Flour, Cake and Pastry

It's Christmas! Truffles Truffles Truffles. Perfect for a chocoholic, or in fact anyone with a sweet tooth. *Makes 60 truffles* Ingredients: 340g chocolate 60g butter 200ml double cream 50g caster sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 2 tablespoons icing sugar Method: Break up the chocolate, chop up finely and put into a mixing bowl with the butter. Place the cream and sugar in a saucepan, bring just to the boil and remove from heat. Pour the cream onto the chocolate and butter and beat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth and shiny. Freeze for a few hours, until firm enough to shape. Mix the cocoa and icing sugar together, dust hands with mixture and roll mixture into truffle shapes. Chill until serving, or keep in an air tight container for up to a week. A cute serving suggestion for these are to purchase some mini cupcake cases and pop them in. It keeps your hands clean, and also makes them a lot ea...

Happy Christmas Eve! Fondant Fancy Time! Now I know these aren't exactly festive, you can get them all year round. But for some reason we only eat them at Christmas in our household. Weird I know.  This recipe is one of Mary Berry's, it's probably the one recipe that's easiest to follow, and doesn't include loads of confusing steps, which can be a problem in long recipes. I'll include the link at the bottom of the post so you guys can check out some of her other lush recipes. Ingredients: For the sponge. 225g/8oz self-raising flour 225g softened butter 225g caster sugar 1 lemon rind 4 eggs For the buttercream. 250g softened butter 200g icing sugar For the marzipan topping. 3 tbsp apricot jam 200g marzipan For the icing and decorations. 1kg white fondant icing 150ml water Food colouring (any colour you'd like) Method: Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Grease and line a 20cm square tin with two strips of parchment paper. ...

Pork and Cranberry Sausage Rolls are today's festive fancy. I first found this recipe on the  Baking Mad website (link is at the bottom of the page) and my goodness is it tasty!  Ingredients: For the Pastry. 450g plain white flour Pinch of salt 375g butter (unsalted), cut into 2cm cubes 250ml cold water 1tbsp lemon juice 1 egg-to glaze For the Filling. 500g sausage meat 100g cranberry sauce Method: Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, add the butter and stir with a metal spoon to coat the butter with flour. Mix the water and lemon juice together in a jug and pour into the flour/butter mixture. Using a round ended knife cut across the mixture several times, turning the bowl until the dough comes together. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a thick slab about the same size as a house brick. Flour the surface well and roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 40x20cm. Fold 1/3 into the centre, then fold over the other 1/3...

Here's round two of my festive favourites for this year, today is Christmas cake!  Now many bakers across the globe will have already picked up their spatulas and completed the annual task of the almighty Christmas cake. But I thought I'd share these recipes with you again, because it's Christmas, which means CAKE! I thought I'd share with you guys the different recipes I've used this year-there's just so many out there, but these two recipes are very my favourites. One is my mum's recipe, its extremely simple and if you're on a budget of any kind for the Christmas season, this is the one to go for-it doesn't have as many expensive ingredients, and there isn't many of them either, but its still packed with flavour and is delicious!  The second recipe I chose to use was more of the  traditional  fruit/ Christmas cake. What I mean by that is, it's got a lot more ingredients in which people usually associate with a fruit/Christmas cake, su...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Christmas is 4 DAYS away, and I've still got presents to wrap, cards to write and baking to do. It's a crazy time of year. I thought I'd share with you guys some of my festive favourites over the next couple of days, starting with a good old roulade.  There are hundreds of variations of a roulade, both sweet and savoury. This version is a chocolate roulade with a layer  of whipped cream in the centre. Yum right? So as always, here's the recipe and a step by step guide to festive fun this year.  Ingredients: 6oz sugar 6 eggs 5oz plain flour  1oz Cocoa powder  300ml double cream, whipped until stiff Icing sugar, to dust Method: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a swiss roll tin (ideally 23x33cm) with baking parchment. Place the eggs and sugar into a large mixing bowl and whisk until light, fluffy and thickened. The mix should reach ribbon stage,...

This weeks bake was for a 70th birthday-garden theme. There's a lot you can do with a garden theme, so it was quite fun to brainstorm ideas and to get the ball rolling. So here's the recipe and the method and some top tips of where to get your decorations that are just to fiddly and time consuming to make, especially when your under time pressure! Ingredients: 8oz Butter 8oz Caster Sugar 4 Eggs 8oz Self Raising Flour 1tsp Vanilla Essence Jam (to fill) Appropriate Icings (1kg pack of white ready to roll icing should be sufficient). Method: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a 9inch square tin.  Beat together the butter and the sugar until they become light and fluffy and creamy in colour. Add the eggs one at a time. Then carefully fold in the flour until all the mixture is combined, it should be a pale yellow colour at this point. A dd the vanilla essence into the bowl and mix again. The next thing you need to d...

I've been ill over the last few days, so it's been quite on the baking front I'm afraid! I'm currently baking a cake for a 70th birthday, with a gardening theme, so check back here over the weekend for hints and tips, and the recipe I've been using to make this scrummy sponge! Happy baking! Charley x

Everyone loves a sweet treat. And these Vanilla Cupcakes hit the spot. With a creamy vanilla filling, and a hidden malteser surprise, you'll be making these day in day out. Ingredients: 8oz self-raising flour 8oz softened butter 8oz sugar 4 eggs For the icing: 1 tub of Betty Crocker's vanilla icing Maltesers Method: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases.  Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Fold in the flour. Once mixed thoroughly, spoon the cake batter into your cupcake cases, until they're approximately three-quarters full. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.   Leave to cool. To decorate, cut out a circle of sponge from the cupcake and cut in half to create butterfly wings. Fill the whole in the cupcake with your buttercream and press i...

