Devil's Food Cake

We had friends for lunch on Sunday, and I was asked by their son if I would make the Sachertorte, as they had tasted it previously and like it. Unfortunately at this stage I am compelled not to repeat anything!! Thankfully, I had one more chocolate recipe in the book that I had not made - Devil's Food cake, and this went down really well!
I was not quite sure what to expect with this. Apologies for not taking a photo of the inside. The sandwich cake was very dark in colour, with almost a reddish brown tinge. It was very moist and tasty. The only problem I faced was with the frosting. Having had a disaster with it on my walnut cake, I thought I would be ok this time. I whisked it for 12 minutes over hot water, and this time it seemed firmer than before. I expected it to set, as apparently "it sets rapidly". I put it in a cool place (the conservatory), not the fridge, but to no avail. Once again, the icing did not set. Thankfully, it did taste  better than on the walnut cake, but I couldn't help feel that it was not right.
I would make the sponge again, as it was really nice, and only used store cupboard ingredients, however, I think I would either sandwich it with cream, or chocolate icing. I dont think I will be making frosting again in a hurry. We gave it 8.0, but it could easily get higher with a change of filling. The main thing was that the guests enjoyed it!

Courgette Loaves

Courgette loaf does not sound particularly appealing, that is probably part of the reason that I have not made it before now. I think I am with Miranda on the whole vegetables in cake thing, well, with the exception of carrot! The other reason is that I have not been able to find buckwheat flour anywhere, and I did not want to resort to ordering it online just for this recipe.
I decided to only make one loaf rather than two, and also to use all plain flour, in the absence of buckwheat.
The cake turned out ok, and didn't taste too bad, although it is fairly bland. I don't think it particularly missed the buckwheat, but then its hard to say!
We scored it 7.0. It's not bad, for a cake with vegetables, but I would rather have my courgettes roasted!

Orange and Sultana Traybake

I confess that I have been putting this recipe off. My mum had made it, and I wasn't particularly keen on it. Still, I knew it had to be done, so I only made half the amount, and ended up taking it to a meeting! It seemed to go down ok, but I didn't get lots of comments on it, so I know its nothing special.
It's probably my least favourite of the traybake recipes, and I would only give it 6.5. Having said that, it's probably partly a matter of taste. I'm not sure I am that keen on orange in cakes -it's better in chocolate!!!

Walnut and Raisin Loaf

I was happy to be making bread again last week. There was no special occasion, but I had some time one morning, and we were able to enjoy it for our lunch!
I kneaded the dough using my machine this time, and it seemed to work pretty well. As the conservatory was freezing, I proved the bread in the utility room, while the tumble drier was on. This seemed to work really well, and I got a good rise! The nuts and raisins had to be mixed in by hand once the bread had proved, and it was quite a challenge to get it all in.
The recipe says that you can make one large loaf or two smaller ones. I decided to make the one loaf as that was what the recipe gave the timing for - bake for 20 - 25 minutes. I found that this was not enough - not sure if it was a mistake. I ended  up giving mine another 10 minutes, I also turned it over to bake the bottom as it looked very pale.
This bread was really delicious, and was tasty just with butter. Mary says it is a savoury loaf, but if it is, it is a very sweet one! We scored it 9.0. The kids were not bothered by it (they are not big walnut fans), but that mean't more for Ad and I. Oh, and it was fine the next day, and also delicious toasted!

Coburg Buns

To make these properly, you are supposed to have a mini brioche tin. As my baking cupboard is already full of various tins, I thought I could manage without another. Also Mary does say that you can use a plain 12 hole bun tin - so I did! As you can see, they are not as pretty as in the book, but they were still fairly tasty.
They are a spicy bun (no fruit in), and the almonds on the bottom give a nice crunch. It is true to say that they are best eaten on the day of baking. The day after, they were quite firm!
They were nice, but nothing spectacular, and I am glad I did not buy a brioche tin for them! 7.0

Rich Fruit Cake

I am playing catch up again! I actually made this a couple of weeks ago, left it for a week, and then we tucked into it last week! There are several Christmas cake recipes, so I thought I had better get started.
It was straight forward to make, and it tasted delicious. It was a typical Christmas cake, and it was very moist.
My only comment on it was that the recipe said to cover the cake loosely with some baking parchment. I did this, but as it cooked, the parchment touched the top of the cake and some of the cake stuck to it, which was a bit disappointing. Overall  we gave it 8.75.

