Hairy Bikers Skinny Lemon Cupcakes

In a bid to shoehorn myself into a nice frock for Goodwood Revival in 4 weeks time, I'm trying out some of the recipes from the Hairy Bikers 'The Hairy Dieters' Book.

They certainly don't scrimp on taste and so far we've enjoyed curries, cottage pie and chicken bakes. 
Tomorrow, I'm running a charity relay around Hayling Island with my running club, so felt I ought to bake for the team.  Any excuse!!!  So what better recipe to try, than their Skinny Lemon Cupcakes!

After deciding which of my many cupcake cases to use, it was on with the preparation.

The flour & bicarbonate of soda was sifted into a bowl and mixed with the sugar, blueberries & lemon zest.

You then beat the eggs in a separate bowl until smooth, followed by beating in the yoghurt, milk and sunflower oil.

Stir into the flour mixture until just combined.  You don't want to over-work the mixture.  Quickly divide the mixture into 12 paper cases.

I used a new cookie dough scoop I was given to put the mixture into the cases.  It made the job a lot easier and certainly was less messy!

I then baked mine on the centre shelf of a preheated 200c static oven for 12 minutes for the slightly smaller cupcakes and 14 minutes for the larger ones.  It was amazing how much they had risen in the oven.

Once cooled, I added the lemon icing and then tucked in!  Purely to make sure they were edible of course.....

Now, they were delicious at only 167 calories per cupcake and incredibly light.  My only advice would be to keep them in the fridge, as overnight the icing dissolved and sunk down the sides of the cases, making them very wet. 

Still the happy ending to the tale........ I got into the dress!  All kitted out 1950's style!!

Happy Baking!

Hairy Bikers Bakeation Challenge - France

OK, I confess, I have been a total 'Blog' slacker!  I made my French recipes last weekend, in fact the first time I made the bread was two weekends ago, but have I found the time to blog?  Oh no no no!  I blame the Olympics!  I got so addicted to watching the games that time flew by!

SO back to the baking.  Sadly neither of the recipes are available online yet, but I still had to share. 

My first offering is Provencal Bread.  Its made using a starter dough (quick version of a sourdough loaf), where yeast, white and rye bread flour, water and a little sugar are mixed together and left in the fridge for 24 hours.  This is the result, a nicely fermenting starter dough.

You then mix more white bread flour, more yeast, salt, water and half of the starter dough together until blended, before kneading for 10 minutes.  I started this off in the Kenwood and allowed the machine to knead it for 5 minutes, before placing it out on a floured surface and kneading for a further couple of minutes.  Then its popped back into its oiled bowl and left in a warm place for an hour to double in size.

Now you get to add the 'Provencal' bit!  The dough is eased onto a floured surface and gently knocked back with your knuckles.  Into the dough are then added fennel seeds, fresh thyme and rosemary, which are kneaded into the dough until evenly distributed.

The dough is then left for another hour to rise on a floured baking sheet before being scored.

And popped into a preheated 200c fan oven (220c static oven) for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

A really delicious loaf, great with cheese, soup or toasted with butter!   The remaining half of the starter dough can be frozen for up to a month and then defrosted over night before using for another loaf, which I duly did the following weekend.

The other recipe I tried were Madeleines.  A good excuse to go to Classy Cooks in Emsworth and get some new baking kit!  A madeleine tray, a bargain at £8.99.

A mix of just butter, an egg, castor sugar, plain flour and vanilla extract, it seems the trick to a good Madeleine is in the vigorous whisking of the egg, sugar and extract followed by very gently folding in the sifted flour, followed by the melted butter.  This creates a frothy mixture with lots of air bubbles.  The mixture is then (supposedly!) spooned evenly into each mould before baking in a 170c fan oven for 8 -10 minutes. 

I checked mine after 7 minutes and they were already golden, perhaps overly so.

They are left in the tin to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

And then dusted with icing sugar.

Dark, but delicious!  What better excuse to get out the fine china and enjoy Afternoon Tea and Madeleines in the garden with my Mum.  She approved!

Best enjoyed on the day of making to retain the crispness around the edges - as you only make 12 , that isn't difficult!  As you may have noticed only 11 made it into the photo shoot!  Bakers privilege!!

I've really enjoyed trying recipes from all the chapters of the Hairy Bikers Big Book of Baking and there are many more to try yet.  But for now, I think its time to bake something out of some of my many other trusty baking books.  But which to choose???

Happy baking!

Hairy Bikers Bakeation Challenge - Italy

Scanning through the Italy chapter, deciding what to cook, there were some really nice recipes, but what I really wanted to try was the Hairy Bikers Chocolate & Hazelnut Cake or Torta Gianduia.  It looked so naughty I was trying to decide how I could justify baking such a delectable delight.  Well imagine my glee when my running buddy and friend Anita announced it was her birthday today as we were tootling around on our Sunday morning run.  Hoorah, I had an excuse to get extravagant baking.  So sweaty clothing aside, off I dashed on the way home to get a jar of Nutella.