In August 2016, myself and a friend will be embarking on a volunteering trip to South Africa in order to work with the local community to target issues of poaching as well as to support the work of the local school. However, we need your help. The goal of this particular project is to work within the South African community to target wildlife conservation and issues of poaching.  Sadly, within South Africa, poaching has reached a point of extreme crisis, resulting in Rhinos being categorised as an endangered species with approximate deaths outnumbering births. Research statistics identified by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs indicate the severity of the situation, highlighting a dramatic escalation of poaching in recent years. Shockingly, these statistics inform us that during 2014, 1,215 Rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa, this equates to 1 every 8 hours.   This consequently indicates the need for projects such as this, to wor...

Get in touch with your Scottish side with this yummy recipe for Highlanders. Shortbread was an expensive luxury and for ordinary people, it was a special treat reserved just for special occasions such as weddings, Christmas and New Year. In Shetland it was traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake over the head of a new bride on the threshold of her new home. Shortbread has been attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots, who in the mid-16th century was said to be very fond of Petticoat Tails, a thin, crisp, buttery shortbread originally flavoured with caraway seeds. There are many different recipes and regional variations for shortbread. Shortbread is traditionally formed into one of three shapes: one large circle divided into segments (Petticoat Tails); individual round biscuits (Shortbread Rounds); or a thick rectangular slab cut into fingers. Ingredients: 100g butter 50g caster sugar 100g plain flour 50g ground rice Demerara sugar The rice flour used in this recip...

So today was a family friend's 60th birthday and my mum asked to make a cake, of any type I wanted, as long as it contained chocolate (because who doesn't love chocolate??). I decided to go for a normal rich chocolate sponge cake filled with a gooey chocolate fudge buttercream. And for someone who hates buttercream, I found it quite delicious (even if I do say so myself). I hope you guys like this just as much as we all do, and always, let me know what you think. Ingredients: 6oz (150g) Self Raising Flour 8oz (200g) Caster Sugar 8oz (200g) Butter, Softened 2oz (50g) Cocoa Powder 4 Eggs Method: Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line and grease two 8-inch cake tins. Beat together the butter and sugar until light, creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually, adding a tbsp of flour at the same time to prevent the mix from curdling. Next, add in the rest of the flour and the cocoa powder and beat the batter well until all the ingredients are comb...

Sometime I get a little bored when I'm baking. Especially if I'm making something I've made hundreds of times before and takes little brain effort. So I always have my playlist in the background to keep myself from zoning out to much. Usually this ends up with me singing out loud by accident, much to my parents annoyance, but I think we all love a bit of karaoke right? Plus it makes your bake so much more fun. I thought I would share with you lovely people my top 10 artists to check out and to add to your next playlist. They're pretty awesome! 1) Mumford and Sons These guys have really excelled in the last few years, I've been a fan since the first album and oh my goodness, they're incredible live! As I'm writing this, I'm listening to them! Unlike a lot of today's popular music, every song sounds so different, so you never know what to expect when they release some new material, other than that it will have their trademark Mumford and Sons sound...

It's been a while! Life has been pretty full on this last week!  So this weeks recipe is a chocolate muffin with Betty Crocker vanilla icing and chocolate powder on top! Nom!  Ingredients: 5oz Self Raising Flour  6oz Butter  6oz Caster Sugar 1oz Cocoa Powder  3 Eggs  1tsp Vanilla Essence  1 tub Betty Crocker Vanilla Essence  Cocoa Powder, to decorate Method: Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Line a cupcake tray with paper cases.  Beat together the butter and sugar until thick and creamy, and light in colour. Beat in the eggs one at a time, before adding in the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder and beating well until all ingredients are combined.  Spoon the mix into your cupcake cases, approximately 1.5 tbsp per case (depending on how big you want your cupcakes of course!).  Bake for 22-25 minutes until well risen, soft to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out cl...

Sunday is here again! Crazy crazy! So if you've liked my Facebook page, or follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you'll have seen I now have my own official website! I'm very excited!! (If you don't follow me on FaceyB, Instagram or Twitter, where have you been?) Search Flour Cake and Pastry!! You're missing out! So here is the link to my BRAND NEW website!! Click on the link, I dare you, and be amazed! Check out my gallery, social updates, or subscribe to my mailing list for weekly recipes and funny stories. http://charlieallison.wix.com/flourcakeandpastry Happy baking! Charley x

Roulade and Gateau sponges have one of the quickest cooking and cooling times in terms of sponge cakes. Roulade is made by rolling a thin sponge cake spread with your chosen filling into a log shape. Usually served in slices, the result is a spiral of cake layered with filling. Variations can include jam, whipped cream fillings, sometimes mixed with chopped fresh or dried fruit; the sponge itself can also be flavoured with ingredients such as chocolate or berries. This weeks recipe is a lemon roulade with a lemon cream filling, topped with lemon cream. A perfect summery alternative to a heavy lemon cake. Ingredients (for the sponge): 6 medium free-range eggs 6oz caster sugar 6oz self raising flour 2 lemon zests (keep the juice for flavouring the cream later) Method: Heat your oven to 190 degrees celsius. Line a swiss roll tin (ideally 23x33cm) with baking parchment. Place the eggs and sugar into a large mixing bowl and whisk until ...