Lemon Delish

Again I have been slack with the posts, so I’m putting up one of my favourites – Lemon Delish. There is something comforting about the warm sweetness with the tang of citrus that is … well as the name suggests, Delish.  

Lemon Delish – serves 6

25 g butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp self-raising flour

juice and rind of 2 lemons

1 cup milk

2 eggs separated

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add the flour, lemon juice and rind, milk and beaten egg yolks. Mix well.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold into the lemon mixture and pour into a well greased pie dish or ramekins. 

Place in a roasting dish and fill the dish with water ¾ of the way up the side of the ramekins. 

Bake for 1 hour for a large dish, 35 mins for ramekins, or until the tops are golden brown and the puddings are set.

Blondie Cupcakes

I am very much aware that it had been a long time since my last post, which Sarah oh so subtly pointed out. However now that I am raring to go again, I find myself in the unfortunate position of having limited baking tools (having just moved into a new flat without my trusty baking trays, tins etc.) But I have not let that stop me, and I have launched my 2013 entries with a combination of the humble cupcake and the delicious blondie, based on a recipe by Marian Keyes. These are by no means your conventional light and fluffy cupcakes, but rather a denser and richer concoction that will leave you feeling completely indulged and still wanting more.

Makes 12 large cupcakes

Cake mixture                                                Almond and hazelnut buttercream icing

100g butter                                                    125g butter, softened

300g white chocolate                                    1 1/2 cups icing sugar 

70g hazelnuts                                                1 tbsp milk

3 eggs                                                            1 tsp almond essence

100g soft brown sugar                                  A handful of hazelnuts

1tsp vanilla essence                                      White chocolate buttons (optional)

180g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

 

Line a 12-hole cupcake tray with paper cases and preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan bake.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and 200g of the chocolate over a gentle heat, stirring frequently to ensure the chocolate does not burn.

Roughly chop the remaining chocolate and the hazelnuts and set aside.

 

Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy.

Add the vanilla essence and melted chocolate/butter mixture.

Sieve in the flour, baking powder and salt and fold through.

Gently stir in the remaining chocolate and nuts.

Divide the mixture among the paper cases and bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

 

Make the buttercream icing by whisking together the butter, icing sugar, milk and almond essence.

Once cakes are completely cool, decorate with the icing, hazelnuts and chocolate buttons

 

 

Raspberry Chocolate Tart

Here is the first post of 2013. Clearly my plan to add posts more frequently has not be achieved, but then Siwan hasn’t added a post for a while so I’m taking this opportunity to point this out! However, I have been baking a lot lately with the intention to add more delicious recipes, we will have to see how long I can keep it up.

This recipe is one of my own that I came up with and is a great summer dessert. I tried a few different combinations of flavours for the base, but using gingernuts gives the best crunchy consistency against the decadent ganache. The flavour of this tart could easily be altered using different berries or other fruit, adding different essence or alcohol, Baileys for example. This may start to become a reoccurring addition to my recipes – watch this space for truffles!

Raspberry Chocolate Tart: serves 6

1 ½ cup ground gingernuts (Approx ¾ packet)

60 g butter

250 g chocolate, dark or milk

½ cup cream

1 cup raspberries, plus extra for garnishing

pinch salt

Grind biscuits until very fine, add melted butter and mix well. Press the biscuit mixture into a tart tin and refrigerate for 20 min.

Force 1 cup of raspberries through a sieve with the back of a spoon to make a puree. You should get around ½ cup of puree from this.

Heat the cream until it’s just about to boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. 

Whisk until all the chocolate has melted, add the raspberry puree and salt and mix well. Allow this mixture to cool a little before pouring into the chilled tart shell. 

Arrange the extra raspberries on top of the tart and place in fridge for at least 2 hours to let the ganache set.