(Not) Hot Cross Buns

Last year's buns with crosses and glaze - very pretty

A little late I know, but I did actually make these on time (i.e. before Good Friday) this year. I decided not to do the traditional crosses, making them into Not Cross Buns and therefore perfect for any time of the year, because these little beauties should definitely not be confined to the celebration of Easter!

I used the same recipe as last year, which can be found here: No Knead Mini Hot Cross Buns. The minor changes I made were to use all raisins rather than a mixture of raisins and cranberries, to use whole milk rather than semi skimmed (2%) and to use normal bread flour instead of extra strong. I got 17 50g balls of dough from the recipe.

This year's buns - not so pretty but equally delicious

It's perfect as far as I'm concerned - a little forethought for the soaking of the raisins to make them beautifully plump and juicy, no kneading of the sticky dough, minimal intervention on my part, and the loveliest soft, juicy buns at the end of the process. The only thing it requires is time really - I find sweet (enriched) yeasted doughs take much longer than you think to rise and I know this is where I've made mistakes in the past - not letting the dough rise enough has led to bullet like buns. The spices also retard the action of the yeast, so here patience is a virtue. I also like to arrange my buns to proove so that they batch together, maximising the softness.

Soft crumb with juicy raisins

I am the first to admit that these are not the most picture-perfect round, glazed hot cross buns but oh wow do they make up for that in taste and texture. J was chief taste tester for these and her first comment after finishing one (interspersed by comments such as 'Ooh, these are really good') was 'Have you brought any more for me....?' Make them, you won't regret it!

I'm entering these not cross buns into Calendar Cakes, where the theme this month is Easter Extravaganza. The host this month is Laura of Laura Loves Cakes, and the challenge is also hosted by Rachel of Dolly Bakes.   

Simple and In Season Round-up February

Thank you to all of the lovely people who have entered their seasonal dishes into this edition of Simple and In Season, there is a fantastic range of recipes here and lots and lots that I will have to bookmark to try. Thanks too to Ren of Fabulicious Food for letting me host her event. 

So without further ado here are this month's entrants:

First is Jen of Blue Kitchen Bakes with a delicious looking vegetable cobbler with chestnut and sage scones. This looks like the perfect winter warmer to me.

Jen's second entry is a lamb, leek and mint risotto. I love risottos but haven't often used leeks in them. Another delicious winter warmer.

Next up is Janet of The Taste Space with a delicious and healthy way with brussels sprouts: Spaghetti squash with roasted brussels sprouts and chickpeas. Janet has also given us some hilarious cat videos to while away a few spare moments....

Janet has also entered her Roasted orange veggie noodle bowl, a beautiful looking bowl of goodness with something Janet hasn't tried before, roasted oranges. Like me she often roasts vegetables but fruit is a new venture. This looks delicious and fresh.

Janet's final delicious looking entry is a Turkish freekah pilaf with chickpeas and wild greens. It contains chicory greens which were a new taste and one that didn't particularly suit Janet, but I'm sure this would be fantastic with Janet's recommended substitution of Swiss chard.

Alida of My Little Italian Kitchen has entered her Butter free almond and orange muffins. A perfect use of the lovely oranges available at the moment and some lovely pictures of her little one too.

Alida's second entry is Baccala (salted cod) with leek and potatoes. This healthy and light dish is the perfect way to showcase seasonal leeks and it looks very inviting indeed. Hop across to Alida's blog for a step by step of how to make this dish.

Anneli of delicieux has entered her Cannelloni stuffed with leeks and brie. Another fabulous use for leeks here and one I will certainly be bookmarking to try as soon as possible. I love the filling idea for these cannelloni - a winter take on the spinach and ricotta I'm used to.

Simple and In Season founder Ren of Fabulicious Food has entered these delicious looking Courgette (Zucchini) boats with bolognese sauce. Ren is currently following the Paleo diet, where grains are not recommended (there is some more information about the diet on Ren's blog) but I think everyone would love this recipe! 

