Monday, 9 December 2013

White Chocolate and Mincemeat Chrstmas Cheesecake


I made this delicious baked white chocolate cheesecake just after Christmas last year - but just never got round to blogging the recipe ! I used some left over mincemeat from an earlier batch (made several loads) from THIS recipe, but the recipe works just as well if you substitute just raisins soaked in alcohol or even soft fruits such as raspberries.

Cheesecake can be rather heavy going at the best of times, so I used some genoise sponge instead of a biscuit base

Genoise base

4 eggs
125g white sugar
125g plain flour
80g butter

cream butter and sugar, add in eggs and sieved flour. Bake at approx 150deg c. Slice in half

450g white chocolate
285ml double cream
400g full fat soft cheese (Philadelphia)
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1 packed cup of mincemeat - see recipe

Heat the oven to 150deg C fan

Grease an 8" tin and line with baking paper.

Wrap the outside of the tin in foil, and place it in a bain marie (roasting tin filled 1/2 full with boiling water) 

Bake for 1 hour, then leave in oven 1.1/2 to 2 hours (with the oven turned off).

Cool and refrigerate overnight before serving


Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Chocolate Cupcakes (Eggless) with Gingerbread Frosting - RECIPE



These cupcakes have a deep, dark, delicious flavour and a real wintery / Christmas feel.

They are very simple to make and require minimal time and effort. My gingerbread frosting is silky smooth - not overly sweet and lightly spiced with a strong biscuity flavour.

The chocolate cupcake part of this recipe is suitable for vegans or those with egg allergies and handy to have in your recipe book.

The dinky little chocolate bars are made in the mini tablet bar silicone mould which is available to buy from our website at www.siliconemoulds.com - currently for £2.25 plus p&p. Simply pipe in tempered chocolate and leave to set. As soon as they are hardened, the mini bars are ready to use.

I used a JEM 2D piping nozzle for the swirls on these cupcakes and 18" strong, savoy disposable piping bags - currently a bargain at 10 for £1.00 !


The chocolate cupcake recipe is enough to make 12.
The frosting recipe makes enough to do 18 > 24 cupcakes. Extra frosting can be frozen.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES (EGGLESS)

1 cup (250mls) of milk - normal or soya
1 tsp cider vinegar
3/4 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
2tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup of plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder
good pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 170deg C fan / 180deg C normal.


Sieve dry ingredients and add wet. Mix with a balloon whisk until well combined and no lumps remain.

Transfer the mix (will be runny) into a jug and split evenly between the 12 cupcake liners.

Bake for approx 20mins until cocktail stick comes out clean.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.



Here is the secret to my gingerbread biscuit frosting....

This stuff is awesome ! In Europe, it tends to be called Speculoos. In the UK, the closest we get are Lotus biscuits - yummy little carmelised spiced biscuits often served alongside coffee.

The lovely people at Lotus now distribute this as a spread in the UK and it's widely available in many supermarkets such as Waitrose and Sainsbury's.

GINGERBREAD BISCUIT FROSTING

125g salted butter
200g Lotus spread (1/2 a jar)
2 tbsp of condensed milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract
3 cups sieved icing / powdered sugar
150ml double cream
2 tsp mixed spice.

First of all, warm the cream and add the mixed spice. Leave to cool and infuse.

Cream the butter and Lotus spread until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and infused cream. Beat with a hand mixer until thick and silky smooth (took about 10mins)



Enjoy !

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com  - December 2013

Saturday, 9 November 2013

Seasonal Clementine and Cinnamon Malt Loaf - (adapted from a Paul Hollywood Recipe)



It's a miserable and wet afternoon and I'm home with a poorly little boy.

Other than snuggles with my little man, what better is there to do than spend the afternoon making bread !

I've adapted an original Paul Hollywood recipe to give it my own twist. 

This smells really Christmassy and is very flavourful without being over-powering.

25g salted butter
25g white granulated sugar
90g malt extract
70g black treacle
2 clementines, with very thin, tight skin
2 tsp cinnamon
350g white bread flour
150g spelt flour
200mls warm water
225g mixed vine fruits (sultanas, raisins, etc)
14g fast action yeast


Put butter, sugar, malt extract and black treacle in a pan and stir on a medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Take two, tight skinned clementines (the type where there is no bitter white pith under the skin) and check they have no pips. Blend to a puree and then add to the warm syrup mix in the pan.

