Swiss / Jelly Roll

Swiss / Jelly Roll

As-Salamu Alaikum, 

If you didn't see this pic already (instagram) or you did, here it is again this time with the addition of a rather big, not so watered down, watermark?! 

This was my first time baking a swiss / jelly roll alhamdulillah I got a soft, sugary sponge and by using apricot jam instead of a classic red berry gave it a slightly different look, yeh not so much but apricot Jam is a favourite amongst my little Algerian Brits. 

The pic was took (phone camera) the the first slice, let me tell you the spiral shape got even better further along the roll but no time for snapping when you literally have to hide it before a toddler takes it into her own hands to get another piece.

If you want to have a go at making your very own (way better than the shop bought) head on over to  This Baker Girl Blogs: Swiss Roll From The Pink Whisk Guide To Cake Making  I promise if you follow those steps in her recipe you can't go wrong, inshaAllah.

P.s. I used self raising flour because I was out of plain and it still turned out well but next time I will make sure to have some plain flour in stock because there is enough air in the whipped eggs and sugar it doesn't need an additional raising agent.

Dreamlike Shortbread Biscuits

As-Salamu Alaikum sisters, greetings dear reader,

The recipe I followed for this delicious dreamlike shortbread was taken from Lorraine Pascales baking made 'easy' series and let me tell you it is just that, easy.

3 standard ingredients of shortbread are butter, sugar and flour however, the addition of rice flour I feel gives shortbread a better sandy texture. If you haven't got rice flour to hand then i've read fine semolina can be used instead.

Some recipes out there call for corn flour although I'm not sure if this can be used as a direct rice flour substitute it does seem more plausible to me than fine semolina, as corn flour and rice flour have a more similar texture. 

You can't go wrong with Lorraines simple instructions for making and decorating,  get a fork and your pinchy fingers ready! Rich, crumbly and melt in your mouth goodness, Lorraine gives suggestions on how to give your shortbread a little flavour oomph with citrus zest or stem ginger! For full recipe click here

P.S. I forgot to sprinkle caster sugar over the shortbread once it had baked, but don't worry if you make that mistake / choice it is definitely sweet enough without it

P.P.S. Oh i almost forgot shortbread goes well with a nice cup of tea / coffee and don't mind any crumbs etc on the floor (yes that is my carpet lol) I had an excuse for not vacuuming that morning day... you guessed it I'd been baking shortbread......!

 Now I'm thinking of making..... millionaires shortbread, inshaAllah

Bakers Anonymous - for those of us who are addicted to butter, sugar and flour

As-Salamu Alaikum,

 

If you are mad about baking and The Great British Bake Off  please do follow/join this great little blog I stumbled upon named Bakers anonymous 

Bakers anonymous are having a GBBO bake along, yippee! come and share photos of that Cake, Pie, Petit Fours, Biscuit Tower etc. made from or inspired by the show.

Spoiler:- It's sweet dough week on tonight's GBBO, I can't wait......can you?

'Angel' Food Cake With Lemon Curd #GBBO

As-Salamu Alaikum,

Angel food cake with lemon curd is a must bake from this years series of The Great British Bake Off
It was given to the Bakers by Paul and Mary as their first technical challenge. Needless to say really, this is not an easy recipe for a novice baker to attempt however with a little know how (different stages of whipping egg whites, how to make an angel food cake) and the right equipment (tube pan, egg separator, stand mixer or equivalent) it can make your experience a whole lot easier, trust me.

'Angel' food cake is an American light sponge cake. Made from whisking egg whites, cream of tartar and any flavourings together to soft peak stage and then slowly adding sugar to form a firm, not stiff meringue. The job is done after gently folding in plain/cake flour along with more sugar, easy?!

One great tip when separating eggs, is to do them 1 by 1 in another bowl first before adding each yolk free white to your main bowl, that way you will avoid that 1 broken yolk spoiling all your whites. At the very most you will loose 1 egg white maybe 2 if your like me and forget to put your egg white in the mixing bowl before separating another egg.

Baking in an ungreased tube pan is very important so that the cake can cling to the sides of the pan this helps it rise plus the tube in the centre helps cook the cake evenly.

Always, always, once your cake has baked turn the pan upside down as you do with a chiffon cake, this prevents the cake from falling in on itself and don't worry it is very unlikely your cake will fall out because you didn't butter your pan remember?

This is not my first time making an Angel food cake but the second. My first attempt was barely edible, not only did I not use a tube pan but I didn't fold in my flour thoroughly so don't do as I did and be patient when folding in your flour, don't worry you won't loose all the air you built up in your meringue if you are gentle just try to work fairly quick, lets say within 5 minutes.



Well they didn't really let this all American cake go out there without putting something British all over it, yes whipped cream but I was thinking more of Lemon Curd. Yes I did my research Fruit Curd originated in England back in the late 19th early 20th Century.

Egg yolks that are leftover from separating go into a pan with sugar, lemon juice and zest to make your very own, far better than shop bought lemon curd.
Sweet and Sour and Smooth (from the addition of Butter) you will produce more than enough curd to decorate the cake, so you can eat the rest as I did by the spoonful or use as a filling for cupcakes and I sometimes even spread it on toast!

Creamy, Light, Sweet and Citrus this cake you can Bake at home for everyday and that special occasion.

Passion fruit is called for to also top the cake, I couldn't get my hands on any but I feel raspberries would make a nice alternative.

For the full recipe click here
* I used a 9inch tube pan instead of the 10inch called for in the recipe
** I didn't use cream of tartar to stabilise my egg whites (makes them whip better) but if you want to I recommend the dr. oetker brand as it is made from unfermented grapes.

Mini Vanilla Custard Slices

As- Salamu Alaikum / Greetings Reader,

My sincere apologises to any of my instagram followers who saw my pic of these mini vanilla custard slices many days ago now and have been waiting to hear more about them, well let me tell you they didn't take all this time to eat, they were gone within 24 hours = proof you need to make these delicious treats sometime soon, yes preferably when the sun isn't on show like it is here today here in the north of England, mashaAllah / As Allah  = God Willed.

I don't think anything can beat dreamy, creamy vanilla infused custard, sandwiched between delicate, flaky layers of puff pastry and topped with sweet orange blossom perfumed icing.

Also, the good news is they are 'mini' so you can eat 2 in one sitting without any guilt / shame!

Mini Vanilla Custard Slices

Makes 12

Ingredients

Puff Pastry

500grams block of frozen puff pastry, thawed in the fridge overnight
Plain flour, for work surfaces and rolling pin

Filling

batch of Crème Patissiere / Pastry Cream = Thick Custard

Icing

200grams icing/powdered sugar
5teaspoons cold water OR 4 3/4 teaspoons water and 1/4 teaspoon orange blossom or rose water

Method

Pre-Heat Fan Oven to 200C

On a lightly floured surface roll out your puff pastry block until it's about 50 x 35cm 1/4cm thick.

Divide in half (a ruler and sharp knife come in handy for this) and place each half on it's own lined baking sheet and bake for on the 2 middle racks of your oven for 15-20minutes or until light golden in colour (you may wish to rotate the baking sheets half way through so you get even cooking and colouring)

 

Remove puff pastry halves from oven, prick each, all over with a fork and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Make up a batch of crème patissiere and cool/chill in the fridge until your ready to assemble.

 

To divide up your puff pastry equally, place one puff pastry half on top of the other, trim any curvy edges and divide up (ruler and serrated knife) into 12 pairs each puff pastry pair being about 3-4cm wide and 7-8cm in length.

 

To fill, I find it easiest to pipe my crème patissiere onto the puff pastry bottoms, I do one row of piping and then another on top, quickly place the puff pastry lid on top then smooth / spread out the pastry cream around the sides using an angled palette knife. Repeat this step until you have filled all your 12 mini vanilla custard slices.

