as you were).... It is frustrating to hear people say, "oh I just can't cook," just because they had one bad experience in their lifetime. Food is something that is quintessential in our every day lives, if we care so much about the clothes we wear (once to twice a day), why aren't we as scrupulous about what we put into our mouth (three times or more per day)? It's not like we all tried to walk, fell over and said, "you know the funny thing is, I just can't walk" and proceeded to bum shuffle for the rest of our lives. If I'm being honest, that is what a lot of us are like with cooking, metaphorically bum shuffling our way around ready meals and takeaways - I'm not talking about when you have 20 minutes to knock something up and you use jus-rol instead of crafting your own pastry - that is pretty much a certified kind of bum shuffling.
What I'm really trying to say in my own special way is that like everything in life, cooking has limits. Instead of saying, "I can't cook", say "I can't cook a roast poussin with wild mushrooms and caramelized shallot sauce very successfully, but I can do eggs three ways." It's just like saying, "I can't run twenty miles without stopping, but I can run 10k in under 45 minutes."So make yourself good targets. In the end, cooking is following a set of instructions on a page, and like everything, repeating and repeating until you have it cracked.
Cooking is also pretty adaptable for whoever you are. Whatever qualities you have, bring them out in your food. For example, if you can be creative and very determined, yet over ambitious and slightly neurotic, (me), you have to think about striking the right balance between practicality and the surreality of your mind. Cooking and baking is also pretty therapeutic. Rumour goes that I have been known to take anger out on slicing root vegetables to 'a town called malice' by the Jam. If you make your kitchen your space, cooking and baking can be relaxing, but I'm not going to lie, if you push the boat out it can get stressful.
So I hope you can gather and gain ideas from here - adapt them, add twists, test them, disagree with them (mentally not physically), and I hope you can try these recipes that basically work for me every time and hopefully and probably for you, but I don't want to put any definites on that, as I don't want to receive an angry email saying that your masterpiece fell apart in front of your entire family who flew over from Australia to specifically sample your culinary genius.....
Oh and P.S - my title 'the yummy food blogger', yeah that refers to the food as being yummy not me, it isn't weird sideline advertising for anything. Just to clear that up....
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