Love. Eat. Sleep. Food – Page 3 – Passionate about tasty food

Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake

August 27, 2017 No Comments

I have seen many of these ‘Poke’ cake recipes but most of them use condensed milk to fill the poked holes in. I have a feeling this will be too sweet but one day I still want to try it.

The poke cake was fun to make as I liked creating the holes in the cake and then add the blueberries. I just loveeeeee the purple against the white cake it’s so vibrant and I really like the contrast.

This recipe was different as it used a blueberry compote and it was less sweet. I was looking forward to eating this cake as I love the combination of blueberries and lemon together, it works so well. Also it really reminds me of the summer with fresh and fruity flavours.

Lemon Blueberry Poke Cake

2017-09-26 14:04:58

Juicy blueberry and lemon poke cake

Print

Cook Time

25 min

Cook Time

25 min

Victoria Sponge

225 g - softened butter
225 g - caster sugar
4 - large eggs
225 g - self-raising flour
2 tsp - baking powder
1/4tsp - salt
2 - zest lemons

Blueberry compote

500g - frozen or fresh blueberries
1 - Zest and juice of one lemon
1/4 - cup water
2 tbsp - sugar
2 tbsp - cornflour

Cream cheese frosting

8 ounces - full-fat cream cheese, VERY soft
4 ounces - unsalted butter, VERY soft
1/2 tbsp - vanilla pure extract
3 cups - icing sugar, sifted, more only if needed
1 - zest of lemon (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and line a large tray bake 12 x 9".
2. In a stand mixer beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until it's mixed in, repeat with all the eggs. Finally add the flour, salt and baking powder into and beat until combined, don't over mix.
3. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and level out.
4. Bake for about 25 minutes or until well risen and the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool.

For the compote

1. While the cake is in the oven make the compote. Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to boil and simmer for 5-8 minutes until thickens but thin enough to pour. If desired, mash the berries a bit using a potato masher.

For the cream cheese frosting

1. In the stand mixer beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on medium-high speed until completely smooth; about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted confectioners' sugar. Add the optional lemon zest. Once all of the sugar has been added beat on high-speed for 1-2 minutes. Leave to side.

Decoration

1. Once the cake is ready, let it cool for 10 minutes. Then using a end of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the cake but don't poke the holes all the way down.
2. Pour the sauce all over the cake and spread it across the whole cake leave to cool.
3. Once the cake it totally cold, add the frosting all over the layer of the cake spreading the evenly.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Eggless, Recipes

Vegan Spiced Plum Cake

August 20, 2017 No Comments

I was really excited about this cake, the photos looked so appetising. I don’t make much plum cakes and I just really liked the sound of plums in a cake, also the addition of almond flour was another plus point for me I thought it would be a bit like a bakewell in a way but with plums. I added some spice to the cake to give it an extra kick as the plums made it sound autumnal although it was still August but you know British weather!

The original cake looked so amazing but my cake was more like a upside down plum cake and I followed the recipe to the T. As most bakers know, to stop any fruit from sinking they have to be covered in flour which I did but still they sank :(, I should have served it the other way do it didn’t look like an upside down cake!

The flavour of the cake was ok too, even though I added all the spice! the texture wasn’t too bad but some part of the cake were too wet but that was from the plums. I did actually really love the look of this cake all those different shades of red and orangey tones and how it really reminded me of autumn leaves. The cake itself wasn’t too bad, maybe next time I will forgo the plums and add chocolate!

Vegan Spiced Plum Cake

2017-09-26 13:48:08

Vegan spiced plum cake with cinnamon, mixed spice and ginger

Print

Ingredients

WET INGREDIENTS
240ml- full fat coconut milk
4tbsp - freshly squeezed lemon juice
60ml - melted mild coconut oil (or other mild tasting oil)
125g + 2 tbsp - caster sugar

Dry

220g - all purpose white flour
80g - ground almonds
1tsp - baking soda
1/2 tsp - baking powder
1tsp - mixed spice
1tsp - cinnamon
1/2tsp - ginger

