Back to baking: Coffee and Walnut Cake

Once upon a time in a couple of posts ago... I wrote that I had been neglecting my hobbies & interests and job hunting had taken over my life, moreover, I was going to make the effort to dabble back into them . I have been out and about capturing pictures on my camera, so that is a tick off the check list, and yesterday I indulge in a bit of cake baking (and cake batter eating). I love to bake and cook and forgot how much enjoyment I get out of it (not as much enjoyment I get out of eating the cake itself of course). Our fridge is Piccadilly Circus for recipes, all pinned up by llama  and smiley face magnets. I picked the coffee and walnut cake and it turned out so scrum, if I do say so myself. Here is the recipe I followed!

For the sponge you will need: 

175g butter (at room temp) 
175g golden caster sugar 
3 large eggs
4 tablespoons of black coffee, cooled 
175g self raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
100g halved walnuts, roughly chopped 

And then for the frosting: 

200g butter 
400g icing sugar
4 table spoons of black coffee, cooled

1. Pre- heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line with baking paper 2 x 20 cm tins. 
2. Using a whisk, beat the soft butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
3. Add in the eggs bit by bit, followed by the black coffee. Combine all together. 
4. Sift in the flour and baking powder and gently fold, then add in the chopped walnuts and stir in. 
5. Divide into the 2 tins. 
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. 
7. Once cooked turn out the cakes on to wire racks to cool. 
8. Meanwhile, make the frosting by beating the butter until pale and soft. After pour in the sugar and coffee and mix until all combined nicely. 
9. Spread on the top of both the sponges. Then place one on top of the other to create a sandwich that has icing as the filling (and on the top). 
10. Decorate with walnuts. 

Yorkshire Pudding: the pièce de résistance of any roast.

For me a roast dinner is not a roast dinner without a Yorkshire pudding. Strictly speaking a Yorky should only be served with roast beef, but this tradition has been long forgotten in my house. They soak up the gravy perfectly and if you have some left over (which happens on the odd occasion), they are great mixed up in a bubble and squeak.

We have one recipe in our house that we use time and time again which makes mammoth sized Yorkshire puddings that are so light and crispy. YUM.

What you will need for this recipe:

3 eggs
300ml full fat milk
150g plain flour
Veg oil 

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
2. Pour a small amount of vegetable oil in to the bottom of each cup of a muffin tray and pop in to the oven to heat up. 
3. Whisk eggs and add milk. 
4. Sieve in the flour and whisk until all combined nicely. 
5. Add a good pinch of salt and stir in. 
6.  Bring out the muffin tray and pour the mixture in to each of the cups of the tray to the half way point. 
7. Put back in to the oven and cook for 5 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 200 degrees Celsius and cook for a further 10 minutes. 
8. Eat as many as you can.

Sausage Rolls- YOU NEED THESE IN YOUR LIFE, PROMISE.

It is no secret to my friends and family that I love food. With a little help from my friend Delia Smith, one of my favourite recipes I enjoy making (and goes down a treat) is for sausage rolls. It is very simple and only consists of two main steps; the pastry and the sausage meat filling. LET'S BEGIN :)

(Btw, this recipe makes around 24 sausage rolls) 

Quick Flaky Pastry
                                                                                          
8oz plain flour
6oz butter
A pinch of salt
Cold Water

1. Make sure that the butter is a block not from a tub, then weigh out 6 oz and wrap the butter up in foil and pop it into the freezer for half an hour. 
2. While waiting, sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. 
3. Once the 30 minutes is up, take the butter out of the freezer and roll down the foil a little bit. Dip the exposed butter in to the flour in the bowl, and grate the butter into the bowl, rolling the foil down as you go and dipping the butter into the flour (this will make it easier to grate). 
4. When all the butter has been grated take a butter knife and start to cut into the flour so that the butter and flour mix together. Then with your finger tips crumble the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. 
5. Add enough water to form a dough (with your hands) that leaves the bowl clean. 
6. Put the dough into a big enough sandwich bag and chill it for half an hour in the fridge. 

Sausage Rolls

Flaky pastry

450g pork sausage meat

1 onion

1 teaspoon sage

1 beaten egg with 1 tablespoon of milk

OK! Now the pastry is cooling, let's start on the meat filling! 

1. Pre- heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
2.  Dice up the onion, fry it up until it is nice a soft. 
3. Now take the sausage meat, fried onion, and sage, and combine together with your hands in a mixing bowl. 
4. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry to form an oblong (knock each of the sides as you go to form this shape). 
5. Cut the oblong in to half to form two thinner oblongs. 
6. With the sausage meat; split into two balls and roll out on to a floured surface until you create two long sausage shapes (try and make them the same length as the pastry oblongs). 
7. Place each long sausage onto each oblong. Brush beaten egg along one edge of the pastry, then roll it over to seal the sausage meat into the pastry. 
8. Cute into individual rolls (5 cms long). 
9. Snip three V shapes in to the top of each with scissors, and brush with beaten egg & milk. 
10. Place the rolls on to baking paper on a tray and bake for 25 minutes. 

You can freeze these! So if you have a party that you want to get ahead for, follow this recipe then pop them in the freezer once they have cooled and whip out a few hours before the party starts and cook them  as normal ! 

Hey presto!!