A Quite Sophisticated Chocolate Cake

You may be thinking to yourself that a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is a bit boring but I felt compelled to share it with you because this cake is truly something special.

The special ingredient is sour cream, which is present in both the cake and the chocolate ganache frosting. It really gives the cake much more depth of flavour.

It is taken from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" and confirms her position as the queen of chocolate.

Rhubarb Crumb Cake

Hi all! Sorry for the hiatus, I've been really bust with final assignments for college and now with studying for exams, so baking hasn't really been top of my agenda.

I read about the blog Smitten Kitchen over the weekend and decided to give it a look.

I can honestly say that it is the best food blog I've ever read.

Everything just looks so delicious and her food photography skills are very impressive, I want to eat it all! I recommend that everyone gives it a look.

Anyway, I had some rhubarb knocking around the house so I decided to make this recipe from the blog.

It was really scrumptious, with a gingery sponge base, sharp rhubarb filling and a crumb topping.

You could of course swap the rhubarb for any filling you fancy.

Continue for recipe!

Brown Sugar-topped Mascarpone Scones

I'm not really a scone person. To me, they're more like bread than cake and that's no fun at all.

I saw this recipe in my Lorraine Pascale book (becoming a regular feature on this blog, I know) and they sounded divine, which, coupled with the fact that there was some left over mascarpone cheese in the fridge, meant that I had to make them.

I decided to liberally sprinkle these with some demerara sugar after I had glazed them. This gave them a lovely crunchy top, which was a nice contrast to the dense, rich texture of the scones.

Delicious.

Continue reading for recipe.

Banana and Walnut Loaf

I have been feeling pretty under the weather and I wanted to bake something comforting.

This banana bread did the trick.

I don't know why, but for some reason I never seem to be able to get banana bread right at all.

It always seems to sink when it comes out of the oven for me.

This one, which I adapted from Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy book, came out perfectly.

I haven't figured out why this batch turned out ok and my other banana bread endeavours didn't, but this will definitely be the recipe I work from in the future.

I used dark brown sugar, which I think gave the loaf a lovely rich, deep flavour. You may choose to use caster sugar or light brown sugar, which is used in the original recipe.

I like to eat mine slavered in butter, how do you like to eat yours?

Continue reading for recipe

Basil Focaccia

Today I was having a bolognese for dinner.

I love bolognese combined in the traditional way with spaghetti but today I just felt like something different, so I made this bread to accompany my sauce.

I'm not very experienced in the art of bread making and I've only ever made sweet bread until now.

I think one of the reasons I shied away from bread is because I had this idea in my head that it was really hard to make I thought that I would find it difficult to know whether I had kneaded it enough or left it to prove for long enough or any other number of worries.

What I've learned it that really there's no need to worry about these things. Most recipes will give you quite detailed instructions, so you will know whether your dough is the right consistency or exactly how long you need to let it prove for.

It is quite simple, really!

Focaccia is quite a simple bread to make, with few ingredients in it.

I dotted the top of mine with finely chopped basil, but you can use whatever herb you want depending on what you're serving it with.

Continue reading for recipe.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you have spent the day gorging yourselves on chocolate.

I made these easter nest cupcakes a few days ago for my little cousins.

Very simple to make: just use your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe. Decorate them with a chocolate buttercream frosting mixed with some smashed up Shreddies  to give it that "nest" look and then place a few mini eggs on top. Cute!

Here's a few snaps of them gobbling them up!

Dark Chocolate-Dipped Nutty Shortbread

This recipe is really adaptable. You can use any variety of nuts you want, I had a selection of hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts. I used brown sugar to give the shortbread a more interesting caramelized flavour, but the traditionalists among you may choose to use caster sugar instead. I wouldn't if I were you though because the flavours of brown sugar and toasted nuts complimented each other beautifully.

The addition of chocolate is also entirely optional. I think that the biscuits looked more attractive without it, in my opinion, everything is better with chocolate!

Pre- vs. post-dipping!

Continue for recipe

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Rhubarb, Orange and Ginger Crumble

Rhubarb is a thing of beauty and in my opinion is the superior crumble filling.

I don't like to mess with the classics too much, so I kept things fairly traditional. Orange is a common enough pairing with rhubarb in crumbles but I decided to add some ginger as well (ground ginger in the crumble and small chunks of crystallized ginger in the filling).

These flavours worked well together because the sharpness of the rhubarb and orange cut through the strong spiciness of the ginger. Served with vanilla ice cream it was a real treat!

Continue reading for recipe!