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 175° C and grease and line an 8" baking tin.
2. In a medium bowl mix all the wet ingredients.
3. Sieve all the dry ingredient over the wet ingredients bowl and gently fold all the dry ingredients to wet until all combined, don't over mix.
4. Transfer the mix to the baking tin.
5. Decorate with plum segments or plum halves if your plums are little. To prevent plums from sinking to the bottom, dip the side of the plum that will rest directly on the batter in a little bit of all purpose flour first before arranging on top of the cake.
6. Bake for about 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is nicely browned.
7. Leave to cool, remove from the tin, sprinkle the top of the cake with a little bit of icing sugar and perhaps a dusting of ground cinnamon too, if you like.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Cakes, Eggless, Recipes

Vegan Lemon Curd Cake

August 20, 2017 No Comments

I was amazed when I saw this recipe, ‘vegan lemon curd’ I thought how did they make this without the eggs? but then I thought about it, it’s most probably made using cornflour as the thickening agent and I was right, yay. I do eat eggs but I’m not a huge fan of eating eggs as it does smell a lot, and also when you can taste an eggy taste in cakes, you probably thinking well yeh, when you eat eggs you are going to taste eggs duh! but it’s that strong and overpowering egg taste I’m really not keen on. Anyway most curds are made using eggs and I think it’s made with the egg yolk which are the richer more stronger in taste part of an egg and this is the part which is over powering. To avoid this taste I generally buy the cheapest lemon curd as they use egg powder instead of real eggs.

My mum and her love for lemons. This was made for her birthday as per usual baking anything lemon and she’s my best friend. I do like lemons in cakes too, I think that’s due to the amount of lemon cakes I’ve eaten which has made me like lemons a lot more. This cake had to be all eggless due to religious reasons and this recipe just came at the right time. I have made a few eggless victoria sponges and most haven’t really impressed me. They have either been too dry, too dense or too flat one problem or another. I think making eggless or vegan cakes are quite tricky to get right. I think this cake impressed me and my family, with the help of the lemon curd and the frosting this was a winner in taste and texture . This cake used golden syrup and boy could you smell that whilst it was baking in the oven it was soooo yummy and it brought me back to when I loved eating porridge with golden syrup but I stopped doing that and replaced it with honey.

You should definitely try this cake as its scrumptious, if you love lemons and more lemon with a hint of creaminess you would love this cake… yum yum yummy.

Please note that the lemon curd is usually made a day in advance so keep that in mind when making this cake.

Vegan Lemon Curd Cake

2017-09-26 13:39:30

A vegan sticky, syrupy cake lemon cake

Print

Cook Time

30 min

Cook Time

30 min

Lemon Curd

1 lemon - finely grated zest
11/2 tbsp - cornflour
2 - juice of 2 large lemons (about 100ml)
50ml - water
pinch salt
100g - granulated sugar
2 tbsp - almond milk unsweetened
2 tbsp - vegan spread (such as Vitalite or Flora freedom)

Vegan Lemon Cakes

300ml - almond milk unsweetened
1 tbsp - lemon juice
150g - vegan spread
3 tbsp - golden syrup
275g - self-raising flour
45g - cornflour
1tsp - bicarbonate of soda
175g - caster sugar
3 - finely grated zest of 3 large lemons

Lemon Buttercream

150g - vegan spread
225g - icing sugar sifted

For 7" Cake

Vegan Lemon Cakes

400ml - almond milk unsweetened
11/3 tbsp - lemon juice
200g - vegan spread
4 tbsp - golden syrup
375g - self-raising flour
60g - cornflour
11/3tsp - bicarbonate of soda
238g - caster sugar
3 - finely grated zest of 3 large lemons

Lemon Buttercream

200g - vegan spread
305g - icing sugar sifted

Lemon Curd

1. Make the lemon curd at least the day before you assemble the cake. Place the lemon zest (if using) and cornflour into a small pan. Gradually whisk in the lemon juice then whisk in the water, salt and sugar.
2. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved then continue to cook, whisking constantly, until it comes up to a gentle simmer and becomes very thick; cook for a further minute.
Whisk in the almond milk and vegan spread and continue to stir over a low heat until melted and smooth then remove from the heat. If you like you can pass the curd through a fine mesh sieve to remove the lemon zest (I leave it in). Transfer to a bowl or jar, cover and place in the fridge overnight. It will thicken as it cools and will keep in the fridge for about 3 weeks.

