Freckled Kirsty

Father Christmas clearly knows me well, as under the tree I had a new cake recipe book waiting; Fantasy Cakes by Angela Romeo and it is such a treat for the eyes to browse, and stomach for the wonderful cakes you could bake. It is a very clever book in that it has the standard cake recipes at the start which are used throughout the book. These so far have been so simple to throw together, which is very handy as I can leave the baby playing for 10 minutes to whip the cake up. You can order the book here , and I highly recommend it if you want to try some beautiful centre pieces or show stoppers. The first cake I tried is the After Eight minis, great as all the family were round to gobble up the end result.  This After Eight recipe took a while to assemble and create the individual elements however they can all be done in advance and individually rather than sitting down for a good couple of hours stretch. I had to alter the recipe slightly as I ran out of self raising fl...

There seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment for brownies with all kinds of sweets and biscuits added to the top to give an extra dimension to these absolute classic bakes. Doing the rounds on Instagram which caught my eye were Bourbon brownies, in particular Frances Quinn's version (Former GBBO winner). Her food imagination and photography is always beautiful and well worth checking out. I have used my own brownie recipe which combines cocoa and melted dark chocolate topped with neat rows of Bourbons, making a brownie which perfectly compliments a good cup of tea. Time to get dunking! Ingredients: 220g butter 180g caster sugar 150g light muscovado sugar 50g cocoa powder 50g dark chocolate (70%) 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs 120g plain flour 1 packet of Bourbons - I used 13 ontop of my batter, but you can add more or less depending on how you want your brownies to look. Method: Preheat your oven to 180C/ 160C fan assisted and line a brownie tin. In ...

Pastry week on the Great British Bake Off saw Paull Hollywood set custard tarts as the technical challenge and I thought I would give them a go, seeing as I have never attempted them before! I own Paul's cookbook which has the recipe in, and it can also be found on the GBBO website. These two recipes vary slightly - in the book Paul doesn't make the rough puff pastry but uses shop bought (which I would normally do.) This being a Bake Off challenge though I decided to use the recipe they followed in the tent. The result - delicious buttery pastry filled with golden creamy custard. I ate 3 in one sitting! The tarts are quite fiddly and leaving the pastry to cool between rolling is essential to get the decent lamination and signature swirl on the bottom, so you will need to set aside a good couple of hours in total. As a side note, I found that I had a lot of left over custard - either I didn't make my tarts big enough or the recipe is rather generous with the por...

With the start of September, Autumn is just round the corner meaning a return to cosy jumpers, richer foods and in baking terms warmer flavours. Apples, spices and autumn go hand in hand so today I have whipped up some spiced apple cupcakes. This is basically a two pot recipe and very quick to make, handy when you are having to fit baking around baby naps! Ingredients 135g dark muscovado sugar 65g caster sugar 115g melted butter 2 large eggs 80ml whole milk 1 tsp vanilla extract 200g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 large apple peeled and chopped, I used a cooking apple which gives a slightly tart taste to offset the sweetness of the cakes 1 portion of caramel, either from the tin or home made. Method Preheat your oven to 180/ 170 degrees fan assisted. Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with cases and put aside. Mix together the butter and sugars until well combined. Whisk the eggs in, one at a time ...

Another get together with friends has prompted some more baking (whilst the baby is sleeping) and the salted caramel cover recipe from a BBC Good Food issue from a while back caught my eye. I have been storing this recipe waiting for a good excuse to bake it, and I can say (after scoffing a few), these brownies do not disappoint and will be made again. Brownies are very easy to make, the one stumbling point I often find is the temperature of the oven and the time they are baked for - as ovens vary vastly this is quite hard to write into a recipe, but I have a fan assisted fairly new over which bakes quite hot. They key for baking the brownies is checking after the stated time, and they should still be a little liquid in the middle if you want moist squishy squares. Leaving them to cool completely in the tin is also an essential, as if they are cut too early they may still be too liquid. Time to make batter - around 15 minutes Baking time - 35 minutes depending on your oven I...