Put flours, salt, vine fruit, cinnamon and yeast (away from the salt) into another bowl. Add the water and bring together. Tip on to a floured work surface and knead lightly for a few mins until a soft dough comes together.

Cut dough into two equal pieces. These can either then be put into 1lb loaf moulds and then covered and left to rise for about 2 hours. I chose to use 1 x 1lb loaf mould and 1 x 10 cell mini loaf mould (of which I filled 9 small cells with 75grams of dough per cell)

Bake larger 1lb loaf for 30mins at 190deg C, small ones for 12mins.

On removing from the oven, brush the tops with agave nectar, honey or syrup whilst still hot. Remove from moulds / tins and allow to cool.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - November 2013

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Peanut Nougatine Chocolate Truffle Slicing / Sharing Log - A Real Treat !


Often, my creations don't come out as I originally intended. Like this one... 

In the beginning, I intended to make a peanut nougat - but on tasting the mixture, decided it was a bit too sickly sweet on it's own and then transformed it into these slicing bars.

Thankfully, I made a note of exactly what I did / used along the way ! If you have made marshmallows before, you'll find this a breeze.

Actually, I think it would be mind blowing done with pistachio nuts and dipped in white or dark chocolate.... 

This recipe creates quite a large batch. Either 6 large slicing bars, or 4 large / 4 medium or 8 medium. Ideal for Christmas hampers !

Recipe

 Ingredients .... For the Nougatine : 

2 egg whites
1.1/2 cups / 320g granulated sugar 
150ml corn syrup (or glucose)
150ml golden syrup
2tsp of Frangelico (hazelnut liquer) - if you have any
2tsp vanilla extract
60ml water
150g of crunchy peanut butter - eg Sunpat / JIF
sea salt
125g of white chocolate

200g salted peanuts

Ingredients ...... for the ganache

500g of milk (or dark) chocolate
1 tsp glucose / corn syrup
275g double cream

Belgian couverture chocolate for coating (sorry - I did not weigh how much I used)

You will need liquid glucose. Liquid glucose is very very thick and sticky - not unlike golden syrup I suppose - but totally clear and even stickier still. Most supermarkets stock it in 140g tubes, or you can buy it from Boots The Chemist. Do ask for it at Boots though as it is generally not on display. Alternatively, corn syrup is what is used in most American recipes for nougat. I've just found it on Ebay and Amazon in the UK, so if you are struggling for liquid glucose then you will need some corn syrup.

You CAN use all corn syrup / glucose in this recipe if you prefer. I wanted a golden tint from the golden syrup for this nougat, but all golden syrup would have made it far too sickly sweet. It's seriously sweet as it is ! I'd suggest you invest in some corn syrup...

You WILL need a sugar thermometer. Don't even think of trying this without one - temperature is absolutely critical. Too high and you'll burn the caramel part and too low it'll just never set....

For those in the UK, corn syrup can be bought from Amazon.co.uk. Works out considerably cheaper than buying liquid glucose. Golden syrup can be used as a substitute, but it's a lot sweeter in taste. Worth investing in corn syrup for candy making - the difference (ease) is incredible. Some larger branches of TESCO now also have a small American isle and now stock corn syrup.

METHOD

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside (if using instead of extract). Put the pod itself and the sugar, corn syrup, golden syrup and water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248  to 250deg F. This will take about 15 to 20 mins.

Melt the chocolate, peanut butter and vanilla / frangelico together.

Whip the egg whites to firm peak. With the mixer on full, pour in the hot syrup on to the egg whites. Now mix in the melted chocolate / peanut butter / vanilla / frangelico. Only mix for about 1 > 2 minutes after adding the peanut butter mix. 

Scrape into a well oiled 8" square silicone mould / pan and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. Leave to cool and then refrigerate until set.



Remove from the mould and place between two sheets of greaseproof paper. Roll out to approx 14" square. You can now cut this into two pieces, or leave whole and cut later....  I put my nougatine (bottom paper still in place) on top of my tray. The tray I used is a vegetable roasting tray that came from Lakeland. It's very handy and big - also fits perfectly over my sink !


Pulse the salted peanuts a couple of times in a food processor to break up a little, then spread all over the nougatine and press into the surface.