Vegan Lemon Cakes

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and line three 6" or 7" round tins.
2. In a small bowl stir the lemon juice into the almond milk and set aside to curdle.
3. In a saucepan add the vegan spread and the golden syrup and heat until the spread has melted, set aside to cool slightly.
4. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cornflour and bicarbonate of soda and stir in the sugar and lemon zest. Whisk in the milk mixture then the melted spread and until smooth.
5. Divide the mixture evenly between the three tins and bake for about 25 minutes, 30 mins for 7" until golden, pulling away from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6. Leave to cool completely.

Vegan Lemon Buttercream

1. Place the vegan spread in a bowl and gradually stir in the icing sugar, whisk until smooth.

Decoration

1. Place one cake on a serving plate and spread third of the buttercream then spread over a generous layer of lemon curd. Repeat with the other two layers.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Eggless, No Bake, Recipes, Sweet bakes

Tiffin

August 19, 2017 No Comments

When I think of tiffins, I just think of these sweet treats in a rusty old biscuit tin all wrapped up in baking paper. It has a very nostalgic feel to them and something that you would have sitting waiting for you at you grans house.

I really like tiffins as they have a bit of everything in them (which is great for a fatty like me!) they have so much different textures which makes your taste buds go crazzzzyyyyyy. The other thing about tiffins which make them great is the that you can adjust it and add what you want to to make the suit your taste. Actually there is more plus points, they are no bake, quick and easy to make too. These could possibly be made vegan as well which is great for the vegans out there.

These are delicious and this recipe worked well everything stayed intact.

Tiffin

2017-09-25 13:24:25

Yields 12

Delicious crunchy, chocolatey, crispy, fruity and nutty bar

Print

Prep Time

10 min

Prep Time

10 min

Ingredients

145g - unsalted butter
60g - Golden syrup
25g - Caster sugar
10g - Cocoa powder
50g - Cornflakes
225g - Hobnobs/oat biscuits
70g - Cranberries
50g - Salted peanuts
50g - Desiccated coconut
200g - Milk chocolate

Instructions

1. Line 8" square/round cake tin with baking paper.
2. In a saucepan melt the butter, golden syrup, caster sugar, and cocoa powder together in a large saucepan over a gentle heat.
3. While they’re melting, roughly crush your biscuits (either by putting them in a sandwich bag and bashing them, or blitzing them in the food processor) until you have a mixture of fine crumbs and some fairly big chunks.
4. When you the butter mixture has melted to a glossy dark liquid and the sugar has dissolved, take the pan off the heat. Then add all the rest of the ingredients in, the crushed biscuits, cornflakes, cranberries, salted peanuts, and coconut. Make sure everything is well combined.
5. Place all the mixture into your prepared cake tin and press it down in an even layer. Pop the tin in the fridge to chill while you melt the chocolate. Melt your chocolate either in the microwave on low heat or in a glass bowl over gently simmering water. Pour melted chocolate over the cooling base and give it all a shake so the chocolate is even, then put the whole thing back in the fridge to set for around 1 hour, or until the chocolate is firm.
6. Cut, serve, try to resist eating whole thing at once by yourself.

Notes

You can add or change any of the ingredients.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Bars, Recipes, Sweet bakes

Crunchy Peanut Butter Oat Caramel and Nut Crumble Bars

June 16, 2017 No Comments

These bars.

One word. AAAAAAaaaaaaammmmmmmmmazzzzzzing.

Actually, there is more then one word to describe these but I could go on for ages and ages.

I am a huge fan of peanut butter but even more bigger fan of oats, so if your a fan of oats and peanut butter then you’ll love these. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed eating these, they are probably one of the best bars I’ve made (and I think my new favourite, yes I said it!) and I have made plenty. My other favourites have included is the Mincemeat crumble bars, (one of my aunts fav) these are pretty good, they’re eggless and quite similar to shortbread. The other bars I made which were quite popular was Oat and coconut gooey caramel bars, Pecan pie bars, Peanut butter pretzel bars (these are pretty awesome, also eggless and no bake). There are others as well but it just takes to long to type them all!

