Ingredients

• 4 large, free-range egg whites
• pinch salt
• 225g/8ozs caster sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons of cornflour. sifted
• 1 ½  tsps vanilla extract

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 55C/130F/Gas 1.
2. Beat the egg whites and salt together in a stand mixer bowl until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed.
3. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly, until all the sugar is incorporated and stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed – allow 3 seconds between each addition
4. Add the cornflour and vanilla extract and just whisk to combine.
5. Put a 1 ½cm plain nozzle into a piping bag and fill to ¾ full with the meringue mixture.
6. Pipe out the ‘spooky’ meringues onto 2 trays lined with non-stick parchment. Leave a ½”/1cm space between each figure – see photo for ideas. Transfer to oven and allow to bake/dry out for at least 4-5 hours, or just them on the low setting overnight to maintain their whiteness.
7. When cold, pipe mouth shapes onto head area, and in the eye area, or use chocolate chips for the eyes.
8. Great fun to make with a young audience, or to offer at Halloween trick or treat, or at any time.

Great to stimulate the tastebuds of all those courageous people who are quitting cigarettes during the ‘Stoptober’ campaign. This is a great cake for a tea party or special occasion. Yet, it is fairly simple to make: just follow the recipe carefully. The poached pears not only look great but add lovely flavour and texture to the cake, complimenting the ginger beautifully. As well as ginger, the recipe also uses cinnamon and cloves. Enjoy!

Cake

Ingredients

• 220g butter
• 220g light brown caster sugar
• 1 tbls clear honey
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 220g self-raising flour
• 1 ¼ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 2 tbls chopped, crystallised ginger.

Method

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Grease and base line two 120cm/8” sandwich tins. Cream the honey, butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. Sieve spices into flour and whisk together to mix. Fold into creamed mixture. Divide the mixture between tins.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until light to the touch and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tins. Cool in tins and then turn out onto cooling racks.

Poached Pears

Ingredients

• 3 Rocha pears or similar sized pears e.g. William, Comice or medium-sized Conference – peeled
• 30cl red wine + 30cl water
• 70g caster sugar
• 4 cloves
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 cinnamon stick

Method

Put wine, water, caster sugar, orange zest, cloves and cinnamon stick in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to boil. Add peeled pears and simmer, with lid on, for 25-30 minutes until cooked. Remove from liquid and drain. Pat dry with kitchen towels.

Cut the pears into quarters, and remove cores with a teaspoon. Slice the quarters into slim slices (see photo) and set aside.

Buttercream

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 175g icing sugar
• 50g chopped, crystallised ginger

Cream the butter until soft and light, then gradually beat in icing sugar.

Chop the ginger finely into small pieces and stir in.

Assembly and decoration

1/3^rd of jar apricot preserve + 1 tsp water – heated gently and sieved to glaze top of cake and pear slices.

• Sandwich cake halves together with butter cream.
• Spread a thin layer of apricot glaze on top of cake so that pears will stick to it.
• Arrange pear slices in concentric circles starting from outer edge of the cake.
• Glaze the slices with remaining apricot preserve.
• There will likely be a 50p size hole at the centre of the pears which you can either fill with some chopped pieces of crystallised ginger or a small piece of chopped pear.
• Transfer to serving plate.
• The cake will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Here’s a simple but delicious loaf cake that would be ideal with morning coffee but would also make a good dessert with some vanilla ice cream, crème frâiche or Greek yoghurt. Chocolate and orange are a classic combination. I’ve added an orange glaze and pieces of candied orange peel  (see my recipe on this site) for appearance and extra tang. But you could leave these out if you prefer. This cake keeps well. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 285g/10ozs plain flour
• 1¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 170g/6oz unsalted butter at room temperature
• 220g/8ozs caster sugar
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 120g whole milk
• finely grated zest of one orange
• 100g/4ozs chocolate (60%-70% solids) melted and cooled
• 1/3 jar of marmalade for glaze (optional)
• candied orange peel or additional zest for decoration (optional)

Preheat oven to 165C/4.5Gas/325F

Grease a loaf tin with butter and flour lightly. Tap out surplus flour. Tin = 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½”.

Put on a baking sheet and set aside.

Method

First break the chocolate into pieces into a small, clean bowl. Place over simmering water to melt. Do not let the bowl touch the water. This will only take a few minutes. Leave the bowl aside to cool while you make the batter.