------------------------

To make the ganache : scald the cream - ie put in a pan and bring just to the boil. Make sure to stir constantly so it does not catch on the base of the pan.

 Put the chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute to start it softening. Take cream off the heat, and then pour over the chocolate. Add the glucose / corn syrup. Mix with a spatula until all the chocolate has melted and emulsified with the cream. Set aside to cool and thicken. It's ideal if you shove it in the fridge for an hour or two.

When spreadable (a bit like nutella out of a jar - actually - that would be a damn good cheat !), use all of it to spread over the nougatine.


Put in the fridge to harden up a bit for another hour or so.

I then trimmed up the end with a knife and cut it into two pieces.

Dust your hands and work surface liberally with icing sugar. Use the paper to help roll each piece up from the long end, much like a swiss roll. You'll end up with what looks like those marrowbone things for the dog !


Roll out each large sausage and then divide as required. I made 4 great big fat pieces about 8" long and 2" dia, plus 4 smaller ones - approx 6" long and 1" dia.

Wrap each piece individually in cling film / saran wrap and pop in the freezer for an hour or two to harden. They need to be quite firm and stay rigid when you handle them for dipping in chocolate.

When hardened (but NOT frozen solid !) remove from the freezer. Temper some Belgian couverture chocolate - either milk or dark - white will be much too sweet. I have no idea how much chocolate I used - but I'd guess around 500g.

Put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves and dunk the whole bar in the chocolate, allowing excess to run off. Don't try dipping these with forks etc - at this size, you've no chance ! The gloves may stick to the chocolate a little, so take fingers straight back off and immediately re dunk.

Place on a silicone baking sheet and allow to harden. The chocolate will harden quickly as the bars are quite cold.


Store and serve the bars at room temperature. Slice with a warm, sharp knife into 1cm / 3/8" thick slices.

Enjoy !



Mum - one is on it's way to you. Oliver and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit from Nanny and Pappy last weekend. x


Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - November 2013

Monday, 4 November 2013

Farty Pants Soup ? We'll Find Out Tomorrow ! (and Rye Sourdough Crackers)


Well - that got your attention ! Now - stop sniggering ...... :-P

This was a healthy meal and a really nice bowl of soup.... but I would imagine that it could have self propellant properties !

My husband came in from work tonight and first thing he did was open the fridge door.

 "Oh - there is nothing worth eating in the fridge - what's for dinner ?"

"There are some chicken breasts in there.....", I said.

"Hmm - can't be bothered"

"Well - there is soup in the pot."

I think Steve is fed up of soup. I have soup a lot. That's diets for you - and I can pack loads of different veggies into a pot of soup and keep the calories down. I don't often use pulses at the moment and carbs such as potatoes, pasta, rice and bread are a rare occurrence for me these days.

However, I'd done a fridge sweep and the veggies which were hovering on the verge of binable went in the pot. It wasn't really enough. There was little there apart from a big bag of sprouts, a potato and an onion.

"What sort of soup is it ?", he asked.

"Oh - you know - just vegetables and stuff...." That was the only answer he got. Well - I wasn't exactly going to tell him it was sprout and bean soup. That might be enough to put anyone off !

Lets just say - it tasted far better than the ingredients sound. Tee hee - but it might make other sounds tomorrow !!

INGREDIENTS

Serves approx 5 > 6

400g of peeled brussel sprouts
250g of peeled potatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
1 tin of butterbeans
3 Knorr Chicken Stock cubes
1/4 tsp white pepper
good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
approx 700mls water

2 > 3 slices of bacon (fat removed) - chopped up finely and fried until crispy.

Shoved all except the bacon in my electric pressure cooker for 40mins and then blended to a thick, smooth consistency. Top dress with some crispy bacon bits.

Serve to un-suspecting husband and pass off as just "Vegetable Soup" then make sure you sleep in the spare room. (Just kidding !)

Served with rye sourdough crackers with a scraping of butter.

--------------------------------------------------------------

(Reposting rye sourdough crackers recipe for my own convenience !)

RYE CRACKERS

500g full fat milk
40g honey
30g rye sourdough starter
500g rye flour
250g white bread flour
20g salt
5g bicarbonate of soda
10g spice of choice - ie ginger, cardamom, cumin, caraway, fennel

Knead for 10 > 15 mins in Kitchenaid. Cover and leave overnight.

