Hello folks, sorry for the long wait for the doughnut picture, I have also included a picture of the Waverley boat on the River Clyde in Glasgow taken two nights ago along the long stretch of path beside the river side. It is the only operational steam powered paddle boat in the world (I hope I got that correct) and so I thought I would share with you the captured moment. Both photos taken on an iPhone 5c.
Hello again folks, sorry for the delay in between posts recently, I have just been trying to juggle violin lessons and last week of school tasks about so I’m now ready to sit down and post. So these few weeks have been busy, mostly filled with rather pointless homework given to pupils (including myself) to meet the needs of the teachers. In my opinion we have been going to school each day for the past couple of weeks at 8:45 am each morning, leaving at the end of the day having o learned anything new. It’s a rather strange cycle, but I am very glad for it to be broken.
I would like to say that this eveving a photograph will not accompany this post as I never got a chance this morning to get round to making them, so you shall see one nearing the end of the week. I say ‘morning’, but I do not advise you bake these on a morning, you will most probably be half-asleep still, and the las thing you want to be doing on a Sunday morning is to be juggling a pan of boiling oil with kids running riot around the kitchen for that matter. I would say it’s best to make these when alone (meaning you get to devour more of them before anyone gets back), and who would complain about that…not me for sure!
I’m still trying to understand our real facination with the doughnut, after all it’s simply a fried piece of enriched bread dough, dusted in sugar and brushed with icing. Although that does sounds pretty good to me. A lot of people have told me that their doughuts have not turned out light and fluffy with a slight chewy centre. The key to this is a super hot oil in which you fry the doughnuts, they should only be in the pan for around 2 minutes. If not ready after that then there is something wrong on a chemical level in the dough or the oil has cooled. I would have a thermometer at hand to keep the oil at constant temperature. Enjoy the making of these just as much as the cooking…
INGREDIENTS:
For the doughnuts:
250g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting.
25g caster sugar.
20g unsalted soft butter.
1 egg.
7g easy blend yeast.
5g salt.
75ml warm whole milk.
Rapeseed (light) oil for deep fat frying.
For the Icing:
200g icing sugar.
1 orange, zest only.
orange zest to serve.
METHOD:
For the doughnuts, place all the ingredients into a large bowl (except the sunflower oil) with three tablespoons of water. Stir with your hands to make a dough. Gradually add another another tablespoon of water and massage in the bowl for four minutes. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place into a bowl and leave to rise for 40 minutes, covered with a damp tea towel. Tip the dough out, again onto a very lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half.
With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough quite thinly to about 1cm thick. Cut into rounds using an 8cm straight sided round cutter, then use a 2cm cutter to cut holes out of the middle.
Spin each doughnut on your index finger to expand the hole.
You should be able to cut out about eight doughnuts from this dough. Place all circles onto an oiled baking tray, loosely cover with cling film, not allowing it to touch the top of the doughnuts and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat a deep fat fryer, filled with sunflower oil to 180C (Caution: hot oil can be dangerous, do not leave unattended, children must be out of the room).
Drop each doughnut in separately, cooking each side for about a minute or until golden-brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and place onto a plate lined with kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil.
Leave to cool.
For the icing, gradually add 25ml of cold water to the icing sugar. It will eventually turn into a thick paste. Stir in the orange zest.
When the whole doughnuts have cooled, brush the tops of the doughnuts with the icing. Sprinkle over a little more orange zest. Leave to set on a cooling rack.
Enjoy,
Picture will be on it’s way you very soon!
Ryan.
Hello folks, appologies this is not spaghetti vongole! I just made these wonderful lemon cupcakes and I thought it would be a waste of a recipe if I didn’t let you in on it. This is just a quick post so I’m not going to blabble, but to cut a long story short, these cupcakes are just spiked up with my new favourite ingredient Boyajian lemon oil and the buttercream features the stuff too it’s just wonderful!
INGREDIENTS:
110g self-raising flour.
110g caster sugar.
110g soft butter.
1 tsp boyajian lemon oil.
2 eggs lightly beaten.
Buttercream icing:
140g soft butter.
280g icing sugar.
2 tsp milk.
1 tsp boyajian lemon oil.
METHOD:
Line a 12 hole fairy cake tin with paper cases and then preheat the oven to Gas 4 / 180C.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl, before slowly adding the egg and lemon oil. Fold in the flour, spoon into the cases until half full. Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins.
For the butter cream, beat the butter until very soft, then beat in the lemon oil and milk. Then beat in the icing sugar and pop into a pipping bag ready to pipe when the cakes a ready.
Cool the cakes on a wire rack before piping with buttercream and serving on a cake tier.
