Sorted Macaroons

INGREDIENTS

• 3 egg whites
• castor sugar (75g)
• ground almonds (125g)
• icing sugar (175g)
• flavourings (raspberry, lemon, vanilla)
• food colourings (pink, yellow, blue)
• fillings (raspberry jam, lemon curd, nutella) 

RECIPE

separate the egg whites from the yolks and in a clean, dry bowl whisk the whites until thick and glossy. 
add the castor sugar and whisk again until stiff. 
sieve the almonds and icing sugar into the bowl and carefully fold in, retaining as much air as possible. 
divide the mixture between three bowls and add the colouring and flavourings to each:- 
- raspberry flavour & pink food colouring 
- lemon flavour & yellow food coluring 
- vanilla flavour & blue food colouring. 
put each one into a separate piping bag. 
line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicon mat and pipe small circles (3cm across) onto the tray, leaving a small gap between each macaron. 
put the tray to one side to rest for 15 minutes to allow a slight skin to form. 
preheat the oven to 160°C. 
pick the tray up and drop it onto a flat surface from a small height… this forms the ‘feet’ that is associated with macarons. 
bake for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to chill at room temperature until completely cold. 
sandwich the macarons with a filling of choice… raspberry jam (pink), lemon curd (yellow) & nutella (blue). 
serve and eat within 48 hours when at their freshest. 

Makes 48 bite-sized macarons 

Eggless cake :)

1/2 tin (200 grams) condensed milk
140 gms self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
60 ml melted butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla essence
 

 

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and soda bi-carbb together.
2. Mix the flour mixture, condensed milk, melted butter, essence and 75 ml. (2 1/2 fl. Oz. ) water and beat well.
3. Pour the mixture into a greased and dusted 150 mm. (6") diameter tin.
4. Bake in a hot oven at 200 degree c (400 degree f) for 10 minutes. Then reduce the tempreture to 150 degree c (300 degree f) and bake for a further 10 minutes.
5. The cake is ready when it leaves the sides of the tin and is springy to touch. When ready, take out from the oven and leave for 1 minute. Invert the tin over a rack and tap sharply to remove.
6. Cool the cake.

blackberry tart

YAY! blackberrys are in season make the most of it !!



for the shortcrust pastry
• 125g butter
• 100g icing sugar
• a small pinch of salt
• 255g plain flour
optional:
• 1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways and seeds removed
• zest of ½ a lemon
• 2 large egg yolks, preferably organic
• 2 tablespoons cold milk or water

for the filling
• 1 vanilla pod
• 500g mascarpone
• 100ml single cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons grappa or vin santo
• 310g blackberries (or other fruit, see above)
• 2 tablespoons blackberry or raspberry jam
• a small handful of fresh baby mint leaves




First you will need to grease a 28cm loose-bottomed tart tin with a little butter. To make your pastry, cream together the butter, icing sugar and salt and rub in the flour, vanilla seeds, lemon zest and egg yolks – you can do all this by hand or in a food processor. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold milk or water. Pat and gently work the mixture together until you have a ball of dough, then flour it lightly. Don’t work the pastry too much, otherwise it will become elastic and chewy, not flaky and short as you want it to be. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for at least an hour. Remove it from the fridge, roll it out and line your tart tin. Place in the freezer for an hour. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 and bake the pastry case for around 12 minutes or until lightly golden.

To make the filling, split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds by running a knife along the inside of each half. Put the mascarpone, cream, vanilla seeds, sugar and grappa into a large bowl and whip until shiny. Have a taste – you should have an intensely rich, fluffy and lightly sweetened cream with a fresh hint of grappa. If you can’t get grappa, you can do it without, or add a swig of vin santo instead.

Once the pastry has cooled, get yourself a spatula and add the sweetened cream to the pastry case. Smear it all round so it’s reasonably level, then cover it with the berries – place them lightly on the cream, no need to push them in. If you want to be a bit more generous than this, feel free, and if you want to mix your berries you can do this too. Next, in a small pan, melt down a couple of tablespoons of jam with 3 or 4 tablespoons of water. Stir until it becomes a light syrup, then, using a clean pastry brush, lightly dip and dab the fruit with the jam.

Sprinkle with the baby mint leaves before eating. Great served either as one large tart or as small individual ones. Lovely with your afternoon tea. Either serve straight away or place in the fridge until you’re ready to eat it.

sorry for no new posts

Hey im very sory for not posting anything new !!
Some of you may know i have horses at a farm and there has just been hatched 10 baby ducklings but the evil mum tryed to kill one so he adopted it and its living in a huge thing in my kitchen so baking with a duck in my kitchen errrrmmmm not a good idea haha so iwill be baking soon ! it will be mve into my bed room in a huge box thing :)

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Orange Cake

225g/8oz butter or margarine, softened

225g/8oz caster sugar

4 eggs

220g/7¾oz self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 orange, zest only

 The top and filling

75g/3oz butter, softened

250g/8oz icing sugar, sifted

2 tbsp orange juice

finely grated rind of 1 orange

Lightly grease the tins and line the bases with non-stick baking parchment. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Measure the butter or margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and orange zest into a large bowl and beat for about two minutes, until just blended; an electric mixer is best for this, but of course you can also beat by hand with a wooden spoon.

Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins and level the surface with the back of a spoon or a plastic spatula.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until well risen and golden.

The tops of the cakes should spring back when pressed lightly with a finger. Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then run a small palette knife or blunt knife around the edge of the tins to fee the sides of the cakes.

Turn the cakes out on to a wire rack, peel off the paper and leave to cool completely

Choose the cake with the best top, then put the other cake top downwards on to a serving plate.

Beat together the filling ingredients and spread on one side of the cake, put the other cake on top (top upwards) and spread the rest of the orange cream on top.

Decorate with spiralled orange zests

Yummy baking and piping I will be putting a ' how to pipe ' post and video up soon enjoy :)