Back to these beauties, I just don’t think I can comprehend how great they are and I don’t think I have been addicted to a bar just as much I was to this one! They are salty, sweety, caramely, chocolatey, oaty, like what else do you need right? The original recipe called for dulche de leche and used caramel as a replacement but feel free to use it if you have some lying round. I also added my own twist on it, to be more caramely and slightly more chocolately by using rolos. I think even typing this up also made me really want to eat bake them again, which is saying something! They are not the most healthiest of bars so I do need to control. These are quite similar to the mincemeat crumble bars in the way there are two layers and one mix. The bottom layer is pressed down and the top is crumbled on top (the best bit).

I actually made these for my sister in law and cheekily kept some for my blog post but I’m so glad I did. Hopefully she liked them, she’s a peanut butter and oat fan like me. I’m so happy I came across this recipe and will definitely be making these again and again!

Crunchy Peanut Butter Oat Caramel and Nut Crumble Bars

2017-06-29 03:43:13

Yields 16

http://gringalicious.com/crunchy-peanut-butter-oatmeal-dulce-de-leche-bars-2/

Print

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

40 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

40 min

For the base/crumble

113g - soft butter
1/2 cup - sugar
1/2 cup - brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp - peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp - baking soda
1/2 tsp - salt
1 tsp - vanilla extract
11/4 cups - old fashioned oats
11/2 - cups plain flour

For the filling

70g - chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar
11/2 - packets of rolos chopped
3 tbsp - caramel sauce*
1/2 cup - salted peanuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C, line and grease a 8" square cake tin.
2. In a stand mixer cream butter and sugars until thoroughly mixed, scrape sides of bowl and add eggs and peanut butter; beat until fluffy. Then add vanilla, soda, and salt. Add flour one cup at a time and beat after each addition. Add oatmeal and mix well.
3. Divide the dough in half and place in the square tin, spread and press in bottom of pan and bake for 15-18 minutes until edges are golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
4. Drop tablespoons of caramel on top of crust and allow the heat to soften the carmel until it is easy to spread. Layer with chocolate peanuts then crumble remaining half of dough on top and return to oven. Continue baking for 18 - 22 minutes or until top is golden brown and center is set. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

Notes

*use dulche de leche to replace the caramel if you have that at hand.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Cakes, Recipes

Rhubarb and Custard Cake

June 16, 2017 No Comments

When I think of Rhubarb and Custard, I always think of the hard boiled sweets which I used to love when I was little, so delicious, now as I’ve grown older, my taste has changed. I don’t really have many sweets but mainly chocolate. I randomly brought some rhubarb not sure why, lol and the first thing I thought to make was rhubarb crumble but then I thought about those sweets again and wondered if there is a cake recipe and there was.

I wasn’t sure how this cake would turn out, rhubarb can be quite tart but custard is overly sweet so you would think the two would balance each other out. I was half expecting the cake to be reminiscent of those sweets, sweet but slightly tart.

This cake, had a long bake as you can imagine it has rhubarb in, it was supposed to take 1 hour but in the end it took over 1h30!!!!!!!! I was like, this is just not right! The cake itself was not great, unfortunately, I didn’t like the taste, or lack of it. I couldn’t taste the rhubarb or the custard although the texture was nice and soft. I was a bit disappointed as it totally didn’t meet my expectations :( oh well, my dad liked it though on the bright side.

Rhubarb and Custard Cake

2017-06-18 11:00:30

A rhubarb and custard cake made with fresh and tart rhubarb

Print

Ingredients

400g - rhubarb (cut into small bite sized pieces)
250g - unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
150g - ready-made custard (not the chilled kind; I used Ambrosia)
250g - self-raising flour
1/2 tsp - baking powder
4 large - eggs
1 tsp - vanilla extract
250g - golden caster sugar
icing sugar, for dusting