Shaheen of Allotment 2 Kitchen has entered these absolutely gorgeous looking Vegan parsnip, raisin and walnut cakes. This seems like the perfect way to use parsnips and the combination of flavours sounds amazing. Shaheen's blog is full of inspiring vegetarian and vegan food and I'm sure everyone would enjoy these cakes.

Shaheen's second entry is Beetroot 'love heart' hummus. A lovely combination of earthy beetroot and chickpeas and a pretty presentation too.

Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe, one of the blogs I have happily followed for a long time has entered her Cranachan this month. A combination of yogurt and cream sounds perfect to me as I am not a big fan of straight whipped cream. 

Helen from Fuss Free Flavours has entered her Strawberry and coconut smoothie with winter berries, educating me as to the availability of strawberries in the UK in the middle of winter! This fruity smoothie is packed full of goodness including coconut oil and chia seeds, an ingredient I have yet to try.

Louisa of Chez Foti has entered her Parsnip, pecan and maple syrup cake. I am a big fan of parsnip cakes and this one looks delicious! Louisa is a fan of baking with veg and there are lots of other recipes for veg cakes on her blog.

Louisa's second entry is a Sausage, bean and veggie hotpot, which looks so delicious for the cold weather we've had recently. This is also an entry into another blogging challenge looking for recipes for a Somerset based charity called Swallow - check out the post for more details.

Choclette of Choc Log Blog was lucky enough to receive some delicious limes and has been putting them to good use in her amazing looking cakes and bakes. The first entry she has sent for this month's challenge is a Mexican Chocolate Pudding with chilli and lime mango slices. It sounds utterly delicious although Choclette says it doesn't look as good as it tastes, describing it as very rich, very dark and not too sweet.

Her second entry is this Lime, coconut and cardamom loaf cake which looks deliciously moist. I love the sound of that flavour combination!

Next is Rita from Rita Cooks Italian with her take on a classic Italian soup, Minestrone. This looks amazing and what a good way to use our seasonal vegetables. Rita even gives us an idea for using the leftover soup the next day. Yum! 

Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen gives us her Roasted garlic and tattie and leek soup. A perfect winter warmer making use of potatoes - often overlooked in favour of more exotic veg. Although it uses a whole bulb of garlic Elizabeth reports that it isn't overpowering.

Kate from Turquoise Lemons gives us a perfectly seasonal Blood orange drizzle cake. This looks gorgeous and I must make it while the oranges are still in season. 

Our final entry this month, making 21 in total is from Belinda at Focus on Flavour, and is a Jerusalem artichoke and Goat's Cheese Gratin. Using seasonal Jerusalem artichokes and leeks this is a lovely final dish to finish our round up.

Thank you to everyone who entered their delicious recipes into Simple and in Season this month. It's been a pleasure to host the challenge and I've found lots of lovely new-to-me blogs to peruse. I hope you've enjoyed this round up and will hop across to the participant's blogs to read their posts. Please let me know if I've missed anyone out of the round up...

Simple and in Season is being hosted by Louisa of Chez Foti for the next month so do enter any of your seasonal dishes!

Simple and In Season

Well, I hadn't really expected that break to be quite so long! I'm glad to have reached the weekend after a pretty stressful week last week and it's happily now February, which hopefully means less snow and more of these.... (I'm living in hope!)

And to start the month off well, I'm pleased to announce that I'm hosting Simple and In Season, as Ren has kindly let me look after her seasonal cooking challenge for the month of February. 

There are some guidelines to help you along:

1. Come up with a dish using any seasonal produce you like (savoury or sweet) and post it on your blog. You need to link to my blog: Cake, Crumbs and Cooking and also to Ren's blog: Fabulicious Food. It would be great if you want to use the badge - then we can spread the word about using fabulous seasonal produce.