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside

Beat the softened butter in a stand mixer using a paddle attachment for 3-4 minutes till light and fluffy. Or use a hand-held mixer. Add the sugar and beat for another two minutes. Now add the lightly beaten eggs in about four additions and beat after each addition. Don’t worry if the mixture appears to curdle at this point. Add the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add three tablespoons of the flour, then half the milk, then another three tablespoons of flour, and the remainder of the milk finishing with the last of the flour. Do not over-mix – just enough to incorporate the flour mixture.

Now divide the batter evenly. (I weigh mine in a container on the weighing scales to get it right, but you can use alternating spoonfuls into two bowls). Add the grated orange zest to one half: the cooled melted chocolate to the other.

Put large tablespoonfuls of the two batters in alternating heaps along the bottom of the prepared tin e.g. yellow batter – chocolate batter – yellow batter and so on. Continue with this pattern on top of the lower spoonfuls until all the batter is used up. Now using a table knife, and starting at one end of the tin, swirl it through the batter with the knife maintaining contact with the bottom of the tin, in a ziz-zag fashion. Make the swirling motion confidently in one direction only and stop!

Bake in pre-heated oven for 1 hour 20 – 25 minutes until a small skewer comes out clean when inserted. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for 30 minutes. Turn out of tin and put right side up. The cake can be served as is. Or, as in the photograph, I heated 1/3 of a jar of orange marmalade with a tablespoon of water. When liquid, strain through a sieve to remove fruit pieces. Brush top of cake with the hot jam. And for a final flourish, you can add pieces of orange zest or, as in the picture, candied orange peel (see my recipe on this site). This could also be served as a dessert with crème frâiche, Greek yoghurt or vanilla ice cream. The flavours are stronger the next day and the cake will keep for up to 7 days in an airtight container.

Monty is the first dog I have ever owned. Before we got him two years ago we did some research online about the different dog food brands. What we found was quite shocking – many foods and treats seemed to be packed with nasties of various kinds. We finally found kibble and wet food that seemed to avoid additives and meat from unknown sources. However, finding treats that we could give Monty with confidence was harder. So, that led me to experiment with making my own. These treats contain bacon which some dog owners might wish to avoid due to the salt and fat content. I suggest using lean (not streaky) bacon and draining off much of the fat from cooking. And, as with chocolate cake for humans, these are an occasional treat!

Ingredients

• 250 grams/8ozs of lean bacon rashers – cut into thick strips – smoked or unsmoked
• 450g/16ozs chicken livers – cut up roughly
• 450g/16oz plain flour, or, wholemeal flour  for roughage (or wholemeal spelt if you have it)
• 150g/6ozs of fine cornmeal
• 250g chicken stock – wither fresh or made up from bouillon powder

Glaze

• 60g of tomato ketchup
• 1 large egg white

(Whisk the egg white and ketchup together to make a thick glaze, and set aside). Line two baking sheets with non-stick parchment.

Preheat oven to 125C/260F/Gas3

Method

Cook the cut up bacon in a large pan over a medium-high heat till fairly crisp for about 5 minutes.  Remove from the pan and pat with paper towels to remove most of the fat. Keep half of the bacon fat in the pan and add the cut up chicken livers. Fry for 5 minutes or so during which some liver paste will form. Set pan aside to cool slightly.

Put the cooked bacon into a food processor and spin to form a coarse meal. Now add the cooked chicken livers and grind again to form a paste. Next add the fine cornmeal to form a coarse pâté mixture.

Add the flour to form a coarse paste. Finally add the chicken stock that will now give you soft dough.  Take the dough from the processor and knead it to form a smooth ball – about 1 minute of kneading is enough.

Put dough between two sheets of non-stick parchment and roll it out to about 1cm/3/8”.  Then use a small cutter e.g. I use a small square one, but a round one is equally good, or you can buy one in the shape of a dog-bone.  Use up all trimmings and the quantity should give you about 46 treats when divided between the two baking trays.

Bake for 1 ½ hours at the above temperature, and then lower the temperature to 100C/200F and bake for another 2 hours. You are essentially drying out the biscuits. Take them out of the oven and brush them with the tomato ketchup glaze and bake for another 20 minutes.

Allow to cool on a rack and store in an airtight container. I appreciate that this seems like a long baking time, but with the quality of the ingredients, at least you know what is going into the treats, and your doggie will love for you for it.

Often regarded as a challenge in the kitchen, by following a few basic rules you too can produce perfect choux pastry. Perfect for filling with crème patissière or other indulgences.

