A Sport Relief Swimmer

Before I start I should say I fully intended to post at least once a week so I am quite ashamed that two weeks later I’m only just getting round to doing my second post – I’m sorry!

So anyway I LOVED the Great British Bake Off for Sport Relief, I think my favourite bit being Johnny Vaughan realising he’d been grilling everything!  I’m a big supporter of raising money and every year I do something for Comic Relief/Sport Relief. Last year I baked for Comic Relief and raised money by having my friends and family give me baking requests which I then fulfilled. I’m not going to lie some of them didn’t go too well (people ask for weird things!) but it definitely meant I got some practise in!

Some of my creations last year for Comic Relief. Left to right: maple and pecan cake, coffee and walnut cake, chocolate brownies, 8 plait loaf, blueberry muffins, bakewell tart, lemon kisses, Easter cupcakes (strawberry, blackcurrant and lemon)

This year I am (stupidly) doing a 2.5km swimathon but I don’t want to lose all sight of my baking efforts so, inspired by GBBO I have made my very own Show Stopper! Now before you think I’m copying Doon Mackichans tiered cake from one of the episodes - I had this idea after the Mondays show I swear!! As this is an attempt to raise money for my swimathon I have made a 3D novelty cake in the shape of a swimming pool (well I have attempted to). In my mind there was going to be little people swimming in it wearing red swimming hats but I’m afraid that plan went rather wrong. It’s what it tastes like though right?! And it got very good reviews when I took it into work – so much so that someone has actually asked me to bake a cake for their wife! Result!

The finished article (minus my swimmers!)

Blueberry Cake with Lemon Butter Icing

For the cake:

·         250g butter, at room temperature – it’s just easier that way!

·         100g caster sugar

·         ½ tsp salt

·         2 tsp vanilla extract

·         4 egg yolks

·         400g plain flour

·         2 tsp baking powder

·         160ml milk

·         4 egg whites

·         8 tbsp caster sugar

·         225g blueberries

·         1 tbsp flour

·         2 tbsp caster sugar

For the lemon butter icing:

·         500g icing sugar

·         125g butter, at room temperature

·         Zest of one lemon

·         Juice of one lemon

·         Milk (amount completely up to you)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two rectangle cake tins (mine were 18cm by 29cm or you could halve the quantities above and use one 20cm square tin instead, baking for 20 minutes longer).
2. Cream the butter together with the sugar until it becomes light and fluffy and then add the salt and vanilla extract (my new favourite is Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla – I have a bit of a sweet tooth and it hits the spot nicely!).
3. Add your egg yolks to the mix and beat until creamy. If your mixture starts to curdle (I hate that!) - add some of the flour and that should fix it.
4. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder. Add some of this to your mix and combine using a slotted metal spoon, followed by some milk. Continue until it’s all in there. If you sieve the flour mixture in from a height this can help get some air into the mix and give you a light cake.
5. Coat your blueberries with 1 tbsp of flour and then stir them into the mixture, trying to get an even distribution.
6. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until you have soft peaks (I take this to mean still a little bit floppy – I wouldn’t trust tipping it upside down yet!). Add one tablespoon of sugar at a time and continue to beat in between each spoonful. Beat until stiff peaks form (you can tip it upside down over your head now!). Fold these egg whites into the cake mixture and then pour into the tins prepared earlier.
7. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes until the cake has a golden brown top and is cooked through. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
8. In the meantime, cream together the icing sugar and the butter. I like to do this with a wooden spoon to start with because if I go straight in there with the electric whisk my kitchen gets covered! Add in the zest and the juice and then start beating the mixture. Add milk when you think appropriate, adding a tablespoon at a time until you get it to the right consistency. Cover the cake. I used the lemon icing for around the sides and then made a vanilla icing with blue food colouring for the swimming pool aspect but I must say the lemon icing is very yummy!!

If anyone fancies sponsoring my mad activity then please follow this link:

Sophie's Swimathon

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The Great British Bake Off Quest

So my first blog! How exciting! My first baking attempt for blog purposes hasn't exactly gone to plan – my cupcakes look more like mega muffins; a meal in itself! I may have an issue with portion size by the look of these beasts. But they taste pretty good and that’s all that matters for the time being.

So the first recipe I've tried is Crunchy Coffee Cupcakes. The recipe has been ever so slightly adapted from that of a cake in the Great British Bake Off Everyday book. I am a massive fan of The Great British Bake Off; in fact my mission is to be on it in 2015 so I’m going to be using the blog to learn the basics and when it’s back on the TV I’ll be trying all of their challenges in preparation for my application :)

The recipe makes 12 cupcakes (but then mine are mahoosive so actually it probably makes more) and I've made two different buttercream icings to top them off. One is a coffee buttercream icing to further the coffee taste and the other is cinnamon to bring out the flavour from the streusel which creates the middle layer of the cupcake – that gives them their crunch!

Fresh from the oven - yummy!

Iced and ready to be devoured - the two icings look pretty similar but the ever so slightly darker one is the coffee one.

Crunchy Coffee Cupcakes

For the streusel:

• ·         100g light brown muscovado sugar
• ·         50g plain flour
• ·         25g porridge oats
• ·         1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ·         50g unsalted butter
• ·         50g pecan pieces (or walnut)

For the coffee cake:

• ·         2 tbsp instant coffee granules or powder
• ·         2 tbsp boiling water
• ·         120g unsalted butter
• ·         200g caster sugar
• ·         2 medium eggs
• ·         200ml buttermilk, at room temperature
• ·         250g plain flour
• ·         Pinch of salt
• ·         ½ tsp baking powder
• ·         ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the buttercream icing:

• ·         210g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ·         420g icing sugar, sifted
• ·         1 tbsp milk
• ·         ½ tsp cinnamon
• ·         1 tsp instant coffee granules or powder

Instructions:

1. ·         Heat your oven to 180°C/350°C/gas 4. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake cases.
2. ·         First you need to make the streusel – mix the sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon with your fingers. Add in the butter and mix with your fingers until it looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the nuts and leave to one side.
3. ·         Stir the coffee into the boiling water until dissolved and leave to cool completely.
4. ·         For the cake, using an electric whisk beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until you have a fluffy mixture.
5. ·         Put the eggs in a small bowl and whisk with a fork. Gradually add to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition. You need to be careful here to make sure that the mixture doesn't curdle.
6. ·         Gradually add the buttermilk to the mixture using a metal spoon to stir. Add in the coffee.
7. ·         Sift in the flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the mixture and fold until combined thoroughly.
8. ·         Spoon half of the mixture into the cupcake cases. Scatter half of the streusel mixture into the cupcake cases and press down on to the cake mixture. Spoon the rest of the cake mixture into the cupcakes on top of the streusel. Scatter the remaining streusel mixture on top of the cupcakes. (If you want your cupcakes to look a normal size try not to overfill as they do rise quite a bit!)
9. ·         Put in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Around the 20 minute mark check that the cupcakes aren't browning too quickly. You can cover them with foil to prevent them becoming too dark.
10. ·         Place the cupcakes on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
11. ·         Meanwhile make your buttercream icing. Mix the icing sugar, butter and milk in a bowl. If you’re making the two flavours then once it resembles a plain buttercream icing, split the mixture into two.
12. ·         For the coffee icing: put the coffee in just enough boiling water to dissolve it. Gradually add the coffee to one of the buttercreams, making sure the consistency is still strong enough to pipe.
13. ·         For the cinnamon icing: follow the instructions for the coffee icing using cinnamon instead.
14. ·         Pipe the different buttercreams onto the cooled cupcakes and ta-dah!