SIMNEL CUPCAKES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

I’ve wanted to make a Simnel Cake for the longest time, since it is such a classic, but baking a large cake is not something I do very often. Cupcakes are a different story, easy to share, great to include in my weekly box of donations. I made a few changes from recipes I found in my cookbooks and online, keeping the details that matter in the original, larger version.

SIMNEL CUPCAKES
(adapted from several sources)

100 marzipan
150g butter, softened
75g brown sugar
75g granulated sugar
2 large eggs, whisked
150g full-fat yoghurt
zest of 1 Lemon
170g mixed dried fruits
175g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

To decorate
200g marzipan
agave nectar to brush

Start by preparing the thin layer of marzipan that goes in the middle of the cupcakes. Divide the 100g in 12 little portions (about 8g each). Flatten them with your hands and stretch as a round that will fit inside your cupcakes. Mix the flour with baking powder and salt, reserve.

Heat the oven to 375F. Place paper liners inside the cupcake pan. Beat together the butter, sugars and lemon zest, until pale and light. Add the 2 eggs, slowly, whisking the batter well after each addition. Add the yoghurt, continue whisking. Add the flour mixture, incorporate gently, then add the dried fruit, folding until homogeneously mixed in.

Place a little cake batter in each cupcake liner, place the thin round of marzipan on top, press gently into the batter. Fill the cupcakes with more batter until 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out slightly moist, with some crumbs attached. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

When the cupcakes are cold, make the topping: roll out the fondant and cut rounds to cover the top. Make the layer as thin as possible. Use trimmings to make little balls. Attach the layer of marzipan to the cake by brushing a tiny amount of agave nectar on the cupcake, and pressing the marzipan over it. Place the little ball on top, using some agave nectar to help glue it in place. Run the cupcakes under a broiler to give some color to the marzipan. Pay close attention, because it goes from golden to burn a matter of seconds!

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This is a delicious cake. The trickiest part is dealing with the marzipan, other than that, the recipe is quite straightforward. The mixture of fruit with the cake and the marzipan is a total winner. I highly recommend you give it a try. Plus, don’t they look just adorable? The cake stays fresh for a few days at room temperature, which is another big plus in my book…

ONE YEAR AGO: Oat and Sesame Seed Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Moroccan Turkey Pie with Olive Oil Crust

THREE YEARS AGO: Another Twisted Sister of the Shepherd’s Pie

FOUR YEARS AGO: Cashew Chicken, My Way

FIVE YEARS AGO: Two Deliciously Simple Salads

SIX YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2016

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Spring has Sprung with Suzanne Goin

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Chai Brownies

NINE YEARS AGO: Pomegranate-Molasses Glazed Carrots

TEN YEARS AGO: Braised Brisket with Bourbon-Peach Glaze

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: The Real Vodka Sauce

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Spring Rolls on a Spring Day

12Mar2022

MINI-EGG BROWNIES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

This is a super simple bake, perfect for the season. Toughest part of the recipe? Cutting the mini-eggs in half. But don’t skip that step, it makes them better dispersed in the brownie batter and easier to cut after baking. Just be careful.

MINI-EGG BROWNIES
(slightly modified from Kitchen Mason)

200g mini-chocolate eggs
110g unsalted butter
110g semi-sweet chocolate
2 Eggs
125g granulated sugar
100g brown sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Salt
60g all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder (Dutch processed)

Lightly grease and line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper, and heat the oven to 350F.

Measure half of the mini-eggs and cut in half.

Melt the butter with the chocolate in a microwave, gently. Let it cool slightly and add the eggs, whisking until fully smooth. Add the sugars, and beat until fully dissolved. Add the vanilla, salt, and sift the flour and cocoa powder on top. Gently fold the batter until no dry bits remain. Add HALF the mini-eggs preciously cut and HALF the whole mini-eggs. Mix briefly and pour the batter into the pan.

