Author: Zoe Calder

Halloween Checkered Cake

Leave a comment

The spooky season has arrived

Ingredients

  • 6oz butter
  • 6oz Caster Sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 6oz self-raising flour
  • Optional- Any spooky food colouring you like
  • 600g icing sugar
  • 200g butter

To get the checkered look you need to buy certain baking equipment

Method

  1. Preheat you oven to 180ºC/ gas mark 4 and line two, 8 inch tins with baking parchment.
  2. Mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add to mixture
  4. Add the flour and mix.
  5. For checkered effect I used some equipment which you can find on Amazon.
  6. optional- add a few drops of food colouring into your mixture and stir.
  7. Pour into tins and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
  8. Whilst the cake is cooling you can make the buttercream icing.  Click here to make your own
  9. Add your own choice of food colouring to the icing.
  10. Cover the entire cake in the icing (Sometimes you need to do a crumb coating first).
  11. Put in the fridge to set until its firm to the touch.
  12. To make the eyeballs get some white roll out icing and roll into a ball.
  13. Take some blue and black roll out icing and cut two circles making sure the blue circle is bigger than the black one.
  14. Use buttercream to stick the blue onto the white then the black onto the blue.
  15. Use a red edible pen and draw on the veins.
  16. Repeat steps for other eyeball and put on the cake.
  17. To make the ghosts cut out ghost shapes with the white roll out icing and use an edible black pen to draw on the faces.
  18. Add any other decorations you like.
  19. Serve and enjoy 🙂

Apple Crumble

Leave a comment

Super easy and super sweet

Ingredients

  • Dish of your choosing
  • 4 big cooking apples
  • 175g/4oz flour
  • 75g/3oz butter
  • 50g/2oz golden caster sugar

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.
  2. Sprinkle 1½  tbsp of golden caster sugar into the bottom of the dish that you are cooking your crumble in.
  3. Peel the apples, chop them into slices and place in the dish, covering the bottom.
  4. Sprinkle ½  tbsp of golden caster sugar onto the apples each time you do a layer.
  5. Keep layering the apples until you have used them all up or until the dish is nearly full.

Crumble

  1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the butter.
  2. Rub the butter and flour together with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  3. Add the golden caster sugar and stir.
  4. Spoon the mixture thickly and evenly over the apples.
  5. Press down lightly with back of the spoon.
  6. Sprinkle ½ tbsp of golden caster sugar on top of the crumble.
  7. Put in the oven for about 45 minuets or until golden brown.
  8. Take out and enjoy!
Tip: if you have any leftover crumble you can freeze it and re-use on another crumble.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Leave a comment

Tangy, lemony cake!

Ingredients

  • Loaf Tin
  • 8oz butter
  • 8oz caster sugar
  • 10oz self raising flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 4 large eggs
  • finely grated zest of 2 lemons

Crunchy topping

  • 6oz granulated sugar
  • juice of 2 lemons

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 140ºC/Gas Mark 3. Line your loaf tin with baking paper.
  2. Put the sugar and butter into a large bowl and mix well.
  3. Add the self raising flour and eggs and mix well. (Maybe do 5oz of flour, mix,  then do another 5oz so it doesn’t go everywhere)
  4. Mix in the baking powder and then zest the 2 lemons.( If you don’t know how to zest, its just the skin of the lemon and you stop zesting when you see white).
  5. Put all the mixture into your loaf tin and bake for 35-40mins or put a knife in the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean its cooked.         (Whilst the cake is cooking it’s best to make the topping, recipe down below).
  6. Allow to cool for a few mins then lift out of tin. Carefully place the cake onto a wire rack and put tissue under the wire rack to catch drips from the topping.
  7. To make the topping mix together the granulated sugar and the juice of 2 lemons until it gives a runny texture.
  8. Pour the topping onto the cake whilst the cake is still warm .
  9. Leave to cool completely until cutting.
  10. Serve and Enjoy!

Multi-Coloured Cake

Leave a comment

Mesmerising cake

Ingredients

  • 6oz butter
  • 6oz sugar
  • 6oz self-raising flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking powder (optional)
  • food colouring (any colour)
  • cocoa powder (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 150ºC/Gas Mark 2.
  2. Grease your cake tin with butter.
  3. In a large bowl mix together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.
  4. Add in the self-raising flour and eggs and mix well until smooth.
  5. Separate your mixture into three different bowls. Making sure the mixture in each bowl is equal
  6. Add a few drops of food colouring, into one bowl, until its turns to the colour your want. (don’t add too much, it will then make you mixture really watery).
  7. In a different bowl add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder and mix well. (This is if you want to do chocolate, if not use a different colour).
  8. In the last bowl you can keep it plain or add a few drops of a different food colouring.
  9. With a spoon, put the mixture into different places in the cake tin and keep doing that until there is no mixture left.
  10. Bake in the oven for 20-30mins or until knife comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
  11. Once its cool take out and add decorations on top. (I added Christmas decorations because at the time it was Christmas).
  12. Serve and enjoy!

