Chocolate brownie meringue cake

Today was a special day. You might have seen 'The Big Reunion' on the TV (lots of pop bands from the late nineties and early noughties reuniting) - well today was the proper big reunion. It is ten years this summer since I and my very special friends graduated from university. In honour of this special occasion we had a get together to reminisce, laugh over photos (what were we wearing?!?) and partake in a game of petanque. I of course offered to make dessert. I'd had my eye on this recipe for a while and recently had a similar cake at 'The Tenth Hole Tea Rooms' in Southsea (they are legendary in Hampshire for their amazing cakes!) so decided now was the time. I am now a little bit obsessed with the idea of making meringue cakes and have my eye on a Nigella Lawson lemon meringue cake, a BBC Good Food blackberry and almond meringue cake and a mocha meringue cake I have found on a blog. Oh the possibilities!

As you will see from the photos I have yet again failed in my attempts to make a meringue that does not crack! I am obviously just doomed. However despite appearances the cake went down well. It is a Miranda Gore-Brown recipe from the Great British Bake Off. You can find it on lots of different websites but I used the version from the BBC website that you can find here. It is very tricky to slice and serve and does not look pretty but makes up for it in taste. The combination of meringue and brownie works well and the raspberry cream adds some freshness. There was a debate over the hazelnuts in the meringue but the end decision was that they add texture. The recipe is meant to use two 23cm sandwich tins which I don't possess so I used springform tins instead which still works.

Ingredients:
For the brownie base
200g good-quality dark chocolate (roughly chopped)
200g unsalted butter, softened (plus extra for greasing)
250g icing sugar
3 eggs
110g plain flour

For the meringue topping
4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
100g hazelnuts (roasted and chopped)

For the filling
300ml whipping cream
100g icing sugar
200g raspberries

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Grease and line two 23cm sandwich tins.
2) For the brownie base, melt 180g of the chocolate in a bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Chop the remaining chocolate and set aside.

Melt 180g of chocolate 

Roughly chop the remaining chocolate

3) Meanwhile, cream the butter and icing sugar together in a separate bowl until light, creamy and fluffy. Slowly whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined (the mixture will look a little bit odd at this point but don't worry!)

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy

Add the eggs one at a time

4) Gradually beat in the flour until the mixture is very smooth. Slowly pour in the melted chocolate and fold it into the mixture, then fold in the chopped chocolate.

5) Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared sandwich tins and bake for 10-12 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

6) Meanwhile for the meringue topping, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed (I think I probably stopped whisking a little bit too early and should have carried on a little longer). Slowly which the sugar until smooth and glossy, then fold in the chopped hazelnuts with a metal spoon.

7) Spoon the meringue topping onto the cooked brownie base. Use a palette knife to smooth the meringue mixture in one sandwich tin and use a skewer to make peaks in the meringue mixture in the other tin (I failed here as I don't think I whisked my meringue enough for the peaks to hold).

8) Return the sandwich tins to the overn for a further 30 minutes, or until the meringue is golden-brown (I check mine just after 20 minutes and they were ready then.) Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Carefully remove the cakes from the tin and set aside to cool completely on a wire rack.
9) For the filling, whip the cream and icing sugar together in a bowl until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed (again I think I failed in my whisking here!) Fold in the raspberries.

Whisk the cream and icing sugar until stiff peaks form

10) To assemble, place the flat meringue brownie, meringue-side down onto a cake stand or large plate, spoon over the raspberry cream and top with the remaining cake, brownie-side down (this is tricky - this is where my cracking took place). As an optional extra you can sprinkle over chopped hazelnuts and pistachios.

Happy baking!

Blackberry and apple crumble muffins

The end of summer is fast approaching and autumn is in sight. The days are getting shorter, the summer holidays are nearly over (to the delight of parents and the despair of teachers) and blackberries are appearing. I spent Sunday afternoon wondering around the local area picking blackberries to use in my latest baking adventure. After trawling the Internet I found many options: blackberry and almond meringue cake, blackberry sourdough scones, blackberry and apple muffins and even bramble marshmallows. In the end I opted for a recipe from the Delicious Magazine website for blackberry and apple crumble muffins which you can find here.

The recipe works well and produces muffins that are moist. I particularly like the bursts of bright purple created by the blackberries. If I was to make these again I would cut the chunks of apple a little smaller and possibly use a dessert apple instead to add a little more sweetness.

The recipe makes 12 muffins and you will need a 12-hole muffin tin lined with paper cases.

