A Birthday Cake for a good friend

I am sorry that I have not posted anything on here for a while, I have just been too busy to write any recipes down.

So I thought I would show you the cake I made for a good friend of mine, it was her birthday and I wanted to make something girlie but grown-up at the same time. I decided to make a Devils food cake, I found the recipe on this site www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/08/devils-food-cak/. It was easy to make and the sponge was soft and moist and not too rich. The icing though was very rich but really good, I used some milk and dark chocolate mixed together so it wouldn't be too much.

The only problem with this recipe is that the measurement are in cups for the most part, I am lucky to have a measuring jug that has cups on it. But there are plenty of Devils Food cake recipes out there if you don't have anything to measure it by.

I did have another problem but I think that was me and the heat of the weather, was that the icing separated when it was cooling. I gave it a good mix and drained off the butter that would not mix back though and that seemed to fix it.

For the decorations, I bought the hearts and butterflies from a local cake shop we have, along with the glitter and pre-made sugar paste. To make the roses I followed the directions from this site www.cherrymenlove.com/foodrecipes/2010/02/how-to-make-sugar-paste-roses.html. 

I had looked on several sites for this and found this was the easiest way for me and they looked really good, it took a couple of attempts but they are worth the effort. Next time I may do them two different colours, I think the contrast will look really good.

I hope you like and I promise to write some more recipes out and post them on here

Nylon Angel xxx

Fennel and parsley lamb kofta’s with a lime, coriander and chilli yogurt and coriander Couscous

The title of this dish is a little long, so you might be thinking a lot of hard work goes into it. But you would be wrong, it’s a simple dish, just a bit of chopping or in my case the use of my food processor. To create a fantastic looking and tasting dinner.

When you think of lamb kofta’s you think of them being on metal or wooden skewers, but when I went to make these the first time I didn’t have any. So I formed the shapes I wanted and cooked them in a hot frying pan and they came out the same. Plus you’re going to take them off the skewer to eat them.

The fennel in the lamb gives it a fragrant aniseed taste that matches the sharp lime and warmth from the chilli that goes through the yogurt.

The amounts I am giving here for the lamb is enough to make two lots for two to three people or one large lot for four to five people. I will make this amount and put half of the raw mixture in the freezer and use the other half for that night. It saves time the next time you want to do it, just take it from the freezer and let it thaw out completely before forming and cooking as normal.

The rest of the ingredients is to serve two to three people, just double the amount if you are serving all the lamb. You can vary the amount of chilli and lime in the yogurt if you want to suit your taste.

Ingredients

For the lamb kofta’s

1000g mince lamb

3 red onions

1 Tbsp. fennel seed

1 small bunch fresh flat leaf parsley

2 cloves of garlic

1 egg yolk

For the yogurt

1 small pot of Greek yogurt

2 small red chilli finely chopped (you can leave the seeds if you want)

2 to 3 limes

A small handful of finely chopped coriander

For the Couscous

200g Couscous

2 red onions

1 large handful of coriander

2 cloves garlic

To serve

3 pita bread

To make the lamb kofta’s either use a food processor to chop the onions, parsley, garlic and fennel seeds together. Or finely chop everything, you can bash the seed up or leave them whole. When that is all done mix with the egg yolk and season with salt and pepper. Then you can add the mince lamb to that and mix well with your hands. I do not mix the lamb in the food processor as I find it give the lamb a funny texture I do not like.

You can then half the mixture if freezing one half or leave it as one and refrigerate ready to use. Leaving it on the fridge makes it easier to handle and it give it time for the flavours to grow in there.

You can make the yogurt just before or a couple of hours, as long as you keep it in the fridge it will keep for a day or so.

Empty the yogurt into a bowl and mix in the finely chopped chilli, coriander and juice of 2 of the limes, mix and taste. If you want to add the juice of the other lime you can, if not leave it. Season and taste again. Cover and keep cold.

This is the first part of the Couscous, what you want to do is chop the red onions and fry in a saucepan with a little oil until golden. Add the garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes at this stage you have a choice you can add half the coriander to cook it through as some people prefer the taste when it’s been cook through. But if like me, you love the fresh taste of it you can leave that till the end. Once than is done turn the heat off.

Now to form the lamb, I get a small handful of the lamb mixture, a bit bigger than a golf ball. I roll this and make them slightly sausage like. You can make them longer or like meatball if you want.

