Mini orange, cinnamon and sultana loaf cakes

After a successful batch of mini lemon loaf cakes, I decided to try out a more adventurous recipe with my Lakeland mini loaf tin. After a search on Pinterest, I found this recipe by Laythetable – this recipe was for 6 mini loaves, using mini loaf paper cases. To use the 12 hole mini loaf tin, I doubled the ingredient quantities.

The original recipe suggested soaking the sultanas in Amaretto, which would be delicious! However, I didn’t have any Amaretto – after a rummage in our alcohol cupboard (which mostly contains gin!), the best  thing I could find to use as an alternative was Pimms! I also think Cointreau would be a great substitute if you have some! If you want to avoid alcohol entirely, you could simply use orange juice. As I did not plan my bake in advance, I only managed to soak my sultanas for about 45 minutes – this was ok and they did plump up a little, but the longer that you can soak them, the better!

The method for making the cake is fairly standard – it’s really important to beat the butter and the sugar thoroughly – at least 5 minutes in a stand mixer. When adding the beaten eggs, it should be done little by little to avoid the mixture splitting, however, if it does split, just add a little of the flour – this should bind the mixture back together.

Greasing the mini loaf tin well is really important. I really recommend a decent spray with Dr Oetker cake release spray and then rub the grease around with your fingers to ensure that every spot is covered.

The original recipe suggested finishing the cakes with a glaze followed by a drizzle, but I decided to go for a piped drizzle topped with a  sprinkling of orange zest. I have provided the methods for both so that you can choose!  

These cakes were really good – very moist and full of flavour! EHH took them into work and they were very well received – even by one colleague who claimed not to like orange cake!

Mini orange, cinnamon and sultana loaf cakes

Ingredients

1. 75g sultanas
2. Amaretto / Cointreau / Pimms / orange juice
3. 2 oranges
4. 1 tsp cinnamon
5. 1 tsp baking powder
6. 4 large eggs
7. 170g self raising flour
8. 60g ground almonds
9. 230g unsalted butter
10. 230g granulated sugar
11. 100g icing sugar

Method

1. Place the sultanas in a small bowl or cup and cover with the alcohol / orange juice. Leave to soak for as long as possible – ideally overnight or longer.
2. Strain sultanas through a sieve and reserve the liquid.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C.
4. Lightly grease the mini loaf tin (ideally spray liberally with cake release spray) or place 12 mini loaf cases on a baking tray
5. Zest one and a half of the oranges (save the remaining zest and the juice of the oranges for use in the icing).
6. Sift the flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and baking powder together.
7. Using a hand/stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until pale, smooth and creamy.
8. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk with a fork to combine yolks and whites. 
9. Bit by bit, add the eggs into the creamed butter and sugar, beating thoroughly between each addition.
10. Add in the sultanas and orange peel.
11. Add half of the flour mix and mix gently, then repeat with the remaining flour mix.
12. Spoon the mixture into the tin / cases evenly.
13. Use a teaspoon to smooth the tops.
14. Place in the oven for around 18 - 25 minutes. Turn the tray after about 14 minutes if your oven bakes unevenly. Towards the end of the bake, you may wish to cover with brown paper to present the tops browning before the middle is cooked.
15. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the tin.
16. Place the cakes on a wire rack to finish cooling.

To glaze (while the cakes are still warm):

1. Juice one orange and mix this with a tablespoon of the soaking liqueur.
2. Place the icing sugar in a bowl and add the liquid a bit at a time until it resembles runny honey.
3. Use a skewer to make a few piercings in each cake, then spoon the glaze over each (around 2 tablespoons per cake).
4. Top each glazed cake with a sprinkle of orange zest.

To ice with a drizzle (once the cakes are cool):

1. Place the icing sugar in a bowl and add a spoonful of the soaking liqueur, followed by enough orange juice to create a smooth piping icing – it should be just a little runnier than toothpaste.
2. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a small round nozzle and drizzle across the cakes.
3. Top each iced cake with a sprinkle of orange zest.

Puff pastry mince pies

I love mince pies! I have to admit, we do buy shop-bought – especially early in the season. However, not much beats a home-made mince pie and, once you have made the mincemeat, it is so easy to make a batch of pies. Everyone thinks that you are a domestic goddess – even if you do just use shop-bought pastry!

I made the mincemeat a couple of weeks ago, but only got round to making my first batch of mince pies on Thursday this week:  in time for my mum’s arrival! Having had some pretty good puff pastry mince pies from the Co-op, I decided to make my own. However, even Baking Supremo Mary Berry says that she doesn’t make her own pastry – which is a good enough excuse for me, so my pastry came courtesy of Mr Sainsbury!

