Handmade Hot Chocolate Mix - A Perfect Christmas Gift Idea

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix - A Perfect Christmas Gift Idea

Handmade gifts are all the rage this year with the revival of all things crafty, and here is an awesomely simple and brilliant one for you. Every year, supermarkets and gift shops are filled with cheap mugs containing sachets of hot chocolate and a handful of marshmallows, crying out to be purchased for teachers, colleagues and acquaintances. With this recipe you can step it up several gears by creating the yummiest hot chocolate you have ever tasted, and presenting it in a cute personalised format for the lucky recipient. Plus - you can make sure that have enough left over for the mandatory quality control - an extra gift for you!

Finely Ground Dark Chocolate - 85% Cocoa Solids

The cocoa powder and 75% cocoa chocolate add a deep flavour to the hot chocolate, whilst the white chocolate adds a creaminess and hint of vanilla, complimented by the maltiness of the Horlicks. The cornflour prevents the mixture from clumping together.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons Horlicks

4 tablespoons cornflour

8 tablespoons icing sugar

8 tablespoons quality cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks)

100 grams white chocolate, finely grated

200 grams dark chocolate (75% or higher cocoa solids) finely grated

5 grams salt

Method

Sift the Horlicks, cornflour, icing sugar, and cocoa powder into a large bowl. Add the salt and mix well. Grate the white and dark chocolate into the bowl. Mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed.

To make, add 4 heaped spoonfuls of the mixture to 1 mug of hot milk and stir well. Add marshmallows, cream, sprinkles or liqueur as desired!

Transfer the mixture to individual jars, add a tag with instructions on how to make, and personalise accordingly. I bought these cute little spice jars from Tesco for £1 each, and they were perfect, the above quantities filled 4 jars exactly with no surplus.

Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked are looking for all things food gift-y this month for Tea Time Treats, so I am linking up with their challenge.

Mini Swedish Princesstarta

This cake has been on my 'to-bake' list ever since Lucy at Supergolden Bakes and I ogled some snaps of it over on Pinterest. I decided it was going to be my bake for the April meeting of the Chesterfield Clandestine Cake Club, as the theme was Happy Birthday Your Majesty, but alas I couldn't make the event. It was then going to be my bake for the June meeting, when the theme was Cakes from Around the World, but once again life (or more specifically work) got in the way. 

This month, the Tea Time Treats challenge is Layer Cakes, whilst the Calender Cakes challenge is Pump Up The Jam, and as both of these challenges end today, and I was damned if I was going to miss another opportunity to bake this amazing cake, I grabbed a mixing bowl as soon as I got in last night, and didn't stop whisking until these beautiful mini Swedish Princesstartas were sat on the table in front of me. Now all I have to do is write up the recipe before the end of today... Let's hope I don't get distracted! 

A Swedish Princesstarta is traditionally made of layers of sponge, jam, pastry cream, and domed whipped cream and covered with a pale green marzipan. I have combined my go-to recipes for each of the above components, but I did scale everything down here to make two smaller cakes, as with the fresh cream elements it won't keep as long as a normal cake. If you wanted to make this as a celebration cake (for which it would be perfect) just double up all the quantities and use an 8 inch cake pan for a stunning centrepiece. 

Ingredients (makes 2 small cakes)

For the Sponge

• 60 grams salted butter
• 60 grams golden caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 60 grams self-raising flour
• 1 tablespoon milk

For the Pastry Cream

• 1 egg yolk
• 25 grams vanilla sugar (or caster sugar and vanilla extract)
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 110 grams full fat milk

To Assemble

• 2 tablespoons Strawberry Jam (I used Mackay's Strawberry Preserve)
• 4-5 fresh strawberries
• 300ml double cream, whipped
• 300 grams marzipan
• green and pink gel food colours

Method

First, make the sponge cake. Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees, and line two 5'' cake tins. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. Sift in the flour, and gently fold into the mixture until combined, then add the milk, and fold again to loosen the mixture. Divide the mixture between the two prepared tins, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the sponge is firm to touch. Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack.

Whilst the cake is baking, make the pastry cream. Place the egg yolk, sugar and cornflour in a bowl, and whisk until smooth and silky. Heat the milk in a saucepan until just warm. Remove from the heat, and add to the egg mixture slowly, whisking continuously. Once all the milk has been added, return to the saucepan, and heat over a low heat, continuing to whisk the mixture until it thickens to a custard. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl, and set aside to cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge to cool completely. Stir occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. 

Once the cake and the pastry cream are completely cool, you can assemble the Princesstarta as follows;

Take a serrated knife, and slice each cake horizontally to create two layers. 

Spread a tablespoonful of strawberry jam on each of bottom layers.

Add a layer of chopped fresh strawberries.

Divide the pastry cream between the two cakes.

Place on the top layer of the sponge.

Use a pallet knife to use a little of the whipped cream to seal in the edges of the filling, then heap the rest on top of the two cakes.

Take the marzipan, and reserve a little (about 20g) to make the traditional rose decoration. Colour the remainder with the green food colouring. Divide the green marzipan into two equal portions, roll each out to around 5mm thick, and use to cover the Princesstarta, smoothing the tops to shape the cream underneath to a dome shape.

