Lemon Frosted Lemon Birthday Cake

It was coming up to 7 months since my last post (don't know where that time has gone!) so I thought I should get back on here and post some recipes - more for myself than anyone. To be honest I'm not so sure if anyone has missed it much (apart from my lovely Nosheen) but I have sure missed it. I don't want to make excuses about what has been going on over the past 7 months which has prevented me from blogging as I suspect in the most part it has been laziness. There seems to have always been something else I have needed to be doing and although I have still been cooking and baking I have not been taking the time to write out the recipes or photograph the end results. Various distractions such as work, my university course, moving house and other such life events have invariably taken up my attention. Although I know the up-coming few months are going to be hectic and stressful I am determined to take the time every now and then to come back to A Beggar's Banquet and keep up this hobby-o-mine. So what have I been making in the kitchen these past months? Well I thought I would start by posting the recipe for a gigantic lemon frosted lemon sponge cake that I made for my beloved for his birthday back in November, presented to him along with a handmade card and a large selection of craft beer (bought not made). I think you'll agree it is quite a work of art and its obvious homemade appearance i.e. my temporary inability to write, adds to its charm. He liked it anyway and it tasted pretty good so I would file that one under 'mega success'.

Here is how I made it...

Ingredients
250g butter, at room temp
250g caster sugar
5 eggs, beaten
250g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 2 lemons
1 jar lemon curd

For the frosting:
500g icing sugar
110g butter, at room temp
30ml lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon

1 bar milk chocolate for the writing

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line 2 x 8" cake tins with baking parchment and set aside.

Beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the beaten eggs and mix together until combined. Sift in the flour and baking powder then add the lemon zest and gently fold the mixture until fully incorporated with no visible lumps of flour. Divide between the 2 baking tins and level out. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden - remove and check by sticking in a piece of dried spaghetti, its done if it comes out clean. Allow to fully cool on a cooling rack.

Once cooled, use a bread knife to cut off the risen tops to give you a flat surface. Put a blob of lemon curd on the cake stand, board or plate and place on one of the cakes to keep it in place. Spread a layer of lemon curd on the top and place the other cake, bottom side up on top - so you have a nice smooth flat surface. 

For the frosting it is much easier to use an electric mixer than to do this by hand unless you have arms of steel. Sift the icing sugar onto the butter in the mixing bowl and start the mixer off on a low speed (else you'll have the kitchen submerged in a cloud of icing sugar). Add the lemon juice and zest and increase to a high speed. Mix for about 5 minutes until smooth. I find you usually have to add more icing sugar to get the right consistency so just make a judgement call here when you think it looks right and is not runny. When you're happy spread over the cake, leaving some peaks for texture. Add writing if required by melting the chocolate in the microwave and transferring to a piping bag - I hope your writing turns out better than mine! 

Here is the portrait I did for him, the likeness is uncanny...

Apple, Almond and White Chocolate Cookies

I love making cookies. Fact. I love how I can just open the cupboard and add anything to the basic cookie dough mixture to invent a new one. We still had a load of apples from my Mum's garden left over so I knocked up these delightful apple, almond and white chocolate babies in about 20 minutes - the perfect comfort food when the weather is this miserable. A couple of cookies, glass of milk and a good book. Boom: the perfect rainy Saturday afternoon.

Ingredients
(Makes about 12)

1 cup sugar
100g butter, at room temperature
1 egg, beaten
200g plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1tbsp lemon juice
1 medium sharp apple (Bramley or Granny Smith will be good), peeled and chopped into about 1cm chunks
100g white chocolate, chopped 
Handful flaked almonds, toasted a little in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 10-15 minutes or you can just buy toasted ones

First pre-heat your oven to 190°C and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the beaten egg and lemon juice and mix in.

Sift in the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and nutmeg and mix until combined. Add the chopped apple, chocolate and flaked almonds and mix until evenly distributed.