Ingredients:

For the muffins 
300g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
190g caster sugar
210ml milk
1 large egg  (beaten)
100g butter (melted)
Zest of 1 large lemon (finely grated)
1 large Bramley apple
150g blackberries

For the crumble topping
15g butter (at room temperature)
25g plain flour
15g demerara sugar

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6 and line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper muffin cases.
2) First make the crumble topping. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Rub in the butter 

Stir in the sugar and work the mixture with your fingers until it forms nuggets.

Stir in the sugar 

3) For the muffins, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar. In a separate small bowl, beat the milk with egg, melted butter and lemon zest.

Mix together the dry ingredients

Beat together the wet ingredients and lemon zest

4) Peel, quarter and core the apple, and cut into blackberry-size pieces.

5) Stir the wet mixture into the flour and sugar mixture until combined (it's fine if it's still a bit lumpy). Stir in the apple and blackberries.

6) Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper muffin cases and sprinkle over the crumble topping.

7) Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden. Cool for 5 minutes and preferably serve warm (and maybe with a dollop of custard or cream if you're feeling decadent?)

Happy baking (and blackberry picking!)
Dil :-)

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Chocolate Chip Cookies - Take Two

You may be wondering why I am writing about chocolate chip cookies again? Well, I am someone who likes to try different recipes even if I have found one that already works perfectly well. Today I decided to try Jo Wheatley's recipe for chocolate chip cookies that feature in her 'A Passion for Baking Book'. They are different to the Hummingbird Bakery ones I have made recently - although this isn't a bad thing. I can't describe exactly how they are different other than I think they have a more biscuity texture rather than a cookie (although this may be down to me getting the sugar quantities horrifically wrong and if I'm being really truthful probably baking them for a couple of minutes too much). They will be winging their way to our friends Emma and John, who have just become parents for the first time to the gorgeous Leo. I thought they might need some sugar and chocolate!

I managed to make 14 cookies (although as you will read later this is probably because I mistakenly upped the amount of demerara sugar by nearly double the amount - oops!)

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter (softened)
200g light soft brown sugar
125g demerara sugar
2 large eggs (beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
400g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
salt (a pinch of)
200g dark chocolate (roughly chopped)

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3 and line 4 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
2) Put the butter and sugars in a large bowl and mix (using an electric handwhisk - alternatively use a freestanding electric mixer) until light and fluffy (this is where I mistakenly added 200g of demerara sugar rather than 125g - oops! It didn't seem to have too much of an ill effect.)

Whisk until pale, light and fluffy

3) Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side with a rubber spatula. Add the vanilla extract and mix on the lowest speed until combined.
4) Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt into the bowl and mix again until thoroughly combined.

Add the dry ingredients 

5) Roughly chop the chocolate into chunks and fold into the cookie dough.

Fold the chopped chocolate into the cookie dough

 6) Scoop the dough into even-sized mounds. Place 3-4 cookies on each baking tray, allowing space between them to spread during cooking.

7) Bake the batches in batches on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and sharply bang the baking trays on the work surface to deflate the cookies, then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until pale golden brown.
8) Allow the cookies to cool on the baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks until cold.
9) Enjoy with a drink of your choice (alternatively I think they'd be delicious served warm with ice cream!)

Honeycomb Crunchies

I found the recipe for these in a Good Food magazine I was reading at my mother-in-laws house last week during a few days holiday back home in Devon. I liked the look of them and found the recipe on line on the BBC website which you can find here (it's a Mary Berry one from the Great British Bake Off for Comic Relief). I've never made honeycomb before and was a little apprehensive to say the least. I didn't fancy ruining any of our saucepans! It was actually surprisingly easy especially as I received a sugar thermometer in the post yesterday as a birthday present (thanks Dot and Martin!) which would help with getting the mixture to the right temperature. They have a crunchy texture and my husband has just given them his seal of approval so I would definitely recommend.

Some tips on making the honeycomb...
There are lots of different recipes around online for making honeycomb including a Nigella Lawson one (she calls hers Hokey Pokey). The most useful one I found was a blog post by Ruth Clemens (of Great British Bake Off fame) which you can read here. If you don't follow or read her blog 'The Pink Whisk' I would highly recommend checking it out. Ruth takes you through the process step by step. The most useful pieces of advice I found were to use a cardboard box to set your honeycomb (the cardboard allows it to cool more quickly) and to make sure you use a good quality silicone coated baking paper rather than greaseproof paper (I used Tesco's). Also make sure that when you pour your honeycomb into your box you don't use a spoon or spatula as this will knock the air out of it and you will lose the bubbles. A final word of advice - make sure you soak your pan quickly as otherwise you will end up with honeycomb stuck to your saucepan. If you do get any bits left over, boil a kettle and pour this over and you should be able to remove any stubborn bits.