Trim the edges to remove an excess marzipan, and tuck the cut edges under the cake for a neat finish. 

Decorate with a pink marzipan rose (tutorial to follow) and a dusting of icing sugar. 

Store in the fridge, serve chilled, and consume within two days.

I am linking this recipe up with Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked as the theme is Layer Cakes, of which this little beauty has plenty!!

I am also linking with Calender Cakes, hosted by Rachel of Dolly Bakes and Laura of Laura Loves Cakes, where the theme this month is Pump Up The Jam. 

Black Forest Cupcakes

I'm off to Brussels for a few days for work this week, which means three bake-free days (boo) and a lot of networking (boo again). In the interest of making sure that Gary doesn't suffer too much from cake-withdrawal in my absence, I offered to bake him something to keep his sugar levels up, to which he replied that he wanted a Black Forest Gateaux. After explaining that this might not be the best bake, considering the fresh cream would prevent it from keeping well, we compromised on a "black forest flavoured" alternative. Basically, as long as it had cherries and chocolate I was onto a winner! 

Black Forest Cupcake

I started with my absolute go-to chocolate cake recipe as a base for these cupcakes, and started to raid the cupboards for additions to make up the Black Forest elements. The flavourings here might be a little unconventional for any fresh cream and cherry purists out there, but I can promise that this recipe makes 12 sweet, fruity and yet chocolaty, perfect little cupcakes.

I have used maraschino, or glace cherries in this recipe over fresh ones, firstly because that happens to be what I had to hand, but secondly as I wanted the sweetness of the cherry syrup to cut through my dense rich chocolate cake. I have further enhanced the fruit flavour by adding Grenadine, a non-alcoholic fruit flavoured syrup mostly used in cocktails. Whilst not necessarily made from cherries, (my bottle has raspberries and strawberries on the label, although traditionally Grenadine is made from pomegranate or blackcurrants) the sweet syrup complements the flavours of the maraschino cherries and works well in these cupcakes. You could omit the Grenadine from this recipe if you didn't have any, and use the syrup from the jar of maraschino cherries instead. 

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes;

50 grams dark muscovado sugar

25 grams good quality cocoa powder (I use Green and Black's)

125 ml boiling water

1 tablespoon Grenadine

65 grams unsalted butter

75 grams caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

115 grams plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

12 maraschino cherries

For the vanilla buttercream frosting;

250 grams unsalted good quality butter

500 grams icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

To decorate;

cocoa powder

12 maraschino cherries

Grenadine

Method:

Sift the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl, and add the dark muscovado sugar. Pour over the boiling water, and whisk to form a syrup. Add the tablespoon of Grenadine, mix again, and set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy, then add the caster sugar and beat again until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla extract, and mix well. Gradually pour in the cocoa mixture, whisking continuously, and stir until all the ingredients are well combined. Use a spatula, and make sure there is no butter left on the bottom of the bowl. 

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, and add the baking powder and bicarb of soda. Mix well. Add the flour mixture to the batter, and fold in. You will have quite a loose runny mixture once it is all combined. 

Divide the mixture between 12 cupcake cases. Take the 12 maraschino cherries, and chop each one roughly into quarters, sprinkling the pieces across the top of each of the cupcakes. 

Bake the cakes at 180 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes, until they are springy to the touch. Remove from the oven, and cool completely on a cooling rack. 

To make the buttercream frosting, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy, then gradually add the icing sugar, a little at a time. Add the vanilla extract and the milk around halfway through, then continue until all the icing sugar has been incorporated. The mixture should have a whipped cream-like consistency. 

Finally, to decorate the cupcakes when cool, transfer the buttercream to a piping bag, and pipe swirls onto of each of the cupcakes.

Dust the top of each with a little cocoa powder, place a whole maraschino cherry on the top, and drizzle a little of the Grenadine over. (I did this by pouring a bit at a time into a 1/4 teaspoon measure and then drizzling from there in order to not pour too much at once). 

The finished cupcakes are rich and chocolaty on the bottom, with a hint of cherry, and then topped with a light buttercream, and a sweet drizzle of fruit from the Grenadine running through... mmmm...

I am entering these cupcakes into this month's Tea Time Treats, hosted by Lavender and Lovage, and What Kate Baked, where the theme this month is Fairy Cakes, Cupcakes and Muffins. 

Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart - Great Comic Relief Bake Off Challenge No. 2

Earlier this week I blogged my intention to work through the technical challenges from the Great Comic Relief Bake Off, and shared the results of my first attempt at Chocolate Eclairs - post here

Today's challenge comes from Episode Two, and it is a great British classic - the Bakewell Tart. This challenge uses Mary Berry's recipe - found on the BBC Food website here. I'm not tackling these in the order of episodes particularly, in fact my only rule is to follow the recipe to the letter - a personal challenge for me as I have a natural urge to meddle with things! As we have spent the weekend visiting the in-laws, I decided to make a Bakewell Tart to take with us, as I apparently am unable to stop myself from arriving on people's doorsteps with hampers of baked goods, like some wannabe Bree van der Kamp (of Desperate Housewife fame), not that anyone has complained to date!