Banoffee pie in my eyes is one of the best desserts to take along to a social gathering, so a casual drinks invite for the weekend prompted this tasty offering.It is very easy to make, (you can even cheat and use Dulce du Leche rather than making your own caramel) so you put in minimal effort for a stunning and delicious dish. Ingredients For the base: 200g of your choice of biscuit - I personally use Rich Tea's, but if you fancy a hint of spice a few ginger nuts thrown in are good, or you can add some extra chocolate in here through chocolate digestives - as long as the biscuit can soak up the butter that is all that we need. 100g melted butter to start, but add more if the biscuit base isn't binding. For the banoffee filling: 2 bananans, ripe but not mushy Either 1 can of dulce du leche, or,  150g soft brown sugar 150g butter 1 x 397g can of condensed milk For the topping: 150ml double cream Milk chocolate to grate over the cream Method Firs...

For the first time in a fair while, earlier in the week I felt like picking up my wooden spoons and doing some baking, under the vague pretence of making a valentines pudding. Both me and my other half love Toblerone so I decided that this would be the base for my pudding and recently having discovered an amazing looking baker called Jane on Instagram (@janespatisserie) I gave one of her recipes a go. Normally my other half isn't the biggest sweet fan, especially post steak and chips dinner, but these got a huge thumbs up so this recipe is a definite winner and one to save for the future! Ingredients: 200g unsalted butter 100g chopped dark chocolate 150g chopped Toblerone 3 eggs 275g caster sugar 90g plain flour 35g cocoa powder 400g chopped Toblerone Method: Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan assisted and line a brownie tin with baking paper. Over a pan of simmering water, melt together the 150g Toblerone and the butter. This can be done in the microwave bu...

Hello! Doing the rounds at this festive time is a Malteser Cake in the style of a Christmas pudding, and one of my friends has challenged me to make this, so being one to thrive at the thought of a challenge I gave it a go! I basically have made a chocolate cake in a Christmas pudding bowl, sliced and iced then covered in Maltesers. Pretty simple but looks fairly impressive.  This recipe will make you the Christmas pudding and some spare batter, so you can pop in 12 cupcakes as well! Ingredients: 350g plain flour 350g caster sugar 50g cocoa powder 1 tsp bicarb of soda 150g dark chocolate chips 435ml vegetable oil 1 cup of buttermilk (sour cream can be used as an alternative) 3 large eggs For the icing: 350g icing powder 250g softened butter Cocoa powder to flavour Two large share packs of Maltesers Melted white chocolate A couple of cherries Method: Preheat your oven to 170C. Line a 12 hole muffin tin and grease a Christmas Pudding shaped bowl. I ...

Hi everyone, One of the things I love about winter is lighting the fire and curling up in front of the TV on a Saturday or Sunday evening to watch the likes of Strictly Come Dancing,  X-Factor, Downton Abbey and probably my favourite guilty show, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. And what do I love to do whilst watching these? Why, eat yummy treats I have rustled up earlier in the day!  Viennese Swirls are a blast from the past - I remember having these for tea when I was a child, either made by my parents or the Mr Kipling variety, and having never baked them before I thought I would give them a shot. And they impressed very much - short, crumbly, sweet sandwiches of rich butter cream and raspberry jam, perfect but super simple to whip up! Ingredients: For the biscuits: 250g very soft butter 50g icing sugar 50g cornflour 250g plain flour 1/2 tsp vanilla extract For the icing: 100g butter 200g icing sugar Raspberry jam Method: Preheat the over to...

Hello friends, This year my role at work has changed, and rather than working from an office I am based from home – this is fantastic and I love it, but one thing I miss is seeing my friends day to day. This week I popped back into the office and it was the perfect excuse to whip up some cakes and dish them out to my buddies. One of my friends has a favourite bake that I have taken in many times, and that is the Hummingbird Bakery’s Boston Cream Cupcakes. They are vanilla cupcakes, with a custard filling and smothered in a chocolate frosting. Absolutely gluttonous but a perfect treat to be enjoyed with a cup of tea – we devoured a fair few of these! This recipe can be found in the Hummingbird Bakery ‘Cake Days’ book, which you can find on Amazon here . Ingredients : This makes 12 cupcakes. For the cupcakes: 80g softened butter 280g caster sugar 240g plain flour 1 tbsp baking powder 240ml milk 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract For the custard:...

This week saw the final of the Great British Bake Off and I was very excited – of the three finalists I didn’t know who I wanted to win because they each bought something special to the table – Nadiya and her stunning, beautiful and flavorsome bakes, Ian and his originality and daring flavours inspired by his day to day life and Tamal, who seems like one of the loveliest people around. What I was sure of was that we were in for a visual treat, and probably a fairly tricky technical challenge and Millefeuille did not disappoint. Genuinely, whenever I head to a bakery this is one of the treats which tempt me the most, all of that yummy cream and jam sandwiched on crumbly layer rough puff – either that or an éclair!! So, the day after the final, to forget that Bake Off is over, I have decided to try the challenge. The recipe is one of Paul Hollywood’s and it is on the BBC Website here . Now, I have never made rough puff before, although I have made proper puff pastr...

