How to make sticky toffee pudding

 

Ingredients you will need

 

For the toffee pudding:

200g dried dates, stoned and chopped.

250ml black tea (not too strong)

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

85g unsalted butter, softened

175g self-raising flour

1 tsp mixed spice

175g golden caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

 

For the toffee sauce:

100g light muscovado sugar

100g unsalted butter

142ml carton double cream

 

 

What to do:

 

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C Put the dates and tea in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook for 3–4 minutes to soften the dates. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda.

 

2. Beat the butter and caster sugar together until pale and creamy, then beat in the egg, flour and mixed spice. Fold in the date mixture and pour into a buttered ovenproof dish or brownie tin. Bake for 30–35 minutes or until the top is just firm to touch.

 

3. Meanwhile, make the sauce by putting the sugar, butter and cream in a pan over a low heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Cook until the sauce is a toffee colour. Cut the pudding into squares and serve with the warm sauce.

 

 

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How to create a simple leaf effect on sugarpaste trees

 

A quick 'how to decorate today' rather than a recipe to share :)

 

I've used this technique on a few cakes, most recently on the sides of this Fireman Sam cake.

 

 

It's super simple, and quick to do, but adds a bit of texture and interest to your cake.

 

What to do:

 

 

1. Colour some sugarpaste green. It can be marbled, you don't need to colour it completely.

 

2. Roll out the paste to make it thinner, and pull off the desired size.

 

3. Tidy up the edges, and make into a 'cloud' shape.

 

4. Use a daisy cutter, or similar flower and press randomly into the paste (without cutting all the way through), over and over again to create a texture which gives the impression of lots of leaves.

 

5. Stick it on the top of your 'trunk', which can be made using a lump of brown sugarpaste, flattened slightly and score lines into it with a knife.

 

6. Add as many as you need to create the desired effect.

 

 

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How to make edible tortilla dessert bowls

These are the simplest thing to make, super yummy , and give you a different way of presenting a dessert. You can make them savoury by omitting the sugar.

You need about a tablespoon of butter, and a couple of teaspoons of sugar per tortilla. These are rough measurements, I didn't measure exactly when I has making them, the method was a little rough and ready if I'm being honest.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Melt the butter in the microwave. Brush both sides of the tortilla with the melted butter, then sprinkle the sugar over the top. I used granulated sugar for some (for the children) and cinnamon sugar for the adults. If your tortillas are not very soft it may be an idea to soften them slightly in the microwave first as you need them to bend without ripping.

Then shape the tortilla inside an oven proof bowl, or over the back of a ramekin, or other suitable bowl. Bake for about 8 minutes, but keep an eye on them as you don't want them to burn. Take them out of the oven and let them cool as they are for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Then they are ready to use.

 

 

 

The kids had their bowls filled with mint choc chip ice cream.....

 

And we had our cinnamon sugar ones with strawberries and cream. Yum :)


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How to make chocolate brownie cookies

These little beauties are gorgeous!! They've come about because one of the lovely ladies who attends my classes is dairy free. I like to bake for the students at my classes, so was looking for a dairy free recipe. I found a recipe I liked, but tweaked it a bit and now I'm going to share it with you! Be prepared- the dough needs to chill for AT LEAST 4 hours, overnight is even better. So if you want to make these cookies you have to be patient!

Ingredients (makes 32-36 cookies)

85g cocoa powder

400g caster sugar

125ml vegetable oil

4 eggs         

250g plain flour            

2 teaspoons baking powder            

a pinch of salt

60g icing sugar

What to do:

1. In a bowl, mix together the cocoa, caster sugar and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until fully combined. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4. Line baking trays with parchment. Roll dough into 2.5cm balls. Coat each ball in icing sugar before placing onto prepared trays. (Easiest way to do this is put the icing sugar in a bowl and roll the dough around inside it). I used 3 baking trays with 12 per tray. I won't lie to you- this is a sticky job. You might have to wash your hands a few times whilst doing this step. But 'stick' with it, they're worth it.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Let stand on the baking tray for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

4. Enjoy!!

At the time of writing I still have some from the first batch we made (we have made another batch since that went into school for the teachers!) and four days on they are still very yummy. 

Let me know if you make them and what you think.

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