What Delilah Did

Herman the Friendship Cake

When I met up with a friend recently he came bearing gifts. Well one specific, rather random gift actually, courtesy of his mother: Herman the friendship cake (though at the time he was not a cake, just a little bowl full of bubbly yellowish slop). I freely admit that I am hopelessly out of touch with the modern world and was therefore a little baffled as I had never heard of a friendship cake, but thankfully he came with a sheet of instructions.

It is basically a bit like a chain email (which I loathe) but using cake (which I love!). Herman is a living yeast mixture that you have to feed with various ingredients over a number of days, before giving four parts of the mixture to friends to carry on the chain, and turning the fifth part into a yummy spiced apple cake. A little research told me this is not a new idea, but based on a traditional Amish sweet bread that uses a sourdough starter. I have never had much luck with yeast-based things as I can never get them to rise properly, but because this evolves so slowly it is foolproof.

I can't deny I was a little dubious at the thought of the mixture sitting around for goodness knows how long in various random people's houses, but I got over it and the resulting cake was really yummy (and I haven't died from food poisoning yet), so if the mixture reaches you and you can turn a blind eye to the health and safety quagmire, then I recommend you try it!

If you like the look of this cake but have yet to be gifted a bowl of yeasty goo, you could always start your own - I found a link to the recipe here. And if you can't be bothered with any of that never fear as Herman bears more than a passing resemblance to this apple loaf cake, so maybe give that a try instead...

Happy Sunday!

Delilah x

Cake-Cups

 
       

        

I found these brilliant little cupcake measuring cups in London a couple of weeks ago (I can finally make some of the American recipes I have now without having to faff about with converting everything to weight measurements first) and I have been just itching to use them ever since.

I finally got a chance to make these little pink cupcakes and they were scrummy. It was also my first attempt at icing with a piping bag...not as easy as it looks! The first one I tried was an absolute disgrace, but they got steadily less awful so that by the time I got to the last couple of cakes the icing was almost passable.

I suppose that means I will just have to keep making cakes to ice until I get them perfect...what a hardship.

Delilah x

Odds and Ends

A few things I have been meaning to share with you for a while...

 
1. My Very First Victoria Sponge

I have never had much luck with large cakes as I am not generally very precise in my baking methods and I have found that the larger the cake, the less room for interpretation there is. But as lovely as cupcakes and muffins are, sometimes only a big cake will do. So I put my trust in Mary and as usual she did not fail - it came out perfectly. I just cannot seem to leave it at that though...I have started imagining all sorts of scrumptious new versions of sandwich cakes now that I have successfully mastered the most basic one. I can only hope that my experiments will be more of an ode to Nigella than to Dibley's Mrs Cropley...watch this space.

 

 

2. The Amazing Giantess: Maggie

Very well, that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but will you look at the size of her! Maggie is growing at a rate of knots and I can hardly keep up. Though I suppose that means all my hard work is 
paying off considering how tiny she was when I brought her home. She is becoming very lithe and elegant just like her namesake, and her eyes are now brown like mine. Don't be fooled by her appearance though...she still has enough mischief in her to spread between a dozen kittens and she is determined to make the most of it!

 

 

3. A Little Something New

In the small moments I have managed to steal between life and Maggie (the two apparently being mutually exclusive), I have been working on something new: above is a sneak peak. In the words of Rolf Harris...can you tell what it is yet?

Delilah x

Jammy Dodgers

 

Thanks to a lack of time and frequent requests for specific biscuits and cookies I tend to make the same recipes over and again rather than experimenting with new ones, but for my sister's birthday I thought I'd try something a little different. I say a little because technically its basis is one of my tried and tested recipes, but I thought it may be time to give it a twist...and behold, my take on the humble jammy dodger.

 

I used this recipe for the shortbread dough (leaving out the chocolate) but made the following alterations:

1. Roll the dough out to be half as thick as usual - i.e. 0.5cm - since the biscuits are stacked in pairs.

2. Cut out whole circles of all the same size and place them on the baking trays, and then once they are on the trays use a smaller cutter to cut the holes in half of the batch. If you try to do this before you move them onto the trays the biscuits will stretch out of shape. I used quite large cutters so the recipe only made a batch of 8 (once assembled) but the quantities can easily be doubled to make more.

3. Leave the biscuits to cool completely before very carefully sandwiching them together with about a teaspoon of jam per pair. I stress "very carefully" because I managed to break a couple of mine when I tried to do this. The trick is to gently sort of wiggle the top half onto the jam without pressing too heavily on the outsides of the biscuit with the hole in as this causes too much stress to the thinner parts and they just crack - once you get the knack it's a piece of cake though I promise! I used rasberry jam because that was what I had in the house, but any would do - though I do love the look of the deep red.

Et voila!

 

I was really thrilled with how they turned out, and they were very yummy too. All in all a rather good present.

Delilah x

Spiced Fruit Flapjacks

I have been meaning to post the recipe to these for quite some time now - as far as I am concerned they are the best flapjacks I have ever tasted: sticky, chewy, spicy, rich and with a little crunch around the edges if you cook them for long enough (which I ensure that I do since that is absolutely my favourite bit). I love regular flapjacks too (which you can make from this recipe too - just leave out the fruit and spices), but for something that tastes a bit more grown up I suggest you give these a try. They took a bit of perfecting but I got there in the end...

***

Spiced Fruit Flapjacks

(Makes 12-16)

225g butter (I prefer to use lightly salted butter)

225g demerara sugar

75 golden syrup

300g whole oats

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice

150g mixed dried fruit (I use 50g each of raisins, sultanas & cranberries, but whatever you have in the house will do just fine)

***

1. Line a deep sided tin (mine is 24cm x 24cm x 5cm ) with baking parchment - it is best to cut a large square, enough to reach up the sides of the tin, and just fold it around the edges and corners rather than lining the base and sides separately. The mixture is very runny when it is in the oven and this way it won't leak. Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees.