The recipe consists of ......... lots of sugar / butter / chocolate / eggs and hazelnuts!  Not a recipe for the faint-hearted :-)  But full of potential.

First off I melted a ridiculous amount of butter and chocolate and then allowed it to cool.

The egg yolks (I had large eggs in the fridge, so only used 5 eggs instead of the suggested 6) and castor sugar were creamed together until pale and then the chocolate mixture was blended with it, before adding 200g of the hazelnuts. Now I had a little trump card up my sleeve as I still had some of the ground hazelnuts left that I bought back from Germany.  Not readily available here, they make speedy work of the recipe.

The egg whites had to be whisked until they formed stiff peaks and when held over your head would not slop on top of it.  The following photos are my evidence that this was most certainly achieved.  Thank god it worked as I had just washed my hair!

The bowl starts to rise................please work.................................

Phwew - weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I must add Chicken eggs are much quicker to whisk than duck eggs, but that must be due to the more glutinous whites in a duck egg - random thought!

Add some booze and then a couple of tablespoons of the egg whites to bind .......

Before gently folding in the rest of the egg whites ( gently so as not to lose their airiness) ..................

Pop it into a lined 23cm spring-form tin - I cheat and use a Lakeland cake liner.......

Before putting into a 180c static oven (or 160c fan oven) for 40 minutes...................

Once firm and nicely risen (??  - do not expect your knife or skewer to be totally dry as the cake continues to cook in the tin and should be moist when completely cooled) allow to cool in the tin for 30 mins, before taking out off the tin and cooling completely.

Then the fun begins......smearing it in Nutella and adorning with a little iced wording.....

I then skipped round (OK, I jumped in the car!!) to Anita's to deliver said birthday cake.  Oh boy it didn't disappoint!  Very moist, rich and with a nice hazelnut crunch running through it.  I think it would also work as a warm dessert, fresh out the oven (minus the nutella topping) with some double cream or creme fraiche.

Mental note - ask Sis to send some ground hazelnuts home with my Mum.  Subtle - nope!

My last Hairy Bikers Bakeation chapter challenge will be France (already done Spain!) ....... what possibilities. 

Now I just need to work off Italy's offering :)

Hairy Bikers Bakeation Challenge - Austria

I really enjoyed watching this episode and just adored the mountain scenery.  I knew there would be a few chocolatey recipes to tempt me, but my first offering for this episode is Monica's Breakfast Bread or Godkipferl!  Now bearing in mind 'Monica' bakes for the monks in a monastery, Godkipferl is a very apt name for these little goodies as it translates as 'Gods Crescents'. 

A relatively quick bread to make as you mix the ingredients and knead for 5 minutes before leaving the dough to stand for 15 minutes.

The dough is then divided into 6 portions, which are then divided by 3 again.  Then you get plaiting!  I can't remember the last time I plaited anything, but it was fun rolling out the dough into sausage shapes and then creating a little crescent shape.  Very satisfying.

They are then placed on a floured baking sheet and left to rest for 5 minutes.

Then you brush with an egg yolk and dredge with sugar.  Can you see how yellow the egg yolk is?  These were egg yolks from my friend Cathy's chickens.  They are very happy chucks and it shows in their lovely eggs and also benefits my baking.  Lucky me!

The crescents are then popped into a preheated 160c fan oven (or 180c static oven) for 25 minutes until well-risen, golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

And boy do they rise!  Look at these babies!  Delicious with butter, jam and / or honey.  The texture is like a bread croissant if that makes sense and pulls apart in layers.

Edit to add:  I think these are best eaten on the day you make them, so unless you have a Monastery to feed, you may want to try halving the recipe.  You can, of course, reheat them in the microwave, which is perfectly adequate.

Today saw an attempt at a Hairy Bikers Austrian Chocolate Cake or Schokogugelhopf.  I mean really, how can you resist a name like that!  It was all a bit of a rush as I had a roast lamb on the go too, but it was fun to make.

Firstly the round ring tin is greased and dusted with ground almonds.  Its the first time I've had the excuse to use this tin, so it was good to retrieve it from the depths of my baking cupboard.

The chocolate is melted over a simmering pan of water, stirred, then set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

What a joy to have some sunshine, not only for my plants, but also to make the most of a warm greenhouse to soften my butter!  Perfect and speedy.  The butter and icing sugar are creamed together before adding 4 egg yolks one at a time.  For this recipe I was lucky enough to use some duck eggs that I had been given.  The recipe called for large eggs, so I felt this was a good substitute.  Duck eggs give an extra richness to baking.  This was then blended with the dry ingredients.

Add in the melted chocolate and then gently fold in the whisked egg whites, so as not to lose the air created when whisking them, but blending enough that you have no white spots left in the cake batter. 

Pop into the greased baking ring and place in a pre-heated 170c oven.  For this recipe I used a fan-oven and the cake only needed 30 minutes.  I think this was due to it being a big tin.  The cake rose well and came away from the sides nicely. 

