Chocolate and beetroot cake

*WARNING*

 This cake is easier to make if you own an electric hand mixer and food processor! 

I know what you are thinking...beetroot?! Really?! Well, yes. For a while now I have wanted to attempt baking a chocolate and beetroot cake and the other strange thing about this cake is that it is not made with flour. I do like beetroot but for those of you that don't I have to say that you can't taste the beetroot, the chocolate over powers the beetroot and the texture is similar to a carrot cake.

I scanned the internet and found a few recipes however, I noticed the majority included espresso but as I'm not a fan of espresso. I found one that missed out this ingredient, it was a Jamie Oliver recipe. A staff meeting was coming up so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try it out.

Ingredients:

Olive oil - try find a J.O recipe without this ingredient :) 

Plain flour for dusting

300g good- quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) I found some on offer

250g raw beetroot

4 large eggs (free-range if you can)

150g golden caster sugar

120g ground almonds 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 tablespoon of good-quality cocoa powder (not hot chocolate!)

Natural yogurt, to serve - (I didn't include this part)

Method:

I tried to measure out my ingredients however I came in to some difficulty with the beetroot and the fact that I had different size bowls for different ingredients. I would suggest having 2 large mixing bowls and a medium bowl ready, and if you don't have a food processor (like I didn't) I would suggest grating the beetroot first before doing anything else.

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 /350 F / gas 4

• Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 20cm springfrom tin with olive oil (I normally do this with butter but thought I'd give oil a go. It works just the same so I guess it depends what you have and what you prefer to do.)

• Cut out a circle of grease-proof paper. I used the base of the tin to cut round.

• Dust the sides of the tin with flour, then tap the tin to get rid of any excess. I have never done this before as my tins are non-stick.

• Break up 200g of the chocolate (save the rest for later) and add to a heat proof bowl.

Now I have talked about melting chocolate in the microwave in my previous post. In this post the chocolate is melted over a pan.

• Place your heat proof bowl on top of a small pan of simmering water on a medium heat. (Only put a small amount of water to cover the bottom of the pan twice over). Make sure the bottom of bowl isn't touching the water. Stir now and again.

When your chocolate is melted take the bowl off the pan, tune the heat off first and take the bowl off with a tea towel or over gloves.

As I said before if you don't own a food processor I would do this step before any other. 

• I used a Y-shaped peeler to peel the beetroot but I'm sure you can use any. I kept the tops on while peeling so I could hold on to something while doing this and I also wore rubber gloves as I didn't want red hands for weeks! 

• The recipe then says to quarter them and push through the coarse grater attachment on the food processor, then tip into a large mixing bowl.

If you are like me and don't own a food processor then use the coarse side of your cheese grater. (This part is the most labor intensive).  

• Separate the eggs, placing the whites into a large mixing bowl. I separate my eggs like this, passing it to one half of the shell to the other.

• Add the yolks tot he beetroot, look at those colours! 

• Stir the sugar, almonds, baking powder, cocoa powder and melted chocolate into the beetroot and mix together well. This is where I realised I planned my bowls wrong.

• Use an electric mixer to whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks.

• Take your spatula and fold a quarter of the egg whites into the beetroot mixture to loosen, once combined, fold int he rest but try not to over mix!!

Looks disgusting smells divine

• Place your mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for around 50 minuets. Mine took about 45 as I have a fan oven. You can check if your cake is ready by waiting until it has risen and piercing it with a skewer or tooth pick, if it comes out clean it's ready!

Once your cake is cool melt the remaining chocolate as above and drizzle over. I ended up pouring it all over then adding edible glitter :)

It states in the recipe to serve with nature yogurt. I didn't as the cake was for a staff meeting but I would recommend following this step. The cake tastes nice, it didn't turn out dry as I expected it too. I love dark chocolate but if you are not a fan the yogurt will take the slight bitter edge off. 

I had a positive response from the staff and I even got to bring some back home! It states that it serves 16 which I think is about right as you don't need a big slice. 

This recipe was fun to do as it had an unusual ingredient and no flour. One thing it has taught me is that I need to start saving for a food processor!

Why not give it a go?

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

  

Victoria Sponge

You may have read my previous post A very Mary Berry afternoon were Laura Taylor and I made some lovely finger sandwiches. This post is the last installment from the day, so I thought I'd end with how to make a Victoria Sponge.
First of all a word for the lovely Laura Taylor:

"Spending an afternoon with Ms B baking a classic was fabulous. I have always wanted to bake a a double layer cake and never seen how, so where better to start other than a Victoria sponge. Ms B was full of tips and simple advice that anyone can understand and can take on in their own kitchens, even down to cracking that egg! Thank you for sharing your baking tips with me. Please come again."

