American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake

I had offered to make a pudding for the church lunch, and as there is a whole chapter on cheesecakes, and cheesecake is not one of Adam's favourite puddings, I thought I would give this one a go.
The cheesecakes I normally make do not require baking, so this was a change for me.
I started off by making the base with 100g plain chocolate digestives and  50g of butter - not much for a cheesecake base I hear you say! Well, that is what Nathan and I thought as we pressed it into the base of the loose bottomed cake tin. I was tempted to make some more base mixture, but was reminded that I should not "deviate from the Berry", at least first time round.
After leaving the base to cool in the fridge, I made the filling.  What the recipe lacks in base, it makes up for in cream cheese - 700g in all! Note that supermarket own brand of cream cheese was less than half the price of that famous brand! The rippled effect was given by putting half the mixture in the tin in blobs, then mixing the remaining half with chocolate and blobbing that in between the first mixture. The mixture is then swirled and leveled on the top.
It baked in the oven for an hour, and then the oven was turned off and the cheesecake was left in the oven to cool, and then put in the fridge.
The cheesecake is not much of a looker - which might be why there is no picture of it in the book! I added some grated chocolate on the top - this is not in the recipe, but I do not consider this to be deviating as it was only for decoration, not for taste!
This recipe comes with the warning of being sweet and rich, and Mary is not wrong! It seemed to go down well at church, although I did commit a crime in not bringing any cream along to go with it! Thankfully I had removed the cheesecake from the tin before taking it to church - it was fairly difficult to get the base out, although it did get easier the more pieces I cut.
The cheesecake received a mixed reception. I saw one little girl take one bite, and say it was horrible, while a very dear lady in the church said it was delicious and she would give it  10.0
Adam gave it 8.5, which for someone who doesn't like cheesecakes is not bad. I think its quite a fair score. It is perhaps not as suited to the younger palette!
It's Ben's birthday next weekend, and he has chosen a maple syrup cake - should be fun!
p.s We decorated the dining room this week, hence the new spotty table cloth, and a lack of baking mid-week!

Coffee and Walnut Traybake

....Coffee and walnut traybake. The recipe was almost exactly the same as the sponge cake, but at least this time I knew I had the right size tin.
The results were very good and everyone at church seemed to enjoy it. It was nice and light.
I think it scored about 8.5
Mary suggests cutting it into 21 pieces, but we stretched to 24. I couldn't bring myself to scatter the walnuts quite like Mary had done as I didn't like the thought of cutting through them, so my cake looks more regimented!
For the church lunch I also baked.......

Coffee and Walnut Sponge Cake

We had a shared lunch at church today so I thought I would make a coffee and walnut sponge cake. Part of my reason for doing this was because I thought it would be more popular at church than it would be at home! Coffee and nuts are not the kids favourites!
I started making it early yesterday morning, as we were going out for the day. As I spread the mix between the two sandwich tins, I thought to myself that there didn't seem to be much mix. I presumed it would rise, confident that I had measured everything carefully.
Unfortunately I had used the wrong size tins. Mine are 8 inch tins, and the recipe requires 7 inch tins. I ended up with two thin sponges!
I decided that they should not go to waste as, although the edges were a bit dry, the middle was fine, so I cut out some circles, and hey presto, here is the finished result - 5 mini coffee and walnut cakes. Unfortunately I realised that these would not go very far at church, so having all the ingredients, I decided to bake.......

Marbled Chocolate Ring Cake

Our lovely daughter Ellie was 14 yesterday, and this was the cake that I made for her.
I had bought a ring tin especially, so thankfully it was a success, and I would definitely make it again.
The recipe had said to line the tin with baking parchment, which I started to do, but found very awkward as it kept slipping down. Thankfully, when I ordered the cake tin from lakeland, along with another tin (my Christmas money is coming in handy), I needed to spend a few more pounds to get free postage so I ordered some cake release, which is a liquid that you spread around the tin. I decided to disobey Mary and use this instead.
I was a bit nervous when it came to turning it out, but I need not have worried, as it just slipped out the tin!
There was plenty of chocolate icing to pour over, and it was good fun putting the milk chocolate streaks on the top.
The most exciting part was cutting into the cake to see if the marbling had worked - it did
Ellie was pleased with the cake, and we all enjoyed tucking into it. It scored 9.0
 We have a church lunch next Sunday, so I have signed up to take a pudding and a cake - What to make? I have less than 200 to chose from now!

Ginger and Treacle Spiced Traybake

I fancied baking something that I would not normally  try, (this is going to become a more frequent occurrence!) so I decided upon this recipe.
The picture in the book looks lovely, and being the new owner of a tin of black treacle and a jar of stem ginger, I set to work.
Just for your information, should you own a tin of black treacle that is a few years past its sell by date, open with great caution. Someone, who shall remain nameless found me a tin which had not been opened in the back of their cupboard. I wont embarrass them by telling you the date, but lets just say it was as old as Nathan! To say that the lid popped off  would be an understatement! We decided that it would probably not be safe to use, hence the purchase of a new tin!
Anyway, I set to baking this before I took the kids to school, leaving Adam in charge of taking it out at the correct time. When I returned home, the house smelled lovely, but my traybake had a rather a dip in the middle!
It would be rather mean of me to blame Ad, as it is something I have experienced before (see honey and banana loaf), but it was a bit disappointing. I turned it over on the cooling rack, in the hope of disguising the dip, but as it cooled, it dipped back the other way! I'm not sure if it dipped because it did not cook for long enough, or whether it was the treacle in the recipe. Any ideas?
Once it was cooled, I made the icing - icing sugar, and and syrup from the stem ginger. Unfortunately there was not nearly enough icing, so I had to make some more - I would suggest doubling it.
The result was rather delicious, and scored 8.5. The workmen who were here on Friday certainly seemed to enjoy it!
This is definitely a recipe for those that like ginger.