 

 

Next make up your icing, I personally love anything flavoured with the hint of orange blossom water and it helps slightly cut through the sweetness of all the sugar, you could use rose water or lemon/orange juice too.

 

 

I find it's best to put a generous teaspoon of icing onto the pastry lid and then being very careful not to rough up the puff! using a butter knife spread the icing until it covers the lid. Note: Please only use 5teaspoons of water, don't think as I did that it's too thick and add another teaspoon of water it will make your icing run slightly down the sides which makes for a nice photo and sticky fingers!

 

Treacle Tart

As-Salamu Alaikum / Greetings Reader,

Today I present you with Treacle Tart: a rich and buttery short crust pastry tart shell which is first blind baked and then filled with a mixture of Golden Syrup (Us folk in the north of England know it as Treacle), bread crumbs, lemon juice (to cut just some of the sweetness) and a pinch of ground ginger and then baked again for half an hour until the mixtures thickens and is set.

I was actually surprised when I made this tart at how much the lemon flavour cuts through the sweetness and the ground ginger adds a nice warming note sitting in the background but by no stretch of the imagination can I say that this tart isn't sweet as it is by far the sweetest dessert you can eat and the ultimate kids dessert, at least it was for me when I were growing up BUT I'm sure it tasted sweeter back in the day, ah when things were far sweeter and you didn't have a care in the world about how many pounds you were gaining..... the innocence of youth!

The bread crumbs add a nice chewy texture to the tart and keep the whole thing from falling apart when you cut a slice, I used white breadcrumbs as is traditional but I'm sure you could use brown/wholemeal instead which will make the tart more chewy, but remember it's always good to chew your food it helps the digestion process and let's face it you need all the help you can get with this sugar induced coma you have on your hands.



I used my one and only tart tin for this recipe, a 23cm petal / flower shaped loose bottomed flan/tart tin which you can find on amazon here or any 23cm loose bottomened tart /  flan tin will work the same.

There isn't really a substitute for Golden Syrup, but if you can't find it where you are in the world, you can try to make your own (I've done this in the past although the taste wasn't 100% identical). I may experiment in future and use honey instead of golden syrup, I will let you know if I can make this dessert just a tad healthier, promise!

Treacle Tart

Recipe taken from James Martin's Treacle Tart

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 110g/4oz unsalted butter, chilled, diced
• 1 medium free-range egg, lightly beaten

For the filling

• 450g/1lb golden syrup
• 85g/3oz fresh breadcrumbs
• generous pinch ground ginger
• 1 lemon, zest, finely grated and 2 tbsp of the juice

To serve

• clotted cream or double cream (Optional but does help cut through the sweetness)

Method

In a bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Mix in the egg with a knife, then knead on a clean, lightly dusted work surface to form a smooth dough.

Use the dough to line a 23cm/9in loose-bottomed tart tin, prick the base all over with a fork and leave to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C (fan)/375F/Gas 5.

Line the pastry with parchment paper and weigh down with rice or ceramic baking beans.

Bake the pastry blind for 10-15 minutes, remove the paper and rice or beans and return the pastry case to the oven for a few minutes more, until light golden-brown.

For the filling, mix together the filling ingredients in a bowl and pour into the pastry case.

Return to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold with clotted cream or double cream (optional)

I'm Taking A Blogging Break & Black Tea Cupcakes With Honey Buttercream

As-Salam Alaikum / Greetings Dear Reader,

Honesty is always the best policy, my home baking journey doesn't always run smoothly and I still manage to blog about it because that's just me 'keeping it real' I learn something new almost each time I bake that's what keeps me motivated and passionate about this hobby but with arrival of a new born within a matter of weeks I am going to be taking a back seat in blogging for a while.

I will still be updating my instagram while i'm gone so keep a look out.

As of yesterday, I became aware there was such a thing as a UK Cup size in baking and guess what? I've been using UK Cups when trying out US recipes all this time.

