Coffee Kisses

This is a fab, quick recipe, using store cupboard ingredients, that makes delicious biscuits! Perfect as a snack with your morning coffee, or at any time of day! 

A couple of weeks ago, my in-laws were popping down for the day and I realised the night before that I should probably whizz up something to offer them. I didn’t have the time or energy to go to the shop and so I needed to make something with the stuff that I had in the cupboards. I also wanted to make something that tasted fab, looked like I had made an effort but was actually quick and simple to make! Having made these biscuits a few times before, they came straight to mind and the decision was made.

The recipe comes from the original GBBO book “The Great British Book of Baking”. However, I’ve made a couple of adaptations – added a bit of extra flour and divided the mixture into far smaller balls: they recommend 16 but I’ve followed this recipe and the biscuits are crazily huge! I also rest the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes before baking, which helps the biscuits to keep their domed shape, rather than flattening out.

Give them a go – they’re delicious!

Coffee Kisses

Ingredients

1. 200g self-raising flour
2. 100g caster sugar
3. 100g butter, chilled and diced
4. 2 tsp instant coffee granules or powder
5. 1 medium egg

For the buttercream

1. 75g very soft butter
2. 150g icing sugar
3. 4 tsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Line two baking trays with baking parchment.
2. Combine the flour and the sugar in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Dissolve the coffee in 2 tsp of boiling water.
5. Beat the egg until frothy and mix in the coffee.
6. Add to the bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to make a firm dough.
7. Flour your hands well and then divide the dough into 30 pieces.
8. Shape each piece into a neat ball.
9. Arrange the balls on the baking trays, allowing space for them to spread.
10. Place the trays in the fridge for 20 minutes.
11. Pre-heat the oven to 170C.
12. Take the baking trays out of the fridge and place in the oven.
13. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until light golden and firm to the touch.
14. Leave to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
15. Beat the butter with the icing sugar and cocoa powder until very light and smooth.
16. Use the buttercream to sandwich the biscuits in pairs.  

Chocolate and raspberry Kitkat gateau – again!

Having had a practise bake last weekend (!), this weekend was actually my friend’s hen do and so time to make my second chocolate and raspberry Kitkat gateau. Making it for the second time was definitely easier – having made a few mistakes last week, I followed my own instructions and tips this time and it was actually a fairly easy and simple cake to bake.

I did make a couple of changes this time – I didn’t have much raspberry liqueur left and so I had a search through our alcohol cupboard and found a bottle of plum brandy and decided to use that in the cake instead. You can’t really taste the alcohol in the cake but it does add an extra depth and slight fruitiness to the cake and so I figured changing the type of alcohol shouldn’t affect the flavour too much. I’m not sure if adding the alcohol rather than just water affects the texture at all – will test this out next week when I have to make another chocolate cake – this time for a four-year-old’s birthday so no alcohol in this one!

Last week, I wasn’t that keen on the chocolate icing so I decided to make a few changes. This time, I added a tablespoon of cocoa, to increase the chocolate flavour and reduce the sweetness. Instead of the raspberry liqueur, I added a tablespoon of very strong coffee (1 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tblsp hot water) and also 1 tsp salt. You can’t taste the coffee but adding it helps to reduce the sweetness and intensify the chocolate flavour; the salt similarly helps to bring out the chocolate flavour. For me, these changes definitely helped to improve the icing – adapted recipe below.     

The only other change was to use three different types of Kitkat on the outside – dark, milk and Cookies and Cream (topped with white chocolate) – just for a slightly different look.

Chocolate icing:

Ingredients

1. 175 grams dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
2. 250 grams unsalted butter (softened)
3. 275 grams icing sugar (sifted)
4. 1 tblsp cocoa (sifted)
5. 1 tbsp strong coffee (1 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tblsp hot water)
6. 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and set aside to cool slightly.
2. In another bowl, beat the butter until it's soft and creamy.
3. Add the sieved icing sugar, cocoa, salt and coffee.
4. Beat again until light and fluffy.
5. Add the chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth. 

Chocolate and raspberry gateau

As part of a friend’s vintage/retro themed hen party, we had all been asked to bring a contribution to an afternoon tea party. In order to avoid hundreds of cupcakes / bottles of sparkly, we’d been allocated an item to bring. I mentioned that I was happy to bake and so was allocated chocolate cake. Except, I’ve never really made chocolate cake! As I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m not really a fan of chocolate or of chocolate cake and so I just don’t tend to make it!

