Upside Down Banana Pudding - a warm and sticky treat !

Well - I'll admit I'm cheating a bit here. It's a few weeks since I made this - but then again, I have been terribly behind in blogging !

Pudding is something I rarely make. However, sometimes when it's cold and dark outside it's quite comforting to make and devour a good old fashioned English pud. It's sweet and syrupy. The hot bananas are lovely and the little alcohol hit from the plump sultanas was nice but not overpowering.

This recipe originates from OLIVE magazine last year and is posted on the BBC Good Food Website here.

Apologies for the photos - they really are not good. The lighting was dismal and everyone was waiting to eat it - including Oliver who was bouncing up and down like a puppy on a lead whilst yelping "Pudding, pudding, pudding!"

It was all I could do to keep the fabric on the kitchen side as he was so keen to get to this .... It's a miracle that somehow it did not land on the floor !

Ingredients

100g of sultanas
50ml of brandy or rum

5 large bananas

75g softened butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg

1tsp vanilla

175g self raising flour

60g of pecans*

1/2 tsp nutmeg*

1 tsp cinnamon*

8 tbsp golden syrup

I ommitted the nuts and upped the sultanas only because I didn't have any and the nutmeg and cinnamon were my own additions

Soak the sultanas in rum for 30mins. Actually, I used home made apple brandy and soaked them over night in more like 75ml.

Heat the oven to 160deg C or 140deg C if fan oven

Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. I actually used a 2lb silicone loaf mould. I did line the base with a strip of baking paper incase it needed a bit of help with all the golden syrup and bananas at the bottom. (Next time I really wouldn't worry as the bananas were nicely bedded into the sponge part and the syrupy stuff) just runs out.

Next, put in the golden syrup.

Slice two of the bananas lengthway and then cut in half across the middle. Lay the slices into the loaf tin or 2lb silicone loaf mould / mold. The bananas want to be face down and these will eventually become the top of your pudding.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and combine followed by vanilla, spices, flour and remaining bananas (mashed). Stir in the sultanas and then put the batter on top of the bananas

Bake for approx 50mins. Remove from oven and leave to stand for a few minutes before turning out.

Serve hot, as you like - with cream, ice cream or custard.

Not any good reheated on day two - so the chickens finished it. It's quite a good sized pud - easily serves six people.

Sarah-Jane Nash, December 2010 - siliconemoulds.com - the silicone bakeware specialist cook shop

Crown Muffin Moulds are HERE and now available - so exciting !

At last - we've had mountains and mountains of new style silicone moulds arrive .... many of which are my own designs. There are more boxes of them than I could possibly have believed and the store is full to bursting ! It will be a little while before we can get them all unpacked - so do bare with me. I'll introduce you to most of the new stuff as soon as I can.

Many of you will remember my earlier blog post about THE SECRET TO MAKING CAFE STYLE MUFFINS

Well - our specialist silicone bakeware mould to make crown ovens in a normal sized oven (non commercial) is now available and can be found IN OUR ONLINE SHOP HERE at an incredible price of £5.99 each. These would make an awesome Christmas gift for any keen baker.

We also ship worldwide for anyone interesed outside of the UK... but last date for overseas orders for delivery by Christmas is today.

Basically - the mould has a special recess head. You put your paper case in and fill the case right to the brim. As the cake mixture rises in the pan, it fills the recess and creates the big mushroom head.

Bingo - you've got massive muffins like those in the big chain coffee houses :-)

A mix for 12 normal muffins makes 6 of these Crown American Jumbo muffins - so take care not to eat too many or you will get very very fat !!!

Have  fun and enjoy....

Sarah-Jane, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/     December 2010

Oliver turns 2 ! Happy Birthday Baby !

Has it really been TWO years already ? It's flown so fast. My baby is turning into a right little man and growing constantly in front of my eyes....

"Mummy - Happy Birthday cake today please ! Oliver two !"

Oliver has been asking EVERY morning for his birthday for nearly two weeks.

"Not today Oliver - soon".

The disappointment on his face :-(

Well - TODAY we had birthday cake. His birthday is actually Monday (25th) but his little friends came round today for some birthday tea - with their mummies of course.

This morning, we came down the stairs and Oliver's cake was ready waiting on him.

"Happy Birthday Cake for Oliver. Hooray !"

He was soo pleased.

"Oh Mummy - it's blue ! Dinosaurs Mummy and Number Two !"

I nearly cried. His little face was glowing and we had to sing Happy Birthday over and over and over again.. He looked at all the dinosaurs, pointed out the colours and try to count them. A few too many when we are still tryin to count to ten ! I used Oliver's dinosaur sprinkles that he likes to put on cupcakes on the number 2.

The little dinosaurs were cut from fondant using some little cutters I bought from an ebay seller in Canada specially for Oliver's cake.

I made his cake with letters from my own design Say It With Cake range of silicone bakeware moulds / molds. At the moment you can buy several word sets - HAPPY, BIRTH, DAYS and CAKE. These moulds can be cut into individual letters for mix and matching. I've done several blog posts using these. There is a guide on a recent post here.

However, all letters and numbers will be available for individual sale from early December. I've got a full set as samples that I'm playing with now.

Below is a cake I made earlier in the week for a competition Yorkshire Tea are running. This is just one layer thick - but split and filled with jam and cream. It didn't last long as I took it to work and customers seemed to enjoy it !

We then had a tiny little cake and put the big one away until his friends came later. A new toy rocket kept him amused most of the morning and all evening. He's gone to bed with the rocket....

