I learnt how to make baklava from my mother many, many years ago.  No idea where she got the recipe from but it’s absolutely fool-proof and a real crowd pleaser.

My partner and I with a few friends managed to devour half the tray on the weekend and I just had to take the rest to work today, otherwise I would need to diet for a month. 

If you’re a huge baklava fan but don’t think you’ll ever find the time to make it – look away now.  This is not the healthiest recipe I’ve ever made before, but you can justify it by making sure you cut small squares and only eat one per day – easier said than done.

Make the syrup first, as you want to pour cold syrup over hot baklava.  Simply stir all the ingredients over a very low heat for at least 20 minutes until it’s slightly syrup.  Leave to cool.

Turn the oven to 180 C / 350 F.  Grease the sides and base of a tray that is large enough for one piece of filo pastry laid out flat (approx 33 x 23 x 5 cm).  Lay one sheet of filo pastry on the base of the tray.  Brush it relatively generously with melted butter.  Repeat 9 times until you have 10 sheets of filo pastry in the tray with melted butter brushed in between every sheet of pastry (I did say it wasn’t healthy!  But it is amazing!)

Combine the sugar, cinnamon and ground nuts together.  Pour half of the mixture on top of the 10 sheets of filo and spread it out evenly.  Top with two sheets of filo pastry, brushing the melted butter on top of each sheet, like before. 

Pour the remaining half nut mixture into the tray and evenly spread.  Then with the last 8 sheets of filo pastry, continue to lay one at a time brushing melted butter on each sheet, just as before.

Once completed, cut into squares or diamond shapes, whichever you prefer.  Pour any leftover butter over the top.  Sprinkle a few drops of water over the top.  Bake in the hot oven for 30 minutes.  Then reduce the temperature to 160 C / 320 F and bake for a further 45 minutes.

Then pour the cold syrup prepared earlier over the top of the hot baklava.  Serve cooled.  Enjoy!

 As I have mentioned previously, my bookcase is bulging with cookbooks and much to my partner’s disgust, I chose a recipe from the BBC food website instead.  Problem is that most cookbooks don’t have a basic chocolate cake recipe.  They all have fancy frosting or 4 layers or some other difficult technique and I wanted something very basic to start with.  So this simple chocolate cake is what I went for.

 And simple it was.  Just everything in a bowl, mix and bake.  This is the kind of baking I can do!  For the actual cake, I was really proud, as I didn’t change one single ingredient and I measured everything – which is a first for me!  Probably why it worked…..

It was really moist as well.  A fantastic cake recipe.

Turn oven on to 180 C / 350 F.  Grease & line two 20cm / 8 inch sandwich tins.  I just used butter and greaseproof paper.

Mix all cake ingredients, except the boiling water.  Whisk together and then slowly add in the boiling water.  The mixture will be very liquid.

Divide the mixture into the two tins and bake for 30 – 35 minutes.  Allow to cool.

For the ganache melt both the cream and chocolate together in a pot over a very low heat until the chocolate is melted.  Ensure it is mixed well and glossy.  Allow this to cool for a couple of hours until it’s become a spreadable consistency.  Once it had cooled somewhat, I actually put it into the refrigerator for a while.

Spread a good amount of the ganache over the top of both the cakes.  Place one on top of the other on a serving plate and cover the rest of the ganache over the entire cake using a palette knife.  Enjoy!

Related articles

• Rebar Chocolate Cake (korenainthekitchen.com)
• Paleo Chocolate Cake (sleepeatgymrepeat.com)

Shortcrust pastry, I’ve learnt, is a temperamental mixture that I know I will have to practise quite a few times before getting it right.  This first attempt was not a success.  Thankfully, the rest of the leek quiche was and we had something to eat for dinner.

I used the food processor method and in hindsight, I should have added more water than I did.  I was too nervous of messing it up.  The recipe said 1 – 4 tablespoons of water, but it’s better if you don’t add any.  I added 2 tablespoons and when I brought it out of the fridge, waited for it to warm up again (which feels like an eternity!) and started rolling it out, it turned into a big mess of crumbs.  So I just pressed the crumbling mess into the quiche tin.  Not a great start.

I also don’t think I blind baked it for long enough.  After taking it out of the oven, the bottom still looked quite raw and the butter glistened.  Again being too nervous to ruin it, I didn’t return it to the oven.  Second error.

So we ate the quiche and most of the pastry for dinner.  These parts were very tasty, but I may have to keep some shop bought shortcrust for emergencies until I get it right.

Leek Quiche

Turn the oven to 180 C / 350 F.

In a saucepan, add the leeks, butter, water and salt, bring to the boil and then simmer until the leeks are soft.  Drain and then cool.

Blind bake the shortcrust pastry by pressing into a quiche / tart baking tin, cover in baking / parchment paper and pour in baking beads or raw rice/beans to cover the base well.  Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes or until the pastry looks half-baked.  Remove the paper, rice / beads.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, milk, prosciutto, nutmeg and pepper and mix well.  I didn’t add any extra salt as the meat is already quite salty.  Add to the leeks and mix well.

