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...

Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and toasted almonds

I see a lot of sweet recipes using pumpkin and I've always wanted to give it a go myself. I remember last Autumn becoming pretty addicted to Pumpking beer, a beer brewed from pumpkin and I made spicy pumpkin soup from the flesh removed when we carved one at Halloween but that's as far as my experience goes. This year I am attempting to grow my own for Halloween and the plant is doing quite well thus far so fingers crossed on that one! So this recipe uses tinned pumpkin (I used Libby's) which is kind of like a puree which you add to the cake mixture which gives it a richer, denser taste and texture than a regular sponge - without being too heavy that is. I think using pumpkin in sweet recipes is definitely an American thing and I did worry a little that they might turn out really sweet and sickly but they were not at all - the spices make them quite similar to a ginger cake and I think these will be perfect comfort food as the weather gets colder. You do not really see tinned pumpkin all that much in the UK but Aldi are selling it at the moment so I stocked up as I have always wanted to use it - I will have to go back and get some more whilst they still have it now I know it is a success!

I added the toasted almonds myself as I had some flaked almonds in the cupboard so I just spread them out on greaseproof paper on a baking tray, sprinkled them with brown sugar and toasted in the oven at 180°C for about 8 minutes (they smell amazing). You can add whatever you fancy to the top though - nuts, bits of toffee, chocolate drops, coloured sprinkles, or one of my favourites, peanut M&M's.

Ingredients

(makes 12-14)

200g self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp all spice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

110g butter (at room temperature)
2 eggs

200g white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tin canned pumpkin puree (I used Libby's)

For the cream cheese frosting:

120g cream cheese

30g butter (at room temperature)

220g icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

First preheat your oven to 175°C and line your baking tin with muffin cases - start with 12 and see if you need any more.

Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat in well. Add the vanilla extract and mix.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl then add the pumpkin puree, mixing until roughly combined.

Sift in the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt a bit at a time, mixing together until thoroughy combined - try not to be too rough as you don't want all the air to be beaten out.

Fill the muffin cases with the mixture so they are almost to the top - an ice cream scoop is really handy for doing this. Use more muffin cases if you need to. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.

Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before adding the frosting.

So for the frosting beat together the cream cheese and butter (an electric mixer makes this really easy) until it is smooth with no lumps. Add the vanilla extract and mix in.

Sift in the icing sugar about a 3rd at a time and mix in well, each time scraping round the sides to make sure it is all mixed in. Now here is where you need to use your judgement as I always find no matter which recipe I use I always have to add more icing sugar as the mixture seems to runny. I have upped the quantity from the recipe I used but you still may need to add more. The mixture needs to be able to stay on top of the cupcakes and not run off. I also try to leave the frosting in the fridge to set for a couple of hours if I can.

Spread the mixture on the top using a wide knife and top with whatever you fancy - in my case toasted almonds. Pumpkin in cake. Success.

Poppy seed and mozzarella twist bread

Another weekend, another bread. I am really getting in to this bread baking malarkey now and I'm loving trying different flavours to see what works together. This week I decided to do another twisted crown bread, a bit like the Italian Brioche Couronne one, but this time using poppy seeds and stringy buffalo mozzarella cheese and it turned out really well. The poppy seeds have a nice nutty taste and the mozzarella goes nice and gooey if you eat it when it is still warm then a bit of added parmesan bumps up the cheesiness. I think I could have added some slow fried red onions as well to this one so I might try that the next time... This bread is pretty easy to make and you don't have to wait hours for it to prove (a mere half an hour my friend!) so its a good one if you are a bit tight on time. It is also made with stuff you may already have in the cupboard, aside from the mozzarella, and the ingredients are all cheap to buy so its a good one if you're a bit short of cash.

We ate ours with some nice Thai spice marinated salmon and salad grown by yours truly - pretty proud of my first veg growing attempts actually and I've taken a few pics of the garden. I say garden its more of a yard or 'courtyard garden' as I like to say. When we first moved here I was a bit dubious of how much I would be able to grow there but I think what I have planted has done really well so far - I'm still waiting to see how my Jack Lantern pumpkin, carrots and climbing beans do through the summer so we'll have to see!