Now being in a bit of a rush, I confess I failed to make the chocolatey topping that should have adorned the cake.  Instead we ate it warm with some cream drizzled over it.  Not a bad compromise.

Thank goodness for having my friend Raph and family back in our road - I have more people to share the baking love with!

Next time its Italy.  Gotta be some good bread recipes in that one!

Happy baking!

Hairy Bikers Bakeation Challenge - Eastern Europe

Hmmm, I have to confess, not the most successful of my baking attempts this weekend, but an attempt no less!  I feel I should share the flunks as well as the triumphs.

This weekend I finally got around to trying some more Hairy Biker Bakeation recipes and this week was Eastern Europe.  Now there are oodles of recipes to try in this chapter as it covers Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.  A couple of weeks back I started to try their Slovakian Sweet Nut Rolls recipe (Kolaches), but my Dried Active Yeast didn't seem to want to co-operate and refused to bubble up.  As I was pushed for time, I thought I had over-heated the milk and maybe killed the yeast, so was saving the recipe for another time.  This weekend I had all the ingredients ready for the Hungarian Bacon Scones (Pogasca) and Beef Goulash Soup (Gulyas leves).

So I go to warm the milk for the bacon scones and add the yeast.......... oh yes folks it failed to froth again.  Normally in my baking I use the Fast Action Yeast, but this was plain old Dried Action Yeast.  As I was all set to go I substituted the yeasts and just added the FA Yeast to the flour and followed the recipe as set. 

The above liquid ingredients had the flour and other dry ingrediants all mixed together until combined and then kneaded by my trusty Kenwood for 5 minutes.

The dough was then left for 1 1/2 hours to double in size......... or it should do.  At this point I realised they weren't going to be the best scones, but I hate wastage, so I cut them out into mini sized scones and left to rise again....... hmmm.  Not doing brilliant at this stage.

I also had the Goulash soup bubbling away nicely on the hob - at least something was going to plan!

Now I confess the scones were a little pathetic in appearance and I was too embarrassed to even photograph them.  But they did taste OK with the flavours of the bacon, parmesan and caraway seeds coming through and they have real potential.  So I will try them again.  The soup at least was delicious and very filling.

Today I emailed Allinson to explain my predicament and to see if anyone else had had problems with that batch of yeast.  To their credit they replied within 1/2 an hour and asked for my address to send a reply envelope to.  I then have to send back the yeast and they will 'investigate'!

There is a wealth of choice of recipes in the Eastern Europe chapter and I know I will be trying more of them.  But for the next challenge its Austria........ got to be a chocolate cake recipe in that chapter.

Happy baking!

Hairy Bikers Bakeation Challenge - Germany

Whoops!  I've slacked off for a couple of weeks on my Bakeation Challenge, but I did 'Jubilee' it instead, so I won't feel too guilty.  This weekend I'm having a go at the German Potato Bread recipe or Kartoffelbrot.  I would dearly love to try the Riesling Wine Cake and the German Bee Sting Cake, but until I can start running again to offset the calories, a bread recipe it shall be!

I used up some old Charlotte potatoes that had started sprouting for this recipe and am doing the all white flour version. 

Its seems very odd adding potatoes to a bread dough, but it should make it super moist.  You use so little water than usual, that it will be interesting to see how it works out.

Potatoes were boiled and mashed well.  Then the liquid was added to the mix.....

Followed by gradually adding the flour.....................

I have again kneaded mine in the Kenwood, but only for 5 minutes before popping it out onto a floured work surface and kneading lightly for a further minute. 

Last weekend I made another Scandinavian Rye bread or at least tried too.  I must have left it in the Kenwood too long (only 7 or so minutes) as it felt rather sticky, not smooth and pliable as it should.  Still I shaped it, let it prove and popped it in the oven.  It looked great for the first 20 minutes of baking and then it totally deflated.  This along with my baking pride.  Another lesson learnt.  Using the Kenwood is great for relieving the shoulders, but there is a real fine line between a perfect knead and over-doing it!  I digress, back to the Potato Bread.....................

I let the dough prove for an hour in an oiled bowl, then popped the lovely soft dough out on a floured surface and squashed it.

It was almost like you could feel the softness added by the potato.  I folded it in on itself and left the dough to prove again for about 30 minutes. 

I slashed the top and scattered the onion seeds over the top (also known as nigella seeds) and popped it into a 200c fan oven.  I only needed to bake mine for 27 minutes, but I had managed to knock the temperature up by 10c for the first 10 minutes or so of baking.  Either way, check it well before the suggested baking time.

And voila!  One Kartoffelbrot loaf and boy is it moist.  You can't really taste the potato in it, but it gives a lovely texture to the bread and is surprisingly light and airy .  I had mine simply with some goats cheese.  Delicious.  I was sceptical about trying it, but really glad I did!

Next weekend its Eastern Europe where I get to choose from Slovakia, Hungary and Romania!

Happy baking!