PS: In the photo I have used shard caramel to finish them off, Heat 100g caster sugar in a pan with 2 tbsp water, until a dark amber brown colour, then pouring in a radom pattern onto parchment paper, leave to set, peel off and snap.
Enjoy!
Ryan..
Hello folks, It’s Monday and as we all know, it’s probably the most daunting and tiresome day of the working week. Well thankfully it is almost over and done with for another week, and so to round off this rather dull day I thought something sweet was in order. chocolate mediants is just posh nosh termonology for chocolate buttons studded with dried fruits and nuts and maybe the occasional dash of glitter or gold leaf! Really that’s all I need to say but I will mention that tomorrow I will have a fabulous noodle dish for you all to experiment with at your leisure. It takes next to no time at all and will fill the hunger pains but still leave you tastebuds tingled!
INGREDIENTS:
100g best quality white chocolate.
100g around 40% milk chocolate.
100g around 70-85% dark chocolate.
A selection of dried fruits and nuts, maybe some edible glitter!
METHOD:
Melt the chocolate in 3 seperate bowls over bain maries paying extra attention to the white chocolate as it can catch so easily.
Usually I temper the chocolate here but to be very honest with you on a Monday the last thing you want to be handling is a thermometer.
Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and take teaspoons of each chocolate and dollop into circles.
Place a combination of different fruits and nuts on top and leave to set out of the fridge for 30mins. Then place in the fridge to firm up completely.
Peel off the greaseproof and lay out on a glass stand to display elegantly!
Thank you,
Ryan!
Hello everyone I went completely against the original filling and decided to fill it with lemon curd and whipped mascarpone fabulous combination!
Hello folks sorry for the short break from posting it’s down to the introduction of my higher courses at school so I’m back on track now. I know you may be thinking that you have seen thousands of recipes for the Victoria sandwich cake, but I would like to share with you the fabulous aristocratic history behind the bake and also a recipe that is completely foolproof as long as you don’t skimp on ingredients and time!
Short history lesson. Queen Victoria as you know was not one for eating in general, she liked to eat simply and avoided over exaggerated cuisine. But at afternoon tea one day, she turned to her butler and asked for the cooks to bake a cake and name it after her, but the instructions were simply, keep it simple and use affordable (at least for the upper classes) ingredients. The maids set to the task and eventually came up with what we know of today as the Victoria Sandwich. A simple buttery sponge cake filled with raspberry jam, NO cream. The addition of cream is not traditional in the slightest, it is simply a modern cultural extravagance.
The very first recipe for Victoria Sandwich is practically identical to what we follow today, with minor unknown adjustments. In my opinion the best way to make the cake is by hand, using a wooden spoon and a ceramic bowl (you know the old kind your granny owns). A traditional Victoria Sandwich is based on 4 ingredients and four only. Those consist of eggs, sugar, butter and flour. Although in modern times we tend to add a few seeds or drops of vanilla for added indulgence. We make the Victoria Sandwich following the creaming method, which in bakers terms is the beating of sugar and butter(until light and fluffy), followed by eggs then flour.
In my take on the cake I do use cream, and for the reason that it adds a new texture and good height to the finished bake. I also follow the foot steps of modern society by chucking in some vanilla too. And I make the final change of adding in some fresh raspberries into the cream. All in all these extra ingredients make for a truly scrumptious afternoon tea to savour.
I will have the photo for you on Saturday when I get round to baking it!!
INGREDIENTS:
Basic Sponge Mix:
200g soft unsalted butter.*
200g caster sugar (white).*
200g self-raising flour.*
1 tsp baking powder.
1 tsp vanilla extract.
4 eggs.
*Notice: Butter, sugar and flour are in equal quantities, this is a key essential factor in the making of a perfect Victoria Sandwich.
Filling:
184ml carton whipping cream.
1 vanilla pod de-seeded or 1 tsp vanilla extract.
200g fresh raspberries.
200g good quality raspberry jam.
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to Gas 5 / 190C. Line and butter two sandwich tins about 23cm in size (don’t worry too much about sizing).
Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl with a wooden spoon (or for the less traditional approach, in the kitchenaid).
When light and fluffy, add in one egg and a spoonful of flour, beat until combined and repeat for the other 3. then beat in the vanilla followed by the rest of the flour which you should now mix with the baking powder.
Divide between the two tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 20 mins, until golden brown or a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tins for 5 mins then remove and place on wire racks to completely cool.
when cool spread the bottom of one of the cakes with the jam. Whisk the cream and vanilla together until soft peaks then pile it on top of the jam. Finally throw on the raspberries before taking the other sponge and gently press on top.
Et voila!
Merci,
Ryan!
Eat Well...Feel Well 