Pour this mixture into the prepared pastry, top with grated cheese and bake for approx. 30 min or until the cheese is nice and golden.  Enjoy!

So, I have started with a very basic white bread recipe. It was a really simple recipe and is ideal for weekend baking, it was an absolute success and I’m really happy with it.

It is great to make when you’re at home, pottering / faffing about. With a recipe I found, you don’t actually have to give it much attention, and there is hardly any kneading involved, which I loved.

I followed a recipe that has all the usual ingredients for white bread, however instead of kneading the bread for ages, which tends to be the norm, I used this other method whereby after leaving the bread for 10 minutes, then on an oiled bench / table area you knead the dough, up to 10 times (the dough is turned a quarter, and then knead with one hand, turn a quarter and knead again, etc). Leave for 10 minutes in the bowl under the cloth and repeat twice more.  A little time-consuming, but very easy with not too much effort.  Then you let it raise like you normally would.  I might see if this method works with other recipes.

(Apologies for not being able to keep the recipe within this post – however the editor of the book I used – which I did disclose, asked me to delete it.)

They tasted, pretty good – and really in my book this is usually all that matters, but I’ve worked out texture and presentation is also very important when baking or making desserts.

Caramel is simply sugar, water and golden syrup, bring this to boil and then add butter and cream.  According to the recipe – this needs to be brought to 121 C or 250 F and then poured into a pre-prepared baking tray.

I think the first thing I did wrong was substitution.  Something I’m brilliant at when cooking dinner.  I never, ever follow a recipe and always substitute ingredients.  This is perhaps not a wise decision when baking – especially when I’m still very much a beginner.  I needed 225 ml cream, but I only had 180 ml and as it was snowing outside and therefore I wasn’t keen to venture far from our front door, I decided to top up the difference with the leftover clotted cream from the scones.  Hindsight is such a powerful thing.

Secondly, I’ve read another recipe that suggests 130 C for caramel and I did take it off the flame the second it hit 121 C, so perhaps leaving it for a touch longer may help with the texture.

As I said, they tasted amazing but that’s only if you can get it off the baking paper.  It’s totally gooey which generally isn’t a bad thing, except when it’s supposed to be hard.  Fingers crossed the 2^nd attempt works and then I’ll publish the recipe.

When choosing which type of cupcakes to bake first, I had to go Red Velvet.  They feature in every cupcake cafe in London and I can never resist them.

The initial “red” paste was fun to make.  Being a cook for over a decade (as opposed to a baker), I’ve never created something that really looks like blood in the kitchen before.  It was a relatively childish amusement.

The tricky part, however was trying to beat ingredients until they’re fluffy and continuing for many, many, many minutes while adding all the other ingredients one by one…. by a hand held whisk.  Not an egg beater that you wind by hand, or even better an electronic egg beater, or better still a kitchenaid (every baker’s dream gadget, I’m beginning to learn), but something that I use to lightly whisk eggs for scrambled eggs.  I had to beg my boyfriend to help share the burden, 1 minute of whisking each.  In front of the TV, as it took AGES!  So my advice is to, beg, borrow or buy if you don’t already have an electric gadget to help you.  Unless of course, you really want to get rid of those bingo wings.

Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 24)

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).  Line two 12 cup muffin tins or silicone pans with cupcake liners.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.  In a smaller bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps and set aside.

In a large bowl, using (NOT a hand whisk) a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.  Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of buttermilk.  Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk.  End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda – it will fizz up.  Add this to the cake batter and stir well to combine.  Fill cupcake cups with cake batter until they’re 3/4 full.  Place muffin tins in your preheated oven.  Bake for approx 20 min.  They are cooked when you are able to pat the tops and the cake springs back.

Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting / icing.

Frosting ingredients

Mix all ingredients together and ice the cooled cupcakes.  Enjoy!

As I’m baking on a regular basis – I decided for my first attempt, to only make 1/4 of the recipe measurements so that we wouldn’t have so many yummy, yet not the healthiest, food items in the house. It’s a pity that I had to make the scones twice, as this first decision kind of defeated the purpose.

As I was only using 1/4 of the ingredients – it was very quick and I created a total of 2 scones in a matter of minutes. Having learnt that everything must be measured early on – I had to be quite particular dividing all measurements into four.

Into the oven and I carried on with my day – another baking mistake. It’s probably a good idea to start using the timer on my phone, as I completely forgot about the scones and overcooked them by about 5 minutes. I also probably rolled it too much, as the above picture shows, they’re a little thin. They tasted alright, but weren’t exactly a success. Back to the drawing board.

So with the second attempt, I also added cheese to most of the mixture, as my partner only likes cheese scones and therefore, I can share the eating “burden”. This time, they worked.

A little concerning – one of the easiest things to bake and I required two attempts! I think this learning to bake caper will take a few years….