Dollop a heaped tablespoon of the cookie dough per cookie evenly on the baking trays - you should get about 12. Don't worry about them looking pretty or flattening them out - lumpy dollops make the best cookies. Now bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until just turning golden. The moisture in the apple will mean that these cookies are quite soft in texture and almost a bit cakey.

Leave to cool for a couple of minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool fully. They taste like delicious apple pie!

Toffee Apple Tart

I've made this pie only once before for a bonfire night/graduation party a good few years ago - we had a big family get together with a giant pan of curry, pork in cider and a meat and potato pie accompanied by fireworks! All very autumnal! It was probably one of the first things I ever baked (to moderate success).

So with a carrier bag of apples collected from my Mum's garden sitting in the cupboard I have been baking away trying to use them up (more apple based recipes to follow!) and I thought I would attempt this toffee apple pie recipe again - I remember I made notes in the cook book so I could perfect it the next time. 4 years later those notes came in handy!

The recipe is actually adapted from a pear tart tatin but I've swapped the pears for apples and cheated a bit and used ready made short crust pastry to make it more of an open pie/tart. It's very tasty with ice cream and I imagine with custard too.

Ingredients

3 large apples, peeled and thickly sliced

90g butter

110g brown sugar

160ml double cream

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 sheet ready made short crust pastry

Handful of pecans

First melt the butter and sugar together in a heavy based wide pan (like a frying pan or cast iron pan). Add the cream until the sugar dissolves and then bring to the boil. The sauce should darken. Add the sliced apple and sprinkle the cinnamon over then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for about 45 minutes, turning occasionally until tender.

Meanwhile blind bake the pastry at 200°C - line the pie dish with the pastry then prick with a fork, cover with greaseproof paper and fill base with ceramic baking beads then bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Raise the oven temperature to 220°C or leave at 200°C if a fan oven.

Fill the baked pastry case with the toffee apple mixture, spreading out evenly then top with the pecan nuts. Bake for about 25 minutes then allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or custard. Yes.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns - Autumn is here!

I think I must be feeling Autumnal this week and as the weather gets a little colder and the heating goes on for the first time in months I thought do you know what I'm gonna get my Autumnal bake on and make something that epitomises this time of year - think pumpkins, think cinnamon spice, think sweet brown sugar. There really is nothing nicer than the smell of cinnamon buns baking in the oven; the ultimate comfort food! Never having made these before I was pretty impressed with how they came out - I was fretting that the dough was all wrong because it was so wet and sticky, making it difficult to roll out and cut up - but I think this must be how it is supposed to be as they seemed to turn out ok in the end. Many of the recipes you read on these blogs or in recipe books don't reassure you that you're doing it right; that it might look a total mess when it goes into the oven and you'll think about throwing it in the bin but this is actually what it should look like. Recipes need this I feel so just to assure you, mine looked a total mess and I thought it was a disaster but once you put them in the oven they do their thang and everything turns out fine. Better than fine in fact (and yes I did just write thang).

I think they're supposed to look a little rustic right?

Ingredients

(makes about 8-10)

For the dough:

40g unsalted butter

60ml whole milk, warmed a little

1½ tsp instant yeast

220g self raising flour

40g brown sugar or half brown half white

¼ tsp cinnamon

pinch of ginger

pinch of nutmeg

80g pumpkin puree

1 egg beaten

For the filling:

70g brown sugar

pinch of salt

1-1½ tsp cinnamon

For the icing:

3 heaped tsp icing sugar

lemon juice

First to make your dough, melt the butter in a saucepan on a medium heat and brown a little for extra flavour. Once melted leave on heat for a few minutes more - it should be sizzling. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Mix together the yeast and warm milk and set aside - after about 5 minutes it should look a bit foamy.

In the bowl of an electric mixer or if doing it by hand a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and spices. Add 2/3rds of the melted butter and mix in. Now add the yeast/milk mixture, the pumpkin puree and about 2/3rds of the egg and mix until combined. Knead with the dough hook on low for about 5 minutes or 10 if kneading by hand. Scrape the mixture into an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warmish place for an hour to rise.

