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The Most Perfect Chocolate Fudge Cake

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking

≈ 16 Comments

As it was The Husband’s birthday at the weekend I made what is now the traditional Birthday Cake for Big Boys Chez Stitches.

chocolate fudge cake

It dawned on me this morning that I hadn’t shared this recipe with you.

chocolate fudge cake

Which, is, quite frankly, completely unacceptable.

And I’m surprised you’re still speaking to me.

So, in the anticipation that once you’ve baked this all will be forgiven, here, dear reader is the recipe.

For the cake:

  •  ½ cup unsweetened cocoa (Green & Black’s)
  •  ½ cup boiling water and ½ cup cold water
  • 1½ cups sifted cake flour
  • ½ tspn baking soda
  • ¼ tspn baking powder
  • ½ tspn salt
  • 120g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1¼ cups brown caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tspn vanilla extract
  • For the fudge frosting:

  •  1½ cups brown caster sugar
  • 1 cup double cream
  • 6 oz 70% cocoa chocolate, chopped
  • 8 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 tspn vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 1750C/350F.     Grease and flour 2 x 8” cake tins.

Place the cocoa in a bowl and pour in the boiling water.  Stir to dissolve the cocoa, add the cold water and leave to cool slightly.

In a medium sized bowl using and electric mixer beat the butter until fluffy (about 1 min) then gradually beat in the sugar.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy (1-2 mins).

Add the dry ingredients and the cocoa alternately, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beating well.  You should have a lovely smooth, chocolatey batter at this point.

Divide the batter between the two tins, smooth the tops and bake for 25-30 mins until cooked.  (Timing is really important and makes all the difference to the cake so, please, please, please, be careful, and don’t over bake.  If it’s slightly underdone you’ll just get the most wonderful fudge brownie texture.)

Cool the cakes in their tins for at least half an hour, then turn out onto a wire rack.  If the cake sinks a little don’t panic, the frosting will fill any gaps.

To make the frosting heat the sugar and cream in a large saucepan over a moderate heat and, stirring constantly, bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins without stirring. It will be slightly volcanic but don’t worry…this is ok. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate, butter and vanilla, stirring until the butter and chocolate have melted.

Turn into a bowl and cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.  Refrigerate until thickened and a good spreading consistency, stirring frequently.

Resist all temptation to sit with a spoon, the bowl of frosting and the box set of Game of Thrones.

Once cool slather one cake with a good thick layer of the frosting, then sandwich the second cake on top. Cover the top and sides with the remainder of the frosting and refrigerate to set the fudge completely. Remove from fridge at least half an hour before serving to give the frosting time to soften before eating.  

Do not be put off by the length of the ingredient’s list, or by the fact that it’s cobbled together from American and Metric measures.  Or, indeed, by what might be perceived as a certain, shall we say, faffiness, in the actual making.

This is a Really Simple Cake to pull together (I made the chocolate sponges whilst I prepped breakfast on Sunday morning and the fudge frosting whilst nursing my 3rd cup of tea and a hangover, it’s that simple).

The results belie the lack of effort and are really quite spectacular.  One recipient of a slice professed it to be better than the chocolate cake at Harrods.  I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ll stand by my declaration that this is The Most Perfect Chocolate Fudge Cake and deserving of the capital letters.

IMG_9586_edited-2I’d love to hear if you agree.

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The pinkest Barbie cake in the world ever!

15 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking, life in a Northern town

≈ 23 Comments

This cake has everything going on…pink! Barbie! Jelly Tots!

To the adult eye this is a travesty of a birthday cake.

To a certain six year old girl it was, and I quote, “the most beautiful cake in the world”.

IMG_0024_edited-2I’ll take that compliment.

PS:  Please don’t adjust your screens…it really is that pink!  And do try to stop laughing!

PPS:  Don’t try this at home!  It’s a bear of a cake to make. This was my second load of cake batter – the first exploded all over the oven!  16 eggs later and it doesn’t even taste that good.

PPPS:  My opinion counts for naught.  Button loved this cake and that’s all I care about! ;-D

Perfect sticky toffee pudding

22 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking

≈ 10 Comments

This pudding is so delicious it would be rude of me not to share it with you. It’s also really simple to make, and very comforting on a cold autumnal day.

sticky toffee puddingI cannot claim this recipe as my own.  I am indebted to David Lebovitz for sharing his version of the pudding, and Mani Niall, from whose book Sweet, this recipe originates.

Sweet_large

Toffee Sauce Ingredients

500ml double cream
90g dark brown sugar (such as Muscovado)
2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
pinch of salt (I always use Maldon Salt)

Pudding Ingredients

180g pitted dates, chopped
250ml water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
175g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
55g  butter
150g granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To serve

Good quality vanilla ice cream (I prefer Haagen Daz, but feel free to chose your favourite)

Before you start

Preheat the oven to 190C (350F)  and butter an 8 1/2-inch (24cm) baking dish (it needs to be quite deep.