English scones (& cheese scones)

Heat the oven to 220 C (425 F). Grease an oven tray.

Sift the flour and salt together. Rub in room temperature butter into the flour. If making cheese scones – add the grated cheese as well. Mix into a soft dough by adding the milk in slowly (may not require all milk).

On a floured surface, knead the dough lightly, not too much so the scones remain light. Flatten the dough with the heel of your hand to approx 1/2″ / 2cm thickness. Stamp out with a scone cutter – or as I used a regular glass dipped in flour. Place on the tray. Glaze the tops with extra milk. Bake for 10 min.

Tip from Kieran: bake the scones close together for extra height.

The most notable thing as I walked into the classroom was the room’s temperature.  Being in the middle of winter in England and having the air-conditioner on is not ideal.  But apparently cold temperatures (and cold hands, which I don’t have) are ideal when dealing with chocolate.

I heard that making truffles is incredibly easy and after this class, I would have to agree.  However, trying to make them look pretty or attractive is much more of a challenge.  I think, however if you just made the insides, the ganache, and then rolled these in cocoa – the “attractiveness” probably wouldn’t be such an issue – but it’s the dipping into the chocolate and then trying to shake the truffle off the dipping tool (not easy) to avoid truffle “feet”.  Most of my truffles had feet, especially the final few when the chocolate started going hard.

I was quite chuffed to learn that the teacher, who has been making truffles for years, tempers / melts her chocolate in the microwave and I tried this for the first time, when making my (again, funny looking) chocolate squares a week ago.  So this must be the way to go.

Cream Ganache (lasts for 3 months)

Put the cream and the glucose (if you’re using the ganache straight away and don’t need it to keep for such a long time, omit the glucose) in a bowl and heat together until the cream begins to boil.  Once the cream begins to boil, pour it over the chocolate and mix until the cream and the chocolate emulsify, creating a thick liquid.  And that’s it!  Very, very easy.

Chocolate Truffles

With your chosen flavouring, mix a small amount into the ganache, so you can taste the flavouring but make sure it hasn’t changed the consistency much at all.  Transfer the ganache into a piping bag and pipe small balls onto greaseproof paper – and put into the fridge to cool for  about 10 minutes.

Using your (cool) hands, roll the ganache quickly into balls.  This can be put back into the fridge to cool again.

Then you can roll these into cocoa powder, dip into chocolate and decorate with sprinkles / flakes.  You can really be quite creative at this stage.  Enjoy!

So, to fill the void, I decided to download recipes to try and add to my already bulging cookbook collection. I think I need to stop downloading recipes. I probably have enough recipes for every day for the next six years. Perhaps I should focus on the basic recipes for now But it is way too much fun, eating desserts with your eyes. …

After my first attempt that wasn’t really successful, I thought I would try a couple of recommended recipes, and today it was Buttermilk rusks, a South African recipe.

My boyfriend is South African and his mother gave me this recipe.  It looked really straight forward and I know what the result should look and taste like (which is always helpful) so I thought I would give this a shot.

With the recipe below, you’ll notice that the first ingredient is flour – and it’s a lot of flour!  1kg in fact.  I only have one mixing bowl and once I (measured first – see an improvement already!) poured the flour into my only existing mixing bowl, it filled it to the brim.  Ah.  Something to add to the shopping list.

So I decided to half the recipe, to make it possible.  This seemed to be going fine, until we got to the egg and the salt. 

How do you half an egg?  No matter how much I tried, this wasn’t possible for me and I’m sure trying to watch an amateur baker attempt to half an egg is quite amusing.  Picture it in your head – I looked ridiculous! 

Next problem was the salt.  For some reason (especially after the egg fiasco) I completely forgot to half the measure and added the full 5 gr.  I realised after I added it to the bowl.  So I tried to take out as much as possible.  As sugar and salt in appearance look relatively similar, I had to taste what I pinched out of the bowl, to ensure I had the right ingredient.  First I tasted sugar and then salt, then more sugar, then more salt, etc.  It certainly wasn’t a taste test I enjoyed.  I’m sure I again looked ridiculous – with my facial expression of surprise, when I thought it would be sugar and instead it was salt.

Anyway, we got there in the end and all I can say is that this recipe must be fool-proof, as the end result is how I expected, thank heavens….

South African Buttermilk Rusks

Perfect to dip into your breakfast coffee or tea.

Turn your oven to 180 C / 350 F.  Grease a roasting pan with oil / butter.

Sieve the dry ingredients together into a (large!) bowl.  Rub in the butter well.

Beat the egg & oil together, then add buttermilk and mix.  Pour onto the dry ingredients and mix in thoroughly.

Press the mixture into a roasting pan and mark with a knife where you are going to cut (approx 6×3 cm or 2×1 inch).  Bake for 45 min.

Remove from the oven and actually cut where you have marked.  Place into baking tins, well spaced apart and leave to dry in 100 C / 210 F oven for 2-3 hours until hard.  Store in a biscuit tin.