The Case of the Collapsing Sponge...

Why is it that when you want to be impressive, everything goes belly-up? I decided to break with chocolate cake tradition and make a choc chip 'plain' sponge for Valentine's Day. But the centre didn't cook so I had to get a scone cutter and cut it out and improvise. All went well in the end, but still, how irritating!! I think maybe I should have put it in the top of the oven rather than the bottom. Anyway, it tasted fine in the end, and it looked grand too, which is all that matters.
You will need a 20cm (8in) springform tin.

Choc chips going in

You can see the dip in the middle

The finished article - not too bad, all things considered

Served with Alpro soy lemon and lime yogurt

INGREDIENTS

175g butter, softened

175g caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

175g self-raising flour, sifted

50g of dark choc chips

FOR THE DECORATION:

strawberries (rinsed, dried & chopped in fours)

50g dark choc

5g icing sugar

METHOD:

·        Line the base of the tin with greaseproof paper and grease the sides with some butter

·        Preheat oven to 180C

·        Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft

·        Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy

·        Add the eggs slowly into the sugar and butter mixture, beating well between each addition

·        Sift the flour into the bowl on top of the egg mixture and fold in gently using a spatula

·        Mix through the choc chips

·        Scrape mixture into the tin and put in the oven for about 25 minutes

·        Press down lightly on the top of the cake, if the cake springs back, it's done (mine was still wobbly and spent another 10 mins in the oven, being watched closely)

·        Once the cake has cooled, melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water and mix through the icing sugar

·        Spatula the choc icing onto the cake and decorate with strawberries

·        To create my strawberry volcano-effect (ahem!) take the middle out with a scone cutter or glass and fill with chopped strawberries.

MINCE PIES

This recipe is from Rachel Allen's lovely book Bake, which always seems to have easy, no-nonsense recipes when I need them. I love mince pies and was staring at them in Tesco this morning but resisted in favour of making some with Juno. Kids and baking are a great match when Mammy's in great form. Not so much today, but we got there :) And the mince pies are delicious.

INGREDIENTS 

For the sweet shortcrust pastry:
200 g plain flour, sifted
1 tablespoon icing sugar
100 g chilled butter, cubed
1 medium egg, beaten
Filling:
250 g mincemeat (c. half a jar)
1 egg, beaten
Icing sugar for dusting

METHOD

* On a floured work surface, roll out the pastry to 3 mm thick.
* Cut 24 rounds with a 6 cm cutter,
* With a smaller cutter or heart/star cutter cut-out 24 lids. Re-roll the trimmings, if necessary.
* Line the holes of the cake tin with the larger pastry rounds. Fill each base with a teaspoon of mincemeat and top with one of the smaller rounds or hearts.
* Brush the tops of the mince pies with beaten egg.
* Bake in the oven for about 13 minutes until pale golden brown.
* Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
* Dust with icing sugar to serve.

VEGAN DATE & ORANGE BARS

I love dates and find them a brilliant sweetener in cakes and slices. I've adapted this recipe from one in Rachel Allen's Bake, a book that my sister gave us as a wedding present. I added an orange because it's a flavour that goes so well with dates. As usual, I've reduced the sugar in the original recipe. Most recipes use far too much sugar IMO. Sugar ages you, people, and generally you can reduce it with v little effect to sweetness.

200g chopped dates
Juice and zest of 1 large orange
150ml water
175g plain flour
125g brown sugar
100g porridge oats
175g vegan margarine
half tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

o Preheat the oven to 180˚C
o Grease a square cake tin (20cm x 20cm). Line the bottom with greaseproof paper.
o Heat the dates, orange juice, water and zest over a low heat until soft (about 10 mins). Allow to cool
o Sieve the flour and baking powder
o Mix in the sugar, salt and porridge oats
o Rub in the vegan marg until it all sticks together in clumps
o Press half the mix into the bottom of your tin, tamp it down
o Plop blobs of the date mix onto the base at intervals and smooth down
o Put the rest of the oat/marg mix on top until the dates are covered. Tamp down.
o Bake for 40 minutes, until golden-brown.
o Cool in the tin before slicing into bars