2. This challenge will be open from now (i.e. the beginning of the month) until the 28th and I'll post a round up at the beginning of March.

3. You can take your inspiration from anywhere - the market/supermarket, cookbooks, magazines, blogs, create something from scratch or use a family favourite. Please ensure that you do not breach copyright if you are using someone else's recipe - a link to a recipe is great if it is available online though!

4. You can add as many recipes as you like and it's fine for them to be part of other blog challenges too.

As I can't seem to add a linky (you'd think after four and a half years I'd have figured out some of the technical aspects of blogging by now - apparently not so much!) please leave a link to your post in the comments and I'll be able to find all of your lovely creations.

Marmalade anyone?

If you aren't in the UK feel free to enter making use of produce that is seasonal in your part of the world, the more the merrier. You can find lots of resources for showing what is in season on Ren's Simple and In Season page. For the UK, BBC GoodFood has a good seasonal ideas on their seasonal tab. BBC Food also has some great seasonal ideas and recipes.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Christmas Chai Inspired Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

One of the best things about festive baking is using all of the warming spices that just seem to fit in so beautifully at this time of the year. I love using mixed spice, ginger, cinnamon and allspice to create that heady Christmassy aroma but this time I wanted to combine them in a light cupcake recipe with chocolate .

I had seen a recipe for chai cupcakes in the BBC Good Food magazine (October 2011) by Edd Kimber that used chai teabags to give the flavour but as I didn't want to use teabags I decided to adapt the recipe. I think I've not really used chai spices at all, simply my own mix using what I know I enjoy (and what was available in my baking stores!) but I'm going to stick with the name anyway. I think you'd need to use cardamom and perhaps a pinch of cloves to make them more authentically chai.

If you look really hard you can just about make out my Christmas tree cupcake cases....

Chai Inspired Spiced Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
225g butter
225g light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
225g self raising flour
110g buttermilk
1 1/2tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice

Chocolate Buttercream ***makes tonnes, far more than you need - see below***
200g butter
200g icing sugar
150g milk chocolate
50g dark chocolate
1/2tsp vanilla extract

Method

- Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C. Line at least 18 muffin holes with paper cases - see comment below.

- Melt the chocolate (either in the microwave or over a bowl of hot water) and set aside to cool to room temperature.

- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

- Add the eggs, flour and spices and beat until well combined.

- Add the buttermilk and beat again until the mixture is uniform.

- Divide between the cases. Bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden.

- Allow to cool on a wire rack. 

- Cream the butter until very soft and fluffy. Add the (cooled) chocolate and half of the icing sugar and keep creaming. Add the remaining icing sugar and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Add a little milk or (boiled) water if necessary to make the frosting softer.

- Pipe or spread onto your cupcakes. Decorate as desired.

Notes:

- There was too much mixture for 18 cases (I was using cupcake rather than muffin size cases - i.e. bigger than fairy cases but smaller than muffin cases - if you used muffin cases I guess it would have been ok). I ended up using three silicon cases too to take the excess. Which worked fine.

- There was far, far too much buttercream. If I'd been piping it there probably wouldn't have been quite such an excess - making swirls always takes more buttercream than you think - but if you're just spreading them like in my photos I think half the amount of buttercream would be ample.

Rudolph makes a festive appearance...

These were lovely - the spicing was quite delicate and the chocolate buttercream worked well with the cakes. The original recipe specified soured cream but I didn't have that - the buttermilk substitute worked very well in my opinion and gave lovely, soft, moist cakes. A winner, just that the quantities were a little off!

Since this recipe contains both chocolate and cinnamon, I am going to submit it to We Should Cocoa, founded by Choclette of Choc Log Blog (this month's host) and Chele of Chocolate Teapot. The theme for December is, of course, cinnamon. Yum.

As a Christmas-scented recipe I'm also submitting this to Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel at Dolly Bakes and Laura at Laura Loves Cakes. The theme this month is (unsurprisingly!) Christmas!