US Cup = 236.5ml

UK Cup = 250ml

The UK Cup is slightly bigger than US Cup.

Apologises to all who have tried any of the few Cup measured recipes I've featured here if they haven't worked out as you hoped.

I try to avoid using Cup recipes because I've always been told weighing is a bakers way to achieve the best results and I still stand by that, although some recipes are too irresistible like this Black Tea Cake With Honey Buttercream a Tea lovers dream which quite easily could have been a nightmare for me, alhamdulillah it wasn't even I used the wrong Cup size!

I should have trusted Kristin's US Cup to metric conversions and gone with my measuring jug and weighing scales but I incorrectly thought she must be wrong because to me a Cup = 250ml after all I'd read it on my shiny Cups and to read her first ingredient Milk 1 Cup = 235ml I just dismissed it and went with my Cups.

As you can see from the photos, using UK Cups didn't affect this recipe too much masha'Allah.

My cupcakes were alot lighter in colour than Kristin's cake. Afterwards I realised this is due to using more milk than the original recipe and not more tea because as far as I know and please tell me if I'm wrong, a UK&US tablespoon are the same?!

Black Tea in the cupcakes and salt in the buttercream balances out the honey plus icing sugar sweetness in the frosting so they aren't overly sweet and the milk brewed tea flavour is definitely still there.

You can use any Black Tea you prefer but I went with this high quality Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Black Tea, that is said to have an aroma reminiscent of citrus, maybe next time I make these I will try to enhance that quality by adding some zest of lemon/orange.

Another thing I'm pondering over since my recent measurement lesson is the size of a Cupcake, as Kristin says her recipe makes 18 US cupcakes, my larger scale recipe made just 14, not that I'm complaining but still I'm thinking are UK cupcake cases bigger? after all I was under the assumption as many are that the US are the super sizes! Looks like us Brits are quickly catching up.

So go on if I've not managed to make you run for the hills and your a Black Tea admirer put these cupcakes or the original cake high up on your things to bake list.

 

BLACK TEA CUPCAKES WITH HONEY BUTTERCREAM

Recipe Adapted from Pastry Affair

Makes 14

Measurements taken using UK Cups

Ingredients

Black Tea Cake                    

1 Cup milk                                            

3 tablespoons black tea (for me that meant contents of 6 Ceylon tea bags but it depends on size of teabags your using)                                            

1/4 Cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 Cup caster or granulated sugar  (i used vanilla sugar)                                                

2 large eggs                                     

1/4 Cup vegetable oil                   

1 teaspoon vanilla  (use if not using vanilla sugar)                                  

1 3/4 Cups + 2 teaspoons self raising flour

Honey Buttercream

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature                              

3 tablespoons honey  (i used set honey)                                       

2 cups powdered sugar            

2 tablespoons milk/water (may not be necessary if you use runny honey)

Pinch of salt

Method   

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C / 160 degrees C (Fan) Place cases in cupcake pan.

Warm the milk until near boiling on the stove or in the microwave. Cut open the tea bags and add the tea directly into the milk. Allow to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in the vegetable oil and vanilla. Gradually add in the self raising flour. Stir in the tea brewed milk, mixing until batter is uniform and smooth.

Transfer batter to cupcake cases, bake for 15-20minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before frosting or serving.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and honey until smooth.
Add the icing sugar and salt and continue mixing until the frosting comes together. If the frosting is too runny, add more icing sugar until it reaches the right consistency. Likewise, if the frosting is too stiff, add more milk/water to thin it out. If the frosting is too sweet, add a pinch more salt until the desired sweetness is achieved.

Spread or pipe (i used a 9mm open star tip) the honey buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes and serve.

*Photos taken with xperiaZ with added instagram effects

Victoria Sandwich Sponge Cake Revisited!