Having scanned through my ever-reliable source of inspiration – Flickr – I’d been inspired by impressive looking Kitkat-surrounded gateaux and made the decision to have a go at one of these. Next decision – which of the many thousand chocolate cake recipes to follow? A few friends recommended Nigella’s Chocolate Fudge Cake and so I decided to go with my own amended version of that. As I’m not really into rich chocolate cake, I decided to add raspberries, strawberries and fresh cream to add a bit of tartness and lightness. If you wanted to stick with the very traditional chocolate fudge cake, you could fill the cake with a caramel-fudge sauce and top with a mixture of fudges and chocolate truffles – which could look equally impressive.  

Finding a bottle of raspberry liqueur in the cupboard, I decided to use that in the recipe in place of some of the water, and to omit the vanilla essence suggested. To keep the cake slightly lighter and more of a gateau than a rich chocolate fudge cake, I filled the cake with jam and fresh cream, rather than more of the (very rich) topping. For a bit of an indulgent twist, I watered the jam down with more of the raspberry liqueur, which also helped the filling soak into the sponge to keep it moist and full of flavour.

The great thing about adding the Kitkats to the edge of this cake is that you don’t need to worry about making the icing that neat – the Kitkats hide any imperfections brilliantly. You don’t have to dip the strawberries in chocolate to go on top, but I do think it adds a lovely touch!

I was feeling rather impressed with myself once the cake was complete – it looked fairly spectacular! Impressed, that is, until I arrived at my friend’s house only to find that I was a week early – the party isn’t until next week! Gutted. Anyone want a slice of chocolate cake …?

Edit - 2 June 2013

So - what happened to the cake? I was a bit worried as I made the cake on the Friday and neither of us were at work until Tuesday, and most of the local friends I would usually give cake to, were away for the long weekend! I checked the cream and its use-by was Wednesday - so figured the cake would be ok until Tuesday as long as it was kept in the fridge. I did take all the fruit off (as it would have gone off slightly by the Tuesday) and we ate this for dessert over the weekend. 

EHH and I cracked into the cake on the Sunday and it was actually really tasty! The texture was great - really moist and delicious and the raspberry filling really complemented the chocolate cake: the liqueur added a nice kick of flavour without overpowering. The only thing I wasn't that keen on was the chocolate icing - I found it a little over-sweet and actually not that chocolatey! EHH took the rest of the cake into his work on the Tuesday and was demolished fairly quickly! (Although there were a few complaints from my work that I hadn't taken it there!)

Chocolate and raspberry gateau

Ingredients

For the cake

1. 400 grams plain flour
2. 250 grams golden caster sugar
3. 100 grams light brown muscovado sugar
4. 50 grams best-quality cocoa powder
5. 2 teaspoons baking powder
6. 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
7. ½ teaspoon salt
8. 3 large eggs
9. 142 ml sour cream (1 small tub)
10. 175 grams unsalted butter
11. 125 ml corn oil
12. 200 ml chilled water
13. 100ml raspberry liqueur

For the icing

1. 175 grams dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
2. 250 grams unsalted butter (softened)
3. 275 grams icing sugar (sifted)
4. 1 tblsp raspberry liqueur

To fill

1. 300ml double cream, whisked until spreadable
2. 200g raspberry jam
3. 4 tblsp raspberry liqueur

To decorate

1. 21 double Kitkat chocolate bars
2. 200g raspberries
3. 400g strawberries
4. 100g dark chocolate
5. 100g white chocolate

Method

1. Place butter in a microwaveable bowl and microwave until melted (alternatively, melt in a saucepan over the hob). Set aside to cool.
2. Put the water and raspberry liqueur in a jug and place in the fridge to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
4. Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins.
5. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt.
6. In another bowl or wide-necked measuring jug whisk together the eggs and sour cream until blended.
7. Beat together the melted butter and corn oil until just blended, then beat in the water mixture.
8. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed.
9. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins.
10. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean.
11. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

 Preparing the chocolate dipped strawberries

1. While the cakes are baking, melt the dark chocolate in a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
2. Melt the white chocolate in the same way.
3. Dip some of the strawberries in the chocolate and set aside on a sheet of baking parchment.
4. Place the remaining chocolate in a disposable piping bag and snip off the end of the bag.
5. Pipe drizzles of chocolate onto some of the remaining strawberries and add these to the sheet of baking parchment.
6. Leave some strawberries plain.
7. Allow the chocolate to set and then pipe drizzles of the alternative chocolate onto both the dipped and the drizzled strawberries.
8. Use any remaining chocolate to pipe chocolate shapes onto parchment paper

Assembling, icing and decorating the cake

1. Place the jam in a bowl and mix with the liqueur.
2. Cut each of the cooled cakes in half (easiest done with a cake levelling tool).
3. Cover three of the cake halves with cream and then with jam.
4. Place each cake half carefully on top of the others, finishing with the plain cake.
5. Place the cake in the fridge to cool and set for at least 30 minutes.  
6. While the cake is in  the fridge, make up the icing.
7. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.
8. In another bowl, beat the butter until it's soft and creamy.
9. Add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until light and fluffy.
10. Add the raspberry liqueur and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth. 
11. When the cake is set and fairly firm, ice the top and sides, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula or palette knife.
12. Separate the Kitkats into single bars and press firmly around the edge of the iced cake.
13. Place in fridge again to set for at least 30 minutes.
14. Once set, top with the raspberries, chocolate dipped strawberries, remaining strawberries and chocolate shapes.