Next day, roll out balls of approx 50g as thinly as possible on to a silicone mat floured with rye flour. Prick with a fork. Brush with water and top with flaked sea salt and seeds / spices etc ( we used fennel on some and cummin on others). 

Bake at 180deg C for approx  8 > 10mins

Oliver's 5th Birthday Skull Cakes with Gore and Dry Ice !


Happy Birthday Oliver !

I can't believe you are 5 years old already. The last year has been such a blur - but so full of fun ! Was it really a year ago we made that gingerbread pirate ship ?

Hope you enjoyed this year's birthday fun. Soon be time to start thinking about what cake you want when you turn 6 ! Love you loads little man. Mummy xxxx


For Oliver's birthday this year (25th of November, 2013), we had two cakes. One for his party and the other for the day of his birthday - which just happened to be a school day.

After all - you can't have a birthday if you don't have a cake I'm told. That's why Mummy gets to be 38 for another year :-)

The cake above and directly below is cake number 2 - the party cake. 

The small skull was made of white chocolate using the Wilton 3D Dimensons Mini Skull Pan. The top tier cake was red inside and the bottom tier was bright green. Vivid - but just a simple lemon cake with lemon buttercream. The spider web effect is hand painted with lustre dusts.

We had some super awesome fun at the play centre with some dry ice. Watch the kid's expressions in the video. Oliver is still talking about it....




It's ok - it's not REAL smoke....


Happy (tired) boy having a cuddle with Daddy.


Spooky juice anyone ?


----------------------------------------------------

Here is the other birthday cake. Oliver got to take it to school !

You will no doubt recognize the life size chocolate skull as I made one last month and blogged about it. Also - the recipe for the marshmallow eyeballs is here. Put them together ..... with some marshmallow krispy treats and strawberry ice cream sauce..... and it makes one heck of a mess when you smash it up !





Oliver and Mrs Newberry cutting the cake.


Yikes - that's a bit scary inside Mummy !


Even after eating marshmallow krispy brains dipped in strawberry blood along with eyeballs - the kids still had room for some cake !


Racing around on the playing field after school with Alfie.



Sarah-Jane Nash - Mummy to Oliver age 5 ! - www.siliconemoulds.com - Nov 2013

Thursday, 31 October 2013

Golden Maple, Bacon and Chocolate Macarons - Mastering Macarons (Classes)


The idea of these may be enough to initially turn your stomach, but believe me ... it really REALLY works !

Maple syrup and bacon have been paired together for a very long time in good old US of A, but it's something that has never really become a big thing in Western Europe.

If you have a surf through the web, you will also find that maple and bacon cakes, doughnuts and even popcorn are all in trend at the moment.

I had the idea of combining chocolate, maple and bacon in macarons some time ago, yet didn't have the heart to commit to making a whole batch of macarons to find out nobody liked them...

Well, my storeman; Colin, wanted to make some macarons for his parents Golden Wedding Anniversary. Colin came in one night and had a masterclass in macarons. We made a batch of chocolate and coconut macarons (airbrushed gold) and some blueberry and lemon.

I pinched a tray of chocolate shells and filled them with white chocolate ganache with some maple syrup and candied maple bacon. Top with another piece of crispy maple bacon, and be transported to heaven !


RECIPE

180g icing sugar
40g cocoa powder
180g ground almonds
180g egg whites (split into 2 batches)
1 tablespoon Camp Coffee 
80ml water
200g caster sugar

Finely grind the almonds and icing sugar together until it no longer feels gritty when rubbed between your fingers. Sift into a large bowl. Add one batch of egg whites, and the cocoa powder. Stir to combine into a thick paste.

Put the caster sugar and water into a pan and boil until the syrup reaches 110deg C.

At this point, whip remaining egg whites to firm peak.

Remove sugar syrup from heat when it reaches 118 > 120deg C. Pour this in a slow stream onto the egg whites whilst whisking constantly. You will need a hand or stand mixer for this. I prefer to use my hand mixer when making macarons. Whisk until thick and shiny and fairly cool.

Fold into the paste with a spatula until a ribbon of mixture fades into the surface within about 30 seconds.


