Chocolate & Orange Hot Cross Buns
Serves: 12
Prep time: 25 minutes
Baking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
· 500g strong flour
· 60g caster sugar
· 2 tsp mixed spice
· 2 tsp ground cinnamon
· 14g dried yeast
· pinch salt
· 2 medium eggs
· 300ml milk
· 70g raisins
· 70g dark chocolate drops
· 40g butter, room temperature
· zest 1 orange
Topping
· 60g plain flour
· Water
· Golden syrup/honey to glaze
Method:
Into your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the salt, strong flour, caster sugar, yeast, spices, eggs & lukewarm milk. (Keep the yeast and the salt separate)
Mix this together for 5 minutes until you have an elastic dough.
Add the butter and mix until completely blended into the dough.
Place this dough into a greased bowl, cover with a kitchen cloth and leave somewhere warm until its doubled in size.
Once doubled in size, knock the air out and place back in the mixing bowl with the dough hook attachment.
Add the orange zest, raisins and chocolate drops and mix until combined.
Turn this dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 12 balls.
Place these on a lined baking tray allowing some space in between and cover with a cloth and prove again until doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 200C/180C fan.
To make the hot cross bun topping, simply mix the flour with some water until you have a thick flour paste.
Pop this into a piping bag and just before the buns go into the oven, pipe a cross on the top of each one.
Place these into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.
Once baked, remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
Before serving, glaze the hot cross buns with warm golden syrup or honey.
Carrot Walnut Loaf Cake
Makes 1 x 2lb loaf
Prep Time : 20 mins
Baking Time: 50 mins
Ingredients:
· 115ml vegetable oil
· 200g brown sugar
· 2 medium eggs
· 60g Irish yoghurt
· Dash vanilla essence
· 140g plain flour
· 1.5 tsp cinnamon
· 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
· 1 tsp baking powder
· Pinch salt
· 180g grated carrot
· 60g chopped walnuts
- Buttercream
· 30g Irish butter
· 60g cream cheese
· 85g icing sugar
· Dash milk
· Dash vanilla
· Garnish
· Chopped walnuts
· Grated carrot
· Edible flowers
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan.
In a bowl whisk the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and yoghurt.
Sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix.
Add in the chopped walnuts and grated carrot. Mix
Spoon into lined 2lb loaf tin and bake for 45-50mins.
Once baked, remove and cool.
To make the buttercream, mix the butter and cream cheese.
Add the icing sugar, vanilla and milk.
Spread over the cooled loaf.
Garnish with chopped walnuts and grated carrot and edible flowers if you have them
Enjoy.
Easter Simnel Cake
Serves: 10
Prep & Baking Time: 1h 30 mins
Ingredients:
- 350g mixed dried fruit
- 100g glace cherries, chopped
- 100ml whiskey (or use can use tea)
- 200g butter, room temperature
- 200g dark soft brown sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 60g golden syrup
- 210g self raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 120g ground almonds
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 large orange zest
- For Decoration:
- 500g marzipan
- Yellow food colouring (optional)
- 2 tbsp apricot jam
Method:
Soak the mixed fruit and glace cherries in whiskey for a minimum of two hours.
Line, grease and flour a 20cm loose bottom cake tin.
Take a third of the marzipan, roll out a 20cm circle and set aside.
Preheat your oven to 170C/150C fan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until soft and creamy.
Gradually add the eggs, mixing between each addition.
Add in the golden syrup and mix through.
To this, add the orange zest, ground almonds, sieved flour, baking powder, mixed spice and mix.
Add in the pre-soaked fruit including any excess liquid and fold through.
Spoon half this cake mix into the prepared tin and using the back of a spoon, flatten out.
Place the disc on marzipan on top and spoon on the remaining cake mix.
Pop this into the preheated oven and bake for 90 minutes. After the 60 minutes mark, I like to place a tin foil disc on top of the cake to ensure it doesn't burn, cook for a further 30 mins or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Once baked, remove and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
To decorate the cake, if you have neutral marzipan, I like to colour it with a touch of yellow food colouring, this is optional.
Divide the remaining marzipan in two. The first half can be rolled into a 20cm disc and the remaining half can be rolled into 11 balls.
Brush the cooled cake with apricot jam and place the marzipan disc on top, you can crimp the edges for added effect and finish by arranging the 11 balls around the top of the cake.