Ingredients

• 125g water
• 125g whole milk
• 100g butter
• 5g salt (1/2 tsp)
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 150g plain flour
• 4 medium eggs – room temperature

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/ Gas 6. Line 2 large baking sheets with non-stick parchment paper.
2. In a large saucepan, combine the water, butter, sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderate. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until a tight dough forms and pulls away from the side of the pan, 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
3. In a bowl, beat 4 1/2 eggs and add to the dough in four batches, stirring vigorously between additions until the eggs are completely incorporated and the pastry is smooth.  You can also use an electric stand mixer for this, which is less effort. The dough should be glossy and very slowly hang, stretch and fall from the spoon in thick ribbons. If necessary, beat in the remaining ½ egg.
4. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Pipe 1 1/2-inch mounds onto the baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between them to allow for expansion. (If you haven’t got a piping bag and nozzle, use a medium-sized plastic sandwich bag that you can seal the top of. Cut off a corner about the size of a £1 coin and use that instead to pipe out the mounds).
5. Turn oven down to 180C once you have put the choux in the oven. Depending on size of choux e.g. profiteroles, bake for 15 minutes at 180C/gas 4. Turn off heat and leave to dry in the residual heat of the oven for 20 minutes or so. For Paris-Brest or éclairs, bake for 20 minutes and again, turn off oven and the residual heat will dry the shells to crispy. (Do not open oven door after 10 minutes or so to check progress, as the choux will not have set and will partly or fully collapse!)
6. Try to leave filling the choux until an hour or two before you intend to serve them, as any filling will gradually reduce the crispness. Classical fillings are French Pastry Cream, or Chantilly Cream. You can also add a small amount of jam to the base of split choux before piping in the cream. They can also be dipped into melted chocolate, dark or white.
7. To fill a profiterole or éclair, make a small hole in the base of the pastry, and use a piping bag with a nozzle that has a small opening to pipe in the filling. (For this step, you will need a piping bag and nozzle. But you can split the pastry and fill with a teaspoon instead).
8. Recipe makes 35 small choux; 18 éclairs; 14 Paris –Brest approx. Can be stored – unfilled – for up to 5 days in an airtight container.

Preheat oven to 175C/350F/Gas 4. Butter and flour the individual tins. I used mini, straight-sided, sponge tins available from Lakeland. But a muffin 12-hole tray will also work.

Ingredients

Makes 12

• 175g unsalted butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 225g plain flour
• 40g ground almonds
• I tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 175g sultanas
• 175g currants or raisins
• 60g glacé cherries, roughly chopped
• 60g mixed peel
• Grated zest of 2 lemons – use fine grater or microplane
• Juice from above lemons
• 3 large eggs
• 4 tbls whiskey
• 150g whole blanched or unblanched almonds – for decoration (see photo). You can use 1 – 4 to decorate top.
• ½ jar of apricot jam, warmed and sieved for glazing top of cakes.

Method

Using a stand-mixer, cream the butter and sugar until trebled in volume e.g. 4 minutes on medium speed. Whisk the eggs lightly to break them up, and add about ½ egg at each addition until fully incorporated. Mix thoroughly the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and mixed spice together with a whisk. Fold in on slow speed, and then add the dried fruit, the lemon zest. Finally add the lemon juice and the whiskey.

Spoon or pipe into the prepared tins to 2/3rds full. Smooth out surface with a teaspoon.

Bake on middle shelf of preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes, but not longer than 30 minutes.

Glaze with sieved apricot jam while still hot, and cool on wire rack. The glaze will set as the cakes cool.

Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 6 days.

Excellent for afternoon tea, or could also be served as a dessert with crème anglaise

Ingredients

• 250g/8ozs spelt flour
• 125g/4ozs spelt wholemeal
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• *¾ tsp hazelnut extract
• 3 large eggs
• 250 ml sunflower oil
• 250g/8ozs caster sugar
• 2 tbls good quality cocoa powder
• 2 tbls plain yoghurt

Preheat oven to 180ᵒc/375ᵒF. *can be bought on line at ‘Bakery Bits’. Gives an excellent flavour.

Melt 1 oz butter and using a pastry brush, butter and flour a 9” diameter, 2 litre Bundt pan. (Do not use oil spray if the Bundt pattern is elaborate and intricate e.g. rose shape, crennellations etc, as it isn’t effective in the crevices and will cause sticking and spoil the finished look – I know this from experience!)

Method

Beat eggs, vanilla and hazelnut extract and sugar in electric mixer until tripled in volume – 4-5 minutes. Add oil slowly in a steady stream with a few pauses  until it is all incorporated. The batter will be fairly thick.

Sift flours, baking powder into a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with a hand whisk. Fold into batter with a large whisk or wooden spoon.

Divide the mixture in half into another bowl. To this bowl, add the cocoa powder and the yoghurt, and fold together.