Heat a frying pan with a little oil, wait till hot and add the kofta’s. If you have a big enough pan you will be able to get them all in without squashing them all together. Turn them over after a minute or two as should have browned. Pour any excuses liquid away and leave t cook over a medium heat turning a couple of times for ten minutes.

When you have five minutes to go, boil a kettle and turn the onions back on. When the kettle has boiled add the Couscous to the onion stir till it all mix together. Pour enough water over to cover the Couscous and a little more. Put a lid on and turn the heat off, this will cook the Couscous in five minutes.

The lamb should be nearly done at this stage, check a piece. If they are cook you can turn the heat off and leave to rest for a couple. While that is resting heat the pita breads in a toaster or under the grill and heat through. Cut them in half and serve one and a half each.

The Couscous should be cook, if not leave a bit longer. Mix in the rest of the coriander and serve on a plate along with an even amount of the kofta’s beside it and a dollop of the yogurt (or u can put this in a small ramekin) and the pita breads.

That’s it, it may seem a lot to do, but it’s really easy and it tastes so good, we normally put a little of everything in the pita breads and get an epic taste explosion, that is fresh, hot and fragrant all at the same time.

Enjoy xxx

Vanilla Muffins with Galaxy chocolate icing

I have been trying to make the perfect sponge cake for years and it’s not been turning out very well, my skill in cooking is with savoury not with cakes and muffins. But I haven’t let that put me off, because I love making cakes.

One day my boyfriend came home with some muffins that a customer had made for him, the woman who had made then had iced them with butter icing and sprinkled them with edible glitter. They looked fantastic and when I tasted them I couldn’t believe how light and fluffy they were and how wonderful they tasted.

The next day my boyfriend told her how much I loved them and couldn’t believe how light and fluffy she had managed to make them. So she kindly gave him the recipe, which I am forever thankful for.

When I first made them, I found it very strange that I could do the whole lot in a food processer, even the flour. Because I was under the impression that you had to fold the flour in and be gentle so not to knock out all the air. But trust me when I say this, it works, but it may be because you use plain flour instead of self-raising.

I have yet to try this with hand blender or by hand, as I have a food processor and I am too lazy. But if you try it another way, let me know how they turn out.

If you want to get the glitter, you can go to any cake shop and find all sorts of stuff to decorate them with. The best glitter is the silver or white one as they show up on all colours of icing. I once made black icing and put some of the white glitter on it and it really made it look very special. You can also buy icing or sugar flowers, butterflies, hearts etc. to make your muffins look extra special.

For the icing you can make a plain butter icing (the same recipe I use here without the chocolate) or you can add a flavour, lemon, orange, white chocolate etc. I like to make a plain flavoured cake and have a flavoured icing, but it up to you.

Cake

·         6oz. Caster sugar

·         6oz. Plain flour

·         6oz. Butter

·         3tsp Baking powder

·         3 Large eggs

·         Cap of vanilla extract

Icing

·         200g Butter

·         200g Icing sugar

·         200g Galaxy chocolate

Pre heat you oven to gas mark 7, 220c

Cream the butter and sugar together in food processor, until pale in colour, this can take anything from five to ten minutes, it will depend how soft your butter was to start. While that is mixing beat the eggs and add the vanilla extract to it. Also sieve the flour and baking powder together.

Once the butter and sugar are pale in colour add a little egg while it’s still mixing, then a little flour, keep doing this until everything is mixed together. Carry on mixing for about two minutes, you will find this mixture is very light and smooth.

Divide into muffin cases that are in a muffin tray, I normally get 12 muffins out of this mix, I fill them about halfway as I don’t want them over flowing when cooking.

I also put these cakes in the bottom self and put a baking tray on the top sleeve. I’ve found this stops them peaking in the centre and gives them a flat surface making them easy to decorate.

Place in oven and bake for about ten to fifteen minutes until lightly golden, test with a metal skewer if it comes out clean the cakes are cooked if not they need more time. But keep an eye them, you do not want them to burn.

Take them from the muffin tray and put on wire rank and leave to cool completely before you ice as the icing with melt and not look very good.

To make icing break the chocolate up and put in a microwaveable bowl and zap it for short blasts in the microwave, keep checking and string till melted and leave to one side to cool a little.

Cream the butter till soft then sieve in the icing sugar and mix together you can do this by hand or processor. When mixed add the chocolate and stir till it’s all mixed, this makes a little more icing than you need but it’s better to have too much than not enough. If you do have any left-overs you can leave it in the fridge for a couple of days. It’s a good excuse to make more cake, not that you need any.

