Tag: Cake

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Bakes Blog Desserts

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

At this point on our motorhome tour of Scotland we are at Brora, a small Highlands village on the north-east coast. Our camp site is a golf ball’s throw from a massive, deserted golden beach. I say a golf ball’s throw because, to reach the beach, you must first of all carefully traverse one of the many links courses that can be found along the Scottish coast.

The beach then stretches for 2 miles, along which there are several benches where it’s possible to sit to take in the views (like this one in my photo below), and listen to the sounds of the gently rolling waves.

The walk along the beach leads to this picturesque little harbour, where each afternoon we watched the fishing boat come in from the North Sea to unload the day’s catch.

Everywhere is beautifully maintained, with a real sense that the local community take great pride in their surroundings.

As if this is not idyllic enough, the village has an amazing cake shop, Cocoa Skye. On our first day, we shared a slice of hummingbird cake with our americanos. I hadn’t come across this type of cake before, but once the waitress explained how it was made, I just had to try it. It tastes like carrot cake but with pieces of banana and pineapple, with a reassuringly sweet and creamy frosted topping and chopped nuts. I will definitely be trying to recreate this cake when I get home!

On the next day, my choice was this raspberry and almond bakewell, which was also delicious.

Mild weather, beautiful views, a golden beach and delicious cake. A heavenly combination that brings to mind this track from the Eurythmics, featuring the voice of Scotland’s Annie Lennox: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Spiced Apple & Oat Muffins

I still have lots of apples from the garden around for baking with at the moment – you’d almost think they grow on trees…..

Even after making my Dorset Apple Cake, there were still plenty more to combine with oats and spices in these tasty muffins, shown in my main photo above. Great with a cup of tea, for dessert or breakfast, and lovely with a few spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt on the side.

Servings

12 muffins.

Timings

10 mins to prepare, 25 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 190g plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • half tsp salt
  • 1 and a half tsp mixed spice
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 170g finely chopped apple
  • 60g sultanas
  • 1 egg
  • 60g oats
  • 150 ml milk
  • 90 ml vegetable oil

Method

  1. Warm the oven to 180C and grease a muffin tin or mould.
  2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice into a bowl. Add the sugar, chopped apple and sultanas, and mix so that the fruit is coated in flour.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, oats, milk and veg oil.
  4. When the oven is up to temperature, combine wet ingredients with dry, and stir to mix. Spoon into the muffin tin or mould and bake for 25 mins. Cool on wire rack before serving.

Customise It!

Cinnamon or nutmeg will go just as well as the mixed spice if you wish. A handful of toasted chopped nuts would be a good addition.

With a number of posts recently featuring spice, it’s amazing that I have thus far managed to avoid adding a track by the Spice Girls to the ADK Playlist. This probably has something to do with the fact that I am not a massive fan. This song, which I do like, comes fairly close, however. Bryan Adams and Mel C (aka the Sporty one) with When You’re Gone.

Categories
Bakes Blog

I am a Bake-Off Winner!

This week I’ve received the exciting news that I have won an award in the Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off 2023!

My Spicy Veg Strudel was joint winner in the Savoury Bake category, along with a magnificent Courgette and Mint Tart. You can check out all the award winners here.

I very much enjoyed entering the Bake-Off for the first time, and winning an award is, shall we say, the icing on the cake.

Well done to Mel and Gary for organising and hosting such a fun event, and Jeanne for judging. Massive praise to all our Bake-Off entrants: you demonstrated the creativity and innovation of the online baking and foodblogging community, with such a consistently high standard of bakes.

So here’s a well done message to all involved in customary ADK style: Fatboy Slim with Praise You.

Categories
Blog

The Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off 2023!

It’s arrived! This weekend of the 26th and 27th August sees The Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off 2023 taking place.

It is being hosted by Mel, Jeanne and Gary over on Caramel. The theme this year is Express Yourself, so expect to see lots of culinary creativity and innovation on display.

Please go take a look at some of the amazing bakes emerging from the ovens of the WordPress baking and foodblogging community. There’s an emphasis on fun and celebration – all participants deserve praise for their efforts, so feel free to leave some likes and appreciative comments, please.

I’m pleased to say that one of my creations from A Different Kitchen is included in the many entries, so do keep a special eye out for this.