Instructions

1. In a small baking tray place the rhubarb and scatter 50g of sugar, bake for 15mins, then leave to cool.
2. Grease and line a 9" cake tin and preheat the oven to 180°C.
3. Reserve 3 tbsp of the custard in a bowl. Beat the rest of the custard together with the butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and sugar until creamy and smooth. Spoon one-third of the mix into the tin, add some of the rhubarb, then dot with one-third more cake mix and spread it out as well as you can. Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips rather than being too neat about it. Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, then dot the remaining custard over.
3. Bake for 40 mins until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 15-20 mins more. It’s ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then dredge with icing sugar when cool.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Cakes, Recipes

Black Bean Brownies

June 3, 2017 No Comments

Black bean in brownies?…why not hey?!. I’m all for adding vegetables into cakes to add extra moistness or a different texture. Everyone accepts carrots in carrot cake so why not black beans hey?. I have always wanted to try this recipe out since I seen it and finally had my chance :). I was dubious about how these would turn out, only as I wasn’t sure how much the texture or the taste would affect the usual ‘normal’ brownies.

I’m usually a fan of dense, chunky brownies with that crispy top, I don’t usually go for the fudgy type as these I think are more like cake than what I class as brownies.

These brownies are super quick and easy to make especially but you do need a blender. I looked for a number of recipes and some only used cocoa powder but I wanted to add chocolate, as that’s what brownies are made from. You need that chocolate fix after all especially when you make brownies.

The other thing I liked about them are they are super protein filled if you can imagine almost a tin of black beans went into these, so could these be classed as ‘healthy’ ;). My initial thoughts of them were that the texture was not like the ‘normal’ brownie, they were more fudge and cake like which I wasn’t expecting, although I shouldn’t have been surprised right? You definitely can’t taste the beans, I gave them to a number of people of which, none could taste the beans at all. Overall, I did think these brownies were a different alternative but I wouldn’t say they compare to a dense brownie. They are more fudge like and if you like that sort of thing then these will be up your street. I would make them again but I think it needed little more chocolate chips and maybe some nuts for that different texture.

Black Bean Brownies

2017-06-04 08:23:32

Yields 9

A fudge black bean brownie

Print

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

25 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

25 min

Ingredients

1 cup - black beans (approx 1 tin)
1/2 cup - applesauce
2 - eggs
1 tsp - vanilla
1/4 cup - cocoa powder
2/3 cup - sugar
100g - dark chocolate chopped into chunks
1/3 cup - plain flour
1/2 tsp - baking powder
1/4 tsp - salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C and line a square tin with baking paper.
2. In a microwave safe small bowl, add 50g of chocolate and melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts and stir in between until fully melted, leave to cool. Meanwhile carry on with the other the rest of the steps.
3. In a blender, add the beans and applesauce with the optional dash of water, puree until smooth.
4. Add the eggs, vanilla, sugar, and cocoa powder. Blend until combined.
5. Add the melted chocolate to the blender and blend 2 seconds until combined.
6. Finally add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend until combined but don't over blend. The batter will be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
7. Pour into a tin then sprinkle over more chocolate chips, if desired. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Bread, Recipes, Savoury

Tootmanik s Gotovo Testo

May 29, 2017 No Comments

It’s been a while since I made bread, a very long time but today was the day. It’s been a very rainy Bank Holiday Monday, literally all day, like come on, not just a couple of hours THE WHOLE DAY!!! but I shouldn’t really complain as the Saturday and Sunday have been really sunny and I have enjoyed it.

As I’ve had such a busy weekend I thought I would spend the Monday baking something a bit different and savoury, which is unlike me. Bread is the best thing to make when you have a lot of time on your hands. A while ago I bought a book called ‘the book of buns’, it’s an incredible book all relating to bread around the world. It has so many amazing recipes I want to try but it will probably happen on yet another rainy day!

The Tootmanik (I’ve shortened it sorry if I’m not supposed to be, really it a mouthful!) This was the first recipe I tried from the book, this recipe really intrigued and fascinated me. I really liked the abundance of feta cheese being used as I love feta and it was something I definitely wanted to try. Also this isn’t like your usual bread recipe, it’s more like flat bread, stuffed, layered kidnaof thing so completely different to the norm! which made me what to try it, even more, to find out the outcome.