Raspberry Meringue Roulade

On Thursday evening, we had some friends round for a meal, so I decided to bake this meringue roulade.
Once again, my tin was not quite the right size (it was a bit too big), so I didn't spread the mixture right to the edges.
It uses 5 egg whites - by the way, does anyone have any great ideas about what to do with 5 egg yolks? I feel bad about throwing them away, but am really not sure what else to do with them. Answers on a postcard...
Anyway, it all went fairly smoothly, and I followed all the instructions, apart from using frozen raspberries instead of fresh. I looked at the price of the fresh ones, and decided that frozen would do. It would have been better with fresh ones, but it turned out fine. I made sure that when the raspberries defrosted, I drained them well and dried them with kitchen roll.
If I was making it again, I would leave the meringue to cool down for longer - it cracked rather a lot when I rolled it up. Also I would spread the mix to the edges of the larger tin and have a slightly thinner meringue.
It makes a very large roulade - the picture is not of the whole thing - I cut over 2 inches off the end so it would fit on the plate!
Our guests seemed to enjoy it, and had second helpings - always a good sign,  It scored 8.5.

Cherry & Almond Traybake

I made this cake yesterday as we were having visitors.
It is another, throw it all in recipe, so it was nice and easy. The hardest part is cutting up the glace cherries. Actually it is worth noting that it needs 225g of cherries, and the pot that I had bought only contained 200g. I only realised this once I'd started measuring out, but I decided that it would not make too much difference.
As it turned out, you don't miss the extra cherries, although I am sure it would be even nicer with them.
Mary said to bake it for 40 mins, so I checked mine after 35 and it was already cooked. Next time I may even try it for 30 mins. It is a tiny bit dry around the edges, but the pieces in the middle are delicious!
The centre of the cake gets 8.5, the edges get 7.75!! I'm not sure that's allowed, but nevermind!
Its Ellie's birthday at the weekend, so I am building myself up for something exciting - watch this space!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Sunday was the day for special puddings when I was young, and lemon meringue was always  popular, so I thought I would try Mary's version. As a kid, I remember stirring the lemon mixture for my mum, waiting for the little lemon ball to burst, and the mixture to thicken. There are no lemon balls in Mary's recipe as there are no packets involved! The lemon mixture is made from condensed milk, egg yolks, and the juice and rind of 3 lemons! Also, rather than a pastry base, she uses a biscuit crumb one.
Our eldest son Tom loves lemons - I mean, he would happily eat one! He really loved this lemon meringue pie as it was zingy to say the least.
The rest of us enjoyed it, but the consensus was that it could do with less lemon juice in it. Also, I don't think you can beat a pastry case. Having said that, this base is a lot easier and quicker.
If we don't include Tom's score which was 9.0, the overall verdict was 7.5
Oh, and I forgot to say that I added the flaked almonds, they are not in the recipe, but I think they improve it!

Iced Chocolate Traybake

Saturday didn't turn out quite as I had planned - you know what those days are like, so what better to do than bake! I have decided that I always feel better when I bake, there is something satisfying about it. So what better to make than an iced chocolate traybake?  Also, we were having visitors on Sunday Evening, so I knew it would get shared out!
This was another straight forward recipe, and  the results were good. There was plenty of icing to go all over the cake, including the sides. The icing on its own was rather sickly, but with the cake, it seemed to go well.

It scored 8.5, and went down well with the guests. There's none left, so that's always a good sign!

Cut and come again cake

I baked this last Tuesday as we were going to a meeting, and a meeting can always be improved with cake!
I had quite high hopes for it as my mum had baked it previously and said it was delicious. Mine turned out ok, but it was rather dry. The flavour was good, but it was rather crumbly. If I made it again, I would probably cook it for less time.
It scored 7.5

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Yesterday Ben had the Monday morning blues, so, being the kind Mum that I am, I told him he could look in the book and choose something nice to come home to. This was his choice!
I have had difficulty getting a 12 x 9 traybake, but I managed to pick up a smart price roasting tin from Asda for £1!. It is only a bit smaller, and seemed to do the job.
The brownies were very tasty and moist, and have received and excellent reception by all who have tried them.
I would like to assure my readers that we are sharing all our cakes liberally. Last night Ad took some brownies to football, to give to those who had worked off extra calories! Unfortunately that did not include Adam himself as he has a knee injury, so no brownies for him!!
The brownies scored 9.0, and made Ben's day!
P.S, Just to let you know, there is a "Cut and come again" cake in the oven as I type!
Must go, the programme about Mary Berry is on in 5 mins!

Pineapple and Cherry Loaf

 I wasn't very well last week, so didn't do any baking. However, by Sunday I was getting withdrawal symptoms!
I felt it was about time that Adam had the choice of what I baked - well, within reason!
He would have chosen the "boozy fruit cake", but I didn't have all the ingredients, so he settled for this one. It turned out to be a good choice.
It was simple to make, and turned out to be lovely and moist. My only criticism was that it didn't cut very neatly, but then maybe that was because it wasn't completely cool as certain people were in a hurry to try it!
Mary suggests keeping it in the fridge as "it could go mouldy if left in a tin in a warm kitchen". A chance would be a fine thing - it would never last long enough to go mouldy - well not in our house!
It got a rating of 8.75!