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Soufflés

I made these soufflés last night for no particular reason other than I felt like it.

As you can see from the picture, they weren't the most aesthetically perfect soufflés ever made. They were quite delicious though.

I adapted the recipe slightly from David Lebovitz by salting the caramel, which you can easily omit if you're not a fan of the salty/sweet contrast.

The soufflés are made in two parts, first a caramel pastry cream and then the soufflé mix. You can easily make the pastry cream a day or two in advance and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

Continue reading for recipe!

Black Forest Gateau Cupcakes

I love black forest gateau, I think it's a wonderful dessert and I believe it's in need of a bit of a revival.

I am so passionate about this that I even asked for a bottle of kirsch for Christmas, which I used to make a festive black forest roulade.

The next installment in the project are these cupcakes and yet again, the flavour combination didn't disappoint. 

There is fresh cream on them, so I would recommend eating them on the day they're made.

I would encourage everyone to buy a bottle of kirsch and get involved in this revival!

Keep reading for recipe!

Lemon and Ginger Crème Brûlée

I was never really a creme brulee person. I always thought it was a bit of a boring dessert.

I had been coming round to the idea of them of late though, and my Mam loves them so I decided to give them a go and I wasn't disappointed. Not only is it really fun to use a blow torch, they also tasted like little pots of heaven!

I adapted a Lorraine Pascale recipe, which included mascarpone cheese along with the cream. I think that this made the creme brulees even richer and creamer than usual, which can only be a good thing!

The recipe calls for grated fresh ginger, which you steep in the cream and cheese mixture for a few hours, along with the lemon zest, so that the flavours can infuse. I left mine for about 4 hours but if you want a really strong flavour then you could leave them all night.

Continue reading for recipe and more pictures!

Hatch and Sons Irish Kitchen

I went for brunch with my family yesterday to Hatch and Sons Irish Kitchen.

It's on Stephen's Green underneath the Little Museum of Dublin, which it is connected to.

Everything in the café is based on an old Irish kitchen, from the décor, to the cutlery, to the menu.

I know it sounds a but touristy, particularly because of its link with the museum but I think that they have struck a good balance between kitsch and quality that will attract both locals and tourists alike.

The menu is not particularly big, offering an all day breakfast that includes favourites such as a traditional Irish fry, lunch time sandwiches and salads and hot meals such as beef and Guinness stew.

There is also a nice selection of wines and Irish craft beers (it was a bit to early for this when we went for brunch!)

The food was really well executed and everyone wolfed down the food when it arrived.

My Dad and Gran had the baked eggs, sausage, bacon and roast tomato, pictured below. 

Although there is nothing particularly original about this dish (or anything on the menu, really), all of the ingredients were of a high quality, making it a cut above most fries I've encountered.

 I had the spiced beef sandwich, served with coolea, onion relish and rapeseed mayo. It was absolutely delicious and I would definitely get it again.

I ordered a slice of carrot cake with my tea. I find that when I have carrot cake in a café it is often quite dry and generally disappointing. This was not.

The cake was perfectly spiced and was topped with a generous layer of cream cheese frosting. Delicious.

I was really impressed with my meal in Hatch and Sons. Every plate of food offered up to us was really well executed and of a very impressive quality for the price. I would encourage everyone to go and try out this (fairly) new eatery, but be prepared to wait for a table as there were people queueing up as we were leaving.

Hatch and Sons Irish Kitchen,

15 Stephen's Green,

Dublin 2.

Mothers Day Orange Blossom and Cardamom Scones

Happy Mothers Day to any mothers reading this post! I hope you're all having a wonderful day.

I made these scones last night as a surprise to bring up to my Mam for her annual breakfast in bed.

I got a bottle of orange blossom water for Christmas and I haven't been able to find a use for it until now! There's a lovely café in town called Brother Hubbard and they serve all their scones with butter that's been infused with orange blossom water, which is what inspired me. Then I looked up general recipes using the ingredient to see what other people were pairing it with and cardamom kept coming up so I decided to go for that and I'm glad that I did! The flavours went really well together- the cardamom gave the scones a warm spicey quality and the orange added a citrussy sweetness. 

I often find scones a bit too dense and filling so I decided to make them small. I rolled the dough out to less than a cm in thickness and I used a 6cm cutter. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from using a bigger cutter and rolling your dough out thicker, however you won't get as many scones.

Keep reading for the recipe!

Orange and Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Hello everyone, sorry for the brief hiatus in blog updates. I had a Mexican dinner party in my house last weekend. I had planned to write a post all about it but unfortunately, I was far too stressed to take any pictures on the night and if you're anything like me, you won't be interested without the accompanying images. Maybe next time I will be a bit more organised!