I chose the recipe from Baking - 100 everyday recipes I got given this book as a present and I am ashamed to admit that this is the first time I've used it. After coming across this little simple book again I have promised myself to try out more recipes from it.

Ingredients:

175 g/6oz butter
175g/6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
175g/6oz self-raising flour
Pinch of salt 
Jam, double cream and icing sugar to serve

Method:

As all ways I measure out all the ingredients first and pre-heated the oven to 180 Making sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature. This was made much more fun with my baking companion.Laura was amazed at my measuring skills when I plonked the butter in the bowl then randomly cut off a bit and it came to the exact weight we wanted. 'Amazing!' Laura said, 'Pot luck' I replied. 

Fist we mixed the sugar and butter together with a spoon until light and fluffy.  We beat the eggs in a mug and even added a little vanilla extract. Laura was concerned about not getting this right but  told her that's why we were doing it in a mug first and if some shell does sneak in there you can get it out easily with the shell.

We then added in the flour and eggs bit by bit until all incorporated. 

We used an 8" sandwich tins and lined them with parchment paper and stuck them to the pan with butter. Laura liked using these tins as it saved the task of cutting the layers evenly. 

We tried our best to evenly distribute the mix between the tins and then we continued to shake the tins until the mix reached all the edges and looked even. You can use a spatula to do this but it isn't as fun :)

Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Once ready we took it out the oven to cool then started on our sandwiches.

It doesn't state in this recipe to add cream but we really wanted it :)

We used a small tube of double cream and used an electric hand mixer to thicken it up. Laura laughed when I told her that before I owned a hand mixer I used to use a blender to to this, it really works! 

Spread your thick cream over one half of the cake (you will have some cream left over).

    

The recipe states to use raspberry jam but we used a strawberry one so I guess it just depends one what you like.

We spread the jam o the second half before realizing it was much easier to blob jam over the cream and spread with a back of a spoon. 

Laura dusted the top of the cake with icing sugar to give the cake it's signature look.

Then we added our own touch :) 

Ta da! Laura's and mine first ever Victoria sponge.

It was a really fun day and a perfect way to catch up with a friend.

Why not have a go with your friends?

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

Finger sandwiches

You may have read my previous post 'A very Mary Berry afternoon' where my friend Laura and I made a Victoria Sponge and these lovely little sandwiches.

Finger sandwiches are brilliant for picnics, children's parties and of course afternoon tea.

We decided on brown bread as we are both trying to be a bit healthier in our food choices but white bread works too.  

As there were only two of us we choice two fillings, roasted sweet peppers with cream cheese and classic egg mayo.

Roast sweet peppers with cream cheese.

We had three to start but only used two in the end. 

• Preheat your oven to 200C. 
• Cut your peppers open so you can remove the seeds. 
• Leave whole and place on a baking tray.
• Once your oven is ready pop your peppers in for 10 minuets or until the skin blisters.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool. We put them in a bowl with cling film over while we measured out our ingredients for the cake.
• Once cool chop your peppers to your preference. We decided on dicing ours. 
• Spread a cream cheese of choice on your bread and spread your yummy pepper pieces on.

Egg Mayonnaise 

We used 3 medium eggs which was more than enough.

• Boil your eggs (free range if you can). Laura and I spoke about boiling the water in the kettle then bringing it to the boil or boiling on the hob. Different people have different preferences but as long as your water is boiling and your eggs are in for 5 minuets they should be hard boiled.
• Once you feel your eggs are hard boiled pour the boiling water out of the pan and fill with cold water to cool the eggs. I wouldn't advice holding the egg under cold running water as your fingers will get burnt wont they Laura ;)
• Once cooled peel your eggs. We had a bit of fun with this, cracking them or rolling them to see which worked best. It really depends on how messy you want to be or what works best for you. One thing we both did was break them on kitchen roll so you can just pick it up and throw it away. 

• Mash your eggs. We put them in a jug and used a fork to do this.
• Squirt a bit of mayonnaise over and mix.

• Spread on your bread, cut into 'fingers' and your ready :)

What filling would you go for?

Next time:

• We left the crusts on as we felt it was a waste however if you know you can use bread crumbs for something I would cut them off. 
• You could slice the egg and have the mayonnaise spread on the bread.
• You could add a bit of paprika in to the eggs
• You could add cress to the eggs.
• You could add salad to both.

