Recipe: Pineapple upside down cake

It's that time of the week again.. GBBO night! So of course here is another recipe that I made lately, I actually made this last week when I didn't manage to upload the post (ooops) but I'm starting to get use to baking every week! So for this weeks recipe I thought I'd bake something I've never tried before and that is a pineapple upside down cake from the recipe book Tanya Bakes, by Tanya Burr. I may have to do a separate review of this recipe book because it is SO good. Almost everything you could ever want to bake and more is in this book so it took me a while to decide what to bake first.

Ingredients:

150g butter

3 tablespoons golden syrup

6 slices tinned pineapple

150g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

150g plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

60ml pineapple juice (leftover from the tin of pineapple slices)

Method:

1. Firstly preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 6. Grease the cake tin with some spare butter and microwave the golden syrup for 20 seconds and add it to the cake tin, covering the bottom.

2. Dry the pineapple rings slightly with kitchen paper and lay in the bottom of the cake tin. In Tanya's recipe she added glace cherries too but I decided not to along with a splash of rum.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl before beating in the eggs. Then add the flour and baking powder before slowly adding the pineapple juice and beat the mixture again.

4. Pour the cake mixture on top of the pineapple in the cake tin, smooth over and bake for 30-35 mins until risen and golden. Turn the cake out onto a plate and ta-daaa, pineapple upside down cake.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and maybe even creating this recipe. Let's hope I can keep up all of this baking through this series of bake-off. Who knows what the Great British Bake Off will be like next year after this weeks news!

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RECIPE: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you love baking just as much as I do then you'll know that tonight is the start of a new series of one of my favourite shows.... The Great British Bake Off! To get in the mood of baking yesterday I decided to bake these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I've never made these before or any cookies with oats for that matter so I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out, but they taste so so good if I do say so myself!

I managed to make 12 (quite large) cookies with this recipe, although there's definitely not even half that many left now!

Ingredients:

150g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

175g unsalted butter

100g dark brown sugar

100g sugar

1 egg

2tsp vanilla extract

250g rolled oats

75g chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Stir together the flour and baking powder in a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer.

4. Add the egg and whisk again, followed by the vanilla.

5. Then gradually add the flour to this mixture and mix together with a wooden spoon until combined. Then add the oats and chocolate chips and mix again.

6. Using a tablespoon add the mixture to the baking trays (I managed to fit 6 onto each tray) and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon, but ensure that there's space between the cookie mixtures.

7. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know if you decide to make them too! They're definitely the best cookies I've ever made before, but would Mary and Paul approve? I hope so!

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Recipe: Easter Caramel Eggs Cheesecake

Last night I made this cheesecake and decorated it this morning, and I just couldn't wait to write this post to share the recipe with you all just in time for Easter! I love baking when I come home from uni and thought Easter was the perfect excuse although when searching pinterest for something to make I just couldn't decide. I wanted to make something I've never tried before and most of the recipes seemed to be creme egg based - so as I don't like creme eggs I wanted to mix a few recipes together to use these Galaxy caramel eggs instead! It's the first time I've made a cheesecake so I had no idea what to expect or whether it was going to even work and I'm so glad it did! Half of the cheesecake has disappeared already....

Ingredients:

Base:

300g Digestive Biscuits

125g Melted Butter

Cheesecake:

500g Full Fat Cream Cheese

1tsp Vanilla Extract

100g Icing Sugar

150g Carnation Caramel

300ml Double Cream

175g Caramel Eggs (or more/less if you'd like)

Topping:

Leftover Caramel

Mini Caramel Eggs to decorate

Method:

1. Smash up the biscuits and mix in with the melted butter. (I put the biscuits in a sandwich bag and used a rolling pin to crush them.

2. Add the biscuit and butter mix to a tin lined with baking paper and leave to set in the fridge.

3. Whisk together the cream cheeses, vanilla, icing sugar and caramel until smooth.

4. Pour in the double cream and whisk for a few more minutes until it almost becomes a meringue type texture.

5. Chop the caramel eggs that are going into the cheesecake and fold through the mixture, then add the mixture to the tin on top of the biscuit base and return to the fridge. You will then need to leave this for at least 5 hours, but I chose to leave mine overnight just to make sure it was ready for decorating the next morning.

