Birthday gingerbread train

 

Mr CC is very weird in that he prefers biscuits to cake.  How I find myself married to a man with such an obvious and serious flaw is a mystery but – to quote Some Like it Hot – nobody’s perfect!  When I saw this biscuit cutter set that allows you to build a 3D free-standing steam train I knew I had found the design for Mr CC’s birthday cake (I’m sorry, but calling it a ‘birthday biscuit’ is just plain wrong), for Mr CC likes trains almost as much as he likes biscuits.

I used the recipe included with the cutter set...and that was perhaps a mistake.  It baffles me why companies include recipes with their products that don’t quite bring out the best in their product.  Firstly, they called it a gingerbread train recipe but it didn’t include any ginger – so I had to amend that!  Secondly, the quantities they list to make a whole three carriage train looked mighty scanty.  I doubled the quantities and still only had enough for a two carriage train.  Thirdly, they tell you to brush the uncooked biscuits with egg yolk – I assume to glaze the biscuit.  This came out a bit streaky, so I didn’t glaze the second batch and it looked much better.  However, the gingerbread was very tasty (even if it did puff up during baking!):

It’s like the spongier gingerbread you get at German markets, rather than the crisp biscuit type.  Very nice texture indeed:

The big benefit with this recipe is that you can make the dough in advance and keep it in the fridge.  I made it two days ahead although it will apparently keep for up to fourteen days.  The other benefit is that the recipe is dairy-free – I was sceptical as to whether one could make good gingerbread without butter, but you can!

 

About once a year I like to take on an ambitious (for me) decorating project, for no reason other than to remind myself that I am not a decorator, never will be a decorator and that watching ‘Amazing Wedding Cakes’ on the Food Network channel will never turn me into a decorator.  I think this train has achieved it...I don’t think there is a straight line on it.

If you are wondering why the loco tender has ‘4472’ on it (or rather icing squiggles that look a bit like it if you squint), it is because this is the number of the famous Flying Scotsman train, the first steam loco to reach 100mph.  However hard you may fight it, you learn things like this when you are married to a train enthusiast (and, of course, by enthusiast I mean an out-and-proud nerd...and I wouldn’t have him any other way!)

Happy birthday Mr CC!

Ingredients

2 eggs
320g plain flour
100g icing sugar
80g runny honey
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger

Method

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together to form a dough.

Knead until you have an even ball of dough – it will be sticky.

Form into two fat discs and wrap in clingfilm.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 14 days.

Preheat the oven to 150°C/fan oven 130°C/300°F/gas mark 2.

Line three baking sheets with non-stick foil or baking paper.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of clingfilm – I dusted the dough with a little extra icing sugar as it was still tacky to the touch and I worried about it sticking.

Roll the dough to just under 0.5cm thick.

Cut out the dough and place on the prepared baking sheets; it will not expand in width so you can place them close together.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes, turning the trays halfway through cooking.  It is ready when it has turned a dark golden colour.

Leave to cool on the baking sheets until cold and firm.

Decorate as desired.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Oatmeal and honey cake

 

Apart from parkin, all my oat recipes have been biscuits.  Time to redress the balance a little.  The best way I can describe this recipe is that it is the flavour of a flapjack but with the lightness of a cake.  The topping provides the oaty flapjack dense texture but then is balanced by a light sponge.  My major problem with flapjacks has always been that because they are pretty heavy going I can never eat as much/as many as I want to...consider that problem solved with this cake!  Here’s the oaty topping:

You scatter this on top of the cake (before baking) like so:

The cake has a great mix of textures and – as everyone knows – the addition of oats must mean it’s healthy!

A perfect cake to accompany a mid morning cuppa or equally at home warmed up and served with a jug of custard for dessert.  Ice cream would work too (I’ll whisper that so that I don’t upset Mr CC).

I made the cake plain, as per the recipe set out below, but I really think it could take a pinch of spice if you were so inclined.  I think it’s best plain for this time of year but I can imagine it in the darkest depths of winter with a good hit of cinnamon or ginger.  Perhaps with some lightly poached plums on the side.  Oh god, I’m making myself hungry now!

This would make a great cake tin cake, by which I mean that cake you have no particular need for but like to know it’s there so you can have a slice over the course of several days.  It gets better with age as the oats and honey seem to mature and develop their flavours.  I think it would also be rather nice made as a tray bake.

Ingredients

For the topping:

100g unsalted butter
100g honey, plus extra for drizzling over the baked cake
150g rolled oats

For the cake:

200g unsalted butter
50g medium oatmeal
100g light brown muscovado sugar
150g self raising flour
4 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Start by making the topping (sounds weird, but it needs time to cool!): melt the butter and honey in a saucepan over a gentle heat.

Remove from the heat and stir in the oats taking care to ensure that every oat is covered in the buttery honey.

Tip into a bowl and leave to one side.

Now make the cake: melt the butter.

While the butter is melting, place the oatmeal, sugar and flour in a bowl.

Beat in the melted butter.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Pour (it will be runny) into the prepared cake tin.

Scatter the oaty topping over the cake – don’t worry that some will sink into the cake as the oats are heavy and the cake batter is liquidy. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin until it is safe to de-tin, then leave the cake to cool completely on a wire rack.