Traditional Christmas Cake

Yes, it's the 'C' word - Christmas. I haven't even started to think about anything else related to Christmas other than the cake. This is simply because this cake needs to be made in advance to mature for Christmas and be at it's best. It does seem early, but just trust me on this!

This recipe is our family recipe for Christmas cakes, used by my mum since before I was born I think. It originally came from one of the booklets that my mum collected in the 1970's as part of the Cordon Bleu cookery course. There were quite a few of these booklets hanging around the house when I was younger, but my mum being the tidy person she is (and not a hoarder like me, I got that from my dad) chucked most of them out. However, the booklet with the Christmas Cake recipe was always earmarked to stay safe. The cake is made every year for varying numbers of family members - grandparents, aunties and uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces and is also make in mini tins (200g baked bean size, in case you were wondering...) for cake sales at church. Not a cheap cake sale cake, but my mum has requests for these every year from many members of the congregation and they are always massively popular. I think perhaps I'd better start saving my baked bean tins for her again...

There have been a number of minor amendments over the years and so I thought I would record my version of this cake here. As you will see, this is destined to be a Christmas gift (for my dad - I don't think he reads this blog, but if he does... Hi Dad!... then he'll be rather relieved that the cake is made and it's the right one this time) so there are no inside shots.

Last year I completely ran out of time and didn't make this cake, reasoning that I would be better to make a cake that was intended to be eaten soon after making. I found Delia's Last-Minute Sherry Mincemeat Cake and made that instead. It was a disaster. In fact, I was so ashamed of it that I wouldn't even let myself take a photograph of it. I used fruit and nuts for the topping as shown, but they all sank into the middle of the cake, the edges ballooned up and I was embarrassed that I would have to give such a monstrosity as a gift. But having run out of time, I gave it anyway. Hence the need to get ahead on this year's effort.

The year before last I used this same recipe but for some reason (and what with being nearly two years ago I really can't remember what times/temperatures etc I used) the fruit and nuts darkened far too much. I guess I must have misread my recipe. I'm happy to report a better outcome this year.

NB When baking the cake I noted that quite a bit of fat came out of the cake. I was using a lined loose-based tin and having spoken to my mum since making it, she says that this happens to her too, so she doesn't use a loose-based tin. It's up to you, but I'd recommend something under the cake tin to catch the escaping butter if necessary. Hopefully the cake won't be dry....

Traditional Christmas Cake
Ingredients
115g plain flour
pinch salt
1/4 nutmeg, grated
1/2 tsp mixed spice
225g sultanas
175g raisins
115g glace cherries, halved
85g slivered almonds (or blanched almonds, chopped lengthways)
85g butter
grated rind 1/2 lemon (or orange)
85g dark brown soft sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp brandy/rum/sherry or 1 tbsp orange juice

To decorate

Your choice of nuts and fruits - I used brazil nuts, almonds and glace cherries, but my mum always includes walnuts. You could also use hazelnuts, or whatever takes your fancy.

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Grease and line a 6"/15cm round, deep (it needs to be deep) tin with a double layer of parchment paper round the sides and on the base - this helps to protect the cake as it bakes.

Preparation stage (can be done the night before):

Put butter, sugar and zest into a large bowl. This needs to be large enough to hold all of the mixture towards the end of mixing.

Put flour, salt, spices into a small bowl.

Put all dried fruit into a medium bowl with the nuts and toss with a tbsp or so of flour.

- Cream the butter, sugar and grated zest until soft and light.

- Add the eggs one at a time, with a spoonful of flour after each to help prevent the mixture curdling.

- Fold in half of the flour.

- Fold in the fruit and nuts until well mixed and then add the remaining flour mixture and alcohol/fruit juice and continue to mix until all amalgamated.

- Smooth the top of the cake (if baking without nut decoration, smooth with wet fingers to protect the surface of the cake) and arrange the fruit and nuts as you wish. Our family have always gone for concentric circles.