Using a tablespoon, spoon 3 tablespoons of the cocoa batter to form a triangle in the Bundt tin. Between these spoon in the plain batter. Using a knife of dessertspoon, swirl the two batters together. Repeat the process on top of this using all of both batters, and swirl again. Put in pre-heated oven on middle shelf and cook for 35 – 40 minutes.  Check with a wooden skewer and if still moist, bake an extra 5 minutes maximum, but no longer to avoid drying out.

Wait 10 minutes before turning cake out onto cooling rack. Let it cool thoroughly.

When cold, dust with icing sugar to accentuate the markings of the Bundt tin.

Optional finish for special occasion: make some hazelnut brittle – recipe follows.

When set, chop some fairly finely. Brush top of cake with some sieved apricot jam to create a sticky surface. Sprinkle the chopped nut brittle on top.

Hazelnut Brittle

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup golden syrup, or light Agave syrup
2 tablespoons butter
21/2 cups roasted unsalted hazelnuts, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Few drops vanilla

Method

Put a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add sugar, water, and corn or agave syrup and bring to a boil. When mixture comes to a boil, add butter. Cook to 260 degrees F on a candy thermometer without stirring and add the sliced hazelnuts. Bring mixture to 300 F and stir in salt, baking soda and vanilla. Pour mixture onto a greased baking sheet and spread out and allow to cool. Break up into pieces. Can also be ground and added to ice cream.

Or just make your own favourite nut brittle.

Servings: 10 – 12.

Along with the ‘Doggy Hot Dog’ rolls, these buns came out of an afternoon experimenting with dough. They are fun to make and will surely delight your younger customers, especially when filled with jam and whipped cream or perhaps some whipped cream blended with Nutella. Am still working on pussy cat and rabbit buns. Watch this space!

The recipe quantity will make 32 buns each weighing 60 grams. The ears and mouth parts are made from a separate biscuit dough. Halve the recipe for 16 buns. The wholt things is baked in two stages.

Ingredients

• 1100g strong flour
• 60g fresh yeast, or, 3 x 7g packets of fast-action dried yeast
• 90g caster sugar
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 215g butter
• 3 large eggs – lightly whisked and mixed into the water and honey mixture
• 2 tbls runny honey mixed into the lukewarm water…
• 400 – 420ml of lukewarm water
• 1 large egg, whisked for glazing
• Vegetable oil to grease the bowl
• Some currents for eyes and nose

Method

Dissolve the fresh yeast if using in 200ml of the lukewarm water. Sieve the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl, and add the dried yeast if using that. Rub in the butter. Add the whisked eggs, the honeyed water (and the yeast mixture) and enough additional water to make a fairly soft dough. Cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a floured surface. Knead well, about 5-8 minutes, until the dough becomes firm and springy. Put into an oiled bowl, cover with Clingfilm and leave to rise until it doubles in size – up to 1 hour. Turn out onto surface and knead for 2 minutes. Leave to rest for 5 minutes. While proving, line 2 or 3 baking trays with non-stick parchment, or grease with some butter.

Cut off pieces of dough weighing 60g each. Knead lightly to make a round ball. Flatten out to form a round disk of 6cm/2 ½” and place onto prepared tray. Leave enough space to add ears later – say 8 bun disks per tray with a 5cm/2” space between each one.

Glaze with egg wash. Using a small knife make a small incision to make room for eye sockets just above centre line of disk. (There should be more ‘headroom’ above the eyes than usual – see photo). Press a current into each socket. Glaze again. Allow to prove for 20-30 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 190C/Gas5/375F.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. When nearly baked, remove from oven and let cool for 1 minute. (Recipe and method follows for biscuit dough). Have the ears and mouth parts ready prepared. Brush all round, the outer rim of each ear with egg wash and attach to head – leave the centre unbrushed for contrast. Brush mouth part disk with egg-wash on back only and place just under eyes. Press a current into biscuit dough circle above crescent incisions. Reduce oven to 180C/Gas4/350F and return dressed bun to oven and bake for 7-9 minutes to just lightly browned. Do the same with other tray, and return to oven. (It is OK to allow the buns to cool for 1 minute and to open the door as the buns are set and will not shrink. They will finish baking with the biscuit ears and mouth). See photos to help with the method.