Three little boys - all munching cake ! Everything was sticky afterwards from all those little fingers ...

Barely room to move ! Our house is only little - so 4 children and 4 mummies = not a lot of room to move !

Sarah-Jane Nash - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - October 2010

Winter is Coming - Don't Forget the Birds !

It's Autumn now and there is a glut of blackberries, rowan, hawthorn and all sorts of other berries for the birds to gorge on. However, it won't be long before these disappear.

If you like feeding and watching the birds in your garden, homemade fat balls for the birds are easy and cheap to make. They require little effort and are an ideal project for young children (under supervision of course !) You can even select specific seed and fruit combinations to suit certain species if required.

They'd be lovely packaged up as a gift with a hanger for a garden or outdoors tpye person as a Christmas gift. Alternatively, recycle and tie them in old nets that used to contain oranges or brussel sprouts !

To make these, I used the baby bundt silicone baking mould

Use approx 1/3 solid fat (such as lard or suet) to 2/3 bird seed / crumbs. Melt the fat and mix into the dry ingredients. The fat does not need to be hot. It will melt in the microwave at a pretty low temperature - much like butter.

Spoon into your mould and leave to set. Refrigerate if you have space to get them nice and hard before turning out. They'll pop out with just a light pressure. This would work really well with loads of other moulds too - such as the 6 semi sphere - but I specifically wanted a hole through mine to put on to a home made hanger with a net over the whole lot.

In the photos, I used a huskless wild bird seed blend with dried fruit through it.

Sarah-Jane Nash, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - flexible silicone bakeware cook shop. September 2010

40 cell EXTRA DEEP Mini Muffin Mould

We've been waiting so long for this ! I'm now pleased to announce the lauch of our 40 cup EXTRA DEEP silicone mini muffin mould. Originally, we had this made for use in semi commercial and commercial bakeries - but I'm also using one cut in half in my domestic cooker in my kitchen at home. That gives me two large extra large mini muffin trays which are each 450mm wide and 300mm deep and lets me bake extra deep mini muffins that LOOK just like those high rise ones you see in the stores.

Tim in Merv's Hot Bread Kitchen (Attleborough / Norfolk) has been trialing these for us for the past few weeks. I snapped these photos in his bakery yesterday afternoon. He uses our normal paper mini muffin cases in the moulds and fills the paper cases right to the top and then piles on the topping as you can see in the photos below.

The cherry muffins with the big sugar nibs are to die for :-) I'm not surprised they've instantly become very popular ! Now I've managed to get a load of sugar nibs myself - I'm dying to have a play at home.

Hanna from BB's Muffins in Nowich has been using them too. Unlike Tim, Hanna just greases hers to make sure they always release easily and doesn't bother with paper liners. For the finished mini muffins, Hanna adorns them with an icing glaze and sprinkles.

These are now available from http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ at £19.99 each. There are discounted prices available on this item for bulk purchasers - see here

Sweet Eggy Bread - Sunday Breakfast Treat

Oh - I had a craving for something sweet for Sunday breakfast. I really fancied pancakes - it''s literally been years since I had them. Bleary eyed, I was not awake enough to be bothered with the hassle of weighing out flour etc .... so eggy bread it was.

Eggs bread is one of those things that I loved as a child. My grandmother would make it for my brother and I. As quick as she could cook it we children were queing up for more !

It's wonderful with brown sauce or tomato sauce - but also drizzled with golden syrup for a sweet and almost  thick crepe pancake like taste and texture.

Allow one egg and some milk per slice of bread. Beat egg and milk together.

Pour your eggy mix into a container with a flat bottom. I normally use my 10" round silicone cake tin mould as I can get two slices in to soak in the eggy mix at a time. Put the bread in and let it sit for a little while. Then, turn over and do the other side.

Remaining eggy mix will do following slices - so excess is never an issue.

Fry with a little sunflower oil in a hot pan on both sides until browned.

Serve as you like - with golden syrup, tomato ketchup or brown sauce

Sarah-Jane Nash - May 2010 - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/

Ale and Cheese Easy Bread (no knead !)

This recipe is adapted from Guinness and Irish Cheddar Easy Loaf - from the March 2010 edition of the Country Kitchen Magazine

I did make the original - but Guinness is too strong for my liking and I changed the flours too.

Makes one 20cm (8") round loaf. Next time, I'll double the recipe and make in a 10" round silicone mould. It's EXTREMELLY good and so so so easy to make. I've brought 1/2 of it (left from last night) in today and it's been demolished and given a big thumbs up :-) I'm sure if you make it, you'll enjoy it too.

250ml Newcastle Brown Ale

250g self raising flour

100g wholemeal flour

1tsp of baking powder

60g caster sugar

100g strong, mature cheddar

2 tbsp of butter

Preheat oven to 180deg (350deg F)

Put all ingredients except the butter in a bowl and combine well with a spoon. It looks a bit like cooked porridge !

Scrape into an 8" round silicone bakeware mould with no need to grease (we've got these coming in May) or into a buttered, non-stick tin. Leave in a warm place for 30mins.

Original recipe says to bake for 35mins, drizzle with butter and return to oven for 10mins. My bread was totally cooked after 35 mins and I rubbed the solid butter over the top.

It had a lovely crispy and chewy outer. It's quite a dense bread and slightly sweet. Lovely warm or cold simply with butter - or the lads had the remains today with cheese

Sarah-Jane Nash, Flexible Silicone Bakeware Moulds - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/