Tag: meringue

September 28, 2015

Choco-mania

It has been too long without a post featuring chocolate, hasn’t it? That question was rhetorical.

In case you hadn’t noticed from perusing this blog, I’m a pretty big fan of the stuff. If you bake these then you will be too, or a bigger fan at the end of it. They are gooey, rich and wonderful even if I do say so myself.

Welcome, friend, to death by chocolate brownie meringue cupcakes.

You will need

For the brownie:

250g/9 oz unsalted butter

250g/9 oz soft brown sugar (either light or dark is fine)

200g/7 oz dark chocolate

150g/5.5 oz milk chocolate

85g/3 oz plain flour

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

For the meringue

300g/10.5 oz golden caster sugar

100g/3.5 oz cocoa powder

6 egg whites

1-2 tsp cornflour

(makes 16-18)

Step one

Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and add the dark and milk chocolate along with the butter. Remove from the heat once fully melted.

Step two

Whisk the eggs with an electric whisk, adding the sugar as you go in thirds. Keep whisking until the mix starts to thicken and goes glossy. Thin ribbons of the mixture should remain visible on the surface when you remove the beaters.

Step three

Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the eggs and stir gently with a metal spoon or a spatula until well combined.

Step three and a half

A careful reader spotted I missed out this step, thanks Gill!

Gently fold in the flour and baking powder.

Step four

Using a jug, fill the cupcake cases between two-thirds and three quarters full.

Bake in a preheated oven on 180C/gas mark 4/350F for 25 minutes.

Step five

With about 5 minutes to go on the baking of the brownies, make the meringues.

Add a third of the golden caster sugar to the egg whites and start to whisk them until they are stiff. Basically, when you can turn the bowl upside down without anything falling out you’re good to go.

Step six

Beat in the rest of the sugar for another minute or two.

Step seven

Fold in the cocoa and cornflour. Do this as if you are stirring a bowl of kittens. Try not to hurt your meringue.

Step eight

Remove the brownies from the oven. Don’t worry, they sink, one day I might bother to adjust the recipe accordingly to stop that happening but they are so tasty the way they are.

Scoop the meringue onto the cupcakes, you can pipe them if you’re feeling fancy/getting to the piping nozzles wouldn’t involve the contents of your cupboard falling on your head.

Step nine

Return to the oven and turn it down to 140C/gas mark 1/275F. Bake for a further 30 minutes. Then turn the oven off but leave the door closed and allow to cool inside the oven for as long as you can resist them.

Step ten

You probably bought your chocolate in 200g bars, meaning that if you haven’t scoffed it already you will have 50g milk chocolate left over. Melt this down and drizzle on top.

If you’ve eaten it already, there’s no shame in that, and your cakes will still be delicious.

I thought the gif this week should benefit me. So for the sake of the blog I just HAD to eat one.

See you next week pals.

June 22, 2015

Tunnock’s teacupcakes

Fanfare please! We have reached the final post of the British favourites series. This has been fun, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it, but I for one am looking forward to eating something other than cupcakes soon. Safe to say my family and friends have enjoyed themselves the past few weeks. I should probably do a detox series next.

What better way to top this all off than with the Tunnock’s tea cake? The Tunnock’s bakery was founded in 1890, I’m not sure when the idea of the teacake popped into Mr Tunnock’s head but I’m sure glad it did.

You will need

For the cake:

185g/6.5 oz self raising flour

185g/6.5 oz butter/margarine (I use Stork)

185g/6.5 oz caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp vanilla extract/paste

For the filling:

200g/7 oz milk chocolate

150ml/5 fl oz double cream

For the frosting/icing:

2 egg whites

225g/8oz caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

75ml/2.5 fl oz water

250g/9oz milk chocolate (for coating)

(makes 12)

Step one

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. If you have an electric whisk it’d be a good idea to use it.

Add the eggs and whisk again until combined.

Step two

Pop in the vanilla extract, flour and bicarbonate of soda and whisk again. You might want to pre-stir a little before turning on the whisk to avoid flour going everywhere.

Step three

Spoon the mixture into cases (preferably silver and red foil ones to stay on brand) and bake in a preheated oven on gas mark 4/180C/350F for 20-25 minutes.

Step four

Make the ganache filling by chopping the chocolate finely and putting in a heatproof bowl. Gently heat the cream in a saucepan until you start to see little bubbles at the side and steam floating on the surface.

Pour the cream over the chocolate and use a hand whisk to melt the chocolate into the cream. Set aside to cool.

Step five

The third and final time we’re making seven minute frosting in this series, so you should be a dab hand by now. If you’ve not made this before then it’s quite straightforward, no need to be intimidated.

Pop a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Add the egg whites, sugar, water and cream of tartare and whisk for, well, seven minutes.

When you’re finished the mixture should be able to hold its shape, and not drop off a spoon when held upside down (stiff peaks).

Step six

Make a hole in the cupcakes and remove the spongey bit from the cut out. Fill with ganache and pop the ‘lid’ back on. I then spread a little of the meringue frosting over the surface to even it out a little. Pipe the frosting onto the cake using a round nozzle and holding pointed directly down at the cake (perpendicular) and squeeze.

Put in the freezer for a few hours.

Step seven

Melt the chocolate either by putting in the microwave for 20 second bursts, or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

You need to find a shallow but wide pot/cup to use for dipping. It needs to be wide enough for the cupcake and your fingers.

Remove the cupcakes from the freezer and dip them in the chocolate.

Leave to set.

