7: Assorted Cakes and Biscuits

I’ve got really interested in baking at the moment; most of the recipes I’ve included in this journal so far I have tried myself from the recipe books we’ve got in the house. Mum has supervised some of my cooking but other times I have just got on with it myself, take the results as they come. I can make spaghetti Bolognese, shepherd’s pie and risotto perfectly well; I made the chicken fajita mix myself this evening with Mum’s instruction. I made shepherd’s pie Monday from the lamb we had leftover on Sunday and tomorrow I’m gonna get the spaghetti Bolognese done before Mum gets in. We’re gonna have battered cod and chips and peas later this week.

Gateau Breton
This recipe for Brittany butter cake comes from Nigella’s book and she got hers from Anne Willan’s Real Food, “a cross between shortbread and pound cake.” Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. The traditional recipe makes a cake much larger than most families can consume, and so the quantity is often changed to suit the size of the cake that is desired. As long as the ratio is preserved, the resulting cake will be identical to that using the traditional recipe. Hence, any cake made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar is also called a pound cake, even if the quantity used is smaller or larger than an actual pound.

There are numerous variations on the traditional pound cake, with certain countries and regions having distinctive styles. These can include the addition of flavoring agents (such as vanilla extract or almond extract) or dried fruit (such as currants or craisins), as well as alterations to the original recipe to change the characteristics of the resulting pound cake. For instance, baking soda or baking powder may be incorporated to induce leavening during baking, resulting in a less dense pound cake. A cooking oil (typically a vegetable oil) is sometimes substituted for some or all of the butter, which is intended to produce a more moist cake. “Sour cream pound cake” is a popular variation in the United States, which involves the substitution of sour cream for some of the butter, which also is intended to produce a more moist cake with a pleasantly tangy flavor. Some of these variations may drastically change the texture and flavor of the pound cake, but the name pound cake is often still used.

Ingredients:
225g plain flour - preferably Italian 00
250g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
6 large egg yolks
A 25cm Springform tin, buttered well

The Glaze:
1 teaspoon of egg yolk
1 tablespoon of water

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Mix the glaze and put aside while you get on with your gateau. Put the flour into a bowl - sieve if using normal plain flour - stir in the sugar, and add the butter and egg yolks. Shape into a smooth golden dough: if you’re making this by hand, make a mound of the flour on a worktop, then make a well in it and add the sugar, butter, eggs and knead to mix. Scoop this dough into the tin and smooth the top with a floured hand - expect it to be very sticky, it should be. Brush the gateau with the glaze, and mark a lattice design on top with the prongs of a fork. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180 degrees and give it another 25 minutes or so until it is golden on top and firm to the touch. Let it cool completely in the tin before un-moulding it. It will keep well if you have a reliably airtight tin, and you can eat it cut into narrow cake-like wedges or into irregular criss-cross diamonds.

Holly Bell’s Strawberry and Custard Melts
This is the recipe that Holly made during The Great British Bake-Off biscuit episode, her very delicate strawberry and custard melts, which she said she imagined “ladies having for afternoon tea.” Mary-Anne made a very similar biscuit, which was described as a depression-era biscuit for the modern day recessional times with an interesting buttercream filling. Hers held their spiral ridges better than Holly’s because Mary-Anne put hers in the fridge prior to baking; however, they both looked wonderfully tasty. I suppose you don’t need to make the jam yourself so long as you use a good shop-bought strawberry jam.

Ingredients:
For the Biscuits
115g unsalted butter, softened
30g icing sugar
100g plain flour
1 tablespoon custard powder

For the custard cream
50g butter
100g icing sugar
1 tablespoon custard powder

For the jam filling
150g strawberries, hulled
185g jam sugar
Small knob of butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease two baking trays. Using a hand-held electric mixer, cream the butter until it is soft and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, mixing on a low speed until it is all combined, then increase the speed and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the flour and custard powder, beating as you do so. The mixture should be loose enough to pipe through a piping bag; add a little cold water if needed. Spoon in the biscuit mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle; squeeze the mixture down to remove any air bubbles. Pipe 24 stars onto the baking trays, 4cm apart. Bake in the oven for 10-14 minutes or until the biscuits are pale golden-brown at the edges.

Remove the trays from the oven and set aside to cool completely. To make the custard cream filling, beat the butter using an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy, then add the icing sugar and beat at a low speed to combine. Add the custard powder, continue beating until thoroughly combined then set the mixture aside. Spoon the filling into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.

To make the jam, blend the strawberries in a food processor or with a hand blender to make a puree. Place the puree in a saucepan and add the sugar. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved then add the butter. Turn the heat up and when the mixture has reached a rolling boil, continue boiling for four more minutes. Remove the pan from heat and pour the jam into a bowl to cool. Spoon the jam into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle.

Check the biscuits are completely cool and then use a palette knife to lift them onto a clean tea towel, flat side uppermost, pairing them up as you go. Be careful as the biscuits are fragile. Pipe a circle of custard cream filling onto half the stars, then fill with the jam. Place the paired star on top, pressing it down gently.

The Hairy Bikers’ Fat Rascals
“These buns originate from Yorkshire and have been made since Elizabethan times. Serve them warm or cool with a dollop of extra thick cream,” say the Hairy Bikers. A Fat Rascal, also called the Yorkshire tea biscuit or Turf Cake, is a type of cake, similar to the scone in both taste and ingredients. The Fat Rascal often has no definitive shape and is relatively easy to make. Fat Rascals are round domed teacakes with a rich brown crust and made with currants and candied peel. They are closely associated with the Cleveland area on the borders of County Durham and Yorkshire. The origin of the name is unknown, but has been in use since at least the mid-nineteenth century. The name Turf Cake comes from the tradition of farmers baking them on turf fires.