Happy making,

Ms B

xx

Viennese Biscuits

After spotting these in 'Something Sweet' magazine (issue 9) I just had to have a go. It's brilliant if you want to practice your piping.
I don't all ways buy this magazine however, this issue came with a free heart cutter which I just couldn't leave behind.
I'm not really biscuit person, I love cake and I once had an unhealthy obsession with cookies but this didn't stop me from having a go at something new.

Ingredients

225g butter (at room temperature)
50g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
25g cornflour
225g plain flour
100g dark chocolate

Method 

As all ways I measure out all my ingredients before I begin 

• Preheat your oven to 180 
• Mix together the butter and icing sugar with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla extract and mix.

• Sift the cornflour and plain flour into the bowl and mix until all incorporated and the mix becomes thick.
• Insert a french star nozzle into your piping bag, you can pick these up from the shop (some are cheaper than others) and it doesn't make a difference if it's metal or plastic.

• Fill a large piping bag with the mix (or a freezer bag with the corner cut off). You can place the piping bag in a jug to help.

•  Twist the top of the bag and hold it between your thumb and index finger. Squeeze until some of the mixture comes out.

  

• Pipe a zigzag of the mixture about 4X 8cm for each biscuit onto baking sheets, leave a space in between as they will spread a little. I don't own  a baking tray (yet) so I turned over a roasting tin and used that instead.

As you can see the first ones I did were rubbish, then it got slowly better.

• Bake for about 15 min until very pale golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Mine only took about 10 mins, this might have been because my oven has a fan.

•  The recipe shows you how to temper chocolate but as I don't own a chocolate thermometer I just melted it. I also had about 80% to 20% ratio of dark chocolate to milk chocolate but it seemed to work okay. I have talked about melting chocolate in my perverse post. 
• Once the biscuits are cool dip each tip of biscuit in.

 Be careful these little guys are delicate. 

• Place back on the parchment paper until ready. These can last for a week if kept in an air tight container.

It may sound odd but personal didn't like them. As I said int he beginning I am not really a biscuit person however, my work colleague and the boy loved them. 

'Light and crumbly just the way they should be' 

One thing I did like about these was I got to practice my piping, how much pressure is needed and at what speed I can go at with out worrying about my hand temperature making the mix stiff and unpipe-able.

So, if you are a biscuit person why not give it a go? Or let me know if you have found a recipe from 'Something Sweet' you like and have tried.

Happy baking

Ms B

xx

Decorating for a chocolate addict

We all know one and some of us are one. What a better way to feed someone's or your chocolate addiction then by making a treble chocolate cake.

In my previous posts I have shown you how to make a basic chocolate sponge  and the basic chocolate butter icing. 

Now for the decoration.

I have made this cake two different ways. The first one I made was for my boyfriend's Dad, a self confessed chocolate addict and someone who shares their birthday with Jesus Christ...and his name is Chris. As some people don't like to share their birthday I all ways make a fuss of Chris before exchanging presents with anyone else in the family. I tried to pack as much chocolate in this cake as possible I also made two layers of sponge, this was the result:

I have lots of ribbons and this one looked best on this cake. It was easy to do as you just had to press the chocolate to the butter icing for a while but I would recommend doing this as soon as you have applied the butter icing.

I have seen this type of cake going around the internet but what I like most about it is that you can change it to who you are giving it to.

Take Two

My brother in-law is also a chocolate addict and when he saw the cake above I believe he fell in love (just a little bit). He was also mortified that he couldn't have any but then promised him I would make one like it for his birthday.

I made this cake with only one sponge but it was a thick piece. I knew the amount of people eating it would be smaller so this didn't matter.

Here are a few photos of how I did it*:

As you can see I used different chocolates which shows that this cake can be versatile. He was also very pleased with the cake, if not with the number on the candles. What would you have on yours?

Happy Baking

Ms B 

xx

*apologies for the poor photo quality, I really need to start using my camera and not my phone. 

   

Basic chocolate butter icing

Those of you that bake may make your butter icing from scratch but if you are just starting out there are many brands out there that can be the perfect topping for your cupcake or cake.
I personal find these a time saver and they work well as a cake filler. However, I also find them a bit rich and sometimes the consistency is not what I am looking for.  

For a filling or a cake you can achieve this by using a whisk but if you want stiff icing for cupcakes it will take a long time by hand so I would invest in an electric hand mixer.

Ingredients: 

50g/1 3/4 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) it will state this on the back of the bar, don't be fooled it doesn't have to be cooking chocolate either.
100g/3 1/2 oz unsalted butter
200g/7oz icing sugar

As all ways I measure out my ingredients before I start and let the butter come to room temperature.
There are two ways to melt the chocolate in a bowl over a sauce pan or in the microwave. In this post I have used the microwave method.