Ingredients

For the honeycomb
1 tsp bicarboante of soda
75g caster sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup

To assemble
250g dark or milk chocolate, or a mixture (I used dark)
100g unsalted butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
150g digestive biscuits

Method
1) Begin by preparing your cereal box (you can use a shoe box or cereal packet - I used a cereal packet). Cut off one of the large sides and tape together the corners to make sure it holds together. Line it with a double layer of non-stick baking paper, making sure you have a good overhang along the long edges.

2) Measure and sieve the bicarbonate of soda into a dish ready for when you will need it. Make sure you have a wire whisk ready as well. Put the sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and set it on a very low heat. Warm gently ready for 10 minutes until all the sugar has melted, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. (I found I needed to add a couple of tablespoons of water to help the sugar melt). You'll know when it's dissolved as you won't be able to feel the grains of sugar in the bottom of the pan with your spoon.
3) When the sugar is completely melted, turn the heat up to medium. Once the mixture has started to boil, leave to bubble without stirring. If your using a sugar thermometer the mixture needs to reach 145C - if you're not you will need to leave it for around 10 minutes until it turns golden-brown.
4) Turn off the heat under the pan. Add the bicarbonate of soda and quickly whisk it in for a couple of seconds until it is fully incorporated. The mixture will froth up - take care as it is extremely hot!
5) Quickly pour it into the middle of your lined cardboard box. Don't touch it or spread it out on the tray. Leave it to cool and harden, which will take about 30 minutes.

6) Line a square 20.5cm tin with baking paper. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Put them in a heatproof bowl and add the butter and golden syrup. Melt gently, over a pan of hot water, stirring it occasionally. When the chocolate mixture is smooth, carefully lift the bowl of the pan and place on a heatproof surface.
7) Put the biscuits into a plastic food bag and use the rolling pic to break them up into chunks the size of your thumbnail. (We didn't have any food bags so I put the biscuits in a bowl). Break the honeycomb into chunks roughly the same size (I found a rolling pin didn't really work so did this by hand).

8) Add the biscuits and honeycomb to the melted chocolate and mix well so all the chunks are coated.

9) Scoop the mixture into your lined tine and spread it evenly, right into the corners. Cover with cling film, then chill in the fridge for about two hours, or until firm and set.

 10) Cut into 16 squares with a sharp knife. Store, tightly covered, in the fridge and eat within two days.

Enjoy! Happy baking! 

You want a pizza this?

As I've said before I'm not really a savoury baker. Dough scares me! However, with time on my hands during the holidays it allows me to try out some different recipes. We enjoy pizza in the Little Birdie household so I decided to try making a pizza from scratch for dinner.

I used a Lorraine Pascale recipe for the dough which you can find on the BBC website here. I was pleased with how it turned out. It wasn't as thin and crispy as a normal pizza but this was probably down to me not rolling it out thin enough. I've also read that a pizza stone helps create a more authentic pizza but sadly we don't own one so maybe I will have to investigate.

Ingredients

For the basic dough
250g strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
125-145ml warm water (I found I needed a little more than this)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for oiling)

For the pizza topping
Whatever you want! I used...
Passata (1/4-1/2 a box)
Tomato puree (1 tbsp)
Mozzarella (1 large ball)
Tomatoes
Pepper (1/4)
Chorizo
A sprinkling of Cheddar and Red Leicester cheese
A small bunch of basil leaves

Method
1) Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the water and oil together, then pour the liquid into the well of the flour mixture and mix to make a soft but not sticky dough.

Mix together the ingredients

Make a well

Mix together to form a soft dough 

2) Knead for 10 minutes by hand on a lightly floured work surface (this is a good work-out - my arms were aching after this!) or for five minutes in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Bring the dough together to a smooth flat ball and place on a large, lightly floured baking tray (I forgot to do this - oops!)

Knead until the dough is smooth and form into a smooth flat ball 

3) Cover the pizza dough loosely with oiled clingfilm, making sure it is airtight. Leave in a warm but not hot place for 30-40 minutes (I left mine for a little longer - about 1 1/2 hours as it didn't rise very quickly).

Cover in oiled cling film and leave 

4) Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
5) Remove the clingfilm from the dough and roll out to a 30cm circle to knock some air out, then prick holes all over the dough with a fork. Spread over the tomato passata and puree, leaving a 2.5 cm border around the outside. Cover with your chosen toppings (don't go crazy - I used too much and found some of my cheese escaped!)

Roll out and prick holes with a fork

6) Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes (if using basil add towards the end of the cooking time - I added mine 2/3 minutes from the end).
7) Serve and enjoy!