 As-Salam Alaikum / Greetings Dear Reader,

Today I'm revisiting an old favourite of mine, the Victoria sandwich sponge cake which was named after Queen Victoria, who favoured a slice of the sponge cake with her afternoon tea.

 

To make this British Classic Cake I adapted Mary Berry's Recipe.

I used both apricot (dh favourite) and strawberry jam (my favourite) plus the optional whipped cream to fill my 22.5cm cake (original recipe makes a deeper sponge cake using a 20cm cake tin) . 

Both self raising flour and baking powder are used to create an extremely light and tender sponge cake. I used the creaming method of making the sponge batter which gave yet even more lightness but feel free to follow Mary Berry's all in one method and you will still get an oh so soft sponge cake, it will be hard to resist taking an extra slice!

Victoria Sandwich Sponge Cake

Makes 1 x 22.5cm Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

225g caster sugar (preferably Golden), plus extra for dusting the finished cake                                                                                      

225g softened/room temperature unsalted butter
4 large eggs, room temperature
225g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder

For the Filling

8tbsp of your favourite jam, I used 4tbsp each of apricot and strawberry

300ml double cream, whipped (optional and can be substituted with buttercream icing)

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/ 350F. Weigh all ingredients. Sieve flour and baking powder together, set aside. Cream butter and sugar together for about 5mins until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one by one beating well after each addition, sift in your flour/baking powder, mix until well combined, don't over mix! .

Spoon the cake batter into your tin and smooth out with palette knife or the back of a spoon, make a slight indentation in the centre, this will ensure the top doesn't dome too much.  Bake on middle shelf of oven for 35mins (I use an electric fan oven so you may need to adjust cooking time according to your type of oven) until a cocktail stick comes out clean or the centre springs back when pressed gently with a finger.

Remove from oven, place on cooling rack and leave to cool for 5 minutes, the cake should have started to shrink and come away from the sides so proceed to remove from your cake tin (I used silicone bake ware which makes this process a lot easier) place cake on cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

Slice cake in 2, put the flat bottom to the side, this will become the top of your cake. Spread Jam liberally over your other cake half. Whip double cream, I piped my cream on top of the jam layer using a regular circular tip and then smoothed it out using a palette knife but if your not worried about the jam and the cream mixing together or oozing out of the cake, spread the whip cream on top of the jam layer using a spoon / knife.

Place the remaining sponge cake layer on top and dust with caster sugar.

If you filled your Victoria sandwich sponge cake with whipped cream then it's essential to keep it chilled in the fridge until you are ready to take your first slice, I promise it won't be your last.

*Post updated from 13th May 2012

Sage & Onion Tear & Share Bread

As-Salam Alaikum Sisters / Greetings Dear Reader,

If you ask any Brit what their favourite dinner is? a lot will still say a traditional roast dinner, even after all the wonderful food culture that is now in Britain we still love our roast meat and boiled vegetables.

This sage and onion tear and share bread which really are just bread rolls joined together (usually in a circle but I must have skipped over those instruction, ooops!) tastes just like the sage and onion stuffing that goes so well with a roast Chicken/Turkey dinner.

The next time your having a roast Chicken/Turkey dinner make up a batch of this bread and then you can make sandwiches with any leftover meat.

Also this bread would go well served with a chicken soup.

Please don't be put off by the white layer on top of the sage leaves, it's the milk glaze to help them stick and glazing bread with milk will create a soft crust. The leaves are simply for garnish and can be removed prior to eating.

Sage & Onion Tear & Share Bread

Makes 8 bread rolls
Slightly adapted from Hairy Bikers Sage and Onion Tear and Share Bread.
1-2 hours prep time
20 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

150ml whole milk, plus extra for glazing
400g plain white flour, plus extra for kneading
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
1tsp caster sugar
1tsp fine sea salt
15g unsalted butter
1tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing bowl
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
15-20 sage leaves, chopped, plus extra for garnish
ground black pepper

Method

Heat 125ml water and the milk in a saucepan over a low heat until lukewarm.

 

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the yeast, sugar and salt.

