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Welcome to my blog- A place of food, cakes and bakes! Just a fun-loving student who loves to bake!

Monday 9 September 2013

My Baking Bucket List

This is a bit of an unusual post as it's not a recipe or a review but a list of things I want to bake in the future. I'm interested in hearing whether you've baked any and what you'd recommended. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think!

Cakes
Apple/ Apple Crumble Cake
Carrot Cake
Rhubarb Cakes
Tiger Cake
Blueberry Muffin Loaf
Raspberry Torte
Blackberry and Apple Loaf Cake
Dark and White Fudge Cupcakes
Chocolate Cherry Layer Cake
Lemon and Elderflower Drizzle Cake
Chocolate and Cherry Layer Cake (Picture from www.cookingclub.com)

Desserts
Banoffee Pie
Lemon/Chocolate Soufflés
Chocolate and Raspberry Roulade
Queen of Puddings
Lemon Tart
Trifle
Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
Orange Tart
 
Chocolate and Raspberry Roulade (Picture from www.goodtoknow.com)


Other Sweet Things
Éclairs
Chocolate and Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
Macaroons
Whoopie Pies
Cake Pops
American Pancakes
Cranberry and Orange Scones
Rocky Road
Oat and Raisin Cookies
Scones that actually look like scones (I had a bit of a disaster with my last batch)
Millionaire Shortbread
Jammy Dodgers
Rocky Road (Picture from www.bbc.co.uk/food)

Bread
Brioche Dough
Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf
Pan au Chocolat
Breakfast Muffins
Sunflower Seed Rolls
Focaccia
3 Seed Crown Loaf
Rosemary and Sea Salt Focaccia (Picture from www.bbc.co.uk/food)


Wow that was a lot! better get started!
Happy Baking!
x

Thursday 5 September 2013

Apple and Blackberry Muffins

I love this time of year as it's the start of the blackberry season! Blackberry picking is something I've done ever since I was little. At my dads I used to climb over this stone wall beside our garden, where there were the BIGGEST blackberry bushes. The blackberries were so juicy but often hard to reach, so out came the ladders and most memories of blackberry
picking involve balancing and nearly falling off. Unfortunately, the bushes were inhabited by wasps so I occasionally got stung in the process. Luckily there are loads of places to pick blackberries where I live, including a few in the garden. So really there's no excuse not to pick any. It also means I can make lots of delicious bakes using hand picked blackberries to distract me from the prospect that summer is over and it's time for school again. Although as I'm moving on to college now, I'm actually quite excited! 


My first blackberry bake is apple and blackberry muffins, as both me and my mum LOVE this flavour combination and I wanted to surprise her after her first day back at work (she works in a school). I know, call me the perfect daughter.. This recipe is from Maria's blog: The Godess' Daughter. It's a beautiful blog with so many lovely recipes. I suggest you take a look! 

This is the first time I've used oil instead of butter and although I think it would work in a denser, more moist cake, I thought that it was a little heavy for muffins, which as Mary Berry would say, should have a good crumb. However I still loved them! 

I halved the recipe, expecting it to make 9, but instead it made 11. 

100g Blackberries
1 and a half Bramley Cooking Apples
1 Egg
120ml Milk
60ml Vegetable Oil (I used sunflower)
100g Caster Sugar (Although I think 120-130g could be used)
180g Plain Flour, sifted 
2 tsp Baking Powder (If your mixture is looking quite dense or overloaded with fruit, use 3 tsp)
Half a teaspoon Cinnamon
Half a pinch of Salt
Demerara sugar to top

Preheat the oven to 200oC and fill a muffin tray with muffin cases. In a large bowl, mix together the egg, milk, oil and sugar until they are well combined. Add the flour and sift in the baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix thoroughly. 
Core and dice the apples into small pieces and stir into the mixture along with the blackberries. Spoon the mixture into the cases and fill then to two thirds full. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top of each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave in their tray for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling wrack.

Happy Baking
x