The lathering of the butter on each layer and the top made the bread really soft, but it also is really chewy, and with the addition of the feta cheese and herbs it makes it so tasty. Something I would really enjoy eating on a beautiful day at a picnic.

Tootmanik s Gotovo Testo

2017-05-29 10:10:50

Yields 24

A salty, buttery, layered feta cheese pastry

Print

Prep Time

3 hr 20 min

Cook Time

30 min

Prep Time

3 hr 20 min

Cook Time

30 min

Ingredients

200g - Plain Flour
250g - Wholemeal Flour
2g - instant yeast
250g - milk, boiled then cooled to room temp
21/4 - salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
100g - butter melted

Feta filling

200g - Feta Cheese
Good amount of pepper
2 - cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 - egg
50g - butter melted and cooled
Fresh handful of herbs - I used parsley
1 tsp - Paprika
50g

Instructions

1. In the saucepan add the milk and heat until it's nearly boiled, leave to cool until it's at room temperature. Once it's cooled you can start making the dough.
2. In a stand mixer using the dough hook, add the flour, salt, pepper, yeast and melted butter, slowly blend and pour in the warm temperature milk.
3. Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes, starting with a slow speed then change to the faster speed, making sure the dough all comes together.
4. Pull the dough together into a ball and place in a clean bowl, cover for at least 2 hours.
5. In a medium bowl add the egg and whisk, then add the crumbled feta, cooled butter, pepper, garlic, paprika and mix until combined, don't overmix.
6. Once the dough has had enough time to prove, shape the dough into a sausage and cut into 9 equal parts. On a floured surface, take three of the balls and roll them into 4x4" rectangle. Brush the top of two of them with the melted butter. Then place one on top of each other. Roll them out together until it reaches 12" (approx 30cm). Place this onto a baking try lined with baking paper. Add half the feta cheese mixture and spread it evenly over the layer, repeat with the other layer.
10. On the last layer make sure you roll the dough out so it's bigger then the other layer. This needs to be tucked under and rest of the layers. This needs to be secure as you don't want the filling to fall out.
11. Cover with a tea towel and let it rest for 1 hour.
12. Preheat the oven to 200°C, brush the pastry with butter and sprinkle with paprika bake for 30mins.

By Jane Mason

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Cakes, Recipes

Carrot Cake part 3

May 15, 2017 No Comments

If you don’t know, the cake I’m most known for is Carrot Cake, it’s famous not just with family and friend but also work colleagues. It’s also my go-to cake and never fails me, I’ve been using the same recipe for such a long time but I did switch it up and have a go with another carrot cake recipe from the GBBO, only as Paul and Mary couldn’t contain their excitement over it, like seriously I’ve never seen them excited over a carrot cake before and I remember Paul saying it was the best carrot cake he has ever eaten (like jaw dropping reaction!). I was like WOW, if they must like it, then I have to try it….and….NO it didn’t meet my expectations, it was just your average carrot cake but with extra orange and spice flavour. :s

I carried on using the ’signature’ recipe until I came across this other carrot cake recipe. I was very very wowed with the photos and how they described it as being a very moist cake. I was actually telling my boss about this latest discovery of this amazing carrot cake, but she did say that why try something new when you have cracked it with yours, but the ever old silly me, just had to try it as I love trying new bakes and you never know, what if it did work out even better than the original?. But, yet again I wasn’t actually that impressed, I still felt my original recipe still had it. I made this cake to take to a family dinner and was super excited to try it, as I was expecting some miracle cake, but….yes, I was still left disappointed :(. Neither of my family members or I liked it boo :(, they all said the original is much better and why did I try something new.

I cake itself did look nice and hold it’s shape and also it was easy to make but the texture was hard to explain it was more dense/rubbery not light like the one I make, the flavours were nice but I think I may have learnt my lesson now, just STICK to the original. :p I just need a reason to make the carrot cake again and stuff my face with it.

