Red Velvet (aka. Waldorf-Astoria) Cake!

Red Velvet is (well to me) the MOST FAMOUS CAKE IN THE WORLD! -Next to the Sachertorte!
It's origin is known to be from the USA but there is no exact place known to be the birthplace of this magnificent creation,that is why there is 2 names in the blog title Red Velvet AND Waldorf-Astoria cake,as there is still a dispute from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City,New York that THEY invented it!
Find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_velvet_cake.

Ingredients(For the Cake):

150g Butter or Margarine

150g Caster Sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla Extract.

3 Free Range Eggs.

50ml Buttermilk or Greek Yogurt.

2 tsp No Flavour Red Food Colouring (Such as Wilton or Americolor Brands).

150g Self-Raising Flour.

60g Cocoa Powder.

Ingredients(For the Cream Cheese Frosting):

100g Butter or Margarine.

200g Cream Cheese (I used Philidelphia)

500g Icing Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract.

Method:

1.) Preheat the oven to 170C(150C Fan Oven)/ Gas Mark 3/325F.

2. Grease and Line a DEEP 15cm (6 Inch) round cake tin.

3.) Beat the butter,sugar and vanilla extract together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.

4.) Add the eggs one at a time (If the mixture LOOKS curdled add a teaspoon of the measured flour.

5.) Mix the food colouring with the buttermilk or yogurt (whichever you are using), then beat this mixture into the butter mixture.

6.) Fold in the flour and cocoa powder,which has been sifted and mix until well combined.

7.) Pour into the prepared baking tin and bake for 30 minutes or until slightly golden on the edges and a metal skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

8.) When fully cooled (for about 2 hours) slice the cake into 3 equal layers,leave to cool for a further 30 minutes.

9.) Whilst the 3 layers are cooling make the frosting by creaming the butter and cream cheese together and slowly beating in the icing sugar a little at a time,then add the vanilla extract (if the mixture looks a bit too thick,add a teaspoon of milk).

10.) To assemble the Red Velvet cake, place one of the layers on the cake board and spread 1/4 of the frosting ontop,followed by another layer of cake and another 1/4 of the frosting and the final layer. With the left over 1/2 of the frosting,ice the top and sides of the cake. Decorate in any way you wish,i sprinkled with some chocolate shreds. 

11.) serves 12-15 people or 6-8 VERY HUNGRY people!

Here is what the cake should look like:

(Picture courtesy of Jake Molineux)

Enjoy!

As you can probably guess,BUTTERMILK was today's ingredient!

Thanks for reading my blog! ~Jake

Buttermilk Scones!

I have had a few E-Mails asking me to write blog posts about what  I MAKE! So today there is 2 recipes i am going to share with you! I have made scones many a time's using plain milk,but to get the right flavour and texture,it is best to use buttermilk; i'll let you decided what you want to use,varying on your budget!
This recipe is easy-peasy and trust me-they taste AMAZING with cream and strawberry jam!
The yield is 20, and to be honest, i still don't think they'll be around THAT long!

Ingredients:

900g Plain Flour

1/2 tsp Salt.

85g Caster Sugar.

1 + 1/2 tsp Baking Powder.

200g COLD Butter or Margarine,diced.

2x284ml pots of Buttermilk OR 570ml Milk.

2 tsp Vanilla Extract.

80g Currants (Optional).

Method:

1.) Preheat the oven to 220C(200C fan oven)/Gas Mark 7/450F.

2.) Using your fingertips, rub the butter,salt, and flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs,the mix in the sugar.

3.) Warm the buttermilk with the vanilla extract over the stove until it comes to a simmer,fetch a larger bowl then take the buttermilk mix off the heat.

4.) Into the larger bowl,mix together the butermilk and flour in alternate actions using a knife (ect. Start with 1/3 of the flour in the bowl,then add a 1/3 of the buttermilk and mix, ALWAYS END WITH THE FLOUR!)  BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERMIX THE DOUGH!

