Easter Sunday - Gateau a la coque

Happy Easter,  hope that you all got countless chocolate eggs today and that you are in a chocolate overload. I got very excited when I saw all these chocolate bunnies, but was heartbroken when mum told me they weren't for us. But I had to get a cheeky photo.

Lindt Golden Bunny Family 

This weekend I have been experimenting in the kitchen to make a new easter cupcake.  I made easter style cupcake with easter decorations. As I later found out I was not the only one baking away, a couple of my friends were too. 

Though my Easter creation this year are my Gateau a la coque, loosely translates in to cake in an egg. As a little gift to a couple of my friends this year I gave them a coloured egg, but these were not normal eggs, they had cake inside them. I had fun creating these unique treats.

Gateau a la coque

What is fun about these, is the way that they are still eggs, so at first sight they just look like coloured eggs. With the family we all play the 'egg game'. This game is played with coloured boiled eggs, traditionally red, but ill give you more on that next week, as the Greek Easter is next weekend, lucky me hay!!

So this is way to fool everyone, but they are actually cakes. And if you do not believe me, check out the photo below. 

To present them, I put them in to wire egg cups and glued them down to the pink base and used various colours of shredded paper and a yellow and pink bow as a final touch.

I had fun creating the Easter table today, as we were inside due to the cold weather, I brought spring to the table with bunnies both ceramic and chocolate, eggs and flowers. 

Easter Table

Hope you all had a nice Easter, 

Bon Appétit 

Posh Flap Jacks

I am a big fan of the Pink Lady apples, they are sweet, juicy and crunchy. So when I found this recipe I was very keen to try it out. There was no time to waste and I was in the kitchen by the time I had finished reading the recipe.

Les Ingredients 
1kg Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and grated
200g Oats
3 table spoons honey
125g Butter
40g Sugar
Pinch of ginger, cinnamon and salt

Methode 
With the Pink Lady apple thats already prepared pop them in to a pan with the sugar, until the apples become soft, then add the butter and honey and bring it to a gentle simmer. Stir in the oats, salt and seasoning and make sure all is coated. Finally put it all in to a greased cake tin and pop it in to the oven for 30mins, at 180°C.

These treats are not as guilty as some of the other cakes I have made, these are light and use fresh fruit, which is obviously good for you, but these are also good if you are training, a good snack to have after a workout to replenish yourself. Being naturally sweet you do not feel bad eating them.

They can also be served as a dessert with fresh whipped cream or cream if you want to make them slightly naughty or if you want to keep them healthy, serve with fruit.


Bon Appétit

Genoise aux fruits d'ete

The french version of the classic Victoria Sponge, but it is light with a lovely texture and a nice rich colour in comparison to the tradition english cake. This wonderful looking cake can be put together in under an hour (including cooling time). 

Les Ingredients 

50g unsalted butter melted

250g plain flour 

250g golden caster sugar 

8 eggs

Methode 

Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C/350°F/ gas mark 4) and grease your cake tin, I used two circular ones around 20cm approx.

Now this is where it gets interesting, as there is no 'chemicals' in the mixture to get the cake to rise is the magic part. In a heatproof bowl set over pan with gently simmering water, put the eggs and sugar together and use an electric whisk on full speed and whisk together till the mixture is hot, this will take about 10 minutes and the mixture will double in volume and should have the ribbon effect. When this is achieved remove from the heat. 

Add the flour and mix by hand, I found that using metal spoon is easiest, then add the melted butter, but be careful not to over mix, finally divide the mixture in to the prepared cake tins and place in the oven for about 25min or until golden in colour. 

Leave cool on wire rack.

Les Finition 
Double cream whipped up with fresh fruit, the fact that the cake has loads of fruit within it, it has a less guilty element to it, also if you use light double cream, no one will know.

To add the final touch, a small bit of icing sugar and chocolate shavings on the top to add the je ne sais quoi.

I served this for our sunday desert with the left over cream that was not used and yet more fruit and of course a lovely pot of tea. This is a lovely desert to serve in preparation to the summer ahead. 

Bon Appétit 

Mother's Day Lunch

Mothering Sunday.

This year was quite different than what we normally do. Our little dinner turned in to a big lunch, from originally four of us it quickly increased and became eleven of us.

So true to ourself. We created a nice table and using bits from the garden to add that spring element to the table. We set the table up differently from normal and the colour scheme, kept it to Black and White with spring colours.