Make a well in the centre and stir in the water and milk with a large wooden spoon (You can use a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment to mix and knead the bread) Gather into a ball then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. (5minutes if using a stand mixer)

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover loosely with oiled clingfilm. Leave to rise at room temperature place for 60 minutes or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the onion and garlic over a very low heat for 10 minutes, or until softened.

Scatter the chopped sage over the onions and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, season with lots of ground black pepper and set aside to cool.

When the dough has doubled in size, tip it back onto a floured surface and flatten with the palms of your hands. Spoon the onion mixture on top and knead for a couple of minutes until evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with a little extra flour as it will become sticky from the extra moisture and fat.
Divide the dough into eight (approx. 100g per ball) and shape into neat balls by pulling the dough from the outside of the ball and pushing into the centre. Turn over with the ends underneath.
Place the rolls in a circle (oops I put them in a straight line!) on a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, making sure the dough balls are touching. Cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (Fan)/350F/Gas 6.

Brush the top of each roll lightly with milk and place a small sage leaf on top. Brush with more milk and bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool a little before serving.

How To Make Crème Pâtissiere / Pastry Cream / Thick Custard

As-Salam Alaykum, Greetings Reader,

Crème Pâtissiere / Pastry Cream / Thick Custard is used in many desserts such as fruits tarts, vanilla custard slices and my childhood favourite good ol' jelly and custard!

Like all good food, homemade always tastes better so it is worth adding this recipe to your collection.

Crème Pâtissiere / Pastry Cream / Thick Custard

Recipe adapted from Paul Hollywood's Vanilla Custard Slice

Ingredients

• 500ml / 2 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure (halal) vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean, split down the middle and seeds scraped out
• 100g or 1/2 cup sugar (I used granulated)
• 4 large or 5 mixed weight eggs, yolks only
• 40g OR 1/3 cup corn flour

Equipment

• Medium size saucepan
• Wooden Spoon
• Silicone / heatproof balloon whisk
• Teaspoon or pairing knife to scrape out vanilla seeds
• Measuring cup or jug
• Weighing Scales

Method

Pour the milk into a saucepan, add vanilla. Bring milk to boil then remove from heat.

 Separate eggs, place egg yolks in a medium size bowl 

 Add corn flour and sugar

Whisk egg yolks, sugar and corn flour together.

 Whilst whisking continuously, pour a little of the hot milk from the pan into your egg mixture.

 Whisk in the rest of the hot milk until well combined then return to saucepan



Cook the custard over a medium heat, whisking all the time until the mixture becomes comes to a boil and thickens.



Remove from heat and if your custard is lumpy, pass it through a sieve into a clean bowl.

To store: Cover surface of pastry cream with cling film, ensuring there is no gap between the custard and the cling film or a skin will form (not pleasant). Place in fridge until you required.

 

* For an extra rich and smooth custard  - mix in 40grams of unsalted butter after removing the custard from the heat.



Take 1 - Vanilla Custard Slice [Mille-feuille]

 Asalam Alaykum / Greetings Dear Readers,

My 100th post! i finally made my favourite pastry Alhamdulillah: Vanilla Custard Slice, i made 4 large. 8 mini versions would have been nice but bigger was better in this case.

Remember a while ago, i discovered that pre-made pastry sheets contained alcohol or at least the one i came across did. So, in order for me to avoid that and to still 'cheat' a little, i made my puff pastry from a packet mix, this one to be precise:

and i don't really feel like i cheated as i had to do most of the hard work i.e. rolling the pastry, folding, repeat x 6! but it did help me cut the boring corner of, weighing the ingredients & cutting chunks of butter/vegetable fat into pieces!

Mille Feuille is french in origin, who would have guessed?! usually consisting of 3 layers of puff pastry alternating with 2 layers of filling.

I and probably many other Brits, consider this particular type with the 2 layers pastry, 1 layer of custard, to be a British pastry as it is available in just about every bakery you walk into in the UK, that's if you get in there before it's sells out!