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour

100g wholemeal flour

Pinch salt

7g packet fast action dried yeast

2 tbsp honey

350ml lukewarm water

Olive oil

About 3-4 tbsp poppy seeds

2 balls buffalo mozzarella

Parmesan cheese 

Mix the 2 flours, the yeast and the salt together in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the water and mix together until you get a rough dough. Push a dent into the centre of the dough and add the honey into it then fold the dough in onto the honey. Knead for about 10 minutes on a floured work surface or 5 minutes with the dough hook on an electric mixer. The dough is ready when it springs back if you prod it with your finger.

On a clean floured work surface roll the dough out into a flat long rectangle (about 40cm by 20-25cm though it doesn't need to be exact) so the long side is towards you. Brush the top with olive oil then evenly sprinkle over the poppy seeds. Tear up the mozzarella and dot the pieces across the dough. Grate some parmesan over that then roll the dough up towards you, trying to keep it tight, to make a long sausage. 

Squash the sausage down slightly then cut in half lengthways. Turn so the open filling is facing upwards then twist the two pieces together - turn one hand clockwise, the other anti-clockwise. Try to do this quite quickly as dawdling may cause the filling to fall out! Join the 2 ends and squash  together to create a ring.

Lightly oil a baking tray then transfer the dough ring to that. Now brush or spray the top of the dough with olive oil and cover with cling film and a tea towel. Leave somewhere warm to rise for 30 minutes. Now set the oven to preheat at 200°C. Put a deep baking tray in the bottom of the oven to heat up - you add a cup of water to this when the bread goes in the oven to create steam to give it a nice crust and help it to rise.

Uncover the bread and sprinkle with some more poppy seeds and some grated parmesan then put in the oven for about 30 minutes (don't forget to add a cup of cold water or a handful of ice cubes to the tray in the bottom for steam). After the 30 minutes tap the bread on the bottom and if it sounds hollow it is ready.

I think this bread would be really nice with some homemade soup - might have to make it again if my pumpkins are a success!

Baby radishes.

Spinach, beetroot and radishes.

Mixed salad leaves.

Pumpkin.

Grape vine.

Rhubarb, mint (for mojitos) and strawberries.

Sunflower seed and honey bread for a sunny Sunday

I've had some sunflower seeds in the cupboard for a few weeks now. I bought them with the intention of making some kind of bread and I have finally got around to it this weekend although never having made such a bread I had to do a little research first as I was worried the seeds might burn if I put them on the top. I came across a recipe for a sunflower seed bread using honey in the recipe which used a combination of white bread flour and wholemeal flour but for my own adaptation I used only white as I was all out of wholemeal. That's the beauty though as you'll just get a slightly different bread, perhaps a little less nutty. We have just been eating this by itself with butter so far and it is really nice and sweet and nutty but it would be nice with some homemade soup or a stew or even some cheese and pickle.

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour

7g packet fast action yeast

300ml luke warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp runny honey

Handful sunflower seeds

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl (I used an electric mixer for this recipe as this dough gets pretty sticky) then add the yeast and salt and mix. Add the water slowly then the olive oil and mix with the dough hook fitting for about 3 minutes. 

Turn off the mixer then squash a well into the dough and add the honey. Try to fold the dough in over the honey then turn the mixer on again for about another 3-4 minutes. Cover with cling film and a tea towel and leave to prove for an hour.

On a floured work surface knock back the dough (just by pushing out all the air) then shape into a kind of fat sausage, roll in the sunflower seeds and put into an oiled loaf tin.

Leave to prove again for about 30-45 minutes or until it has risen and springs back when poked. About 20 minutes before it is ready preheat the oven to 220°C.

Sprinkle with flour and bake for about 30 minutes then leave to cool for a couple of minutes before taking out of the tin and allowing to cool on a cooling rack. Pretty easy to make and really tasty!

Banana bread

I haven't posted for a while as I've had a bit of a crisis thanks to my adorable little monster Bruce the Whippet. I must have left the room for all of 5 minutes and when I came back I find that he has almost chewed right through my laptop power cable! ...luckily it was not plugged in though. So that was completely useless after that leaving me with a mere 30% battery! The replacement cable arrived today but I have been totally lost without my computer all week. I actually made this banana bread at the weekend, with the intention of posting it on Monday but due to unforseen dog induced circumstances here it is now.