5.) Tip the dough onto a LIGHTLY floured surface and bring together into a rough ball shape in your hands. Pat down the dough to approximately 1 inch thick with your hands and use a 7cm (3 inch) cookie cutter to cut out the scones.

6.) Transfer the scones to well greased baking trays covered with parchment/grease-proof paper.

7.) Place the scone sin the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden brown on the edges,making sure you turn the baking trays around halfway through baking time to ensure even baking.

8.) Serve whilst the scones are still warm with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

These are what MY scones looked like:

(Picture courtesy of Jake Molineux).

Enjoy!

Thank you for reading my blog! ~Jake.

Pâte à Choux (Choux Pastry) :D

Choux pastry is a weird pastry! Weird because it is NOTHING like other pastries,the way its made,the way it look,and the taste and texture are very unique. Choux pastry can be used to make Profiteroles,Croquembouche's or Croque-En-Bouche's (A french dessert often served at weddings made out of cream filled profiteroles stuck together around a cone shaped tin with caramel-literally translating as "Crunch In Mouth",St Honoré cake, and Éclairs.

Today,our teacher got us into teams and we each made a batch of Profiteroles,So i am sharing the recipe-this is DOUBLED as the original only makes 8-10 profiteroles,if you want the original,just HALF the recipe:

Ingredients:

300ml water.

100g butter or margarine.

120g plain flour.

4 eggs,beaten.

Method:

1.) Melt the butter in the a saucepan with the water and stir continuously until it just starts to boil.

2.) Keeping over the heat,quickly add the flour (which has been sifted) and quickly beat the mixture until it starts to come away from the edges.

3.) Take off the heat and slowly add the beaten eggs,mixing well between each addition.

4.) Fit a piping bag with a large round nozzle,and spoon the choux mixture into the bag,squeezing it down right to the bottom of the bag,to make sure there is no air bubbles.

5.) Pipe 8-10 large round balls of the mixture onto a well greased baking tray.

6.) Bake for 20 minutes until the balls are blown up and are golden brown, DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN UNTIL THIS STAGE!

7.) Cool for 1 hour to make sure the profiteroles dont deflate and go floppy when cut into.

8.) Cut each profiterole into 2 halves,dip one half into some tempered milk chocolate and leave to set,fill the other half with whipped cream or a filling of choice such as Nutella or other chocolate spread.

9.) Join the 2 halves together,with the chocolate covered half on the top, and Voila, PROFITEROLES!

These are relatively easy to make,just make sure the mix is coming away from the edge in step step 2 or it will turn out like cupcake batter (like my first attempt!) 

They will look like this:

(Picture courtesy of M&S)

Thank you for taking the time to view my blog! ~Jake

Butternut Squash (Or Pumpkin) Soup :D

Sorry that i have not published yesterday's soup and bread recipe's,i got carried away writing a story for my english homework! So here it is!

INGREDIENTS

For the soup:

• 1 large butternut squash (mine weighed 1.5kg before peeling and de-seeding)
• 2 carrots (about 200g before peeling)
• 1 large white onion
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1.5 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 litre of half strength stock

For the bread rolls:

• 500g packet of white bread mix
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 30g pumpkin seeds (15g inside the dough, 15g on top)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Peel/de-seed and chop the butternut squash, carrot, onion and celery into inch pieces
2. Put in the slow cooker with the stock and nutmeg
3. Cook on low for 6 hours
4. About an hour before you serve up, start work on the bread – put the bread mix in a bowl and add the dried thyme and warm water to the amount stated on the packet instructions, mix well, then turn out onto a floured surface to sit for 5 minutes
5. Knead the dough well for 5 minute until springy, then chop half of your pumpkins seeds into smallish pieces and kneed them into the dough for a minute or so
6. Work the dough into an oblong, then use a sharp knife to cute into 8 equal pieces
7. Work into roll shapes, then lay on an oiled tray, cover with a damp tea towel again and leave to rise for 40 minutes somewhere warm – they should double in size
8. Turn on the oven to 230C (210C fan assisted), sprinkle the top of each roll with water and add a sprinkling of sunflower seeds to the top of each one
9. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes until gently browned and crusty
10. Remove from the oven and leave on a rack to cool
11. When all your soup veg are soft, blitz with a hand blender and season to taste
12. Serve with your lovely warm rolls – they’re perfect with salted butter.