Chocolate Truffles

Leave a comment

Full Of Chocolaty Goodness.

Makes about 15-20 depending on how big you make them.

Ingredients

  • 200g milk chocolate drops
  • 50g butter
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 100g plain cake (I use madeira cake)
  • chocolate sprinkles or your choice of sprinkles
  • small paper cases

Method

  1. Pour water into a pan and heat it until the water bubbles.
  2. Put chocolate drops and butter in a heatproof bowl onto the pan and stir until melted.
  3. Carefully lift the bowl off the water.
  4. Sift in the icing sugar and then crumble up the plain cake and add the cake to the mix. Mix well until all covered.
  5. Leave the mixture to cool.
  6. Put the sprinkles onto a plate.
  7. When the mixture has cooled with a teaspoon put a spoonful of the mixture into your hands and roll into a ball.
  8. Put the ball into the sprinkles and roll around until it’s all covered.
  9. Put the truffles into the paper case. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.
  10. Enjoy!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Leave a comment

Super easy to make and taste fab.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 150ºC/Gas Mark 2. Put the cupcake cases onto the tray.
  2. Mix together the butter and the sugar until it looks light and fluffy.
  3. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and beat, then add the vanilla extract and mix in with the eggs.
  4. Add the flour and mix until all creamy.
  5. Add two teaspoons of mixture into each cupcake case.
  6. Bake for about 20-25minutes. (To test if cooked poke a small hole with a needle and if it comes out clean its cooked)
  7. (optional) When cool pipe the icing on top with a star nozzle.
  8. (optional) Add your own sprinkle or decoration on top.
  9. Enjoy!

Brownies

Leave a comment

Yummy brownies. Great for chocoholics!

Makes about 12 brownies 

Ingredients

  • 8oz chocolate
  • 6oz melted butter
  • 10oz sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 6oz plain flour
  • 2 tsp Vanilla
  • 2oz cocoa powder

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4. Line a square tin with baking paper.
  2. Mix together the melted butter and sugar, and mix well until smooth.
  3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix.
  4. Melt half of the chocolate and save half.(4oz melted,4oz not)
  5. Add the melted chocolate and stir.
  6. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder and mix well until smooth.
  7. Add the un-melted chocolate chunks and mix until all are covered by the mixture. 
  8. Pour the mixture in the square tin and bake for about 20-25 mins (depending on your oven it could be longer)
  9. Leave to cool, then cut into squares (any size you want)
  10. Enjoy-they won’t last long!

Meringues

Leave a comment

Gooey and mouth watering treats.

This recipe makes around 30-40 meringues depending on how big you make them.

Ingredients

  • 4 egg whites
  • A pinch of salt
  • 125 g/4 ½ oz granulated sugar
  • 125 g/4 ½ oz caster sugar

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 120ºC/Gas mark ½. Line 3 large baking sheets with baking paper.
  2. Place the whites in a bowl and add a pinch of salt and whish until stiff (you should be able to turn it upside down on someone’s head without any movement from the egg whites).
  3. When whisked add in the granulated sugar and mix well. It should begin to look glossy.
  4. Add in the caster sugar and whisk until all the sugar has incorporated and the mixture forms thick peaks.
  5. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag that is fitted with a star nozzle and pipe a meringue looking shape onto the baking paper.
  6. Bake in the preheated oven for 1½ hours or until the meringues are pale golden.
  7. Without opening the oven door leave the meringues to cool in the oven.
  8. After, plate them and Enjoy!

Buttercream Icing

2 Comments

A lovely topping for many cake recipes.

Makes enough icing for 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 600g Icing sugar
  • 300g Softened butter
  • Vanilla extract

Method

  1. Mix the icing sugar and butter together until smooth.
  2. Add in a few drops of vanilla extract and mix well.
  3. Fill a piping bag and pipe onto a cake or spread with a knife.

Butterfly Cupcakes

Leave a comment

These cupcakes are easy to make, look great and taste amazing.

This recipe makes around 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients

  • 6oz Butter
  • 6oz Caster Sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 5oz Self raising flour*
  • 1oz Cocoa powder*
  • Icing sugar (optional)
  • Buttercream icing  Click here to make your own

*if making vanilla cupcakes use 6oz self-raising flour and 2tsp vanilla extract.

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 150°C/Gas mark 2. Put the cupcake cases onto the tray.
  2. Mix together the butter and sugar until it looks light and fluffy.
  3. Crack the eggs into a cup and beat together then add them into the mixture.
  4. Add the flour and cocoa powder and mix it well until creamy.
  5. Pour the mixture equally into each cupcake case.
  6. Bake them for 20-25 minutes. Poke a knife into the middle of a cake and it should come out clean if fully cooked.
  7. When the cupcakes are cool, slice the top off (1-2cm thick) and cut them in half.
  8. Pipe on a layer of buttercream and place the two cake halves in it to create wings. (see picture)
  9. (Optional) Sprinkle icing sugar over the cake for added decoration.
  10. Enjoy!