BLUEBERRY & ORANGE CAKE

Blueberry and Orange Cake

I have a tendency to see what I've got in the press, then bake with it. Even for important things like my sons' Dad's birthday cake ... Still, blueberry and orange sound like a good match, don't they? And, it turns out, they are. This cake has a lovely childhood taste - sweet in all the right ways.

Ingredients

125g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour

75g spelt flour
125g butter or marg

pinch of salt
zest of 1 orange
50g blueberries

2 eggs

2 tblsps cow's or soya milk

juice of 1/4 of an orange (2 tblsps)

Drizzle

30g icing sugar
juice of 1/4 of an orange (2 tblsps)

Orange drizzle

Method

·        Preheat oven to 180˚C

·        Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
·        Zest and juice the orange

·        Cream the butter and caster sugar

·        Add the eggs and zest and beat well

·        Add flour and salt and fold in completely

·        Mix through the milk and OJ
·        Mix through the blueberries

·        Pour into the cake tinand flatten the top

·        Bake for 55 minutes or so, until golden on top, make sure it is cooked through with a cake tester/skewer
·        Make the syrup while the cake is cooking by gently heating the orange and icing sugar until the sugar is melted

·        Using your skewer, puncture the top of the cake and pour the syrup evenly over the cake

·        Cool completely in the tin. Serve on its own, or with plain yogurt or ice-cream. Yum!

BLUEBERRY AND WALNUT MUFFINS

Tesco had an offer on blueberries, which I haven't baked with in ages, so I snapped them up and baked some bun-sized, healthy muffins.This recipe makes 12 small muffins/buns.

139 calories per bun, 6g of fat.

INGREDIENTS

125g wholegrain spelt flour
125g self-raising flour
75g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
150ml soya milk or milk
1 beaten egg (or 1tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water for vegans)
50g of blueberries
40g chopped walnuts
2 tblsps vegetable oil
12 small muffin or bun-sized cases


METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180˚C
• Put muffin cases into bun tray
• Mix the flour, spice, sugar and baking powder in a bowl
• Beat egg or make up the NoEgg as per pack
• In a jug, mix together the soya milk, oil and egg/NoEgg mixture
• Make a well in the flour and beat in the milky mixture
• Mix in the blueberries and walnuts until you have a sticky dough
• Divide the mixture between the muffin cases
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes

FOODIVAL FEATURE

My recipe for Carrot and Walnut Memory Muffins is featured on Foodival here, which is kind of nice. Foodival bills itself as 'a food festival' - a diverse collection of recipes from all over the world.

GREAT IRISH BAKE - DAY 3 - SPELT FRUIT CAKE

Happy Great Irish Bake Day!

My recipe tin

For the day itself, I decided to do my favourite of all my cake recipes. It is quick and simple and turns out perfectly every time for me. This is made with spelt flour which has less gluten than regular flour. I used a luxury fruit mix, but ordinary raisins or sultanas work just as well. I love to eat a warm, fresh slice of this, but it is also great cold with butter.

Juno with the Spelt Fruit Cake

As you can see, I sprinkled flaked almonds over the cake before putting it in the oven, but only because I have a pack open. They are completely optional.

The fruit studded inside of the cake

RECIPE

180ml tea
250g mixed fruit
100g brown sugar
1 beaten egg
25g melted marg
255g wholegrain spelt flour
1tsp bread soda
1 tsp mixed spice
a handful of flaked almonds (optional)

METHOD

- Soak the fruit, sugar and tea in a bowl - leave until cold
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Line a 2lb loaf tin
- Add the melted marg to the fruit mix. Stir through.
- Add the beaten egg. Stir through.
- Sieve then fold in the flour, bread soda and spice
- Pour into the lined tin & sprinkle over almonds (if using)
- Bake for 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean
- Cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack

GREAT IRISH BAKE - DAY 2 - BANANA BREAD

Great Irish Bake Banana Bread

We made banana bread for the Great Irish Bake - two loaves, one for my friend Karen to build her up after the birth of her lovely new baby, Harley. And one for us!

Great Irish Bake Donations Jar

The Great Irish Bake collection jar is filling up nicely for the children in Temple Street. And so to the cake - makes a good, sweet, banana-y loaf.

INGREDIENTS

2 over-ripe bananas
100g light brown sugar
125g wholegrain spelt flour
125g self-raising flour
50ml soya or cow's milk
50ml rapeseed oil
1 tsp baking powder
2 beaten eggs
a handful of flaked almonds

METHOD

o Preheat the oven to 160˚C
o Grease a loaf tin
o Break the peeled bananas into a bowl and whizz with the sugar (I used a hand blender)
o Add the eggs, oil and soya milk and whizz again
o Fold in the dry ingredients and pour into the loaf tin
o Scatter the flaked almonds on top
o Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Test with a skewer.
o Gorgeous hot or cold, on its own or yogurt

SALAD IN A JAR

I love this. Jars! Salad! It's from Back to her Roots. The 'how-to', for optimum salad layering, is worth reading.

THE GREAT IRISH BAKE for TEMPLE STREET - Day 1

I am taking part in The Great Irish Bake for Temple Street children's hospital for the first time. I got my starter pack of stuff, including spatula, stickers, balloons, recipes and napkins. The plan is to bake on several days and take donations from family, friends or anyone who stops by. For that we have our Great Irish Bake donations jar:

Donations jar

We did our first round of baking today. I made Apple and Oat Rounds, which are sugar free, soft cookies - very tasty (recipe adapted from this one on All Dishes). My mix made 20 small, soft rounds 80 calories per piece.

Juno playing with Great Irish Bake balloons

 Then I helped Juno to make chocolate buns (her favourite) after which she had fun with the cheery yellow balloons.

Apple & Oat Rounds

Apple and Oat Rounds

100g margarine or butter, softened

150g honey

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

90g wholegrain spelt flour

half teaspoon baking soda

1 tsp mixed spice

125g porridge oats

1 apple, cored and chopped very small

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Grease baking trays.

In a bowl, cream together the butter, honey, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Combine the flour, baking soda and spice; stir into the creamed mixture.

Mix in oats and apple.

Blob teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking trays.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Allow to cool on baking tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack.