Mississippi Mud Pie

I introduced my housemate Sophie, who blogs over at Sophie Says, to the Great British Bake Off this week and she loved it. So we decided to spend Wednesday afternoon making a Mississippi Mud Pie (seeing as it was Pies and Tarts week). This recipe is literally like a brownie in a pie crust topped with a mountain of whipped cream - delicious but a bit of a naughty treat!
But it turns out cooking in a student kitchen is not so easy as cooking at home. We realised we didn't even have a mixing bowl so we made a quick trip to Asda to pick one up - along with a rotary whisk. Then after making the pastry and leaving it chill for an hour we realised we didn't have a rolling pin either - a highball glass makes a very good substitute though!
Our first bake in the new house was a great success and I wanted to share the recipe with you all. Like the Scandilious Chelsea Buns these do take up a lot of your time, what with making the pastry and the two stage cooking process, so I recommend you try out this recipe when you've got a free afternoon to yourself.
Oh. And make sure you have all the equipment before you start the recipe!

For the pastry

• 260g plain flour
• 110g butter or Stork cubed

For the filling

• 150g dark chocolate cubed
• 50g unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g soft brown sugar
• 300ml double cream whipped into stiff peaks
  

Ready to bake

1. Combine the butter and plain flour in a large bowl until it resembles breadcrumb, then slowly add a tablespoon of water until it comes together loosely. Be careful not to use too much water or you will end up with a sticky dough, we used about 4 tbsp. 
2. Wrap the ball of dough in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge - this will make it easier to roll out.
3. After the hour is up roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about the thickness of a pound coin, carefully pick the dough up and lift gently into a buttered, fluted 23cm loose bottomed tart tin.
4. Put a sheet of greaseproof paper over the dough and fill with baking beans (or rice) and partially blind bake for ten minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 10 minutes.
5. In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup together until smooth. Take off the heat and leave to cool slightly.
6. Whisk the eggs with the brown sugar and vanilla egg extract until they are well combined, then pour in the cooled chocolate and beat together until smooth. Make sure the chocolate mixture isn't too hot or it will scramble the eggs!
7. Pour the chocolately mixture into the pie crust and bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for 30 minutes. You want it to be set with just a slight wobble.
8. When the pie is cooled top with the double cream and add some chocolate flakes

This pie is very rich so will serve 8-10 people, make sure you eat it quickly because it's topped with fresh cream. But I doubt it will be in your fridge for long!

Beth xx

Decadent brownies

If you watched the Great British Bake Off on Tuesday you would have seen the bakers whip up some delicious dessert. My favourites were the petit fours that made up the Showstopper challenge but nothing says dessert to me like a decadent chocolate brownies, generously studded with milk and white chocolate chunks, served warm with a big dollop of vanilla ice-cream.
Making brownies hasn't always come easy to me. My first attempt was during a school cooking lesson where I added a tablespoon of baking powder instead of a teaspoon and then they exploded all over the inside of the oven. The next attempts created brownies that weren't rich and gooey, were too cake like in texture and, on one peculiar occasion, came out of the tin a reddy, brown colour.
This recipe has taken some perfecting but now it never fails to make the most gorgeous, squidgy brownies. I even took a box with me when I moved into uni halls and they really helped to break the ice.

You will need

• 200g dark chocolate
• 180g unsalted butter or Stork
• 85g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 3 eggs
• 275g caster sugar
• 100g each of white chocolate and milk chocolate 

Try to get the best quality dark chocolate and cocoa powder you can afford as these give the brownie it's rich, deep chocolate flavour. If your budget is tight you can skimp a little on the milk and white chocolate and they are just extra bits. You can remove them completely if you prefer or replace them with the same amount of chopped nut - walnuts would work well

The next steps

1. Put the cubed butter and broken up dark chocolate into a bowl over a saucepan on boiled water and make sure the bowl isn't touching the water. Leave the pan on a low setting (mark 2 for electric hobs) and leave the chocolate and butter to melt together. The trick is do it over a gentle heat so the chocolate doesn't split. Stir occasionally.
2. While the chocolate is melting I like to prepare the other ingredients, so measure out your flour and cocoa powder and seive them into a small bowl. Chop up the milk and white chocolate into bitesize chunks, taking care not to let the knife slip on the chocolate.
3. When the dark chocolate and butter have melted together to form a glossy dark brown liquid, take off the heat and leave to cool.
4. Crack 3 large eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and whisk on the highest setting until it is thick, creamy and doubled in volume.
5. When the dark chocolate mixture is cool, pour into the sugar and egg mixture and gently combine together. Then sift in the flour and cocoa and combine until you have a thick, unctuous batter. Sprinkle in the chocolate chunks and swiftly combine.
6. Pour into a greased and lined tin and spread into an even layer. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for anywhere between 25-35 minutes. It varies from oven to oven and from batter to batter. You want a brownie that is just set and starting to come away from the edge of the tin.

Enjoy warm with double cream or ice cream of cold with a cuppa. Anyway you like.