The Bakewell Tart was particularly important for me to get right, as I grew up twenty minutes down the road from Bakewell, and spent a huge portion of my childhood there playing in the park, feeding the ducks by the river, and sampling the local delicacy. I really felt I had to do this one justice for the 9 year old me.

I found this recipe really easy to follow, and everything came together really nicely. The only issue I encountered was that my flan dish is slightly larger than the 8 inches specified in the recipe, and because of that I had a little excess pastry case as the filling didn't come as far up the dish as it should have. But I'm being overly critical at that, the tart tasted delicious! I wouldn't change a thing about this recipe, and it's definitely going to become a firm favourite in our house!

---

THE RECIPE (taken from BBC Food)

For the shortcrust pastry

• 175g/6oz plain flour
• 75g/2½oz chilled butter
• 2-3 tbsp cold water

For the filling

• 1 tbsp raspberry jam
• 125g/4½oz butter
• 125g/4½oz caster sugar
• 125g/4½oz ground almonds
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 50g/1¾oz flaked almonds

For the icing

• 80g/2¾oz icing sugar
• 2½ tsp cold water

Preparation method

1. To make the pastry, measure the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the water, mixing to form a soft dough.
   
   
   Watch technique0:46 mins
2. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use to line a 20cm/8in flan tin. Leave in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
   
   

   

   
   
   
   Watch technique0:32 mins
3. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 (180C fan).
   
   
4. Line the pastry case with foil and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for about 15 minutes, then remove the beans and foil and cook for a further five minutes to dry out the base.
   
   
   Watch technique1:23 mins
5. For the filing, spread the base of the flan generously with raspberry jam.
   
   

   

   
   
   
6. Melt the butter in a pan, take off the heat and then stir in the sugar. Add ground almonds, egg and almond extract. Pour into the flan tin and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.
   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
7. Bake for about 35 minutes. If the almonds seem to be browning too quickly, cover the tart loosely with foil to prevent them burning.
   
   

   

   
   
8. Meanwhile, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in cold water and transfer to a piping bag.
   
   
9. Once you have removed the tart from the oven, pipe the icing over the top, giving an informal zig zag effect.
   
   

   

I am entering this bake into this month's Tea Time Treats, hosted by Lavender and Lovage and What Kate Baked, and run this month by Kate. The theme is 'Puddings' and I can't think of a better entry than this classic!

Marmalade Loaf Cake

Don't you just love it when everything falls into place! Ok, I'm not talking about the big things today, but a few things of little consequence that have just aligned perfectly for a Sunday lunchtime. 

Firstly, I have spent the morning cleaning and cooking, as any good Stepford Wife (I wish!) does on a Sunday morning. I prepped several lasagnas for tonight's dinner and the freezer, and then started to clear out the little collection of half used jars from the fridge. Most have been discarded, but I found a nearly full jar of marmalade, still in date. Now we barely ever eat marmalade, however it would be a shame for this to go to waste... the cakey part of my brain kicked in... and I started to google marmalade cake recipes.

I found plenty. I assessed each of them against the contents of my kitchen cupboards and fridge. All of them called for orange zest and juice. I had no oranges. No problem, I assured myself, I'm just going to have to do this 'pantry door style'! (My 'kick at the pantry door' cooking philosophy comes from an old saying of my parents, and basically involves changing recipes and substituting ingredients based on what I have in the house.) 

So after playing with recipes, ingredients and quantities, this is the recipe that was born. It's a simple, tasty tea-loaf, and the perfect accompaniment to a mug of tea on a Sunday afternoon! 

Ingredients:

• 175g unsalted butter
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 150g good quality marmalade
• 175g self raising flour
• 100g icing 
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, and line a standard loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs, and whisk into the mixture a little at a time to prevent it from curdling. Add the marmalade, and whisk again until fully combined. Sift the flour into the bowl, and fold together with a spatula until evenly distributed. 

Transfer the mixture to the loaf tin, and place in the oven. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees, then turn the oven down to 150 degrees and bake for a further 20 - 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Check on the cake after the first 30 minutes have passed, and if it looks like it's going a little too dark on the top place a greaseproof paper lid over the top to prevent it from burning. 

Remove the cake from the oven, and place on a cooling rack in the tin to cool. Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice to form a syrup. Prick holes all over the cake whilst still warm, and pour the syrup over. Leave to cool completely in the tin, then remove and serve. 

The final piece of the puzzle is that I have been getting more involved in the blogging hemisphere over the last few weeks, and have been immersing myself in the wonderful foodie blogs of others. I have noticed several blogging challenges, and have been deliberating over which recipes to enter into which challenges. This Marmalade Tea Loaf has leaped out of nowhere, and fits the criteria for this month's Tea Time Treats challenge's theme of Citrus. 

Tea Time Treat's is run monthly by Karen at Lavender and Lovage, and Kate at What Kate Bakes. This month it's being hosted by Karen. And the entry cut-off date is the 28th of each month... guess what - it's the 27th! See -it's all come together perfectly! 

So I give you my first ever blogging challenge entry - Marmalade Loaf Cake! Happy Sunday Everyone!