You can pipe the icing on or just spoon it on and spread with a knife till you get your desired look. When they are covered you can decorate them any way you want. With the glitter I find it easier to get a sheet of paper fold it and pour a little glitter in there and sprinkle it on that way. Otherwise you get an explosion of glitter on them and the kitchen

Good luck and I hope you enjoy xxx

Melting Moments

Now there are several versions of melting moments, but these are the ones that my mum always made with her own little touch of a little jam on top. It’s the sort of biscuits you can quickly make if someone is popping round or you just fancy something sweet.

When I made these the first time for my boyfriend, he was like I love melting moment. So I made them and when they came out the oven and I presented them to him, he took one look and said these are not melting moments, they don’t have coconut on them.

My reaction was, they are. These are how my mum makes them and the recipe in the book says that they are melting moments. Well after trying them, he said he didn’t care what they were called, he thought they were great and asked for me to bake another batch.

The jam on the top is an addition my mum added and it really makes these biscuits, they were good before but now they are great. It adds a sweet fruity bust of flavour.

Before you bake these biscuit you roll them in oats or cornflakes, I prefer the oats but it’s up to you, you could even use honey-nut cornflakes. It’s all up to you.

·         4oz. Butter

·         3oz. Sugar

·         1 Egg Yolk

·         5oz. Self-raising flour

·         A few drops of vanilla essence

·         Jam (raspberry, strawberry, mixed fruit)

·         A large handful of rolled oats or crushed cornflakes

Heat your oven to gas mark 5, 190c

Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the egg yolk and flavour with a few drops of vanilla essence. Fold in the flour, to form a stiff dough. Divide into 20 small ball, roll between your palm to make the ball. Roll in the oats or crushed cornflakes and put on a pre-greased baking tray and flatten them and make a small indent in the centre and put a small teaspoon amount of jam in it.

Put in oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, remove from oven and put on wire rank. They may seem very soft but a minute or so will firm them up.

They are wonderful just from the oven with a cup of tea or coffee or just as a passing snack.

Mr Poep’s Butternut Squash Soup

I was given this recipe by a very good friend, whose an excellent cook and a great guy.

This is a super easy recipe, but it’s really tasty, you will need to start this the night before for the butternut squash to release its natural sugar.

·         3 butternut squash

·         250ml single cream

The night before you want to have this dish, you will need to peel and take the seeds out of the centre, then cube it and put in a large saucepan cover and leave. You do not need to add anything to it, no water or seasoning.  This way the natural sugar in the squash will release and make this soup extra tasty.

The next day about an hour before you want this, cover the butternut squash with water and bring to the boil, then shimmer till the squash is tender. Drain and put in a liquidiser and blend till smooth, then pour the cream in as you blend. You do not need to add all the cream, it’s too taste. I prefer it with less cream but you may like it with more.

Now you can add a little salt and pepper to it, but trust me it doesn’t need it (but I do put a little pepper in my potion as I love pepper)

It’s ready to serve, it’s that easy and it tastes fantastic.

To serve, I like to put it in tea cups with saucers but of course it will look just as good in a bowl.

As you will notice in the picture I served the soup with pasty twirls, now the only reason I did this was because I made a chocolate pecan pie for afters that day and had left over short crust pasty. So I cut long strips out buttered them and sprinkled them with cumin seeds. I then twirled them and put on an oiled baking tray and put it freezer.

When frozen I put into an oven of about 180 to 200 degrees for about ten to fifteen minutes until golden brown.  They went really well with the soup and added some bite to the smooth creamy soup.

Next time I would like to try them with puff pastry, but if you have any savoury pastry left over I am sure it would work well and the cumin works really well with the buttery squash.

Enjoy xxx

I am back and with cake!!!

I know I have not been looking after this blog and I have to say sorry, but life has got in the way. I am writing a book that I would love to publish and I have been trying to get on with that. But of course I have had writers block, and that makes writing a future top seller a little hard lol.

Anyway enough of that and on to cooking, I have been trying to come up with some new recipes. One of which I cooked for my lovey other-half on valentines day. And I promise to write it up and put it on here as soon as I make it again, to make sure it wasn't a one off wonder lol.

It was my lovey step-mums birthday the other week and for her birthday I made her a vanillia sponge with galaxy chocolate icing (another recipe I will add on here). I decorated it with pretty little flowers I found in the local cake shop and to delight it looked pretty good and she loved it.

So here is a couple of pictures of the cake to see what you think.

With love Nylon Angel xxx