Category: Cake

Honey Loaf

  • I got this recipe from an English friend who lives in Harrogate.
  • It is easy to make and is a bit different to my Polish honey cakes – miodownik or piernik.
  • But I think it could be served over the Christmas period.
  • This recipe does NOT use any eggs nor butter nor oil.

Ingredients

  • 225g plain flour
  • 115g granulated sugar
  • 115g runny honey, plus around a tablespoon to glaze
  • 150 ml hot water
  • 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
  • Zest of 1 lemon

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM3 – 160ºC.
  • Use a liner to line a 1lb loaf tin.
  • Use a little oil or butter on the liner as the cake is quite sticky.
  • Mix together the flour and the sugar in a large bowl.
  • In a saucepan melt together the honey and the water.
  • Sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda over the honey mixture and stir.
  • Add this to the dry ingredients.
  • Add the lemon zest.
  • Mix everything well together till all is uniform.
  • Turn the mixture into the loaf tin.
  • Bake for 50 – 60 minutes.
  • Check at 50 minutes and cover the top of the loaf with greaseproof or foil  so it does not burn.
  • Remove the loaf from the tin and allow it to cool.
  • Heat the honey (with a little but of water if not so runny) slightly.
  • Brush the top of the loaf with the honey.

  • Option – different size.
  • Use a 26 x 16 cm baking tray.
  • Grease and line – 3 sides with one piece of greaseproof.
  • Bake for 25 – 30 minutes.

Ciasta i Ciasteczka – magazine inspirations

  • Whenever I go to Poland I try to get some magazines and books to add my collection and to give me new ideas.
  • This time I bought two magazines which have recipes for cakes and biscuits/ small cakes or cookies.
  • Known in Poland as ciasta and ciasteczka.
  •  
  • Do you get excited by new cookery books and magazines?
  • I bookmark all the ones I think I will try.
  • As this is autumn many are for nuts, chocolate and spices.
  • Also a few fruity one and there is one that contains twaórog (curd cheese) .
  • Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be trying out many of these.

Simple Chocolate Tort

  • I have called this simple as it is very easy to make.
  • Rubbing in the butter into the flour and then just mixing.
  • I adapted the recipe from an English BeRo cook book.
  • You can adapt it with lots of different fillings and glazes.
  • Here I used a milk chocolate icing using hot milk.
  • You could double the ingredients and make a 4 layer torte
  • or use a larger diameter tin – not tested.
  • *
  • The cake recipe is one I used for Chocolate Babka and for Chocolate Orange Tort

Chocolate Cake – Ingredients

  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 225g caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 100g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons of evaporated milk
  • 5 tablespoons of water

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm tins.
  • Rub the butter into the flour.
  • Add the baking powder, salt, cocoa and sugar
  • Mix well together.
  • Mix the eggs, milk and water together.
  • Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients.
  • Beat well.
  • Divide the mixture between the 2 tins.
  • Smooth the tops level.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  • Allow to cool completely before assembling. 

Milk Chocolate Icing – Ingredients

  • 60g butter
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa
  • 3 tablespoons of hot milk*
  • 2 -3 drops vanilla essence 
  • Around 250g icing sugar**

Milk Chocolate Icing – Method

  • Melt the butter gently in a saucepan.
  • Blend in the cocoa.
  • Add the vanilla essence.
  • Add the icing sugar and hot milk bit by bit.
  • Use a small hand whisk to beat the icing until it is smooth and thick.
  • *
  • * Heat a little more milk and then measure out the amount of milk you need.
  • ** You need to adjust the milk and icing sugar to get the required thickness you need.

Assembling the Cake

  • Place one round of cake onto a serving plate or stand.
  • Spread half the icing over the cake.
  • Place the second round of the cake on top.
  • Press down a little.
  • Spread the rest of the icing on the top of the cake.
  • Smooth or make a pattern with a fork or small spatula.

One of my many glass cake stands.

Placek with Dried Fruits

  • Placek is a thin flat cake.
  • Dried fruits are called bakalie in Polish – fruit from the Balkans.
  • If this were a loaf shaped fruit cake it would be called a “keks” – however it works better in this thin version.
  • Dried apricots are used, which is a bit different.
  • The apricots are soaked overnight in brandy – so you have to start the cake the night before.