Beth xx

Scandilicious Chelsea Buns

I have fond memories of Chelsea buns, going to the local bakery when I was younger and getting to pick which cake I wanted. For me it was always a toss-up between the Chelsea bun or the Belgian bun. The Chelsea thick and square, with a light dusting or sugar, a soft bread like inside crammed with delicious fruit, and the Belgian, smaller, flatter and covered in thick white icing with a glace cherry in the middle. It was often difficult to decide between the two.
After the second episode of the Great British Bake Off focused on bread last night it seemed only fitting to make a dough-based recipe today. While I was going to try my hand at a loaf for the first time, I figured we're more of a sweet household so a treat that could be enjoyed with a cuppa would be much more appreciated.

My friends know how much I love to bake and one of them got me "Scandilicous Baking" by Signe Johansen for my birthday, it's a lovely little book full of all different types of Scandinavian recipes, from breads and flatbread to little savouries and sweet pastries. Unfortunately this is the first time I've had the chance to use it, but when I decided I wanted something dough based I dug it out of my moving boxes and had a flick through.

I will warn you now, making Chelsea buns is not for the faint-hearted or time conscious. You have to work with a very sticky dough because it's enriched with butter, milk, sugar and eggs. It makes for a difficult time rolling out - I was chucking flour everywhere it an attempt to shape it up. The recipe also took me about 3 and half hours in the end - luckily that wasn't constant work. You have to leave the dough to rise for an hour, then once you've rolled in out, filled it with the delicious butter, sugar, spice and fruit filling, rolled it up again and cut it into rounds, you have to leave those to prove for another half hour. While the end result is undeniable delicious I wouldn't recommend baking them if you're in a hurry or you're whipping up something quick for pudding.

I finished these little lovelies off with a sprinkling of demerara sugar and a marmalade glaze. Although they're a lot smaller and flatter than traditional Chelsea buns, they are still pretty delicious - I love the kick of cinnamon and hint of allspice that goes with every bite. Do you fancy making these? You can find the recipe here.

I did burn my thumb quite badly making these though and I've had to type this one handed. So I'm going to go off and feel a bit sorry for myself  - why do the tiniest burns hurt so badly!- and eat one of these!

Beth xx

Amazing apple cake

If you follow me on Twitter - and if not, why not? Do it now! - you'll have seen countless tweets from me last night about the Great British Bake Off (sorry about that!). That's right, it's back on our screens. We have weeks stretching ahead of us watching the home bakers whip up delicious goodies and trying not cry when their crème patisserie curdles and the oven just doesn't play ball.
Although me and my sister like to pretend we're baking experts when we're watching GBBO - "that chocolate cake is way too dry", "what is that!!" - I do actually enjoy a bit of baking. It's probably something to do with the fact that I have a sweet tooth, so I can spend all afternoon baking and then have a delicious treat to stuff my face with after. But I have had my fair share of baking disasters, in school I once added tablespoon of baking powder to some brownie mix instead of teaspoon, they rose so much they pretty much exploded over the oven and since that it's taken me years to get brownies right!
Last night it was all about cake, so this week I'm sharing a recipe for a delicious apple cake. I do love this cake, although the main reason I'm making it is because we have a glut of cooking apples in our garden and my mum is pestering me to use them before I head back to uni in a couple of weeks. Although I will be remembering to put sugar into the cake batter and not salt like poor Toby did last night.

Apple tree

You will need: 

• 3-4 large cooking apples
• 225g butter at room temp.
• 275g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 350g self-raising flour
• 2tsp baking power
• Few drops of lemon juice
• Demerara sugar
• Cinnamon (optional)
• Large rectangular baking tin (around 27cm x 20cm)
• Greaseproof paper

Before you say anything - you will need about double the amount of apples!

Get Baking

1. Pre-heat the oven to: 160C for fan ovens | 180C for normal oven |
2. Butter the tin and line with greaseproof paper. I like to leave a little extra hanging over on the longer sides so I can pick the cake out of the tin easily.
3. Peel and core the apples and then cut them into thin slices, about 1cm thick. 
4. *TOP TIP - get a large plastic jug and fill it with cold water and add the lemon juice, then when you slice up the apples pop them straight into the water and it will stop them going brown*
5. Beat together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and combine
6. Sift in the flour. Because it's such a large amount of flour I like to do this is two batches to ensure I get a lovely lump-free batter. If it looks too thick then add a splash of milk!
7. Pour half of the batter into the prepared tin, then add a layer of apple slices, sprinkle the slices with demerara sugar and a pinch of cinnamon (if using), I just think cinnamon goes so well with apple. Then add the rest of the cake batter on top, add the remaining apple slices and some demerara sugar
8. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and the sponge springs back when you press the top of it
9. Lift the cake out of the tin - using the handy greaseproof paper handles - and leave to cool on a wire rack

I like to cut this cake into bars, perfect to enjoy with a cuppa, which is what I'm about to do!

Has the Great British Bake Off inspired you to get baking? Share your recipes below

Beth xxx