Make the toffee sauce

  1. Bring the cream, sugar, golden syrup and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring often to melt the sugar.
  2. Lower heat and simmer, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is thick and coats the spoon. Pour half the sauce into the prepared soufflé dish and place the dish in the freezer, and reserve the other half for serving.  (I completely forgot to do this step until the very last minute…or last 5 minutes…and my pudding turned out fine.  It does make it easier to put the pudding mix into the dish if the toffee has set, otherwise you have sinking pudding batter!)

Make the pudding

  1. In a medium saucepan, heat the dates and water. Once the water begins to boil, remove from heat and stir in the baking soda.
  2. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. I used my Kmix for this but you could do it with a hand mixer, or a good old fashioned wooden spoon, if you’re not as lazy as I am.
  4. Gradually beat in the eggs, then the vanilla. (Don’t be alarmed if the mixture looks a bit curdled. It’ll be ok.  I promise.) 
  5. Stir in half of the flour mixture, then the date mixture, then add the remaining flour mixture until just mixed. It will be a loose batter at this stage…be careful not to over beat it.  We’re getting all the ingredients together…not beating the stuffing out of it!
  6. Remove the baking dish from the freezer and scrape the batter onto the top of the toffee sauce, then bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with moist crumbs attached.
  7. Try desperately hard to let the pudding cool slightly before serving with vanilla ice cream.  That toffee sauce is going to be very hot!
  8. Enjoy and bask in the glory of the compliments from your fellow diners (if you’re kind enough to share it with them).

IMG_9699_edited-1

Chorizo and sweet potato soup

25 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking

≈ 21 Comments

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness?  I don’t think so!

Mostly here at the moment it’s freezing cold and lashing with rain.  And now that we’re on half term and don’t have to go out, we can hunker down with a bowl of my new favourite, and spectacularly simple, soup.

soup 1All you need to do is roughly chop some sweet potatoes, carrots and onions and throw them into a roasting tray.  Lining the tray with parchment makes for a quick clean up once the veggies are roasted.

Add some garlic, a link of chorizo sliced into generous chunks, salt, pepper, cumin seeds and olive oil.  Don’t worry about quantities…just go with the flow!

raw veggies

Stick it in the oven at 180 C for about an hour and a half or so.  Go and knit.  Or watch a movie.  Maybe take a bath.  Whatever floats your boat relaxation-wise.

veggies cooked

When the veggies are all nice and soft and the chorizo a little crispy, pop it in the blender (you’ll probably need to do this in batches), add some stock (or, if like me you’re out of stock, a stock cube and some boiling water), and blitz till smooth.

It’s ok to nibble on a chunk (or two) of chorizo straight from the pan whilst you do this.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say you’re missing a treat if you don’t.

soup in blender

Warm through in a pan on the stove, adding a sprinkling of ground coriander to temper the sweetness of the potato and add another note of warmth, and double check the seasoning.

Serve and enjoy.

soup serving

PS…if you want an even more velvety soup just pass this through a sieve.  But I was hungry and couldn’t wait.  The soup didn’t suffer for not being sieved.  I’d have suffered had I had to wait any longer.  Make it and you’ll see what I mean…the smell is heavenly!

Cake and Bake Show – Manchester

07 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking, life in a Northern town, travelling

≈ 16 Comments

You know you’ve married the right man when he agrees that a visit to a show which celebrates cake and bread is simply the best way to spend a spring Saturday.

So yesterday saw us trotting off to Manchester to the Cake and Bake Show at Manchester Central.cake and bake

We had a spanking time.  Plenty of stalls with inspiration for baking and decorating cakes. Speakers in the various “kitchens” throughout the day. Artisan bakers and flour millers.  Vintage tablewear.  

Right up our street.

We bought flour and another banetton for The Husband.  Piping bags and nozzles for me.  I might have succumbed to a couple of recipe magazines.

delicious baking

And some oversized Bonne Maman jars which each hold a bag of sugar and are too cute for words.

The best purchase of the day was two beautiful Hammer Stahl knives.

hammerstahl

It’s taken us nearly seven years to agree on a set of knives, so I wasn’t passing up the opportunity.

I attended a macaron workshop with Rashmi from Anges de Sucre and came out muttering repeatedly “how have I never eaten macarons before”.

image from http://www.angesdesucre.com/blog/

image from http://www.angesdesucre.com/blog/

Oh my! They were wonderful. Rashmi completely demystified the making of the Italian meringue. And, yes, she really is that cute in real life. I’m totally committed to giving these a go…I’ll report back!

The day at the show rounded off with the delicious Eric Lanlard showing how to make fabulous petal paste decorations for the top of cupcakes.

eric

He is delightfully funny, quite naughty and so ridiculously skilled at icing a cupcake, it would make you weep. Even with cream cheese topping melting under the heat of the lights, he piped perfect swirls and peaks without missing a beat in his delivery to the enraptured audience.

