Raspberry and Vanilla Butterfly Cakes

These little temptation ticklers are made with vanilla sugar, the tops are cut out and the holes filled with really good raspberry jam, topped with whipped vanilla cream, they are finished with a home-grown raspberry, sponge 'butterfly wings' and a dusting of icing sugar. They have been baked in greaseproof paper muffin wrappers to give them a little more height and then placed into foil cake cases after decorating.

Mmmmm!

Apple Crumble

As summer rolls on into autumn, the trees in the orchards of our great country creak and bend with the weight of their swelling fruits, the wind blows and a few fall off, an early gift from Mother Nature. 

Bramley Apples, sitting in a circle under their previous home, were my first little gift this year after a night of high winds. I cooked them with a little butter and sugar then stirred in a little ground cinnamon, I put them into a dish and set it aside to cool. The topping is made with plain flour, butter, ground almonds, caster sugar and ground ginger, I make up the crumble mix and put it into the fridge and put it onto the apple base when I'm ready to cook the crumble. After a slow baking, 45 minutes at gas mark 4, I took it out of the oven, sprinkled on a little caster sugar and let it stand whilst I made up some custard, Bird's on this occasion, with an extra boost of flavour which came from my vanilla sugar.

Hungry?

Apple Filling

4lb Bramley Apples

2oz Butter

6oz Caster Sugar

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

Juice of a Lemon

Crumble Mix

6oz Plain Flour

3oz Cold, Cubed Butter

3oz Caster Sugar

2oz Ground Almonds

Pinch of Salt

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

1 tablespoon extra Caster Sugar for sprinkling

Peel, quarter and core the apples, pop them into a bowl of cold water with the juice of a lemon to stop them going brown whilst you work. In a medium sized frying pan, heat the butter gently until melted and pour in the sugar, give it a stir, take it off the heat, slice the prepared apples and place into the pan, give it a stir and put the pan back on the heat, bring the contents to simmering point and let the apples cook for a few minutes until some of the slices start to break down. At this point, take it off the heat again and gently stir in the cinnamon. Adding it at this stage stops the cinnamon turning rather acrid. Put the apple mixture into a baking dish, put it on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Make the crumble mix by putting the flour, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse it until you get a breadcrumb consistency, add the sugar, ground almonds and ginger and pulse it again. Pour the mixture into a container and put it into the fridge until ready to bake the crumble. Making the apple crumble this way means you wont get that sogginess that reminds you of school dinners! You will achieve a light, airy and crisp finish.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, pile the crumble mix on top of the apple filling making a hill effect,  don't press it down. Put the dish onto a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. When cooked, take it out of the oven, sprinkle with a little caster sugar and place on a cooling rack. Let the crumble rest for around 20 minutes.

Served with custard or 'a la mode', American for 'with ice cream', or with a dash of thick cream, or all three, either way, you will have a heavenly experience!

Rose and Vanilla Fairy Cakes

Simple, elegant little cakes, a cup of tea and a couple of these make a perfect afternoon treat! These are made with vanilla sugar and topped with glace icing made with beautifully fragrant rose water and a touch of vanilla, topped off with a single pink non pareil.

What the world needs now, is love sweet love... and cake!

Christmas Pudding

This Christmas Pudding is absolutely delicious. Sadly, people are governed by their childhood experience of Christmas Pudding, most having tried quite heavy and bitter tasting puddings that lingered on the taste buds for days! Not this one, I have developed my recipe over the past 15 years, adjusting it slightly year on year, I have managed to achieve a rich and dark looking pudding that is light, fruity and not too sweet. It is crammed with figs, sultanas, raisins, freshly milled spices, Guiness and Amaretto liqueur. I also use Medjhool dates, they are sticky and toffee-like, not like those really dreadful 'cardboard' ones that used to sit around in the lounge from Christmas to Easter until they were un-ceremoniously dumped into the kitchen pedal-bin along with the strawberry and orange cream Cadbury's Roses!

I serve the pudding with an Amaretto sauce simply made with milk, cream, cornflour, sugar and a really hefty measure of Disaronno, fantastico!

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la...

Lemon and Vanilla Butterfly Cakes

Elegant simplicity! 

I made these using my Lemon Victoria Sponge recipe and divided the mixture into 12 muffin cases, cut the tops out with a serrated knife when they were cool, put a teaspoonful of really good lemon curd into the hole and spread it up the sides, piped in some whipped vanilla infused cream and simply finished them with a dusting of icing sugar and some pink and white non pareils (sprinkles). Delicious!

Ready for my close-up...

Mmm, mmm, mmm!

Chocolate Bailey's Caramel Shortcake

Everyone knows 'Millionaire's Shortbread' don't they, this is a really lovely 'adult' version that has a crisp, buttery shortcake base with a rich and creamy vanilla caramel layer, topped with a smooth chocolate and Bailey's Irish Cream ganache, finished with shavings of dark and milk chocolate. It is absolutely delicious and so irresistible!

Watch this space for the recipe!

Banana, Pecan Nut, Maple Syrup and Cinnamon Cake

This cake is dense and very moist with flecks of crunchy pecan nuts, the fragrant maple syrup is poured over the cake as it leaves the oven and gets absorbed all through it, cinnamon sugar is sprinkled all over the top once it has cooled. The flavour combination is fabulous, it doubles up as a really nice dessert served with a dollop of clotted cream, really good ice cream or a good ladle-full of creamy custard.

Check back soon for the recipe!

Delicious!