La Table

Entree 

Parma Ham with charantais melon, avocado and cherry tomatoes 

Plat Principale 

Souris d'agneau 

Concombre et carotte a la creme 

Parsnips 

Broccoli 

Roast Potatoes 

Salade 

Dessert 

Baba au Rhum 

Red Velvets

Fresh Fruit 

Entree

Each place was set up with a little treat a chocolate chick, the ladies had a Lindt chick and the men had a Smarties one.

Plat Principle 

As there were a number of us to cater to, we done a dish that was not required too much attention once the guest got here and easy to cook, what is magic about this dish is the preparation and the cooking of it,  can cook in the slow oven of the Aga over several hours and voila, ready to serve.

My Famous Red Velvets

Lunch its self was lovely, we all laughed at each others silly child stories and embarrassing moments, was a pleasant afternoon, the dessert was long awaited as my cupcakes are starting to get a name for themselves, and I had them placed on the table so when everyone came over they saw them, there too good to hide them, also my mum did Baba au Rhum, which is a small little cake that resembles a doughnut which is soaked in liquor (we used spiced rum) and then whipped cream fills the centre. This was a light treat. A good dish for a dinner party as you prepare it before hand and just have to the cream before you serve. 

Hope everyone had a pleasant mothers day,

Bon Appétit.

Beetroot and Hazelnut Cake

This new recipe has been keeping my attention recently, as we are in the season of lent, my friends will know I have given chocolate up, it sounds easy, but its not as easy as seems. When I came home my taste team (my brother and his friends) was not entirely impressed of the chocolate ban.

So with this ban in mind I wanted to try new recipes that aren't entirely sweet. The Beetroot and Hazelnut Cake is a surprising mix of sweet and wholesome.

While making this cake, was quite interesting to see how the different flavours would complement each other, I used a variety of nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts and pine nuts.

The end results was rather interesting, the cake turned out to be a winner. My mum who doesn't have a large sweet tooth, really enjoyed this cake.

Enjoyed this with some mint tea in my Carry On Shopping mug, As a few of you will know I have a large collection of different mugs and tea cups. The beetroot in the cake saves the cake from being to dry and the nuts add some flavour and texture, while also adding protein, makes you feel less guilty while tucking in to a slice.

Bon Appétit  

Sophie One Treats

Today I had a lovely impromptu visit from the one and the only Sophie 1,  I lived with Sophie my first year at uni. We got our nick names, Sophie 1 and Sophie 2, when we signed up the gym, and since then the names have pretty much stuck.

Sophie is a lovely baker and is always whipping something up, so when she turned up at my door, I was excited to see what she made. This time she made two types of muffins, Pumpkin seed and Banana with Wheatgerm and Rocky Road Muffins. Good to balance out the bad.

Pumpkin Seed, Banana and Wheatgerm 

This delightful treat is guilt free, perfect for a breakfast or elevenses, the fact that pumpkin seed and banana is good to keep them naughty munchies at bay. Im saving this one for after my work out tomorrow.

Rocky Road 

This is more of a naughty indulgence, This is the first one that I tried. I brewed us each a cup of tea and we had a good catch up and swapped stories of our recent adventures. This treat was lovely, not to overwhelming on the chocolate, and of course the company made it even better. 

Bon Appétit

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner. 

Each year mum and I set the table. We always add something new or fun. This year we added the bauble and a red bow and last year were the tea cup candles. 

Menu: 

Fois Gras de Tonton Edgar 

Chapon Farci - Choux-rouge aux marrons, carrote aux ail et fines herbes, parsnips a l'anglais and English  trimmings 

Bûche de Noel aux marrons et chocolat

The preparations to the main meal.

The vegetables and the sides all ready to go, sitting on the aga keeping warm. While we carve the chapon. 

Served ourselves with all the sides, and had a lovely red wine with it. The red wine we had was a Vin Du Languedoc. Montpierre, Reseve, Fitou. 

My dinner plate, just added a generous amount of gravy and good to go, it was Yum!! 

Bûche de Noel aux marrons et chocolat

This is the french equivalent of a Christmas Pudding, usually mum gets them from a patisserie but this year i took on the challenge and made it my self - after a summer of baking a variety of cakes, it was quite fun to make.  I ended up taking to cake and sharing it my whole family.  I was slightly nervous as this is the first time I made this type of cake, and it went down a treat. 

The chocolate glaze is 70% dark chocolate with a small about of butter and icing sugar.  The centre is creme du marron, (chestnut cream), and vanilla and rum sponge. 

Bon Appetit.