Millionaire's Shortbread

 This is a recipe from Ultimate Sweet Treats and is really yummy! The caramel is particularly chewy which definitely forces you to slow down and chew (probably a good thing!) We'd run out of soft brown sugar for the caramel so I used some golden caster and some demerera sugar instead. I've never made this type of caramel before so i'm not sure how chewy or dark it's supposed to be or how the different sugar affected it but it still tastes good so i'll say it can't matter too much!

Definitely another recommended bake! Easy to make but has to cool after the caramel goes on and again with the chocolate so does take a while. Of course if you're impatient like me then you can stick it in the fridge.

Chocolate and Orange Marble Cake

This was from 'Ultimate Sweet Treats'. It's really more for children but the recipes are still pretty good. I always thought of marble cake as chocolate and vanilla and I don't know why it had never occurred to me to flavour both parts of the marble cake. The recipe was fairly simple, basic sponge with orange zest and tbsp of orange juice and 2 tbsp of cocoa powder in half of the mix. The chocolate and orange together are lovely and very autumnal. I did find that the orange overpowered the chocolate though. I'm not sure if that was because I had small tablespoons or it just needed a little more than what the recipe said.

To  create the marble effect, it said to spoon half the mixture into the corners of the tin before adding the cocoa powder to the rest of the mix and putting that in the tin as well, then stirring it a little with a knife. It does work but it still turns out with more chocolate mix on the top so it was a slightly lopsided marble effect. Does anyone have any tips as to how to do marbling?

The recipe was just for the cake but I added a swirl of buttercream on top. Not only does it decorate the top but the creaminess definitely adds to the texture.

Despite needing more chocolate, very yummy! The orange smell fills the kitchen; it's wonderful! Might try adding pieces of Terry's Chocolate Orange to the cake or icing. (Sorry, no photo today)

Profiteroles

I've made these a few times before and have become one of my favourites! First time was at school last year and that was the best recipe for them that I've found. Unfortunately, I turned out to be allergic to the chocolate I had for the topping. At  least I found out before I put the sauce all over the entire batch! See? There are benefits to eating your ingredients! Luckily, we already had posh chocoate spread in that worked perfectly as the topping for a few of the them.

I often have probems with the choux being a little too soft. I made a point of baking them for longer than I have previously. They seemed much crisper when they came out and were still better than previous batches but were still slightly on the squidgy side. I'm not sure why. I think I cut a big enough hole to let the steam out so I'm not sure if it was the cream that was the problem. Does anyone know when exactly you should put the cream in? (as soon as they're cool or right before serving?) Also, should they go straight into the fridge after they've been filled?

Despite being a little on the soft side and causing an allergic reaction, not bad! Yummy pudding!

(Apologies that the photograph isn't up to the usual standard, they're not the most photogenic of desserts!)

Chocolate Cupcakes

Another improvised recipe today. Starting with a basic cake recipe, I replaced some of the flour with cocoa powder. I was making pudding so only made 4 and the quantities of cake mixture and butter icing were pretty much perfect but 6 squares of chocolate was too much to make the chocolate decorations (3-4 squares would probably be about right).

 I cheated a little with the chocolate and melted it in microwave, then put it in an icing bag with a small, round nozzle and piped various shapes onto a piece of baking parchment... then cheated again by cooling them in the fridge. Melting the chocolate in the microwave didn't make much of a difference but cooling them too quickly did take the shine off the chocolate. Slightly annoying but not a huge issue if you're a little short on time. Don't be put off if you think you can't draw, I can't either and the messy/rustic look works pretty well! However, I wouldn't recommend spirals or similar shapes because they're not strong enough structures to stand up with out breaking. Even some of the hearts were a little precarious!

After making the butter icing, I put about a third of it into a piping bag, then added a little cocoa powder to the remainder (turned out the right proportions of each).  

I'm really pleased with how these have turned out! I've never tried to make things with chocolate before and I think they look pretty good (and yes, they taste nice too!) I don't usually write out recipes but this was semi-made up so thought I'd include it today.

Recipe (makes 4):

• 2oz caster sugar
• 2oz butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 oz self raising flour
• 1oz cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Butter icing and decoration:

• 2oz icing sugar
• 1oz butter
• 1/4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4 squares dark chocolate

(Baked at 170 for 15-20 minutes)

Apple and Blackberry Strudel

This is a recipe I got from the Good Housekeeping website and for the first time in a while, I actually followed all of a recipe!

This was pretty easy to make and takes around an hour and a half. The apple is cooked with a little butter, sugar, ginger and cinnamon. Personally, I think that it needs a little more sugar and less spice although I'm sure it would have helped if I hadn't forgotten one of the apples! (doesn't count as changing the recipe if it's not deliberate, right?)

The pastry is a little tricky to work with. Filo tears so easily but there are so many layers that the odd rip in a single sheet doesn't matter too much. I did get a tear all the way through when wrapping it up and attempted to patch it up with a little extra pastry. I think it worked actually. I still had another major rip though and a smaller but very long tear all around the back edge at the bottom (hense why the back isn't in the photo!). If you can make this without a single tear then tell me about it because you are obviously a filo god!

As for the baking, the recipe says 20 minutes. the pastry was cooked but I think it needed another couple of minutes. Other than that, highly recommended! Autumnal yummies!

Recipe: http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/food/recipes/blackberry-and-apple-strudel-ring

Biscuits

Slightly more conventional today: custard creams and jammie dodgers. I was disproportionately proud of these given their simplicity! There's something very satisfying about making something that actually looks like an everyday thing!

 

I used a basic biscuit recipe I got from school and also made up some butter icing (100g icing sugar, 50g butter). Perfect amount for the amount of biscuits. The dough was really nice to work with, soft but not sticky and very easy to get off of the baking tray. I made the top half of the jammy ones with a large round cutter and a tiny round cutter to take the middle bit out. These on their own reminded me so much of party rings! I think I would've made some if I had icing and food dye.I may have gotten a little trigger happy with the little cutter and had to blend the middle bit back into the whole circle!

Overall, fun, quick and easy to make. Very satisfying, simple finish and most importantly, very yummy!

Tea Loaf

This was another semi-improvised recipe. It was supposed to be an orange and cinnamon tea loaf that I adapted from a chai tea loaf recipe on BBC Food. I left out all the spice mix part of the recipe and added 2 orange zests and 1 tsp cinnamon and replaced the dates with currants. Its not so much an orange and cinnamon loaf but tastes almost exactly like a hot cross bun!

The recipe says to mix it using an electric mixer with a dough hook. I don't have one of these so I did it by hand. It also didn't say to knead it. I'm not sure why but the loaf turned out very dense. I'm guessing it either needed longer kneading, proving or both. I'll try it again and see what works.

It wasn't exactly what I was aiming for but it still taste good, particularly toasted with butter :)

Recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chai-spiced_ginger_and_38256