Ingredients:
150g plain flour
150g selfraising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g butter
150g mixed dried fruit
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
Half teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 orange, zest only
1 lemon, zest only
1 free-range egg yolk
50ml semi-skimmed milk

For the glaze
1 free-range egg yolk
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon water
Flaked almonds and glace cherries

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Grease a baking tray. Sieve the flours and baking powder into a large bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the mixed dried fruit, sugar, spices, orange and lemon zests. Lightly beat the egg yolk and add it to the mixture with enough milk to make a stiff dough (you may not need all the milk). Divide the dough into 12, shape into mounds and place onto the baking tray. For the glaze, mix egg yolk, salt and water together and brush the mixture over each rascal. Decorate with the almonds and glace cherries and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden-brown.

I don’t see the harm in switching the mixed dried fruit for chocolate chips, to produce plump spiced buns with chocolate surprise. I’m not really fond of raisins, sultanas or currants - the usual dried fruit that goes into fat rascals - but I do like soft sponge flavoured with lemon and orange zest.

5: Lemon Icing Fairy Cakes

I made these today, Sunday 9th, and decorated them with little citrus strands and crystallized jelly shapes that we bought at the food shop. Mum and Tid decided they only wanted the ones with citrus strands on, so I actually hand to warn them off eating the last one so Dad could get a citrus strand cupcake as well as a sugar jelly cupcake. I am feeling much more confident in making cupcakes; or rather, fairy cakes. The difference is apparently in the depth of the paper case and the sponge itself, cupcakes are significantly bigger. This is actually a fairy cake recipe.

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs
125g selfraising flour
Half teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cream the butter and the caster sugar together in a large bowl. Beat the eggs into the mixture, followed by the flour and the vanilla extract until you produce a smooth batter. Add the milk slowly while stirring, half a tablespoon at a time, until it is all in. Spoon the cake batter equally between twelve cupcake papers in a cupcake pan and cook for 15-20 minutes until well risen and golden. Use a skewer if you’re not sure it is cooked all the way through, cupcakes are temperamental and can move swiftly between cooked and burnt. Put them on a wire rack to cool down and top in ten minutes with icing so the icing doesn’t run while the cake is too warm. To make the icing: Juice of a whole lemon squeezed into a bowl, stir in a lot of icing sugar until it becomes a cloudy white syrup, which can be smoothed onto the fairy cakes and then topped with sprinkles.

2: Nigella Lawson's Snickerdoodles

A snickerdoodle is a type of sugar cookie made with butter or oil, sugar, and flour rolled in cinnamon sugar. Eggs may also sometimes be used as an ingredient. Snickerdoodles are characterized by a cracked surface and can be crisp or soft depending on preference. In modern recipes, the leavening agent is frequently baking powder in contrast with traditional techniques utilizing baking soda and cream of tartar. Snickerdoodles are often referred to as “sugar cookies.” However, traditional sugar cookies are often rolled in white sugar whereas snickerdoodles are rolled in a mixture of white sugar and cinnamon. The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln (lit. “snail noodles”), a kind of pastry. A different author suggests that the word “snicker” comes from the Dutch word snekrad, or the German word Schnecke, which both describe a snail shape. Yet another hypothesis suggests that the name has no particular meaning or purpose and is simply a whimsically named cookie that originated from a New England tradition of fanciful cookie names.

I was surprised by how much I liked making these snickerdoodles from Nigella Lawson’s recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess. I’m not very fond of heavy spices and if you put too much cinnamon in something, it is awful to try and eat it. I chose to make this one today on the 29th September after receiving a call back from the Job Centre that I didn’t succeed in getting the voluntary placement at Pitman Training, and I picked them because they were relatively simple to make and we had all the available ingredients. They are sweet, crisp, soft on the inside, and lightly spiced - a wonderful, almost Christmassy aftertaste.

Ingredients
250g plain flour (or 225g plain four + 25g cocoa for chocodoodles)
Half a teaspoon ground nutmeg
Three quarter teaspoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon salt
125g butter at room temperature
100g caster sugar + 2 tablespoons for the cinnamon sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon
[Two baking sheets, lined or greased]

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Combine the flour, nutmeg, baking powder and salt and set aside for a moment. In a large bowl, cream the butter with 100g caster sugar until light in texture and pale in colour, and then beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Now stir in the dry ingredients until you have a smooth, coherent mixture. Spoon out the remaining sugar and the cinnamon onto a plate. Then, with your fingers, squidge out pieces of dough and roll between the palms of your hands into walnut-sized balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and arrange on your prepared baking sheets. Don’t put too many on each sheet or too closely together as when they expand upwards and outwards, they may merge into larger splats! Bake for about 15 minutes, by which time they should be turning golden-brown. Take out of the oven and leave to rest on the baking sheets for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool. It should make about 32 according to the recipe, but I hadn’t the faintest idea of how large a walnut was, so I made them quite big and ended up with three rows of six round blobs, eighteen in total. They weren’t “obviously” underdone in the middle, although I did wonder; they were softer in the middle than on the very crisp outside.