Meanwhile grease and line a 9inch round cake tin with greaseproof paper and butter the sides. 

This bit is probably the trickiest bit; rolling out the dough and making the spirals. I found the trick is to have quite a lot of flour handy. So generously flour your work surface then tip out the dough and sprinkle the top with flour as well. Carefully roll out the dough into a large rectangle, maybe the size of a Mac Book, a bit bigger than A4. The dough will try its best to stick to the rolling pin but just add flour to prevent this.

Brush the dough with the remaining butter and sprinkle over the sugar, cinnamon and a tiny bit of salt. Try to get as close to the edges as you can. On the longest side start to roll the dough up towards you (a dough cutter is quite handy for scraping the dough up that wants to stick to the surface) so you get a long roll, like a swiss roll. To cut this into spirals its best to use a cerrated knife and very little pressure to prevent all the filling squishing out. You need to cut them about an inch thick. Then arrange them flat in the prepared baking tin, sprinkle over any left over sugar and spices then cover again with cling film and leave to rise for about 45 minutes to an hour.

15 minutes before the time is up preheat your oven to 175°C. Remove clingfilm and bake for about 25 minutes or until risen and golden.

Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes then add the lemon icing (you don't have to use lemon juice you can just use water and a little vanilla essence but I like the slight sharpness to contrast the sweet). To make the frosting simply add a tsp of the lemon juice at a time, mixing thoroughly until smooth, adding a little more until you get the consistency you like. Enjoy with a nice cup of tea!

Rosemary & Roasted Garlic Bread

“'A loaf of bread,’ the Walrus said, ‘is what we chiefly need: Pepper and vinegar besides are very good indeed.'" - Lewis Caroll.

I've already mentioned my current bread obsession and here is another one to add to the collection - a rustic rosemary and roasted garlic bread! This bread is so tasty and really comforting straight from the oven and it made not just our kitchen but the whole street smell amazing! I have never been to Italy (hopefully next year) but I imagine its a bit like this.

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour

3 1/2 tsp dried yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil plus extra for roasting garlic and greasing tin

300ml luke warm water

1 bulb garlic

2 tbsp butter, at room temperature

Small bunch of rosemary

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Mix together the water, sugar, yeast and olive oil with a fork until the yeast and sugar has dissolved. 

In a large mixing bowl make a well in the centre of the flour. Add the liquid mixture and combine until you get a rough dough.

Transfer to a floured work surface or an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and knead for about 5-10 minutes (a bit longer if kneading by hand). Then lightly oil, cover with cling film and a tea towel and leave to prove in a warm room for 1 hour.

Meanwhile wrap the garlic, drizzled with olive oil in foil and put in the oven to roast for 1 hour.

When the dough has risen, knock back on a floured work surface then roll out to a rectangle, about 2cm in thickness. Lightly oil a rectangular baking tray and place the rolled dough on to it. Prick all over with a fork.

To make the garlic butter topping mash together the roasted garlic flesh (dispose of the shell), the butter, rosemary and a good few twists of salt and pepper. Spread over the dough and leave to prove a second time for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220°C about 20 minutes before the proving time is up. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden and risen. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes then tuck in!

Mega Cheese and Bacon Skillet Scone

Really into my breads at the moment, in fact as I'm writing this recipe up I have some dough rising on the side and some garlic roasting in the oven for a (hopefully) lovely garlic and rosemary bread. This mega scone I can confirm was a lovely bread. It was really easy to make too and you don't even have to leave it to prove, literally just bash it together, stick it in the oven and bam ready. Ideal if you're short of time and all the ingredients are the kind of stuff likely to already be knocking about the kitchen. I just made this one weeknight and we had it with a couple of tins of tomato soup; dead easy and tasty (especially when eaten whilst still warm).

Ingredients

200g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

40g butter, cut into cubes

1 packet smoked bacon lardons (about 180g-200g)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

100g mature cheddar, grated, or any cheese of your choice (this is for quite a cheesy scone - just decrease the amount if you don't want it so cheesy)

about 100ml milk

First fry off your bacon until it is nice and cripsy then put aside on some kitchen roll to drain the fat from them.