Fin.

September 22, 2014

Autumn mess

Chaps! Welcome back, apologies for my prolonged absence. Holidays have been had, possessions been moved, and I’m back online.

Still riding high on my summer vacay, everything I thought of for this post was just not seasonal. Autumn is my favourite season usually, but, quite out of character, I’ve actually enjoyed summer this year. To get myself into a cosy autumnal mood I decided to turn an old summer favourite – Eton Mess – into a pudding perfect for fall.

I present Autumn Mess (or Fall Mess, I guess, if you’re across the pond, but that sounds a bit too much like a road traffic accident).

Things you need

For the meringue:

2 large egg whites

110g/4oz Golden caster sugar (that’s all I had – white would be fine – probably better)

1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon

For the salted caramel frosting:

100g/3.5 oz Salted butter

80g/3 oz Soft brown sugar

100ml/3.5 fl oz Double cream

2 tbsp Golden syrup

2 tsp Salt

For the rest:

50-100g Pecans (chopped)

300ml/10 fl oz Double cream

1-2 Bramley cooking apples

Nutmeg (optional)

Makes 6-8 servings

Step one

Mix together the cinnamon and sugar. I actually used 1/2 a tsp of cinnamon, but felt it was a little strong, others disagreed, so go with your gut. It depends on whether or not you are a cinna-fan.

Using an electric whisk whip the egg whites until they are three times their original size and starting to turn glossy.

Gradually whisk in all the sugar until you have stiff peaks (and can turn the bowl upside-down without the mix falling out).

Step two

Using two teaspoons place blobs of the meringue onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Don’t grease this to stick it down. If you need something to stop it curling up, dab a little of the mixture under each corner as glue.

This doesn’t need to be done too carefully as the purpose of this dessert is not to look pretty.

Step three

Bake on gas mark 1/2, 130 degrees C or 250 degree F for an hour. Turn off the oven and leave until completely cool before taking them out.

Step four

While the meringues are in the oven, you can get going on the rest of the components.

Peel and chop the cooking apples into small chunks. Place into a microwaveable bowl.

Step five

Add three tablespoons of water and three tablespoons of caster sugar and place in microwave.

Microwave on a medium-high heat until you have a pulpy consistency. This took about 10 minutes with fairly regular stop and stirs.

Step six

If you are thinking you have seen these pictures before, I’m sorry, I’m plagiarising myself. I know I know, in the very next post too.

In a saucepan add together the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and salt. Heat gently until melted and then bring to a simmer.

Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir regularly so that it doesn’t catch and burn. Leave to cool for about half an hour.

Step seven

Stir in 100 ml of double cream and leave to cool.

Step eight

Whisk the remaining double cream until thick and gloopy.

Step nine

Once everything is cool combine the meringues, cream, caramel and apple to taste. I let everyone do this to their own preferences in individual bowls which worked really well.

Sprinkle chopped pecans and grate nutmeg over the top (if you like it) to finish.

It’s great to have you back.

June 15, 2014

Lots of little kisses

Recently I have been partying down with some of the lovely hens (bachelorettes for those of you across the pond) in my life who are getting married this summer. My friends are definitely going wedding crazy at the moment, and with hen parties springing up every other weekend I thought I would put together a yummy recipe for any keen party planners, or any of you who fancied a new afternoon tea recipe.

Introducing these lovely little meringue kisses. Although any of the wedding party who are on diets might want to look away now…

You will need

2 egg whites

110g/4 oz caster sugar

100g/3.5 oz dark chocolate

150ml double cream

75g/2.5 oz raspberries

Makes 20

Step one

Separate eggs whites into a glass or metal mixing bowl (plastic tends to hold a bit of grease, gross I know, but this will stop your egg whites fluffing like they should).

Use an electronic whisk (or a really strong arm) to whip the whites until they double in size and start to stiffen up.

Once they look kind of like the third photo start adding in the sugar as you whisk.

Step one and a half

Keep whisking until you have what’s known in the biz as stiff peaks. If you’re a bit unsure, turn your bowl upside down, if your mix doesn’t fall out then you’re good to go, if it does then I’m sorry.

Step two

Cover two baking trays in greaseproof paper or baking parchment. Don’t whatever you do grease this, use a dab of meringue in each corner to secure it to the tray.

Fill a piping bag with the meringue mix and pipe lots of little blobs. Hold the piping bag about 2cm away from the tray at a 90 degree angle and squeeze down, once your meringue has reached the desired spread (say 4cm wide?) pull away quickly.

Remember to pipe in pairs, no odd numbers, and leave a little space for these to expand.

Step three

Bake.

Gas Mark 1/2, 130 degrees C or 250 degree F for 40 minutes to an hour. I know, that’s really unhelpful, but I sort of went jogging, and my oven is a law unto itself.

Once you can see they’ve grown and have developed shells, turn the oven off and wait for it to cool before removing them. If you need to take a peek by opening the oven door, try not to throw it wide, or your meringues will crack.

Step four

Melt the dark chocolate in a small bowl/ramekin. Do this gradually in the microwave so you don’t burn the chocolate.

Dip each meringue so that the bottom an a little bit of the side is covered. Sit on greaseproof paper and leave to set.

Step five

Whisk the double cream until it has doubled in size and is beginning to hod it’s shape.

Add the raspberries and whisk some more. This is pretty satisfying for some reason.

Step six

Pipe the raspberry cream onto a shell and squish another one on top. Repeat until finished.

Step seven

Enjoy!