The cakes weren’t bad either! 😉

To round off the perfect day we treated ourself to dinner at Browns. (with apologies for crappy iPhone pictures).

Lobster linguine…

lobster

Salt caramel cheesecake…

salt caramel cheesecake

Hazelnut martini…

hazelnut martini

And this, plus the red wine we also had, is why I’ll never be a size 6. 😉

But I’m a very happy girl!  And I have all the ingredients for macarons in the kitchen…

We’re going to the Cake and Bake Show

04 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking, life in a Northern town

≈ 7 Comments

You know I like baking, no?

And that Mr Stitch is more than a bit keen on bread (even if he is the worst blogger in the world, evah!)?

I thought so.

Well, I stumbled across this event on the interwebs…

cake and bake

Now I’d never heard of this show, but I decided to check it out and am glad I did.

There’s The Marketplace…

bread2_210_210_c1

Taste your way around the country’s top artisan bakers and cake makers in The Cake & Bake Show Marketplace, where you will find market stalls showcasing enough freshly baked produce to satisfy even the most insatiable food lover…

I don’t mind if I do.  I know The Husband isn’t averse to this kind of thing either!

Then there’s The Exhibition…

do_craft_210_210_210_c1

offering a one stop shop for those wishing to source all the tools of the trade from the country’s top suppliers, with a host of fun, free interactive features from leading brands in the industry…

Oh! Oh! Shopping!

There’s also a host of other interesting stuff as well.

We’ve signed up for a couple of classes each.  Mr S is going to the bread kitchens, I’m going to the cake kitchens.

One of my classes is a cup cake masterclass with Eric Lanlard…

28.Eric_Lanlard_UK_Star_Chef

Cakes with a Frenchman.

I swoon!

I’m also taking a macaron workshop with Reshmi Bennett of Anges de Sucre.macarons

Can you believe I’ve never made a macaron?  Me neither!  I suspect mine won’t look like that!

I’m really looking forward to this.

I get to spend a day with my gorgeous husband surrounded by foodie inspiration and hopefully pick up some new hints and tips for my own kitchen. Marvellous.

And, in case you’re not in the North…there’s a London show too in September. Check it out here.  See…I’m such a public servant! 😉

I shall, of course, bore you to tears report back after the event!

Take that, Tunnocks

18 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking, life in a Northern town

≈ 14 Comments

As a child a Tunnocks Teacake was a Very Special Treat.  The wondrously gaudy wrapper.  Milk chocolate encasing stickily sweet marshmallow atop a crunchy biscuit base.

Good times.

As an adult…well, they’re something of a guilty pleasure!

Until now.

Thanks to The Great British Bake Off, Himmelbjerget has been tempted to try her hand at making her own, and today we celebrated the end of my degree with coffee and home made teacakes.

These are a decidedly grown up treat.  Dark chocolate.  Luscious meringue filling. Crisp but not overly sweet biscuit base.

To. Die. For!

Obviously there is no elegant way to eat this and you end up looking like a 4 year old with chocolate and meringue all over your hands and face.

But who cares!

Now, if she could only crack Caramel Wafers….

New kid on the blog

16 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking, my family and other animals

≈ 14 Comments

You’ve all met The Husband through my posts on this blog.

And you all know what a great guy he is. Not only is he an amazing father, husband and son, but he’s smart and kind and funny and just generally adorable.  He’s my go to guy for tech problems and builds a great stud wall. He’s not fit to be let loose with power tools but he’s got a real talent for pottery.

Well, it turns out he also makes a mean loaf of bread.

Garlic and rosemary focaccia.  Delish!

It’s becoming a bit of a passion for him, and so he’s started his own blog, A Little Slice of England, where he’ll be sharing his ups and downs and favourite recipes. Why not check it out.  And maybe make some bread.  I’ll ask him to share the focaccia recipe sooner rather than later!

Beautiful Bakewell cake

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking

≈ 6 Comments

If you do just one thing this week, make this cake:

Seriously.

You’ll thank me for it.

I promise!

The recipe is from Chica Andaluza and I made it this morning for a playdate with the children’s elder sisters.

It took mere minutes to prepare, filled the house with it’s aroma of almonds, vanilla and raspberries, and disappeared almost as quickly.

So quickly that I didn’t get a picture of the complete cake, only this last little remnant.

And I don’t think that this will last very long.

On tarte au citron

04 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by Evie Jones in cooking

≈ 2 Comments

For Pa SIL’s birthday dinner I made tarte au citron.

We finished the leftovers this week and this is the conversation I had with The Husband about it:

TH:   Why do you make tarte au citron in the tarte tatin tin?

Why not use the big pie dish?

(mumbled through mouthfuls of an inordinately large serving of

lemony loveliness)

Me:  Because the big pie dish is too big.

TH:  Well, you know the answer to that one……

(said with a wink and a smile)

Reader, he didn’t mean buy a smaller pie dish!

I think he likes my tarte!

PS.  The recipe I use is from Trish Deseine’s delicious book Nobody Does It Better.

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