Distribute the remaining eggs (cut and whole) over the surface, gently pressing them a little bit into the batter.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is crispy and dry. Do not over-bake. Allow to fully cool before cutting in small squares.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Hard to come up with a simpler bake, apart from slicing the mini-eggs, it’s something you could do with kids. You can definitely use any brownie recipe you are fond of, and incorporate the mini-eggs the way this one does. But keep the basic recipe simple, this will be all about the little eggs dispersed in the brownie. Adorable little bake!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Luck of the Irish

TWO YEARS AGO: When life gives you Eye-of-the-Round

THREE YEARS AGO: Carrot Cake Macarons

FOUR YEARS AGO: Soup Saturday: Say Goodbye to Winter

FIVE YEARS AGO: Manchego and Poblano Soup

SIX YEARS AGO: A Smashing Pair

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

EIGHT EVEN YEARS AGO: Crispy Chickpea and Caper Spaghetti

NINE YEARS AGO: Spring has Sprung!

TEN YEARS AGO: Chickpea and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Double Asparagus Delight

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Cheese Torte

4Apr2021

HAPPY EASTER!

Posted in Cake, Cookies by sallybr

For those who celebrate…

Vanilla Cupcakes with Mini-Chocolate Eggs

Meyer Lemon Sugar Cookies
(Flower Bunny design by Haniela)

Egg Nests Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Icing

Egg-Shaped Sugar and Chipotle-Chocolate Cookies

(Here Comes the Sun, design by @sugarbaked; Bunny with Mushrooms design by @montrealconfections)

10Apr2020

HOT CROSS BUNS

Posted in Breads, Breakfast & Brunch by sallybr

Until this year, I’ve been a Hot Cross Bun virgin, as I had never even tasted one. They did not exist in Brazil as I was growing up, but are very popular in many places of the world, United Kingdom, USA, Australia, New Zealand. They are usually served on Good Friday, to mark the end of Lent. They are marked with a cross to represent the Crucifixion of Jesus, and contain spices that were said to be used to embalm his body. Some point their origin to the year 1361 in a monastery in St Albans, England. But that is debatable. What is not debatable is how delicious they are, and how much I regret having waited so long to make them.

HOT CROSS BUNS
(very slightly modified from Global Bakes)

for the buns:
180 mL milk warmed to 110 degrees F
1 tsp granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (I used osmo-tolerant yeast)
100 grams light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons greek yogurt, at room temperature
70 grams (5 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
460 grams all-purpose flour, divided
40 g dried figs, finely minced)
100 g raisins
zest of 1 large orange

for the flour cross:
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 tablespoons cold water

for the glaze:
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons sugar

Make the Buns
Whisk together the warm milk, yeast, and granulated sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until yeast becomes frothy.

Add to the bowl the brown sugar, butter, yogurt, eggs, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom and 125 grams (1 cup) of the flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds or stir by hand. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour, the dried fruit, and the orange zest. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. The dough should be a little sticky and soft. If it’s too sticky and not pulling away from the sides of the bowl, mix in additional flour 1 Tablespoon at a time just until it comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead in the machine for about 4 minutes in low-speed, then transfer the dough to a greased bowl and allow it to ferment for 2 hours at room temperature.

Butter a 9×13 inch baking pan. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Weigh the dough and divide it into 15 roughly equal pieces (my pieces were 77g each). Shape each piece into a smooth ball, pinching it on the bottom to seal. Arrange in prepared baking pan. Cover shaped rolls and place in the fridge overnight.

Remove the shaped buns from the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for 2 hours. Heat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the cross ingredients, adjusting consistency with water or flour so that it is thick enough to form a stable design. Spoon paste into a piping bag. Pipe a line down the center of each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Five minutes before they are done, make the glaze by boiling milk and sugar until sugar is fully dissolved and the glaze thickens slightly.

When they buns are baked, remove from the oven and immediately brush with the warm glaze. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy still warm or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Tanya was my source of inspiration, she actually made those for the first time also this year, and I just tagged along. I did not have many different kinds of dried fruits in our pantry, so I used just raisins and dried Mission figs. The whole batch went to the homeless meal that happened to fall exactly on Good Friday, but Phil and I decided to share one because I really had to know how they taste.

I loved it! The bread is soft, reminds me a bit of a cinnamon roll, but not as decadent. I like the addition of baking powder to the flour paste, which I saw in Celia’s blog post of years ago. I think it makes it a bit lighter.

Making them was a very nice, trouble-free process (discreet knock on wood, don’t want to upset the baking gods, as I intend to make macarons in the near future). I hope you give Tanya’s recipe a try, in her site you can see how to do it in a single day.

Thank you Tanya (globalbakes.com), for your constant inspiration! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home… and let’s bake!