The co-op mince pies were flat rather than having a curved base, I’ve never made them like this but decided to give it a go. It was actually a lot easier than trying to put disks of pastry into a bun tin and they worked out pretty well – although I think I could have possibly baked them a little longer - but they tasted great anyway!

Christmas Mincemeat

Makes 3 lb (1.35 kg)

Ingredients

1. 8oz (225g) Bramley apples, cored and chopped small (no need to peel them)
2. 4 oz (110 g) shredded suet
3. 4oz (175 g) raisins
4. 4oz (110 g) sultanas
5. 2oz (55g) currants
6. 2oz (55g) dried cranberries
7. 2oz (55g) dried sour cherries
8. 4oz (110 g) whole mixed candied peel, finely chopped
9. 6oz (175 g) soft dark brown sugar
10. grated zest and juice 1 orange
11. grated zest and juice 1 lemon
12. 2 level teaspoons mixed ground spice
13. ¼ level teaspoon ground cinnamon
14. good pinch freshly grated nutmeg
15. 3 tablespoons cherry brandy or amaretto

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients, except for the alcohol, in a large oven-proof bowl, mixing thoroughly.
2. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave the mixture in a cool place overnight or for 12 hours, so the flavours have a chance to mingle and develop.
3. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark ¼, 225°F (120°C).
4. Cover the bowl loosely with foil and place it in the oven for 3 hours, then remove the bowl from the oven. Don't worry about the appearance of the mincemeat, which will look positively swimming in fat. This is how it should look.
5. As it cools, stir it from time to time; the fat will coagulate and, instead of it being in tiny shreds, it will encase all the other ingredients.
6. When the mincemeat is quite cold, stir well again, adding the alcohol.
7. Pack in jars that have been sterilised (see below).
8. When filled, cover with waxed discs and seal.
9. The mincemeat will keep for ages in a cool, dark cupboard but it is best eaten within a year of making.

NOTE: To sterilise jars, wash the jars and lids in warm soapy water, rinse well, then dry thoroughly with a clean tea cloth, place them on a baking tray and pop into a medium oven, gas mark 4, 350F, 180C, for 5 minutes.

Puff pastry mince pies

Ingredients

1. 6 tsp mincemeat (preferably home-made)
2. 2 tblsp milk
3. 250g puff pastry

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
2. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
3. Roll the pastry out to approx. 4mm thick.
4. Cut out twelve 8cm disks.
5. Place 6 of the disks on the baking tray and brush with milk.
6. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat in the centre of each disk.
7. Brush each of the remaining pastry disks with milk and then place them, milk side down, on top of the other mincemeat-topped disks.
8. Press down around the edges to seal.
9. Brush the tops of the mince pies with more milk.
10. Cook for 20-25 minutes, until risen and golden.
11. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
12. Move pies onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Amaretti biscuits

It’s very nearly December, so time to start practising a few recipes that I like to do for little Christmas presents for friends and family. I’m meeting up with some friends tomorrow so I decided to have a go at one of my easiest Christmas recipes – amaretti biscuits. This is a Gino D’Acampo recipe taken from the BBC website – the only changes that I have made is that I roll the biscuits rather than spooning them onto the trays; I use parchment rather than greaseproof paper (and so don’t need to butter the paper) and I make them much smaller than suggested. The original recipe suggested that it made 20 biscuits – I make about 70! I also find that they tend to take longer to bake than suggested (although this could be my oven) – I suggest turning the trays after about 12 minutes so that they bake evenly and leaving them in until they are golden brown all over.

These taste great but I'm still not completely convinced about this recipe - they don't rise or crack across the top in the way I would expect - and they are a bit chewier rather than crisp. Not sure if this is down to the way that I mix in the sugar and almonds - maybe I knock out too much of the air - I'm not sure. May give another recipe a go at some point soon.  

Amaretti biscuits

Ingredients

1. 340g/12oz ground almonds
2. 340g/12oz caster sugar
3. 4 eggs, whites only
4. 30ml/1fl oz amaretto liquor

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
2. Line two tins with baking parchment.
3. In a large bowl beat the egg whites until firm.
4. Mix the sugar and the almonds gently into it.
5. Add the amaretto liquor and fold in gently until you have a smooth paste.
6. Roll small balls of the paste and place on the baking trays – leaving at least 2cm between each as they will expand, whilst cooking.
7. Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then remove from baking trays and cool on a wire rack.