The classic vanilla flavouring in this pastry, simply works. It's savoury notes help balance out just some of sweetness in the custard and the icing.

Also the Feathered Icing you see on the top is a relatively new technique to me and i have to say I'm impressed at how it lifts desserts up from average looking to fancy.

Usually to make the chocolate part of  feathered icing you would first make the very thick white glace icing, mixing in a little bit of melted butter to give it a shiny finish. Portion a small amount off into another bowl, add in a few drops of chocolate essence and there you have it BUT i didn't have any chocolate essence, so what to do? Nutella to the rescue! i added a couple of teaspoons along with a drop of water to thin the icing out just a little.

All you have to do then is spread using a palette knife, the white glace icing over the tops of each pastry. Fill a small piping bag with your chocolate icing, i used one fitted with a tiny circle nozzle but you can make a disposable one out of baking paper if your skilled enough, I'm not.

Pipe lines of chocolate icing across the white icing . Then all you need to do is drag a skewer through all the lines, instead of working from right to left you move the skewer from top (where the white icing starts) to the bottom. I'm not really good at explaining am i? so here, you can see the same technique being used on a cake.

I wasn't 100% happy with how these vanilla custard slices turned out, the ratio of custard/ creme patisserie to pastry is usually bigger. That being said, i had no complaints from the husband or child that taste tested and even had requests to make them again, which i plan to do in the near future in sha Allah and at that point i will post my recipe and more pictures, showing how to make the pastry etc

I'd be interested to know, what is your favourite bakery item and when did you last treat yourself to it?

Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes

Recipe loosely adapted from London Bakes

Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes

makes 9-12 depending on the size of your cupcake cases

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 110g / 4oz margarine or unsalted butter, softened
• 110g / 4oz vanilla caster sugar
• 2 medium size eggs
• 110g / 4oz self raising flour

For the filling & topping

• 12tsp jam (i used strawberry flavour)
• 150ml double cream / heavy cream, whipped to form stiff peeks
• Icing sugar for dusting tops

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F/180C/160C (fan). Line a bun tin with paper/foil cases.
2. In a large bowl, cream together your chosen fat and sugar until light, fluffy and creamy coloured. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and then slowly add them to the mixture in your larger bowl, whisk mixture continually to prevent it from splitting.
3. Sift flour over the mixture and gently fold preferably using a large metal spoon until the flour has just combined.
4. Fill cupcake cases 2/3 full and bake for 15-20mins (mine were done at 17minutes) until lightly golden brown, springy to touch and when you insert a cocktail stick in the center it comes out clean i.e. not sticky, a few crumbs are OK. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. When cool, slice a little circle out of the top of each cupcake. Fill with a generous teaspoon of whipped cream followed by a teaspoon of jam (make sure it's in that order if you want to be able to see the jam!) replace lids and dust cupcakes with icing sugar, using a sieve and from a height.

Cupcake Wars: Victoria Sandwich vs Espresso

Salam Alaykum,

 

Here is a light hearted battle of my most recent homemade cupcakes, both were delicious but only one will come out on top, who will it be?

 

Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes - straight from oven

 

Victoria Sandwich Cupcakes - complete (sort of)

Victoria Sanwich Cupcakes - now complete with a dusting of icing sugar but who can spot the odd one out? 

 

VS.

Espresso Cupcakes straight from oven

 

filled with whipped cream, but wait it gets better

 

Chocolate, melted and drizzled over oh and a dusting of icing sugar that was not at all necessary

 

and the winner is:

 

Espresso!

 

I just had to make these delights again but this time they were a stronger espresso flavour which went down a storm with dh, al hamdu lillah

(excuse the lighting, i took this photo at night compared to the rest which were in the morning/early afternoon)

Recipes, coming soon in shaa Allah
Update * here are the recipe links
Victoria sandwich cupcakes recipe
Espresso cupcakes recipe