When the cake comes out of the oven drizzle over some extra honey.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Rhubarb, orange and almond cake

 

Some people listen out for the first cuckoo to tell them when spring’s here.  I wait for the CCD (Caked Crusader’s Da) to tell me that he’s got tons of rhubarb and I’d better come up with some plans for it or it will rot...no pressure then!

So here it is; my first home-grown rhubarb bake of the year.  Spring has officially arrived!  Rhubarb and almond always work well together, as do rhubarb and orange...so putting all three together is dynamite!  Orange seems to add freshness to rhubarb and lift the flavour to something even zingier.  The almond does what it always does and adds lovely body to the sponge and a comforting blanket of flavour.

This is a big cake but it keeps well.  It’s the sort of cake I find irresistible – homely and rustic.  I love how the rhubarb bakes down and becomes squidgy but retains a hint of sharpness.

Definitely a cake you have to be genteel to eat – it requires a plate and fork as it is very soft and crumbly.  You won’t get away with a quick hand-held slice gobbled down in the kitchen while you make a cup of tea! (please tell me it’s not just me who cuts themselves a little slice to sit down with, but then cuts a ‘bonus’ slice to eat while you’re waiting for the kettle?)

Ingredients

400g rhubarb cut into 1cm chunks
280g golden caster sugar
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
zest and juice of one orange
225g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
2 handfuls flaked almonds

To decorate: icing sugar

To serve: if serving warm then custard or cream, if serving at room temperature then definitely cream!

Method

Place the chop rhubarb in a bowl and sprinkle 50g of the sugar over it.  Stir to ensure that the rhubarb is covered and leave for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform cake tin with baking paper.

Place the butter, remaining sugar (i.e. 230g), orange zest and juice into a bowl and beat until smooth and well blended.  It might look a bit curdled and yucky at first but keep beating and it will all come good.  You will end up with a rich yellow whippy batter.

Add the flour, almonds, baking powder and eggs and beat until well combined.

Tip in the rhubarb and all the juice that has come out of the rhubarb.  Stir in until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Scatter the flaked almonds over the top.

Bake for approximately 1 hour minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.  NB.  Check the cake after an hour in case the edges are browning too much – if they are, wrap a piece of foil around the edge to shield them, and continue baking.  I had to do this. 
Don’t worry if it takes longer to bake than the guideline time – the rhubarb releases a lot of juice and this can slow down the baking process.

Leave to cool in the tin until you can safely remove the tin.

Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Just before serving, sieve some icing sugar over the top.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Baileys and chocolate cheesecake - a birthday celebration

It never ceases to amaze me that the CCD (Caked Crusader’s Da) didn’t like cheesecake for the first 70 or so years of his life.  Now, he likes it so much that he requested it for his birthday cake this year.  Proof – if needed - that our taste buds never stop changing no matter what age we reach.  And further proof that we should continue to revisit foods we don’t like...although I’m still giving mushrooms a wide berth.  Fungus?  No thanks.

This cheesecake takes no time at all to prepare but really is something rather special.  The addition of Baileys (even a small amount like this) gives a velvety taste and texture to the cheesecake – the harsh alcohol flavour isn’t there, but the creamy richness is.  The flaked chocolate provides extra bursts of flavour.  All in all, a hit!

I pondered how to decorate the cheesecake to give it more of a ‘birthday party feel’ and decided on covering the top with maltesers.  I’m not sure if that conjures up a ‘birthday party feel’ or not to a wider audience...we’re not really party people...more sit down and eat lots people.  So it was a success on that basis!

I am going to be (potentially) controversial here, but I do think the best cheesecake is an unbaked one.  Don’t get me wrong, there is love in my heart for all cheesecake, but I like the texture of the unbaked ones better and they are so quick to make; you can go from needing a cheesecake to having a cheesecake in about 20 minutes (if you're not fussy about chilling it).

The CCB (Caked Crusader’s Brother) is a connoisseur of cheesecake i.e. he eats a lot of it, and declared this the best one I’ve made.  I suspect it’s because it combines two of his favourite things: Baileys and cheesecake.  The malteser topping probably didn’t hurt its chances either!

Happy birthday CCD and Nunks (my uncle – they are twins!)

Ingredients

For the base:

250g digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the topping:

600g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
100g icing sugar
4 tablespoons Baileys
4 Cadbury’s flakes, broken up – you could also use 100g grated chocolate
300ml double cream

To decorate: maltesers

Method

Place a 20cm food ring (or the ring part of a 20cm cake tin – springform would be easiest to release) on a plate.  Line the ring with baking paper – this aids release later on.

Place the biscuits in a food processor and blitz until you have crumbs.  You could instead place the biscuits in a bag and beat with a rolling pin.

Add the butter and blitz again until you have clumpy wet sand.  If you are making the base without a processor, melt the butter and stir into the crumbs.  NB. There is no need to melt the butter with the processor method.

Press the buttery crumbs into the base of the food ring and level out.

Refrigerate while you make the topping.

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth and glossy.

Add the icing sugar and Baileys and beat again.

Add the chocolate and beat again.

Pour in the cream and beat until the mixture starts to thicken up.  At first it will seem very wet but – have faith – the cream will start to thicken and you will get a silky cheesecake.  It will still be unset at this stage.

Spoon over the biscuit base and level the surface.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or – ideally – overnight.

On the day of serving cover the top with maltesers.  If you put the maltesers on when the cheesecake is still in the fridge they risk getting wet.  As it’s a softish texture, serve it from the fridge.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.