55. Mini Jammy Cakes

So, I asked husband to choose something from my list of impending bakes. He chose badly and then got cross with me for saying so, so I ended up making these! Unfortunately several of the bakes really do require an occasion, or act more as desserts than bakes which are easy to portion up and palm off on colleagues! Anyway, these looked really straightforward and it would be another one ticked off the list, so that was the decision made.
I feel like I've done nothing but rub flour and butter together for the last two months. I've made over 100 mince pies, several batches of cheese straws for the baby and a Homity Pie: I'm becoming a dab-hand at making pastry now! I didn't really expect to be doing it for a cake, but these are 
far-removed from anything resembling a sponge. These required a bit of mixed spice added to self-raising flour before the butter was rubbed in, and then caster sugar added at the end. I've had a bit of a eureka moment this weekend, brought to light by this recipe. Mary suggests a particular amount of liquid but advises that you might not need it all, and it's a measure of my familiarity with textures and pastry dough that I understand how 'wet' a mixture needs to be. I remember when I first made biscuits and couldn't imagine how the bowl of crumbs would ever resemble a ball of dough without any liquid being added. So I have more confidence these days that the mixture will eventually come together, and that's just what happened with this bake. I've also got my new 'dough-hook' hand motion, which I discovered while making my final mince pies of the season and used here too. It's a great way to bring the dough together quickly.
Anyway, once the dough was formed, I had to divide the mixture into 24 pieces and roll each piece into a ball before poking it with the end of a wooden spoon to create a hole. Blackcurrant jam was then dolloped into the hole and they were baked for just 10 minutes. Mary recommends eating warm, so I gobbled two down (well, they are mini) as soon as I'd eaten my sandwich. They were very nice fresh from the oven, but equally tasty cold the next day and they went down very well with my teaching colleagues, who are getting into the habit of sampling my wares of a Monday!
Baker's verdict: very easy to make and very tasty. Just a nice little treat.
Husband rating: 7.5/10 - nice little cakes. Mixed spice isn't to my taste though, however I liked the jam in it and they seemed to be well-baked.

54. Special Shortbread Biscuits

My first bake of 2014 and some very straightforward biscuits. I can't remember if I've said this before, but I really enjoy making biscuits because they seem relatively effortless and foolproof, especially now I know that the crumbs in the bowl do eventually come together to form something you can work with! Anyway, I've had to skip ahead a few bakes: I still have a bread and butter pudding and a pavlova to make, but these require occasions really.
The process for making these was the same as the other shortbread biscuits, only light muscovado sugar was used instead of caster sugar. This made them a bit toffee-like in odour as they were baking. The mixture was very short and took some patient kneading to get it to hold. Even when I was rolling it out, it was breaking up, but I persevered and used the weight of the rolling pin to help it to stick back together. It took several rollings to get the dough used up, but it was very easy to cut out the biscuits, with no sticking to the surface. I ended up with over thirty very attractive little biscuits.
The suggested baking time was 20-25 minutes. As usual, I went for the shorter time first, but when I checked them they were still very pale, so I let them have the remaining 5 minutes. They were quite 'golden' by that time, but I wonder if that was down to the sugar as much as the baking time! I could only just fit them onto the cooling rack, and actually sampled one warm. It was delicious. I can see why these are considered 'special' because they have a lovely, rich buttery taste and look like a lot of effort has gone into the making of them. They certainly went down well with my colleagues!
Baker's verdict: simple to make and very tasty. They had a nice 'snap'.
Husband rating: 7/10 - nice shortbread but too sweet for my taste really.

53. Banoffee Pie

This was a bit of an unexpected bake which began life as something else! I'd finally got to the bottom of my second list with just a cheesecake to go, but unfortunately this particular one contains gelatine. Being a strict veggie makes me very reluctant to bake anything containing animal bits, so I bought a vegetarian equivalent and attempted to make it using that. What followed was a disaster: I had to discard the entire filling because when everything was combined, everything just kind of separated. There was no way we were eating that! I'm now faced with a dilemma: do I avoid the cheesecake altogether, or make it with gelatine and not try it? I feel like being militant and going for the first option.
Anyway, I had a lovely biscuit base to do something with, so a flash of inspiration took me to the Banoffee Pie page. I've made these before, and they're really easy, so it was a good last-minute substitute for the dessert promised to our visiting friends. Husband thought I should cheat and buy the ready-made caramel, but I'm not compromising the integrity of the project, so I used normal condensed milk and made my own. It was a bit nerve-wracking (is it done? is it over-done?) but it turned out ok and was nice and thick. I was a bit disappointed by the amount of biscuit: the last cheesecake I made had the same issue (I think I doubled the mixture for that one). In my opinion, the base is the best bit!
Desserts like this are like heart attacks on a plate and this wasn't an exception. I gave our friends enormous portions (which they soon gobbled down); me and husband could barely finish ours. The sickly factor soon kicked in and we actually gave them the leftovers to take home!
Baker's verdict: tasty and simple to make, but soooo sweet and sickly.
Husband rating: 8/10 - rich, lovely caramel, but 6/10 for the queasy after-effects.
 

52. Rich Fruit Cake

So this was the Christmas cake for 2013. I'm saving all the 'rich' fruit cakes for the Festive Season, so this was Christmas cake number two. I made it during the October half-term holiday so it had plenty of time to mature ready for Christmas. Sadly I forgot to feed it as often as I should've; it only got one (albeit generous) dousing with brandy a few weeks before serving. I found the cake very straightforward to make. You can't go wrong with a fruit cake really. It's just a bit time-consuming weighing out all the ingredients and chopping cherries (in fact, lining the tin is the biggest faff). I love soaking the fruit overnight; it creates such lovely boozy aromas to inhale at whim. I recalled how last year, when pregnant, that was the closest I came to enjoying alcohol - having a good old sniff of the brandy-soaked fruit! Anyway, the making of the cake was all very straightforward on day 2; just a bit of elbow grease needed to make sure everything was thoroughly mixed. Then followed several hours in the oven where the lovely scent started to fill the kitchen and indeed the whole house. I had the same issue with the baking parchment as last year: my 'loose cover' ended up sticking to the top of the cake and ruining the appearance of the carefully arranged almonds and cherries slightly. It didn't matter last year, because the cake was iced, but this year it was laid bare for all to see. Not that anyone cared: once you cut into a cake like this, the appearance doesn't really matter: it all just crumbles and becomes a fruity avalanche of cake!
Baker's verdict: a really lovely, moist and very rich cake. You don't need a very big slice!
Husband rating: 9/10 - not normally a Christmas cake lover, however I did really enjoy this. Very moist, very rich, lots of flavour. Liked the nuts in it too.

 

51. Lemon Drizzle Traybake

My goodness. I am soooo behind on my blog! I baked this ages ago and had even forgotten that I had until I checked my folders of baking photos. Sadly this particular folder is empty at the moment: I made this for my A Level students one evening and then forgot to take any photos in my rush to pack it up and then take it into school the next day. I'll have to bake it again (which I would, willingly) in order to properly illustrate my blog.
Not much to say about this bake other than it was very easy to make and very pleasant to eat. The sugary/lemony topping was a bit of a disappointment, but only aesthetically. I felt a bit embarrassed to be offering my students a cake which looked really plain (the topping is translucent)! However, it was beautifully moist and very lemony, so in this case, it didn't really matter what it looked like.
Baker's verdict: something I will definitely bake again. Love a good lemon drizzle and these traybakes are very practical. Easy to portion and plenty to be had!
Husband rating: 9/10 - really lemony, a bit crunchy on top with the sugar. Really moist, a nice strong lemon flavour.