Carrot Cake Part 3

2017-06-04 10:33:19

Carrot cake with added applesauce

Print

Prep Time

25 min

Cook Time

30 min

Prep Time

25 min

Cook Time

30 min

Ingredients

3 - large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup - granulated sugar
1/2 cup - light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup - oil
Just over 1/2 cup - applesauce
6 tbsp - sour cream
1/2 tbsp - vanilla extract
13/4 tsp - ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp - ground cloves
1/2 tsp - ground ginger
1/2 tsp - ground nutmeg
Almost 2 cups - plain flour
11/4 tsp - baking powder
11/2 tsp - baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
21/2 cups - grated carrots

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces - full-fat cream cheese, VERY soft
4 ounces - unsalted butter, VERY soft
1/2 tbsp - vanilla pure extract
3 cups - icing sugar, sifted, more only if needed
Walnuts for decoration, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and line x3 7" cake tins.
2. In a stand mixer add the eggs, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, oil, applesauce, sour cream, vanilla, and spices; beat well to combine. Next add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the wet mixture; stir until just combined. Batter will be on the thicker side but resist the urge to over mix! Add in the carrots and using a rubber spatula gently fold together until incorporated.
3. Divide the mixture evenly among the three pans, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and set, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting

1. In the stand mixer beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on medium-high speed until completely smooth; about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted confectioners' sugar. Once all of the sugar has been added beat on high-speed for 1-2 minutes.
2. When the cakes have completely cooled, place one round on a cake stand or large plate; spread the top and sides evenly with frosting. Gently place the second cake layer on top of the frosted one and press down very lightly to seal them together. Repeat with the final cake layer, then continue frosting the cake, using a thin spatula, offset spatula, or whatever you have that works best, until the top and sides of the cake are evenly frosted. Decorate with additional nuts, if desired, then slice and serve! Store this cake in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Notes

I halved this recipe the full recipe is on the link above.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Recipes, Savoury, Snacks

Mushroom, Vegetable and Black bean burgers

April 15, 2017 No Comments

I really fancied having a tasty Vegi burger, I keep hearing and seeing all new burger joints being opened up across the UK. I think it’s definitely the on-trend food at the moment and it got my taste buds going to making my own. These burgers aren’t your normal burgers, I love the fact they are made from mushrooms, not one of those whole mushrooms stacks that you see in my burger joints and seriously how do you bite into one of those? Actually lets not get started on how I’m such a messy eater and do struggle eating burgers, it’s definitely not something I have grasped how to work out, usually it ends up in a complete utter mess, food all over my plate, hands dirty and you can’t imagine how many napkins I go through, probably end up killing a tree!.

Anyway forget talking about my messy eating habits, back on the burger. I love the vibrant outburst of green, yellow and red in these burgers, quite bright and rainbow like, it made them look more appealing as you know burgers patties are just not that appealing especially Vegi ones. I like the fact these burgers kept it’s shape and it had different textures so gave it a bit of a bit of a bite. I added extra flavourings and a bit of spice to make sure it’s full of flavour.

Mushroom and Black Bean Burgers

2017-06-01 11:45:38

A mix vegetable burger with mushrooms and black beans

Print

Prep Time

15 min

Prep Time

15 min

Ingredients

2 cups - portabella mushrooms, cubed (smaller pieces); gills removed
2 cups - cooked black beans, rinsed and divided
1 cup - minced broccoli, fresh only
1 - yellow pepper, finally chopped
1/2 cup - red onion, minced
3 XL - eggs, beaten
1/2 cup - plus 2 Tbl Panko or Gluten Free Panko
1 tbsp - Worcestershire *for full vegetarian style use one that does not contain anchovies
2 - garlic, minced
1 tsp - smoked paprika
1/2 tsp - chilli flakes
1/2 tsp - ground coriander
Good amount of freshly pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a large bowl add 1 cup of black beans and mash with a masher (chunks are OK).
Next, add in the mushrooms, the rest of the beans, broccoli, pepper, garlic, smoked paprika, chilli flakes, ground coriander, pepper, onion and worcestershire.
2. Then add in the eggs and bread crumbs and mix gently with a large spoon until the mixture is combined. Shape the mixture into burger patties and place on a plate and leave in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour.
3. Heat a frying pan with oil and cook the burgers for 3-5 minutes each side until slightly brown.

Love. Eat. Sleep. Food http://loveeatsleepfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card