Biscuit Dough Ingredients

• 175g/6ozs plain flour
• 1/4tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 75g/3oz butter
• 50g/2oz caster sugar
• 3tbls golden syrup
• 1 tsp milk

In a medium-sized bowl put flour, caster sugar, salt, and baking powder, and mix together with a small whisk. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the golden syrup and milk and mix with a wooden spoon just to bring it together. Continue to knead the mix together with your hand while still in the bowl until it forms a ball. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes max to form a smooth dough. Cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Divide dough in half. Roll out one half to form a rough circle to about £1 coin thickness. Cut out circles with a plain cutter (3.5cm/1 ¼” diameter). Using a smaller cutter mark out 2 crescents to run from ‘nose’ centre to edge of circle – see photo.

To make the ears, form a log with the other half of the biscuit dough to 3cm/1” diameter. Using a sharp, small knife, cut off 1cm/ ¼ “pieces. Press lightly to flatten a little. You now have everything ready for when the buns come out of the oven and follow the instructions above.

When baked, remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. Transfer carefully to a cooling rack with a fish slice to avoid breaking off the ears. Once completely cold, the ears will firm up and remain firmly attached.

The sweet bun can be cut in half – but leave the ears attached to the lower half – and filled with jam and/or cream. Or Nutella, but beat it with a whisk or wooden spoon to make it more easily spreadable. You can also, add some whipped cream to the Nutella to make a lighter cream filling. Great recipe for making with children.

I was playing around with dough the other day seeing what shapes I could come up with. Monty-the-Labradoodle sat watching me with his calm, and sometimes unnerving, gaze. Looking at his face I had the idea to create these little rolls. They are simple to make and great fun for children. You could fill them with any kind of small sausage or perhaps with a fish finger. Monty loved the sausage that I used in the photo but wasn’t too bothered with the bun!

Ingredients

• 500g strong flour
• 1 packet fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 350 – 370ml warm water
• 1 tin of cooked, black beans, well drained and patted dry with kitchen towel for eyes and nose.
• 1 egg beaten for glaze

Method

Add salt and dried yeast to flour but keep both separated. With a hand-held whisk, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly together. Now add water to achieve a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface, and knead for 6 minute to achieve an elastic shiny dough. Oil a medium-sized bowl, place dough inside, cover with a tea towel or Clingfilm, and allow to prove for 1 hour. Once proved, turn out onto work surface. Cut off 60g pieces until all dough is used up. This quantity will make 15-16 rolls.

Briefly knead each piece into a ball. Press down and flatten out slightly. Use a sharp pair of scissors to make incisions each side of ‘head’ to create ears (see photo). Place on a tray covered with non-stick parchment leaving 1 ½” space between each roll. With a small, pointed knife, make a small incision through dough to create 2 eyes, and one for the nose. Place a black bean into each incision.

Leave to rest for 20-30 minutes to rise. Heat oven to 180C/gas5. Brush buns with egg glaze and bake for 20 – 25 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

To serve, slice through front of roll to about 2/3rds back to create cavity. Press in a small piece of lettuce in ‘mouth’ and finally a cooked sausage. (Use slim sausages for these rolls. Normal sized sausages will be disproportionate to the size of the roll). See photos. Great fun to make with children, ideal for BBQs and picnics.

This home-made candied orange peel is far superior to the ‘mixed peel’ found in the supermarkets. Occasionally you can find good quality peel at Christmas time,and in some stores in London throughout the year, but it is easy to make your own. Can be stored in an airtight container for 6-8months.

The recipe for lemon and lime peel is the same, but they need to be made separately. However, the lime peel, which has less pith than the other citrus, only requires 5-6 minutes of cooking.

Recipe

• 3 large navel oranges, or 5 large lemons, or 6 large limes.
• 2 cups of caster sugar
• ¼ cup of golden syrup
• 1/3rd cup water.

Method

Step 1

Wash the fruit and cut into 6 segments. Remove the pulp to leave the peel and the white membrane attached. Transfer to medium saucepan. Cover the peel with cold water. Take to boiling point and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain into a sieve and repeat this process 3 times to remove bitterness from the pith. (Do not omit this step as it influences the taste of the finished peel).

Step 2

Having refreshed the peel 3 times, add the sugar, water, and golden syrup to the same saucepan. Bring to the boil over high heat, stirring to help dissolve the sugar. When it reaches the boil, add the peel and reduce heat to medium and boil for 20-25 minutes. The peel will absorb a good deal of the syrup but not all of it.

Step 3

Have ready a cooling rack that you have oiled with a flavourless oil – just run your oiled hand over the wires to help prevent sticking – and transfer the peel to it with a slotted spoon. (Have a tray underneath the rack, or some greaseproof paper, to catch the sugar drips). Allow to dry for up to 3 hours and store in an airtight container for 6-8 months in the fridge.