INGREDIENTS

  • 175 dried apricots – chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of brandy
  • 175g butter
  • 175g granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs beaten
  • 175g plain flour
  • 225g raisins
  • 225g currants
  • 225g cherries*
  • *
  • *Or a mixture of cherries and mixed peel if you are short of cherries

METHOD

  • Put the apricots and brandy in a small bowl.
  • Cover and leave overnight.
  • *
  • Pre the oven to GM3 – 160°C
  • Line 3 sides of a 32 x 22 baking tin.
  • Mix the apricots with the other dried fruit.
  • Cream the sugar and the butter.
  • Add the eggs and beat together.
  • Mix in all the dried fruit.
  • Fold in the flour.
  • Spread the cake mixture into the tin.
  • *
  • Bake for 50  –  60 minutes.

Rafaelo Dessert

  • Raffaello chocolates were first made in 1990 by the Italian firm Ferrero. 
  • I have noticed that they are very popular in Poland and nearly always on sale in Polish shops in England.
  • They contain: almonds, wafer, white chocolate and coconut.
  • I have been looking for a definitive recipe for a Raffeallo or Rafealo tort based on this confectionary.
  • There are just so many different ideas on how to make this.
  • I have found a vast number of variations including no-bake versions using biscuits or sponge fingers.
  • I then looked at the more baked ones.
  • The cake most used is a fat free sponge – sometimes this includes ground almonds.
  • The filling is a creamy budyń (Polish custard) with large amounts of added butter,
  • Some versions use white chocolate in their ingredients.
  • The tort is topped with desiccated coconut.
  • The tort is often baked in a square or rectangular tin and each served piece is usually square.
  • However a circular one might be easier if using homemade biszkopt – sponge cake.
  • *
  • I decided to make a lighter dessert, instead with a coconut budyń and sponge cake and a lot less butter.
  • I used a 18cm fat free sponge made with two eggs – cut into two layers.
  • My first attempt was getting the budyń right.

    INGREDIENTS for budyń

  • 500ml milk
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 2-3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 3 tablespoons of potato flour (or cornflour)
  • 50 – 80g desiccated coconut & 2 tablespoons
  • 50g white chocolate – coarse grated

Method for budyń

    • Put 300ml of the milk, the butter and sugar into a saucepan.
    • Heat gently till the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved, stirring all the time.
    • Bring this to the boil for a few seconds and then take off the heat.
    • Blend the potato flour with the rest of the milk (200ml) and with the egg yolks.
    • Add some of the boiled mixture to this and stir well.
    • Add this mixture to the rest of  the boiled mixture and stir well.
    • Put the pan back on the heat and bring back to boiling point, stirring gently.
    • Keep at boiling for 1 minute, stirring all the time.
    • Add in the 80g of coconut.
    • Leave to cool.
    • *
    • Use a glass dish and layer up cake, budyń, cake and budyń for the top.
    • Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of coconut and grated chocolate on the top.
    • Chill in the fridge before serving
OPTION
  • Make the budyń with 750ml of milk and 4 egg yolks.
  • Layer up with some budyń first, then cake, budyń, cake, budyń as before.

Thoughts

  • I liked the version with more budyń. (750ml milk)
  • This was more like a dessert.
  • The version using 500ml of milk was more like a cake with filling.
  • However – they were both voted delicious.

Keks – With Yorkshire Connections

  • Keks is the word for a light fruit cake which is baked in a loaf tin or even more so a long narrow rectangular tin.
  • This recipe is adapted from an old Yorkshire recipe but would equally be liked in Poland.
  • The fruit in this recipe is may be bit higher than in some keks recipes,
  • In England this cake could be made at Christmas time.
  • The soft brown sugar could be replaced by granulated sugar (not tested)
  • The cake has to be started the night before.

INGREDIENTS

155g butter

140g soft brown sugar

3 eggs

*

225 raisins

225 currants

80g glacé cherries

50ml of brandy

*

155g plain flour

1½ teaspoons of baking powder

55g ground almonds

½ teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon of mixed spice

METHOD

Soak the fruit with the brandy overnight.

Use a cake liner to line a 2lb loaf tin.

Pre-heat the oven to GM2.

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Cream the butter with the sugar.

Add the dry ingredients with an egg one at a time.

Stir in the fruit mixture.

Place the cake mixture into the cake tin and cook for around 1 hour 20 -25 minutes.

Option – not tested – replace some of the currants with chopped peel.

Fig Placek

  • Did you know that figs were one of the first cultivated plants?
  • They were grown over 11,000 years ago in what was then called Mesopotamia.

INGREDIENTS

150g butter

140g granulated sugar

2 tablespoons of runny honey

2 eggs

230g dried figs (soft version used)

225g plain flour

1 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of mixed spice

Pinch of salt

Large pinch of bicarbonate of soda

3-4 tablespoons of milk to mix

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to GM3 – 160°C.