Being a food blog with the strapline Good Food, Great Music, I have given some thought to what an appropriate playlist might be for the Bake-Off. Martha & the Muffins, perhaps? Sweet? Bread, Sugababes or the Spice Girls?

And then there is that famous TV show to acknowledge. Maybe The Proclaimers with Sunshine on (Prue) Leith? Frankie Goes to (Paul) Hollywood, anyone?

The Stones have a few contenders – Brown Sugar obvs, but also, perhaps, It’s Only Swiss Roll (But I Like It) (erm, one of their lesser-known hits).

Well done to all our Bake-Off entrants – you are all stars. May your meringues be majestic, and your Battenburgs beautiful. And to all you Victoria Sponge makers, here’s a musical reminder not to forget the baking powder: Gabrielle with Rise.

Enjoy this year’s Bake-Off, everyone.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Dorset Apple Cake

This time of year finds apples growing on the trees – fresh, crisp and a joy to bite into. Below is a photo of some I picked this week from the trees in our garden.

Having recently returned from a stay in the county of Dorset (see Dorset Calling) I had the idea of incorporating some of our apples in a classic British bake – the Dorset Apple Cake. You can see it in my main photo at the top of this post. It went down well with the family – there were already a few slices cut from it before I could take the photo!

Serve it on its own with a cup of tea, or with a few spoonfuls of Greek Yoghurt.

Servings

Around 16 slices.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, 1h 25 mins to bake.

You Will Need

  • 225g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • 140g light brown sugar
  • 150g spread or margarine
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 medium sized crisp eating apples
  • demerara sugar to sprinkle over
  • flaked almonds to sprinkle

Method

  1. Switch the oven on to 160C and grease/line a 20 cm diameter baking tin.
  2. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, and mixed spice in a bowl and stir with a spoon. Add the apple, chopped, and stir again so that all the apple pieces are coated in the floury mix. Add in the sugar, spread and eggs, and use an electric mixer to combine.
  3. Tip into the prepared tin and level with a spatula so it reaches the sides. Sprinkle the demerara over.
  4. Place in the oven for 1 hour.
  5. Remove and sprinkle the flaked almonds over. Put back in the oven, still at 160C, for 20 mins.
  6. Remove and leave to cool off in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices (see photo below) to serve.

Customise It!

If you wish to cut down on the sugar content, feel free to omit the demerara topping. I left the peel on the apple so that the cake included a little more fibre, but you can remove it with a peeler if you prefer.

Many countries and cultures have their own recipes for apple bakes, including this one for Austrian Apple Cake posted previously on ADK.

Time to add another track to the ADK Playlist. I saw this band a few weeks back when they were supporting the Arctic Monkeys, and they were great. I did say I would feature them, so here they are: this is The Hives with Hate to Say I Told You So.

Categories
Bakes Desserts

Summer Berry Burst Muffins

This post sees seasonal summer berries, such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, generously packed into a cake muffin. The berries burst with joy as they bake, giving each muffin a unique, jammy appearance (as shown in my photo above) and a delicious, juicy, fruity taste.

It truly is food to put a smile on your face!

Servings

12 muffins.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, 25 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

  • 220g plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • half tsp salt
  • 110g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 240ml milk
  • 90ml vegetable oil
  • 60g oats
  • 150g fresh berries (such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or blackberries)

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C. Prepare a muffin tin or mould for baking.
  2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl. Stir in the berries and ensure all are covered in the floury mix.
  3. Break the egg into a second bowl and add the milk, veg oil and oats. Give it a good stir.
  4. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir till combined, with no dry ingredients showing. Spoon the batter into your mould or tin, and bake for 25 mins at 180C.
  5. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Customise it!

Other berries or soft fruit can be substituted – but please keep it fresh and local, going with what is in season in your area.

I did say this was food to put a smile on your face, so let’s keep that theme going with our latest musical choice. A Rush of Blood to the Head is still my favourite album by Coldplay. They have done some terrific stuff since, but in my view they have never bettered it. Here’s one of the many great tracks from the album – God Put A Smile Upon Your Face.

Categories
Blog

Happy Birthday

This week my blog is one year old.

