New Make/Bake 26 - Banoffee Mess

Last week was M's mums birthday, so to celebrate M's brother cooked us dinner (Fajitas - yummy) and I was  asked if I'd make dessert. It was a week night and I was in the office all day so I needed something I could put together quite quickly and could be easily transported. M's mum's favourite thing I make is Banoffee Pie but I knew I wouldn't have enough time so I decided to make a Banoffee Mess - like Eaton Mess (Cream, Meringue and strawberries) but with Banana and Biscuits.

A typical Banoffee Pie has a crumbly biscuit base - lots of debate about which biscuits are best, my mum always uses digestives but personally I prefer Hob Nobs! You then bake the biscuit base mixed with some melted butter until its lightly golden (about 10-15mins). Once cooled you then top it with caramel sauce - you can either boil a tin of condensed milk covered with water (it must stay covered with important otherwise it will explode!) or you can cheat and use the ready-made caramel sauce! The final stages are topping with sliced banana and some whipped double cream and a sprinkling of chocolate - delicious!

For my Banoffee mess I started by whipping up some double cream (a large tub) and two tablespoons of icing sugar. I think added a drizzle of ready-made caramel sauce and folded in some crumbled up meringue pieces (I used 6 meringue nests) and 3 sliced bananas. 

I crushed up half a packet of Hob Nob biscuits and layered the Banoffee mixture with crushed biscuits and more caramel sauce in a pretty glass (I would have gone for wine glasses or similar but I didn't have enough clean ones!).

The feedback was that it was delicious, lighter than a Banoffee pie but equally as tasty. Easy, quick and yummy - what else could anyone ask for a dessert?!

New Make/Bake 25 - Creamy Chicken and Leek Spuds

After a hectic weekend, including a Saturday spent on a beginners cake decorating course (where I learnt lots of new tips and tricks) I fancied a quick and easy dinner but nothing too fatty.

I'd spotted a recipe on the BBC Good Food site a few weeks ago which I'd bookmarked to try, Creamy Chicken and Leeks.

I do enjoy a jacket potato, typically with beans and cheese, Mince or tuna and sweetcorn or if I'm feeling posh Brie and Bacon.The one thing I don't like is how long they take to cook as I'm not really known for my patience and I don't like microwaved potatoes as they always seem to be soggy. So I make my jacket potatoes the cheats way! I microwave the potatoes until they are soft (usually about 5-10 minutes depending on the size of the potato) and then I stick them with a skewer, drizzle with with a bit of olive oil and then bake them in a hot oven for about 20 minutes (turning once, halfway through). And voila, perfect jacket potatoes, fluffy insides and a lovely crispy outside.

The Recipe was really simple and easy. Typically with me being me, I did add a few extras: a squirt of honey, and a sprinkling of grated cheese.

M's verdict was that it was delicious (lots of meat and leek is always bound to keep him happy to be fair) and has to be made again soon. I thought it was yummy, very creamy and tasted like it was bound to be full of calories but was actually rather healthy (I used half fat cheese and Crème Friache).

New Make/Bake 24 - Lego Birthday Cake

Last week I decided to test my lovely Birthday Present - a new food mixer! Probably not the most exciting birthday present but considering baking is my new hobby I figured it would be something I'd never get bored off and could use for ages.

Previous to this I had a Kenwood Prospero which is the compact and one of the smallest Kenwood mixers. It was working fine, however it was a little on the small side as it only takes mixes with less than 6 eggs. Fine for smaller cakes but seeing as some of the cakes I've made have been 10 egg mixes, I figured an upgrade was required. I was torn between the KitchenAid (Retro glam and much loved by St Nigella) and the Kenwood (Sturdy, strong and Heston's weapon of choice). I wanted a machine that did more than just mixing and whisking and after much debate and research I decided on the Kenwood due to the huge variety or attachments (never ending presents!) and the reliability record - my mum has a Kenwood dating back from the 70s and it still works like it was new.

I picked a few ideas and then asked M to see how much my friends would "donate" so I could get my hearts desire. And to my great surprise, I got the dream machine, a Titanium Major Kenwood Chef.

My new mixer (aka Ken) is on the left and my old mixer on the right. Ken is a whopper, a beast and looks much prettier than I'd expected. He's really heavy so is going to sit on the side so he's always ready and raring to go.

For Ken's maiden voyage I tested him out by making my nephews birthday cake. My nephew is currently obsessed with Lego so my brother asked for a cake with a Lego theme. As I'm not really an expert I thought I'd try and make it simple so I made a cake decorated to look like a Lego brick!

I started with an 8" chocolate and vanilla marble cake.  Once cooled I split the cake and sandwiched and crumb coated it with vanilla buttercream. I also covered the cakeboard with Lego wrapping paper to add to the theme!

I then covered the cake with blue sugarpaste. To make the cake look more "brick-like" I covered some slices of swiss-roll with buttercream and sugarpaste and then stuck them to the top.

