Carrot, Orange, & Walnut Muffins

These not so tiny morsels of deliciousness are inspired by the recent Carrot & Orange Cake I baked.  Whilst the cake was absolutely superb, it was quite awkward to store (my storage boxes are the wrong size for the dimensions pre-slicing).  So, my answer to the storage issue is not to buy yet another storage box (you can have too many!), but make the recipe into muffins which will store perfectly in all my boxes!  They are simply more convenient to store and to transport too.

The carrot is not detectable in taste (for those of you who still have yet to be convinced that carrot cake is actually a sweet thing and not a savoury thing!), but does add to the moistness of the cake.  The cake is super fluffy, slightly spicy with ground cinnamon, and the combination of orange zest and walnuts adds a lot more depth of flavour than muffins/cakes without  these tasty ingredients.  The topping combination of cream cheese (low fat is fine, and is what I use), with orange zest, sweetened with icing sugar (but not overly sweet) perfectly compliments the flavours in the actual cake.  Top off with chopped walnuts to decorate! Perfect.

The recipe is exactly the same as the Carrot & Orange cake except obviously it is baked in 12 muffin cases, on 160 C Fan, for approx 20 mins (but do test with a wooden skewer to see if sufficiently baked through).

There is still the orange glaze on top immediately after they emerge from the oven; and there is still the cream cheese topping when they have totally cooled.

One word really sums up these beauties: Delicious!!

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Delicious and fresh from the oven...

Carrot & Orange Cake

I first made a carrot cake many years ago, I think it had just made an appearance in the UK and was

catching on as the latest trendy edible to arrive here from across the pond!  I wasn't too thrilled with the result to be honest, and nor am I greatly enamoured with the many versions of carrot cake on offer in cafes.  Maybe it is the idea of there being carrots in a cake, which puts me off slightly; but it certainly wouldn't have been my first choice of cake to have with tea or coffee.

However, my husband has a penchant for carrot cake; it must fulfill one criteria, and that is it must be moist !  If it isn't moist then back it goes to the counter whence it came...he is unable to eat anything less than a moist carrot cake! :)

So, I have set about seeking and perfecting a recipe that gives a moist carrot cake.  I also wanted it to be slightly different to the more commonly available carrot cakes.  I didn't really want it to taste of spices such as nutmeg and ginger, although I did want a note or two of cinnamon to permeate through.  I wanted to add a different texture to the structural element, and opted for chopped walnuts, and added wholemeal flour as well as ordinary flour.  I didn't want it to be too rough and firm in texture, so I think combining both flours allows a nice, softer, yet slight firmness to the crumb.

I also wanted to add orange, not just the zest, which appears in numerous carrot cake recipes, but I wanted to incorporate the juice.  However, adding the juice to what is almost an exceptionally moist cake (the carrots give a lot moisture) would be too much for the cake to withstand.  So, I added an orange glaze to the baked cake; and just to be absolutely sure of a serious orangey flavour, I added orange essence to the frosting.  Result: a delicious, very delicious! MOIST, extremely tasty, carrot and orange cake.  The frosting adds a new depth of flavour,and is a perfect foil to the cake, in that it enhances the carrot, orangey, nuttyness!

You will need:

• 175 g light muscovado sugar
• 150 ml sunflower oil
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 160 g (fine to medium) grated carrot (approx 3 medium carrots)
• Grated zest of 1 large orange
• 100 g wholemeal self-raising flour
• 75 g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon  (freshly ground cinnamon is best)
• 40 g chopped walnuts

For the Orange Glaze:

• Juice of 1 large orange
• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar

For the Frosting:

• 200 g cream cheese (low fat is better)
• Icing sugar to taste (I have left the quantity for you to decide, some like it sweet, some prefer, like me, not so sweet)
• 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom essence
• chopped walnuts to sprinkle over the top

Method:

1.  Heat oven to 160 C (Fan).  Put sugar, oil and eggs into a large bowl, and lightly mix with a wooden spoon

2.  Stir in carrots, orange zest, and nuts

3.  Mix flours, bicarbonate of soda, and cinnamon together, then sift into bowl and lightly mix.  Stop mixing when everything is combined

4.  Pour mixture into prepared tin (18 cm square loose bottomed, greased and lined with baking parchment)

5.  Bake for 45 mins, and a wooden skewer comes out clean

6.  Squeeze the juice of the orange into a pan (sieve to remove all that isn't juice), and add sugar, and heat slowly until sugar has dissolved.  As soon as cake is ready, brush the glaze all over the top of the cake and allow to soak in.  Leave cake to cool completely, then remove from tin.

7.  Mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar, and orange blossom essence.  Add more icing sugar if you prefer it sweeter.

8.  Spread the frosting all over the top of the cake, and swirl it a knife.  Add chopped walnuts to decorate.

Enjoy!

P.S.  since publishing the recipe on the Blog, the BBC Good Food web site has published my recipe.  YOu can see it here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3104677/carrot-and-orange-cake-

Baileys & Vanilla Ice Cream - Delicious!!