Treacle Sponge

I have been waiting to make these sponge puddings for a little while. The problem has been that I have not had any pudding basins to make them in. Then last week, in a moment of weakness, Adam bought some chocolate sponge puddings from M&S! - am I not giving him enough puddings?!! Anyway, this answered my problem because I was able to reuse the containers to make these.
Mum and Dad were babysitting for us last week as it was Ellie's parents evening, so I thought Dad might appreciate this for dessert. I actually halved the recipe and just made two. They were very easy to make, and delicious. I (well Mum really, as I was out) cooked them in the steamer, which worked fine, and was probably easier than boiling them. the recipe suggest extra syrup, but they were fine as they were.
We gave them 8.5, and I would definitely make them again.

Sultana Streusel Buns

These were easy little buns to make, and made especially nice by the crunch topping - made from sugar and butter.
The buns themselves could have done with a few more sultanas in, but other than that, they were good. They don't win any awards on the presentation front, but we gave them a reasonable 7.5 for the taste.

Welsh Cakes

I have very fond memories of home made welsh cakes. This was not from our time in Wales, but from when we lived near the New Forest. We had a friend there called Elsie, and she made the best welsh cakes ever! - She was welsh!
The making of these cakes was easy enough. The challenge was cooking them in the frying pan without burning them. You have to give them 3 mins on each side.
Eventually I got the heat right, but not before I had burnt quite a few!
There were enough good ones to give some new neighbours a gift wrapped pack of six!
I hope they enjoyed them. We gave them a score of 8.0. I hope Elsie would have been proud of me.

Fork biscuits

I made these really quickly yesterday afternoon. They were very easy, and for the amount of effort that went into them, quite tasty.
I added some grated lemon rind, as this is one of the alternatives that Mary suggested. I am glad that I did.
We gave them 7.5. Tasty, but nothing amazing!

Frosted Walnut Layer Cake

We had a church meeting last night, and as I know that quite a few people like walnut cake, I thought I would make this. It has three layers, and is covered with frosting.
The cake turned out fine, but I had a problem with the frosting.
The recipe says to whisk the egg whites and sugar over hot water for 10 - 12 minutes, until it is thick. After about 7 mins, my mixture was thick, so I thought that was ok. Apparently not!
As I had obviously not whisked it for long enough, the frosting never really set, and also had quite a grainy texture to it.
It tasted ok, and it got eaten, but I knew it wasn't right. At least I will know what to do next time! I still need to make Devil's food cake, and this has frosting on it, so I may yet be able to redeem myself!
I always feel bad giving the recipe a score when I know I have done something wrong. If the icing was right, it would probably get an 8.0.

Banoffee Pie

As there are about 10 puddings still left to make, I asked the kids which they would like for a weekend treat - another one! It was unanimous - they all wanted banoffee pie.
As you can see from the picture, this is not your average banoffee pie. Usually the banana is under the cream, but not in this recipe.
I have to say that this was rather disappointing as it was incredibly sickly sweet.
The base was good - ginger biscuits and butter, but the toffee filling was made up of two cans of condensed milk, which was far too much. One can would have been fine. Mary says to use one large banana. I used two average size ones,and even then we ended up adding more because it was so rich that it needed the banana to help it go down!
If I made it again, I would use the same base, one can of condensed milk. I would then slice enough banana to cover the toffee, and then cover with cream. As it was, it only scored 7.0, but it had the potential to get an 8.5 with a few tweaks!

Sultana malt loaves

I hunted high and low for malt extract. None of the supermarkets had it, not even Waitrose! In the end I found it in Holland and Barratt.
The recipe said to make two 1lb loaves. I do not have two of these tins, so I used my multiway cake tin, and made the loaves 4 x 6in in size.
I think they would have cooked better in a proper loaf tin - my loaves were a bit firm around the edges.
You can certainly taste the malt, and the flavour is not dissimilar to malt loaf that you buy,however it is not nearly as sticky and chewy, so we only scored these loaves 7.0. Not sure that I would make them again, so if anyone wants any malt extract, let me know - my baking cupboard is full to overflowing!