6. Decorate the cheesecake however you like with the left over caramel and the caramel eggs and enjoy!

Let me know if any of you decide to make this or any other Easter recipes! You can leave me a comment below or tweet me @AbigailsWorld94.

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Recipe: Tenderstem Broccoli & Brie Tagliatelle

Despite them not being very good for you most of the time, one of my favourite easy go-to meals to make have to be pasta dishes. Especially during these cold winter months here in the UK, warm lunches are the best and this is the perfect option. Adding a bit of veg to the dish the main part is the Tenderstem Broccoli which works well with the Brie and black pepper.

Serves: 1 (double ingredients for 2)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

75g Tagliatelle

50g Tenderstem Broccoli

50g Brie

2 - 3 tbsp Single Cream (depending how thick you like the cheese sauce)

Black Pepper (optional)

Method:

1. Wash the Tenderstem Broccoli and boil for approx 10 minutes.

2. In a separate pan, cook the tagliatelle according to the instructions on the packaging.

3. Drain the broccoli and the tagliatelle, leaving about 1 tbsp of water in the tagliatelle.

4. Add the Tenderstem broccoli to the pan of tagliatelle along with the brie and cream and slowly cook on a low heat until the brie starts to melt and stir occasionally.

5. Add black pepper if required and serve hot!

So there you have it, a nice warm winter meal, you could also always swap ingredients around such as using a different cheese that you prefer to Brie or a different pasta. I hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know if you decide to recreate the recipe yourself. For more Tenderstem Broccoli recipes, take a look at their website here. 

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Autumn Apple Crumble Recipe

One of my favourite desserts to have during the autumn and winter months has to be Apple Crumble! There's something about them, the cinnamon taste and the warmth that are just perfect at this time of year. I decided to use my usual crumble recipe to make this which actually includes a crumble base which I prefer, the more crumble the better right? And I just swapped the fruit I'd used before in the recipe for apples and extra cinnamon instead.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup cold unsalted butter

1 large egg

About 4 medium apples

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to around gas mark 6 and cover a tray in either foil or baking paper.
• Peel and chop the apples and set aside.
• Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, except for the apples and egg.
• Mix these together with your fingers (or whatever you prefer) this will be used as both the crumble base and topping.
• After these look to be mixed together enough, add the egg and mix together in the same way again until you get a much more crumble-looking mixture.
• Then you can use about three-quarters of the crumble mixture for the bottom of the crumble and press down so it sticks together.
• Put the apples in a pan with a little water and heat until softened, I also added some cinnamon too.
• Now you can add your apples as the next layer of the crumble
• And finally add the rest of the crumble mixture on top of the apples, BUT don't press down on it this time, leave it scattered but covered as much as you like for a nice crumble topping.
• And then place in the oven for around 20-25 minutes or until the crumble top is looking golden.

And there you have a lovely warm apple crumble to keep you warm and feeling Christmassy through Autumn and Winter!

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Strawberry & Lemon Meringues Recipe

Another bit of baking I've done lately is little meringues. These didn't exactly go to plan with how they look, I think they look more like macaroons but oh well they still taste just as they should! I was originally going to make something like a Lemon Meringue Pie but I thought this was a much easier option and then I can make different flavours too. Why not try adding Nutella instead of the lemon/strawberry?

Makes around 10 completed 'sandwiches'

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

150g sugar

pinch of salt

tea spoon of vanilla essence

strawberry jam

lemon curd

Method:

1. Line two baking trays with baking paper and pre-heat the oven to 90 degrees C.

2. Whisk the eggs until foamy, add the salt and whisk again.

3. Slowly add the sugar and keep whisking.

4. Add the vanilla essence and whisk again until the mixture becomes stiff.

5. Use a spoon or a piping bag to when dotting them onto the baking sheets and place in the oven for up to 2 hours. I thought this sounded like a long time from the recipe I looked at but I baked mine for about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

6. When they're done allow them to cool and then choose either Strawberry Jam or Lemon Curd to spread on one and place another on top to create a sandwich/

7. Then they're ready to tuck into and eat.

Let me know if you decide to recreate this recipe, I'd love to know how it turns out!

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