Preheat your oven to 220°C and lightly oil an 8 inch skillet pan (don't worry if you dont have one you can use a cake tin or a casserole dish or even just a baking tray - I just like skillets and this creates a nice crust).

In a bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and cayenne pepper then add the butter cubes and rub in to the flour using the tips of your fingers (like you're making pastry) until you have no lumps of butter. Mix in the grated cheese and bacon bits then add a bit of milk, adding a little more until it comes together into a ball.

Knead a couple of times - you just want it to form a rough ball, don't be tempted to knead it loads as this will give the scone a tough texture.

Place the dough into the oiled pan and put a cross in the top by pushing the handle of a wooden spoon firmly through the dough (this makes it easier to break up later) then sprinkle with a little more cheese and some cracked black pepper and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes.

If it looks like it is browning too much turn the oven down to 200°C for the rest of the time.

Check it by tapping the bottom and if it sound hollow then its done! This goes really well with soups and stews as it has that kind of dumpling texture or just by itself with a bit of butter.

Freshly baked Bialys

These have been a favourite of ours ever since I made them a few months back and despite the 4 hour preparation time they are definitely worth the effort! There is nothing better than these little babies straight from the oven and accompanied by some homemade soup they are an absolute delight!

The Bialy is very similar in texture to the bagel - soft and chewy - however being baked only and not boiled prior to baking they have a much softer crust than that of their bagel brother. I had never heard of the Bialy before and came upon the recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog (one of my blog obsessions). I was instantly like 'I have to make these', and from the photographs alone I was salivating. I often wish that we had more of a bakery culture in Manchester (and I cannot count Greggs as an authentic bakery); other cities seem to be spoilt with baked goodness but I must get my kicks by recreating such things in my own kitchen. There is one traditional Jewish bakery in Cheetham Hill I have been to which is the only one that has come close to my expectations and I was like a child in a sweet shop, greedily wanting to buy everything! In the end I settled for a seed topped Challah bread and a selection of bagels. This was not enough.

So I have made these about 4 or 5 times since discovering them and I am still trying to perfect the shape - mine always rise too much compared with the lovely Deb's. I think it is the shaping - I need to thin out the centres more so the onion filling is not pushed out when they are baked. I believe perseverance is the key and if I make these enough times I will master the art - you gotta have a dream! So here's how you make them...

Ingredients

(makes 6)

300g strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp fast action dried yeast

1 tsp sea salt

175ml water, at room temperature

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 tbsp poppy seeds

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

In a mixing bowl or bowl of an electric mixer add the flour and then the yeast to one side and the salt to the other so they are not touching (the salt will kill the yeast). Using the dough hook mix on a low speed and slowly add the water to form a soft dough. Turn up to a medium speed and mix for about 7 minutes. If you are doing this by hand you will probably need to double this time.

Cover the dough and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour and a half to 2 hours. Because of the low yeast content it needs longer than other breads to rise but this is what gives it the dense chewy texture.

Deflate the dough by pressing down then transfer to a floured work surface and cut into 6 equal pieces. Shape the pieces by pressing your thumbs into the centre and turning round in your hands. Fold the edges in to the well made by your thumbs to make a kind of pouch then place (pinch side down) on a floured baking tray. Cover and allow to rise for another 2 hours.

30 minutes before that time is up preheat your oven to 250°C or as high as it will go.

To make the onion filling heat the olive oil and fry the chopped onion on a medium heat until soft and translucent (between 5 and 10 minutes). Add the poppy seeds and a good few twists of sat and pepper - taste and adjust to your liking. Allow to cool a little.

Take each dough ball at a time and make a firm indent in the centre - working the dough to flatten it out making a kind of spaceship shape. Add a spoonful of the onion into each well and lightly press down. Sprinkle with flour and bake for 6-10 minutes until mottled golden brown. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes until just warm then enjoy the baked goodness!