2. Melt the butter, syrup, sugar and spices in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is all combined. 

3. Next add the dried fruit to the mixture - stir for a minute or so to allow the fruit to absorb the syrup and plump up, then stir in the oats. It will look like there is barely enough syrup to cover the oats, but don't worry - any more and the flapjacks will not set properly. Make sure all of the oats are coated with the syrup mixture and then pour the lot into the lined tin. Using the back of a wooden spoon press the oats firmly down into the tin and even out the surface.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes until they are golden brown and bubbling.

5. Let them rest in the tin for about 30 minutes or so, or until they start to hold their shape and the syrup is no longer runny. I then find it easiest to then carefully lift the whole lot out of the tin (baking parchment and all), and cut it into squares or slices on the paper before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool (this time without the paper).

6. Once this is done the only thing left to do is to gobble them up!

Enjoy!

Delilah x

Blondies

I fancied a change from brownies so I thought I would give these blondies a go. I used a recipe from here, but whilst they were perfectly nice in their own way, they just didn't stand a hope when compared with my usual brownies (I don't mean to sound big headed, but my brownies really are that good). They were too cakey and not dense and stodgy enough, and in my opinion that is the whole point of baked goods from the brownie family...gentlemen may prefer blondes but I think I will stick to brownies.

In the process of making them however I have come to the conclusion that my oven is pants. I had to cook them for twice as long as it said, and I don't think it is getting anywhere near as hot as it should be. It never used to matter as I just made things up as I went along, but I am noticing it more and more now that I am trying to teach myself to do things properly. It's also quite irritating as it means that the times and temperatures I have given in my recipes until now might be a bit dodgy...so until I am able to get a new oven (which could be quite some time!) I suggest that if you are lucky enough to be in possession of a properly functioning oven (I know all ovens cook differently anyway but you know what I mean) and you wish to make one of my recipes you should maybe cook things for a little less time than the recipe says.

Delilah x

Blueberry & Lemon Cheesecake

Yes, I know - more food...

It's not that I haven't been doing any stitching, it's just that the things I am doing at the moment are bigger, ongoing things that I am not quite ready to show you yet (soon though, I promise). So for now I'm afraid we will have to make do with scrumptious things.

I had never made a cheesecake before, which is ridiculous as it is absolutely one of my very favourite things to eat. It doesn't really travel well though so I thought I had better wait until there were enough people here to eat it or I would just make myself sick. The occasion was my family's first proper visit to my home since it has been finished, and this was dessert.

I wasn't organised enough to get all of the ingredients in beforehand so I followed one of Mary's recipes for the base and filling (since she hasn't lied to me yet I thought it a good idea to put my first attempt at cheesecake in her capable hands), but sort of made up the sauce for the topping which was surprisingly successful. It involved blueberries and sugar and a slosh of maple syrup and I can't honestly remember what else as I just added little things here and there until it resembled something one might be happy to put on top of a cheesecake. The only problem being that I may well struggle to repeat it, which is a shame because it was really delicious - fresh and zingy and the perfect dessert. And best of all, everybody had second helpings so I was not left with piles of the stuff to tempt me!

Next time I will have to try a baked version, as in my humble opinion they are my best kind of cheesecake - though I must admit I am hugely daunted as it seems there are so many little things that go wrong...any tips?

Delilah x

All Is Forgiven

I managed to work myself up to trying another recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook for my most recent baking-lesson adventure: apple loaf cake.

Though I did tweak a few things and will probably tweak a few more the next time I make it, I am relieved to report it was a success. Moist and tangy and really delicious (especially for breakfast).

Hummingbird Bakery - your cupcake recipe may be pants but you are back in the running!

Delilah x

Fudge...or something like it

I have been the proud owner of a sugar thermometer for no less than a year - bought with the intention of making fudge until as usual life got in the way. Therefore Mr Thermometer waited patiently in his wrapping until last week when I finally found a little time to avail of his services. Well, I say a little time...

I have come to the conclusion that fudge is one of those things, like bread, that has remarkably simple ingredients and yet is an absolute pig to make until you get the hang of it. I have given up on bread, but refused to do the same with fudge. And so after four failed attempts (yes, four!) and approximately twelve hours of boiling and stirring and waiting (yes, twelve!) I finally found a way of making something very closely resembling the sort of fudge one might buy in the shops. Hurrah.

It was a bit of a mish mash of methods and quantities and so I want to try it again to make sure I can repeat it, but as soon as I do I will let you know my recipe. And I know I said I was going to follow other people's recipes for a while but since every one I have tried for fudge hasn't really worked very well I have resorted to concocting my own. I think that is allowed.

Despite the blister on my hand from hours of stirring I now seem to have become inexplicably obsessed with making fudge. And it really is incredibly yummy too.

 

Delilah x

Lesson Number Three

 

The flapjack.

I have made flapjacks before but they have never been quite right - I like them chewy and not too soft, just like the ones we had fresh from the Aga on cold winter days when we were children. Actually the way my aunt cooked them meant you practically had to chip them out of the tin with a chisel, but they were still very very good.

 

 

 

I decided to keep mine simple and try to get the consistency just right before I start adding all manner of extra ingredients as is my way, and since Mary served me so well with the gingernuts I thought I would give her another try. Well they were just perfect, hurrah! I really couldn't fault them. Chewy and golden and full of warm fuzzies. This book is fast becoming my very favourite thing.

Delilah x