The Cookery Thread

[clvrlad]

hmmmm lucky you
theres a few nice recipes here

http://www.quails-in-essex.co.uk/best_q ... eipes.html

[Bunnylump]

Mmmmm...thank you! I've also been sent a quail egg, avocado, shallot and lettuce salad which sounds yum. The only thing I'm slightly concerned about is that they could be fertilised - they have a man quail in there too... So not sure what I'll find....

[giraffe]

I don't think that makes any difference with eggs, as long as they are fresh they taste the same, according to what we were told at a farm place we went to.

[Bunnylump]

Well, you'll be glad to hear the quail eggs were delicious. Small, but delicious.

What I need now is a few fantabulistic and foolproof cake recipes. My friend's daughter is having a giant "Mad Hatter's tea party" in a marquee in her granny's horse field for her 21st birthday, and somehow I've ended up getting roped in for the cake making. I'll probably be doing a rich chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and a lemon drizzle cake, but I could do with a couple of other ideas. any suggestions?

[LAT]

Flapjack? Not really cake but ever so simple and really quick to make.

[Bunnylump]

OOh, you just reminded me...I have an apricot and nut flapjack recipe somewhere which is yummy. Good suggestion.

[LAT]

I also have a really nice recipe for a fresh fruit cake it has stuff like apples, pears, bananas and dates in it. It is very moist but quite substantial. My daughter loves it. Let me know if you'd like the recipe.

Also what about chocolate crispy cakes. My recipe uses cocoa and syrup and they come out much nicer than the ones with melted chocolate - well I think so anyway.

[giraffe]

I have a recipe for a light fruit cake that is really quick and easy. It takes a while to cook,2hrs I think, but only a couple of minutes to assemble. It freezes quite well and is actually better if you make it a couple of days in advance, (unlike a sponge which has to be done fresh) as it is rather crumbly when just made. Let me know if you want it.

[Bunnylump]

Thanks ladies, those both sound good. I'll check with my friend (who's also cake making!) to see if she's doing a fruit one already, and if not I'll get back.

[eirian]

Also what about chocolate crispy cakes. My recipe uses cocoa and syrup and they come out much nicer than the ones with melted chocolate - well I think so anyway.

ooh, yes, the cocoa and syrup ones are much nicer!

[Bunnylump]

Here is one of my favourite recipes for dark chocolate cake. good for a special occasion.

Dark Chocolate Cake

I have given this recipe with two alternative toppings – a spiky, meringue style frosting, or a silky smooth dark chocolate frosting. The latter looks beautiful if you decorate it with cherries half dipped in melted white chocolate and white chocolate leaves.

Filling
4 fluid ounces fresh orange juice
4oz sugar
8oz fresh cranberries

Cake
4oz plain chocolate
3tbs water
6oz butter + extra for greasing
10oz soft dark brown sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
3 large eggs
6 floz milk
Juice of ½ a lemon
10oz plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Frosting(option 1)
Whites of 2 large eggs
12oz caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs water
½ tsp cream of tartar
Good pinch of salt

Frosting (option 2).
4 oz plain chocolate chips
2oz unsalted butter
4tbs double cream

Make the filling first. Put the orange juice in a saucepan and stir in the sugar. Add the cranberries. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for minutes. Cool, and chill in the fridge well before using.

Now line two 8.5 – 9.5 inch sandwich tins with greased greaseproof paper. Melt the chocolate and mix with 3 spoons of water. Cool slightly. Turn the over to gas mark 4. Cream the fat with the sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Thoroughly beat in the eggs and melted chocolate. Sour the milk by mixing it with the lemon juice. Add it to the chocolate mixture alternately with the sifted flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Divide the mixture between the two tins and smooth with a knife. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-40 minutes, until well risen and spongy to touch in the centre. Leave in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes carefully out onto a wire tray to cool, and remove the greaseproof paper. When cold, sandwich together with the cranberry filling.