Pipe on to on of our revolutionary double sided silicone macaron mats. We now also have these mats in bright red and they should be on the website next week.

You want to leave about 5mm space around the macaronage on the mat as you pipe. Once it's sat and relaxed for a few minutes, it will spread.

Put in a preheated fan oven at 160deg C for 5 mins with the door open, then close the door and bake for another 18 > 20 minutes until done.


I made the shells for my blueberry and lemon macaron shells into a crazy tie-dye effect.

Colin's were simply bright yellow - but the impressive thing was the fact he managed to make 75 PERFECT macaron shells despite having never before attempted any form of baking.

Way to go Colin - they're awesome !

Mastering Macaron classes will be available to book in our cookery school here in Attleborough, Norfolk from December 2013


Colin was a little shaky using a piping bag, but really got the hang of it. I managed to snap him filling his shells :-)


Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com and www.sarah-janeskitchen.co.uk

Friday, 18 October 2013

Bobby's Blue Ombre / Petal Ruffle and Sugar Pearl Christening Cake


These photos are of a christening cake I recently made for a very poorly little boy called Bobby.

I met Bobby and his mum a few months ago in HDU at Norfolk and Norwich hospital whilst visiting a friend

Bobby is constantly in and out of hospital and also has care in the local EACH children's hospice.

I cannot imagine how Sarah (Bobby's mum) manages all that she does. Sarah is a true inspiration and utterly incredible. 

I made this christening cake for Bobby's christening as a gift. I hope they received the same amount of pleasure and enjoyment from it as I did in creating it.


The bottom tier was vanilla sponge and covered in layers of blue ombre petals - each layer a little darker than the one before.


The little christening shoes were hand made from sugarpaste and I think Sarah kept them as a keep-sake.


Top tier was chocolate and covered in hundreds of sugar pearls......

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com
www.facebook.com/SiliconeMoulds

Thursday, 10 October 2013

Obsessed with ...... Chocolate Shoes !




I've recently discovered I have a new obsession. SHOES.

Pink shoes, blue shoes, sparkly shoes - doesn't matter ..... as long as they are CHOCOLATE SHOES !

The first one I made, was the pink one on top of this cake...... I didn't want to let it go !


Sharon :

OMFG
Look at my cake!!
Hands off the chocolate shoe, its all mine!!
 


The next one I made, was a sparkly purple love affair.....

Are you falling in love with my chocolate shoes yet ?

I sent it to my mum.....


Well, my beautiful, sparkly, purple, all-white-chocolate shoe arrived today! It's JUST like the photo. Sarah-Jane is SO clever. I put it in the dining room as it's coolest there. My dining room now smells like a chocolate shop!

 — with Sarah-Jane Nash and Sarah-Jane Nash.How much of a TEASE is THIS!!!! I want to eat it - but I want to look at it. I want to look at it - but I want to EAT it!!! If I eat it, though, I won't HAVE it any more. OK, I've decided. I'm going to have to stop breathing or wear a clothes-peg on my nose............... it's a KEEPIE! x




This next one was two tone - with a gold patent finish and in two tone. The sole and heel were milk chocolate and the top was white chocolate. 



This one went to Naomi, my brother's girlfriend. I think she liked her shoe !

These shoes are all about a size 6 - big enough you could practically put your foot inside. I think they need to come with a warning, that they will melt if worn.....



Naomi : Oh my GOD!!! A white chocolate stiletto!!!! Don't know whether to wear it, eat it or rub it on my naked self  so happy  — with Sarah-Jane Nash.


Full intentions of having some custom shoe boxes made to pack my chocolate shoes and have them look their best.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my creations !

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com

Oliver, Emma and Starting School ! - September 2013


Better late than never.... been meaning to post these photos for a few weeks.

A month ago, Oliver (aka The Little Cake Tester) started school. Here he is with his girlfriend, Emma, who is now in Primary 2.

He'll be five in two weeks - just where did the time go ?





Last day of nursery school - escaping over the fence !



All ready to start school, in his new uniform and with an empty school bag !


Lining up with the other children to go into class for the first time. How cute !


Two days later, Oliver and Emma had a cinema and lunch date.

These two act like an old married couple.
They plan to get married and live in Scotland with a holiday house in Spain !


Followed by a trip to the sweet shop - for the biggest lollies ever, ever, ever !