Here are 2 pictures  of what they should look like:

Thanks for reading the blog. ~Jake

PS: today's recipe will be up later on tonight or early tomorrow :D

New Statistics!

since 2 hours ago,there has been a rapid increase of nationalities viewing my blog! I can now add,Israel,Iraq,India,Indonesia,China,Argentina,Kenya and Chile to the list of countries! the web browsers and providers are almost the same so here is the newly updated map! (Bottom) compared to 2 hours ago (top)

EARLIERS MAP:

NEW MAP:

Thank You for reading my blog ~Jake! PS: Soup and bread roll recipes coming up at 6pm GMT :D

Statistics

Here are the relevant statistics from my blog including countries where it is mostly being viewed,web browsers used to view it and service operators which are being used to view it!

Here is the map of the world,i am currently being viewed in the US,the UK,Canada,Germany,Malta and Spain,the darker green colour the country is,the more i am being viewed there:

Here are 2 pie charts showing the web browsers(top pie chart) and service operators(bottom pie chart)
 used to view my blog:

Thank you for spending a few short moments looking at this information about my blog,today's souper saturday will be posted later,and you're gonna love it! ~Jake.

Lavender Cupcakes!

Lavender Cupcakes!

I found this recipe AGES ago! I saved it to my computer for future reference but have never had chance to try it :( 

However,i thought i would share it with the JWLTB fans,so here it is,(and because i'm so considerate,i have converted the measurements so US site viewers,who are my most dominant viewers,followed by the UK and Germany viewers who use metric and not imperial measurements!:

INGREDIENTS:

280g/2+1/4 cups/10 oz plain flour sifted. 

2 tsp Baking Powder.

1/2 tsp/Pinch salt.

130g/1+1/5 sticks/1/2 cup/4.5 oz softened butter or margarine.

 220g/1 cup/8 oz caster sugar

2 large eggs at ambient(room) temperature.

130ml/1/2 cup/ 4fl oz Lavender Milk.

1 tbsp Good quality vanilla extract,bean or bean paste.

METHOD:

1. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
2. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the caster sugar and beat for 5 minutes until very light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to combine after each addition. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla, beginning and ending with the flour. Be careful not to over-mix.
4. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon the batter into cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 15 minutes in a 180C(160C fan) oven/Gas Mark 4/360F, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for a few minutes then remove and cool completely(for about 2 hours).

LAVENDER BUTTER-CREAM FROSTING:

50g/2 oz Butter or Margarine.

300g/12 oz Icing Sugar.

A handful of lavender buds.

1 tsp Lavender milk.

FROSTING METHOD:

1. Crush the lavender buds with a pestle and mortar.
2. Whisk butter in a metal bowl until smooth for about 3 minutes. Then add 300g icing sugar, milk and double cream. Blend until smooth and slowly add remaining icing sugar until you have the consistency you want.
3. Ice cupcakes and dust with a sprinkling of lavender.

how to make lavender milk:

1. Measure out around 1.5 times the milk your recipe requires and add lavender buds at a ratio of 2tbsp to 1 cup milk to a small pan.
2. Heat the ingredients to a scald stage (just before boiling), then turn off heat and leave to cool completely. Strain the flowers with a sieve and re-measure milk before adding to your recipe.

Here is a picture of what they should look like when finished:

Thanks for reading my blog!~Jake.