I absolutely love banana bread and it is by far the thing that I make the most in our house. A staple. We eat it by itself or with jam or chocolate spread or toasted with butter (how the Ozzies eat it I discovered when I took a trip the other year), for breakfast or a snack. Never underappreciated. It is so easy to make and is a proper comfort food.

Ingredients
(makes 1 loaf)

250g self raising flour
150g golden caster sugar
100g butter melted and cooled
2 eggs, beaten

3 ripe bananas (I always say the trick is if your fingers go through the skin they have been left too long, you want them to be speckled brown and yellow)

100g chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 350°F/gas 4) and line a 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper and butter (you can buy these ready sized so I just get those for ease - you don't even need to grease it with butter).

Melt the butter in a sauce pan then leave to cool for a few minutes.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and sugar then add the melted and cooled butter, the beaten eggs and the vanilla extract.

Roughly mash the bananas with a fork, not too much though there should be lumpy bits and mix in with the rest of the mixture. Add the chopped walnuts and stir until combined.

Transfer to the prepared tin and spread out evenly then bake for 50 minutes (I check after 45 and if a skewer comes out clean it is ready, if not return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes).

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. If you try to cut it before it is cool it may just all crumble. I always think banana bread gets better each day as the flavour gets more banana-ey and the cake gets moister. Lovely.

Cranberry and white chocolate cookies (yes in June!)

After a week of no baking I've gone a little bit mad this weekend and have in fact 3 recipes to post! I know this one may seem odd as cranberry and white chocolate cookies are generally considered a festive treat but I have had a packet of dried cranberries in the cupboard since January now (I bought them when they were selling them off after Christmas) and thought it was high time they got used up plus I had a bit of a sweet tooth last night and these only take about half an hour to make. I think the other two recipes are more seasonal to June though so not to worry. This is a simple cookie dough mixture that you can add whatever you feel like to (peanut m&m's are one of our favourites) and the trick with these as with all good cookies is timing. You want to take them out before they get too brown so they are still soft and chewy in the middle so make sure you are around to keep an eye on them!

Ingredients
(makes 12-14 cookies)
190g plain flour
1 cup caster sugar, brown or white or half and half
110g butter, softened
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
150g dried cranberries
200g white chocolate, chopped into chunks

First things first, preheat your oven to 190°C and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof parchment then set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until they are fluffy. Now add the beaten egg and vanilla extract and mix well.

Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder about a third at a time until fully combined - it should be quite a stiff mixture. Now add in the cranberries and chocolate chunks (or whatever you want to put in) and mix until they are evenly spread through the cookie dough.

Use a teaspoon to dollop the mixture on to the baking trays about 2 inches apart - you don't need to be tidy here or flatten them down as lumpy dollops usually make the best cookies.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, keeping your eye on them so they don't over cook - you want them to be just turning golden.

Leave to cool on the tray for 1 minute then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely (if you can wait that long!). Delightful.

Spinach flat bread with pulled pork

I was doing my speciality porter pulled pork (click here for recipe) and wanted to have it with something other than the standard white floury bap and also summer it up a bit on this hot sunny afternoon. I thought of doing the pitta bread recipe in my new Paul Hollywood book but struggled to find Nigella seeds so in the end I decided to use the plain wrap recipe and then added shredded spinach and cracked black pepper to the recipe. Adding baby leaf spinach, tomato and spring onions to the pulled pork and spinach wrap really freshened it up and we enjoyed it sitting in the back garden with a nice beer.

Ingredients
(makes 4 wraps)
250g strong white bread flour
7g packet dried yeast
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
20g butter at room temperature, cut into pieces
160ml cold water
handful shredded baby leaf spinach, washed and dried
olive oil for cooking

Put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl and combine. Rub the butter into the flour with a cold hand (run your hand under the cold tap first) until you get a kind of bread crumb texture.

Add the water and mix together to form a dough then knead for about 6-8 minutes on an oiled surface. The dough should be really nice and soft and springy. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and a tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hour.

Turn out on a floured work surface and knock back then form into a flat disk shape. Place half the dry shredded spinach and a good few twists of cracked black pepper into the centre of the disk then fold the dough over and knead to distribute through the dough. Repeat with the rest of the spinach.

Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each one to about 20cm in diameter (I do this one at a time, as one is cooking I am rolling the next one out - limited space you see). Heat a tbsp oil on full heat in a large frying pan. When the oil is hot place the first wrap into the pan and piece the surface with a fork to let the air out.

Cook for about a minute and a half then flip and cook the other side - they should be a kind of mottled golden brown colour. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough, adding a tablespoon of oil each time. Serve warm.

We had this with a couple of Innis & Gunn Original beers which is quite a sweet beer and one to try if you are not really a beer person. It has a lovely sweet toffee and vanilla scent and is very smooth and light - its one of my favourites if truth be told and I also recommend the Innis & Gunn Rum finish which is just delightful!

Italian brioche couronne

So yesterday I finally tackled this bread recipe I have been eyeing for a while. Its one of those that has been niggling at me and I've been building myself up to it since seeing Paul Hollywood make it on his Bread program. I will admit I was a little nervous as it is an enriched savoury bread which required filling with mozzarella, parma ham and basil, rolling, then cutting in half, twisting together then bringing into a ring - sounded like it could be messy... But dah da dah da da da daaaah... check out this baby!

I know. I am pretty smug about it and it tasted absolutely delicious, all hot and steamy and melty and doughy in the middle but crispy on the outside, yum. I also made the spicy squash and spinach salad to go with it but added red onions and a slightly different dressing although the bread is a meal in itself.

My mum lent me the Paul Hollywood's Bread book and I also had the recording of that episode on the planner so I watched that first and then found that the recipe in his book differed quite a lot from the one I'd just watched! On the tv show he says  to wrap the dough in cling film and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours then to make the crown and bake straight away whereas the recipe book says nothing about chilling in the fridge and instructs you to prove the bread again after you have made the crown. Confusing huh? Well here's what I did and it turned out majestically - I think it would meet the blue eyed baker's approval.

I actually halved this recipe as there was only 2 of us and it was still pretty large, I can only imagine how big a full size one would be!

Ingredients
250g strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting
5g sea salt
7g sachet dried yeast
85ml full fat milk
2 eggs
125g unsalted butter, cut into small chunks, at room temperature
6-8 slices parma ham
1 ball buffalo mozzarella
Handful fresh basil, ripped
Freshly grated parmesan
1 egg, beaten for glazing

Put the flour in a mixer fitted with the dough hook and add the salt to one side and the yeast to the other. Add the milk and eggs and mix until combined. Now add the butter a bit at a time, allowing it to be taken in by the dough before adding the next bit. After all the butter is added continue to mix for another 5 minutes.

Put the dough into an oiled bowl or container and cover with cling film. Leave on the side for an hour until doubled in size then pop in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill so the dough is easier to handle.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into a rectangle, using a floured rolling pin, so it is about 1-1.5cm thick with the long side facing you. Lay the parma ham evenly on top along with ripped pieces of the mozzarella and the basil. Grate parmesan over the top.

Roll towards you from the opposite long side, trying to keep it tight so the filling doesn't fall out, so you have a long sausage shape. Flatten slightly then cut in half (using a metal bread scraper was the easiest method I found). Separate the 2 lengths of dough and lay so the filling is facing upwards. Now bring together and twist, one end clockwise, the other anti-clockwise to form a kind of rope. Bring the 2 ends together to make a loop and press together to link. Transfer to a baking sheet (move quickly to avoid it falling apart) then cover again with cling film and leave to prove again for 1-1½ hours.

Preheat the oven to 200°C about 20 minutes before your proving time is up. Brush the couronne with the beaten egg then sprinkle with grated parmesan and a bit of flour. Bake for 20 minutes then check - it may need another 5 depending on your oven. It should be golden brown. Serve warm when the mozzarella is still oozing!

For the Spicy squash, red onion and spinach salad:
(for 2-3)
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 red onion, cut into chunks

1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 handfuls baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
Handful green or black pitted olives
Salt and pepper
3 tsp balsamic vinegar

Mix together the butternut squash cubes, onion, chilli, dried chilli, olive oil, cumin and a good season of salt and pepper and roast on a baking tray in the oven for about half an hour or until slightly caramelised.


Add to the spinach and mix in along with the balsamic vinegar and olives. Serve with the lovely Italian inspired brioche crown and a nice glass of wine (olives do not go with beer at all - this I have learnt!) and enjoy!