COOKBOOKS GALORE

As we had family coming for lunch yesterday, I decided to follow this week's GBBO theme and make a cheesecake. I'm not a great fan of the usual biscuit bases, so decided to make mine like a chocolate crumble mixture. I also wanted a thicker base layer, so would make a decent amount of the crumble. I love the flavours of chocolate and orange together, so the topping would be orange flavoured. I used a 23cm springform tin, so it made about 12 good sized slices. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 and line the 23 cm springform tin with some baking parchment. For the base: Cut 175g of chilled butter into cubes, then melt another 50g of butter and put aside. Put the butter cubes into a processor with 150g light muscovado sugar, 3 tbspn cocoa powder and 250g plain flour. Blitz till it becomes breadcrumbs. Pour in the melted butter and pulse till it's mixed. Spoon into the bottom of the tin and smooth the top using the back of a spoon. Bake for about 35 mins till risen a bit, but don...

In keeping with last week's GBBO 'Bread' theme, I decided to make a loaf ; I didn't want a traditional bread loaf, so decided to make this chocolate and pecan one, which I'd made ages ago on a bread-making course. It's not difficult to make - after the dough has risen its rolled out into a square, sprinkled with chocolate, nuts and sugar then rolled up like a Swiss roll. You need a big loaf tin, 1.8l  twice the size of a normal one [or you could divide the dough, chocolate and nuts in two before you roll it into the square and then use 2 x 900g tins.] Preheat oven 200C/gas6        Grease a 1.8l loaf tin or 2 x 900g tins In a big bowl put 500g of strong white bread flour and 3 tbspn butter and rub in till it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in 1/2 tspn salt, 50g caster sugar and 11/2 tspns fast action yeast. Add 2 beaten eggs and gradually add 175ml of warm milk to make a soft dough ball. Lightly flour a surface or board and knead the dough well  till i...

There's a good crop of blackberries around this year, so I've managed to pick a few kilos. This is a bit of a red herring as I didn't actually use any of them in my cake!  I wanted to make a cake using some kind of blackberries, and found this one ages ago on an American baking blog which seems to have disappeared. Luckily I'd printed off the recipe - so thank you anyway to 'CakeyJo'. You don't use the blackberries whole, you make them into jam. In the original recipe you had to make this first, but I had a couple of jars of homemade blackberry jam I bought in a local fete, so I used those . I t's a cake with a difference in that it has a cakey -pastry base, a layer of jam, and finally another cakey-pastry layer. You need a 23cm springform cake tin lined with baking parchment Preheat oven 180C/gas4 In the bowl of a stand mixer beat together 180g butter and 225g caster sugar till white and fluffy. Using 2 large eggs, keep one white to egg wash at ...

Following on from the Madeira cake from week 1 of the GBBO, I decided to make some biscuits from week 2. I'm not a fan of biscotti, or making fancy biscuit  holders, so decided to have a go at Paul's Artlettes. I cheated  and used ready made butter puff pastry and was pleased with the results. You'll find Paul's recipe  here . The whirls aren't as good as his, but you could taste the cinnamon, and they were nice and crisp, and they had a good snap!! After making these I decided that I hadn't put enough cinnamon and sugar in them so made them again with bought butter puff pastry. My second attempt was much better; they're not as oval, but the spiral filling is better. Honey Biscuits I also made some honey biscuits as I was given a local jar of honey to try. These are orange and walnut flavoured biscuits which are dipped in honey to glaze. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. In a bowl...

I went to a charity coffee morning recently and this traybake was one of the delicious cakes on offer. I asked for the recipe, and was kindly given it. It's another plain cake, but it has a great flavour. You can never have too many chocolate cake recipes! I rarely use prunes except for a sticky toffee pudding or cake, but I had some left and this is a good way of using them up. Grease and line a 24x33cm baking tin - it's useful to have the paper hanging over the ends of the tin to help get the cake out easily. Preheat oven 180C/gas4   Put 250g of dried prunes in a saucepan with 250ml of strong coffee and simmer for about 10 mins. When they're cool, whizz in a processor or use a stick blender to make a purée - if it's very thick, add a little water or fruit juice. Melt 250g butter in the microwave or on a low heat. Stir in 250g dark brown sugar and the prune mixture. Add 200g sr flour with 1 tspn baking powder added,  50g cocoa powder, 3 eggs and whisk together....

I've been a follower of the GBBO since it started, but have rarely made anything I've seen. This series I thought I'd try and made something from each week [or two!]'s programmes and decided on a Madeira Cake. My Mum used to make it frequently, sometimes in a round tin and sometimes in a loaf tin. I decided on the latter as it's easier to cut. I looked at recipes from Mary Berry, James Martin, the WI baking book, the Good Food site and the BBC food site, and the recipes all had the same amount of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. The only difference was that a couple added ground almonds, a couple added milk and some added lemon zest. Mum's recipe in her much-used notebook had the same quantities as the others, but used plain flour with baking powder. It's a very plain version  - no ground almonds, milk or lemon zest. Preheat oven 160C/gas3          Grease and line a 900g loaf tin or a 18cm round cake tin. It's such a simple recipe - you need 175g of ...

I've nearly finished using up odd packets and jars in my cupboard, but found some dessicated coconut. I also had some nectarines to use up, so decided to use both in a cake. My daughter makes this recipe often with whatever fruit she has - raspberries, peaches, apples - sometimes she uses coconut and sometimes just makes a plain cake; it's such an easy recipe. The only extra addition is some vanilla yoghurt. Preheat oven 180C/gas4. Grease and base line a 24cm springform cake tin. It's the all-in-one method - put 180g butter, 215 g caster sugar, 3 eggs, 225g sr flour, 55g dessicated coconut and 175g vanilla yoghurt in a food processor and blitz till smooth. Pour into the cake tin. Arrange 4 halved and stoned nectarines on top and bake for about an hour. Take the cake our of the oven and sprinkle about 25g dessicated coconut on top then return to the oven for another 5 mins till the coconut is golden. A lovely moist cake with a soft texture. The coconut flav...