- Bake for 45 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 160C/Gas 3 (or just under, Gas 3 is apparently 170C), cover the cake with a double thickness of parchment weighed down with an old wooden spoon (or a silicon one like I used) - this is just to protect the surface from over-browning. Continue to bake for a further 45 minutes - 1 hour. Test with a skewer/cake tester. If it comes out clean the cake is done. I ended up leaving mine in for two hours in total.

A note on decoration: The cake is perfectly suitable for making as a plain cake to be covered in marzipan and royal (more traditional) or fondant (newfangled) icing. However, in our family it is always, always covered with a fruit and nut topping. This dates back to the 1970's when there was a shortage of icing sugar and so royal icing couldn't be made. (Yes, I know this sounds odd, but it was 1974, the year of the 3 day week, and many things were in shortage, sugar included! There's an article here.)

To store: When completely cold, wrap the cake in greaseproof paper and over-wrap it with foil. Keep in a cool(ish) place (i.e. not next to a radiator...) until needed.

I don't actually know how long this cake keeps, but a good while if properly wrapped. One year, my mum (making the cakes in September...) was either super-organised and thought to make two for the household, or miscalculated how many relatives needed one and there ended up being two cakes. One was consumed over Christmas and into January and then the other one stayed on top of a tall cupboard, hidden with kitchen rolls or some such kitchen related item. It was eventually rescued in about July, cut into, pronounced 'mature' and 'rather delicious'. So I reckon it'll keep for a while.

Apple and Pear Parkin

It seems appropriately cold to be thinking about warming autumnal flavours and for me, that's ginger, mixed spice and treacle. I particularly love the traditional northern cake known as Parkin. I have made a couple of other versions in previous years - click to find my traditional parkin recipe and a recipe I used from Dan Lepard. Both of these are delicious, but as ever, tastes change and my fickle taste buds wanted something new and different. This year I was browsing a little magazine which I think came as part of Waitrose Kitchen - Waitrose's own cookery magazine. This was a little booklet focusing on autumn flavours and contained a recipe for a fruity parkin. I had never really thought to add fruit to a parkin before but then thought 'why not!'.

The recipe didn't quite appeal in the form it was in, so this is more of an 'inspired by' rather than an adaptation - I've changed quite a few bits of it! I can't see it on their website at the moment, but I have changed it quite considerably so give my version below.

Apple and Pear Parkin
Ingredients
65g butter
165g self raising flour
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
scant tsp bicarbonate of soda
65g medium oatmeal
1 small conference pear
1 small apple (I used an Egremont Russet)
100g black treacle
100g golden syrup
3 pieces stem ginger in syrup, chopped
75ml milk

Method

- Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas 3. Grease and line an 8"/20cm square tin.

- Mix together the flour, ginger, oatmeal and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.

- Heat the butter, treacle, golden syrup and chopped ginger together in a pan until the butter has melted but the mixture isn't boiling.

- Remove from the heat and stir in the milk.

- Add to the flour mixture. I added a little at a time - this allows you to stir it in gradually and prevents lumps and pockets of flour forming.

- Pour into the prepared tin. Slice the apple and pear finely and lay on the top of the mixture, scattering in a random-ish fashion (I placed mine to get a good mixture of the different fruits across the top).

- Bake for about 45 minutes until the centre feels firm to the touch (I can't remember quite how long mine took).

- Serve warm as a dessert with icecream or creme fraiche or cold as a cake.

Normally, parkin benefits from having a few days for the treacle and golden syrup to draw in moisture and make the top sticky and moist - this is certainly the case for my traditional parkin recipe - it just carries on getting better and better. Here, however, the fruit on the top of the parkin means that it needs to be eaten the same day or the next day. You'll be relieved to find (as was I) that the top of the parkin is already delectably sticky and moist after only a day of waiting. In fact, I would venture to say that it is stickier and moister than either of my previous parkins. Just delicious. And this means that if you want to bake a quick batch of this for Bonfire Night this year, there's still ample time to do so!