Yes, it’s a full 12 months since I tentatively published my first post – Crunchy Fruit & Nut Pilaff. The idea was to blog about my twin loves of Good Food, Great Music, with a name inspired by the title of the first Buzzcocks album Another Music in a Different Kitchen.

Narrative posts would be published here twice weekly on Word Press, with shorter, more frequent updates on Twitter @differentkitch. Posts would be accompanied by a favourite music track, added to an ever growing Spotify Playlist.

113 posts, 382 tweets and 87 songs later, that is pretty much how things have panned out. Followers across my three chosen platforms currently total 1,371 – thanks to every one of you whether you have read, baked, or hummed along.

Total Word Press views have been 3,427, spread well (a bit like the jam shown below) across all kinds of recipe and post. However, the three most viewed posts suggest that you are a sweet toothed lot. Top is The Sweetest Feeling, about afternoon tea at the home of Tiptree jam in Essex, see below.

It is followed by Cappuccino Cake…

and Double Choc Cherry Muffins…

Total Word Press likes have been 2,077. The award for most likes goes to Stairway to Heaven – posted from a famously named canalside cafe, reimagining an inspired Jimmy Page sat there with 12 string guitar and home-made scone.

It is closely followed in likes by Passion Fruit and Lime Pots…

and Selkirk Bannock – a Scottish tea bread that many seem to have found irresistible (and it is)…

I’m grateful to all our guest posters – Eva, Jon, Kelvin, Lesley and Pam for their delicious creations. Here’s Eva’s Austrian Apple Cake as one example…

I’ve posted while on my travels over the year – from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, from Qatar, Australia (see below), and various parts of the UK. Adding to an international flavour has been the likes and kind comments received from readers in countries all around the world. Thank you! There will be more interesting travel in the year ahead.

The roster of favourite bands whose live performances I have posted about include Roxy Music, Fatboy Slim, Elton John (shown below), Inspiral Carpets, Arctic Monkeys, Muse and Billy Joel. Phew – equalling that list will take some doing in the next 12 months. I will see what I can do.

A reminder that the entire back catalogue of posts and recipes on A Different Kitchen can be accessed from the categories list or search facility at the foot of the home page. Similar posts are also highlighted at the foot of whichever post you are reading. Go explore!

Continuing the birthday/let’s-eat-cake theme, here’s an appropriately titled track for the Playlist: Michael Jackson with Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.

A special shout-out to loyal follower, Nina, whose actual birthday it is today.

Onwards into a second year. I’ll be back on Wednesday with a brand new recipe.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Carrot & Orange Traybake

Give the humble carrot a whole new taste twist in this delicious traybake!

Coarsely grated, carrot helps the cake mixture to stay moist, and adds texture. Together with soft brown sugar and a dusting of cinnamon, the cake is firmly on the brown/orange/cream colour spectrum, which I find very pleasing, and very 1970s.

What’s more, flavouring the soft cheese frosting with orange gives me a basis for adding one of my favourite ever bands to the ADK Playlist.

More of the music in a moment. First of all, here’s how to make Carrot & Orange Traybake.

Servings

How many individual portions this makes depends on how small (or large!) you decide to cut the slices. Mine made around 20 slices, each about 6cm x 4cm, to fill two tins, one of which is shown below.

Timings

10 – 15 mins to prepare the mixture, and 25 mins to bake in the oven at 180C. Add 10 mins for the orange frosting.

You Will Need

  • 225g butter or spread
  • 225g soft brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • half tsp salt
  • 3 tsps mixed spice
  • 300g carrots

For the orange frosting:

  • 100g butter, softened
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 200g soft cream cheese
  • 1 tsp orange extract
  • cinnamon for dusting

Method

  1. Turn the oven on at 180C. Grease and line a baking tin (the one I used is 23cm square).
  2. Put the softened butter and sugar together in a bowl and mix with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.
  3. Add in the eggs, one at a time, with a spoonful of the flour after each one. Mix in each time, using the whisk.
  4. Add in the rest of the flour, the salt and mixed spice, and fold in with a spatula to incorporate.
  5. Grate the carrots – I used an electric food processor with grating tool fitted. Add the grated carrot into the mix and fold in again with the spatula. Make sure that all the grated carrot is wet with a coating of the mixture.
  6. Scrape the mixture into the baking tin and level the surface. Put in the oven for around 25 mins, until it is golden all over and a skewer put into the middle of the cake comes out dry.
  7. Let it cool in the tin for about 30 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to complete the cooling.
  8. Make the orange frosting by putting all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing together with an electric whisk.
  9. When the cake has completely cooled, transfer to a chopping board. Spread the frosting evenly over the top, and dust with a little cinnamon. Cut into slices and keep in a box or tin till they’re all eaten. That won’t be long, however.

