My Favourite Yule Log Recipe.

I absolutely adore this recipe and have been using it to make my yule logs for several years now. It's so delicious and the sponge is pretty much fat free - perfect for this time of year! I smother it in chocolate buttercream and then use a fork to create a bark-like effect before adding a sprinkle of icing sugar just to make it look a little more snowy and festive. The holly and 'Merry Christmas' sign were just odd plastic-y things that I found in the kitchen but I thought completed the whole festive look.

Ingredients: 

3 Eggs

75g Caster sugar

75g Plain flour

25g Cocoa powder

100g Butter

100g Icing sugar

75g Milk chocolate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease and line a swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together and fold in the flour and cocoa powder. 
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes until it feels springy.
4. When baked, immediately turn the sponge out onto greaseproof paper dusted lightly with caster sugar and trim off the hard edges. 
5. Carefully roll up the cake with the paper still in the middle and leave to cool.
6. Combine the butter and icing sugar together and then stir in the melted chocolate. 
7. Unroll the sponge, spread half of the butter cream inside and up roll again.
8. Use the remaining butter cream to coat the top of the roll.
9. Using a fork, make marks in the butter cream as in the picture to make it look more like a log and sprinkle icing sugar over the top.

22 DAYS TO GO! Cakesfordorothy xoxo

Chrismas Cupcake Inspiration.

This year I'm really looking forward to making some proper Christmas cupcakes with proper icing! I think homemade gifts are the most personal and have the most thought and care put into them. It's easy to go around a shop and pick up presents that you think people might like but when presents are handmade, you can't help loving them (I hope). I wish I could make all of my presents but time is always an issue at such a busy time of the year so I'm hoping to make cupcakes for a few of my friends.

I'm absolutely in love with the idea of Christmas pudding cupcakes, mainly because it's so easy to create the dome shape just like a real Christmas pudding! I think these ones are so simply yet effective and I'd probably use a chocolate cupcake inside.

I also adore these bauble cupcakes. Again, a lovely domed cupcake makes these the perfect shape. I would use a lace embossing mat, some lustre spray and then finish with the hanger (and maybe even a piece of festive thread for authenticity). There are also so many designs and colours you could put on these, the possibilities are almost endless.

If you're not a fan of the modern colours and symbols of Christmas, I'm sure you'll love these snowy blue and white cupcakes. They're so much more sophisticated - perhaps suitable for a more mature friend or family members but nonetheless festive. I particularly love the one in the centre.

Similarly, the lady whose cupcakes courses I go on (Mrs Mac) made these absolutely exquisite Christmas cupcakes. I'm so sad that I can't go to the course to make these ones but I would highly highly recommend her.

And finally, after an overdose of fondant icing, there's The Hummingbird Bakery's festive cupcakes for this year which they have been posting on twitter repeatedly since the start of November which I think has lead to an obsession. I love the signature buttercream swirl on top and I just can't get over how effective they look with such a small amount of effort. I particularly love the gingerbread man with the read crumbs around the edge, I assume this signifies a red velvet cupcake. Yum!

23 DAYS TO GO! Cakesfordorothy xoxo

Rhubarb, Blueberry and Damson Pie.

After this year's 'Harvest' we had a huge surplus of produce. With no jars left to fill with jam or chutney, this surplus headed for the freezer but I'd had enough of playing a game of tetris everytime I wanted some bread or fish fingers so I decided to defrost and use some of our Rhubarb and Damsons. 

I've never ever made a fruit pie before, until now, so I was a little nervous about how it would turn out after seeing how many things could go wrong on Great British Bake Off to bakers which are far more knowledgable than myself. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this pie was to bake and how well it turned out.

Ingredients:

200g Plain Flour

25g Ground Almonds

100g Unsalted Butter

1 Egg Yolk

100g Sugar

3 tbsp Milk

100g Blueberries

325g Rhubarb

325g Damsons

100g Caster Sugar
4 tbsps Plain Flour

Method:

1. I always like to make my pastry first as it needs to chill in the fridge. To do this, sieve the flour and ground almonds into a bowl and mix them. Then rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs before adding the egg yolk, sugar and milk.

2. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few minutes then wrap in cling film and put it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

3. Wash the fruit and put it in a large saucepan with the sugar. Cook for around 5 minutes until all the sugar has dissolved.

4. Drain the majority of the juices from the mix and transfer to a mixing bowl. Then add the plain flour and combine thoroughly. (I do this to ensure the mixture isn't too wet, otherwise it will soak the pastry and you'll end up with a 'soggy bottom')

5. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll it out onto a floured surface. Then line a greased pastry dish (I like to use a pyrex one) with around two thirds of the dough. Ensure that the dough is pushed well in and remove the excess from the edges.

6. Spoon the fruit mixture into the pastry, ensuring it is evenly distributed.

7. Roll out the rest of the pastry and use it to cover the top of the pie. Trim the edges and crimp them using a fork to ensure the bottom and top are joined.

8. Put a few slits in the top of the pie and brush over the pie with a little bit of milk, this will help it to be a nice golden brown colour when baked. If there is any excess pastry you may wish to put a design on top of the pie, leaves are traditional.

9. Bake for around 40 minutes at 190˚C. Once baked, dust with a little icing sugar before serving.

Enjoy!

CakesforDorothy xoxo