This is fabulous - sticky, moist and full of gingery flavour. I would possibly add more ground ginger next time, and more chopped ginger, because really, can there ever be such a thing as too-much-ginger. I don't think so! I loved the ginger in the cake and the sticky top but to be honest the fruit didn't really add anything other than aesthetics (which is important, but not as important as flavour) and a good, chewy textural contrast but I think I'd leave them off next time so that the keeping qualities are improved (and I can keep more of it for myself rather than giving it away - selfish ulterior motive ;-)). Definitely a make again.

Since both apples and pears are in season right now and this makes good use of them, and as the season in a broader sense is calling to me for ginger and spice, I am submitting these to Ren at Fabulicious Food for her Simple and in Season linky, hosted this monthhttp://www.renbehan.com/2012/11/simple-and-in-season-november.html by Ren herself.

I am also submitting them to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jac of Tinned Tomatoes, as I first saw these when I was in the depths of revision and even though I knew I didn't have time to make them straightaway I knew without a doubt that they would be on my plate this season and recommend you add them to yours too.

Ginger Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes

When this month's We Should Cocoa was announced by the Hungry Hinny (who is guest hosting for Choclette of Choc Log Blog and Chele of Chocolate Teapot) as pumpkin, my mind immediately jumped to the recipe I wanted to use - Dan Lepard's Pumpkin Chocolate Mud Cake. And then I remembered I had already made and blogged this one - find it here. (And very good it was too).

Luckily the random collection of cells that passes for my brain recalled another pumpkin cake by Dan Lepard which I thought would be appropriate to adapt for this challenge. Originally published three years ago as a Hallowe'en treat, you can find the original recipe here on the Guardian website, but I made a number of changes to make it suitable for this challenge and to suit my ingredients and allergies...

Ginger Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream icing
Ingredients
4 lumps of ginger in syrup, drained of the syrup
175g light muscovado sugar
200g butter
2 large eggs
150g pumpkin, grated
200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
100g plain chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids), chopped
1/2 tsp ginger extract (optional, but I used it!)

For the buttercream
100g softened butter
250g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
splash of recently boiled water

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Line 18 muffin holes with cases - I used a Hallowe'en variety pack - black, orange and spider, plus a couple of yellow ones I found in the baking cupboard. 

- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.

- Fold in the pumpkin, ginger extract and chopped stem ginger, then the flour and spices.

I promise there was squash in there...

- Fold in the chocolate and divide between the prepared cases. Bake for 25-30 minutes until risen and springy to touch.
- Allow to cool.

- Make the buttercream by creaming the butter until very soft. Add half of the icing sugar and start beating slowly to incorporate. Add the rest of the icing sugar and the vanilla and continue to beat until very light in colour and fluffy. I add a little water from a recently boiled kettle to let the mixture down a bit and make it softer to pipe. Some people use milk - I have found that cold milk sometimes makes the mixture split. 

I was a little ambivalent about these, although my colleagues really liked them. I loved the stem ginger in the cake and the chunks of chocolate (chocolate and ginger being my two favourite flavours of the moment) and the cake itself was lovely and moist and tender. You couldn't taste the pumpkin, but there was a slight pumpkin-y aroma when the cake tin was opened. It contributed much more to moistness than flavour. I'm not sure the vanilla buttercream was the right complement to the cake, but it was delicious in its own right! I think I was looking for a more intense hit of ginger throughout the cake, but actually, these were great anyway.

As these contain a rather seasonal ingredient, I am sending them to Simple and in Season, also hosted by Nazima of Franglais Kitchen and founded by Ren of Fabulicious Food.

I am also sending them to One Ingredient, hosted this month by Nazima of Franglais Kitchen and co-hosted by Laura of How to Cook Good Food.

And last but not least, of course these are heading to We Should Cocoa!