The container on the left is 1 litre, and the container on the right is  800 ml

4 medium eggs - separated
100g caster sugar (white or golden, but I use golden)
300 mls double cream - you can use the lower fat variety by Elmlea (Delight) for a healthier version ;)
The seeds from a vanilla pod
2 tablespoons of Baileys Liqueur

1.  Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form when whisk is removed (remember to first clean your bowl with fresh lemon juice to remove any traces of fat/grease)
2.  Slowly whisk in the caster sugar, then continue to whisk until egg whites are stiff and glossy
3.  Whisk cream and vanilla pod seeds in a separate bowl until soft peaks form when whisk is removed (it is crucial to overall consistency that the cream is not overbeaten, stop before the cream is too firm)
4.  Fold the cream, egg yolks and Baileys Liqueur into meringue mixture until well combined (fold using a figure of 8 movement)
5.  Pour into a plastic container*, put lid on container, and freeze.  It will take at least 2 hours to fully set, but remember to stir it up, scraping in the frozen edges into the softer centre every 30 mins or so.

WARNING:  you may not buy factory-made ice-cream again after making this!!

* as you can see from the top photo, I have filled a 1 litre container to the brim, and not quite filled to the brim an 800 ml container

Creamy, smooth and very, very delicious Baileys & vanilla Ice Cream!

Chocolate Muffins with Mars Bar Pieces

Makes 12 good sized muffins

250g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder (Green & Black's is a good quality cocoa for all chocolate baking!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
175g golden caster sugar
175 ml milk
2 medium eggs (beaten)
100ml sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not essence)
2 Mars bars cut into small pieces (you can also add a square of any other chocolate you have or prefer)


1.  Heat oven to 170 c (375 F or Gas 5)
2.  Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin paper cases
3.  Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder
4.  Stir in sugar, then add remaining ingredients and lightly mix together (by hand)
5.  Spoon mixture into prepared paper cases, and then push a few pieces of Mars Bar deep into each case (the Mars Bar does tend to bubble to surface and overflow slightly, so pushing it well down into case should limit the amount of overflow!)
6.  Bake for approx 20 mins (don't be tempted to open over door before 20 mins)
7.  When they have risen, spring back to the light touch, remove and allow to cool for 10 mins before removing from tin
8. These are great as muffins, but also served with custard or ice-cream as a dessert. If using as a dessert you can reheat in microwave for about 15-17 seconds
9.  These will keep for 4-5 days in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Homemade lasagne

I'm sure most folk make their own Lasagne, as they do Spag Bol !  I must say though, I prefer Lasagne to Spag Bol, the flavour and texture have a greater depth, and it feels more substantial in a special way, than a bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese! As with most cooking and baking, though, I am sure this a highly subjective area to debate :)  If you want to recreate my version of Lasagne you will need:

• 500 g of minced beef (the better the quality, the better the results will be) 
• 1 medium onion - chopped into small pieces
• 10 (approx) medium mushrooms - halved and sliced 
• 2 garlic cloves - crushed
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 2 cans of plum tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons of red wine
• a good turn of freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of dried basil
• 1 jar of white Lasagne sauce, or same quantity of home made bechamel sauce
• 9 Lasagne sheets (your Lasagne dish should be roughly the same size as 3 Lasagne sheets laid side by side)
• 150 g  mozzarella (grated)
• Parmesan cheese (a few teaspoons sprinkled over the top)

Method:

1.  Brown minced beef in a large frying pan, no need to add any oil, but do keep stir the minced beef to break it up

2.  Add chopped onion to minced beef, and stir this in, put lid on pan, and cook on medium heat until onion is soft

3. Add mushrooms, stir well to combine, and add garlic, tomato puree, 2 cans of tomatoes (stir tomatoes in well and try to break them up into the minced beef etc), and wine

4.  Bring to the boil, then add black pepper, basil, sugar.  At this point if it's looking like it needs more liquid, add some boiled water from kettle (or pour some into one of the tomato cans and swish around to gather up remnants of tomato, and add this to pan)

5.  Turn off heat, and begin to assemble the lasagne by  first spooning in a sufficient quantity of the meat sauce to cover (but not to deeply) the bottom of your lasagne dish

6.  Put a layer of lasagne sheets on top of the meat sauce (3 sheets side by side)

7.  Spoon a layer of white sauce over the lasagne sheets (not too deeply just enough to cover them and spread over them)

8.  Repeat steps 5, 6, & 7 twice more, resulting in 3 layers of each of the meat sauce, lasagne sheets, and white sauce

9.  Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper over the white sauce topping

10.  Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top to ensure a good coverage

11.  Sprinkle a small quantity of dried basil over the top, and finally some Parmesan cheese grated finely over the top

12.  Stand lasagne dish onto a baking tray (in case it bubbles over) and place on top shelf of oven on 180 C (fan) for 40 minutes.  It should be a deep golden brown and beginning to form a crust on top (see photo).

13.  This should give you 6 decent sized portions; eat immediately or leave to cool, and slice into 6 portions, and when ready to eat, you can microwave each portion (in a dish covered in cling film) for approx 3 minutes.  Store any remaining portions in fridge, covered, but eat within 2 days.