Chocolate and Cherry Cupcakes

I’ve been asked by a colleague at work to make some cupcakes for her daughter-in-law’s baby shower. Now, I've always said that I wasn’t interested in making cakes for sale, however, they only want 12 cupcakes – and I’ve not got plans for next weekend, so I decided to say yes. However, first problem – they would like 6 lemon and 6 chocolate. Lemon - I can do, no problem. Chocolate – now there’s the problem, I don’t generally make chocolate cakes (other than red velvet, which is a generally very light chocolate cake).  The truth is, I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, and less so of chocolate cake – so I just don’t generally make it!

So, I decided that I ought to have a practise this weekend – I turned to my ever reliable Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery book and found their chocolate cupcake recipe right near the start. It is a bit of a faffy recipe – melting the chocolate, creaming the butter and sugar, beating the egg yolks separately (I’m not completely convinced why this is necessary – but hey, the recipe works, so who I am to argue?), whisking the egg whites to soft peaks … And the recipe says that it should be a “fairly liquid batter” – which mine definitely wasn’t – which made me very concerned. However, the cakes turned out brilliantly – incredibly light and fluffy, so all the hard work is definitely worth it!

I made one big mistake – I didn’t check how many the recipe made – and just divided the mixture between 12 cupcake cases. It appeared to fill the cases to about 2/3rds so it looked about right. However, the recipe does say that it makes 16! These cakes rose – lots! And ended up huge and spilling out of the cases – oops!

I did make one change to the standard chocolate cupcake recipe – I had some cherry brandy liqueur hanging around in the kitchen so I decided to replace 50ml 0f the milk with cherry brandy. However, this didn’t really show up in the flavour of the cupcakes – may try adding more next time. I also added a filling of cherry jam and added cherry brandy to the buttercream mixture as well.

Chocolate and Cherry Cupcakes

(makes 16)

Ingredients

1. 115g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
2. 85g butter, at room temperature
3. 175g soft brown sugar
4. 2 large eggs, separated
5. 186g plain flour
6. ¾ tsp baking powder
7. ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
8. Pinch of salt
9. 150ml milk
10. 100ml cherry brandy liqueur
11. Approx 4 tblsp good quality cherry jam
12. 12 cherries

Buttercream

1. 175g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
2. 225g butter, at room temperature
3. 1.5 tblsp cherry brandy
4. 250g icing sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C and line a couple of 12 hole cupcake tins with 16 cupcake cases.
2. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a glass bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Stir occasionally until it is completely melted and smooth. Set to one side to cool slightly.  
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy this will take at least 5 minutes with an electric hand mixer – don’t rush this stage).
4. In a separate bowl and with clean beaters, beat the egg yolks for several minutes.
5. Gradually add the beaten egg yolks to the creamed mixture and beat well.
6. Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and beat well.
7. Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl.
8. Put the milk in a jug and add the cherry brandy.  
9. Add one third of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir gently to combine.
10. Pour in one third of the milk mixture and stir gently.
11. Continue to add the flour mix and then milk mixture alternately, stirring gently after each addition, until all have been added.
12. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to form.
13. Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter, using a metal spoon. Do not beat or you will lose the air.
14. Spoon mixture into the cupcake cases, filling to about 1/2 full.
15. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. The cakes will spring back lightly when touched, if cooked.
16. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in tin for about 10 minutes, before carefully placing on a wire rack to finish cooling. 
17. While the cakes are in the oven, make up the buttercream:
18. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a glass bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Stir occasionally until it is completely melted and smooth. Set to one side to cool slightly. 
19. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, cherry brandy and half of the icing sugar until smooth.
20. Add the rest of the icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
21. Add the melted chocolate and beat again until thick and creamy.

To fill and decorate:

1. Once cakes are cooked and cooled, use a tea spoon to cut a cone out from the centre of the cakes.
2. Cut the top disk off each cone and retain.
3. Fill the hole in each cake with a teaspoon of cherry jam and then replace a cake disk onto each cake to seal the hole.
4. Place buttercream into an icing bag with a star shaped nozzle (I use the Wilton 1M nozzle). Swirl onto cupcakes.
5. Top each cake with a cherry (you could drizzle the cherries with melted chocolate).