Grease and line – 3 sides of a 26 x 20cm baking tin.

*

Chop the figs into small pieces.

*

Mix the flour, spices, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together,

*

Cream the butter and sugar

Add the honey and cream some more

Add the eggs and mix together.

*

Stir in the flour mixture.

Stir in the chopped figs.

Stir in the milk to make a soft mixture.

Spoon the cake mixture into the tin and smooth the top.

Bake for 35 – 40 minutes

Check earlier and cover if necessary to prevent burning the top.

Royal Worchester Evesham Vale tea plates.

Cake with Pears

INGREDIENTS

  • 100g of butter – softened.
  • 95g of granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence
  • 4 tablespoons of soured cream
  • 100g of cream cheese (or yoghurt cheese)
  • 3 eggs
  • *
  • 150g plain flour
  • 50g potato flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • *
  • Butter to grease the tin
  • *
  • 3 large fairy ripe pears – such as Conference or 6 small ones
  • ½ tablespoon of granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger (or cinnamon)

METHOD

  • Brush a 26cm in diameter loose bottomed tin with the melted butter.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Cream the butter with the 95g of sugar.
  • Add the cream cheese, soured cream and eggs and whisk well together.
  • Mix the plain flour, potato flour, salt and baking powder together.
  • Add the flour mixture gently to the other ingredients and mix well together.
  • Leave in the bowl whilst you prepare the pears.
  • *
  • Mix the ½ tablespoon of sugar with the ground ginger.
  • Peel and core the pears and cut then in quarters (or halves if small pears)
  • Criss-cross the domed end of the pears with a sharp knife.
  • Put them into the sugar mixture.
  • *
  • Put the cake batter into the tin and smooth flat.
  • Put the pear quarters (or halves) around the top of the batter.
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Chocolate Orange Cake – 3

  • This is based on my Chocolate Orange Cake – 2 with the addition of small chunks of chocolate to the cake mixture.
  • Sunflower oil and Greek style yoghurt help to make this a moist cake with a great texture.

INGREDIENTS

  • 200g of plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • Zest of 1 large orange
  • 190ml of Greek style yoghurt
  • 3 eggs
  • 125ml of sunflower oil
  • 100g of dark chocolate
  • Large pinch of salt

METHOD

  • Add the zest to the sugar and leave for about 30 minutes.
  • Chop the chocolate into small chunks.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
  • Use a loaf liner to line a 2lb loaf tin.
  • Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
  • Add the yoghurt, eggs and oil to the sugar mixture.
  • Gradually add the flour mixture and mix well.
  • Stir in the chopped chocolate.
  • Pour the batter into the loaf tin and smooth the top.
  • Bake for around 45 minutes.
  • Check a little earlier and cover with greaseproof paper if it is starting to burn.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.

Chocolate Orange Icing – Ingredients

  • 50g dark or milk chocolate
  • Grated rind of 1 orange
  • 25g butter
  • 2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Method

  • Put the chocolate into a bowl over a pan of hot water.
  • Add the orange rind and butter.
  • Stir whilst the chocolate melts.
  • Add the icing sugar until you have a thick icing.
  • Use this to cover the top of the cake.

Colclough Stardust tea plate

Apple Cake – a different way

This is my 600th post!

  • For this apple cake use eating apples.
  • You can use Gala or Braeburn – I think the Braeburn were the better ones.
  • It is made in quite a different way to my usual Polish apple cake.

INGREDIENTS

  • 100g of butter – softened.
  • 95g of granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence 
  • 150g plain flour
  • 50g potato flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • 4 tablespoons of soured cream
  • 100g of cream cheese (or yoghurt cheese)
  • 3 eggs
  • *
  • Butter to grease the tin
  • *
  • 5 or 6 eating apples – such as gala
  • 20g granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • Royal Doulton Carnation Tea Plate

METHOD

  • Brush a 26cm in diameter loose bottomed tin with the melted butter.

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.

  • Cream the butter with the 95g of sugar.
  • Add the cream cheese, soured cream and eggs and whisk well together.
  • Mix the plain flour, potato flour, salt and baking powder.
  • Add the flour mixture gently to the other ingredients and mix well together.
  • Leave in the bowl whilst you prepare the apples.
  • *
  • Mix the 20g of sugar with the cinnamon.
  • Peel and core the apples and cut then in halves.
  • Criss-cross the domed tops of the apples with a sharp knife.
  • Put them into the sugar mixture.
  • *
  • Put the cake batter into the tin and smooth flat.
  • Put the apple halves cut side down on top of the batter.
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.