Method:

•  Break up the chocolate and place in a microwave safe bowl. 

• My microwave is 800W so I only put the chocolate in for 30 second intervals, siring every time. When you think it's almost ready, it's ready. There is not much time between it being ready and being burnt which makes the chocolate bitter.
• Place the butter in the bowl and whisk until smooth.

• Add the icing sugar a bit at a time. If you are using an electric whisk stir the icing sugar in a bit first before putting the power on other wise your kitchen will look like a crime scene looking for prints.  
• Once all the icing sugar is incorporated add the melted chocolate and whisk again.
• If you are using an electric mixer place it on the highest setting for 2-3 minuets. If you are using a manual whisk then use some elbow geese until your hand become tired.

• If the mix looks too thick you can loosen it with a splash of milk.  
• Decorate you cake using a palette knife (a butter knife will do the same job if you don't have a palette knife  :)

I've not had a good relationship with icing sugar since my first time baking. I all ways had to buy extra even when buying packet mixes. The rule I have found that works is that you have twice as much butter as chocolate and twice as much icing sugar as butter...e.g.

2g chocolate = 4g butter

4g butter = 8g icing sugar.

This is just an example as it would be a cake crime to use this little butter icing! So why not try making your very own basic chocolate butter icing to add to your basic chocolate sponge?

Happy baking,

Ms B 

xx

The basic chocolate sponge

After playing around with a few recipes I found one that was perfect for me. 
Bake me I'm yours...cupcake was given to me on one of my birthdays and it's brilliant for cupcake design as well as having the basic sponge recipes.
This chocolate sponge mix is meant for cupcakes the book notes down how many cupcakes you can make out of the mix whether it be big cupcakes or little ones.
I have used this recipe for cupcakes but I believe it works just as well for a whole cake.
In this post I used a 10" non- stick springfrom cake baking tin which made one thick layer. (I have also used this mix with smaller tins to make a sandwich cake.)

Ingredients:

175g (6oz) of slightly salted butter (I use unsalted then add a pinch of salt)
175g (6oz) of caster sugar
115g (4oz) self-raising flour
30ml (6 tsp) coco powder (make sure this is coco and not drinking chocolate)
1.5 tsp (7.5ml) baking powder 
1 tsp (5ml) natural vanilla extract
3 medium eggs (free range if you can)

Method:

Make sure that your eggs and butter are at room temperature before you start.

• Pre-heat your oven to 170◦ (338F/ Gas 3-4)

• Line your tin with a thin layer of butter, place the tin on top of some baking paper and draw round the tin, cut out and place in the bottom of your tin. (The butter will act like a food glue).

• Measure out all your ingredients ready to use. (you can measure as you go along). 

• Place your butter in a mixing bowl, you can cut the butter up in to squares if you wish but I find it's soft enough at room temperature. 

• Add the sugar and cream them together with a wooden spoon until it becomes a pale colour. 

• Sift the flour, coco powder and baking powder (after measuring) I place all these in the same bowl to save on washing up.

• Crack the eggs into a mug or small bowl, if some shell sneaks in there and it's is easier to remove then if it was in the mix. I also add the vanilla extract to the eggs.
• Add and the ingredients bit by bit until it looks like this:  

• Dip a tea spoon or your finger (make sure it's clean!) and do a taste test. If the mix seems too dry or think add a tablespoon or warm water.
• Place in the prepared baking tin and place int he oven for 40 - 50 minuets. 
• You can test if the cake is ready by inserting a skewer or a toothpick in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean your cakes is ready. 

It can be tricky to tell when a chocolate cake is ready as the colour doesn't change, just remember not to open the oven door too soon or too quickly as this will result in your cake having a dip in the middle!

Some people like to leave the cake in the tin to cool then remove, but I like to remove it as soon as it's out the oven. I do this by running a butter knife along the outside of the cake, release the spring tin, place a serving plate or cake stand on top of the cake and carefully tun it over. This has ended in disaster a few times and I'm sure there is an easier way to do it but this is how I do it now. The next step is to remove the parchment paper and leave to cool.

While your chocolate cake is cooling you can make a lovely chocolate butter icing, but that's another story...

Do you have a favorite chocolate sponge recipe? 

If it's your first time why not try this one and share how you got on.

Or if you are not so confident yet why not start with a chocolate cake packet mix?

Happy baking,

Ms B 

xx