I was quite pleased with the final result. I still need to work more on smoothing my sugarpaste - I think I need to leave it quite thick. More practice soon I think....

The final result was a very happy and full-up little boy!

New Make/Bake 23 - Pork and Ricotta Meatballs

After a very hectic weekend celebrating my 29+1 Birthday I wanted an easy and relaxed meal to start the week. After a rummage in the freezer I noticed that I appear to have overstocked myself with pork mince (4 packs - eeek!) so thought I ought to do something to use them up. I also had a pot of ricotta with today's date so rather than follow a recipe, I thought I'd invent my own for once!

Pork and Ricotta Meatballs with a Creamy Tomato Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients

For the Meatballs
250g Pork Mince
Large Handful of the following: Breadcrumbs, Grated Parmesan (I always keep some of both handy in the freezer) and freshly chopped Chives
2 garlic cloves, crushed (we love garlic so use less if you're not such a fan as us)
50g Ricotta Cheese
Seasoning

For the Creamy Tomato Sauce
Oil (I use an Olive Oil Spray)
1x400g tin of Chopped tomatoes
1/2 red onion finely diced
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Tomato Purée
100g Ricotta Cheese
Seasoning

Method

1. Start by mixing all of the Meatball ingredients in a large bowl until combined and shape into large marble sized balls
2. Fry the red onion in a few sprays of Olive Oil until it softens
3. Add the meatballs and fry until brown (about 5 minutes) 

 
4. Add the tinned tomatoes and some water (I just rinsed the can out with some warm water)
5. Add the Dried Oregano, Tomato Purée and Balsamic Vinegar. Bring to the boil and the simmer for 10 - 15 minutes until the tomato mixture had reduced and the meatballs are cooked through.

6. Check the seasoning (I found mine was a little sharp so I added a pinch of sugar) and then stir in the Ricotta Cheese.
7. Once combined, serve with some fresh basil and cooked pasta of your choice - I had wholemeal spaghetti.

Considering I didn't follow a recipe I was actually quite pleased with it. It tasted lovely, the meatballs were really tender and juicy and the ricotta added depth to the tomato sauce. Yummy!

New Make/Bake 22 - My Birthday Cake

I know it's not really the done thing to make your own birthday cake but after M got a rather large quote (although he did ask a baker with his own show on Channel 4 which may have added a few extra pennies) I thought I'd do it myself!

I made an 11inch round Marble Cake (Chocolate and Vanilla) - a new recipe and I think I've been converted - it was perfect!

I didn't want to cover the cakeboard with sugarpaste to wrapped it in some pink shiny wrapping paper.
I used  Vanilla Buttercream to layer the cake and as a crumb coat layer to stick the sugarpaste on and wrapped the cake with a duck egg blue ribbon. As with my other large cake I struggled to lift the massive piece of sugar paste and ended up with a few cracks and dents. Luckily I was able to cover most of them when I decorated.

I then decorated the cake using four different coloured sugarpastes (Duck Egg, Jade Green, Baby Pink and Lilac) which were cut into flowers of differing sizes using sets of  Blossom and Daisy Cutters. I then sprayed a few flowers with Pearl Luster Dust to give the cake some extra shimmer and used a few pink shimmer balls as centres for some of the smaller flowers and I stuck them to the cake using edible glue. All topped up with a Diamanté tribute to the dreaded 30.

I was really pleased with the final result and it tasted as good as it looked!

Make/Bake 21 - Parsnip and Pancetta Tagilatelle

Due to a very hectic few weeks (Plans for the 29+1 event are in full swing) so I've not had as much time as I'd like for cooking or baking. This isn't a new make/bake but it is one of my favourite meals and is really simple and tasty so it had to be shared.

Pasta is one of my favourite foods. Pasta with pesto, stuffed pasta, baked pasta, cold pasta are all winners in my book. Italian is probably my favourite cuisine   When I spotted this recipe in one of my frequent reads through the various cookbooks on my shelf in Jamie Oliver's "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" I had to give it a try: Parsnip and Pancetta Tagilatelle

It sounds like such an odd combination but the salty Pancetta and the sweet Parsnip compliment each other perfectly. I would never have thought to put Parsnip with pasta before but I've heard of pasta dishes with Squash and Potato so I suppose it makes sense.

Before trying this recipe I was convinced that pasta had to be smothered in a sauce of some sort otherwise it would be too bland and tasteless, however, I think I've been converted. The butter gives the pasta an almost glazed and glossy appearance and I think that anything more would overpower the Parsnip, although a dash of cream might be worth a try for those who really need pasta with sauce!

I tend to use more parsnip than the recipe says and I peel them and then slice them into ribbons using a vegetable peeler which makes lots of translucent slivers which almost seem to melt into the butter and herbs - delicious!

This recipe is responsible for purchase of some lovely new plants (Thyme, Lemon Thyme and Rosemary) so I don't have to keep buying little packets of herbs in the supermarket!