Frosting (option 1)
To make the frosting, put all the ingredients together in a large bown and whist together. Put the bowl over a pan half full of very hot water and continue to whist for about 10 minutes until the mixture is thick enough to stand in peaks and the sugra has dissolved. Spread at once thickly over the cake with a wide knife, making rough flicks. The icing is best done the day before you cut the cake.

Frosting (option 2)
Beat the chocolate, butter and cream in a small pan, until melted. Cool slightly, until the mixture starts to thicken. In one fluid motion, pour over the cake, to completely cover the top and sides. Smooth over the sides with a palette knife, if necessary. Leave to set in a cool place.

Serves 6-8

[eirian]

that sounds just fab, although I'm not a massive fan of cranberries. Anything else I could use instead?
'bout time I made a choc cake!

[Bunnylump]

Raspberries do very nicely as a subsitute but if you use these the chocolate frosting is better (the meringue frosting is quite sweet which counteracts the sharpness of the cranberries).

[MBH]

Sounds like a lovely rich cake

OK - so I got my own personal *cringe* at the filling - but that goes to my "fruit should never be cooked" rule. When it comes to cakes I'm a large fan of butter-icing.

[Regarding butter iciing - I can even leave out the cake entirely.... why have I got no teeth again?]

I loved the phrase "In one fluid motion, pour over the cake," Very skilled Well done

[Bunnylump]

Actually, it SOUNDS difficult, but it's actually REALLY easy, and looks really effective. In fact it's a lot easier than beating butter icing (which I must admit to liking too!!). Uncooked raspberries and a thin layer of thick cream would be nice if you don't like cooked fruit. But that's very much a last minute scenario because it makes the cake soggy if you leave it for a day or so.

I used this frosting on my daughter's grand piano cake, which I made for her 18th birthday party. That looked really good! It had a lid propped up with licorice bootlace piano strings inside, then a keyboard made from white chocolate keys and black licorice ones. Oh, and it was big enough to feed about 50 people. That was quite a feat of construction!!

[giraffe]

Do you have a photo of the grand piano cake? (I can feel a cake coming on )

Do you not use an electric mixer for butter icing? One of those hand held ones does the job a treat. None of that beat until your arm falls off light and fluffy.

I hate instructions that say "light and fluffy" or "the consistency of XXXX". Why cant they just say how long? I have one recipe that warns you that something takes a long time to get to the right consistency and not to give up too soon. Made me realise that what I had always considered light and fluffy wasn't light enough.

[tricia]

I used this frosting on my daughter's grand piano cake,

How the H... did you make a cake in the shape of a piano . I am really impressed

Tricia

[giraffe]

I did one in the shape of a 2CV once for a friend that drove one. That was an interesting shape to try to put together, more of a 3D jigsaw puzle covered in icing.

[gill216]

I'm not at all artistic but I've recently found some great cheats.

Tesco 22p sponge mix is great for making buns so its not worth the effort of diy. Their cheese and onion bread mix at less than a £1 is really tasty. I bought an electric whisk ( around £4) and mashed potatoes are suddenly to die for. I never felt I needed one before because I have an all singing all dancing food processor and an electric whizzer thing too. Butter icing no problem. Yorkshire puddings are twice the size they used to be.

Morrisons 12p curry sauce I think I've mentioned before. Chinese curry sauce for almost nothing.

[Bunnylump]

Sadly, the picture of the grand piano cake was taken on a non- digital camera. It was a rectangular cake with an add-on shaped bit for the back, then a different layer on the top leaving the keyboard free. The lid was made out of shaped ice cream wafers, stuck together with buttercream, which had been covered in the chocolate icing to match and left to go hard in the fridge. I then propped it open with long matchmakers. Under the lid I had iced with yellow butter icing and put the licorice strings across the top, and little sweets to look like the pegs and hammers. It wasn't to a design, it was what I made up as I went along. That's how I always work. As soon as I try to follow instructions it all goes wrong!!

Having said that I haven't made a cake of any sort for ages and ages. I don't do much actual cooking these days. I just don't have the motivation.