Bara Brith

Adam and I lived in Wales for three years, and one of the things we left with, was a brilliant Bara Brith recipe that I have used lots of time. I was therefore rather skeptical about whether this recipe would be as good.
There are several difference between the two, the main one being that my one uses marmalade. Also, it has mixed spice, and uses mixed fruit.
I was very pleasantly surprised with this loaf. I did add mixed spice to it, as I thought it would improve the flavour, but other than that, I did as I was told!
It was tasty, and we gave it a score of 8.0.

Bread and Butter Pudding

I admit that I was not looking forward to making this as I have never been a bread and butter pudding fan. However, on Thursday, my Dad came for tea as Mum was away, and I knew he would like this.
I think I have been converted! This bread and butter pudding was really lovely, and was a big hit. I confess that I did put some cream in with the milk, but that was only because I did not have whole milk, only semi, and I thought this was one way to add some extra fat! I also added more mixed spice than the recipe suggested, but then I nearly always do!
We scored it 8.5!

Chocolate and Vanilla pinwheel biscuits

Mary says these are "fun for bonfire night". As Adam had bought some fireworks for today, I thought I would quickly knock these up! I have been eyeing them up for a while, but thought I would wait for this time of year.
As you might imagine, it involved making two different types of dough, rolling them both out, putting one on top of each other, and then rolling into a sausage. It was then refridgerated, and  sliced into 20 pieces.
Mine didn't turn out quite as neatly as Mary's ones in the book, although I thought they still looked quite attractive. Unfortunately they did not taste as nice as they looked. We only gave them 6.5, so all in all, todays baking has been disappointing.
Still, the good news is that I only have 40 more bakes left!

Blueberry Muffins

I confess that I didn't really want to make these muffins as all the other muffin recipes have disappointed. I decided to only make half the amount, and it was a good job as they have not gone down very well.
The picture of them in the book looks lovely, but mine certainly didn't!
The blueberries seemed to either sink to the bottom, or burst and leak!
They did not seem to have much flavour to them, and we only scored them 6.0

Mississippi Mud Pie

Mum and Dad very kindly invited us for lunch on Sunday, so of course I offered to bring a pudding!
I don't think I have ever had a Mississippi Mud pie before, so I wasn't sure quite what to expect.
For those of you who don't know, the base is like a cheesecake base, and the filling is  a rich chocolately mix, containing eggs, cream, chocolate, dark sugar and coffee. It is baked in the oven for just over an hour.
When it came out of the oven, I discovered why it is called a mud pie! It really looked quite unattractive, but I guess that is what the name suggests. Mary says to decorate it with the whipped cream. I decided to smother it instead. This covered up a multitude of sins, including a few major dips in the  top. These were noticed by one of my sharp eyed children, however, the fact that it mean't extra cream made up for it!
It is a very rich dessert, and you don't need much of it. As a result, there was even enough left over for a few of our neighbours to benefit from a slice.
We gave it a score of 8.0, but it does come with a bit of a health warning!

Chocolate Ganache Petits fours

On Saturday night we went out for a meal, and I thought our baby sitter might appreciate these!
I started making them on the Friday evening. The first part involved melting chocolate and then brushing it inside the petits four cases. This proved to be quite fiddly, in fact, I soon decided that I would only make 12 rather than 24! This was the reason why we had enough melted chocolate left over to dip the coconut pyramids in - so it worked out for the best!
I made the filling the next day, and decided to omit the brandy. I also used the heart sprinkles rather than gold leaf - really?! I didn't think they were that special. It was either that or pistachio nuts, and I didn't fancy using those either.
Mary says these are irrestistible, but I am not so sure. The kids seemed to enjoy them, and if you were in need of a chocolate hit, they would be perfect! I wont be making them again however, as I think you can buy nicer ones! They scored 7.0

Coconut Pyramids

We had a few days away near Ross on Wye last week. It was very pleasant to have a break from baking, but since I got back I have been busy in the kitchen. I feel as if I am on the final push to get my challenge finished.
Ben and I made these on Friday evening - we had only got back in the afternoon, that is how keen I was!
They were very easy to make, and quite good fun. I left them mostly to Ben, and he decided on red, white and blue pyramids. Mary says you can you can colour them with a few drops of pink colouring, so we were just improvising. Actually, you cannot really from the photo tell that they were coloured, and I think if I made them again, I wouldn't put any colouring in them. The plain ones looked the best. We used an egg cup, and this worked fine.
Mary does not say to dip them in chocolate, but we thought that they were greatly improved with chocolate on. We gave them 8.0 ( but only with chocolate on, without it they would only be 7.0!)