These cinnamon buns are delicious. I included pecans in the filling and orange juice and zest in the topping but you can use whatever flavours and ingredients you want (e.g. walnuts, raisins, lemon, vanilla etc.) I used to be quite apprehensive about baking with yeast for some reason, but really it's incredibly easy. You just have to make sure to plan ahead so that you can incorporate time for the dough to rise.

If you're making these for breakfast or brunch you can make cover them, uncooked, in clingfilm and chill them overnight and then bake them the following morning once they are brought back to room temperature. Continue reading for recipe!

Star Wars Cupcakes

It was my lovely boyfriend's birthday on Sunday and I made him Star Wars cupcakes!

I had the idea aaaages ago and I was getting very impatient.

The cakes themselves are just a simple chocolate sponge with coloured vanilla buttercream frosting.

The tricky part was the sugarpaste faces to decorate the tops.

I had never worked with sugarpaste before so I found it tricky, especially trying to turn it black for The Darth Vaders!

I used a small bell cookie cutter for Darth and a small circle for yoda, moulding the ear shapes myself.

I thought I was going to cry when I was piping on the details but overall I was happy with the finished product and he seemed to like them!

I don't really feel in a position to post instructions because I am really a beginner at sugar craft and these were far from perfect!

I'm posting a few pictures to show people that you don't have to be an expert to do this kind of thing.

Happy baking!

Lennox Cafe Bistro (+ Pancake Tuesday!)

I was the Lennox Café Bistro with my Mam on Sunday. During the week they have a breakfast menu before 12 and then lunch for the rest of the day. On the weekend they just do brunch. From what I can see from their website the brunch menu takes dishes from both the breakfast and lunch menus they work from the rest of the time. Everything was really tasty, with consistently good ingredients used in all of the dishes, yummy! Here's what we had:

I had huevos rancheros, with chorizo, kidney beans, avocado, cheddar and a choice of egg (I had mine poached!) For those of you who don't know what "huevos rancheros" is/are (I didn't either), it's basically a tortilla wrap with all the ingredients piled on top and put into the oven. Sort of similar to an omelette, but with a base of tortilla instead of eggs. This was really tasty, all of the flavours worked well together. I will definitely be trying to make something similar myself. The only complaint I would have is that I would have liked another egg.

My Mam had the eggs florentine that came with minty hollandaise sauce. I can't really report too much on this but she has ordered them before so they must be good and they certainly look good.

I had some toasted banana and walnut bread with my tea. It was really nice toasted, crisp on the outside and moist on the inside with the added crunch of the walnuts. I'm always really impressed with banana bread because it's never right when I make it (I'll come back to this another day). It came with cream and jam, I probably would have preferred a bit of butter.

Lennox Café Bistro

31 Lennox Street

Dublin 8.

On a side note, today is pancake Tuesday, yipee! I like mine to be traditional, with just a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. How do you like yours?

Coconut cake with lime cream cheese frosting

It was my grandad’s birthday yesterday so I made him this birthday cake. The cake was nice and moist from the creamed coconut and the lime frosting provided a sharp contrast of flavour. I added some toasted desiccated coconut to the top, nom nom nom!

Ingredients:

• 40g creamed coconut
• 140g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150g self-raising flour
• 40g desiccated coconut, plus extra for toasting
• zest of 1 lime

for the frosting:

• 225g cream cheese
• 75g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice, or to taste

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line two 20cm cake tins.

Put the creamed coconut in a bowl. It may not be soft enough, so you could put it in the microwave for a few seconds. Add the butter and sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour, dessicated coconut and lime zest.

Spoon the mixture into prepared tins and level the surface. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack, peel off the greaseproof paper and leave them to cool completely.

For the frosting, beat the cream cheese, icing sugar and lime juice together in a bowl. Place one of the cakes onto the serving plate you are using and spread half the frosting on top. Then place the second cake on top and spread the remaining frosting on top.

Place 2-3 tablespoons of desiccated coconut into a pan on a medium heat. The coconut toasts really quickly so keep an eye on it - it can easily burn! Continuously shake the pan until all the flakes are golden-brown. When cooled scatter on top of the cake and serve! This cake is best eaten on the day you make it.

New blog

I started a baking blog a couple of weeks ago on tumblr (crumbs-baking.tumblr.com). I started to realise very quickly that tumblr isn't a very good format for blogs that aren't just image based. So I moved here! I might start adding a few of of my old posts so it doesn't look so bare!