Hello friends, I haven't posted for a while, and the main reason for this is because I  have been on holiday, hurrah! I spent a week away with one of my girl friends on the Greek Island of Skiathos, and it was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a little boutique hotel, and almost everyday  for breakfast  I had granola with Greek yogurt and honey. This isn't normally the type of breakfast I eat, but it was so good I resolved to make myself a batch as soon as I got home to continue the morning yumminess! Granola,  it turns out, is super easy to make and can be completely customised to your tastes - as long as you have a grain base and get the ratio of dry to wet right you can really chop and change this recipe as much as you like! Ingredients: 3 cups of grains - I used plain rolled oats, but you could mix this up with some quinoa, or use wheat or barley. 1 cup of chopped nuts - I used chopped hazelnuts and pistachios but again,  anything...

Hello friends, This week on the Great British Bake Off it was pastry week, and the signature challenge was Frangipane. Cue a multitude of different fruits glazes and delicious looking treats! I couldn't remember the last time I had a frangipane, so I skipped into town and went to my local bakery to sample one. Deciding it was indeed delicious I resolved that this would be my challenge for the week. When you are making a frangipane there are a few big decisions - Should you blind bake the pastry before filling? What fruit should you put on top (if any)? Should you coat the pastry base with a jam? I don't like soggy bottoms, so opted to blind bake for 20 minutes (although a lot of recipes skipped this step), I wanted a jam on the base for extra fruitiness and my topping of choice was cherries because the combination of cherry and almond is pure yumminess. An extra decision you can make is whether to make your own shortcrust pastry, or buy a ready made pack from the supermar...

Hello friends, I haven't blogged or baked for a while, as I have been pretty busy travelling and working, so today I decided to bake myself a little Friday treat - Malibu Chocolate Brownies. I am obsessed with coconut, and Malibu in any drink is a good thing - I saw this idea on Bakingmad.com, and it is a cracker! If you don't want these to be adult brownies you can just leave out the Malibu and the recipe will make a very fudgey moist brownie. Ingredients: 230g dark chocolate 2 eggs 170g dark muscovado sugar 30g self raising flour 6 tbsp Malibu Method: Preheat your oven to 180C/ 170C fan assisted. Line either a square brownie tin, or if you want slightly deeper brownies a loaf tin with parchment. Melt the chocolate over a simmering pan of water, taking care not to let it burn. Beat together the eggs and sugar until fluffy, then pour in the chocolate and mix well. Add in the alcohol if using, and finally sift over the flour - fold this in ...

Hello friends, This week on the bake off it was bread week, and as such my other half told me I could definitely bake along for this one! The technical challenge was Paul Hollywood's baguettes which appear in his 'How to bake' book. I was given this for Christmas and have tried the baguettes before, and they aren't easy - they have to be proved twice, and if this isn't done properly you get quite flat dense bakes. Also very important in this bake is having steam in your oven, as this makes the crunchy crust which a good baguette needs. The book 'How to Bake' is definitely a good investment as Paul explains the different bread making techniques, has both sweet and savoury recipes and also strays into the cakes, tarts and puddings recipes as well which makes it quite a diverse baking book. Ingredients: 500g bread flour 10g salt 10g instant yeast 370ml water Oil for kneading Method: Oil a 2-3 litre plastic container. Paul sugges...

Hello friends, A few weeks ago I got my hands on the new baking book 'Everything Sweet' by Alex Hoffler and Stacey  O'Gorman, who are otherwise known as the Meringue Girls. This is their second book and as soon as I heard they were writing it I was excited. The first book they released was everything meringue which converted me from cupcakes to anything which could be topped with the white fluffy pillows of goodness, but this second book strays away from meringue into sweet treats. And it does not disappoint. It covers cakes, puddings gifts and some twists on old classics and overall is a very fun book to read. Each recipe has a paragraph at the top explaining the treat you are about to attempt and the fun and honesty of the girls shines through these. On top of great recipe and fun sparks of personality, the photography of the book is stunning - each picture is drool worthy and I would be a very happy baker if any of my bakes looked as good as they do in the book. ...