Customise it!

If you wish, you could use chopped walnuts to sprinkle over, in place of the cinnamon. I used orange extract as it gives an intense flavour, but if you like you could use a little orange juice, and/or zest in the frosting, instead.

Did someone say Orange Juice? Here’s Edwyn and the lads with Felicity.

Categories
Bakes Desserts Recipes

Cappuccino Cake

Hats off to our friends at Waitrose for this week’s recipe bake, an ideal cake for coffee lovers. With a sponge base made from real coffee, topped with a coffee cream frosting and a sprinkling of cocoa powder, it’s no surprise that this is given the title of Cappuccino Cake.

Servings

About 8 generous slices.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, 40 mins to bake.

You Will Need

  • 100g butter
  • 3 tbsp single cream
  • 2tbsp black coffee (made from ground coffee if poss, but instant will do)
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 50g light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • half tsp salt
  • 100g mascarpone
  • 3 tbsp icing sugar
  • cocoa powder for dusting

Method

  1. Warm the oven to 170C. Grease and line a 450g (1lb) loaf tin.
  2. Heat the cream and coffee in a microwave till mixed, then allow to cool.
  3. In a separate bowl, take 1 tsp of the cooled coffee cream and mix with the mascarpone. Set aside to chill in the fridge for use as frosting.
  4. Cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Gradually beat in the eggs, vanilla and the rest of the coffee cream.
  5. Fold in the flour and salt, and combine to a smooth batter. Scrape into the lined loaf tin and bake for 40 mins.
  6. Transfer to a rack to cool.
  7. While the cake is cooling, finish off the frosting. Combine the chilled coffee mascarpone with the icing sugar and beat together with an electric mixer. Spread over the top of the cooled cake, and dust with the cocoa powder for that cappuccino effect.

Customise it!

If you are ok with nuts, you could add around 75g chopped walnuts to the sponge batter, effectively turning this into a cappuccino-topped coffee and walnut cake.

You can make the black coffee as strong as you wish – why not take the 2 tbsp required from a dark espresso, while you drink the rest.

Turning to choice of music, this week we heard the sad news of the passing of Andy Rourke, bass player in The Smiths. Andy was responsible for many wonderful bass lines in the band’s music, and here is one example – This Charming Man.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Vegan Choc Cupcakes

As the egg shortage in our shops continues, so does my search for alternatives to the use of eggs in baking.

Today I’ve borrowed a great recipe for vegan vanilla cupcakes over on Tulsi’s Vegan Kitchen. Click on the link if you wish to see it – there is also a very helpful You Tube instruction video that I can recommend. Thank you, Tulsi!

So what takes the place of eggs in the recipe? Unsweetened almond milk, curdled with a tablespoon of vinegar (I used cider vinegar). I wondered if this would add sourness to the taste, but it absolutely doesn’t. It just replicates the use of buttermilk in baking, which adds taste and texture through its extra acidity.

The one development that I have made is to add 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients, turning mine into chocolate cupcakes, as you can see in my photo above. The mixture rises well and is very moist. An undoubted success!

This recipe, and the one in my previous post using avocado to give texture to a chocolate mousse, have certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities of egg-free baking.

In the music world this week, I’ve been enjoying exploring more of a certain band I’ve admired for some time. As well as listening to music while I cook, I also tune in with my ear pods while at the gym. I’ve discovered that this, the band’s most recent track, has the perfect beat and rhythm to work out to on the elliptical trainer (perfect for me, that is, coming in at 68-69 revolutions per minute). So once you’ve enjoyed the choc cupcakes, burn those calories and get the arms and legs pumping in sync with LCD Soundsystem – this is New Body Rhumba.